(A/N) The original author's note on this chapter was something about "holy hell part 10..." and now 30+ chapters later, haha...


The dullahan was used to being the only one who would get up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. She didn't need as much sleep as the humans, after all, and often had other uses for the time. It wasn't at all unusual for her to just sit on the couch and think while her three boys were fast asleep in the next room over.

What was unusual was to find someone already up, and busy in the kitchen no less.

"Couldn't sleep?" Celty typed out, and Izaya shrugged.

"I was too hungry." He held up the words on his own phone screen. "I threw up most of my diner, if you remember. After my stomach settled, I realized I was starving."

There was a pause, and then Celty asked, "But that's not all it is, is it? It's also the nightmares. You don't want to go to sleep."

"How did you guess?" Izaya typed out, with a guilty smile.

"Because I know what its like," Celty replied, "being kept awake by nightmares. I've gone through it."

"It really isn't the most pleasant thing."

"No, not at all." Celty paused, then typed, "I'll sit up with you, if you want company."

"I'd really like that, actually," Izaya held up, his smile becoming a bit more honest. Celty stood beside him, leaning back against the counter as he finished preparing his eggs and rice, then accompanied him over to the table. They sat in silence for a moment as he ate, but eventually Izaya held up his phone again.

"You just said you know what it's like to be afraid to go to sleep. Well, I finally understand what it's like to be missing memories."

Celty's shadows billowed with surprise, but then she typed out, "I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

"I know I've said it before, but I haven't heard anything about your head." There was earnest regret in his eyes, and he probably wouldn't have said such a thing out loud. "I don't know if you believe me or not, but it's the truth."

"I didn't believe you at first, Orihara… but things have changed since we met." Celty seemed momentarily to struggle for words, then settled on, "We aren't just connected through Shinra anymore. We have our own bond."

"It's irritating," Izaya offered, with a slightly sour smile. "I could tell you almost anything else you wanted to know, but…" He shook his head. "This feeling… it's so… wrong, missing a whole other part of you. Before, I thought that it might be 'nice' if I could help you with your head, but… now that I'm missing memories, too..."

He ran out of words; put his phone down. And Celty placed her hand over his.

"It's okay," she wrote on the back of his hand with one finger. "It's okay."

They sat like that for a moment, Izaya's gaze fixed on their overlapping hands. Celty was the first to stand, collecting his dishes and then holding up, "You have to sleep now."

"I don't want to," Izaya typed, then added as he stood, "You understand— you just said you did."

"I also understand how damaging sleep deprivation can be," the dullahan informed him, and then leaned into him. "Just give it a try."

"I'm scared." It was another thing that Izaya might never have admitted it out loud, but there it was on his phone screen.

And Celty tucked her phone away in favor of reaching forward, taking Izaya's face tenderly in both her hands. Her left drifted down, then rested on his shoulder.

"Alright," she wrote along his collarbone. "I'll sit up with you for a while longer, then."

Nodding, he leaned forward and rested his forehead against her shoulder. Her clothes vanished silently like so much mist, and her hands gently undid the clasp on his pants. Izaya stepped out of them, then backed up slightly.

"I trust the people I love," Celty said, and then typed, "that's how I manage. I even trust you, Orihara. I know that you would never allow the nightmares to come to pass. You have to trust us— Shinra and Shizuo and I. What happened is over and done with, and there's nothing we can do except comfort you about it. But none of us would ever allow such a thing to happen again. So trust us."

Izaya smiled— it was a strange smile for him, vulnerable and open. And he held up his phone.

"I'll try."

Celty moved forward wordlessly, as did her shadows. Izaya felt his mouth covered; was plunged into darkness as his eyes received the same treatment.

"Trust me." The words were traced on his skin with a soft touch. "We'll keep you safe. We'll keep you sane. Just close your eyes and relax, now."

And, regardless of the blindfold, Izaya obeyed.

Shadows wrapped around his back and wings, supporting rather than constraining, and he let himself relax into them. Celty's hands were warm as they brushed along his body, and he shivered slightly with the beginnings of pleasure.

