Burn Out ( Danplan )

Assignment

A low groan escaped his lips as he felt himself falling in and out of consciousness. His usual messy mop of hair looked as though it went through a tornado and then some; several strands of lilac sticking out from places it shouldn't have been. His clothes were rumpled and horribly sticky from sweat as it clung to the man's skin like an infectious disease. Several books of varying thicknesses lay sprawled out on the kitchen table, along with a mix matched set of highlighters and pens thrown around the wooden surface. Pieces of crumpled paper littered the tiled floor; the owner having lost all sense of tidiness hours prior.

His muscles ached in a way that shouldn't have been considered normal for a man of his age. Dark, grey circles hung beneath his eyelids grew painfully heavier with every passing hour. He was almost sure that he only ever used one mug to drink the dreaded coffee yet the way the object swam in his vision, making him see double was making him second guess himself. If the splitting headaches didn't indicate anything, the fact he had to forcefully swallow down the choked sobs in his throat was enough to prove he was losing his senses.

Stephen knew he needed to rest. Maybe some sleep, a shower and something proper to eat aside from energy bars and stale coffee. Yet he was here, sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by textbooks he wished he could just burn to ashes already. All because he made the worst mistake to cover his assigned group member's fraction of work since he apparently needed to step out due to some family business. Honestly, if murder wasn't an option in his mentality book before, it definitely was now.

So now, not only did he have to balance daily classes but he also needed to complete an assignment that was supposed to be done with two people. Great, just great. Fuck you, Joe.

Normally, he would've followed his own common sense and stop working by now but knowing his professor whom would never tolerate last minute work and progressively check in on the students' work, he wasn't willing to risk putting himself through that hell. Not when he had other things to do aside their stupid assignment. So, here he was, pulling an all- nighter he didn't want to do.

In fact, he looked down upon sleeping late in the morning. In contrast to his aggressive display, he was actually the more logical one between the three. He believed if something only caused yourself more harm than good, it was stupid. Taking care of your body and mind first was top priority before even thinking about meddling in other people's business. "Love yourself first and foremost, then everyone else comes second. " as he quoted in a video before.

He would often be the one to carry or even force both Hosuh and Dan into bed with him when they stayed up late for work; because be damned his sake, those two couldn't ever process to actually think with a brain sometimes.

Well, isn't this situation pretty ironic ?

He didn't know when his head dipped but he didn't have time to catch himself, which resulted in him accidentally banging his forehead against the hard, wooden surface with a painfully loud 'thunk' which was followed by a string of incoherent cursing. To which he regretted doing immediately when he heard footsteps making it's way to the kitchen.

"Stephen ?"

There, standing in the hallway; in a grey tank top and loose pajama shorts with a bedhead so bad you would think it's a bird's nest.

Daniel.

"Why are you still up ? It's so late." the man asked in slight concern as he walked over to the fridge. Needless to say, the younger male was surprised himself when he looked over to the tiny clock on their island table; indicating it was nearing 3 am. He didn't think he would've stayed up this late. He was brought back to reality when he heard the sound of the fridge being opened behind him.