Work Text:
*Kachunk*
It was another long night ahead of her. Amy was off on vacation in another friggin dimension, so that meant more paperwork for Lanolin. Of course it did. Why did everyone else having fun mean more work for her? It made Lanolin feel guilty for being disgruntled by it all.
*Kachunk*
She didn’t even know what she was signing off on. It was about that time in the evening where she stopped skimming over the pages, let alone reading them fully. She could have been signing off the rights to the Restoration to Clutch for all she knew. She didn’t care. Her wrist hurt from writing her name over and over.
*Kachunk*
Her only break from the monotony was handing it over to the only other person in the room. That quokka she and Jewel had hired a while back sat at a desk sitting perpendicular to Lanolin. Every time she signed a document, they took it and stamped it with the Restoration’s official seal. A duty previously meant for Lanolin too. A double monotony just for her.
*Kachunk*
She glanced up from her paperwork for the first time in…probably hours and stared at the quokka. Lanolin would have put money on them not lasting a week. They seemed like a total wet wipe of a being. Clumsy, talentless, and overall nothing special. She expected them to crumble under the pressure of their new position, only ever being useful as someone to fetch her a coffee every now and then.
*Kachunk*
Yet…here they were, three weeks in and counting. Not a single write up on their record. Delivered important papers to her and Jewel on time, had an impressive amount of organizational skills, kept track of all the calls and meetings Jewel needed to attend extraordinarily well, even kept the office remarkably clean. Lanolin’s never seen trash cans look so immaculate. All on top of being a perfect coffee runner.
*Kachunk*
Barry…that was their name, right? Yeah, Barry. Barry stuffed another page into the outgoing box and prepared another for stamping. They looked up and noticed Lanolin staring. Lanolin had been told she has a resting bitch face before, but she was beginning to think that was an understatement with how scared Barry suddenly looked. Their eyes widened and their ears drooped. Beads of sweat dripped down their face as they stiffly grabbed another document and went back to stamping.
*Kachunk*
Lanolin pulled her eyes back down towards her own paperwork. After signing a few more, she glanced at an empty picture frame sitting on her desk. She hadn’t yet found something good to put in it, so it seemed to only act as a makeshift mirror. In the reflection of the glass, Lanolin saw dark lines under her eyes. She glanced back over to Barry. They had no bags under their eyes. What was this bias? Why did she get this tired at this time of night but they-
*Kachuck*
…Wait…what time was it? The sheep glanced over at the clock sitting opposite of Barry. It read 9:24. Lanolin blinked. Barry’s shift ended at 8:00. She turned back to Barry.
“Hey…” she called.
“Eep!” Barry squeaked, freezing in place.
There was a brief silence. Lanolin wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh or roll her eyes. It was a cute noise, but Barry being so skittish of her was getting kinda old.
Wait…cute?
“It’s way past time for you to get out of here,” Lanolin said, “Go home and get some sleep.”
“Oh! U-Um…” Barry stuttered, “N-No, I’m alright. I can stay a little longer.”
Lanolin blinked again. She watched them pick up another document and stamp it.
*Kachunk*
“That’s not something you can negotiate on,” Lanolin said sternly, “Go home. You’ve been here over an hour longer than you should be.”
“I know…I just…didn’t want to leave you with all this paperwork alone. It didn’t seem fair to just…pile all of it on you just because my shift was over.”
Lanolin’s eyes widened.
“Plus, heh,” Barry chuckled, “A little overtime pay never hurt anyone. I’m fine staying here and toughing it out until we’re done.”
Lanolin sniffed and looked back down to sign her next paper.
“Big mistake, buddy,” she drolled, “You’re in for a very…very long haul.”
“Really? Because by the looks of it we’re just about done!”
Lanolin didn’t register that sentence at first. She handed them her paper and reached into the ingoing box on her desk. Her fingers just hit the hard plastic on the bottom. The sheep snapped her head upwards. It was empty.
*Kachunk*
She looked over and saw Barry place the last batch of papers in the outgoing box.
“Aaand…done!” Barry grinned, “See? A little extra work and we…both…”
Barry trailed off. Lanolin looked like she had just seen a ghost. Her eyes were as wide as bowling balls. She just stared at them, unblinking, and barely moving. Barry started sweating again.
“Uh…I’m g-gonna…head out now…bye.”
With that, the quokka threw their jacket over their shoulders and swiftly exited the room. Lanolin took another glance at her empty outgoing box, then the clock. It was 9:26.
