It was nearing midnight— and as usual, Rui was sleep deprived— yet he couldn’t sleep. In truth, he had become so accustomed to staying up late that it felt almost impossible to sleep at an earlier time. He sighed to himself, letting his head rest against the surface of his bedroom desk, the sketching pencil in his hand creating an unnecessary mark on his current blueprint.

The world was quiet, wrapped in the hush of the night— and that was when the director noticed the soft light spilling from his next-door neighbor’s bedroom, the one he had been inside of on so many occasions before. Drawn in by a mix of curiosity and the odd stomachache he’d come to associate with Nene, he lifted his head, resting it against his palm.

Through the slightly draped-back sage green curtains of her window, he could just make out her silhouette— delicate and alive, her hair clearly tied into its loose ponytail, her hand to her chest. Then he heard the ever so familiar sound of her honeyed voice, each note she sung almost wrapped in light. All he could see was her shadow, framed in soft gold, but in that moment, it was enough to fall in a little deeper.

The lavender-cyan haired inventor let his mind wander. They’ve been close friends for years and years, though lately, things have felt.. different between them. Different in the way that they stared at each other a little too long. Casual brief touches caused more awkwardness than they used to. And Rui was utterly perplexed by these odd developments.