Doki Doki Panic

[backslash]

So, today sucked.

Actually, the whole week had sucked. Myles had had everything planned out at the beginning, up to and including an ordered list of people to go down to find a prom date, and then he'd been suddenly and cruelly struck down by an unseasonable cold. This meant that he had to miss school, which by itself was fine, but it also meant that his plans to ask anyone in person were ruined. Half-zombified from NyQuil wasn't a good look.

He was on a deadline, though, so instead of spending all day moping around in bed and surfing the internet, he only spent half the day doing that. The other half was spent drinking coffee until his stomach threatened to rebel, but at least he felt alert enough to be close to on his game for the conversations he was preparing to have.

The silver lining was that he could start simply.

>To: ,
> Hey : )

Simple enough until he almost started a group message instead of sending the same text to two people, at least, but he caught himself in time. Stupid cold. Myles stuck his tongue out at his phone like it was to blame, and cocooned himself back in his blanket. Maybe he should have changed out of his pajamas for this, even if nobody was going to see him.

[Fenris]

Zen was BORED.

That happened a lot. Especially at school, because they knew there were a million billion other fun things they could be doing that weren't School, but they were still stuck doing School, which was boring and lame and not Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 at all. Most days school was at least deal-with-able because Zen had pills for that, pills that didn't really crush the boredom but at least let them think about one thing at a time instead of the sixteen thousand things usually go through their head at once, but they had forgotten to take one this morning. Which was another thing that happened a lot. You'd think there'd be a better way to deal with a thing that made people forget stuff all the time than a pill that you would end up forgetting to take all the time, but apparently, that was How Things Were.

Zen kicked their feet miserably under their desk while Mr. McClellan droned on about something that they were too unfocused to actually follow but didn't sound like it was about history at all, actually, unless you counted his own teenage years as history, which they kinda were, the 70s were history, right? Either way it was a definite Big Relief when there was a sudden buzzing from the pocket of their button-down. They glanced at their teacher but he was definitely off in his own little section of the universe somewhere for the time being, so they weren't particularly sneaky about taking their phone out, though they at least thought to hold it under the desk instead of on top of it. They saw the sender and smiled.

> To: Myley!!!
> hi myley wahst up how are u/ ???
> whats*
> r u sick???? u werent in english
> do u need the homework
> or osup i can bring soup
> i dont know how to make soup
> but i will learn!!!!!

[backslash]

Zen took approximately .2 seconds to respond, which was one of the things Myles generally liked about them. They pretty much never turned down a chance to hang out or left him waiting. He hated being left hanging.

Unfortunately, today wasn't a day for house calls, and that needed to be made clear up front.

>To:
> No I have soup
> Also yeah I'm sick
> Just a cold, its w/e
> Whats up with you tho?

[Kotorikun]

Declyn liked the library.

When he was doing homework, an assignment or anything like it, this was his place of choice and a preference over his room at home for that matter. It was quiet enough to let him work in peace on the ground floor while there were still enough people around to make it feel more lively in case he got bored.

With his laptop in front of him on the table, the only thing that was missing was a Starbucks drink with his name misspelled on the cup. He was used to it. “It’s Declyn with a ‘y’,” he’d say. “Huh,” they respond, giving him his awaited Salted Caramel Mocha with “Declan” on it two minutes and twenty-three seconds later (he had measured the time purely out of curiosity).

It was fine.

While his biology assignment was pushed aside, his private studies had peaked from looking for a new jacket to doing some research on the shift in the current celebrity culture. Declyn’s phone was on silent mode right next to his laptop. He kept checking it every now and then until a smile formed on his face when he saw that Myles had messaged him a couple of minutes ago. He tapped the screen, opening the window, his thumb hitting the same random button over and over again while wondering if there was anything specific he wanted to talk about. Maybe homework since he was absent today? It looked something like this when he deleted it:

> nnnnnn_
> nnnnn_
> nnnn_
> nnn_
> nn_
> n_
> _

He was now holding his phone with both hands, typing, pushing himself back in the chair. The thing is, once your center of gravity passes over the point of rotation — the back legs of the chair in this case — it’s all downhill from there.

And that was exactly what happened.

Gravity had done its job and Declyn fell back, accidentally pressing send in the process.

