What had awoken Sebastian that night wasn't his own nightmares, it wasn't the taunts that he heard in his head, it wasn't him pleading for his mom to stop hurting him. For the first time in a long time, he had slept nearly peacefully.
Sebastian was woken by the crying in the room next to him. He tried to let his eyes adjust to the darkness as he threw the blanket away from his tired body and counted the steps towards the door interlinking next door. He pushed it open slowly and rubbed his eyes and looked at the pile of blankets covering Dave. For a moment, he had forgotten that the boy was next door. He walked over to the bed and bit his lip, he was holding onto a blanket, sobbing hard in his unconscious state. Sebastian sat on the side of the bed and rubbed his shoulder, trying to sooth the young man.
"Hey, it's okay," he rubbed his shoulder softly. "It's okay."
Dave woke up, startled by Sebastian's presence, he wiped his eyes roughly and looked away from him. Sebastian turned on the bedside lamp and rubbed his shoulder. "It's okay," he repeated, watching Dave carefully. "Bad dreams will go in time," he mumbled quietly, not believing the words he spoke, but it seemed to sooth Dave.
"You promise?" He asked, desperately.
"I promise. They were there straight after for me, too. For a couple of months, but they got better with each night, they weren't as full on. Other dreams started to fill my head. Then they were gone completely, and I haven't had one since." Dave held his hands together and nodded,
"I believe you," he breathed, and for a moment, Sebastian thought that he heard something akin to a childlike tone to his voice. Sebastian played with his hair and smiled.
"You get back to sleep, and I'll stay beside you if you want me too," he whispers and strokes his cheek, watching him carefully. Dave tensed when he first touched his cheek, but soon leaned against his hand and nodded slowly.
"You're sure? It's very late," he whispers.
"Positive, just close those eyes," he smiles and lays down with Dave.
David reluctantly closes his eyes and curls against the shorter boy. Sebastian watched as Dave's face switched from feigning sleep to actually sleeping. When he was positive that he was sleeping, Sebastian leant down and kissed his cheek softly, a smile creeping onto Sebastian's face as he did so. He'd never felt as happy as he did in this fleeting moment.
I know that this chapter is short, but I had to write something down and this seemed appropriate. The next chapter will be longer, I promise.