Work Text:
When the first fire broke out, Nick was on a night shoot South of London, paying next to no attention to his phone, with the exception of a few minutes spent playing Word Connect in between takes. It was after 2am by the time he hit a bed, which made the sleep he needed that much more welcome.
Waking up after 10 is a luxury when shooting a film, and getting to lounge in bed with no need to rush isn’t something he takes for granted. After doing the usual check of his texts and emails, he opens Instagram, as everyone does.
His timeline is filled with posts about this fire blazing its way through Los Angeles and his first thought is Taylor. It’s not uncommon for Taylor to be amongst his first thoughts, but usually not with the feeling of fear attached.
Surely if this was near Taylor, or he had needed to evacuate, he would’ve told Nick. Right? Well he supposes there’s quite a bit to do when one has to evacuate and maybe calling Nick in the middle of the night wouldn’t have been his first thought.
It’s distressing to wonder and not know.
It’s also only nearing 3am in Los Angeles, and if Taylor did in fact have to go elsewhere, he probably wouldn’t appreciate being called now.
The distress continues.
He oscillates between reading articles and feeling too ill to keep reading articles. Thinks about downloading that app that has all the evacuation information and map of the city, but does he remember exactly where Taylor’s place is? What if he’s been staying at Maria’s? Is he in LA now? Surely he must be, he was the last time they spoke, which was only a few days ago. But, well, maybe 4am isn’t too early to call?
“Hello?” Taylor grumbles into the phone. His voice clearly hasn’t been used for several hours and the air quality has been shit according to all the articles, so him sounding like a smoker shouldn’t be surprising, and yet, it’s still alarming for Nick.
“Are you safe?” There’s no time for proper greetings, he’s been spiraling for hours now and would simply like to know whether or not the man he um likes very strongly or whatever, is safe or not.
A puff of breath comes through the phone. A sigh? Maybe a breathy laugh? He’d understand the sigh, truly.
“Nick?”
“Yes Taylor, of course it’s me. Do you have loads of other Englishmen calling you at 4am to check the safety of your current whereabouts?”
Now that’s definitely a laugh. The sound of it warms him, which is a refreshing feeling after the way his heart and stomach have been since he started his doom scrolling.
Nick can tell Taylor’s smiling when he replies, “it’s 4am? Why on God’s green earth, well not so green right now I guess, are you calling me at 4am?”
Does this man truly not know what he’s put Nick through? Not him totally, more like the fucking Santa Ana winds apparently, but still. How dare he be more concerned about the hour at which Nick’s called. He waited as long as he could!
Deep sigh. “I’ve called at 4am because I’ve been up since 2am your time reading about these godforsaken fires raging around you and waited as long as I could to call to ask if you’re safe. I assumed you would let me know if you had to evacuate but then I thought you’d likely be too busy to think to text me and I spent hours doom scrolling and well, here we are. So. Are you?!”
He should be panting with how quickly that all just came rushing out of him.
Taylor laughs again. It really is the best sound.
“Yes Nicky, I’m safe. My place isn’t in the evacuation zone yet, but I’ve been staying with Ri because the air quality is shit and her place isn’t as bad.”
Relief is such a lovely feeling. Definitely recommend.
“And I absolutely would think to text you if I had to go, I wouldn’t want you to worry. But I guess it’s already too late for that. I was going to call you when I woke up, you just beat me to it by calling at this ungodly hour.” He’s laughing again and it’s making those butterflies in Nick’s stomach kick up. Pesky things.
It’s nice to know he was planning to call. It’s always nice to know your friends think about you. That’s all. That’s definitely the only reason.
“I’m going with Ri to help pick up supplies and sort donations in the morning, in a few hours at this point, so I should really try to get a little more sleep. Are you feeling better now that we’ve talked? I’m safe, I promise.”
It’s only then that he realizes he hasn’t said anything in response since Taylor started talking. He gets caught up sometimes just listening to the smooth sound of his voice and forgets to be an active participant in the conversation. A conversation he’s responsible for starting in the first place.
“Yes, thank you. I’m glad you’re safe. Please let me know if you need anything at all, I know I’m all the way over here but I will do whatever I can to help, you know that.”
“I know. Thanks Nicky, you’re the best. You good if I go back to sleep now?”
“Of course, although, I would still like to know if you have many other English men calling you at 4am?”
The brightest bark of laugh comes through the phone and yeah, Nick’s got it bad. So so bad.
“No Nicky, the many other English men who call me wait to call at a far more civilized time of day. Goodnight now!”
The call ends and Nick is left laughing alone, and also wondering about these other men. Surely Taylor was just playing with him, right?
Great, another thing to spiral about and it’s only half past noon.