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Jinx awoke to a hand on her shoulder, gently shaking her awake.
She stirred a little bit and groaned. It was morning, she supposed, but she was not ready to be awake. Her body was screaming at her to continue sleeping.
"Jinx," A voice said softly, "It's time to wake up"
She rolled over, and opened her eyes to see Silco, perched on the edge of her bed. She groaned again, and shut her eyes in protest, she was not getting up yet.
"Come on, we have a big day today. You need to get up, dear."
Oh. Right, the shipment. That's why he was waking her up, she was going to be guarding the shimmer today. She had to get ready.
But it was so early...
"Five more minutes?" She pleaded sleepily, knowing he would oblige.
She heard Silco chuckle before he responded, still speaking softly.
"All right. You can have five minutes, but that's it."
She closed her eyes again, but her bed didn't feel quite as cozy anymore. So, she wrapped her arms around Silco and pulled him down, trying get him to lie down with her. If she only got five minutes, she was going to make the most of it.
She heard him laugh as he played along.
"Alright, alright. I'll lie with you"
He laid down, and she buried her face in his chest. She felt him wrap his arms around her and begin to softly rub her back. There, now she was warm and cozy again.
.
.
It felt like only seconds had passed when she was ripped out of slumber yet again. This time, by him lightly patting her back. She groaned again, and held him tighter.
"Nooo..." she whined, still not ready to wake up.
Despite her best efforts, Silco sat up, and tried to move her to do so as well. However, she still refused to get up, and ended up slumping against him in his lap, again burying her face in his chest.
"Jinx," His tone was slightly firmer this time, "You've had your five minutes, it's time for you to get up"
She moved her head so she could look at him, still sitting in his lap with his arms around her. She knew he wouldn't let her sleep any longer. He never did when he woke her up. He'd give her five extra minutes, but never any more. Still, she tried to argue.
"But it's so early...don't I have, like, hours before I need to leave?"
"Yes, you do, but you need to get ready"
She argued back;
"I know but, I'm not gonna take that long. What do I even need to do?"
Her tone was bratty, but she didn't care. She knew he wouldn't lecture her, he never did, not over such trivial things.
Silco gently took the end of one of messy her braids in his hand. "Well, we need to redo your hair, dear. You can't be fighting with your hair almost untied, it's not safe. Which means, you have to shower, to at very least get it wet so it's easier for me to braid."
She huffed; "But that takes forever! Why can't you just braid it dry?"
He raised an eyebrow.
"Well, if you don't want to make it easier for me, you can always braid it yourself..."
"No!" She said quickly, "Fine, I'll shower....any other requests? You want me to take over Noxus while I'm at it?"
Ignoring her sarcasm, Silco responded;
"Well, I'd like for you to at least try to eat something"
Of course he did, ugh, sometimes having somebody who cared about her health was annoying. Even so, she relented;
"Ugh, fine. No promises though, eating in the morning makes me sick"
His tone softened,
"I know. Just try for me, okay? You certainly will need your strength today."
"Okay"
And so, finally, Jinx got up and headed to the bathroom. Because she was one of very few people in Zaun to have access to hot water, showering did little to wake her up.
Washing her hair was always a whole process; she did it as rarely as possible, only really bothering when Silco insisted that she do so. She had to first, undo her braids, which made her hair even longer and made everything else seem like even more of a chore. Shampooing was easy, she really only bothered with her roots. But conditioning? Dreadful. It took forever and was so boring. She was a strong fighter, but conditioning her hair always made her arms sore.
After what felt like an absolute eternity, she finished and got out of the shower. After dressing, she quickly headed to Silco's office, trying to get to him before her unbraided hair got too unreasonably tangled.
He was in his chair, looking over some paperwork, though he immediately put it down upon noticing her. She sat down in front of his chair, as he reached for the comb he kept in his desk, and began to comb out her hair.
She'd never said it out loud, but she loved when he did this for her. It was a time where he was focused only on her. He wasn't looking at papers, he wasn't talking to Sevika about upcoming plans, he was there interacting with her, and only her. It made her feel cared for, like she was something worth taking care of.
She yelped as he accidentally pulled slightly too hard, trying to get a tangle out.
"Sheesh, I guess that's one way to wake me up"
Silco chuckled;
"Sorry, I'm just trying to make this more manageable." He paused, before hesitantly speaking again, as if he was worried about her reaction "You know dear, if you slept more often, it wouldn't be such a struggle to wake up."
She huffed, feeling a bit indignant.
"Well it's only a struggle when you wake me up before I'm ready!"
"I only do so when you have time-sensitive responsibilities you need to attend to, which, really, isn't that often. Most people have a set time that they need to wake up every day, you know."
"Yeah well..." Jinx's voice went quieter, trying to not get upset. Logically, she knew he was only trying to do his job as her caretaker, but it felt a bit like she was being scolded. "Most people aren't loudly taunted when they're trying to sleep..."
They were both silent for a moment, and she felt Silco finally switch from combing her hair to braiding it. He then spoke, his tone as gentle as it ever was;
"Has it... has it been getting worse?"
Jinx shrugged slightly
"Not really? I dunno... I kinda just decided to stop trying when I don't have to." She laughed nervously, changing her tone; "I mean, pfft, what's the point in dealing with allat if I don't have to? I'm getting waaaay more work done anyways; so what if I don't sleep for a few days?" She fake laughed again, hoping he wouldn't notice.
"Jinx..." Silco did not match her tone, instead his voice was full of concern
She sighed; he could always tell when she was trying to deflect, sometimes even knowing when she couldn't tell.
"Yeah...I know. It's fine though, I promise"
She felt him stop braiding before he spoke.
"Jinx, look at me for a moment"
She did as he said, turning around.
He looked into her eyes as he spoke to her;
"I'm sorry if I came off...invalidating. I can understand why you don't want to lie in bed alone with your thoughts when you already have to deal with so much." He gently caressed her cheek for a brief moment; "You are so strong, my dear girl. I just...worry about your health sometimes, that's all."
His reassurance, while mostly repeating things he'd already told her, really did help. It always did, especially when it made her remember that he did understand.
She snickered slightly before speaking
"Jeez, it's almost like you care about my wellbeing or something..."
She had turned back around so that he could continue with her hair, so she couldn't see him, but she knew Silco was smiling as he replied.
"Yes, it's almost so..."