Work Text:
Avery wasn’t entirely sure how he ended up in this situation. Currently, the guy he’s had a crush on for the last year is sitting across the cafe table from him and looks like he’s going to faint from exhaustion.
The two of them had met purely by chance, Avery was trying to find the dorm building, completely lost –He was horrible with directions– when Derek had shown up, apparently having already memorised half the paths on the campus. In exchange, Avery helped Derek carry his stuff to the dorms, and the two of them had been friends since then, despite the completely different things they were studying. Avery was an arts person, he liked doing art and it was stressful but he was passionate about it. Meanwhile, Derek seemed like his goal was to give himself an early death, doing two joint majors, (How he managed to fit both of them in his schedule was something Avery would never know) he also was learning multiple languages on the side, Latin, Portuguese, French and English. (Apparently his native language was German.)
Usually Derek was okay with the workload, he’d always told Avery that it was a lot but as long as he managed his time well enough he’d be fine. One thing he always did though, was make sure there was time with Avery in his schedule, even now with exam stress coursing through both of them.
Which was why they were both currently at this cafe. It was near the campus, so students were there pretty often to get coffee and study, but both of them had agreed not to bring their course work when they hung out together.
“..Hey, are you like.. Good?” Avery asked, he really wasn’t joking when he said Derek looked tired, he looked like he was one blink away from collapsing onto the table.
“Yeah.. I’m good, why do you ask?” Derek replied after blinking for so long Avery thought he had fallen asleep for a moment.
“It’s just, how long has it been since you actually slept, dude?” The concern was clear in Avery’s voice, he was already thinking of ways he could convince him to sleep when Derek spoke again.
“It was Monday I'm pretty sure, so I haven’t slept in like.. Four days?” He spoke so calmly about the lack of sleep, like he hasn’t been awake for over 96 hours straight.
“Okay, yeah, no. C’mon, we’re getting you to bed right now.” Avery went to stand up from his chair, but Derek grabbed his hand with surprisingly strong grip strength, stopping him. (Avery could pry his hand off easily, but Derek holding his hand made him bluescreen for longer than he’d like to admit.)
“I’m fine, this is my only free time for the next like.. two weeks, and I really want to spend it with you. Please?” His speech was slurred slightly and his eyes were glistening with unshed tears. The lack of sleep was definitely catching up to him, Derek hated having his emotions clear on his face, and he’d never cry in front of people.
“Derek, you need sleep. Like now.”
“I just told you I’m fine! I’ll be okay not sleeping for a little while.”
“You are literally on like the verge of sleep psychosis that is not ‘fine’!”
“..Avery, what’s in your bag?”
“What?”
“Just check what’s in your bag?” It was a weird request, but if it meant Derek would listen he’d do it.
He bent down to look inside his bag, there was nothing special in there, just all the normal supplies he brought.
He straightened and looked towards Derek again. “It’s just my class suppli-” Derek was no longer in front of him, and when he looked around, he saw Derek standing outside the glass door of the coffee shop. Derek winked at him and began running down the street.
Avery couldn’t believe it, even sleep deprived, Derek still managed to trick him. Avery shot up from his seat, grabbed his bag and ran after him. Avery knew that, despite Derek being smarter, he was the quicker of the two. He ran down the road after Derek until he reached a converging path. He knew that, for some reason, whenever Derek had to pick a path, he’d always choose to go left. It was a strange habit he had, but Avery had weirder so it's not like he could judge.
Avery rounded the corner, and saw him. It only took a second to catch up to him. “Gotcha!” Avery grabbed onto him, not letting him escape. “Come on, we have to make sure you actually get some sleep.”
Luckily, Derek was a lot more compliant after being caught, whether that was the exhaustion or Derek just giving up, he had no fucking idea.
Finally, they made it back to Derek’s room. (After some very concerning comments about some hallucination he was getting from the sleep deprivation. Something about a King? He remembers Derek talking about the book the character was from once.) Derek’s room was always extremely clean, however, because of the exams the room was a little more messy than usual, a bunch of smoothie cups and food wrappers on the bedside table that he hadn’t had the time to throw out yet.
“Alright, you need to actually go to bed now.” He told Derek, gently pushing him onto the bed and tugging the covers up over him. He moved to leave and let him sleep when his hand was grabbed.
“Stay?” Derek murmured from under the covers. Oh god this man was gonna be the death of him.
“Oh! I- uh- yeah. I’ll stay until you fall asleep.” Avery sat on the edge of the bed, still holding his hand. Derek’s eyes were already closed, his breathing slowing down. (Avery didn’t realise how quickly he was breathing. Did sleep deprivation make your heart beat faster? He’ll look it up later.)
“..After I wake up.. Can we play Minecraft?” Were the last words Derek said before falling asleep. They made Avery laugh.
“Yeah, we can. You definitely need something to do other than studying after this.” Avery’s voice was so soft and fond it almost didn’t sound like him. He really loved Derek. He loved listening to him rant about classic books and the history of paintings, he loved getting coffee with him and going on walks, he even loved the stupid tricks he was able to play on Avery.
Avery felt his own eyes closing, he didn’t realise how tired he was until he was sat on Derek’s bed, he knows if he falls asleep like this, his neck will be aching from the bad posture, but here, holding Derek’s hand? Avery finds he doesn’t really care.
“Good night Derek…” With a light squeeze of Derek’s hand, he was fast asleep.
..And if Derek wakes up to see him there, gently lays him down in his bed and goes to get the two of them some food? Well, that was only for him to know.