Just like how the day can go ways we don't plan, so can the nights. Tonight was not a night he wanted to be sleepless on, well that's not fair, he never wanted a sleepless night.
Either way, tonight was just one of those annoying nights. He'd had enough of these nights in his thousand year life to know that once he was up, he couldn't go down. Tonight was a fresher type of sleepless though, he'd had nightmares about Nirvasyl and the hundreds of lives he'd taken so many times. But now he had a new nightmare in his mind's arsenal, the night he thought he'd killed Michiru. Her blood still on his tongue and fresh in his nose, her body limp and bloody on the ground before him as he listened to that fox cry. He felt the burning weight in his chest and throat, he'd had to release the pressure. He couldn't cry, but he could howl. And then he'd wake up. This was the eighth time that memory had played in his nightmares since the night it'd happened. And that wouldn't have been much of a problem if it weren't for the fresh need to check on her every time he thought of the night. He knew it was normal, he'd stayed in the place his brethren had been killed for months. But the feeling had passed after it'd been switched out for vengeance. Rolling onto his face and burying his face into his pillow, he tried to force the desire out. It was the middle of the night, he wasn't going to do this. Then the memory of her blood on his tongue and the smell of her blood taunted his mind.
"Fine." He muttered as he vaguely wondered if the feelings from these memories would fade to a taunting pang like the others. He got out of the humid blankets and went down the ladder to his library. Dragging his feet, he walked to his door, this was his last chance to just ignore the horrid need to make sure she was alright. He knew he'd be fine once he saw her, he always was. So giving in, he opened the door and quietly made his way up the stairs to the roof. He could smell her on the stairs and without a thought otherwise, he opened the door. The cold air hit him with a rush, but it wasn't enough to ward him off. Her lights were off, it was a ridiculous hour, he shouldn't even be thinking of looking into her room as she slept. But he'd also done it enough times to know she'd never know, and yes, he knew that was horrible, but he knew that for once he had a way to make himself sleep on these sleepless nights. For once, a person who had died in his nightmares was still alive for him to check on. He walked over to her room's window and took a quick glance in, she was sleeping and as usual, not covered in blood. She's fine you fool. And then her eyes opened, but he'd already gotten out of the window's view.
"Shirou?"
---
"Hey, are you still worried about me?" she looked up at him instead of off the edge of the building. He just looked down at her. "Sorry if that's weird to ask, but I swear I saw you last night. Did something happen?" She turned her eyes back toward the car they were watching.
"You wanted to ask me this right now?" He glanced down at the car as it turned the corner. They just needed to know where these people were going. It was getting out of range of this roof's view. "We'll talk later, just fly me closer to that car, alright?" He watched the car get out of range and switched to his nose once they got out of view.
"Alright, just don't forget." She wrapped her jacket around her waist, flipped out her wings, and picked him up.
"I won't." He grabbed onto her legs and she started to fly after the car.
---
The last gangster in the warehouse had been put into the pile to be tied up. As Shirou tied them together, Michiru squat down next to him. "So?" She just stared at him. He glanced over at her and sighed.
"I'm not done tying these scumbags. Besides, the police will be here soon." He tied off the knot and pulled out a paper and wrote a quick note for Inspector Tachiki. "Alright, let's go." He walked over to the door and looked back at her. But she stayed still and stared at him. "We'll talk, just come on." She nodded and followed him out of the warehouse and down an ally.
"Shirou, are you still worried? I know you were there last night." She looked up him and he paused, the sirens got closer. He lip tilted, but it didn't feel right. He started to climb up the building and they got on the roof. He stood in the middle and stared at her.
"I was there, I just wanted to check on you." He stared at her shoulder. There wasn't any scarring, she was fine. She frowned and walked closer to him.
"I'm fine, you know I'm alright, Shirou." She held up her arms, but he just stared at her with that neutral face, he didn't even look grumpy.
"I know," He moved his eyes to her's and she swore there was something so sad there. "I do, I just have problems sometimes." He glanced at her neck, she's alright.
"Do you want to hang out all day?" She walked a little closer and his eyes went back to her's.
"That might be nice." He looked over the side of the building, there are so many beastmen and now humans in this city. We're still breathing, she's still alive.
"Want to go home or spend the rest of the day out here?" She looked out next to him, smile on her face.
"What choices, is it my birthday?" He smiled at her. She gasped.
"Is it?" She stared at him all wide eyed as he tried to hide his smile behind his hand.
"Shirou?!"
---
"I can't believe you trolled me like that!" She swatted him as they made their way back home.
"I didn't, tomorrow is my birthday." He didn't even flinch at her light hits.
"What? Wait, what's today!" She pulled out her phone and stared at the date. '9/14' "Your birthday is on the fifteenth?" She stopped swatting as they crossed the street.
"Yes." He glared at the car that came in too close for his comfort.
"Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" She looked so excited, if he didn't know better he'd say it was her birthday too.
"Not really, I've had a lot of birthdays, besides Melissa and Gem already know so I'm sure they'll do something. They have every year since they found out." He had a big lip tilt as they walked by a bakery.
"Why didn't they tell me?" She pouted.
"I don't know, maybe it just didn't come up." He just sighed and shook his head at her.
"Maybe." She shrugged.
"Hey, don't you like that drink?" He pointed at the Fire Bull stand.
"I do!" She started in the direction of the stand with Shirou at her side.
