To the Moon and Back

Day five

Their days seem to become shorter and their nights seem to become longer as they do every fall. While it could just be the seasons beginning to change, Tsukishima is convinced it has something to do with his long nights at the library.

The only time he really feels alive is with Yamaguchi, late at night. The days seem to pass quicker because he savors every moment of their nights together.

Tsukishima has always done well in school, and now more than ever, he is thankful. He hardly has to focus on lectures, so he usually can do most of his schoolwork in class. Plus, most of the classes he takes aren't lecture based anyways. Getting his school work done early allows him to focus on Yamaguchi later in the night.

Yamaguchi, on the other hand, has much more troubles with school. He is enrolled in many difficult classes, and has an abundance of work to do for each of them. It is quite stressful for Yamaguchi, and he's not getting enough sleep because of his busy schedule.

He has been tired all week, but today, he feels as if he will fall asleep on the library desk. Tsukishima won't mind if he takes a little nap, right? It isn't even an option anymore, Yamaguchi has to sleep.

Once at the library, Yamaguchi scribbles down a note to Tsukishima then lays his head on the desk, using Tsukishima's sweatshirt from the second night they met up as a pillow.

When Tsukishima enters the library, he smiles softly at the sight of Yamaguchi sleeping. Yamaguchi is usually so stressed out, seeing him so peaceful in his sleep is a huge contrast. Tsukishima notices the paper next to him, and picks it up to read it.

Wake me up when you get here.

-Y

Tsukishima feels bad for waking Yamaguchi up, especially given how happy he looked in his sleep, but he was just doing what the note told him to.

Carefully, Tsukishima runs his fingers through Yamaguchi's thick, long hair. "Time to wake up, baby." he whispers into Yamaguchi's ear. Yamaguchi twitches in his sleep, and swats Tsukishima away.

"Yams, you told me to wake you up." Tsukishima says. His voice is no longer a whisper, however it's still soft enough not to greatly disturb the sleeping boy. Tsukishima places a hand on Yamaguchi's shoulder and shakes gently. Yamaguchi groans, but finally wakes up.

"Tsukki!" He says happily. His voice is rough and scratchy from sleep, and Tsukishima can't help but make note of how pretty his voice sounds like this. "Sorry I was asleep, I've just been really tired lately." Yamaguchi apologizes.

"Then maybe you should keep sleeping." Tsukishima suggests. Tsukishima runs his thin fingers through Yamaguchi's hair one more, then guides his head back onto the sweatshirt he was using as a pillow.

Yamaguchi resists, and stubbornly shakes his head. "I can't sleep now, Tsukki, I'm with you!" Yamaguchi explains. Tsukishima shoots him a look of disapproval. First not eating, now not sleeping, Yamaguchi needs to start taking care of himself. "I don't want to waste our time together sleeping! Besides, I'm an alien, remember? My species don't need sleep." Yamaguchi says, referencing their joke from last night.

"Alien or not, you need sleep." Tsukishima insists. Yamaguchi shakes his head, and pulls away from Tsukishima slightly. "Come on, just a little nap?" Tsukishima negotiates. Yamaguchi leans slightly closer, allowing Tsukishima to wrap his long arms around Yamaguchi's thin torso. "Not even with your favorite Earthing?" Tsukishima teases.

Yamaguchi finally relents and leans into Tsukishima's chest. "Who said you were my favorite?" Yamaguchi teases. Tsukishima playfully glares at Yamaguchi, and pretends to push him over.

"Yams?" Tsukishima whines "I'm not your favorite?" he asks, only half kidding. The thought that there could be a reason they only meet at night suddenly bombards Tsukishima's head. Does Yamaguchi have a boyfriend, or maybe even a girlfriend that Tsukishima doesn't know about?

