On My Shoulder : Shortie

"In this realm, many things not normally visible to human eyes come into your sight... In this realm, many things you thought were only myth and legend are proven to be very, very real... In this realm..." he said slowly, opening eyes that glowed with bright white, sparkling silver, and brilliant gold.

"...I am your shoulder devil..." said the other one, opening eyes that swirled with pitch black, pure purple, and deep blue.

"...I am your shoulder angel..." said the first, twirling around to strike a pose.

"My name is Night!" exclaimed the second, twirling around and striking a pose as well, now back-to-back with the first guy.

"My name is Light!" declared the first, swiftly switching his pose to mirror the other guy's.

"And together we are...NightLight!" they both declared, whirling around and striking a new pose, now chest-to-chest with each other.

I stared for a moment, shock written on my face and my jaw partially dropped open. They wore quite smug looks, obviously feeling they had effectively impressed me. After several minutes of staring, though, they learned otherwise as I burst into very loud laughter. Their smug expressions quickly fell away to reveal confusion. Being a very considerate person, I decided to clear up for them why I was laughing at them.

"Oh my God! Ahahaha! That is so goddamn stupid that it's funny! Hahaha! "NightLight"?! That's not only cliche, it's GAY! It's gay on so many levels! Ahahaha!" I shouted, grasping my stomach. My knees gave way to the laughter shaking me violently and I fell to the ground, tears beginning to stream from my eyes. "Oh, please, this hurts so much, I beg you not to do that ever again!" I howled through my laughter, now falling onto my side as I collapsed in laughter completely.

"Hey, hey! What now?! Don't laugh at us! It's not funny!" Light exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips as he scowled.

"But—Ahaha! It just is so great! On my Lord! Ahahahaha! You and him—the opposite coloured hair and eyes—the friggin' names! Hahahaha! Are all shoulder angels and devils like you two, or am I just lucky?" I exclaimed through my laughter, rolling around on the ground as the laughing grew more painful.

"I hope that hurts," Night said, now scowling as well.

"It does! So badly! But it's just too funny! I can't stop!" I both howled and sobbed. My sides were aching intensely now, but I just couldn't stop my laughter. It was all just too much to handle.

"I say we push him off a cloud," Night grumped.

"I almost want to agree with you..." Light said, looking around thoughtfully for a good position to drop me from.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's just—NightLight! Ahahaha!" I exclaimed, my hands sliding down my body as I writhed in my pain and shook in my laughter. Neither of them said anything now. Instead they just stood there and stared at me, looking rather much less amused than I was.

After ten more minutes of laughing and crying, I gasped for air and managed to suppress the rest of my laughter. Sniffling and whimpering from how my sides ached, I pushed up slowly, still giggling a little to myself.

"Are you done now?" Light asked flatly. I looked at him with the straightest face I could manage, but after several seconds of staring and trying to work up an answer, I burst into laughter and fell over again.

"We should've told him to step in front of a bus when we had the chance," Night muttered, glaring off into thin air.

After another several minutes I calmed myself and composed myself. Very carefully I stood up and dusted myself off, taking several deep breaths to make sure I didn't lose myself to laughter again. After a moment of silence, both Night and Light looked at me, still looking unamused, waiting to see if I'd lose it again. While a small smile did creep onto my face and I did have to bite my lip, I didn't restart laughing.

"I'm calm now. Promise," I said in the cutest voice I could manage. They stared at me for a minute more before rolling their eyes and deciding to believe I was calm.

"Alrighty then. So, yeah, what questions do you have? What more do you want to know about this realm? We'll tell you anything you want to know," Night said, clearing his throat as he prepared for flood of questions he expected.

"I don't think I have any questions. Your introduction answered them all, I'm sure," I said, snickering a little and covering my mouth to try to hide my smirk.

"If you're going to keep making fun of us, you can just go wander around this dangerous place on your own!" Light exclaimed, glaring at me indignantly.

"What's so dangerous about this place? It looks like it's just a city built on clouds. Seems pretty much like the human realm to me, yeah? Besides, even if this place was Hell, if it's populated by guys like you it isn't so dangerous," I said, giving up on hiding my smirk now.

"For your information, this world is more than it seems, and it's occupants are more than they seem. Only the shoulder angels and devils like us are the kind of people that won't take advantage of you," Night snapped.

"Well, the shoulder angels won't, at least," Light said, sliding his counterpart a look.

"Hey, what can I say? We may be born to work with angels and humans, but we are still devils in the end," Night said with a smirk as he shrugged the insinuation off.

"Okay, actually, I have a question now. Why am I here?" I asked curiously. They both looked at me like I was an idiot now. As they stared I stuck my hands in my pockets, rocking back and forth on me heels as I waited for an explanation.

