Crescent x Gradient Oneshots

The Obligatory Yandere AU part 2

A/N: An alternate timeline. You know, since it's a time loop :>

Crescent had been having nightmares for a while. They were usually about one of his brothers dying in his arms, or his friends dying, or the multiverse ending and then everyone would die. In some of them, he was the one who died instead. Sometimes, he was alone. And sometimes, he had someone with him as he died.

He brought up the issue of his nightmares to his father because he was starting to lose sleep and all he had said was that Crescent needed to stop bothering him with stupid things.

He wondered if his father regretted that statement now. His nightmares weren't what got him captured, but they were the last thing they talked about and it led to an argument. Crescent felt bad, at least.

He wasn't sure what his captor wanted yet, but since he'd met him, Gradient had been showing up in his dreams. In some of them, the other had been really nice to him and he'd felt safe. Almost safer than he felt around his mother, and that was a hard bar to reach.

In his more recent ones, Gradient had been getting... a little possessive. That's really the only word Crescent could use to describe the behaviour that he was showing. Like he was now, using his strings to hold him and his soul in place. These dreams seemed more realistic, honestly.

Crescent didn't know what to do. On one hand, he didn't like being held hostage. On the other, Gradient had stated he had no ill intent against Crescent and his aura confirmed this. But then the strings around his soul seemed to be a warning of what would happen if he tried to escape...

He was just very confused and dare he say, a little scared.

"Good morning," Gradient called out as he opened the door and placed a plate of food down. "I brought breakfast."

Crescent flinched, glancing up at him, tendrils twitching weakly as he trembled. Gradient had never hurt him, but he was still a little afraid of him.

The thing was, Crescent still wasn't used to Gradient's new aura. His aura felt wrong in so many ways, and the fact that this was supposed to be his true aura...

It made him feel on edge and it was always the first aura he felt in the morning, being the closest and easiest to latch onto for some negativity.

But it was never enough.

"Good... good morning," he said replied.

"Is something wrong, Crescent?"

"N-no, nothing's wrong. I'm- I'm perfectly fine," he said quickly.

He hated how weak he sounded. As though he needed to confirm his power was diminishing to the other.

These nightmares were really messing with him, he shouldn't be so... so pathetic.

"It's okay. There's no reason to be scared," Gradient said, placing a hand on his cheek as though Crescent were a child he was comforting. "Tell me what's bothering you."

"You- you're bothering me," he replied, pulling away. Should he have said that? Would Gradient get mad? He seemed to have lots of patience, but...

"Me? Why's that?" he asked.

"Your aura," he said honestly. "The way you- you keep being so confusing. You be nice to me, but then you hold me hostage like this and I hate it. And then there's my stupid nightmares, the way dad never takes me seriously-"

"Nightmares? What nightmares?" Gradient asked, cutting him off. "You've never had any before?"

Crescent winced. He could never keep his mouth shut about his problems, could he? He always brought up things when he wasn't trying to.