The hallway was dark for a second as Barry walked out of the office. The lights took a second to detect them and switch back on. Even then, the distant ends of the hall were still pitch black. Barry stood there, staring into the abyss long enough for Lanolin to swing open the door behind them and scare the living shit out of them.
They stared at each other for a solid minute in total silence. Barry gazed up into Lanolin still beady eyes. The sheep cleared her throat, and calmly locked the door behind her. Barry just kept staring as she turned and started walking down the hall. The quokka followed after her.
The plaza was pitch black and deathly silent. Lanolin and Barry leaned over the railing, gazing at the shadowy outlines of all the shops and benches strewn about on the floors below.
“Sheesh. This place is looking real eerie…” Barry thought.
They glanced at the sheep next to them. She turned to face them and her look nearly gave them a heart attack.
“Though, certainly not the eeriest thing here!”
“Thank you,” Lanolin said.
Barry blinked. Lanolin sheepishly shuffled in her spot.
“Thank you for…staying late with me and helping with all that paperwork…I don’t think anyone’s ever done that for me.”
Her soft tone eased Barry’s tension very quickly.
“Don’t mention it. It was kinda fun.”
Lanolin scoffed.
“I’m sorry, but I really don’t believe that, pal. I mean, I can tolerate that work. But eventually it…starts driving me crazy. Just the same motions over and over and over again. There’s routine, and then there’s insanity.”
She rubbed her still aching wrist, “I hate the idea of you being stuck doing it with me for even longer.”
“Heh. Don’t worry about it. I really didn’t mind. I get where you’re coming from but…I don’t really see the work as so mind numbing. Instead I…like to make a game out of it.”
Lanolin raised a brow, “A game?”
Barry smiled nervously, “Y-Yeah! L-Like…a rhythm game but with my stamp being the beat. Just something I play in my head while I’m working. It’s helped me a lot during the duller moments of my life.”
Lanolin sniffed, and leaned back from the railing.
“Well then, you gotta teach me how to do that someday.”
Barry chuckled as the duo started walking again. The clicks of their feet echoed all around the desolate Restoration. The silence was getting to Barry again.
“Um…” they stammered, “You said no one ever helps you out with paperwork this late?”
Lanolin nodded.
“What about your friends? Like Tangle? I’ve seen them do all that paperwork with you before.”
Lanolin didn’t reply for a second. She eventually let out a heavy sigh.
“Uh oh. Did I overstep and say something wrong?” Barry thought, nervously.
“Sure, they help me out with that stuff,” Lanolin said, “But it’s not exactly their job to…”
Barry raised a brow, “It isn’t? I see them all the time with you…a lot of that time helping you with paperwork.”
“That’s because you mostly see us together in Jewel’s office. Tangle, Whisper, Bark, and the other one are on the Rapid Response team with me. The Diamond Cutters. Our office is the room you bring my coffee to most of the time.”
“Oh…so, they’re not supposed to be helping you with your paperwork?”
“It’s not that they’re not supposed to. They have the clearance to sign off on important documents. It’s just that they signed up to be on a team that’s active in the field. Fighting Eggman head on and all that. It doesn’t make much sense to then bog them down with a bunch of paperwork at HQ on top of that.”
“…But…you do both…”
Lanolin nodded, “I took on the double duty for…well a few reasons. I was already on office duty when I had the idea to start our team, and I didn’t want to leave my important position empty. My friends help me when I ask, but beyond that it was solely my job…and I wouldn’t want to keep them here as late as I stay sometimes. They have lives outside of that office…”
Barry frowned sadly, “How…How late do you usually stay?”
Lanolin closed her eyes tightly and huffed heavily.
“If I’m lucky…I’ll be done by midnight. But…I’d say my average is four in the morning…Sometimes even all-nighters.”
Barry gasped. That surprised Lanolin. She glanced over at their incredibly concerned expression.
“Jeez, Miss Lanolin! You can’t do that to yourself! You were just chastising me about getting some sleep before.”
“Hey, do as I say, not as I do. Alright?” Lanolin pointed, “And hey.”
She smiled and ruffled Barry’s hair, “Something tells me I’m not going to have to worry about staying up that late anymore.”
Barry chuckled as they swatted the sheep’s hands out of their hair. The pair made their way down the stairs in silence, but a much more comfortable silence. They had smiles on each of their snouts until they got to the ground level. Barry’s fell, and they looked back up at Lanolin.
