bursts into tears

[oversea]

Comments

[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.

[transmit]

[ the way he's genuinely shocked when thorns says he likes him that he almost forgets he needs to respond. ]

Right. Um. I'll do better about that. Do you want me to cancel the meal kit service…?

[oversea]

Would you just do it again later...? I––oh.

[ there's the sound of metal slamming against each other and tires squealing against pavement. ]

Shit. I'm fine. I'll call you right back, I just saw a car accident.

[transmit]

You can take care of yourself, right? I've been excessi—

[ and then the accident happens, and, well. okay. he cuts himself short. he can't exactly say anything against that either, and just grimaces to himself. ]

… Stay safe. Don't feel rushed to. I'll be around.

[oversea]

[ ah... timing...

he will just scurry over to make sure everyone is safe and stand there as they argue over who is at fault... thorns waits patiently for the cops to come and he immediately points at who caused it... annoying...

an hour passes, ]

?

[transmit]

[ it's midnight and elysium has been working all day yesterday and today

in fact, he hadn't even made it to his bed, head atop a table with papers strewn about. he's snoozing with his phone right in front of him… ]

[oversea]

[ well, that's not a surprise. he sends another message once it becomes apparent elysium isn't going to answer. ]

Good night.

[transmit]

[ life is hard when you can't gauge your boyfriend's feelings in-person. when he startles awake in the morning, he frowns at the two messages. ]

You should've called me…

[oversea]

You don't get enough sleep.