> To: Myles
> Eey how

[Fenris]

Messages!! Myles was kinda back and forth about messaging back quickly. Like some days he was On His Game and other days he was moody or distracted or there was some High Drama going on or else he just fell asleep. And Zen didn't like being judgy when people didn't respond, cause who knew what stuff they were dealing with that was more important than messaging her, but they did get pretty bouncy when they had to wait long, and bouncy wasn't an ideal in-class Thing To Be.

> class unfortuneatly :c
> mr mcclellan never stops tlaking ever 4ever
> im so borrrrrrrrrrrrred
> butn ow im not!!
> cause ur heere

[backslash]

Okay, now they were getting somewhere. Maybe.

>To:
> Oh gross
> History is the worst w/ him

A little something to tide Zen over while Myles worked out how he wanted to go about this. It was kind of rude to say, but Zen ranked slightly lower on his list just because he knew they were almost guaranteed to say yes to just about anything. He liked Zen, but they weren't... what was the word. Novel?

Sure, let's go with that.

Prom with Zen would be fun and things were pretty much set on a smooth course on that front if it happened. He wouldn't be disappointed if it happened.

>To:
> How to you too lol
> Are you free rn?

Declyn, on the other hand, was higher-risk and possibly higher-reward. As far as asking anyone to prom could be a risk, anyway. They generally had a good time when they hung out, but Myles was very much aware he wasn't necessarily at the top of Declyn's list, and it kind of irritated him. Getting something worked out with Declyn would be like winning over somebody else. That was enough to make getting a "yes" out of Declyn more satisfying overall than Zen.

[Kotorikun]

A short gasp echoed from a corner, giggling from another. Declyn had managed to soften the fall with his arm (something had to take the L after all. Not like he had had much time to react but he’d rather sacrifice his arm than his back or head) which left him in a position where his upper body was propped up, his legs sticking up along the seat. He was clutching his phone tightly in his other hand. How graceful.

Well, not that graceful, really.

“Ugh.... hah.” Declyn brushed his fingers through his hair as he let his back touch the ground, then slowly got back up to his feet, announcing that he was fine to any listeners and observers. Okay. Myles was interesting to him and they had spent a fair share of time together, but he hadn’t managed to knock Declyn’s socks off before. So that was a first. His cheeks turned a faint shade of pink.

> Just as a warning
> Next time you hang out at the library, don’t trust this chair:

Declyn snapped a picture of the tipped-over chair and attached it to the message before picking it back up with his free hand.

> [image]
> And yeah I’m free
> Where are you? You’re not at school today?

[Fenris]

> yaaaaa
> u arent wrong!!!!!
> did u need nething???
> not that u need 2 need nething to msg im happ y 4 messages!!!!

"Zoe."

"Wha-"

Zen looked up very suddenly, their face burning red at hearing their not-name. They never tried to explain the whole "Zen" thing to their teachers because that sounded hard and then their parents might find out and that wouldn't be fun at all, but the tradeoff was having to be called Zoe a bunch of times a day and being called Zoe accidentally by classmates who didn't know better and honestly they weren't sure it was worth it??

"Pay attention. This will be on the test."

"Oh, uh, yes sir!"

Mr. McClellan stopped paying attention and Zen sighed a sigh of relief. Either he hadn't noticed the phone or just didn't care enough to take it. Probably the latter. What he was talking about was definitely not gonna be on the test. Unless he decided to test them on his personal anecdotes which would be like basically illegal probably?? Could they sue the school for that???? Probably not. But it would be funny.

[backslash]

> To:
> Omg are u ok
> I didn't know the furniture rebellion was happening already

Myles snorted softly at his own lame joke. His phone buzzed with Zen's response, but he swiped it away to finish his reply to Declyn.

> Yeah I'm home w/ the plague
> It's nbd but I wanted to talk to you so plan b

He adjusted his position among the blankets, rolling over onto his side to get more comfortable and propping his phone up against a bunch in the fabric. He idly checked Zen's texts while waiting on Declyn to respond again. Did he need anything they could get for him right now? Not really. He'd already established that he didn't want them showing up at his house when he wasn't presentable, and he didn't feel up to keeping up with Zen's energy in person anyway.

> To:
> Nah just bored
> We havent talked in a while so
> Thought I'd say hey

Hmm. Should he ask if they had plans anytime soon? His cold would be cleared up in a few days' time at the most, probably. Asking if Zen wanted to hang out once he was feeling better could be a good in to asking if they wanted to go to prom if Declyn said no.

