[For context, late at night in 2020 when Wilbur, Technoblade, and Philza were in a vc, Phil tweeted an image of a fish. In the replies he jokingly called them three 'Sleepy Bois Inc'. This is the true actual story of what created the Sleepy boys I'm not even joking. This inspired this fic.]
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"Who says we aren't family?"
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I was practically asleep on my desk, the only thing keeping me awake being the slurred and loopy conversations from the men still in the discord call. "Anyone up for a game?" Wilbur said, though in the middle of his sentence he let out a yawn.
"Wil, you've been awake for like, over twenty four hours. No." I mumbled, hearing a ping from our discord chat.
Phil had sent an image.
I think the lack of sleep had made me delirious enough to find it funny. Either way I started laughing, and I could hear the others laughing too.
"What did you even search to find that? What's goin' through your sleep deprived head right now?" Techno spat out, not trying to hide the heavy laughs he was letting out. He was screen sharing, is character which was formerly farming potatoes had halted due to his laughter.
"I am the fish, the spoon is victory." Phil spoke, words muffled probably because he was laying his head down.
This made us all laugh even harder, and the violent cackles made me wake up a bit more. "Tweet that! Please!" Wilbur snickered, and I could hear Techno slam his hands into his desk.
My next notification was from Twitter. I didn't like the platform much, but I couldn't help but use it.
"Phil, I am not a boy." I laughed out, already tweeting my reply.
"I don't know, you have an honorary dick or something." Phil mumbled out, I slammed my hands into my desk at this, letting out a practical scream from laughter.
Techno was coughing from how hard he was laughing, and Wil was saying something about how he couldn't breathe. I couldn't even understand what Phil was saying anymore. We were all extremely sleep deprived, I know Techno hasn't even slept for forty eight hours at the minimum.
I leaned back in my chair too quickly, because I quite literally fell backwards, hitting the ground and my headset falling off of my head. I ended up laughing harder, ignoring the way I was completely winded.
I blindly reached for my headset, managing to grab it and put it on. "Please-!" I laughed out, coughing violently as I spoke. My stomach hurt from wheezing and my face hurt from smiling. "I fell out of my chair!" I practically screamed the words, the laughter in my headset getting even louder from the three men.
I grabbed my phone which was currently in my pocket, thankful it didn't fall out. I hadn't even gotten off the floor yet, still sitting in my hair even though it was laying on the ground. It was a struggle to unlock my phone because of the violent laughs leaving my body. I managed it, and opened my camera. I took a picture of my current situation, my hair splayed across the ground and my head still resting on my chair though the carpet was under me. I scribbled out my face before sending it to the discord.
Some people may find it strange, but I hadn't told them my real name yet, or shown them my face. Techno's seen it, but that's it. And that's just because we did a video call one night while watching a horror movie, I had built up the confidence due to far too much caffeine and serious sleep deprivation.
Now I send him photos of myself often, FaceTime even, I've grown comfortable with him.
I don't regret it.
"Please, why are you still on the ground! Get up, mate!" Phil yelled, and I shook my head before remembering they couldn't see me.
"Stop makin' me laugh! I have to get back to farmin'!" Techno yelled next, character beginning to poorly run along the farm once more. It still stopped every few moments from laughter. Wil had completely given up and let himself fall into some kind of wheezing.
"Look dude! I have an honorary dick! Do the men on Twitter believe I'm actually the one playing the game now?!" It was a common joke among my friends how I'm almost constantly barraged by male game followers. I don't do a face reveal, and I don't do a hand cam purely to spite them, because they simply think I have a man playing for me.
It's been a rumor since I was around five hundred thousand even, that I'm not actually the one playing.
Though, the joke apparently landed because the others began laughing again.
I checked Twitter, seeing I was getting a strangely large barrage of notifications. "Oh no, guys, the name Sleepy Boys seems to be sticking." I laughed a bit more, having to relax my face to stop the soreness from smiling so much.
Phil sighed, his laughter slowly dying down along with the others. "I think it fits us well," The oldest said, turning on his camera for a moment. We could see the way he was smiling.
"Besides the fact Ti- Torva is a girl."
My heart stopped for a moment, and I don't know why. I shouldn't be so uncomfortable with Tech almost saying my real name, I'm best friends with Wil and Phil, almost as much as I am with Techno. And yet it still made almost everyone in the call go silent.
"Sorry, nerd." He muttered, character farming silently, the only way we could tell he was still here at all.
"I uh- it's fine." I coughed awkwardly, hating the silence that engulfed us after such a happy and laughter filled moment.
"Hey! You've told Techno your name?! And not us?!" Wilbur had his camera on now, a dorky smile on his face. I appreciated the fact that he tried to break the awkward tension, though it didn't work well.
I cleared my throat, now standing up and sitting my chair back up. I sat back down, rolling back up to my desk. "Yeah, we've video called and stuff." I shrugged, once again forgetting they couldn't see me. "Sorry, I didn't mean for this to get all serious"
"It's my fault, sorry guys." Tech apologized, and I could practically hear the discomfort in his voice.
"Nah, it's my fault for not telling you all something as simple as my name. It's shitty of me to have told Tech all of these things, and leave you two in the dark."
"Mate, you tell us what you want. You shouldn't feel required to tell Wil and I that stuff." Phil looked and sounded so genuine, and I just felt horrible.
The camera on my monitor was practically staring at me, I was fully dressed right now, my hair was brushed, I had impulsively gotten dressed nice at like three am for literally no reason. On occasion I'll do things like that, do a full face of makeup for practice or get dressed like I'm going out even though it's late at night.
