Hey Sunshine

Small-Wet-Dog-Slash-Citrus Drink

WYLAN HAD FIGURED IT ALL OUT.

Every single detail, written to the core. It had been so well done, an excellent plan executed to the very finest edges. It was a ruthless plan, designed to screw him over as hard as it could.

Whoever had designed it was evil. He would personally make sure they died painfully, screaming and sobbing for whatever they had inside of them, because nobody with a bit of heart would dare do something this cruel.

"Alright Wylan," Inej said patiently (read: vindictively). "I highly doubt this was their intention."

"Nope," Wylan said shaking his head rapidly. "I'm telling you Inej - this is their plan, and it's the worst thing anybody could ever have done to me. It's evil."

"Wylan," she said with remarkable gravitas. "It's not their fault you forgot to study for finals."

It was two AM, December seventh and exactly eight hours before Wylan had to take the tests for the end of the semester. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to study until then due to everything else that had come up in his life, and now Inej (who was a saint) was the only other one awake so they could study together despite the hour. Matthias had gone to sleep five hours ago, after making them both cup'pa noodles and telling them to go to sleep before one. Jesper was stress-studying in the other room, and Wylan reminded himself to check on the other boy before going to bed himself.

Naturally, they hadn't.

"At least after this we have winter break for a good two weeks," Inej said stretching out. "Come on, we only have a few problems left."

Wylan narrowed his eyes as he removed an earbud. "What'd you say?" he asked distractedly, pausing the audio book that was recapping most of the semesters notes.

"We have winter break after this," Inej repeated. "Hurrah."

He made a face. "Yeah. Hurrah."

His father generally wanted him back home around this time, so rather than having fun or anything, he would probably be at the mansion bored out of his skull and terrified of hearing the door open for fear of his father returning. When he was younger, he used to go to Kuweii's, but their relationship wasn't the best anymore so it was generally just a text-as-a-last-resort kind of thing. Kuweii didn't even know about his recent issues.

"Get back to your studying," Inej said, whacking the side of his head (but like, gently). "It's two in the morning and I'm exhausted."

He smiled. "You know, you can go to bed right? You don't have to stay with me here. I'll just play music and listen to my notes again."

"How does that work? Doesn't the music mess with the audio for the notes?" Inej asked.

He shrugged. "One earbud plays music, and the other earbud plays the actual stuff I need to study. The music is softer, so I can hear what I need to. And vice versa, if I want the teacher to think I'm studying but I'm not really."

Inej nodded, looking amused. "Alright, well," she yawned despite herself and Wylan smiled.

"You should probably go get some rest," he told her and she nodded looking tired. "You look exhausted."

Ruffling his hair, she reminded him to go to bed soon before disappearing into the hall. Watching her fading figure for a few moments, he clicked the unpause button and lapsed back into silence, listening to the monotone voice explain the importance of angling pneumatic pistons to increase the efficiency of fluid thermodynamics of a hypothetical model vehicle's systems.

Ring ring

He scowled, pausing the narrator again. Twisting around to look for his phone, his eyes narrowed as he saw the headline: Kuweii