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Ze is a busy man, occasionally.
On the very regular days where something, ahem, irregular happens, let's say— a gigantic cow storming head first into the wizard tower.
Since it had disrupted their very delicious brunch (destroying the dining table), Ze automatically goes on a very hangry rampage and absolutely causes even more chaos by trying to get said gigantic cow out of the wizard tower. After Regect did his magic and snapped his fingers to bring back the kitchen and dining table before he was Ze's next target, the human had very nice sliced steak that were cooked lovingly by Moe (Wakafante helped by being moral support), and that managed to calm down Ze for the rest of day.
However, on days where nothing happened (which was a miracle), Ze would be in his room, and away from the rest of the world. There, he worked on assignments and deadlines that all needed him to sit down and type away on his laptop. Why? It has something to do with a thing he had called college.
Yeah Regect still had no idea how college worked. The entity would question why anyone would need college when you could just be an awesome fighter for Skywars and earn your bank there? That was what Regect had told the human, before he had received a glare from said human from his desk. Apparently, the entity deserved that door slamming in his face for interrupting Ze's very important lock-in session. Boring!
Anyway, yes, Ze is a very busy man. Days where they were all supposed to be relaxing together, had the trio become a duo because Ze was always missing due to his deadlines. He thinks like this, not because Regect sort of misses Ze or anything. That's dumb, Ze was legit just a knock away, and he was always there for dinner!
Well, most of the time. There were times he'd either ate his dinner in his room while he worked on another presentation, or when they decided to let Ze have an early bedtime due to the fear of being shot in the face if one of them dared to wake him up from his nap.
There was one day, however, where things began changing: Ze was getting out of his room more when boring days like these happen.
But not in the way Regect had expected.
The entity needed to go upstairs to check on something in his room— but before he could even take a step up, he finds himself looking up at the stairs in… Confusion. Ze was in the middle of the stairs, sitting sideways. Back leaning against the wall, and his feet resting on the railings. He had his laptop propped on his lap, and he was casually typing away.
Ze didn't seem to take notice of the entity's presence at the bottom of the stairs.
"Dude," Regect called out. "The fuck are you doing?"
The human in response blinked and stopped typing immediately. He turned to Regect. "Huh?"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm working on something." Ze's expression turned into a bored one.
"Uh—" Regect was baffled.
"You want something— make it quick." The human looked back at his laptop. "You're interrupting my flow state."
Flow state his ass. "Why are you sitting on the stairs??"
Ze paused his work. He grunted a bit as he adjusted his position on the stairs, and pulled his legs towards his chest, holding his laptop in the process. This created some space for Regect to pass through.
"Here you go." Ze stated, before he continued to casually type away on his laptop. His sitting arrangement did not look… Comfortable at all.
"Bro, no." Regect took a couple of steps. "Why are you on the stairs?? Is your— is your uh, desk broken or whatever?"
"Nah and why not."
"Dude, is that even comfortable."
Ze nodded, still not looking at Regect. "Yeah."
Regect made some stuttering gestures to signify his uttermost confusion at the situation, which Ze did not notice.
"Go away." Ze told him.
"You're literally on the stairs—"
"And I politely made you a pathway to pass by."
"That can't be good for your body—"
"Go away!"
"Okay! Fine!" Regect quickly passed Ze in the stairs and got to where he was needed.
A couple of minutes later, the entity came out of his room to return back downstairs. There, he finds Ze had switched positions, and was now leaning his back against the railing, that looked way more uncomfortable— but there was no signs of discomfort from the human.
Regect decided to say nothing and just passed by Ze.
Maybe around two days or more of Ze sitting on the stairs and occasionally being greeted by the others, Ze had moved onto a new location. Regect finds him by the dining table now— and this was obviously the better option.
Though, it was quite funny to see Ze going down the stairs, holding his laptop— and have a bunch of his books, notebooks and paper stacked on top. All this to… Do his work at the dining table, despite having a very nice desk in his room. Huh.
Okay anyway, this Thai drama was definitely more interesting than whatever weird thing Ze does.
