After the sun had fully set and the sky had gone dark, with the moon and stars standing out, you and Nightmare had left for your home.
No words were exchanged between you and Nightmare. Instead you both settled for walking in silence while looking up at the world around you in awe.

The world, your town, at night seemed to be a completely different place once the sun set. Most shops were closed and the creatures of the night would take over the noise making. The air was cooler and strangely smelled like fresh water. The jacket you had on was serving its purpose as you barely felt cold at all. As for Nightmare, he was a skeleton so you figured he couldn't feel cold, also he was walking just fine.

On that thought, you take a glance at him and see that his purple eyes seem to glow in the dark as he scanned the scenery around him. His pupils wide, signifying that he had great interest in what he was seeing. You bet that your eyes were doing the same thing right now.

For the stars and stuff though, not Nightmare.

Anyways, you had finally reached your house and the sound of you unlocking the door seemed to snap Nightmare out of whatever trance he was in. You could feel him watching you intently from behind your back but you said nothing. Opening the door, you put everything where it belongs and you flopped onto your couch again.
Nightmare let's out a deep chuckle from watching you.

You sigh and sit up properly on the couch and you pat the cushion next to you. Nightmare comes over and sits next to you like you wanted. You lay back into the couch, relaxing your tense muscles best you could.

"So, you hungry?" You ask, thinking of stuff you could make.

"Uh, yeah, just a bit." You looked over at Nightmare to make sure he was fine since he sounded so hesitant when he answered you. He was sitting very stiffly and you could tell he was restraining himself from looking around.

"Hey, it's all right, it's just my house. Make yourself comfy, explore a bit!" You said in a cheerful tone, hoping to make him feel more comfortable. He seemed to become less tense hearing your words.

"Alright, I'm gonna go make soup for us then." You say, stretching as you get up from your couch. Walking into the kitchen, you hear Nightmare also get up and follow you. Casting a glance at him over your shoulder, he gives you a nervous smile.

"I-I just wanna watch you cook if that's alright." He said, moving his hand to rub the back of his neck. His cheekbones were a slight purple.

"Meh, that's ok." You say with a shrug and you move over to open one of your cabinets.

Quickly scanning over what exactly you had, you decide the kind of soup you were going to make is alphabet.
With a smile you crouch down to one of the lower side cabins and pull out a medium pot. Walking to the sink, you fill it a little over half way with water and then bring it to the stove. You turn on the stove and set the heat to high. You need to wait for the water to boil.

Taking this chance, you turn to your right where Nightmare is and almost stumble back when you see how close you are to each other. Your brain is fast enough though for you to recognize that's it's only Nightmare. You end up staring into his glowing purple eyes for a moment until he quickly takes a step back from you. He looks like he's about to say something when the sound of boiling water grabs your attention instead.

You quickly turn around, a blush growing on your face, and turn the heat down a bit. You then reach over to the counter on your left and grab the bag of alphabet soup noodles. Opening the bag, you dump them all into the water and add your own flavorings into the mix. Nightmares still watching you intently, you dig around in the your lid cabinet, searching for the right one to cover the pot.

Finding it, you walk over to the pot, stir it for a bit, and then put the lid on. You set a timer on your phone for however many minutes the package said it takes for the noodles to cook. Done with your work for now, you set your phone down and face Nightmare. He's at a good distance now this time.

"So, we just have to wait a bit for the soup to be ready. Anything you wanna do?" You asked, leading Nightmare back to the living room. He looks at you, still blushing slightly.

"Well, if it's alright, I'd like to read the books you got me." He said, pausing for a second before continuing.
"Would....would you like to read with me?" He asked looking to the side slightly. His left foot twisting a bit on the floor. You smiled.

"I'd love to read with you." You said and went over to settle down on the couch.

Nightmare joined you shortly after, digging through the bag trying to pick one. Huh, you forgot he brought those with him. He finally picked one and came over to sit next to you with it.
It was the fantasy one you picked.

Smiling, Nightmare opened the book and held it between you. It looked a bit uncomfortable for him so you decided to fix that.

You scooted over till your legs were touching and then you directed him to hold the left side of the book while you held the right. This was much better. The both of you seemed to be freaking out internally but both hid it pretty well. Except for the blush, nothing could be done about it.

All your years of reading helped you be able to read just as fast as Nightmare. Neither of you even had to ask if they were done in order to turn the page. The book was really interesting.

What book was it? Well, I'll let you figure that out. I'll leave clues of it to you. Don't worry, they won't be hard.

This fantasy world was divided, to say at the least. What they were divided by was something genetic, no one could choose who they were born as. One side seemingly stronger than the other. The weaker being forced to do the others bidding. War was a constant thing.

This reminded you of what you had learned in history class, the Human and Monster war. While many on both sides died, eventually peace was made and that was why the two species coexisted today. You wondered of the antagonist of the book you were reading would ever do the same.

The 1st conflict of the story was just starting to present itself when you heard your alarm go off. That meant the soup was ready. Gently giving the full book over to Nightmare, you get up and head for the kitchen.

Turning off the alarm, you walked to the stove, seeing that the soup was perfectly done. You reach over the pot and turn the heat off, stirring the soup.

"Nightmare, the soup is ready. Would you come here and get the bowls? They're just in there." You said, pointing to an area next to your sink.

