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“Why the heck did you run towards a shotgun?”
“One in garage! One in— OH for fudge’s sake!”
“Do you not have ears? HOW did you NOT hear that?!”
Kazuha looks helplessly at the ‘LOST’ banner displayed on top of his screen. He honestly did not expect an enemy to be waiting around the corner.
“Don’t mind. Don’t mind. Seriously, what’s wrong with this guy. So toxic.” Lumine mumbles from right beside him, reaching into the open bag of chips.
“He’s very… passionate about this game.”
“Mmm. A lot of people are. He talks too loud though, for someone in Gold.”
Kazuha recalls the little information he gathered from the twins’ conversations. He distinctly remembers that Aether had once spent an entire month ‘stuck in Gold 3’, whatever that meant. “Is Gold bad?”
Without even pausing to read, Lumine buys the necessary equipment for her character. She stuffs another handful of chips into her mouth before responding. “It’s the threshold before being considered ‘High Elo’, barely. Players below Gold usually have shit mechanics, in short he has no room to talk.”
All the gaming lingo flies over Kazuha’s head. Honestly, when Aether woke him up from his lovely afternoon nap to substitute for his game because ‘he can’t get another AFK penalty again’ Kazuha didn’t expect to be introduced into a whole new world.
Lumine tabs to pull up the scoreboard. HatGuy13 was currently on top with a spectacular 18-6-2 record. Well, Kazuha may not know much about gaming but he does know that that was quite impressive— if the annoyed look on Lumine’s face is anything to go by.
Finally, she can’t help but speak into the mic. “Hey HatGuy, no need to get your panties in a twist, it’s just a damn Unrated game.”
“What the fudge do you mean Unrated this is Comp! And watch your mouth—my little sister’s playing!”
“The hell…” Lumine furrows her eyebrows. “I’m sure we queued Unrated. Brother always warms up before— Oh Kazu you should probably buy your stuff now.”
“Hm? Right. Um…” Kazuha repeatedly presses on the ‘B’ button, waiting for the shop to pull up. “What should I get? I can’t seem to open the store…”
Ah. He was pressing on the wrong key. He really isn’t cut out for online games.
“A Wall, a Ghost, and Light Armor. We’re on Eco this round.”
Kazuha manages to check off the list just as the Buy Phase was about to end. He navigates his character ‘Sage’ towards B-site with his Wall skill out. “Should I ‘wall’ the same place?”
“Yeah. Then just hold until I tell you so. These fuckers like to play mind games.”
Unfortunately, Lumine gets shot first at ‘garage’. The loud boom of a sniper rings throughout his headphones, making him cringe. It drowns out the sound of Lumine cursing angrily at the monitor. “They picked up stupid HatGuy’s OP.”
“They peeked that for the last two rounds… just why?”
Lumine was too angry to even speak, instead typing out a string of ‘SHUT UPPPPPPPPP’ into their chat box followed by ‘NO ONE CARESSSS’ and some very colourful choice of words. Kazuha fails to hide a smile.
Feeling the need to pull his own weight, Kazuha miraculously manages to kill off the white haired agent that jumped over his wall for the third time in a row. He may not be an expert, but Kazuha can recognize a pattern when he sees one. With this kill, he finally gets Sage’s ultimate skill, ‘Resurrection’.
“Nice!” Lumine exclaims. “C was a fake. They’re rotating to A, come res me.”
In that short window of time, their two teammates holding A were picked off, leaving Kazuha and HatGuy13 in the game. HatGuy13 was playing the same white haired agent. Jett, was it?
“Save that res for me.”
Of course, Kazuha pays him no heed and resurrects Lumine’s agent instead. A blue teleporting guy. There were two blue teleporting agents on their team actually. One casted shadow smokes and was played by ‘Lady aranara’. The one Lumine played was called ‘Yoru’, he was— complicated.
“You fridging bottom fraggers. Go take your date somewhere else.” HatGuy13 practically snarls into the microphone, breaths reverberating through their headsets. Kazuha cringes again.
