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“Iris, can you keep it down with yer… Wot are those, even?” Gina sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes and trying to determine what the source of those glowing lights Iris was messing with were. “On second thought, I don’t even want t'know.”
Iris turned around, face illuminated by pink and green lights—no doubt a byproduct of some new thing the little genius was testing—, and turned on what sounded like a noisy drill. “I’m sorry, Ginny, but if I don’t finish this up, I’ll have forgotten my idea once I wake up!”
Gina sighed.
“Maybe you could sleep downstairs? I’m sure the couch is comfortable.” Iris turned back to her work. Definitely, she wasn’t her regular kind self when she had something she needed to get done. Or maybe she was just reaching that pre-teen angst stage.
Gina sighed again, going down the apples and pears—somehow her accent worked the same even in her head.
“Ah, Ms. Lestrade!” Gina wiped her eyes with her knuckles, again, bringing them back into focus. Sholmes looked up from his violin at her, his unnatural pause causing a large squeaking sound. Immediately she went back upstairs.
She was used to noise when trying to sleep, really, but at least her fellow orphans weren’t so… mechanical. Gina never had an opportunity to develop any real interest in music, so she thought it was stupid, and the new electric tool Iris used were just plain annoying.
Gina would rather die than go ask an adult like ‘Oddo if she could crash in there, so she headed to the next door down: Susato’s.
She knocked, lightly, and the door swung open seconds later. Susato held an open book in her free hand.
Does no one in this house actually sleep? Gina wondered.
“Oh, is it morning already, Gina?” She asked, eyes wide.
“No, it’s pro’lly not even midnight yet.”
Susato hummed. “Well, what do you need then, Gina? I could make some tea if you’d like.”
Gina was sure her tea was lovely (well, even if Mr. Narrow-Hollow had said otherwise), but she figured extra energy was the last thing she needed when she was just so exhausted from the past few months. First McGilded, then her trial… It was all so taxing.
Susato stepped aside, letting Gina come into the room.
“I’m good, just need a place to peep…'' Gina inspected the room. “You got a couch or anyfin'?”
“No, but you could just take the bed—I usually just sleep on my futon, you see.” She explained, pointing it out on the ground. It looked like just a small slab of mattress on the floor, yet Susato still had gone all out with English pillows.
Gina shrugged. “Alright, then, that works. Thanks, Sooze.” She stepped over the futon on the ground, climbing into bed at a remarkable speed—she was exhausted. Susato set down her book, and pinched out the light.
Gina sat up, again, having gotten zero sleep “Psst, Sooze, are ya up?”
She heard rustling, then a few moments later, a candle was lit. “I am now. What’s wrong, Gina?” Susato was barely visible with just one light in the room, but Gina could make out the edge of her face.
“I feel like I’m in quicksand or somethin’.” Gina scooted closer to the edge of the bed. “I dunno, I’m just not that used to beds in general.” She cringed—Susato probably didn’t want to know the details of Gina’s childhood in the East End.
“Oh! I know exactly what you mean.” Susato exclaimed, then continued in a low voice. “That’s so true, I swear British beds are awful for one’s back. And I always feel like I’ll fall right through it.”
“See?! That’s exactly it!” Gina said, excitedly. Good thing no one else in this house slept anyways (well, sans Ryuunosuke), or the yelling might disturb them.
“Yes! That’s why I just keep sleeping on my futon.” She said. “Actually, I’m sure there’s room for both of us to fit on it, if you’d like.”
Susato said the last part with a bit of a tremor in her voice. Gina didn’t really see anything too weird about it, actually—she’d pretty much always slept on the ground, though usually she did that alone so no one would lift her stuff. Even if she grew up with her fellow divers, well, they were still divers.
“Oh, sure. Thank you.” Susato was such a nice person. Of course, everyone in this flat was doing their best to help Gina fit in, but she was especially glad there was someone else here around her age (even if Susato was way more mature than she herself was).
Susato laid back down, shuffling to the opposite end of the futon, and Gina plopped down next to her.
And, nope, she still couldn’t sleep.
No one was making any obnoxious noises (though, if she really strained her ears, she could hear Iris down the hall still), and the futon was really comfortable, but Gina had about an inch of free space and figured she was going to overheat and die.
Really, she was staring bug-eyed at the ceiling. If she looked anywhere else, especially if she looked at Susato, the other girl was probably going to think she was weird. And even though Gina was sure she couldn’t sleep, she didn’t want to close her eyes and find out otherwise; what if she moved in her sleep and ended up getting into Susato’s space?
(Unbeknownst to her, Susato was experiencing a similar conundrum, though she was a little more relaxed about it, having turned away from Gina and shut her eyes tight.)
Gina sighed, and resolved to at least close her eyes. She was a light sleeper, anyways, so it was for the best if she just took getting to share a futon with someone she cared about a lot as a good thing—she’d probably wake up if anything was going to go wrong, anyways.
“Oh, Runo, did you get the picture?”
“Hold on, I’m checking—Mr. Sholmes, what are you doing?”
“Just making a few deductions, my friend—for example, I can see that our dear Ms. Lestrade is awake, despite her closed eyes!”
“You’re right, Hurley, she is! Good morning, Ginny.”
Gina groaned. She’d been trying to get a few more minutes of sleep, since she was in a pretty comfortable position at the moment, but she really wanted to know what the hell everyone was talking about—and why were they in this room, anyways?
She opened her eyes, slowly, trying to puzzle out where exactly she was. Definitely, she was still in Susato’s room, on the floor, but she really thought she’d been on the other side—and, then, where was Susato? She looked down, slightly, and just as soon as she did that she scrambled to her feet, choking on her own air.
There was Susato, who was now rubbing her own eyes and waking up, her head laying right below where Gina’s had been.
“This camera of yours works so fast, Mr Sholmes.” Naruhodou was holding some rectangular bit of paper in his hand, turning it around for everyone to see.
“How adorable!” Iris clasped both hands together. “What room do you want it framed in, Gina?”
“Ghrk.”
She squinted at the photo—without a doubt, that was her and Susato on the futon. They laid facing each other, limbs intertwined. Gina made a grab at the photo, but ‘Oddo was quicker, passing it to Sholmes. And he, being a stupid adult, was too tall for her to have any hope of grabbing it.
“Oh, good morning, Iris! Did I sleep in too much?” Susato stood up. “And Mr. Naruhodo, Mr. Sholmes, you should know better than to intrude on a woman’s room! Shoo!” Both men complied, hurrying out the door lest they suffer a Susato takedown.
“So, what’s all the commotion about today?” Susato asked, resting her head against one hand worriedly.
Iris cheerily announced, “Hurley and Runo got the cutest picture of you two cuddling!”
Gina hung her head down, hearing Susato gasp.
“No! Did they?” Susato said. “W-well, don’t worry, Gina. I’ll have to go have a few words with them—oh, and I’m sorry, too—MR SHOLMES, NARUHODOU-SAN!”
With that, Susato was running off down the hall, her voice somehow only getting louder as she got farther away.
Iris was still smiling;
Gina glared daggers at her.