Chapter Text
The melatonin got Kurt to sleep faster. He didn’t have time to dread the nightmare for long, but it meant he entered rem sleep much sooner. It meant it kept him asleep.
Kurt’s pov shifted once more as he felt his body shift over into the muggy, overwhelming heat that engulfed him and made his fuzz stick against him. Although it wasn’t just a flash this time, he could see everything. Feel it.
The fire burned around him, around red air and all sorts of warm shades of stone.
He walked through it, feet carrying him carefully over the rock barefoot, trying not to step on anything to hot. It was surprisingly cool under his feet.
The screams he heard last time were still present, but this time they weren’t overlapping. Well, they were but less so. It felt more… real. He couldent locate the source of them though.
He felt like he was walking for ages, but not getting anywhere. Everywhere was the same, brimstone. It smelled like his teleports. It was strange.
He didn’t notice a hand reach out behind him until it grabbed his cheek, he tried to move but couldn’t. It turned his head, but before he could see who it was he woke again, this time with a scream.
It took a second for him to stop, one hand clutching his chest, the other fisted in the sheets and his breathing ragged. His hands moved to close over the sides of his head as he pulled his knees to his chest. He hadn’t felt like this since the first week he had started getting them.
Pietro was sitting on his bed across the room reading again, but he had jolted when Kurt screamed. He hadn’t screamed since the first times he had started waking at 12. Pietro did check the clock, 12 again. But different almost. He was about to reach to mark the tally down and note the difference in how he woke, but froze when Kurt looked over at him.
He looked… scared.
“Hi…” Pietro said, super unsure how to react to this.
“Did I wake you?” Kurt asked. His voice was horse, like he had been screaming. Or hadent been speaking. It was unnerving to Pietro.
“Uh, no. No you didn’t, I was already awake. What’s different with you…?” Pietro asked.
He was annoyed when Kurt didn’t respond. He grabbed his notebook and took down the time and date, then he did a side note and wrote something.
‘He woke up more violent than normal. Refuses to answer my questions. Pry later.’
He slashed a tally in ink in the page of the cover and counted again.
68.
Good, still accurate.
Kurt shoved the blanket off of him and stood, stumbling and hitting his back against the wall. He slid down it and pulled his knees to his chest, closing his eyes. It was fine. just another nightmare.
But why did this one feel so real….
Pietro didn’t think he was a good person. He didn’t think anyone was actually a good person, if there were good people where were the when he needed them. Why didn’t anyone save him.
Was he not worth the trouble… it made sense if that was the reason, he didn’t think he was worth the trouble either.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t feel awkward as hell sitting on his bed while his roommate was sitting there on the floor.
How was he supposed to sleep with someone sitting there, it triggered his fight sensors. Maybe he was going to have to be nice. He wasn’t used to it, but he could try. So, he said:
“You getting acquainted with the floor?”
Shit.
Kurt glanced up at him, just starring. He didn’t have energy to do much else.
“We’re already having an illicit love affair. Don’t tell anyone.”
It took Pietro a second, but he snorted when it clicked. He stood and walked over, sitting about half a meter away from Kurt. He crossed one leg over the other and lent his head on that.
“That’s unfortunate, I’m doing the same with the floor.”
Kurt didn’t respond for a minute. He didn’t have the motivation to actually react, but he had calmed down somewhat.
“You brat, take my melatonin and my floor.”
“That’s life.”
Pietro was… more amused than annoyed now. Kurt wasn’t a bad roommate, but having to share his space always got on Pietro nerves, even if it was Kurt’s space first.
The guy wasn’t too bad when you got to know him, just a stickler. Well, he had been. For about a month before he started getting nightmares, now he was just tired all the time. No fun to tease.
“What was your nightmare about? It seemed… diffrent tonight. At least you woke up diffrent.”
Was that creepy? That was creepy right? How was he supposed to know how Kurt actual woke up-
“It was just more intense tonight.” Kurt responded. Either he didn’t notice the wording Peter had chosen, or he was simply too tired to care. Kurt was an astute person, so Pietro assumed the latter.
Pietro shrugged. He’d had nightmares before, but not ones that do that to him. He awkwardly patted Kurt on the shoulder. It was weird for both boys honestly. But Kurt nodded and glanced back to his bed.
“You think you’re going to go back to sleep?” Pietro asked.
“I don’t know…”
“Well you’ve already had one nightmare, you won’t have another tonight.”
“Yeah. Wait, how do you know that?”
