Work Text:
ill c u soon :3 ill be waiting by the fountain
You push your shoulders back and try to straighten your spine. You feel soreness growing in the middle of your back from the unusually good posture that you’re trying to hold, but you try to ignore it. You grit your teeth and bear it. You just need to find the fountain, and find Red. Then you can get inside the concert and hide in the dark. Red’s eyes will be focused solely on the Fates, and you could start to hunch and curl up again. You won’t have to worry about looking hot in the dark.
i’m almost there. i’m in a blue jacket btw
You rock back and forth, sitting criss-cross on the edge of the fountain. The water behind you isn’t loud enough to drown out the sounds of the gathering crowd outside the venue. It’s a small place, a tiny stage and a tiny dark room. You’ve been here before and you loved it and now you get to share it with Gloomy. You roll back your shoulders and stick up your chin. Hopefully Gloomy wouldn’t be too disappointed that you’re so short. You never lied about your height but you certainly didn’t say you were so short.
Meeting Red for the first time terrifies you. But you’re so excited. Every conversation from the last year has been leading up to this. You had been practicing your casual-cool-confident smile in the mirror. You went out of your way to buy cologne so you didn’t come off as disgusting. But gosh, what if he’s disappointed? What if he’s expecting something else? What if Red is more than you expect, more than you want, and you are less of everything?
You can’t think about that now.
You try to look casual when you look up from your phone and scan the crowd. You don’t want to look desperate or nervous incase Gloomy suddenly appears.
You see a fountain over the heads of the crowd and it all becomes so much more real.
see it.
This had been your idea. You had bought the tickets. You had invited him to come with you. So why on earth were you panicking like this? Why were you picking at your nails and waiting for the world to end? Gloomy was someone you couldn’t read, someone who was so stoic and who only showed emotion when he chose to. What if he was expecting someone else? Someone less you.
You’re looking for a blue jacket. Blue jacket. Blue. But the only blue you see is hair - bright hair over the tops of the crowd. Blue fire, in a ponytail. You relax a bit, a smile crawling over your lips. A familiar face is nice to see now. You push yourself up to stand on the rim of the fountain. “Hey! Idia Shroud, is that you?”
You freeze. Who the fuck is calling your name? Your real name? You start looking around in a panic - no one is supposed to know you here. But then you see him, standing and jumping and waving. You blink. “Oh, Hades.” You mutter to yourself. Lilia Vanrouge, one of those Diasomnia preps, was at a Fates concert. You can’t escape the social interaction, you know that Lilia would hunt you down, so you inhale sharply and take it like a man.
“Hey.” You say stiffly and walk up to the fountain. You look up at him and try to look polite.
You use the casual-cool-confident smile.
“I didn’t know you like the Fates!” You clap excitedly. “If I had known, I would have totally offered to give you a ride.” You look him up and down. He’s dressed in his usual attire, all dark and downer and blue. But he looks like he washed his hair, which is new.
He also looks a little less dead - like he put on a bit of concealer and eyeliner. Like he wants to impress someone.
You shake your head. “Oh, no. No. I wouldn’t have needed a ride. I’m meeting someone.” You rub the back of your neck. It’s awkward to admit that you’re face-revealing live at a concert.
“Well, you clean up good. Is it a date?” Lilia wiggles his eyebrows. He hops off the rim of the fountain and your height difference switches so drastically that it almost gives you whiplash. He’s looking up at you with his giant eyes and you feel like a spotlight is beating down on you.
“No, no!” He waves his hands to brush you off, his hair flaring pink for a moment. “Not likely. I’m just meeting up with a gaming buddy.”
“I am too!” You smile. Somehow, not being the only one in this situation makes you feel warmer. Idia looks unsettled, looks like he wants to run away. But if he’s here, then you don’t have to wait alone. “But mine might be closer to a date than yours, then. At least it feels like that to me. You don’t have a year-old shared hardcore Minecraft server with a drained ocean temple platonically.”
Your brow creases. “Really? You game?”
He nods. “Of course! I wouldn’t assume to say I’m as good as you, but I could at least put up a good enough fight in a COD lobby to not disappoint you.” He puts his hands on his hips and grins.
“I didn’t realize you guys in Diasomnia actually have any hobbies besides prancing around all elitist and prince-y.” The words leave your mouth before you can stop them. Bitterness, rolling off your tongue. Blunt. You’re grateful that he takes it in stride, that he laughs at what you said and finds it amusing.
“Elitist?” He says through his giggles.
