Your sixth sense

chapter one

Your sixth sense
Chapter one
“You can’t catch me!” Lance teased.
“I bet I could!” Beat yelled after.
It was 12:52.  Everything was good. Everyone was happy. Except. Beat? How could they not be happy? They were with their best friend. Was it because Lance was their only friend? Or was it something else? Something. Something much much worse. Something that could kill them in an instant. Something they didn’t know had so much power.
  It was now 2. Beat had to go home. They said goodbye. Was it the last time they would get to see their friend? They didn’t know. They were scared. So so scared. They were different from the other kids. So very different. They hid though. Barely anyone knew who they were. Lance knew. Lance was very, very kind. He would help them in any and every situation. Even if he didn’t understand. He still helped. Even when Beat was very scared. Scared of what they didn’t know.
Beat was slow. They couldn’t do anything fast. Nothing. Nothing at all. That could have been why they were so scared. They suddenly heard a sound.
“H-hello?” They asked quietly. But suddenly the sound disappeared? They were confused.
It was now, 2:30? Yes. 2:30. They started having problems seeing. They were very close to their house at this time. They knocked. One. two. Three. Three times. They made sure of that. The door suddenly opened. They flinched. But it was just their sibling. She didn’t say anything. Standing. Not starring. She had a cloth over her eyes. Beat was still confused about that. Could she still see? They didn’t think so. Beat remembered how white the cloth was when she first had it. Now. Now it was a bright, bright red. In some spots, it was darker. What happened? No one knew. Not even Beat. All they knew was that it was now read but it still had 05 written on it. It was odd. They were odd. She was odd too. They eventually walked inside. They felt as if she was staring at them.
  “You’re late.” Said a loud, booming, scary, and deep voice.
  “I’m sorry, it took a while to get ba-” They were cut off. By a hand? A hand. How pathetic.
  “I’ve heard enough to go to bed and I’ll wake you up to eat.” The voice said. Why did they listen to the voice? It was just a voice after all. But they listened anyway. They were still scared. They barely made it up the stairs. And slowly walked into their room. They fell on their bed falling asleep almost instantly. A very deep, deep sleep. As if they weren’t going to wake up again. Was this what they feared? Maybe. But it didn’t seem like it. The thing they were fearing was much much worse and much much scarier. They couldn’t say what it was or it would have come sooner. All they knew was that it would eventually come. Soon.
They woke up soon. They felt strange. What time was it?
  “1:23 am.” Beat whispered. They made sure no one knew they were awake.
  They were still scared. Being in the dark made their fear worse than ever.
  “Just. 5 more hours. I. I can just go to bed again.” Beat thought. They thought a lot. They never had anything else to do. They always looked forward to seeing Lance, since he would tell them all about school and how fun it was. Beat was homeschooled, so they never got that experience. At least that’s what Lance thought. Beat would do tests with their dad all the time. Lance said that they probably were doing science class. If so, Beat hated science class. It was always too loud. So loud Beat was losing their hearing. They feared they would be deaf soon. Very, very soon. They had another ‘experiment’ to do today in ‘science class’ at around 7 am. Beat got used to waking up early. They had to almost every day. But never this early. It was now 1:34 am. Still too early. Beat thought about going back to sleep but decided against it. They would fall asleep and sleep in if they weren’t very very careful. They fell asleep anyway. But they woke themselves up every hour or so.
  It was now 6:30 am. Perfect. They would have enough time to eat and put on clean clothes. Their dad put out some clothes for the day. It included a lab coat? That was odd. That was rarely included but it was today. Sometimes their dad could be so nice. It was unusual though what Lance described as a healthy family wasn’t similar to Beat’s dad. But even with the large differences, he was still nice to Beat.
  It was now exactly 7 am they had finished eating and they were heading to their dads’ lab.
  “Good you’re on time today,” their dad said. They were late the last time, by 20 minutes. “We are going to test sound today,” he continued.”We will see how loud and high we can make a sound before we break this glass.”
  “Why do we need to see if it’ll break the glass?” Beat questioned. They didn’t see the need for that. Why did they need to break glass?
  “I will be making something and I need it to be unbreakable. I will be experimenting,” he answered.
  What was the experiment? What was he going to do? Was he mad at them? Beat didn’t know. But they went along with it.
  “We will be doing this same experiment throughout the week. Maybe two or more weeks. I will need you to be here every single time.” He said, he seemed angry when he said ‘every single time. Beat didn’t want to find out what would happen if they didn’t make it on time.
