Chapter Text
"I'm scared!" Tenya wails, holding onto his teddy like his life depended on it. Despite his screams and his crying, no one is there to comfort him besides his plush friend, who looks at him with lifeless button eyes and a permanently stitched-on smile that can only do so much to console him. He screams again, body shaking with fear. He hates the bad man who hurt his brother and he hates the bad man's friends, the girl with the knife, the boy with the scary hands, the man made of smoke, all of them. He hates them because they hurt people, he hates them because they hurt him, he hates them because no matter how hard he tries they always find him in his dreams, haunting him and threatening him and taking him back to the alleyway, where he lay on the ground helpless, unable to move or fight or do anything but watch as the bad man hurts everyone he loves.
It was always the same nightmare, the same flashback played over and over again each time he tried to sleep, each time sending him into a child's panic, no matter if he had gone to bed little or not. Seldom were the nights when he had peace, finding them only when he was in the arms of his loving partners and caregivers, who knew this fact and tried to insist to Tenya that he shouldn't risk sleeping alone. But Tenya was stubborn; to him, it was far worse to break the rules every night than it was for him to be having nightmares. Nightmares were just dreams, rules had real world consequences.
Yet right now Tenya couldn't care less about the rules, wishing he had agreed to be cuddled while he slept, to have someone to hold him and shush him and tell him it was alright, that the bad man wasn't here, that he wouldn't hurt him, that he wouldn't hurt anyone anymore. He knows Shinsou's room is on the same floor, and that, much as he had done in the past, he could run down the hall and fall into his carer's arms. But tonight is different from those nights, and he's far too scared to get out of bed, far too lost in his flashback to even know how to stand. His legs are curled up close to his chest, and he can't keep himself from crying out, sobbing and hiccuping and feeling like he might drown in his own tears.
The bad man stands in the corner of his room, his face covered in shadow, but through the dark and the blurriness of tears Tenya can see that he's grinning, his long tongue unfurling from his mouth like a snake. Tenya squeezes his eyes closed, unable to look any longer, but he can still hear the bad man's voice, calling Tenya weak and unworthy. He's laughing, laughing at Tenya's fear, at how pitifully he cowers from him. He lurches toward him, Tenya knows because he can hear his footsteps.
"Please! Don't hurt me!" Tenya shouts as light suddenly pours into the room, light that he can see from behind his eyelids, but he's still too afraid to look, worried this might just be another one of the bad man's tricks.
Arms reach to scoop him up and at first he flinches, but a soft "It's okay, Baby," helps him recognise the touch. He's brought into his carer's arms, and he whimpers, "Scared!"
"I know, baby, but it's okay now. The bad man's gone. Daddy's got you. No one's gonna hurt you while I'm here."
Shinsou sways him back and forth, repeating his soft reassurances over and over.