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Shinichi shot up fervently out of bed, sweating bullets and heart racing, immediately being pulled back down due to the arms tightly wound around his torso. He almost panicked more until realizing the hold on him wasn’t a malicious one. As he flopped back down rather ungraciously, he glanced quickly at Kaito’s sleeping form next to him, the owner of the limbs wrapped around him, to be sure he was still sleeping soundly. Shinichi’s sudden awakening seemed to have roused Kaito a bit, and despite the fact that Shinichi was still in a post-nightmare haze and couldn’t remember what was reality and what was the product of random neuron firings, he was still more concerned for his boyfriend’s slumber. He gently placed a hand on Kaito’s head, running his fingers through the wild locks, mussed up even more from the pillow, in attempt to relax and lull him back to sleep.
Shinichi hoped his hands weren’t trembling too much.
His attempt to be soothing had unsurprisingly failed, as a few moments later he was looking down into indigo irises, going from sleepy to confused, from confused to concerned.
Shinichi wanted to tell him he was beautiful, even now.
Instead, he urged in a soft voice, “Hey, go back to sleep, I’m sorry I woke you up.”
Kaito narrowed his eyes at him, untangling one arm from Shinichi’s waist to rub at his eyes with the heel of his hand. “Nn, ‘sfine,” he slurred. “Why’re you up?”
“Ah… it’s nothing,” Shinichi assured, shaking his head. He offered a small smile to Kaito, hoping it would assuage his worries. “We can go back to sleep, okay? C’mon.” He shimmied around to get more comfortable, but stilled when Kaito tightened his arms around him.
“No, tell me what’s wrong. ’m not going back to sleep until you tell me.” Kaito said with a pout. Of course he’d pull that move, he was always sure that Shinichi was weak to it.
And weak to it, Shinichi was. He stared down at his boyfriend for a few moments, debating with himself internally before he conceded. With a sigh, he continued making himself comfortable, shifting so he was turned on his side and face-to-face with Kaito.
“It was just another nightmare,” Shinichi placated. He closed his eyes when he saw Kaito’s eyebrows come together in concern. “Something… something to do with the Organization. I don’t really remember it clearly.”
Kaito hummed, rubbing his back soothingly as they exchanged hushed words. “That’s okay. Just say what you remeb--remem--remember.” Shinichi laughed lightly when he stumbled, heart swelling.
He wanted to tell Kaito he loved him.
(He did so. Kaito murmured something that sounded vaguely like “love you too.”)
“I think… I think it was Gin. He found like, wherever I was hiding in the dream-- I don’t even know why I was hiding, but I guess if Gin was there it was the smart thing to do-- but he found me, and he was-- he was choking me again, but as me, as myself, not as Conan--” Somewhere in the middle of his broken recollection of the nightmare, Shinichi had started crying, but haven’t even realized until Kaito reached up and wiped away his tears with his thumbs. Shinichi was shaking harder, now, breaths staggered and he wished he didn’t have to be like this in front of his boyfriend, for his sake, but it had started and just wouldn’t stop. Kaito pulled him in at the same time he scooted closer, allowing Shinichi to bury his face in the other’s collarbone and ride the rest of the attack out. A hand came to rest at the back of his head, tangling and running through his hair the same way he’d done to Kaito minutes ago.
Shinichi was grateful he was here. He wanted to voice this fact.
Instead, he just nuzzled closer and apologized for crying all over Kaito.
The magician shook his head in response, and Shinichi felt more than heard the slight laugh that escaped him by the allegro staccato up-and-down of his chest.
“We can go back to sleep now,” Kaito declared matter-of-factly, and it had Shinichi laughing too. It was hiccupy and he had difficulty catching his breath, like it always was when someone made you laugh while you were crying, but it was good. Shinichi maneuvered his hand between their bodies to wipe his face and Kaito’s shoulder off quickly, still sniffling but with a weary smile on. Then, he settled back down and into Kaito’s arms, muscles slowly relaxing one by one. He was pretty sure Kaito fell asleep easily, before Shinichi did.
Shinichi still wanted to express his thankfulness. He did so with a very quiet, “thank you, I love you,” and allowed himself to drift into unconsciousness.
Kaito smiled to himself, bringing Shinichi impossibly closer and nuzzling into the top of his head.