Work Text:
Amia (23:09): Goooooood evening groupc hat
Enanan (23:11): hello amia
Enanan (23:11): its not 1am yet, whats up with the messaging
Amia (23:12): Am i not allowed to be lonely and talk to my friends? Geez, enanan, so cruel </3
Amia (23:14): No but srsly i was wondering if anyone was free for like half an hour
Enanan (23:15): why?
Amia (23:18): I was wondering if anybody would like to video call
Amia (23:20): Obviously only if you’re comfortable and everything!!! We’ve voice called before but never really video called
Enanan (23:21): how oddly polite of you
Enanan (23:22): you literally spam my social medias with heart emojis and the gay pride flag so dont start with the ‘only if youre comfortable’ bs
Amia (23:23): OH BE QUIET ENANAN
Amia (23:23): I am simply supporting lgbtq+ creators on my feed <3
Amia (23:24): no but, like… are you down?
Enanan (23:26): of course, i just need to shut my door real quick
Enanan (23:26): also dont give me more reasons to block u .
Leaving her chair, Ena couldn’t help but sigh a little.
It was true, they had never video called before - while Amia had somehow discovered her social media and had taken it upon themselves to spam her comments as if they were her number one fan, everybody knew social media served as a fabrication of reality. Filters, angles, additional applications… a photoshoot taken from a high angle with at least three beautification filters would make anyone look socially acceptable as good. Especially in comparison to themselves at 11pm, right before bed, with their fringe clipped back with a duck hair clip.
Perhaps it was an evil plot. Convince Ena to call at 11pm when she looks her worst, screenshot the call, post millions of callouts online as to excessive filtering.
Okay, Ena had more faith in Amia than that . But the chance to crush a castle built upon lies is pretty enticing. Especially when chaos keeps their heart content.
As her hand hovered over the door handle, she pondered what Amia looked like.
They hadn’t met in person. Yet. Ena was hopeful! But skeptical, too. Who wouldn’t be? Somebody on the other end of a screen with a mellifluous voice reminiscent of candyfloss, and a laugh like a bombardment of fireworks amidst the silence. Being with Amia reminded Ena of the summer festivals she attended with Akito as a child; the buzzing energy, the feeling it wasn’t quite real, the moon’s glow in her peripheral vision, and the constant flooding of her ears with sounds that would ring in her head days later.
Sometimes Ena would fall asleep listening to Amia talk.
Sometimes she would fall asleep wishing Amia was talking, on those more silent nights.
Neither a thing she’d ever admit. She did the same with K, sometimes, so surely it was no different?
She clicked the door shut, and returned to her desk. Her eyes hovered upon the screen, as she tore the tape from her webcam, and looked at the current call.
Voice channels:
General
Amia (CAMERA ON)
Ah, so they were waiting. Without spamming the chat, mind you.
The mouse hovered over the General voice chat. It wasn’t that difficult. She just needed to click it, turn her camera on, and greet Amia with the face they had seen so many times before.
Yet, for some reason, all the blood in her hands seemed to flood her fingers. Physically weak, she swallowed back excess saliva. That didn’t stop the shaking. Nor the increasing heat in her body.
Seriously, she was fine, like, five minutes ago, so why did she feel ridden with sickness?
If she continued to ignore her throbbing heart, she could almost convince herself there was nothing deeper to it.
Voice channels:
General
Amia (CAMERA ON)
Enanan (CAMERA OFF)
“Hello, Enanan.” Staring back at Ena was a face straight from the renaissance era. Seriously. A rounded jawline, soft and rosy cheeks, a singular pink eyelash amongst a cluster of black… how the hell did somebody look this good unfiltered? Not to mention the flowing, soft hair that reminded Ena of the blossoming roses she would walk past with Akito on their way to the field, whenever he had a football game as a child. The way their petals would bloom outwards, bespeckled in hues of pink and red, soft enough to touch. All a way to entice you with the venom beneath their shield of beauty.
Yep, sounded like Amia, alright.
However, what really sold it all was their smile. Small, crooked, but real. Their eyes crinkled a little, inferring genuinity, and they had a dimple threaded into their cheek.
Unreal. That’s all that could be said.
“Aw, are you speechless? Am I just too cute~” Instantly ruining the moment, Amia spoke once more. Although the video had a slight delay, their voice scratched through Ena’s laptop speaker just fine. She bit her tongue before speaking again. The utter cheek of this person! This annoyingly beautiful person!
“No, I was just… in shock. It’s not what I expected.” Another chuckle from Amia.
“Do you like what you see, though? Do you think I’m pretty, Enanan?” Their eyes crinkled further, the joy they found in speaking to Enanan radiating off of them. As if they were the sun or something. But only if the sun had a massive ego and begged for praise.
“I think you’re pissing me off.” Receiving a toothy grin through the laptop screen, Ena sighed once more and took out her hair clip; she knew her lack of a camera would be brought up eventually, so she wanted to at least prepare for it.
“Hey, speaking of being pissed off… I thought we were both putting our cameras on?” Way too soon. “A little boring if it’s just me, huh? I mean, I know you want to admire my unreal cuteness and all, but…” speaking quieter, Amia looked away from their screen, “I was looking forward to seeing your cute face, too.”
“Don’t use flattery to get me to turn my camera on!” Despite the hissing of her words, she scrolled over to the camera icon and took a deep breath. Click!
