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Nimona snickered to herself as she slowly crept her way down the hall. It had become a routine for her to jumpscare Ballister when he woke up, and it was almost that time again today. He hadn’t fallen for it only twice, once because he had slept on the couch the night before and had come into her room when she went for the jump, and once when he had actually caught her and moved out of the way. For graduating top of his class, he didn’t seem to be good at finding patterns and finding ways of getting around them.
Like always, his and Ambrosius’s door was left a crack open, so if there was a break in, they’d hear it. Nimona shifted into a mouse to make her way through their room as quietly as possible. She got herself in position, Ballister’s alarm going off. She watched him slowly get out of bed to turn it off, Nimona using his sleepiness and inability to react to things quickly as her time to jump him.
She jumped, landing on his back, his face hitting the bed.
Ballister groaned, “Damn you,” he couldn’t see her, but he knew it was her.
“That’s 36 to 2!” she laughed, climbing off him.
“Yeah yeah-” Ballister got up, going back to bed, “Whatever, you win.”
Nimona raised an eyebrow. Sure, her trick had gotten old, but did Ballister think it was so old and boring he was going to go back to bed? “Are you really that tired?” she asked.
Ballister gave her a thumbs up, “Exhausted is my middle name.”
“I thought it was Atlas?” Nimona grinned.
“Ha ha very funny, you know what I mean,” he let out a laugh, a small one, but a laugh no less.
Nimona, admitting her defeat to wake Ballister up in the morning, left the room, keeping the door the slightest bit open.
She walked out into the living room, Ambrosius sitting on the couch watching something on his phone, “There’s something wrong with your boyfriend and I don’t know how to fix him,” she sat down next to him, while Ambrosius turned away from his phone and turned to her.
“What do you mean?” he asked, his eyebrows raising.
“I went into his room to scare him like I always do, and then he went back to bed. He never goes back to bed,” Nimona crossed her arms.
Ambrosius sighed, “He’s probably just tired, that’s all.”
“He’s always tired though, I don’t remember the last time he wasn’t tired!” Nimona threw her hands in the air in defeat, “Can you check on him? Please?”
Ambrosius nodded his head, getting up and heading into their room, “Bal? You up?” Ballister groaned to acknowledge him. Ambrosius smiled, laying down next to him and putting his arms around his body, “You ok? Nimona’s worried about you.”
“I’m just tired, that’s all.”
“I think that’s why she’s worried, Bal,” Ambrosius sighed, “I know it’s been a rough couple of months, and I know a lot of things have changed,” he looked over at the metal arm on the other side of the room, “But one thing that hasn’t changed is that you can talk to me when something’s wrong.”
Ballister rolled over and hid his face in Ambrosius’s chest, “I think I’m burnt out. Of everything. My job, my hobbies, everything just feels so tiring,” he sighed, Ambrosius putting his hand in Ballister’s hair.
“Maybe we should try switching it up a bit. Take time off, go on a vacation or something, bring Nimona along if you’d like, just do something for a while that isn’t what we always do.”
Ballister nodded, “I’d like that.”
“Good, you want me to leave now?” Ambrosius asked.
“Nah, stay here a little longer, you holding me helps me sleep.”