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Ryland Grace stepped into his quarters for the first time in a week. A musty smell hung in the air and lingered on the bed that he had neglected to sleep on for almost ten days. He resisted the urge to lay down and take a nap, but he was only there to grab a few things since a certain Madame World Dictator was waiting on him.
He hastily stuffed some clean clothes in his bag before heading back towards the door. He fished his keys out of his pocket to lock the door behind him.
Grace nearly dropped them when he opened his door to find Olesya Ilyukhina and Yáo Li-Jie standing in front of him waiting.
"Gah! What're you guys doing here?" Grace fumbled with his keys.
"We apologize if we frightened you Dr. Grace," started Yáo. "We-"
"Ryland, have you been sleeping enough recently? Or at all for that matter?" Ilyukhina cut to the chase.
Grace was a bit taken aback. How would they know if he'd been sleeping?
"Yes, I- I've been sleeping fine. Why do you ask?"
"Well the two of us," Yáo began, gesturing at him and Ilyukhina, "have the rooms directly next to yours, and neither of us have heard you come back here for an extended period of time in almost ten days."
"We're worried about you Ryland," Ilyukhina added, "You have to take care of yourself."
"Oh wow." Grace was not used to being cared about like this, nor did he expect it, especially not here. "Well um... thank you guys for the concern, I appreciate it -really-, but I promise I'm far from collapsing of exhaustion."
He hoped that would be the end of this, but Ilyukhina was nosy and persistent, so of course it wasn't.
"In that case, where have you been sleeping?" Ilyukhina cocked a brow.
Grace laughed nervously. "Well let's see. I fell asleep in the lab on Tuesday, at my desk uhh twice- on Friday, and embarassingly enough, I think I drifted off into a bowl of pudding the other night. Either that, or Dimitri played a sick prank on me. Go ask him for me, would ya?"
Yáo and Ilyukhina looked between each other suspiciously, Grace offered a sheepish smile.
"Hey, listen, it's great to know y'all care about me and everything, but I gotta run. I have a uhh- meeting with Stratt."
Ilyukhina looked at her wristwatch. "It's 10 P.M."
Grace offered a shrug in response. "You know Stratt, busy woman."
"Bu-" Ilyukhina started. Yáo elbowed her in the side and she stopped.
"Well, in any case, have a good night and get some sleep Dr. Grace." Yáo said, bowing slightly.
"Thank you guys," Grace smiled, "it means a lot."
It was here that the three of them parted ways, with Yáo and Ilyukhina having a quiet conversation before walking back towards their respective doors, and Grace making haste down the hall.
As soon as he turned the corner and Yáo and Ilyukhina left his sight, Grace breathed a sigh of relief. He did not need them (more so Ilyukhina as she was a loud mouth) to know where he was really sleeping. The things he'd told them about his office and the lab and the bowl of pudding (curse Dimitri and his pranks) were all real, but he'd left out one more major location.
Grace made his way to Stratt's door. No, Eva's door. Eva's place was far more welcoming and a hell of a lot more comfortable than Stratt's office.
He looked up and down the hall before knocking softly on her door. It opened in an instant, and Eva, already dressed in her pajamas, pulled him inside by his wrist.
"What took you so long?" She asked, closing the door.
"Got held up by some... concerned colleagues..." Eva raised an eyebrow. "Yáo and Ilyukhina cornered me to check if I've been sleeping enough." This made her laugh a little.
"More than enough, I should hope," Eva grabbed Ryland by his shirt collar and kissed him.
"Best sleep of my life, no doubt," he replied as they got into bed. "Something about having you in these arms makes it so much better."
Eva smiled.
Olesya Ilyukhina was taking a late-night walk around the Vat at 10:30 P.M., a habit she had come to indulge in from insomnia, but an excuse she was using to be nosy tonight. She had a hunch.
As she passed by Stratt's office, she went over and pressed her face against the glass looking inside. Completely dark. Half an hour was pretty short for a meeting, especially for Stratt. Now Ilyukhina had a theory and a wide grin on her face.
She speed walked for Stratt's personal quarters, almost on the opposite side of the ship than hers. Thank god she had a good excuse to be there.
As she rounded the corner, she could see a faint stream of light flowing out of the gap under Stratt's door. She could also hear soft voices coming from inside. She carefully creeped a little closer. Two voices, one male, one female. The female one, well she should hope it was Stratt's, the male one, undeniably belonged to Dr. Ryland Grace. So this is where he'd really been "sleeping".
Ilyukhina did a quick celebratory dance in the hall before slinking back towards her own quarters. She didn't know how Stratt would punish her for her little adventure, and she sure as hell wasn't finding out tonight.
Ilyukhina laughed a little. She -nor anyone else for that matter- could've guessed that Ryland Grace had it in him to get the boss lady into bed, and in her own bed, mind you.
Good for him. She thought. And good for me. The grin on her face was no longer concealed as she sprinted the rest of the way back to the dorms.
"Yáo! Open up!" She yelled, banging on his door, with little regard to the other residents around them. "You owe me 20 bucks!"