Please vote, read Forgotten Memories, and enjoy. Many thanks to my wonderful older brother for giving me some great examples of what growing brotherly bonds look like.
Luv ya!

In the nightmare, Jim couldn't move. He was trapped. He was falling, down, down, down in the Darklands. The darkness felt suffocating and Jim's body trembled.

Suddenly, he was standing with Enrique in his arms, but the baby vaporised, making Jim grope the empty air desperately. Footsteps came towards Jim, and he tried to move but he was paralysed.

The Green Knight appeared in front of him, and raised his sword, eyes glinting hauntingly from under his helmet. The blade swept toward him. Jim's heart leaped, and he hadn't even realised that he'd screamed before hands shook his shoulders.

He gasped, snapping awake. Douxie stood leaning over him, his face dark. "You okay?"

Jim ran his hands through his messy hair. "Yeah, I should be fine." Douxie's eyebrows raised a tad bit, but he didn't respond.

Douxie sighed, and sat next to Jim. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Leaning his back on the wall, Jim shrugged. "Not really."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes,"

Douxie narrowed his eyes, but Jim obviously didn't look ready to talk about it, so he just shrugged. "Can I stay?"

"Uh, sure. But I'm waking up early to make breakfast, so I might wake you up." Jim shifted to make room for his friend. He knew why Douxie was doing this, and he was actually relieved. Jim wasn't sure he'd be able to fall back asleep without a comforting prescence.

"Challenge accepted."

Douxie woke to someone shifting. Someone's head on his shoulder. He snapped his eyes open and looked around, panicking for a second, before he realised where he was.

It looked like the sun was starting to rise, from the dim light coming through the window. A few hours until he had to get up. His eyes drifted closed again, and he fell asleep fast.

It felt like he had blinked, and suddenly the sun was shining in from the window and the smell of pancakes was pervading his sleep. Douxie stumbled out of the bed, lured by the delicious smell, but someone cleared his throat.

Archie sat on the desk looking at him. "Do your morning ablutions, Douxie."

"Ugh," Douxie said, frowning. "Fine." He grabbed his clothes from last night that he'd left in the guest bedroom and took them into the bathroom, where he changed and brushed his teeth and brushed his hair free of knots. Jim had been gone when he had woken up for the third time, and he was probably the one making the pancakes.

He slipped on his skull necklace, ring, and bracelets.

Was there anything else he could do? Hmm, Douxie thought. I wish I had my eyeliner. Welp. He ambled down the stairs and said good moring to Barbara and Jim. Jim smiled widely from in the kitchen, flipping another pancake.

Douxie sat with Archie at the table, groggily rubbing his eyes.

Barbara came out from the kitchen with plates, forks, and knives. "Here, I can help with that!" Douxie said, standing up.

"Thanks. I'll grab water glasses," she replied, already prancing back into the kitchen where Jim lifted a pancake and placed it onto the large plate on the counter, which already had been stacked high.

Douxie smiled as he carefully set out the plates, with the forks on the left and the knives on the right.

"Okay, I think that's enough pancakes," Jim announced as Barbara set out the glasses and sat down.

Jim walked into the main area bearing the plate that was heaping with pancakes. He placed it in the centre of the table, then rushed back into the kitchen, saying he needed to get the maple syrup.

When he sat down, Jim asked Douxie, "How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty well, thanks. What about you?"

Jim gave him a one-shouldered shrug. "Eh. Well enough to get through the day, I think."

"That's good."

"Do you feel tired, Jim?" Dr. Lake asked, spearing two pancakes and pulling them onto her plate, then pouring maple syrup over them. "Why didn't you sleep well?"

Jim sighed. "You know me too well. I had a nightmare and Douxie heard me and woke me up. I did fall asleep a few minutes after, but I feel a little drowsy. I'm sure it'll be fine,"

"He... woke you up?" Barbara raised an eyebrow. "How'd he know you were having a bad dream?"

"Jim screamed," Douxie cut in, popping a slice of pancake in his mouth. "'Twas pretty loud, considering. Woke me and Arch up."

Barbara frowned. "Are they getting worse, Jim?"

Jim swiped a piece of pancake through the small puddle of maple syrup in the middle of his plate, looking down. "I thought they would get better, but it's just doing the opposite."

"I've had cases like that. There's not much you can do about it, unfortunately. The trauma is probably still lingering in your mind and your brain is still trying to cope." Douxie took a sip of water. "It'll take a while. Let's move onto better, brighter topics, please."

"No complaints from me," Barbara said, raising her hands. "So Douxie, when are you performing with the band next?"

Douxie leaned back, thinking. "Oh," he ran a hand down his face. "I haven't thought about that for a long time! I honestly don't have a good idea of when, but maybe in the spring? I think one of the band members was asking the same thing a few months back, but with the disastrous state Arcadia has been in this year from all of the magical shenanigans, most of the members have been helping to rebuild the school and other damaged buildings,"

"Yeah, you can kind of tell from the outside and inside that the school building has been... almost patched together. Like a quilt." Jim supplied, shoving food in his mouth after.

"Anything exciting going on at school today, Jim?" Douxie asked, slicing his third pancake with his knife.

"Not really, but there are a couple things happening that don't usually. I heard that Senior Uhl is sick this week, so he's taking off-time," Jim grinned, "and we have a career ed class today that Uhl was supposed to teach, so Strickler volunteered to step in for the extra class."

"That's so nice of him!" Barbara said, subconsciously touching the engagement ring on her finger. "How is the school taking his... appearance?"

"They've seen weirder, I can assure you," Jim told her, and Douxie grinned. "One girl was super scared of him the first week he was back, though."

"Oh, that's right, you already told me that." Jim's mom nodded thoughtfully.

Jim laughed. "Yep,"

"You know, Douxie, you can always come over more often if you like," Barbara said, putting a hand on Douxie's shoulder. Douxie swallowed. "You're always welcome to,"

Douxie smiled gratefully. "Thank you. A lot. I appreciate it, but I'm pretty busy these days."

She nodded. "Anytime. Come over more, if you're comfortable with it."

"Thanks. I'll," Douxie looked over at Jim who gave him a warm smile. "I'll try to come more often."

Barbara nodded. "Well, I have to go now, but I'll see you sometime soon, right?"

"Er, right. Yes."

"Take care of yourself, Douxie," she told him, standing up from the table and giving Jim a hug. She stooped down to give Douxie a hug, too, and he was shocked for a second. But she was already on her way toward the door before he processed it all.

"I will!" Douxie called out after her. He could practically hear Jim smile.