Chapter Text
The dim light of a phone lit quietly on Parrot’s nightstand. The purple glow from the screen lighting up gently before shutting off again. Parrot lay in his bed staring up at the ceiling, blue LED lights shining on his tired face, he was waiting for a message from someone. All night, notification after notification, vibration after vibration he had been waiting. The lurch he felt in his heart every time he was notified has long since been gone, replaced with a sickening pull every time his phone lit up and it wasn’t what he was waiting for. Parrot let out a long heavy breath before turning his head and touching his finger to the screen. The screen read 2:19, why was he awake. Why was Parrot still awake? He had class the next morning, he had to get up and do things, yet no matter how hard he tried, sleep couldn’t take him over. Instead he had been sitting there in the sort of limbo between sleep and consciousness. The dull buzz of his fan and faint sound of snoring from the adjacent dorms didn’t aid in Parrot’s issues, in fact the background noise took over any wishes of sleep. Parrot had gotten used to ignoring the background noise, but when it was either focusing on that or his own heartbeat he would choose the background noise any day.
Parrot’s eyes flicked down the notification he had just received he expected nothing. Maybe a DM from his friends in different timezones, maybe a twitter notification, or an art commission. Parrot let his mind wander, the dread of unknowing looming quietly overhead. The hope he had once held off had long since dwindled, yet the small spark of it kept him awake and restless in his bed. The notification came into focus, a message from an unknown number.
Parrot was suddenly a lot more awake, his heart racing and hands shaking. Was this his message? The one he had been waiting for all night? the one he was sleep depriving himself for? Parrot shook his head, he couldn’t get his hopes too high. There was always the possibility of a scam message, an old friend, someone changing their number? Parrot swallowed the lump in his throat. Gingerly Parrot picked up his phone and held it in his hand. It seemed heavier than normal, as if the weight of the world was being held in his hands.
Carefully Parrot opened the message and he could’ve sworn his heart skipped a beat.
> Unknown Number: Hey is this Parrot?
Parrot felt as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulder, the thing that was keeping him in limbo has been resolved, the void looming over him has cleared leaving a blurring fog instead.
>Parrot: Yeah it is! This is Wifies right?
>Unknown Number: Yes, you gave me your number in class today
>Wifies: Also sorry for texting so late I was working on a project and lost track of time
Parrot let out a quiet laugh, he had been worried about nothing. Wifies had just lost track of time, he wasn’t ignoring Parrot, nor did he not want to talk to him. Parrot has worked himself up over nothing. He didn’t know what warranted the reaction that had been conjured, it wasn’t like something that Parrot had ever experienced. He had never truly cared that much about whether or not someone liked him, and yet he had cared what Wifies thought about him. Why? Parrot wished he knew, all he knew is that he wanted to be friends with this man, since the moment he saw him in their shared art history class Parrot had wanted to talk to Wifies. Only just the previous day has Parrot gathered the courage to talk to the man and give his number.
The man had stood out to Parrot for no specific reason. Maybe it was the white streak in his ashy brown hair, maybe it was the soft glint in his hazel eyes when the sun hit them, or maybe it was his deep laugh that always hit something deep in Parrot’s chest. Whatever the reason, sense the first day of class, around a month ago, something drew Parrot to Wifies. Although they were studying different majors, Parrot was studying fine arts and Wifies was studying astronomy, they shared a class. Both of them had an interest in the renaissance time period, for different reasons of course. Parrot had an interest with the creative and artistic inventions, while Wifies was fascinated by the advancements made in mapping the night and figuring out everything fit together in the sky. So they ended up in the same history class, sitting next to each other, every Thursday from 1pm-2:30pm.
Parrot’s eyes were glazed over while thinking about Wifies, before the sudden change in light snapped him out of it as his phone dimmed from inactivity. Parrot shook his head, how had he gotten so distracted thinking about this man? It wasn’t like him, usually Parrot was alert of his surroundings but when he was talking to Wifies an over arching feeling of safety encapsulated him. Parrot shook his head again, he had to stop going off on tangents. So, Parrot lightly tapped his phone to light it up again before typing quickly to Wifies.