Myles absently gnawed on the corner of his thumbnail as he pondered. He didn't want to lead Zen on if they weren't going to end up seeing each other at all, but it was usually pretty easy to schedule a date with them. He sighed. This would have been so much easier to figure out if he'd been able to just catch one of them at school and see what was up in person. That'd take like five minutes tops (ten if he let Zen ramble before getting to the point). Technology didn't make everything easier.

[Kotorikun]

Declyn was back on the chair, and while he was reading Myles’ reply, he muffled a chuckle with the back of his hand that was held up by his elbow, the one that had not hit the ground, on the table. He looked at his laptop, closing one of the open tabs of an article about reflexes which he had been studying for biology. Closed in a rather mindless manner because then, two seconds later, he realized he hadn’t finished reading it yet. Thank the Lord for Ctrl+Shift+T.

> It is happening all around me and has probably spread to the classrooms by now

Was Myles laughing too? Declyn hoped so. Hearing that he really was sick tugged at his heart but he was going to believe that it was "nbd" since Myles was still able to joke around and text him.

> Anything I can do to make you feel less plaguey?
> Like I was gonna go to the store anyway so tell me what you need
> You'll have to wait a bit though unless it's urgent
> I'm okay by the way ✌

The impact had left a soft red spot on his arm but it wasn't too painful. For now.

[Fenris]

> wellllllllllllllllllllllll
> hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zen wasn't annoyed. They weren't! They loved Myles and they were happy to be talking to him!!! But also they were bored and it sounded like Myles had something to say but apparently he DIDN'T and that was no fun at all???????? But that wasn't his fault! It was their fault for making assumptions. They should chill.

They were bad at chilling. Their knee bounced so fast that the kid next to them gave them a Look. They didn't stop! That would be hard.

[backslash]

> To:
> Hi
> Idk I feel like I havent seen u lately?
> Whatve u been up to

That probably worked. It'd give him a good... thirty to ninety seconds to get back to Declyn, knowing Zen.

> To:
> Youre sweet
> I dont really need anything tho
> Actually I wanted to ask u something if its a good time?

Okay, good lead in. Jeez, this was weirdly stressful. Myles swiped at his forehead, just to make sure he wasn't sweating. He was starting to feel a bit warm, and it was hard to tell if it was due to sickness or staying wrapped up in the blankets. He was reaching the point where both bundling up and trying to get some air promised discomfort, which was annoying. He should probably shower after this.

[Kotorikun]

Declyn checked the corner of his laptop for the time when he could have easily just looked at his phone when he read the message. Well, it showed the same result so who cared? Just a millisecond that was now somewhere lost in the midst of nowhere.

He got sweet a lot. Be it his friends or his family, he heard it often. Not all the time, but often enough. He almost wanted to ask “How sweet?” to have some form of measurement but Declyn thought it sounded damn weird. The heart was charming too.

> The offer lasts all day if you change your mind
> And yes sure

The question before the actual question and matter made him more curious.

> I could go outside the library and call you if it’s important?

[backslash]

Oh, that was unexpected. Myles cleared his throat and winced at how scratchy it was. He didn't sound so great either, but... well, talking might be easier than texting. He didn't want to agonize over how to craft the perfect message and spend countless minutes with Declyn only getting the texting bubbles and wondering what was up with him. It would make him seem nervous if he hesitated too long, and some people found that endearing, but Myles wasn't really one of them.

> To:
> Actually yeah thatd be good
> Just be warned I sound like death

Myles wiggled up into a sitting position so he could lean back against his headboard. Not that Declyn would be able to tell whether he was sitting or laying, but it felt less weird to have a conversation sitting up. He wasn't sweating, but his heart rate was starting to pick up. Was he actually nervous?

Well, he didn't want to get turned down, and that was still sort of a risk. Maybe a little.

[Kotorikun]

> Okay give me a moment

Declyn chuckled at the death part and put his phone down on the table. So it was important? His curiousity skyrocketed. He made sure to save the file he was working on on his laptop before he closed it, gathering his other belonging as well to put them in his shoulder back. He checked his arm again. It hurt a little when he touched it but it was nothing to be worried about. It sure was going to leave a bruise though.

On his way outside, he thought about possible matters Myles would want to talk about. A confession? But what kind? Did he want some advice? Declyn was going to find out soon enough. It had been raining a lot but right now it was quiet, a bit cloudy. He tapped Myles' name on his list of contacts and pushed the green button, then waited for him to pick up while he was walking around rather aimlessly.