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As far as settling in after release from prison goes, Velvet was having a great time. She's already figured the troll essence had some sort of personality-altering effect, but that belief was only cemented by the comfortable, familiar feeling of settling into her desk chair and clicking through her Smoke game library.
Resting her cheek in her free hand, Velvet thought back to the past month so far. Release day was a lot of emotions, so she skipped that memory. Meeting Ritz in that coffee shop was neat, even more so when she started dropping by the studio regularly. She briefly wondered if he really did hate her- but ultimately brushed it off. He was nicer to her lately, in his own roundabout, ‘Ritz’ kind of way. If he didn't want her to tease him, he shouldn't have been so fun to tease. He's been calling her of his own volition too, lately, dancing around the idea of hanging out until she asks herself.
Speaking of, Velvet realized she had barely checked her phone all day. Rising from her desk and stretching, she fussed with the blankets on her bed for a while until her phone appeared underneath the mess.
The moment she finished putting in the passcode, however, Velvet was bombarded with what seemed like hundreds of notifications- texts, missed calls, voicemails, all from Ritz.
Velvet furrowed her brow. That's really not like him, is it? Opening her texts, the wall of text bubble after text bubble seemed to go on forever, eventually she gave up on finding the start and began reading. Every message seemed to bounce back and forth from apologetic to aggressive, desperate and then dismissive. An “I don't even care” immediately followed by a “please don't hate me” capped with a “Disregard that last message, I hate you too”. It didn't seem entirely coherent, like the messages sent in rapid succession were somehow from entirely different places of emotion.
She didn't bother checking the voicemails, but there were at least fifty missed calls, all about five to ten minutes apart from one another. The number of voicemails was only half that, though, making Velvet wonder if some of the calls were just an attempt to drag her online and get her attention.
They'd usually at least send a couple messages to each other every day since they started talking, but Velvet hadn't brought her phone when she left her room that morning and forgot it while she was out today. He had never freaked out like this before, but she had also never gone this long without messaging him.
She knew Ritz liked routine. He mentioned before that he does the same thing at the same time every day of every week of every month, and he liked it that way. For as long as they've been friends, spontaneity has been out of the question. If Velvet wanted to do anything more than drop by the break room and pester him into playing video games with her, she would have to give him at least a week’s notice- a month if she didn't want him to complain the whole time.
Still, for someone who acts so aloof, it doesn't seem like him to do something like this. Was it the break in routine? Velvet figured the only way to know was to ask.
> yo i totally forgot my phone lol i juts checked it now
> u good man?
Velvet prepared to set her phone down and wait for a response, but it only took a few moments for her phone to ring.
“Hey dude-”
“I'm sorry.”
“Huh?” Velvet blinked in shock. She'd never actually heard Ritz apologize, and it sounded weird in his voice.
“I said-! … I said I’m sorry. I did too much. You probably hate me. You can send me a bomb in the mail, I’ll open it in the break room so it's just me-”
“Dude, what the fuck are you talking about?”
“... You were ignoring me all day. You were giving me the silent treatment because I did something to make you hate me.” His voice had never sounded so small, so vulnerable and pained- the tone was raw, like he had been screaming(or more likely crying, but Velvet perished the thought for the sake of his pride).
“I don't hate you. Ven and I were running errands today and I forgot my phone. I just got home, like- 20 minutes ago.” Velvet tried not to sound too confused, for fear of making him feel worse. The silence on the other end was long regardless.
“So I did all that for no reason.”
“Hey, it's fine- I didn't think it would scare you that bad-”
“That's not it-! I mean- It's not your fault. I… I do this a lot. I don't have a lot of friends, you know that, so when I do find someone, I get really attached and then freak out when something gets slightly different.” Ritz didn't even sound sad as much as he did tired. “People have dropped me over it. They tell me I’m obsessive and clingy, or they hate the way I do my job, or they hate that I can't make plans, or they hate that I’m always working, or they get mad that I’m never available but freak out when they aren't either, or they say I’m too mean or too uptight or too judgemental or too arrogant- you get the picture. I’m not good at keeping people around.”
“Ritz. Those people are dickheads-”
“Don't lie to me. Everyone before you said that too. I like you. I act like an ass because if I can control the reason you leave me, then when it does happen it won't hurt as much.”
Velvet paused, looking over at her computer. She hadn't found a game she wanted to play, anyway.
“You still cool if I come over, at least?”
“You don't usually ask.”
“Yeah, but if you're a snotty mess, the least I can do right now is spare your pride if you don't want me to see you like that.”
Velvet relaxed a bit at the sound of his tired laughter. “Don't treat me like I’m fragile.”
“Yeah, yeah. Seriously though, dude. I’m not one of those people who play mind games for shits and giggles. If I had a problem, I’d tell you. I don't do silent treatments.”
“... You promise, then. That's a promise. I’m counting that as a promise and I’m holding you to it.” Ritz huffed, sounds of shuffling on the other end indicating him getting up.
“‘Course, man. I promise.”
Less than an hour passed before Velvet was at the studio mashing her thumbs into a GamePrism controller, pretending to believe Ritz was diligently working on his laptop next to her and not totally taking a nap.
“Y’know, for someone who claims to be evil and uncaring,” Velvet smiled, “you really want me to like you.”
Ritz stirred, but didn't wake, instead turning over to curl around her arm with a soft snore. A meltdown like that must sap a lot of energy.
“Ah, fuck! I died again!”