“You can mute him, you know.” Lumine says. “I just haven’t because he actually gives good callouts.”
“It’s fine. Uh, how do I speak again?”
“Just hold the V button while you talk.”
The spike gets planted just as he and Lumine arrive at A. The other team was very cautious, checking every angle before planting. They got wiped out by HatGuy13 and general_mahahamatra a few rounds back for being too hasty. Fortunately for them, general_mahahamatra ‘Breach’ was dead and HatGuy13 ‘Jett’ had to rotate from C site.
“She’s my duo.” Kazuha says, unsure if his voice was heard on the other side. He continues anyway, “and we’re not a couple”. Keqing would skin him alive if he ever dared. So just for good measure he also says, “I’m gay.”
Everything falls silent for one moment. The Jett icon on his minimap freezes in place. The enemy Sage walls the entrance to A. Lumine starts firing at it as it fortifies, hiding her laugh. “Really, Kazu?”
Kazuha follows suit, emptying his magazine to break the wall. He throws a slow orb just as a brown smoke descends over them. He smiles, “Just a disclaimer”.
HatGuy13 ‘Jett’ kills the enemy Killjoy, successfully piercing into the flank.
“What a coincidence, we’re gay too.” general_mahahamatra responds, breaking the silence from the other side.
“Not a couple either.” general_mahahamatra continues, “I have a boyfriend”.
For the first time in the game, the Omen icon appears in the voice channel as a sweet, young voice filters out. “Jett is single though.”
‘She must be the little sister.’ Kazuha ducks back into A Link, escaping with a sliver of his health. It was just enough distraction for Lumine to teleport onto site safely with a flash.
“And he thinks you have a hot voice.”
Kazuha doesn’t miss a beat. It’s not the first time he’s received that sentiment. “Why thank you. I find his voice pleasant as well.”
Wanting to ruffle the other’s feathers, he also says: “Maybe we could get to know each other better if he spoke nicer words too.”
“Shameless casanova.” Lumine elbows him in the ribs, “Where’d you learn to speak like that, huh?”
“Just trying to make some friends— nice,” Kazuha says as Lumine takes out the enemy Sage. Shortly after though, she gets traded out by the orange hat guy ‘Brimstone’ who was tucked behind the boxes.
HatGuy13 was slowly crawling through A short. He was surprisingly silent after being exposed and provoked like that.
Kazuha, ever attentive of his role as a healer, pulls out his ‘E’ skill ‘Healing Orb’. In an unfortunate turn of events, however, he barely manages to ‘heal’ Jett before walking into a pool of fire and burning to death.
‘Ah.’
“Dude!” Lumine bursts into laughter.
Once again, Kazuha is left staring helplessly at the screen as the POV switches to HatGuy13’s perspective.
“Nice try.” general_mahahamatra comforts.
“Sorry.”
The bomb’s ticks were getting faster, yet the enemy was nowhere in sight. So Kazuha taps on the ‘V’ key again, and provides comms like a good teammate: “One over there.”
The screen swings a full 180 degrees before the HatGuy13 dies miserably to a headshot. The Jett icon flickers a few times in the voice channel before an imperceptibly angry voice blares out.
“WHERE’S ‘THERE’?!”
Lumine was rolling on the floor.
-
They lost the game 9-13. Carrying two newbies was one thing, but carrying four with that voice? Even Scara had his limits.
The ‘MVP’ title was, without question, his with a whopping score of 437; it effortlessly towered over Twin A ‘Yoru’s 134 and Twin One ‘Sage’s even sorrier 87.
“How was it? How much RR did you lose?”
Nahida beams at him, “It was fun! And you know I don’t care about that.”
“I care. I lost 17. That was supposed to be my rank up game.” Cyno drawls from the other end. “I thought you were supposed to be the best at this?”
“Shut up freeloader.” Scara snipes.
