Work Text:
"Wow, you look terrible."
Katie didn't even raise her head from its resting spot; planted face-down in a textbook.
"Oh, sure, like you can talk pretty boy," she retorted, no malice in her voice. Katie heard the lanky boy slide into the chair across from her. She could imagine his exact movements, from the way he shrugged off his backpack to the way he rested his head in his hands to look at her.
"I mean, you're right, but you shouldn't say it," Lance said, not even attempting to mask the exhaustion in his voice. Katie adjusted herself so she could look at him; she smirked at the rare sight of Lance McClain, her one friend obsessed with self-care, with bags under his eyes.
He lightly tapped the top of her head with his biology textbook. "If you're that tired, you should take a nap Katie-kat."
Katie stuck her tongue at him. "Sleep? Don't know her."
He tried to stifled a giggle, but failed. She felt her face start to heat up. Nope, nope not doing this now, she chided herself, bringing her textbook up to cover her growing blush.
They fell into their usual routine, with Katie's side of the table covered with papers filled with equations while Lance scribbled away furiously in his 20 or so notebooks. She wanted to know how he fit all of those in his bag without breaking his back. Some banter was tossed back and forth, but just having Lance's presence across from her made the grueling finals week significantly less painful.
~
"Katie, come on. They're closing up."
She blinked a few times, wondering why everything was so blurry. Katie rubbed her eyes, glancing around. The library was empty, minus a singular staff member; her phone declared that it was 11:03. Ah, shit. How long had she been asleep, probably drooling on her calculus?
As she shoved things haphazardly into her bag, she noticed her glasses had been placed neatly to the side. Katie couldn't stop the warm feeling in her chest. Maybe it was her exhaustion -no, she's sure that's what it was- but she allowed herself to revel in that small gesture.
They left the library and Katie felt instantly awake due to the cold December wind. She secured her scarf, watching her breath in the air. Lance fell in step beside her, shortening his stride to make it easier on her tiny legs. The silence as they made their way back to their dorms was comfortable, but she couldn't help but feel something in the air. Was her brain short circuiting? Yeah, that was probably it.
Lance cleared his throat, breaking the silence. "Man, we should get coffee sometime this week."
"Definitely. I'd go for some right now, but Romelle would kill me if I was on caffeine high all night."
"... I was thinking sometime this weekend. You and me; you know, like a date or something?"
Katie's heart skipped a beat. She glanced up at the taller boy. Lance scratched the back of his head, his eyes glued to the concrete walkway. Even in the dim lighting, she could see the dusting of pink on his cheeks.
His eyes finally met hers.
"Yeah, I'd like that."