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Ron lay on the mats and stared at the ceiling, for who knows how long. He was certain a lizard had crossed the ceiling. Did he see ants too or was he just sleepy? Hard to tell. He did not want to think. Did he actually hear the doorbell?
There it was again, maybe it wasn't his imagination.
Okay, fine. He sat up, then stood, then headed for the front door.
When he opened the door, he found Toto, wearing a collared shirt and jeans and loafers. Toto's head bobbed up and down, his eyes were closed.
"Um, Toto?" Ron said. "You can take a nap inside, you know."
Toto started awake. "O-oh, h-hi, Ron! How are you?"
Ron sighed. "Bored, if you must know. Gotta case?"
"I don't have one, sorry. I was just wondering if you want to go to the mall with me? You can't always depend on disguises, after all."
"It's fine, Toto, I do have a cabinet," Ron said.
"I think I mean, we can update your current clothes with some new pieces," Toto said.
Ron did a rapid analysis, and quickly deduced that Toto had come from his apartment, but only to change from work clothes after an all-nighter. "Seriously, Toto, you can stay here and lie down."
Toto waved the suggestion away. "No, no, don't worry about me. But, do you want to go to the mall with me?
Ron shrugged. "I don't mind, but you'll have to lead the way. I'm not sure what I know about the tube here."
"Tube?...Oh, the trains," Toto said. "Sure, I'll handle that part."
But Ron yanked him in. "Some coffee inside you first, though."
Toto gave him a shy grin. "Thanks."
Ron deposited Toto into the long sofa in the living room, then headed off to the kitchen.
Because of his odd hours he had mastered making coffee for himself, just adding brown sugar syrup later. He had also learned that because of his long hours, Toto liked his coffee brewed and strong, with minimal sugar and no cream.
Ron was about to start the coffee brewing in the coffeemaker when he peeked at the living room. Toto was now fully asleep, as he snored gently. He had dropped fully and lay down on the sofa. Ron sighed. He would start the coffee later. It would get bitter if it was made to stand too long.
He headed to the bedroom instead and got one of his thinner blankets. He then headed back to the living room. He gently draped the blanket over the snoring Toto.
He scratched his head at Toto. Why was Toto worrying about him, more than about himself, again? Toto had come from an all-nighter, while he had managed to get some good sleep last night for a change. "Toto, you know, we can go out some other day," Ron said rather aloud. "You can rest for now."
"No, no...it's...okay...," Toto answered drowsily. "I'll...be fine..."
Ron shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Well, maybe after an hour or two, with you like this."
"Th-thank you...zzz...," Toto answered in sleep, wrapping the blanket around him. "What...where....do you...want to go?"
"Hush, already, Toto, we'll think about that later."
Toto already went back to snoring without answering.
Ron sighed again. He sat down just in front of Toto, and just watched him sleep. He had nothing better to do, he told himself. But also, he was also worried how exhausted Toto looked. He grabbed his knitting needles and a ball of yarn, to keep his hands busy as he kept watching. Toto would eventually need a knitted scarf, after all, and that thing he made some time back was obviously far too long and was just an exercise to stave away boredom. It would also remind him to get up later to already brew the coffee.
But as he kept knitting, Toto fell deeper and deeper into sleep. The snores grew deep and loud, the breaths long and deep. The cat had comfortably settled into an open space, and curled up beside Toto.
"I'll be okay, Ron," Toto mumbled in sleep. "Don't worry...about...zzz..."
Ron scratched his head again. "You know what, I'll make lunch. Lets go walk to the nearby boutiques after we eat. Yeah?"
Some of Toto's hair fell over his eyes. Ron slowly and carefully lowered the knitting, and moved up to kneeling. He slowly reached out a hand. He placed that hand gently over Toto's forehead, then slowly combed the hair away from the eyes and forehead. Toto's face was also so kind and gentle, more so when all defenses were down, like they were right now. Ron could not help but keep looking at that kind face.
"I'm...okay...Ron..." Toto mumbled again, as Ron combed back his hair.
"Quite frankly you're not," Ron answered back. "Hush already. I'll go make lunch, I'll wake you when it's ready. Let's walk around later."
