A/N: Okay, I'd just like to say that this anime was my very first anime. When I first watched it, I wasn't really into Yaoi, but now I am and I love this couple to death! So go easy on me, I've never written for these two before, but they really have sentimental value to me. So if you're going to be a jerk, go write jerkish comments somewhere else, because I love this couple and this anime X3 I plan to do more for this anime (maybe some hetro, too, HigexBlue anyone?) but I'm still going to be doing mostly Death Note. So yeah. Here's this random oneshot! XD

"Tsume?"

Tsume didn't move from his spot, squeezing his eyes shut tighter. He was just on the brink of sleep, the feather edge between waking and returning into a deep, peaceful slumber. It had been so long since he'd slept well… maybe the voice would just go away.

"Tsume… are you awake?" the voice spoke up again, voice quiet and quivering slightly, obvious nervousness tainting the innocent little whisper. Tsume let out a grumpy sigh, peeking one golden eye open. Of course, there he was, small little reddish-brown haired boy with widened dark hazel eyes, looking at him expectantly and biting his lip. Had it been anyone else but him, Tsume would have wasted no time and simply punched them in the jaw.

Instead, he yawned, shutting his eyes and letting out a groan. "Not anymore… what do you want, runt?" he muttered. He heard the boy shift his weight from beside him, a tiny whimper escaping from the younger.

"I um… I… kind of had a nightmare," he muttered under his breath, humiliation apparent in his voice, and understandably so. Tsume groaned, opening his eyes completely now to look at him.

"Seriously, Toboe? You woke me up for a fucking nightmare?" he snapped, pushing himself into an upright position. Toboe flinched, stung, a blush scattering over his cheeks. Admittedly, it made the older wolf feel a bit bad, but he didn't let on, his usual irritated expression still masking his face.

"Y-yeah… sorry…" Toboe murmured honestly, squirming from where he sat, eyes trained down on his shoes. He was blushing even more now, scowling a little at his own stupidity as he stammered, "I just c-couldn't sleep and u-um… y-you were just t-the only one who I c-could… um…." Toboe's voice was almost inaudible as he added, "Never mind."Tsume's chest took a blow at the expression on Toboe's face, his usual cold facade faltering to show a bit of pain at the other boy's expression. He looked as if he'd just kicked him. Usually, Tsume wasn't the type to even care about other's pain, especially not measly emotional stuff. But, annoyingly enough, the younger boy had somehow wormed his way into his heart despite all his efforts to keep him, as well as everyone else, out.

"I-I'll just go," Toboe continued quickly, banishing the blush from his face and giving the older wolf a queasy, forced little half-smile. It seemed out of place on his usually bright, joyful face. "Sorry, Tsume."The older of the two sighed, frustrated with himself even as he called, "Wait… don't." Tsume's voice stopped the brunette in his tracks, and he spun to look at him, hazel eyes wide with surprise and happiness immediately. Tsume sighed, already mildly regretting his decision, but he couldn't go back on it now, not with the pup so excited over it. "I'm already up now, so you can just stay, I guess…"

Toboe immediately whirled around, the sadness very abruptly retreating from his face to be replaced by pleasant surprise. "R-really?" the auburn haired boy squeaked, hazel eyes widening with amazement at the sudden change of heart. Before Tsume could change his mind the pup scrambled over and plopped himself beside the older, curling himself just close enough to brush his arm against his, looking down in attempt to hide the giddy little grin that had stuck itself on his face.

Tsume sighed, not fooled by the bangs trick and completely seeing the expression on the boy's face. He couldn't understand why the younger wolf even cared to spend time with him, even after he'd told him off so many times. Tsume had been in the understanding that he had finally lost the runt back in the city, but this was quite obviously not the case. What annoyed him the most, though, was that when he peeked over at Toboe his own heart softened a little, despite all efforts not to let it - the younger boy's expression was just too innocent to help it, peeking up at the older male with soft, curious hazel eyes.

After a moment of staring, Tsume sighed, leaning his head back and staring up at the sky. It was a nice day, really - they'd been traveling nocturnally - though the sun was making things uncomfortably warm.

"Does Tsume ever have bad dreams?" Toboe suddenly asked, causing the older to jerk in surprise.

Tsume scoffed. "What the hell kind of petty question is that, runt?" he retorted a bit defensively, eying the other in his peripheral vision. Toboe was staring down at his bare feet, seeming overly interested in his human form's toes. After a minute, Toboe finally just shrugged.

