Chapter Text
9:57 pm.
Ouma groaned as he looked at his watch, anxiously waiting until his shift ended. Just three more minutes and he would be free to do as he pleased, leaving the supermarket’s duties to the other workers.
Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed an older lady with short, dark hair settling her items onto the checkout belt. With the most insincere grin plastered on his face that he could muster, he began scanning and bagging her items while his mind drifted off.
A fantasy world filled with monsters and dungeons, available to anyone with a working computer! The world of MonoQuest awaits you!
The jingle of Ouma’s current obsession- a video game called MonoQuest- echoed in his head as he helped the woman check out.
MonoQuest was Ouma’s place to freely be himself, letting loose and having fun in a fantasy world. The lush gardens, the sparkling rivers and the spooky monster-ridden caves were all ever so enticing, but one aspect stood out above all the rest: his guild partner, Blueberry97. True to his name, his avatar was mostly blue in color, except for his light green eyes that stood out effortlessly.
Ouma’s own avatar, however, was mostly decorated with a lavender color, bordering on pink. With long hair tied up in two ponytails and a frilly dress, his avatar was undeniably female, despite him being, well, not a female. Not like it mattered anyway, as Ouma was perfectly content with his avatar being the way it was.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Ouma rang up the woman’s total for her purchase and helped her load the bags into her cart.
“Have a nice day!” the woman chirped, leading Ouma to respond with a short nod. Noticing that it was just past ten o’clock, he placed the closed sign over his aisle and made his way out from behind the counter. It didn’t take long for him to clock out of work and start his drive home.
Ouma entered the apartment hurriedly, tossing his keys onto the counter. Kiibo was already asleep by now since he tended to go to bed early, and Iruma was still at work, meaning Ouma was basically alone in their shared apartment.
Sparing no hesitation, he made his way to his bedroom, closing and locking the door behind him. He sat down at his desk and started up his computer, his hand gliding over the mouse. Within minutes he had successfully opened up MonoQuest, typing in his username, Princesex69. Spawning in the plaza of the town, it didn’t take long for a message to appear on the side of his screen from his guild partner.
@Blueberry97
Hey! Wanna go on a quest together? I picked up a new side quest together and I wanted to try it out with you! :)
Ouma smiled at the message and began typing quickly.
@Princesex69
Only if you promise to be my knight in shining armor if things go bad! TT
@Blueberry97
Of course, princess! Meet me in the forest by the village and I’ll be there to protect you!
@Princesex69
Omw!
Moving as quickly as possible, Ouma dashed over to the forest outside of the village to meet his guild partner. He spotted him waiting right by the entrance, his familiar blue avatar standing in contrast to the green of the forest.
“Princess!” Blueberry97 jogged up to Princesex69, greeting her eagerly. “You made it!”
“Of course! Who do you think I am?” She grinned smugly at him, twirling one of her ponytails between her fingers.
He smiled warmly at her, “Shall we get going?”
She nodded and walked into the forest with him, the two of their avatars standing in close proximity to one another.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in here before…” the princess mused, looking up at the trees towering up above them.
“Me neither…” Blueberry97 responded, “I think they added this forest in the new update.”
Princesex69 hummed in agreement, continuing to walk with her guild partner.
Suddenly, an arm was thrust in front of her, preventing her from walking any further.
“Princess, watch out!” the young knight shouted in alarm, bringing the princess out of her daze.
She immediately looked forward, noticing a particularly angry group of forest goblins standing a few feet away from them.
“Stay back!” he shouted, preparing to fight them off.
The princess contemplated joining him in his endeavors- she wasn’t helpless, after all- but he had eliminated the goblins in the blink of an eye.
“Wow! How brave of you to protect me from danger! I guess you really are a knight after all!” she gushed.
The knight blushed, turning to face the princess. “I-I’m still in training, you know… I don’t really consider myself a full-fledged knight.”
The princess thought to herself for a moment before responding, “Hmm, whatever you say, I guess! But that was toooootally heroic of you to save me like that!” She tilted her head innocently, noticing the way that the knight’s blush deepened at her words.
“I, uh, I guess so…” he stammered.
“Now come on!” She pulled on his arm, leading him deeper into the forest. “We’ve still got a bunch more monsters to kill!”
He smiled and nodded, following the princess into the depths of the mysterious forest.
“Whew! That was sooooo much work! I’m totally beat!” Princesex69 groaned, sitting on the ground next to the river. Blueberry97 followed suit, sitting cross-legged by the edge of the river.
“Me too…” he looked over at the princess, who was gazing into the distance over the river.
She looked beautiful like that, the knight thought. Spending time with her was truly exhilarating, and was completely different than spending time with the other guild members. They were partners, after all, but there’s more to it than just that. He felt like he was exceptionally close to the princess, and he wanted to know more and more about her. If only…
“What’s on your mind?” Blueberry97 jumped at the sudden question, clearly startled. “You’ve been staring at me for the past few moments. It’s getting kind of creepy…”
“Ah, sorry!” he apologized.
“Just kidding! I’m used to it by now! All part of being a beautiful princess in a magical fantasy world!” She smiled cheekily at him, causing him to chuckle.
“Actually, there is something on my mind.” he swallowed, hoping it would help in getting rid of the nervous pit in his stomach. He stood up slowly, grabbing the princess by the hand of helping her up as well.
“It’s been a year since we’ve become guild partners. I’ve had a lot of fun playing with you, but… I want more. I want to meet you in real life!” He clenched his fists, looking at her with determined eyes. “Please! I want to know the real you!”
The princess stood there in stunned silence, not exactly sure what to say. She hesitated to speak, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet in order to dissipate some of her nervous energy.
“I, uh…” she stammered.
“I’m sorry, princess, I…!” Blueberry97 apologized, “I shouldn’t have said that, I’m…”
“N-No, don’t apologize! It’s just…” she paused, still unsure of herself. “I have to go! I’ll talk to you tomorrow! Bye!”
And just like that, Princesex69 logged out of MonoQuest. Blueberry97 stood there, taken aback by her sudden disappearance. He sighed to himself, looking down at the ground.
“...See you tomorrow…”
Ouma flopped down onto his bed, promptly screaming into his pillow. How could he do that? He just left his guild partner hanging, without even giving him a proper response to his offer. How could he be so stupid?”
He lifted himself up from the pillow, turning himself over so that he was laying down on his back. Staring at the ceiling in the pitch black darkness, he cursed himself for being such a coward.
Why did I have to log out so fast? Why didn’t I tell him that I wanted to meet him in real life too? It’s not like I don’t want to meet him, it’s just…
Ouma sighed, balling his hands into fists.
Everything is all my fault… I should’ve never made my stupid avatar a girl in the first place… that way I wouldn’t have to deal with this shit…
The truth was, Ouma did want to meet Blueberry97 in real life. Hell, he wanted it more than anything. But he was almost certain that he would want nothing to do with him after finding out that he wasn’t a beautiful young girl and instead a short and immature boy with a penchant for mischief.
He rolled over in bed, closing his eyes in an attempt to force himself to sleep. He could deal with this tomorrow, or whenever the next time he logged onto MonoQuest was…
Or not.