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Rev stared up at the ceiling of his dorm, blinking slowly. It was one of the very few nights that he stayed in bed and actually attempted to sleep.
Not that it did any good. He got just as much sleep on these nights as he did on any other at KADE - that being, literally none at all.
Even before KADE, he struggled to get more than two or three hours of sleep a night. Too many times waking up to his parents bursting into his room or already being there, walking around and touching his stuff while he was sleeping.
He'd tried to install a lock on his door at one point when his parents were away. It was broken in less than a week after they kept trying to enter anyway. He'd probably also fucked up in installing it, which wouldn't have helped.
There was no lock on his dorm at KADE, either, so even though Mark was no longer around, gone home for the Christmas holidays, he was paranoid.
The faint sound of chirping reached his ears. Sunlight peeked through the gaps in his curtains, and he groaned and shoved his face into his pillow.
Whatever. It's not like he needed sleep, he was dead.
And there was always next night.
~
With nocturnal students wandering around at night, and the other students filling the academy with noise in the day, there were always people awake, which meant danger. Rev couldn't sleep in the night or the day, not in his dorm and not anywhere else in KADE.
So why not be productive?
Currently, Rev was settled in a corner of the library, half-moon visible through the large windows and a book in his lap. One of the very, very few benefits of being a revenant was excellent night vision, it seemed - he could read perfectly well even in the darkness.
The book he was reading was on a multitude of complex rituals. Technically, he should have been looking at simple 102 Undead Studies ritual circles, but he got bored after five minutes. He knew he'd had a headstart in magic education but he had no idea most other students were so clueless.
Take one of the rituals that he recognised from his parents' teaching, one used to heal a person's injuries so long as they weren't life-threatening. It was apparently used in an end-of-semester exam to judge a student's capabilities in ritual prep, thanks to the plethora of low-level ingredients used and the fairly specific setup. A ritual used as exam material for people over eighteen - some as old as twenty-one.
He'd been able to complete the ritual consistently with no help from his parents since he was thirteen.
So can you really blame him for getting bored?
Anyway, he was absorbed in reading about a very interesting binding ritual, used by monarchs and lords in the past to create contracts, as well as by cult leaders to ensure their followers were devoted, when he was interrupted by a familiar voice.
"You should be asleep."
The shriek that Rev made probably would have echoed in the library, if not for Lovecraft casting a muffling spell the second he startled. Rev tipped his head back to look up at the professor, scowling at him.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Lovecraft raised an eyebrow, settling down next to him.
"You have a worrying lack of situational awareness," he remarked. Rev frowned, shifting uncomfortably. With Lovecraft sat next to him, bookshelves behind him and a wall to his right, he was boxed in. Vulnerable.
He tried to remind himself Lovecraft had never hurt him before. A voice in his head whispered yet.
"So, why aren't you sleeping?"
Rev scoffed, "didn't realise I had a curfew," he snapped.
Lovecraft tilted his head, regarding the revenant with such calm it made Rev feel almost insecure. His gaze was surprisingly intense, making his heart flutter in the way it only would when Lovecraft was entirely focused on him.
With his track record, that was quite often, so he should be used to it by now, but this stupid schoolgirl crush was persistent as fuck.
"You don't, but sleep is important for-"
"For mortals," Rev interrupted, rolling his eyes and closing his book. "I'm a revenant, it doesn't matter for me."
Lovecraft blinked at him. "Who told you that?"
"…The fact I haven't slept even once since I got to KADE and I'm still alive?"
"You haven't what?" Lovecraft shook his head in disbelief. "No, Rev- you may not die, but you still need sleep."
"Why? I feel fine," the student shrugged. He wasn't lying, he did feel fine. And all the books he'd found on revenants described them as "beings that don't require sleep, food, air, or water".
Lovecraft sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Well, that explains a lot," he muttered. Rev frowned.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Lovecraft considered him for a minute, gaze tracking his face.
"Would you accompany me to my office?"
~
Rev hooked one arm around the back of the chair, watching Lovecraft warily. The professor pushed some papers to the side, then focused his full attention onto Rev, gaze as intense as ever, with maybe a hint of concern.
"Your research on revenants has told you that you don't require rest, correct?"
"Yeah?" Lovecraft leaned forwards slightly.
"Do you skip meals as well?"
