Work Text:
Tyler Hernandez hates his life. It’s one of those days where he hates cooking, hates grocery shopping, hates schoolwork, hates the fucking phantom dimension, hates everything—
Tyler, Psycho
7:12 P.M
Sept. 8th
Tyler
Call me
Psycho
Whay
Tyler
2 hr max
I just want to hear your voice rn
Psycho
Ofc
u OK?
Ongoing Call
00:00:02 elapsed
Psycho and Tyler
“What’s up, Ty?”
He doesn’t answer. That’s okay. Aiden can work with that.
“You tripped and fell down a flight of stairs, or something? You don’t usually ask to call. Are you okay?”
“Give me a second. I’m getting my headphones,” Tyler says from the other side, shuffling audible. He sounds like he’s been crying, and that gets Aiden to worry.
He notices things, little things like how his partners never cry in front of anybody, and hate being seen in a vulnerable state, and that’s okay. He gets that. So he sits with them on call and rambles about something he heard on his phone, or a book he’d read some years ago but forgot the plot of, and he pretends that they aren’t sniffling. He’s always been there for them, and in turn, they do what they can to help him too.
They don’t cry a lot, either. He keeps telling them, oh, well, you know crying is good for you and lets emotions out, and every time, they give him a deadpan stare. They also keep calling him a hypocrite, which is absurd.
“Wanna talk about it?” It’s a question he asks every time, and Tyler likes to rant about whatever happened. He had told Aiden once that it helped him process everything. Ashlyn, though, usually just shuts him out, so he asks as a formality and talks to her anyways.
“I’m so tired.”
“You need a break.”
He stops his boyfriend’s train of thought before it can go any further. Sometimes, it gets bad, and sometimes he can’t help, and sometimes he’ll stay up until six or seven in the morning just talking to him.
“Let’s talk about that book, or whatever, the ones you have in your room.”
“No? Why the hell would I want to talk about books right now?”
“Maybe it’ll make you feel better,” Aiden says enticingly, leaning back in his spinning office chair and smiling at the roof.
“How are books supposed to make me feel better?”
“Don’t you like this one? Harry Jackson, or whatever?” He knows exactly what the name of the character is; it’s one of his favourite books, and also one that he can actually sit through for more than five minutes.
“Excuse you, his name is not Harry Jackson, you’re mixing it up with that British fuck—”
“Percy Potter?”
“You—”
…
Call Ended
3 hours 52 minutes — 10:12 P.M
Ashlyn Banner feels like she’s been stretched from hell and back, and then sent to her parents’ military camp. She just wants to melt into a pile of sawdust and disappear forever. Ballet class sucks , worrying about the phantom dimension sucks , making plans to stay alive when they’re barely old enough to get their driver's licenses sucks . Honestly, being alive and talking to people sucks.
She’s drained, and she doesn’t even get to catch a break. She sleeps and she sees a phantom, nightmare or not, or she falls asleep with her earplugs in and then she feels like they’ve carved holes into her skull.
Ashlyn, Aiden ♥️
8:49 P.M
Sept. 23rd
Ashlyn
hey
Belatedly, she realizes that she doesn’t know how to ask him to talk. Sure, they call, but it’s for stupid things, or she rings him out of the blue after a bad night and he complains about whatever had gone wrong in their living nightmare that day. But now, she’s sent a message, and she doesn’t know what to say.
Aiden ♥️
HIII Whats up!!!
She types for a second, deleting it afterwards. To him, it probably looks like she’s struggling with what to say, which isn’t an uncommon thing. Her throat feels like it’s closed up, despite the fact that she’s typing, not talking. She can’t find the words right now.
Aiden ♥️
Call? :3
Ashlyn
👍
Ongoing Call
00:00:04 elapsed
Aiden ♥️ and Ashlyn
Aiden is very worried right now. Ash always has her auto capitalization on, and even in her most frustrated moments, her texts always look like they came straight out of a scientific magazine. This? Very, very infrequent.
“Heyyy! So, you wanna play a game or something? Actually, no, wait, listen, I’ve really gotta tell you something, so earlier today, like—“
He hears a muffled snort, and he smiles. If he can make her smile, then it’s okay. If he can distract her from what she’s feeling right now, then it’s okay. If he can help her, even for a little bit, then everything will be okay. He will always be there for them.
Sometimes, he talks, and she listens. He likes that about her. Other times, they both talk, hushed voices in odd hours of the night as he works on his homework and she can’t sleep. Sometimes, she talks, and he listens, and he comments at random intervals. Sometimes—
“...I found this kid’s address and—”
“I love you.”
“What?”
