Chapter Five: Late Night Static

POV: Ave

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11:42 PM — Wednesday

Ave’s room was dark except for the soft blue glow of her desk lamp. She should’ve been asleep. She’d promised herself she would be — by ten at the latest.

But her prototype module was still on her desk, half-wired and blinking at her like a disappointed parent. The humidity sensors were glitching, and the solar connection didn’t calibrate the way it should. She’d tried three different builds.

All three sucked.

And now, her brain was a whirlwind of caffeine, frustration, and Blake’s voice from earlier.

> “Sometimes structure suffocates the spark.”

Why couldn’t he just shut up?

Why did he say things like that and then leave her to think about them?

She chewed the inside of her cheek, stared at the module again, and cursed under her breath.

Then, impulsively, she grabbed her phone and texted him.

> Ave: You still awake?

The reply came back faster than she expected.

> Blake: Obviously.

Blake: Thought you’d be pretending I don’t exist.

> Ave: Can’t. Your dumb frame design is making my circuit calibration fail.

> Blake: My frame design is brilliant. You just don’t trust magic.

Blake: Facetime?

Ave hesitated.

For a moment, she stared at her reflection in her black screen. Hair in a bun. Oversized hoodie. Bags under her eyes.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t FaceTimed Blake before.

But this was… different.

Still, she clicked accept.

---

11:56 PM — Facetime Call: In Progress

He answered from his bed, hoodie pulled over his head, blue LEDs casting moody shadows on the wall behind him. A laptop was open on his chest, and one earbud dangled from his collar.

“Let me guess,” he said. “The solar input’s not registering across multiple nodes.”

Ave blinked. “How’d you know?”

“I’m a genius,” he said, deadpan. Then grinned. “Also, I literally ran into the same bug two months ago on a project.”

“You could’ve told me earlier.”

“You could’ve asked.”

Ave made a noise halfway between a sigh and a groan. “Help me fix it.”

---

They spent the next forty-five minutes in sync.

He walked her through a workaround, tweaking the wiring diagram on a notepad he held up to the camera. She rewrote half her code live while screen sharing. They bickered over variable names. Laughed once — just once — when her laptop tried to crash and she yelled at it like it owed her money.

It was the easiest it had felt with him in weeks.

No tension.

No ghosts.

Just two nerds and a shared obsession.

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12:44 AM — The Shift

Ave yawned as she sipped cold water and glanced at him again. He was lying down now, still watching her screen through the call, lids half-lowered.

“Hey, Blake?” she said softly.

“Yeah?”

“You really remembered that bug from two months ago?”

“Of course,” he said without thinking. “It messed up my whole code build.”

She nodded.

But Blake sat up slightly, then added: “Also… I remember everything you say. Even the stuff you don’t think matters.”

Her breath caught.

“Like?”

“Like how you chew your pen when you’re about to give up, but you never do. Or how you always say ‘fine’ when you’re two minutes from exploding.”

Ave stared at the screen.

“Stop analyzing me.”

“Can’t help it,” he said, voice lower. “You’re the most interesting problem I’ve ever wanted to solve.”

She didn’t say anything.

Didn’t have to.

Because her pulse was already racing — and not from the wiring.

---

1:02 AM — Almost

Blake yawned. “We should sleep.”

Ave blinked, startled out of whatever spell they’d been under. “Right. Sleep.”

He didn’t end the call.

Neither did she.

For a full minute, they just… looked at each other.

It wasn’t romantic. It wasn’t not.

It was two people too tired to lie — and too wired to pretend it meant nothing.

Then finally, softly:

> Ave: Thanks for tonight.

> Blake: Anytime.

> Blake: Even if we fight tomorrow.

> Ave: Especially then.

They both smiled.

And ended the call.

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1:16 AM — Ave’s Journal

She opened a fresh page.

Wrote nothing at first.

Then:

> “He knows how to read me.

That’s the most dangerous kind of smart.”