"Too many near-death experiences," Light said simply after many minutes.

"...So, what, you're skipping the whole me dying thing and just bringing me here now?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No, stupid. This isn't the realm of the dead. You're here for safe-keeping while the higher-ups try to decide if you need a new shoulder team. The fact that you've nearly died so many times has been traced back to our bad advice, rather than to your guardian angel," Night said.

"Oh. Say, where is my guardian angel?" I asked, glancing around.

"On vacation. Guardian angels are only on the clock when their charges are in the human realm. The second you leave it, your angel goes off for some rest," Light explained casually.

"Guess that doesn't happen a whole lot, huh?" I said thoughtfully more than asked.

"Actually, it happens a whole helluva lot. You've heard of out-of-body experiences, right? That's when a guardian angel needs a break and requests his charge be taken to a safe place for awhile. You gotta go through a lot of paperwork for it, but it really helps a lot of guardian angels get much needed rest," Night explained, gesturing much with his hands as he talked.

I stared at them both thoughtfully now. Despite how strange this all was, I was handling it very calmly and maturely. How could anyone handle something such as going to another realm so casually, you ask? Well, easy, really. I'd already decided this was nothing more than a very vivid and peculiar dream. None of this was really happening at all.

"You look like you don't believe us. We're not making this all up, you know," Light said.

"Yeah, it's not like we're crazy or something," Night said, scoffing at the suggestion he himself had made.

"Oh, you don't have to try to convince me of that," I said lightly.

"Good. I'm glad," Light said, smiling kindly at me.

"You didn't let me finished. You don't have to try to convince me of that, because I don't believe a word you're saying anyways," I said.

"Wait, what? What do you mean you don't believe a word we're saying?!" Night exclaimed, looking rather offended now.

"I mean that this is all some weird little dream I'm having, and that everything coming out of your mouths as well as everything else is made up by my mind. None of this is real. You aren't real. What you're saying isn't real. So I don't believe it and I don't believe you," I said explained with an air of superiority.

"Are you kidding me? You seriously believe that, rather than believe us?" Night asked, looking even more offended.

"Humans...can be creatures of denial, Night. Don't worry. They're all like this their first trip to another realm. He'll learn to accept it as more time passes," Light said calmly, though he didn't look happy about what I'd said either.



I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, rocking in my seat as I looked around. This was boring as Hell. Apparently, being here for safe-keeping meant I wasn't allowed to go anywhere but "sanctioned" areas, and not many areas were actually on that list.

Night and Light, while appearing bored as well, didn't seem to want to do anything to rectify this situation. The latter of the two was taking a drag from something that looked like cigarette but smelled too nice to be one. Heh. An angel that smoked. More proof that this was all just a dream. If angels were real, they certainly didn't smoke, cigarettes or otherwise.

I tore my eyes away from Light and looked around again. Everyone else here looked a lot like they did—kind of cliches of angels and devils, light and dark, good and evil. Unlike my two little shoulder cliches, though, the others here appeared to actually be working. Guess their charges were back in the realm they belonged in.

Just as I was about to give in to a heavy sigh, one of the cliches of light came stomping over. She looked mad hot, and also just plain mad. She stopped in front of Night's desk, hands on her hips as she pursed her lips and glared at him. A scorned lover, maybe? Ah well, at least I would be entertained now.

"Hey! Night!" she exclaimed, forcing him to acknowledge that she was there.

"Yo. Lily," Night said in reply, going through an extreme effort just to look up from his feet on his desk at her.

"You told me that the rougher a guy acts normally, the gentler he is during sex, and the gentler he is normally, the rougher he is during sex! Because of that, I went out and found the roughest looking guy I could, and he was just awful!" the girl, obviously named Lily, exclaimed.

"Hm? Is that so? The roughest looking one? So he was ugly, then?" Night asked curiously.

"....Well, yes..." Lily said after a moment of thoughtful hesitation.

Night removed his legs from on his desk and sat up in his chair, clapping his hands once to signify that he had realized the problem here. "Ah, see, there's the problem! That rule only applies to nice looking people! Ugly people are all rough!" he exclaimed with an innocent smile.

Lily, Light, and I all stared at Night, utterly stupefied by his words. After a moment, though, the girl's face brightened up and she smiled in return. "Oh, okay! I'll have to try again with a nice looking guy, then!" she said. She then spun around and bounced off, leaving only Light and I to now stare in a stupefied manner.

"....Did you really say that to her?" Light asked with disbelief after several moments.