Pietro stiffened when he was asked and his eyes darted around the room. How did he know? Well he took tally’s on Kurt’s nightmares and sleep- he took tally’s on everything! He couldent keep the thoughts in his mind so he did in books, but there was no way he was telling something so crystal to someone who he didn’t know very well.
“Because you’re only annoying once a night.”
Smoooooth.
Kurt just gave him a look and climbed back into his bed, shutting off his light. Pietro cursed himself for making it awkward and flicked his book light off before laying down himself. Tonight wasn’t the best night.
——————————
Kurt really enjoyed Storm’s class most of the time. He loved hearing about since and how the world worked, and her demonstrations to the class were always fun. He went to sit in his normal seat when Pietro discreetly yanked him to the back of the class. He used the excuse:
‘Your nightmare was worse last night, don’t need you being told off for falling asleep. Again. They’ll make us turn the lights of earlier and I don’t want a bedtime.’
Kurt wanted to protest, tell Pietro he was wrong. But he couldn’t honestly, he had fallen asleep a lot lately. In almost every class. And today was no different.
Storm was saying something about the weathers affect on erosion when he drifted off once more, slumping slightly.
His naps were normally peaceful. The images didn’t plague him, nor the may noises that
Surrounded him in deep sleep.
But not this nap. This nap was lucid. And he could hear echos.
‘My child…’
‘It is almost time.’
‘Don’t fight me…’
‘Let me in.’
‘Let me in….’
‘LET ME IN-‘
Kurt woke with a start, glancing around him. He was aware that his body was on the floor and Storm was standing over him, concerned. He caught Pietro’s gaze in the corner of his eye. He looked pale. Kurt tried to sit up but he felt Storm’s hand on his shoulder.
“Students,” she started. “Continue with your work, I have something to address.”
She helped Kurt up and escorted him out of class. Scott could see the looks on the other students faces. Scott looked confused. Jean, who was picking up on pretty much all his emotions, looked concerned. Kitty looked confused, like Scott. Todd was snickering.
But Pietro looked the most drastic in the back of the room. He looked like something was clicking in his mind that hadn’t before. He was looking at Kurt like he hadn’t ever seen him before.
When Kurt was out of the room Storm sat him on one of the couches, crouching in front of him.
“Kurt, how often do you have spasms?”
Kurt was confused. Spasms? What
Spasms?
“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.” He said carefully.
“You collapsed in your chair in front of everyone, is somthing going on with you? Any new stresses? Anything that would promote such a… physical reaction?” She asked. Her voice filled the hallway, it was strong but still had that tender concern obvious in it.
“I guess I’ve been having nightmares for a while… they’ve been getting worse recently. Other than that I don’t think anything’s different.” Kurt said.
Storm nodded sympathetically, like she thought there was something more in that.
“This time in anyone’s life is a big thing, especially for young mutants. Extra stress and a lack of sleep can culminate into more severe things. What stress is causing these nightmares?”
Kurt took a second to process what she was saying. His eye widened when he realised and his face shifted. He looked defensive now.
“It’s not stress! Something more is causing these, this isn’t normal Mrs!”
She nodded.
“Kurt, you’re safe talking with me. I’ve had kids who were adamant on this too, and slept much better after they talked about it. Please, be honest-“
“I’m not crazy!”
There was silence for a minute. Kurt couldn’t read the look on her face. She looked saddened slightly.
“it is ok, Mr Wagner. When you feel ready to talk you know where I am. You don’t have to worry about the homework, just take a walk around campus, ok?”
Kurt wanted to protest. He wanted to continue. He wanted to prove it, to make her believe that this wasn’t normal teenager stuff. But instead he nodded, watching as she left back into her classroom. He didn’t have any classes for the rest of the day, she had told his teachers he’d need some time. So he went to the library, and read up on nightmares.
It didn’t show him anything that was useful, in his opinion.
Dinner was uneventful, a few of his friends tried to interrogate him but Jean told the to give him some space. That was nice. He didn’t notice Pietro eyes digging into the back of his head, starring with the same stressed look he’d given Kurt in class.
Preparing for bed was boring took Kurt prepared himself for another round of nightmares. He took half a melatonin. He didn’t want the same nightmares as last night, he preferred his normal ones.
Pietro kept staring at him from across the room till he finally spoke.
“What do you want, Pietro?”
“…. Nothing. Just go to bed.”
That just made Kurt mad. No one was talking to him! Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
He got undercover and closed his eyes, quickly drifting off as he stewed. Pietro grabbed a fresh notebook and moved his desk chair closer to Kurt’s chair, writing something at the top of the page:
.
.
.
.
‘Symptoms of heritage:’