Of bratty demons and mushroom heads

CHAPTER 34

Hiyoshi woke up to incessant kicking and feeling the blood flow completely cut off from one of his arms. However, he didn’t even need to open his eyes to know what, or more accurately, who it was. He was used to this. Sleepily, his free hand came up searching for Akaya’s head of hair to pet it, which usually calmed the chibi demon in his sleep.

The aforementioned chibi demon was rolling around and groaning in his sleep, he was fighting like always. The image of the three demons standing over him laughing chased him in his dream and cornered him. Why the court had walls around it, he would never know. When a hand touched his head, he felt a soothing warmth surge through him and the demons disappeared. He stopped rolling and opened his eyes slowly, "Hmm?"

The hand in Akaya’s hair didn’t stop combing through the ebony locks until he heard a sound indicating the other boy was conscious. Peeking an eye open, Hiyoshi forced himself to wake up a little bit more to make sure Akaya was out of whatever nightmare hole he dug himself into this time. Seeing Akaya’s sleep filled open eyes, he slurred, still half asleep, “Nnn… I can’t feel my arm, brat.”

"Oh, sorry..." Akaya mumbled and rolled over to let Hiyoshi’s arm get the blood back in it. "Thanks for waking me up." He yawned and stretched lazily.

“You were having a nightmare again.” It wasn’t a question. His boyfriend knew Hiyoshi didn’t approve of all the nightmares Akaya was plagued with, and even though he knew it wasn’t technically Akaya’s fault, he couldn’t help but feel helpless since there was nothing he could do to make them go away.

"Yeah..." Akaya mumbled and rolled over to snuggle up to Hiyoshi’s side again, this time leaving his arm free so it didn't go numb again. "They're not as bad as they used to be..." he muttered and nuzzled his boyfriend’s neck. He remembered the days where he would wake up in a cold sweat and screaming from nightmares. Getting older solved a lot of them. The hormones evened out and his dreams became less intense, but sleeping with someone always helped that much more and helped him sleep deeper. That didn't mean he was free of the nightmares, far from it, but at least they weren't as bad.

Hiyoshi’s hand resumed combing through his brat’s hair and he closed his eyes when Akaya’s head settled on his chest. The blankets had been completely tossed off of them at some point during the night, but Hiyoshi had ceased needing blankets since Akaya liked to basically sleep on top of him most of the time anyway. His body relaxed and wanted to go back to sleep, but he decided to stay up for now since he knew it would be a while before Akaya would be able to again. “What do you usually have nightmares about anyway? Would it help to talk about it?”

"Lots of stuff," Akaya mumbled honestly and sighed. "The one tonight was about tennis..." He closed his eyes and just enjoyed the fingers in his hair, "but sometimes they're about something happening to my family... or you..."

“Oh.” Maybe he shouldn’t have asked. Hiyoshi wasn’t very good at comfort, and he wasn’t an expert at deciphering dreams or anything. “I don’t have them very often now, but when I was a kid, I had them a lot.” Most of them he couldn’t remember, but there were a few still very vivid in his memory.

"What were they about?" Akaya asked curiously and opened one eye lazily to look at his boyfriend.

“Losing, mostly.” Hiyoshi grimaced. “Losing to my father, my brother… everyone. Failing at a task… and being left behind.” His hold on Akaya unconsciously tightened. He hadn’t thought about it in a long time, but they were still unpleasant memories… and fears. It was a fact he had learned long ago; if you aren’t one of the best, you’re no longer wanted.

"I'll never leave you behind," Akaya said happily and closed that eye again. "I will totally kick your ass in tennis though," he teased gently, feeling the way Hiyoshi had tensed up.

“And I will totally kick your ass in everything else,” Hiyoshi answered smugly, and relaxed again, a challenging grin coming to his face. “Someday, I’ll even beat you at one of your beloved video games.” He chuckled and leaned forward to lightly kiss the top of his head.

"And that will be the day hell freezes over," Akaya laughed and nipped his boyfriends neck teasingly. There would always be at least two things he could beat Hiyoshi in. Everything else didn't matter.

Hiyoshi didn’t bat an eyelash. “Then I figure you’ll appreciate it since it will make home much more comfy for you and your fellow demons.”

The chibi demon just laughed and cuddled closer.

