✧ — peach iced tea.

[boba]

this post is so clean

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[transmit]

[ the confessions are such a thing of the past. day one of flirting and thorns is taking his blood!!! romantic. he's quiet as to not draw attention to themselves, and when they ultimately reach his lab— ]

Kind of funny, isn't it? 3AM on a weekday would be the first time I've been in your lab.

[oversea]

You've been to someone else's first, even.

[ let the scien thing go.

but he will gather the needed supplies before setting it up so he can draw his own blood first. he does the process rather mechanically. ]

It's fine. Now that we're in here, if someone comes in they'd believe I was here the whole time. Getting in was the hard part.

[transmit]

[ why does he make this sound like an affair. elysium huffs, amused. ]

You probably let people in all the time. C'mon, you can't use that argument with me. It's not my fault you never invited me?

[ like it's probably just his classmates but elysium's counting those to be equally as ridiculous. settling into one of the nearby chairs, he props his chin in the crook of his arm and watches thorns. ]

Just how often are you staying in this late, huh? You're a menace.

[oversea]

It just didn't seem like something you'd be interested in.

[ thorns now knows that was a wrong assumption, but before it was pretty easy to think that elysium just went along with this weirdness because they were friends back in high school. and they spent most of their time in college either still ignoring each other, or existing as roommates. the steps towards being close again is a fairly recent development in the grand scheme of things. ]

... And not that often.

[ it is often enough that he has a key. ]

[transmit]

[ hmmm. there it is again, that same excuse. thorns, being mindful, when their whole friendship started with elysium inserting himself into his life and dragging him into things he never asked for. still, he figures that's the heart of the problem. once he stopped inviting himself along, it probably looked like he'd just gotten bored.

he folds his jacket up, baring his arms as he settles in more comfortably. ]

Yeah, and you totally got one from the department, right? Didn't just make a copy while no one was looking? Please.

[oversea]

There's cameras, so they obviously don't mind.

[ only because thorns is such a promising student. you know if his grades were bad and if he was involved in even half as much research as he is, he would not be getting away with this.

once he finishes collecting his own blood, he moves onto elysium. the difference in which he approached himself for this and elysium is staggering though. he carefully searches for a vein in elysium, and does everything from wiping down the spot to inserting the syringe with such a careful precision. ]

[transmit]

[ he is so dozy by the time thorns makes his way over to him. it probably speaks to thorns' level of care that he continues nodding off despite having a needle in his arm, but that's something for him to reassess later when the day hasn't been a trial and a half.

he'd wanted to watch thorns work, too…

snzzzzzzzz. ]

[oversea]

[ ... cute.

once thorns is done with everything, he will have things marked to send for analysis but that is something that cannot be done now, so he packs everything away and then waddle over to a snoozing elysium.




he pulls out his phone to snap a picture. it is not the first time he has seen elysium asleep, but it's the first time it happened in his lab, so it's an important moment. thorns tucks his phone away and then tries to pick elysium up without waking him. ]

[transmit]

[ okay but



without war how easily can thorns pick someone taller than him up, especially if he's such a weenie about protein and the gym…… ]

[oversea]

[ tears up not easily

he at least does get a lot of exercise from fencing, but there is a vast difference between picking someone up when they are awake vs carrying them through an entire building and to a car while trying not to disturb them. there is no possible way thorns can manage this without jostling elysium in some way. him managing it at the wedding was more of a testament to how drunk elysium was than anything else. ]

[transmit]

[ thorns your noodle arms

unfortunately, this just means he stirs the moment he tried. it takes more than a hot second for someone to fall into a deep sleep, and he tries to detangle himself enough so that he can just lean his weight on thorns instead. ]

You're going to hurt yourself trying to be cool. Don't.

[oversea]

I didn't want to wake you. You've had a long day.

[ the amount of bullshit they have done today alone is crazy when you think about it. the confession not being the most surprising event of the day tells a story. ]

If you were this tired, we could have just gone home.

[transmit]

You're going on about that again?

[ he is warmer to the touch than before… he's thinking he's going to have to email in and dazedly tries to make a mental note of it.

elysium's not going to even pretend he's in a state to drive and automatically deposits himself into the passenger seat. ]

It seemed important to you. [ … he almost dozes again. ] As long as you use… what you find out to kick his ass… it'll have been worth it…

[oversea]

Uh huh.

[ elysium... is cute, perhaps?

but the drive back is at least relatively calm considering no one is definitely on the road at this point except for the people who have to wake up extra early for work. when they reach the apartment, he will make another attempt at trying to carry elysium inside because he does not learn. ]

[transmit]

[ he is even sleepier than before but he will force himself upright. his eyeballs refuse to function so it's up to thorns to guide them to their flat. once they're there, muscle memory takes over. ]

Good night…

[ he makes it to the couch. ]

[oversea]

[ well, he made it further in than thorns would have thought. he covers him with a blanket and then goes to crawl into his own bed.





once he is in it he is consumed with the memory of the worst confession of all time. ]

[transmit]

[ does it matter when their feelings have been confirmed to be mutual? nevermind thorns hasn't given him an actual answer to whether or not he wants to date, they can figure that one out… eventually…

elysium wakes up at another ungodly hour into he morning to shower and also crawl into bed. he sends some emails to his prof and tells sc*en to eat shit to find inner peace.

for a variety of reasons, he ends up sleeping better the second to around. ]

[oversea]

[ it seems like elysium isn't going on a second date with scien.....

thorns does not sleep well, but he does at least fall asleep. unfortunately he ends up waking up early and drags his dead body to the bathroom where he attempts to drown himself in the shower.

this is fine. ]

[transmit]

[ that name is going in the burn book.

he ends up sleeping in until noon. of note is a missed call from kal'tsit and dahut, but he'll deal with both once he feels marginally more alive. his first priority is checking up on thorns. if he doesn't get a response from gentle knocks, he will very quietly and very respectfully try to peek in…?

yoohoo. ]

[oversea]

[




he is asleep on the ground. ]

[transmit]

[ HELP

THAT'S HIS BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

he panics, rushing over to scoop thorns back onto the bed where he belongs. the next few minutes are spent fussing over him: checking his temperature, adjusting the blankets, hovering far too close for his own good. it's hard to tell how bad it is when he's warm himself, but still. how's he doing…? ]

[oversea]

[ he is warmer than he was before, but that is likely due to the fact that he did absolutely nothing to take care of himself while sick and instead just doted on elysium the entire time.

he opens an eye. ]

Bed.

[transmit]

[ oh yeah it has nothing to do with how they spent hours giggle gaggling after their hospital visit or anything. nothing at all. elysium frowns, placing a hand over thorns' eyes.

shh, shh. ]

Mm. Lemme make a call and see what I can do for you.

[oversea]

Do what? Go to bed...

[ he places his own hand over elysium's. shhh... ]

You're sick.

[ and clearly thorns is the very picture of perfect health. ]

[transmit]

We're both sick—but I'm less sick.

[ flawless logic, really. it's also exactly why thorns is in the state he's in, but at this point they're just an infinite feedback loop of illness. it's fine. totally fine. they'll find a way out of it yet… ]

Miss Kal'tsit tried to reach me earlier, but I wasn't awake to take her call. I'll grab you something to eat first, see what medication I can pick up, then rest. [ he makes this all sound like it's very casual and will take a few minutes tops. it will! ] Deal?

[ he wrests his hand free, ready to scurry away like poor romeo ]