Inazuma eleven, Axel x Jude

Nightmare

A/n: This starts before Axel left, during season 2.

"Alright everyone, sleeping bags are in the back, pick a good spot to sleep, and then you can come and have some supper," Silvia instructed.

The inazuma eleven were all camping in a small clearing in the forest, around the campavan. They had spent all day practising hard, and improving their techniques (as well as sitting in the bus while they travelled) and they were all tired.

Axel grabbed his sleeping bag, and looked around for a good spot to put it.

He didn't want to be too far from the bus, but he didn't want to be too near the barbecue, which smelt of burned toast, either.

Suddenly he spotted the ladder leading onto the roof of the bus.

"Perfect," he muttered, and climbed up.

On top of the caravan, was Jude. He had already unrolled his sleeping bag, and was surveying the 'camp'.

"There's enough room for you as well, of you want," Jude said.

Axel nodded gratefully, and put his sleeping bag down next to Jude's.

........................................................................

Axel suddenly woke up. He didn't know why, he just did.

Lying there in the moonlight, he realised that Jude was whimpering in his sleep.

'He must be having a nightmare' thought Axel.

Sitting up slightly, Axel shook Jude by the shoulder.

"Wake up," he whispered.

Jude woke up, with a start. His heart was racing, and he was ashamed to feel tears in his eyes.

"Are you ok?" Jude looked up at Axel's worried face.

"Y-yeah... It was just a nightmare..." Jude mumbled. He was embarrassed when he felt more tears form and start to fall.

Axel shuffled over and pulled Jude into a gentle hug.

Jude hid face on Axel's shoulder without thinking, and returned the hug.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Axel asked.

"I... It was just... My parents... " Jude whispered back, still shaking slightly, "they're... Dead you see... And... They... They... I saw them... Die... Again... In my dream," 

Axel didn't know what to say. He knew what it felt like to lose a parent, and saying 'I'm sorry for you' didn't help. He just kept hugging Jude.

Secretly, somewhere in the back of his head, Axel knew that he had a crush on Jude. And it made him so sad to see Jude like this.

And besides that, Axel used to comfort his little sister when she woke crying for their mother. It seemed like a an automatic reaction to comfort someone who was upset.

Jude started to calm down. His breathing evened out and he felt much better. Axel made Jude feel safe.

Maybe it was the smell of Axel's lemon hair conditioner or just the sound of Axel's even breathing, but Jude found that he was calm enough to go back sleep. However he didn't let go of Axel.

The comfort of having someone there was something that Jude had always lacked, and he couldn't get enough of it.

.......................................................................

As the early morning sun fell on Axel's face, he gradually became aware that he was hugging something that was next to him.

Opening his eyes, he realised that Jude was the 'thing' that he was hugging, and that he (Jude) was hugging him back.

Axel felt his cheeks heat up slightly.

Jude was very cute, asleep and without his goggles on.

As Jude stirred, Axel gently pushed him off him, so that he could actually get up and go and have breakfast.

"Axel?" Jude mumbled.

"Mhm," Axel replied groggily.

"Do we have to get up now?" Jude asked, rolling over.

Axel laughed; Jude was also cute when he was tired.

"Come on, if we're quick we can splash in the stream before breakfast," he (Axel) said, climbing down the ladder that was on the side of the bus.

It was only after he had fully woken up, that Jude remembered all that had happened the night before.

He was glad that no one else knew. It wouldn't do to have the whole team know that he had had a mental break down in the middle of the night.

Or that he had fallen asleep in Axel's arms.

Which Jude still wasn't sure quite how he felt about.

On one hand, he was very glad thankful for the way in which Axel had reacted.

On the other hand he really hoped that it wouldn't be awkward in between them now.

'Why would it be awkward though?' He asked himself, as he splashed his face with more water.

It's not like Axel, the hottest player on the team would mind.

"What the hell?" Jude mumbled out loud. Where on earth had that thought come from?

Jude was well aware of his own sexual orientation, in other words that he was gay.

But he hadn't ever really thought about Axel in that way before.

And the more Jude thought, the more he realised that he was, in fact in love with Axel.

Still, the chances that Axel liked him back were very slim.

Jude sighed, and splashed his face with water one more time, before making his way back to the camp.