Bakugan (reboot) oneshots

Nightmares (Danaji)

It was one am and Dan Kouzo was lying awake in his bed, he'd gotten about an hour and a half of sleep before waking up from a dream about burgers with a goal of looking at memes in mind. He'd been watching meme complications on YouTube for a while now, trying not to laugh at any of them so his friend/roommate in the bed across from his wouldn't be woken up.

Dan had just finished silently giggling at a particularly funny and relatable meme about school when he heard a sharp intake of breath and the sound of the springs in a mattress moving, coming from the direction Ajit was in. Immediately turning his head to check if he'd woken him up, Dan was met with a sight he hadn't expected to see. Ajit was crying in his sleep, tossing and turning too. He was breathing quite heavily and seemed to be having a nightmare. Dan, sensing something was wrong, pulled his earphones out and sat up. "Ajit…?" He whispered. No reply. He stood up, walked over to Ajit's bed and then sat down again on the side of it. "Ajit?" He whispered again, slightly louder this time. Once again there was no actual reply but this time Ajit let out a quiet groan as another tear fell down his cheek.

For a moment Dan was unsure what to do, his friend seemed to be having a nightmare. He knew the best thing to do would be to wake Ajit up but he didn't know how. He placed his hand gently on the other's shoulder. "Ajit?" He spoke again. this time at a normal speaking volume. "Ajit please wake up.."

"Mm… Wh- D-Dan…?" The golden brawler stammered, sitting up. "Ajit are you alright? I think you were having a nightmare. You kept tossing and turning and there was all this panicked breathing and-" Dan cut off, noticing the tears were still running down the other's cheeks. "Hey…" Dan whispered gently, holding his arms out. Ajit accepted the hug and quickly latched onto the taller. They stayed hugging in silence for around five whole minutes until Ajit pulled away. "S-sorry.." He mumbled. Dan blinked, unsure as to why the other was apologizing. "Did I wake you up..?" Ajit questioned. Dan blinked again, "No I was already awake… Though I don't really see why that matters, what's important is are you alright?"

Silence. Then- "Mhm, yeah I'm fine. There's no need to worry about me."

"Ajit… I know that's not the truth… How are you really?"

Ajit looked up into Dan's azure blue eyes and saw the real honest concern in them, he then broke eye contact and spoke, "Alright… I get nightmares.. A lot… Some nights I don't even sleep because I don't want to face what's waiting for me in my sleep…" He confessed, the chestnut haired boy nodded "How long have you been getting the nightmares for…?" He asked.

Ajit opened his mouth as if to speak then closed it again. Hesitant to answer. Dan waited as this repeated, then finally deciding to speak Ajit told him, "... Ever since I got abandoned for the second time.."

The taller's mouth fell open in an o of surprise. "That long…? And you didn't tell anyone?"

"There's nothing they'd be able to do. Telling someone would make them worried… I don't want people to worry about me.. They shouldn't have to put up with my dumb problems..."

It was at that moment a memory came flooding back to Dan. He'd lost all his confidence, he'd felt worthless, he didn't want to be part of the AO anymore out of fear he'd start hating them if he stayed with them any longer. His friends had ended up encouraging him though and he'd gone back to feeling like himself again… He should've just told them earlier before he'd gotten to that stage, they'd have helped him, he knows that now. But at the time he felt like telling them about his problems would be a mistake as they had their own things to worry about, they didn't need to hear his issues… Or so he'd thought, he'd gotten so unconfident he'd even begun to forget how great his friends were and how willing they would've been to help him…

Dan understood how Ajit felt… And he wasn't going to let his friend stay feeling like that. "I get that… You feel like telling people what's wrong will only make things worse because they'll worry about you but can't do anything, I've been there… Truth is though, even if they can't do anything, it's always best to talk about it. I'm right here you know, right beside you. Every time you have a nightmare you can wake me up and talk to me. And if having someone beside you would make you feel better you could come and sleep in my bed. Heck we could build a pillow fort and sleep in there if it'll make you feel better or help you get some sleep. I'm here for you Ajit, so are all the others. You're not alone and you never will be."

Ajit didn't respond and for a moment Dan worried he'd said the wrong thing… Then he heard a small sniffle. "T-Thank you Dan… It means a lot, a lot more than you could ever know…" Ajit smiled a tear rolling down his cheek. Dan nodded, blushing a little. "No problem." He put his arms around Ajit once more and once again Ajit quickly accepted the hug.

A few minutes later Ajit pulled back, "What's the time..?" The older looked over to the red framed clock on his wall. "It's about one thirty am… We should probably get some sleep." He answered quietly. Ajit nodded, "Um if it's not too much of a problem would you mind staying here with me tonight..?"

"If it'll help then I don't mind. Not in the slightest!" Dan replied cheerfully before realising he'd spoken a little loudly for half one in the morning. Ajit giggled slightly, lying down. "Goodnight Dan, and thank you..."

Dan lay down beside him. "It's no problem.. Goodnight Ajit…" He murmured, pulling the other close into a hug as they both drifted off to sleep.