Hearing Akaya laugh made Hiyoshi’s lips turn up in a small secretive smile. At least Akaya seemed to feel better now. “What did you do at night when you were younger to make them go away?”

Akaya blushed a bit and looked away. "Crawled into my parent’s bed... If I went to my sister she would just laugh at me..."

Yeah, he could see that. After meeting Akaya’s family, Hiyoshi could envision Akaya’s mother cooing and coddling her baby. “It’s nice that your family is like that. Going to my parents was never an option.” His father probably would have seen it as being weak. “My brother and I shared a room when we were kids, so sometimes… I guess I would wake him up and he would come over to my bed and uh… yeah.” It was kind of embarrassing saying that, but it was one of the reasons why he and his brother were close. Now that he thought back on it, many of his nightmares had left after his brother decided he didn’t want to inherit the dojo and it was left to him instead.

"Well, I'll always be here if you have a nightmare," Akaya said with a smile and kissed his boyfriend’s chest, "Just like you're here for me."

Sometimes his boyfriend could be so sappy… and Hiyoshi would never in a million years admit that now and then he liked it. “Good,” he said softly as the hand that had been in his boyfriend’s hair trailed down to run up and down the skin of his back lazily. He turned his head to look over at his alarm clock. “My alarm will go off in an hour. You going to try and get some more sleep?”

"Nah, I think I'll go for a walk," Akaya sat up and stretched again before climbing over his boyfriend. "You go back to sleep."

“Do you want me to go with you?” Hiyoshi asked from his position still on the bed. It seemed cold now without Akaya in the bed to keep him warm.

"Nah, it's cool. Get some sleep. I'll probably go do some strokes and stuff." Akaya wandered over to his dresser to get out a track suit to wear. It was black and yellow and oddly reminiscent of the old Rikkai uniform that he loved.

Hiyoshi nodded and watched his boyfriend for a moment before leaning down off the bed to pick up their fallen blanket. He scooted over partially to Akaya’s side of the bed since it was warmer, his eyes slowly closing as Akaya was finishing preparing to leave.

When Akaya turned back around, he found his boyfriend asleep and smiled. With that, he left to go try and make them a breakfast that wasn't black and charred. He pulled out his cell phone and called his mom to make sure he got things right this time.

Hiyoshi woke up an hour later on the dot when his alarm clock went off. He grunted and stretched, reaching to turn it off, confused at first when he didn’t find Akaya next to him. He was a slow riser and it usually took him a while to become completely conscious in the morning. After a few minutes of just laying there, he sat up slowly and rubbed at his eyes, still not feeling completely awake.

Akaya’s alarm on his cell phone went off at the same time Hiyoshi’s alarm did. He put the breakfast, this time not burned at all, on a tray then headed for their room. He opened the door with one hand and backed through it with a big smile that said he was very proud of himself. The tray was covered in pancakes, toast, four eggs, and orange juice for them to share.

The barely conscious boy had been in the middle of attempting to stand up and get ready for the day when Akaya suddenly entered the room with a big tray of food. Hiyoshi’s eyes widened. “Did you go to the cafeteria or something?” The food didn’t look slimy or greasy enough to be cafeteria food.

Akaya beamed at the other man with pride practically oozing off of him. "I made it all."

Looking back and forth from the plate of perfectly normal looking un-burnt food to Akaya’s face and back, Hiyoshi raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Who helped you?”

"No one," Akaya declared chipperly and set the tray on the night stand, "I did it all by myself."

He couldn’t help it. Hiyoshi glanced warily at the food again and then back to Akaya’s glowing features. ‘It’s sad that looks can be deceiving…’ he thought with trepidation but wasn’t going to be the one to take that look off his boyfriends face. “It looks good,” he said sincerely and picked up a fork, scooping up some eggs. He slowly brought it to his mouth and cautiously took a bite. Eyes widened again in surprise. They were normal… maybe even good.

"Thanks," Akaya’s big smile didn’t falter even for a moment. He'd been practicing a lot to finally make breakfast right and had started a couple fires in the kitchen. Thankfully, every time he cooked, he pulled down the smoke alarm and disabled it and kept the window open for ventilation. He watched Hiyoshi carefully, eyes sparkling with hope that he'd finally gotten it right. "Well? How's it taste?"

