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The sun was already peeking above the horizon, but Iris was fully awake, watching Nova with her bright but mischievous greyish-blue eyes, staring right at her.
Iris reached up to Nova's head to brush her messy bangs to the side. Nova, without opening her eyes, swatted her hand away and mumbled something incoherent.
Iris shook her lightly. “Hey, wake up.” She patiently waited until Nova finally acknowledged her.
“What do you need, Iris? I'm still half-asleep, and please stop staring at me so creepily,”
Her face naturally settled into a scowl, but it was just her usual resting face.
“Nah, ill keep staring. And you know what?..”
she paused for dramatic effect. “Just wanted to tell you that you look so cute, like always!” Iris messed up her hair completely.
“Can you please stop doing that!” Nova enjoyed looking neat and didn't like getting her hair messed up. but iris loved to touch it to see her reaction.
“Also, wanna know something?”
“Yes, Iris?” Nova replied with curiosity in her tone.
“You know how you have a “strict” routine of always waking up at 7:15 and stuff? Yeah. It's 10:00 AM now. Better get going, love.”
Nova sat up completely straight, speaking in a harsh whisper-yell tone. “Why didn't you tell me! You know that I like to wake up early, and also did I miss my alarm?”
Iris replied. “Well... Yes,” she replied smoothly. “It did ring, but I turned it off because you looked peaceful and you're always tired, so I let you sleep a while longer.”
Nova did not like to hear that. She hates being off routine. She bolted upright, her eyes darted to the digital clock on the nightstand. But instead of it being 10:00 AM like Iris said, the clock said “7:15 AM.”
Nova had been fooled by her. Just as she was trying to process this, the alarm that Nova supposedly turned off suddenly went off. It was loud in the completely silent room.
As soon as it rang, Iris burst into giggles which she was holding in. The way Nova was so worried about being on schedule, it was so funny to Iris. Nova was speechless.
“I hate you so much! You always pull dumb tricks like this,” she exclaimed, not serious.
Iris was wheezing, trying to talk through the laugh attack. “Oh my god, your face!”
As Nova flopped down onto the bed, a blanket pulled over her head. Iris tried to recover and calm down. As her breathing slowed down, she glanced over at sulking Nova with a small smile.“You know you look adorable when shocked.”
Iris found Nova's hand under the covers.“No I don't, and don't clutch my hand so tight.”
Despite her words, she did not move away.
“Hmm... Are you sure...? You would've been moving away by now.”
“Yes, I'm sure,” Nova said firmly but with an underlying tone of unsureness.
“Youre a bad liar, you know,” Iris laughed. “But I suppose you should get on with your “most important schedule in the world.”
Nova rose up, her feet slightly sore and she felt a bit sleepy. The floor was cold beneath her feet. Even though Nova did not have a job, she still had a right schedule with chores and hobbies, starting with cooking breakfast for her and Iris.
She took steps toward the kitchen, the floorboards creaking under her feet, while she tried to ignore how Iris was following behind her like a shadow.
Nova slowly turned around, to face Iris.
“So, what do you want for breakfast today? The usual?”
“Yes, obviously, French toast is the best!” Iris yelled in excitement.
“Of course you do..” she rolled her eyes.
After that, she got to work. She grabbed the ingredients, setting them on the counter. Then took out a wide, shallow bowl to mix eggs, milk and salt. Iris kept walking by, looking at the progress she was making.
Then she got an idea on how to mess with her a bit. While she was mixing, the eggs rested on the counter. Iris walked by another time, trying to act innocent, while laughing inside.
She was purposely walking a bit too close, near the eggs. When Nova wasn't looking, she pushed one on “accident”. The whisk in her hand froze.
“Why did you do that?” She knew that this 100% was not an accident, and that she played these tricks often, trying to act innocent.
“What do you mean?! It was an accident! Stop accusing me.”
She had that rehearsed higher-pitched tone in her voice, making it seem like she was the victim and Nora was “accusing her” without reason.
She just sighed, not wanting to put up another fight between them which somehow resulted in Nora apologizing for some reason, but Iris was the one who always tried not to laugh, trying to make it look serious.
“Go clean it up.” Nora's voice was flat but stern.
“Oh fine!” She made it seem like she's doing her a favor and not cleaning up something she did on purpose.
Iris was on the floor, towel in hand, wiping down the mess, it was not even a big mess, but she sighed or groaned in between. The clean was 10 seconds maximum, not that hard.
Then she slowly wiped her forehead, wiping imaginary sweat. “Omg, that was hard. Am I still getting the French toast as a reward?”
Nora was basically done cooking by the moment she finished cleaning up. “I mean, of course you are.” She sets out 2 plates for both of them, setting it on the table.
Iris rushes towards the table to sit down swiftly, already excited, nearly drooling. She stabs the toast with the fork, wanting to taste it. It was a pleasant and familiar taste, she could never get tired of it.
“You really are a great cook.”
“You say that everytime.” She tries to brush it off, but her cheeks turn pink.
“Haha, you really are more easy to fluster than I thought. Just a few words, you're already blushing hard!” She laughed at this.
Nova's face was neutral, and she tried to reply in a cool tone.
“it's just hot in here”
“The most classic excuse ever! Come up with something more believable later, it's not even hot in here.”
They ate in silence after that, but Iris would occasionally bring up the “clock incident”, and chuckle at nothing. Nova groaned, hoping she would forget it.
And of course, Iris was left to wash the dishes.