My hand moved my mouse over to that stupid button, one that gives me a heart attack each time I so much as look at it.
I winced as I clicked it, my eyes closed. Everyone was quiet, so I could only assume it worked.
I took a deep breath, opening my eyes slowly. I don't know why I was so petrified, why this is a situation I've experienced only in my nightmares. Why I couldn't stand the thought of people who've I've spent days and days worth of time talking to seeing my face, let alone knowing my real name.
They were all staring at their screens, the only person's face I couldn't see being Tech's.
I hesitantly waved my hand, seeing my own form on my monitor. "Uh- hi?" I laughed a bit at my own stupidity, trying to stop myself from tearing up. Why weren't they talking? Was I not what they imagined? Had they imagined what I looked like? Did they have expectations? "I'm Tia. And-" I wiped at my eyes, catching tears before they could fall.
"Mate-"
"No, I'm fine. I just- god I feel so stupid." I laughed, hating the way my voice crackled as I spoke. "I'm Tia Anteros, and, this is me I guess?" I took a deep breath again, pressing my palms into my eyes. Could they say something now? Please?
"You're really pretty." Wilbur spoke up, and I heard a hum of agreement from Tech.
"Oh come on." I laughed wetly, glancing back to my monitor, seeing the smile on Wilbur's face. "Thank you."
"Ha, you are all fuckin' idiots, I've known what she looked like for awhile." Techno teased, character now replanting a large field.
"Thank you for trusting us." Phil smiled, and I wiped at my eyes again, I really did not want to cry right now. "I know how this was probably difficult for you."
I was so unbelievably exhausted and the emotional toll this just took on me made it that much worse. "God- I'm so tired now." I muttered, hearing Wilbur let out a short laugh.
"Sleep call?" The brunet offered, hair falling in front of his eyes before he swept it aside.
"I'll join you all after I finish this last round of farmin'." Techno explained, character still running along.
"No, I just showed my face, and as payment I say you stop now and sleep." I challenged the older, hearing a short complaint from him.
"I've already seen your face! Why should I suffer for them!" He shot right back, and I couldn't help but smile.
"Yo! We got to see Torva smile!" Wilbur shouted and I started laughing, and my heart melted a little at the way Phil and Wil's faces softened a bit when they saw me burst into laughter.
"Fine, I'll log off." Techno murmured, quitting the game shortly after saying so. "Just saying, imagine not having Torva's Snapchat and getting daily fit-checks just sayin'." Techno snickered at the way the two men immediately looked betrayed.
"You have Snapchat??" Wilbur shouted, crossing his arms in mock annoyance.
"I do, yes. I use it to send photos to Tech."
"Photos you say?" Wilbur immediately teased, and I flipped off the screen.
"Fuck you, Wilbur Soot. You know what I meant."
Phil started laughing while Techno let out a few coughs in some kind of embarrassment. "You do actually have red hair." Phil commented and I rolled my eyes.
"Yes, I dye it, thank you." I replied, sneering jokingly at the older. The blond snickered at the sarcasm.
"Bruh, when the hair dye is like- in someone's hair before it's washed out and stuff- it looks hilarious. She's sent me a photo like that. It looked all slicked back and stupid." Tech commented causally, and I once again flipped off the camera.
"I'm going to get ready to sleep and switch over to the call on my phone, thanks for, I don't know, being accepting? Patient? Not insulting how I look? I don't know." I laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of my neck as I looked to the side.
"You're inherently attractive, if I insulted you I'd be lying." Wilbur deadpanned and I shrugged, now knowing they could see the action.
"I'm not particularly confident as of late, dunno. I have my moments where I feel great about my appearance, others where I feel like shit. There's so many scenarios in my head where shit like this has gone horribly wrong."
Silence fell again and I stared off at my window. It was dark out, far too dark for me to still be awake. It just so happens a moth slammed into my window as I looked out.
I jumped with a yelp, the sudden noise and motion so late at night scaring me. "You okay, nerd?" Techno seemed worried at the noise, and probably my look of fear.
"Dude this huge ass moth just slammed into my window, scared the shit outta' me." I confessed the childish burst of fear, laughing a bit as I looked over to the men with caution.
We were all laughing again.
Some level of awkwardness washed away with the laughter, and when I looked at my monitor and saw my own face, I didn't feel too uncomfortable.
I felt natural even.
To see my face next to the others, the only camera not on now being Tech's. "I hate that I'm the only one with my camera off now, join me again." He practically whined like a child, jokingly hitting his desk. I snickered a bit at that too.
"No, I now have a face. Suffer." I deadpanned, but it only lasted a few moments before I was smiling again.
I slowly felt the sleepiness seep into my bones once more, and that offer of a sleep call by Wil was so much more tempting. "So, Sleepy Boys Inc, huh? I kind of like it," I said, now mindlessly messing with the bottom of my shirt. The fabric bending between my fingers.
"Yeah, I think it suits us," Phil added, doing something on his computer, because I could see he was no longer looking at us as he spoke. He was typing away, perhaps tweeting again in his sleep deprived state. Probably wouldn't be responsible to do so.
Wilbur shrugged, having to move his hair out of his eyes. "I wonder if it will stick." The brunet said curiously, earning a hum from Tech.
"I really hope a sleep deprived tweet about a fish is not goin' to be our legacy." Technoblade leaned back in his chair, I could tell because I heard the signature creak of the worn seat.
"It's just stupid enough that it might," I liked it I must admit, gave our grouping a name of some sort.