Chapter Text
Closet Gamer
Chapter One: -Zayn’s Dirty Little Secret-
How I See me babies in this fic. Zayn just hot hot hot hooooot (I love the blonde streak... needs it forever) and Niall just obliviously adorably attractive not realizing how hot he could be with the right products. Being you know. Normal person status. Fashion wise. Pics for the others to come
Zayn had a dirty little secret. One so scandalous that it could utterly destroy his reputation if anyone were to ever find out – but -- alas, it was one he indulged in every night all the same.
Call it an addiction.
Call it an obsession.
But he just couldn’t stop.
What was it you ask? What was this thing that stole the heart of Manchester Prep’s most valued person? Was it a steamy affair with a hot young teacher? Or perhaps a dark and illicit past? Drug abuse? Alcoholism? No. It was much worse than any of that.
Zayn Malik, resident bad boy, footie player extraordinaire, and brooder des masses was a closeted geek.
Yep.
That’s right. The kid who sat in the back of your class looking menacing and attractively pissed off twenty-four seven was a dork who read comic books behind history textbooks. The raven haired lad with the jocks and owner of the killer smirk that made girls swoon, was a total nerd who – if you asked nicely -- could tell you latest killer combo with the new Magic Trading Card Game booster pack.
He was the boy who made acrylic paint look sexy. The guy who wrote ballads and love songs for the chicks he dated and all around was probably thought of as the most attractive and accomplished boy in school.
But see, Zayn Malik was a gamer. And a total Otaku. He actually knew next to nothing about football aside from the rules and positions. He never knew who won last night’s game “Mate, did you see that goal Barcelona scored?!” “Uh-huh, real cool man.” ß(no fucking idea, just eat that salad), but if you asked him about that new twist ending in the latest anime to rage the net he could totally give a play by play of the entire episode. “Omg did you see what happened to Asuna last night?!” “Omg I fucking bawled!” Sword fucking Art Online episode thirteen people. See?
So yeah, Zayn had his school persona, the artsy, sporty, broody, mystery man of awesome, but that wasn’t who he really was. Not truly. It was just a mask to get him by. Sure he loved art and sure he loved writing, but he was really a lot more than that. A lot more fun than most people thought. A lot more approachable too. They just didn’t see past the façade. And well too fucking bad for them eh?
Still, that didn’t change the fact that he sometimes wished that there was someone who could.
-Closet Gamer-
“Oi Mate! Seraph! Get me a fuckin’ heal huh? Kinda dying over here!” Magnifique, resident “dabbler of the dark arts” as he liked to say aka Sorcerer aka Niall’s guild leader and current killer of his eardrums screeched into his ear.
Niall yelped at the sudden screaming voice in his head set and dropped his controller, “Fuck!” he yelled back, scrambling on the floor trying to get it while watching his character begin running at a weird diagonal away from his target guildie.
“Dude! What the hell are you doing?! The fight is this way man!” Another voice, WAYNKERXXX21 aka Haz since no one in their right mind would actually call him Wanker aka their resident shit playing free loader who Niall was pretty sure smoked weed while playing aka the sole reason for all of Haz’s gaming problems considering his voice almost always had this blissed out drawl to it. It was either that or he was getting blown.
Every. Fucking. Day.
Gross.
“Ah! Shut up mate, I dropped me bloody controller!” Niall yelled, pushing his blonde hair out of his face and scrambling across the floor like mad. God. Remind him next time not to get the rubber case. If bounced way too fucking much. Screw comfort.
“I don’t give a fuck about your damn controller! Get your ass in gear and get it back in your fucking hands and fucking heal me, before I strangle you and change the party settings to give me all your rewards you noob! You’re the cleric! Do your job!” Magnifique. Wasn’t he so persuasive?
“Uhm… r- right!” Niall’s heart was pounding and his fingers slipped on his controller, shit shit shit shit, oh my god oh my god shit shit shit shit. He finally grabbed it and all but ran back to his seat, “Got it!”
“’Bout fucking time blondie!” Magnifique growled, his character jumping away from spawns and firing mana bullets at them in quick succession. Niall gulped and moved his joystick, effectively changing the direction of his character Seraph and cancelling the curse that had somehow gotten activated in his haste to retrieve the controller at the same time. “Hey, Dhokra, can you give me a speed buff?!” Niall asked as he passed the rouge. Dhokra didn’t answer but a few seconds later Niall’s character was blurring across the field faster than before, hurtling towards Magnifique, their loveable if not mildly manipulative party leader. “Thanks!” He called into his headset, already starting the cast for a mass party restoration. He could see the party’s health going down en masse and if he didn’t act fast they’d all be dead.