---
"I'm going to bed now, good night." Shirou waved at them after washing his dishes. Michiru's ears went up and she started to eat a little faster. He walked past them and went through the door.
"So Michiru, do you have any plans for tomorrow?" Melissa smiled at her and Gem picked up her now plate.
"If you're talking about the fact that tomorrow is his birthday, then nothing other than making sure he gets a nice surprise." she smiled back at Melissa.
"Who told you?" Her eyes got a little wide.
"Shirou." Michiru tilted her head and Gem almost dropped the soap bottle.
"What? Know what, nevermind. I was looking for some help with the cake and thought you'd be good." Melissa leaned forward a little.
"Sure, I don't mind. But I think I'm going to go now." She smiled and walked over to the hallway door. "Good night, I'll help you tomorrow!" She closed the door behind her with a wave. Alright.
---
She walked up to Shirou's door and knocked on it.
"Come in." He called from inside. She opened the door and looked up at him. He was leaning off the edge of the platform above his shelves. "Michiru?" He wore the same shirt but had some sweatpants on instead of his usual jeans.
"I did say I'd hang out with you all day, didn't I?" She smiled at him. And he sighed at her.
"You're staying until midnight?" He stared at her, this certainly wasn't normal.
"Yup, and maybe longer if I fall asleep." She walked up to the ladder to his platform. "Do you mind?"
"Not enough, but I would have liked to be warned." The tired part of his brain needed her there incase he had another nightmare, but the rest was pointing out that she was a girl asking to come near his bed. Oh, who cares, he wasn't going to do anything anyways.
"Okay, I'll tell you next time I do this." She climbed up and sat in front of him. Next time? Why did such a presumption make him so happy?
"Alright." He moved over to his bed and kuro landed on her hair as she followed him. Kuro hopped off and Michiru flopped onto the bed right after him. He gave her a look.
"What? I'll leave at midnight." She held her hands up and smiled at him. She was close, he could smell her. This is weird. He just grunted at her and rolled over.
"I'm going to sleep, do what you want." They both laid on top of the blankets.
"Okay." She just laid there next to him. This was going smooth enough. She checked her phone, '10:23' It probably wouldn't hurt to play some games on Facelook until midnight. Yeah, this'll keep her up. But just incase, she set an alarm for midnight. Alright, games!
---
The alarm went off waking up both Shirou and Michiru. He felt two little arms pushed against his back when he registered that she fell asleep, had an alarm going off, and curled up against his back. "What time is it?" He rolled towards her as she turned off the alarm.
"Happy Birthday!" She sat up and smiled at him, Kuro must have turned off the lights when they fell asleep. The moon was bright tonight. "Shirou?" He sat up and leaned against the wall.
"Thanks." He lip tilted at her, but for some reason she was still there and still staring at him. He almost wanted to thank her for setting that alarm, his nightmare had just started, it wasn't her this time, but still. He had to resist the urge to make sure his neck was still there. He knew it was, it always was, and it always will be.
"Hey, Shirou?" She wrapped her arms around her legs. He hummed. "You said before that you have problems sometimes, what are they?" She stared at him.
"It's nothing much," He looked away from her. "I just get nightmares sometimes. Don't worry about it." He shrugged and looked past her and at Kuro. He slept through the alarm, good.
"So what happens?" She leaned forward a bit.
"Just some memories." He gave in and touched his neck, the new collar Michiru had gotten him some weeks ago had a nice texture. He must have forgotten to take it off.
"So you had a nightmare last night? Was it about when you bit me?" She tilted her head at him. He huffed.
"It happens sometimes, there's something new about this one though." He crossed his arms and looked her over.
"What is it?"
"Usually after one of these nightmares I just can't sleep, it's normal. It just takes a bit for me to remind myself that you'll be fine. It's easier to remember that when I can see you. Sorry." He looked back toward the wall. She smiled.
"Oh, I don't mind I guess. If this happens again, why don't you just come in and say hi?" She came closer. "Now, it's your birthday, you want anything right now?" He looked back at her.
"Sleep." He deadpanned before laying back down and staring at her. She smiled. "That means that you should go to your bed." She just kept smiling. "Michiru." He huffed.
---
"Hey, I'm coming in Shirou!" Melissa called before opening the door. She looked around, no one's here. Is he still sleeping? She looked at the ladder and then at the party popper in her hand. He probably won't mind, it's his birthday. And so up the ladder she went, but then she saw a fluffy, blue tail. "Michiru?" She climbed a little higher and saw that she was right. Michiru and Shirou were on the bed, facing each other, laying together on top of the blankets, very close to each other, and looking very calm. They didn't answer and didn't seem to be awake. "I'll just come back later." She started to sweat and go back down. This is fine, nothing happened, everything is fine. She closed the door and walked down the hall towards Gem.
"Gem! Oh dear goodness! Shirou, oh, um, Michiru is sleeping in there with him." She sat down and tried to think.
"I'm sure there's a good reason for this, there has to be." He sweat and sat next to her.
"We can ask them when they wake up! Yeah let's do that." They just stayed there and sweat.
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Hey, sorry about this taking a while. But I thought I'd mix in Shirou's birthday. I couldn't find his actual birthday so I just grabbed a day that might work for the frame of time I thought they might be at. So, Chapter 7 is pretty long and done now.
See you in the next chapter!