HAI.

Alright, so here's the deal; it seems that whenever I get to writing on my stories "The Lotus Thought" or "The Tip of the Blade", a strange tiny plot bunny comes into my head and strikes! And they aren't usually stories that I can make into chapters, but rather one shots. So this is going to be my collection of one-shot stories. I'll see how far I get, but currently, my goal is about 10. If I manage to get that far, I'll see how it goes

Disclaimer: I don't own MD:TAS. If I did, I'd be rich

SETTING: Aftermath of "Phil in the Blank"

"How is he?"

Wildwing looked up to see Mallory standing next to the couch that he and Nosedive had in their shared room. Currently, the older Flashblade was sitting on the couch as the younger one lay across the couch with his head on his brother's lap, covered up with a blanket.

"He seems okay," Wildwing answered, looking back down at Dive. "He's been asleep for the last few hours, but Tanya says I shouldn't worry about it."

"Considering the day he's had, I don't blame him," Mallory said, looking down at the teenager. "Hang gliding in a snowstorm, a concussion, going with Tanya to disable that thing that Dragaunus had put on the Mammoth rocket…well, that would tire anyone out."

"Yeah." Then a thought popped into Wildwing's head and he looked back up. "What happened to Phil? Is he still in that utility closet?"

The red-head smiled. "No one wanted to deal with any other offers that were being given to him, so we haven't let him out yet," she said.

The unmasked leader tried to hide the grin that was forming, but failed. "Good. Make sure he gets out though before the night is over."

"Will do."

With that, Mallory turned and left the room, the metallic doors 'hissing' as they closed behind her.

Wildwing sighed and looked back down at the sleeping teenager. Yes, today had been a rough one, but not only for Nosedive. The goalie had nearly had a heart attack when he saw his brother create that duck-shaped hole in the snow during the publicity stunt that the team was trying to pull off. Pulling him out of the snow had proved harder than it probably should've been too, for various reasons; one, the snow was at least three feet deep, perhaps more. Two, Wildwing was trying to remove Dive from the snow without his own feelings getting in the way and Tanya barking orders at everyone else about what to do. The third reason that the leader could think of was easily THE reason why today had felt like a really, really sucky day.

During the ride back to the Pond, Wildwing had allowed the others to take over the trip back as he sat on a bench seat near the rear of the Aerowing with the unconscious Nosedive, Tanya taking up her role as team medic and helping to the best of her medical knowledge. It had comforted the older Flashblade that the younger sibling only had a concussion (considering how high he had fallen from) and the fact that no case of hypothermia had been detected.

But the older sibling couldn't help but feel horrible anyway.

Wildwing had said that they owed Phil for "accidentally" knocking him out during hockey practice (which he later learned that their manager had been faking the headache). And Nosedive had been the one to warn the others about the avalanche from where he was hang gliding in the sky. But if he hadn't been on the glider, would the team have survived? Would they have been buried under the snow instead of finding out Dragaunus' plans for the Mammoth rocket? Would they have ever had figured out that their own manager was scheduling them for oddball events (even for him) by being controlled by Wraith, if not for the last location that Duke, Grin, Mallory, and himself went to after taking Dive back to the Pond?

Wildwing didn't know. There were a ton of questions that he could ask, but never get an answer for. So all he could do was wonder about it as he watched his younger brother sleep.

/Wildwing sat back against the couch, reading a book as he was relaxing in his pajamas after a long day. The Mask of Drake DuCaine sat on the leader's bunk shelf, Wing not expecting nor hoping for anything to happen soon. As he turned another page of the book, the goalie heard the doors 'hiss' open, but didn't look up. Nosedive was probably just gonna crash-

"Wing?"

The older Flashblade looked up and saw a very exhausted teenager in front of him. Nosedive was rubbing one eye and yawning at the same time. "What are you still doing up if you're that tired Dive?" Wildwing asked, closing his book. "You look like you're about to pass out."

"Tanya was checking over me," Nosedive answered, coming over and sitting down on the couch. "She gave me some medicine too, since my head's still hurting."

Wildwing just sighed and frowned. "Get changed and go to bed. You've had a rough day and need sleep."

"Can I just sleep here?"

" 'Fraid not little bro," Wing answered, smiling a little. Nosedive groaned, got up and headed towards the chest of drawers that he and his brother shared to pull out some pajamas, the leader laughing a little. "You sound like a little kid."

"Right now, I feel like one," Nosedive answered as he changed from his casual wear to the night garments. "I've been poked and prodded for the last hour with Tanya telling me to shut up while she looked me over." He finished changing and went back to the couch.

Noticing that his younger brother was being a little quieter than normal, Wildwing became concerned. "Dive, are you alright?"

"Can I lay on your lap? Like I used to when I was little?"

"…sure."

Nosedive laid down across the couch, using his older brother's lap as a pillow. After a few moments being spent making himself comfortable, Nosedive sighed. Wildwing grabbed the blanket that was half-draped over the couch and covered up his tired sibling. "What's bothering you Nosedive?" Wing asked after smoothing out the blanket. "You haven't asked to lay on my lap since you were twelve, and when you did, you were usually worried about something."

The teenager didn't answer for a few minutes. Wildwing started to stroke his younger brother's blonde hair, to comfort the adolescent drake; it also sort of made him feel better, knowing that he could at least do a little something to try and help.

"I…I was scared today Wing," Nosedive finally answered. Wildwing continued to pet Dive's hair as the teen talked. "I was hanging upside down from that branch that just so happened to be sticking out. I couldn't tell how far away I was from the ground, or how high up the top of that cliff was. 'Course, if I had tried to climb up it, Siege and Wraith would've actually done me in and I wouldn't have found out about their plan."

The leader couldn't deny that. Nosedive had admitted to everyone about how he had found out about a certain Saurian's plans to hi-jack the Mammoth rocket that was scheduled to launch before plummeting. If the two idiot sidekicks of Dragaunus' had known that Nosedive would easily survive the fall, then they would've taken him out the second they saw him, hanging from the branch by only his foot.

"And…that wasn't all. When I was out, I kept dreaming that you guys weren't listening to me when I tried to tell you all about the rocket. I kept shouting about the Mammoth, but no one was listening. Even when I woke up and told Tanya about what Siege and Wraith said, she didn't believe me until the report on TV came up."

Wildwing sighed, continuing to pet Nosedive's hair as he spoke. "I know you had a bad day Dive and for that I'm sorry. I can't change what happened, but I wish I could. If we'd even known that Phil was faking the headache he claimed to have from the puck that never hit him, then this probably wouldn't have happened."

The teenager just curled up a little more and yawned. Wildwing smiled a little. "Go to sleep now," he said softly. "You've had a tough day and deserve sleep more than anyone else here right now."

With that said, the adolescent drake closed his eyes. Within moments, Wildwing could hear soft, even breathing from the other, meaning that Nosedive was asleep./

Wildwing just watched his brother sleep. He didn't want to get up and possibly disturb the teenager, but he didn't want to sleep where he was either.

After a few minutes of contemplating, the goalie just smiled and made himself comfortable against the back of the couch while trying not to wake up the younger Flashblade.

He could sleep on the couch this one time.