Imagine Person A being afraid of the dark, and running to Person B for comfort.

I just yolo-ed so bad. It's 3:30am. I started this at 2:00am, just for Daphne.

Brackets '[ITALICS]' are meant to replace strikethroughs since FFnet, for some reason, doesn't support it. If you'd like to read it with strikethroughs, however, copy and paste this (remove the spaces) :
ban-shou. tumblr post/39300346892/goodnight-fic


It was quiet. The air was still. The sky was quiet – no rain, no storms, no sounds. No nothing.

Or so… that's how Bandou wanted it to be. He hadn't been home for weeks. All he wanted was a night of peaceful nothing. But luck was never in his favor. There was a noise. It would go off periodically, like an alarm, but without the egregious song of utter annoyance each time it went off.

He groaned, wishing the sound would go away, futilely trying to go back to sleep. The sound wasn't loud, nor was it quiet, but its amplitude was just high enough for Bandou to hear. "Great…" he thought irritably.

The sound tugged at him, pulling him away from his subsequent dwellings. Slowly he opened his eyes and all that greeted him was darkness.
"…Not like I was expecting anything or anyone." He mumbled.

He sighed, sitting up against his bed. He stared at the wall in front of him bleakly and sighed once more. The noise was still there.

He couldn't think – his thoughts were muddy and his vision blurry. Bandou blinked a few times to get his eyes used to the dark. "I guess my rods are working now." He thought sarcastically. He could vaguely depict the outline of various items in his room, none of which could've caused the sound.

He got up, turned on the light, and checked his room once more. "Nope, nothing." He mumbled aloud while rubbing his eyes. Yawning, he went out to the hallway and lazily slapped the wall a few times before finding the light switch. His 'house' was a single-room apartment. It was incredibly small, needing only to take about 5 steps from his room to get to the bathroom, and another 10 to get to the living room and kitchen. There was a small stairway to the right of the living room, leading to a sealed off balcony. He didn't even bother looking.

He searched around for the source of noise for what felt like an eternity, but was only 5 minutes. He looked behind crates, under boxes, furniture and he still hadn't found the source of it. He even looked in his refrigerator. "What could this noise be?" He groaned aloud.

As he walked towards the front door, the source of the noise got louder. The floorboards, under the strain of unfamiliar weight, creaked beneath him. He slowed his pace, trying to distribute his weight. A sound stopped him in his tracks. "Was that… a whimper?" He tilted his head, ear pressing against the door. He listened carefully. He heard it again. It was a small voice, a familiar voice, a boy, one who he'd known for many years.

"San-chan," he cried. "San-chan, help." Bandou's eyes widened.
"Shouhei!" Bandou instantly called. He threw open his door, greeted by the sight of Shouhei in a set of pajamas, sitting on the floor, clutching a pillow in front of his doorstep. Bandou's eyes widened imperceptibly but softened a moment later. It was his neighbor, his fellow member of Homra, his long-time friend, [his adorable love interest.] "Stop thinking stupid things!" He internally scolded himself. "Shouhei, what the hell are you doing here?" Bandou asked. "It's the middle of the night!"

"Saaaaan-chan!" Shouhei wailed. "I was so scared, San-chan! Everything was so scary!"
Bandou sighed. "What was so scary?"
"The dark!" Shouhei whimpered. "I saw so many scary shapes across my room. And something was tapping against my window!" A vein popped up on Bandou's forehead, but he chose not to act out on his anger. He sighed. It was late.

"Shouhei, that's probably just the tree and the moonlight illuminating the objects in your room."
"B-but.. San-chan… please?" Shouhei pleaded. "Can I sleep over just this one night?"
Bandou spluttered, obviously taken aback, "W-what? D-don't be an i-idiot! You're a big boy! You can sleep by yourself!"
"San-chan! Please? Just this once?" Shouhei pleaded once again [– cutely. "His pouting lips – I could just ki—]STOP!" He mentally slapped himself. "Fine, just this once, okay?" Bandou gave in, a hue of red could be seen across his cheeks.
"Yay! Thank you so much!" Shouhei smiled and hugged him.
"G-get off!" Bandou stuttered, frozen, his face red as a tomato. Shouhei let go and ran straight to his bedroom.

Bandou sighed. He closed the door, locked it, and turned off the lights in his hallway. He walked into his room, and saw Shouhei waiting for him… on his bed. Shouhei smiled and gestured to sleep next to him. "Hurry up, San-chan!"

Bandou turned off the lights to his bedroom and climbed in next to Shouhei, pulling the sheets up to cover them while doing so. "Just this once, agreed?" He growled. "Yep!" Shouhei happily replied, nodding his head expectantly. Bandou sighed, "Good." He turned his back to face away from Shouhei. "Goodnight." But it seemed that Shouhei wasn't going to sleep without annoying Bandou one last time. He poked Bandou's back.

Bandou turned around to face Shouhei, an annoyed look plastered on his face. "What. Is. It?" He asked through his teeth, seething. "Stay like this, San-chan." And with that, Shouhei laid his head against Bandou's chest, his hands resting on Bandou's shoulders.

Bandou tensed, but relaxed after a few seconds. He sighed, "Fine. Just this once." He smiled affectionately. "What an idiot, to get scared by such mundane things." He mumbled to himself quietly.

Minutes pass and Bandou still couldn't find it in himself to fall asleep. He didn't want to move, afraid that he would wake the boy up. He stared down at the sleeping [beauty] boy next to him and [dotingly] flicked the boy's bangs away. He leaned down and chastely kissed the boy's forehead, thanking the lack of light to obscure his quickly reddening face. "Goodnight." Bandou whispered and closed his eyes.

A small smile formed on Shouhei's mouth. "I love you too, San-chan." He quietly whispered.