Cherche had been up before the sun was. It was like that every day. The blonde woman would be up before the sun rose, her hair pulled up into its signature side ponytail thing, and clothes that were appropriate for work yet still slightly girly on. Out of habit, she would peek into Luca’s room before she went to ready the inn for guests, just to make sure he was okay. It was a tick she picked up shortly after their grandma died, back when Luca still got sick a lot. She’d been a nervous wreck back then, back when nightmares about waking up only to find Luca dead were a common thing. Every morning when she does the same exact thing, she just tells herself that it’s because breaking routine is hard. She’s not actually still worried about Luca like that. So, with a content smile on her face, Cherche quietly closes the door and heads towards the lobby to get things ready. 

Its an hour and a half later when she decides its time to wake Luca and Josh up, or rather wake Luca up and get him to wake Josh up. Dealing with the red headed “adventurer” was just not something she could do this early in the morning. When she poked her head back into his room, Luca was hugging his pillow like there was no tomorrow. “Luca, get up. You need to wake up Josh. I’ve got to be out front in case of customers.”

“You just don’t want to deal with him,” Luca said as he rolled over just in time to see his sister leave and shut the door behind her. His eyes and his voice clearly showed signs that he was still tired, but then again, didn’t he always have the “half asleep and stuck in a daydream” appearance to him? Cherche wasn’t listening to his complaints that weren’t really complaints though. So after a few more moments of soaking up the warm sunlight that was coming through his windows, Luca got up, and, before even stopping to put clothes that weren’t pajamas on, woke up Josh in the most effect way possible.

By throwing himself directly on top of the older male. 

Luca landed so that the two mimicked the shape of a plus sign, with Luca laying across Josh’s back. “Its time to get up Josh,” Luca said in his usual distant, almost half asleep sounding voice. The older of the two let out a sigh before unceremoniously maneuvering out from Luca. 

“For having an innocent face like yours, you sure can be a jerk sometimes.” 

“It’s not my fault this is the only way.” Josh let out a sigh. He couldn’t be mad at Luca, not with a face and expression as innocent and docile as his. He had no clue how anyone could be mad at Luca. Like, did they take a second to even look at the kid? He was downright adorable. Of course, Josh meant that in an entirely platonic way, because Cherche would kill him on the spot if he tried anything with Luca. That was the only situation where he could see her being even more angry than when he hit on her. 

“Just get off of my bed and go get ready. Facing the wrath of your sister in the morning is the last thing I want to do.” 

Luca did just that. After returning to his room and getting changed, he walked out to the lobby, the usual morning meeting place for the three of them. Of course, their daily meeting didn’t change much from day to day, but for some reason that sat fine with all of them. So they went about their morning routines, Luca cooking breakfast for whoever paid (and Josh, who never paid), Cherche managing the front desk, and Josh supposedly cleaning. That was how the three worked. 

At some point in the morning, Josh found himself lounging about the kitchen with Luca, Cherche having chased him out of the main lobby after what seemed to be a normal discussion turned into a “let’s see who can be more insulting” match. Josh didn’t dislike Cherche. He actually liked her quite a bit. They were close. Two years of living with someone would do that to a person. Their personalities just had a tendency to clash, which often led to arguments, insults, and teasing. 

He hadn’t really been paying attention, but his ears instantly perked up when it happened. A cough. Just one, and Luca did his best to hide it. Involuntarily, his eyes went wide. Josh had only ever been around for one of Luca’s really bad episodes, which was about a year ago. Luca looked at him, trying to subdue the worry in his usually far off eyes. “Don’t tell Cherche. I’ll be fine.” Josh nodded. How many times had he argued with her about not treating Luca like a kid anymore. How many times had she ran away, teary eyed because there was no way he could understand what she’d gone through. But he wasn’t going to back down now. If Luca didn’t want Cherche to know, he wouldn’t tell. After all, it was only a cough. 

Luca, on the other hand, was entirely relieved that Josh wasn’t going to tell Cherche. She had a tendency to worry too much and he didn’t want her to add worrying about him to the list of ever growing things she already had to worry about. It had been a year since his last episode too. This had to be just a normal person sickness. For some reason though, he could still feel the beginnings of doubt build in his stomach. 

They both let the subject drop after that. 

It was a little bit after eight when Josh announced that he’d done enough cleaning for the morning and that he was going out to find something interesting to do. Cherche yelled at him for being a slacker while Luca waved goodbye absentmindedly, almost dropping the plate of pancakes he was holding. The kid was a walking disaster. Oh well. Time to see what Crescent Town had to offer for the day. If nothing else, he could always come back and annoy his two favorite siblings later.