[PRP] Minutes Away from You (Oliver & Horace)

[The Semblance of Unity]

It was about 2am, and far past the time he should be awake. But he couldn't sleep. His fingers hovered over the keyboard on his phone, the glow lighting up his face oddly. Horace was trying to text, trying to think of anything at all to say. He curled down further into his bed, yanking the comforter up until it pooled around his shoulders.

Instead of texting, he hit 'call' and waited.

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Oliver's room was quiet, if you weren't counting the sound in his headphones. It was way too late (it often was) and he was at his keyboard, his fingers tapping out things experimentally. Occasionally he'd pause to jot something down, and then he'd resume, and then he'd yawn or stretch and go back to slouching over his musical device. His fingers were clumsy with sleep exhaustion and it was becoming evident that he wasn't really getting anywhere.

Chai 'watched' from his bed, her eyes squinty and pleased.

Thankfully he'd taken his clunky headphones off around the same time that his phone lit up, the bzzt, bzzt sound against his nightstand catching his attention to immediately. His first thought was to get mad because who the ********>, but then he realized this wasn't the first time something like this had happened, and he kind of hoped it wasn't the last.

He crossed his room to sit on his bed, Chai chirping back into wakefulness when the bed shifted. "Hello?" His voice was sleepy, but clear like he'd been awake for some time. "Is everything alright over there?"

He hadn't even texted him first.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Hey, Ollie." His voice was kind of muffled (possibly because the blanket was over his face). Horace moved it, shifting lazily. "I'm fine. I just... uh.... wanted to hear your voice." Well, that sounded stupid.

"Were you asleep? I'm sorry."

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[Melancholies]

Maybe it did, but Ollie had those sentiments sometimes too, so it was good having people like Horace around who didn't mind blurting s**t out like that. It made him feel better, actually, "No. Should've been, but I wasn't." He yawned like he was on a cue, his hand rubbing under his eye.

"I couldn't wind down." It was the cause for most of his sleepless nights, but anyone who knew Ollie would know this already, "I was workin' on some homework, but I can't focus for s**t." Dramatic sigh; followed by a soft poomf as he fell backwards onto the bed.

Chai came to investigate the phone with her loud purrs.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace smiled. Oliver was always up far too late; Horace wondered if he ever had kept to a sleep schedule before. Probably not, probably wasn't possible for Ollie.

"I either hear a cat or something vibrating." The cats were adorable, and it made Horace want a pet. He had Nugget, but Nugget wasn't a pet so much as an animal roommate that he worked with. "Being too keyed up to focus or sleep is terrible - wanna talk until you feel sleepy?"

He hesitated. "I also... wanted to say that I was sorry. For trying to press you a while ago about the thing you can't talk about. I get it, now."

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[Melancholies]

"It's just Chai." He said with a quiet laugh, the noodle of a cat busy as she pawed all over her human companion. "Nosey's around somewhere..." He yawned again as he finger delicately rubbed under his eye.

His sleepy little fantasy slowly died though as he started to wake up, "Wait, you-?" Oliver shifted uncomfortably, the receiver filled with silence, until he finally spoke again. "You... you too..." He sighed, "I told you to be careful. I'm sure everyone on the charter was--"

He stopped abruptly, the pain tingling in his wrist. "I um, got my deathsense shortly after that. I noticed it when I was walking out of the campus building." He laughed weakly now, bitterly, "Um. I dunno if it's related or not, to y'know... that. But you should keep your eyes peeled anyway."

Another beat of silence, and "I'm glad you're okay... you are okay, right?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I love your cats," he said, then sighed. "I know talking about it... hurts, so don't try too hard. I'm... okay. I mean I'm unharmed." Horace rolled over, kicking one leg off of the bed entirely. But no, monsters... He tucked it back up on the bed.

"I think your deathsense thing happening then makes sense. It's like a... a magical exchange, maybe?" He could feel his wrist beginning to burn - it felt like a sunburn. When he'd tried to tell Melany, it had flared violently. "I've always got appeeling eyes, anyway," he joked. "Do you think maybe I'll get a bakingsense or, like, a secretsense?"

He breathed in, out, blinked thrice, rearranged a pillow. "Did I ever tell you about my... my parents?"

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[Melancholies]

"I love them too." He sounded very fond for a moment, his voice entirely too affectionate, entirely too sleepy. "Bakingsense sounds a lot more helpful, honestly. Like, you could always know when to pull things out of the oven." He sighed wistfully, "A lot less intrusive than, y'know." He rolled his shoulder.

"You never mentioned them no, I don't think so?" He hmm'd quietly, "I'd remember." Parents... parents were a topic Ollie could get pretty serious over.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace wished he'd kept to nothings. "Maybe I already had bakingsense," he said idly, kind of avoiding the whole parents topic, even though Horace had been the one to bring it up. Horace fidgeted. He wasn't even sure how to bring up his eventual point without mentioning Ezra, and that wouldn't work. Bringing his thumb up to his face, he squinted at the smooth skin there. His glasses were on the edge of the bed, and his eyesight was terrible.

