This is probably the cutest Sully and Nate fic I will ever write I luv it soooo! I sadly do not own Naughty dogs characters…OMAGODTHISISSTORYUMBERTEN!INEVERTHOUGHTWOULDGETHERE!

"This is stupid." Nate grumbled from his position on the kitchen counter as he watched his mentor pull out eggs and oil. Sully rolled his eyes while he retrieved a box of instant pancake mix. Of course the kid would think it was stupid; he thought anything that wasn't dangerous or having to do with history was stupid. He never did something a kid would do.

"How is it stupid?" He teased as he read the instructions on the back of the box. The teen sighed moodily.

"First of all, it's two in the afternoon and second of all, I really don't want to learn how to make pancakes." Sully scoffed and poured water into a large bowl, watching Nate slouch against a cabinet from the corner of his eye. He suddenly noticed he needed another haircut. Jesus, the kids' hair grew like a weed. But that was something to worry about later.

"Loosen up, sport. This isn't torture."

"Tch. Loosen up." Nate mocked as he crossed his arms over his chest. Sully felt just a little bit of irritation. It would have been more if it weren't for the horribly prominent purple bags under Nates' eyes. He hadn't been sleeping well. He wouldn't say why and still went on his runs, but he was becoming sluggish and cross. Sully could always hear him toss and turn until he either fell asleep or just layed in bed until it was his usual time to go for a run. He could never tell. When he first came along he had slept like a rock until five and was a plain ball of energy. Whatever was on his mind sure was screwing with him. But that was why they were making pancakes and bacon at two in the afternoon; to try and give the kid a reason to smile and act like a kid instead of carrying whatever was keeping him awake. So far it was failing. Badly.

"Yeah loosen up. Hand me the box will you?" Nate lazily handed the unopened mix to Sully and watched as the yellowish powder started to dissolve the moment it made contact with the water. He sighed turned his head to just stare at the tiles on the wall across from him, his eyes drooping. God he was tired. But he couldn't seem to do anything thing about it. His dreams lately…they just…horrify him into waking up.

"C'mere kid." Nate grumbled as he slid off the counter to stand next to Sully with a bored expression. His mentor handed him the wooden spoon he been using to stir and helped him start the circular motion, keeping his hand on the teens'. When he was sure Nate wouldn't quit, Sully let go and back up a bit.

"I'm going to see if I have butter or somethin'" He muttered as he started to scour the small kitchen for anything that would taste good on a pancake. Nate sighed and rested his cheek on his knuckle as he stirred, watching the gooey concoction in the bowl swirl and toughen the longer he stirred. Dear lord he was tired. Sleep just didn't seem to favor him anymore. His dreams always slammed him back into consciousness with horrible images and non-stop voices. It frightened him to an extent. They always started the same too, but always seem to scare him awake a different way each time. His eyelids started to slide shut from the steady movement of his arms, relief on his head when he finally shut them and slow his arm. Hmm. He wished the relief would stay. The moment he would fall asleep those dreams would come. He knew it. So he was staying in the middle. He was awake but he was asleep. It was the closest he could get.

"Kid, you alright?" Nate jumped from the sudden weight on his shoulder and sound of mentors' voice, so startled he flung the spoon right out of batter. Sully let out a surprised noise for two reasons. One; he wasn't expecting Nate to react like that. Two? Pancake batter was all over his face. Nate whipped around with all signs of sleep gone, ready to apologize until he looked at Sully. He failed to fight the grin the stretched across his face, biting his lip not helping at all. Sully had pancake batter all over his forehead and right cheek. Even some in his hair. It was…funny. Sully wiped some of the gooey batter off, glaring at Nates' shaking shoulders. He was snickering. 'Oh, so he thinks this is funny, does he?' Sully pulled the spoon out of the batter just as Nate lifted his head and whipped a huge glob of batter right onto the kids' face. For a moment there was surprise across his features, those blue eyes going wide with shock with what just happened. It didn't last long though. A devilish smirk crossed his lips as he reached for an egg and chucked it at Sully, hitting him square in the chest.

In return Sully grabbed a handful of flower and flung it all over the teens' head, his own smirk in his face. They stared at each other moment. This wasn't going to end well. Nate grabbed two eggs and threw them simultaneously, one hitting Sully in the shoulder and the other in the neck, getting slimy, sticky raw egg all over him. A sound of disgust came out of him. Nate was snickering again. A little louder this time. Sully snatched the spoon and made a bigger glob of goo fly right onto Nates' shirt. The teen grabbed his own handful of flower and made it flutter across Sullys' head and shoulder seconds later. The man gave a look of vengeance. Nates' eyes widened and he ran off to the other room. This meant war. He gave chase and ran after Nate through the small living room into the bathroom.

'Ha-ha, cornered!' Sully pushed the door open and was met by a strong stream of water to the face. "Surprise!" Nate teased as caught his mentor off guard.

"What the-"Sully shouted before the water hit him in the mouth for a minute.

He could hear Nate laughing as he continued to spray the middle aged man until he was soaked. What he wasn't expecting was Sully to jump towards him through the water and snag the shower head out of his hands and point the stream of water towards the teen, holding him in a gentle headlock, making his messy hair sopping wet in seconds.

"Argh!" Sully laughed as Nate struggled not to laugh as his mentor drenched him in the lukewarm water. They got water all over the bathroom too.