“You’re more agitated than usual.” Cyno says, following that a private in game message pops up on Scara’s chat box. “Feeling hot and bothered?”
Scara quickly sends a meaningful ‘FV CC U’ in return.
It was a good thing that there was no one to witness his heating cheeks. Scara felt pathetic for it. Can you blame him though? He’s miserably single and, despite his denial, that guy had a really nice voice. So what if he’s a voice-con? He spent more time talking through people behind the screen than in real life anyway. It’s totally justified.
Whatever. It’s not like the videogame community was short of hot voices anyway. He’ll get his fill in the next few rounds or two.
But most of them are straight.
Fuck. Shut up.
He saves Twin One’s ID anyway. No harm done, it’s just a bunch of letters and numbers.
Scara inhales and exhales. He’s here to spend time with Nahida, nothing else.
“Up for one more?” He turns to Nahida, expression immediately softening. She looked— happier and healthier. A far cry from the pitiful sack of bones he brought home two years ago.
He’d focused on fattening her up first, then getting her into a good school. A normal one this time, a place where she can just be a kid for once. Nahida was brilliant, of course, acing her classes and charming the whole school population. Scara couldn’t have been any more proud.
It was only recently that she started to get interested in his hobbies. And, well, who could say no to that face? RPGs to Tower Defense to MOBA and now FPS games. It was a good way for them to bond.
Nahida’s lips quirk up as she hums an agreement. “Wait a sec, gotta add somebody.”
“We can’t queue a four-man.” Scara leans back on his chair, taking the opportunity to empty his water bottle down his throat.
“Don’t worry, they’re a duo!”
“Mmm. I’m gonna go get a refill. Lock Jett for me, yeah?” He grabs Nahida’s bottle too and the plates scattered all over their desks. Miko would have his head if she came home to an unkempt house.
She gives him a full-toothed grin, sparkles and all. “I’ve got it, brother!”
Scara squints. ‘She’s definitely up to something..’
-
“This is…”
“Say hi, brother! They’re the duo from last game, they really did queue wrong.”
Nahida leans closer and whispers, “His name’s Kazuha. College. Literature major. 21 and a Bachelor.”
Scara deadpans. No doubt Cyno put her up to this. He should be limiting their interactions.
“That would be on me. I didn’t know they switched Unrated and Comp.” a female voice drones out who Scara recognizes as Twin A from the last game.
“Not your fault, they did it without notice.” Cyno pipes in.
“We’ll play Unrated this time, just for fun.” Nahida says, cheerfully navigating to the right tab.
She looks meaningfully at him and reaches out to pinch his cheek. No one else would ever dare to attempt and live to tell the tale. But this was his little sister. “Play nice.”
“HatGuy? Nice meeting you again.”
Fine.
-
They play a couple more games before calling it quits. Cyno had to pick up Tighnari from work and Nahida had to take a bath. Twin A also makes up an excuse and before he knows it, it was only him and Twin One— Kazuha— in the lobby.
“I also have to go, this is my friend’s account. I was only substituting.”
“You couldn’t be more obvious.” Scara replies without a second thought. He immediately regrets it, was it too harsh?
A chuckle from the other side dispels all his worries. It wasn’t deep, simply light and airy; but even transmitted through the cheap earphone microphone Kazuha was probably using, it wasn’t any less magnetic. “Was I that bad? I should find myself a teacher then.”
Scara’s heart skips a beat. He swallows, “With your skills, you’d need a damn good teacher.”
“You’re right. Do you have any… recommendations?”
The tone of his voice makes Scara shiver, and the garbled breath that follows it has his little hairs standing up straight. He clenches the mouse tightly as he hovers the cursor over the chatbox.
It’s the voice. Scara swears, fuck that voice. His brain says no, but his heart says yes. Within seconds, he’s typing down his discord ID, pressing ENTER before he could get second thoughts.
“This is…”
“I can coach you, but it won’t be for free.” Then he realizes something. “Do you even have a discord?”
