Night Terrors

Twenty-One

The dark one yawned as he trudged into his kitchen. He didn't even give acknowledgement to the trio making breakfast, going straight to the other side of the kitchen to make coffee.

"Oh, I made you some coffee already!" Dream grabbed a mug and handed it to his brother. "Since you always make coffee first thing in the morning."

It took one whiff of the liquid for the older twin to realize it wasn't even coffee; it was lemon-peppermint tea. It seemed the sunnier brother hoped the king was so sleep deprived that he'd drink it anyways, so he could fall asleep again and actually rest.

"You should know better than that, little brother." Nightmare handed him back the mug. He might have been exhausted, but he was still smart enough to know the difference in tea and coffee.

"Nighty, you need to sleep!" The shorter twin exclaimed. "You've been exhausted for days! We're all worried about you!"

"I'm fine, Dream. I am the king of negativity, lord of darkness, god of evil! I'm fucking Marenight— fuck! Nightmare!" The stained skeleton raised his arms extravagantly, basically screaming.

"That ain't right, is it?" Ink asked, genuinely confused. He'd been tuning in and out, and after a minute, he realized that Nightmare's speech didn't sound right.

"No." Blue laughed, shaking his head. "It is so wrong."

"Shut up! It's not like you have any long titles to stumble with sometimes!" the sleep deprived king growled.

"No! But you never stumble, that's why you need sleep! Your pride and joy are those silly titles!"

"They're not silly!" Nightmare growled, grabbing him by his shirt.

"Ooo, aggression!" Ink giggled.

"I'm not aggressive!" the dark god screamed, his voice cracking. And now he was about to cry. "You wouldn't understand! You're just a cruel, heartless monster! You'll never understand!"

The king soon began to sob, trying to wipe the tears as they came. But he was crying too hard to keep up, and trying to keep his cheeks dry only made him more frustrated.

"Jeez..." the guard mumbled, surprised to see him so emotional. He expected him to take his sleep deprivation much more gracefully, but he could only last so long looking like an elegant, exhausted god before devolving to a pathetic, upset mess like the rest of them after barely existing, restless sleep for weeks.

"Nighty, don't cry!" Dream exclaimed, hugging his brother. He gently rubbed his back, hushing him gently. He tried to use his powers to get his brother to stop crying or feel better or even sleep, but as he worried, their magic didn't affect each other.

"Ack! You're using your stupid magic to try to make me happy! You always fucking do that!" Nightmare shoved his brother away, storming away despite the tears in his eyes.

"Nighty!" Killer hugged him, a bit scared by the mood swings his lover was experiencing. But at the same time, he would be happy to be thrown around a little by him. "Hey Princess! How are you? You look so beautiful, you know?"

"Ugh! I hate that stupid nickname!" Nightmare yelled before starting to cry again. "And I yelled at you after you said I'm beautiful!"

"Oh, sweetie, come on. Let's cuddle on the couch." Killer smiled sweetly, gently leading him to the living room. He got him to lay with him on the couch, smiling and cuddling him.

Blue raised a brow, but if Killer slept in while getting Nightmare to sleep, then he couldn't fight him. He would just leave him to sleep, and make him a slightly smaller breakfast.

Nightmare tried to fight sleep, but his body was betraying him. He passed out, not that he'd be any less tired by the end of his nap. He snoozed, laying on his lover like a nice, big pillow. Just less soft.

Killer was fully awake. His boyfriend was surprisingly heavy. He'd never been laid on, so it was definitely weird. Especially since he was usually the one to lay on his lover instead.

"Can I get a coffee?" The killer sat up a little, letting him lay with his head on his chest.

"Sure. Ink." Blue gave his friend a look, slightly smirking.

"You know what? I'm good." It just wasn't worth it. He looked down at his lover, smiling a little. He might need some energy, and he was being held down, but at least his boyfriend was finally peacefully sleeping.

Or so he thought.