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He woke with a start, his body jerking up right, his eyes shot open, his pupils small and searching, his voice cracked as he snarled, hands grasping the sheets nearly throwing it off of him. The room was dark with a blue hue, the moonlight filtering through the windows that flanked the bed and the bedside tables. His naked chest heaving heavily, beads of sweat cascading from his forehead and neck, his heart racing. He shut his eyes, closed into a tight line as he exhaled hard through his nose, raking fingers through his now sweat slicked hair. Opening them, his eyes bleeding into their two colors in the harmonious combination of gold ringed by blue, taking in the features of the bedroom. The four corners. The foot of the bed. The bathroom door. His blanket. His "roommate's" blanket. The gaggle of foxfires that sprawled over the bed that heated the pair into oblivion every night. The contours of the boil beside him underneath his own blanket. How did they do it? He would asked himself on occasion when he woke up like this. He felt stinging in the corner of his eyes, wiping it away with his forearm knowing what they were. Damien mentioned it before, concerned when it had first happened. How he would gnash his teeth together, his brows knitted together to create deep furrows, his eyes screwed so tight that tears leaked from the ducts, how he'd rumble something fierce just before he jerked awake. He apologized. It had happened before, a lot actually that this was normal. This was normal for him to wake up at... Uru reached over to his nightstand, flipping his phone over, briefly blinded by its brightness. '3:03 AM' it read.

"You awake?" A soft voice came from beside him, addled by sleep. The boil was laying on his side, his back towards him before shifting to glance over his shoulder. Eye of emerald breaking through the darkness of the night, looking directly at him from the corner of lidded eyes. Damien shifted to face him, letting out a breath as he settled himself into a comfortable position, looking at him with question.

Uru knew the boil enough that if he really wanted an answer, he'd get it. If Uru didn't give it, he'd be more of a bother than he would be now. Plus, he'd answer him anyway. The demon simply nodded as he shifted beneath his blanket, drawing up his knee slowly as a foxfire lulled over as the fabric stretched under its fluffy form. Resting his elbow on the new prop, the younger boil looked over at the monster, swallowing hard knowing that 'nothing' would not suffice as an answer. It had happened on occasion where they would sit and talk until they were calm enough to slip back into sleep. Uru felt utterly guilty for it, waking the boil, keeping him up, and then he would wake up as if he wasn't inconvenienced. How could the monster do that? How could he just go on like nothing bothered him? There had to be things that did. The demon hadn't press them.

Sitting up himself, the monster drew his knees up to sit. "What nightmare this time? Your mom? Something else?"

That's right... Damien had been awoken by this - by him thrice now. Uru shook his head. He recalled the first time, it was about a month into being "roommates" together, Uru had been spending most of his time here - or at least felt like it was a shared space (much to Damien's encouragement). Furniture, clothes, a few of his things, even his selected minipets that came with him (after the pack of foxfires had accepted them). He could have sworn that he often left with less than what he had came with. He had woken, thrashing in Damien's arms who had held him tight, shaking him with a frantic cry to calm him - truly wake him. Uru recalled the look in the boil's eyes, the smell in the air of sweat and something that he could not quite describe. It was his first real night terror in the new space and he felt his heart sink knowing that Damien now knew of what he would be living with. They stayed up most of the night talking about it before passing out some time later. It happened again twice after that and the two never really spoke about it again until the next episode.

"What was it then?"

Uru ducked into his arm as he let out a shaky breath, a sob even. He didn't understand it himself, it was a first for him. Never had he experienced something like it that it rocked him to the core. "I had a dream... - It's not that I shouldn't be happy or anything it's just... I've only ever had nightmares; some terrible, some frightening, some just out of the blue and out of body. But this? This was different for me." He looked to his roommate with clouded eyes, a sense of sadness and relief among them. "How would you react if your nightmares were all you've ever known in your life and you suddenly had a dream? A dream that you could compare everything else to and, finally, comprehend how messed up nightmares really are. I stopped believing in happy endings, Damien. I've read so many books, so many stories where the characters find their loves, their intended and have their happy endings after a jack storm of hellish troubles. I've never had anything like that, I've never had any happy anythings. So I've just given up on it."

The demon returned his gaze down, back to the foxfire sprawled on its back between his legs. The monster simply stared at him. The wind whispered outside, the soft sounds of distant students in their own rooms, the heartbeat of the one beside him - these were all that he could hear in the empty silence that hung in the air. They remained this way for a bit before Damien got up from the bed, walking out of the room. Uru watched him leave, wearing his usual boxers to bed. A cabinet opened then closed in the other room and the boil was back with a glass of water, settling it on the nightstand before crawling back onto his side again. The demon looked at him, perplexed.

"Can I ask you a question?" Damien asked. "Do you need someone or... do you need me?"

The question threw him. "You. You being here is just fine. There isn't really anyone else." He shrugged as if it were nothing. Who else would he go to? Brenna was too far and it was against the rules to see her. Damien was the closest person he had now - the only person he could rely on. The best way to find out if you trust someone is to trust them. "I've never had to worry about you hurting me." Never had it crossed his mind that Damien would, if he did, Uru would never suspect it. He trusted the boil enough that if he were to betray him, that he'd be there to fix it again. As messed up as that would be. He had been hurt by his family, even by Brenna in some ways, that he had gotten used to it. He could call himself a victim but he wouldn't give them the satisfaction of it. He was better than that.

"You crave touch, yet you flinch whenever someone does. I've noticed it. You stand off behind everyone, watching. It's kinda creepy."

Uru huffed at the comment. True, as it was. "You've touched me."

"I bet you liked that." Damien countered with a chuckle. The demon chuckled to, shoulder him lightly before the serious air returned. "What was it about?"

Uru shook his head. He closed his eyes, trying to recall it back to the surface of his conscious. It was like his fingers brushing up against the glass surface but unable to get past it - a looking glass that was clouded and cracked in places that it distorted his mental image of the dream he just had not too long ago. He sighed softly under his breath as he shook his head again. "I don't remember it. I just remember laughing. Not like yours or mine. Someone else's and I feel better. Proud."

"So why are you sweating up the bed?"

Uru jerked his head down at him, his glaring [removed](as usual) at the grinning face of his senior. He was starting to suspect that his glares had no effect on the green-eyed boil. "Why are you still awake?" Damien returned it with his best 'are-you-really-asking-me-that' expression. Uru brushed away his teary eyes before taking a gulp from the glass beside him. Lifting his blanket up to slide himself back into it. Turning to put his back to the boil, he shifted to get comfortable again. "Thanks."

Damien smiled before doing the same himself. "Yeah."

Sleep came easier to him then, now that he knew what he could look forward to when he slept.