Fifty Darker Shades of EraserMic (Shades of EraserMic #2)

In the Night

Hizashi was used to sleepless nights. As a child, sleep had come with difficulty for quite a few years following his adoption. Even now, he had spent countless nights awake that he'd hidden from his husband due to his mind running around. Thoughts that simply wouldn't stop stinging him until he climbed out of bed once again. He had medication to take at night as needed should he need it but it was easy to forget about it. He hadn't had a rough night without sleep in God knows how long but he'd been thankful for it.

He'd always felt bad for his husband once he learned about his insomnia. The light sleep he suffered with for years and he'd done his best to remedy it for the black-haired man. Tried to make their bedroom a comforting area for the man to drop off into. Tried to establish that welcoming atmosphere for himself when he needed it. Sleepless nights had been a common thing for his husband along with himself. There were things that needed to be done that simply hadn't been touched upon during the daylight hours.

It often led to late nights where he'd fuss about trying to get his tasks done. Many late nights with the low dining room lights on as he and Shouta sat at the table doing their grading. Nights spent in the living room tapping away at his laptop while Shouta threw laundry in the dryer for tomorrow. Small tasks that had been forgotten when they were constantly going, going, going throughout the day with their task list ever growing. It certainly proved to be something that left him frazzled by the end of the day.

Left him high strung on the best of days when he was chasing after a seven-year-old Eri who was merely growing bolder in her curiosities. In pushing boundaries of that curiosity until he was sure the girl would give him a heart attack. Make him go gray before he was pushing fifty. There was hardly rest during the work week when that list of tasks was growing. When papers needed grading throughout the week and lesson plans tweaked for the best results. Hours ate up by that ever-growing task list of theirs.

Something that had them flying about to get done. It was merely inevitable he would find himself up late at night with Shouta but there were quite a few nights when he'd be up on his own. Slipping out of bed when he'd needed a moment to work out that strange energy. Nights spent sitting on the counters in the kitchen as he nursed a cup of water. Ate a few Oreos he'd snagged from the pack they kept up on top of the fridge. He rarely had a rough nights like his husband but there were simply some nights he couldn't.

When sleep refused to come to him. Where nothing he did would work and he remained alert. It was something he had come to accept it long ago. That some nights he was merely keyed up with no soothing balms of his working. Shouta, of course, had taken noticed of that odd sleeping pattern of his in the events of Oboro's death. When his sleep hardly touched him until he was dead on his feet trying to power through the rest of the school day. Trying to throw himself into tasks that kept his hands busy.

Kept his mind busy. It was only when they began having the occasional sleep over at his house in those early days did he realize Shouta was watching him. Tallying up the nights he spent avoiding his bed like the plague. The nights he simply couldn't sleep that led to hours on his phone trying to find something to soothe him to sleep. It was only when they'd moved into their first apartment did his husband confront him about it. Tried to get him to take his pills at night much like he was reminded to take his morning pills.

He hadn't seen much of a need but at the time he'd tried to sooth the black-haired man by doing what he could to sleep at night. At least, without the aid of alcohol that he'd been using during those years. It was always touch and go with his sleep. Some nights were easy to figure out when it flared up. To find the source to satisfy his racing mind enough to let him sleep. Other nights there simply wasn't a cause for it. It always led to a frustrating night for himself and Shouta but should they both be up at night?