Wakafante's out on another date with Captain Dice, so that left Moe and Regect watching the actual drama. Behind them was the dining area— where Ze was. Meaning, Ze was still facing towards the TV.
There was a quiet, and emotional heart-to-heart scene in the drama… The two actors were talking in the sunset.
Type type type type
'Do you not understand?' Read the subtitles. 'I am not good enough for you.'
Type type… Type type type type
'I am not rich like your family— and your mother… She hates me.'
Type type type
Emotional music plays—
Type type
'My own mother hates me too! Who cares what anybody else thinks!?'
Type… Type type type… Type
The actors hold hands. 'Please… My love…'
Type
'Understand that I…'
Type
'That I will do anything..'
Type
'Will always love-'
Type type—
"OH MY GOD." Regect paused the drama and turned his invisible head around— Moe was laughing her ass off beside him. "ZE!"
The human was startled and looked up. "What!?"
"CAN YOU TYPE ANY LOUDER?"
"I DON'T TYPE THAT LOUD!"
"DO YOU HAVE BEEF WITH YOUR KEYBOARD OR SOMETHING!? WHY ARE YOU LITERALLY PUNCHING THEM— DO YOU HAVE A TYPEWRITER OVER THERE!?"
"OH MY GOD YOU SUCK."
"YOU SUCK!"
"FINE! SORRY!" Ze huffed. "I'll type quietly!"
"GOOD!" Regect grumbled and sat back down properly. Moe was still laughing, and she quickly calmed down and let the entity continue.
10 more minutes went by, and indeed— Ze was typing quietly. That was, until— Regect realized that maybe— Ze had stopped entirely.
A big showdown was happening, and the two main love interests were in a heated argument with the drama's antagonists, the parents. Regect decided to take a peek behind him.
The human was indeed not focused on his work, and was instead entranced by the drama happening. He watched as Ze's eyes squinted occasionally to read the subtitles, and saw how he shifted his posture to have his chin resting on his palm. Regect held back a snicker and went back to the drama.
A whole week of Ze being on that dining table— he has now moved to a new place: in the living area, sitting on the floor. In between the couch and the coffee table. He had his back leaning against the sofa, with his legs bent all the way to his chest— and finally, laptop on the coffee table itself. His arms were stretched out to type away on it.
Back to being in very uncomfortable positions, huh?
"Ze, do you want to have back problems?" Regect questioned when he found him like this.
The entity sat on the couch properly at the opposite end of where Ze was. The human continued focusing on his laptop as he spoke with the other.
"What do you mean?" The human said, and he suddenly straightened his posture when he was called out on it.
Regect's invisible eyes dropped slightly. "Dude."
"I move around a lot so no, I'm not." Ze grunted a bit as he reached for his mouse. "Stop talking, I'm working on an essay."
Moments later, footsteps were heard coming towards the couch. Moe happily greeted the two, then she glanced at Ze, staring at him with a face filled with concern. She honked, asking Ze the same question.
"I won't get backpain from this!" Ze waved her off. "Sitting like this is comfy."
Moe sighed and made a honk. She climbed onto the couch and sat behind Ze, making the human be in between her legs. Regect quietly watched as Ze visibly relaxed by this closure, and having Moe play with his hair, while undoing some tangles and knots within them. The entity eventually looked away as he looked through the TV, trying to find a video to put on.
A day or two after, Ze changes again. This time— he was actually sitting on the couch.
The twist was: he had his legs crossed, with his laptop propped on one leg, and on the other— his notebook he writes notes on as he watched a study video that Regect could faintly hear.
Okay, this was getting ridiculous. His desk must have been stolen by a rat and Ze must be so embarrassed by that fact.
"Dude, genuinely— your spine is practically crying for help." Regect told him. "Is your desk actually broken."
"No." Ze casually answered. His posture was horrible. "I just like being on the couch."
"Are you sure this is comfortable?"
"Yes. You've asked me that every single time."
"Have fun feeling like you're 60 at age 20 man."
Moe walks in, and she asks the same question. Ze was fed up.
"Okay, fine!" Ze grumbled. "It's just burning hot in my room!"
… That was the reason?
