This one was requested by my sister, Fan_FictionGirl1 ! Thank you sis for requesting!! 

POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING! IF YOU DON'T LIKE VIOLENCE, DON'T READ. Thank you!

It's late at night and Shintaro wakes up from a nightmare about the Dark Lord. (Probably a memory from childhood all that Jazz.) He gets up and walks out of the room to calm himself in private, but ends up having a bit of a panic attack out in the kitchen, pacing, panting, mumbling, the angsty stuff 😅 Falte wakes up cus he hears him wondering around and goes to out to see what's wrong. He kinda freaks out about Shin but he does his best to keep cool as he calms his friend down. Total bromance moment cus Falte can relate to what Shin went through.

I'm going to have

FUN 

with this one.

MWAHAHAHAH-

~

Pain throbbed in the back of Shintaro's head, but it was distant and soft, only a memory from the past. Shintaro jolted upward in his bed, his body forcing him into a sitting position. Almost immediately, he lurched forward, almost bending in half onto his thighs, pressing his hands to his chest and gasping in terror. The memory of his father's fist sailing through the air, right toward his head, replayed in his head as he trembled in the darkness. 

Shintaro straightened his back, clamping his mouth shut to contain his shaky gasps. He needed to get up, to walk around, to do something. He threw the blankets off his legs, swung them down, and stood sharply, carefully avoiding Kai's air mattress. He shuffled away from the beds, rushing toward the door as quietly as he could. He opened it and slipped out, pressing his right hand to his head as a small headache began to pulse behind his temples. 

He walked through the living room with soft steps, forcing himself to hold his breath so he wouldn't wake Linda or Abby. He knew Abby wasn't a light sleeper, but he wasn't so sure about Linda. He didn't want to wake her up in the middle of the night. 

Not knowing where else to go, Shintaro roamed into the kitchen and began pacing, trying to take deep breaths to calm himself down. He tried to push the memories that were piling up out of his head, but each and every move of cowardice Shintaro showed as his father punished him replayed one by one in his head. 

The first time he'd failed his father. 

Brethren had grabbed the first thing he'd seen and thrown it - a lamp, crashing into Shintaro's back and creating black and blue bruises. 

The first time he'd argued. 

Brethren had grabbed Shintaro by the neck and tossed him against the wall, knocking the wind of his son's lungs and creating red marks on his neck.

The first time he'd stood up for his weak brother.

Brethren had turned to him sharply, swinging his arm around and connecting his palm to Shintaro's jaw, sending him tumbling backward with Cami's screams filling his ears. 

The first time he'd protected his mother. 

Brethren had grabbed him by the ponytail and yanked him away from Lilac, tripping Shintaro and sending him tumbling to the floor. 

The first time he'd tried to fight back. 

Brethren had grabbed him by the fists and thrown him to the floor in a fit of disbelief and rage, kicking Shintaro hard in the ribs when he was down on the floor. 

It had hurt to breathe for weeks after that. 

Shintaro was faintly aware of his nails biting in his palms as he clenched his hands at his sides, pacing around the kitchen mindlessly. He was aware that he should be more quiet, but he wasn't even trying to hide it anymore. He felt his lips moving, but he couldn't hear himself. He could hardly see the kitchen tiles that were under his feet. 

He could only see his father's angry face. 

~

WHAT IS THAT INFERNAL NOISE? was the first thing Falte thought as he awoke to soft, consistent thudding coming from outside of his room. He groaned in exasperation, rolling onto his left to squint at his clock in order to see what time it was. When he finally made out the numbers, he realized how early it was - 3:34 A.M. He grunted in slight annoyance and tugged his blankets over his face, hoping the thudding would go away so he could fall back asleep. 

After about ten minutes, Falte flung the blankets away from him and sat up, reaching for his glasses case. He opened it and set his glasses on his face, blinking to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. He stood up, smoothed down his T-Shirt, unrolled his bunched up sweatpants, and headed to his door. 

Someone was definitely awake, but what in the world were they doing? 

Falte opened the door and slipped out, peering around the corner and finding no one in the hallway. He crept forward and walked out into the living room, turning toward the first kitchen doorway. 

Shintaro was pacing around the kitchen floor, one hand on the bridge of his nose, and the other clenched tightly at his side. In the dim light, he looked pale and shaky as he turned toward Falte but didn't see him. 

Confused, Falte strode forward and stopped directly in Shintaro's path, lifting his hand to take his friend by the forearm (Curse my shortness, Falte swore in his mind.). As his fingers closed around Shintaro's arm, the taller man jolted backward with a suppressed cry, startling Falte and backing a few feet away from him. 

 "Sorry," Falte said quickly, dropping his hands back to his sides as Shintaro gasped, in and out, a little too quickly for Falte's comfort. "I didn't mean to startle you. Are you alright?" He didn't look alright, which made Falte a little nervous. 

Shintaro didn't reply, inhaling and exhaling through his mouth as he stared directly at Falte. His shoulders and hands shook at his sides, and he balled his hands into fists again. Just before Falte could ask again, Shintaro made a guttural noise in his throat and squeezed his eyes shut, dipping his head forward and breathing now through his nose. 

Falte, frowning worriedly, moved forward and, this time carefully, touched Shintaro's forearm. Shintaro flinched again, but he didn't try to move away. 

