Exhaustion
Mai rolled over in her sheets, trying desperately to salvage some warmth. Masako had taken up the entire blanket, leaving Mai nothing but a thin sheet of nothing. She pulled at the blanket again, but Masako slept like death itself, and the blanket wouldn't budge.
Mai sighed and stood up. It wasn't fair. Why did she have to get stuck with little miss celebrity? She bet that Masako had never had to share a bed in her life before. Her house probably had had twenty six bedrooms and she slept in a different bed each day of the month and the remaining four days she probably sat in her basement all night poking at a voodoo doll of Mai.
Mai missed Ayako. Usually the room system was Ayako and Mai in one room and Masako alone because she demanded her privacy. But Naru absolutely refused to let Mai sleep alone, so he made her room with Masako tonight.
Ayako always made sure she was warm all night, and even randomly during the day. Mai would wake up all around the office to find a blanket snuggled around her. But Ayako wasn't here this time; one of her priestess friends had requested her to go on a trip with her.
Now it was her and snooty old Masako crammed into one room on one crumby mattress on the floor. Monk and Yasu were in one room now (much to Monk's horror, but rules were rules, and he'd lost a bet) and John and Lin in the other. And Naru stayed in base and probably didn't sleep at all, like the absolute sleep deprived workaholic he was.
Mai sat up, finally giving up on warmth. Shivering, she wrapped her sheet around herself and slowly turned the doorknob to their room. Of course Naru would give her the coldest room in the house. He probably did it on purpose so she would suffer. She gently tiptoed to Monk's room and slipped in. It was much much warmer, and half of Monk's blanket was on the floor, unused.
Abandoning her sheet, she gleefully picked up the end of his blanket and rolled herself into a burrito, tucking herself into Monk's side on the bed. He was warm and smelled the absolute best, a mixture of aftershave and what was probably the trendiest cologne right now. He stirred slightly at the movement, his eyes half opening. "Mai?" he mumbled.
"Mmm." she whispered back. "It's cold in my room."
But he was out like a light again. Mai inhaled deeply, relief shooting through her frayed nerves at the idea of finally getting some sleep. She closed her eyes, letting her thoughts drift back and forth slowly. She always knew when she was about to go unconscious- her thoughts always bounced from one to another disjointedly, not staying in one place for longer than a split second. She would think something and then immediately forget it forever, and it'd be lost in the recesses of her bottomless depths of subconscious.
Right when she was about to go out completely, she heard a deep rumbling sound. Her eyes blinked open tiredly. The vibration shuddered through her whole body.
Had she fallen asleep against an 18 wheeler? She turned sleepily to see it was Monk.
Snoring.
Of course.
She'd forgotten that. She remembered the time once she'd woken up to Ayako next to her in bed, complaining about Bou-san's awful snoring. Mai had been subject to it multiple times at home herself and she wondered how she'd forgotten it.
Monk didn't seem to plan on stopping.
Mai poked his arm, frowning.
"Bou-san." She whispered. "Stop snoring."
He mumbled something incoherently, shaking her hand off. The snores stopped.
Mai closed her eyes again.
KHHSSSSSS GHHRHRRHRH
She sighed and stuffed her face in her pillow.
KHHHHHHH SHHHOOOOOOOO
She wanted to cry. Great. She was never gonna be able to sleep, not here.
Huffing, she unrolled herself from her burrito and quietly padded out the room.
She stood in the pitch black hallway, shivering in the chilly air. She wrapped her sheet tighter around her shoulders, glancing nervously around at the shadows. She wasn't supposed to be alone on cases, especially in the middle of the night on one of their most dangerous cases yet. Naru had made it a rule after just their recent incident, he'd written it down and forced her to sign that she wouldn't wander off alone anymore. Which she did, but surely he wouldn't be able to enforce or keep track so regularly. Plus, she could say she had to pee.
Mai poked her head into the room being shared by John and Lin. Lin was on his computer of course, very much still awake. John was on the bed, and Lin was sitting at a desk above where his thin mattress was laid out on the floor. She guessed the two of them had a taking-turns-on-the bed arrangement.
Lin blinked up at her, his face eerily being cast in the blue light from his laptop.
"Mai?" He asked. "Are you ok?"
Mai grinned sheepishly. "Can I sleep here for a bit? Please? My room's freezing and Masako won't share the blanket."
He gestured to the mattress. "You don't mind the floor?"
She shook her head gratefully, pulling up the sheets to her chin and curling up. "No, I slept on the floor a lot in my old house, remember?"
"Shall I take you back to your room once you've fallen asleep?"
Mai nodded guiltily. "Thank you, Lin!"
Lin promised he didn't mind, leaning down to distractedly pat her leg before returning to his screen. Mai smiled to herself; that was probably the most he'd said all day. This mattress was way better than hers and Masako's, and Mai felt cozy and warm.
Just as her eyes were closing-
Clack clack clack.
Her tired eyes struggled open. Lin was typing.
Obviously.
It was Lin. His middle name was typing. Lin Typing Kuojo. And silent. Lin Typing Silent Koujo.
Except for now.
Now it was loud, and all she could focus on. The clacks echoed in the tiny room, bouncing off the walls of the room and the walls of her brain.
