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the rias household was filled with roaring laughter as five boys crowded around the living room couch, calling each other names over the loud audio blasting from the speakers.
"who keeps dropping all these fucking bananas?" vox hollered from where he sat on the floor, his eyes glued on the screen in frustration.
shu bit back a pleased smile beside him and simply stayed quiet while the rest of the group raced through toad harbor. the noise subsided back into a familiar lull as everyone quieted down in mesmerized concentration, the harsh clicking of controllers filling in the silence.
mysta barely tried to filter the string of curses leaving his lips when he got hit with a rogue blue shell, which slowed him down all the way to fourth place.
"ike, you piece of shit!"
the amused chorus of whoops that followed almost drowned out the low buzzing of someone's phone on the coffee table. the group paid it no attention at first, and it eventually grew quiet after a while. then it buzzed back to life barely five seconds later, more insistently this time.
finally, ike stole a quick glimpse at the device and announced over the chaos, "luca, your phone."
taking his time, luca barely looked away from the television screen before reaching over and snatching his phone from the table. he didn't even bother looking at the caller ID as he swiped his screen open. "hello?" he greeted with half attention.
"hey, can you pick me up?"
his body straightened almost immediately upon realizing who was on the other end of the call.
his grip on his controller loosened and his undivided attention was no longer on the game they were playing, even when mysta drove past him and pushed him to fifth place. instead, he was suddenly very hyper aware of the person on the other line, his eyebrows furrowed together ㅡ it was clear with the way her words were slurred that something was off.
"what's going on?" he asked. sensing the sudden shift in his demeanor, vox spared a curious glance at him over his shoulder, but everyone else was too into the final lap to notice.
before she could reply, the sound of someone yelling behind her seeped into the line, followed closely by the muffled pounding of music.
luca sat up at this, frowning. his controller was now left untouched on his lap. "where are you?"
"out," y/n replied simply. the music in the background was still loud enough for luca to hear from his end. "i didn't want to bother you, but my phone's almost dead and i don't think i have enough battery left to book a cab ride home."
unease seeped into his gut the longer the ominous conversation went on. luca looked at mysta then, who was thankfully too engrossed in the game, before he stood up and moved towards the hallway outside. he quickly made the excuse of needing to go to the bathroom, ignoring the protests from his friends behind him with an apologetic smile.
