Late Night Affairs
Glisten groggily wakes up, sitting up in his bed. He rubs his forehead, the incessant throbbing still there from earlier… ..It really didn’t want to go away, it seemed.
He couldn’t recall what he had dreamed about, which was…. Strange. One time without a dream? Sure. Ok. Never happened before, but who knows. Maybe Astro just forgot or was trying something different. …Two times back-to-back without a dream….? Hm..
He tried recalling what had happened before he’d drifted off to sleep, but this goddamn headache was making it hard to think. He couldn’t hear his own thoughts….
Was it worse?
No, he was just tired. It couldn’t be worse.
…Wasn’t he going to stop by Dandy’s shop or something…? Why hadn’t he done that before…? …Nevermind that. He could just do that now.
He stands up, nearly losing his balance in the process. Weird. He never loses his balance except when he’s dizzy after using his ability, and even then it rarely happens. Maybe that crack affected more than just giving him some surface-level damage and a headache. ….Could it be considered a migraine at this point? Dear god, he just hoped it wasn’t a concussion….. Wasn’t he supposed to talk to Cosmo and Sprout about this or something…? Eh, didn’t matter too much now…. What time was it anyway?
He walks out into the hallway, expecting to see the usual bright-ish lights with a toon or two lurking around with a door ajar, someone in the TV room, or someone snacking in the kitchen, but… No. The lights were off, and all the doors were closed. All but his. Well, that sort of answered his question. It wasn’t an exact time, but clearly, it was late enough for everyone to be asleep.
A little disoriented still for some reason, he heads over to the elevator and enters it, descending down to the main lobby. For some reason, no matter the time of day there was always someone at the shop. Usually, later into the evening, it was Connie running the place, since she was one of the few toons that didn’t technically need to sleep (According to Brightney that is).
The elevator doors open, and - yup, there’s Connie. It seemed she was reading…. ..Didn’t she tell Razzle and Dazzle that she didn’t read once….? Well, he wouldn’t put it past her to lie about something like that.
She looks up, seeming a bit surprised by the sound of the elevator, not very surprised, but interested nonetheless. It was even more strange when she saw who it was. Glisten. Every once in a while a toon like Boxten or Brightney would come down. It was either the restless or the ones she was closer with who always came down. She never really thought of Glisten as either… Then again, she didn’t know the guy other than by what everyone knew him as. Honestly, everything she knew about him was from the interactions with him on the evenings before everyone was asleep but Dandy had to leave early and from the toons on his floor. The two of them were friendly, but far from familiar.
Glisten smiles, relieved that Brightney was correct in what she said. He’d never really had to head to the shop this late, so he wasn’t even sure that it would be open at this hour, and god was he happy that it was. There was a lingering thought in the back of his mind about Connie seeing him so imperfect right now, but it was mostly covered up by pain.
He walks over to the shop, preparing himself for some tired-and-with-a-headache conversation.
“....Hey Connie..”
“Uh.. …Hi Glisten, certainly wasn’t expecting to see you tonight….”
There’s an awkward silence between the two before Glisten remembered that he actually needed to ask for the thing if he wanted to get it.
“Oh- right…. Do you.. Happen to have something for a headache…? Maybe like…. Ibuprofen or something….”
The handlers found out at some point that apparently a lot of human drugs and medicines also work on the toons! …It was a weird discovery, but certainly a useful one.
“...Yeah, just.. Let me find it”
She says, disappearing into the room behind the shop, presumably searching for the stuff. It doesn’t take long before she comes out with a container. For some reason, this surprised him. It shouldn’t have though. …Guess he would have more with him in the future for if he had another headache….
He gives Connie the tapes and grabs the container. He’s about to leave when Connie says something that catches his attention.
“You look cool without your makeup. Never knew you had a crack. You should try leaving it off sometime, I’m sure the other toons would say the same”
Glisten freezes at the comment made by Connie. …What? But.. He never took off his makeup before he fell asleep. Did… Did it come off in his sleep or something….? Surely he would’ve noticed it on his pillow or blankets if it had….
“Uh… Yeah, sure, I’ll…. Consider it."
Glisten makes it back to the floor he stays on, everyone still seeming to be asleep. Good. He heads over to the kitchen and attempts to quietly get himself a cup of water to swallow the pills that would hopefully drown out the headache. Connie seeing his face should’ve concerned him more, but it hurt too much to think right now.
He takes a few of the pills and swallows them down with the water. Now he just needed to wait a while and it should fade at least a little….
Turning around, he nearly jumps out of his skin, seeing another toon out and about. Both of them seemed to be frozen there until Glisten started to speak.
“Boxten?”
“Glisten?”
“You’re…. Awake..? Usually no one is awake at this time…..”
“...Yeah.. Just.. Getting a cup of water….”
Boxten nods, feeling like there’s more to the story, but not wanting to pry… Wait… Did Glisten have a crack on his face-? Was he ok???
“When did-”
“I should really get back to bed - after all, perfection needs their beauty sleep~! Goodnight Boxy, try to get back to sleep will ya…? It would probably kill Poppy seeing you tired”
Boxten, not really sure how to respond to the sudden shift in character to how Glisten usually acts, just stares in stunned silence, watching Glisten walk away.
Something just didn’t seem right about that encounter with him… ..Was he just overthinking again….?
…Maybe…..
Still..
It made him curious, and a bit worried. Never mind that, he was just thinking too much… It was late after all, everyone acts a bit strange when they’re tired. Maybe he should go back to bed….
And with that, Boxten heads back to his room, not entirely prepared to face his nightmares again, but determined to not be sleep-deprived.
There are no more lights left on on floor one of the toon rooms.