Stand By Me One Shots/Imagines + Preferences (The Cobras x reader)

Bad Night (Ace & Eyeball's daughter)

(Y/N is about six in this; Kenny eight.)

Eyeball is woken up by the sound of a dog whining, and turns on the light to find Bonnie standing next to the bed. That can only mean one thing: something's wrong with the kids.

They've trained the dogs to alert them if they smell blood or the kids are crying, and it's already proved to be very useful.

The first time Bonnie appeared in their room in the middle of the night Ace and Eyeball had almost gotten a heart attack, instinctively fearing the worst — an intruder who hurt them, Y/N having strangulated herself with her blanket in her sleep, Kenny having fallen out of bed and broken his neck in the process. When they rushed into the bedroom the kids shared it turned out the reason Bonnie had woke them up had been a simple nightmare, and the next time it happened they didn't freak out quite as much.

It doesn't happen often, but often enough that they got used to it. Most of the time it's Bonnie that comes, because Y/N gets nightmares a lot more often than her brother.

Eyeball guesses that's the case tonight, too. He jumps up and follows the dog out of the room.

Kenny is sitting on Y/N's bed with her, rocking her back and forth in his arms while she sobs into his shoulder. Bonnie jumps onto the bed to join Clyde in laying on Y/N's legs.

"Oh, good thing you're up, Pa," Kenny says when he sees him. "Y/N had a nightmare."

The girl looks up at her brother's words and holds her arms out to Eyeball when she sees him. He sits down on the bed, lifting her from Kenny's lap into his own. The dogs follow like shadows, staying as close as they possibly can as she throws her arms around Richie's neck.

"Shh, it's alright, princess, I got you." He holds her close with one hand, strokes her hair with the other, feels his heart clench with every tear that wets his shirt. "Shh, shh, everything's alright, baby. You're okay, it was just a dream. You wanna tell me about it?"

"Nh-nh." She continues to cry into his neck for another minute, before looking up and, upon realizing Ace isn't there, asks, "Where's Dad?"

"He's in a different city for work until tomorrow, remember?"

Y/N stares up at him, more tears gathering in her big, pleading eyes as she clings to his shirt with one hand while the other clutches Bonnie tight against her side.

"But I want Daddy!" she sobs.

Eyeball tries not to show the hurt he's feeling on his face. He knows it's nothing against him, knows she loves him too. But Ace is her favorite, and he'll always be her favorite. He just has to accept that, and find a way to comfort her without his husband's help.

"I know, sweetie, I know. He'll be home tomorrow."

Y/N shakes her head and screams, "Now!", as if that would magically make her dad appear. Eyeball wishes it would. He also wishes Ace had given him a phone number to reach him under while he was gone, but he'd forgotten about that.

For lack of other ideas he starts singing a lullaby. It always works when Ace does it, but now Y/N tries to squirm out of Richie's arms and shakes her head so hard her hair hits him in the face.

"I don't want a lullaby, I want Daddy!"

"Okay, okay, no lullaby then. But Dad can't come now."

Y/N cries harder, and Eyeball has to fight back the panic that starts to rise in his chest when nothing he does can get her to stop. She just keeps crying and crying despite all his efforts, and he feels like doing the same. But he can't. He has to stay calm if he wants to have a chance of calming her down. Even if it seems impossible right now, he'll manage. He will. He has to. As long as he doesn't let this helplessness he's feeling paralyze him they'll be just fine.