Okarun sat hunched over his desk, the glow of his little lamp casting a soft halo around him. His notebook lay open, the pages already filled with messy scrawlings and half-doodles of hearts, stars, and, embarrassingly, her name.

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She was asleep just a few feet away in his bed, curled up under his blanket after a long, brutal day of alien chasing. She had knocked out the moment her head hit the pillow. Okarun had offered the bed without hesitation. Of course she could take it. He wasn’t going to let her sleep on the couch after all she did today.

His cheeks burned as he glanced over his shoulder at her, soft breaths rising and falling, her face relaxed for once.

He turned back to the page, tapping his pencil against the margin.

His head drooped forward, pencil still in hand, eyes finally giving in to exhaustion. Sleep took him, hunched over the desk, the notebook still open on the last page he wrote.