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A few days after they install a coffee machine into BARian, Alit slams his fist into the opposite hand in grand discovery. "I've figured out why you can never relax!" he declares with all the confidence of a delusional child as he stares pointedly at Durbe, who is sitting at the bar with a copy of the Heartland Daily and a mug of coffee made from the previously mentioned machine.
"And why is that?" Durbe asks calmly, never once looking up from the newspaper.
"Because!" And here there is a long pause where Durbe wonders idly if Alit will ever give up the dramatics. "You're addicted to coffee!"
"And that has something to do with my lack of relaxation... how?"
"Because," and yet another long pause goes here and Durbe rolls his eyes as he waits ever so patiently for the rest of the statement, "ever since we got that coffee machine, you've been more and more tired! Coffee makes people jittery and keeps them from sleeping! So it explains such obvious signs of fatigue such as the nervous tapping you do with your fingers constantly drumming against the damn counter, and the bags under your--"
"There are no bags, Alit," Durbe interrupts with a monotone.
Alit smirks. "Tell that to Mizael, he thinks you need to borrow his eye cream," he says mischievously.
"My fingers drum because it's a nervous habit--"
"Yeah, but they do it all the time," Alit moans. "And it's kinda loud and it goes till like four in the morning and I guess that's when you finally pass out because you have coffee at night too and why else wouldn't you be able to get to sleep?"
"I do not have a coffee addiction," Durbe says, as if it's the end of discussion, but Alit determinedly presses on.
"But Gilag says you don't eat properly either, I mean is a coffee seriously the only part of your completely unbalanced breakfast?"
"I'll have a scone if it makes you happy."
"No it doesn't!"
"Two scones?"
"Urgh, Durbe!"
"What?"
"You're addicted to coffee. Say it with me, you... are... add--"
"Alit?"
"What?"
"Shut up."
"Only if you promise to fall asleep at a decent, non-zombie-like time tonight."
"I'll cut out my nightly mug."
"Good!"
That night, it took all of Durbe's willpower to not drum his fingers on every surface of his room so that Alit would assume he had gone to sleep at a completely regular time and hadn't broken his promise.