high rise hearts ☆ lifesteal smp au

𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑 ✧✯

𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲: normal oneshot (could be considered slight angst?)
𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀: none (platonic duality duo/mapicc and ro)
𝘁𝘄: n/a
𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆: N1lifestealfan
𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁: ro's been rather busy lately; too busy for mapicc's liking

─── ⋅☆⋅ ───

𝐏𝐎𝐕: roshambo

Ro doesn't know how long he's been sitting there.
Moonlight filters softly in through the drawn curtains, prying open a crack in the swaying fabric with the cool artificial breeze so it could sneak its way through; a thief of the darkness, stealing away the black fog. Its pale glow washes over the dark floor in a thin line, too far from where he sat to do him any good.
He didn't need moonlight to see, anyway. He had his computer screen, glowing brightly with pixelated print and the occasional flashing color of an advertisement. The white light was harsh against his drooping eyes, but he forced himself to squint against it anyways, ignoring the fact that the longer he stared, the more he seemed to wilt like a flower deprived of sun, roots soaking in no nutrients save for caffeine.
Technology light was no substitute for the real thing, he knew, but he couldn't bring himself to stand, not when he was so close to finishing this document. His phone routinely buzzed with unseen notifications, sitting facedown on the desk and demanding his attention like a wailing child. He ignored it like the bad parent he was.
The only sounds in his lonely bedroom are the clacking of laptop keys, penning new sentences with each simple tap of his fingers, and the ticking of a faraway clock, hanging on the wall beneath a thin curtain of dust. The hands move achingly slow as the hours drag by, passing over each number one by one.
Ro doesn't dare look at that clock. He didn't think he could stand knowing what time it was, how little was left of the night, the seconds counting away until the report would be due. A ticking time bomb, one that would surely result in his spontaneous demise. How cinematic, a bright flare of fire from the depths of the night, launching him to heaven like a rocket, an angel, metallic wings gliding skyward bound.
Ro stays firmly grounded, for airy words have no place on official paper. He stays grounded enough to hear the footsteps of someone who was no doubt Mapicc, walking through his apartment door immediately preceding the click of a key in a shimmering latch. "Ro? You there?"
He almost wouldn't have answered, the words floating past him and into the nebulous haze of darkness swirling around his room, had the man himself not appeared beside him, distinctive red sweater illuminated by the Word document on the too-bright screen. It glowed like the brilliant breath of a fabric dragon, tacky but glorious in his usual Mapicc way.
"Oh. Hey." He tries to add a touch of his usual cheerful, joking manner to his greeting, but instead it just comes out sounding flat, like a sputtering car running on its last few drops of gasoline. So he tries it again, determined to make it sound convincing even though he's already failed: "Hey Mapicc. What're you doing here-" he pauses to yawn, "at this hour?"
Mapicc's expression is stern, and doesn't waver even as Ro offers a tired smile, trying to coax him into at the very least neutrality. "Ro. You know why I'm here."
If he wants to cut to the chase, so be it. "Dude, I'll be fine. I just have to get this report done, and I'll go to bed. Promise."
Mapicc knows him too well to believe that. "You sound like you haven't slept in 3 days. When was the last time, even?" Those eyes, flashing crimson from beneath his mop of jet-black hair, glint at him with a mix of irritation and concern, an expression Ro has seen too often before. "Even I don't remember- fuck..."
"Mapicc. I'm fine." He continues to futilely insist, even keying in a few more words on the computer screen to prove it. He elects to ignore how Word has to autocorrect at least 5 of his grammar errors. "Trust me."
Mapicc still looks doubtful- Ro doesn't know why he insists on trying, anyways, because it always ends the same way. He fiddles with the gaudy gold chain hung around his neck, rubbing the gemstone-encrusted dollar sign in between two fingers. It's a nervous habit Ro noticed him pick up long ago. "Just- go to bed, man. This isn't good for you."