Night shrugged and leaned back in his chair again. "Who knows? I don't remember, honestly. If I did, though, I was definitely drunk," he replied airily.

"Quite a feat, considering you were banned from having any alcohol," Light said, arching an eyebrow now. His disbelief disappeared all at once, a sure sign that he was used to Night doing stupidass things when he was drunk and it coming back to bite him in the ass later.

"Indeed," Night returned with a smirk, his dark eyes flashing with entertainment. So much for my not being bored anymore. Back to wanting to do something or go somewhere. This dream truly was a lousy one. I wish I'd wake up already.

The heavy sigh returned, and I allowed it out. No response. They were ignoring my sigh of boredom, the bastards. I forced out a heavier sigh and wriggled around in my chair until I was sitting upsidedown. Now they stopped ignoring me and looked over.

"Bored, Gey?" Light asked, smiling a little as he propped his head up with his hand.

"Maybe," I said cutely.

"Definitely," Night said, though I wasn't sure if he was saying that he was definitely bored or that I was definitely bored.

"Well, we're not really supposed to go anywhere, but we could take you to our home..." Light said thoughtfully.

"You guys share a home?" I asked, arching an eyebrow as I gave them a slightly weirded out look.

"It's easier that way. All shoulder teams share living quarters," Light explained simply, ignoring the look I gave them.

"Hey, were your parents on drugs when they named you? 'Cause "Gey" is kind of....well, gay," Night said absentmindedly. He obviously was paying no attention to the current conversation whatsoever.

"What about your parents? Night ain't exactly the straightest name in history," I said, glaring at him. I wasn't fond of my name myself, but that didn't mean I was going to let him insult my parents for it. If he wanted to make fun of me, that was fine, but not my parents.

"Hey, my name is awesome! Light is a gayer name than my name!" Night exclaimed.

"Leave my name out of this," Light said with a scowl.

"Doesn't matter if his is gayer or not. I'm just saying, with a name like that, you ain't got no right to make fun of my name. At least mine is unique," I said.

"Light is no more a unique name than mine!" Night said.

"I said to leave my name out of your argument!" Light exclaimed.

"I said his name doesn't matter! What matters is yours is gay and cliche, so shut up about my name!" I said, rolling around in the chair to sit up right again.

"But, c'mon, seriously, Gey? That's just wrong," Night said, giving me a look like I was nuts.

"You are just so wrong," I shot back darkly.

"Okay! Let's go home now!" Light declared, jumping up from his seat as he clapped and then rubbed his hands together. He looked between Night and me with a wide smile that was actually a secret code for "get your asses up and come with me, you squabbling little ninnies."

I gave Night a quick glare before pushing up from my seat forcefully. Night returned the glare and then stood up as well. I gave off a little "hmph" and looked away from him, purposefully sticking my nose in the air.

"Right. Homeward bound," Light said, still smiling. He spun on his heel and walked off, expecting us to follow. Night and I exchanged glares again before actually moving to follow after him.



“And this is our bedroom!” Light declared, throwing open the bedroom and swinging his arm widely to gesture to the whole room. I stood just outside of the doorway, staring stupidly.

“You share a room….a room with one bed…” I said. If he said that this was regulation as well, I was going to demand to see just where it was written down that it was necessary for shoulder teams to share a room and a bed.

“Two beds. It’s twin beds pushed together to make one big bed. That way, when we’re pissed at each other, we can pull them apart and sleep separately,” Night explained. They obviously didn’t catch on to my shock. My shoulder angel and devil were gay for each other?! What the fuck?!

Being that it would be cruel to leave them in the dark, I felt I needed to express to them how this realization might raise a few eyebrows. “You’re gay?! Why are you gay?!” I exclaimed with horror. Totally cool. No chance of me insulting them at all. Really.

“What do you mean why are we gay? We’re gay because you are. A person’s shoulder team has to be the same orientation as them, otherwise the advice given might not be suiting,” Light said, arching an eyebrow at me. Apparently, this was basic knowledge, and I was some kind of stupid for not knowing this, despite the fact that I hadn’t known about any of this bullshit until I’d started this weirdass dream.

“I’m not gay! I’ve never looked at a guy in that way! You definitely are not the right shoulder team for me!” I exclaimed, switching from looking horrified to looking taken aback.

“Sorry to tell you this, but you are,” Night said. He didn’t look sorry at all, though.

“I am not! How would you even know?!” I all but shouted.

“There are tests, of course. Each person is subject to the test multiple times in the first fifteen years of their life. Depending on the outcome of the tests, you’re given a shoulder team of an orientation matching your own,” Light explained.

“I didn’t take any tests to see if I like guys or girls!” I now fully shouted.

