Julie had been having some nasty nightmares for a few nights straight. She tries to hide it during the day so her friends wouldn't worry, but it was very obvious to them what was going on. One night, Icarus gives her a suggestion.

"I don't know if it'll work," he said, scratching his head, "but maybe having a sleeping buddy will keep the nightmares away. Wanna try it, Jules?"

Julie blushes at the idea of sleeping with her secret crush, but in the end she decided to give it a try.

"After all," she thought, "it's not like we're actually together. ...Well, for now, anyway."

The lights went out and everyone in the small apartment fell asleep.

Later on, Julie started to sweat as she was having another nightmare. She tosses. She turns. She starts to cry. Finally, she wakes up, breathing heavily from fright. This nightmare had left her shaking in her PJs; it felt so real this time.

In her mind, she ponders on what the bad dreams all mean. "They're all so bad," she thinks. "Why now? Why am I having all of these nightmares? And this one...it felt so real! My hearts were racing so fast! And worst of all..." She turns her head and looks upon the snoring Icarus, laying there with his arms and legs all lazily spread out. "...I saw Icarus there. And he was k--..."

Her eyes began to water up again, thinking about the horrible thing she saw in the dream. Worrying about her crush, she gently scoots closer, wraps her arms around his middle, and rests her head.

"Icarus," she thinks, "I don't want to lose you guys. You all mean too much to me. ...But I don't want to lose you most of all..." Tears roll down her cheeks as she drifts off to sleep again.

Shortly after, a helicopter flies through the night sky, shining it's light upon Inkopolis. The light shines through the apartment window and hits Icarus' face, slowly waking him up. He opens one tired eye to see what's going on. Then, he notices that someone is holding him. He looks down and sees that it's Julie, sweating and crying in her sleep. It wasn't hard for his sleepy head to put 2 and 2 together as he gently wraps his left arm around her and holds her close.

"Stupid nightmares," he thought. "Why don't they leave Jules alone? She's too good a person to get them for days and days nonstop." He closes his eye as he slowly drifts off again. "...Oh, well. She's still safe with us. It's not like they can really hurt anyone, right?"

As the light outside fades away, both Icarus and Julie sleep soundly throughout the night...

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Had to use a base found on Google as a reference for the poses, but I think it came out great. I like how I was able to get the patterns on their pajamas as well as the Anime-esque mouth for Icarus. Sadly couldn't think of anything special for the background (under the bed), but w/e. ...Also, yes, there's an alternate version.

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Splatoon & Inklings (C) Nintendo
Icarus & Julie (C) me