a/n: It's nothing. Really.


"Hey."

"Hey."

She pauses on the other end of the line. In front of her is the skyline, behind her a bedroom with a bottle of opened wine on the table. The covers are messily thrown away from her bed, the room filled with a dim light from the lamp on the nightstand.

He waits patiently. There is slight movement from her on the other end. Her wings fold quietly at her back, resting against the sheer silk nightgown she wears.

"Sorry. This is dumb."

"It's not. It never is."

"Every time I leave town, it's always like this." She takes another long pause and leans against the balcony railing. Wonders what it would be like to fall from that height.

"Where are you?"

"On a balcony."

"Turn around."

She does so, her back against the railing.

"Thank you."

"Shadow...I'm..." She pauses again. "Sorry."

"You're not drunk."

"No. I wish I was."

"You don't."

"Don't I?"

"No. I know you have a bottle of wine open. You could be drunk right now. But you're talking to me."

"I have standards when it comes to you."

"I didn't know that."

"You know now."

"No, I mean...the lounging around in your delicates, eating like a bear...you could have fooled me."

"Jerk."

"I'm being truthful."

"Prick."

"Does it hurt that much?"

"I miss you." She blurts that out. Then says it, clearly. "I miss you."

"I know."

"Do you?"

"Isn't that why you called?"

"No. I called because I don't like my own company for too long. Especially when I can't sleep."

"So you really do miss me."

"Yes."

"Because you're depressingly narcississtic. I didn't imagine you could be sick of your own company."

"Prick."

"Again, being truthful."

"Jerk."

"I didn't know your feelings were so fragile."

"They aren't. But then they are with you. They're soft. You can crush them in your palm."

"I could never do it."

"I miss you."

"I know."

"I want you, Shadow."

"I know."

"I..."

"Do you want to say it?"

"Yes. I love you."

"..."

"Aren't you going to ask me? If I do? If I really do?"

"I don't have to."

"...I'm sorry. I want you to fill in the gaps. I just keep thinking of your warmth."

"So it was just something you said."

"It was something I meant," she says from the other end. "But...not the way that I said it. Love me the way I need, not the way I want."

"Will friendship suffice?"

"No."

"I see."

"We can't be friends. We're too close to be friends."

She pauses for a long time and he does as well.

"Shadow?"

"Yes."

"Thank you. I'm a mess. I always will be."

"You're a work of art."

She feels a warmth in her chest.

"There are things that I can't understand when I look at you. But they make you more beautiful each day."

"...prick."

He smiles on the other end, and she can feel it. She walks back to bed and turns out the light.

Her eyes start to slide closed.

"Rouge."

"Mm?"

"Sleep well."

"Shadow..."

"Yes."

"...it's nothing."

"It's always something."

"I lied when I said I wanted you."

"You lied about that?"

"Yes...I..."

"Rouge?"

He could hear her breathing softly on the other end. Asleep.

He hung up and set the phone down, closing his eyes.

He understood the lie and all it meant.

He fell asleep.

And vowed never to be out of her reach.