Notes – For the gx_100. Set post-GX, probably not too long after the graduation of Juudai's year.

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Did he ever dream of madness?

That was an odd question, but then he'd not really prepared himself for normal questions over the years.

The whole event should have seemed childish to him, but after their third year, which was his… um, was it fifth year? Fourth year? He had trouble remembering now. But anyway, after that year, when everything had been so dark and serious, a little bit of childishness didn't hurt at all. If anything he was known as the one to promote immature behaviour, but that last year had even stretched him out thin.

So here they were, having a sleepover like kids would do.

Not everyone was there, but for the most part it was the core of the loyal friends, sans Juudai. As soon as anyone had any idea where Juudai had got to they'd all be more content. For the moment it was him and his sister Asuka, which made sense since it was their house they were using, Shou, Rei, Kenzan and Manjoume, who had turned up because he couldn't say no to Asuka. Hayato was always too busy now, but Fubuki had heard talk that a few of them were heading out to see him soon. Ryo didn't come. That had been a setback to Fubuki, who'd not had much chance to see him lately, but really he hadn't expected him to. He had a lot to do setting up Shou to enter the Pro Leagues. Most people who hadn't shown up were too busy to come.

A small group was probably better anyway; it would give people more space to sleep in. Not to mention this might be the last time the friends would be all together before Asuka went to America, so she'd probably appreciate the smaller group.

They had eaten snacks, and sung songs, until the Tenjoins' father had complained about the noise, then they were reduced to just talking in whispers, but it had still been entertaining. Then the subject of dreams had turned up. It was one of the staples of sleepover conversations, along with ghost stories, so it had been expected.

Everyone had tales to tell about the odd dreams that they'd had.

Rei seemed to have a lot of dreams about the future wedding she'd planned with Juudai, or else she was good at making it up. Either way Fubuki noted that this didn't strike the right cord with Asuka, and Fubuki didn't help by offering to play the music at any wedding Rei might have.

The other dreams were more vague, except in Manjoume's case, who remembered quite vividly the nightmare he'd had recently about being chased by a giant version of Ojama Yellow, who in his dream had been wearing Asuka's uniform. This got the angry glance of Asuka transferred from the cheerful Rei to the horrified Manjoume. Who then assured her quickly that the uniform was fine, it was just Ojama Yellow wearing it that was the problem. He probably wouldn't be forgetting that dream for a while.

After he'd stuttered to a halt, Kenzan cleared his throat loudly to move the group onto the next subject of his own dream. Everyone had seen the word 'dinosaurs' floating in the air before he even said it, but his dreams had actually been more unusual than they'd expected. Because of his DNA Kenzan had dreams that were somewhat of a mix between human thoughts and animal thoughts. They leaned more on the human side, but they certainly could have given an insight into what sort of dreams dinosaurs might have had if they'd had any. He'd also had a dream about being a dinosaur buried in the mud while Jim trying to dig him up with a pickaxe. That made them laugh.

Shou was less willing to talk about his dreams. As he shuffled awkwardly where he sat it was clear that he'd had some dreams about the cards he liked, such as the Black Magician Girl. But he assured them that he was certainly over ithat/i crush now. Definitely. Without a doubt. Honest.

To get him out of the hot water he was further boiling for himself Asuka started talking about her dream. She had no visions of romance, but had been a performer in an ice skating ballet. To start with she had been at the back while others performed in front of her, but in the dream she'd past them all to take on the leading role of the show. People hand clapped and she had received awards for her performance. She hoped this was a sign of bright things to come in the future.

With them all being finished they turned to Fubuki, who had been oddly quiet throughout. Surely he had the strangest dreams of them all. With all the fruity mishaps he got up to during the day he must think of even more impossible things during the night. Did he have a whole choir of grass-skirt wearing ukulele players? Did he fix the love lives of thirty people just by pointing at them? Did he really fly without any cords attached?

But he just shook his head and told them his dreams weren't very interesting.

This surprised them all. They'd been looking forward to it. But then, it was getting late now and he'd probably be more talkative in the morning.

Saying their various 'goodnights' to each other everyone slinked off to the beds and sleeping bags that they'd been provided with before dozing off at their own paces.

After they had gone Fubuki looked up at the ceiling, reflecting on his dreams to himself.

His dreams weren't like his life at all. He lived madness through the day, both the insanity that he inflicted upon himself and whatever impossible trap the rest of the world set up for those who had attended Duel Academia. It didn't bother him, or at least he thought it didn't, but somehow he still had dreams of a life that was very normal.

In his dreams he lived in a house, he had a pet cat and went to a job everyday that he could be certain he'd come back from at night, no risks involved. The Fubuki of the conscious world would have cried out that this was far too boring for him, but the subconscious Fubuki seemed to like it just fine.

And in his dreams things hadn't happened how they'd happened. His friends were all still around, including Juudai. Asuka had found herself a nice person to settle down with, which he was beginning to accept in the waking world she didn't want to do, and he had… he had a house… and Ryo.

His former best friend. Ryo wasn't his best friend in the dreams either, but that was because they had become closer and not because they'd drifted apart. Him and Ryo together. Maybe that was the part of his dream that was crazy.

He closed his eyes and let the thoughts drift from his mind, returning once more to the unusually normal world of his own creation.