bursts into tears

[oversea]

Comments

[oversea]

Right.

You won't pay for everything.

[ he has to draw a line somewhere, at least, before it starts to feel like he's taking advantage of the situation. ]

[transmit]

Why not?

[ in this au he is terminal with kdrama chaebol brain ]

[oversea]

What am I supposed to give you in return?

[transmit]

I just want to do things with you. Don't overthink it.

[oversea]

[ it's difficult not to, when it feels like things are uneven in terms to what they're giving. ]

Let me know if we can do it.

[transmit]

Should we not do it if you'll end up feeling guilty?

[oversea]

[ thorns types. pauses. types again... stops. it goes on for several seconds. ]

I didn't say that.

Let's circle back to this another time.
I'll talk to you later.

[transmit]

[ the interaction leaves him feeling like he's screwed up somehow. he stares at their chat history for a long while before giving thorns a simple thumbs-up, pocketing his phone afterward.

…

he ends up throwing himself into work. the next point of contact entirely is up to thorns, whenever that may be. ]

[oversea]

[ it won't be til much later in the evening. not late enough for it to be a questionable hour, but it's dark out. ]

Have a good night.
Don't stay up late.

[transmit]

[



he works himself so hard he just gets home and passes out without looking at his personal phone. would there be any follow-ups or will he just have to respond to it as is in the morning… ]

[oversea]

[ he stares... at the lack of read notification...

...

he jumps to the obvious conclusion that elysium is pissed and is ignoring him. ]

Sorry.

[ he turns his phone off for the rest of the night and goes to keep himself busy. ]

[transmit]

[ morning comes. something explodes at work, and he rushes out once again without his phone. part of him is too scared to check it, while another part is genuinely busy. the longer he goes without contact, the heavier his guilt grows, pulling him deeper into a negative feedback loop that constantly floats the worst case scenarios to the forefront of his mind.

still, by the end of the night, he forces himself to look. ]

[oversea]

[ after the initial apology, there's just one other message that he sent in the late afternoon, ]

Do I just not understand relationships?
Am I doing this wrong?

[transmit]

[ it's about 11pm.

he attempts to call. ]

[oversea]

[ he picks up....

there is noise in the background, like the sound of cars passing by, so he's definitely out somewhere. ]

Hello?

[transmit]

[ he pulls away from his phone long enough to double check the time before answering. ]

Are you busy right now? I can call back later.

[oversea]

No, it's fine.

[ elysium has spent so long not sending any sort of message that thorns is not sure if it'll go another day before the next point of contact. ]

What's up?

[transmit]

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.

It sounds like you're out right now…?

[oversea]

Yeah. I'm walking right now.

[ he pauses. ]

I'm by myself.

[ in case that's what elysium is worried about... ]

[transmit]

Getting caught up with work isn't an excuse not to leave you any messages.

[ is it too much to ask where he's going? or where he's coming from? probably. ]

You aren't doing anything wrong. I am.

[oversea]

[ the way he isn't sure if he is saying that in regards to taking this long to say anything or something else.

... ]

Are we still going on the trip?

[ they do not even know if elysium has permission yet or not. ]

[transmit]

[ he has had time to reflect… ]

It was too soon to ask, right?

We can just spend a regular holiday together. It should be fine.

[ over corrects. ]

[oversea]

Okay...

[ the way they are early enough in their relationship still and this is thorns' first one so he can't really argue if it's early or not for it. even if this does still feel... not right. ]

Alright then.

[transmit]

… I shouldn't be pushing you to do things you aren't comfortable with. Or to accept things you aren't comfortable with, for that matter.

[ he has sworn to himself to now just match thorns' pace. they still have not kisser… ]

[oversea]

[ they are really not going to kiss to make up for all the kissing they are doing elsewhere. ]

... I know you don't expect anything from me in return. [ when he offers to pay for everything. ] But I want to be able to provide things for you, too. I like you, after all.