"Hey, Aunt Cass."

Tadashi flopped into his computer chair as he held the phone up to his ear, stretching his sore legs while he had the chance.

"No, I don't think I'll be home for dinner tonight. I'm sorry, I would have called earlier…"

His eyes glanced over to his project as his Aunt's concerned voice questioned him from the other line. He rubbed his eyes in exhaustion as he sighed.

"I know, I know…no…nothing's wrong…"

She was still pressing him for information, so Tadashi took a deep breath and calmed himself. He placed a hand over his eyes and rested for a moment, letting static fill the conversation before he finally mumbled into the phone.

"…I'm just really, really tired…no, just of everything right now. I can't get this project to work and I just feel like I'm running on empty…I can't just come home Aunt Cass, I've got to get this done, or at least make some substantial progress on it…yeah, I know…yeah, I'll eat…I promise. The school cafe stays open, I'll grab something from there."

He paused, scrunching his face in consideration, "…I dunno, I mean I could nap at my desk I guess, but I don't think that's a good idea, I might sleep through my alarm…Aunt Cass, you don't have to do that, you should be going to bed, I'll be fine."

She wasn't letting this one go. Tadashi gave one last longing look to his project, then to his jacket on the floor, wondering if it would make a good enough pillow.

"…ok, ok, you win. If you're sure you're all right calling me to wake me up, I'll take a 20 minute nap. That should be enough to get me through the night. Keep calling until I answer, ok? …yeah, I'll grab coffee when I go to the cafe later…ok…ok…thanks Aunt Cass. I appreciate it…love you too…talk to you in a bit. Ok, bye."

Tadashi hit the end button on his phone and rubbed his eyes; a nap probably wouldn't kill him. He gathered his jacket off the floor and bundled it up into a make-shift pillow, then laid his head down on his desk and made himself as comfortable as he could get.

This was exhausting.

This was draining him.

This was almost more than he could take.

That's college, though, and when he really thought about it, he still loved it. Even if it did drive him nearly insane.

For now, though, he slept. He was out so hard that he didn't even hear someone step into his corner of the lab and place a piping hot cup of coffee on his desk. By the time he woke up, the lab was empty.

He never did find out who it was.