Emily was deep into her sleep, catching dreams before they were forgotten, replaced by another as the night ran along, her arms wrapped around her pillow to keep her head perched so comfortably atop the bundle of fluff. She would only occasionally shift in her sleep, and even then, it was often only when she awoke for some unknown reason, readjusting to find sleep once again after a quick look at her alarm clock, though this habit, or lack of a habit, was quite easily attributed to her time and effort in search of her mattresses.
On the other hand, Lena was quite often restless in her sleep, or rather, she was incredibly restful, though she would just as notably toss and turn. It didn't take Emily long after the two had begun sharing their sleeping space to realize this, though to her thanks, Lena usually remained on her side, with only a few fretful nights leaving a foot or elbow to find its way into Emily's back, causing a rather disheveled Emily to frown her way back to sleep.
It easily could have been attributed to how much energy Lena withheld while sleeping, unable to exert much beyond heavy breaths and the occasional growl of a snore. Her body would simply grow restless as she lay there, almost unconsciously choosing to find some movement as the body's mind remained lost in sleep. or perhaps it was a side effect of her chronal accelerator. Lena often giggled at the thought of being more like a dolphin, in that she might certainly be able to be only half-asleep at any time, though Winston assured her that wasn't the case. That fact still didn't stop her from billowing out from the ocean or pool whenever she and Emily went swimming as though she were one.
Tonight, at least for a few hours, the night passed at it did any other. Emily was lost in dreams of work, which she found odd, though she sometimes simply found darkness in her sleep, too deep in sleep for dreams at all. Beside her, Lena was on her back, her limbs sprawled out wildly as her mouth fluttered rhythmically as she breathed in time with the crawling minutes. The two shared the bed like a dance, ebbing and flowing blankets back and forth without waking thoughts, leaving the both of them more or less satisfied the following morning after they'd caught up on their-
"Ow!" Emily cried, having been shaken from her sleep, quickly turning her head over her shoulder to eye Lena, who still remained asleep.
Her brow furrowed worriedly, certainly having felt something of a kick into her back, though she slowly returned her head to her feather-filled pillow, closing her eyes with only a mere thought of what had just happened as she began to will herself back to sleep, when suddenly, another swift kick landed at her lower back, forcing her head back over her shoulder.
"Bloody hell, Lena!" she began, though it didn't do anything to wake the sleeping pilot.
Emily spun around to face her partner as she reached over to take a hold of Lena's pillow, which so very often wasn't of use to the sprawling woman, and brought it to her side as she began to spin back arou-
"OW!" she cried as Lena's foot happened to land into her stomach, leaving Emily recoiling in mild pain, slamming the pillow against her body where Lena seemed determined to attack in her sleep.
She gave Lena's sleeping face a furious glare, though it grew into a look of confusion as the pilot began to grumble in her sleep, or rather, rumble.
"Gggggghrrrrrrr," Lena sounded, her voice like an engine being revved before another kick, though this time, Emily was awake enough to aim the pillow proper, catching Lena's wayward foot.
The red head grumbled exhaustedly as she turned to her usual sleeping position, taking care to leave the pillow in place as she did so, closing her eyes in a further attempt to regain the sleep that had been stripped from her. Soon enough, she felt the waking world begin to evaporate away as her mind slowed, dropping her into a deeper, deeper state of sleep, her mind just a second away from falling away entirely toward-
"Ggggghhhrrrrr."
A massive slamming kick flew into the pillow, sending Emily's eyes wide open as she went tumbling off the bed, hitting the floor with a THUD before rolling to a stop, her eyes shutting again in both mild pain and severe tire. She grumbled a few words to herself as she shook her head, simply rolling back toward the bed, close enough to catch a handful of blanket that now hung from the bed, curling up into its clutches to simply fall asleep there instead, having no current will to battle a furious flighter in a state where friend and foe were unable to be discerned.
