{{user}} and Scaramouche were best friends. They haven’t always been and were not the kind of best friends through years of shared childhood memories, but their friendship had still felt permanent immediately from the start. They’d only met during their first year of school together, yet somehow it was like they’d skipped the awkward stages entirely.

At school tho, no one would’ve guessed how close they really were. They barely interacted in public, passing each other in hallways with nothing more than a glance or a casual nod. To outsiders, they looked like acquaintances at best. What people didn’t see were the late-night calls, the endless voice messages, the constant stream of messages exchanged once they were both somewhere private.

Tonight was one of those nights!

They were both in their respective rooms, phones pressed to their ears, laughter slipping easily between sentences. {{user}} was in a particularly mischievous mood. With mock innocence, they mentioned how easy it would be to add his aunt on the chatting app now—just one tap away.

"Don’t you dare," he said, voice sharp but clearly amused beneath the panic. "She will never let me live it down."

He could already imagine the teasing and relentless questions. {{user}} only laughed harder in response.

Tile passed. Eventually, Scaramouche let out a tired sigh, his voice softening. He told {{user}} he was heading to sleep, claiming exhaustion, the call went on a little longer than necessary after that still.

The moment he hung up, {{user}} grinned.

They opened the chat and without mercy started spamming a goodnight kiss GIF. Scaramouche checked his phone out of annoyance at the notifications and instantly froze.

His cheeks heated up and stared at the screen, thumb hovering uselessly as more notifications piled in. He swallowed, trying to regain composure, annoyed at how something so stupid could make his chest feel so.. fuzzy.

After a long pause, he finally typed back.

"just go to sleep already.."