Sleep, Alexander

I.

"Ugh" Alexander groaned and dropped his head onto John's shoulder. John looked down at his friend sympathetically. They were two hours into a heavy study session. Midterms were coming up and they were both swamped. "Remind me again why I wanted to be a lawyer?"

"Because you have a passion for making sure people are treated fairly by our laws?" John greatly admired that his friend was studying to be a defense lawyer for populations that were so often swept under the rug.

"No, that doesn't seem right," Alexander mumbled sleepily.

"Oh I know, it's because you love living off of coffee and two hours of sleep."

"Yeah, that seems about right." Alexander laughed slightly bitterly and went back to reading his law textbook, but he left his head on John's shoulder. John went back to his own studying. After a little while, he noticed that Alexander's head had grown heavy and he hadn't turned a page in a few minutes. 

"Alex?" John said softly. The boy didn't stir. John couldn't see his friend's face, but he assumed that he was asleep.

John knew that Alexander would want to be woken up, but he couldn't find it in him to wake up his peaceful friend. He knew that Alex needed sleep so he decided to let him take a half an hour nap. Then he would wake him up.

John tried to go back to studying but the deep sound of Alexander's breathing and the feel of his soft hair tickling his neck was distracting. Plus, Alex's head kept slipping further down and John was afraid he would fall over.

Carefully, John leaned back and moved so that his arm was around Alexander. The young man didn't even move as he readjusted. John tucked Alexander against his side and attempted to go back to reading.

Twenty minutes later, the door to Alexander's dorm room swung open and his roommate Lafayette walked in. He froze when he saw the sleeping Alexander.

"Mon ami, how did you do that?" He asked in amazement, not even bothering to keep his voice down.

"Shhh," John reprimanded.

"Trust me Laurens, once he's asleep, it's almost impossible to wake him up. The trouble is getting him to sleep. How did you do it? I've been trying to get him to take a nap for weeks." Lafayette shook his head in wonder.

"We were just studying and he fell asleep." John would've shrugged but he didn't want to risk waking up Alexander, no matter what Lafayette said.

"Il est fatigué" Lafayette murmured. John saw concern in Lafayette's face as he looked at his sleeping roommate. It made John wonder how little sleep Alexander was really getting.

"Laf, if we move him will he wake up?"

"Alex is so tired, he could probably sleep for days straight." Lafayette said by way of an answer.

"Will you help me?" John gestured to the books and laptop covering their laps. Lafayette gathered everything up. John gently extracted himself and lay Alexander down on the bed. Once again, the exhausted boy didn't wake up. John covered up and tucked his friend in and had to resist the urge to kiss his forehead. "Sleep well, Alexander." 

"I'm glad to see that you like him as much as he likes you," Lafayette said from behind John, making him jump.

"I don't know what you mean," John said, although he knew his red face gave him away.

"Yes, you do." Laf said, but he didn't push the issue any further.

"Um, can you make sure he is up by his 9 am class?" John sputtered to change the subject.

"Of course, mon ami." Lafayette said

"Okay, well I'm going to go finish studying," John said, backing out of the room and away from Lafayette's knowing gaze.

"Au Revoir Laurens," Lafayette called after him. John heard his friend's laughter as he closed the door.

John returned to his own dorm room, but he wasn't able to get much studying done that night. Lafayette's words kept coming back to him. "As much as he likes you" That was what he had said. John should've questioned why he thought Alexander liked him, but he had been so thrown off by his crush being discovered that he had panicked.

Had Alexander said something to Lafayette? Or was the Frenchmen merely speculating? John decided that it was probably the latter and therefore it meant nothing.