Work Text:
Tai was doomscrolling on his phone at 2 a.m on a school night. He couldn’t sleep even if he tried. He’d spent at least an hour just staring up at the ceiling before making the executive decision to just scroll through instagram instead.
His hands instinctively went to a familiar profile. Rejoice. Tai sighed as he looked through his highlights over and over again. Thank god Rejoice didn’t have highlight traps. If he did, he would’ve gotten caught at least twenty times.
He clicked out on instagram and into his messages app. Rejoice’s page already on his screen. He scrolled up and down their messages, giggling at every joke and rereading the chats for what he assumes is the fifth time.
Ding!
He looks up, thumb reaching up to swipe the message away. He freezes at the name of the sender. ItsN00B, his best friend.
N00B
Bro i have hella tea
Tai
Go on
N00B
Apparently Rejoice used to have a crush on you last year
Tai’s eyes widened at the message. His heart beating out of his chest. N00B didn’t know what this message is doing to him right now. He didn’t know about Tai’s crush.
In fact, nobody does, Tai would rather die alone than admit to ever liking Rejoice. Something about his friends never letting him live it down.
Tai
???????
Elaborate????
N00B
Yeah bro
Jude told me so
Apparently it’s kinda obvious
Tai
Or he’s just observant
N00B
Eh….
Tai
Wdym eh??
N00B
I’m pretty sure helping somebody carry heavy ass books down the hallways while carrying they’re own isn’t casual
Tai
Friends do that…
N00B
He literally only does that to you
Tai
Right
Whatever
Does he still like me?
N00B
Idk
Jude didn’t mention
Tai
Kys
Ding!
Right on queue. The notification bubble popped up as Tai’s hands were frantically in his hair as he saw the sender.
Rejoice. How does he even act normal after that. Finding out your crush used to like you is not an easy thing to just brush off.
He takes a deep breath as an effort to calm his nerves before facing Rejoice, even if it was just over text.
Rejoice
Taiii
Tai
???
Bro it’s like 2 am
Rejoice
I can’t sleep bro
Tai
Okay
Why are you telling me
Rejoice
Idk
Help me
Tai
???????
How
Rejoice
Just say you hate me
Tai
I hate you
Rejoice
Can we call
Tai
For what
Rejoice
Sleep call
For fun duh
Tai
Too lazy
Rejoice
Bruhhh
Just listen to me talk
You lit don’t have to do anything
Not like you can sleep either way
Win win for both of us
I don’t know about you, but to Tai that’s a really tempting offer. He immediately gets excited over the idea of listening to rejoices soothing, tired voice as he feigns sleep.
Tai
Ok whatever
Almost immediately. The call starts. The brightness of his phone marking him squint at the sunflower profile picture plastered in the middle of his screen.
He turns his brightness down before accepting the call. He lies back on his bad as he leaves his phone beside him on his pillow. He grabs his bolster as he wraps his legs and arms around it.
“Hi..” Tai murmurs out.
“You sound excited” Rejoices voice comes through the speakers, the tension in Tai’s shoulders disappearing as soon as he hears it.
He only hums as he turns his back while he grabs his phone. Rejoice’s camera is on, so he decides to match him, thumb sliding down to click on his camera button.
Golden eyes need obsidian ones, Tai freezes at the eye contact, damn it, even through a camera, in a dark room, those eyes still captivate him in a way he doesn’t want to explain.
“Bro oh my god” Rejoice giggles, his voice deeper and raspier than usual. That sound makes Tai’s heart melt in his chest as he tries his hardest to process what Rejoice just said.
“What?” Tai asked suspiciously.
Rejoice only giggled at him
“Are you making fun of me??” Tai pointed out accusingly.
“You’re adorable” Rejoice blurts out as his lips curve up into a small, genuine smile.
Tai only held onto his bolster tighter, shoving his face on the top of it to hide the pink crawling up his cheeks.
“Shut up” Tai stuttered out which made Rejoice giggle even harder.
“No, seriously” Tai looks back up at his phone, Rejoice just stares at him intently. This feels way too intimate.
“Your hair is all messed up, your curls are all over the place, and you look sleepy as hell which just makes it all the better.” Rejoice just says easily.
Tai aims his phone camera upwards as he uses his free hand to cover his face as his cheeks burn hotter than it already did. He mutters something incomprehensible under his breath.
“And not to mention you’re ridiculously easy to fluster” Rejoice teases to Tai’s absolute dismay.
Tai just silently squirms into his bolster as he kicks his feet under the covers.
A few minutes of silence passes by.
It wasn’t awkward, it was comfortable. Tai listened as he listened into the pace of Rejoices breathing, slow, steady and calm.
Rejoice breaks the silence.
“Hey, show me your face.”
Tai looks up at his screen confused. “Huh?”
“You get to see my face while I just stare at your wall? It’s only fair I get to see yours too.” Rejoice says rather commandingly.
Tai only obliges, he tells himself it’s because he’s too tired to argue with Rejoice right now and just rolls with it.
He stares into his screen as Rejoice starts talking.
The conversation fell into a smooth rhythm , talking about people at school, professors they hate, and somehow embarrassing moments they had in their lives.
Tai was thrilled to know more about Rejoice. But his eyes were starting to flutter shut, Rejoices sleepy, raspy voice didn’t help either.
Tai’s consciousness was starting to fade as he shuts his eyes. Rejoice only stares at his screen with a glint in his eyes.
He chuckles and says something Tai couldn’t catch. Though, it sounded suspiciously like “I love you”
Eventually they both dozed off to sleep. Listening to the rise and fall of each others chests.
Call ended.
4:58:39