Techno continued stumbling through the forest until he eventually came to an area that felt familiar. He could tell that he looked like a mess because of bystanders reactions when he passed by. At this point, he didn't really care what they thought, he just wanted to get home. Maybe he could call Phil? Yeah, Phil would know what to say.
Techno entered his house and went to his bedroom, ignoring the screams of his body to rest. He slid into his chair and clicked Phil's contact. It rang three times, and Techno was about to hit end call, but Phil cut him off by answering.
"Hey Techno!" Phil cheered sweetly. It was a good thing Techno's face cam wasn't on, or he would have reacted very differently.
"How are you, mate?"
"I'm alright." Techno responded.
Phil stayed quiet a moment, knowing he was lying. He was so worried about Techno, why wouldn't he just say what was wrong?
"Are you sure?" Phil asked.
"Jeez Phil, are you calling me a liar now?"
"I didn't mean it like that."
"Then don't say it like that."
"Okay, I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure you're really alright. You don't sound so good."
More silence.
"I'm not gonna laugh or anything. You can tell me what's up." Phil reassured.
"I... I'm just a little stressed, that's all. It's not a big deal."
"It is if it's upsetting you."
"No, really, it's nothing! I'm just dramatic, you know?"
Phil snickered. "Techno? Dramatic? Okay then."
"Shove off! Can we talk about something else now?"
"Sure, whatever you want." Phil smiled brightly as Techno dove into conversation about pigs. He sure did seem to know a lot about them, and Phil wondered why that was. He also wondered if it was connected to his other odd behaviors.
It wasn't long before Phil had gone down a rabbit hole about psychology. Techno was quiet on the other end if the call, focused on some sort of game that was causing him to occasionally exclaim angrily at his screen. While Techno was muttering about "stupid mechanics" and "unfair systems", Phil found himself reading a lost of symptoms that seemed eerily similar to what he'd seen in Techno. It was weird though, because these symptoms were connected to autism, and Techno couldn't be autistic. There was no way. Phil simply couldn't believe that.
Phil closed the tab, annoyed at his nonsensical discoveries. He wasn't a psychologist anyway, he had no business trying to figure out what was up with Techno.
"Phil? Philll?" Techno whined.
"Oh! Y-yeah Techno?"
"I've been trying to get your attention a while now. What are you doing?"
"Ah, just hit a dead end with some work."
"What kind of work?"
"Just some research I've been doing for a video soon." Phil craftily lied. He didn't want to upset Techno by letting him know he'd been researching his friend. That seemed like a weird thing to do.
"Mm, okay. Well anyway, I think I'm gonna go now, okay?"
"Alrighty, see you later!"
Phil sighed as the call ended screen popped up. He wanted nothing more than to visit Techno and make sure everything was okay, but had too many responsibilities at home to just drop everything to visit. He really just hoped Techno would be okay a bit longer until he could go.