Rev shrugged, "Sera mostly takes my food anyway, so I guess." Lovecraft frowned.
"…Are you getting bullied?"
"What? No, I don't care. She can do whatever she wants."
Lovecraft shook his head, "if you're sure." He ran a hand through his hair, closing his eyes briefly.
"Revenants are not completely immune to the effects of starvation, thirst, or sleep deprivation," he began, opening his eyes. "They cannot kill revenants, but they absolutely have an effect, on both your physical and mental state."
"You have been a revenant as long as you can remember?" Rev nodded at his question, curious despite himself. "How often did you eat when you were younger?"
"Whenever I felt like it," he huffed, repeating the answer he gave Bella on his first day, "I'd go days without eating anything."
"Well, children require food to grow, so it's no wonder that you…" Lovecraft trailed off, eyes flicking downwards briefly, "well."
It took Rev a moment to understand what he was getting at, and once he did, he bristled in outrage.
"Are you calling me SHORT?"
"You're nineteen and barely five foot. You are short," the professor said flatly.
"I'M FIVE FOOT ONE!"
"The average Japanese man is five foot seven, and you're half American, so statistically you should be taller than the average Japanese man-"
"GO TO HELL YOU-"
"You have done this to yourself." That shut Rev up. His tight grip on the edge of Lovecraft's desk didn't falter, but he sat back down heavily in his chair, where before he'd been on his feet. Lovecraft shifted, crossing his arms and leaning towards Rev.
"It's not your fault you didn't know," he told him quietly, "it's the fault of your parents for not telling you, and letting you stunt your own growth." Rev didn't look at him, nor respond, even as Lovecraft waited for an answer.
"Regardless, that's just your physical state." Rev glanced up at him.
"There's more," he said blankly.
"Yes, but unlike your height, this is reversible," Lovecraft said. Rev perked up slightly, and he continued.
"Without eating or sleeping, a revenant's mental state will corrode over time. They will become more reckless, prone to anger, and with enough time can start to lose their sense of self, becoming mindlessly violent," a realisation slowly dawned on the student. "Revenants get a reputation for being very angry, violent creatures, but that's only due to them assuming they don't require food or rest, and accidentally starving and sleep depriving themselves."
"…Oh," was all Rev could say. Lovecraft gave him a small smile.
"But as I said, it's reversible. With regular meals and sleep, your mental state will improve drastically."
Rev stared down at his lap, taking his hands off the desk and folding them in his lap.
It was difficult to think about. The anger had been a part of him for so long, and now he was being told it was because of mental deterioration?
He could have a completely different personality.
"Would I… Be happier?"
Lovecraft nodded, "absolutely. You've essentially been ill your whole life. You'll feel far better when- if," he amended, "you decide you want to get better."
Rev turned it over in his head, fiddling with his hands.
"I'll start eating more," he decided, looking somewhere to the left of Lovecraft's head and darting his tongue out to wet his lips. He didn't notice the professor's gaze flickering down to track the movement. "But I can't do anything about the sleep."
"Hm. And why is that? Insomnia is not noted in your medical file."
"You have a medical file of me?"
Lovecraft stared at him. "…Yes? You sent it in?"
"What?"
The teacher shook his head, "we're talking about that some other time. But for now -" his gaze softened, "is there anything I can do to help you sleep?"
"Can you put a lock on my dorm door?"
"For safety reasons that is prohibited." Lovecraft admitted, an apology in his voice.
"Then no."
"Really? Nothing at all?"
Rev shrugged, "I'm paranoid. Can you blame me? That wendigo tried to kill me multiple times - and stole my shit."
Lovecraft nodded, considering his words.
"Well… My office is warded against uninvited visitors. And my sofa is very comfortable," he gestured to the admittedly very soft looking piece of furniture, to Rev's left.
"You want me to sleep in your office," the revenant said in disbelief.
"It's just a suggestion," Lovecraft raised his hands, speaking in a soothing tone, as if Rev was a reactive dog. The student in question scoffed.
"Whatever. I'm not doing that, I'll just stay up. Can I leave now?"
Lovecraft sighed softly, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "Yes, you may."
Rev left the office with some questions answered and a fair amount of new ones spinning around his head. Filing them away, he made his way towards the library.
Maybe he'd have the time to finish reading about that ritual before morning.
