Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Corpse Party franchise and never will. This is a story I wrote just for fun because I'm a fan of Corpse Party.

This story is also based on a prompt from the OTP Prompts Tumblr page. While I did put my own twists to the provided idea, I do not take full credit for the plot. However, the writing itself is mine.

Imagine that Person A isn't normally the emotional type. One night, however, they show up at Person B's place, eyes red from crying. Turns out they had a vivid nightmare about Person B dying, and they wanted to make sure that their friend/crush/datefriend/whatever was okay. Person B is touched by this rare display of emotion from A, and they let A stay with them for the night.

A/N: I think I wrote this to be a bit more dramatic than the prompt above seems to indicate, haha. cx

Well, this is my first Corpse Party story, and there's gonna be a lot more to come! ;D This takes place after BloodCovered... Repeated Fear and before Blood Drive, and it's in Ayumi's perspective, in case you can't tell right off the bat. I think it's even my first time writing in first-person perspective in quite a while...

I hope this is as emotional as I had intended it to be, and that everyone's perfectly in character...

Anyway, enjoy! :D

Nightmare

After the events of Heavenly Host, having my surviving classmates show up at my house in the middle of the night was a common occurrence.

Nakashima was my most common visitor, and it made perfect sense—the death of Shinohara really took its toll on her. I would often let her stay the night whenever she came over. Spending so much time together led us to becoming closer... but the fact that we had to go through such a painful experience for our relationship to grow was depressing to think about.

Mochida came over a lot less often, usually with his sister, claiming that she wanted to have some "girl time." I could believe it; a place as horrid as Heavenly Host must have been traumatizing for poor little Yuka, and it must have helped to have another girl to talk to. But often times her brother would burst into tears in front of me, and I'd find myself comforting him as well.

But when the desperate rapping on my front door woke me at 1 A.M. on this stormy night, I opened the door to discover the last person I ever expected to see.

"Kishinuma...?" I muttered, blinking away the blurriness of my tired eyes to make out his face.

"Sh-Shinozaki..."

It wasn't like Kishinuma had never visited me after we escaped the cursed elementary school—he actually came over as frequently as Nakashima, but he usually only did so during daylight hours. This was the first time he had come over so late, and judging by his appearance, he had a very good reason.

The whites of his eyes were red and bloodshot, evidence that he had been crying. His entire form was trembling, and it seemed more so out of fear or anxiety than from the cold rain that drenched his blonde hair, t-shirt, and sweatpants. Lower lip quivering, he merely stared at me, not saying anything.

"What's wrong?" I asked him gently. Slowly, I extended my hand to him. "Come inside. You'll catch a—"

"N-no," he said, taking a step back on the front porch. "I'm fine. I-I just—" A sudden look of horror crossed his face; he averted his eyes downward, his hand messing with his damp bangs.

My heart ached at the sight of him. In terms of mentality and emotion, Kishinuma seemed to be the strongest of all five of the Kisaragi survivors. Even while inside Heavenly Host, I had never seen him so emotionally distraught.

"Really, I insist. If you come inside, we can talk about it. That will help."

"No. I-it's nothing. It's stupid, anyway..."

Stubborn jackass, I thought. I wished to say the words aloud, but I clenched my teeth, instead releasing a seething sound. It was taking all of my willpower to keep my frustration bottled up inside. But I just kept reminding myself that he was probably hurting a lot, and this may have been his way of reaching out without wanting to come off as weak. After all, why would he protest my offers to help while still lingering on my front porch?

"It obviously isn't nothing if it has you like this." I reached out, carefully taking the trembling hand that hung at Kishinuma's side in my own. He shuddered at my touch, but seemed to slowly adjust to my warmth on his cold skin as his hand grasped mine in return. "Come on," I urged, my voice gentler than before. "You've always been there for me. And now I want to be here for you. You clearly need me if you rushed over here in the middle of the night in this weather..."

Gulp. He must have had a pretty big lump in his throat if I could hear him swallowing it. He slowly looked up at me, shaky breaths escaping his lips. "I-I had a dream. We were... still in Heavenly Host, and you..." He trailed off, and that same dreadful look he had before returned to his gray eyes.

I prepared myself for what was coming.

"Y-you were..."

And just as I expected, tears sprang into his eyes and poured down his cheeks, and in a matter of seconds, he was sobbing.

I pulled him in for a hug, but he unexpectedly collapsed against me, almost knocking me down. I managed to hold him up by his head as he sank against my body, nuzzling his tear-soaked face into the crook of my shoulder and wrapping his arms around my torso.

"Y-you were killed by the giant man..." he whimpered into my fleece pajama top. "Right before my eyes... And I couldn't save you. I couldn't save you... Dammit, dammit, goddammit...!" He buried his face further into me, cursing and muttering other indiscernible nonsense in his frustration.

As I stroked his wet, bleach-blonde hair in an effort to comfort him, I felt my own eyes glaze over with hot tears. Seeing him like this was heartbreaking. And I felt that I was to blame. If I hadn't made everyone perform the Sachiko Ever After charm, then none of us would've been transported to Heavenly Host, and all of our deceased friends would still be alive and no one would be horribly traumatized, not even Kishinuma, who probably harbored all of these feelings for so long...

"Sh-Shinozaki..."

His trembling voice caught my attention again. "Y-yeah?"

I looked down at him; he had pulled his face back slightly so I could see about half of his red, tear-stained face. "I'm sorry, Shinozaki... I couldn't protect you. I'm so sorry. I'm so..." He made a choking sound as another sob caught in his throat.

