Matthew stared into the unending darkness. He flipped over, tangling the sheets into a hopeless mess. He could not sleep. He just couldn't sleep, not with those nightmares. He sighed quietly and pulled the sleeping Kuma-chan closer. For once, his constant friend's warmth didn't soothe him immediately. He looked over to the wall on his left, the one right next to the guest room. He can think of someone that probably could. He knew he always slept better it there was someone with him. He used to do it with Alfred, back when they were colonies. He would even stay with his papa when he would visit.

But no. There's no way he was going to sleep with Russia. Russia had just become his friend three months ago. He was not going to waltz over to his guest room and ask to join him. Russia was...

He was crazy. He would beat you to an inch of your life just for looking at him. He only wanted to control and hurt. He was heartless... or so he had been told many times by "concerned" family and friends.

He had never believed any of that. He had never seen it. He had seen a shy, slightly awkward man, just trying to live his life. He got angry, yes, with little effort. But he had never purposely hurt anyone. It killed him inside that he had hurt people. He thought he was hopeless. Matthew knew he wasn't. It just took some patience and some trust, things he had never been shown before. He also knew for a fact that he had a heart. It had fallen out of his chest and onto his dinner table one time. He got so flustered about it to. It was almost cute... in a mildly disturbing way. Matthew managed to laugh it off and told him not to worry about it.

Ah, now he was rambling. Perhaps, he could ask. It would help him sleep, and maybe Ivan wouldn't mind. That decided, he slipped out of him bed and began to make his way towards the door.

~ TreesAndCheese ~

Ivan sat up abruptly. His head raced and he put his hand over his chest to try to keep his heart inside. After a while it settled down and he felt it was safe to sprawl back down on his very comfortable temporary bed. He was very happy to have been invited to stay at Matthew's house, but apparently his nightmares couldn't leave him alone for even a few days.

Nightmares about what he did and what happened to him. They made him doubt that he could keep his new friend safe. Matthew. Matthew was wonderful. The first one to give him a chance. He wasn't afraid to be near him. Either that, he was so scared he pretended he wasn't to save himself. Ah, but that didn't seem likely. He sighed heavily and buried his face into his pillow. He stayed there for a few minutes before looking at the wall.

He knew it would help if he slept with Matthew. It would keep the nightmares away, at least mostly. He used to make Lithuania stay with him, which probably started the untrue rumors about him. He shifted under the covers. The warmth, the mere presence of another person helped him tremendously. It didn't make the nightmares go away, but it would make it less terrible to wake up. It wasn't perfect, but it helped. Perhaps he could go make Matthew stay with him. Not too forcibly, though. He wouldn't want to scare his only friend away.

He slid off his bed, wrapped himself in a blanket, and shuffled towards the door.

~ TreesAndCheese ~

Ivan stopped as he heard soft footsteps from the hallway. He titled his head and listened carefully and after a moment there was the softest of knocks on the door.

He stepped back slightly and the door creaked open.

"Ah! Ivan. Hello. I was um... just… um." Matthew stuttered and blushed as he tried to explain his sudden urge to go see Ivan and around 2:30 in the morning while Ivan looked on amusedly.

"Couldn't sleep?" Ivan guessed with this smile on his face. Matthew flushed harder and nodded.

Ivan stepped back and gestured with one blanket covered arm deeper into his temporary room. Matthew smiled happily, causing Ivan's heart to flutter strangely. The two padded their way over the bed and slipped in on opposite sides.

They lay there for a moment before Ivan flipped onto his side and pulled Matthew closer. He smiled sleepily as he felt him relax in his arms and even snuggle closer.

"Comfy?" He murmured sleepily and Matthew nodded.

They both fell into a blissful sleep.

Hello~ this is TreesAndCheese!

Ah~ fluff.

Discaimer: s'not mine.

So I wrote this one really fast. Only about and actually hour or two of typing spread over a few days. my typing speed improved so much!

For anyone that sees my stories and goes 'Ohh~ a TreesAndCheese fic! *click *' I have been limiting my typing time cause of my lingering concussion. But! Unspoken Words will be updated pretty soon, then I'll work on Doll's Curse.

For the many Artificial Starlight fans I wrote something based on her Angel fic. It's called Wings of Your Soul if you want to check it out.

Please point out any mistakes to me so I can improve!

Reviews would be nice.

Tons-o-luv

TreesAndCheese