Work Text:
Hershel slumps at his desk, fragments of an ancient, broken vase blurring before his eyes. Fitting this together should be like a puzzle, a rather simple puzzle for someone as good at puzzles as Hershel Layton, but he cannot do it. He just stares at them, unable to fix them together.
He groans, tilting his hat forwards, and sits up straighter. Hershel stretches his aching arms, rubs his eyes and has another go, sorting the fragments so they will form the vase they once used to be.
In the end, Hershel manages to fit approximately none of the pieces together before he falls asleep at his desk, his neck cricked awkwardly and his hat slumped over his eyes.
And when he awakes, his neck aches and he doesn’t feel any better for his several hours of sleep. A glance at the clock shows Hershel it is 11pm, far too late to travel home. So he gets up, takes off his jacket and shoes and lies down on his sofa.
Hershel covers himself with his jacket and drifts off to sleep again, far more comfortable but still totally exhausted.
When was the last time he slept in a bed?
---
Utterly exhausted from a night of marking essays and trying to solve a particularly difficult puzzle and eventually falling asleep at his desk, Hershel has to fight to keep his eyes open. He only yawns when no one can see, as yawning is very much not a gentlemanly thing, and hopes he can stay awake until his day at university is over.
When he returns to his office after his second lecture, Hershel hopes he can have a nap. But he cannot, because he finds Flora sat on the sofa.
“Good afternoon, Professor,” Flora says, standing up and smiling. “I’ve made you some tea.”
“Thank you, Flora, dear,” Hershel says, sitting down on the sofa.
He needs to sleep, but it would be very ungentlemanly to fall asleep in front of his daughter when she clearly came here for a conversation. Besides, he spends a lot of his life totally exhausted and manages to cope just fine.
Drinking the delicious tea helps a little, and Hershel muffles another yawn. “Thank you, my dear.”
Flora smiles. “You’re welcome. Uh, Professor, are you unwell? You look very pale.”
“No, I’m not unwell,” he says, telling the truth. “I am just a bit tired.”
“Did you sleep in here again?”
There is no point lying to Flora, so he nods. “I did indeed.”
Flora shakes her head and tuts just like his mother. “Professor, sleep is important.”
“I know, my dear,” he says. “I simply have so much work to do.”
Of course he is telling the truth, but he does wish he could take a break now and again.
There is a knock at the door; after Hershel calls for them to enter, the professor’s apprentice sticks his head into the office.
“Hello, Professor! Hello, Flora!” Luke says, darting into the room. He grins. “Are you ready to go?”
“Ready to go?” Flora repeats, frowning.
“Clark and Brenda invited us to dinner at their house,” Hershel says. “Luke, did you run all the way here just to get a lift in my car?”
“Of course I did,” Luke says. “Who wouldn’t want a ride in the Laytonmobile?”
Hershel smiles fondly at the nickname of his car, and Flora giggles.
“Very well. Flora, dear, should we go?”
The three of them walk out to the car park, Hershel’s eyes hurting from the light of the setting sun. Hershel gets into the driver’s seat, whilst Luke and Flora sit together in the back. And as Luke chatters and Flora smiles fondly, Hershel starts the car and heads off to the Triton home.
But as he drives, trying to focus on the twists and turns, his eyelids get heavier and heavier. He is so exhausted his eyes hurt and his head throbs, and the need to sleep gets stronger with every turn of the steering wheel.
And his head nods and he drifts into desperately needed sleep…
“Professor!”
A shriek and the honk of a car’s horn jolt Hershel back into consciousness, the fatigue hitting him like punch to the face.
He opens his eyes, and finds Luke leaning forwards, his hand gripping the steering wheel.
The steering wheel…
He just fell asleep at the wheel!
“Professor, we were going to crash!” Luke cries. “Please pull over.”
Hershel nods, pulling the car to the side of the road and putting the handbrake on. And the moment the car has stopped, he falls asleep again, his head resting on the steering wheel.
---
When Hershel finally awakes, he finds himself in a bed. He opens his eyes, the fatigue thankfully no longer making him want to collapse, and stares up at the ceiling. This room looks familiar… He has found himself in the guest bedroom in the Triton household. Just how did he get here?
Despite feeling like he could sleep for several hours longer, Hershel has to enquire. He gets out of bed, finding himself fully dressed except for his shoes, hat and jacket, and slips his hat on his head before wandering out of the room.
Hershel reaches the living room before he bumps into other people: Flora and the three Tritons.
“Professor, you should be in bed,” Luke says.
“I apologise,” Hershel says. “I simply awoke and needed to find out why I was here.”
“It’s quite simple, really,” Clark says, standing up. “Luke telephoned us about five hours ago in tears, and we learned you nearly crashed your car and then fell asleep, and he and Flora considered themselves stranded.”
“Yes, so Clark and I went to pick you up,” Brenda says, eyebrows raised. “We eased you into our car and Clark drove you here, and I took Flora and Luke in your car. Hershel, what possessed you to drive in such a state. You could have killed me son!” she says, and her voice breaks.
Hershel tips his hat forwards, hiding his eyes. “Brenda, Clark, I cannot even begin to explain how sorry I am. I wrongly thought that, because I have driven whilst tired many times, I would be all right this time. However, I underestimated just how exhausted I was. I am deeply sorry.”
Brenda sniffs, and Luke says, “Mum, please don’t cry.”
“I’m not,” Brenda says. “Look, Hershel, I understand, I really do. I just…”
“Ssh, love, it’s okay,” Clark says softly. “Hershel, just go back to bed for now. You need to rest. We can talk more in the morning.”
Hershel nods, not sure what to say. “Thank you, both of you. I’ll see you in the morning.”
He turns and walks out of the room. As he climbs the stairs, he realises he is being followed and turns around. Flora and Luke follow him, and smile when he looks at them.
“Hello, Professor,” Luke says.
They walk with him to the guest bedroom door, and Hershel nods.
“You know, Professor, I’m not angry,” Luke says. “Just… worried about you. It’ll just… take Mum and Dad a while to get over it. They were just so scared, you know.”
“I understand,” Hershel says. “Thank you, Luke.”
“I hope you feel better tomorrow,” Flora says. “And please, please try to sleep more in the future.”
“I will try my best, my dear,” he says. “Good night, you two.”
As they say good night in return, Hershel goes back to bed. In bed, he falls asleep within a minute, so exhausted that even dreaming about the near crash isn’t enough to wake him up.
And when he finally awakes, he feels so much better. He needs to sleep like this more often.
He needs to sleep more often, full stop.