  “Why does it have to be me?” beat questioned. Why couldn’t it have been 05? Or 04? What was so special about Beat?
  “Because you are stronger than them. All of them. You are much younger therefore stronger. I believe in you much more than your sib-” He stopped. What was he going to say? Beat never heard that word before. Was it bad?
  “Then the rest of them.” he finished. Beat was confused. What was he going to say?
  “But I thought 05 was stronger than me.” Beat said. She was stronger than them.
  “She can’t see.” Their dad said.
  So they couldn’t see, and that’s why this was Beat’s job. They were the only ones capable of doing this.
  “We have wasted enough time, let’s go.” He said, starting to walk.
  Beat noticed how fast he would walk sometimes. Why would he walk so fast? Beat didn’t know. They just knew how hard it was to keep up. It was around 7:23 am when they finally got to their destination. Fear came rushing back to Beat. They were scared to go in there. It was almost as if something was telling them that something was going to happen soon. Very very soon. As they walked in, Beat noticed the large glass pain in front of the both of them.
  “What’s this for?” Beat questioned.
  “It’s so we don’t get hurt during this experiment.
  Yes, that made sense. Obviously! They needed to be safe from glass breaking. Beat didn’t know why they thought of that earlier.
  “Are you ready?” Their dad asked.
  “Y-yes.” Beat said quickly following their dad.
  It was strange. Why did they have so much fear in this room? Why were they so scared of it? Beat didn’t understand. Against everything that their body was telling them, they went inside. It was. Cold? Beat couldn’t tell they had twice as many layers of clothing on than usual. They felt a small breeze of cold air. Where was it coming from? Beat looked around for the answer. There was a vent. Leading outside? That was odd to Beat. The room was unsettling. Very light grey if not white walls, the ceiling was higher up than usual. The room seemed too large. It looked new too. When did someone have time to build this? Now that Beat thought a bit more they recently heard lots of loud noises.
  “I need you to summon it.” Their dad said in a stern voice.
  “B-but it-it’s not powerful enough to do almost anything.” Beat said, tripping over their words. He was talking about Beat’s ‘Gaster Blaster’. There had to be a better name for it but its actual name was too confusing for Beat to understand. Beat summoned it.
  “You’ll do a good job I promise.” Beat whispered to it.
  “Full power.” Their dad said. These words scared Beat. They didn’t know if they were going to hurt someone or if they were going to get hurt. They followed. It was too loud. It was always too loud.  The glass shattered. Easily, almost too easy. It was almost scary. Without the protection, they could have gotten hurt. Their dad was writing, as expected. He was always doing something with his hands. It was odd? No Lance was like that. But it was different. When Lance did it, Beat didn’t mind. But when their dad did it, Beat feared at any moment they would get hit.
  “That’s all I needed you for, you can go to your friends’ house.” Their dad said. This was one of the times Beat felt useless. Their dad only needed them for a few things. They were still young but they felt they weren’t needed there. Beat walked to Lance’s house. They could have teleported but decided against it. It always made them feel sick. Lance was outside today. When he saw Beat his face lit up. It was cute. Beat smiled in return. Once Beat got there they both sat down on the sidewalk.
  “What’s that?” Beat asked, pointing at an oddly shaped piece of colour. 
  “Oh, it’s just chalk. It’s cool!” Lance said excitedly.
  Beta took some and started drawing. They drew Lance.
  “Woahh you draw so well,” Lance said looking at the drawing Beat just finished.
  Beat didn’t know how to respond. They were confused. No one had ever said that to them. Their dad and the rest of them were always too busy to pay any attention to them. They just sat there trying not to stare at Lance. It was silent for a few seconds.
  “My mom made lunch, we should go inside now.” Lance finally said after an uncomfortable amount of silence.
