“Hey!” Aulus gave the door a few kicks. “You in there Code Monkey? Time to hit the gym!”

He'd had a deadline.*

It was six a.m.

Hayes jerked awake with a garbled noise. From Aulus' side of the door it sounded like 'brzkfgln!' "Wha?"

*They didn't go away once you hit elite. They just got bigger.

Aulus kicked the door again. “Come on Sleeping Beauty, I’m getting old out here! I’ve got breakfast for you!” Well, Char had breakfast for him anyway and that came out to more or less the same for Alex anyway.

Being jerked out of REM sleep was a disorienting experience; his brain was still struggling to get out of the covers while hard-coded subroutines set him fumbling for his glasses and lurching out of bed. A 'gngh!' meant he'd hit his toe on something before the door opened and the blond stared at Aulus and wondered what the heck he was looking at.

"Hi," he said very intelligently. Kurt, that's Kurt. Right. Another blink. "We were doing something today."

It's today, right?"

Alex looked kind of like s**t. “You look like s**t,” said Aulus with the honesty of a best friend. “It was – is – today, if you’re up to it. Gym, work out and starting you with some karate. Here.” The scarred agent turned to Char, who stood as ever behind his shoulder, and took a cup off the tray he held. “Coffee,” he passed it to Alex, “give you a bit of a boost. There’s an orange for you too, and a cereal bar thingie.”

Hayes put in an entry for Most Obvious Comment of the Year with "Just woke up too fast." He took the coffee and drank it automatically; it was hot and bitter and made his tongue go numb. "You're awesome," he informed Kurt while he waited for the caffeine to kick in. You were asleep! his brain told him, not liking the change. "And you." That was for Char, because he was a fire-breathing butler. "Just give me a second 'n I'll be good." Really.

Aulus grinned. “I am a bit, aren’t I?”

Char merely rumbled and swept a deep bow, his tray remaining completely motionless despite the gesture of respect.

Giving the fire type a pat, Aulus took the second cup off the tray and sipped at it. “No rush, I’m not on duty until after lunch; got an afternoon and evening shift today.” He had already told Alex that, but given how sleepy he was looking it was probably best to remind him. “Just let me know when you’re capable of forward motion and we’ll head on down,” he added with a nod, sipping again at his coffee.

Groggy as he was, Hayes had to grin sleepily at Kurt's jaunty tone. "Little bit," he teased, and had another swig of the hot liquid. Not his usual soda, but caffeine nontheless, and he could feel it taking effect as he drained the last of it, mildly burning his tongue. Phew.

"Okay." The blond set the empty mug on the tray and turned away. "Lemme get dressed."

As the door shut behind him, he tried to remember how it went. Brush face, wash hair? No, other way around. Contrary to popular belief Hayes did spend the occasional day at the gym - or had, before work buried him in an papery avalanche - and he dug out an old t-shirt and training pants while Binary blinked blearily at him from her blanket nest and curled back up again. Crazy people like Hayes and Therac could enjoy the morning sun; she was going to sleep.

"Good!" Aulus grinned and made a grand gesture down the corridor. "Allons-y!"