“Well, more like popular mean girls in some dumb teen movie.” You smirk. It’s the first time you’ve actually heard him laugh and it’s contagious. His whole body shakes when he laughs, like he can’t keep it all inside his petite form. It’s a little endearing.
You laugh so hard you snort. “Is that what everyone thinks of us? You know, I used to be really punk. I used to be considered such a little rebel. I once graffitied an ancient cathedral and put little dicks on all the stained glass.” You cross your arms.
“Press X to doubt.” Idia muttered, but he seemed to relax just a tad. Just a bit. His shoulders drooped. “But hey, you must be cool enough to be at this concert, so…”
“So you admit I’m cool.”
“I admit you might not be as normie as I thought.”
“Close enough.” You wink. “But now I get to accuse you of being a poser.”
“Excuse me?” You cock an eyebrow.
“If you’re here for the Fates concert, tell me your favorite song by them. I want to see if you’re just here because their music went viral on Magicam.” Lilia’s eyes glint mischievously.
You scoff. “I have never been quizzed on being a fake fan.”
He points at you accusingly, long red nails like dragon claws shining in the venue lights. “Because you’re the one doing the quizzing?”
Idia rolls his yellow eyes, but he’s starting to grin. It feels so natural to talk to him, which is odd. Unusual. You actually can’t remember the last full conversation you’ve had with him that wasn’t during a required meeting. This must be the longest he’s ever spoken to you, and yet it’s all smooth. It’s easy. And honestly, it’s welcome during this nervous evening.
“I don’t have to answer your questions. I won’t feed your trolling.” He says.
You feign an over-dramatic sigh. “I guess you really are a fake fan.”
“Oh my god. Fine. ‘Apatheia’, ‘Arete’ and ‘Doxa’. Those are my three top songs.”
“‘Doxa’ is my favorite!” Lilia cries. He looks like he wants to start jumping around with excitement, but he just fidgets by bouncing on his toes. There’s so much joy packed into his small body and he looks like he’s going to explode.
Idia, unreadable Idia, has a smile growing on his face. “Yeah?”
Lilia’s fangs flash in the light, his smile both delightful and menacing. “I didn’t like the first few songs I had heard from them. They just didn’t click for some reason. But then I heard Doxa, and I had to go back and relisten to all of their songs. It just made everything connect in my brain.”
“I’m glad to know you have good taste then.” Idia says. “Does this mean you will stop quizzing me on if I’m a fake fan?”
“Maybe.” You say. “For now. But I do want to quiz you on one more thing. Are you meeting up with someone on a date? Because I don’t think you were honest before when I asked.”
“What makes you say that?!” You cry.
He’s staring into your soul. “Well, look at you. No offense, my friend, but you don’t even brush your hair to do housewarden announcements to the entire school. And yet….” He motions you up and down.
Lilia is right, but you don’t like hearing someone else point it out. You feel the heat around you get larger in radius and you know your hair is turning pink.
His flames start to twirl and flick more rapidly, the air getting thicker with heat. He’s turning pink. “I - Well - “
“I’m not going to make fun of you!” You say. “Just yes or no. No judgment. I just want to wish you good luck.”
“Probably. Maybe. Leaning towards yes but no definitive answer.” Idia speaks too quickly.
“That’s all I wanted to know.” You smile reassuringly. “Now, good luck. Stand up straight. I’m sure your friend is going to adore you.”
“Well, I don’t want to keep you if you’re meeting someone.” Lilia says, smoothing down his tight top. “I’m meeting my friend here at the fountain so don’t feel forced to stand here with me if you have places to go.”
“I’m meeting mine here too.” You shrug. “I guess waiting with backup is better than waiting alone. Usually I don’t prefer teaming but anything is better than looking like a loner loser.” You shove your hands into your jacket pockets and you fiddle with a fidget cube hidden in there. You glance around a bit. “He’s supposed to be here already, actually.”
“Well, I’m still looking for mine. So if you see anyone wearing a blue jacket, let me know. He’s supposed to be here by now too.” You say it casually, offhandedly. You look around the crowd and sway on your heels. It takes you a moment, but you notice Idia has gone completely still. He’s not even breathing. You look up at him with a furrowed brow. “What’s wrong?”
Of course. Of fucking course.
You cock your head. “What is it?”
He wordlessly points at his jacket. He then points his black-painted nail at you. And then the fountain.
Lilia’s eyes go wide.
Oh, dear. That’s a blue jacket.
You can feel how terrified you look. You must be bright red. Lilia looks like he’s in fight-or-flight, so he’s not doing much better than you. You both are standing there, two feet away from each other, looking like a bunch of fucking idiots. Feeling like a bunch of idiots.