"Can't you like… Open the window..??" Regect was very confused.
Moe honked in agreement as she sat in between the two.
"I did." Ze cleared his throat. "Then some random ass guy somehow climbed through it and threatened to steal my notes— and genuinely, I have not felt more threatened in my life."
Regect choked holding back a chuckle— but Moe was terrified for Ze. Okay, Regect got the hint that having hundreds of pages worth of notes being taken away was a very bad thing equivalent of losing all of your savings.
"What did you do?" Regect asked.
"I think I killed him."
"Sooooo pretty sure you can open your window." The entity tilted his head at him, Moe stared at him with curiosity.
"… Yeah." Ze stared at his laptop and mindlessly scrolled through it using his mousepad.
…
Moe honked a bold statement— and Regect watched as Ze's face flushed in red.
Oh.
"What— no! What do you mean—?"
Oh.
Regect smirked. "Awwwwww, Ze! We missed you too!"
The human stuttered, and Regect enjoyed this. Moe immediately clocked it: Ze was just such a big stubborn softie, and just wanted to find ways to be present in his two of his most trust people's companies despite of how busy he was! How sweet!
"I just like the couch!" Ze yelled. He placed his laptop and notebook to try to regain his posture. "Why would I miss you guys? We literally live together under one roof??"
Moe honked some more, smiling even brighter.
"Moe's right— college's been eating you awayyy!" Regect said in a sing-song voice in great drama. "You never ever have time for us Ze!"
"I do!"
"Come here—"
"NO—"
Ze was then engulfed by both of Regect's and Moe's embrace.
"Guys I need to work—"
"Just for one single minute, pretty please?"
"Guys—"
"When was the last time we've seen you?"
"Now?"
"Exactly!"
"Regect get off— I hate you."
"I wuv you too!" Moe giggled at that.
"If I miss the deadline because of you I'm going to kill you—"
Ze had to hug them for another minute.
The night after that day, Regect finds Ze on the couch again.
It's late, the others were asleep— and Regect didn't need to sleep.
So he finds Ze on the couch— and he wasn't giving himself back pain or in another weird ass position to type away on his laptop, oh no no no.
Ze was actually in a somewhat regular position: lying on the couch— with a textbook, now on his chest.
And he was fast asleep.
His laptop was still turned on, and it sat on the coffee table. His notebook had fallen onto the floor.
Months ago, when both him and Ze had first met— if he had found Ze like this, he'd probably use this whole situation to prank the human and probably hide his study material or shut down his laptop, making Ze lose any potential progress.
But now?
Regect carefully removed the textbook from Ze's hands. He stilled— seeing Ze move in his sleep a bit. The human moved to lay on his side, and buried his head in his hands. Regect found that… Well, he always found the fact that Ze was now comfortable enough with him that he'd take naps in his presence to be… Very nice.
Curious with Ze's textbook in his hands, he took a look at the page the human was studying. Ah, something to do with communications bla bla bla bla boring. Yet, Regect summoned a bookmark and placed it in between the pages and shut the textbook closed. Placing it on the table, he picked up the fallen notebook and placed it on top of the other.
Now next, his laptop.
The entity crouched down to be leveled with the device. Carefully, he navigated through whatever stuff was being displayed on the screen. A word document with over 6 pages— wow. Regect made sure to save it a couple of times and closed it. Another document, saved it a couple of times, and closed. A presentation, same thing— closed.
Then he was left with nothing but Ze's desktop screen, and that made Regect realized something: he actually hasn't seen what the human's laptop looked like.
Because Ze's wallpaper was a candid photo of Regect and Moe sitting around the campfire— with Moe playing a song on the guitar. Regect obviously remembered this hangout they all had, and the entity had never seen this photo before, nor had he even remembered seeing Ze ever taking it.
He wonders how many photos Ze had taken that the entity hasn't seen yet.
…
Regect felt himself smiling— before shutting the laptop off, and have it charged.
Finally, he summoned a blanket— putting it over the sleeping human, before heading off to do something else.
Ze was a busy man, but he was still a friend— and an incredibly huge softie. Both Regect and Moe tease him about this.