Greg stood on his side of the bed to hang the dreamcatcher above the headboard. When he was satisfied that it was perfectly aligned with where his head would be resting, he stepped down to admire his handiwork. “I feel so butch,” he joked with Damien, who approved. “Okay. Hopefully, this will stop the nightmares. I’m so sick of waking up scared shitless.”

Damien moved to Greg and hugged him from behind. “I hope so, too. You know that I’m here with you when you wake up.”

Greg nodded while enjoying Damien’s warmth. “That makes waking up worth it.”

“The sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you can wake up to see my beautiful face.” Damien chuckled as the two of them crawled into bed.

While Damien was out the moment his head hit the pillow, Greg spent thirty minutes awake, anxious about the dreams he might have. He resisted the urge to get a glass of water and willed himself to sleep.

Greg opened his eyes and found himself in a cornfield on the pitchest night he’d ever seen. He hated cornfields with a passion. Where there was corn, there were children, and those children were evil. His heart quickened, so did his breathing. He spun around, looking for a way out, but all he saw was corn for miles. No end in sight. Then he heard childish giggling. His skin grew cold, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up on end. They’re here. He was amazed by how quickly they showed up. Run!

He took off running ahead of him, but not too fast because he didn’t like being smacked in the face by corn stalks. Without looking back, he heard one of the demon children running behind him. It giggled with sadistic glee, its mind full of sinister intent. He tried to run faster, but the ground seemed to grow stickier and thicker, rending his feet useless.

“Shit!” Greg cried as he sunk into the ground. The little girl walked in front of him so she could see the fear in his eyes. Her overalls were covered in dirt. The sickle she carried was also dirty, with the addition of fresh blood dripped from the tip. “Go away! Shoo!”

He winced as the girl raised the sickle in the air to strike, but before she could land the killing blow, she was suddenly hit in the face with a baseball bat. The girl exploded into a cloud of blood mist.

“You alright?” Damien stepped out of a row of corn and helped Greg up.

“You’re here!” Greg hugged Damien so tightly, he was sure he was going to crack ribs. “How are you even here?”

Damien lifted Greg’s head and smiled. “Who cares? Let’s just get you out of here.”

“Wait, do you want to… you know?” Greg was so turned on by his rescue. If this were a horror movie, this would be the perfect time to make love before dying at the hands of the big bad, but Damien didn’t seem to agree. “Fine, let’s get out of here.”

Hand in hand, the two ran through the cornfield, which slowly morphed into a maze. They didn’t comment on it; they just went with it. The sound of giggling children surrounded them. They were closing in. They took one right turn too many and came to a dead end.

“We have to go back,” Greg said. He turned to retrace his steps, but four children of the corn showed up to impede their egress. “Trapped like rats!”

Greg wanted to hide behind Damien and be rescued again, but deep down, he knew he couldn’t just hide. He decided to stand his ground, but with what? He looked at the bat in Damien’s hand and snatched it.

“What are you doing?” Damien asked, concerned.

“Don’t worry, babe. I got this.” Greg took two steps forward as he readied the bat for action. “Who wants some?”

Damien couldn’t believe how quickly Greg’s demeanor had changed. Mere seconds ago, he was ready to pee his pants, but now Greg looked like he’d had enough. He smirked and took a step back to watch.

The children weren’t scared. They had been tormenting Greg for weeks and knew he wasn’t shit. They dared him to make a move. That was a mistake.

Greg harkened back to his Little League days, gripped the bat, and swung away. The first little boy exploded into a fine mist of redness. The three other kids gasped in surprise and took a step back. They witnessed the mad look in Greg’s eyes and decided they needed to be somewhere else.

They turned to run, but Greg did not let them escape. “You done messed up, A-A-RON!” he screamed as he chased the children down. “Fuck your corn, you little bitches!”

Damien raised a brow at this line but was ultimately impressed. He listened to the screams of the corn children as if he were a Top 40 hit.

When the last demon child had been beaten into nonexistence, Greg returned to Damien bloody and tired. He hugged his boyfriend and closed his eyes. He was tired and was ready for a nap. He wasn’t sure if sleeping within a dream was a thing or some kind of Inception bullshit, but he didn’t care. As the cornfield melted into the ground, his consciousness drifted out into the dreamscape.

Damien woke up to find he was back in bed. He looked over at Greg to see if he was awake. His sweet prince was sleeping peacefully with a smile on his face. He leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. “You did it, babe. Sleep well.” He gave the dreamcatcher one last glance before going back to sleep.