"No, you are. I just wanted to know who told you." Yamaguchi says softly, the vibrations of his voice causing Tsukishima to shiver. Yamaguchi notices Tsukishima's panic, and quickly reassures him. "Tsukki, don't worry. You're my favorite and you always will be. If there was a race to my heart and the prize was my affection, you would cross the finish line before the rest of the runners even got off the starting block." Yamaguchi says.

In response, Tsukishima pulls Yamaguchi closer into his chest and gently strokes his cheek. "Oh my god, you are so perfect." Tsukishima says to himself. "Now how about that nap?" He asks Yamaguchi.

Tsukishima listens for Yamaguchi's response, but then notices that he has already fallen asleep. He smiles down at the boy in his arms, careful not to wake him up.

After half an hour or so, Yamaguchi begins to speak. Tsukishima looks down to see if he somehow woke him up, but Yamaguchi is still asleep. Tsukishima concludes that Yamaguchi must just talk in his sleep.

"Please, stop it, please." Yamaguchi mutters. Tsukishima thinks that Yamaguchi must just be having a bad dream, and does his best to ignore the boys' cries. "No, please don't." Yamaguchi whines, flinching in his sleep. Tsukishima considers waking him up, but then remembers how sleepy Yamaguchi was. He decides to just let him rest.

"No, please don't, not again, no, no, no." Yamaguchi cries, his pleas becoming more and more desperate. Tsukishima briefly wonders what type of nightmare could bring such tragic cries from Yamaguchi's lips. He would rather not think about it.

"Stop it, please, I said stop." Yamaguchi whimpers. Tsukishima finally decides that whatever dream Yamaguchi is having is probably going to cause him more stress and fatigue, and that it would ultimately be better to wake him up.

"Yamaguchi." Tsukishima says, somewhat loudly. He shakes the boy, not nearly as gently as he did earlier today. Yamaguchi whines and cries have gotten louder and more desperate, and Tsukishima wants whatever Yamaguchi is dreaming of to end.

"Wake up. You're having a bad dream." Tsukishima shouts, shaking Yamaguchi quite roughly now. "Yamaguchi, wake up, you're scaring me." Tsukishima says, rubbing his thumb across Yamaguchi's cheek to wipe the tears that have started to fall.

Suddenly, Yamaguchi sits up, bumping his head against Tsukishima's along the way. "Get away from me!" He shouts, doing his best to put distance between himself and Tsukishima. Tsukishima is taken aback, but doesn't make any motion towards Yamaguchi.

When Yamaguchi realizes where he is, and who he's with, he quickly apologizes. "I'm sorry Tsukishima. I thought you were somebody else. Are you alright? I didn't hurt you, did I?" He asks, his voice tender and raw.

"No, I'm fine." Tsukishima lies. His head is throbbing from his collision, but there are bigger problems to focus on. "Are you alright? You were talking in your sleep and honestly, I'm worried about you, Yams." Tsukishima says gently.

"Yeah." Yamaguchi replies simply. He wants to say more, but he isn't confident that his voice won't crack and tears won't spill out of his eyes. Instead of taking, he moves back to Tsukishima who holds him carefully.

"You're alright. I've got you, I'll keep you safe." Tsukishima assures Yamaguchi while intertwining their hands. Yamaguchi doesn't respond at all, if Tsukishima couldn't hear his heavy breathing and feel his heartbeat, he might think Yamaguchi was dead.

"You're okay now." Tsukishima hums. Yamaguchi shivers, then takes a deep breath in. His breaches begin to steady and his heartbeat slows back to a normal pace. "Do you want to talk about it?" Tsukishima asks Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi takes another deep breath in, then shakes his head. Tsukishima doesn't press the topic. He has a fairly good idea what the dream, or rather nightmare, was about, and understands why Yamaguchi might not want to talk about it.

Tsukishima wants to know if there was an event in Yamaguchi's life that caused him to have such awful dreams, but he understands that now is definitely not the time to ask. Instead, he just holds Yamaguchi close until the sun begins to rise, signaling that they need to leave the library.