Isang groaned as he forced his eyes open. It was as if he could immediately feel, in the depths of his bones, how far between dusk and dawn he’d awoken. Despite the difficulty in opening eyes that always looked and felt a bit tired, he felt completely and uncharacteristically awake. He spared a glance to the nearest clock, unconsciously rolling his eyes when he verified the time. “Two o’clock...perfect,” he rasped as he eased himself up from his impossibly comfortable bed and swung his legs over the side.
Walking around campus in the darkest part of night is certainly not encouraged, but Isang was certain he wouldn’t be getting back to sleep any time soon. If he wanted to even think about sleeping again, he needed a bit of fresh night air and to stretch his perpetually sore legs. Halfway through his campus lap, he found himself gazing upwards. Not to the sky, for clarity or other reasons, but to the dorm rooms of his fellow classmates. He couldn’t help being curious about sleep. Not so much who was sleeping, but who wasn’t...and why.
Passing the next courtyard, Isang was all to unsurprised to see one window in particular alight. He sighed, steps faltering and then halting altogether. ‘Leave him be...if his face lands in the mac-n-cheese tomorrow in the cafeteria it’s his own fault,’ he warned himself. But that didn’t stop his feet from taking him to the door of the Athenian dorm. After visiting on many nights past curfew...for the same reason he was now, he knew exactly how to sneak in and made his way to the room of one of the handful of people he considered his friend.
His knuckles rapping against the door nearly sounded like canonfire in the silent hallway but he held his ground, waiting patiently to hear movement inside. When he was pretty sure he’d heard footsteps shuffling hesitantly to the door, he tapped again, this time quieter. “Byeolie...” he grumbled. They both knew why he was here.