Inspired by a thing that happened in a manga I read a looooong time ago (I found out that it was called "Bride of Adarshan" or "Adarshan no Hanayome." Yeah...!)

EDIT (9/02/14): Whoops, fixed up some more things like things that were broken when I uploaded this here and the word flow in the beginning (thank you ArtificialThoughts for letting me know about that~)

Tae was going to be out late, and she didn't want Aoba to be lonely while she was gone, so she called Koujaku's mother to ask if Koujaku could come over to stay with Aoba. She asked if he could stay the night too just in case. Koujaku's mother said that she would be ok with sending him there, and when she asked him if it was something he would be ok with doing, the boy eagerly said "yes". He was very excited about it too since it meant he would get to spend time with Aoba and it meant he would get to eat Tae-san's delicious food in the morning - not that he thought his mom was a bad cook or anything, he just really, really liked Tae-san's cooking…

Koujaku hugged his mother and told her "goodnight" before leaving for Aoba's house, and since it wasn't far from where he and his mother lived, he went by himself. When he arrived, Aoba was impatiently waiting for him outside, getting very excited when he saw Koujaku. Aoba called out and ran to him, saying things like: "What took you so long, stupid?!"

"Aoba, it didn't take me that long to get here."

"But it still took too long!" Koujaku just laughed at that and suggested they go inside because the sun was setting. Aoba's granny greeted Koujaku, who greeted her back, and said she would be back later. She also told them, with a stern voice, not to stay up too late. After Koujaku assured her that they wouldn't, she left the house.

After she left, they played together for quite a while, but when it started getting late, Koujaku decided he needed to try to get Aoba to go to bed. The smaller child complained a lot, but, with a little coaxing from Koujaku, eventually agreed to go to bed.

"If you don't go to bed soon, you'll be too tired to play with me tomorrow." Saying that was all it took to convince Aoba that going to bed wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

Once Aoba had finally settled into bed, Koujaku told him "goodnight" and stood up to leave the room. He was stopped, however, by a tiny hand clutching his sleeve. "Hm? What's wrong, Aoba?" the volume of his voice dropped steadily when he noticed tears building in the younger boy's eyes.

"Don't leave me…" Aoba's voice was small and shaky as he spoke, and he stared up at his friend with sad eyes. Koujaku had stayed the night at Aoba's many times, and Aoba had never acted like this before, so he started to worry. He wasn't sure what was wrong, and he knew Aoba wouldn't tell him outright, but he was prepared to be patient with the smaller child and help if he could, so he decided to stay. He couldn't say "no" to Aoba while he was making that face anyway…

"O-oh, I won't, I just need to get some things to make a bed with." The small hand held firmly to his sleeve.

"But there's enough room for Koujaku too!" the blue-haired boy's voice shook a little as he anxiously patted an empty space on the bed. Koujaku let out a lighthearted laugh about the suggestion.

"It's ok, I'll just sleep on the floor - I don't mind." The younger child seemed appeased, and finally released Koujaku's sleeve.

"Ok…"

"Yeah! So… um…" Koujaku rubbed his head, "I'll be right back, ok?"

"Promise?" the younger boy's unusual anxieties were causing Koujaku's worries to multiply…

"I promise."

Knowing Aoba as well as he did, Koujaku knew the younger child was mildly afraid of a few certain things, things like the dark, thunder, and lightning; but it wasn't thundering and there wasn't any lightning - it had been sunny all week - and it wasn't very dark yet since the light in the room was still on, and, even after it was turned off, there would be a light just outside the door to act as a nightlight for the little boy, so he didn't understand why Aoba was acting so anxious. Because of this, he didn't want to leave Aoba alone for long, so he left the room in a hurry, returning shortly with the bedding he normally used when he stayed overnight. He threw together a place for himself to sleep on the floor right next to Aoba's bed and made himself as comfortable as he could.

"Well… Goodnight, Aoba." He closed his eyes to try to go to sleep… but they shot open again when he heard a soft whimper. He sat up and turned to face Aoba. "What's wrong?" Aoba bit his lip and didn't say anything. "Aoba?" This time, the little boy made soft noises like he was saying something, but his voice was too quiet for Koujaku to make out any words. The older boy was a little confused, but he waited patiently for Aoba to explain what was wrong. However, no matter how long he waited, the younger boy said nothing, sniffling instead, so Koujaku spoke again. "It's ok, don't cry-"

"I'm not crying!" Aoba bellowed, causing the older boy to chuckle a little.

"Right, right, you're not crying, but something's wrong, right? What is it?" Aoba went silent again. "It's ok, you can tell me."

"I'm gonna… have bad dreams…"

Koujaku cocked his head to the side and furrowed his eyebrows, and, since Aoba was still speaking very quietly, he had to struggle to make out the words. "What? You won't have bad dreams-"

"Yes I will!" Aoba sat up and started shouting again, and his voice was shaking this time because, despite what he said, he was crying.

"Well, how do you know you'll have bad dreams if you haven't tried to go to sleep yet?"

"Because…" Aoba was wavering again, but, just like before, and just like always, Koujaku was patient with him. "Because Granny's not here to kiss my forehead…"

"What?" Saying that only irritated the younger boy.

"If someone doesn't kiss your forehead before you go to sleep, you'll have bad dreams - Dad told me so, hippo!" He wanted to laugh about Aoba calling him a hippo, but he fought it off since Aoba seemed so serious.

