RvB Oneshot Compilation

Simmons Fluff - Present Day Earth AU

  It was a cold and windy morning in late October. Simmons couldn't help but wish he had some company, but on dreary days like this, who wanted to leave their house?
  Slowly, he had rolled himself out of bed (at 5am, out of habit,) and started up his pot of coffee. Another lazy Sunday on the computer, he thought to himself. Most Sundays he'd run laundry over to his mother's, but in anticipation of the first sub-30 temperatures of the season, Simmons had cut himself some slack and got his clothes through the day prior.
  Mug in hand, Simmons made his way over to the desk and booted up his computer. He wasn't sure anyone else would be online so early, but he figured he may as well check Discord just in case. It was always possible Tucker was still up playing Overwatch, but this morning it seemed much more likely he'd be on his own, whether he decided to open a project or work on his Minecraft house.
  He clicked open Discord. Unsurprisingly, no one was online. He didn't mind, though. He quite enjoyed the quietness of the still morning. Though he figured there must be other people with the same inclination, he liked the lonely feeling of seemingly being the only person awake in the world. Most days he'd have sat in silence, soaking in every part of the liminal atmosphere, but today he put on his Spotify playlist. He'd felt an unusual loneliness since he woke up earlier, a longing to share his slow Sunday with someone special. Simmons shook off the feeling as he pressed play.
  Opening Minecraft, he took slow sips from his coffee mug. I should have grabbed the blanket off my bed, he thought. The throw blanket he kept on his desk chair would do, though he'd appreciate the thicker fabric in the chill of his home office.
  The sky in game looked much the same as it did outside the window, he noticed as he loaded into his private world. Of all the years he'd played this game, he only kept two save files at a time. One was his current solo world, where he'd play for about a month, focused on building his house and hoarding resources, then inevitably get bored of the monotony and restart. He'd gotten in the habit of deleting the world when he restarted, after about two years of losing track of his current save file in the list. Grif had teased him when he found out. "What, really? I thought you were supposed to be the smart one, man. You can't keep track of more than two goddamn Minecraft worlds? Your organization obsession is failing you."
  The other save file, on the other hand, had longevity. It was the first world he'd made to share with someone. Not the first time he'd played with the goal of reaching The End, but the first where he'd had fun on that route. His shared home base was a million times more sentimental to him than any of his meticulously crafted mansions, though it was a fairly standard oak plank box with a decorative cobblestone frame. His side of the house had a sense of order to it, with his bed on its own end, chests fully organized, and crafting area resembling a kitchen. The other end of the base, however, was a chaotic mess of chests thrown down wherever, a bed set by the door for ease of running home and jumping in (often without bothering to shut the door, Simmons recalled complaining about,) and no crafting furniture anywhere.
  "Why would I craft a fucking furnace, dude? We have one."
  "No, Grif, I have one. You just have a bed and a maze, just like your room IRL."
  "Okay smart-ass, you know what I mean. Are we doing this together or not?"
  And they did end up sharing everything. A part of Simmons wished he could message Grif right now to build another world together, but he knew he wouldn't be up. So he just played on, laying down his stone brick floors, reminiscing on a Minecraft world he hadn't opened in months. Why did it bother him, suddenly? He'd always lived alone, always built his virtual homes alone (since on group worlds he'd always end up preoccupied stocking resources, while Donut took over base design.) Wasn't he happy how things are?
  Maybe I need to get a cat or something, he thought. It might be nice to have someone else around, even if they are usually either asleep or knocking all my shit over.

-----

  'Boop!'
  The Discord notification startled him, thinking at first it was a mob behind him while he mined a dark cave. But he was more surprised seeing who it was.

  "hey smmns"

  "What the hell are you doing up? It's not even noon yet."

  "ah, woke up. cldnt fall back aslep"

  "You? Can't sleep? That's a first."

  "yea yea. whatcha workn on"

  "Solo world. Just building."

  "crazy"

  Simmons could see Grif typing on and off for a few minutes.

  "You need something Grif? I can't tell if it's something important or you fell asleep with your hand on your phone."

  "nah im up. i was just wondrn"
  "dont u get lonely bein up @ this hr"

  "I mean, sometimes maybe. Why?"

  "like rn?"

  "This feels like a trap."

  "not lik that man"
  "fr"

  Simmons thought for a minute. Initially he assumed it was just Grif being tired and fucking with him. But a part of him was hopeful there was another question his friend was hoping to ask, so he trusted him.

  "Yeah. Honestly I don't know what it is this morning."

  "i hate bein awake in the morn. an im thinkn way 2 much 2 fall back asleep rn"

  "Sorry man. Do you want to talk about it? What's bothering you?"

  Again, Simmons watched him type, stop typing, back and forth for a few minutes. It must be important, I don't think I've ever seen him think this hard about a message. Eventually, Grif decided what to say.

  "dont wrry abt it, maybe ill tell u abt it next tim i see u"

  Simmons started to respond, but Grif beat him to it.

  "would it be alrite maybe.."
  "if i came over?"