Time went on, and now, instead of yelling and chattering, the small apartment was filled with soft snoring and mumbles from the four sleeping adults sprawled across the large sectional couch in odd but seemingly comfortable positions. 

After the quartet had finished playing games, they decided to watch a movie, grab popcorn, cover themselves with blankets, and get rather comfortable. Avery was unable to watch the movie, which she was fine with, and had been simply listening to what was going on, but eventually drifted off to sleep first while Amirah and Blaire followed suit shortly after, leaving Nytin awake with Avery leaning against him, he hadn't wanted to disturb her so he simply covered them both with the weighted blanket he had brought and succumbed to his exhaustion once the movie had ended.

The hours had gone by, and eventually, the sun began to rise, shining light through the windows and right into Nytins eyes. He stirred awake and lifted his head but couldn't lift the rest of his body, he had unconsciously laid down in the night, and Avery must have fallen back with him as she was essentially using him as a mattress, laying between his legs and resting her head on his chest, covered completely in the blanket, with only her face poking out.

Nytin blinked, too tired to process the situation– well, the position they were in completely. He flipped his hood over his eyes and let his head fall back and had planned to go back to sleep, but he heard soft snoring in his ear, and when he turned to see the source, Blaires’ face was right on his own, and her eyes had begun to open.

The two made eye contact and shouted in surprise, shoving each other away. Shortly after that, a domino effect had been set in motion as Blaire scrambled to get up, resulting in her tripping back onto the couch, causing Amirah to wake up and sit up. Nytin had sat up abruptly, which meant Avery had been somewhat flung back, which startled her enough to wake up, but after a few seconds, she simply closed her eyes again.

Blaire stood up completely now, her face red in embarrassment, “Why were you so close to me?!”

Nytin stood up too, beads of sweat forming on his head, “No. You were close to me, I was on this side the entirety of the time.”

The two began bickering about who was where, Blaire was somewhat yelling, and while Nytin had not raised his voice much, he was clearly flustered and frustrated. 

Avery grumbled and covered her ears, finally sitting up, now completely awake, “Stop arguing. You’re making my ears hurt…”

Blaire and Nytin clamped their mouths shut and, in unison, apologized to Avery, but their eyes still held mild hostility toward each other. Neither seemed content with backing down until one of them won the ‘argument’. 

Amirah immediately noticed, crossing her arms and staring at them. Her voice was stern and motherly but not degrading, “Both of you should just apologize. It's not that big of a deal, just an accident. It's not like you really control where you go when you sleep.”

The two hesitated before Nytin sighed and crossed his arms, plopping back down on the couch, and Blaire fell back with her arms crossed. Through clenched teeth, they both apologized.

Amirah seemed to deem this acceptable and smiled, “See? All is well now..” She smiled, “Since we’re all awake, what do you guys want for breakfast?”

Blaire immediately answered, raising her hand excitedly, “Pancakes n' toast!”

Nytin hesitated to answer, averting his gaze, “Anything is alright...” He said softly.

Avery got up and stretched until she felt her back pop. She sighed contently and headed over to Amirah, “I’ll help you make breakfast. I kind of want to make some muffins..let me just brush my teeth.” She said and then paused, “I’ll take out some extra toothbrushes for you guys and some other stuff so you can wash your faces when I'm done.”

There was a unison “Thank you.” from the other three, and Avery left to go brush her teeth and wash her face. Amirah washed her hands and began taking things out of the refrigerator for breakfast and Blaire decided to watch her, sitting at the dining table that was close to the kitchen. 

Nytin had been relaxing on the couch when he felt an off but familiar taste in his mouth. Shortly after this, a rather uncomfortable tightness built up in his throat. He got up, went to the balcony, and closed the glass door behind himself. He reached into his pocket, took out a cigarette, bringing a lighter with it, and placed the cigarette between his lips, opening the lighter to ignite it. Once the small flame rose and lit his cigarette, he put it away, taking a deep breath in. The discomfort he had felt almost immediately washed away. He let out a long sigh, watching the smoke float into the air and dissipate.