“I do.”
Scara sighs in relief.
“But even if I didn’t I’d make one for you.”
B*tch.
There seemed to be a smile in his tone when Kazuha speaks again. “I only use it for karaoke. Do you take songs as payment?”
‘I’d take you reciting the preamble as payment.’ Scara thinks. “Acceptable.”
“See you then, HatGuy13.”
“It’s Scara.”
“Hm?”
“My name— it’s Scara.”
“Scara, Scara, Scara…” Kazuha repeats the two syllables until Scara was drunk on the teasing lilt of his voice.
“Is it short for something else?”
Scara grunts, covering his face with one hand. “Scaramouche, my government name. Don’t call me that”
Kazuha laughs again. “Okay, Scara. You can call me Kazu.”
Scara could hear him audibly get closer to the mic. “I’ll be yours…”
His breath hitches.
“—sstudent from now on.”
-
After Scara had beaten the basics into Kazuha, the other convinced him to play a, in his words, ‘more relaxing’ game.
Minecraft.
Relaxing. Hah.
“So you sing?” Currently Scara was driving (boating?) them to an opposite island to access the Ender Portal they unlocked earlier. He was fully decked in diamond armor complete with an enchanted sword and an inventory full of potions. He had dressed Kazuha in the same quality of regalia, though the other was more concerned with gathering End Stone rather than defeating the Ender dragon. It’d compliment their mini-mansion, he said.
”Mn. Why?”
”Nothing.”
Kazuha chuckles. “Why? You wanna hear?”
Scara doesn’t respond. Kazuha gets a guitar and sings for him anyway.
“Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream~”
Scara barks a laugh. “Asshole.”
When they defeat the almighty Ender dragon, Scara has no qualms helping Kazuha transform their mini-mansion into a grand, elaborate palace.
And, oh, they put their minecraft beds together.
-
A couple more discord calls later— rife with a few genuine coaching sessions and a whole lot of talking nonsense into the dawn (and some guitar-accompanied lovesongs sprinkled in between), they were finally going to meet.
More specifically, they were going to have a date.
He must be going crazy.
Nahida mentions it to Cyno. Cyno mentions it to Tighnari. Tighnari mentions it to Kaveh. And before he knows it, Scara is being wrestled in front of the vanity having his makeup done by Nilou while Kaveh picked out his clothes.
“Do you have anything other than black?” Kaveh was standing in front of the open closet, hands on his hips. There was a pencil perched on his ear. Apparently, upon hearing the news that Scara—snarky introvert extraordinaire— was going on a date, he’d willingly extracted himself from his mountain of blueprints.
Alhaitham was more than happy to let his boyfriend take a break at Scara’s expense.
“Oh I didn’t know you owned these!” Kaveh
“I’ll be taking the bike, I can’t wear a skirt.” Scara protests. He’d rather not have the wind freeze his balls, thank you very much.
“You won’t be taking that thing on your first date.” Miko struts into the lively bedroom and leans against the doorframe, swirling a glass of wine. “What if there’s alcohol?” As though to make a point, she takes a swig.
“But—”
“Tsk. Tsk.” Nilou tuts as she holds his jaw firm. That soft looking face betrayed a hidden strength. She was the epitome of focus, carefully filling out his eyebrows. “Stay still.”
“There’s nothing else in here, the skirt will have to do. Haitham will drive him over— babe?”
“Hm?” Said man was in the living room, looking over Nahida’s homework while nursing a cup of tea. He spares a glance at the chaos. Scara throws him a pleading look which Alhaitham, of course, ignores. “Whatever you say.”
Kaveh smiles victoriously, throwing a skirt, some fishnets, and a crop top on the bed. He pulls open Scara’s drawer of accessories next, unhesitatingly grabbing a few studs to choose from. “It’s settled. Let’s do this.”
-
Meanwhile a crowd gathers around Kazuha as he sprays a sweet-scented perfume onto the bouquet of flowers he’d crocheted days beforehand.
