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"So, what'cha up to?"
Mickey's voice echoed through the speaker of the phone tucked firmly between Oswald's neck and his head, his arms full with bunny children that clamored for his attention in a frenzy.
"Nothin' much." Oswald responded, as he attempted to adjust the phone with his shoulder. "Gettin' the kids ready for school, I guess." Those words were followed by his simultaneous fixing of each and every one of the bunnys' outfits, whether it be straightening their bow ties, or buttoning their shirts, or zipping their jackets. The children awaiting his attention were piled onto the kitchen counters, and tables, and scattered along the tiled floor in a fluffy blue commotion.
Mickey hesitated before speaking again. "...Gosh, do ya need me to call you back--"
"You don't think I know how to dress four hundred and twenty children? You're fine." Oswald paused and pulled a hand up to the phone. "Hold on, Mick. This gosh dang cell phone doesn't wanna stay in place."
"Well-- just put it on speaker." returned the mouse. Oswald furrowed his brows at that.
"Huh? Speaker?" he asked. "Whaddya mean?"
"What do I m--" Mickey started, "Oswald, I've been callin' ya every day for weeks now, 'n you still haven't figured out how to put your phone on speaker mode?"
"Don't make fun 'a me!" Oswald snapped the phone close to his mouth. "I just figured out how to take a photograph with this newfangled thing!"
Mickey responded with a snicker.
"Oswald, it's th-- it's the big button on your phone that says 'speaker.' Has a picture of a speaker."
Oswald went silent as his eyes drifted across the bright screen of his cell phone, and after a few moments, met with the small 'speaker' button in question. He hesitantly hovered his finger above the thing, before pressing it with an air of uncertainty.
Then, Mickey's next words emerged from the device, clear and loud, and amplified by the speaker.
"Did ya get it?"
"Oh!" returned the rabbit. "Yeah, I think so." The phone slipped from his hand onto the counter beside him. "Gee, I learn somethin' new about this thing every day."
"Like how to turn it on?" Mickey punctuated that with a giggle. "Sorry, sorry."
Oswald responded with a small, unspoken smile. "Alright, don't you got work to get to?"
"Oh! Shoot!" exclaimed Mickey. "You're right, I gotta get goin'. I'll call you later today, alright, Oz?"
"Yeah, okay." Oswald returned. "Bye Mickey."
And then, immediately, unthinkingly, the next three words slipped out of the rabbit's mouth.
"I love you."
Both lines stopped at a dead silence. Oswald was struck with a pang of immediate dread, his face flushing brightly with hot, burning embarrassment.
'I love you'?
What was that? Oswald had never told Mickey that before. Why did he do that?
"Yh--... yeah?" Mickey stammered, his voice laced with a mixture of shock and uncertainty.
"Ah jeez, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Oswald immediately returned, in a somewhat high-pitched voice. "I-I dunno why I said that, that was weird! I-I-I'm sorry!"
"No, it's--" Mickey interrupted. "I-- uh, I-- I mean... I... I love you too, Oswald! It's not weird for you to-- t-to say that, we're family! It just... surprised me, a little bit, is all, I, uh-..." He quickly cut his stammering short before it got any worse. "It's-- it's okay."
Oswald covered his mouth with his hand and nervously averted his eyes. He carefully chose his next words before speaking again. "Sorry. Sorry for-- uh, for not... saying it before? But also for... s-saying it now, I guess. I should be-- I should... tell you that I love you, but... I-I didn't know when it would be, uh..." His voice trailed as he gauged the next words along the tip of his tongue. "When it would be... okay."
"Why wouldn't it be okay...?" Mickey murmured in response.
"I-- I mean, we spent so much of our lives apart, 'n I know we're friends now, but-- but sometimes it feels like... like I'm... overstepping. It feels like I'm crossin' a boundary when I... when I treat you like my family."
A good, long silence followed Oswald's voice. His face grew hot with worry as each second ticked away. Was Mickey angry?
Then, finally, Mickey spoke. "Oswald." The rabbit swallowed thickly in anticipation. "Oswald, you... you 'n I are family. And I-I get that things between us can be awkward, sometimes, but... you're not 'overstepping' anything by treating me like it. Whatever happened in the past, between us... it's in the past. Because right here, and right now, you are my brother. And I... I love you. I really do. And it'll always be okay to say that. Okay?"
With a deep breath, Oswald responded with a "y-yeah."
Another moment of now somewhat comfortable silence lingered between the two.
"I... I gotta go, Oswald, but..." Mickey started, "I definitely will call ya again later. Okay?"
"Yeah."
"So... s-so pick up the phone."
"I will, Mickey."
"It's the big green button with the telephone on it."
"I got it, Mickey."
"On the screen."
"Yes--"
"The screen of your cell phone."
"Mickey, go to work!" Oswald playfully snapped. Mickey returned that with a small giggle.
"Okay." the mouse said. "Bye Oswald. I love you."
Oswald took a slow breath before responding.
"I love you too, Mickey."