Work Text:
Ryland wakes up to the sound of his phone ringing. He groans, feeling at his bedside table until he finds the phone. Just as it stops ringing.
He turns the phone on, squinting at the light. He could've sworn he lowered the brightness before he went to bed, he usually does. Whatever, he'll worry about that later. His current priorty is to figure out why someone's calling him at.. midnght. Ah jeez, work is gonna suck tomorrow—or today—he already knows.
The phone starts ringing again, and Ryland immediately fills with dread as Tony's name pops up. Ah, frick. Well, now he's awake, at least.
Sitting up, he swipes to answer, bringing the phone up to his ear. "Tony? Everything alright?"
Ryland doesn't hear anything for a moment, just sharp, uneven breathing. He's panicking.
"Hey, breathe, it's okay. You reached me, okay? I'm here."
"Ry?" Tony sounds terrible, is the first thing Ryland notices. More exhausted than normal, which should probably be worth a record or something. Poor guy definitely had a nightmare.
"Yeah, it's me." Ryland rubs his eyes, shaking his head to try and get rid of the sleepiness still fuzzying everything. "You called me, yeah?"
"Did I?"
"Well I certainly didn't call you at, what is it for you? 3am?"
"Th—Yeah, three."
"Okay." Ryland nods, even though he knows Tony can't see it. "Nightmare?"
Tony lets out a little hum.
"Wanna talk about it?"
"…No."
"That's okay. What do you want to talk about, then?"
Tony goes silent again. Ryland's about to repeat his question when the man says, "you talk."
"Okay, yeah, I can talk. Uh.." What could he talk about? "Wanna hear about school?"
"Mmm."
"Yeah?"
"Sure."
"Great, okay, hmm.. where to start…" Ryland shifts against his headboard. "Well, okay, yesterday, technically the day before yesterday now, one of my students decided to pop-quiz me about snakes."
Tony chuckles on the other line. "This the same one that asked about the uh.."
"Titicaca water frogs? Yeah, same kid. I mean, I admire her drive to learn, don't get me wrong. But I do not know anything about tetrapods."
"Whaddid ya get on it?"
"…19%."
Ryland hears a sharp intake from the other line before Tony starts laughing. There he is. Ryland grins, listening to Tony try and catch his breath.
"It really wasn't that funny."
"Yeah it is," Tony sighs. "That's good. That.. hey, you did your best."
Ryland yawns, nodding. "Yep. Kids didn't seem to think so, though. I don't think I've ever been laughed at so hard." It wasn't actually that bad, but Ryland knows Tony likes dramatics when he's upset.
"You're tired," Tony mutters. He's done with the story, it seems.
"I'm fine."
"No, you're yawnin'." Ryland can practically hear the frown in his voice. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up. I didn't even realize I was callin' you.."
"Tony, it's fine, really. I don't mind."
"You got work in the morning. Go back to sleep."
Ryland sighs. Even half asleep Tony's stubborn as hell. No way he's going to let Ryland win this one. That's fine, he does need the sleep. "Only if you try and sleep too." Tony doesn't respond, so Ryland continues. "Or at least call someone you're alright with keeping up all night, yeah?"
"..Yeah. Okay."
"Okay." Ryland knows he won't. "Good. I'll call you back when I wake up, okay?"
"Mhm."
"I love you."
"..Love you too."
Tony hang up, and Ryland puts the phone down. He lies back in bed, sighing again. Hopefully Tony will at least try and get to sleep. Even though Ryland knows even if he does it probably won't come. That's for morning Ryland to worry about, though. For now he's just got to try and get whatever hours of sleep he can.