”What if they’re an asshole in real life?” Lumine says, nervous. She only had that one impression of Scara, after all. “More of an asshole I mean.”
“This guy may not look like it but he can pack a mean punch.” Beidou reassures, swinging her arm over Kazuha’s shoulder and pinching his cheek.
”He’s not going to jail just because his date turns out to be an asshole.” Aether says as he helps Kazuha into his coat.
Ningguang takes a puff from her pipe. “I’ll deal with the legal repercussions. There’s no need to hold back.”
“Thank you all for your support. I hope you trust my judgement. Scara is an amazing person.” Kazuha smiles as he walks out the door.
Beidou shakes her head. “Whatever you say, kid. Good luck!”
-
When they finally pull up at the driving lot, Scara mutters a quick thanks, itching to get out of the car. Kazuha was already waiting for him inside. He unlocks the door, before he could open the handle though, it was locked again.
He looks questioningly at Alhaitham, his chauffeur of the day. The man stares at him silently, one hand on the steering wheel.
Getting nothing in response, Scara twists the rearview mirror and tries to find any blemishes on his face. “What? Is there something on my face?”
After a couple of seconds, the man finally speaks. “Did Kaveh give you that?”
“Give me what?”
“That.”
“Huh—”
“So he didn’t.”
Impatient, Scara unlocks the door again. He’ll deal with this shit later.
‘Click’. It gets locked a second time.
“What do you—”
Scara abruptly freezes, because Alhaitham honest-to-god tosses a couple colorful pieces of foil onto his lap. Scara may have been a virgin but even he could recognize these tiny wrappers at first sight.
Condoms. They were condoms.
What the f*ck?!
“Protection.” Alhaitham says, face still an immovable stone.
Scara breathes in and out, trying his best not to lose his composure. All previous apprehension he’d gathered throughout the ride dissolves at this absurd situation. The snark returns to the corner of his eyes as he shoves the malicious objects into the pockets of his skirt.
Then he looks at Alhaitham again. “What the fuck.”
There was a quirk at the corner of the man’s lips. He tilts his head, “There’s a box in that compartment if you need more—”
“Thank you for the ride!” Scara scrambles to get out immediately, shivering to his bones. He rubs all over his arms, shuddering at the implication of there being a stash of condoms in the car. He was never riding with them again.
He slams the door on his way out and doesn’t forget to throw a middle finger at the driver.
Instead of driving away immediately, Alhaitham actually rolls down the window and puts on a serious face, flickers a meaningful glance at the pocket where Scara stored the condoms, and says: “Stay safe.”
-
Scara is shy and meek and polite the first fifteen minutes of meeting Kazuha. The man was a little taller than him, neatly dressed with a short ponytail over his shoulder, wearing an ethereal smile that steals Scara’s breath away.
His brain short circuits seeing Kazuha approach him with a bouquet of crocheted Minecraft poppies. He hands Scara the bouquet, and presses a lingering kiss on the knuckles of his hand like a true gentleman.
But it’s the voice that does him in.
Worried by the lack of response, Kazuha’s brows knit together and he calls out softly. ”Scara?”
It suddenly occurs to him that he brought nothing to the date. Nothing except—
“Thank you.” Scara sputters out, growing more pink by the second. “I’ll—I’ll bring you something next time.”
“Oh? Am I being promised a second date already?” Kazuha teases.
”In your dreams!” He says. But it’s weak even to his own ears. Scara is mortified. This brat is too smooth!
Kazuha talks smoothly and easily, Scara gives one-worded answers. He’s too busy calming his rapid heartbeat. He was getting positively heady with the scent wafting from the flowers. It smelled so good. And, Scara may not be a person of the arts, but even he can tell that a lot of work was put into each petal.
‘Did he make these himself?’ He probably did. It was such a Kazuha thing to do.
