Nighttime's Nightmares

You had been living with Dazai for several months now, and everything had been going quite smoothly. But ever since you had gone on your first real mission for the Port Mafia together, you had noticed some changes in Dazai. More specifically his sleep schedule.

Not that it affected you; as a night owl your sleep schedule was something that would scare a normal person. The issue was, Dazai had started sleep-walking. Or what you could only assume was sleepwalking, as he would wander around your apartment and then stop in front of your room and just... stand there. You even tried leaving your door in different positions: closed, halfway open, just to see if he would come in or if it would deter him.

But it didn't seem to be working either way, and you had been too scared to bring it up with him when he was awake because he always seemed distracted by his feelings and you didn't want to add some other possibly stressful aspect to his life.

Tonight was no different; in fact, you could hear him walking out of his room as you pondered his sleepwalking schedule.

You quickly checked the clock on your nightstand. 1:34 am. He was early.

Usually, Dazai starts sleepwalking around 2 am. You don't usually enjoy asking yourself why you're still up at this time, but the point was-tonight was different. Maybe you would get a definitive answer as to what exactly he was doing.

Moments later, Dazai appeared at your door, which you had left halfway open. You sat back against your headboard and tried to look as invested as possible in the book you were reading.

Several minutes later, just as you were beginning to wonder if you had been overthinking, you heard a tentative, quiet knock on your door.

"Y/n?" Dazai's sleepy voice called through the crack in your door. He sounded strangely...sad? You weren't quite sure, but you were certainly concerned. He had never reached out to you with any of his problems and certainly not in the middle of the night.

You looked up from your book and called back, "Yes?"

"...Can I come in?"

"Yeah," you replied, sliding a bookmark into your book and setting it on your nightstand. "What's up?"

"I dunno...not much- can I sit?" He asked, motioning towards your bed.

"Sure," you said, scooting over. "But something has to be wrong. You never come into my room in the middle of the night."

"Well, I- it seems stupid now. I should leave-"

"No, you just sat down. Talk to me," you encouraged.

"It's just that, you know, ever since our last mission, I've - can you not stare at me while I get all vulnerable?" Dazai asked, lying down next to you.

"Sorry, sorry," you said, covering your eyes. "Is this better?"

"...Sure..." He paused for several seconds, assumingly composing his thoughts. "I can't get it out of my head y/n. It plagues me. Every night, I-I see you there, in that warehouse just-" His words trailed off as shallow sobs overtook his ability to talk.

"Shh, sh-sh...it's ok, I'm still here." You whispered, grabbing his hand in yours.

"And you're just there on the floor mangled and torn like that child, and all I can do is sit and watch you die because I- because I don't even know anymore!" Dazai cried in a broken voice. You were finding it hard not to start getting emotional yourself. Seeing Dazai in this much pain was making your heart crack a little around the edges, and you felt your throat constricting. Even now, you felt that all you could do was just be there and hold his hand and tell him that it was gonna be ok. Beyond that, you didn't know much about dealing with these situations.