“Well, obviously people don’t know about the tests. But you did go through them, and the outcomes of these test ultimately said you’re gay,” Light said.

“I want a redo on these tests! I’m not gay! I like girls, not guys!” I shouted, jumping into Light’s face and grabbing him by the shirt, “I demand the right to retake these stupid tests of yours!”

“Calm down, Gey. Not only is it impossible for you to retake the tests, but it wouldn’t be proper if you realized they were tests. The reason people can’t be let on about them is that they would be dishonest in how they acted and reacted during the course of the test,” Light said, carefully prying my hands off of his shirt.

“Besides, you’re so totally gay,” Night said, an all too pleased smile on his face.

“I am not gay, damnit! Fuck you!” I shouted, rounding on my shoulder devil with evil intentions in mind.

“Wait a minute now! Just think about it!” Night exclaimed, throwing up his hands in defense as he backed up. I paused a moment, waiting for him to go on before I killed him. “You say you like girls, but that’s not really very true at all. You’ve been with girls, sure, but you’ve never really liked them. They’ve never truly pleased you or entertained you in any way. You’ve always found them boring and useless. Never once have you been with a girl and really enjoyed yourself,” he said, gesturing around with his pointing fingers as though he were illustrating a story with them as he spoke.

I stared at him silently now. While that was true, I still didn’t see how that made me gay. It just meant all the girls I had encountered sucked. “I’m not gay. That doesn’t make me gay. Even if I’ve never liked the girls I’ve been with, at least I’ve been with any girls at all. I have never been with a guy, period,” I said flatly. I crossed my arms across my chest, daring him to challenge my statements.

“Well, I know a simple way to settle this dispute,” Light said casually from directly behind me. I instantly freaked out and launched myself away from him, ending up jumping all over Night as I gave Light a terrified look.

“Keep away from me!” I shouted.

“…I was just going to suggest we go find a cupid to tell us your orientation. They need only look at you once, and they know exactly which team you play for, if you get my meaning,” Light said, a look of almost disappointment on his face because of how I had reacted to him.

“Oh…I…I knew that…” I said uncertainly, slowly climbing down from my perch on Night.

“Jeez. Why do you even need to react like this, when you claim we’re just a dream of yours?” Night grumped, straightening his hair and clothes. He was just upset that I’d jumped all over him.

“I don’t want this dream becoming a nightmare,” I said, chewing on my thumb nail both nervously and thoughtfully as looked between my shoulder angel and devil.

“Whatever. Let’s go, so you can hear straight from the mouth of love that you’re as gay as gay is,” Night said.

“I’m not gay, you bastard,” I snapped.

“But you are of the name Gey, no?” he said with a smirk.

“Argh! I knew you were going to use my name against me!” I exclaimed furiously. Before he could make any other smartass comments, I whirled around and stalked off out of their house. I, of course, paid no mind that I didn’t know where to go and that I should be letting one of them lead the way.

“Maybe I should lead? Gey?” Light called after me as they quickly tried to catch up.

“No need! I know exactly where I’m going!” I shouted back, still in my furious tone. Roughly half an hour later, after getting us butt lost, I allowed Light to take the lead. It took him all of ten minutes to get us to a pink and red building that was, as obviously stated by a neon sign, Love Central, Headquarters of Cupid Operations.

“I knew where I was going,” I muttered under my breath, slinking along behind Light and Night and into the building.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you,” Night said with a smug smirk, glancing over his shoulder at me.

“I said you’re an asshole,” I snapped. He just kept smirking at me, quite obviously trying to piss me off. No wonder I’d nearly died so many times, what with this jerk being my shoulder devil and all.

Light led us purposely across a lobby to an area filled with desks that were piled high with paperwork, cards, and boxes of candy. It was Valentine’s central for sure. Perhaps this is where we stupid humans had gotten the idea for such a holiday. We stopped at the first desk we came to and Light slammed his hands down on the desk to draw the attention of the angel sitting at it.

“Drake, real quick, what’s this guy’s orientation?” he asked, nodding his head in my direction. The one called Drake glanced over at me for only a moment before returning to sorting through his paperwork.

“Gay,” he said flatly.

“I’m not gay!” I screamed, not caring if everyone in the building heard me. Drake didn’t even give me a second glance before responding.

“I’m just telling you what I see, dude. You’re gay in my eyes. Go ask someone else, if you aren’t happy with it. I can guarantee, though, that they’ll say the same thing,” he said almost boredly. I kind of wondered how often he had to put up with this kind of thing. Probably much more often than he wished.

“You’re gay, Gey. Deal with it,” Night said, grabbing me by the collar as he started to drag me off.

