Standard disclaimers apply here.

prompt: insomnia

Very dialogue-heavy, but I had the most fun with that. The name is taken from the idiom "the elephant in the room," though there's no underlying meaning. I have a nine-year-old cousin so I tried to imagine her saying some of the words, but...well, she's not a typical nine-year-old. (She hangs her dolls [because they "like it," not because she wants to hurt them], took a screwdriver to bed [or some sort of wrench; she liked the noise it made], and once put tape over her mouth and one eye and gave my aunt [her mom] a note that said, "Should I take it off? Circle yes or no.") Feedback would be lovely. The next update might not be for a bit because I've been neglecting my schoolwork, but I'll be writing when I can and will probably finish something soon.

The Monster in the Room

The halls of the Order, spacious and airy during the day, felt ominous at night.

Lenalee couldn't stay in her room. She didn't want to leave her room because of the darkness that stood beyond it. She wanted to sleep – oh, how she wanted to sleep – but couldn't.

Instead of waiting for the monsters in the shadows of her room to get her, she threw open her door and ran into the hall, now at the mercy of the monsters that surely loomed near the ceiling at night. She put her head down and moved faster, her footfalls echoing off the walls – no, they would wake up and take her back there.

Lenalee slowed down. The slight noise from her feet – she was barefoot and freezing but it was better than the pain from the Dark Boots – still came back to her, but she felt reassured that no monster – or human – would come after her.

The kitchens were locked when she went there, but she wasn't hungry anyway. She knew she couldn't try to escape; the doors out would be bolted, and she couldn't reach that high, even with her hateful Innocence activated - she wouldn't connect with it, and it refused to help her because of that.

As she wandered, a clock somewhere struck midnight. So late. She still didn't think she could fall asleep.

Finally, she found herself by the training room, and was surprised to hear noise inside. The door was ajar, so she pushed it a little to see better, but didn't open it.

Oh. It was that – boy. What was his name? He had been there for a full week and had barely spoken to her. His General told her that he was just tired the first day they were there, and had given her a sweet. The sweet was long gone now, and he was still snappish.

It might have had something to do with the fact that she called him a girl. She couldn't help it – he was girly-looking.

Lenalee frowned as she thought, and didn't realize the boy had stopped what he was doing and was coming toward her until the door was yanked open. She cried out in surprise, stepped back, tripped, and landed on her bottom.

Out of sheer frustration, exhaustion, the pain she felt, and embarrassment, she started to cry. He had been standing in the door, sword propped on his shoulder, but it was clear he didn't know what to do in that situation.

Lenalee brushed away her tears as fast as they came but more fell in their place. She was always crying, it seemed, but for some reason now she couldn't stop.

"H-hey," he finally said, unsure of what to do. He had never dealt with a crying girl before, but he had a feeling that his General, who was annoying enough as it was, would somehow find out if he left her here in the hall and scold him. "Are you…"

"No, I'm not alright," she snapped before he could finish his question. "I'm so tired but I can't sleep. I want to go home. And you've never been nice to me." She added in the last thing accusingly, and he scowled. "I thought we would be friends," she told him with a sob. He waited for her to say more, but she didn't. She just cried and cried.

"Why?"

"Wh-what?" Her voice wavered from the tears.

"Why did you th…want to be friends?" For some reason those words came out of his mouth; he was going to ask her why she thought they would be friends, but instead he said that.

"B-because."

"Because why?"

"Because." It seemed like a good enough response to her. He didn't appear to agree.

"Because why?"

"Because," she repeated with the same emphasis, looking him in the eye. He met her gaze with a glare, but she didn't seem affected by it. In fact, her tears were slowly stopping.

"Whatever," he finally snapped, turning around. He started to walk away, but she scrambled to stand up.

"Wait!"

"What?"

"Why are you up so late training?" He continued walking, but she fell in step next to him, still sniffling a bit.

"I couldn't sleep," he admitted, trying to walk faster, but she kept up.

"I couldn't either," she said, somehow pleased that they had something in common.

"You already said that."

"Well, it's still true." She would not be put off, no matter what he said. He stopped and she stumbled as she tried to stop with him.

"What do you want?" he demanded, wanting to get rid of her and go to bed.

"I want to be friends," she responded, not budging. "I told you that already."

"I meant now," he clarified, continuing to scowl.

"I was looking for something to do – "

"At midnight?"

"You were training."

"That's different."

"No it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't."

"Ye – I'm not going to do that." He crossed his arms and she did the same.

"Anyway, I was looking for something to do because I couldn't sleep – "

"You said that already."

"And the monsters in my room were going to get me," she finished, ignoring his interruption. He stared at her for a moment, then snorted.

"Akuma are the only monsters that exist," he told her loftily, "and there aren't any of those in your room."

"Nuh-uh, there are monsters in my room."

"You're stupid."

"No I'm not!"

"Be quiet." They were near some other exorcists' rooms, and he didn't want anyone to wake up and scold them – him. Why did he care if they scolded her or not? "Fine," he said, giving in, "I'll show you that there aren't any monsters in your room."

"You'll see – you're wrong."

"I am not!" he snapped, but before she could respond, he began stomping away. After a few steps he stopped and turned back to her, an irritated expression on his face. "Where is your room?"

"Downstairs."

They descended the stairs together, and he flicked on the light when they got to her room.

"See? There's nothing in here."

"They only come out in the dark." He let out an exasperated sigh.

"There aren't any monsters in my room, so there aren't any in yours," he told her, and she looked at him with wide eyes.

"There aren't monsters in your room?" She apparently hadn't heard the second half of what he said.

"Of course not."

"Then can I stay in your room?" He stared at her for a few moments.

"No."

"Why not?" Her eyes started filling with tears again.

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because."

He stormed away before it could go on, but heard footsteps behind him and whipped around. "Go back to your own room!"

At that, she did start to cry again. "Why are you so mean?" He had no response; it was his nature, and he didn't know any other way to be.

"Fine," he said, and she didn't seem to understand. "You can stay in my room!" he snapped, and she flinched at his tone but gazed up at him.

"Really?"

"As long as you shut up." She pouted.

"You shut up."

"What?"

"I said you should shut up." He gritted his teeth.

"Hurry up before I change my mind." At that she moved quickly to catch up with him.

Once they reached the room, she went in and looked around, then nodded. "There aren't any monsters in here," she concluded. He told her to wait in the hall while he changed, but she didn't want to leave again, so he grabbed her shoulders and moved her so her nose was almost touching the wall. He warned her not to turn around or he'd kick her out, so she stayed where she was until he made a noise to indicate he was dressed again.

After hearing this, she scrambled into the bed. He started to say something, but she stopped him.

"I'm not going to sleep on the floor," she informed him, pulling back the covers, "and neither are you. There might be monsters under the bed, and if you're on the floor they'll get you."

He got into the bed beside her because he didn't feel like arguing; he was too tired at that point. He tried to stay away, but it proved to be pointless because she moved up next to him anyway. She murmured something he didn't understand, and thought of her brother, so far away; she used to get into his bed at night when she had nightmares. This wasn't different, was it?

"Oh," she murmured when they were both almost asleep; she felt comfortable and relaxed for the first time in…she couldn't remember how long. Certainly for as long as she had been there. "By the way, what's your name?"