He leaned over the railing as he smoked, basking in the peacefulness of the cold, early morning atmosphere. Nytin sighed, putting his head down in his arms, gathering his thoughts together and trying to make sense of them. I should've checked beforehand if she had company. It feels like I'm intruding... He lifted his head, puffing out another breath of smoke. The other three seemed perfectly fine together, he was the outsider after all.

If he had known Avery had company, he would have come another day, but of course his temper got the better of him..again, and he had stayed because he wanted to spend time with Avery, but did Avery want him there? Nytin shook his head, and sighed once more. Now he was annoyed with himself for thinking about things like this. He felt…stupid. 

Once Nytin finished his cigarette, he fizzled it out in the snow that had built up on the railing, flicking it down and watched it fall to the ground. He didn’t seem to mind that his cloak was slightly damp due to the snow as he headed back inside and returned to the couch, closing his eyes.

Nytin felt a sense of peace, as smoking seemed to have calmed his nerves for the time being. He had sat there for about a minute or two when he felt a slight tap on his shoulder and looked up to see Avery smiling with a brand-new toothbrush and a towel in hand.

"I got you a toothbrush and a towel to wash your face. You remember where everything is right?” She handed Nytin the items.

Nytin took them gratefully, “Yes, thank you, I’ll be out in a second,” he said, getting up and going to the bathroom. When he looked over himself, he realized how awful he looked. He had dark bags under his eyes, his hair was a mess, and overall, he looked as if he had died and come back to life,  “You look horrid, Nytin, you truly do…” While inspecting himself in the mirror, he mumbled, “This..might take a little longer than I thought.”

Nytin brushed his teeth, washed his face, and tidied up his appearance, fixing his hair to the best of his ability. Overall, he was in the bathroom for about twenty minutes. 

Once he was finished, he played around with his hair a bit to make it look better but couldn't do much, “That's…alright, I suppose…” he said and walked out. He saw Avery in the kitchen helping Amirah to the best of her ability. She was well adapted to doing things blindly, but she was not allowed to touch the stove. Amirah had to cook the food while she prepared it.

Nytin sat down at the far end of the dining table, watching the group, as he had nothing else to do. Amirah and Avery were talking amongst themselves while they made breakfast, and Blaire was playing on her phone, she was currently battling a boss and losing. Suddenly she cursed loudly and slammed her phone on the table, making Avery jump and almost drop the pancake batter she had in her hands. 

Amirah quickly turned to her, frowning, "Blaire! Don't do that. You scared us!" Her tone was still soft but harsh.

Blaire laughed sheepishly, "Ha...uh...mmmsorry." She mumbled, slinking back down to go on her phone, deciding to play something else to pass the time.

Nytin snickered softly, getting a dirty look from Blaire in response. He rolled his eyes at her, but didn't say anything because he didn't want to cause trouble, Blaire raised her hand and flicked him off, and at that moment Amirah suddenly looked over, meaning she had been caught.

Amirah gave her a hard stare causing Blaire to shrink down again, resorting to glaring at Nytin, who grinned at her smugly. The two had a silent staring contest before Blaire rolled her eyes and flicked him off again, returning to her phone. Nytin found the entire situation mildly amusing, and relatively wholesome, being that neither Amirah or Blaire were truly upset at each other, and Blaire didn't argue about what she had done wrong nor complain about getting scolded, she simply apologized. The amusing part was that she was quite the opposite towards Nytin. 

Nytin then turned his attention to Avery, who seemed to be in her own little world as she helped around the kitchen. She had her earbuds in, and Amirah had to tap her to get her attention. The differing foods made the apartment smell heavenly when they began to finish cooking. Nytin was practically drooling when Avery took the muffins out of the oven. Blaire had stopped paying attention to her game to look at all the food, her stomach rumbling loudly. 

Avery took her earbuds out and began setting the table with Amirah. They had made pancakes, blueberry muffins, hash browns, eggs, and sausage. Amirah gave a proud  'hmph!' In triumph, "Welp! Dig in!"