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Wato can’t sleep.
Instead, he’s staring up at the ceiling, trying to imagine sheep to count to get himself to fall back asleep. He’d passed out sometime while talking to Mystic, but a nightmare similar to the one he’d had last night got him to startle awake in a cold sweat, alone in the living room. Even Holmes was gone, probably sleeping herself (or.. whatever it was that she did).
Maybe Wato could get himself a glass of water? The thought of The Quartering Duke being somewhere inside the manor made his stomach feel queasy at the thought, but it’s not like the living room was a specifically safe place to be sleeping.
Deciding to take his chances, Wato slowly got up, trying to make as little noise as possible. He also decided to take the blanket, because.. I dunno, maybe it’d be a good defense, or he could.. hide.. under it..?
Well, whatever the case, he could probably scream loud enough to wake one of the other detectives up. Wato kept thinking that over and over as he crept towards the kitchen, blanket draped over his shoulders. Gormenghast was unnerving enough in the daytime, but it was even worse with all the lights turned off. For whatever reason, it made him feel smaller than he was, like that nightmare-
“Incompetent?”
“GH-?!” Wato whirled around, heart pounding so fast it felt as though it’d escape his chest. The silhouette seemed to mirror his sudden panic, hands clutched together in a distinctly familiar way that made Wato relax. “Ah, Doleful..?”
The detective in front of him still seemed on edge, although he bowed his head apologetically. “I- I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you-!”
“It’s okay, really!” Wato let out an awkward chuckle, more than a little embarrassed at how jumpy he was. A good detective should remain calm despite their circumstances - which, I suppose, is why his detective name was ‘Incompetent’.
“But.. uhm.. what are you doing awake..?” Doleful’s soft voice snapped Wato out of his self-deprecating thoughts, looking at him with concern. “I know you want to find that secret passage, but it’s really not so safe to be going at it alone if you can’t detect danger like me..”
Oh, right. To anyone else, Wato would almost definitely look super suspicious out here, sneaking around late at night. Good thing it was Doleful he’d run into, anyone else probably would’ve started accusing him. Geez, maybe he really should’ve just stayed in the living room..
“I couldn’t sleep,” Wato said aloud, “So, I decided to get myself a glass of water. Maybe a snack, too? Staring at the ceiling wasn’t really helping any, haha..”
Doleful blinked before smiling with a nod. “Then, can we go together? I- I mean, it’s definitely safer to work in pairs, and this way, I can shield you if we run into any attackers.”
“Shield me.. you don’t have to do that, you know…?”
Nevertheless, Wato agreed, and the two made their way to the dining room in relative silence. It was pretty impressive how Doleful was able to make barely any noise with his steps.. he couldn’t help but wonder if that was a Doleful-specific skill, or if Wato would one day be able to walk just as quietly. Although.. considering his track record with stealth missions was less than stellar, he wasn’t too thrilled about doing any more of them.
When they arrived inside the dining room, Doleful flicked on the lights and smiled at Wato.
“No threats in here!”
Wato smiled back. “Thanks, Doleful. You can sit down while I get the water.”
“It’s really no problem at all..” Doleful spoke in a sheepish tone as he pulled up a chair at the dining room, sitting down as Wato walked past him to get the water.
Glasses.. where were the glasses.. Wato mumbled to himself as he looked through the cabinets, eventually finding what he was looking for.
“Oh, uhm, Incompetent?”
“Huh?” Wato turned his head to look over at Doleful, placing the cups on the counter while he grabbed some ice from the fridge.
“Well, uhm, when it’s just us two, you can just call me Reo, I don’t mind, really..”
Just call Doleful by his real name, huh? Wato felt that warm feeling in his chest he’d had when Doleful had accidentally told him his real name. It felt really nice to have someone who trusted him that much despite not knowing each other for long.
“Okay-! In exchange, you can call me Wato, since that’s my real name.”
It was only fair to exchange names, right? Especially given how much Wato felt he could trust Doleful.
“Wato..” He could hear Doleful - no, Reo - repeating it in a mumble. “That’s a good name. I think it suits you better than ‘Incompetent’ does.”
“You think so? I think Incompetent is practically my middle name..”
They both laughed at that as Wato brought the glasses of water over to the table, sitting down next to Reo. Wato wasn’t sure how much time passed of just the two of them talking together about nothing of note: The other detectives, past cases, about the detective agency Wato worked at…
“You do a lot of housework?” Reo had been surprised at that one, apparently.
“Yeah. Mr. Gungoji is really not the most responsible..” Wato laughed half heartedly, suddenly struck with the realization that the agency would be totally trashed without him to clean up. “But he’s taught me a lot about being a detective, so I’m thankful.”
“Haha.. I’ve heard Techie say similar things about Detective Gentleman.” Reo smiled down at his glass of water. “I’m glad it was Workaholic who taught me about being a detective, rather than anyone like that..”
“Really? I didn’t know Workaholic was your mentor.”
“Actually.. he’s the one who recruited me as a detective in the first place. It was this really strangely shaped building…”
It was probably near three in the morning when Reo had to stifle a yawn before Wato realized how late (or early?) it had gotten. The two of them cleaned their glasses and parted ways at the entrance to the dining hall.
“Are you sure you’ll be alright walking back alone?” Reo asked, fixing Wato with a concerned look. “I really don’t mind walking with you..”
“I’ll be fine! I’ve got this blanket to shield me.” Wato grinned, aware of how goofy that sounded, although Reo smiling back reassured him that it at least didn’t seem stupid.
“Okay then.. goodnight, Wato.”
“Yeah. Goodnight, Reo.”
With that, Reo began walking back to the rooms, as Wato made his way back to the living room. After all, even if he fell asleep in there, at least he could make sure everyone was safe in their rooms.
Everyone.. would definitely make it out of here.