"Okay." Toto snored again. He turned over onto his back. "It was...a long night..."
"Um, Toto, should you really be talking and not sleeping?" Ron stopped moving and sat on the floor beside Toto again. He looked up at Toto, but his eyes were very closed. He was rambling in his sleep.
"Case itself was not so bad, we're used to chasing after crime syndicates...that aren't...aren't...the one after you..."
"Toto, it's okay, your job is your job..."
"But the stakeout was long, we waited for hours..."
"Okay, Toto, I get it..."
"Then we had to chase after people..."
"TOTO, please rest, will you?" Ron sighed again.
"But...I'll be okay, Ron, really."
Ron reached over and combed through Toto's hair again. "Okay, Toto, okay. Now rest a little more, I'll make lunch now."
Thankfully Toto fell back to snoring deeply, with a few more strokes at his hair and forehead.
Ron got up and headed to the kitchen. "Something good with coffee...something good with coffee..."
He began mixing ingredients and readying pasta, once in a while peeking at Toto in the living room. As he was nearing done with the sauce, he started boiling water for the pasta and also started the coffeemaker. It was almost noon, anyway; Toto had already been sleeping for several hours.
He placed the pasta and coffee onto the dining table, then headed back to the living room.
Toto was still asleep. That tired, huh.
Ron did try to pat his shoulder. "Toto? You want lunch? I have coffee. And pasta. Could you wake up for a bit?"
Toto turned onto his side and mumbled.
"Um, you can keep sleeping, if you want. But I do have lunch made."
"Unghhh...said we'd go somewhere...where am I..." Toto mumbled.
"It's okay, Toto, we can go some other day. But are you getting up for lunch?"
"Lunch? Hmm?" but Toto fell back to dozing.
"Should I...ask you later?"
"Is that...coffee?"
"Yes, and lunch."
"S'okay, thank you, I'll get up...in a...bit..."
"Well, hurry up, or the food and coffee will get cold," Ron said, patting Toto's head. If he was this tired, and came from such a tiring operation, why did Toto not head home to rest? "Why did you even come here, if you're this tired?"
"Hm? I'm..."
"Toto. Tell me that with your eyes open."
"Eh? Huh?"
Ron chuckled as he now shook Toto. "If you're really okay, wake up properly and have lunch first. Then tell me that."
"Eh? Tell you...what?"
Ron shook him again. "C'mon, Toto, lunch. Now."
Toto reluctantly but finally sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Ron? You okay?"
Ron gave him another shake. "Can you stop worrying about me for once and worry about yourself?!"
"Huh? But I'm--"
Ron pulled him up. "Upsy-daisy." Then he yanked Toto forward, to the dining area. "Come on, you copper. Lunch."
Ron kept yanking and pulling until he managed to plop Toto onto a chair. He sat beside him and served the pasta, a glass of water, and a cup of coffee.
Toto rubbed his eyes again, to get more alert. Then he clapped his hands together, lowered his head and shut his eyes for a moment. "Itadakimasu." He opened his eyes and raised his head. "And thanks, Ron."
Ron smiled. That was worth more than solving several detective novel cases by himself.
Ron watched quietly as Toto twirled the pasta and ate with great decorum, cheerfully taking the coffee in between bites. Always refined, for some reason. Toto took large swigs of the water, but he also did that with refinement. Were policemen always like this, or just this one in front of him?
"You do realize, sir, that you can just stay here today, and we can go out some other day?" Ron said. "If you're still off tomorrow, we can go then."
Toto sighed. "I said I was going to go shopping with you today, but instead, I just..."
"You took a break, and even you deserve to take breaks, Toto," Ron said.
Toto firmly shook his head.
"TOTO. I come from detective lineage and upbringing. I've been exposed to police for a bit. You do realize police have a high risk of health problems? From the stress, the smoking, the coffee, the sugar donuts?"
"Look who's talking," Toto snapped back.
"I know, I know," Ron chuckled. "But I'm still talking to you. Don't feel bad for taking breaks, for sleeping. Okay?"
Toto lowered his head. "Okay."
