Work Text:
Clunk.
Wave and Storm paused. The dull sound came from Jet’s desk. Storm lifted his gaze from the business’ blueprints. Wave turned around, her orb illuminating a city map with a detailed escape route she had personally drawn.
Jet’s head rested on his desk. His beak was ajar, and his eyelids had slid shut when they weren’t looking. His shoulder rose with every breath and mumble. His arms hung limply by his shins, his fingers brushing against his boots, and it became clear to them that he had fallen asleep.
They were discussing their plan to rob Westopolis’ most famous jewelry store. It was said to contain an esteemed diamond, a relic of Babylon. But to their surprise, Jet was quieter than usual during their scheming. He listened without complaining to Wave about the plan’s intricacies. He didn’t roll his eyes when Storm became confused, letting Wave explain to her heart’s content, and he hardly interrupted them when they bickered. Hardly a sound escaped him, except for a single yawn that warned of his imminent slumber.
Sharing a glance with Storm, Wave whispered, “That explains his almost total silence throughout our debriefing.”
Storm rolled up the blueprints. “Um, yeah. I th-I think the boss stayed up too late yesterday.”
She sighed, rubbing her temples. She had warned Jet that he needed to fix his poor sleeping schedule. Otherwise, he would have been nodding off in the middle of the race and risked wiping out.
But Jet ignored her yet again. She wasn’t sure what had kept Jet’s eyelids pried apart last night. Whatever it could have been wasn’t as essential as preparing their mission in a few hours when the clock struck eleven. And frowning at the window, with the skies swathed in shades of orange, Wave realized their time was ticking away without much progress toward their goal.
“Should we wake him up?” Storm wondered, dropping the blueprints.
Wave frowned as they tumbled onto the carpet and unrolled. “You could’ve held those, you know,” she said, crossing her arms.
Storm returned her irritation. “They’re just blueprints. Checking on the boss is more important.”
“Oh, don’t try to use Jet as an excuse for your butterfingers. Seriously, Storm, just try to hold on to things!”
“I-i-it’s not my fault, y-you - you - you-!”
Jet suddenly grunted. He jerked upright, choking on a gasp. With a sharp shake of his head, he groaned and fixed his slouched posture. He rubbed his eyes, furrowing his brow, and upon noticing Wave and Storm staring at him, he leaned back in his chair, kicking up his boots.
“Did I miss something important? Or were you two just glaring at each other?” Jet huffed, drumming his fingers on the armrest.
Wave resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. “Well, I’m glad you re-joined us, Jet. How was your power nap?”
“Awful. Two nitwits were arguing over blueprints in my dream.” He laced his fingers on the desk and smirked. “Guess I can’t leave you two alone even when I doze off.”
Storm swiped the blueprints off the ground. He fidgeted with them, and Wave found herself narrowing her eyes on Jet. They wouldn’t have argued if he had managed to keep his eyes open for longer than five minutes.
But before she started to scold him, Jet yawned again. He stretched his arms above his head and cracked his spine. Slumping in his seat, he slowly blinked, asking, “Alright, so are you two ready for our mission tonight? Because I can’t have you two bickering over nothing when we’re on the job.”
Wave gripped her hips and met Storm’s gaze. Jet might have been an excellent leader, able to coordinate with his teammates at the drop of a hat, but exhaustion had taken over him. If they risked robbing the store tonight, Jet’s health was at stake. He could’ve slipped off his Extreme Gear or tripped a security mechanism in his delirium, and both of them would have been beyond concerned with the consequences that would immediately follow.
They realized Jet needed rest, even if he would insist otherwise. The wrinkling in Storm’s brow suggested he understood her plight. He inclined his head toward Wave, his silent request heard. Wave rubbed her arm, tilting her head as Jet picked at the corners of his eyes, flicking off sleep crust.
“Well, Storm and I think it’s in everyone’s best interest to steal the diamond tomorrow evening,” she said, and Jet grunted, annoyance touching his features. She held out her hands, vanishing the holographic map into her orb. “Look, Jet, you didn’t even wake up when your head hit the table. Aren’t you concerned you could suddenly fall asleep while escaping from the authorities?”
Jet brushed off her question. “No.”
Storm itched his jaw, peering at the corner of the desk. “Uh, well, boss, it’s not like we think it’ll happen. Just, um, right now, you look tired.”
“And you’re acting tired,” Wave added just as Jet went to yawn.
The hawk clamped his beak shut. He rose from his seat and snaked his fingers through his head fathers. He looked over to his Extreme Gear resting on the window, his foot tapping impatiently, but he sighed, rubbing the side of his face that had hit the table.
“Yeah, well, it’s not like we’re doing anything tomorrow. We’ll postpone the mission,” he said, stumbling between them. “It’s what I wanted to do in the first place.”
Wave crossed his arms, warding off her state of disbelief before it could hit her. She wiggled her fingers at Jet when he dragged himself out the door. When it shut behind her, she slapped her arms against her sides, Storm chuckling next to her.
“He’s a great leader, but boy, he can be incredibly juvenile when it comes to taking care of himself,” she said, and Storm laughed, the blueprints slipping from his grip. As he gasped and quickly bent over to grab the blueprints, Wave hummed to herself. “Hey, sorry, I chewed you out, Storm. That was pretty rude of me.”
“Oh!” His eyes widened. A chuckle rumbled out of him. “It’s, uh, it’s okay. I don’t know why I dropped them in the first place.”
She tapped his arm on her way out. “Because you were worried about Jet, just like I was.”
He grinned at her. While they might have shared their differences, they cared immensely for Jet and each other. Their respect for Jet overshadowed their petty arguments. As they left his office, discussing how to handle their upcoming mission, they looked forward to crushing the competition.