*Reposted to this story in order to keep all of my oneshots together. c:*

A/N: Because it's not an official ship until one of them has a nightmare and is comforted by the other.

Wooooow, it's been quite some time since I've posted something on here, huh?

In this fic, Van's 18 and Hiro's 19; I feel like that's a reasonable age. They don't live together, but I feel like they would spend the night at each other's houses a lot. I feel like their guardians would trust them to be responsible, y'know?

My writing may be a little rusty, but here you go, nonetheless! c:

This was also posted here (just take away the spaces): hamada-sisters . tumblr tagged / fanfic

It wasn't like Vanellope had never experienced a nightmare before. She'd had nightmares many, many times, but it'd been a while since she'd had one. Ever since she'd gotten used to spending the night with Hiro, her nightmares had gotten more rare. She'd become accustomed to having Hiro right next to her when she slept.

That night, however, Hiro had been working late on a project in the garage. Vanellope didn't mind and thankfully she was able to fall asleep without him.

She really regretted falling asleep.

It had been so long since she'd dreamed about it. About her parents' passing, about her living in that dumb orphanage until she was adopted*. Except in her dreams, her parents' deaths always happened in different ways. Her dream this night had been so vague, had happened so fast, yet it still managed to frighten her to tears. And she never cried.

She awoke with a start - her hazel eyes were wide and glossy and her chest rising up and down quickly with every rapid breath she took. Quickly, she pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked around her to regain her senses.

Right. She was in Hiro's room. She was fine. It was just a dream.

It was just a dream.

The ravenette felt tears on her cheek and she quickly wiped them away but to no avail. She couldn't stop the tears from falling or steady her breathing.

She was scared.

God, she was a wimp. There she was, eighteen-years-old and crying over a nightmare.

A shaky sigh of defeat escaped past her lips and she let her head fall onto her hands.

She hated this. Why was she acting like such a baby? Could she really not go one night alone without having a nightmare? Was she really crying over a nightmare?

Suddenly she felt a sink in the mattress and something around her shoulders. Her head shot up and she was about to jump off the bed, but the arm around her shoulders kept her seated.

"Van, it's just me."

Came a husky, yet familiar voice. Great. As if crying over a dumb dream wasn't embarrassing enough.

"Oh my God -" Vanellope made no hesitation in punching Hiro on the arm. "You scared me! Don't do that again!"

Hiro held his free hand up in defense. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to! You just looked upset." he claimed and rubbed the spot on his arm where he'd been punched.

At that, Vanellope wiped at her tears again and looked down, followed by her crossing her arms. "I thought you were working downstairs." she mumbled quietly.

"I was, but I decided to call it a night. Even geniuses need their rest, y'know."

His smiled faltered when his attempt to brighten the mood was ignored. Hiro tilted his head to the side and leaned down so that he was in Vanellope's line of vision. "You looked upset." he repeated.

"'m fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I said I'm fine, Hiro!"

Hiro was a little taken back by her sudden outburst, but he recovered quickly. It wasn't unlike her to do that when she was upset. He tried to regain eye contact with her, but Vanellope was looking off to the side trying to avoid eye contact. Don't start crying again, she mentally reminded herself, don't start crying.

"...You don't have to tell me what's wrong," Hiro began and gently cupped the side of his girlfriend's face with his hand and move her head so she was at least facing him. "but don't tell me you're okay when you're obviously not."

Vanellope continued to avoid eye contact and bit her lip to hide the fact that it was wavering. She refused to start crying again.

"You don't have to always be happy and act like everything's okay." he continued. "It's okay to be sad sometimes."

Vanellope made a few attempts to speak, but she just couldn't find the right words. She sniffled and took a deep breath instead.

Hiro hated seeing Vanellope in this state. It was so unlike her. She was usually sassy and sarcastic or bubbly and laughing. Seeing her wearing anything but a smile on her face was just... weird to him. Seeing her smile always made him smile. Hearing her contagious, joyous laughter always made him laugh. Seeing her frown and eyes filled with crocodile tears had the same affect on him.

He couldn't bare seeing her so upset, so helpless. He gently pulled her into a hug, to which she gratefully returned. Her breathing returned to normal, give or take a few deep breaths or hiccups here and there. Hiro ran his hand through her long, raven hair, a habit he had grown into not too long ago. It was a soothing, loving gesture that Vanellope didn't mind, only with Hiro, though. She was very picky when it came to showing her affection to others, but with Hiro she wasn't too bothered with it.

Somehow, they eventually ended up laying down. Hiro found himself wide awake, though. He didn't mind staying awake; listening to Vanellope's even breathing and just holding her close was just fine with him. He thought that Vanellope had drifted off some time ago, but he was clearly mistaken when he heard her speak.

"I love you."

* I think that Van's parents passed away when she was very young, thus she had no other family to go to and was put in an orphanage. When she was 9, she got to leave that horrid orphanage because she was adopted by Ralph. That's just how I see it, but if you don't, hey, that's cool, too!

Anyways, sorry if that seemed OOC. I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! Thanks so much for reading!