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“So. How do we defeat the Ratman?” Lucas asked and crossed his arms on his chest.
Mike smiled as he saw the confusion on his friends’ faces. Dustin looked through his inventory, erasing the stuff he didn’t have anymore. Max scratched her head, trying to process their current situation.
“What about-...”
“No, we do not seduce him, Dustin,” Max cut him off, giving him an annoyed look. “Remember, your character hasn’t recovered from the Giant’s Crab attack yet,” the boy frowned.
Will glanced at Mike. He was looking for two d20 dice in his pencil case. Then Mike bent down under the table, searching for them in his bag. Will heard his friends discussing what to do: Dustin insisted on seducing since he has the privilege of being a Bard, Max was against that, El proposed to blow it up, and Lucas was trying to calm them down.
“Guys, you can discuss that after you roll for initiative,” he said, attracting everyone’s attention.
“Shit, I lost my dice!” Mike straightened with a deep sigh.
“They aren’t in the backpack?” Will looked at him. Mike shook his head. “At least we have one on the table. Does anybody have spare d20s?” he sounded unsure because having spare d20s sounded like a miracle.
“I think I do… Hol’ on,” Dustin stood up, walked to the sofa, and started searching in his backpack.
“So, Mike, Will, please settle the debate,” Lucas asked. “What’s better: seducing the Ratman and killing it or blowing it up?”
Will and Mike shared glances and looked at their friends with smirks.
“The Ratman growls at you. He decides on who he should eat first,” Will said. Mike roared, and both Dungeon Masters burst out laughing. Lucas clicked his tongue and mumbled something under his nose.
“So-o-o, fellas,” Dustin sat down with a d20 in his hand. “I say we seduce him. My luck is godlike, don't forget that.”
“No, why can't we straight-up attack him?” asked El, looking at Dustin. “I have enough hit points from the last encounter, and I can still rough him up with my fire attacks!” she grabs her paper with her character profile and lifts it.
“Guys, initiative rolls!” Mike exclaimed. Dustin and El settled down.
After the players rolled the dice, they came back to discuss their strategy. Mike looked at them with softness in his eyes. Will bent down behind the Dungeon Master screen and tapped on Mike's shoulder.
“Should we… tell them?” Will asked after Mike bent down.
“About what?” the other Dungeon Master seemed confused.
“Their powers are useless! He can't be charmed and is resistant to fire!” Will tried to be as quiet as possible. The others weren't interested in their conversation anyway. Mike smiled at his boyfriend's words.
“I wanna see them suffer. So don't say anything like before,” he stated. “Anyway, we should end the campaign for today after this battle, so… wanna stay over and watch something?”
Will's eyes lit up. He nodded.
“Is that even a question? Of course, I do,” Mike put his hand onto Will's. The other boy intertwined their fingers, and they shared a glance.
Will almost melted. Same for Mike. But they must concentrate on the game.
Max cleared her throat.
“We're done. What are you talking about there?” Will and Mike sat up. They didn't release each other's hands.
“Alright, what did you all get? Did you write it down with dexterity modifiers?” Mike asked. Dustin gave him a piece of paper with some numbers written on it.
***
“That was fun! We're continuing next Friday, right?” El asked and put on her jacket. Mike nodded. “Great! I'll come over tomorrow. We need to finish Indiana Jones.”
“Yeah, I know!”
El giggled. She got up the stairs and left the basement. And the only ones in there were Mike, who walked back to the table to clean up, Will, who was sitting on the sofa, fiddling with his walkie-talkie, and Max, who was gathering her character sheet in one piece.
She ran to the stairs when she finished.
“Guys?” Max suddenly called them. Both of them looked at her. “You are obvious.”
“Aw, shut up,” Mike smirked. “They haven't figured us out yet, I guarantee it.”
“If they did, they would've asked us about it,” Will added.
“But still. I'm glad you worked your shit out, but please, be careful. You don't know how your friends will react to this,” Max sounded caring. “Also, don't hold up El for too long tomorrow. We've got errands to run.”
“I am not stealing your girlfriend, trust me!” Mike laughed. Max scoffed and left the basement as well.
So only Mike and Will were the ones left there.
“Are they, you know… a thing as well?” Will asked.
“No clue. But I think we'll figure them out, as Max did with us,” Mike sighed and sat right to Will. He put his head on his shoulder and sighed.
“Tired?” Will asked, putting his walkie-talkie away. Mike hummed something unclear but agreed. “You can lie down on me if you want,” Mike slowly put his head on Will's thighs.
“I wanna sleep. And stay here. Forever. I'm too beat to move,” the other boy gently smiled, running his fingers through Mike's hair.
“I get you,” Will said. Mike mumbled something again, but it was impossible to figure out.
The silence felt refreshing. They both had a hard time since it was their first giant, plot divergent, 50-hour game they had been working on for two months. They played almost one-third of it and had their giant boss fight today. It felt both stressful and thrilling.
“I wouldn't have done this without you, man,” Mike said sleepily. “We rocked it.”
“Of course we did,” Will gently tucked his hair behind his ear so it wouldn't get into his eyes.
“Love you, Will,” Mike mumbled with a smile. His eyes closed.
“I love you too.”