It was 1 AM. I was bored, and out of sheer randomness had decided to see if anyone had responded to the tic-tac-toe board.
I slipped out of bed and got on my bunny slippers. They were comfy.
"No one probably did," I yawned to myself. I tip-toed to the cabin door, taking one last look at Paintbrush before leaving. Their bristles were in their face and they hate that, so I quickly sped-walked over to their bed and brushed their bristles behind their ear.
They awoke with a start, putting a hand on mine and twisting it.
"Ah- ow!-" I winced. Paintbrush immediately let go.
"Lightbulb?! What are you doing?! It's-" they stop to check their digital clock, "oh my god, Lightbulb it's 1 AM! What're you thinking?!" they whisper-shouted.
"Well, your hair was in your face and I decided to be a good friend and help you!" I retorted.
They sighed. "Well, what are you doing up in the first place?"
I think they got up too fast, because when they tried to slip out of bed their expression immediately became surprised, and they stumbled around, trying to hold their balance. I grabbed their hands and steadied them.
They looked at my hands in theirs, and their face went a light red. They pulled their hands away. I smiled.
"As- as I was saying, what're you doing up in the first place? It's 1 in the morning."
"Well," I started, "Remember how you sent me to the Calm-down Corner yesterday? I found a crayon there and, y'know, drew and stuff. I drew a tic-tac-toe board and wanted to see if anyone replied."
Paintbrush nodded, although I don't think they understood. "I-I see-?"
I was about to leave when Paintbrush stopped me. "Want me to go with you?"
I nodded happily and gently opened the cabin door, and me and Paintbrush exited.
As we walked to the Calm-down Corner, I decided to strike up conversation.
"So, erm- uh-"
Paintbrush looked at me patiently, waiting for me to continue.
"C-cool moon, huh?" I laughed awkwardly.
They nodded in agreement. "Test Tube would like it. Sure of that."
"Yeah."
There was a burning question in the back of my mind I wanted to say, but I held my tongue. Too soon to ask.
They spoke up. "Y'know, I.. I don't hate you, right?"
I looked at them in surprise. "Of course not! Why would I think that?"
I knew I was lying. But sometimes lying is good for people when they need it.
"You don't need to lie. Test Tube already told me about what you said, plus, you're not that good of a liar," they laughed.
"O-oh," I mumbled awkwardly. "Sorry about that."
"I'm hard on you because I want you to see your team successful. You get happy, and I-.. I like it when you're happy."
I looked away to prevent Paintbrush from seeing my tears. They weren't bad, though. Happy tears.
"You good, Lightbulb?"
I snapped out of it and nodded, wiping away my tears.
"Yeah, yeah! I'm fine!"
I looked up to see the Calm-down Corner right in front of us. I smiled and looked at Paintbrush. "We're here! Thanks for coming with."
They nodded. "Anytime."
I sat down and looked for the spot.
"Oh my gosh. I can't see- wait!"
I lit myself up and kept looking.
"Woah, that's super handy of her," I heard Paintbrush whisper to themself.
"Thanks Painty! Oh, I found it!"
I looked at the board and saw it.
A small O on the top right, with a note that says, "You're on!" written in blue.
"Look! Look! Someone wrote back! Someone wrote back!!" I smiled happily and got up, grabbing Paintbrush's hands and bouncing around excitedly.
"Lightbulb, slow down! You're gonna hurt yourself."
"But someone wrote back! Look!"
I held their hand with one of my own, and with the other I pointed to the X. "Look!"
They smiled. "Yeah, I see it."
I hugged them happily. I felt their face up and quickly pulled away, laughing. "Sorry!"
They nodded, wordless. I wrote a note, "Alrighty! I'll come back every-" I looked back to Paintbrush and asked, "What day is it?"
"Tuesday."
"Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. You can come back every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Sunday we can just take a break."
I turned to the board and wrote a small X on the left corner.
"Alright, Painty, we can go now!"
"Kay, let's go. It's 1:30 and I'm super tired-"
I helped Paintbrush up and we walked back together.
Then I saw a camera in the bushes.
Someone was watching us.