"Shintaro," Falte said, adding a little more firmness behind his words. "Talk to me. Are you alright?" He wrapped his hand around Shintaro's forearm gently. 

It took Shintaro a few moments to answer, but this time he did. He opened his mouth, taking in a shaky breath, and spoke breathlessly. "No," he choked out, shaking his head once, twice, three times. 

Falte bit his lip, worried for his friend. "What's wrong? Do you mind telling me?" 

When Shintaro lifted his free arm to put his hand on his face again, Falte firmly but gently grabbed it and forcefully lowered it back down. "The hand stays off the face," he said to Shintaro. "Chin up." He let go of Shintaro's arm and lifted his hand, touching Shintaro's chin and lifting his head upward - at least a little - so their eyes met.

Shintaro took a long breath through his nose, keeping his eyes on Falte almost desperately. Falte's hand didn't leave Shintaro's chin, keeping his friend's head up. 

"Tell me what's going on so I can help you," Falte said gently. 

"You can't help me," Shintaro said shakily, his yellow eyes finally dropping away. 

"Eyes on me. How do you know that?" he challenged after Shintaro looked back up at him. 

"You can't," Shintaro repeated as if Falte was a preschooler learning two plus two. Falte would have laughed at his tone if Shintaro's voice wasn't shaking and the situation was different. "You cannot help me, Falte. This isn't something... You can just... talk away." 

"Well, we don't know that until we find out," Falte said with a shrug. "Tell me what's going on. Trust me, Shintaro, talking about it is much better than keeping it locked inside. I know this from experience." 

Now it was Shintaro's turn to look concerned, but the expression didn't last long as he forcefully shook his head with a frown. "No, Falte. I... I don't want to talk about it." 

"Okay, then I'll make guesses," Falte said slightly playfully. He took a breath to speak again, and as he'd expected, Shintaro interrupted him sharply with a "NO."

Falte raised his eyebrow up at Shintaro, letting go of his chin and arm and putting his hands on his hips. "Shintaro, you can tell me what's going on. First of all, I'm not going to judge you or something. Second, it hurts to keep it inside, and I'm very aware of this. Third, I'm your friend. You should trust me enough to tell me these things."  

Shintaro opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came out. Frowning, he clamped his mouth shut again with a sigh through his nose. "I told you, I don't want to talk about it." 

"You think you don't now," Falte said firmly, "but when you keep it in for another while, you'll wish you'd said something when you had the chance. You don't have to tell me much," he said, softening his voice as Shintaro looked into his eyes again. "Just tell me what you think I'd understand." 

Shintaro lifted his arm to put his hand on his face again, and Falte stopped him again, earning himself a frown from the taller man.

But thankfully, Shintaro listened and acted. 

"Nightmare," he said shortly, looking away from Falte sheepishly. "Of ... when I was younger." 

Falte jabbed his finger into Shintaro's nose. "Having a nightmare is nothing to be ashamed of, you dolt. I have nightmares occasionally, too, you know." 

"Of what?" Shintaro said disbelievingly. "Just normal nightmares that don't make sense? Or do you dream about an abusive father too?" He'd meant the last part as sarcasm, Falte knew, and as soon as it had come out of his mouth, Shintaro looked like he regretted it. 

But Falte understood. 

"Actually," Falte said softly, taking his turn to look away from his friend. "Yes. It wasn't just my father, though. My many siblings hated me too." He breathed deeply through his nose, unwilling to let the memories of his family laughing at him flood into his head.

Shintaro's stunned silence made Falte look back up. Shintaro's eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth was open, his eyes full of shock and concern and confusion. "You..." he started, paused, shook his head, then continued. "You were abused?" 

Falte chuckled a little. "Yeah, I know. Not something you'd expect from me. I tried not to let it have an effect on me, and with my wife's help, it worked. All I needed was someone to talk to, to let it all out and get over it." He shrugged sheepishly. "It's not something I bring up often." 

"I'm sorry," Shintaro said softly. "I didn't know." His hand rested on Falte's shoulder gently, reassuringly. 

"Yeah, well," Falte said, "Kai didn't for a while either, and he's my family. Anyway," he said firmly. "We're talking about you, not me." He paused, then carefully asked, "Your father abused you?" 

Shintaro's shoulders tensed, his grip on Falte's shoulder tightening a little bit. He looked away and sighed. "Yes. Whenever he got the chance or just was angry. It didn't have to be me he was angry at. My brother and I were terrified of him." 

"I can see why," Falte said. "He sounded like a jerk! People that do things like that without reasoning - though there's never a reason to abuse anybody - make me want to punch them in the face." 

Shintaro scrunched up his face weirdly, and Falte got the impression that he was trying not to smile. Though it made Falte happy that he was helping Shintaro feel better, he knew what Shintaro was trying not to smile about. 

"Don't you dare say anything about how I'm not intimidating," Falte said, pointing a finger in Shintaro's face. "I can be scary when I want to. Believe me, Kai knows that." He laughed a little when he remembered the look on his son's little face when Falte had first gotten mad at him. 

Shintaro raised his hands in a surrender gesture, shrugging his shoulders. "I'll pretend to believe you." He let out a long sigh through his mouth, then lowered his hands. "Come on, it's late. We should get to bed." He started toward the kitchen doorway, turning his back to Falte. 

"Shin," Falte said, stopping the taller man. "If you need to talk again, I'm always here." 

~

OH YEAH, BROMANCE-