"So... basically, I grew up with my grandmother back in Oklahoma. My mom's dead, and I thought my dad was, too. Or gone, or whatever, skipped out, left mom alone 'til she died. I don't.. even know his name, grandma refused to tell me or even speak about him at all." Grandma Dora hadn't spoken very much about her daughter either - his mother. He wasn't entirely sure how she'd died; it seemed to hurt his grandma too much, so he'd never truly pressed. "But like I... apparently he's around, he could be-" Horace swallowed. He couldn't say how he was told, or that he was old, probably. "-could be here."

"W-what am I supposed to do?"

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[Melancholies]

Oliver was surrisingly thoughtful as Horace spoke, his hand tangling in Chai's soft fur as she settled onto his chest in a heap. The silence on his end was respectful, and at the end he made a soft little hum sound. The why where and how wasn't very important to him; he was focused on the question poised.

"Well," he said after a considerate moment, "I think that... unless you look into it, it'll eat away at you constantly. The what if's, the maybe so's..." He sighed out a content sound.

"I can scarcely remember my mother. If I had a chance to learn more about her--more than her name and her relationship to me--then I would, even knowing how terrible my father was and how terrible she might have been too. You won't know unless you look, and..." he pursed his lips, "You'll only keep stressing. But that's only my two cents."

He gave a small ******** your grandma from keeping s**t like that from you though." The tone of his voice, the callousness, made it sound like he took it personal for some reason. He huffed softly.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Grandma had her reasons, I'm sure." He sounded a little sad. "She didn't talk about my mother, either. I don't have any pictures or anything. Did your father not speak of your mother, either?" Horace realized how little he knew of Oliver's family, but as someone with very little family, it hadn't occurred to him to ask. A shitty oversight.

Horace chewed his lip thoughtfully, had been - so much so that they were ragged. "I... it's stupid and silly, but I'm kind of afraid, you know? Like it's the court and I don't know..." A sound came over the phone as Horace smushed his face into a pillow and groaned.

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"I guess." He didn't seem to be budging on it. "It just seems a little... I dunno, harsh."

When Horace prodded into Oliver's family life, he gave another long pause. "It's a little... complicated." He admitted finally, "My family situation, I mean, if you even want to call it that. I can remember my mother being there when I was young, and then not, so I always assume she just skipped out... not that I really blame her." He shrugged, the sound coming across the receiver like rustling fabric. Then again, this was supposed to be about Horace and his dilemma, not Ollie's own family woes, so he pushed the story aside. "Either way he didn't, no, sorry..."

Sigh.

"I think it's normal to be afraid of things like that. It's not stupid or silly at all." He was still petting Chai, "The... Court though?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Do you... do you wanna find her, like, if you could?" Actually, he was pretty sure they could. Even if Oliver didn't know her name, mothers were legally required to sign birth certificates, except in extenuating circumstances. Horace had double-checked, once, hoping for his father's name (it wasn't there).

He could never fault Oliver if he didn't want to know. Ezra had said Horace's father hadn't known he'd existed, but what if he had, what if he'd simply left? It was difficult. "He's... connected to the court, somehow. I have to ask Silk. I mean, I can't right now, not with how busy everything is. Bigger fish to fry." He sighed deeply.

"I wish I could cuddle with Nosey or Chai-" Or you. "-right now. Nugget is not the cuddliest bat, even if I love him. Maybe I should get a cat." Who was he kidding? Horace probably couldn't handle cuddling, even if he wanted it - not from a human, at least.

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[Melancholies]

Oliver hmm'd. "I'd like to, I think, just to see what kind of a person she was." He laughed, kind sleepy and kinda sad, "I've always wondered what kind of a women would've put up with my dad. He was kind of a huge a*****e. But that's beside the point— you should ask Silk after this is all over. I would anyway."

He made another thoughtful sound, "I mean, you know you're always welcome over. Nosey really likes you." Chai did too, but Chai liked everyone. The fact Nosey had regarded someone with even an ounce of interest was really astonishing. "I'd offer to bring them over there, but I dunno how well that'd work. Chai would prolly be okay, but Nosey would wanna eat Nugget..." There was a small beat of silence, "It's nice to have that sort of companionship though. Pets are kinda special like that with the whole unconditional thing—you'd probably benefit from that."

Another moment, "I mean, if you ever like..." Oliver trailed off awkwardly, though it was more from his own inability to be open, "Needed someone, I guess, I could always come over too you know?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

There was a wealth of story behind that simple phrase: 'huge a*****e'. Horace frowned, wishing he could draw it out of Oliver like magical threads just so he could untangle the knots. Or maybe it was after 2am and he was imagining things in Oliver's voice that weren't there. "If you dad was still around, I'd kick his a** for you." Maybe he would ask Silk. Maybe he wouldn't.

"I really like Nosey. Maybe he and Nugget could be best friends...." He chuckled a bit. Nugget would probably try to wallop Nosey real good (and fail). "Unconditional love, huh? Sounds like part of a fairytale, but I guess pets fit the bill." Horace, too, fell silent for a moment, debating how to answer Oliver's suggestion.

"I think... that if you offered that, I might get too greedy and take you up on it some nights after 2am when everything feels a little too grey and a little too big." He shifted, sheets rustling. "But, you know, if you ever wanted me, too, I'd come over."

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