“Thanks, Drake,” Light said, giving the angel a little wave over his shoulder as he followed us.

“I’m not gay! I’ve never looked at a guy that way! I’ve never thought of a guy that way! I’ve never been with a guy that way! I’m not gay!” I exclaimed, trying desperately to get one of them to agree with me. I didn’t care if this was just a dream. Being told you’re gay in a dream had to be some kind of omen, and I did not want an omen of gayness. I wasn’t gay, damnit.

“A cupid says you’re gay, and you’re gay. You can’t argue with people whose very purpose is to deal with all the affairs of love. Just accept it, okay?” Light said, partially pleading with me. Was he embarrassed by my dragging this out, or maybe just offended?

“God. It’s not like it’s the end of the world. So you’re gay. That just means you can stop wasting time on stupid girls and have some fun with guys,” Night said. He was definitely offended. That meant Light was probably just embarrassed.

“I don’t want to have fun with guys! I don’t like guys! I’m not gay!” I shouted, trying to pry his hand off of my collar so he’d stop dragging me around.

“Gey, please, can’t you at least be rational about this?” Light asked weakly.

“I am being rational! I don’t like guys, therefore I’m not gay! Is that so hard to understand?!” I screamed up into the sky, waving my arms wildly as I gave up on getting free from Night.

“Sometimes people have trouble with accepting themselves. It’s okay to be a little upset. But you really need to try to accept this, for your own sake rather than anyone else’s,” Light explained as soothingly as he could manage to.

“He needs to get over the denial that he’s gay at all before he learns to accept the fact,” Night grunted.

“Stop making this sound like I need to take a 10-step program! I don’t have a problem! Being gay is not a problem I have, because I’m not gay!” I exclaimed.

By now we had reached their house, and Night was kind enough to open the door by throwing me at it as hard as possible. After I crashed through the door and crumbled into a heap, he stalked forward and stood directly over me. “You’re right! Being gay isn’t a problem you have, because being gay is not a problem! The problem is you denying you’re gay and acting like being gay is somehow a crime! There’s nothing wrong with what you are!” Night shouted down at me, absolute fury in his eyes. He’d gone form being offended to being pissed off majorly.

“Night, calm down! You’re going to hurt him!” Light exclaimed. He jumped forward and grabbed Night by the arm, quickly pulling him away from me before he decided to do some serious damage.

“Good! He deserves to be hurt! He’s calling me an asshole when he’s reacting like this to being gay! He’s acting like it’s a fucking terminal disease! If he’s going to be like that, I want him to hurt! He doesn’t need a shoulder devil, because enough of a bastard without one whispering in his ear!” Night roared angrily.

I scrambled backwards across the floor, feeling the sudden need to have distance between myself and my shoulder devil. He had a look that could kill on his face, and I didn’t want to see if he could live up to that look.

While I had been wondering the entire time if my actions had been upsetting them, I hadn’t really thought about how they might feel if I was upsetting them. This reaction of Night’s, though, made me realize I’d been acting pretty cruel and inconsiderate about this. Even if I didn’t believe I was gay, acting like this about it around two very gay persons was more than just rude of me.

“I-I-I didn’t—….sorry,” I whispered, pressing against the couch as though it might protect me from Night’s wrath.

Light sighed, giving Night’s arm a sharp tug to snap him out of his rage and get him to notice I was now scared shitless. “It’s fine, Gey,” he said, sliding his counterpart a glance to see if he had recognized my fear.

Night roughly ripped his arm away from Light, crossing his arms across his chest as he glared at me. He wasn’t going to try kill me anymore, but he was still pissed. “Fine my ass,” he growled, speaking more to himself than to Light or me.

I said nothing more, not wanting to spur Night into anymore homicidal fits. I continued to just sit there, curled against the couch and feeling guilty as Hell. Light and Night waited for a few minutes to see what I would do, but when they realized I wasn’t going to do anything they just sat on said couch and waited for me to come around. For a dream, this really was lame. Didn’t they have anything to do aside from wait on me?

After a good long while of sitting there silently, I peeked over the back of the couch at them. “….Why are you just sitting there?” I asked softly.

“Because you’re just sitting there,” Night said flatly, glancing at me as he stretched his arms across the back of the couch.

“You don’t have anything to do?” I asked, resting my chin uncertainly on his arm.

“Not when you’re not doing anything. You’re our job, you’re our lives. Beyond you and each other, we have nothing,” Light said, smiling softly at me. I stared at him for a moment, a little colour coming to my cheeks. Feeling the heat on my face, I pulled back the couch and pressed my face into its back. Good Lord, a creation of my imagination had made me blush.

