On their way to Domino City, the boat tossed and turned on the ocean. Miraculously, Hassleberry, Jaden, and Syrus were granted a triple room and Bastion a single. That didn't mean much, however, since Jaden was absent from their triple. Bastion had been having sea sickness, so he left the other two behind to comfort him as he vomited. Hassleberry awoke to loud screaming from the bed across the room. His eyes darted open and he jumped out of bed.

"Soldier?! What happened?!"

Syrus sat on his bed, panting. He looked like he had just run a marathon. When he saw the eyes on him, he panicked.

"N-Nothing! I just... um..."

"Soldier, that wasn't just 'nothing.' You look like you just ran for your life!"

Syrus just continued to shake his head. There was no way he could tell Hassleberry. He'd make too much fun of him.

"No, really! I just-"

"Be honest Private, what happened? Did someone chase after you? Is one of those duel spirits hanging around here? Is someone dangerous on the loose-"

"It was just a bad dream, alright?!"

He clenched his eyes shut, expecting to be immediately hounded by laughter. He was surprised when he wasn't.

"Oh..." Hassleberry walked to the edge of the bed, glancing into Syrus' eyes for a moment to silently ask permission. When his friend nodded, he awkwardly sat down at the edge. "So, eh, what did ya... dream about?"

Syrus studied him hesitantly. He expected everything he said to be under scrutiny. Any form of tearing down his masculinity was fair game, and Hassleberry knew all the buttons to push. It made him almost confused at how he was willing to help him in this situation rather than tear him down.

"Well, uh... I was running. And there was this person. They were chasing me. With a knife."

"Ah..."

"And, I uh, tripped. And I fell. And they got me and started stabbing into my back. And then I heard more people coming. I thought they were there to help me. But they were just more people with knives. And one of them got me in the face. That's when I woke up." He shivered, still feeling the imaginary wounds on his back.

"Oh... that sounds like a pretty scary dream, private..."

He went to put a hand on his shoulder. Syrus instinctively inched away after a few seconds of contact. Whenever Hassleberry touched people, it was some kind of rough playful nudge or a hard, overexaggerated pat on the back. Never gentle, though his previous action said otherwise. He seemed a little offended when his friend backed away, but gave no ill will when he retracted his gesture. He just folded his hands awkwardly, staring into the floor.

"Are you gonna feel okay sleeping the rest of the night?"

"...yeah. I usually fall back to sleep pretty quickly…"

"So this has happened before?"

Syrus turned away. It wasn't until then that he realized this may not be the best time to ask that question.

"Sorry, nevermind…"

He closed his eyes, sighing and letting his mind wander. He leaned against the wall, swinging his arms back to be like a pillow behind his head.

"Umm… aren't you going to go back to sleep?"

Hassleberry opened one eye, looking at him, and then shrugged.

"Sure."

He flipped his legs up and stretched out across the bed. Syrus swung himself to the side as quickly as he could to avoid making physical contact. In fact, he darted so quickly, he almost fell off the bed.

"Wh-what the?! Hassleberry, when I said 'go to sleep,' I meant in your own bed!"

"But aren't you goin' to be afraid goin' back to sleep?"

"Yes- wait- no- I— SLEEP IN YOUR OWN BED!"

Hassleberry wasn't listening. He just stayed lying down, going out of his way to leave enough room for his friend. Syrus sighed, silently wishing Jaden was there to talk some sense into him. Then again, knowing him, he might have insisted on jumping into the bed as well, making the small mattress even more cramped than it already was.

When he layed back down, it was weird having the second body next to him. He tried his best not to think about it. To distract himself, he crumpled up as many sheets as he could to completely cover himself. It was difficult with Hassleberry weighing down the other half of the blanket. He turned opposite to the person next to him.

"I'm just tryin' to help," he insisted with a yawn.

"Yeah, I don't think this is helping!"

He sighed in despair, holding his hand out to Syrus' face. He never actually made contact, waiting for him to say something. Syrus observed the hand and frowned.

"...what? What do you want?"

"Can I… pat ya on the head or something? That always helped me."

"Ugh. Fine."

Not even a second after the word was said, his hand immediately landed on Syrus' scalp. He hissed a little out of annoyance, but didn't fight back against the gesture. After a few seconds, it actually soothed him a little, allowing the bad dream to slowly fade from his mind. Although he was currently on his side, he didn't actually feel comfortable that way, so he slowly turned onto his back.

When he started to snore, Hassleberry took that as an indication that his work was done. He intended to get back up and go back to his own bed, but something stopped him. Syrus was actually clinging onto his arm now as some strange kind of support. At that point, what was he to do? Pry himself off and risk waking him? Instead, he smiled, lying back.

Eventually, Syrus let go of his arm, but instead of lying on his own, he graduated to his torso. This made Hassleberry feel a little uncomfortable, but he let him stay. As he began to succumb to sleep, he put his arm around him in a bit of a side hug. Despite the fact he was beginning to lose consciousness, he promised himself that he wouldn't fall asleep, and that he'd get up and leave as soon as his friend's grip loosened.

He was asleep himself within minutes.

...

A few hours later, Jaden walked into the room without knocking. It was four oclock, and he knew that Hassleberry and Syrus wouldn't be up until eight at the earliest. He quietly stepped in, and gasped at what he saw. Both of his friends were in Syrus' bed, passed out, Syrus holding tightly onto Hassleberry while his arm was around him. At least a couple dozen questions came to his mind, and he was even debating on asking them right then and there. But he ignored his instincts to wake them up in confusion and climbed into his own bed.