Chapter Text
☁️Skype
✉️Private Messages
👤lamplighter18 is Online
🗓️Feb 24, 2014
06:13 lamplighter18: Bad night?
06:13 tapetotape24: Really bad night :(
06:13 lamplighter18: Because of work again?
06:13 tapetotape24: Yeah.
06:14 lamplighter18: Well I want you to know you are not your work performance and one bad showing does not mean you are bad at your job in general.
06:14 lamplighter18: You are most hardworking person I know and if your boss and coworkers don't know that then they don't deserve you.
06:15 tapetotape24: Lamp...
06:15 lamplighter18: So how are you holding up since this morning?
06:15 tapetotape24: Much better now that I'm talking to you, haha.
06:15 lamplighter18: :)
☁️Skype
✉️Private Messages
👤lamplighter18 is Online
🗓️Mar 14, 2014
14:25 tapetotape24: Can I ask you something?
14:30 lamplighter18: This sounds serious ))
14:30 lamplighter18: Yes, of course Tape.
14:32 tapetotape24: Do you ever have second thoughts about the life you chose?
14:32 tapetotape24: Because I worked my ass off to pursue my one and only dream, and in a sense I'm living my dream career right now, but sometimes I just feel so alone and I think, this isn't how I imagined it.
14:33 tapetotape24: I didn't think I would be alone at the top.
14:34 lamplighter18: Some isolation is part of territory for excellence.
14:34 lamplighter18: And I know whatever it is, you are excellent at what you do.
14:35 lamplighter18: Yes, I have second thoughts about my path in life too, but I think about cons as price I paid to escape my former life.
14:35 lamplighter18: And when I think of where I would be instead if I didn't have this, I would not have traded my life now for anything.
14:36 tapetotape24: Thanks.
14:36 tapetotape24: I'm really glad you're here, Lamp.
14:36 tapetotape24: You make everything a little bit easier.
☁️Skype
✉️Private Messages
👤lamplighter18 is Online
🗓️Apr 7, 2014
22:46 tapetotape24: I have this... coworker, you could say, but he works at a different branch and department.
22:46 tapetotape24: He speaks Russian, which is why I'm asking you: can you teach me to say a really offensive sentence in Russian to throw him off at our next company meeting?
22:47 lamplighter18: Oh, Tape, my little troublemaker )))
22:47 lamplighter18: I'd love to.
22:47 lamplighter18: Anything for you.
22:48 tapetotape24: Thanks, Lamp :)
As soon as Shane says the words, Rozanov’s smirk fucking drops. He stands frozen at the face-off circle, eyes wide and terrified, mouth slightly parted.
Was what Shane said really that affective? He’ll have to thank Lamp later—because that’s the easiest face-off win of Shane’s life.
Even after play has resumed, Rozanov remains half a step behind, physically present but, for all intents and purposes, not quite there anymore in spirit. Shane almost has half a mind to worry.
The Metros win handily, and as Shane winds down for the night in his hotel room, the first thing he does is pull up his chat thread with lamplighter18.
lamplighter18 is Offline
Huh. A little unusual considering their years-long nightly ritual at this point, but oh well. Maybe things just ran long at work. Shane leaves him a message and continues on with his nightly routine.