Defiance, it sparks like red and blue lightning between them, magnets of the same pole, neither willing to give in, neither willing to walk away. Ro meets his friend's gaze with a look equally as powerful, electricity conducting between them like two sections of live wire. "I have to finish."
"No, you don't." Mapicc makes a move to close his laptop, but Ro is quick- he grabs his wrist and pulls it away, not gently but not harsh either, and the laptop remains half open and half closed, screen light dimming as the battery saver comes on. A stalemate, a standstill.
"Dude, why can't you just fucking listen to me. For once."
The words cut deep but not deadly, porcupine quills embedding themselves in Ro's skull, an awful mockery of a pincushion. Small bursts of headaches sprout where the needles touch bone, reminding him that Mapicc's right, he always is but he'll never cease to deny it.
"But-"
"No."
All further protests die in his throat, like budding flowers frozen over by late frost. He knows it's a good thing, because roses grow thorns, ivy that slowly chokes him the longer he lets its beauty fester. Only the silence remains, cold like bitter winter and the freezing wind of the air conditioner.
"Please, Ro."
It's less of a command now and more of a plead; Mapicc is worried, he knows. He thinks back to that action-movie sequence, beating his wings fast, touching the stars without Mapicc beside him, collapsed on the floor, the pathetic remains of a troubled man. He feels guilty, and it sucks but what can he do? "Fine."
In the light before the laptop battery finally fizzles out, he can see Mapicc's flicker of a smile, grateful, relieved. His mind tells him he would have been fine anyway, but that's partly because it has yet to convince itself of the truth. "Thank you." A pause, and then: "Now get some sleep."
"Okay."
Ro pushes himself slowly off his chair, and immediately it feels like he's thrust into a gelatinous ocean, floating in slow-motion without the ability to swim. Mapicc watches him from beside the desk, and the look he gives him suggests he wants to reach out, offer help, but something keeps him rooted there to the floor, wrapping around his feet and forcing him to stay.
He glances back at Mapicc, and the ray of moonlight shifts its course so it lands just upon his face. Through the rapidly stirring motes of dust he can see the shadowy silhouette of his friend, patiently waiting for him. He knows he won't leave until he's in bed, but part of him hopes one final time, a last few seconds of hesitation.
It doesn't work; Mapicc is still there, standing and waiting, and Ro thinks himself foolish for even wishing he would go, because he knows he'd be nothing if Mapicc were gone, having eroded himself away by the force of his own determination. So he crawls into bed, too tired to even consider changing his clothing, and as he slips beneath the allure of the covers he catches sight of the clock. 5:40 AM.
The report isn't done, and it's due by 6. Ro feels the pressure cave in his chest, but unlike he'd first anticipated, it doesn't feel like the splintering of bones, like the crushing of organs till he is nothing but a sack of broken parts.
No; it feels like the lifting of an oppressive weight, like his lungs have never been able to fully expand until this moment, and he finds himself relishing every sweet, desperate gasp of air he can draw from the atmosphere. The bomb has blown, and it breaks him free of his prison.
For some time during the night, Mapicc stands beside him, hovering beside the bed and staring out at some point Ro can't see. He only knows he's there by the fuzzy outline of him against the light, and by the occasional wisps of breath that carry over the ventilation. It's oddly comforting, the fact that he's just- there.
From the moment between night and day, that cloudy haze that is being awake yet just barely, he hears Mapicc whisper final words to him, just before he leaves. It sounds oddly gentle and a little hoarse, so unlike the brash and bold demeanor he hears from his waking hours, but it's welcome all the same.
"Good night, Ro."
He'd have liked to say it back, but he drifted off down the sea of dreams before the words could escape him.

─── ⋅☆⋅ ───

𝗮/𝗻: this is my first time writing duality duo (and anything serious regarding mapicc and ro, if i'm honest) xD so idk if i pinned down their dynamic exactly, i did try though. special thanks to the c.ai mapicc and ro for explaining their personalities to me lol. hope you liked it though! ☆ bk

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