Chapter Text
"Welcome back, Fluffers!"
"...Somehow we're here. Again."
"Of course we are!" Harrison beamed over at Drew, the ever-constant pack of Samosas in his hands, opening them with a practiced twitch of his fingers and setting the box between their mics.
"You're listening to Kaleidotrope on 89.2 WFLUF The Fluff. I'm your host, Drew, and this is..." Drew turned to his co-host, watching the way he happily shoved Samosas in his mouth. "What are you going by this time, Harrison?"
He considered it for a second before swallowing. "You pick."
Drew paused. Was Harrison really letting him pick his deejay name for the episode? "Oh. Uh... what do you think about... Rose?"
"Rose?" Harrison considered it for a long pause, making Drew feel... oddly nervous. Then Harrison smiled, and the nervousness evaporated almost immediately. "I like it. It could be short for Amberose!"
"Yeah." Drew cleared his throat, reaching for a Samosa out of reflex. The booth was silent— he could see Hal shaking her head at the two of them slowly— before Drew's phone pinged. He glanced over at it before sighing slowly. Advice quarter hour had apparently started... "It's from Lovejoy."
Harrison grinned as his phone went off at the same time. "It's Stanwyck!~ Which means... an update on Khaleesi!"
"...I'm still pretty sure they never named the egg Khaleesi..."
"Well, until either of them tells us what their baby's name is, it's Khaleesi!"
"Alright, alright." Drew cleared his throat. "'Dear Drew and Rose...'"
***
The red On Air sign in the booth finally blinked off as Drew and Harrison's laughter finally died down. Drew didn't even remember what their "debate" topic was for this episode, just that whatever it was had caused Harrison to fall out of his chair laughing and render both of them breathless.
Now the two of them were left to pack up in silence— Hal had already left due to a family issue or something— leaving the two of them standing there alone.
"Hey, Drew." Harrison turned to him, and Drew looked up from his backpack.
"Yeah?"
"Do... Do you want me to walk you back to your apartment?"
"Oh. Uh... I mean..." Drew hesitated. "Mine is pretty far out of the way. Are you sure you don't want me to just walk you back to yours?"
Harrison seemed to... deflate at that. The grin didn't fade, but his eyes just seemed... sadder now?
"Oh, that's... alright. It's alright. I'll see you next week."
"See you...?"
The door to the radio booth fell silent before Drew walked outside. He could see Harrison, caught up in talking to someone— probably a friend or something— and Drew tried to ignore the pang he felt watching Harrison laugh.
He took a deep breath of the fresh air, trying to clear his mind, and coughed.
Drew's hand flew to his mouth, spitting out the soft, dark purple petal that was resting on his tongue.
Odd... there... weren't any purple flowers anywhere near him on campus...
He dropped it to the ground, deciding to ignore Harrison and start walking back to his room. He was probably just hallucinating and needed some much-needed sleep.