One of the dullahan's hands went low, grasping his length and stroking gently. She took his wrist with the other hand, pulling his arm up to loop around her shoulders, and he obediently clung to her. Her breasts pressed against his chest, making his breath hitch. Holding them both steady, Celty slowly brought them together, her wet tightness surrounding him. She didn't thrust, but instead rotated her hips to create a gentle sort of friction— an intimate heat that gathered between them and made their hearts race in unison. Izaya panted softly into the gag, the shadows allowing air to move freely even if they blocked sound.

The orgasm, for them both, was somehow both intense and tender— there were no wails or scratching of nails on skin, and no real convulsions. But the overwhelming sensation was one of safety and security; one of love and heat and the friction of two bodies in the most intimate of contact. As Izaya caught his breath, Celty let her shadows slip away from him. Her hands were there, instead, to support him when he nearly folded in on himself.

"I love you." It was just a whisper, but it was an earnest one.

"And I you, Orihara," was her reply, traced along the skin of his back.

"You'll still sit up with me?"

"Of course."

They made their way over to the couch and sat, clothed in shadows and cuddled close together, both contemplating separate— or perhaps quite similar—matters. They both looked over, however, at the sound of the bedroom door creaking open.

"Hey. Everything okay?"

"Shizu-chan." Izaya sighed the name, then reached out for a hug. Shizuo, sleepy-eyed and looking a bit annoyed, shuffled over to oblige.

"Is someone going to tell me why we aren't all asleep in bed?" he asked, sitting beside Izaya on the couch.

"We're hiding from the nightmares," Celty explained. "They can't find us while we're awake."

Shizuo's eyebrows arched. "Oh?"

"Yeah," Izaya admitted. "That's about the gist of it."

"Well..." Shizuo scratched the back of his neck, then sighed. "I guess... yeah, okay."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Izaya asked, and Shizuo shrugged.

"It means I'm too sleepy to string words together."

"Then go back to bed," Celty said gently, but Shizuo shook his head.

"No way." Then he added, "I don't want the nightmares to find me, either. So if you're saying we're all safe here, I'll stay right here."

Izaya felt a strange heaviness settle in his chest, but it was a warm sensation. He linked his elbow around Shizuo's, twisting their arms and interlocking their fingers. The blonde looked over at him in surprise, but accepted the action nonetheless.

"Guuuys...!"

All three on the couch looked over at the pathetic whine; Shinra, blanket wrapped around his shoulders like a cape, stood in the doorway with a pouty look on his face.

"What are you all doing out here? It's really really really cold when the bed is empty!" the doctor complained.

"Well stop your griping and get over here," Celty held up, and Shinra scuttled obediently over. With an exaggerated groan, he flopped down across Celty and Izaya's laps, wriggling as if to make a spot for himself there.

"Hey— hey!" Izaya objected playfully, shoving at him. Shizuo, getting inadvertently smacked by the information dealer's wing in the process, stood up.

"Well if we're going to make a party of it, I'm getting cookies and milk," he announced, and Izaya stuck out his tongue.

"Any excuse in the book for your abhorrent sweets and beloved dairy."

"Well, I'd ask if you wanted your favorite food, but tuna is hardly midnight snack material."

"I will take a cup of coffee, as long as you're in the kitchen!"

Celty reached over and smacked the fallen angel. "Then we'll never get you to sleep!" she typed angrily.

"No way— then it'll be impossible to get you to sleep!" Shizuo, from the kitchen, echoed Celty's statement. The dullahan looked satisfied at being inadvertently backed up.

"Fine, fine…" Izaya sighed, giving up and folding in half so that his forehead was resting on Shinra's back.

Shizuo returned a moment later with three glasses of milk and a plate of cookies. That managed to get Shinra in an upright position, and he wriggled himself into the spot between Izaya and Shizuo on the couch. The blonde ended up drinking Izaya's glass of milk because— in typical Izaya fashion —he refused it, but the information dealer did eat a cookie out of Shizuo's hand when the blonde was sufficiently persistent.

And so, suddenly, it was just like any other night. No one knew exactly when, least of all Izaya, but eventually all four of them fell asleep like that, heaped on the couch together as if to keep the nightmares at bay through sheer force of numbers.