[~] east's oneshots ~ hc/mcyt

como

(Stresskall Angst, 795w)

"And yeah. I hope you're doing good, Iskall. Speak to you soon..!"

'Voice Message Complete. Press 1 to move on. Press 2 to rep--'

*beep*

"Hello!" The sweet, staticky voice rang through Iskall's bedroom for the eleventh time since they had gotten the message. "I'm-- Sorry it's taken me so long to message you back. I... wasn't very timely in receiving your message-- actually, it's really funny; you sent me a message the day I was graduating! ...And--"

With shaking hands the swede pressed one, skipping the rest of the message. They had heard it enough times. Carefully, they opened their contacts, scrolling through the dopey names they'd assigned their friends until they found hers.

Rendoggo~online

Grain lol~online

Mumbolio~offline

Etho :)~offline

Dad (Xisuma)~online

Stress<33~online

Mayor man~offline

Iskall debated calling her, though they knew deep down it would simply end up just as it did the last few times she'd been online.

But Iskall still held on. Just by a thread, by this one message, they could hold on.

Calling... 'Stress<33'

Ringing...

"Hey! You're calling Stress Monster, and I'm so sorry that I can't take your call right now. If you'd like, maybe text me or leave a message at the tone..."

Call missed.

'Oh, look at that.' Iskall thought with what they wished was bitterness, but was in reality, sorrow. 'She's spontaneously gone offline again.'

It always went that way for the heart-broken swede. Stress would finally come online, after months of silence, months of being apart, but would always log off just in time to miss Iskall's calls.

Simply bad timing? That's what Iskall goes with. It's what they've been going with for a year.

Iskall knew they should put their phone down, take a break from... everything that came with picking up their device. But instead, they sighed, and decided they would just have to send a voice message back.

Iskall thought back to highschool, and the advice Grian had given them when they'd been trying to ask Stress out. It seemed like decades ago, despite it being only one year.

"Be honest. Tell her how you feel." Grian had said, "Communication is key for relationships, trust me!"

Be honest. Iskall told themself. Tell her how you feel.

They took a breath.

*beep*

"You don't wanna talk. I-I get it, it's alright! But, you know, it's been a year and I hope you're doing fine." The swede furrowed their brow, clutching their cell-phone harder. "Please don't push me to the side. Don't.. forget all those times... In the summer by the lake, midnights in July... you dont wanna-"

*beeeeeeep*

Iskall didn't realise the voice message had a time limit. Now their little message with all their stupid honestly was making its way to Britain. To Stress.

With the impression that the obnoxious 'beep!' had meant their last message had been deleted, Iskall grumbled and messaged Stress again.

"Hallo! Er- How's it going over in Britain? Is it snowy now? How's school? How's.. how's Cleo?"

*beep*

"...Did you really mean everything you said under the streetlights with the sundown?"

*beep*

"--But you've been off whenever I'm on, and it's been a while that we haven't talked, and if I'm in town you'll say you forgot.. If you see me around you'll pretend you don't know me!"

*beep*

"I know I really should have expected this, but I didn't. Haven't been myself for a minute...Kind of surprised you'd forget it."

*beep*

"Long nights, bus rides, cheap wine.. Do you miss it? I.. might. Better push you to the side, guess I'll find out that--"

~•~

"You don't wanna talk. I get it, it's alright! But, you know, it's been a year and I hope you're doing fine." Stress puffed her cheeks as she sat on her sofa, listening through the barrage of messages she'd received from Iskall. Her heart broke more with every word, but she kept listening.

Though she never responded to Iskall-- she didn't know how she could --Stress felt an obligation to at least listen. "Please don't push me to the side. Don't.. forget all those times... In the summer by the lake, midnights in July... you dont wanna--"

She never wanted to hurt them. Iskall was such a sweet kid. But Stress had already done the damage, and she couldn't take it back.

At least Iskall had Etho to talk to. And Mumbo, and Grian, and Ren, and everyone else. Iskall would find their way.

Stress placed her phone on the coffee table in front of her, pushing herself to get up as the last few messages played through.

"Don't waste time." Iskall's pained voice rang through the lonely apartment. "Talk. I know this might be the last I talk to you before you forget me."