Michael Afton x Reader (The Return/Stay By My Side 2)

Chapter 12: Stay

Y/n's POV:

"I'm sorry... This is all my fault... I should've never let you go... I'm so sorry..."

•••

I groaned quietly, not wanting to open my eyes. But I did out of fear to fall back asleep and have another one of those stupid nightmares. I knew they had some meaning behind them. But what was it?

Suddenly, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. I brought my head up and looked over at the foot of my bed to see Michael sitting there, facing away from me. I couldn't see his face but I could tell something was bothering him.

"Michael?" I called out sleepily as I reached out and turned on the night lamp. He turned around to look at me.

"Yes?"

"Why aren't you asleep?" I asked.

"Oh, I... just can't sleep."

I pushed myself up before crawling out from under the covers to sit next to him. Once I was beside him, I put my hand on his back.

"What's going on?"

He didn't say anything. He just stared at the floor with distress in his eyes.

"I don't want to talk about it."

I wanted to ask questions. I wanted to know what was going on in his mind. I wanted to help him. But he clearly didn't want to talk about it.

"Come on, at least get some sleep. Whatever's bothering you, I bet it's nothing some cuddling can't fix," I said. He smiled tiredly.

"I think you're right."

I turned back to my side of the bed and made my way under the covers again before turning off the lamp on my nightstand. He gladly did the same, making his way next to me. I slung an arm around his side.

"Whatever you have on your mind, just push it aside for now," I said. "You deserve a good night's rest. Okay?"

He sighed. "Okay."

Michael pulled me closer and held onto me, somewhat anxiously. I could feel his heart pounding a mile a minute.

"Are you gonna be okay?" I asked quietly.

"Huh?"

"I mean... I guess you don't have to tell me what's bothering you if you don't want to. But whatever it is... is it going to turn out okay?"

He let out another sigh, resting his chin on my shoulder. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be worrying you," he apologized.

"It's alright. Whatever it is, I'm sure you have a legitimate reason to be worried."

"Well... you're not wrong about that," he muttered.

He moved his head from my shoulder and looked at me before putting his hand on my cheek. He gave me a reassuring smile.

"I have a question... it's hypothetical of course," he began. "If anything ever happened to me... would you be okay?"

"What?"

"You'd be okay without me... right?"

"I— why are you— Michael, what are you talking about?" I stammered. "Why are you asking me this?"

He didn't answer for a moment but then sighed. "It's just... we're never promised tomorrow. I just want to know if you'd be alright."

"I mean... if anything happened to you, I don't know what I'd do. I'd be miserable, that's for sure."