#running low

It only lasts for about five minutes (well, he thinks five minutes, time is a foreign concept to his coffee-soaked, exhausted mind) before another Schuyler bursts in. “Cowards!” Angelica Schuyler crows, computer held aloft. “You’re all weak-minded cowards. Coffee, sugar? I rely on nothing. I get by on sheer force of will and spite alone.”

“Hey babe,” Alex says, not looking up. She laughs, seating herself on the other side of Alex’s desk. “Hello, dear. I see we’re both at it again.” 

There’s a loud huff from the floor. “We’ll see how well your ‘spite’ holds up when it’s five A.M. and you’ve spent all your energy keeping yourself awake,” she says. Angelica’s eyes glint, and even Alexander looks up at this. Just like him, Angelica Schuyler does not take challenges lightly. 

“Oh, you’re on.” 

And that’s how Elizabeth Schuyler finds them six hours later, wandering the halls looking for them. “Hey guys?” she calls as she swings Alex’s study door open. “You guys it’s breakfast ti-” She stops short. Peggy’s lying sprawled on the floor, face in her papers, snoring, stray candy wrapper in her hair. Alexander is still at it, just barely, mumbling incoherently and attempting unsuccessfully to lift a pen, nose brushing the desk.

And Angelica. Angelica’s face is scrunched up in determination, fingers still typing away at her keyboard, locked into focus even though her eye is twitching and she’s vibrating slightly. “Uh, Angie?” Eliza asks softly, stepping forward. “Angie? Hello?” 

Eliza has to physically wave her hand in front of the computer screen to get Angelica to snap out of it. Even then, she can tell she’s having trouble concentrating on her sister’s form in front of her for a few seconds until she suddenly seems to snap to attention.

“Did I make it?” she asks immediately. Not waiting for an answer, she looks around the room- first across the desk, where Alexander is still muttering, and then at the floor, at Peggy passed out on top of her French homework. 

“YES!” she shouts. Alexander jolts, and Eliza rushes to his side. 

“Oh my goodness, you all didn’t just try to out-sleep-deprive each other, did you?” she asks, worried.

“No, no, no, ‘liza dear,” Alex mutters, words still slurred, slouching in his chair. “It was just an- an exper- expurmint, we were looking at what’s most effective to keep people awake.” Eliza raises an eyebrow. “Really, Liz! We had- we had the- what is it? The varbles and everything,” he protests. The fact that his voice is barely above a mumble doesn’t help his case. “We were testing candy, coffee and- uh- what was it you said, Ang? Oh yeah something about, like, was it sp- spat- no- no, it was sprite? Uh-” 

“Spite?” Eliza offers. 

“Yeah! Yeah, spite.” 

Eliza sighs. “I can’t believe you roped Peggy into your little workaholic club,” she says. Alex shrugs. “Wa’n my fault. Pegz just wants to impress Laf. Plus she didn’t pay attention in class b’cuz Maria sits in front of her so she waited till the last minute to do her stuff.” 

“I-” Eliza takes a deep breath. “Okay. We’ll unpack all that later. For now- do you have an excuse? Were you trying to impress Washington or something?” 

Alex just shrugs. “I gotta get shit done,” he says. It isn’t much of an explanation, but Eliza can sense she won’t be able to get much more out of him, so she rounds on Angelica. “What about you?” 

Angelica shrugs too. “Gotta get shit done.” 

Eliza takes another deep breath. “Jesus, you guys. I almost wish either of you were still dating Jefferson so I could call him in here and get him to chew you out.” 

Angelica offers a guilty smile. “I could leave and then come back in again and yell at Alex?” 

“No, silly, you did this too,” Eliza reminds her. “I’m very mad at both of you.” She closes Angelica’s computer and walks over to Alex’s side of the desk, slowly sliding his papers out from under him. “You two are going to come and have breakfast, and then you’re going to take a nap. And then you’re going to never do this again.”

“But Liiiiiiiiiiizaaaaaaa,” Alex whines, trying to pull the papers back towards him. 

“No. No ‘buts’. This is unacceptable.” She tries to put on a stern face. It doesn’t work well. Alex just pouts harder, and she can see Angelica edging closer to the computer out of the corner of her eye. 

“I see you, Angie. Out. Breakfast is laid out in the dining hall- you know, on second thought I’ll just bring it to your bedroom. Go. Now.” Alex screws up his face. 

“What about Peggy?” 

“Peggy is asleep right now. She’s also younger, and more susceptible to these sorts of behaviours. You two know better.” Alex could have sworn he saw Peggy stick her tongue out from behind Eliza’s back at that, but she’s back to her sleep face in a second. He huffs. “Fine,” he says, petulantly. Angelica follows him out silently. 

Alex has a room in the Schuylers’ mansion, but he doesn’t sleep there much anymore, and even though neither he nor Angelica speak as they walk through the halls, they’ve both set a course for Angelica’s bedroom.

He stumbles slightly on a patch of carpet and Angelica grabs his shoulders quickly, holding him upright. He sighs, leaning into her touch, feeling her pull him closer. “C’mon,” she mutters. “We’re almost there.” 

They are, indeed, almost there, and they reach her bedroom without further incident. Angelica goes straight for her bed, collapsing onto the soft duvet and closing her eyes, sighing happily. Alex follows, making an attempt to spoon her from behind, but he’s too small and too tired to make an attempt to figure it out and she ends up turning, pulling him in and tangling their legs together, laughing quietly. He just snuggles closer, arms around her, and tries to let himself drift. Normally it’s hard for him to relax, let alone sleep, but there’s a fog of exhaustion and caffeine crash dulling his normally ever-active mind, and Angelica’s so warm, and she smells so nice, and he finds himself falling asleep before he knows it.

~~

Eliza taps Peggy gently on the forehead. “Wake up, dear,” she murmurs. Peggy stirs, cracks one eye open. There’s a glint in her smile that clues her in immediately. “Peggy!” she admonishes, smacking her sister lightly. “You can’t just fake sleep to avoid consequences!” Peggy just grins, mischievous as always, but her eyes are tinged with bleariness, and Eliza picks her up with little effort or protest, nudging the study door open with her foot and carrying her out. Peggy hmms softly, shifts in her arms, and falls asleep again.

Eliza deposits her sister softly on her bright-yellow bed, making sure to tuck her in just lightly enough so she can still move around, and leaves, shutting the door with a quiet clunk. Once she’s outside, she leans on the doorframe for a moment, smiling. Her sisters- and a certain sister’s boyfriend- may be absolutely impossible, but she loves them anyways.