(Contrahero will always be so cute, and I'm more than happy to write them, so enjoy!)

"How do you feel now?"

"Dunno."

"You don't know? You've been sitting there on my bed for the past hour now, rambling about a hundred things a minute. You don't feel better at all?"

Contrarian chuckled lightly at the genuine concern in Hero's eyes, feeling his arms begin to grow sore from leaning back on the bed.

He lowered his gaze, plucking a feather off of his leg, not missing the way Hero winced at the action, and Contrarian fought the urge to smile fondly at how sweet Hero was.

Hero's room was warm, inviting, even in the middle of the night. It made Contrarian not want to leave.

Contrarian had gotten a nightmare. He doesn't remember much of it, and he doesn't want to. All he does remember, is feeling so scared and alone- and then the next thing he knew, he was knocking on Hero's door, asking to come in.

So they've just been chatting for the last hour, trying to help Contrarian calm down enough to go back to sleep. But the thing was, Contrarian didn't want to go to sleep at all anymore.

It was never good to get a nightmare, to remind him of all the things he tried to forget with laughter.

But being here, with Hero, it was helping Contrarian a lot, and he wasn't ready to turn around and leave that just yet.

Hero sighed, and asked, "Do you think talking about the nightmares will help you?

Immediately, Contrarian was shaking his head frantically, shutting that option down without a second thought.

He gripped the bedsheets tight as he chuckled nervously. "C'mon Hero, why don't we talk about something fun? Wouldn't that be better?"

Hero didn't seem too offended at the quick dismissal of his idea, crossing his legs on the bed as he asked, "Are you sure? I don't think I'm a very fun bird."

Contrarian couldn't help but choke on a laugh at those words, glancing up at Hero with his kind eyes, but somehow not attempting to be kind to himself. How intriguing.

"Hero, I think you're one of the best people I could be with right now." Contrarian sat up straight, giving Hero a rare, soft smile.

Hero looked surprised at that, and that was when Contrarian felt his heart start beating faster and his face heat up.

He tensed up, desperately trying to bat away at the annoying feelings swirling around in his heart at the sight of Hero, and that gentle smile that Contrarian couldn't look away from.

He knew what these feelings were, and what choosing Hero meant in this moment, but he couldn't let Hero know that.

So Contrarian attempted to chuckle, to shove away the feelings deep in his chest, and said, "Scaring you is the funniest reaction I could ever get."

Contrarian giggled quietly, watching the way Hero sighed and fondly rolled his eyes at him.

Hero smiled at Contrarian's playfulness, scooting closer, until their knees were brushing together.

Contrarian pretended that a shiver didn't go up his spine at the contact.

"Well, either way, I'm glad that I'm putting a smile on your face, and that you're not scared anymore," Hero said, so sincere and so sweet that it made Contrarian gulp at the words.

Between the nightmare and these feelings, Contrarian felt like he was about to explode. All roads just led back to Hero.

Contrarian lowered his head, looking down at how close their hands were. All it would take is a little twitch of his finger, and he would be holding Hero's hand. He imagined it would feel soft.

Contrarian hated how vulnerable and open he felt right now, but no matter what he did, there was just no avoiding it.

But perhaps, the scariest thing about tonight, was the fact that he didn't mind being vulnerable- because he trusted Hero right now.

He trusted that Hero would help him, would understand him. Contrarian trusted Hero with a lot of himself, and it terrified him.

The words were tumbling out before he could stop them, "I-In my nightmare, everything was almost completely the same as in real life."

Hero was silent, and Contrarian wasn't brave enough to look him in the eyes.

"Everything was the same except for the fact that you weren't there. You just didn't exist in this nightmare world, and the others had no idea who this 'Hero' guy was that I was babbling about. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, as if there had never been a Hero."

Contrarian sucked in a quick breath. "That's what made the nightmare so scary and lonely- the fact that you weren't there."

Contrarian hated the silence that followed his voice, and he longed to fill it with jokes and laughter, but he knew that wouldn't get rid of the fear.

But then, he felt a finger softly prod at him, reaching out to wrap around Contrarian's finger.

Contrarian's breath hitched, and he looked up.

Even though he knew what Hero was like, he was still expecting a look of annoyance or an eye roll from him.

But there was just that kind smile that Contrarian was in love with.

Hero's eyes shone with something that Contrarian felt in his heart, and he scooted closer, trying to get as close to that smile as possible.

"I'm not going anywhere, Connie," Hero whispered, and those words were all it took to wash away the fear that had been clinging to Contrarian all night.

"You wanna know why I'm not going to leave you?" Hero asked, and Contrarian smiled playfully.

He cheekily retorted with, "Because I'm too hard to get rid of?"

Hero chuckled, and Contrarian was addicted to that sound.

"I can't say I mind the clinginess," Hero said, and gazed at Contrarian in such a soft way, a way that Contrarian wasn't sure a clown like him deserved.

So Contrarian tried to lighten the mood, and jokingly said, "Just admit it. You like me, Hero. You're never gonna get rid of me at this stage, it's too late-"

"I like you, Contrarian."

He froze.

The finger gripping his, tightened in comfort.

"I've liked you for a long time."

Contrarian gulped, feeling his heart do backflips and cartwheels despite his frozen state.

Hero actually liked him? Him? Was that possible? Or was Hero just getting better at telling jokes?

Contrarian needed to know. If he trusted Hero with his whole heart like this, then he needed to know.

"Do you promise never to leave me?"

Immediately, he felt Hero press his forehead against Contrarian's, and it felt so safe that he wanted to cry.

"I promise to stay by your side forever, Connie."

Yay! Thank you so much to @salty-an-disco for sending me some of their designs. I wasn’t planning on drawing contrarian so much but I thought their hair looked fun to draw-and it was. I really am looking forward to hearing your thoughts because I ended up deciding to make this more of a gift than just some requested designs being drawn. So, uh, hopefully you like it. I also ended up trying something completely new in order to color this since I didn’t have any markers but was too excited about how this sketchbook page turned out to wait until I got home. Genuinely had a lot of fun with this. Again, looking forward to you seeing it because I hope you like it. :)

Also I looked at your blog a bunch because I wasn’t sure how Contrarian’s wings worked from the image you sent me and saw you like contrahero (just a little bit haha) so I snuck that in here :D

Day 31 - where my yuri fans at?!

Contrarian: You should answer it!

Hero:

Contrarian: