✧ — peach iced tea.

[boba]

this post is so clean

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[oversea]

[ OKAY.

he realizes this is problematic as soon as elysium falls asleep because thorns does not want to jostle him too much and wake him. eventually he just settles for ripping part of his shirt to at least cover the part of elysium's wound that he aggravated.

it's far from perfect, but it'll do until later. for now he just settles and watches him snooze. heart eyes. ]

[transmit]

[ heart eyes when elysium is getting exponentially more toxic okay he sees you.

elysium's pager goes off. the fact that he doesn't stir after the first ring probably speaks levels… what does thorns do. ]

[oversea]

[ hmm...

he reaches over to grab it, mostly to shut it off so it won't wake elysium. anything good? ]

[transmit]

[ they really want elysium to pick up this call… they ring again right after. ]

You don't have to pick it up…

[ holds thorns closer as if he's the one they're trying to reach. okay. if everyone involves play dead surely they will get the hint (there is an organisation actively killing and kidnapping rhodes operators) ]

[oversea]

[ it's fine it's all good

thorns ignores it, but then it just goes off again after it finally stopped. this is hell. he leans in to kiss elysium. ]

I love you.

[ he says this so seriously, like he's about to go off to war, but he's just going to answer the stupid pager. ]

[transmit]

[ thorns had one job and he failed it.

elysium yanks the chain roughly. it is so sudden and aggressive for how comfortable they were literally ten seconds ago. thorns did this… he swipes the pager and holds it out of reach. ]

Operator Elysium. [ not only does he sound done, he looks done, casting thorns a petulant glare. ] Can I help you?

[ all of this is done aloud so thorns can hear however much of the conversation he wants to pay attention to. they're due in two hours and want him at the lab by the time they get there. based on the results, this isn't something they can just put off—they need all hands on deck.

…

it's a pretty normal conversation until he mentions that he's injured and he and the other rookies are at high risk. to be safer rather than sorry, they should keep thorns stationed near them. it's not the weirdest request, but there are better personnel suited for bodyguard duty. he's quick to cut them off and say the rookies are shaken up as they are; someone they're familiar with is better than a stranger.

okay. wrong answers do not merit 'i love you's back. ]

[oversea]

[ help

thorns listens to the entire conversation quietly. he does not think his answer was wrong because they would have simply kept calling annoyingly, but he realizes they do not agree here. he remains silent once the conversation is over, but after a few minutes have passed, ]

You're not going to say it back?

[ it seems like his silence is simply shocked that elysium did not say it back. ]

[transmit]

[ he wasn't going to ignore it forever… he just wanted to keep feeling thorns prioritising him over everything else… what's a ring when you have the most handsome cutest bestest fiancé in your arms?? this is the point in which he's spiraled to. ]

Say what? I couldn't hear you over the ringing.

[oversea]

[ he's been rejected......

thorns just lays back down and closes his eyes. they said two hours so that gives them like an hour and a half at most to do nothing. ]

Nothing. It's not important.

[transmit]

[ okay……… he's going to try and get up only to be stopped by the handcuffs. he looks down at thorns. ]

If you take this off, I can redo my bandages.

[oversea]

I don't want to.

[ but he realistically knows he has to or else it'll be really awkward to do it. even if they work together, the chain is going to make it difficult to reach certain areas without straining themselves.

he just stares at the handcuffs like a petulant child. ]

[transmit]

Are you the one acting up now?

[ they can have another terrible conversation about this, why not. he leans as uncomfortably close to thorns' face as he can without bumping their noses.

hi. ]

[oversea]

[ thorns will never consider this uncomfortable because he thinks elysium should always be close to him. this is why there are handcuffs involved now.

he opens an eye. ]

I put this on you. I should get to decide when I take it off.

[transmit]

[ help. okay. they just have no boundaries whatsoever now this is fine.

he squints. ]

I told you not to pick up. [ wrong. he said he shouldn't pick up, but elysium has now learned from his mistakes. ] I should get to decide when you stop paying attention to me.

[ their fucked up exchange ]

[oversea]

[ can you even have boundaries at this point? it feels like they are trying to intertwined themselves into each other as much as both physically and emotionally possible.

as always, they need help. ]

Next time say it more firmly.

[transmit]

[ if anyone tries to help them there's going to be a death. it's too late… the only way to fix this is going next and starting all over again from a clean slate. ]

… Okay. I love you too.

[ finally says it back… ]

[oversea]

[ thorns lets out a small sigh of relief when elysium says it back, like he was genuinely concerned there could be a difference response. ]

Good. What would I do if you didn't?

[ there was once a time where thorns would have just been fwb even after getting rejected. wow. ]

[transmit]

[ he owes thorns more than just words. there's something else, too—a hand lifts to cup his cheek and he presses a kiss back in return. ]

What would you do? I'm not letting you fall out of love with me.

[ there was a time when elysium did not want thorns to choose him but unless he is is first and second and third up to tenth priority he might start to freak out a little

no big. ]

[oversea]

I'd never fall out of love with you.

[ a sentiment that thorns had said before, back when elysium very much hated the idea of thorns pining after him. but the feeling only becomes more and more intense. thorns never doubted his feelings, but he was once at least willing to not let their relationship become romantic.

he wonders how did he ever have the resolve for that, despite that also happening in this timeline. ]

[transmit]

[ consider how quickly he went from 0 to 80 to 200 on a scale where the cap is 100. how quickly they both shot to being unhinged, actually, like they knew deep down as they are they'd be better off without each other. funny how that works—but now that they're both this deep, there's nowhere to go but down.

he thinks about how thorns' hand had been around his neck, and his hand trails down to curl his fingers loosely around it. they talked about collars, but what they really have around one another are nooses, don't they? ]

All of me exists for you. Then, now, and in the future. If we never involved ourselves with Rhodes' business, we would've never had to deal with something so annoying…

[ risk looms. he hates it. ]

[oversea]

[ it's so funny to be annoyed at having jobs when they would not be as close as they are if elysium never invited thorns to rhodes. but it just shows how something that was once important can get overshadowed by something else.

amiya does not deserve this....... ]

... We might have run into this eventually anyway.

[transmit]

[ okay well elysium did not have to become so important at his job… it was fun and fulfilling until it wasn't, and now it's hard to untangle themselves from the mess.

and amiya does not deserve this but all the trouble and then some that they've caused don't even amount to a fraction to what their war criminals coworkers have. they really are mostly causing trouble to themselves. ]

Don't say that. Help me change my bandages…

[ as opposed to asking thorns to let them go again, they can figure this out. it's fine. he cannot show up to the lab with bloodied bandages sadly. ]

[oversea]

[ they technically also can't show up to the lab handcuffed to each other or they might actually be committed for psychological review. but they will cross that bridge later.

but they can struggle with the bandages. at the very least, they have both likely had to do something like this while handicapped in some way before, especially while out on the field. this is just likely the stupidest reason for it. ]

Should I lengthen the chain...?

[ that feels less intimate though... ]

[transmit]

[ neither of these bitches are passing any psych review ever anymore they're dodging that shit harder than the pale sea medal set did to you ]

That defeats the purpose…

[ twists his hand to latch onto thorns' wrist. he wouldn't be able to do this if the chain were longer, if they were further apart.

he leans in to whisper into thorns' ear: ]

You can pick out a nice collar when we're done. Will that make things better?

[oversea]

[ he really said that like how you might suggest buying a pretty dress or shoes or something normal.

sadly, this works for thorns. he turns just enough so that he can capture elysium's mouth in a kiss. ]

Deal.