This is the first fic written in my modern/university AU where the Bill characters are uni students in their campus theatre club together! I have a post on Tumblr breaking down the basic idea for the AU and a few posts about it~
Prompt 3
All-nighter
His laptop, notebook and poetry anthology all lay open on the desk in front of him, his head in his right hand while his left fiddled with his pen idly. He glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen - 20:28 - and sighed before sitting back and rubbing his eyes. He'd texted Anne about ten minutes ago, she shouldn't be much longer.
Like clockwork, there was a short knock at the door the second it hit half past and Bill spun around in his chair as his girlfriend entered with two takeaway cups in her hands. She held one out to him.
"Brought you your coffee," she said as she placed it down and stooped to kiss his cheek.
Bill smiled gratefully, "I love you."
He hardly noticed someone else following behind her until the door clicked shut. Anne tipped her head back towards them as she dropped her bag on the floor.
"I also brought Gabby."
He finally looked past Anne to Gabrielle.
"And I love you, as well, Gabs."
She smirked, "And I don't even have to bribe you with caffeine for it." Her eyes flickered from Bill to Anne and back playfully, but Anne just rolled her eyes while Bill snickered.
"We're not here for you two to mess about!" she reminded them, "We're here to keep you," she prodded Bill's shoulder, "On task and not distracted. No-one leaves this room till we all finish our work."
"Yes, because I would absolutely hate for my girlfriend and my best friend to hang out with me all night. I better get to it," Bill heaved a sigh, but made no move to turn back to his laptop and books, instead taking a long sip of his drink while staring Anne down. Stifling a laugh, she grabbed the back of his seat and spun him around herself.
"Work!"
For about an hour, the girls successfully stopped Bill from losing momentum, and even made some progress on their own assignments as well; Anne had set up her own laptop on Bill's bed and Gabrielle was on the floor, sketching designs on her tablet. Until, of course, Bill got bored.
"So…" he started, side-eyeing Gabrielle, "Anyone else thinking this is getting a bit too boring? Why don't I text Ian, see if he wants to swing by, too?"
Anne stopped and looked up, then furrowed her brow.
"I was gonna say 'yes', 'cause I can actually trust Ian, but… what's going on there?" she gestured to Gabrielle, who was suddenly staring wide-eyed at Bill. He shrugged, feigning innocence.
"I have no idea."
But Gabrielle snapped upright immediately, her tablet slipping onto the floor, glaring daggers at Bill, "Do not…!"
This only confused Anne further, "What? Don't invite Ian? I thought you liked him."
Bill grinned and nodded, "She does. She absolutely does."
Gabrielle dropped her face into her hands as Anne's eyebrows shot up.
"Do you fancy him?"
Gabrielle just groaned in response, while Bill took the opportunity to grab his phone and send a text. When he received Ian's reply, his devilish smile grew.
"Apparently, he's got nothing else to do!"
It wasn't long before Ian had arrived and was sitting down beside Gabrielle.
"Hi," he said with a small smile, and it was all she could do to just smile back at him. Bill and Anne exchanged a knowing look but neither one said a word. She had really thought they would try to somehow nudge them together. At the very least, she expected Bill to make some kind of "encouraging" comments, but nothing.
She awkwardly shuffled aside to give Ian some space, only for him to end up moving closer minutes later.
"What are you doing?" he asked, his voice low as he leaned towards her.
"Dress designs," she showed him her tablet, "I'm trying to bring something of an Elizabethan style to it..." she trailed off as Ian politely looked over her drawings, "It's... not especially interesting, I know..."
"No, it is," he said, and Gabrielle was surprised by the sincerity in his tone, and expression when he met her eyes, "I don't know much about fashion, but I can tell you put a lot of thought into it," then he paused, turning almost shy, "And you're quite a good artist, too."
She had to turn away to try and hide how she was blushing.
"Thank you."
She eventually managed to calm her nerves enough to actually talk, and soon another hour had passed before they even noticed. Their conversation was only halted when they realised the clacking of the keyboard, the clicking of the mouse and the scratching of a pen on paper had all ceased. Ian and Gabrielle both looked up to see their friends had fallen asleep; Anne was now curled up on Bill's bed, her laptop half-closed by her feet, while Bill himself was slumped over on his desk.
"Well. I suppose the all-nighter plan failed," Gabrielle huffed softly, muttering just loud enough for Ian to hear. They shared a look.
The following morning, Bill awoke to find Anne sleeping peacefully, but Gabrielle and Ian were nowhere to be seen. He quickly scanned the room and his eyes eventually landed on his notebook. It lay on the edge of the desk, certainly not where he remembered it being, his pen lying on top of it, next to a note written in the corner of the page in Gabrielle's handwriting.
Sorry for breaking the rule but Ian offered to walk me back to my room x