“Shit.” He mumbled, this was the toughest boss fight he’d been in with his guild yet and now he could see why the quest was rightly called the “Impossible Task”. There had yet to be a player or a guild who’d beaten it and that in itself had been enough to spur Magnifique into grabbing his most trusted guildies and attempting this run.
The first part hadn’t been so bad. It was pretty easy to be honest, the party, consisting of the Rouge Archer Dhokra, Brawling Dual Wielder (for the night, he usually used knuckles) Liam1994, Gladiator WAYNKERXXX21, Sorcerer Supreme Magnifique and himself as High Priest, breezed through it, each of them knowing when to cover who and how just like the well oiled machine they were.
It was when they reached the boss that everything went to shit.
The guy was tougher than anything they’d ever faced before, teleporting left and right, summoning ghouls to distract them while it charged its Darksphere (a skill that summoned four hovering balls of darkness and shot out a seemingly random barrage or magical beams five times for thirty seconds) or worse its insta-death skill that only Rouge’s and Dual Wielding Brawlers (the reason Liam decided to use his swords for this fight… news traveled fast in Legondia) could escape and changing the field every five minutes so you were always on your toes, dodging new and old obstacles. It was fast paced. Heart pounding. Nerve wracking and utterly hellish.
And Niall loved it.
“Here ya go mates!” He called when he finished the cast. The screen flashed white for a second and feathers danced out of the air casting a heavenly aura around them as their HP was restored.
“Good going man!” Haz
“Finally!” Magnifique.
“Thanks mate!” Liam.
“…” Dhokra.
Magnifique cackled manically into his headset, “Hue, hue, hue, oh it’s on now bitch! PREPARE TO BE MAGNFIED!” The sound of collective groaning filled the blonde’s headset.
“’Prepare to be magnified’? Really?” Niall could hear the face-palming in Liam’s voice.
“Shut up! It was fucking brilliant!” Magnifique shot back and everyone waited for the shit storm that was no doubt about to hit them and that they’d rightly dubbed the “Magnificent Rage”. Aka the time where Magnifique seemed to become a strategic god at this game and his ego shot through the roof. “NOW HEAR ME MINIONS OF THE GUILD MAGNIFICENT AND OBEY MY COMMAND! THIS BITCH IS GOING DOWN!”
Niall groaned as the rant began. Yes. The guild’s name was Magnificent. Yes it was named after Magnifique’s character. Yes the lad had an ego the size of the sun. Many times Niall (and the other guildies) wondered if the poor lad had any friends at all in real.
Or if the lad really was as insane as he sometimes appeared. Or was abandoned as a child. Honestly Magnifique was just such a control freak.
“AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA! I HAVE STUDIED AND ANALYZED THE REAPER OF DULLAHAN’S MOVEMENTS FOR THE PAST FIFTEEN MINUTES AND HAVE COME UP WITH THE PERFECT PLAN!” There was an almost psychotic sounding giggle on the other end and Niall shivered. He was so glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of whatever plot was about to come flying out of his mouth. “NOW LISTEN CLOSELY UNDERLINGS! FOR I SHALL ONLY SAY THIS ONCE! YOUR DROP REWARDS ARE ON THE LINE!”
Niall gulped.
Liam mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like a prayer.
Haz sneezed.
Dhokra just sighed and Niall imagined, rubbed his temples.
“DHOKRA, SHADOW SPRINT AND SET FOUR GRAPPLE TRAPS ON THE CARDINAL POINTS OF THE FIELD PRECISELY FIFTY METERS AWAY FROM THE BOSSES INITIAL SPAWN POINT THEN DEAL WITH SPAWNS TRYING TO ATTACK BLONDIE! LIAM, KEEP A STEADY BARRAGE ON DULLUHAN PREVENTING HIM FROM MOVING AND USING HIS DARKSPHERE UNTIL I SAY SO! SERAPH, SWITCH BETWEEN YOUR MANA DRAIN AND GREAT HEAL TO KEEP LIAM ALIVE AND DULLAHAN’S MP BARGE BELOW HIS CLOAKED REAPER ACTIVATION LEVEL! HAZ DEAL WITH THE SPAWNS AND COVER ME AS I CAST ONE OF MY FORBIDDEN SPELLS! THE PLAN IS ACTIVATED IN T-MINUS TEN SECONDS WHEN THE FIELD CHANGES AGAIN! UNDERSTOOD?!”
