Work Text:
Aodh glowered at his alarm clock, willing the time to be a bit later than six in the morning. When the clock did not react, he dragged himself out of bed. Fatigue sat heavy on his bones but he quickly showered and dressed before sitting down in the kitchen. Just a few more hours until the weekend, he reminded himself, just a few more hours.
As he waited for the toaster to finish its dark deeds, he opened his laptop and checked the message backlog. The sigh that escaped his lungs was a good friend. Yet again a great conversation had occurred at about four in the morning, when he was very much asleep. He had already been familiar with the feeling before he joined the Blooming Panic server, as this happened in every server he was a part of. Such were the pains of those living outside of America.
RTÉ Radio 1 was playing in the background as he weighed the pros and cons of responding to the messages hours too late. On one hand: he probably would not get a response. On the other: God, he had opinions on this matter. Responding won out.
BIGLADY:
nobody in this server understands my vision
:lydia-tired:
DustToDust:
lady i completely agree
nathaniel’s character was kinda wasted
the concert arc was building up to something big, but it fizzled out right before the end
xyx:
and aodh is here to reignite the discussion
as per usual
DustToDust:
good morning to you too :P
as i was saying
They messaged back and forth for a few minutes while he munched on his breakfast. All too soon, an alarm on his phone said he had to leave. Their goodbyes were brief, and the hours before Aodh could check the server were long.
Friday evenings were a fun time to be on the server. As the members all started their weekends, they often spent a lot of time chatting with each other. The conversation often started just after Aodh finished his dinner, and continued long into the night, really picking up speed at around 1 in the morning. He tried to join in as much as he could around work, needing to sleep, and social engagements in his real life.
Two2:
i would love to see physical copies of bloomic one day
BIGLADY:
omg imagine
including fanart?
being able to sit down and look fancy while reading?
that's the dream
Aodh tried to type out “i could easily see this costing over €100”, however the message deleted itself as soon as he sent it. He blinked before sighing at himself. Every time he spoke about where he lived, even in very broad terms, the censors caught it.
Bloombot:
Message has been removed.
@DustToDust please do not post identifying information.
DustToDust:
goddamnit
Quest:
Be careful aodh
Bloombot does not mute people quite so often anymore
But you’re still very close to getting timed out
DustToDust:
:lola-overwhelmed:
thanks quest
nakedToaster:
if we are assuming 4 or 5 volumes
at $20 apiece
physical copies could get expensive quickly
DustToDust:
SERIOUSLY?!??!?!?!?
nakedToaster:
?
DustToDust:
nothing
i just…. ugh
ignore me
Two2:
:lola-overwhelmed:
maybe i want to keep the nice free version after all
aodh are you sure your ok
—nightowl is online—
DustToDust:
just peachy, dw
nightowl:
HI EVERYONE!!!
DustToDust:
hey owl!
nightowl:
<3
im ready to start the call if you are
DustToDust:
yep see you in a mo
<3
xyx:
gross
i gave you two a private channel for that
Quest:
They have a what?
xyx:
um
wow look at the time
gotta go
—xyx is offline—
Quest:
@xyx what did you do?
DustToDust:
aaaand thats my cue to leave
ttyl
BIGLADY:
:nathaniel-wave:
He was smiling as he clicked into the Ring Ring Ring call channel where nightowl was waiting for him, like they did every week. Sometimes other members of the server joined the calls, or it was a server-wide event, but most Fridays were just spent with his boyfriend. They tried to steal a few minutes of each other's time all throughout the week but these Friday calls were the only time they could guarantee together.
As usual, owl was leaning back against his bed as Aodh settled his laptop on the table beside his sofa. The seconds of silence were comfortable, as they smiled at each other, through the screens, across the world.
“Looks like the mod is onto us,” owl said as a greeting.
“Whatever shall we do if Quest catches us? We cannot run forever.”
“I’m quick on my feet, cutie; I’m sure I could dodge for the both of us.”
“My hero,” he simpered, before dropping the act. “So how did that job interview go?”
“Well, you know how it is ~”
Conversation flowed easily between them, as it always did. Nightowl was easy to tease, but he always gave as much as he got. He could switch quickly between topics, but never left Aodh behind. It was fun to talk to him, and yet sometimes it caused a dull ache in his chest to know that they might never talk like this in person.
Hours passed, and there was a gap in the conversation. Silence was not uncommon between them, especially as the night wore on, but Aodh racked his mind for a new conversation topic.
“So I’m thinking of making a trip into Dublin city on Sunday, do you want me to pick anything up for you?” he joked.
Nightowl winced, and Aodh knew he had been censored again. The censorship noises could be very unpleasant and annoying, and not the least because it was awkward to rephrase what he was saying.
“I’m going shopping on Sunday, would you like anything?”
Owl’s eyes lit up as he heard the full message, “Yeah, I’d like a stuffed animal for my bed.”
“Sure thing. One toy coming right up!”
“Although I don’t know how Mr. Squish’s new friend will come to visit him,” nightowl worried his lip between his teeth as he thought.
“I’ll use the catapult. The catapult has never failed us yet,” Aodh wanted nothing more than to be able to pass gifts and snacks and comfort through the screen to him.
“Oh, how could I forget the interdimensional catapult?” nightowl laughed, remembering a conversation from months before.
Aodh tried to hide a yawn by leaning off-camera, but nothing fooled nightowl. He waited for him to return to centre-screen before talking again.
“Is it time for you to go to bed already?”
“No! I want to stay up with you for at least a bit longer.”
Owl laughed, a little bit at Aodh’s tone, a little bit at himself.
