Boomer had a secret. Which was a really bad thing. Really really bad. Because generally, Boomer is very... vocal when he sleeps, and that was bad. Because it wasn't just snoring and making strange noises. That would have been fine. Not the best, but fine. The problem was that he talked in his sleep and then his brothers would find out his secret. Fuck. For all he knows they already know that he likes the enemy. As in likes likes. So lately he has been avoiding his brothers, just to be safe. Cause they might know, but they don't know that he knows that they know so they might be pretending not to know that they know. And it was just. Ugh. Maybe he could just tell them? Yeah, no way.

Boomer allowed his head to fall on the couch. This was so stressful. Normally he was an open person, as blunt as they come and at times brutally honest (yes, even more so than his brothers) but when it came to her... he was just useless.

The tv crackled, right now he was the only one in the living room, and he had complete control over the channels, which wasn't a common occurrence. 'Perks of staying late at night' Boomer thinks.

The channel on right now is a news channel. Boomer wasn't the type to care about what was going on in the world, he left that to Brick, but the news anchor was talking about the day and when it came to Townsville that meant the news anchor had to talk about monsters and villains and Bubbles Utonium, the cutest person alive. Boomer let out a breath, as she saw her smile at the camera, she wasn't wearing anything fancy but she still outshone everyone. She was covered in scratches and monster goo, and he could tell her pigtails threatened to fall loose. He would do anything to be with her, longed to hold her in his arms.

But.

He had a secret to keep and a family to please.

Bubbles had a secret. Which made her feel bad for keeping things from her family... okay, fine. She hid some things from her family, like the time she lost Blossom's favorite pen or the time she accidentally spilled food on Buttercup's treasured reeboks. Still, those things were only kept because she wanted to save her neck, and besides they ended up coming out anyways. At the end of the day, Bubbles was still an honest person, her family even knew all about her romantic life, past crushes and...her current infatuation with the blue ruff.

No, her secret was that she still had nightmares. It was dumb. She wasn't five anymore but still she just had a hard time sleeping in the dark and without plushies. She wasn't a baby anymore so why, oh why did she still have to deal with them? She was able to face danger and criminals everyday, for Pete's sake!

Sometimes, her nightmares were just awful: images of her sisters dying and Townsville decaying. Other times, her nightmares were silly-er, like her family rejecting her and leaving her alone. Regardless, they always felt real, and she found herself waking up in the middle of the night ( or sometimes in the middle of a well earned nap, and she would go over to her sisters or her father and silently hug them) and because she didn't want to wake anyone because she was just being silly she would go outside and watch the stars, sometimes call an animal and have them cuddle with her. And sometimes she would wonder about the blue boy and how he smiled and and if he was doing alright. Sometimes, she would consider confessing to him, because she knew how he looked at her, and she really wanted them to work out.

Most times however, bubbles would go back to bed after a while, aware that, even if she liked him and he liked her, it probably wouldn't work.

One more time, they had a secret.

It was against Bubbles' better judgement, she simply wanted to tell the world how lucky she was to have him with her. But Boomer didn't want her to go public, saying it was to protect her, and while Bubbles understood where he was going with, it still left a bad feeling in her stomach. It made her feel insecure, that maybe this was all a joke.

She knew she was being unreasonable, because contrary to popular belief, bubbles was smart. Or smarter than what they gave her credit for. She was good at guessing what people were feeling and it was specially true for someone who was as easy to read as Boomer.

Whenever they talked about it, the source of most of their arguments really, he would scrunch up his eye brows and his lips would from a thin line, and he would look straight into her eyes and just be quiet for a few minutes, and Bubbles would just see conflict swirling in his eyes.

She always ended up listening to him. Still, her nightmares often manipulated things. And the nightmares would replace a loving man for a cheater. She had other nightmares, more severe and grotesque, but it's favorite subject has always been loneliness.

"Bubbles..."

The voice of her lover called her, and Bubbles turned from the balcony of her apartment and into her room. She had been meaning to ask Boomer to move in with her, but she was unsure if he would agree and if it would start another fight about going public with their relationship.

"...i love you..."

Boomer grumbled, drooling and messing up his hair. Bubbles giggled, she couldn't help but think the man was cute, especially when he scrunched his eyebrows after feeling the empty spot she had left. He made a sound of complain, and Bubbles started running her fingers through his hair lovingly.

"Bubs?"

He said, and Bubbles only knew this was him awake because he opened his eyes and sat up.

"What are you doing up?"

He said, Bubbles shrugged not really wanting to tell him about her nightmare. Boomer let out a sigh.

"Come here, angel"

He made a gesture for her to go to his side, and she happily obligued, finding a spot in his arms.

"Did you have a nightmare, babe?"

He said after kissing the top of her head.

"How did you know?"

She admitted.

"You're always cuddly when you have one."

"Hey, there mister. You were the one that told me to come here."

Bubbles argued, and Boomer wrinkled his nose.

"So I wanted to hug my girlfriend, sue me." He joked, and then, seriously "do you want to talk about it?"

He said. Bubbles thought about it for a minute, and then shakes her head no.

"It's silly"

"It's not silly if it's bothering you. Do you want to turn on the light? I won't mind."

Boomer said, and Bubbles gave him an unimpressed look.

"I'm not a baby."

She deadpanned, it was sweet that he cared but it wasn't that bad that she needed the light.

"I never said that."

He said, laying them both down and turning the lights off.

"Hey, Boomer?"

Bubbles called to him. Boomer made a noise for her to keep going and pulled her closer into his arms.

"I love you."

She turned her face to look at him, and he was staring at her too. The silence lasted only seconds, but it was nerve wracking. Sure, Boomer had told her this words in his sleeps more often than she can count and she almost always said them right back, but! This would be the first time those words were said when the two were awake.

"I love you too," he kissed her in the corner of her lips. "More than I know how to let you know."

He said, and that was all she needed. She allowed herself to lay down on his chest, hearing his heart beat and calming her into slumber.

happy new year :)