  Lance got up and Beat quickly followed. Lance opened the door. It was colder inside. Lance got food for both of them and walked to his room. Beat was confused, again. Lance’s life was confusing, same with the rules he followed. Lance opened the door to his room. It was large. The walls were a pastel blue with a few posters on it from video games or shows Beat never heard of. There was a white desk with a chair in the corner. But the main thing in the room that caught Beat’s attention was the bunk bed against the wall. The bottom bunk wasn’t there and there were a bunch of pillows and blankets thrown around. Lance invited Beat to the top bunk. Beat was too tired to climb up a ladder but they did anyway, they didn’t want to disappoint their only friends. It was harder than usual. Beat had a bunk bed but they were on the bottom, 01 was always on the top bunk. This would have been the one thing that Beat would understand but Lance was an only child. Lance handed Beat the sandwich. Beat didn’t have very much for breakfast so this helped. Beat finished their food fast. Lance was still eating though. Beat had noticed Lance took a lot of time with things. Beat didn’t mind it, they just thought it was weird. Lance finished soon, he tried to have a conversation but failed. Beat realized they had been staring. They quickly looked away embarrassed. They didn’t usually stare at people, they knew better. But something about this day made Beat feel differently about Lance. They started noticing the smaller things about him, things you wouldn’t normally notice. Such as how when he wrote every other word he had to erase something, like a pattern. Or how when they would hug, on the rarer occasion, he was so much warmer than them. It didn’t seem normal. His hands were so small. It could have been that Beat was raised in a completely different environment and they were a year older but it was still confusing.
Soon after, Beat had to go back. They didn’t want to be late again, and they needed sleep. A lot of sleep. They started walking back home.
“I should take a shortcut.” they thought. They could either teleport or use a normal human shortcut. One would take them home in almost 5 seconds, the other would get them home in roughly 10 minutes. They wanted to get a snack on the way home anyway so they settled for the longer route. They got to the gas station about 5 minutes later. They had to decide what to get. Did they even have any money? Beat felt around in their pockets. Nothing. They must have dropped it on the way there. They already knew they wouldn’t get anything at home. They thought, standing in one place for almost 2 minutes. They could either not eat, or steal something. The cashier already knew they came in since the little bell rang. They were watching Beat very closely. They got on their phone and called someone. Were they in trouble? Were they going to get taken somewhere? Beat remembered Lance talking about people being orphans and then getting adopted. Beat didn’t want to go somewhere like that. They just needed something to eat. Quickly they grabbed something and ran. They heard the person at the desk yelling at them.
“HEY, YOU NEED TO PAY FOR THAT!” They just kept running. They were scared. They didn’t know what to do. Soon they realized. They were lost. They didn’t know where they were. It was already dark. Too dark to see anything. They sat down on the wet grass that was surrounding them. They heard some people talking nearby and saw lights. Flashing red and blue.
“What an odd colour choice, why not have them be complementary colours?” Beat thought to themselves. But they soon realized that it was the police. They instantly became scared and started breathing heavily. They felt like they were about to pass out. Then, they did. It was sudden. The lights were gone. Beat couldn’t hear anything. They had fallen asleep. It took a while before they woke up, but soon they did. The lights nearby nearly blinded them. The room they were in was odd. It seemed too cold. They looked around, it was like the room before. Except for this time, there were many things in it. Such as poles, many many poles, with bags attached to them. One of them was closer to Beat and there was what seemed to be a tube that connected it to Beat. They felt a horrible taste in their mouth and almost started falling back asleep.
But suddenly they heard an urgent voice. It sounded like Lance. But it was rougher, and it sounded like they had been crying for a while. Beat looked around. There he was. Lance was standing there looking directly at Beat. Tears were running down his face like a waterfall. Beat had never seen Lance cry before. But it filled them with pain to know that their best friend, their only friend, was crying because of them. Lance hugged Beat tighter than normal. They heard Lance crying, but softer this time. Why was he worried about them?  What had happened. Someone came into the room. She was wearing one solid colour, a light blue separated into a shirt and pants. She looked relieved. Beat didn’t know why. Why would anyone care about them? They’re just background characters in the story. They shouldn’t matter. Lance was still crying. But it was getting much sofer. His grip loosened. He had tired himself out and was now asleep. The nurse tried to pull him away but Beat got upset. They liked him there. They didn’t want them to wake him up. He was fine where he was. The nurse was confused but eventually gave in. Beat was happy. But that soon got taken away from them when they felt a sharp pain cut through their back. They couldn’t take it. They tried to reach back but nothing was there. It was getting too hard to bear. They couldn’t take it. Suddenly it stopped. Had they blacked out again? No, they couldn’t have. They could still feel and see everything. Did they die? It was a scary thought that filled Beat with emptiness. It was a possibility though. They could have slipped away from the world. But they woke up? Lance was still there. They were still hugging. Beat tried to hold back tears of the thought that they could have been gone forever. It didn’t work for long though. Lance woke up even though Beat tried to be as quiet as possible. Lance sat up rubbing his eyes. He noticed that Beat was crying. He put Beat’s head in his hands. Beat noticed how soft they were. It was almost unnatural. He was talking to them but they didn’t hear anything. They started to cry more. They didn’t know if Lance knew sign language. He probably didn’t but they tried anyway. “I can’t hear you.” They signed. Lance was confused. Of course, he didn’t know, not even 05 knew any of it. They kept crying even with Lance trying to calm them down. Nothing worked. Nothing was happening. They were still scared. Beat finally heard something though.
