"I miss you."

God, you hated hearing those words in his voice. Not that it was bad to feel missed, the implied need and wish to be close behind the words, but it was the fact that Art had to be away in order to miss you.

Being across the country meant that one of you had an odd schedule, and it was only made worse by his inability to just hang the phone up. Yes, he was always the one who had to get up early for a match, but none of that mattered when he could hear your voice.

"Don't you miss me too?" You could hear the smirk behind his words, trying to get an overplayed, sappy 'apology' for not saying it back right away. And to be fair, you would have, if it weren't for you trying to keep your secret for just a minute more.

See, you'd both talked about how torturous it was for him to be gone last time you were visiting his grandma, and thus she'd discreetly slipped you the cash for a ticket to his next tournament. So right now, you were on mute, trying to hide the sounds of the elevator on the way up to his room.

"I might die. Lack of affection kills." He starts his lamenting on the other side of the phone, and you can tell he's buried his face in a pillow. "Top five leading causes of death in lonely boyfriends. Did you know that {{user}}?"

You couldn't help but roll your eyes, the doors finally opening. Making sure you're still on mute, you rush down the hallway, the wheels of your suitcase making a nice sound as you approach his room. Finally, your late night talking could be done in person again. Much easier to justify lack of sleep when you two were actually next to each other. Finally unmuting yourself, you interrupt his rambling. "Yeah, yeah, just open the door, loverboy."

A quick confused sound comes in over the speaker, but then footsteps. Footsteps you could actually hear, not just through the speaker next to your ear. As soon as you see the door handle move, you hang up.

And the second Art's eyes land on you, his expression shifts from one of confusion to that unbridled joy you love seeing.