Voice channels:
General
Amia (CAMERA ON)
Enanan (CAMERA ON)
She was pretty sure she watched Mizuki start flapping their hands in glee as she popped up in the corner of her screen.
Unlike Mizuki, Ena was no renaissance work. At least, not in her eyes. A blotchy face decorated in spots. Her hair unkempt and damp from her shower earlier - her bastard dad had used all the hot water, so not only was it quick, it was cold !
If Ena were a painting of anything, it would be teenage misery.
“There’s my pretty girl!” But not to Amia. For some strange reason, Amia had dubbed Ena their ‘pretty girl’, and if they weren’t spamming her comments with the gay pride flag, it was… genuine compliments. They seemed to outstretch their hands, embracing Ena in a virtual hug, and she couldn’t help but look away a little in embarrassment. She didn’t want to see her cheeks flush the shade of fire, for she could already feel the heat creeping up her face. “Oh, but that’s a killer breakout… use toothpaste! They shrink spots and make them easier to deal with!”
“Really? First thing you say when you see me is that I should put toothpaste on my face? Ugh, I might as well turn this back off!” In an instant, Amia was frantically waving their hands around.
“Nonono! Please don’t! Why are you so mean, all I wanted to give was genuine advice…” With a pout, they crossed their arms. “We’ve all done it.”
“I haven’t?”
“I can tell.”
“Oh, you-!” Ena spun in her chair to quite literally turn her back to Amia. If they choose to nitpick her skin, they get the cold shoulder. Simple as.
“Oh, no, please don’t turn away from me~!” She heard Mizuki grouse in the background, their high pitch emerging as a glitch through their subpar laptop microphone. “Seriously for a moment, you look so cute… I prefer this Enanan to the one with all the filters.”
“You do…?” Turning around for a moment, Ena opened her mouth again and processed Amia’s words a little more. “Oh, was that an attempt to get me to turn back around?!”
“No, genuinely! Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in m-”
“Are you really reciting that to me to prove your genuineness…?” She turned around once more. As her face returned to the screen, she watched Amia’s mouth break and curve upwards, almost as if it was a natural reflex. Surely it couldn’t be. “Okay, so if you do prefer me without the filters… Why do you hype up my filtered selfies so much? You’ve given me so much shit about the filters before, yet you go and spam me with hearts whenever I post.”
“Okay, firstly, I wouldn’t dub it spam… more…” They spun their hand around in the air, and as they added to their words, a dumb ‘fancy’ accent emerged with it, “Revivify… ing…” The word didn’t even come to an end before they broke out into giggles. A hand shot up to cover their mouth, and for a moment, Ena mourned the fact that she couldn’t see them laugh. Only for a moment though! “Anyway, I just… I think you look your cutest when you’re giving your genuine smile. Besides, those filters are terrible ! They say they’re giving you some cute eye makeup and BAM, they shrink all your filters and make you look like a plastic baby doll!”
A scowl crept across Ena’s face, all while Mizuki’s eyes widened as they processed their comparison, “A ‘plastic baby doll’? What’s that even meant to mean?”
“Like… they’re meant to be all cute and lovely, like, wow! Look! It’s a baby!” Their hands gestured to a non-existent doll by their side, as their eyes remained wide, “But it’s so creepy and uncanny and I want to squish it twelve times. You know?”
“No? I don’t know, actually?” Mizuki placed a hand to their face, the facepalm clear as Ena elaborated, “Besides, real smooth of you, Mizuki… you think I look like a creepy plastic baby doll when I post with a filter, and you want to squish me twelve times?” A moment to think. A moment to watch Mizuki’s face fall, entirely devoid of life as they looked from side to side. Then, the explanations emerged.
“NO! Nononononono! Never! Only time I’d ever squish your face is when I squish your cheeks or something!” Watching Ena raise an eyebrow, Amia began to fiddle with their fingers. Perhaps a late night call when you’re crushing on your group member big time was not the best idea. “I just… it’s late and I make no sense when it’s late, haha!”
“That was such a forced laugh.”
“Don’t think about it too much… I promise all my laughter with you is genuine, Enanan~!” Listening to Ena groan at the addition of their screen name, Amia couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Gosh, but look at the time… I might have to leave you, my dear Enanan… oh, don’t miss me too much!”
“Don’t worry, I really won’t.” An entirely flat tone. If Amia were not familiar with this act from Ena whenever they ended calls together, they’d almost believe the fear of annoyance.
“Oh, but I know you will… Don’t stay up thinking about me or anything!” They swiftly left the call before Ena could muster up a reply.
“Now why would I…?”
Mizuki’s head slammed against their desk.
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
What sort of flirting was that ?!
‘You look like a creepy plastic baby’ great going, Mizuki! She’s totally gonna reciprocate that crush now, isn’t she?
Their thoughts swarmed their head, and after a moment of groaning into the desk, they brought themselves to sit up and see the repercussions of their words. If Enanan had instantly gone offline, that was a sign to superglue their mouth shut and never speak a word again. Can’t run your mouth with stupidity if you can’t open it to run with it at all.
Enanan (23:49): thank you for the call, amia <3 sweet dreams :)
Oh.
Oh!
A surprisingly sweet message from Enanan ?
Was she into crappy flirting attempts or something… were idiots her type?!
Gosh, Enanan, get better taste…
Nonetheless, Mizuki listened to their racing heartbeat for reassurance as they typed out their reply.
Amia (23:50): sweet dreams, my pretty girl <3
Enanan (23:53): don’t push your luck.
Amia (23:53):
sory </3