"Not so tough now, are ya kid?" he chortled over the water. Nate was now slick from the water and managed to pop right out of Sullys' hold and sprint out of the bathroom in a fit of laughter. Sully chased after him without hesitation, the both of them tracking wet footsteps on the carpet, their soaked clothes dripping all through the house as it became a game of tag, an occasional random object being thrown from Nates' ever changing hiding spot. They ran in circles around the couch when Sully tried to grab Nate. He caught the teen by jumping over the couch and wrapping his arms around the teens' thin frame, pulling him up into the air. He gave a startled yelp as Sully maneuvered him onto his shoulder with a lazy toss.

"Gotcha!" he cheered. Nate tried to move out of his arm, but Sully wasn't having it. So he started to spin around and around.

"Holy crap! Sully stop! C'mon stop! Not cool!" Nate was laughing though, harder than Sully had ever heard, to the point his entire body seemed to be shaking. So he kept spinning until he himself was dizzy and dropped onto the saggy couch, giving Nates' soaked head a massive noogie, the small teen laughing and wiggling in his hold, his hands trying to grip onto his wet forearm the both of them wrestling and laughing until neither of them could bother to try anything else. Nate gave one more weak push before his arms flopped down. They had worn each other out to the point they were laughing breathlessly, lying limply on the couch, Nate partially on top of Sully. Their heavy breathing lulled them both to exhausted sleep, the entire house a mess.

Xx

He was running. That much was obvious. His legs burned with the effort to get away from the dark shadows following him through the strange dark world, but they always managed to stay just a step behind him. Sometimes he could even feel ice cold hands grasping on his neck before he would desperately knock them away. He stumbled over air and couldn't stop the fear running through his veins. He looked back for a second- just a second and plummeted down a dark hole, landing on concrete with a thud that knocked nearly all the air out of him. He pushed himself up to his elbows, his heart racing as the darkness started to fade away in front of him, exposing a pair of familiar boots. He held his breath as his eyes slowly trailed up the body, landing on an all too familiar face. His heart jumped into his throat in a second. He back tracked on his hands and heels of his feet until he was up against the wall. Vacant eyes stared right back at him, a disturbingly straight expression across the face. As if nothing was happening. He pushed against the wall more, wanting so badly to just fall through it any second. 'Why is this happening? I…I thought he…'

The coolness of metal against his head had him opening his eyes he didn't even know closed, boring into those vacant eyes with a silent beg, the muzzle of the gun that had saved his life getting ready to take it. His heart just kept racing, racing, threatening to stop. That's all could hear; the thrumming of his own heart.

"Please. Don't." he choked out as tears started to roll down his cheeks, the fear very nearly crippling. Those eyes didn't even flicker with a single emotion, the once comforting greyish color of them swirling as if they were possessed.

'Why…? I thought you…' his thoughts forced more tears out of him as a click echoed through the strange empty, dark space. He pulled in gasps of air and clenched his eyes. This was it.

"Sorry kid. Nothin' personal." The words hit him right in the heart, one small sob passing his lips as Sully pulled the trigger.

Nate jerked awake with a startled grunt, his eyes flying open in an instant. He breathed in deeply to calm his rushing heart as relief inched its way into his mind, his hands clutching at his sides. He sighed and momentarily closed his eyes. 'Just a dream. Just a dream.' God. That was worse than any of them. He frowned when he finally realized he wasn't in his bedroom, but in the living room. Also fairly damp. Wha…? He moved his head up until his eyes landed on Sullys' sleeping face. Slowly, everything started to come back. The batter, the water, the wrestling. Did he really act like that? He was sixteen. He shouldn't act like that. It seemed so stupid when he thought about it. But it had been…fun. Really fun. The way Sully chased him around and how he felt like he really was a kid had him feeling the lightest he had in a long time. Now felt just as nice; even though they were both horribly damp, the slight weight of Sullys' arm resting on his side and being pressed against his mentors' chest had him feeling secure. Safe. Even if it was a little awkward being held so warmly by the usually not so lovey-dovey man.

The dreams were lies. He was safe with Sully. The man had no reason to take him in, but he did. The man could have let those men shoot him, could have just left him on that rooftop afterwards. But he didn't. he had scooped him off the streets to teach him new skills. Sully had showed him he could be trusted. He could get rid of the paranoia with Sully. He could be a kid, he could be himself. Because Sully didn't judge him. Those brief, but comforting words Sully had said to him before he took him to the pub floated into his mind. 'You're okay, kid.' Nate found his eyes sliding back shut and his arms carefully, hesitantly wrapping around Sullys' torso. 'Yeah…yeah I am okay.' Nate gave into the child inside himself and snuggled into his mentors' embrace. 'I'm okay.' Nate slipped back into sleep. he didn't have a single dream the entire time, only waking when Sully gently shook his shoulder and placed a plate of pancakes smothered in syrup and bacon in his lap, a small smile on the mans' face. Nate returned it full force, neither of them joking.

CUDDLES! I couldn't resist writing something just a little out of character! I kinda went back a little on the age because it seemed kind weird of Nate had been 18 or in his twenties…more like creepy. ANYWAY! Because of someone reviewing something they would like to see in out next little drabble; the next one will be post-games! I can't wait! XD