“You’re such a loser, Light. What, are you going to propose next?” Night said snidely, deciding it was necessary to ruin the moment.

“Jealous that I’d speak in such a way to someone other than you?” Light returned coyly. That’s when it occurred to me the true weight of Light’s words. They had only me, as their charge, and each other, as partners. The freak out I’d been having over gayness—that’s why Night had been so upset by it. Because I was in another realm entirely and didn’t even know of their existence, they technically only had each other to be with. They had no time for relationships with other people, beyond pure business.

“I’m not jealous,” Night grumped. His voice broke through my downward spiral, and suddenly I began crying. I jumped up and flung myself over the back of the couch and onto the shoulder devil, a sob ringing out. “What the Hell?! Gey?!” he exclaimed, freezing up as I hugged myself to him.

“I’M SO SORRY! I was being so inconsiderate before! I didn’t even think once about Light’s or your feelings or situation! I really didn’t mean to be mean!” I bawled loudly. Even if this was all just a dream, I felt just awful about upsetting this figment of my imagination.

“What? What?! You’re off on that again?! Damnit, calm down and get off of me! I forgive you already! Shit!” Night exclaimed. He was waving his arms wildly as he spoke, wanting to be free of me but not daring to cruelly pry me off of him when I was crying like this.

“Night, don’t be mean! He’s crying! He feels bad!” Light exclaimed. He quickly moved over and hugged me from behind, whispering softly that it was alright in an attempt to calm me. While I didn’t calm down all at once, I did stop my loud sobbing and shouting.

“Just because he feels bad doesn’t mean I have to let him soak my shirt with his sissy tears. Get him off of me. You’re the nice one, not me. He can hug you,” Night hissed over my head at Light. I clung to him harder, not wanting to let go just yet. I understood he didn’t want me all over him—Hell, I would be reacting just like him if somebody I knew was clinging and sobbing on me—but I didn’t want to be pulled away from him. He may have been a devil, but he somehow felt safe at the moment; safer than Light, even.

“Gey, c’mon, you need to let go of Night. I’ll hold you, okay?” Light said soothingly, trying carefully to pry my fingers off Night one at a time.

“No. I want him,” I whimpered, peeking back at Light with tear-filled eyes and tear-stained cheeks. A slightly startled look came to his face at that, and I imagine Night had a look just like that on his face as well. Light hesitated a minute and then stopped trying to pull me away, leaning on me now instead.

“Alright. If you really want him, I’m not going to try to make you let go,” Light said softly, nuzzling me affectionately. I whimpered in response before pressing my face against Night’s neck, clinging to him less desperately and more needishly now.

“And I don’t get a say in this?” Night asked with a scoff.

“Night,” Light said flatly and simply. The shoulder devil scoffed again, sighed, and then wrapped one arm around me, the other one going beyond me to wrap around Light.

“Whatever,” Night grumped, though he didn’t sound so upset anymore.



I stirred a few hours later from a sleep I hadn’t noticed I’d slipped into. My grip on Night’s neck tightened and he whispered a few hushed words, crushing my body closer to his just slightly. That’s when I noticed my reason for stirring: Night had picked me up and was carrying me to bed, while also herding a half-asleep Light to bed as well.

By the time the three of us were in bed and settled—Night and Light sleeping on either side of me, resting their heads on my shoulder and chest—I was no longer feeling sleepy. My mind had snapped awake, and it refused to let me return to sleep as I lay there between my shoulder angel and shoulder devil. It was amazing that they slept so peacefully, even knowing I, the person they said was their lives, could be taken away from them by these “higher ups” mentioned before.

Then again, it wasn’t really so amazing, since if I was taken away, they would then get a new person to be almost the whole of their lives. They made me sound extremely important when they referred to me, but I really wasn’t all that important to them. My importance to Night and Light ended the very second they were given a new charge.

Was their importance to each other also so flimsy? If they were both given new partners, would they suddenly no longer share a house, a bed, and a love for each other? Would they move on in a second, never thinking twice about what they’d had with each other? Could it possibly be so easy to leave behind somebody you’d shared so many years with?

With me it would be easy, since I’d never really known them and they’d never really interacted with me. With each other, though, I figured it would be harder. They knew each other well. They had interacted every minute of every day for so long. They had even gone so far as to embrace each other, despite their extreme differences. If they were to be separated from each other, it would probably devastate them. If they were to be separated from me, it wouldn’t matter one bit.

I closed my eyes and began again to cry. As much as I told myself this was all just some warped dream, I felt a tearing at my heart inside. I’d known them for what, a day? But they’d been by my side for a lifetime, and though I hadn’t known it until now, the ache in my insides told me that a part of me had been able to feel them by my side—or, rather, on my shoulder—and that their presence had become something I needed.

