Disclaimer: I have no association with Big Wolf on Campus.

Author's Notes: I wrote this for a friend/wife.

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You're not afraid of Tommy, even though sometimes, when the dark has shadows that climb around their angles, when the monsters of the world have retreated to the sanction underneath the children's bed, Tommy tells you that you should be.

You try to reassure him, always, because you know – you know - that Tommy could never hurt you. He could never bear to bruise or cut or scar the pale, untouched skin that stretches over brittle bones – ivory in different shades in textures that he could never destroy. There is nothing in the world, not supernatural forces that spiral out of your reach and his control, not pressures from the thick muscled boys on the football team, not anger, not a rage that simmers or one that could rival the fires of the very last days, that could cause him to ever lay harm on you.

He feels guilty, you can see it in lurking in world weighed eyes, that you can be so confident in the fact that with him, you will be protected, and he is constantly second guessing the matter of your safety. He feels it, can't stop it, no matter how many times you tell him that it's okay, it's all right to admit his more animalistic, primal urges, and that he's even more amazing because he can fight it – you believe that he can, that he does fight it.

He is always worried, always afraid that one moment he will snap. He confided in you, once, when he thought you were just as close to the edge of sleep – the realm of nightmares you both share but never discuss in the mornings – that he truly, honestly thought one day, he was going to give in. That the creature inside of him would take over, and when the human, the soul was back, everything would be gone. He though that one day, he would wake up, and you wouldn't be there – wouldn't be there because he took you away.

You hold his confession with iron hands you didn't know you possessed, and you repeat his horrors in your mind, and it calms you. It grants you peace of mind to know that he is vulnerable, that he still has humanity inside of him – because it is that humanity, that soul he wears on sleeve, that gives you your faith in him.

You're not afraid of Tommy, because you love him, and it's really as simple as that.

Or, it would be.

If for once – just once - he could believe that you're not afraid.