Work Text:
Wade shifted nervously where he stood, in the childhood bedroom of the man he revered. No matter how many times he came here, Wade was sure that he would never get used to watching Halliday, the god of all game designers, quietly yet excitedly play Ms. Pac-Man on his ancient TRS-80 computer. The man himself looked similar to how Wade had seen him at the end of the Hunt; stringy white hair and shallow wrinkles marking his face, yet his age did nothing to slow his fingers, which fiddled with the controller with incredible dexterity.
The electronic noises suddenly halted as Halliday was faked out by Inky, who changed its pattern and backtracked straight into Halliday, prompting the game over letters to flash. Thirty-six levels certainly was not bad for a warm up. Looking somewhat surprised at his abrupt loss, Halliday looked down below the screen, then up at Wade. Wade promptly froze up and the sudden attention, and awkwardly smiled to unsuccessfully cover up his nerves.
“Sit down, Parzival.” Halliday spoke quietly in his room, no other sound overlapping his computer-generated voice. Wade did as he was told, glad for the instruction that actually gave him something to do other than stand awkwardly. Yes, he could sit awkwardly instead.
Wade crossed his legs, hovering his hands over his knees as he didn’t know what to do with them. He had left at least four feet of room between himself and Halliday, unable to bring himself to sit closer. Halliday looked over with a look of subtle befuddlement and gestured for Wade to come closer, to which he did scoot over. Just a bit.
“Are all kids as socially anxious as you nowadays?” Halliday questioned simply, the sarcasm just barely audible in his voice, fully aware of his own awful social skills.
“Heh, I guess.” Wade fretfully said, struggling to pull himself together. He was dying to ask how Halliday was appearing before him- Wade already knew that it wasn’t an avatar, so not an AI that would respond to Wade in a preprogramed manner. But then what? Halliday was well and truly dead, there’s no denying that, but surely this wasn’t one of those incidences where someone uploads their conscience to a computer. That’s just science fiction, Wade assumed. There seemed no feasible way to achieve that. “Mister Halliday, I’ve been meaning to ask. How are you here?” Wade managed not to stutter.
Halliday ignored the question for a minute, simply humming in response as he let the second cut scene play. Then it ended, the little love heart appearing above the two pac-lovers. “Does it matter, Parzival?”
Wade pondered the question, still getting little shivers down his spine whenever Halliday spoke his username. It did matter, to him and the other members of the High Five that had heard about Halliday’s presence in the control room of the OASIS, but in terms of usefulness… “It matters to me, Mister Halliday. You’ve been the biggest influence on the world in, well, who knows how long! Me as well, I wouldn’t even be here if it were not for you. Probably dead in a ditch somewhere.” Wade spewed, his nerves undoing his vocal reservations that he normally had.
The corners of Halliday’s mouth lifted a little, the macabre joke resonating with the small, darker side of his humour. “I see…” The second cut scene began rolling, filling the silence with a playful, pixelated tune as the two lovers chased each other. “Well… I can’t tell you anyway. Just think of me as one of those entities that sort of... hangs around. Like decoration.”
“But…” Wade struggled to come up with a response. It was clear that Halliday didn’t want to explain how and why he still lingered in the OASIS. Perhaps it would be polite not to inquire further. “I think I understand.” Wade didn’t understand, not at all, but he could see Halliday’s shoulders become slightly less hunched, relaxing minutely when he didn’t push further.
Wade scooted slightly closer, eye trained on the screen in front of them. It was hypnotising, to say the least. “Is there room for another player?”
Halliday turned to smile softly at him, not at all worried about the ghosts trailing his sprite. “Always.”