Stuffed Animals

"Nick, Nick! Wake up!" Joe started shaking me.

"What do you want Joe? Why are you waking me up at…" I glanced at my alarm clock. "at 3am?! What the hell Joe? Why are you even up?" I asked groggily and really tired. I've only been asleep for a few hours. I've been up all night mentally preparing myself for what I'm going to tell Joe today.

That I'm in love with him.

Shocker, I know. I spent almost a year trying to figure out my feelings. Then another couple of months hiding them from everyone. I finally couldn't take the hiding anymore, I had to know what he felt, so I made up my mind to tell him.

"Remember that mouse trap that went missing the other day?" Joe asked.

I rolled my eyes and nodded. Of course he would wake me up for that.

"Come on, I found it." He said pulling on my arm. He pulled me out of bed and I groaned. I was only wearing boxer-briefs. But when I glanced at Joe, he was wearing boxers and a wife-beater.

"Why do I have to see it?" I asked as I followed him to our basement.

"Cause."

When we got down there, the trap was sitting on the floor. With a mouse in it. But it was only the mouse's paw. I suddenly felt really bad for the poor mouse.

"Do you think he's dead or asleep?" Joe asked quietly.

"I don't know, move him." I responded just as quiet.

Joe gently moved the pair of boxers the mouse was laying on. He jerked awake and looked at us. I felt a little better knowing he was alive but he was still hurt and probably in pain.

"Come on, let's bring him outside." Joe said sadly. He lifted up the boxers, bringing the mouse with them.

Once we were outside, we set the boxers down by a tree at the edge of our yard. Joe freed the mouse of the trap and nudged him a little. He limped away and I watched him go.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Joe asked. "Was it immoral to have let him go? He's clearly hurt."

"Joe, he'll be fine." I assured him and put my hand on his shoulder. He glanced at my hand and then at me. He blinked, opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He shook his head, and bent over to pick up the boxers. My hand fell back to my side.

"Let's go back inside." I said quietly, turning around. I heard Joe's soft footsteps following me. "Wait a second." I said stopping.

"What's up?"

"What were you doing in the basement at 3am, Joe?"

"Um…ya know, stuff." He said awkwardly.

"Joe. You woke me up at 3 in the morning. I deserve to know."

"Well…um…I-uh…" he stuttered. "I had …uh…one of those dreams." I could see from the light on our porch that he was blushing.

I smirked. "Really? Who was it this time? Taylor? Amanda again?" I started walking again. I didn’t hear Joe follow.

"No." he said quietly. "It was …you."

I turned towards him. Did I hear him right?

"What?" I asked almost silently.

"I said it was about you." He told me a little louder. I immediately blushed and looked to the ground.

I heard Joe take a few hesitant steps towards me.

"Nick?" he asked softly, lifting my chin. I breeze blew past us, flowing through Joe's tousled hair. I smiled and shivered from the sudden cold.

Joe pulled me into a hug. I smiled and tucked my face in his neck. I felt his shiver from my breath on his neck. I pulled my face away and kissed him on the cheek.

Joe suddenly pulled away to look at me. I looked at him confused.

"Did you just kiss me?" he didn’t sound mad. He sounded…hopeful? I smiled.

"I love you, Joe."

He stared at me, searching my eyes for any hint of a lie. A smile slowly rose on his lips and he caressed my cheeks.

My hands found their way to Joe's hips and I rubbed small circles in them. Doing so, I guess, brought Joe back to reality because before I knew it, Joe's lips were on mine. It was a sweet, tender and amazing kiss. Our lips moved in perfect synch.

Joe slowly pulled away and rested our foreheads together.

"I love you, too, Nicky." He smiled.

We stood there for a another few minutes just smiling at each other and stealing a few kisses until I remembered where we were.

"Joe, it's 3 in the morning and we're outside in our underwear. Let's go back to bed."

"Oh, right." He chuckled.

Once we were back inside, I headed back to my room after giving Joe a kiss goodnight. He headed back to his and Kevin's room.

Once I settled myself back in bed, I couldn't fall asleep. I switched sides, I laid on my back, I tried everything. A few minutes later, I heard a knock at my door. I told them to come in as I again switched sides.

"Nicky. I can't fall asleep." Joe whined. I smiled and pulled my covers back, inviting him to come in.

He crawled in behind me and kissed my cheek. I smiled and snuggled closer to him.

"Nick, there's something touching my foot." Joe said quietly. I gasped. Could it be?

I quickly and skillfully dove head first into the blankets and found what was tickling Joe's feet.

I grinned and emerged from the covers, holding my two cuddly stuffed animals. I had thought I lost them. I hugged them close to my body and sighed in contentment.

"You're almost 16 Nick, and you still sleep with stuffed animals." Joe chuckled.

"They aren't just any stuffed animals Joe. Do they look familiar to you?" I asked showing him them. He thought for a second.

"Oh, I gave you the teddy bear when you were in the hospital when you were diagnosed with diabetes. And I gave you the lizard after I won it at the carnival." Joe smiled.

"Yup. They help me sleep at night. It's like having you with me." I smiled shyly. Joe smiled back, widely. He pulled me in for a sweet kiss.

"I bet you'll sleep 10 times better with me actually here." I grinned and nodded.

We laid back down and I snuggled close to him, still clutching my stuffed animals. And he was right, I slept wonderfully.