Worst Nightmares

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[Req.: "can u do one where chishiya thinks he lost ur kid but when u guys check the bedroom she's just there sleeping peacefully."
I changed the daughter into a son here, because we already have two Oneshots featuring Chishiya's daughter (:]

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Dreams have always been something that other people had to cope with. Not Chishiya. At least not until the comet incident and the cardiac arrest.

He has never been able to explain to himself why he started to have dreams after that, just like he has never been able to explain the weird pieces of memories that shouldn't exist, or connections to people that shouldn't be there. He doesn't know why you have felt so special from the very first moment he has met you, why he has been sure to have seen your face in at least one of the weird dreams that began to haunt him after the apocalypse.

Chishiya's dreams still are not what most other people dream about. He doesn't dream of any kinds of fantasy worlds or his deepest wishes, no. On the rare occasions that he dreams, it's scenes from his past. Or rather, a past that he doesn't remember to have lived, but it feels too real to ignore it. And his mind wouldn't come up with such fantasies. The explanation has to do something with the comet, that's all Chishiya knows. He managed to accept the fact that he will never get closer to an answer than that throughout the years, especially since you and your child became part of his life. The wife he never thought he would have and the son he was always afraid to face, and yet here both of you are, perfect and immaculate with everything you say or do.

After so many years of trying to surpass his father, he has finally come to accept that he doesn't need to be better than him. He is now, although that's not important any longer. He has you. He has the family that consists of so much more than the family he has known as a kid, and he finally lives a life that is not fake or outer appearance, but a life that is real. As real as it can be in a world trying to rebuilt itself.

So many years since the comet has crashed down onto Tokyo, and the traces are still visible. People carry the obvious scars on their skin just like buildings do, but the invisible damage is much deeper. All those dead people that left holes in people's lives and infrastructure, and while Chishiya has not lost anyone dear to him (there has not been anyone dear to him during that time), he experiences it too. With every sentence someone else speaks to him, with the way people treat each other, memorials on every corner of the street to honor the ones who are not here anymore. They will never know how much they're missed, making the memorials pretty much useless for the dead, but Chishiya knows that it's not their main purpose anyway. Those memorials are meant to make it easier for those who remain to cope with their loss.

There has once been a time where Chishiya would have called that pathetic; embarrassing even. Now... now he understands.

Being a father and a husband himself, and not such a shallow one his father has been, he now knows the fear of losing the only people dear to him. Thinking that you might disappear, or his son... after the comet, Chishiya has managed to leave the black-and-white world and fill his hollow shell with emotions only thanks to you. With his family gone, there would be nothing left. Not even a shell to fill.

That is what makes the dream so disturbing. Chishiya knows he must be dreaming, and yet he can't wake up. All he can do is run along the house, searching for his son and not being able to find him anywhere. He calls his name, and there is no answer. Just silence. Not even the ticking of the clock on the wall or the scratching of his feet over the carpet, which is just another indicator that he's dreaming. But this is not a memory from his past. Neither his real past, nor the distorted one that feels so real although he can't remember any of it outside of his dreams. This is nothing he has ever experienced, and it somehow scares him.

Knowing that his child is not there, that it has vanished from the surface and he can't find it. His son is old enough to go on short adventures on his own, be it the visit of another friend or a stroll through the forest nearby but he has never been away from home for too long. And Chishiya has never had such a bad feeling with it.

Even in his dream, he can't leave the house to search other places, and something inside of him knows that it's not needed to do so. With a confidence that can only happen in a dream, Chishiya knows that his son is gone and that he won't come back.

Looking out of the window, he notices that the sky is slowly turning red, not the natural color of dusk but a deep blood red, and gleams of it descend to the ground. Suddenly it's dark, even though it has been brightest day just a second ago, and a single flash lights up the area around the house. A lone child stands on the lawn, face hidden underneath the shadows while the rest of its body is painted red.

Then, with another flash, it's gone.

Chishiya's head snaps back, bumping painfully into the chair he must have fallen asleep in, and he blinks a couple of times to examine where he is. It's your living room, and the clock on the wall is happily moving with every passing second. He can hear the wind outside, can see the first stars of night blinking through the windows.

Back in reality. What a weird dream, so... different!

He can still feel the dread inside of him, the fright of losing the only ones dear to him, and the feeling won't ease while he just sits in his chair, so he jumps back to his feet on an instant, causing his head to turn for a moment.

"Oh? Shuntarou?"

You eye him from the sofa, a book lowered into your lap and curiosity on your face, together with a decent smile. "Enough resting already?"

Chishiya looks around frantically, scanning the room for another human being. His son isn't here.

Confused by the feeling of panic, he mutters the name of your son. "Where is he?"

"Uh... in his bed? Sleeping? Have you taken a look at the clock recently?" you seem confused now, not used to such a weird behavior coming from Chishiya. Not that he'd blame you; it confuses him as well. And yet he has a feeling that he won't be able to calm down unless he has made sure that your boy is okay.

"You sure?" he mutters while heading to the stairs, "wouldn't be the first time for him to sneak out of the house without us noticing." Chishiya quickly climbs up the stairs and barely hears the heavy pants behind him, indicating that you're following as fast as possible, however still confused.

Uttering a dry laugh, you reach for his arm to hold him back. "Sure, but never so late in the evening! Shuntarou, what is going on?"

Not eager to make you overly concerned, he gently frees himself out of your touch and continues to hurry to the child room. "It's... nothing. I simply want to check if everything's alright."

The bedroom is silent and dark except a single nightlight casting stars at the ceiling, and as Chishiya quietly opens the door, light from the hallway floods the area around it, not quite reaching the bed itself. In the dim light, it is hard for him to make out the figure of his son, and the panic increases when he can't make out anything other than the blanket at first.

But when he steps closer and pulls the blanket down a bit, he can finally spot the dark hair spread out on the pillow and can hear the deep breaths of a child dreaming the most innocent of dreams. His son even carries a smile on his face, indicating that whatever he's dreaming must be nice, and the boy doesn't stir at the sudden interruption.

Chishiya sits down next to him, simply watching the child sleep, completely ignorant of the world's problems. His son is fine. Whatever this dream was – there was nothing real about it. And it won't become reality in the future.

After a couple of minutes have passed, he touches the boy's shoulder for a last time before he quietly gets up again and leaves the room as silently as he has entered to not wake the boy up. Once the lights of the hallway don't reach the inside of the bedroom any longer, he leans against the door and lets out a long sigh.

You mirror his pose as you lean against the wall and watch him with a smirk that contains both humor and the deep love that never seems to fade. "Are you going to tell me what exactly just happened, hm?"

Chishiya shakes his head, but more to get rid of the dark thoughts than to deny your question. Everything's fine. Everyone's fine.

"Nothing. Just... a bad dream."

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