lostcarnival | [CLOSED]

Who: Tamaki and Mitsuki
When: around D42
Where: Trailer 14
What: Tamaki is not quite over things. Mitsuki flexes his big brother muscles.
Warnings: Nightmares and mild body horror?

Right after the agent attack, Tamaki seemed to be mostly fine. Sure, he was shaken up at almost having shot one of his best friends (even if under the influence of something else at the time) and he was extremely grossed out by the discovery of the bug inside of him, but it wasn't like he got hurt like some other people did, at least physically.

But mental scars have a way of catching up with you.

Tamaki is walking. It's not really important where, but he does recognize the place. He's on his way to meet the rest of IDOLiSH7, perhaps for some work, or to go out to eat.

And then he hears it: a skittering sound, like tiny mechanical parts scraping on the sidewalk. It's the bugs, he realizes - they're coming again.

He tries to run, but he can't. One jumps up, lands on his stomach. Tamaki watches as it burrows inside him again, feeling bile rise in his throat.

Help me! he tries to scream, but the words don't come out. He grasps at his stomach to try and remove the bug, but he can't get to it. He can feel it inside him, rooting around, trying to pull and stretch at him until he changes into one of those men again.

Suddenly, Tamaki stops and stands still. He sees himself, as though looking in a mirror, except it's not right. He's changed into one of the suited men, gun in hand. He's not himself anymore.

Tamaki wakes up screaming, flailing at imaginary assailants. His blanket goes flying off him, landing in the floor below.

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Sleeping here is different than it was at home, but Mitsuki's gotten used to it. It's become a little more complicated lately, something's going on with his back, but the bed is comfortable enough that sleeping on his stomach or side isn't a big deal and he only rarely dreams of Iori's sad face these days.

That changed with Tamaki was missing, however, and Mitsuki still hasn't settled back into a restful pattern. Even without that, though, he'd be hard pressed to sleep through whatever was happening above him right now. The scream has him sitting straight up--he's short enough now that that doesn't even mean he hits his head--and when Tamaki's blanket slides down past him, he scoots over to the edge of his bed and lifts himself up so he can see over the side of Tamaki's.

"Oi, Tamaki! Tamaki. What's wrong?" He's not angry. If anything, he's a little nervous. The bug has been taken out and he knows Tamaki is himself again, but the memory of Tamaki twisting into another person isn't so easily dismissed, especially right after waking up. Tamaki's bigger now and he's always been strong, but that doesn't stop Mitsuki from reaching a hand out, trying to catch his wrist to get him to stop flinging his arms around. "Hey, you're going to hurt yourself."

Unfortunately, grabbing his wrist just makes Tamaki, still not quite aware of his surroundings, thrash harder, certain that he's been grabbed by someone who wishes him harm. Though, as predicted by Mitsuki, his unruly swipes at the air cause him to slam his free arm hard into the wall of the trailer, making it shudder.

Tamaki gasps and curls around the arm, and only then do his eyes seem to come back into focus and recognize where he is.

"Mikki!?"

Mitsuki doesn't want to hold on too tight and hurt Tamaki but then he hears him slam his arm into the wall and well, so much for that idea. At least it wakes him up, but even in the dark Mitsuki can see that while he's awake, he's still coming around to being awake.

He keeps holding Tamaki's wrist, reaching for his other hand to try to check on Tamaki's arm to see just how badly he hurt it. He nods, though, when Tamaki says his name.

"It's just me, Tamaki, there's nobody else here. You're safe."

Tamaki stills, eyes blinking in the dark as he tries to separate the nightmare from reality. His arm is still smarting something awful (while he didn't break anything, thankfully, he's going to have a nice purple bruise), and the pain grounds him to the present - not in the street, but back in his trailer, and not surrounded by those terrible bugs, but with his good friend.

His heart is still beating uncomfortably fast though, even when Mitsuki tells him he's safe. He lets the other boy take his arm to look at it, trying to take deep breaths. He tastes salt on his lips, and he's not sure if that's from sweat or tears (a bit of both, really).

He doesn't say anything while Mitsuki examines his arm, still trying to get his heart back to a normal pace. His breathing is ragged and shallow despite his efforts.

Mitsuki can feel the way Tamaki's heart is pounding when he checks over his arm; the inside of his wrist is just pulsing, fast and wild, and his skin is clammy. Must have been one hell of a nightmare, and Mitsuki's not surprised. When he's sure Tamaki didn't actually hurt himself in a way that's going to need medical attention, he moves from checking his arm to just holding his hand.

"It was just a dream, Tamaki. Nobody's going to get you here." His voice is almost uncharacteristically quiet, but, well, Mitsuki knows what he'd want if he woke up from a nightmare that bad and it's not to be cheered up, it's just to be comforted.

The soothing words help, and Tamaki steadily calms back down, gripping Mitsuki's hand. His arm mellows to a dull ache before he stirs, lifting his shirt to wipe off the sweat and tears on his face.

"Thanks, Mikki," he says just before he lets the shirt fall again. The image of the bug and the feeling of someone else trying to wrench control of his body from him are still lingering in the back of his mind, making him quiver just a little in Mitsuki's hand, but he tries to hide the shake in his voice. "I'm okay now."

Mitsuki's eyes are adjusted enough to the dark that he's not startled when Tamaki moves, but he still watches what he's doing closely. "Do you want me to get you a cloth or anything?" Tamaki's hand is cold but that doesn't necessarily mean anything other than that he is, or was, frightened. He could be sweating still.

"You don't have to thank me, but I'm not sure I believe you, either." It's not the way he'd tell Nagi he thinks he's lying, though; it's kind, because he knows Tamaki's not always great at talking about how he feels. "Do you want to tell me about the dream?"

Tamaki gives a shake of his head in response to the question about the cloth. He is still sweating a bit, but he's not concerned about it.

He looks away when Mitsuki calls him out on not telling the truth. His feelings are often hard and frustrating to put into words, and it often embarrasses him to talk about it. But he knows that Mitsuki wants him to talk, so he can help him, and there's a part of Tamaki that is grateful that he has someone he can open up to.

It takes him almost a minute of gathering his thoughts and working up the will to nod, but he does.

"I changed into one of those guys again."

Talking is kind of Mitsuki's thing. He doesn't get as frustrated as Sogo used to about Tamaki's lack of communication, but he's also not like Riku or Nagi who can seemingly understand everything out of just a few words. He knows it's not how Tamaki usually is, though, so the time he needs to get himself together is spent waiting patiently. He didn't send Mitsuki away or get upset about being pressed, after all. The least Mitsuki can do is be grateful for that.

He nods a little when Tamaki speaks. "That must've been really scary... What happened?"

"Those... things swarmed me."

He doesn't know those things are called bugs, and honestly he doesn't really care. Whatever they were, he can remember now, the way it crawled into his stomach, disappearing under his flesh. To think about that thing burrowing in his stomach... Tamaki feels nauseous.

"They crawled into me again... I don't really want to remember."

He curls a little further into himself, eyes still away from Mitsuki. "Then I changed... and I woke up."

[CLOSED]

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