You're Real After All....

Finally, Some Sleep

"I'm so sorry that happened to you, mate." Baz said once he sat down in the kitchen with Lewis. His tone was sympathetic and his expression was sad as he pat the younger male's back in an attempt to calm him down.

"He thinks I'm lying to him, Baz. He didn't even believe me!" Lewis whined and laid his head against the finished wood of the table. The pain in his eye was coming back and he could still recall the moment Darko hit him. He wasn't crazy.

"I know, bro. I'd love it if he did believe you, but it's not that simple. You can't expect him to buy the whole Darko thing without proof, can you?"

"I tried showing him the claw marks on my arm, but he thought they were mine."

Baz looked down at Lewis's rolled up sleeve and then down at his arm. There, he saw four long scratches across his skin. They looked like Freddy Krueger marks and were in no way close to what Lewis could do.

"When did that happen?" Baz asked and carefully ran his fingers across them. Lewis tensed up at the feeling, but relaxed after Baz gave him a small smile.

"I don't know. I noticed them when Ryan was helping me with my eye, but I didn't think it was a big deal at the time."

"Lewis, this is a big deal...you're cut up and bleeding. Why didn't you tell Ryan about it?" The older asked as he reached across the table and grabbed a small washcloth to clean Lewis's arm. The gamer leaned back against his chair and glanced at the British man asleep on his couch. He actually looked peaceful for the first time that day.

"Look at him, Baz. He's exhausted and stressed out from all this. I can't keep him here so he can take care of my injured ass. It's not fair to him."

"Lewis, he fucking sped us here. He wanted to see if you were alright— hell, he even stayed up all night with you to keep you safe. He cares about you, dude. As do I. You're not being unfair, okay? We WANT to be here."

"Even if I sound totally crazy?"

"Especially if you sound totally crazy. We're here for you, man."

Lewis sighed and laid his head down against the table's surface. He was beyond stressed about this whole situation, but knowing his friends were there for him and actually cared about this really seemed to calm him down.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Baz left to try and get Will to come back, Lewis was home alone with Ryan, who was finally awake. They sat on the couch watching TV, but Lewis kept nodding off. Ryan noticed this several times and decided to act on it.

"You can fall asleep. I'm up now. I won't let anything happen." Ryan said calmly as the gamer laid his head against his shoulder. His hand was holding Ryan's tightly and his heart was pounding against his chest. He was dreading the question, Ryan knew, but he was right. He WOULDN'T let anything happen to him.

Lewis NEEDED to sleep, but at the same time that he actually wanted to, he didn't. He was afraid of what was gonna happen to him—but more importantly, he was afraid of what could happen to Ryan. What if he got hurt? Or killed? 

It would be his fault...

"I-I don't want... to put you in that kind of danger." The brunette yawned and snuggled up closer against his friend. "I care too much about you to let you get hurt."

"Lewis, look at yourself. You're running on four hours of sleep and you have raccoon eyes, for fuck sake. I'm not asking you for permission. I'm telling ya how it's gonna be." Ryan's tone was stern and his heart was racing just as much as Lewis's.

"Ryan...I—" Lewis was interrupted once the blond wrapped him up in a nearby blanket.

"No more arguing about this, okay? I'm here to protect you. If I have to, I'll die for you."

And Lewis didn't argue that time, he just laid across the length of the couch and closed his tired ass eyes. He was asleep within a few minutes.