"Ok, I'm sorry, I didn't know." Aoba hung his head and went silent again with the exception of a few sniffles. "Don't worry, you won't have bad dreams because I'm here to-"

"Will you do it?" Koujaku froze. He had to replay the words over in his head a few times, feeling dumbstruck, before he actually realized what Aoba was asking him to do.

"H-huh-" He felt like he couldn't breathe.

"It should be ok if Koujaku does it, because Koujaku is my her-" Aoba's face went a little red and he immediately shut his mouth, turning to stare at Koujaku with gloomy, pleading eyes instead. Koujaku could feel his own face start to heat up, and he didn't understand why his heart was beating so fast…

"U-um…" He faltered, feeling so nervous he was dizzy. Why did he feel so nervous? And it seemed like the more Aoba stared at him with that sad look on his face, the faster his heart would beat. He swallowed hard and tried to kill his nerves. 'It should be ok - it's just one little kiss, right? And it will make Aoba happy… and it'll make him go to sleep.' Koujaku took a deep breath and then let it out little by little.

"Ok…" Aoba's entire face beamed after hearing this answer. "And then let's go to sleep, ok? Or Tae-san will get mad…" Aoba enthusiastically shook his head "yes" and then he lay back down.

Koujaku felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest and he could feel its throb even in his head as he sat up on his knees and leaned in very slowly. He swallowed hard again and leaned in even closer to carefully and apprehensively place a gentle kiss on Aoba's forehead. He returned to his makeshift bed on the floor, moving swiftly so Aoba wouldn't notice how red his face was, and lay down on his side, facing away from Aoba.

"Goodnight, Koujaku." Aoba's sleepy voice was a whisper mixed with a yawn, and he sounded content.

"Yeah, goodnight, Aoba." Koujaku felt tired just a little while ago, but after what he just did… He could only stare wide-eyed at the wall to try to calm his fast-beating heart.

"Koujaku…?" He had to force himself to turn to look at Aoba again.

"Hm?" he had to fight to keep his voice from shaking, even though he only responded with an inquisitive hum, so Aoba wouldn't be alerted to his inner struggles, and he managed to do so somehow.

Aoba was lying on his stomach with an arm slung over the side of his bed, his tiny hand reaching for Koujaku. He eyed the hand for only a moment, before realizing what the younger boy wanted. He reached up and carefully took the smaller hand into his own. Finally satisfied completely, Aoba closed his eyes and eventually went to sleep. Koujaku watched Aoba's face for a while before closing his eyes and trying to go to sleep too, though his own racing thoughts made it difficult.

He was about to doze off, but he felt movement and the sound of sheets rustling, like someone had just crawled in next to him, causing him to wake up a bit. A hand gingerly touched his short hair and ran through it, so he cracked open one eye. His hair was brushed back and gentle, warm lips pressed against his forehead.

"Koujaku…" he grumbled, both eyes now half open to shoot a groggy glare at his "assailant". "You always do that when I'm trying to sleep…"

"It's so you don't have bad dreams," the explanation was mixed with a light chuckle causing Aoba to sit up and eye him suspiciously. "If someone kisses your forehead before you go to sleep, you won't have bad dreams."

"That's stupid - what idiot told you that?" A sad smile formed on Koujaku's face after hearing that.

"Ah… It doesn't matter. You don't have bad dreams when I do that though, right?" Aoba thought about it for a moment; he didn't know if Koujaku was right or not, and he was pretty sure something like that wouldn't keep someone from having bad dreams anyway, so he just responded with a disgruntled sound and lay down on his side to face away from Koujaku.

"Anyway… Goodnight, Aoba." He lay down too and draped an arm over Aoba's abdomen.

"Mn, goodnight."

He tried to go to sleep, but he kept thinking about what Koujaku said - that a dumb forehead kiss could keep bad dreams away. It probably wasn't something that could actually work, he was sure of that, besides, how would it? He rarely had bad dreams anyway, so even if it did work, he didn't really need it. If anyone needed something to keep bad dreams away it was-

He reopened his eyes then, thinking about the times he had to wake Koujaku up to pull him out of a nightmare. What Koujaku had said about a kiss keeping bad dreams away was so stupid and corny and something only a child could believe, but…

Aoba rolled over to face Koujaku, Aoba's movement causing him to open his eyes. Aoba reached out and brushed the black hair from his face. Koujaku tensed up since the action uncovered the tattoo on his face, but he tried hide his anxiety from Aoba. He tried to say Aoba's name, but it caught in his throat when Aoba leaned forward and tenderly kissed his forehead. Even though Aoba thought it was stupid and childish, he decided he would try it anyway because… what if, somehow, it actually did work? He hoped it worked… for Koujaku's sake.

Aoba was surprised when Koujaku pulled him closer and held him in a tight hug. "Thank you… Aoba…" Aoba's face started to heat up after hearing that. He was about to spit out an impish reply, but he decided against it, kept quiet, and nudged his face into Koujaku's neck.

"Aoba…"

"Hn?" Koujaku touched his hand, so Aoba took it and locked their fingers together.

"I love you."

"Mn, I love you too, you hippo."

"And by the way…"

"Hn?"

"The 'idiot' who told me that forehead kisses keep away bad dreams…"

"Yeah?"

"…was you."