The music was blaring from Ellie's headphones, but it did nothing to cover the terrible crashes of thunder outside as rain splattered onto her window so hard it looked like it might break. She curled up tighter underneath the threadbare blanket, for once wishing that she had a roommate to share her terror with- or at least take comfort in their presence- she would never let anyone know that she was scared of thunder, of all things. The flashes of lighting illuminated her room sporadically, casting shadows on the walls. Ellie shrunk backwards against the wall, closing her eyes and murmuring to herself.
I am not afraid. I am not afraid.
She chanted it like a mantra as the waves of thunder rolled over the roof, until it sounded like it was right overhead. A particularly loud crash caused her to jump up, hitting her head off of the bunk above and topple onto the ground. She stood, rubbing her hip where she had landed and deliberating for a moment before quietly opening her door and taking off down the corridor.
"Riley?" She whispered, peeking into the darkened room. There was no reply, but Ellie could see Liz, Riley's roommate, sprawled across the top bunk. The bottom bunk, however, was empty. She crossed the room quietly, reaching out to touch the sheets. Still warm. She was around here somewhere. She turned back to the door and left, slightly disappointed and more scared than she had been before she went looking for Riley. When she reached her room again, she had to hold in a yelp of surprise as she saw a figure sitting on her bed. There was a second of silence before she recognised the familiar silhouette.
"Riley?" She whispered.
"Nope. It's Corporal Dickhead, at your service m'am." She said, slightly sarcastically, but Ellie could hear the smile in her voice. Another crack of thunder and a flash of lighting darted across the room, and Ellie flinched. She hoped Riley didn't notice- but, in true Riley fashion, she did.
"Are you scared of thunderstorms, Ellie?" She asked. Ellie was going to deny this, but she realised that there was no point in hiding it. She would find out eventually.
"Yeah." She said, slightly ashamed. She expected some sort of sarcastic remark or joke at her expense, but instead, Riley said the words that she least expected.
"Come here." She said, opening her arms and pulling Ellie into a hug. Ellie desperately tried to ignore the fact that her cheeks were tinged pink, or that her heart was fluttering against her chest like a bird trapped in a cage. She held on tightly, savouring one of the rare moments where Riley wasn't the total badass that she had come to know. Although she loved the regular Riley, it was nice to see what she was like with her guard down. It was nice being the only person to see her like that, too. She had pushed her feelings for Riley away, locking them away in some distant corner to be examined later, but somehow they were forcing themselves to the forefront of her mind. She was suddenly aware that she had been hugging Riley for a very long time, and she jerked away. How long was a platonic hug supposed to last? Would she find notice? Could Riley hear Ellie's heart thumping as loudly as she could?
"Thanks." Ellie said sincerely, staring at the floor. It was a good thing that it was dark. Riley couldn't see the crimson colour of Ellie's cheeks, or the way her pupils were dilated. Ellie was sure that would have given the game away. "So... why were you in here?" Ellie asked, trying to recover from the strong emotions she had just felt.
"I couldn't sleep. It was too loud."
"Me neither. Do you- do you wanna sleep here tonight? I have my walkman. We can share the earphones." Riley seemed oblivious to Ellie's stuttering as she mentally slapped herself. Shit, she thought, not now, Ellie.
"Sure." Riley replied. making herself comfortable under the blankets. Ellie crawled in beside her, reaching under her pillow for her walkman. "What's in there?" Riley asked curiously.
"A tape I found." Riley just nodded, putting in one earphone and listening for a moment before skipping forwards. She continued to do this before Ellie stopped her. "Stop it, you're running the batteries down! What are you even doing, Riley?"
"Are these all love songs?" She asked, frowning.
"Yeah. Why? I didn't choose them, Riley."
"But you listen to them."
"So your point is...?"
"You are such a fucking sap." This earned Riley a hard shove, and she landed with a muted thud on the carpeted floor. "Ow." She complained, climbing back into bed and burrowing under the covers.
"Do you want to listen to them or not?" Ellie asked, a hint of playful annoyance leaking through her tone.
"Fine," Riley agreed begrudgingly, "but I gotta get you some new music."
"Fine by me." Ellie agreed, yawning and rolling onto her side. She was asleep within minutes, even with the thunder booming outside of her window.

