"Okay, I'm going to bed." Ray said, closing the biology book he and his roommate, and best friend Mikey had been sharing for their study time together. The other boy nodded, taking his glasses off to rub his eyes.

"Do you think we're prepared for the test?" Mikey asked, picking up the empty pizza boxes from earlier, placing them against the door so they wouldn't forget them when they left for school the next morning.

"We've been studying more than anyone else in our class, so I think we should be fine." Ray replied, yawning a little, stretching. "If I hear one more things about a mito...mitocon-midocod..."

"Mitochondria." Mikey said, smiling a bit as he helped Ray out with the word, and cell they had been studying for the past hour.

"That thing!" Ray exclaimed, laughing as he ran his hand through his hair. "If we have a presentation by the end of this week you'll have to give it cause I can't pronounce this stuff."

At the word 'presentation', Mikey began to inwardly panic, envisioning having to stand in front of a large class and talk. Just the thought of it made him feel dizzy and nauseous. "Um...yeah I can totally do that." He replied, biting the corner of his lip, digging his nails into his arm, small red semicircles starting to form.

"Woah woah woah! Don't do that, Mikey, you'll hurt yourself." Ray said, holding both of Mikey's hands, giving him a small smile. "If we have a presentation I can do it, you'll just have to give me lessons on how to pronounce things."

Mikey smiled a little back at Ray, a small blush creeping up his cheeks. "Thanks, you're the best." He said, hugging his friend tightly, his smile growing a bit as he looked up at him. "Okay, say mai."

Ray gave Mikey a confused look, shaking his head as he hugged him back. "Mai." He said reluctantly.

"Tuh kaan." Mikey said slowly, putting his glasses back on so he could properly see his roommate even though he was directly in front of him.

"This is stupid, Mikey."

"You wanted me to teach you, I'm teaching you." The younger replied, rolling his eyes. "Now just try it, huh?"

Ray rolled his eyes also, wrapping his arms around Mikey's neck gently, leaning against the door of their apartment. "Tuh kaan...and then it's dria?"

"Yep! Now put it all together, mitochondria."

"Mitochondria? Hell yeah I got it!" Ray said, grinning down at Mikey. "These are the things I get excited about at...one in the morning."

"You did not just say one in the morning." Mikey said, groaning a bit when he saw Ray nod, showing him the time on his phone. He buried his face into Ray's chest, exhaling deeply. "I'm staying right here." He spoke, his voice muffled.

"C'mon, Mikey, we gotta go to bed." Ray said, picking his friend up, making sure he was secure in his arms, carrying the smaller boy to the room they shared. It hadn't been the original plan for the two to share a bedroom with each other, but it was a better option then one sleeping on the couch, and the other on a bed, also they had two small beds crammed into the room, so it worked out fairly well.

"Okay, in you go." Ray said, prying Mikey's fingers off of his own shirt, getting him to lay down. "Are you gonna brush your teeth?"

"You're the one who carried me in here, genius." Mikey said sassily, quickly wrapping his arms around Ray's neck again. "And I don't wanna walk, and you're comfy, so I'm staying here."

"How am I comfy?" Ray asked, rolling his eyes as he carried Mikey to the bathroom that was only a few steps away, setting him on the counter since he didn't want to just drop him on the floor. "Also where are your retainers?"

"I don't know." Mikey spoke around the toothbrush in his mouth, glancing over at Ray. "Probably in the shower."

"Do I wanna know?" Ray asked, pulling back the shower curtain so he could grab the retainers, which were set next to a few almost empty bottles of shampoo and soap. "Of all the places you could possibly put your retainers-"

"The shower isn't the worst." Mikey said before snatching his retainers from Ray, putting them in his mouth. "Thank you, and wake me when we need to get to school."

Ray shot Mikey a thumbs up before brushing his own teeth quickly, having to hold onto the sink so he wouldn't fall onto it and hit his head. "Mikey, remind me to never stay up this late for studying."

"How about you learn what coffee is." Mikey called back, already laying in bed, reading a book from his English class, his glasses perched perfectly still on his nose. He was having to squint at the a bit, trying to pay attention to the words on the pages in front of him.

"Are you reading mockingbird again?" Ray asked, collapsing onto his bed as soon as he shut the light in their room off.

"Well now I'm not." Mikey replied, setting his book and glasses on the bedside table. "Hey, do you know where my pills are?"

"Your pills for what?"

"Sleep."

"Mikey, I thought you were gonna stop using those so you wouldn't rely on them."

"I know...do you think I'll be okay?"

Ray sat up, propping his chin up with his fist, looking over at Mikey, reaching to hold his hand. "Hey, it's gonna be okay I promise, I'm right here if you need me, and if you really really really need those pills you can take some, deal?"

Mikey smiled a bit, gently squeezing Ray's hand before letting it go. "Deal, I love you."

"I love you too, now get some sleep." Ray said, pulling the bedsheets over his own head, passing out in only a few seconds.

------------------------

Around three a.m. or so, Ray was woken up by an odd sound coming from the other side of the room. He stayed still in his bed for a moment, trying to identify what the sound was, not wanting to get up and have a jump-scare from Mikey probably walking back in the room from getting water or pills.

