Work Text:
Shutting the door as he took a step into the unusually quiet apparent, Owen sighed, his breath hitched as he did so. He had just come home from the police station, as they had interviewed him over the phone. Why? Well because his 'coworker' had been found dead.
According to what he was told, it was him and some other guy, who were electrocuted by some bizarre one in a million chance. But what was worse is that after they were, their bodies fell from the smokestack they were standing on, and they had unfortunately for a while been... unrecognizable, as their remains were scattered across the ground below, left to be found by the unfortunate workers the next day.
He had called his roommates on the way home from the station, giving limited details as to what he had been told, still in a state of absolute shock from the news, as if doubting it was even possible.
Walking into the empty and dim apartment was like a fever dream, it was never this silent, somebody was always doing something. Watching TV, talking on the phone, working, conversating with others, yelling about something, cooking. It was always so loud, but the silence made his heart drop, as he sucked in another breath of air, holding it so he wouldn't burst into tears again, as he felt the lump build up in his throat.
Quickly he made his way toward his room, catching a glimpse of a roommate walking out of the kitchen, who seemed relieved to see him but yet, worried about him. As they reached out in his direction Owen panicked and slapped their hand away, pausing and whispering a sorry before the roommate nodded in response, telling him to get rest before heading to their own room.
Owen sprinted for his door as he shut it quietly behind him, leaving the lights off as the cold unforgiving pale light from the street light outside was enough for him to maneuver around the room.
He made his way over to his desk, his laptop was shut and plugged in on top of it. He unplugged it from the wall and picked the charger up, the laptop was in his arms soon after as he carried both over to his bed, tossing them to the middle of the mattress before lifting up his main cover, ducking inside of it and holding it close to him for warmth.
He picked his laptop up and leaned over his bed to plug it in before sitting up on his knees, the cover still draped over him as he opened the laptop, the light hurting his eyes while he typed in his password slowly, not having the energy to do much at the moment.
His background popped up moments later, causing a bit of relaxation on his eyes as it was mostly dark colours, and the nice shade of dark blue that was the water and the handful of hammerheads swimming around inside. It was a picture he took awhile ago when he visited the aquarium, he smiled a little at the thought of it, and looked it over. To the right side of the screen though, in the photo, was Liam, darkened out a bit due to the lighting but it was obvious it was him as he waved at the camera. Owen remembered that Liam had waved him over to look at some blue and red fish.
His heart got a little heavy again as he stared at the picture, his then smile sinking slowly back into a frown as he opened the files on his computer. Maybe looking at something else he had saved would take his mind off of everything.
He finds a group of files, video files, with random digits as their titles and no context as to what they were. Curiosity got to him, maybe it was the idea of wanting to forget about tonight, or wanting to see exactly what they were because he'd genuinely forgotten.
So, he sat down and opened one of the video files, taking a second for it to load and take up the whole screen before it began playing.
○●○●○●○●○
"Shit uh, is it on?"
"I think so! Look there's that red light."
Owen tapped at the camera, a big grin on his face, his side pressed against Liam as they both were trying to be in the camera frame, both of them beaming and laughing a little. Almost like they were two giggling school girls.
Liam had the camera in his hands and he set it down on a chair, the camera now able to see a line of 6 shot cups, 2 energy drink cans, some sour candy, and a bottle of soda.
The drinks and candies were mixed together in each plastic shot cup, the candies had dissolved into the mixture by now and the two boys sat down behind them, still laughing to themselves as they gave each other a look before looking back at the camera.
"Okay, we're gonna see who can drink all of these and not-" "Not accidentally laugh so hard and have it hurt." Owen chimed in while Liam was talking, making them both laugh again before turning to the cups.
"Alright ready?" "Yeah." "Go!"
Immediately they both picked up one of the cups and tossed the liquid into their mouths, having a reaction that was similar to somebody who doesn't like sour stuff eating a lemon. They scrunched up their faces as Liam reached for another and Owen soon after.
The second time Owen coughed while drinking it, the quick carbonation hurt his throat. The cough somehow caused Liam to go into a laughing fit mid drink, causing Owen to do the same as they sat there and coughed, tears in their eyes as Liam complained about not being able to breathe.
"Ow- oh augh ow this was a terrible idea." Liam said while laughing, Owen nodded in response "God yeah, my everything hurts."
Eventually they came down off of their little laughing high, Liam sighed and flopped onto his back, Owen joined him for a moment or two. They were both just smiling, happy. Eventually Owen speaks up "Should we try and finish the video?" "Nah, I prefer life." Owen gave another quick laugh before getting back up, standing and grabbing the camera as it went close to his face while he lifted it.
He turned it to face Liam who was still laying on the floor, before Owen offered out a hand to grab. Liam took it and helped himself up, bumping into Owen whenever he was finally up, they both just looked at each other, smiling in silence for a moment before Owen turned his attention back to the camera and clicked it off.
○●○●○●○●○
Owen found himself smiling at the video, his eyes were tearing up as he watched himself and Liam laughing together.
He missed that.
He missed Liam.
He shut his computer slowly and put it on the floor, keeping his face above the covers he had wrapped around him as he laid his head onto his pillow. He laid there, eyes half open and his tears just started pouring out.
He came to terms with the fact that he would never get to see Liam again. But was he okay with that? Absolutely not. There was no way that he would be able to go on normally with life anymore. The one person who he felt comfortable with, had known longer than anybody else near him, and had loved more than anything was gone.
He loved Liam. And he'd never be able to see him again. He wouldn't be able to tell him that he loved him, he wouldn't be able to hold his hand, make another one of those dumb videos, have a movie night like they would sometimes. He wouldn't be able to do anything with him.
But, he would still go on. He had to. Liam would want him to. However he didn't know how he would. It wouldn't be the same going to work anymore, or taking walks. He wouldn't be able to look at some pictures the same anymore as they would bring back memories. He just wished he would've said something sooner.
Maybe he could've done something more.