Chapter Text
Halfway through the lesson, Spoke started tapping on Parrot’s shoulder.
“Birdy, Birdy, Birdy. Hey. Hey birdy” Spoke leaned closer, patting repeatedly on Parrot’s shoulder, “Parrot, Parrot, Parrot-“
“What.” Parrot shifted his attention away from the board. He rubbed his eyes, taking Spoke’s hand off his shoulder and placing it back onto the desk.
“Can I see your revision sheet? Pleaseeeeee?” Spoke blinked innocently at him, “I won’t bother you again!... until the end of this lesson…”
The teacher shushed them, returning to teaching. Yapping something about… Shakespeare? That’s what Spoke assumed he was talking about. Shakespeare is the basic topic for literature, Spoke tuned the teacher out a while ago though.
“… hm” Parrot ignored him, shifting focus back on the teacher.
Spoke frowned, tapping his shoulder again. He lowered his voice this time. “Birdy, please? You’re my favourite person ever! Second to Mapicc…” Spoke slumped in his chair. “Mapicc would let me see…” Spoke went quiet, wiping his twitching nose and gazing away.
Parrot glanced over, seeing Spoke slumped in his chair and avoiding eye contact. He sighed, searching through his bag before grabbing out two pieces of paper and sliding them over. “If you’re copying it, don’t make it obvious.” He faced the board again, trying to focus.
Spoke immediately smiled, sliding it closer to himself. His smile, however, dropped slightly when he saw the handwriting on the page.
Good ol’ fucking cursive.
Great…
It’s not that it looks baadd… It’s just…
It looks like it had been written with one of those fountain pens from the 1800s.
Were they called fountain pens in the 1800s?
Spoke shook his head. Getting off topic, lock in bro…
“Uh…” Spoke looked over at Parrot, “do you have like… a digital copy?”
Parrot raised an eyebrow, “Digital copy? No. I wrote everything down. I don’t typically do digital copies.” He frowned, “Can you not read what I wrote?”
“I… Uh…” Spoke scratched his neck, “I mean… Your handwriting is really fancy… Like really nice! Compliment, alright? But… Uh… You know what- never mind.” Spoke gave him a thumbs up before looking back at the page.
Parrot gently took the paper back slowly, reading over it.
“Give me some time, I’ll make you a digital copy.”
Spoke nodded, smiling. “Alright. You have my email, yeah?”
“It’s the same as it’s always been, right?” Parrot looked at him, “Iamwokebecauseimspoke@gma-“
Spoke cut him off by pressing his hand against Parrot’s mouth, muffling what he was about to continue. ‘Shut-! Shut up… don’t bring up that email...” He blushed out of embarrassment.
Spoke had made that email back in grade three as a joke because it rhymed with his name.
Did he have any idea what woke meant back then? Nope.
Spoke’s hands returned to his sides as he remembered how him and Mapicc would come up with words that rhymed with ‘spoke’
How him and Mapicc would giggle whenever the teacher paused on Spoke’s name because it wasn’t a ‘normal name’
How Mapicc would stumble over saying “Spoke spoke latin!” whenever someone asked him about what language voidlings typically spoke.
How Mapicc—
“Spoke?” Parrot placed a warm hand over Spoke’s cold one, “You’re tearing up…”
Spoke wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
“I’m fine… I just…” He sniffled, pulling the rainbow headband down to cover his eyes. Thank God they were at the back of the classroom.
Parrot frowned deeper and pulled the headband back to where it originally was.
“You miss Mapicc, don’t you?”
“Isn’t obvious?” Spoke choked out quietly, sniffling.
Parrot winced, “Stupid question… Sorry…”
Parrot leaned over, pulling him into a side hug and rubbing his shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll find him, okay?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of tissues, offering Spoke some.
Spoke blew his nose, taking another to wipe his eyes.
“It’s just— What if he never shows up again?” Spoke’s voice cracked. “What if he’s dead? Do you know how much crime has been happening around here?”
“He’s not dead. Don’t say that…” Parrot squeezed him tighter. “He’s probably just… really busy.”
“That’s what everyone says! ‘Oh! He’s probably busy!’ ‘Oh! He’s probably doing something!’ It’s been days!” Spoke’s hand slammed against the desk, making a few people look over. “He wouldn’t just disappear without a word, Parrot!” His voice was raising.
Parrot squeezed his hand, making Spoke quiet down.
“I’m just…” Spoke ran his hand through his hair, “I’m so damn worried, Parrot. Why would someone just… Disappear? Without anybody knowing? Without me knowing?”
Parrot was quiet.
He tapped on the desk with his pencil, thinking. His leg bounced for a moment before looking back at Spoke.
“When did he go missing?”
Spoke thought for a moment
“Like… A specific time...?”
“The general time. When was the last time you saw him?”
Spoke leaned back in his seat, tapping his chin.
“A couple days ago, maybe three or four days ago? He was at my house. He seemed kinda worried to leave but also in a rush at the same time? Like quickly breathing and —”
A realisation hit Spoke right in his face.
“Oh my god… What if someone was waiting for him as soon as he left my house? What if he got jumped?”
Spoke raised his hand.
“Teacher? Can I please go to the bathroom?”
The teacher, an older gentleman, paused his explanation. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Can’t you wait until this period ends, Mr Spokeishere?”
“I reallyyyy need to go! It’s like... urgent… like I might die if I don’t”
“What are you trying to do?” Parrot whispered, letting go of Spoke’s hand.
The teacher sighed, pinching the space between his eyes. “Alright… go ahead. Don’t take long.”
Spoke nodded, standing up immediately and rushing out of the classroom.
He skipped the bathroom, darting under the stairs.
He pulled out his phone, clicking on his and Mapicc’s past DMs
Mapicc > Dude I’m outside your house
Mapicc > Open the door
Mapicc > Quickly
Mapicc > Bro WHERE ARE YOU??
Spokeishere > Just wait
Spokeishere > Why are you in such a rush??
Mapicc > JUST OPEN THE DOOR DUDE.