Rough Nights, Late Mornings

Late Night

Fan stirs in his bed, he had been awoken by some strange noise at the foot of his bed that he could not place the source of. He eventually came to the conclusion that it was simply a trick that his mind was playing on him, again.

Paintbrush was sleeping peacefully in their bed, just like Fan had been not so long ago, but now, he can't just get back to sleep.

He counts the things that could be preventing his chance at sleep, knowing that the denial of rest is probably a result of his body requiring something, but he's currently lacking the internal communication to directly place what it is. Eventually, he settles on probably just needing to use the restroom.

The noise from earlier had left an eerie feeling in the room, making every little thing feel slightly more unnerving than it would in its usual context. Fan had no clue what time it was, probably much later than he would've been up in regular context. Probably only a time imaginable on one of his internet rabbit hole deep dives, or possibly a late-night fanfic reading spree.

Out of curiosity, Fan reaches over and grabs his phone off his nightstand and checks the time.

3:19 AM

Great.

Fan quietly sighs and sets his phone down silently on his bed to prevent making noise that could possibly wake up his roommate.

Getting up from the safety of the bed was also quite a struggle, although the bed didn't feel the safest after the noise that had originally awoken him. But, it surely felt like the safest imaginable place in the entire room.

Hesitantly, Fan slides out of his bed, carefully treading across the bedroom to the restroom that was off to the side. Even the littlest of noises were scares, from the quiet creaking and crackling of the floor underneath him after every step, to Paintbrush slightly shifting in their sleep, to even his own breath, everything made Fan jump a little.

At first arrival into the bathroom, he flicked on the lights, examining his surroundings. A pretty normal bathroom: A shower bath, a toilet, a sink with a cabinet above it, towels for both of the people who use that bathroom, even a few hooks and shelves installed to hold personal toiletries.

After checking behind the shower curtain, Fan felt sure that it was safe enough to close the door, shutting and locking it behind him before making his way to the toilet.

As he uses the bathroom, he can't help but notice things moving when they aren't supposed to be.

It's not real. It's not real.

He chants the phrase over and over in his head, just wanting to be done and able to go back to bed.

It's not real. It's not real.

Why is this taking so long?

It's not real. It's not real.

It looks real though?

It's not real. It's not re-

He finally finishes up and goes to wash his hands. He's reluctant to look in the mirror but does anyways, there's nothing out of the ordinary. He stares directly into his reflection, everything looks strangely... normal?

He finishes washing his hands and dries them off with his towel. Looking back at the mirror one last time as he heads for the exit, still scared of seeing something odd in it.

He opens the door, leaving the light on for a second before turning back off.

Darkness.

Nothing but darkness.

The walk back to his bed was hell, everything felt loud, it felt like something was watching him.

There must've been.

Through the darkness, he imagines a thing... standing there... watching.

It's terrifying.

As he covers himself back up in bed, he's aware of how shaken he is and how that'll impact his ability to get back to sleep.

He sighs, accepting defeat and grabbing his phone from beside him on the bed, and puts on a set of earbuds after grabbing them off his nightstand, putting on some music.

He guesses that it was probably around 5 AM when he actually finally got back to sleep.