Work Text:
Johnnie awoke to agonizing pain in her knees. She winced as she got up to put on her braces. She stumbled through her room and grabbed them off her desk. She grumbled to herself as she put them on. She groggily got back into bed and tried to go back to sleep, now with less pain in her joints.
“Great” she thought to herself. She sat up on her bed. She had a hard enough time trying to fall asleep earlier in the night. Her mind just wouldn’t stop racing with thoughts of work and how much she had missed Eddie.
Eddie is one of Johnnie’s colleagues to whom she had just recently met the acquaintance of. Johnnie couldn’t get them off her mind. Eddie was often quiet and reserved to themselves but whenever someone would talk to them about their creations they wouldn’t stop talking.
Sure most people found them to be irritable but Johnnie found them to be interesting. She wanted to talk to her more, so she did. In her mind she started to imagine what it’d be like if they were right next to her right now.
“Hey, having a hard time sleeping?” They said, tilting their head. Johnnie only nodded with a sigh. She tried to smile back at them and looked over to them. She met their green gaze and felt comforted with them by their side.
“Well, some people say Tea helps with sleeping.” They said as they motioned to the kitchen.
“Yeah, maybe I’ll try that.” Johnnie said. She got up and walked into her little kitchenette. Eddie followed, sitting at the island bar. She opened one of the overhead drawers and pulled a packet of tea out and put a pot of water on the stove to heat up. She turned back and saw Eddie just watching her.
“Are you always up this late?” They asked.
“It’s a bad habit I have gained since trying to earn my phd.” Johnnie replied. She had insomnia ever since she was little but going to college only made it worse.
“Well, It’s one we share.” They smiled.
Johnnie blushed before turning back to the pot of water which had been bubbling and turned the stove off. She poured it into a cup and placed the tea packet into the cup
“Hopefully this will help.” She said as she stirred the packet around. She walked back to her room and set the cup on her bedside table. She sat down and waited for it to cool off.
Eddie just simply sat on the other side of the bed. The two of them, now, back to back. She took a sip and leaned against their shoulder.
“How are things outside of work?” she asked.
“Well it is fun tinkering outside of work but I can’t talk to people and explain what my stuff does if I’m not at work” they said with a sigh. They leaned into her as well.
“I’d love to listen to you explain all the mechanics behind your little machines. I’d love just to listen to you in general” she said though she wished this was actually real and that she could hear them say this in person.
“Is the tea working?” They asked.
“I think so,” Johnnie said before she laid down. She crept under the covers and closed her eyes before wishing Eddie goodnight.
She had been asleep the entire time.