“Well…I still have to wonder…”
Lanolin glanced down at them, watching them rub the back of their head.
“Why make yourself put up with that double duty alone?” they asked, “You said it was because you already had this job, but the director’s a nice lady. She’d probably rather find someone else to do the work than make you stay up all night doing it…”
Lanolin blinked. They sounded so worried for her. Over an issue that didn’t even apply to tonight. In the depths of the sheep’s chest, she felt her heart warm a tad.
“Just…because I want to help out as much as I can. Make a real difference, y’know? It’s taxing, sure, but I’m helping…”
The quokka stopped.
“…Helping others is great…but not when it’s at the cost of your own happiness…”
Lanolin stopped too, and turned to face them. For some reason, Barry didn’t feel as uneasy under her gaze.
“I…I don’t want to be the one to tell you what to do…m-ma’am…but you need to take care of yourself first. I was in college for a little bit before I got hired on the Mirage Express…and it was miserable. Nothing but due dates and essays. I barely had any time to sleep.”
Barry stuffed their hands into their pockets and looked down meekly, “It was my own fault. I was never that good in school, but I wanted to prove I was a smart person. Mostly to my parents…But in the middle of my first semester’s finals…my dad told me that…if I wasn’t taking care of myself, all of my effort would just be going towards a shell of a quokka. A zombie, in a way…”
They quickly looked up at Lanolin, then away, rubbing their head again.
“Sorry, sorry! I-I didn’t mean to ramble like that. Point is…Don’t overwork yourself like that, if you can help it. It’s not good for you.”
There was another long silence. Barry couldn’t bear checking what Lanolin’s expression might be. Said expression was one of mild shock. Lanolin’s jaw hung open slightly. She smiled after a moment, and wiped away a tear as she walked closer to Barry.
“Well…like I said,” she said, wrapping an arm around them, “I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that anymore. That mountain of paperwork we slaughtered was the type to keep me up until two. If you can shave off that much time, I’ll be fine.”
Barry could feel one of Lanolin’s ponytails rubbing against their back. The wool felt unfathomably soft, even with it simply brushing against them. They smiled back. At least they did until the sheep grew a stern look.
“But if it’s getting too late and there’s still a lot of work to do, when I tell you to go home, you go,” she ordered harshly, “Is that understood?”
Barry shrunk into themself immediately, but nodded rapidly.
“Good,” Lanolin huffed, “And one more thing…”
She smiled again and gave Barry a pat on the back, “Just call me ‘Lanolin’. Drop the ‘Miss’ prefix and the ‘ma’am’s, okay?”
Barry gawked at her for a moment, but then chuckled.
“You got it boss! Oh, crap! Wait, should I drop that one too?”
Lanolin snickered, “You don’t have to if you want. Most of my friends call me that.”
“Heh…alright.”
Lanolin grinned widely, and gave Barry a salute as she walked away.
“See you tomorrow, Barry!” she called, “Get some good sleep!”
“I will!” Barry waved, “You get some rest too!”
The sheep nodded.
**********
Lanolin flopped into bed. Normally an action that would be accompanied by a long, drawn out groan. Maybe a scream into a pillow if it was really late. But…no, not this time. She still had a stupid smile plastered on her face. A warmth in her heart that made a nice tingling feeling in her stomach. She was still tired, no doubt about it, but she was happy.
She glanced over at the clock on her nightstand. A nightly routine to gauge just how little sleep she’d be getting. It read 10:02 PM. Her smile grew bigger as she tucked herself under the covers.
“Good thing I didn’t bet on Barry’s position,” she yawned, “I underestimated the hell outta them.”
She rested her head on her pillow, and closed her eyes.
“I can’t wait to see them tomorrow…”
**********
In their small, one bedroom apartment, Barry stared up into the ceiling as they laid in bed. They still felt it. Her wool like a cloud brushing against the back of their head. Their pillow paled in comparison to that feeling. They wanted to feel it again-
Barry shook their head rapidly. They sighed as they rolled over in bed and shut their eyes. Her wool wasn’t the only thing they still felt. It was harder to pinpoint. They were so afraid of Lanolin for so long. Hell, most of that evening they were worried about even talking to her. But…there was something different. A strange feeling that settled alongside the fear. They couldn’t put their finger on it…but they felt a sort of deja vu. The image of a certain armadillo’s abs flashed in their mind…
“Maybe…maybe I’ll figure it out when I see her again,” they thought as they drifted off to sleep.