“I’m not judging, we all have to sleep at some point or another. Nothing wrong with you needing to go to bed earlier than I do. You do have to get up much sooner than me anyways.”
They glanced at the clock that said it was 1:48 in the morning. “Yeah sure, I’m so responsible. Early to bed, early to rise and all that.”
“Go get your beauty sleep, cutie. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight owl.”
“Nighty night.”
Saturday mornings were often his least favourite time. The server was very active on Friday night, but he had learned the hard way that staying up all night to join in was simply not worth it. Instead he found himself picking up the pieces of the conversations he missed. The calls with owl helped release that tension, as at least he had gotten something special from the evening.
He sat on his bed, the laptop balanced on his crossed legs, scrolling through Quest piecing together the existence of the private channel.
As if he had spoken of the devil, his computer pinged happily from a message appearing in study-room.
nightowl:
aodh
aodh
aodh
i can see u are active
@DustToDust
DustToDust:
i’m here
what's up
nightowl:
im boorrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeed
DustToDust:
i can see that
have you considered that you might just be tired
nightowl:
nope not tired at all
im the allnighter KING
do you have time to go back on call?
its kinda important
DustToDust:
well i amn’t entirely….
presentable. rn
nightowl:
it can wait til the morning if youre really feeling unwell
i dont want to lose my nerve
DustToDust:
no i can call
just don’t expect me to be 100%... there
mentally
nightowl:
this should be quick
Aodh ran his hand through their hair a few times to tame his bed-head. He debated changing out of his pyjamas or moving to his desk, but owl had been sitting in the call by himself for a whole minute. He gave up and joined Ring Ring Ring.
“Hey cutie!” nightowl seemed as energetic as he was six hours before.
“Hi. What do you want to talk about?”
“Oh you know. Important things,” he winked.
Aodh narrowed his eyes, because owl was somehow even perkier than usual. The bags under his eyes were deeper than he had ever seen them. Perhaps the sleep deprivation had caught up to him.
All of Aodh’s thoughts were interrupted by his body forcing him to let out a huge yawn.
“You sure you’re not too tired for this call?” nightowl was leaning into the camera, concern clouding his good mood.
“No, I’m good. But I think you might be.”
“I just couldn’t sleep with, you know, earlier tonight. So I put that energy to good use.”
“Please don’t say you’re drinking again.”
“... Nooooooooo,” owl drawled, but he quickly brightened and gave a genuine smile. “Really, I’m not. I have far too important plans to be drinking.”
“Mmkay. And do I get to know these plans?”
“Of course not!”
“And what is a partner in crime if I'm kept out of the loop? Hm?”
“Of course you don't learn them. Yet.”
Aodh ignored the heat in his cheeks for rising to the bait. “I swear to god owl, I will leave this call…”
“Aodh! Cutie! Please!” he laughed, and Aodh could not help joining him.
Aodh’s phone lit up beside them. Against his will he checked the incoming email.
Re: expenditure reports
Hi Aoife,
He groaned and hit the power button before he could read any further. He tossed his phone onto the bed beside him.
“Sorry, I just got an email from work.”
Nightowl scrunched up his face. “God, at this time of night? They really work you to the bone.”
He laughed, “owl-ey, it’s a perfectly reasonable hour for them to email me. The day of the week might be a bit unorthodox but that never stopped them before.”
“Excuse me? It's like 4 am.”
“Owl. It's morning for me.”
“Yeah yeah, it's technically morning….”
“No, I mean I was going to eat breakfast when you called.”
Owl blinked at him, once, twice. He frowned, and his eyebrows nearly touched by how much he furrowed them.
“How long have you been in a different time zone?”
“The entire time I have been on the server. I try to be obvious but the censors are not a fan of me mentioning even the continent I live on. It doesn’t even let me say which continents I don't live on.”
Owl toppled back on his bed, letting his arm flop around above his head. He mumbled to himself, which Aodh only partially caught.
“This really puts a spanner in the works of my plans. Shit.”
He sat upright, mussing his hair as he thought, and Aodh let him. After a moment he slumped down again, completely despondent.
“I was sort of hoping I could sneak you my address in this call. So we could meet up. But if you’re living abroad then that makes everything so much more complicated.”
“I have a passport; I kinda need it to leave this damn island.”
Nightowl’s eyes lit up suddenly and he accidentally kicked his laptop, sending it flying to the floor. After a few moments of scrambling and cursing he set it back down on his bed.
“Wait, I just heard that you live on an island. Could you say that before?”
“... No, I don’t think I could.”
“The censors must be down because it's ass o’clock!”
“Okay, okay, okay,” Aodh tried to keep his mind calm. “Okay we can do something with this, but we have to be quick.”
“Um okay so I live at -”
Aodh cut him off, “No, the censors will definitely catch that and then we might lose this window.”
Nightowl snapped his mouth closed. They both thought in silence for a while longer until Aodh had an idea.
“What if we bring back those school quizzes? I think we could make some pretty cool maths questions. I think your phone calculator could help you find a good number problem.”
Nightowl's confusion melted, and then a wicked grin overcame his face.
“Oh definitely, I think I can do that,” he winked.
They chatted about other theoretical questions they could have, and then they ended the call. Aodh left his bed, and he was halfway through breakfast when the notification came through.
nightowl:
remember how we discussed bringing back school?
ive got a new idea for a math problem :)
DustToDust:
god i think i love you
Aodh scrambled to open his phone so he could do the simple but long-winded algebra question. At the end he had an 11 digit number starting with one. His heart beat giddy as he copied that number into his contacts and slowly typed out a text.
Hi, is this nightowls number?
There was a pause that lasted forever before the reply pinged in.
Hey cutie ;)