Deep Red

32

I was lying awake in the middle of the night and I had no idea why. Since all the big events for this term had happened already, there was no reason to be stressed about anything. It was just teaching now until the exams were over and then it was time for the summer break. This was probably the most relaxing time of the whole year, so why the hell was I unable to fall asleep?

Maybe it was the lack of sleep that kept me up. Maybe I was just too relaxed throughout all of the day and now I wasn't actually tired enough to be able to fall asleep. I knew that was a lie and that I was actually incredibly tired, but something would not let me fall asleep. Some days I knew it was because of the moonlight shining into Shouta's living room brightly, but today nothing special and moon-related was happening.

It was then that I first noticed it. It was a noise sounding like a quiet whimper, coming from Shouta's bedroom. At first I thought I hadn't heard a thing, but then it got louder. And then I heard some incoherent mumbling, sounding almost panicked. What the hell was going on in there?

I had never actually seen Shouta's bedroom during all the time I lived here. I knew that he liked to have his own private space, so I didn't dare cross that border and just waltz into his bedroom, even when he wasn't home. That place seemed like such a holy thing for him, there was no way I could betray his trust like that.

At first, I really wanted to ignore it, but then the panicked noises just got more intense, which prompted me to get up and at least listen at the door. Maybe something was wrong... I remembered that time when he was having that nightmare at the Sports Festival. Was he having one of those again?

I got a real fright when I suddenly heard him scream in his sleep. Without even thinking twice I opened the door and walked into the dark room quickly rushing towards the bed in the middle of the room. Shouta was tossing and turning, his face looking panicked and scared. It almost looked as if he had been crying in his sleep.

I carefully reached out and touched his shoulder, lightly shaking him awake. He woke up with his Quirk activated, eyes burning red and hair floating above his head. He was breathing heavily and still looked extremely distraught.

"It's just me, Shouta. It was just a dream. Calm down." I said to him, as he was slowly taking deep breaths. His hair finally stopped floating and his eyes were back to their normal dark colour again.
"What... Did I wake you up? What time is it?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Don't worry, I was already awake. Couldn't get to sleep for some reason. Probably good that I didn't." I said and smiled lightly. Shouta looked at me with a faint smile. He looked exhausted.

"Sorry, anyway. If I sleep for too long, I sometimes get really intense nightmares." he told me. I was surprised he had said it out loud like that. It was almost as if he was showing that he was vulnerable after all.

"It's alright. Do you... do you wanna talk about it?" I asked him. I mean, I couldn't sleep anyway. And I would take any chance I could get to learn what made Shouta tick. After all, I did have a big, fat crush on him.

"I dunno... maybe. Won't be able to get back to sleep again for a while, anyway... just... give me a minute, okay?" he replied. Now I was really surprised - almost shocked - at how he just... was okay with this sudden intimacy. Like, maybe it was just a really mundane nightmare, but it felt like it was so much more personal. Shouta really was different when you had lived with him for a while.

"Alright, take your time. Meet me on the roof?" I asked. We always talked about semi-personal and pretty personal stuff on the roof. Unless, it was raining, those days it was the kitchen table with a glass of wine or a can of beer. It was almost like a weird ritual - if we wanted to talk about something we'd either go up to the roof or sat down at the kitchen table with a second can of beer or glass of wine for the other person. And then we just talked, no questions asked.