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Roman and Remy had an understanding, as roommates.
They both had times where they would sleep far too little. Roman would get caught up in his own head, ideas flying everywhere, unable to stop working on his latest project no matter how tired he was. Remy was simpler. He simply liked the nighttime atmosphere, going to parties and walking the streets, watching the people stumble home in their club attire.
They could usually tell when the other had pulled one of their all-nighters. The unspoken rule remained: whoever had actually slept was in charge of the Starbucks run that morning.
By now, Remy had Roman’s lengthy, far-too-specific order memorized (which Roman refused to admit made his heart flutter in the oddest of ways). Remy’s response was almost simply “surprise me,” so Roman always did. As long as it had copious amounts of caffeine in it, Remy didn’t seem to care.
And then finals came up.
Roman didn’t know how Remy was doing. He barely even checked to see which one of them slept less, who’s turn it was to grab the caffeine. He was too busy cramming his brain and wishing desperately he had time to work on his own creative endeavors, drowning in all the work he had to do.
He wasn’t even sure how long he’d been holed up in his room when he finally emerged, feeling somewhat lightheaded and very hungry.
“Hey, gurl,” Remy called from the couch. “You don’t look too good. Where you been?”
Roman just hummed, bringing a hand up to his head and squeezing his eyes shut.
“Ro,” Remy said, worry coating his tone. Roman could hear him step closer. “Roman, hey, look at me.”
Roman tried to look up, and that’s what did him in. He moved his head far too quickly, the lightheadedness turning into dizziness, leading to Roman just toppling over entirely.
Remy yelped and caught him under his arms, dragging him over to the couch and touching his face lightly with his fingers.
Remy’s voice was somewhat weak when he next spoke, but Roman could tell he was trying to lighten the mood. “You fainted…straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention you didn’t have to go to such extremes.”
Roman let out a weak chuckle. “I suppose that is one way to do it,” he murmured.
He felt Remy’s hand falter where it had started combing through Roman’s hair. “Alright, we’ll talk about that a bit later, babe. When was the last time you slept?”
Roman blearily blinked his eyes open. “Uhh, what day is it?”
“Roman Kingsley,” Remy growled. “Have you lost your damn mind!? You can’t go that long without sleep!”
Roman furrowed his brow. “I didn’t even answer.”
“Your question was answer enough.”
Roman hummed and closed his eyes again.
“Here’s what’s gonna go down, babe. You are gonna get some sleep, right here, right now--”
“But finals--”
“Finals can wait, your health cannot. And then, when we wake up, we’re gonna talk about that little truth bomb you dropped. It was subtle, but I think I know what you meant.”
Roman opened his mouth, to confirm Remy’s suspicions or to try and cover his own ass, he wasn’t sure, but Remy cut him off with a gentle kiss to his forehead, adjusting Roman’s head to be more comfortable in his lap.
“Sleep, babe. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
And so Roman slept.