Equal.

The notification ringtone nearly gave Ace a heart attack. He never ran across the room faster in his life, then he just stared at his phone, too nervous to pick it up. Taking one, two, and then three deep breaths, he finally turned on his phone and opened the new email. He read it again and again until he learned by heart every single word, then his lips curled upward. His body gave up and he simply slumped in his favorite armchair.

He had a job. A fulltime job.

Sure he'd been through part-time and internship. Luckily, his family never rushed him about getting a job right after graduation either. Back in the days Ace was still in high school, he dreamed of taking gap year and traveling the world. Then he met Marco. Marco was calm. Marco was mature. Marco could take care of his insanely big family.

Marco was everything that he was not.

Suddenly Ace's path changed. He wanted to get a job, he wanted to settle down. He still wanted to see the wonders of this world, but with the one he loved by his side.

To Ace, a job mean more than just paying his bills.

It equaled to taking a next step into being an adult.

It proved he could taking care of himself.

It mean he could proudly stand by Marco's side.

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Sleeping.

'Light confuses the body's circadian clock'.

Ace frowns at the line and thinks about every time Marco groans in his sleep. He always knows Marco is a light sleeper, but recently the situation seems to get worse. Marco spends the night shifting between his back and the two sides. Even when they get to bed early, Marco still wakes up with bags under his eyes.

Ace cannot stand it anymore, so he's looking a solution. Making a list of what he can do, he pulls of his sleeves and begins to rearrange the room. In the dark, their room is not much different from a mad scientist's laboratory. His phones, the cable box, the alarm clock, the luminous souvenirs,… Everything blinks or glows bright green. The light intensity of each item isn't strong, but together they drown the room in a dim and gloomy light, mocking him for failing as a partner.

At the result, when Marco gets back, he scans the room suspiciously as if he's trying to guess what is Ace's new frank.

"I just rearrange a few things. Come."

"Move the nightstand, replace the curtain, cover the alarm clock and the cable box,...," Marco easily points out, "That's not 'a few things' Ace."

"You know light confuses the body's circadian clock, so it's better keeping the room very dark when you sleep? And too little blood flowing to the extremities can keep you awake?"

Marco dumbfounds for a second.

"You're using medical words?"

"Idiot can learn," Ace grins and pushes Marco onto the bed, "No talking. Time to sleep. I'll be your personal heater for the night."

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Waking up.

Break day is the best day. They can linger on the bed a bit longer instead of waking with the sun. Marco isn't much of a sleepyhead, so he only wakes up about thirty minutes later than usual. On the contrary, Ace will not get out of bed until his stomach growls.

Actually Ace can wake up early on break days. He just doesn't do that on purpose.

Sometimes he opens his eyes right after Marco finishes his morning hygiene. Instead of getting out of bed, he likes hiding in the sheets and watches Marco opens the curtain. Though Marco makes it subtle so that the light won't reach the bed, it cannot stop the sun from filling the room with a warm sensation. Even the air becomes sweeter, then sunlight will conjures the most brilliant mosaics and paints Marco in gold. His hair will shimmer as he stretches his muscles and lets the sunlight aligning softly on every part of his skin. Maybe after a passionate night, Ace will catch glimpse of his own achievements carved here and there on Marco's body.

And when Ace's eyes rest on the ring on Marco's finger, he knows he's safe. He's home. Then he will burrows himself in the soft sheets and dozes off again.

Yeah sometimes Ace can wake up early, but Marco will never know that.

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"Sleeping" is inspired by "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. It's a very lovely book. Highly recommend for anyone who want to "spent a year trying to sing in the morning, clean my closets, fight right, read Aristotle, and generally have more fun".