Ellie awoke to the morning light filtering through the grimy windows. It was a Saturday, which meant that there was no military drills. She could lie here in bed with Riley all day, if she wanted to. Riley was still sleeping, her head nestled in the crook of Ellie's neck, her arms slung protectively over Ellie's body. Ellie found it amusing, the way that she was so tough when she was awake, but when she was asleep, she was reminiscent of a koala bear the way she clung to her. She eventually drifted back to sleep, and when she awoke a second time, Riley was not sleeping still. Ellie found herself sprawled across Riley's lap as she casually leaned against the wall, watching a DVD on a portable player that they had found. It was a lucky find, they'd got it at the mall all boxed up with the charger and everything. They were constantly on the hunt for new movies to watch, but so far Ellie's favourite was Scott Pilgrim. She'd already read the comic, so when she found the movie, she was so excited that she nearly pissed herself. Of course, she didn't. Even though she didn't understand it all (what the fuck is ) she loved it because it reminded her of a video game. Coincidentally, it was Riley's favourite too, but only because of the 'killer-tunes', as she had phrased it. Either way, it was a win-win situation for them both, and upon discovering that it was playing when she awoke, they sat in companionable silence as they watched it for the hundredth time this month. When it was over, Riley got up to leave, gathering her things and standing from the bed. Ellie was almost disappointed.
"Riley?" Ellie asked cautiously.
"Yeah...?" Riley replied, somewhat sceptically, suspicious of Ellie's tone.
"Can you stay, just for a little while longer?" she asked, doing her best puppydog eyes. Riley deliberated for a moment, before plopping back down onto the bed.
"I guess." She said, grinning. Ellie smiled back, leaning against Riley again as the opening scene of Juno started to play.
"No." Riley said, folding the screen back down. Riley hated the film because the soundtrack was sucky, apparently. Ellie secretly disagreed, but she relented, carefully putting the DVD back into it's case. Riley didn't mind Juno too much, she pretended to hate it more than she did- the actress looked too much like Ellie, it was... distracting to her. She tried not to think about why it was distracting, and focused on choosing another film. Eventually, they settled on Home Alone. They'd never had Christmas, so it was a little strange, but nice all the same. This year, they planned to have a small party (consisting of only two people) on Christmas. They had even managed to scrounge up some tinsel. It was a little early yet, but Ellie was certain that they'd be able to find some sort of a tree in the next few weeks, before the snowy season rolled back around. Until then, they'd settle for watching little snow pixels blowing across a screen, and enjoy each other's company. They watched films all day, before falling asleep together, a tangle of limbs, various chords and wires from headphones or chargers and even some tinsel. When morning broke, and officials came around waking everybody up, they got caught in the middle of their 'slumber party'. It earned them 2 weeks of washing up duty, but it was worth it. Lieutenant Morris had finally given in and said that they could share a room- they'd been caught like this so many times that it was pointless trying to keep them apart. Kitchen duty was a small price to pay for a slumber-party every night, and mall trips together that didn't have to be planned, and the occasional rooftop water fight. All in all, everything was good. It was, as Ellie had put it, better than good. And hopefully, that would be how it stayed.

A/N: Hi. Hope you enjoyed that- this 'story' isn't going to necessarily be continued from the last chapter- if I do end up updating this, it will be another fluffy one-shot with NO MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH BECAUSE THAT SHIT GETS ME. Just think of this as my Rellie folder of fluffy love and joy. Come here after a bad day. There'll probably be something new in here to cheer you up. Anyway, review, maybe? It would make me really happy?

Until next time!
-Vulpixels ^_^