#wintertroupe

haha surprise i also draw! i'll be posting more of my a3 drawings and doodles here too! soo hmu

[ likes & reblogs are much appreciated!💕 ]

It had been five months since Fumiko arrived and though she was quite getting used to her responsibilities as a house help, as well as memorizing everyone’s schedule, her insomnia never left her alone. At all. Not even on her first night— especially her first night— and like usual, she found herself going out of the storage room which was her makeshift bedroom too.

A brief glance at the wall clock said that it was already half past three in the morning. Another hour and the sun will already rise. Fumiko would have to prepare breakfast by then since the students will have to go to school, and though she didn’t necessarily need to make it herself, what with Omi and Tsuzuru in the dorm, she already felt indebted enough that not doing it would take a toll on her declining mental health. A sigh left her dry lips as she trudged up the stairs and into the balcony.

The sky was covered in darkness and littered with the twinkling stars. The air was cold and she pulled her blanket tighter around her body. It was unlike when she was back in her own world where she’d spent countless hours lying in bed doing nothing but stare at her empty ceiling. It was lonely but as peaceful as being out there in the Mankai dorm. She watched the heavens for a minute or so when a voice snapped her out of her reverie.

She turned to the mini-lounge, specifically to the cream-colored couch that Itaru bought her out of his own money after a month of getting caught sleeping in the coffee table by the gamer. There she saw Hisoka, one of the new additions in the Mankai company, looking at her with both curiosity and lethargy.

“Fumiko,” he said, voice low and drowsy as usual. “What are you doing here?”

She smiled and walked towards him. Hisoka made space for her to sit beside him, which Fumiko gladly took. She sat down, feet up, and she hugged her knees as she hummed. “I should be asking you that. This is my turf, you know.”

“Does that mean… you’re always here? At this time?”

Fumiko nodded. She might have been chunked in an insane predicament but it didn’t change the fact that the daytime was too chaotic for her nocturnal mind. She craved rest like how a newborn child craves their mother’s scent. She longed for silence like how her lungs would with oxygen. Closing her eyes and succumbing to her subconscious, even being worlds away, was still her escape from her thoughts that meant nothing but harm.

But instead of saying these things, she chuckled. “I’m an insomniac. Might have gotten it while I was still in school so now I’m suffering.” She angled her body towards him, tilting her head as she shifted the conversation to him. “How about you? You’re usually asleep so I’m surprised to see you here.”

“I can’t... sleep,” Hisoka replied after a few moments. The way he hesitated to say it gave Fumiko the impression that he was a little afraid of falling asleep. She wondered if he regained his memories or if unfamiliar scenes haunted him while he tried to rest. 

What could it be that made the usually sleeping Hisoka refuse a trip to the dreamworld? 

She was curious to know but she could read the room. Asking him about things he didn’t, couldn’t, divulge might do more harm than good so she sealed her lips from such questions. Putting herself in his shoes, she knew she didn’t want to be interrogated about her secrets too.

However, the droopy eyes of the young man was a point of concern. It was obvious he wasn’t getting enough sleep but the possible repercussions were hindering him from doing so. She couldn’t quite get this, of course, since sleep was her friend. Afraid? She’d sleep. Angry at everyone and everything? She would go to bed. The noise of the world getting too much? She would close her eyes and off to dreamland she went. Zombies and mysterious murderers might follow in her dreams but those were better than the reality of having a void in her being she couldn’t just fill. Sleep was a companion she couldn’t afford to lose and she didn’t want Hisoka to run away from it too.

She took off her blanket and laid her feet on the ground. She scooted at the other end of the couch, and dusted her lap. Fumiko looked at Hisoka and patted her thighs. “Lay down on my lap.”

Confusion was written all over Hisoka’s face. “Huh?”

“Well, you need to sleep. I’ll sing you a lullaby,” she explained, grinning at him as she tucked strands of her hair at the back of her ear. She wasn’t a great singer but she could put babies and children to sleep with the folk songs she learned since she was young. Though her old family and friends would describe her as a chaotic person, she brought forth peace with her. It was something she was proud of herself. “Now, come on.”

The white-haired man hesitated but mayhaps it was the exhaustion that pushed him to follow. His movements were light and Fumiko draped the blanket on top of him. He glanced at her but she shook her head. She knew what he wanted to say but she didn’t need the blanket with Hisoka sharing his warmth.

She played with his hair as soon as she started humming. Hisoka let out a breath, his shoulders drooping as he caught Fumiko’s free hand. The woman chuckled, remembering how her little cousin would do the same thing. Her small hands would grasp hers, her long lashes would flutter as her brown eyes would look up at Fumiko. She would brush back the child’s hair away from her face as the latter would keep blinking, refusing to succumb to sleep. 

“Ili ili, tulog anay. Wala diri imong nanay...” she shung, finding herself caressing the cheek of the sleepy Hisoka. Taking a particular deep breath, she finally had the guts to admit that she missed home. But more importantly that she was afraid. 

She remembered the night before she came here. She went to sleep, thinking how boring tomorrow would be but at the same time making plans as to what to eat for her afternoon snack. She repeated the scenes she read in a book earlier that day in her head, tossing and turning due to the endless possibilities of how that chapter should have ended. And as her consciousness surrendered to darkness, she played with the idea of being somewhere else.

“Mata ka na, tabangan mo. Ikarga ang nakompra ko. Kay bug-at man, sing putos ko. Tabangan mo ako anay.”