[Comes from SWAK]

"You're afraid, aren't you?" Claire gently asked, seeing through his facade. Tony scoffed but didn't make eye contact. She had always been able to read him easily.

"Claire come on, me afraid? Have you ever seen me afraid?" he asked her, shaking off the idea.

"Tony…" she tried to get him back on track, as he was avoiding the question but Tony quickly diverted to another topic.

"This coming from the girl who would sneak into my dorm room to stay the night with me because she was too scared to stay by herself, after watching a scary movie." He reminded with a smirk. I rolled my eyes at his avoidance of the question, but couldn't help but smile at the memories.

Flashback:

A nervous Claire walks down the sidewalk of the college campus. She shivered a little as she was still wearing her tank top and shorts that she slept in. She constantly glanced around as if something or someone was chasing after her. The girl had just finished watching a horror movie alone in her dorm room and just couldn't get to sleep. On top of that her roommate was gone for the week and she felt scared to be alone; much to her dismay since that was kind of a childish thing to do. She knew the movie was fake but still…..it was scary. Claire made sure no one was watching as she sprinted over towards the Frat houses on the far end of the street and headed straight for the one she had frequented so often. Tony's building. With another glance around to make sure she wasn't followed, she walked around to the back of the house. On the far left was a window she knew led to his room. Now comes the hard part…how was she supposed to get up there? Looking around she noticed the large tree next to the house; one of the branches reached over close to the window. With a determined huff she started climbing it. She prayed that no one was watching as she was still in somewhat skimpy clothing and contorting her body to climb the tree this late at night would surely give anyone around a nice view. Finally, she reached the branch that would lead up to his window and carefully edged herself over to it, careful not to lose her grip and plummet to the ground. Once she reached the window she pulled up on it. It didn't budge. She whined in dismay when she learned that the window was locked. Claire reached back for her phone in her pocket only to be reminded that she didn't have pockets and had left it back on her nightstand. Reluctantly she knocked on the window. Hopefully Tony wasn't in that state where he could sleep through anything. He stayed up really late anyway, like any other college student. Nothing happened. She sighed again and knocked a little louder. This time she heard a groan from inside followed by some stumbling. Claire held in a giggle as she imagined a sleepy Tony stumbling over the junk left on his floor. After a few moments the curtains were pulled back to reveal Tony in all his drowsy glory. Hair tousled, face slack, and eyes clouded with sleep. When he saw her at the window he rubbed his eyes, thinking that he was dreaming. Looking out again his eyes widened in surprise. She sent him a sheepish wave as he opened the window. Claire immediately crawled inside, glad to be off the branch.

"Claire….what are you doing here?" Tony asked in slight alarm. Maybe something was wrong. Was she hurt? In trouble? Claire bit her lip and looked down in slight embarrassment.

"I couldn't sleep." She told him, avoiding the truth. Tony was confused.

"So you decided to take a long walk all the way to my house. Then climbed a tree next to my window, 2 stories high and wake me up from a great dream…all because you couldn't sleep?..." he trailed off, trying to understand the reasoning behind her actions. Claire tilted her head back and forth as if to say 'pretty much'. Tony rose a brow at her. He didn't buy it. She sighed, knowing she was gonna have to fess up.

"I got scared ok. I watched this horror film and my roommate is gone so the scary murderer chasing college students freaked me out. I couldn't stay there alone." She reluctantly told him. Tony stifled a chuckle. He shouldn't laugh at her fear, but quite frankly it was kinda funny. She glared and childishly whined at him.

"Tony….don't make fun of me." She told him with a pout. Tony's laugh died off as he looked into those wide blue eyes that made him melt. He had a massive crush on his best friend and that face would make him do anything.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" she asked him seriously. Tony's imagination went wild and he sent her an alluring smirk.

"I told you that you would be asking me for that someday." He told her. Claire scowled to counteract the massive blush that was breaking out across her face. Thankfully it was still dark in the room so he didn't see it. She would have never lived that down.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." She scolded. Tony laughed again and gestured for her to follow him over to his bed. She complied. Tony crawled in first and shifted over as she got in after him. He pulled her into his arms, letting her snuggle into his side. Claire smiled as she felt him wrap a protective arm around her, giving her the comfort and security she needed.

"Don't worry Claire, I won't let the big bad monsters get you." He told her mockingly. She smacked his chest, which she was now registering was bare, making her cheeks flare up again.

"Shut up Tony and go to sleep." She scolded. She felt his chest vibrate under her head and started to drift off. The exhaustion from being scared and her adventure in getting to his room tired her out.

"Night Claire." He mumbled, setting his chin on her head. He heard her mumble out an incoherent response and smiled as he drifted off to sleep.

"That was one time." she played off his comment. Tony smiled and shook his head.

"5 times. You would think that after the first one you would know better." He countered. The two of them laughed. Claire sighed and was brought back the reality of the situation.