How didn’t you know? This seems impossible. Your best friend was inches away from you, in the same classroom as you, the entire time. Well, you don’t really talk to Lilia, do you? You don’t see him outside of the halls or a housewarden meeting, and it’s not like you paid much attention to him. He wasn’t on your radar. And apparently you weren’t on his either, because he didn’t know that you were you.
The amount of times that you had stayed up for hours, stayed up until the sun came up, just to hang out with him. The way you two would message all day every day, sneaking texts in class and sharing memes and skipping family meals to go watch a movie over Discord. Both of you all would chose each other over your own families, with Ortho and Silver and Malleus, and yet you didn’t even know each other’s names.
You need to say it outloud to make it real.
“You’re Gloomy.” Lilia’s voice is level, like he’s just stating basic facts - and you suppose he is. “Right?”
You nod. “And you’re Red.” This is so fucking anime that it almost makes you angry. Of course your online best friend would go to your school. Of course he would be right under your nose.
“Well.” You swallow hard and hold out your hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Gloomy.” Your hand sits there in the air and waits. You can feel the tension around you two. The fear is tangible, it’s crawling up the back of your neck and you feel a bit suffocated.
He’s staring at your hand. It feels like one hundred years.
“Do you not do physical contact?” You ask.
He takes your hand and shakes it as his response. “Nice to meet you, Red.”
You pull your hand back and it feels too warm. You shove it back into your pocket and rub your fingers together. Lilia was really soft.
Idia shakes his head, incredulous. “Jeez. We did voice calls. We sent each other pictures of our set-ups.”
“We sent each other outfit photos. The clothes were on our beds, but still. There has to be something there that makes us look like oblivious idiots.” You start to giggle from the insanity of it all. “I can’t believe it.”
“Are you disappointed?” You blurt out your loudest thought. You might as well get it out. You might as well get the humiliation over with.
Lilia doesn’t respond at first and it’s torture. He stares at you, unreadable and deep in thought. The wind pushes around his hair, and the lights behind him are creating a halo of green, red and blue around his head. He bites his lip, his fangs poking into the plush pink.
Then he finally speaks.
“Not at all.” Liiia says. A small smile graces his lips. “Not at all, actually. What about you?”
Idia shakes his head. He looks like he’s still processing, like he still is still a bit lost. But he does seem sure of one thing - and that’s the fact that he doesn’t hate talking to you. “No.” After a beat, he smirks. “I did expect you to be a bit taller.”
You gasp and punch his arm, laughing despite yourself. “Shut the fuck up!”
When Idia laughs, he grins like a maniac and his nose wrinkles. “Okay, I’m done.”
“We should probably go in. Right?” Lilia gestures at the door of the venue. “I mean, if you still want to.” Now was Lilia’s turn to be visibly insecure. You’re almost never on the other side of it, the make-it-or-break-it to someone’s maybe . There isn’t any joy to this power, weirdly enough. Instead, just a bit more anxiety. You want to comfort him, which is a new feeling. You want to tell him you do want to be here.
But waxing poetic is cringe and you already fumbled enough today.
“Let’s go in.” Idia says. “Do you think we can use your height as an excuse to get to the front?”
“No more height jokes or I will start retaliating!” You turn around and start to walk to the door, Idia on your heels. “I will leave you behind in the back of the crowd and I’ll use my short privilege to get to the stage and then you’ll be alone all night.”
“Fuck off.” You chuckle.
Lilia stops walking and you almost crash into his back. “One last thing. Is it?”
“Is what, what?” You ask.
You try to keep your face neutral when you ask, even if your heartbeat is going a million miles an hour. “Is it a date, then? You said you didn’t have a definitive answer.”
“Oh!” Idia’s hair flares as his face flushes. “Oh. Um.” He looks so scared that you might as well have asked him to strip naked here in the street. “I…That is up to you. Totally up to you. Why would you ask me? I’m so chill, I’m good for anything, I know it was probably a total newbie move to assume it was a date without you saying it, like put F in the chat for real, but now I know it’s you, like Lilia is Red, and that changes everything since now you know I’m Gloomaurai and that’s also a brand new thing to think about and maybe you need time to process which is cool, I probably also need reboot time, but just so you know - “
“If you want it to be, I’m still fine with it. Even after knowing it’s you, I’m fine with it.” Your voice stays calm, and it makes the tension melt out of his shoulders.
“Cool.” is his only verbal response.
But cool wasn’t a no.
Lilia smiles up at you. “Let’s go then.”
He walked forward into the venue, and you follow.