chatime | ✧ — peach iced tea.

[ ... 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. ]

[ 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…… ]

[ 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. ]

[ 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.

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.

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…

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. ]

[ 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. ]

[ 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. ]

[ 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. ]

[ 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. ]

[ 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. ]

[

he is asleep on the ground. ]

[ 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…? ]

[ 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.

[ 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.

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. ]

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 ]

If you aren't back here in five minutes I'm going after you.

[ there is no possible way for him to do all of that in five minutes.

... but thorns dozes off again right after saying that, so elysium is probably fine? ]

[ thorns was the ghost all along.

the way he calls kal'tsit in the middle of a workday. she sounds more exhausted than the previous night, and somewhere in the background, dahut is very audibly scolding sc*en. apparently, whatever that man had made has landed him in trouble with the dean herself. how she found out remains a mystery! surely this won't come back to bite them in the ass later.

elysium, meanwhile, entertains the thought of just taking sc*en out entirely. it'd make everyone's lives so much easier, wouldn't it? he doesn't realise he'd said that aloud until kal'tsit clears her voice.

it already takes five minutes for them to finish the phone call and for her to email him a prescription tiredly. he lingers by the doorway, half-wondering if thorns will actually come after him…? ]

[ thorns is still asleep.

it's probably safe for elysium to escape....... ]

[ …

he scurries back to thorns' room to make sure his bird is comfortably tucked under his arms. another minute of idling around just watching thorns sleep and he mentally kicks himself to go.

he realises halfway to the parking lot he'd forgotten to take a picture and kicks himself again. ]

[ elysium you fool.

thorns at least continues to sleep. there is a point where he wakes up, but in his groggy state he just feels the plush in his arms and gets comfortable again. ]

Elysium...

[ passes out ]

[ when you have mutual feelings with someone it's okay to do these things…? it breaks the mind a little, but making these changes bit by bit should be fine…

anyway. leaving elysium on his own is a pretty terrible decision as there are times where he'll just space out thinking about their situation and otherwise making himself a menace to society. he trips twice, bumps into another four. it's a miracle he survives the journey out and back.

what's supposed to take an hour at most takes an hour and a half. oopsie. ]

[ when elysium opens the door, he will find thorns sitting in front of it, still holding onto the bird. he has realized this isn't actually elysium at some point and went to find him.

he gazes at him with eyes that are barely staying open. ]

It's been over five minutes.

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