whirlwind: diyue ficlets

2 a.m. in Santorini

the sound of his ring tone blasts through the darkened room and he startles awake. he groans and reaches his hand out to find his phone, very tempted to just press the silent button and fall back to sleep. he doesn't know what time it is but it feels like he just fell asleep not an hour ago.

his hand finds his phone and he presses the answer button. not answering was not an option. only a number of people know that when he sleeps, his phone doesn't ring unless the same number calls twice in a row. and among them, only very few ever actually call him with that kind of urgency at this hour.

with eyes still closed he croaks into the phone, "hey ..."

silence. just the sound of someone breathing. okay. now he knows EXACTLY who is on the other line.

"Shen Yue? what's wrong?"

no answer. he presses his fingers on his eyes before opening them. then he pulls his phone away from his ear to check what time it is. 6.58 am. his estimation was correct. he did go to sleep less than an hour ago.

"right. okay. you can't sleep? wait. what time is it there?"

he doesn't expect her to answer so he gets out of bed and goes to the bathroom to wash his face. he does a mental calculation in his head.

"it's 2am in Santorini. why aren't you asleep? jet lag?"

"..."

"room's too cold? no wait. summer. so, too hot?"

he hears her hesitate for a bit and he immediately knows what's bothering her.

"for the hundred seventh time, Shen Yue. there are no ghosts in your hotel room!"

"you don't know that!"

"we've been through this before. the noise is probably just wind or some small animals in the vents, or something perfectly non-ghost related."

"again, you don't know that. and even if they're not ghosts, i still hate hearing them."

"okay. so ask them to move you to a different room."

"i don't want to bother anyone."

"so bothering me is fine?"

"it's different. it's you."

"what de fa. what's that supposed to mean?"

"you wouldn't mind."

"excuse me, woman. i do mind. i just finished filming like 2 hours ago and--"

"oh i'm sorry! i just assumed you would already be in makeup, waiting for your call time. go back to sleep, Dylan."

"no, it's okay. i'm awake."

"okay. good."

"what?"

"i didn't really wanted you to go back to sleep. i was just pretending."

"no, yeah i got that. the what was an exclamation of disbelief at your complete lack of care for my well-being."

"pfffttt. we, actors, don't sleep when we are in the thick of filming. you and i both know that. you can stop feigning offense."

"fine. so what i can do for you, buddy? where's Kido anyway? isn't this what boyfriends are for? when you guys finally went official i thought i would be free from your weird phone calls for a while."

"good question. hmmm let's see... i finished my shoot earlier than him and i told him i was going back to the hotel first... that was almost 3 hours ago. haven't heard from him since."