Meow.
Well, here comes another long boring chapter... My whole week's been quite boring. :/
Enjoy yawning.
6.
Rin methodically munched her steadily-mushying piece of breakfast toast bite by bite with a flat scowl. She hated mornings. Next to her, Len drowsily gulped down his steaming coffee between huge yawns. Once in a while his head would sag forward and knock into the mug in his hands, which would almost spill coffee over him and shake him awake again.
If there was one thing Len never failed to do other than get dumped it was making sure the coffee stock didn't run out. The last time he'd run out of coffee about a year ago he'd dropped off over his cereal bowl – and spilled over himself quite messily – spat quite a lot of venomous curses and went upstairs to fetch a bottle of mysterious tablets (of course, behind Mum's back). When Rin asked out of suspicion he'd explained to her it was *** in some exotic language from SleepWalkingLand. She took it from the yawn following that it wasn't anything dangerous.
Today, his earrings were life-sized coffee beans.
Rin stirred from her mechanical consumption routine when rhythmic footsteps clattered down the wooden stairs.
Mum hurriedly spread her work papers over half the table and began to sort them into rough piles with sleep-muddled hands. She already had her makeup on, from beneath which dark smudges were just visible under her eyes. Or maybe they were eyeshadow. Or not. As usual, her makeup was quite heavy, like her job apparently required. Rin briefly considered how often she saw Mum without makeup – not so often. In her opinion Mum looked better without.
'Morning, Mum.' Len put down his coffee and peered curiously at the work papers. 'Looks complicated,' he mumbled softly. 'I hate numbers.' Rin just about decided that Mum looked tired.
'Rin, Len, you have something from the fridge for dinner, okay? I won't be around this evening,' Mum said blearily. There was nothing unusual about that – she rarely came back before eight.
'We'll wait for you,' said Len quickly. Rin nodded without paying much attention, turning back to her bowl.
– Wait, what?
Mum knocked the corners of her bundle of papers on the table. She paused to carefully insert the neat stack into her file before answering, 'No, no, you guys can have dinner first. Don't wait for me.'
'You're busy again,' Len said sulkily.
'Well, don't worry. It's alright.'
'We can call up delivery service,' he suggested brightly, glancing at Rin, then turning his buttering – annoying – smile back to Mum. 'You can come home early, have dinner and then finish your work at home. It's quieter too –
'…Can't you?' He tilted his head innocently. Rin blinked at him in surprise. Len, well… Sometimes he was a bit annoying, being a total Miss Sycophant. Why on earth he did that she had no idea; it wasn't like any amount of purring was going to reduce Mum's workload.
'No, it's alright. You guys need to do your homework, right?' Mum sounded a little irritable. 'I'll just come home and eat whatever's there.'
'Pleease?'
'No.'
Len hesitated, then nonchalantly leaned forward to peer upside down at a row of minute graphs through her translucent folder. 'What time are you coming back?'
'Don't bother looking at this. It's not meant to be read anyway,' said Mum, scooping it off the table. 'Well – I don't know, probably around ten or so. It'll be very late. Don't wait for me, alright? Go to sleep first. You can't concentrate in class if you sleep too late.'
Rin glanced at Mum and added snidely, 'And you won't grow taller if you don't sleep enough.'
Mum's eyes narrowed in a frown, looking from Rin and then to Len. 'Coming to think of it you don't seem to have grown much, have you?'
Len shrugged dismissively. 'You see me every day, that's why. Don't… don't come home too late?'
'Bye Mum,' said Rin brightly.
'Bye honey – you'll be alright, yeah?' Mum said as she hurried to the door. Len ran after her and brushed a kiss on her cheek.
He'd just sat back down beside a scowling Rin when they heard the locks on the door clinkering again. A second later Mum pushed the door open and came back in, panting slightly. 'Forgot my wallet,' she explained, looking flustered.
'I'll get it. Your room, right?' Len got up from his seat again and made towards the staircase.
'Len.'
He pulled up short mid-stride and backtracked to stare at Mum with a dopey expression.
'You don't search in a lady's drawers, Len,' she said coolly. 'And don't stand while you're eating. It's fine, I'll get it myself.'
'Oh right. Sorry.' Len ducked his head sheepishly as Rin laughed.
School was pretty much the same as always. When the bell rang she hurried downstairs to wait by the school gate (ignoring Len and his belching shoebox as usual – he needed two in her opinion, one to use as a mailbox) with her phone held up like a shied to hide behind. Needless to report there was no way Kaito would notice her, or not much more than an extra iron post rooted at the side of the gate. He was talking to That Girl as usual. She sighed a total of eight times that day, eventually making Len sigh in exasperation as well. Perhaps sighs were contagious, like yawns.
And oh, they had a miniature pillow fight afterwards. Rin had a rather good time taking her stress out on whacking Len over the head and half-smothering him in a pile of pillows. He lost the fight, of course – he always lost.
They took the pillows they'd brought from the living room back downstairs, and left the remaining pillows scattered all over the bedroom to deal with later. Rin pulled a few of them up onto the bed to make herself comfortable, and then dragged her school bag over from beside the desk.
Homework for today… Maths, Science, SS, PE, diary. She hated diaries. At least they didn't need to add illustrations like in Elementary anymore; that was just ridiculous. Though, it was true they now had to write more instead of drawing. She usually made up for that by making her handwriting bigger and putting large spaces between each character. It was still better than drawing, because she hated that.
