Dan Ruiz was tired all of the time, but he only fell asleep when it was unnecessary. It's called narcolepsy and they have a doctor's diagnosis and academic accommodations. Basically, it means that Dan gets to fall asleep during classes and get notes after and it's all good.

It's not like he ever falls asleep in class unless it's narcolepsy based. He isn't someone to take advantage of their disability. Consistently chugging a monster during the class was the only reason he'd kept his head up in the past.

The sleep pulled him under in his math class that morning. It dragged them under and Dan thought about the cup of coffee they'd forgotten on their counter and how it would have kept him awake in class.

His head thumped down on his arms and he was fully in REM sleep.

When his body regained consciousness, the classroom was empty, but a girl with long dark hair and a flowy skirt, marched over to him, the class notes in her hand.

"Hey," She said, leaning next to him so her hair obscured the rest of the room from his view. "So the TA, Fox, was hitting on me and I told him you were my boyfriend."

"What?" Dan said, their voice a little bit slow and shaky. They breathed slowly to try and regain control of their body.

"He wouldn't let me leave without agreeing to a dinner and he seemed like he would fuck off if I said I was already dating someone and you were the only person in here and I was freaking out so–"

"Okay," Dan said, cracking his neck slowly. "What do you need me to do then?" Part of them was incessantly confused, but the larger aspect of Dan was just, letting it happen.

"Just–" She paused, looking over her shoulder at the TA. "Could you just walk me out? He should leave me alone once we leave."

Dan sighed. This was starting to feel like a sidequest he couldn't avoid. They weren't good at lying. They genuinely dislike liars in a way that is extremely hard to understand. So it felt weird to essentially be lying to someone. But from what he understood, the lying was for a good reason.

It still rubbed him the wrong way, but Dan slowly stood up and grabbed his backpack. He moved slowly, his body still so tired and exhausted. He couldn't fall asleep now, they'd just done that, and they were standing now, so sleep should be far away.

"I'm Dan," He said, holding his arm out for the girl to hold onto, something he'd seen a couple do while walking through campus.

She smiled, it seemed soft and sweet and suddenly Dan was pretty sure he didn't really mind the lying anymore. Her soft, manicured hand grabbed onto his clothed forearm. "Gabby, Gabby Chen."

As they exited the lecture hall, Gabby looked over her shoulder and winced, her shoulders drawing up a bit.

"Is he following us?" Dan asked. They were starting to feel painfully overwhelmed and he needed to sit the fuck down, preferably soon.

Gabby nodded, "Yeah. Uh... Where were you heading?"

Well he had been heading towards his next class but Dan was really feeling like hiding in their dorm room and putting on their headphones and hiding from all of this crap. "Hauf," Dan said quickly, the name of his dorm building.

"Oh, you live in Hauf? I'm right next door in Spier." Gabby turned towards the walkway towards the large dorm buildings.

"Cool," Dan said. They were really starting to feel like his fingers were growing numb and oh– Yeah so that's their cataplexy. Yeah. Okay, so they might collapse on the ground in a minute. Is this something you tell someone who is pretending you are her boyfriend to get away from her creepy TA?

Probably. "Hey, so I'm gonna sit down now."

"Wait what?" She stopped walking and turned towards them. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Probably not." Dan sat down right there on the side of the walkway. It probably could have been a better sitting down, but Gabby moved with him and kneeled down.

Yep. Just as the TA guy walked past, everything felt floppy. He was conscious but something was off. It felt like being puppeted, his body was flopped to the side, almost as if the connections between his brain and his muscles were disconnected. It felt like being flat, like that children's book Flat Stanley where the main character was just inexplicably flat.

Slowly his breathing slowed from the panicking quick breathing he'd been doing as they noticed the cataplexy settling in. It felt like his brain was reforming the connections, their body regaining muscle tone and his hands starting to move again.

The first thing he noticed, outside of his body was Gabby. Her large brown eyes stared into his. They watched as she breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god, you're okay."

"Yeah," he said. Dan's throat was dry and he patted at his backpack and paused as Gabby grabbed it from him and started to yank the zipper open. Very few people felt comfortable around them to go through their things.

She handed him his water bottle. "Here, you're probably thirsty."

Dan took a sip before starting to explain. "It's narcolepsy with cataplexy. My muscles sometimes just collapse when I feel really strong emotions."

She nodded. Gabby's eyes were curious as she kneeled next to him. Her skirt was going to get grass stains on it, and Dan tried to scramble up quickl,y but his legs weren't all the way back yet, so he kind of slowed to a stop.

"Your skirt... it's gonna be stained," they said, his voice quiet.

Gabby shrugged, "A little bit of bleach and it'll be back to pure white in no time. It's fine, nothing to worry about." Her soft hand reached out to him and he suddenly realised that they did not want to be touched and maybe it showed on his face because Gabby paused. "Let me know when you're ready to get back up. If that's even something you want to do."

The TA was gone. He'd walked past them. Back when Dan had passed out. She didn't need to be here with him anymore. "He's gone. The TA."

"Yeah," Gabby said, looking around. "Do you want me to go? I don't have to stay but, you know... I'd rather stick with you till you get to your dorm."

"I can handle myself."

She looked a little bit let down, though Dan didn't really know what he'd said that was off putting. Maybe their tone was off, again. Standing up, he watched as Gabby grabbed her bag and smiled at him, placing a post-it on his backpack. "I put my number on here, text me, if you want."

He watched as she walked away towards the dorm buildings. And Dan was left alone on the side of the walkway, their ass and shoulder a little bit damp from the ground. They had never felt more alone than, as Dan watched Gabby leave.