Pink’s heavy eyelids slowly began to blink open, though it was almost hard to differentiate between when they were closed or not from how pitch black his surroundings were. It was the cold that woke him up, piercing through his worn down blanket and sending unpleasant stimulation down to the bone. He was shivering slightly as his mind adjusted to conscious thoughts…

Celestia, how he hated this time of year. He couldn’t help but furiously envy everypony who had a warm home to peacefully rest in, they having not a single worry about what may happen if they lost that luxury. Jealousy quickly turned to rage and spite for the incubus, intensifying the shakes in his body.

He sighed. It was far too early for this, couldn’t he wait to spiral until at least the sun was rising? Unfortunately, it didn’t work that way, and he knew forcing it down was just as bad… Even if he tried to bottle it up, though, he couldn’t. Every bottle had broke long ago. At least he could mostly hide it in public. Mostly. Trying to hold the thin sheet closer, Pink attempted to close his eyes and drift back to sleep, ignoring the constant jitters and aches…

…

…The demon sleepily fluttered his eyes open, slit pupils gradually expanding to take in the dim view. He was in a typical Ponyville bedroom, under the soft covers of a bed for two, in the arms of a unicorn stallion. It took him a moment to come back to reality, to realize that it was just a vivid playback of a memory, but he got there eventually.

At first, he felt empty, but a delayed sadness soon washed over him. Why? Shouldn’t he be happy that he’s safe now? Shouldn’t he be relieved that all it is now are flashbacks instead of reality? That just made him feel worse, which in turn brought up more awful moments from the past. It didn’t take long for Pink to feel his tear ducts burn with activity, biting his lip harder than necessary to unsuccessfully stop the emotional release. He involuntarily swallowed nothing, taking in a shaky breath and trying to stay quiet.

Then the morning alarm went off. Oh well.

The aforementioned unicorn stirred, faintly grumbling as he reached over to turn off the rather annoying sound. Pink pretended to be asleep for now, which he was good at; however, it was much more difficult to suppress things like hiccups from crying. The unicorn gave a big yawn, stretching his limbs and pulling the demon closer as part of it. This was Pink’s boyfriend, Starry, who happened to be a therapist.

“You awake?” Starry gently asked, using a free hoof to stroke Pink’s long mane. The incubus decided to act like he was just waking up, slowly extending his own arms and legs to stretch as well.

“Mmh…” Pink murmured in response, and then sniffled without thinking. This put a look of worry over the other’s face.

“How are you?” Starry questioned, but didn’t want to be too direct for various reasons. A sigh escaped Pink, who started to fidget with the sheets.

“I… had a nightmare,” the demon hesitantly admitted, feeling embarrassed, but he knew it had to be said eventually. This was probably the only pony in Equestria that he was okay with sharing his feelings to, though, so that helped somewhat. Starry made a quiet sound in understanding, attempting to physically comfort the smaller one even more than he already was.

“Thank you for being honest, I’m sorry to hear,” the unicorn told Pink. “Wanna talk about it?” The incubus thought on it for a short moment.

“Uhm… Not yet, sorry… Thanks though,” Pink faintly shook his head, enjoying the embrace.

“No need to apologize, let me know if I can do anything,” Starry offered with a small kiss on the back of the head, his voice kind and soothing to the demon.

“I love you,” Pink expressed, almost struggling to get the words out from how much he meant them. Starry softly chuckled.

“I love you more than a universe of universes.”

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