Hiyoshi was sorely tempted to tease him and ask who really made it, but the hopeful expression on Akaya’s face quickly changed his mind and he smiled genuinely. “It’s good. Are you sure you’re really my boyfriend? The chibi demon who manages to burn everything he touches in the kitchen?”

It was a mystery how Akaya managed it, but he smiled even more and his ego took up most of the room. "I practiced a lot!" He said proudly.

“I can tell.” The mushroom-headed boy laughed and pulled his boyfriend down for a quick chaste kiss, whispering a quiet “Thank you.” His boyfriend must have really practiced hard to improve his cooking this much. He deserved a little praise. “What’s the occasion?”

"No occasion," Akaya said with a little shrug. "Do I gotta have one?"

“No, just curious as to why you went to the trouble to make breakfast in the first place.” If he could sleep, Akaya usually slept late and rushed to class. If not, he went jogging. “It doesn’t matter though, so sit down with me and help me eat it. It’s good, but I don’t think I can eat it all myself.” Akaya obviously hadn’t needed to take the time to do this, which made Hiyoshi wonder if there was an ulterior motive… which wouldn’t be at all out of character for his chibi demon, but for now he would enjoy it.

"I can be nice without a reason," Akaya said with a little laugh and sat down on the bed next to Hiyoshi to get his own plate and start munching. He honestly wasn't sure what had made him want to make breakfast that day, but he'd had a good feeling about it when he woke up. He was just glad the feeling wasn't wrong... again.

“Tell me that again when you try to use this as collateral to talk me into doing something for you later.” Hiyoshi teased and took a bite of not-burnt toast.

"K~" The curly haired boy chimed happily and grinned as he munched down on a pancake slathered with butter and far too much syrup to be healthy.

Not that Akaya needed something like this in order to talk him into doing things for him, Hiyoshi thought with a shake of his head. He took a sip of their shared orange juice then placed the glass closer to Akaya knowing his boyfriend would need it any moment.

After finishing off half of the pancake, Akaya’s eyes got a little wider and he chugged down a few swallows of orange juice with a little sigh. "Wow... That was sweet..." he eyed the last half then dove in with a happy smirk.

“I thought you made half of this for me.” Hiyoshi chuckled and stopped Akaya’s descent onto the other half of the pancakes with his fork. “Don’t I get to try some?”

Akaya pouted a little then instead went after one of the eggs, pancakes completely forgotten. It was one of the advantages of having a short attention span.

More than a little amused, Hiyoshi took a bite of the rather syrupy looking pancakes and winced slightly. Holy gods, how much sugar had the brat put in there…? “On second thought… You can have the pancakes,” he took another sip of the orange juice to wash down the overly sweet taste in his mouth.

"Yay!" Akaya munched on the pancakes happily, loving every bite. "Mm..." He leaned against Hiyoshi’s side and grinned at him, looking like he was in heaven.

Hiyoshi could only half stop from returning the ridiculous grin, which resulted in an awkward half smirk. He rolled his eyes to make up for it and self-consciously cleared his throat. “Although you’re cooking has exponentially improved, I hope you’re not planning on doing this too often.” He gladly finished off what Akaya had left of the eggs, beginning to feel full.

"Nah, not that often, I'm lazy," Akaya garbled with his mouth half full and finished off the pancakes with a happy sigh. "Mm… So full…" He laid back and closed his eyes, big smile still on his face.

Not wanting to leave any leftovers, Hiyoshi ate the last piece of bacon and drank the remainder of the orange juice. “Good. With breakfasts like that, you’re going to make me gain weight.” Well, gaining a little bit of weight probably wouldn’t be a bad thing, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t tease his brat about it.

Akaya laughed and got up to pick up the tray. "I guess I should go do the dishes so the RA doesn't yell at me again."

“I’ll do it.” Hiyoshi offered, standing and picking up the tray before Akaya. “You cooked after all.” It was only fair, and he had to admit he was a little curious to see if the communal kitchen was still in one piece. “Thanks for breakfast. I’ll be right back.”

Akaya smiled and laid back down on the bed with an arm under his head. He really did have an awesome boyfriend. "Alright, I'll wait here." He watched his boyfriend leave the room and grinned from ear to ear. Maybe nightmares weren't always that bad.