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I gasped as I bolted upright in bed, immediately looking out the window to see that it was still dark out. I'd woken up in the middle of another night. I sighed and rubbed my tired eyes. I looked beside me, seeing Xingqiu still sound asleep. I smiled half-heartedly at him before carefully throwing my legs over the side of the bed and standing up. I tiptoed over to my desk and sat down. I grabbed a few stray markers that were left on the desk from yesterday and began drawing on a new piece of paper. I couldn't see very well because the lights were off, but I needed to get my idea onto paper. I could fix it up later. However, I didn't realize that I was using neon markers.
The end result was a picture of a pill bottle, spilled on the ground with all of the contents sprawled out in front of it. In the middle of working, I noticed the neon colors I was using and decided to keep using them in order to enhance the photo, trying to make it seem as if the picture itself was on some type of drug. I took it outside the bedroom, into the hall where I turned the light on. It actually turned out quite well.
When I returned into the bedroom after turning the hallway light off, Xingqiu was whining tiredly. I was surprised, and I felt guilty since I thought I woke him up by being too loud even though I put all my effort into not making any noise. He slowly sat up and looked over to the door, where I was standing. I closed the door and looked back, tilting my head a bit in confusion.
After a short silence, he spoke, "You woke up again...?"
"Yeah," I confirmed. "Sorry, did I disturb you?"
"Not at all..." He mumbled. "What's that?"
He was referring to my drawing.
"It's something I made, inspired by a dream I just had," I answered as he turned the lamp on his nightstand on.
"May I see it?"
"Sure..."
I handed him the paper and he seemed surprised about something as he gazed at the picture, "Should I be concerned about what type of dream you were having?"
"No, don't worry about it," I denied. "It's still early, isn't it? Let's go back to sleep."
"Alright," Xingqiu sighed before handing my artwork back to me.
I set it on my desk and got back in bed next to him before he turned the lamp off once again. He laid down properly and we faced each other. We shared eye contact for a few moments before Xingqiu grew closer and pressed his lips on mine softly, pouring all his love into it. I returned the kiss and smiled at him when we both pulled away. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest, where I'd rest comfortably for the rest of the night.
