Angels In The Night
Title: Angels In the Night
Pairing: nick/kevin/joe
Rating: Teen
Summary: All his life Nick has suffered from nightmares, all his life Kevin and Joe had helped him through
A/N - I had this idea for ages and I finally put it to paper and it didn't come out how i wanted it to but i guess thats life.
Kevin twisted in his bed the sheets tangling around his body. He sat up and untangled himself from the sheets and stared at the clock; 2:52. He frowned. He got up and headed to the toilet and stopped outside Nicks room. He opened the door softly and listened, the sound breaking his heart. Nick was crying, curled up on his side holding his 'Mr President' pillow tight to his chest. Kevin wished it was a completely new sight to him, but it was something he saw almost every night since Nick was four. He walked in and sat on the bed, the instant Nick felt his presence he wrapped his arms around Kevin's waist and went from crying into the pillow to crying on his oldest brothers chest.
“It's okay,” Kevin said softly as he rubbed soothing circles up and down Nicks back. “You're okay.” Kevin said gently trying to lore his brother into a restless sleep because it was better then this. Nick didn't speak when this happened, he cried and clutched on to his brother as if Kevin was his life support and letting go would mean turning it off. But Kevin didn't mind, he held on just as tight and swayed slightly to calm Nick down.
Nick suffered from nightmares. Had done his whole life. There were no explanations, the doctors had said it wasn't unusual but normally happened if something happens in a persons life. But nothing had ever happened to Nick. Kevin remembered when Nick was just a baby and almost every night he could hear earth shattering screams that had everyone up, including Joe who was extremely hard to wake up. Their mum had taken Nick to a doctors a few months after it first happened scared that something was wrong with her baby, but when the doctors ran every test they had found nothing wrong. He had given him some medicine to help him sleep and for a little while they worked, but sooner or later he would wake up screaming again. As a baby Nick couldn't tell them what was wrong, he couldn't say the word 'mumma' so he wasn't able to tell them about his dreams. But as it continued onto when he was a toddler their mum had taken him back with bags under her eyes asking for help. The doctor ran some more tests and stated physically Nick was a healthy four year old, but when he did some more tests with shapes, colours and asked Nick some questions he had said it was nightmares.
No one knew what the nightmares were about. The doctor had explained everything to them; “Nightmares can be about different things.” He had said simply as if everyone in the room were extremely simple. Everyone in the room at the time consisted of their parents, Kevin, Nick and Joe. Nick was sat on his mums lap but his chubby four year old fingers were firmly attached to Kevin's.
“I had a nightmare about a werewolf!” Joe had said. “But when I woke up mum tucked me back in and told me it was just a bad dream and they can't get me.” Joe looked over at Nick and held out his hand, with his free hand Nick grabbed hold of his other brothers hand and held on tight. “There can't hurt you Nicky.” Joe smiled. “Just dreams.”
“Just dreams.” A four year old repeated and smiled when it sounded to him he had pronounced the words right. The dreams did nothing to him when he was awake; when he was awake he was loud and bubbly like a normal four year old boy.
“Yes that's right Joseph.” The doctor smiled at the seven year old who grinned back. “But with Nicholas the dreams will seem more real, and they wont have meanings like werewolves or monsters. When he was a baby they might have just been horrible colours but slowly they're progressing.”
“Can you stop them?” Their father asked.
“No.” The doctor said sadly. “We can give him sleeping pills but they shouldn't be something to take all the time in case he gets addicted.”
“He's four years old he can't get addicted to anything.” Their mum said as if the doctor was completely mad.
“Yes but his body will slowly start to depend on them. In many cases the nightmares stop as the body grows.” The doctor added hopefully. “If they do continue we can offer therapy to try and understand them more, and there are lots of herbal remedies around rumoured to stop nightmares.” And that was all the doctor had said.
Sixteen years later and Nick was still suffering from nightmares. He went to therapy once a week but never told anyone in the family what the dreams were about. When things got too bad their mum had given Nick sleeping pills to help him sleep, but never long enough for him to get addicted. Up until the age of eleven when Nick had been old enough to walk he had always crawled or stumbled his way into Kevin or Joe's room looking for a hug from his brothers who would climb into one bed and just make sure he knew that they were there to protect him from reality even though they wanted to protect him from his nightmares.
“Kev, Nick...” Joe's voice was heard from the door and both brothers looked up. Nick had his own room because his parents didn't want him waking up Frankie, though they all knew this made sense Joe and Kevin said they didn't mind sharing with him because they didn't want him to be alone when he woke up. Joe walked over to them and sat on the other side of Nick and wrapped an arm around him.
“You should have come into our room.” Kevin said softly. At age eleven the nightmares seemed to slow down, instead of three or four times a nights a week they would happen once a week if that and when they happened Nick woke up crying but calmed down before his brothers or parents woke up and suffered alone. For a while everyone thought they had stopped it wasn't until just before Nicks twelfth birthday when Kevin walked to the bathroom one night he heard his brother crying and knew it hadn't stopped at all.
