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It is a well-known fact that Delirious is a very private person. Tyler couldn’t even count how many times the older boy turned down offers and invitations if it involves showing someone his face. Their fans hounded him for that countless times. He couldn’t really blame them. He, too, was very curious about the man behind the hockey mask. But as much as they liked being dicks to each other, they respected his wishes. They understood. So it surprised Tyler when one day he answered the call from Skype and instead of a black screen above Delirious’ name, a neat bedroom was displayed.
He checked again and sure there was- “Jonathan Smith” typed below his screen. They were the only two of them in the call, well technically, only him because the bedroom was empty. He wondered where Delirious is. He was the one who invited Tyler in the call after all.
He saw a green dot appeared beside the name “Craig Thompson” so he quickly sent him a call. No more than a few seconds later, the face of Mini appeared next to the empty bedroom of what he could safely assume to be Delirious’.
“Morning, dude,” Mini greeted, “s’just me and you yet?” He could tell Mini just woke up because of his grogginess and the fact that he hadn’t noticed that Delirious’ bedroom was in the call with them.
“Morning,” Tyler replied, “And no, dude. Delirious invited me. I think that’s his bedroom.”
Mini seemed to wake up after he said that. He squinted slightly then his eyes widened when he realized.
“Holy shit! You’re right,” Mini said slightly in awe, “I mean, what? Where is he?!”
“I don’t know, dude,” Tyler said exasperated, “That was there when I answered the call.” He saw Marcel and Brock logged on so he told Mini to invite them to the call.
“’Sup bitches!”
“Good morning, guys!”
Tyler nearly rolled his eyes at their typical greeting. But he couldn’t help to care when there were more pressing issues at hand. He saw Mini leave his chair presumably to get coffee or an energy drink. He felt like something interesting is going to happen today so he thought the younger man wanted to be alert when that happens. Brock and Marcel fell into idle chatter not even noticing the bedroom that was taking up the usually black screen. Was he really the only one who noticed?
“Guys!” Tyler slightly raised his voice to catch the attention of the two, “Look at Delirious’ screen.”
The two turned to look and Tyler saw the confusion then amazement flashed in their faces. He saw Mini came back holding a mug of steaming coffee. Or tea. He couldn’t really tell. But why would you have tea when you want to wake up? He shook his head out of his thoughts and zone in to the conversation that started among his three friends.
“Where is he though?” Brock mused.
“Dunno. Tyler was the first one here, ‘cept Delirious, of course. Said t’was like that when he answered,” Mini answered as he took a big gulp from his hot drink. Tyler wanted to warn him about hot beverages but seeing as Craig took another big gulp, he was more worried when the caffeine starts to kick in.
They were silent for a moment. Tyler took this time to study the bedroom. It was being captured by a webcam. He could tell because of the shitty quality. But it was good enough to tell Delirious’ things apart. And it’s nothing special, really. The camera was facing a door and beside it was a large cabinet. In front of the cabinet he could see half of a made bed and a nightstand beside it. It was neat and tidy. No strewn clothes or crumpled papers or bags of chips. It reminded Tyler of a hotel room.
“Damn. I kinda thought Delirious would be a messy kind of guy, ya know?” Marcel said.
Tyler was about to say that he thought Delirious would be the slob of the group when suddenly, laughter can be heard on Delirious’ end. It was…odd. It was still loud but gentler. It was Delirious but also not him. They were hearing Jonathan for the first time. Well not really, but in a way that was not directed to them. They were so used to hearing his maniacal laughter that hearing him laugh “normally” took them by surprise.
He was talking to someone but they can only hear his voice and even then, it was muffled. Maybe he’s on his phone. And he is using a tone so gentle and full of fondness? Tyler suppressed a shiver when he thought of that. Never did he think Delirious to have a gentle side in him. Says a lot on how much they really know Jonathan. He also made a mental note to ask Delirious if he was using a new mic because wow, they could hear him through a closed door.
They were still silent, straining to hear the conversation between Delirious, no- Jonathan and his mystery person. The person that hears and sees and experiences the gentle side of Delirious. Tyler felt a pang of jealousy when he thought of that. They were friends with him for a very long time and they barely even knew his private life. He felt slightly angry at the thought that maybe Delirious didn’t trust them enough to let them in.
His anger was quickly replaced by panic when he realized he couldn’t hear Delirious anymore. That must mean he’s done talking to whoever that person is. That meant he’s going to enter that door at any minute now. He vaguely wondered why he felt panic when he was not the one who was about to show his friends his real face that he hid for so long.
He looked at his friends’ faces and felt himself relax when he saw that he was not the only one feeling anxious about this. The irony, right? Mini’s face was a mixture of scared and excited, maybe because his nerves were shot due to his drink. It must have been coffee after all.
He looked back at Delirious’ screen which he full screened. It was only a little better but if they were going to see Jonathan’s face right now, he had to make full use of what he have right now even if it’s through a shitty webcam feed. He’ll take what he can get. Oh how they are going to tease Evan about this. He would wish he didn’t stay up late last night editing videos.
