Work Text:
Incoming voice call from: NostosX2
“Uh- yeah, ok…”
For a moment, Wifies panicked. He hadn’t expected anyone to call him. He was hours into this recording, and he’d done it in the middle of the night for almost everyone he knew, he wasn’t particularly prepared to have to take his hands off the keyboard to pick up a call.
He didn’t want to pause. This had to be twelve hours of footage, clean, no messing about. And he was almost halfway.
Keeping one hand on his movement keys, Wifies just above managed to grab his phone and accept the call, before he had to do something again. It was soothing, this kind of repetitive action. Gave him time to think, or not think.
”You busy?”
It was worth it, though. Wifies relaxed, the little twitchy tension that had built up dissipating, letting him relax into his chair. Parrot’s voice was the same as always, a little worried, a little tired, but cheerful. Calling to cheer him up, probably.
“Not really.” Wifies smiled, fingers going through Avery’s motions the same way they had for hours upon hours now. He could cut this, probably around the halfway point, but he wanted to keep it as minimal as possible. “Feeling Derek’s pain, right now.”
”Huh?”
“Can’t look away. Need to keep doing this garden thing for twelve hours. Or they’ll think I’m lying in the VO.”
”Oh… so you are busy?”
“Nope. You can be my Avery.”
The faint sound of shuffling, and Wifies should really go for a walk. This whole project was getting in his head way too much, if it was on his mind to this extent. Parrot probably barely knew what he was going on about.
But Parrot laughed, and Wifies grinned, seeing a faint reflection of himself in the screen.
”Don’t sacrifice yourself for me then, ok?”
“You can’t tell anyone that. Top secret.”
”They’re gonna love it, bro. Heart-wrencher.”
Wifies rolled his eyes, picking up another handful of flowers.
“It’s more than that. It’s about… reality. And what we can lose.”
”And you made it doomed.”
Giving up, Wifies conceded the point with a small laugh, smiling even more, now. Parrot had that way. And he had a point. Maybe he had a style. Maybe they’d notice, and it would just be boring, a story he’d told before.
“I did do that. Any complaints?”
”For my heart? Yeah. Just glad I don’t have to watch it.”
“Yeah you do. If no one else does, you need to make this thing pay for my groceries.”
”You do it for way more than that, bro. This is gonna be great. They’ll love it.”
Even with Parrot’s assurances, Wifies’s smile had faded, as the screen blurred before his eyes again. It was burning into them, making his head itch, outside and in, as he wondered how this would be received. He’d worked so hard. He was working now, way too late into the night, just for a thirty second bit to add to the atmosphere.
“…I hope so.”
”They will. So, you’re hypnotised, right now?”
“Mhm. Something like that.”
”Couldn’t you have made a bot for this? Or made Andrew do it too?”
That had been part of his planning. Wifies could have sworn he saw his word documents flash in front of his eyes, hours of brainstorming just into how he’d record this thing, let alone edit it.
“No. A bot would be obvious. And I want to.”
”Sure.” Parrot’s laugh was lighthearted, and it only stung a little. ”You control freak. It’s going well?”
“Hey, don’t call me that.”
”Sorry. Obsessive OCD freak. Better?”
“Obsessive obsessive compulsive disorder?”
”Bro, shut up. I’m trying to keep you sane. Work with me a little, please?”
Wifies smiled, vaguely, heading back into the lake. This was always a nice break. He just sat here, watching his hearts ticking down, letting his thoughts drift, letting everything feel numb and underwater for a few seconds. Letting his eyes settle on themselves, on the small smudge that he’d been watching for the past however many hours.
“Sure. What am I working with you on?”
Parrot was silent, for a long moment, and Wifies didn’t like the tremor in his heart rate, the stutter of nervous misunderstanding, muffled by some kind of fatigue or fluid drowning his thoughts slowly.
”How’s it going?”
“Pretty good.”
”And… how’s it with you?”
“Mhm.”
”What’s that supposed to mean, bro?”
“Hm?”
Wifies blinked, watching his eyes disappear, return, then vanish again. His screen twitched, and he sat up, swimming for the surface with fingers he could feel the indent of keys on.
”Nope. Better question. How long’s it been since you slept?”
“Parrot, bro, you’re one to talk-“
”I am and I will. You going to leave your Avery waiting?”
There was a warmth in his cheeks, which was stupid, and wouldn’t be there if Parrot wasn’t onto something about his lack of sleep. Or how deep this project had wormed its way into his mind. Parrot could be his Avery.
“…Bro… low blow.”
”Bro, I could not give less of a fuck. How long do you have to keep at this?”
“Hours.”
Wifies couldn’t hide his smile. It was almost eerie, where he saw it reflected in his screen, but it felt soft on his lips. He didn’t want anyone to call him out like this. But if it had to be someone, he wanted it to be Parrot.
”Bro…”
“You can go. I’ll call you back.”
They both knew he’d do no such thing.
Wifies was beginning to realise exactly what he’d gotten himself into. He really should have done this before writing Derek’s lines. He had a whole new appreciation for someone saying they were chained to their desk.
”Like that’s happening.” Parrot scoffed, and Wifies wondered what love was supposed to feel like, if he was feeling whatever this was for his friend and it was already killing him slowly. ”How about… you keep this call open?”
“You need to sleep too.”
”So I’ll call Ken and Wato, when I need to go. Is that good?”
“You won’t make me sleep.”
”Yeah, but we can stop you actually going insane before you even show this to the masses.”
Affection. Wifies could feel it under his skin, making his thoughts skew on the wrong axis, and Parrot was right, he was so, so tired, and maybe that was why there was something indescribably grateful taking up all the space air should in his chest.
“…okay.”
”Okay?”
“Yessir. Loud and clear.”
”God, bro, you- you’re weird, you know that?”
“Right, so insulting me’s going to help-“
”Weird like all of us, how’s that?”
Wifies hummed. It changed something in the air around him, made him feel a little more alive, as he flicked through the blank pages all over again.
“Better. And you’re right. I’m weird.”
”Ok, that’s- nope, I’m- so done with you. Bro, what’s that even supposed to mean?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
”You suck. I’m being so for real, bro. How does Ken cope?”
“Better than I cope with them.”
Wifies heard Parrot sigh down the voice call, and rolled his eyes, shaking off his exhaustion and worries into the dark lurking at the edges of his room. So easy to wind up. He could give Sponge a run for his money, or whoever Wemmbu kept complaining about in the group chat every time they finished filming.
”Fine. Whatever. I’m not being mean to you, bro, you’re working way too hard already. Just take care of yourself, ok?”
“Yessir.”
”So weird. So, so weird.”