"Of course." Nightmare said, smiling as he walked into the kitchen and went to where you pointed.

He returned to your side with the bowls and you started scooping soup into them. After that, you covered the rest of the soup and walked over to the dining table with both bowls.

You set his bowl down across from where you were sitting and once he sat down you hastily stood again. You forgot the spoons. When you grabbed them, you set one down next to Nightmare and sat back in your seat with your spoon already in hand.

"Well, hope you enjoy." You said with a smile as Nightmare smiled back. The smile was a bit shaky for some reason.

You scooped up your 1st spoonful of soup and blew on it before putting it in your mouth. You savored it for a few seconds, admiring your cooking skills, then swallowed it with a small smile. You went to keep eating but movement caught the corner of your eye, stopping you.

You looked up and saw that Nightmare was the one moving so much. After a second, you saw that he was struggling with the silver utensil. He had a bright purple blush on his face and he kept flickering his eyes to you, the blush seemingly growing every time.

Giving him a comforting smile, hoping he saw it, you get up and walk over to him.

You now stood behind him, the chair being the only thing separating the two of you. This caused you to blush a bit, making you distracted for a second before focusing again.

You gently guided his hand and fingers to be able to hold the spoon properly and then helped him guide his first spoonful of soup to his mouth. You let go and stood to his left, watching his savor the taste for a bit.

"(Y/N) this is amazing!" Nightmare said as his eyes seem to light up. You were almost suddenly overwhelmed with a mix of pride and joy, but before you could do something stupid you took a step back and smiled.

"Thank you, I'm glad you like it. Understand how to you a spoon now?" You said, ready to guide him again if needed.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Thanks for helping me by the way." Nightmare said, proving his point by shoveling another spoonful of soup into his mouth.
You giggled and went to sit back in your seat.

The rest to the evening progressed quickly, you and Nightmare talking over various things and even the book you two had read. Mare was the main characters name. She was a thief only because she had to be and Nightmare seemed to identify with the fact of being something you don't want to be.

Eventually, Nightmare got tired and had politely asked you where he would sleep. You then showed him to the guest room and told him that the thing he would sleep on was the bed.
He too found it very soft, just as Dream had.

Once he was comfortable, you left for your own room. You let out a breath of contentment and smiled as you felt yourself start to drift.
Looks like you were getting some sleep tonight.

Of course, that relief didn't last long though. Your sleeping body started to get restless as your conscious started to morph into the thing you dreaded most.
The seemingly black, dreamless sleep you were about to have was turning into, not just a nightmare, but a nightmare of your past.

○○○○○●○○○●●●●●○○●●●●●●●○●●●●●●●
Trees.

Countless trees crossed your vision as you looked out the window.

If only you were looking forward.

You were 15 at the time.
Mom was driving you and your family to a lake you knew. The sun was out and nothing but plans for what you would do at the lake filled your mind.

Maybe then, you would have seen it.

Your father was nonexistent in your life, he bailed when your mom was pregnant with you. That didn't matter though. Your mom, older sister, and younger brother were enough.

You could have saved them.

You were in the middle seat, your 12 year old brother to your left. Your older sister, 18, in the passenger seat. You were all so happy.

But you didn't.

It happened so fast. No one saw it coming till it was too late.

You're all alone now.

A truck, driver on his phone, rammed into the left side of your car. The screams. Oh the screams, you hate them so. They always haunt you.

You don't deserve to be happy anymore.

Your mother and brother died on impact and your sister was taken to the hospital unconscious.
You however, weren't wearing your seat belt so you somehow flew out the window, skidding across the road a few feet away from the wreck. The glass was everywhere, showing you how your life was now.

Broken, never fixable again.

You were taken to the hospital with your sister. She was put in the ICU while your were treated in the main section of the hospital.

Hide the shards, glue the outside back together.

Your sister didn't make it. All you had was a broken arm and several scratches on you face. Once the doctors told you what had happened, you ran away.

No one can see just how broken you are.

You ended up running to here, In the very town you lived, working until you could get a place of your own.

Act normal, look normal, BE NORMAL.

●●●●●●●○●●●●●●○○●●●●○○○●○○○○○○○

You forced your eyes open, feeling the tears still rolling down on your cheeks. You closed you mouth, know that you probably were sobbing out loud, and hoped that Nightmare hadn't heard you. That's when you felt it.

Warmth.

You felt warmth along you side and you suddenly noticed a weight on your head. You realized that you were sitting in someone's lap sideways and your head was tucked under their chin.

"(N/N)? Are you alright now?" Nightmares voice broke through your quiet sniffles and you felt yourself tremble. Nightmare started rubbing your back.

"Hey, hey, it's alright. I'm here, you don't have to worry anymore." He said, his voice having a very gentle tone to it. You then turned yourself to that you could hug him back and you lifted your head to rest on his shoulder. Nightmares head moved to press against the side for your face.

"Thank you." You shakily whisper out as Nightmare nods his head.

"Of course." He whispered back and you suddenly passed out again. Your mind blacking out as you felt your body slump against his.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ahhhhhh!!!

I'm sorry, this took way to long and I bet it was still weird in a few parts.

I honestly don't even know how to make soup so don't get mad at me pls.

I promise I'm still working on my books, it's just taking a bit since i want the chapters to be longer.

Hope you can bear with me here.

Anyways, I'll see you in the next chapter!