Both of them finished the pasta between them, with Toto generally asking Ron about the cat, and Ron happily telling Toto little stories of what the cat had been doing around the apartment. Ron did not want to bring up the mentioned midnight operation, he sensed Toto may be embarrassed that he had told him. Especially since Toto, now that he was awake, did not want to talk about work.
"We can still go to the mall this afternoon," Toto offered.
Ron answered while washing the dishes. "I still think we can do that maybe tomorrow, or on your day off next week?"
"Okay, then." Toto sunk his head. "I'm sorry for offering, then we can't go, because of me."
"What are you talking about?" Ron said. "I didn't say I don't want to. I said we're going next time."
"Okay."
Ron faced the sink for a moment, to finish washing the pots and pans. So he wondered for a bit why it got quiet behind him.
When he did turn around, he found Toto's head bobbing, almost falling onto the table.
Ron sighed. "Did the coffee even do anything to you, Toto?" Maybe Toto had indeed reached the limit that even coffee could no longer take effect to keep one alert. He wiped his hands and headed to Toto. "Toto? Wake up for a bit, let's walk you back to the living room, okay?"
"Huh? O...Kay..."
Toto allowed himself to be brought back to the sofa, but he was practically sleepwalking there. Ron lay Toto over the sofa, and tucked him under the blanket.
"You can stay here for the night, if you need it, Toto," Ron said.
"Thank you," Toto mumbled.
"I'll also make dinner, if you're going to wake up for it."
"Okay, thank you."
"Do you want the lights out or on?"
But Toto had begun to snore again.
..........
Toto woke up once, asked for the bathroom, did his business, then immediately fell back to sleep. Other than that, Toto fell into deeper sleep during the afternoon, and was much harder to wake for dinner.
Toto sleep-talked about having to do the most running and chasing, since the criminal he tailed would not surrender without trying to escape. Then of course there was the endorsements they needed to give to other sections, once every person involved was caught and arrested. While this was rather common in Toto's work, it did not happen weekly, so it left him exhausted, even with him already being younger and more athletic than some in the force. This was a different kind of exhausting compared to being on night duty or doing overtime to finish paperwork.
Ron cooked rice and some breaded porkchop for his dinner as the sun set. He then ate his katsudon seated on the floor while watching Toto sleep.
Ron washed the dishes and pots he used for dinner, while accepting that it looked like Toto would sleep into the night. He placed what should have been Toto's dinner in the fridge, then put a message in Toto's phone about it for when he woke up.
He was not too sleepy during the early evening, so he leaned his back onto the sofa as he sat on the floor as he read a book while listening to a playlist in his phone.
The cat walked around, stopping beside Ron, looking up at Toto.
"Sorry, kitty, he can't play with you today, he's exhausted from work," Ron explained to the cat.
The cat meowed another question.
"Hopefully next time, kitty. Thank you for being worried about him, too."
It was already past 8 when Ron heard muttering beside him from the sofa. "I promised we'd go outside..."
"It's okay, Toto, we'll go another day. Do you want dinner?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Okay, I'll just heat it up in the microwave."
Ron watched the food container twirl in the microwave for a few minutes. He then returned to the living room, carrying the reheated dinner in a tray. He found Toto staring at the clock.
"I've been asleep all day?"
"Yup. Here, dinner."
Toto sighed, staring down at the food. "I've bothered you all day, I should start heading home."
"You can stay here tonight, Toto, it's fine," Ron said. "You're too sleepy to take the tube home."
Toto sighed. "I hate that I'm still tired."
Ron fully faced Toto. "Toto. It's alright to think about your needs, it's alright. That's not being selfish. That's being human."
"But still. I don't want to be a bother."
"All the same, let people worry about you. As people who...um...are concerned about you."
Toto sighed again. "Thanks that you think so. It's just so easy for me to think about other people."
"Again, that's not a bad thing. But don't forget to think about your own needs, too, okay?"
Toto looked up at Ron with a smile. "I'll try."
"Don't just try, Toto! I'm going to keep feeding you as best I can until you remember to think about yourself once in a while, okay?!"
Toto chuckled happily at this. "Okay. And thank you."
Ron smiled back.