“Beat!” Lance said loudly but not loud enough to alert anyone. His voice was soon drowned out by fast and loud beeping. Beat started panicking. What was happening? Where was the noise coming from? Why won’t it stop? Beat started slipping from the world. Everything was becoming blurry. They started seeing doubles. They thought they had blinked but their eyes wouldn’t open. They were stuck. But soon they woke up. They were laying down again and it was much darker outside. They had passed out. They soon remembered what happened and what room they were in. and it took a few minutes to notice a weight on their leg. Barely being able to look down they were able to notice the bright orange hair of their best friend, Lance. He was sleeping in an uncomfortable position in a chair. It was hard to tell if he was awake or not but soon enough he opened his eyes to reveal a purply blue colour that surrounded the deep black of his pupil. He smiled slightly. The dark circles under his eyes grew more noticeable when the light flickered on. His mom had come to pick him up since she didn’t want him to stay in the hospital overnight.
    The morning quickly came. And they were soon out of the hospital. Lance’s mom had paid the bill since she didn’t know if Beat even had parents. Since they had eaten recently they were able to teleport. They did this when they got to a quiet small alley where no one was. They quickly got dressed and headed down to the lab where their dad was waiting.
    Another day of this stupid experiment that will only be used against me. Beat thought, they tried to get the thought out of their head which didn’t work very well. The experiment went the same as the last. Nothing different happened, the glass still shattered. Afterward, they went back to their cell-like room. The walls were a dark grey that seemed to have been there for a very long time. It seemed as if the paint was chipping.
    They reached under their small bed and got out some paint and paper. They decided they were going to make something for Lance in their spare time. It helped relieve stress and the soft noises of the paintbrush scraping against the thin paper made Beat feel at ease. Beat enjoyed subtle noises that weren’t too repetitive. Beat was able to get a small cup of water to wash their paintbrushes in. Soon the painting was finished. They painted Lance and themselves sitting on the floor playing with Lance’s toys.  Beat remembered the one time when Lance gave Beat one of his stuffed animals. Beat still had it but it couldn't come out of its hiding place because 04 wud quickly find it.
    04 was different from the rest of them. They were older but still barely as tall as Beat, who was the youngest. They were able to sense any slight difference in the smell in a 100-foot radius. Unluckily their rooms were right next to each other. When they came home after they got the plush it was almost ripped to shreds but their dad was able to get it out of the creature's mouth. It didn’t save it from being confiscated for a month, however. They were eventually able to get it back but the ear had gotten ripped off.
    Beat was excited to see Lance tomorrow. They hoped to not forget the picture they just made so they hid it in a place they could easily find. They were hungry even though they had just eaten a few hours ago. They walked out of their room into the cold and empty never-ending hallway. It wasn’t a welcoming home people would happily walk into, instead, it was cold and unsettling. 
    No wonder no one ever comes here except us. Beat thought, walking down the hallway as slowly and quietly as possible. They soon made it to the kitchen and quickly noticed someone was there. 04, the one who had almost ripped their beloved stuffed bear in half stood looking into the pantry struggling to reach something on the top shelf. Beat walked over looking up at what the small child-like creature was trying to reach. It was a box of cereal that had probably expired years ago.
    Looking up at the box they sighed, as they easily reached it. They handed it to the small being as it thanked the taller, malnourished, other part. Beat on the other hand didn’t say anything in response. This useless thing wasn’t even worth a thought. As 04 skipped back to their room Beat spotted something they had never seen.
    A thin rectangle sat alone on a shelf. Beat picked it up curious about what it was. They made sure no one was around, they weren’t supposed to take things they didn’t ask for. They read the package.
    “Chocolate?” Beat whispered, stumbling over the odd syllabus.
    “Yes, it is quite a good snack.” Beat jumped at the sudden sound and voice behind them. They turned around quickly and hid the sweet piece of candy behind them.
    “H-hi d-dad.” They said, scared.
    “I saw you,” The tall being said, “put it back.” It said, slowly and very low.
    “I-I’m s-sorry.” Beat said as they quickly put the chocolate back on the shelf.