>Parrot: It’s alright! I was up anyway, no worries!
That was a lie, Parrot was not up doing something else, he had been too anxious about this man to go to sleep. Yet Parrot didn’t want Wifies to think he had burdened Parrot so he told Wifies a half truth. To his credit Parrot was already up, maybe not purposefully but he was up.
>Wifies: Wow, make a habit of staying up this late?
>Parrot: Nah I was just working on a dumb thing for my brother
>Wifies: Yeah understandable, my siblings get bitchy if I don’t do what they want fast enough
Parrot and Wifies continued their conversation for another hour or so until they both started to get tired. To be fair it was around 3:30am and although Parrot felt like he could stay awake for weeks he could also feel the weight of exhaustion looming over him. Parrot wanted to continue the conversation he was having with Wifies but didn’t want to stay awake al night. Parrot had to convince himself that Wifies would be there in the morning, and that he should go to bed.
>Parrot: It’s getting a little late and I have class at 9am… I might retire for the night
>Wifies: You have a class tomorrow morning?! Yeah go to bed bro don’t let me hold you up!
>Parrot: Alright Alright! Would you want to meet for lunch tomorrow or something?
>Wifies: Yeah for sure! There’s a pretty good café by the park if you would want to go there!
>Parrot: Yeah that sounds great! I’ll meet you there at 12:30?
>Wifies: That’s good for me!
>Parrot: Alright goodnight Wifies!
>Wifies: Gn </3
Parrot felt butterflies in his stomach, no way he just asked Wifies to go to lunch with him. Why was he so nervous about this, they were just friends? Why was Wifies permanently occupying a place in his mind? This was the first time he felt this way about someone? Why did he want to be friends with Wifies so badly?
Question reeled through Parrot’s head, before sleep eventually overcame him. His sleep was peaceful, a quiet, dreamless sleep. Parrot still felt a flutter in his heart even as consciousness was taken from him, but he brushed it off, surely this was normal.
☆
Wifies firmly clicked the power button on his phone, he had just finished a long conversation with the short scrawny kid that sat next to him in history, Parrot. He had always stood out to Wifies, he was an art student and his apprentice gave him away almost completely. Parrot had shaggy brown hair, with streaks of green, orange, yellow and blue scattered throughout his head, as well as two hair clips that kept his fringe out of his face. Parrot’s nails were always coated with slightly chipped black nail polish, it didn’t matter what day it was, nor if it was a new coat they were always chipped. Perhaps the most telling sign he was a messenger bag he always kept slung around one shoulder, it was laden with many fandom pins, some of them he recognized but most were from, what he presumed, were animes he had never watched.
On the first day of class Parrot had caught Wifies eyes, so he sat next to him. They had talked here and there for the first two weeks, once they warmed up to each other they held long and interesting conversations about topics they enjoyed talking about. Just today Parrot had given Wifies his number, although Parrot had seemed exponentially more shy than normal. He had frantically given Wifies a crumpled up piece of paper as the classroom was clearing out.
Wifies felt bad for not texting him sooner, unfortunately he had gotten so caught up in a project it was past 2 before he had realized he forgot to message Parrot, thankfully Parrot had already been awake and willing to talk. Throughout the whole conversation Wifies could feel a small gog in the back of his mind, and a small pull on something in his chest.
Now Wifies was sitting in his bed, the green fairy lights draped across his bed posts were dimly glowing as he sat there in bed unable to fall asleep. For some odd reason Wifies's conversation and promised meet-up was stuck in his mind. He wanted to talk to someone, but everyone was asleep, so he sat there alone, unable to do anything besides think about Parrot.
Wifies sighed deeply, he had to stop falling for straight men.