~
Rev was wandering the halls of KADE, yet again unable to sleep. Since being caught by Lovecraft, he'd been trying to spend every night in his room, killing time through selecting books during the day and reading them at night. But now, he was bored. Sue him, there wasn't much to do in his room and he was burning through the books he got too quickly.
Seeing a faint white light illuminating a corridor from just around a corner, Rev doubled back, slipping into another classroom. One of the few nocturnal students was Flynn, the ghost. Luckily, he glowed in the dark, which made it easy to avoid him.
Rev watched the light pass by through the crack under the classroom door, then pushed the door open and continued on his way. Before encountering Lovecraft, he'd developed a route of sorts, looping around the school and out into a few courtyards. He knew it well enough he didn't need to think about which direction he went, letting his feet carry him.
Past the potion classroom, the cafeteria, his rehab classroom-
He stopped outside of Lovecraft's office door.
Rev hadn't slept in a long, long time. He knew, objectively, it was supposed to be nice. He barely remembered ever waking up content. He only knew startling awake to one of his parents moving around his room.
He'd gotten used to wandering around the house at night, avoiding sleep and wondering vaguely why he never felt the need.
Maybe he could try. Just once.
Rev carefully touched the handle, feeling the wards on the room examine him. Unlike when he'd tried to steal the Necronomicon from his professor's office, this time they deemed him safe to enter, and unlocked the door for him.
He gently opened the door, padding inside. It closed behind him, the lock clicking. The sound of it, as well as the sensation of Lovecraft's wards gliding over his magical core, made him feel the safest he'd ever felt within the walls of KADE. Maybe even at home, as well.
No one could get to him in here - except Lovecraft, of course. But as much as Rev hated to admit it… He trusted Lovecraft. He'd never hurt Rev even with the plethora of reasons he gave him, or touched him without asking, touched his stuff; except when he needed to, like with Nekiya. So maybe he was safe.
A thought struck Rev. What if Lovecraft had been joking?
He was always bad at telling when people were being sarcastic or kidding, it was why he tended to take everything at face value. Not to mention Lovecraft was harder to read for him than anyone else, except maybe the principal.
So what if he hadn't been serious? What if he was punished for this?
Maybe he should leave, before Lovecraft found him. He'd never know he was in here.
Except… Rev quickly turned his attention to the wards wrapping around him, sorting through them and identifying each one. Buried deep within a tangle, lay an extremely complex, hard to bypass, hard to even detect ward that stored the information of every person who entered the office. Rev couldn't even access the store, but he knew he was on there.
No matter what he did, Lovecraft would know he had been there.
Rev's gaze turned to the sofa. Why not go all in?
Sitting down awkwardly, he looked down at his feet. He wasn't wearing any shoes, instead having on thick socks that muffled his footsteps when he was walking down the stone halls of KADE, so he didn't have to worry about possibly needing to take off his shoes so he didn't dirty the sofa.
The sofa in question was made of black leather. Rev could feel enchantments woven into it, likely the reason for its illogical softness. It felt almost like memory foam as he lay down, grabbing one of the matching cushions to use as a pillow.
He didn't actually expect to be able to sleep, but it was a very comfy sofa. He could rest here for a little bit.
As he settled down, he noticed that the office smelled of lavender. It was faint, but noticeable now he was paying attention.
Isn't lavender supposed to help with sleep? Rev thought distantly, barely noticing his eyes beginning to close.
~
Flicking through his papers to check he had everything in order, Lovecraft settled his glasses on his face, fiddling with the decorative chain attached to the side of either frame until it lay around his neck, then shifted his hair to cover it.
With his daily preparation done, the professor vanished from his house, reappearing in his office with a blue burst of light.
Moving to set the papers down, Lovecraft paused at the sleeping body on his sofa. He took care to move slowly, so as not to wake the student, but set his things down and rounded the desk, kneeling in front of the occupied sofa.
Rev was sound asleep, curled slightly on his side and mouth parted. His arms were wrapped around himself, and Lovecraft noticed his hands were shaking. A nightmare?
No, he wasn't shaking. He was shivering.
Right - revenants don't produce body heat. Just as with sleep and food, lack of it won't kill him but it's still quite a miserable experience to be cold all the time.
Fortunately, Lovecraft had a blanket draped over the back of the sofa. He questioned briefly why Rev hadn't grabbed it himself, but brushed that thought away and carefully covered his student with the fabric. He didn't even stir.