“I don’t want a new shoulder pair. I don’t care if these two are dangerous for my health. I want to keep my NightLight,” I whispered to the darkness. I shuddered softly and tried to cease my crying, not wanting to wake them up. Rather than sleeping, my night was spent with me promising myself that this was all just a stupid dream that held no bearing in my life, and that Night and Light were not real, and neither was the pain in my chest or the tears I cried.




My eyes fluttered open and I instinctively reached off to one side, feeling for one of my sleeping companions. I felt nothing. I reached over to my other side. Still I felt nothing. My barely opened eyes were suddenly wide open as I sat up and looked around for Night and Light. They weren’t there, though. What’s more I was no longer even in their room. As it just so happens, I was in my own room. I stared about with confusion, wondering why I was in my room and not their’s.

Had the choice of my shoulder team been made while I had slept? Had those “higher ups” decided whether or not Night and Light could stay with me? Had they decided for or against assigning me a new shoulder angel and shoulder devil? Were they gone? Was it all over? Would I never see them again?

Slowly, though, realization settled in on my mind and a small smile settled in on my face. “It was just a dream,” I whispered to myself. I lowered my eyes, no longer searching in a panic for the pair. They were not to be seen, because they were not real. I had dreamt it all, just like I had been telling myself through the entire dream. All that had happened had not happened, for it was all merely a figment of my imagination, as were they.

I stared down at my lap, my body slowly relaxing though my mind stayed tense. I raised a shaky hand to my chest, pressing it to where my heart was and feeling the mad beating. I’d worked myself up into quite a worry over non-existent things. This point was driven home as I felt a single tear fall from each eye. Considering it had all been made up by my mind, I sure seemed to be reacting like it was more than a dream and more than a nightmare.

Even as I told myself over and over that it had been a dream, my heart and my mind would not calm. Though I knew none of what I’d dreamed had been real, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering if it would have been decided that Night and Light could stay as my shoulder team. If it had been real after all, I would have been upset if those “higher ups” I didn’t even know had decided not to let them stay with me. NightLight was the only shoulder team for me.

“Night…Light…” I murmured to myself, my smile growing a little. What a ridiculous thing. Of course it had been made up. A person would have to be stupid to call themselves that, and two people would have to be insane to call themselves that. Nobody in the world was so nutty as to do something so laughable and ludicrous.

“Hehehe….NightLight…” I said, smirking now instead of smiling. I’d probably be laughing over that for years to come, even if it wasn’t real. It was just too stupidly funny to not at least snicker at when you thought of it. Dreams sure could be weird.

“What’s so fucking funny here? You’re laughing at us again! That really pisses me off!” snapped a tiny voice in my ear. I became an anxious ball of nerves again in an instant, my head jerking around painfully fast towards the voice. Standing there on my shoulder, tapping his foot in annoyance and with his arms crossed, was a five-inch-tall Night.

“Hu….you….I….hey….holy fuck! Night! No way! Am I still dreaming!?” I exclaimed

“You’re still calling us a dream, too?! That also pisses me off!” Night exclaimed. He suddenly reached out and grabbed my ear, leaning forward and biting it. I yelped and grabbed at my ear, almost swatting his head before he had a chance to pull back. “Bet that felt real, eh, Gey?” Night said with a smartass little sneer.

“Night! Do not bite him! We’re only on probational watch! If we screw up any anytime in the next three months, the higher ups will resend their choice, whether or not our charge wants to keep us!” exclaimed a voice from my other shoulder. I quickly jerked my head around again, this time not quite painfully fast. Sure enough, there was a five-inch-tall Light.

“Hey, you’re real…” I said in an idiotic and dazed way.

“Now you’re getting it! Finally! Only took for-fucking-ever!” exclaimed the little Night, throwing his hands into the air.

“How…?” I asked, looking back at the little Night.

“Christ. Do I have to explain everything all over again? I don’t want to. You can just stay stupid, since you enjoy being that way so much,” Night said, crossing his arms in a pissed way again.

“Don’t worry, Gey. There will be plenty of time for us to tell you, now that you’ve figured out how to call us,” the little Light said cheerily, ignoring Night’s grumpy mood.

“I did? How?” I asked, once again turning my head to look at the little Light.

“You called our name! We are NightLight! You call, we come! Didn’t you ever wonder how come only some people can see their shoulder team? You have to find out their name and call for them to be able to appear to you in this realm,” the little Light explained simply.

“Oh….okay,” I said, a bizarre look of wonder on my face.