No one bothered telling their leader to calm down instead going down the line of “Aye’ aye cap’n”’s, “Affirmative”’s and “Cool shit”’s until the field began to tremble and flash signaling the field change.
“NOW!”
The team flew into action, Dhokra flitting through the shadows, setting traps, Niall moving to take some of Dullahan’s aggro off Liam as the Brawler began pelting him with sword slashes, Haz running across the field like an idiot hacking randomly at the weaker leveled spawns.
Magnifique cackled madly in the headset. “YES. YES YESSSSSS! IT’S WORKING! HAHAHAHAHAHA!! YES!!” He began casting his own spell as Dhokra joined Niall/Seraph’s side, nocking arrows and letting them fly at a quick and efficient pace, switching to his knife and kicks if a spawn got to close.
“Thanks man.” Niall mumbled as Dhokra shot an another enemy beside him as he drained Dullahan’s mana back below the Cloaked Reaper line for the nth time.
“No problem.” Dhokra’s first (and probably last) words of the evening. Niall wet his lips. God damn, his voice was just so fucking sexy. Dark and smooth. He wanted to know what the lad looked like. Probably ridiculously attractive if that voice said anything about it.
“Oi! Seraph get your head out of the clouds! Are ya’ lagging?! You need to mana drain this fucker.”
“OH YOU BETTER NOT BE FUCKING LAGGING I SWEAR TO GOD I’LL FIND WHERE YOU LIVE AND SCREW YOUR BANDWITH TO AN INCH OF IT’S DAMN LIFE!”
“Yo, Maggie, you can screw me -- ”
“SHUT UP HAZ, NOT EVERYONE’S A SLUT LIKE YOU!”
“Huh?” Smooth Niall smooth. “O-OH YEAH! Let me uh g-get right on --” Too late. Cloaked Reaper was activated. “Fuck.”
“NO! DAMMIT SERAPH!”
Liam sighed. “Well good game lads, it’s getting late I think I’ll log off once we respawn.”
“Ditto mate, I’m knackered,” Haz replied with a yawn.
Niall laughed. “Ya didn’t do shit mate.”
“Eh, least I didn’t get us killed yeah?” Haz replied
Niall winced.
“Ah, knock it off you two, we can just try it next week ‘kay?” Liam intervened.
“Damn, your next week, Liam, damn your sleep Haz, Seraph, this was your fault, so you aren’t getting your reward next run, got it?” Magnifique growled.
Niall gulped and fiddled with his thumb. “R-right.” Honestly Niall was beyond intimidated by their leader.
Their party respawned in their guild hall.
“Well night mates, same time tomorrow?” Liam asked.
“Yep, we’re doing the Atlantis run tomorrow, make sure you’ve got a couple hours free mate.” Magnifique replied, voice calm now that the battle high had left his system.
“That’s the one where we need the high ranking Elementalist for the breathing spell right?” Haz put in. “Who’ll we switch out?”
“Seraph.” Their leader replied bluntly.
Niall bit his lip, he couldn’t help but feel just a tiny bit offended that Magnifique hadn’t even batted an eye before naming him the weak link of the group. “Okay,” he mumbled.
There was a lapse in the conversation. “… Well I’ll sit tomorrow out then… got a shit ton of studying and footie practice after school anyway,” Dhokra said off handedly.
“Wha—dude no, we can’t do it without you man!” Haz piped up sounding scandalized.
“You’ve got other Rouge’s in the guild use one of them.”
“But Kra, you’re the best in the guild! Hell probably the best in the game!”
“Calm down Hazza,” Magnifique finally said. “Fine, I’ll get someone to replace you for tomorrow. If you do log on you can do that Tower run with Seraph that he’s been ranting about for the past week.” There was a bit of a knowing lilt to his voice that Niall didn’t quite know what to do with.
“Will do.”
Liam cleared his throat. “Well then if that’s settled. Night all.”
“Night.” Magnifique.
“Sleep tight.” Niall.
“Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” Haz.
<<Liam1994 Has Logged Out>>
“My turn then huh? Later dudes.”
“Night Hazza.”
<<WAYNKERXXX21 Has Logged Out>>
“Goodnight minions.”
Niall smirked. “Night Maggie.”
“Don’t call me that.”
<<Magnifique Has Logged Out>>
Niall stretched and cracked his knuckles. “Well mate, night Dhokra.”
“Night.”
Niall pressed the log-out icon and grinned. Dhokra had spoken four times today. Four heavenly glorious times. Good god he wanted to know what he looked like. Hopefully he’d come to the in real guild meet up Magnifique was planning to host at Manchester’s ComiKon next month.
The blonde sighed and shut down his computer, rubbing his eyes and setting his gaming headset to the side. He stretched out his legs and groaned as the muscles relaxed and stood up, taking his phone out of his pocket and hooking it up to its charger on the nightstand. He switched into his pajamas and hopped into bed.
His phone lit up signifying a message. He tapped it open and grinned. He may or may not have ended up getting mysterious Rouge Dhokra’s number and been having a mildly flirtatious conversation with him ever since. Niall’s a good boy he’d never do something like that.
Pssh.
Dhokra: Forgot to ask, you goin’ to the mixer next month?
Niall picked it up and turned off his lamp light. It was almost ten o’clock, lights out for the dorms at Manchester Preparatory Academy.
Seraph: Lol, I was bout ta ask ya the same thing! Yeah, I plan on it. U? :P
Dhokra: Definitely. BTW I hear they’re gonna be having a sick ass panel revealing the new Superman movie this year too.
Seraph: Oooooo which day?
Dhokra: First? Third? I’ll have to check.
Seraph: Kk lemmee know… btw ty 4 sticking up for me today
Dhokra: … What’cha mean?
Seraph: You didn’t have to skip out on the Atlantis run for me.
Dhokra: Oh… well to be fair I really do need to study and I DO have footie practice tomorrow.
Seraph: *smirk* Ha. Way to make a lad feel loved eh?
Dhokra: Lol. Go to sleep mate.
Seraph: Lol fine. Night.
Dhokra: GN.
Niall sighed and clutched his phone to his chest, a goofy grin plastered to his face. Dhokra was definitely sexy. He just knew it. And he couldn’t wait to meet him.
-Closet Gamer-
Zayn aka the Rouge Dhokra of Legend of Legondia Online stared at his phone for about thirty seconds before rubbing his face and sighing, forcing his lips back down in a neutral expression. He tossed his phone onto his desk and climbed into his bed, clicking the light out on the way over, mumbling curses to himself as he maneuvered through his cluttered dorm. He luckily had one to himself, thanks to his Art focus he needed the extra space for when he didn’t work in the studio.
Of course right now this was proving to be a bit of a hassle and he was pretty sure he’d managed to poke holes into at least three of the pieces he needed for tomorrows presentation with his feet. Course he was too tired to care.
He finally plopped onto his bed and removed his glasses tossing them carelessly to the floor. They were thick black rimmed “hipster” glasses that actually looked pretty freaking hot on him if he did say so himself, though hardly anyone ever saw him use them. He usually wore contacts since he played football, it was just more convenient. He only wore his glasses ‘round his dorm and running to the commons for a quick soda or other ridiculously fatty snack.
Zayn turned on his side, laying on an arm and curling his legs into himself just slightly, his feet brushing up against a few comic books (limited additions of Iron Man and the Young Avengers that were gifted to him for his last birthday and no doubt getting crumpled as he moved), while scratching his exposed chest with his free hand.
Thanks for sticking up for me
The young artist smiled softly to himself in the dark and he wondered things about the mystery cleric. All he knew about him for sure was his cell number and that the lad had dyed blonde hair -- kinda like his character -- and played a Cleric cause he wanted to be a doctor when he went to Uni. But still he wanted to know more about him. So he wondered.
He wondered which one Seraph enjoyed more, D.C or Marvel and why. (He was Marvel all the way) He wondered if he thought Attack on Titan was better than Sword Art Online. (Don’t drag him into that debate please. He couldn’t decide) He wondered why he wondered if the lad liked these things.
He wondered why it mattered to him.
Zayn’s smile turned into a frown and he turned to face the wall.
He needed to get some sleep.
He closed his eyes.
And he did.