Another piece of my heart broke off. He couldn't even distinguish his nightmare from reality in the state he was in.

"Kishinuma, I'm fine. It was just a bad dream. I'm right here, alive and well. See?" With his head already against my left side, I gently guided him slightly farther down my chest to where his ear overlapped my heart. My heart was racing with the awkwardness of our close contact, so he had to have at least felt it through the thick fabric of my shirt. I managed a smile, feeling his entire body relax. "That's my heart beating. I'm alive. And... it's all thanks to you. I would've died in Heavenly Host for sure if it wasn't for you protecting me..."

Kishinuma let out a slow, steady breath. I took that as a sign that my words successfully calmed him.

"You feeling okay now?" I asked, tilting his head up to meet my gaze.

"Y-yeah..." He slowly drew himself away from me, the awkward sensation of our bodies peeling away due to his drenched clothes coming with the action. With the back of his hand, he wiped the tears from his face. "Thank you, Shinozaki..."

We stood in silence for a moment, smiling as we gazed into each other's eyes. A scene like this would've typically made me uncomfortable, but I didn't feel that way at all. I liked the intimate feeling of our connection...

"Well," Kishinuma said, breaking the silence, "I'm... sorry for bothering you at this hour. And thank you, again. I should probably be—" He started to turn away, but my hand caught his before he could take a single step.

"Wait!"

"Huh?" He shot me a confused look.

Suddenly, I felt a little embarrassed. My body acted on its own, too caught up in the moment and not wanting to let it go just yet. My brain scrambled for a good excuse for him to stay.

"Um... you shouldn't go out in weather like this. It's dangerous, and you'll catch a cold with your clothes already soaked through like that." Good one, I internally praised myself. After all, the rain hasn't let up all night. But... I gulped, my heart hammering in my chest. How do I phrase this next part? "Come inside and change into something dry. Y-you can stay here for tonight."

"W-wait... what?!" Just as I expected, Kishinuma was flustered by my offer, and I could feel his body heat rising through our touching hands.

"Don't read into it! I mean it in the most literal sense, honestly!"

With my reassurance, he seemed to loosen up, considering the offer. "Is it... really okay?"

I thought about it for a second. At 1 A.M., it was technically already Saturday, so my parents would definitely be sleeping in later than usual. If I loaned Kishinuma my father's old clothes as his own dried, they would probably be wearable again by the time Mom and Dad woke up—and Kishinuma would already be on his way home by then. Even if an expected turn of events led to that plan not working out, he could still hide in my closet for a little while... or something. "Yeah, of course it's fine. Now, come on, before you catch a cold."

He seemed to hesitate, gray eyes staring at our intertwined hands thoughtfully. He gave my hand a light squeeze before giving his answer.

"Okay."

Quietly as to not alert my parents, I provided Kishinuma with an old set of my father's clothes, allowing him to change and dry off in the hallway bathroom. Even though I had already established the "no touching, keep your distance" rule with him beforehand, he still seemed slightly awkward about crawling into my bed with me. He wasn't the only one feeling that way. It took us a while to settle in underneath the covers, staying as far away from each other as my small, twin-sized bed would allow.

"Good night, Kishinuma," I whispered.

In the darkness of my room, I could see him smile back at me. "Good night, Shinozaki. And... thank you."

"Stop thanking me and go to sleep."

He let out a soft chuckle, shifting to make himself more comfortable.

I couldn't relax until I knew he was sound asleep, so I laid awake, listening to the sound of his breathing blend with the rhythm of the rain pounding against the roof in an oddly soothing melody.

Roughly half an hour passed, and Kishinuma's steady breathing became heavier and huskier, transitioning almost completely into snoring.

Is he finally asleep? I wondered. To test my suspicion, I cautiously poked his shoulder. No reaction. I poked him again, and again, and again, with a bit more force each time. He still didn't respond; he didn't even stir in his deep slumber.

Heaving a sigh of relief, I willed myself to relax. Before I closed my eyes to rest, I took in the sight of his sleeping form. He looked at peace, his body no longer shaking with fear, the red blotchiness on his face from crying having faded. The Kishinuma before me was much different from the one that showed up at my door not even an hour ago, sobbing and falling into my arms. And I felt proud, because I felt that I was responsible for easing his mind.

Carefully, I wrapped my arm around his torso, inching closer to him in my bed. Kind of ironic, considering I was the one who told him not to touch me. Snuggling against his warm, sleeping form, I reminisced on all he had done for me during our miserable time in Heavenly Host—all the times he went out of his way for me, the times he risked his own life for me. He was always there for me, through thick and thin, no matter how stubborn or stupidly reckless I could be.

In that moment, as I drifted to sleep with Kishinuma in my arms, I vowed to myself to always be there for him, to return every single favor until we were finally even.

The End

A/N: I've kinda been really impatient with posting new stories lately. I basically started this last night, finished it today, edited it for about 5 minutes, and now whoop here it is. Really messy and probably with a lot of grammar errors. Heh.

I kinda felt like Yoshiki was a bit out-of-character with his awkwardness, but considering the fact that there's a scene in Blood Drive where he feels a little awkward about Ayumi being in his bedroom, I figured it wasn't too out-there.

I would say more about this but I'm kinda sick of my own rambling. I hope you enjoyed the story, and please leave a review to tell me what you think! :D

~Hayley

Note: Please read the notice at the bottom of my profile before reviewing. Seriously. I'm sick of people disregarding it and leaving irritating reviews. I appreciate any attention my writing gets but I don't appreciate non-helpful vagueness.