It was a very tense minute. The four gamers watched nervously as the doorknob twisted and the door opened. A man who is about 5”7’—and Tyler was just guessing really, but he liked that height for Delirious so his mind went to that and anyway—who has a very lanky body and some tattoos here and there entered. And Tyler thought, Is this him? Is that Delirious? Jonathan? But he had no reference so it could be anyone at this point.
They regrettably couldn’t see his face because his head was turned towards the door as he called out to someone somewhere outside the bedroom.
“Yeah! I’ll come by later. Can you lock the door on your way out? Thanks! See ya!”
And yes, that was Delirious. Holy fuck, he couldn’t believe it. He sounded different. Not better because god, he sounded amazing either way. And why is Tyler thinking about this? He sounded like a teenage boy. He was seeing Delirious for the first time and he couldn’t help but gawk. He didn’t even care about his three other companions at the moment.
They saw a brief flash of the side of Jonathan’s face when he proceeded to open the cabinet near the door. Their view quickly became obstructed by the door. Even in the briefest moment, they saw it. Tyler couldn’t breathe.
“You all saw that, right?” He whispered, not wanting to break the serenity. He was vaguely aware of three heads nodding back at him on the screen. And Tyler couldn’t take this, whatever this is. He thought he was prepared to see Delirious but this was too much. It felt like they’re seeing too much of him even if they barely saw him at all. He thought about it for half a second and the next time he knew, he was yelling at the screen.
“Yo, Delirious!” He was surprised and relieved that it resonated from Delirious’ speakers and not from his headphones. It sounded so casual too. Good, at least they couldn’t hear the shakiness of his voice.
Jonathan, bless him, screamed and jumped from his spot. Tyler saw that his grip on the cabinet door became tighter.
“Jesus, fuck!” Jonathan shouted sounding clear as day. His voice was deeper than usual. He was reminded again on how different Delirious was from Jonathan. He was about to move from his spot when Tyler yelled again.
“Wait! Stay where you are!”
“Tyler, what the fuck?” Marcel half-whispered. He kinda forgot about them actually so he just shushed him and continued looking at Delirious’ left hand and arm and back (and Jesus, Tyler, what is wrong with you?) which were the only visible parts of him behind the cabinet door.
“Jesus Christ, Tyler. Is that you?” Delirious asked.
“Uhh yeah,” Tyler was losing his composure. Why did he yell anyway? “You uhh kinda left your webcam on, Jo- Delirious.”
Delirious didn’t answer. Tyler looked at his other friends’ faces to see looks of confusion. He gulped then continued.
“I figured you accidentally left it on and maybe you’d appreciate it if we see your face when you’re really ready and not when you’re being a forgetful fuck so I uhh just wanted to warn you, I guess.”
It was silent again. Tyler was getting tired of it really. But he contained his annoyance and waited patiently for Delirious. He saw Brock flashed him a smile of encouragement. Or he didn’t know really. But he needed that assurance.
Then Delirious laughed. Not the gentle one they heard just moments ago but the maniacal laugh they were so used to. Tyler felt like he could breathe again. This was easy. This, at least, was familiar. He saw Delirious moving around looking for something. He emerged not too long after wearing a makeshift bandana that covered the lower half of his face. His piercing blue eyes gazed upon them and oh, Tyler was really fucked.
“What? No hockey masks?” Mini joked.
“No? You guys don’t seriously think I own one, right?” Delirious took a seat and looked at each one of them.
They all wore sheepish expressions. They talked about this before. They speculated what Delirious’ likes and dislikes, what he wears, what he owns. Delirious just laughed at their faces.
“So,” Delirious started, “sorry about that. I was skype calling someone late last night and I guess I forgot to turn the webcam off.”
“How come you called me when you weren’t in the room anyway?” Tyler pretended to be busy in his computer. He couldn’t look at him. Or his eyes rather. It almost felt like he’s judging him.
“Oh, I was really calling you but then someone called my phone so,” Delirious explained. He was looking at the ground and even though Tyler couldn’t see his mouth, he knew he was smiling. He didn’t know what to feel.
“Good save then, huh?” Marcel piped up, noticing the creeping awkward silence. Tyler knew that Delirious wasn’t feeling awkward. He was on his own world clearly daydreaming about his mystery person. Tyler felt the familiar sting of jealousy again. He quickly squashed it down.
“Yeah, thanks for the warning, Tyler. I really appreciate it.” Jonathan was looking at his webcam so when Tyler looked at his screen it almost felt like they were having an eye-to-eye contact. He averted his eyes.
He’s confused by his actions. They were finally going to see Delirious but he had to go and ruined their chances. It felt wrong somehow, to see him when he had no idea. His mind went to voyeurism for a moment but all he could relate to that word is sex and he should really stop thinking now because he was getting ridiculous.
He looked at Jonathan again and he noticed that he’s really just an average guy. He related his half-covered face with his delirious voice and yes, he could work with this. Delirious is just a normal guy, he repeated to himself. He got distracted by Mini squirming in his seat. Probably the caffeine finally kicking in. He laughed at himself at how bizarre this situation was. Evan would be so jealous.
“Yeah,” he breathed out, “No problem.”