Flatmates - Solangelo AU

TWENTY TWO

TWENTY TWO

The past week they had barely seen each other, both holed up, cramming desperately for their finals next week. Will had claimed the kitchen as his territory, holding Nyx hostage to keep him company, which Nico didn't mind much, as he spent most of his time in the library or in his room. Winona had given him time off work, and besides meeting with Nala, the only interaction he had were with his textbooks and notes.

It was Monday afternoon, so Nico stood outside the office, waiting to be let in for his session. "Good afternoon, Nico. How's your week been?" Nala greeted as she let him into the building, walking back to her office together.

"Busy. I have five exams left this week, wrote one before coming here, so I apologize if I have no brain capacity today." Nico smiled. He was a lot more comfortable talking to Nala now, and he had started to notice a difference.

"I hope you haven't been sacrificing too much sleep for studying." She gave him a look. "We agreed on four hours of sleep a night this week." Nico sighed.

Ever since his birthday, Nico had stopped sleeping more than an hour, and since then he and Nala have slowly been working back up from one hour. Three hours more might not seem like a whole lot, but Nico felt proud that he had gotten that far.

"I've held up my end of the agreement. I even put on a couple pounds." That was another thing they had been working on. Nico wouldn't go as far as to say he had an eating disorder. But, when he was running on so little sleep and drinking so much coffee that he never felt hungry, he wouldn't exactly say he was living a healthy life style either.

"That's excellent. I figure this week we might even aim for five hours." Nala smiled, but Nico was doubtful.

"I can try, but I can't even remember the last time I got five, uninterrupted hours of sleep."

"Trying is all I ask."

- - - - -

Nico stepped out of his last exam and felt like a giant weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He was done school this year. Until his summer course started, but that wasn't for several weeks yet. He had felt confident coming out of most of his exams, but the only way to know for sure was when grades were in. Will had his last exam that afternoon, and then they were going to dinner to celebrate. Somewhere nicer to McDonalds. For some reason, Will hadn't wanted to go back there, even after Nico had promised that he wouldn't have to play on the play structure.

Nyx was sleeping by the door when he walked into their flat. Will was at the table, same position he was in when Nico left to go write his exam. When he heard Nico enter the room, he lifted his head to face him. "How'd it go?" Will asked.

"I wasn't too sure on any of the stuff at the beginning, but I felt like I knew a lot more near the end. Honestly, this one could go either way. What time are you leaving?"

"Probably half an hour or so. I phoned my mom today and she's driving up tomorrow, so we can expect her for lunch if that's okay. We can always just order something if you want." Will offered.

"Nah, it's no problem. Kill it on this exam, and then we can head out. Hazel wanted me to phone when I was done, so I should probably go do that before she chews me out." Nico started dialing, heading onto the balcony for some privacy. It was quite warm outside today. "Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing much, I went to class today, got engaged, went grocery shopping. The usual." Hazel listed, indifferently.

Nico noticed the engaged part, but seeing as he wasn't at all surprised, he decided to have a little fun with it. "How was class today?"