    They quickly ran back to the small cell they lived their uneventful life in. They fell onto the foam mat their dad called a bed. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t have a job. Yet somehow he was always busy doing something for someone, never really paying any attention to his kids. Beat and the others were never allowed to bother him while he was working. This work that he would do was not known to any of the five children.
    The night quickly passed, and Beat woke up to the sound of something metal grinding against concrete. It was a very unpleasant sound. Beat quickly sat up straight to find the culprit of the obnoxious sound. It was 04, again. The small entity sat on the floor and was scraping the walls with a fork. It was an odd sight to wake up to, but not for Beat. They woke up to something different and unusual every day. They simply got up, put on new clothes, and walked out of the small secluded room. They skipped down the long hallway as they made their way to the kitchen. They peeked their head around the corner and saw that 05 was there along with 02.
    02 was much quieter than the others. This was mainly because they had to wear a mask attached to an oxygen tank. He never said why but Beat thought it might have been because of an experiment. Their dad did many unsafe tests with 02. They also had to wear gloves to make sure they didn’t stick to anything. Beat rarely saw him since he was usually confined in the quietness of his room.
    As usual, he was seated at the second chair at the large table they sat at for their meals. Instead of eating, however, he was reading a book. He had been reading it for almost a month. They quickly walked into the kitchen where they grabbed a protein bar. They had grown a liking to the taste. It was one of the few edible things that were in the pantry. Most of the ‘foods’ had to be prepared and were expired.
    As they ate they thought about how close they were to seeing their best friend in the world. All that was separating them from each other was the homework Beat had to do. It was ‘science’, based on how Lance described it. As they finished and threw the plastic away they ran back to their room. The homework wasn’t very hard. It was just a few equations. They were able to finish very quickly and as soon as they did they were able to go to Lance’s house. They walked outside and quickly teleported a few blocks down from their best friend’s house.
    The house was small. It only needed to fit two or three people so it was perfect for the family. There were flowers planted outside. Red, orange, and white flowers surrounded the outside of the house. Lance was outside again drawing on the sidewalk with the same chalk as last time. It seemed as if no time had passed since the last time they saw each other. As soon as the young boy saw his best friend he quickly dropped what he was doing to get up and hugged the friend he had been waiting for. Beat wasn’t used to getting hugs but gladly accepted and embraced their small companion back. The hug seemed to go on for an odd amount of time. Lance released Beat, but not fully. Lance still held their hands tightly. Their fingers interlocked as they stared blankly at the other person. This went on for several minutes before Lance quickly let go of one hand and led Beat over to where he was drawing.
The young boy was drawing a very nice scene of a flower field on a sunny day. The flowers were blue, orange, and purple.  Not very realistic but still has a nice pop of colour against the green. Beat watched as the soft chalk scratched against the hard concrete sidewalk. The concrete slowly ate away at the chalk. It was almost mesmerizing, Beat’s eyes fixated on the light blue colour slowly disappearing.
Beat quickly snapped out of it as they heard a slight whimper from their friend. His hand started shaking as tears rolled down his face. Soon his entire body was shaking ever so slightly as if not to alert the other. Beat, however, was able to hear the quietest of sounds. They didn’t know how to respond to this. They weren’t used to any emotion like this. Their mind instantly thought it was their fault. They showed up late so it had to have been. They weren’t able to communicate with him. Without thinking they quickly hugged him, not knowing how to verbalize their feelings. They almost seemed to escape into the back of their body while another entity took over. Over and over they kept saying,
“It’s gonna be ok, it’s not your fault.” They didn’t know if this was true. They didn’t even know what was bothering him. But somehow they did. It was confusing for them. Beat didn’t understand what was happening or what they were doing. The sun started to relax its hard and bright gaze as it slowly crept under the horizon. They had seemingly been hugging for hours upon hours, but in reality, it had only been a few minutes. As the low light turned into no light the two kids peaked their heads into the house Lance was living in.
As they looked in there was an overwhelming feeling of grief that spilled out from the door. Lance didn’t even try to call for his mom. Her head was on the table being covered by her arms that seemed to weave over the other. He slowly backed away from the door quickly followed by Beat. They decided to go to the store that was nearby. As the two kids walked Lance held the other hand. His skin didn’t seem to be as soft as it was before. Not necessarily rough, just normal. 
They quickly arrived at the store. Beat saw the same chocolate their dad had. They both decided that’s what they were gonna get. Lance didn't say much there. They paid with the money Lance had. There was a tree near the shop so the two kids sat down on the ground. Lance rested his head on Beat’s shoulder. Beat carefully opened the chocolate to make sure it didn't break off. They then snapped it in half and held one half in front of Lance.
