Both parts of this story were originally written (separately) for prompts from a challenge set.

Sho flinched, setting aside his glass of water, and turned, making his way through the tiny apartment - the most luxurious place he had ever lived, even if all four of them were crammed into the tight quarters.

Kei was whimpering softly on the small couch he took as his bed, while Shinji, Toshi, and Sho each had a futon in the bedroom they shared.

It was a familiar sound, sadly, though Sho did not think that either of the others had ever seen the nightmares that tortured their protector in the quiet of the day.

Sho climbed up onto the couch and knelt by Kei's side. He no longer truly tried to wake his vampire - as he privately thought of Kei, with all the adoration of his heart - from the nightmares, but he knew how to soothe them without waking him, after a thousand days of watching the same torment take him.

Kei whined, softly crying a name he only ever said in his sleep, and Sho carefully tucked himself up along his vampire's side. Kei shuddered, but the warmth of Sho at his side calmed his trembling, if not the quiet cries of his fear and pain.

Sho pressed his face close to Kei's neck, nuzzling at the soft, cool skin. Kei shuddered, then went still, with a long sigh.

He tipped his head back, arching his neck, and Sho nuzzled even closer as a strong arm wrapped around his waist and held him almost too tight. It made him wriggle happily, clinging to his vampire, loving the possessive affection in the embrace.

Sho let himself be soothed to sleep, knowing that he would wake before Kei - and usually before either of the others, as well, though Shinji had occasionally emerged from their room in the morning before Sho had left his vampire's side.

Shinji did not like it, but Shinji did not like Kei, did not trust Kei, and no matter what Sho said, would never understand how he loved Kei. He had acknowledged, with bad grace, that Sho would not allow himself to be talked or bullied out of his affection, and Kei would not leave whatever Shinji said, not so long Sho wanted him to stay.

Toshi liked Kei, and he trusted Sho's faith in Kei - probably he would even if he knew what Kei was - and though he didn't understand Shinji's dislike, he stayed out of their arguments, as he usually did.

Though in different ways, both of the brothers were impossible to argue with when they had made a decision.

Sho woke in the late afternoon - despite Shinji's snide remarks about Kei, they had always spent more time awake in the evening and night, for the better pickings, if nothing else - at least an hour before Kei would begin to stir.

Kei's embrace was not as cool as it had been when Sho had joined him, the closeness of Sho's body warming Kei's blood. Not that Sho was ever less than content to be in Kei's arms like this, whether his vampire was a warm or cool presence beside him.

Lingering at his vampire's side for some time, Sho soaked in the affection and the comfort of his place before finally sighing and beginning to slide out of Kei's arms. He was already beginning to be a little too big to easily share Kei's couch this way, with the extra height that the last year had brought him.

Though Kei was still taller than he was, it was not by a very broad margin any more, and with Kei's care, he was no longer so very thin as he had been once. Sho wondered, sometimes, with a touch of apprehension, when he would grow too tall to do this.

Sho leaned down and kissed the softness of Kei's throat, the place that soothed him the most, and then went reluctantly back to his own bed.