While it wouldn't warm him up, once Lovecraft lit the lamps and candles in the office Rev would slowly absorb the warmth, with the blanket preventing too much loss.
Student taken care of, Lovecraft settled into his chair. He still had a lot of work to do in preparing his class syllabus for the quickly approaching second semester.
Lovecraft worked for most of the day, pausing to eat and take breaks, of course. All the while, Rev slept in his office. Accessing the wards, Lovecraft could tell Rev had come to his office around two in the morning. As the day went on, concern started to bubble up inside the professor - Rev showed no signs of waking.
Honestly, maybe it was better this way. Rev had mentioned struggling to sleep with other people in the room, if Lovecraft left to go home before Rev woke up, he'd likely be a lot more comfortable.
That seemed to be the case. Evening approached, and Lovecraft bid the unconscious student a silent goodnight, returning to his home and expecting to find the sofa empty when he returned the next morning.
To his surprise, when he did return, he found Rev - fast asleep on his sofa, not even seeming to have moved.
Checking the wards again, Lovecraft found that was because he hadn't moved. Rev had not stirred once.
Nor did he even twitch throughout the day, or the day after that. He slept on, blissfully unaware of Lovecraft's increasing worry.
Finally, around noon of the fourth day, Lovecraft was finalising his lesson plans - still with a few days to go, he liked to get these things done early - when he picked up on a soft noise from the sofa.
Freezing and watching out of the corner of his eye, Lovecraft saw Rev stir, shoulders twitching. Lovecraft turned his gaze back to his work, giving Rev time to wake up, as well as the chance to slip out of the office if he didn't want to acknowledge the sleeping.
The revenant gave a catlike stretch, then blinked his eyes open and sat up. He became cognizant of his surroundings - and Lovecraft - slowly, likely running through the events he remembered in his mind.
"What time is it?" Rev's voice was nothing but a quiet rasp, clearly dehydrated. Lovecraft didn't look at him, affording him some privacy in his half-asleep state, but answered after a moment.
"Around noon," Lovecraft saw Rev's eyes widen, as he shook off his sleepiness and stumbled to his feet.
"I didn't mean to sleep so long- I'll go back to my dorm now,"
Lovecraft stared at him, his outward calm cracking slightly. "Rev… You've been asleep for four days."
The student blinked slowly, absorbing that.
"…Oh." He was frozen for a moment, then stepped backwards, half-collapsing onto the sofa again. He didn't say anything else.
"…How are you feeling, Mr Vennett?" Lovecraft tried, standing slowly so as not to startle the revenant. He moved around the desk to sit down next to Rev, keeping his distance in case he didn't want to be touched.
Rev rubbed his arms, expression turning pensive.
"I feel… Pretty good," he realised, looking up at Lovecraft, "better than I have in years."
~
Lovecraft gave a small smile, and Rev felt like his insides flipped upside, brushing it off as the last dredges of the sleepy reverie he'd been in.
"You should probably have some food," the professor decided, standing up and gesturing for Rev to follow him. The student did so, pausing briefly to stretch his arms out in front of himself.
The two of them traipsed into the cafeteria, empty except for Professor Yaga, who raised an eyebrow at Rev's somewhat disheveled appearance but handed over a small plate of pasta.
Rev ate mechanically at Lovecraft's prodding, and it seemed like no time at all when they were back in the professor's office. Lovecraft was gently pushing him towards the sofa, hands on his shoulders, speaking to him quietly.
"Would you like to go back to sleep? I understand if you'd prefer to stay awake."
Rev blinked slowly. He felt like his brain was scrambled, distantly recalling how lovely it had felt to actually sleep for once, to wake up feeling comfortable and safe. With Lovecraft so close, he could smell the professor's lavender cologne, the same scent as his office, and it messed with his head.
"I can sleep some more?"
Lovecraft nodded, "that might be best, to let you sleep as much as possible and allow your circadian rhythms to reset."
Rev gave a soft mumble that could be generously counted as a response, then basically collapsed onto the sofa, curling onto his side and closing his eyes.
For a moment, before he fell asleep again, he thought a hand might have carded through his hair, the scent of lavender growing stronger for a moment. Then he was asleep, never hearing the soft words Lovecraft spoke to him.