imagine bert and ernie lying in their beds, facing opposite sides of the room, bert thinking about ernie while knowing he's awake because he can just tell, ernie's breathing is always a certain way when he's asleep, and he thinks it's a little strange that ernie isn't being very talkative tonight even though he's still up

and ernie is awake because he can't stop thinking about what he should do about bert, feeling guilty and like a piece of shit for knowing bert's secret but being too scared to do anything about it. and it makes him selfish, too, that it might be better for bert if he were to end it now but not wanting to lose his best friend, and he knows bert is still awake because he also knows how bert sounds when he's asleep... and he wonders if bert is thinking about him