Nash's character runs in aimless circles, idly killing centaurs while he waits. He isn’t entirely clear on why they’re killing these centaurs. There’s some kind of conflict going on, but it really seems as though they just wandered into the centaurs’ camp and are slaughtering them indiscriminately. It doesn't help that there are friendly centaurs in other areas of the map, and some with their names in yellow text that won’t attack you unless you attack them first. Killing or not killing them has zero repercussions either way. It’s all a little grim if you think about it too much.

Silence told him he would brb about twenty minutes ago, and then he went idle for a bit before abruptly signing off. So, is he actually coming back, or did something come up? Silence isn't exactly chatty, and while he usually says when he's leaving, Nash wouldn't put it past him to ghost if something more pressing popped up.

Nash isn’t all that tired yet, but maybe a run will sort that out better than sitting around on his computer. His cursor hovers over the 'quit' button when suddenly, Silence logs back in.

With a small smile, Nash settles back into his chair. Looks like it's more senseless centaur slaughter after all.

He opens their private chat, ready to ask if Silence wants to keep playing. Not that it’s likely to get him anywhere—Silence is more action than words. He’ll either stay idle or he’ll stride forward and start murdering centaurs, ignoring the question.

This time, however, Silence surprises him by sending a message of his own: Do you have a car?

Nash blinks at the screen, momentarily stunned. A car? He's tried to make conversation before, and Silence shut down any personal questions real quick. But now he wants to know if Nash has a car?

Yeah? Nash types back.

Can you give me a ride? It’s an emergency.

Nash’s heart rate kicks up. The closest Silence has come to revealing his location is that they both live on the same side of the country, but Nash is already snatching his discarded jeans off the floor as he types a response.

Yeah. Where are you? What’s going on?

Nothing dangerous, just got stranded, Silence replies, followed by the address of a diner. Nash recognises the street name. He knows where that is.

Be there in fifteen minutes, Nash fires back before closing the game. He hastily pulls on a shirt and shoes, shouts to Niko that he's heading out, and bolts to his car.

As he starts driving, Nash realises he probably should've asked more questions. What Silence looks like, what actually happened. Maybe his name.

To start with, what the fuck is Silence even doing at a diner this late a night, playing games with Nash? Is that why he's stranded? Did someone ditch him for having his nose buried in a laptop all night?

Or maybe he was at home and fled to the diner. Could this be some kind of domestic situation?

The whole thing makes Nash uneasy. Not scared, but a sick kind of worried. Has something been going on in Silence's life this whole time? Is that why he's so withdrawn? It's all speculation, but the weirdness of the situation screams that something isn't right. Probably something a whole lot more mundane than Nash’s usual fare, but sometimes it’s the ordinary horrors that hit the hardest. And Silence is only nineteen...

Nash pulls into a brightly lit parking lot, shoulders his way into a diner that smells like coffee and grease, and then stands there and frowns because the place is empty.

At an expectant look from the middle-aged lady behind the counter, Nash approaches.

“Uh, hey,” Nash says as he ruffles a hand through his hair. “I’m supposed to meet my friend here?”

"No one's been in for a while, hun," the waitress says. "You must've beaten them here. Can I get you anything?"

“No. I’ll, uh…” Nash jabs a thumb towards the door. "Let me check if he's outside."

Frowning, Nash steps back into the night. There’s no one outside and his is the only car in the customer parking. Is he at the wrong place? Is this some kind of prank? Something worse? His thoughts race, but nothing makes sense. Silence is just some guy he plays games with. Nash barely knows him, but it’s hard to imagine him sending Nash out here just to fuck with him.

There's more parking behind the building. It's tucked away, clearly for staff, but Nash figures it's worth checking. He's halfway down the side of the diner when a figure emerges from the shadows.

For a moment, Nash feels like he's seeing a ghost. A slender body, far too much exposed, tattooed skin, jewellery glinting in the dim light, and wavy pale blond hair. But it's the laptop tucked under his arm that really throws Nash for a loop.

Aster. The venomous young man who interrupted their job and treated maiming himself like a minor inconvenience... is Silence? Nash briefly wonders if he's being stalked, but that's impossible. He met Silence online before encountering Aster in real life, and Nash was the one who showed up where Aster lives.

“Hey,” Nash finally manages. “Uh, you…?”

Aster nods, taking a few wary steps closer, eyes locked on Nash's face. "Can you drive me home?"

“Yeah, of course. Come on,” Nash says, gesturing him over. As they turn towards the lot, Nash asks. “So, uh. How’s the hand?”

Aster freezes mid-stride, his gaze snapping to Nash's face, eyes narrowing with sudden suspicion. It's then that Nash realises the recognition wasn't mutual. Of course it wasn't. Nash isn't nearly as distinctive as Aster, and it’s dark. Sometimes he forgets his night vision is better than most people's.

"Just a weird coincidence, I guess," Nash says, watching Aster's face as he visibly reassesses the situation.

Aster gives a nod and starts walking again. He extends his hand, palm up, for Nash to inspect. There's no sign of injury or scarring, just long, elegant fingers and smooth skin.

Aster is beautiful in a way that feels like a warning, like the flash of brightly coloured scales on a venomous snake. Or maybe like an Amanita mushroom. Them being toxic doesn’t stop Nash from wanting to put them in his mouth.

But he tries not to have any thoughts about his mouth and Aster as he leads him back to his car, because Aster is vulnerable right now even if he does an impressive job of holding his chin up and pretending he’s fine.

"I've got a jacket in the trunk if you want it," Nash offers as he unlocks the car.

Aster shoots him a look Nash can't quite decipher, but there's definitely an edge to it. Still, he nods.

Nash pops the trunk and retrieves the jacket. Aster reaches for it without hesitation.

Their fingers brush as Nash hands over the jacket. Aster's skin is ice-cold against his, and Nash's stomach drops. He assumed Aster wasn't bothered by the temperature—maybe feeling a bit exposed in just his underwear, but not freezing. Niko can easily magic away such minor inconveniences, and Aster doesn’t strike him as any less capable. 

No wonder Aster looked at him like that. He’s halfway fucking hypothemic, and Nash offered him a jacket like it was no big deal. Like it barely mattered.

Aster slides into the backseat when they reach the car. Nash settles behind the wheel, twisting to watch as Aster cocoons himself in the jacket. There’s a blanket on the passenger seat, so Nash tosses that back as well.

"So..." Nash ventures. "What happened?"

Aster shrugs, and Nash thinks he’s going to leave it at that, but then he speaks. “Teleportation. I got into a fight with the wrong person and she caught me by surprise.”

“You get into fights with a lot of people, huh?”

A wry smile flickers across Aster's face as he shrugs again.

"Want some food? I could grab burgers or something."

Aster nods. Nash considers asking him what he wants, but he doesn’t seem like a very chatty guy when he isn't angry.

Or maybe, Nash muses as he gets out of the car, he’s just still a little weirded out by their first encounter. The very first thing Nash did was give Aster's body a long, appreciative once-over. He owes Aster an apology for that, but he doesn’t want to bring it up in case Aster’s forgotten or maybe even somehow didn’t notice in the first place.

And maybe that doesn’t have anything to do with his silence anyway. Aster didn’t know who he was when they were gaming together, and he sure wasn’t chatty then. Heck, the guy putting the word ‘silence’ in his character’s name probably should have been a hint that he isn’t the talkative type. It probably just isn’t about Nash at all.