“I love you.”
“Love you too, Ash.”
…
Call Ended
2 hours 37 minutes — 11:26 P.M
Tyler is staring at his coursework, utterly lost. He had had a particularly close call with a phantom the night before, and couldn’t sleep. And now, he can’t figure out his homework, even though he asked Logan for his notes (they’re barely legible, because none of them had slept a wink). What the hell is wrong with him? He asks Taylor, but she had stared at his advanced Geometry and told him to go ask Aiden.
Tyler, Psycho
10:21 P.M
Oct. 7th
Tyler
What’s the answer to problem 68
Psycho
No idea lol
Tyler
I know you’re looking up the answer right now
Psycho
??!! Me?!! Noo
Tyler
Prove it
Psycho
Idea: Lets take a break so u stop worrying about homework :P
Tyler
It’s almost midnight
Psycho
Just for a bit :3 !!!!
Please
Pleaseeee
Pls
Plz
Tyler
For like an hour and that’s it
Ongoing Call
00:00:08 elapsed
Psycho and Tyler
“Hey, hear me out—”
“Whatever you’re going to say, it better not involve a living organism.”
“Okay, since when did you say ‘ living organism’ in normal conversation?”
“We keep talking about them in biology, so it’s become a habit.”
“I love biology! Except for the note taking part, but I like the labs.”
“Of course you would like picking apart dead animals.”
“They’re interesting!”
“I hate blood, and surgery tools.”
“Speaking of blood, did you hear about what Carly, Samantha, and Madison did at lunch yesterday—”
...
Call Ended
1 hour 12 minutes — 11:33 P.M
Ashlyn makes one mistake while practicing her ballet at home, and she feels like ripping out all her hair. She’s made too many mistakes this week. Today? This month? This year? She doesn’t know, but she trips when the music in her headphones has a jarring shift and she feels so frustrated . She just needs a break, but she can’t help but need to do it again, again and again until she can do it without failing. It’s a hard move, but she needs to do this. She just doesn’t know why .
Her music is interrupted by ringing in her ear, and her ankles brush against each other and the side of her elbow slams to the floor again. Who the hell could be calling at this hour? It’s almost two a.m. Maybe she shouldn’t be up right now, in hindsight, but sleeping is out of the question. She needed something to distract herself. Her glare softens when she sees the name of the caller, though.
Aiden ♥️ is calling…
1:49 A.M
Oct. 13th
“Hey. Do you need something?” Ash sits on her bed, lifting her shoulder to press her phone against her ear as she massages her sore feet. God, it’s painful.
“Not really, I just wanted to talk to you, ” Aiden snickers, already sensing her annoyance.
“Why not Ty, or someone?”
“My love radar went off. I could feel that you were ma-ad,” he sings, stretching out the vowels as he falls back on his bed with an audible pomf.
“How does that even work? I’m pretty sure that love radars don't exist.”
“Well, pretend I have two little red strings around my fingers and they change colours when you’re sad, or mad, or angry, or happy, and—”
“Are you seriously referencing soulmate fanfiction right now?”
“How about you pause whatever you’re doing right now and I can read you really trashy lovey dovey Wattpad stories to help you fall asleep?”
“Absolutely not , what the hell is wrong with you—”
“It would help! We can facetime and I’ll stare into your gorgeous, glistening green orbs and watch your beautiful red hair fall over your shoulders—”
“Shut your mouth right now , I’m going to have nightmares,” she says, but she’s smiling. Even though everything in her body is sore, she’s temporarily forgotten about her headache. She really does love him.
…
Call Ended
2 hours 8 minutes — 3:57 A.M
October 17th, 7:58 A.M.
There is a note on Aiden Clark’s fridge.
Aiden,
Your dad and I will be out on a business trip for two weeks. Sorry honey, we love you, but this is really urgent. Happy birthday, we’ve left a cake in the fridge. When we come back, we’ll celebrate.
Love,
Mom
He stares at the sticky note, a mocking shade of bright yellow, with a sort of resigned amusement. Two weeks? He’ll be long sixteen by then. They always do this, but he doesn’t think it’s on purpose; at least, not really. They try to cut them short when they can, like they did with Lily’s party, but sometimes, like Mom said — it’s ‘urgent.’
He’s just sort of numb, honestly. He doesn’t know what to say, or to do. But it’s okay, because there’s a cake in the fridge, and it’s his favourite. Or it was his favourite, back when he was ten and his parents had actually celebrated with him. He hasn’t told anybody about his birthday for a while, not really—mentioned it once or twice, but his attempts at a large-scale celebration over the years slowly stopped when nobody showed up to the parties at his house.