It wasn't fair. She could already imagine Naru having them up at the crack of dawn tomorrow, demanding tea and more tea and even more tea. She'd be exhausted and bone-tired, and handling Naru when she was her normal cheery self was hard enough. SPR was not a good place for sleep deprived assistants. She had no idea how Lin did it.
Clack clack clack
Clack clack clack
She bit her lip and managed to stay down for another minute before shakily standing up with her sheet. "I think I'll go get some water." She whispered, feeling somewhat bad for lying. But it wasn't like he'd even notice until an hour or two later.
Lin nodded absently, his eyes not straying from his screen. At least he wouldn't have to carry her sleeping weight across the hall. Really, she was doing him a favor.
Mai could feel the death grip of sleep trying to pull her down as she slowly left the room. She hated this feeling. When she was exhausted but unable to sleep. It was like starving and not having food. She nearly tripped over the edge of her sheet as she walked past base. Her eyes were practically closed, heavy with sleep.
"Mai?"
She flinched, a whimper escaping her lips. Stupid Naru. He'd made her absolutely paranoid, and now she couldn't even get water herself.
She turned into the doorway to see Naru at one of the monitors, holding a case file.
She wasn't sure how to feel. Relieved that it wasn't some midnight spirit deciding to consume her soul? But then again, what was the difference?
Her heart fluttered uselessly and tiredly at the notion, but she didn't even have the energy to feel embarrassed at her inappropriate thoughts.
There was to be no consuming of any kind. Except maybe sleep consuming her.
"Idiot, how many times have I told you not to wander around alone?" he asked, irritation seeping through his voice.
"What are you doing awake, Mai?" He asked when she didn't reply.
"What are you doing awake?" She shot back sleepily.
She was well aware of how she looked standing in the dark doorway, exhausted and miserable with her shoulders trembling under the thin white sheet. She'd been scared he was a spirit, but now she wondered if he'd thought she was a ghost herself.
"I'm working, what else?" She could barely see his face, but she heard the eye roll in his voice.
"You look dead on your feet."
"Your face is dead on its feet." She mumbled. It'd definitely made sense in her head.
"Mai. Go to bed." He stood up.
He was talking to her like she was a three year old. He wasn't her mom.
He wasn't the boss of her.
Oh.
She scowled. "You go to bed."
A hand circled her wrist, warm against her cold skin. Mai shivered again.
"You're shaking." Naru muttered. Was she really that tired, or did she hear a note of concern?
She inhaled the scent of tea and paper. When had he gotten so close? The back of his hand pressed against her forehead, cool knuckles brushing aside her bangs. She shook it off, annoyed.
"I'm not sick." Mai said defiantly. How dare he leave her so flustered when she was so tired? "I don't have anywhere to sleep."
Realizing her eyes were closed, she peeled them open, finding them inches from his. Heat rushed into her cheeks.
His hand hadn't let hers go yet. His thumb brushed the inside of her wrist, almost soothingly, and her knees nearly buckled.
"Have you tried your room?" Naru asked sarcastically.
Naru was made of contradictions. His touch said one thing, his words said another. His eyes were dizzyingly intense yet his demeanor remained indifferent.
"It's freezing and Masako won't share the blanket." She replied to him finally. "And Monk snores and Lin types." She added before he could suggest that too.
She peeked over his shoulder. There was a sofa there, next to the chair where he'd been reading.
"Can I- can I..." she wasn't sure why she felt so flustered suddenly. But Naru didn't seem to care, for once.
"You can't ever care for yourself, can you?" He said quietly. He was removing his jacket, her sleepy mind managed to process. Draping it around her. Warmth encased her, his scent wrapping around her and filling her senses. Her shivers eased slowly, leaving her leaning against him.
"I... I survived up till now didn't I?" One foot in front of the other.
"It's a wonder you're not lying at the bottom of a well right now." He drawled.
She smiled lightly, letting him lead her to the sofa. "Or drowning in a bathtub."
He set her down on the sofa, and she curled up into his coat, completely drained.
"Or tripping down the stairs." He whispered.
Was that a blanket over her? Oh...
Warmth seeped into her skin. How had she slept anywhere else with such heavenly heat existing here?
"Or..." she breathed. What was she going to say? Something about...
It was at the edge of her mind. "You smell so nice. Like..." she trailed off.
"Shhh."
"Like tea." She said, catching the thought before it could flit away.
"I wonder why." He said drily. His fingers were in her hair, rhythmically stroking it, occasionally brushing her jaw and leaving trails of blazing sparks.
"I think... cuz..." because she made it for him. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.
She was just the assistant. The one who made tea. The one who he didn't love. The one who...
"Me or Gene?"
What?
Darkness
This story and my other one (Empathy) are my first ever published fanfics... I never imagined posting them anywhere cuz I just wrote them for fun so I was really nervous.. but I got really sweet reviews so thank you to whoever was kind enough to review:) I've been in this fandom since middle school so the line between the characters' true personalities and my perception of them from years of fanfics- is a bit blurred hehe. So I really hope they're in character because that's really important for me, hopefully complex enough to flesh them out but not enough to make them out of character. I have a halloween story and some other fluffy one-shots maybe I'll post them too if I don't chicken out rip