The gentle damsel acts for the rest of their walk inside the mall. That was until they passed by the arcade. Seeing the lined up claw machines, an idea pops up into Scara’s head, and he’s tugging Kazuha by the wrist before he knows it.
-
”That last one was totally rigged!” Scara complains as they were lining up for the movies. Kazuha laughs and struggles to ruffle his hair from behind the mountain of plushie Scara had won for him.
”Thank you, this is enough.”
“Tch. I’ll win you more next time.” Scara declares. He carefully wraps the flowers in a plastic bag before reaching for the popcorn they ordered.
Kazuha’s heart warms at the sight. He smiles. ”Okay. Next time, I want that giant purple kitty.”
-
Their orders get mixed up.
Scara knows because his soup is stale and Kazuha is rapidly turning red. Scara hurries to pour him a cup of water which Kazuha downs in one gulp. The liquid dribbles down his chin and down his shirt. It completely destroys the neat, perfect image he’s maintained throughout the night.
Cute.
”Let’s switch.” Scara says, hands already on their respective bowls.
”No, no,” Kazuha halts him, putting his palm over Scara’s. “I can take it.”
“No offense but you can’t. You’re not.” Scara deadpans.
“I can.” Kazuha insists stubbornly, even though there were tears in his eyes.
”Fine.”
They both turn into a pair of gasping tomatoes, obstinately trying to out eat the other.
”Why did you—-huff— order this when you can’t eat it—huff—either?”
”I’m trying to build— huff—a tolerance.”
Scara slams down the empty cup of water and fans his face. Kazuha had slowly been unbuttoning his shirt throughout the meal to ward off the heat. It was getting harder to not stare.
Scara swipes his card faster than Kazuha could blink. He looks helplessly at Scara’s smug (pink) face.
“How about we go for ice cream?”
”Hell yeah.”
-
They should be holding hands. That’s what people do on dates right?
The plastic bag full of their trinkets was swishing noiselessly by Kazuha’s side. He had snatched it from Scara’s hands. Throughout the whole day, Kazuha has been perfect to him. Asking him out, approaching him first, planning the date.
It was about time Scara pulled his own weight.
But when would the perfect opportunity be? He steals a glance at Kazuha who was contently slurping on a watermelon popsicle.
He decides. Fuck it.
Scara raises his vanilla sundae and lightly swipes it across Kazuha’s cheek. ”Ah.” He says, not a trace of guilt in his tone. He lightly wipes away his own crime with one thumb. “You got some here.”
Kazuha startles. Before he could protest, Scara nudges the sundae onto Kazuha’s lips, staining them white.
As though disappointed at Kazuha’s clumsiness, Scara tuts, shaking his head. “And some here too.”
Then, he gets onto his tippy toes and kisses him.
It was light, and airy, meant to be a quick peck. But Kazuha reacts quickly, pulling Scara closer by the nape.
“Mmph!”
He quickly turns the tables around. Within the fraction of a second, Kazuha has navigated him against a wall, a hand thoughtfully cushioning his head from the hard surface. Of course, Scara was too busy focusing on Kazuha’s relentless assault to process all of this. The popsicle and the sundae fall, unmissed.
‘That… tongue’ Scara’s legs turn into jelly. To save himself from the embarrassment of falling, he wraps his arms around Kazuha’s shoulders and rests his weight on him. Somehow this only drives Kazuha wilder. Scara digs his nails onto Kazuha’s back to get him to back off.
Scara catches his breath but the other doesn’t. The man trails kisses past his jaw and down his neck. And when Kazuha licks over the junction of his shoulder and neck, Scara’s body shivers involuntarily. Kazuha takes the opportunity to shove a knee between his legs and—
A package falls from the pocket of Scara’s skirt. The vibrant wrapper was unmistakable even in the darkness. The foil glints under the moonlight, catching their attention. They pause.
Scara shoves Kazuha away and scrambles to pick up the (newly appointed) bane of his existence. He can’t bring himself to meet Kazuha’s eyes.
