Chapter Text
—
Wifies wasn’t oblivious. Okay, maybe he was sometimes, but that Harvard acceptance letter wasn’t for nothing. No, it was because he was seriously educated and willing to learn.
He already knew how smart he was.
Still, there was one thing as of now that stood out.
Investigating the Leviathan wasn’t anything different from when he looked into the King in Yellow for Avery (who still hadn’t thanked him for the video, only replying in the comment section). Not that he’d expected a thanks, but y’know, it was a worthy effort.
Regardless, his point was, all this ARG investigating could have been a solo mission.
Nothing within it could have scared him. He’d dealt with an eldritch horror, for God’s sake.
It wasn’t like he’d like the person he was investigating with.
Who was also the person with all the information.
Which was also somebody whose TV screen would visibly shift saturation or hues just so his eyes wouldn’t hurt.
Yeah, you got his point.
He’d been trying to ignore all signs of something blossoming. They had a mission to focus on, and it’d be unnecessarily complicated to get into a relationship.
With what he was handling at almost all times, even if it wasn’t deadly to him yet, there was a rate it could be.
Then what would Hummer do?
Mourn him over a job he chose to do?
He wasn’t quitting his job all because he was mushy over Hummer. Not only that, he wouldn’t quit his job over somebody who could genuinely stare straight at what was meant to be him sleeping for two hours straight.
Originally, Wifies had gotten into bed and let that calming pink lure him into sleep.
At some point around midnight, he woke up. Only to find the room glowing pink, his tell-tale sign that Hummer hadn’t slept.
Not only that, his screen was just faced directly towards him. All a pretty shade of pink, almost bright enough that he’d squint if he weren’t faking his sleep.
Was he meant to speak during this?
Would it ruin the moment?
Would he ruin the moment? It wasn’t like he wanted to, but part of the reason he’d woken up was nightmares of his past, again. Wifies understood what he had done now; he felt guilty for it.
Hummer didn’t even know what he did.
And he clearly liked him enough to research with him. Enough for him to barge into his life as if this were all over some silly Leviathan investigation.
Oh, screw him.
He hated his brain. Hated all the stupid, silly thoughts thrown in his head over the TV in front of him. What if Hummer found out what happened and believed Wifies had lied to him? He never meant to put on some nice persona, but if the other were to believe in that—
Wifies’ mouth opened before he could stop it.
“Hummer?”
His voice still sounded gruff. Lying down and doing nothing would do that to him, especially with the straight saltwater he’d been drinking the past few days.
“Yes?”
So he was awake solely to watch him. He hadn’t confirmed that yet, but Wifies had a pretty good feeling about the whole thing.
“Why aren’t you asleep?”
“I didn’t feel like it.”
Liar. He’d been complaining about wanting to charge up before they even went to bed. Sure, Hummer could charge himself while awake, but that was a bit redundant.
Which was why he recognized the lie.
“You’re meant to sleep before we do important stuff.” Wifies tapped his hand on the bed for a second, simply staring before choosing to go with his gut, throwing an arm over the other.
A tiny yawn came out of him while doing so; he was ignoring all genuine urges to sleep.
“If it’s that bad, I could just manually recharge.”
What a prick.
“You’re the one who needs sleep.”
Not only did he say that, but he started adjusting where his arm was while talking.
It was harder to have angsty thoughts with how his buttons were being pressed. They were still lingering, guilt eating him alive for being so intimate with someone who didn’t know him— but he could brush it off.
Hummer clearly hadn’t realized his pause in thought, only comprehending Wifies’ retort afterwards:
“I get plenty of it, actually.”
“Because of course you do.”
Where was he meant to bridge off of that? It’s not like he could sleep with Hummer quiet. Yeah, the colors managed to help before, but they didn’t actually do much for him when he could see it in everything.
Screw that spyglass for the accidental reflections. Now it was all he could see.
Gosh, he couldn’t even keep himself silent in these conditions.
Hummer had to know. For the sake of their future, even if it wouldn’t be together.
“Hummer?”
His heart could practically beat out of his chest. When was the last time he’d been so anxious?
“Hi.”
Now he was forced to dedicate himself to it.
Wifies could’ve sworn his voice cracked while asking, “Can I tell you something?” He cringed at himself for it, but it was beginning to feel easier.
“Talk as much as you want.”
Well, Hummer, as much as he appreciated that offer— it was still super late at night. He would sum it up.
“You know I’ve been a bad person, right?” That was an understatement.
A major one.
He’d been deplorable, at some point. He’d been psychopathic- whatever, it’d be cringy to list all the words that properly described him after what he’d done to his friend.
“I’ve done a lot, Hummer.”
God.
He was just laying himself out to be cut off again.
When he continued, he tried to mumble his words out more than before, solely to keep himself from the shame of saying it properly.
“I don’t know if you’d get it.”
That was easier to say than explain all of his little ‘director’ mishaps.
It felt like he’d screwed everything up.
Why would Hummer do that silent thing again? That thing where all Wifies had to rest with was the small sound of static, or watch the little shifts as he processed the sentence.
Wifies opened his mouth to apologize, to say he shouldn’t have spoken at all, that—
“I don’t really care what you’ve done before me, if it helps.”
The way he pulled him closer at that sentence wasn’t intentional.
“Was that all?”
So he would just accept him?
Like that?
Hummer didn’t even know half of what he’d done. All he knew was that it was bad. He’d even mentioned the ban once.
It was just so unconditional.
Was that close enough to saying it aloud? Either way, Wifies was planning to. He could pretend he was still sleepy. That sentence was intimate enough to beat whatever corny thing he’d say next.
“Mm-mm.” His tongue nearly stayed glued to the roof of his mouth, but he pushed the words out as gently as he could, “Love you, Hummer.”
With what the other had just said, that was only a fraction of the reciprocation. No, he wouldn’t live up to how easily Hummer accepted him.
“Huh?”
“I love you.”
Maybe he’d cut off the beginning of the sentence unintentionally that time; he still unfortunately meant every word.
Something would go wrong, like it always had to— but no, he could revel in this for a bit. It wasn’t a sin to enjoy something like this for once.
Hummer still hadn’t said it back.
Honestly, he didn’t really need to.
But still, hearing:
“Love you too, Wifies.”
That made him open his mouth, so willing to say more. It could be a sleep-induced haze, but he had so much he needed to say now he could.
“Go to sleep.”
The blanket being pulled further over the two of them didn’t faze him, and right as he planned to continue, there it was.
A hand slap-dap over his mouth, to which he almost immediately accidentally licked. “Really?”
Oh, yikes, yeah, he’d go to sleep. Sort of hard to recover from licking your crush’s hand like that.
And it was even more difficult to get over saying ‘I love you’ for the first time.
But that wasn’t a problem yet!