“Humans are so stupid sometimes. Honestly, I wish the higher ups had given us a new charge. You totally suck,” the little Night said, maintaining his grumpiness.

“He’s lying. He whooped for joy right in the middle of the hearing room when we were called forth and the decision given,” the little Light said with a smirk.

“I did not! That…that was….!” the little Night exclaimed. He gave up on words and just leaned over to shoot Light a nasty look.

“That’s real nice and all, but I’m hurting my neck looking back and forth like this. Do you guys have to be on my shoulders? Can’t you stand somewhere else? Or at least on the same one?” I asked with a groan. My head sunk and my shoulders slumped as I reached back to rub my neck.

“I suppose we could stand on your lap or something, as long as you’re sitting down…” the little Light said thoughtfully.

“Heh. If I have to move down there, I’m gonna have myself some fun,” the little Night said with an evil chuckle as he rubbed his little hands together deviously.

“What do you mean?” I asked curiously, glancing at him from the corner of my eyes.

“Lap equals pants and pants equals fun. I’ve always wanted to show how good I am with my hands even when this tiny,” the little Night cackled. A furious red blush came to my face instantly.

“You’ll do no such thing! I’m not gay, you stupid, tiny bastard!” I exclaimed, giving him a horrified look.

“You’re still off on that boat, eh? Well guess what, Gey, Light has something to tell you,” the little Night said with a cruel smirk. I looked at the little Light now, waiting to hear what he had to tell me. I already knew it wasn’t something I wanted to hear, what with how Night had smirked.

“Uh…hehe…well, you see, Gey, I…” the little Light said, nervously rubbing the back of his head, “…I…I kept thinking about how adamantly you denied being gay…so I thought, since we were in a meeting with the higher ups already…I’d ask about your orientation. And so I did ask…and…they conferred about it…and…they said…you’re definitely gay….just that your mental, physical, and spiritual parts are still at odds over it.”

I stared for a few moments, letting his words work their way slowly but surely around my mind. “You….you’re telling me….I’m gay… No! You’re telling me a bunch of important people I don’t even know all say I’m gay, yes?” I asked.

“Yes,” the little Light said with a small, apologetic smile.

“Totally,” the little Night said with a wide, Cheshire cat-type smile.

“Gay….gay….gay…. I’m gay…. My shoulder angel and devil say so….some cupid guy says so…a council of important guys I don’t even know say so… Everybody says I’m gay… Everyone but God him-fucking-self says I’m gay…” I whispered to myself, staring off into nothingness now as I tried to comprehend it.

“Actually, God’s part of the council of important guys you don’t even know, so he actually has said you’re gay,” the little Light said.

My whole body suddenly jerked up as I threw my arms up and let out a cry to the Heavens. The little Light and Night had to grab quickly onto my hair to keep from being thrown by the movement. “I AM NOT GAY!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“Calm down! It’s not like being gay means you’ve got to go jump into the bed of the first guy you meet!” the little Night shouted, clinging for his life to a lock of my hair.

I stopped my screaming and looked down at the little Night and then over at the little Light. “I don’t how to be gay. How am I supposed to be gay without knowing?” I asked, my voice cracking with panic.

“Don’t worry. We know all about it. And since we are here to guide your life with our advice, we’ll tell you everything you need to know,” the little Light assured me, desperately trying to get me to stop freaking out.

“You will?” I whimpered pathetically.

“Yes. Really. We will,” the little Light said quickly.

“All you ever have to do if you want to talk to us is call our name,” the little Night offered up quickly, also wanting me to calm down.

“NightLight?” I asked.

“Yes. We are NightLight, and we are always on your shoulder, guiding you as best we can,” the little Light said, smiling softly up at me.

“On my shoulder,” I repeated, nodding my head a little as I calmed my breathing and my heart.

“I think he’s finally got it,” the little Light told the little Night with relief.

“He’ll never get it. He lost it and can’t get it back,” the little Night grunted with annoyance. He only now released my hair and dusted himself off, trying to regain his air of coolness.

“I’ve got another question,” I said, glancing between them.

“What now?” the little Night asked with annoyance.

“I call your name to get you to come—or, rather, to get you to appear—but….how do I get rid of you?” I asked. The little Night scoffed, rolled his eyes widely, and crossed his arms in a pissed manner once again. The little Light just shook his head softly and smiled, crossing his arms in a less pissed manner. Neither of them answered the question.

Not that question, anyways. What they both did answer without even saying a word was my question as to whether or not this was a dream like I had been telling myself all along. No, this was not a dream. Yes, they really called themselves NightLight. No, they wouldn’t be leaving me. They were going to always be there, a little angel and a little devil together but separate from each other, sitting on my shoulders.