beta squad ♡ bxb ♡ FLUFFEBRUARY 2024

Day 28 [nightmares]

Prompt fill: nightmares
(Pre-)Romantic pairing
Aj x Chunkz

It had been some time since they had a sleepover where it was all of them together.

Usually, their schedules never lined up a hundred percent, or someone got sick at the last minute. This time, though, they had met pretty spontaneously at Niko's and Aj's place and when Chunkz said he was too tired to drive home Aj had made eyecontact with Niko and they had started chanting 'sleepover' until the other three had agreed.

So here they were now, spread out in their living room, a bunch of mattresses, blankets, and pillows on the floor and various types of snacks on display on the coffee table.

Sharky had the great idea to order pizza, which Aj was currently munching on. He sat in between Niko and Chunkz, his feet halfway in Niko's lap and cuddling into Chunkz's side, his arms around Aj's shoulders.

In a bout of hilarity, Kenny had picked 'It' for the movie they were watching. Truly a comedian of highest rank.

Aj tried to subtly snuggle a bit closer into Chunkz when the music began playing and adjusted himself so that he could hide his face in Chunkz's chest, should the need occur.

He really hoped it wouldn't come to that, but he had never been good with scary movies like that and -

He flinched at a jumpscare and pressed closer to his friend. Ruffling his hair reassuringly, Chunkz let his hand rest on the back of Aj's neck, not letting him pull away.

The weight on his nape was strangely soothing, and Aj found himself leaning into the touch. He sighed quietly, moving to lay his head on Chunkz's shoulder, hiding his face in his neck and closing his eyes tightly.

He really didn't want to appear like a baby that couldn't handle a bit of horror movies, but fuck him, that shit was bout to give him nightmares.

He was eternally grateful for Chunkz's silent support and relaxed slightly when the hand in his hair started to carefully card through it, tugging lightly and trailing down to his neck, squeezing lightly every now and then.

He hadn't realised how tense he had  been until he relaxed in Chunkz hold, practically melting in his arms.

His newfound peace was momentarily, though, as the gruesome sound effects of the movie caught up to him. He whined quietly, and squeezed his eyes shut again. Chunkz leaned closer and whispered softly, "we can watch something else if you don't wanna see this."

Aj shook his head, he didn't want to ruin the fun for his friends, even though he knew they wouldn't mind, he really didn't want to make them all watch something entirely different, only because he was too much of a whimp to handle it. "'S okay," Aj whispered back, knotting his fingers into the fabric of Chunkz's shirt and nestling even closer.

Chunkz hummed, "whatever you say, love, but you move any closer and we become one," he nudged  Aj with his nose, but tightened his grip when Aj made a move to scoot back a little. "Nah, it's calm, stay," he murmderd lowly. "Just wanted you to know, we'd rather watch something else than knowing you're putting yourself through this."

Aj nodded into Chunkz's skin and smiled against his collarbone. "Thanks," he whispered, but he had already made his decision. He'd just stay right here, like this, trying to blend out the movie sounds as best as he could.

His plan seemed to work as well, as about halfway through the movie, he could feel his eyes getting heavier by the second before it just seemed like too much work to keep them open.

His breathing evened out, and the hand clenching Chunkz's shirt loosened its grip.

Chunkz smiled adoringly when he felt small puffs of air hitting his neck, and cradled Aj gently in his arms. His eyes snapped up when Niko snorted lightly next to him and raised a brow.

"We're watching a horror movie, keep your lovesick looks to yourself, man," Niko teased quietly. Chunkz rolled his eyes and held Aj's sleeping body close to his. To be completely honest, he hadn't really paid attention to what was happening on the screen, much too occupied with making sure Aj was alright.

He knew his friend hated horror movies with passion, but indulged them for their sake. He stroked up and down his back softly, as not to wake Aj up again. Since he was asleep now, though, Chunkz's supposed he could concentrate more on the movie again.

Horror wasn't really his jam as well, but the other three seemed quite happy with it, so it was fine by him.

When the movie finally ended, he turned his body a bit more into Aj's and kissed his temple. The credits were rolling and in the background Niko was having a debate with Kenny about a supposed filming mistake of the movie while Sharky commented on both their points the weirdest shit.

Right now, though, Chunkz's focus lay solely on the man in his arms, frowning a bit, as Aj's breathing pattern was thrown out of rhythm and the air came out in stocking half gasps.

Aj's eyes were shut as tightly as possible and his once loose hold on his shirt had turned to a death grip again.

Worried he stroked Aj's hair out of his face, shaking his shoulder gently at first, and then more intently when Aj whined softly in distress. "Aj, Aj," he murmered, into his ear, "wake up, it's just a nightmare, you're just having a bad dream."

Aj's eyes snapped open with a gasp, eyes darting around wildly before settling on Chunkz as he squeezed his arms around him.

"Aj, it's okay, it was just a dream," he searched in Aj's eyes for a confirmation that he was alright, when suddenly Aj blinked tears out of his eyes and threw himself into Chunkz's arms.

Quickly regaining his senses again, he held Aj securely in his embrace, kissing his hair. "You wanna stay right here for the rest of the night?" Chunkz had phrased it like a question, but his tone made it clear he wouldn't take no for an answer.

Aj sniffed, grateful Chunkz didn't make him talk about what he just experienced and was content to just hold him through the night. "Thanks," he mumbled back.

"Anytime," Chunkz whispered into his hair, pressing a kiss to his forehead, "anytime."

~the end

[1075 words]

[One more day to go!! Honestly had no specific pairing in mind when j started writing it, but ig there are some heavy undertones so this definitely can be seen as (pre-)romantic.]