"Tenma, stop claiming the entire blanket..." He groaned, grabbing at the soft sheet and moving around his legs to get more warmth. Tenma shifted to face the mint-haired boy's head. "We wouldn't be fighting over the blanket if you would just move closer, Fei." He mumbled, struggling to stay awake. It was about 1 am (or 2? god he doesn't even know) and they were both completely exhausted from training. They both trained together that day, trying to come up with a hissatsu shoot, and then chatted with Aki by the riverbank until late night, almost missing dinner.

Ever since Fei introduced himself to Tenma and offered his help in restoring the right timeline, they've both been sleeping in Tenma's room. For the first few nights, Tenma would immediately claim the floor because Fei was his guest, but tonight Fei got to the floor first and Tenma wouldn't have it. They were both too exhausted to argue, so they both slept on the floor.

Tenma shivered. "It's so cold," he said and tried to yank for the blanket but to no avail. "We both wouldn't be cold if you just slept on your bed," Fei replied. "But you're my guest! I can't have you sleeping on the cold, hard ground!" Tenma exclaimed.

Just then, Fei had an idea. He sluggishly got out of bed and grabbed the blanket covering Tenma's bed and threw it on Tenma's body, hearing a satisfying groan. "Since you're so intent on staying on the ground with me, might as well keep warm without freezing me to death." He joked. He laid back down beside Tenma and grabbed his own blanket, turning away from his friend and trying to go back to sleep.

Tenma wasn't satisfied with just a blanket, though.

He wouldn't admit it to anyone (except Sasuke), but he developed quite a fondness for his time travelling friend. He admired the way Fei played soccer, how passionate he was to win and help Raimon, and how he was able to joke around and make him smile in times of hopelessness. Sure, he was still mysterious to Tenma. He didn't talk much about the future. He didn't talk about himself at all, using cryptic language when doing so, and he would lose himself in his thoughts whenever someone asked about his family. There were a lot of things he didn't know about Fei, which is why he wants to get to know him better. He wants to make Fei smile and laugh the way he made Tenma do the same.

"Fei, am I your friend?" He asked quietly.

For a second, he thought Fei was already asleep, but the said boy shifted and turned to face Tenma once more, the action wrapping him in his blanket, making him look like a burrito. "Of course you are! Why would you ask that?" He asked. "Well, it's just that you don't often talk about yourself, so I was wondering if it's because you don't trust us enough." He said and smiled sadly. Fei felt guilty; he didn't know Tenma felt that way about him, he simply didn't want to involve them in his own affairs.

"It's nothing like that, don't worry. I just don't think you guys need to worry about me with our current situation." He replied and smiled at Tenma. Some things should be left unsaid, but he wanted to make it up to his friend. "How about you ask me something about myself and I'll answer it if I can?" He offered. Tenma's face brightened up at this and nodded. "Okay, what's it like in the future?" He asked, starting with a simple question.

"Well," Fei started. "It's not much different from this, aside from the new technology we have, of course. Things are more technical, and everyone is more dependent on artificial life. We have better training facilities for honing a person's skill in a certain field. Of course, El Dorado and Feida is there fighting over control over the people." He finished.

"You mentioned before that Feida is made up of Second Stage Children. How would you know if you're one of them?"

Fei thought about it. "The powers the second stage children have usually start acting up at a young age, so they would ask to train that child, taking him or her away from their parents once given the permission." Tenma furrowed his eyebrows. "Why would the parents let their children be taken away just like that?" He asked.

At this Fei's expression darkened. "Because they're scared of their child. Scared of that child turning into a monster. Human fear validates their abandonment and failure as parents." He said bitterly. At this point Tenma had a feeling there was more to that. He wasn't going to pry, though.

"Fei, why do you know so much about second stage children? Do you know someone personally from there?" He asked. Fei didn't want to answer Tenma's questions anymore. "We better try to catch some sleep, training starts in a few hours." With that, Fei turned away from Tenma and closed his eyes.

"Oh... well, good night Fei." Tenma said dejectedly and turned around as well. Both fell asleep again eventually.

A few hours later, Tenma woke up to silent cries of a lost child. "Fei?" He sat up and rubbed his eyes, then glancing at his friend. It seemed like Fei was having a nightmare, crying for his dad. He lightly nudged the other boy. "Fei, wake up, it's just a dream." He said. The other boy stirred in his sleep, but didn't seem like he was waking up any soon. Not knowing what else to do, Tenma scooted closer to Fei and hugged him, making sure not to wake him up. "If you could only tell me what's going on so I could help you..." He whispered, eventually falling back asleep.

When Fei woke up a few hours after that, his eyes felt heavier and his pillow colder and wetter than last night. 'A nightmare,' he thought. He was about to get up when he felt something holding him down. The boy beside him stirred and yawned, before letting go and standing up slowly. "Good morning, Tenma." He greeted. "Good morning to you too, Fei." He replied, standing up and stretching before holding out his hand for Fei. "Let's have another great practice today!" He smiled brightly. Fei smiled and nodded. "Yeah!"

They continued to pretend that conversation never happened, for they were both too scared to say anything about it. They both got cold feet.