Rin glanced at Len's school diary left closed on the table. Maybe she could take a quick peak inside, just for "inspiration". They more or less did the same thing after all, it wouldn't hurt if she wrote about the same events… did it? She tentatively picked it up and began to flip through the pages. She scowled at the neat rows of tiny round handwriting that looked more like printing. How Len found so much to write about everyday was quite beyond her, neither could she understand how he tolerated writing so neatly – or, his writing was just naturally small and fussy-looking like a lot of the senior girls' at school.
She couldn't help noticing the occasional flashes of colour in each page – sometimes highlighter, sometimes felt-tip and several times even glitter pen. Even the cover was decorated with cat silhouettes. She once again began to doubt that Len was perfectly sane – maybe she'd hit him round the head too hard – but then, he'd always been like this for as long as she could remember.
Well… It didn't bother her much anyway, since there was more or less no technical problem about his effeminacy. (To tell the truth it was reassuring, because she was less likely to need to worry about him getting his girlfriends in trouble.)
She was tired. She glanced at the clock – Goodness, the time. Mum still hadn't come home yet but she would be back soon. She didn't want to get scolded.
She'd just get a cup of cocoa (unlike Len she wasn't that fond of coffee) and then go to sleep. Speaking of, Len had gone downstairs a while ago and hadn't come back yet… maybe she should check on him. He might have drowned in the washing machine or kitchen sink while swimming with the plates and laundry. She got up from her position comfortably stretched out on his bed and opened the door.
Hmm. A pleasant, savoury aroma was spreading in the landing. Rin sniffed curiously and peered down from the top on the landing. She saw Len downstairs, perfectly sound. She was halfway down the stairs when she heard the front door open. Shucks.
'Len!' said Mum's surprised voice. 'What are you doing here?'
Rin saw him hesitate and shy against the wall. 'Um… Hi, Mum.'
'Why are you up so late? What's going on?' Mum asked suspiciously.
Len trotted forward. Rin peered lower so she could see them both. He slunk over to Mum and paused, stared at her for a bit, started forward again, caught himself once more and then tentatively gave her cheekbone a nuzzle. He pulled back a step when Mum made no reaction, and hung his head shyly.
'…I missed you,' he mumbled. 'You look very tired. Do you need to work so late?'
Up on the staircase, Rin covered her face. She felt like stomping her foot through the stair to clear the fuzz in her head.
The reply was a loud sigh, after a moment of dead silence that was probably exasperation. 'It isn't like this is the first time I left you guys alone at home – you should be used to it. I thought I told you not to wait for me.'
'…I know.'
'Look how late it is. Is Rin awake too?' Mum continued rather flatly, like she was reading out a script.
'She is– I swear! – I- I mean… um. Yeah. She's upstairs. I– we…' Rin blinked. We what?
'Is there something wrong? Did something happen? Is that why you haven't gone to bed yet?'
There was an uneasy pause. '…No. Don't mind, it's… nothing.'
'…'
'No – it's just – I thought you'd appreciate – well, something other than…'
'Well, if it isn't that important you shouldn't have stayed up. Look at the time, it's past midnight! Go upstairs and go to sleep, Len. You mustn't be awake so late. It's not good for you. Go on – that's right – good night,' Mum called
Len looked up again. 'Do you need help with the dishw–'
'No Len. That's enough – go upstairs,' Mum cut him short, now sounding more than a bit frustrated, 'Before I lose my temper. I can manage myself, I don't need your help.' Her face turned slightly thoughtful. 'You seem very keen on doing chores,' she said in a gentler tone. She sounded a little strained. 'Is there something you need? You can tell me if you want anything. You mustn't sleep late.'
'No – oh no, no, I don't need anything. I just, um, wanted to help out…' Len scratched the back of his ear uncomfortably. 'We just thought you might be – um, tired, we thought…' He shifted. '…You're right, sorry.'
Another sigh. 'I'm alright Len. I appreciate your concern but I'd rather you didn't wait for me. Is there anything else you want to say? Go upstairs, now. You won't be able to wake up for school tomorrow – your Dad's going to be angry if you get any more detentions in your record, yes?'
'…Yes.'
'Why can't you wake up normally like your sister? Do you do anything at night – you aren't playing games, are you?'
'No, of course not.' Len laughed stiffly. 'I don't have any.'
Rin raised an eyebrow. He wanted a game set?
'I mean it – I'm trying…' he said faintly.
'Well then – you should go to sleep earlier than her if you have problems waking up, don't you think?'
'Haha…'
'I mean it! Yes, go on,' Mum practically shooed him to the foot of the staircase. Rin quickly crept back up the stairs before Mum noticed her too. She could just see them when she peered over the railing from above on the landing.
'Goodnight Mum,' said Len lightly. 'Love you.' He stretched on tiptoes to kiss Mum on the cheek, and then gave her a timid hug. Rin snuck back to the bedroom and shut the door as quietly as she could. She hurriedly switched off the lights and dove under her covers.
'There you go. Goodnight Len,' she heard Mum say.
Len slipped in through the door several seconds later.
Rin heard a heavy sigh. She heard the drawers being dragged open, then some dry scuffling and coughs. Len softly snorted after a minute or two, padded over to the bed, and like always, noiselessly clambered up over the creaky wooden frame like a cat. Rin sometimes wished she could do that too, but somehow the stupid bed always creaked when she put anything heavier than a pillow on it.
Muted, humourless laughter.
Her blanket gently shifted to cover her shoulders. Len lightly nosed her jaw. Rin kept her eyes closed. She wondered if there was anything going on with him – Other than girls, she meant.
Yawns, everyone, goodnight sleep tight.
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