tried

The house was very dark. Ice cold too. As if there was a window left open somewhere that let the cold winter air in. The wooden planks creaked softly under the little weight of Raya's body. His bare feet freezing from the cold floor underneath him as he shuffled closer towards the common room door, voices he recognised all to well screaming on the other side. He stopped once he stood in front of it, his ear pressed against the wood as he held his breath and listened.

It sounded scary.

Raya reached up and opened the door to see what was going on, but immediately felt the air leave his body once his innocent eyes took in what was happening. His legs began shaking while his little hands grasped onto his nightgown for something to hold on to, his lower lip trembling at the sight in front of him.

"Mommy?" He mumbled softly, his voice cracking as a lump formed inside his throat at the disgusting metallic smell.

His father's eyes shot up at him, his hectic breathing stopping for a moment as he realised who he was looking at, his fists slowly unclenching from the man's shirt. Raya slowly looked up at his neighbour, those blue eyes already watching him. The corner of his mouth pulled up almost unnoticeably, but Raya noticed, causing him to frown and feel uneasy.

"Raya!" His father screamed, which caused the little boy's attention to be turned back to him. His big, brown eyes locking with his father's. "You need to go! Now!"

"But mommy—" Raya tried, his teary eyes flickering down to her body laying not too far away from him. A puddle of blood surrounding her unmoving body.

"I SAID GO!"

Raya gasped in fear, turning around on his heels as he fled back out of the common room. His father had never yelled at him like that. He looked scary. His normally warm, brown eyes were nothing like the ones staring back at him just a few moments ago.

Raya ran back to his room and slammed the door close behind him, his little feet carrying him to the chair in the corner. He pulled it with him and pushed it against the handle of the door, remembering the safety lessons his father taught him the moment he could talk. He scurried away from it once he heard footsteps coming closer, his poor heart thumping painfully fast against his ribs.

"Where you at boy? I just wanna help!" His neighbour, he could vaguely remembered being called Johnathan, yelled on the other side of the door. "Daddy told me to get ya back. Don't want to disappoint him now do ya?"

Raya held his breath the moment the handle jiggled at someone else's touch, though the chair held it in place once there was force used and luckily kept the big man out. It was quiet for a few seconds before a loud bang could be heard. The old wooden door creaking in protest. Raya whimpered at the loud sound, tucking himself further away in the opposite corner of the room, his back pressed against the cold stone wall behind him.

"COME OUT BOY!" Johnathon yelled, his fists starting to continuously slam on the door.

"Daddy!" Raya screamed desperately, tears escaping his eyes after trying to hold them in for so long, his body trembling in fear at the loud bangs. "DADDY!" He wailed, hands covering his ears to stop the scary yelling, trying to turn them out as best he could. Why didn't his daddy answer him? Why didn't he come to help him?

"Go away!" Raya screeched while crying, here and there choking on air by the way he was just so terrified. His lungs burning and his sight blurry from the tears. He pressed himself more into the stone wall as he squeezed his eyes shut, loud whimpers leaving his lips while the yelling and banging never stopped.

"GO AWAY!"

Raya gasped for air as he sat up in bed, his sweat covered body trembling while he tried to catch his breath. Once he realised it was just one of his nightmares again and he was not in danger, he breathed out a quiet sigh. He let his face fall into his hand and massaged his scalp with the other, a headache already hurting the insides of his head.

"Are you ok?"

The older gasped at the sudden voice in the room and looked beside him only to lock eyes with ones already watching him. Lixian slowly lifted himself up on his elbows, but Raya quickly pushed him back down with one hand, not wanting him to move or notice how much he was shaking right now.

"I'm ok." He hummed, swallowing an uneasy lump down in the meantime. Feeling lightheaded. "Just a bad dream."

The demon frowned at the obvious lie he was hearing right now, not liking how he just did it so easily while obviously not being okay. "Are you sure? You're shaking, Raya. That's not just from a bad dream." He reasoned softly.

"It's nothing." Raya waved away, turning away again to take a deep breath.

"I hear your heart beating crazily fast—"

"STOP analyzing me!" He snapped angrily, his face quickly morphing into a shocked one once he realised what he'd done. "I'm sorry..." He breathed softly, almost shakily. "I-I didn't... I didn't mean to yell at you like that."

Lixian's face softened at the tear filled eyes averting away, his distressed mate burying his face into his own hands before quiet sobs could reach his ears. He sat up while ignoring the pain in his stomach and carefully wrapped one arm around the older's shoulders, the contact causing Raya to break down completely and hide away in his chest. A strained frown formed onto the demon's face as the sad cries continued while he pulled Raya closer and almost engulfed him with his body. The human's trembling one grasping onto his, almost as if he was scared Lixian would leave him, desperate to have him as close as possible so he could prevent that.

"Shh, it's ok. I'm here." He consoled him softly, slightly rocking them from left to right like his mother used to do. "It's ok."

"Please don't leave me." Raya croaked out.

"Never, you're stuck with me." Lixian immediately responded, nuzzling closer into the curls he so adored. "You are mine and I am yours." He whispered into the closest ear he could find, which caused his human to curl more into him and nod.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you." Raya whispered after a few minutes of silence, his cries having turned into soft intakes for his snotty nose.

"Don't apologise, I'm not mad. You... do you want to talk about it?" Lixian carefully questioned.

"No, there is nothing to say, really. You already know what happened... I just relive it sometimes." Raya mumbled, hiding away in the crook of Lixian's neck. "...A lot more then sometimes these past few days, actually." He confessed eventually.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

The demon sounded offended, maybe even a little disappointed. "Because you had stuff going on as well, you know, I didn't want to overdo it and wanted you to focus on yourself and not me—"

"No, I still don't want you to suffer on your own. I mean, you would want me to be honest with you too, right?" Lixian reasoned.

"Yes." Raya breathed sadly.

"Then please don't hide things from me anymore, it's good to lessen your burdens by talking about them."

Raya smiled, slowly untangling himself from the warmth to lock eyes with him. "Since when are you so wise?"

Lixian grinned goofily, nuzzling the older's cheek with his nose before softly kissing it, his lips lingering near his ear. "Always have been. Want me to teach you something?"

The low, playful whispering sent a shiver down Raya's spine in the most delicious way possible and made him cup the younger's cheeks to lead his face closer. "You teaching me something? Are you sure you know more then me, love?" He whispered back, soft lips nipping the demon's earlobe in a playful manner.

Lixian chuckled lowly, hands finding their way under the warm blanket to skim along the exposed flesh while lips brushed the shell of the human's ear. "You'd be surprised."

Raya laughed as he was pushed down onto the bed, a heavy body pressing down onto his, almost pinning him down with his weight, while he was smothered by the softest of kisses. His mind forgetting about the nightmare and instead focused on his sweet demon devouring him.