Secrets

Sleep

This is kind of a filler chapter so I'm sorry that it isn't as long as my other chapters.

Ren woke up with screams erupting from his burning throat. Sweat was beading at his forehead and salty tears made tracks of dampness on his cheeks.

Within a few seconds, Makoto was in the room. He crouched by the bed and put a hand on Ren's back. "Hey, shhhhh, you're okay." Makoto soothingly whispered. "It's okay, I'm here."

Ren felt more tears threaten to fall before he jumped into Makoto's arms.

Makoto hugged his little brother and ran his hand up and down his back. "Hey, calm down. You're safe. Just breathe."

Ren was hyperventilating and his head was pounding from the increase of oxygen.

"Ren." Makoto started. "I want you to try something, okay?"
Ren nodded and Makoto continued. "When I move my hand up I want you to inhale. And when I move my hand back down I want you to exhale, can you try that for me?"

Ren nodded his head. He took a deep breath as he felt Makoto's hand move up to his shoulder blades and he let out a shaky breath as his hand moved back down.

"There you go. See, you're okay." Makoto continued moving his hand and eventually Ren was calmed down.

"Thank-k you." Ren stuttered.
"You don't have to thank me. Why don't you try to go back to bed? I'll stay here until you fall asleep."

Ren nodded his head in agreement and let himself lie back down. His mind swam with thoughts and fears but he tried to push those into the back of his head.

Makoto watched as his brothers breathing became soft and he was no longer moving around trying to find a comfortable position.
He left the room and left the door open a crack so that there was a small amount of light shining through the door.

He groggily climbed back into bed with Haru and wrapped his arms around his waist.

"Hey, you okay?" Haru yawned.
"Yeah I just had to calm Ren down again."
"You should've woken me up instead." Haru sighed. "You have to get some more sleep." And Makoto knew the conversation was over.
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Haru slowly opened his eyes and blinked the brightness away before he turned his alarm on his phone off. Makoto was still asleep and Haru decided to let him rest a little while longer.

Haru took a bath as quickly as he could so that Makoto wouldn't have to tell at him again about being late for school....again. Once Haru had quickly dried his hair and body off with a towel, he wrapped it around his waist before making his way to his room.

Haru's room was the cleanest it's ever been considering he sleeps in Makoto's room instead. The only clutter in his room was some books from school that he had piled on his desk.

He decided on wearing a simple outfit of jeans and a sweatshirt. Once he had put his socks on and was about to walk down to make breakfast, he heard movement in Makoto's room.

He poked his head around the corner of the door to see Makoto sitting up and rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. "Well, good morning sleeping beauty." Haru teased.

Makoto turned a deep pink and quickly turned his head away. "Shut up." He mumbled grumpily.