Emily sat at the dining room table, eyes shut as her hands cupped a mug of coffee, careful to leave it sitting on the wooden table itself for fear of collapsing into sleep and being on the receiving end of a scorching ride. Her legs were brought up into the chair as she sat cross-legged in her pajamas, her hair a wild mess as a result of the just-as-wild night before, leaving her as restless as she was now.
Her soul twanged in an angry shiver as Lena's footsteps suddenly arrived, the pilot stretching out her arms dramatically as her torso fell backwards to stretch out her back as she yawned, "Waaaaaaaah, what a night. I usually forget how comfy your bed is; what'd you say was the secret?"
Emily's lips pursed displeasurably beneath her closed eyes, mumbling a reply heard only by herself, "Thousandcountsheetsareascamthataremultipleply. Youneedtofindgoodqualityonesatthreehundredto-"
"Mmm, bacon and eggs sound good!" Lena spoke aloud happily, leaning out from the kitchen to seek out whatever it was Emily had made for herself, "Didn't feel like making anything food-wise? Don't worry; Captain Oxton has ya covered, love! I'll whip you up a breakfast of champions!"
"You'vealreadywhippedmeup," Emily murmured under her breath, beneath Lena's ability to hear, though as she heard the fridge close, she warned just as quietly, "Don'tjustslamtheeggsintothesinktocrack-"
"WAAAH!" Lena cried out, "It's everywhere!"
Emily lowered her head as her hands shook with exhaustion, silently begging herself for another sip of coffee as she sat there restlessly, drowning out the chaos that usually accompanied Lena's cooking. Beyond being too tired to care, she was also still slightly upset by Lena's swift kicks from the night before, figuring in her own exasperated way that cleaning some egg off the counter would be a proper punishment.
"AH! The bacon too!" cried Lena.
Well, cleaning some egg and bacon from off the counter.
She took another desperate swig of coffee, though she was too far gone, leaving the enchanted elixir with very little effect. Still, she tried, ever so carefully, bringing up the mug again and again to her face as time sputtered along, leaving her more and more frustrated at the bounding chaos taking place in just the other room.
"E-Em?!" Lena shouted desperately from the other room, "How do I know when waffle batter is the right consistency?"
Emily's lips curled, "Why don't you just kick it to find out?"
"Huh?" Lena asked incredulously, "How would that- AH!"
CRASH
Another sip of coffee as Emily sat there, the liquid doing little to perk her up, though it did help her disassociate from the madness that was going on at her side. She enjoyed the warmth of the porcelain within her hands, and by now, she'd drank enough of the stuff that her narrowly-opened eyes could spot the fox head of the statuette that was built into the mug to be discovered, her hazel eyes showing barely as her cheeks turned upward in a mild smile at the sight.
In the next second, a plate of food appeared before her, leaving her eyes to flash open in surprise before looking up toward Lena's bright face, "Breakfast is served, love!"
Not a second later, Lena pulled a flasky vase from behind her back, filled with a colorful lily, placing it to the side as though it were a fancy accoutrement to be seen in a restaurant. Emily's smile widened as she shook her head in disbelief.
"You're too cute," was all she could manage by now, the upset roiling within her immediately evaporating at the presence of Lena's result of intense trial and error, all for her sake.
Lena smiled proudly before hurrying back into the kitchen for her own share, warping in a burst of atmosphere back toward the table, eager to eat as she started scarfing down her own breakfast meal. Emily couldn't help her crooked grin as she stared at the waffle that sat in a plate all its own, its boxes having been turning into chocolate chip pixel art of a smiling face with what seemed to be intense eye shadow, though the promise of more chocolate didn't do anything to deter her appreciation of the thing.
"Okay!" Lena proclaimed with a curved bit of bacon peering out from her mouth, "After I get ready, I'm gonna head out and find another job. Not at a diner, dear lord; somewhere fun, y'know? Maybe a zookeeper or something."
Emily's eyes widened in terror, pondering over the odds of Lena's chronal accelerator somehow ending up on a giraffe or something just so the pilot could see what would happen, though she quickly put an end to her red-headed partner's worry with a quick, "Well, nah; you might need a zoology degree for that. We Oxtons are born with a degree in kicking ass, not zoology."
