I may have changed who this line was originally intended for. Oops. -C
Alex laughs as he stares at his partners for the paper. He had managed to get John to stay with Hercules and Lafayette since he was sure they would pull an all-nighter. He had many cups of coffee made, and he was on his fifth now. Sure, Alex felt a little jittery, but the law paper was due in a week. Ten pages about a case already solved, explaining what laws violated and having both opening and closing statements.
Aaron and Thomas had spread out as much as possible, each doing their individual job. Aaron had revision and the opening statement. He had cut most of Alex's work, saying it didn't work at all.
He sits on John's bed, eyes lazily flickering down the paper. A yellow highlighter sits in his hand, and the other one holds black. Yellow means keep, black means take out. Every once and awhile, his eyelids droop forward and he marks it randomly before jolting awake back again.
Aaron yawns as if he senses Alex's gaze. His voice is long since slurred with grogginess. "What time is it, Alexander?"
"Too late to be awake," Thomas drawls, his Southern accent out full force. He isn't on a bed, opting to sit on the floor. He had finished the closing statement ages ago. It was only the body. The research papers are spread around him in a semi-circle, and he has his own system going on. Purple highlighting meaning important content and green meaning unimportant. Alex can't help but feel like it's a dig at his trusty green hoodie.
Thomas doesn't act tired, not like Aaron. He instead has gotten snappish and indifferent, alternating between the two moods faster than either of the two bother to keep up.
Alex settles back on his bed, flopping down. Then, he pulls his laptop into his lap. The printer that he and John bought would run out of ink soon with all the printing. He happily prints the current fifteen pages. "Fifteen pages to revise, Burr. First two are the thirty pages you already revised."
"We only need eight more pages...Six," Aaron corrects himself, rubbing at his eyes for the fifth time that minute. "The opening and closing statements were one page each. You just need to write extremely relevant details about the information Thomas just provided you. And then I can go home."
He gives a longing look at the wall that separates the two dorms.
Alex laughs. "Only four in the morning, Aaron! Haven't you pulled an all-nighter before?"
"Not over a friggin' law paper," Aaron groans.
Thomas nods. "This, Hamilton, is the most ridiculous plan you have had all semester."
"You're just jealous you didn't think of it," Alex challenges.
Thomas' dark brown eyes find Alex's. They're cold, not quite caring anymore. "No, Hamilton. I am only jealous of James. Who is sleeping. Like we should have been. Ages ago."
"Envy is a deadly sin," he singsongs.
Aaron groans. "It's too late to debate religion. Or anything."
Thomas appears to take his advice to heart. For the next two hours, the three of them work in complete silence. The highlighting gets more and more random, but the actual paper is pretty good. Alex also enjoys the fact that Thomas hasn't figured out that he could have gone home about an hour ago. He doesn't even need anymore research.
At long last, as the sun rises, the paper prints and they're done.
Thomas is irritable and pokes fun at both of them. However, Alex can barely make it out through the accent. Thomas really lays it on heavy when tired. Aaron has an impressive puddle of drool on his knee for being 'awake'. His eyelids are stuck half-closed. He doesn't even respond anymore.
