Welcome to the Table/ The Statehouse one-shots

More Stress

A.N. So remember that head canon I have that DC has trouble sleeping with how stressed he is? Yeah, I wanted to write more of that, but since last time, it was Florida who he was talking about it with, this time, it's California.

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          California wakes up to hear movement outside his bedroom door. It's quiet movement, but also very quick movement.

          'Who could possibly be up at this hour?' he thinks to himself before getting out of bed and walking over to his bedroom door. Slightly opening the door, he sees someone start to make his way down the stairs, but he can't tell who because it's dark.

          He slowly and quietly follows that person down the stairs. He sees the person go into the kitchen and  waits for a few minutes. He hears the coffee machine start up.

          "The coffee machine? Who in their right mind would be drinking coffee at..." he checks the time on his phone, "one o'clock in the morning?!" he whispers to himself.

          He finally walks into the kitchen to see who is in there. A small lamp on the counter is on.

          "DC?" California asks.

          DC turns around to see California standing there, looking at him with a confused expression.

          "Oh, hey, California. What's up? Most importantly, what are you doing up?" DC asks.

          "I should be asking you the same thing," California says

          "Couldn't sleep." DC answers vaguely.

          "So to fix that, you're drinking a cup of coffee at one in the morning?!" California asks.

          "Who said I was trying to fix it?" DC asks.

          "Anyway, why couldn't you sleep?" California asks.

           "Because- there's a lot of work to be done and so little time to do it. I'm normally up all night working. I tried to actually sleep tonight, but I couldn't. I knew there was too much that needed to get done. So I had to do it." DC explains, taking a sip of his coffee.

          "Oh, so you're stressed. I understand. But think of it like this, the work won't get done if you're sleep deprived." California says.

          "Florida said the same thing." DC says.

          "So Florida knows about this?" California asks, to which DC nods his head in confirmation.

          "All I can think of is getting the work done, not sleeping." DC explains.

          "That isn't ok. How about I help you with the work you need to get done? We get it done twice as fast and you can finally stop worrying about it." California offers.

          "Are you sure? It's a lot." DC asks.

          "Of course I'm sure. Admittedly, I'm a little worried about you. I'll do anything to help you finally relax and be able to sleep." Cali answers.

          DC smiles a bit at California, "thanks, California."

          California smiles back, "anytime. Now, I'm gonna need a cup of that coffee if we're gonna stay up tonight doing this work."