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Rivera

Just need to debug this block...

Rivera was almost done with her midterm project for one of her courses she had been taking. It was simple, really, but one all nighter led to some sleep deprived errors which lead to some more faulty lines and then...you get the idea. Thankfully, that happened a long time before the due date, so it was manageable.

Blake, on the other hand, was not doing as well.

The duo regularly met up in the library to study and provide each other company. There were times of improved productivity and other times of childish distraction, but it was nice either way. Today, while Rivera was getting things done at a satisfying pace, Blake kept staring out the window, head rested in hand. For the past few hours, anyone could hear the shifting between pages, accompanied by the periodic groan or sigh.

After a while, Rivera's motivation also started to wear out. When was the last time she actually took a proper breath? The question lingered as she inhaled deeply, suddenly feeling a lot better. Falcon hadn't yet come out of his sullen state; come to think of it, this was getting more and more frequent, along with the colder weather and shorter days. Coincidence? She thought not.

'Blake?' She called.

'Yeah?'

'Are you feeling alright?'

At the lack of a response, she looked at the sad heap to her left, who seemed close to falling asleep. To test that theory out, she briskly ran a hand through his hair, expecting to get lazily swatted away like usual (she didn't).

'Not really,' came the reply, finally.

'Anything I can help with?' It was more of a rhetorical question, but nobody had to know that.

'Nah, but thanks.'

Alright, then. She didn't really have anything else to do (what a surprise), and the library was warm, in contrast to the poorly heated dorms, so there wasn't really a point in getting up.

After approximately 10 minutes of continuing to read a novel, Rivera remembered (or realized?) the lack of movement from her friend.

'Blake,' her tone was less questioning this time around.

'What?'

'You've been nodding off over your work a lot, lately.'

'Oh- funny, isn't it?'

'If I hadn't seen sticky notes all over your textbook with tasks scrawled all over them,' she gestured towards his books, 'it would be comedic, yes. Unfortunately, I have noticed.'

'Damn,'

'Agreed,'

After a pause, he spoke up again. 'I can't focus on a thing. It just ricochets out my skull, like,' he imitated a cartoon bow and arrow, with a 'pew!' sound effect. 'Just wanna go fall asleep forever.'

Quite the situation, wasn't that? Rivera thought about it for a while.

'Get up, we're going for a walk.' She declared.

'Since when was that your call?' Good, his voice had some life in it again.

'Since a few seconds ago, why?' When there wasn't a response, again, she continued. 'I'm not kidding. You need fresh air, or something like that.'

That seemed to work, finally getting some life into him. 'Wow, a computer geek telling a botanist to go touch grass? Touché.' Blake tsked. Upon seeing Rivera's deadset expression, he stood up. 'Fine, I'm coming.'