Work Text:
“This damn elevator is always breaking,” Orm whines, an exaggerated pout adorning her face.
The old, creaking building their shared apartment was in had some, let’s say, slight hazards. The outdated elevator was the worst offender, stalling and creaking whenever it felt like it.
Ling chuckles soundlessly at Orm's whining. She was always the calmer one of the two.
“But you know, I kinda missed this,” Orm says softly.
Ling gives a small, familiar tilt of her head.
“I guess it’s just been a while since it last broke,” Orm shrugs. “Strange how something annoying can start to feel… nostalgic.”
Ling gives an understanding nod and shifts slightly closer, the kind of quiet support that always came without words.
The moment stretches a little before Orm lets out a long sigh, rolling her shoulders like she’s shaking something off.
“God, today was exhausting. The new promotions are great and all, but, not to sound too ungrateful, it’s so stressful,” Orm complains.
“Hey,” Orm suddenly says, “remember back in high school? I would always slack off and say I’d just marry some rich guy, while you were so straight-laced, working two jobs and studying constantly?”
Orm laughs quietly.
“We were such opposites. I just couldn’t understand why you worked so damn hard. Then you said, ‘someone has to support you financially.’”
She shakes her head with a quiet smile.
“I remember thinking… yeah, I’m never letting you go.”
Orm received a soft, knowing smile in response. Ling rarely talked much. Orm usually filled the silence, but she never minded it.
“But look at us now,” Orm flashes a bright grin, flexing her arms jokingly. "I'm the breadwinner.”
With her current income, she could afford a better apartment than the dingy one they were forced into after being kicked out. She had hoped her parents would accept them, always the optimist, while Ling had been certain her own family would disown her.
Unfortunately, Ling had been right.
Orm hadn’t seen either set of parents since they left. Not for lack of trying.
She called last year. Then the year before that.
Eventually she stopped when the silence felt heavier than rejection.
Ling had been there through all of it, steady and comforting in the quiet ways she always was, the calm opposite of Orm's chaos.
The elevator gives a small jolt as it continues upward.
“We really should move out,” Orm mutters. “But I just can’t seem to let this place go. Faulty elevator and all.”
She sighs, reaching over to interlock their hands.
Her fingers curl around empty air.
“I miss this,” she whispers. “I miss you.”
Her hand grows cold where fingers should have been.
“I miss you too,” Ling replies in that gentle, reverent voice she had always reserved just for her. Or at least, Orm wished she still did.
Instead, silence answers as it always does.
The elevator dings.
Orm steps out, pausing for a second just to breathe, eyes closed, willing herself not to cry.
Her face crumples anyway.
Eyes stinging. Chest tight.
She folds in on herself, muffling her cries in her hand as quiet sobs shake her shoulders.
The elevator doors slide shut behind her.