"I dunno," Toboe muttered, peeking back up at Tsume again. He immediately looked away when their eyes met, realizing that Tsume was looking at him too and blushing for reasons he himself couldn't exactly place. "I was just… curious, I guess," he continued, even more quietly, scrunching his eyebrows together in slight frustration with himself.

Tsume sighed, letting his gaze scan the area around him. They were in a valley of some sort, though he wasn't sure where exactly they were since Kiba was doing the navigating. Speaking of, the white wolf was lolled out under a tree in a heap with Hige and Blue, all three in their wolf forms. Tsume wasn't sure why he decided to sleep in his human form that night, now that he thought of it, but he didn't have time to digress on the matter.

"I have nightmares a lot," Toboe piped up again, as if in attempt to change the subject. Tsume peeked at the other boy in his peripheral vision to find that it was Toboe's turn to be staring at him; the white-haired man froze on eye contact with the huge hazel orbs, surprised by the intensity there. "Sometimes about monsters, sometimes about Grammy. Mostly their about dying, through."

Tsume winced without meaning to. Dying. Wasn't that exactly what the reality would be, though, if they didn't find this so called Paradise soon enough? He didn't want to think about death, especially not the death of the boy beside him. As much as he hated it, the runt had somehow become one of Tsume's reluctant priorities.

The older wolf sighed, closing his eyes and preparing himself for a blow to his pride before replying. "Well… you shouldn't worry too much about that, runt. Nightmare's are just dreams, it's not like they can really hurt you. I have 'em all the time, so I would know."

"You do?" Toboe squeaked, sounding honestly surprised. Tsume sighed but nodded his head reluctantly - he did in fact have nightmares quite a lot. He was never really that bothered by them once he woke up, though. Had Tsume had his eyes open, he would see the grin spreading across the face of the boy beside him. "Well, that proves it, then."

Tsume frowned, opening one golden eye to give the pup a look. He was going to say something sarcastic, but the strangely blissful look on the younger wolf's face made him do otherwise. "Proves what?" he asked defensively.

Toboe grinned widely and, out of absolutely no where as far as Tsume was concerned, scooted closer to the other wolf, leaning his head on his shoulder. The older wolf's first reaction was to shove him away, but he was distracted by what Toboe said. "Guess you've got a heart after all, Tsume-kun."

Tsume-kun? The older wolf frowned, shifting his weight in attempt to make Toboe move away, but only succeeded in letting the pup lean further against him, auburn brown hair tickling his chest as he nuzzled closer. Tsume winced, a voice in the back of his mind screaming to shove him away, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. The feeling wasn't uncomfortable. Suddenly, Tsume realized what Toboe had said, and gasped a little. "Hey! Who ever said I didn't have a heart?" he demanded, a bit offended. He winced again when Toboe giggled - yes, giggled, like a girl. Tsume didn't know weather to find that adorable or be scared.

"Hige did," Toboe told him warmly, giggles not ceasing completely. "He said that scar on your chest was where someone came and ripped it out of you, but you were too tough to die from it. He was only teasing, though."

Tsume sighed. He should have known it was Hige. For some reason, though, the fact that it was only a joke relieved him immensely. He hated to admit it, but the idea that Toboe had come up with the idea that he was completely heartless was a million kinds of painful. Even though he himself had formed that reputation, and purposefully so, there was a part of him that didn't want Toboe to believe him.

Toboe squirmed a bit when he didn't get any more reaction from the other, Tsume simply continuing to stare straight ahead with a blank expression on his face. After a second of contemplating the pup shifted his position so that he had one leg over Tsume's, leaning closer yet to the older wolf. Tsume froze at the contact and didn't return it, gaze flickering to the pup that was currently in close proximity with him, golden eyes quizzical and slightly annoyed.

Dammit, Toboe thought to himself, averting his gaze and pressing his forehead to Tsume's forearm. This was definitely a bad idea. Tsume sighed. What did he expect from Tsume, after all?

At least he hadn't shoved him away.

Tsume couldn't force any words to come to him, sarcastic or otherwise, nor could he bring himself to shove the younger away from him. It was all too strange for him - he hadn't even allowed Toboe to call him his friend, and yet here he was, getting cuddly. What irked him more, though, was that he wasn't angry about it.

Toboe, on the other hand, just felt awkward. Everything in him wanted to shift all the way onto his lap or at least have some sort of support, hanging uncomfortably with one leg over Tsumes and one half way on the ground, having to strain to keep himself from falling backwards or - worse yet - all the way onto Tsume's lap.

