It was a quiet night at the Bargsburg church. The moonlight shone into the window of the room shared between Teito Klein and Hakuren Oak, who both lay awake in their beds.
Hakuren was staring at the ceiling, hands resting on his chest. The room was quiet, mostly, save for Teito's constant tossing in the other bed.
"Ungh," Teito groaned in his tossing. Mikage fluttered his small, pink wings and flew to Teito, resting on his chest, then nipped at the boy's cheek. "Ouch! Mikage, I'm trying to sleep." Teito waved a lazy hand at the dragon, but the furry creature successfully evaded him, as if teasing him. Mikage perched at the foot of Teito's bed and stayed there, watching him.
"Hey, Teito," Hakuren called from the other bed, glancing over.
Teito rolled over, his back to Hakuren, putting a pillow over his head. "What?" He whined.
"What was your friend like? You've never said much about him."
Teito slowly pulled the pillow off of his head and stopped tossing, but didn't turn back to face his roommate. "Why do you want to know?" He asked, suddenly sounding a lot more awake than he had a moment ago.
Hakuren shrugged, looking at the ceiling. "I was just curious. I thought it might be nice to have a friend like that."
"Yeah," Teito said. His voice sounded empty, like it lacked heart that should have been there. The heart he was still struggling to piece back together ever since Mikage died. But it was hard to piece something together that felt like was simply gone. "He was my best friend," Teito finally admitted after a long pause. "He always smiled. He taught me how to smile."
Hakuren looked over at Teito's back and he could have sworn he saw his shoulders shaking. "You don't smile much anymore though. Do you?"
Teito only responded by shaking his head quickly several times, even though he couldn't tell if Hakuren saw since his back was still to him.
"I don't want to replace him," Hakuren continued. "But you and I are friends, Teito. Keep that in mind, alright?"
"Yeah," Teito replied. "We're friends."
"Get some sleep, Teito." He rolled over, facing the wall opposite to Teito's bed, feeling a sting of guilt for having made his new friend so upset. He probably should have just kept his mouth shut, but he couldn't take it back now.
"Hakuren?" Teito called.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For being my friend."
"Thank you for the same, Teito." It seemed so rare for Teito to show his real emotions, but Hakuren cherished is so much. He wouldn't soon forget it, nor would he ever let him down, he promised himself. That much he would prove to him.
Hakuren could have sworn he heard Mikage make a purring noise, but when he looked over the dragon was still perched at the end of Teito's bed, looking at the boy, so he coudn't be sure. Hakuren simply shrugged it off and tried to get some sleep.