A late night. The room is dark and quiet. Earth pony lies on his bed, burrowed deep under the blanket, only nose sticking out to breathe. Room itself looks clean. Disarray or litter is nowhere to be seen. Not because pony done the cleaning, just because his default motto was “it's easier not to litter, than to clean up”.

A faint sound caught his attention. The sound as if someone is standing by the door, shifting from foot to foot, in hesitant to knock. Or maybe it's just an imagination. Why should someone be there?

Three deliberate knocks. Same power. Equidistant in time. It felt like silence stepped back a bit, watching. Then nothing.

— Door’s open. You free to come in.

Door cracked open, just a bit, the silhouette, resembling a pegasus visible through the crack. Faint light seeping from the living room pushed darkness back.

— Hey… Are… you OK? Just… asking…

— I'm fine…- pony exhaled, voice to weak and shaky to make it sound like truth.

She opened the door a bit more, just enough to slip in, then closed it back shut, giving the darkness a permission to return. She didn't move any further.

— I kinda got used to sound of you pacing in a midst of the night…- Par spoke in a quiet soft voice,- That's… Somehow comforting… You're not doing that for a while… and you didn't come for a dinner this evening…

Link didn't answer. He couldn't.

They ate at different times, preparing food only for themselves. There's no point in syncing, if you had vastly different schedules.

Par may have had look like your typical lazy-ass roommate that would just play games and raid your fridge for the snacks, she was not. She would clean after herself. Heck, she cleaned after Link too. He won't do dishes right away, leaving them in warm water to make grease to came off. And way too many times he told her not to bother. She done his dishes anyway.

— Ok…- Par exhaled, her voice, usually full uncertainty was firm now.

— I don't want to leave you alone.

Silence.

Link heard movement. Cautious calculated steps. Closer and closer. Something heavy on the far side of his bed forced the mattress to curve.

— I'll just be here… you can kick me out tomorrow… if I made you angry.

He won't.