For a while the only sound the two of them made was the quiet, muffled breaths, both too uncertain and awkward to make a sound. It seemed as if they might just stay like that forever, except that Toboe was trembling a bit from the effort of staying in the position he was in, the only limb even keeping him t hat way being his right foot; he didn't want to move from the position, though, enjoying a bit too much the feeling of leaning his head on Tsume's chest. At this thought, he blushed a bit, biting his lip and trying, to no avail, to shift his position to a more comfortable one.

Tsume sighed. It was no use - here he was, a squirming pup sitting half way on his lap and blushing like a maniac, and pushing him away just didn't seem to be an option. Preparing once again for a blow to his ego and glancing at the still sleeping group a good 20 feet away in case they might have eyes open to witness the scene. After a moments hesitation - and more squirming from Toboe - Tsume finally moved his arm around Toboe's waist, supporting him and pressing him closer still to his chest, allowing the younger boy to slip completely onto Tsume's lap.

Toboe jolted in surprise but didn't fight the movement, met by a wave of relief when he was allowed to relax on Tsume's lap. It was a marvel how well he fit on the other man's lap, head nuzzling perfectly in the crook of his neck; he could feel his face burning with blush and knew he must look ridiculously girly.

"Um… thanks, Tsume," Toboe managed after a second, allowing himself to relax more completely. He felt a rush of guilt at how nice it made him feel, curled up on Tsume's lap, and at how much he relished at the warm hand that was currently rested on his forearm. Willing it to never go away. Tsume scoffed, as if reading his mind.

"Whatever, runt, I couldn't stand your squirming," Tsume retorted, rolling his eyes despite the fact that Toboe couldn't see his face. Toboe didn't reply, just closing his eyes and letting himself settle against the older man - he had forgotten how sleepy he was.

Tsume tried, to no avail, to keep himself from looking at the younger boy. He had his face pressed against his chest, arms loosely around him and his legs curled under him, settled perfectly against him. There was a light blush dusting his pale cheeks, complimented with a tiny, sleepy little smile, his unruly bangs falling just slightly over his eyes. He looks so cute…

…not cute. That wasn't the word he had meant to use. Tsume had clearly meant odd. Silly. Pup-like. Tsume let out a growl of irritation, rolling his eyes and glaring at the tree as if he was annoyed by the entire situation, but he wasn't fooling anybody. Toboe let out a tiny little sigh, his breathing settling into a regular pace. "You're awfully warm, Tsume…" Toboe murmured, letting out a humorless giggle. Tsume sighed, biting back the urge to pat Toboe on the head for the millionth time today. "Whatever, runt," Tsume muttered, brushing his fingers absently along Toboe's arm, having forgotten that his hand had been resting there. Without really thinking about it the older wolf threw his head back to look up at the sky - the sun had hidden itself behind the clouds, and he could look up at the blue without being blinded now.

"You know, runt," Tsume began again, talking more to himself than anybody else. "I don't get how you can be so happy all the damn time. It doesn't make any sense, especially…" Tsume yawned, shaking his head as a smile found it's way just barely onto his lips. "Especially when you're hanging around jerks like me. How's that work, huh, pup?"

He didn't receive a reply, though, save for the slight shift of position from the boy on his lap. Toboe had already fallen into a slumber, the smile slipping off of his face to be replaced by a peaceful sleeping face, fingers clinging involuntarily to the cloth of the other man's shirt, his breathing evening out into peaceful sleep.

Tsume sighed, looking down at the younger wolf and giving in to himself, bringing the hand that wasn't supporting the boy to ruffle Toboe's hair, just gently enough to not disrupt the boy's sleep; there was a real smile on his face, one he didn't use too often. "Alright, Toboe. Good night to you, too."Letting his fingers slip from the youth's hair he turned away, a smile still on his face, for a second still completely happy with himself. And then the smile vanished, realization hitting him - he had a pup asleep on his lap.

Tsume sighed. "Dammit. How will I ever fall asleep now?"

A/N: THIS WAS SO LAME! And short! XD oh well! I thought it was cute :P I can't do anything but fluff for these two, sadly - it would just be too scary to do anything else. Not that I won't READ that. But I feel like it would ruin the innocence I have in my mind for the couple. I read it when I was so young in my anime life… *sigh* anyway, review if you wish XD I need to work on heartburn. AWAY! D: