Gemma was not planning on freaking out about a ring light in the middle of the night. Yet, as the clock taunted her with its 3AM eye-blinding-glow, there she is, camped out on her streaming room floor, surrounded by a perplexing amount of parts that refused to make sense. Her old ring light that Luzu helped her build had broke the week before. Luzu made her order another one when he found out it broke, and immediately volunteered to come over to assemble it in two days. The new light arrived that morning, and logical thinking would have had Gemma waiting the mere forty-eight hours for Luzu's assistance.

After a day filled with back-to-back meetings that left her feeling useless, the idea of assembling the ring light by herself seemed like a small victory she desperately needed. Of course she procrastinated it, she had nearly convinced herself to postpone the assembling to the next day, but she couldn't sleep - her brain buzzing with an unquiet energy that wouldn't be ignored.

As the night progressed, so did her frustrations, marked by two meltdowns: one from a traitorous papercut and another when the whole structure collapsed just as she thought she had succeeded. Defeated, she retreats to her desk and opens Discord, her sniffles the only sound breaking the silence of her room. Her friends in Spain are long asleep, and as her cursor hovers over the names of newer acquaintances from the qsmp, a hesitance clings to her actions. Reaching out felt like an intrusion into their night-or, for some, day. It's then her eyes lands on Foolish's name, a beacon in her sea of indecision. They'd exchanged words just days prior, Gemma asked him a few questions about his lore on the server to see how she can fit in on the federation story he was part of.

With a mixture of desperation and a dash of daring, she clicks on his name, drafting a message. she typed, her finger hovering before sending it. She doesn't have to wait long. Foolish's reply came quick, making her breath a sigh of relief.

True to his word, moments later, Gemma finds herself on a call with Foolish, even his icon an already comforting sight.

"Hey, Foolish," Gemma starts, unable to suppress a yawn.

"Hey, what's up? What got ya up at three AM?"

Dragging the troublesome box closer, she shoots it a glare as if it personally offended her. "Could use some help setting up this new ring light. My old one's dead, I figured you might know how since I know you have one too."

"Oh," comes Foolish's reply, mixed with the sound of him moving around. "You're doing this at this hour?"

"Can't stand going to bed knowing there's stuff to do. Plus, I had a shitty day I just want to do something right."

"Wanna talk about it?" He asks, no hint of disinterest in his voice. "You don't have to, just that I never heard you so down, y'know?"

"My merch company fucked me up, they want to change our contract right after I did a merch drop. Stupid terms and I just sat there and listened while my team tried to fix it, cause I have no idea how."

"That's fucked." Foolish groans, sympathizing. Gemma's mouth ticks up into half a smile. "I'm sorry, I used to have issues with my merch, now I'm in a friend's company, so..."

"You won in life," Gemma laughs, stretching her arms above her head. "Alright, I'm ready to try and build this stupid ring light."

"You know you've reached out to possibly the least handy person for this, right?"

"Most of my friends in Spain are asleep," she explains. "Didn't want to wake anyone up on a different country, really."

"Makes sense. I had a bit of help with mine, so worst case, I'll just ask for help for you."

"I believe in you." Gemma jokes, soft and quiet, the tiredness getting to her. "I should go to sleep but I won't."

Foolish sighs. "You should try to sleep, Gem. I'm here tomorrow too."

"That nickname's new, you've never called me that." Gemma notes. Her head tilted sideways to stare aimlessly at the wall, her mind practically empty from thoughts.

Gemma can hear him drum his fingers on his desk. Finally, he asks, "Are you not okay with me calling you Gem? Noticed others using it online."

"It's okay, I like how you say it." she shrugs. "My friends don't call me Gem, I don't really like it when they do. Only my sister, and fans because I can't really stop them."

They both fall into silence, Gemma nearly succumbing to sleep before Foolish's voice perks up again. "Let's get to it, shall we? Have you taken everything out of the box?"

"Stuck on how these parts fit together," she admits, fishing around in the box for the components. "Can I turn on my camera to show you?"

"Yeah, turn it on."

Gemma reaches to open her camera while Foolish hums a tune for a song. Her camera opens and Gemma stares at herself for a moment. Her hair is up in a bun underneath the hood of her red hoodie, glasses perched on her nose. She looks cozy, tired, but determined. Foolish huffs, an affectionate noise. Gemma lifts 2 pieces into the camera view. "I'm ignoring that you probably think I look funny, how do these go together? Screw them?"

"I don't think you look funny," Foolish defends. "But yeah, they screw in. You'll know it's right when it clicks into place."

The call, initially intended to be for a quick fix, turned into the two talking about random stuff. At one point Gemma gets Foolish to open his camera as well and they just hang out together. The finished ring light stands near her desk but Gemma moves onto Discord from her laptop, to be able to lay on her bed in her room.

"We were in the middle of a fun soccer game when Ems suddenly jumped at me. She wanted to get the ball and didn't see me in her path, so we both ended up falling over." Foolish laughs, bringing to life a childhood memory with his sister from their elementary school days.

Gemma couldn't stop laughing, tears forming from how much she finds the story amusing. It must have been because it was so late; everything seems funnier at this hour. Foolish really is a funny guy. "Oh my god! You didn't fall on concrete, did you?"

Before she could hear the rest, Rose comes into her room in a dramatic fashion, wrapped up in her blanket, with her hair all over the place. Gemma can't help but smile. "What are you doing up? It's half past four in the morning."

"Oh shit," Gemma replies, genuinely taken back. She doesn't bother to mute so Foolish can't hear, it doesn't matter. "I'm so sorry, I'm just talking to a friend."

"A friend." Rose repeats, curious for more details.

"Yes, a friend," Gemma responds, sneaking a peek at Foolish. It seems he tries to look as if he doesn't understand what they're saying, but the small tilt of his lips from what she can see since he tilted his head down, says otherwise. "Not from Spain though, everyone's asleep."

"Looks like we're the only ones awake," Rose sighs, still upset about being awake herself. "So, this friend of yours, is it just a friend or... a special friend?"

"Rose!" Gemma gasps, embarrassed. "You're delusional, so sorry I interrupted your beauty sleep."

Rose shrugs and waddles back out of Gemma's room. After exhaling a breath, Gemma looks back to her screen. Foolish looks confused, mumbling some words in Spanish. "Are you trying to figure out what she said?"

"Yeah," he admits, looking a bit sheepish. "Sorry, I know rude."

"It's okay. I didn't mute the call because she was just wondering if you were a friend, that's all," Gemma says, choosing to simplify the situation rather than share the full extent of Rose's question. A lie, but admitting the truth to Foolish would be mortifying and awkward. "Anyway! Your sister sounds cool, too cool to be related to you, really."

Gemma and Foolish keep talking for an hour and a half more, until it's 6AM in Spain and 12AM in North Carolina. Gemma, ever so considerate, notices Foolish's yawns breaking through their laughter. She doesn't have the heart to keep him from his sleep and ruin his sleeping schedule, so with smiles mirroring each other's warmth, they reluctantly end the call even though parting is the last thing they both want.

It becomes their little tradition. Gemma, hiding behind her shyness, would invent any reason to start a call, unable to admit she just wants to spend time with him. Foolish, ever the helpful friend, would offer assistance before they both naturally slip into the comfort of each other's company. These calls often happen after Gemma's streams, a time when the world around her quieted down and it was a decent time in North Carolina.

Foolish finds himself tuning into her streams more frequently to pass time before their calls on days he isn't streaming himself, keeping that secret tucked away, a sweet admission shared with no one.