AN: Me? Writing cute college AUs to avoid the writers block I have for my other stories? I have no idea what you're talking about.
Jack Kelly had had a hell of a day - and not in a good way. He'd practically failed his English test, run into a Delancey (he didn't bother checking which one) in between classes, and to top it all off he'd accidentally ruined one of the backdrops he'd been working on for Medda, causing him to have to start all over. So, despite the fact that he had an essay due by the end of the next day, Jack was looking forward to just going straight to sleep when he got back to his dorm.
His roommate, Davey, had gone to visit his family for a few days, because he, of course, was ahead on his work, and that meant Jack had the room all to himself - or so he thought.
He paused right outside his door. He thought he could hear something inside. He waited a moment before shaking his head, putting his key in and unlocking the door. Davey had probably just gotten home early and forgot to tell him. Either that or he was hearing things, and Jack refused to believe that he was so stressed out that he was hallucinating.
When he opened the door, though, he found that neither of those two options were true. It turned out the noise he'd heard was classical music, what his girlfriend Katherine used to relax when she was studying. It seemed she'd relaxed a little too much, because she was wearing one of Jack's old sweatshirts and was slumped over his desk, her cheek resting on a textbook, fast asleep.
He grinned. It never took Katherine much to cheer him up. But, he figured he should probably wake her up, so, closing the door behind him, Jack walked over to her and placed a gentle hand on her back.
"Kath." He shook her slightly. "Hey, Kath, wake up."
She groaned and slowly opened her eyes, staring up at him for a few seconds before clearing her throat. "Jack? What are you doing here?"
"Well, I kinda live here."
"What?" She lifted her head, wincing slightly as the page she was resting it on was peeled off of her cheek, and looked around, apparently just noticing that they were in Jack's dorm room. "Oh."
"So, I guess I'll ask you: what're you doing here? I mean not that I mind or anything, but I wasn't expecting you."
Katherine grimaced. "My roommate decided to bring her friends over again - "
"The hyenas?"
Katherine nodded. Her roommate had two friends who seemed to find everything in the world funny, so she and Jack had nicknamed them the hyenas - it seemed to fit.
"Yes, them. I didn't feel like going across campus to the library so... I figured you wouldn't mind."
"Nah, I don't mind. Matter of fact, I was having a pretty bad day too... do you wanna maybe...?" Jack gestured to his bed, only half teasing.
She rolled her eyes, standing up and stretching. "No, I can't, I have..." Her eyes widened, suddenly remembering what she had to do. "I have to study, I have this test tomorrow, I can't fail it ."
"Must be a pretty boring subject if you fell asleep studying it."
"It is, and that's why I have to keep going."
"You're just gonna fall asleep again." He pointed out.
"Are you seriously still just trying to get me to have sex with you?"
"No, I'm just looking out for you."
"Well, that's very sweet, but I really do have to study."
"Ace..."
"Jack..." She mocked, giving him a look.
"C'mon." He groaned, taking her hand and pulled her in the direction of his bed. "Take a nap with me."
That almost made her laugh. "What?"
"I'm serious! You're tired, I'm tired, I got a nice bed right here. You can't go sleep at your place."
"I can't go sleep anywhere right now, I have to - "
"Katherine!" He gave her his most attractive pleading look. "Thirty minutes. I'll set an alarm."
Katherine gave him an intimidating look. "Thirty minutes? You promise you'll set an alarm?"
"Yes. Here." He reached over and grabbed his phone. "You can watch if you want."
She did want to, so she watched over his shoulder as he set it for forty-five minutes later ("It takes time to fall asleep", he insisted), and once he had, he turned to look at her.
"Now can we sleep? Please?"
She sighed, finally allowing herself to relax. "Yes."
When Jack's alarm went off a half hour later, Katherine rolled over, turned it off, and snuggled back up to Jack's chest.
