Shu stirred slightly in his sleep. Something next to him was squirming and shaking so much that it was beginning to wake him from his once peaceful state.

Slowly Shu opened his eyes. He was quickly greeted with darkness and the sound of thunder clapping loudly outside.

Although the male would've liked to go back to sleep, ignoring the thunder, he knew he had check on Valt.

Rolling over to face the blunette, Shu watch obsereved his sleeping friend. Valt was shaking and squirming around.

Shu took notice of his friends tear stricken face. The poor blader look absolutely terrified of something in his sleep. Either it was being caused by the storm outside or the events from earlier. However it was most likely the events which sounded like the most logical choice.

Gently Shu placed his hand on the sleeping males shoulders, trying his best to wake the male by calmly shaking him.

"Valt."

Valt's heart leapt at the touch, arms moving on their own, grabbing ahold of Shu's jacket collar. His eyes flew open in fear, which granted him blurred vision from his sleep crying.

"Valt it's me, Shu. You don't need to be afraid... Are you okay?"

Once his vision returned back to normal - or as normal as they could get in a dark room - Valt stared into red orbs.

Woah, it really is Shu.

Letting go of his friends collar, Valt retrieved his hands, bringing them to his eyes. Why were they so wet? Had he been crying in his sleep? Oh great! What an embarrassing thing to do in front of Shu! His best friend since they were little! Boy did this make him feel so vulnerable right now.

As Valt began to wipe his tears away, Shu raised his hands up help brush away the remaining tears on his best friends cheeks.

Valt froze at the touch of his friend. A rising heat dusted his cheeks, indicating a blush had appeared. Thankfully the room was dark so at least he wouldn't have to worry about Shu seeing him blush.

"Shu... I'm so sorry for waking you up. Don't worry about me, I'm fine so you can go back to sleep."

A loud bang of thunder sounded outside, making the blunette wince. Wasn't this just a wonderful day - or rather night - so far?

Shu stared unfazed by the thunder, his gaze locked onto brown eyes.

"You really think I'm just going to go back to sleep knowing you're like this? Tell me what's wrong, I won't laugh if that's what you're worried about."

So much for that plan. Valt thought. He averted his eyes from the kind eyes of his friends after several moments of staring. Closing his eyes tightly, Valt took a deep breath. He felt so childish for what he was about to say.

"I had a nightmare about what happened earlier. It felt so real that I thought I was going to lose you for real."

Realizing how weird he sounded, Valt buried his face in his hands, groaning.

Shu looked at the blunette worridly before his expression changed into a softer one. He then surprised not only himself but Valt as well when he pulled the other into a tight hug.

Softly the Spryzen owner whispered into his friends ear.

"Shhh. There's nothing to be scared about. We're both fine aren't we? As long as I'm here I won't ever let anybody or anything ever hurt you."

Valt smiled softly to himself once again thankful that Shu being unable to see his blush. However he was almost certain Shu could hear and feel his heart pounding.

"Thanks Shu."

Together the two remained in their hug, not wanting to let go of the other. Everything felt alright, like they could stay that way forever!

It felt like hours had past by when Shu finally decided to pull away to fix the blankets for the both. He was half expecting the blunette to have fallen asleep some time ago but was proven wrong when he looked straight into chocolate eyes.

Those eyes... What is he trying to tell me?

There was something, strange, by the way Valt was looking at him that made his heart skip a beat. What was going on? If eyes were able to tell a thousand words then how come he couldn't decipher this?

"Shu..." Valt began but stopped himself out of fear for continuing. What he wanted to ask was surely too weird to even be thought of.

Shrugging slightly, Shu closed his eyes, ready for sleep.

"What is it Valt?"

"Nothing..."

Through his eyelashes, Shu watched Valt fidget with one of the strings on his jacket.

With a sigh, Shu placed both hands on either side of Valt's head, making his blush reappear once more.

"Please remember that I'm here for you. And... try not to over think this okay?" He leaned in close, pressing a gentle reassuring kiss to Valt's forehead, before pulling away calmly to pull the blankets over them better.

"Good night Valt."

Shu could feel Valt's surprised gaze on him, but kept his eyes closed as he tried to fall back asleep. He knew Valt wanted to say something, but he couldn't help but drift off to the sleep that was tugging at him.

______________________________________

By the time morning arose thunderstorm had long since passed, leaving the Aoi household both quiet and peaceful once more. Everyone in the home lay content in their beds located in separate rooms. Or at least everyone but Valt lay sleeping in bed.

The bluenette had just woken up. At first all he could think about was how comfortable he was. His whole body felt at ease and warm despite the cold air the storm had brought in.

Giving a relaxed yawn, Valt attempted to stretch but found it was to no avail as something was holding him from doing so.

Looking down, Valt's eyes flew open. A pair of slender arms were wrapped around his waist, holding tightly. Further down were a pair of legs intertwined with his own. Finally there was a strange warmth of breath running down the back of his neck. Wait a second! Wasn't Shu sharing the bed...

This is just perfect! How am I ever going to explain this to him!

The two were spooning in their sleep. There was no telling how or when it had happened but they were stuck like that for now. What a splendidly compromising position to wake up to so early in the morning!

Shu shifted slightly, causing Valt to tense in fear. He really didn't want or know how he was going to explain their position. Maybe he could fake being asleep to save himself a great deal of trouble.

Suddenly the breath on his neck subsided and the arms around his waist tightened. This could mean one of two things. Either Shu was waking up or he was simply adjusting himself in his sleep.... Nope Shu was defiantly waking up!

Valt hurriedly shut his eyes, trying to relax his muscles to make it appear that he was asleep.

When Shu awoke he hadn't yet noticed he was holding onto the bluenette until after he had burried his face into something soft - hair.

Going from half asleep to full on awake, Shu removed his hands, only to return them to their previous area, pulling Valt closer.

A small smile tugged at his lips as he looked over his supposedly sleeping friend. He raised a hand to brush some blue hair to the side before leaning in.

Just before the Spryzen blader could do anything more, he pried himself away completely away from all contact and rolled over to where his back faced the other.

What was I about to do?

The two lay with their backs facing each other in complete silence. Both silently wishing the other would wake up and leave the room to do something - anything!