Xavier was dreaming. And you were going to wake him up. 

You crept across the eerie bedroom, your shadow twisting and dancing across his sketch-littered wall. A persistent curiosity tapped on your skull like the rain that splattered outside. Glistening droplets battered the window, tapping, pushing, splashing. Even the wind thrashed wildly, whining to be let in. 

The storm itself pressed its dark face against the window, as if peering inside to discover Xavier's secrets. Why couldn't you wake him? Why had Rowan skittishly commanded you to feign sleep?

A light sheer of sweat glowed on Xavier's forehead, and he tensed with abrupt, hard flinches as if an invisible, harsh voice roared curses at him. 

You hesitated overtop him, studying his jagged movements with concern. 

His lips tightly pressed together, then quivering as if forced to watch a gruesome apocalypse. In an unconscious panic, Xavier shuddered, shaking so intensely that worry hurt your heart. You'd never seen anyone shake like that. 

"Xavier, are you good?" You uneasily whispered, touching his tensed, stiff shoulder. The arm of his red t-shirt felt damp against the solid muscle underneath. 

As if he was suffocating under black ocean waves, Xavier inhaled your touch like oxygen. His green eyes shuddered open, disoriented and miserable. Dragging a tired hand over his face, he choked out a single, silent sob. 

Embarrassed, you knotted your fingers together. From Rowan's hushed warning, you'd expected Xavier to scream berserk prophecies or to wake up slightly more grumpy than normal. You hadn't expected him to cry. 

He glanced to the side, stilling like a mountain lion when he noticed your silhouette. In the darkness, his eyes met yours with a guarded, crestfallen expression like you'd just caught him getting kicked on the pavement. 

After a frozen, quiet moment where even the shrieking wind held its breath, Xavier bit the inside of his cheek and dropped his hurt gaze. So unlike him, to look away first. 

"Are you okay?" You gingerly asked, but the question felt redundant. From the exhausted, gloomy darkness in his eyes, you knew he wasn't. 

"Let's not wake up Rowan, yeah?" Xavier lightly clamped his fingers around your wrist, weaving a wide berth around Rowan, who drifted out content, nasal snores. Usually, you would have indignantly snatched back your hand. But Xavier's assured hold wasn't one you minded following. 

He gently tugged you out the door, into the stretching, deep hallway. Scratchy, woolen rugs spilled underfoot, catching on your fuzzy socks. The air in the lonely hallway hung heavily, stagnant and tense. 

After silently pressing the door shut, Xavier sighed and turned to you. You could barely make out his outline in the dark, but you heard his slow, even breathing from above you. 

"Why'd you do that. Why'd you wake me up." A quiet, angry interrogation. 

"Because I felt bad," you hotly defended, suddenly pricking with guilt and stupidity.

"You didn't need to. It's not that bad," Xavier coldly said, but you heard the rush of his hands snaking up his arms to comfort himself. Liar. 

"I don't believe you." 

"Maybe you should. Maybe you should have believed Rowan and backed off," Xavier snapped, fury pulsing from his menacing, tall silhouette in waves. You nervously stepped back, and Xavier cursed under his breath. "I'm sorry, I'm being mean."

"What's new?" You countered instinctively, then wrinkled your nose. Xavier chuckled softly to let you know it was okay. 

"I have the dreams every week, you know," Xavier absentmindedly explained, careful to hush his intent voice. "They're prophetic. Unpredictable. They're almost always..." he swallowed hard, carefully playing with his fingers. "Dark. And scary."

"So why wouldn't you want me to wake you up if they're so miserable?" You fiercely whispered back, leaning against the swirled designs carved into the outside of your door. Xavier rested his shoulder against the intricate wood, echoing your movement and staring you straight in the eye. 

"Because, (y/n)," Xavier sighed with a tinge of annoyance, "Now all of my dreams will be about you."