bursts into tears

[oversea]

Comments

[transmit]

[






explodes. ]

It's a lot lonelier this time around than it was the first.

[oversea]

Yeah.
Are you with anyone right now?

[transmit]

I'm in the office with a couple of others. Want me to go on my break?

[ that he wouldn't have taken otherwise, ]

[oversea]

[ ELYSIUM!!! ]

Yeah.

If you can

[transmit]

[ HIS VACATION ]

One min

[ which is really five minutes because he needs to wrap up what he's doing, but following that!! he rings. hewwo. ]

[oversea]

[ hello...

there is the sound of cars passing by in the background since thorns is walking with his food to the apartment... ]

Hi.

[ don't ask for a phone convo and only say hi ]

[transmit]

[ is it fine if he has like zero expectations ]

Hi. Wanted company for your walk back?

[oversea]

Mm. Like I said, it's quiet without you.

[ and it's weird, because if you asked thorns just a year ago, he would have said he preferred it quiet. ]

[transmit]

[ this is why they need a fur child in every timeline… his baby gets lonely… ]

It's quiet without you, too. I always thought living with you would be living alone, but it couldn't be further from that.

[ he laughs. ]

I have to make sure to get groceries or you won't eat properly. I don't have that kind of motivation here.

[oversea]

It was like that in the beginning. [ ... ] You should go grocery shopping for yourself... I thought you loved Costco.

[ he means this as half a joke because he always brought back half the store with him. ]

[transmit]

I'm not sure where I'd even put everything being in a hotel room&hellip

[ a little distracted… ]

Half the fun from those Costco runs was how exasperated you'd get with me. It was one of the few ways to get a reaction out of you.

[ being stupidly out of pocket? yes. he can't see it, but there is a bit of embarrassment colouring his tone. ]

[oversea]

[ oh...

he isn't sure what to say about that, since thorns really was just under the impression that elysium was crazy about getting groceries. ]

Were you bullying me?

[transmit]

[ he technically was, and i think about that one weibo comic where he's obsessed with buying novelty goods, but— ]

… When you put it like that, I kind of was doing whatever I could to get your attention.


But it worked, huh?

[oversea]

Apparently...

[ this is such a funny conversation to have over the phone, hundreds of miles away from each other. ]

If I were a girl, you would have pulled my pigtails.

[transmit]

Put your hair in pigtails and I won't need you to be a girl for that.

[ it's pretty obvious he's picturing it, judging by the snort of laughter that immediately follows. ]

Figuring out how to divvy up chores, doing groceries… those just felt like the safest interactions back then. I knew you probably didn't hold anything against me, but it still felt weird to act like nothing had happened. Until, eventually, things just kind of fell into place. Funny how that works.

[oversea]

[ he tries to imagine it too but instead he just imagines elysium. this is a sickness. ]

I'm surprised you didn't just punch me.

[transmit]

[ HUH ]




Is that what you would've done?

[oversea]

No.

[ but elysium should have... ]

... When you go overseas, you'd have an actual apartment, right?

[ since it won't really be a temporary situation anymore. ]

[transmit]

What would my justification for that even be…?

[ is thorns… a masochist? for keeping a friend like elysium around, that's increasingly likely. ]

But, probably. [ … ] If you ever feel like visiting me, you could.

[oversea]

[ thorns decide to ignore the previous topic and move fully onto the new one. ]

Would that be okay?

[ it's one thing for elysium to come back here to visit considering his family lives here, but the other way around? it seems... so relationship-like, whoa :flushed: ]

[transmit]

[ i see ]

Wouldn't the reverse be less okay? I don't have anything to hide…

[oversea]

I guess...

[ elysium hiding a european girlfriend... ignore the fact that everyone he had brought home was a guy, thorns is still picturing kitten in his head. ]

Okay. I'll try to visit you.

[transmit]

[ his victoria secret supermodel girlfriend…… ]

No pressure if it doesn't work out. We're thinking pretty far out…

You've got your own things to worry about, right? You're probably going deeper into research?

[ dr. thorns!!! ]

[oversea]

[ ... he has to think about it, before eventually nodding. ]

Probably. It's still a long road though.

[ so many things are in the future... ]

[transmit]

[ so many things are in the future and yet they're only talking about it now that they're cities apart. so funny.

then comes the sound of something ringing and vibrating; he can't stop himself from sighing. did he have to set an alarm for this call? yea. ]

… I should get back to work. Next time I reach out, it'll be with good news, hopefully.