Emily watched her with muted skepticism, though Lena simply went on, "Maybe a kick boxer…"
"Or, a flight instructor?" Emily offered.
Frowning, Lena replied while poking at her food, "Meh, tried that. Apparently, you have to be a licensed pilot before they let you teach anybody…"
"Hold up," Emily spoke up with her two hands in the air, "You expect me to sit here while you run off and fly around and you don't want me worrying about the girl swooping around without a pilot's license?!"
Lena gave a nervous stare, realizing a particular cat had been let out from within her Overwatch-themed bag, "Well, I mean, you've seen what I fly around in! It's all experimental junk anyway; most aircraft guys wouldn't even be able to tell a wibble from a wobble!"
Exasperated, Emily brought her finger and thumb together atop her nose, shaking her head, "Ugh, never mind. Look, before you do anything, we need to figure out how to get you tired. If you haven't been able to tell from my messy hair, last night was a nightmare with you kicking me, probably because you're not exhausting yourself with Overwatch gone."
Confused, Lena cocked her head to the side, replying with sincere obliviousness, "Messy? You look as beautiful as ever."
A sudden blush forced Emily to lower her head, "N-Nevertheless, you should probably get a job that's more physical than standing behind a counter, just so you're not kicking me all night."
"That'd make it a tad difficult," Lena frowned, "I mean, I love rushing around, but with the Omnic job force, I just dunno how many physical jobs are seeking out people. I can certainly- OH!"
She slammed her fist into the table with a triumphant vigor, leaving Emily to quickly grasp her mug and the thin vase before they could tip over, "I jammed in two pounds for that one piloting game at the arcade! It wasn't like soaring through the nether, but I thought I got a bit winded by the end!"
Releasing her hold on the two objects in her hands, Emily wondered aloud with a skeptical tone, "…this isn't just a reason to get back to the arcade, is it?"
"Pfft, of course not! What kinda girl d'ya think I am?!" Lena scoffed before noticing Emily's turned lips, her partner unconvinced, "Okay, you're right, but I'm serious this time! C'mon, I'll even take you and show you; you're off today, right?"
Emily sighed, "Yeah, I am."
"And to recoup your lost time, we can go by the cinema and see that film you've been wanting to see," Lena offered with a wry tone.
Her partner frowned, "I know how you are while sitting still for two hours; no thanks."
Lena gave a wink, "Maybe that's the point."
She lifted herself up to her feet, leaning over the table to close the gap between the two of them, "Two hours in a cinema with me sitting still. Not moving a muscle. Not poking you for attention."
Emily's eyes narrowed, "…deal."
"Excellent!" Lena proclaimed in triumph, throwing a fist into the air, "I'll go get ready!"
Emily returned to her breakfast with a contented sigh, knowing Lena's promise would very probably be void within a half hour of sitting there in the dark theater with nothing to interest her. Still, the fact that she was so willing to at least try meant something to her, and her lips turned up into a smile at the thought. She watched the last bit of coffee swirling at the bottom of her mug, the fox figurine within fully exposed, affectionately called 'Andy' after Lena had already purchased it for her, claiming that her hair matched the wild creatures.
Even with its messy mass, Emily noted, her lover had nothing but the best to say about her hair, reaching up to poke through its tangled strands in deepening reverence for the woman she loved. Lena was always so flighty and inconsistent, though when it came to Emily, she was the most dependable being on Earth; such loyalty remaining a large part of Emily's affection for her, recalling so many who'd left her with so little.
Finishing her coffee, she took her last bite of egg as she stood up, making her way back toward her bedroom to prepare for her shower in preparation for the day, pausing as she turned toward the kitchen, finding it spotless, at least by Lena's standards, the pilot having even cleaned up the mess for her. Emily shook her head with a smile, disbelief tinging her emotions as she stepped toward her room, such things proving that her feelings toward Lena were quite readily mutual.