30 Day writing challenge

Day 8: New Hobby - Krynoss

John didn't talk to a lot of people outside of gaming sessions. His close group of friends, sure, they'd tweet at each other, message the discord, Smiity would text him on the regular cooing over Matt, the norm.

John also never talked to anyone during his late night sad boi ©️ hours. Occasionally he'd see someone online, but he never reached out and they never reached out to him. That's normally what he preferred, playing offline solo games... solo.

So when he got a message at 3am on discord, he was baffled. That confusion grew even more as he opened it and noticed it was Vanoss.

Hey

John blinked, frowning. Why was Vanoss messaging him? They hadn't had a full conversation outside a gaming session in like 3 months. (3 months, 2 weeks, 5 days, not that he was counting).

You okay? Another message, John swallowing. He remembered when he first started playing with Vanoss, years before. They were the night owls, the ones who didn't care about rules, they were just there to fuck shit up.

They used to talk at 3am, little conversations that didn't mean anything to anyone but them. He didn't know when they'd stopped, but one day he woke up and realised he hadn't gotten a message from Vanoss in weeks.

And now he was messaging again. His fingers hovered over the keyboard, wondering if he should reply.

I'm okay. Why are you up? He finally sent back, seeing the "read" symbol pop up almost immediately.

Couldn't sleep, just wanted to talk. Can I call?

John blinked, glancing at his computer clock. 3:17am.

Of course, is everything alright?

Incoming call from Vanoose

John clicked answer, Vanoss' familiar tired eyes showing in his monitor. "Hey," he said quietly, John sitting back in his chair.

"Hey, everything okay?" He asked concerned and Evan quirked a faint smile. "Yeah, just, stressed. Everything doesn't seem enjoyable anymore, and I don't know what to do. Nothing tires me out, so I can't sleep," he said quietly and John tilted his eyes, studying his friend.

The bags under his eyes were worse than usual, his skin not flushed like normal. His eyes were glassy, lips chapped. "Evan, when's the last time you slept?" He asked worriedly and Evan tilted his head, looking at the clock.

"Uh, I got three hours last night, and two the night before, but none otherwise since Friday," he admitted and John's eyes widened. "Evan, it's Tuesday, what do you mean you've only gotten 5 hours of sleep in 5 nights?" He demanded and Evan shrugged, yawning.

"Transfer the call to your phone, I'll stay okay?" John said and Evan nodded, the screen flickering a moment until Evan was back and walking unsteady through his house.

"Go lay down Evan, I'll sit here and ramble until you sleep okay?" John said softly, having done this before. "I don't want to make it seem like I'm using you though, I'm sorry I didn't message, I thought I was bothering you," Evan mumbled, half delirious with exhaustion.

John frowned, eyes on the screen as Evan laid down and slipped under the covers. Soon only his eyes and hair showed above the covers, that brown blinking sleepily at the screen.

"Evan, you're never bothering me, I promise. I liked our 3am talks, you know? Next time, if you ever just want to talk, message me. I don't mind," John said softly and Evan's eyes softened, relief flashing in them.

John started talking about everything and nothing. He discussed his newest painting and the ideas he had for a new pair of pants. He talked about Smiity and Matt being disgustingly adorable, about their most recent gaming session.