The sound began to die down, and Ray decided that it was probably just the neighbors who might be up doing who knows what. He rolled back over, but saw a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head a little, seeing his roommate twitching and thrashing on his bed, whimpering every now and then.

"Oh shit..." Ray muttered, climbing out of his own bed to go to Mikey, getting kicked in the knee in the process. He tried to shake his friend awake, but that didn't work very much, and he didn't want to slap Mikey across the face to wake him up, so he decided to just wrap his arms around him and hold him until he calmed down.

"Mikey, I'm right here, I'm right here." Ray said, gently rubbing Mikey's back, holding him closer as he noticed his breathing beginning to even out and become normal again. "I've got you, you're safe."

"R-Ray?" Mikey whimpered out, looking up at his friend. "Oh my gosh, Ray, I completely fucked up everything, and...and are you hurt? You were bleeding, and-and-"

"Woah woah, hey, breathe." Ray said, moving his hand up and down Mikey's side soothingly, frowning a bit at what he had said. "How did you fuck things up?"

Mikey took a shaky breath, wrapping his arms around Ray's neck. "We had the t-test, and we bombed it cause I made us get b-behind...and then w-we had a presentation we didn't prepare for, and we bombed that too...and our teacher got super pissed off, and after everyone left he h-hurt us, especially you...and it was my fault!" He said, now crying heavily.

"So you're telling me that Mr. Myers hurt us because of a presentation?" Ray asked, lifting Mikey's chin up a bit, wiping away his tears gently. "He probably wouldn't care, honey, you know he's the most laid back teacher."

Mikey shook his head. "When you say it like that it's fine...but he hurt you, and k-killed you, a-and he made me watch...and you were bleeding a ton and I couldn't do anything!"

"Oh my gosh, Mikey, that'll never happen, you know it won't." Ray said, kissing Mikey's forehead gently without giving it a thought. "I'm never gonna let someone hurt me or you, I promise."

Mikey nodded, his arms tightening around Ray. "I'm sorry for waking you up over dumb stuff..."

"It's okay, how about you go get in my bed, I'll go get your pills, and we can unwind and fall back asleep. Does that sound alright?" Ray asked, smiling a bit as he saw Mikey nod, letting go of him so he could crawl into Ray's bed, curling up into a tiny ball.

Ray went to go get the sleep pills Mikey kept in the bathroom cabinets, quickly finding it after removing everything else. He turned back around, seeing his roommate standing in the doorway, hugging a pillow to his chest. "Oh jeez, Mikey, I didn't think you'd be standing right there." Ray said.

"Sorry, I got scared." Mikey replied, his eyes focused on the carpet, not daring to look Ray in the eyes after that kind of stupid comment that had come out of his mouth.

"It's okay, let's just get you back to bed." Ray said, handing Mikey his pills, getting him to take them, then picked him up a few seconds later after he was sure his friend had swallowed them. "We don't have a presentation, you know that right?"

Mikey nodded, clinging onto Ray as they both lay down, holding tightly onto each other. "I know, but what if we do get one? I really don't wanna mess it up, or even talk in front of a class, they probably won't even be able to hear me! And I'll puke in front of everyo-"

Ray put his hand over Mikey's mouth, shaking his head. "Breathe, okay? That's not gonna happen." He said, moving his hand to press his lips against his friend's, kissing him softly. Mikey cuddled into Ray's chest, kissing him back, smiling a little, feeling much calmer now.

"Thanks, Ray, I love you." Mikey said after they broke away from each other, giggling a bit, holding onto small fistfuls of Ray's shirt, resting his head on his chest, listening to his heart beating.

"I love you too, Mikey." Ray said, kissing the top of the other boy's head, making him smile more. "And I'll protect you from all the nightmares, okay?"

"How are you gonna do that, you dork?" Mikey asked, looking back up at his roommate, who suddenly rolled over, pinning him against the bed which made him let out a small squeak.

"I'm gonna hold you the whole night, and if those nightmares come back I'll dropkick them, then kiss and cuddle you until you fall asleep again." Ray said, leaning down to kiss Mikey again, both of them smiling against each other's lips, their eyes falling shut.

"You can't dropkick a dream, Ray." Mikey said, giggling more as the older boy started to pepper his face with small kisses. "But I could get used to this."

Ray smiled, leaving one last kiss on Mikey's forehead. "Are you feeling better now?" He asked, smiling more as he saw him nod. "Okay, let's try to get some sleep, okay? We gotta get to school in a few hours, and as much as I love you, I do not wanna deal with a sleep deprived and cranky Mikey Way in the morning."

Mikey rolled his eyes, cuddling into Ray again. "And I don't wanna deal with a sleep deprived and zombie-like Ray Toro." He said, closing his eyes, sighing contently. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweet dreams, honey."

"Same to you." Mikey said before falling asleep in Ray's arms, feeling perfectly safe and sound.

(Okay yes I know it sucks, I ran out of ideas for this

Also ironicly enough I wrote this before I have to turn my phone in...also just wanted to let you know that I didn't proofread once again, so whoops)