Daiyu's morning is going surprisingly well despite having the most hectic, confusing week she's ever experienced (a funeral and a half-sister she never knew about can certainly be described like that).
First off, she woke up to Joseph snuggling in between both May and her (he usually sleeps by their feet), she found out her last Tik Tok exploded overnight, her grandparents from Taiwan sent her a lovely postcard bringing a long-lasting smile on her face in return, and she's currently watching reruns of her favorite childhood show with leftovers from May's cooking from last night's dinner.
Overall, it's a nice morning. To top it off, Tommy calls her.
"How've you been?" He asks through her phone's speakers.
"Honestly, I've had a great morning," she replies as she relays everything that's happened so far. Tommy listens attentively and she couldn't ask for more.
"I saw your Tik Tok did well, congrats."
She smirks, feeling proud of herself, "That's because it was my best one yet."
She hears him scoff, "Oh please. I haven't seen a single Tik Tok where you don't say one negative thing about me. Your last video was no exception."
"It's just too easy to make fun of you," she whined, making Tommy groan in rebuttal. Undoubtedly, she's always had a way of offending Tommy whether he likes it or not.
Hearing rustling from his side, she assumes he's multi-tasking right now which is rude to say the least. If you're going to call Daiyu, then either put your 100% into it or don't even bother. She says this to Tommy and he makes an effort to ignore her for a minute straight until she breaks and apologizes.
After talking a bit about Tommy's upcoming videos, he changes the subject.
"So you said something about having grandparents from Taiwan." He says, continuing, "Remind me, you were born in Malaysia but your ethnicity is Taiwanese... or Chinese?"
"Yes, technically," she nods, happy with his understanding of this subject. "I use my mother's surname, Lin, which is Chinese. I'm mixed though, so I'm not 100% anything."
"That's really cool," he hesitates, then, "I'm just... British."
Daiyu makes a sound akin to disappointment, "That you are, and it's perhaps your biggest flaw yet."
Tommy grunts, "I know, thanks for reminding me." Then wonder fills his voice, "But you're, like, so good at English. Is it your second language?"
"No, my third."
"Third!?" Tommy shouts.
She laughs, amused at his bewilderment.
"Malay, Chinese, English." She quickly adds, "and I'm learning French because that's a sexy language."
"What the hell, you're like proper smart."
"Coming from a brit, that doesn't mean much to me, but thank you." He makes an offended sound but quickly laughs right after. "But I've shown you time and time again of my brilliance, I'm surprised you haven't caught on 'til now."
"Does your brilliance also happen to include forming imaginary relationships with British men whom you apparently despise and had a child with?"
Daiyu forces a laugh, "Well would you look at the time. Looks like I've got to go! Gonna film some more Tik Toks."
"Seems to me you're just dodging my question—which actually just proves my point," Tommy states in triumph.
She lies, "My fans are waiting for me."
"Well then, remember me when you're famous," he sarcastically replied.
"'When?' I already am." She smiles devilishly, "Sorry, who are you again?"
She can hear from his tone that he's smiling too, "Shut the fuck up and hang up already."
"No, you first," she retorts.
He mutters, "If you don't hang up then neither will I, I don't give a fuck if you can't Tik the Tocker." That last part made no sense, but whatever.
Laughing, she amusedly sat back, foregoing any intention to record that moment. "I can do this all day. I'm warning you, Tom Simons."
He bites back, "Fucking bring it on, I dare you, Daiyu Lin."
...
It happened just like that, one simple "no, you hang up first," and now they've been on call for around 5 hours. Not all of it was occupied by mindless chattering, in fact, they left to do other things but kept the call going if only out of spite for the other.
She resorted to using May's phone to record some Tik Toks, having Tommy in the background to make fun of her once in a while as she records. He did give useful feedback like how to make good transitions and more editing tips, though.
It was kind of like having Tommy in person, as if he was in the same room as her instead of thousands of kilometers away, commentating and joking with her as they'd normally do. Something sparks in her at that thought.
She turns on her camera, and she doesn't know if it's that action or something else that has Tommy choking.
...
Somewhere in Brighton, Tommy's reminded that Daiyu is perhaps the most gorgeous person he's ever seen
(and he might've made a few embarrassing sounds, but he won't admit that).
...
"Sorry, this is a stupid ass question, but are my facial expressions too varied or too flat?" She asks him, once again repeating the first portion of her short video.
Tommy says intelligently, "Uh," and then nothing more.
"Thanks, you're helpful."
He splutters, "It's good, it's good! I-I don't see anything wrong with it, why wouldn't it be fine?"
"The curse of being a perfectionist," she stated blandly. "Reason why I won the science fair in grade 5."
He chuckles. "I'm really just discovering all these new skills of yours, aren't I?"
"I am quite the scientist after all."
...
"Jesus fuck, why don't you hang up??" Tommy shouted, later into the day.
"Careful, or else you'll get a call from your landlord," she teased, continuously pushing all his buttons to get him to hang up first.
He huffs, "I literally have calls to make but can't because I'm stuck with your stupid ass."
"Oh yeah, like who?"
"Fuckin', like, anyone at this point," he grumbles. "My mum, actually, because I promised to call her today. I'll let you know I embarrassingly had to text her that I can't because I'm having this stupid fucking... war with your dumbass."
Daiyu brings a hand to her forehead dramatically, "Why, I am so flattered you turned down your mother to spend time with yours truly."
"Not like I have a goddamn choice," he muttered.
She raises an eyebrow, "Like you have a choice? Good sir, samaritan, you can leave whenever you please. At just the click of a button, this call will end, and you can go on your merry way. What do you say?"
"I say I'm going to win this stupid petty fight, and I'm going to have bragging privileges for at least a month," Tommy declared, immediately prompting a gasp from Daiyu.
"I only got bragging rights from our dual for a week! How's that any fair??"
"You literally cheated, don't even deny it," he countered.
"I- uh," she stutters, "That's not true."
Tommy restates with much seriousness, "A full month."
"Fine, whoever wins gets bragging privileges for a month... and a tweet on the other's account." Unsurprisingly, Tommy's happy with that last addition.
They both smirk and say in unison, "Deal."
...
a/n: today's my birthday! 🎂
ngl i completely forgot until a few days ago
this is also probably going to be split into two parts because i like this idea and i think it's fun :))
also, unedited :/