chatime | ✧ — peach iced tea.

[ it's about to get even more precarious because elysium rouses in the middle of this journey giggling to himself. what's so funny? everything is. they are. it is such an odd, giddy feeling to be carried like this when typically it's the other way around solely due to height. the world sways with thorns' stride, cold air biting at his exposed skin, making reality feel even further away. ]

Am I dreaming…?

[ his voice is muffled as he stares, dazed, at thorns' profile. something warm wells up in his chest, and before he can think better of it, he leans forward, pressing his mouth to the nape of thorns' neck to suck at skin. ]

Heheh… I gotta be…

[ by some miracle, thorns does not drop elysium, but be comes very close to.

he just keeps walking, assuming that elysium is just being annoying and trying to bite him like he was biting him earlier. ]

Uh huh.

[ it's kind of cute... ]

[ wow… this just convinces him that this really is a dream because there's no way thorns would be this nice to him? he laughs to himself some more, throwing his arms across thorns' front to just

smush his entire face into him, rubbing his cheek affectionately below his shoulder blade. ]

Where're we going?

[ this can still be platonic.

the moving around does make it a little harder to remain steady, but thorns continues forward. he has to readjust his hold on elysium a few times along the way. ]

Our room.

[ which can sound romantic out of context but no. just their hotel. ]

[ that sounds about right. his heart flutters, and he goes slack, seemingly having dozed off again on thorns' back.

their room… where they will do activities… no, he'd just gained awareness after thorns had to shift him around so much and is trying to behave while also shyly thinking about this exact fact.

romantic!!!!!!!!!! ]

[ ohhhh they are so stupid.

they eventually make it back to their room, and it takes some fumbling for thorns to get the key out of his pocket to open the door. once inside, he just slowly makes it over to one of the beds and tries to gently deposit elysium onto it.

... ]

We're here.

[

he's too embarrassed to say anything even drunk out of his mind so he just continues to cling onto thorns. read his mind. ]

[ okay.

thorns is unable to do this. instead, he just shifts so he can pull off their shoes since he was unable to while carrying elysium... and then goes to take off their suit jackets.

this just makes it seem like he is stripping them but it's fine it's fine ]

[ thorns their activities

but that's good enough for him… he tugs thorns the rest of the way down onto the bed, circles his arms around him, and just

snuggles. he looks and sounds like he's never been happier a day in his life. this is what happens when you one-sidedly pine for one guy for most of your life: you are pathetic. good luck prying him off he's putting his heart and soul into this!!!!!! ]

[ oh

thorns is drunk enough he is okay with this. he just gets comfortable against elysium. ]

Goodnight.

[

kisses the side of his head. like a goodnight kiss. this is platonic. ]

[ giving elysium space lasted like two tags tears up

and because this is a dream he quickly kisses thorns back at a blink-and-you'll-miss-it speed. it is normal to kiss the homies goodnight as this is what wards off bad vibes. ]

Goodnight.

[ how much giddiness can be packed in one word alone? answer that and multiply it by two. that's elysium. ]

[ space is over as soon as it becomes bedtime, it seems.

admittedly this is going much better than the other time these two got drunk and gotten into bed together in another life. but thorns will just cuddle and close his eyes, seeing nothing wrong with this...

he will be overwhelmed with guilt towards kitten later. ]

[ okay but they have not been conditioned to be infinitely clingy to each other so at some point during the evening when he starts overheating he just casually rolls away from thorns and ends up on the other side of the bed

there is room for benefit of the doubt here. this can still be salvaged. elysium wakes up confused recalling almost 0 from the point of dancing onward… huh… ]

[ it's fine!! they are still fully clothed besides their suit jackets being off, and they do not appear as if they made out or anything so. safe? just two bros sleeping on the same bed together, which is not that big of a deal when it comes to both travel and alcohol.

thorns continues to snooze. ]

[ he looks to the side

he is thinking very little but he has enough sense to crawl over to the other bed before passing out again. he does not want to think about how this happened but in order to save their friendship (that he has rocked several times already) he will do what he must.

zzzz ]

[ this could have gone a lot worse, ely... it's okay.

thorns does eventually awaken. he groggily sits up and looks to his side where he sees no elysium. he looks around until his gaze lands on the other bed, and that makes him wonder if he just dreamed the whole thing up? did they not cuddle?

if that didn't happen, doesn't it mean thorns was dreaming about it? dies ]

[ tears up in thorns gaslighting himself

but ask elysium, and he will also corroborate nothing happened… he only remembers how perfectly platonic they were being. by the time thorns wakes, he's still fast asleep.

knowing he's potentially spared them both an awkward situation, he rests easy, at peace… ]

[ he is at peace meanwhile thorns is doubting his memory

but okay... his head hurts. thorns slowly crawls out of bed and goes to take a shower while elysium snoozes. he has a lot of things to think about, because unfortunately for him he did not black out so he does remember things. some details are fuzzy, especially towards the end of the night, but one thing does echo very loudly in his head.

elysium wants space.... ]

[ ELYSIUM NEVER ONCE SAID HE WANTS SPACE?

calling him out for lacking boundaries is one thing, but his memory's a sieve and trying to recall past a certain point is an exercise in futility. so, it's not like he can even make the argument but take thorns' word for it, if ever. but, the sound of the shower flicking on is what inevitably stirs him awake, and the pounding headache keeps him there. at least he's clothed; that's some comfort.

more importantly—

he will drag himself all the way down to the lobby to fetch them water. never say he doesn't love you, thorns. ]

[ the way thorns spends his entire shower wondering if he needs to write an apology letter to kitten or something. he has no idea how to send it to her... the chances of elysium handing over her contact info are low, considering he barely talks about her already.

...

he did not bring clothes with him in here. but he does have a towel, so thorns just wraps that around himself and quietly walks out to get his change of clothing. he was assuming elysium was still asleep, but he is gone??? somewhere??? ]

[ thorns needs to stop thinking about kitten he can't let a person that doesn't exist win

elysium just trudges back into the room miserably, sets a bag of water and fruit at the foot of thorns' bed, then collapses back into his own face first. dies a second time. ]

[ oh.....

he walks over to throw a blanket over elysium. ]

Goodnight.

[ there is no response. it was nice knowing thorns.

just kidding there's one thing: ]

Stay hydrated…

[ dies for real. ]

[ oh he is so dead. why did they do this.

he will get water to pathetically sip at and then climb back into his own bed. he has a lot to consider... elysium had accused him of trying to make him fall in love with him again (that is not what he said). does thorns just want to keep elysium's attention for himself? what does that mean exactly?

he should not be doing character analysis of himself while he has a pounding headache but here we are. ]

[ they did this because they cannot be normal about their friendship ever

deeply relieved i'm no longer the one stuck writing about midlife crises; he just snores, completely gone. ]

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