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The room was completely silent but somehow everything was way too loud, the sound from his dream - a gunshot? screaming? - echoing, reverberating into reality and stifling all else. He sat up as the vision faded, chest heaving and tears beginning to form in his eyes.
Don’t cry. You can’t cry, you’ll wake the Chief up. Don’t cry, stop panicking. Stop panicking over a stupid dream. You aren’t a child. Go back to sleep. Pretend this didn’t happen.
He tugged on his bangs, hard, in an attempt to ground himself. The dull sting was nothing compared to the overwhelming static that seemed to surround him. He pressed his eyes shut, trying in vain to take in a breath, but only succeeding in letting out a sob-
Shit.
He tried to listen over the static rushing in his ears, but to no avail.
Please don’t wake up. Please don’t wake up. Please. Don’t burden yourself with my stupid-
“Yuma..?”
He froze as soon as he registered that there was someone kneeling in front of him.
“Yuma, are you okay? I thought I heard you crying?”
He lifted his head up to look at the man in front of him. More tears slipped out before he could stop them and he reached up with trembling hands to wipe his face.
“Oh. Y-you were crying. Well, are.”
He noticed how badly the boy was shaking and how his breathing had quickened.
“Hey, take a breath. You look like you’re about to pass out.”
He placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder and he flinched away from him, the boy’s hands reaching up to tug on his bangs again as his breathing got worse instead of calming down. He recoiled and thought desperately about what to do.
Shit, what do I even do here?? He’s completely unresponsive to anything I'm saying. But I..I can’t just leave him like this.
*************
He wasn’t even sure what happened before he felt cold against his skin. He jolted backwards, only to be pulled back by a pair of arms around him. He stopped struggling when he heard;
“Easy, easy. It’s alright, Yuma.”
That was the Chief’s voice. And he could feel that he was wearing his jacket…why was he wearing his jacket? And come to think of it, why was everything so cold and wet…?
He lifted his head up slowly, dazed. He had a death grip on the Chief’s jacket, and was shivering- why was he shivering? It was usually pretty warm in the office.
Something wet collided with the back of his neck and slid down, followed by several more. The sudden shock of cold made the static in his ears dissipate immediately and he choked on the sudden return of breath, gasping. His grip slowly loosened and his arms fell to his sides.
“There, I knew coming out here would work. Can you hear me now, kid?”
“...mhm..”
He hated how small his voice sounded as he stepped away. He was now able to take in his surroundings and realized that they’d gone outside. Mortified at the likely prospect of being carried , he immediately bowed in apology.
“I-i’m so sorry, Chief! It was selfish of me to wake you up. I-i’m sorry. Really.”
“Huh?”
“I’m sorry for waking you up! I-i promise it won’t happen again!”
“...Yuma. Are you…saying it was selfish of you to….have a panic attack…?”
“........”
“Kid..”
He could hear the Chief trying to suppress laughter as his face became red.
“S-still! I”m sorry!”
“Well, don’t be, idiot! ”
He straightened up and looked at his superior in confusion.
“You’re not mad?”
“Why would I be mad at you?? Kid, I don’t think you realize just how much I actually care about you idiots.”
“B-but I always just cause you trouble! Why would you-”
“Kid, if I thought you were too much trouble, I’d send you back to the WDO. But I happen to think you’re worth a damn or two.”
He put an arm around the boy and ruffled his hair with the other.
“To be honest, anytime you’ve gotten in trouble, I’ve been worried sick about you. Sure, I may have came off a little strong when you got back but……ah, never mind. Let’s just go back to sleep, I don’t even wanna know how late it is.”
He pulled the kid back inside and lightly pushed him towards the couch.
“Get some sleep, and just remember.”
Yuma turned around to look at him. He smiled fondly.
“I’ll be here anytime you wake up, okay?”
The boy gave him a weak smile before laying back down.
“Thanks, Chief.”