He’s weird. He’s crazy, and a creep. Annoying. Overzealous and overeager. A psycho. He ignores the taunts thrown at him, because at least peoples’ reactions are funny to him. And, plus, if they’re not thrown at his friends, then he doesn’t care.
He ignores them and goes on with his day, because this is the personality that he’s cultivated for himself, and it comes naturally to him. This is just how he’s been for a while. He’s annoying, but it’s okay, because he has friends that don’t care if he’s annoying, or weird, or pushy. Plus, he doesn’t care if people think he’s crazy. Trying to tell them otherwise might as well be like trying to convince everyone that the aliens built the pyramids. The part that disappoints him is when they treat him nice and then drop him later. He’d prefer if they shouted, or ran, or outright told him what they thought. He likes people like that.
His last birthday party had ended up with him celebrating alone with Ben and two other people who only showed up for the food.
History Groupchat
Today at 8:43 A.M
Oct. 17th
AIDEN!!!
HI GUYS MY BITTHDAY IS TOMORROW :3!!!!
ASHH ♥️♥️♥️
Really? I’ll come over and bring stuff.
TYYY ♥️♥️♥️
I’ll bake you a cake
Do you have a favourite flavour?
NERD
do you want anything for your birthday? i have allowance saved up :D
BEN ‼️‼️
Hes crying
TYYY ♥️♥️♥️
WHAT
ASHH ♥️♥️♥️
I’m on my way, hang on.
Stop renaming the gc to Murder Club is calling…
8:45 A.M
Oct. 17th
…
…
…
“Answer the damn phone,” Ash hisses, throwing a jacket on and running out the front door, not bothering to lock it behind her.
…
…
…
Ongoing Call
00:00:02 elapsed
Ashlyn and Ty ♥️
“What the hell is Aiden doing?” Tyler shouts into the phone.
“Do you think I know?!”
“He’s not picking up.”
“Check the group chat, maybe Ben’s said something— ”
History Groupchat
Today at 8:48 A.M
Oct. 17th
Ben
He’s fine
Happy tears
Nerd
are you sure? i hope he’s ok
Ben
👍
Tyler
TELL AIDEN TO PICK UP THE FUCKIKNG PHONE
Ongoing Call
00:03:48 elapsed
ASHH ♥️♥️♥️, TYYY ♥️♥️♥️, and AIDEN!!!
“Aiden! What the hell is wrong with you? Are you okay? I’m on my way, wait, I’m going to catch the bus—”
“No, no, don’t do that! I’m—fine!” He’s giggling through his tears, but he’s staring at his phone and he thinks, I love you.
“Well, it’s too late for me. I’m almost at your house, I’m pretty much at your stop already.”
“Ash! C'mon, don’t tell me you were worried.”
“You’re crying, of-fucking-course we’re worried,” Tyler admonishes, sounding annoyed. Aiden is touched, really, he is.
There’s a ring at his doorbell, and then a shout. He hears it echo through the phone, and then the beep that signifies that Ashlyn is muting her microphone.
“I’m coming inside!”
“Is Ash already at your house? That was only like, fifteen minutes. I swear to God, if I were there, I’d be strangling you.”
Ashlyn opens the front door, to the sight of Aiden sitting on the kitchen floor with red rimmed eyes. Ben is worriedly crouching near him, texting with both hands and glancing up when she comes in.
“I love you,” Aiden blurts out when she comes in, sniffling.
This? This is scary. Ben retreats to his room when he sees Ash come in, which, to be honest, is probably for the better. But none of them—Ashlyn, Tyler, and Aiden—are good with their feelings. Nor are they good with words. Aiden, in the entire length that they’ve known each other (which, to be fair, is not that long), has not shed a single tear in her presence. Sure, they’ve all seen him fake cry and wail dramatically when he fails a test, but this is real.
He gives her the note that his parents left and she feels an angry headache building, because she can’t imagine her parents not being there for her birthday. Even though she’s always asked to have a small party, which they obliged, they were there. She sends it to Tyler, who’s turned his camera on, and he looks like he’s going to murder someone.
“Talk to me, please,” Aiden tells them.
“About what?” Ash asks, leading him to the sofa that he isn’t sitting on the floor.
“Anything.”
“Give me like, thirty minutes, okay? I’m going to take the bus to your house, but I’m staying on the call,” Tyler says on the other line, distant voices in the background a sign that both his sister and mother are home.
“Okay. Please talk to me.”
(Please be there for me.)
…
…
...
“I love you.”
“We love you too, Aiden.”
…
Call Ended
1 hour 45 minutes — 10:32 A.M