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Gus peered over the edge of the couch and saw that Hunter was sound asleep, lightly snoring.
Satisfied that he wouldn’t be bothered, he settled back into the cushions and conjured his scroll. The familiar “no connection” message only made him sigh in frustration. He nervously fidgeted with his earring as he swiped into his DM’s. He tapped Matt’s user, which was at the top of his messages, and scrolled through their past few conversations, reliving the moments of staying up far too late in his bed, giggling at his screen and whatever stupid hext Mattholomule had sent him.
mage_swordcerer13: look at this rare human artifact I found
There was a picture attached of a long stick with a rounded rubber funnel.
Gus_the_illusion_master: oooh what is that???
mage_swordcerer13: dunno! I think it’s some sort of human facial suction thingy?
Gus_the_illusion_master: want me to ask Luz?
mage_swordcerer13: nah, ruins the mystery
Five minutes later, he’d texted again:
mage_swordcerer13: FUCK I PUT IT ON MY FACE WHATEVER IT IS IT SMELLS LIKE ASS
Gus couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped him as he reread the messages. He clapped a hand over his mouth with wide eyes hoping he hadn’t disturbed Hunter. The hexts were funny then, but they were even funnier now that he knew Mattholomule had put a plunger on his face.
He scrolled back further and found an older conversation.
Gus_the_illusion_master: wyd buttface
mage_swordcerer13: can’t a man get any sleep around here??
Gus_the_illusion_master: if you were rlly asleep you wouldn’t have responded. You sleep like the dead dude
mage_swordcerer13: what? You watch me sleep now or smth? :P
Gus_the_illusion_master:
you wish asshole :3
Gus_the_illusion_master:
but really when you sleep over you snore rlly loud and absolutely nothing will wake you
mage_swordcerer13: maybe I need my beauty sleep, huh did you ever think of THAT, *augustus*
Gus_the_illusion_master: I don’t think it’s working yet. You might need MORE sleep ;P
It wasn’t something that was easy to admit out loud, but Gus really missed his friend. He was worried for Mattholomule nearly just as much as he was worried about his dad. Matt was scrappy, he could take care of himself, but Gus still wondered how he was holding up. He wondered how home was holding up.
A lump formed in his throat and tears pricked at the back of his eyes, and Gus fisted up his blankets and tried to steel himself because he was so sick and tired of crying. No one else was crying as much as he was, he felt like it was all he did some nights.
He scrolled furiously, trying to find another funny conversation with Mattholomule to distract himself. He found one of their more recent ones.
Gus_the_illusion_master: DUDE! You’re never gonna believe what happened today
mage_swordcerer13: you finally grow a mustache or smth??
Gus_the_illusion_master: no lmao! So Willow was holding flyer derby tryouts and we roped in this new guy, right?
mage_swordcerer13: was he cute or smth?? Idk where this is going augustus
Gus_the_illusion_master:
JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN
Gus_the_illusion_master:
okok so it turned out he’s THE GOLDEN GUARD!!!! and he kidnapped us and skara punched some coven scout named steve and then head witch darius let us all go
mage_swordcerer13:
wait
mage_swordcerer13:
wait a fucking minute
mage_swordcerer13:
a COVEN SCOUT NAMED STEVE???
Gus_the_illusion_master: yes? I think so anyway, why??
mage_swordcerer13: THATS MY BROTHER
Gus_the_illusion_master: WHAT??? U HAVE A BROTHER???? HOW COME YOUVE NEVER TOLD ME
mage_swordcerer13:
IDK IT NEVER CAME UP IG???
mage_swordcerer13:
what the hell
mage_swordcerer13:
so the GG kidnapped you and my brother helped and then the abomination coven head witch let you go????
Gus_the_illusion_master: well there’s more to it than that. I can tell you tomorrow at lunch!
mage_swordcerer13: YOU BETTER! I NEED ALL THE BREW NOW BITCH
He chuckled again, thinking over lunch the next day and telling Matt everything that had happened. That day felt so long ago now. Hunter had been a foe and now he was one of Gus’s closest friends. It was funny how quickly things could change.
“Gus?” Hunter’s sleepy voice sounded from below.
Shit! Gus jumped nearly out of his skin, quickly vanishing his scroll.
“Oops, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. Are you okay? Why are you still up?” He rubbed his eyes and propped himself up on an elbow to look up at Gus.
Gus shook his head. “It’s okay. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
He rolled onto his side to see Hunter better. Although, it was dark and hard to see anything. He cast a dim light spell in his palm, causing Hunter to blink at the sudden light. He dimmed it down a bit more.
“It’s nothing really. I was just missing someone…”
Hunter furrowed his eyebrows. “Your dad?”
“No, well, I mean yeah, him too, always. But no, this was someone else. A close friend.”
“Do you wanna talk about it?” Hunter was yawning furiously and very clearly ready to conk back out.
Gus smiled. “Maybe tomorrow? We should get some sleep.”
“Tomorrow then,” Hunter agreed. He laid back down and resettled under the covers.
Gus got comfortable as well and closed his eyes.
One of Hunter’s hands groped around the edge of the couch cushion. Gus opened his eyes again and reached forward to put his hand in Hunter’s. Hunter gave his hand a squeeze before pulling back and getting comfortable again.
“I’m always here for you, Gus.”
“Thanks buddy,” Gus grinned. “Goodnight Hunter.”
“Goodnight.”
Hunter was sound asleep again within minutes. Gus closed his eyes, but his mind continued to wander back to Mattholomule. That ridiculous boy took up a lot of his headspace, and he had no clue why.