“No, I’m good. You can have it.” Lance replied to the thoughtful gesture made by his close friend.
Beat, not caring about the answer, shoved it in his mouth. Lance had problems with remembering to eat. They knew he probably hadn’t eaten much today. They then wrapped their arms around Lance. Forming a tight hug. Beat liked that Lance didn’t try to get away from them. Beat didn’t receive a hug back, which didn’t bother them but was unusual. Lance usually loved hugs but today was different. Their roles seemed to have swapped in a way or had grown more in the few hours they had been together. Beat was comforting Lance more than usual, slowly and lightly petting his head. They wanted him to be safe. They seamlessly adjusted their position to be more comfortable for both of them.
“Hey, Beat?” Lance asked Beat.
“What is it?” Beat mumbled in response.
“Can you spend the night at my house?” Lance choked over his words but he was able to get them out without feeling embarrassed or crying.
Beat nodded in response. Their dad wouldn’t notice if they were gone for a night. He barely acknowledged them when they were sitting right next to him. They started walking back to his house. As they approached it Lance slipped his hand into Beat’s.
“We have to be quite going upstairs, ok?” Lance told Beat as Lance put his hand on the door.
Beat agreed, they were already very good at being unnoticeable. When the door opened the sounds of angry screaming and yelling filled Beat’s ears. The sound they recognized so well. Beat glanced over at where the sound was coming from. It was in a room in the far right corner of the house. Beat wasn’t able to recognize any of the words. They noticed Lance was starting to panic. His breathing got faster as well as his heart rate. They quickly ran upstairs trying to be quiet. Lance opened the door to his room to show that his room had gotten slightly messier. Not necessarily a death trap, but only barely a difference. A few unneeded plates and cups. He lifted the blanket slightly and signaled them to come under there with them. There were more blankets and pillows under there. Lance sat down on one of the many blankets and hugged a stuffed animal.
Beat soon sat down right next to Lance. It seemed to be quiet for a moment but soon the yelling from downstairs crept its way up, echoing off of the walls of the stairway. The sound seemed to make Lance feel distressed. Beat, caring for their friend’s mental health, positioned themselves to block the sound. Their eyes met for a second but Lance quickly found something else to look at. Beat began to move away from Lance since the yelling had seemingly stopped, but they were held back by Lance.
“Don’t go, please.” He started to cry again as he held Beat’s sleeve in his hand.
Beat stayed, not wanting to disappoint their friend, but moved slightly as the position before was uncomfortable. They looked around the room trying to find any possible hiding spaces in case they needed it. At that moment the sound of glass shattering downstairs and the yelling resuming pierced Beats’ ears. The sharp sound of glass breaking on an empty cabinet lingered in their head, echoing off nonexistent walls. Lance hugged them. He was scared. Beat still didn’t know how to help. Beat fluffed his hair slightly. They started to like the softness of his hair. It made the small boy seem more delicate and fragile, meaning that Beat would have to take care of him making sure he didn’t get hurt. Whether that be physically, mentally, or emotionally. Beat made sure to be as careful as they could with Lance. Beat noticed that the weight Lance was putting on them physically grew more. Turning their head slightly, they noticed Lance had become very sleepy.
“I think I’m gonna go to bed now,'' he said slowly and very softly. He got up and rubbed his eyes.
“It gets really cold down there, you should probably sleep up here,” Lance said, even quieter than before.
Beat followed. Before climbing up the short ladder Lance asked them to turn off the light but leave the small lamp that was under his bed on. Which they did. They would do anything for the only exposure to happiness they got. Turning off the large light that had once illuminated the room fully they climbed up onto the bed. Lance hugged them whispering a small ‘thank you. Beat stared thoughtlessly seemingly through the wall into the other room. As their vision started to get blurry they realized how tired they were. Lance had fallen asleep in the few minutes they had disappeared into the emptiness of their head. Still holding onto Lance they laid down on the bed. Slowly closing their eyes and loosening their grip on the other they easily fell asleep.
Beat woke up to the sun shining through the large windows Lance had in his room. Lance was still sleeping, looking almost kitten-like. Lance opened his eyes slowly, automatically focusing on the other. His face blushed a light red-pink as his eyes got larger, seemingly forgetting that he asked them to stay.
“M-maybe we should, uhm, get breakfast?” Lance said quickly, looking away and sitting up.