“Too big to sleep with my brothers.” Nick mumbled into his brothers chest. Joe smiled and traced patterns over Nicks stomach.
“Maybe, but you'll always be our little brother.” Joe said softly.
“We don't want you to suffer on your own.” Kevin sighed, because when Nick was eleven he had been withdrawn thinking he was a grown up when really he was hurting even more. Neither Kevin nor Joe ever wanted to see his brother like that again.
“Our beds big enough for three.” Joe smiled.
It was easier when they were on tour, they would order one room for the three of them with a king size bed and would sleep together. Nick firmly in the middle. Many nights on tour Nick was too exhausted and slept through his nightmares and they would wake up in the morning as the sun lit through the curtains tangled together, legs and arms around each other. Kevin and Joe feeling as though they had protected their brother throughout the night and Nick feeling protected and loved and as if nothing could ever make him hurt again.
“It's okay to be scared,” Kevin said as he felt his brother continue to shake next to him even under the thick covers.
“Kevin still gets scared of the dark.” Joe teased causing Nick to giggle lightly next to him. “And I still get scared when I see your face in the morning.”
“Hey,” Nick pouted and they were swept away in a comfortable silence. “I wish I could be normal.”
“Normal?” Kevin grinned though Nick couldn't see it but the youngest of the three could tell he was grinning. “We're rock stars, we're never going to be normal.”
“Exactly.” Joe chuckled. “We're adored by millions. Nothing normal about that.”
“But...you two...you don't have nightmares like a baby.” Nick sighed, his left hand was wrapped around Kevin's fingers, as his right around Joe's much like when he was four years old at the doctors and Joe was giggling about his werewolf dream.
“I don't know, I still have nightmares.” Kevin said truthfully, “And I'm not a baby.”
“You do?” Nick asked his tone clearly amazed that someone as strong as Kevin could have nightmares.
“Not as bad as yours Nicky J, but yeah I have nightmares.” Kevin said softly.
“'bout what?” Nick asked blinking up at his big brother.
“Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I don't remember what happened but I know they were scary because I'd be shaking. Others I remember being chased or one of you two getting hurt.”
“Your nightmares are about us?” Joe asked.
“Some are.” Kevin shrugged.
“Do you have nightmares Joe?” Nick asked looking at Joe.
“Yeah, Nicky. I have nightmares too.” Joe smiled weakly. “Werewolves mainly but I think that's because I crept into the living room one night when dad was watching a horror film about them when I was little. Most of the time I can't remember them.”
“Do you remember yours Nicky?” Kevin asked his fingers playing with his little brothers hair.
“Yeah, I remember most of them.” Nick shuddered and both brothers held on tighter. “I don't know where they come from.”
“Nightmares don't come from anywhere.” Joe said, when he was thirteen he had asked his mum about them, he wanted to know everything about why they happened to his brother and always wanted to know if they found a cure to stop them. When Joe would tell a fifteen year old Kevin that there was still no cure to help Nick he would remind him that Nicky still had them and as long as they were there Nicky would be okay.
“They just happen, like dreams. Some times you can trigger one if you think about something before you go to bed, like Joe with werewolves, but sometimes they just happen and no one knows why.”
“What happens in yours?” Joe asked rubbing his thumb over Nicks knuckles.
“There's always blood.” Nick mumbles focussing on the threading of his top, or the colour of his brothers bottoms, never their faces. “Sometimes I see people's faces. Always dead and I'm always standing in the middle of it all.”
“There just dreams, and I know they're horrible but they're just dreams.” Kevin was startled, he wasn't sure what he had expected his brother to say but he wasn't expecting that.
“I always try to stop it. Especially when I see you two...but I'm always too late. I can't save you.” Nick cried and both his brothers held him closer, the three so close and holding each other so tight they were practically one person.
“You save us every day.” Joe whispered in his ear.
“I do?” Nick asked weakly.
“Yeah, you do.” Kevin replied softly. “By just being you every day you save us. You make life okay, Nicky.”
“I wish we could stop the nightmares Nicky.” Joe sighed.
“Maybe you can't make the nightmares stop, but you make waking up something to look forward to.” Nick replied sheepishly.
“Try to get some sleep baby J.” Kevin said lovingly. Nick nodded and pressed a soft kiss on Kevin's lips and then did the same to Joe.
“Stay?” Nick asked hesitantly.
“Always.” Joe said straight away.
Nick fell asleep with his head on Kevin's shoulders and his body draped across Joe, all three brothers holding onto each other tightly. As Nick slept Kevin and Joe smiled softly at each other, glad that they could be there for their brother when he needed them most. The three brothers slept throughout the rest of the night and even though they knew the nightmares might never stop, as long as they woke up tangled within each other, they all knew they could help Nick through them.