’I’m going to kill him.’ He seethes internally, brain already conjuring a hundred different ways to torment Alhaitham.
“This— my friend— he—“
“On the first date?”
”No. Don’t get the wrong idea. I didn’t have any intentions, I swear.”
Oh can the ground please swallow him whole now.
In his panic, he doesn’t register Kazuha getting closer and closer. He only realizes the distance, or lack thereof, when the man tilts up his chin to lock their eyes together. It was a far cry from the gentle, indulging look he’d worn throughout the day.
”What if I do?”
Scara’s breath stops. “What?”
Kazuha reaches into Scara’s pocket and pulls out the (offending!) condom and shoves it onto Scara’s chest. “What if— I— had intentions?”
His heart was about to pop out of his chest. He gulps.
“If you don’t mind,” Kazuha leans closer and bites the tip of his ear. He grabs Scara’s waist and squeezes hard. “I know a place.”
-
Kazuha’s apartment was filled with all kinds of trinkets. There were instruments, books (lots), and plants all over the place giving it a very homey feel. He also had a cat. Kazuha was good at taking care of Tomo, but he was a bad plant dad. Knowing a thing or two about flora (Tighnari, Nahida), Scara makes it his mission to snatch each sorry plant from the grasp of death.
After a morning’s work he swipes a banana from the counter and goes back to the bedroom to find his boyfriend.
He had a major project due last night and had to sleep late because of it. Being the good partner that he was, Scara got up early to cook a meal for the pitiful, tormented college student.
He walks in the room to see the ‘tormented college student’ hunched over Scara’s laptop at the tail end of a Swift Play. Without Scara around, Kazuha only ever plays Swift Play. He had his hair loose, black rimmed glasses perched on his nose. Traces of sleep hung at the corner of his eyes, making for an endearing sight. Scara’s favorite sight.
He arrives just in time to see Kazuha score three kills with a shorty. The map was Ascent, and Kazuha had angled his Sage wall so that he could tuck into one corner of it undiscovered; an old trick Scara had taught him.
“Was the other kill yours too?” Scara asks, seeing only one player left on the opposing team. It was a 1v1.
“Yep.” Kazuha says. “Morning babe.”
Scara doesn’t respond immediately. Instead, he leans on the desk and meaningfully swirls his tongue on the length of the banana. “Morning, handsome. I’ll suck your dick if you get an ace.”
”Mm? A distraction.” Kazuha spares him but one glance. Scara grins. By now he was well aware of how much effect he had on his boyfriend. That calm was only a facade.
He takes the banana into is mouth and pulls off with a ‘pop’. He smirks smugly seeing the veins on Kazuha’s hand become more pronounced. ”An incentive.”
The spike was already ticking, and the enemy Reyna was patrolling around the site looking for Kazuha. Seeing his magazine empty, Kazuha had ducked into their Brim’s smoke to run from A main to A Link and managed to scavenge a Prime Classic pistol from a corpse.
Scara persists in his ministrations, showing no support nor offering mercy. He ups his game, fully seating himself on the desk and hiking up his shorts the tiniest smidgen.
Kazuha’s expression cracks. “Scara.”
“Focus on the game, babe.”
Seeing the coast clear, Kazuha throws a slow-orb up heaven and starts to defuse the spike. He manages to defuse halfway when the Reyna shoots, misses, and starts to run at him with knife out.
It was an unspoken invite to a melee fight. Kazuha was usually a good sport, he didn’t take the game as seriously as Scara did, plus it was Swift Play. But Scara had pushed him too far today.
‘Good sport’ Kazuha heartlessly ends the jumping Reyna with one pull of his trigger. The Finisher beast emerges and maws the enemy the same time the Ace special effect pops up.
”Boo. A gun to a knife fight— mmffpp!”
The score was 4-4. The spike was halfway, there was totally time to defuse.
But even with the urgent ticking and the spam chats of his teammates, the Sage remains standing still watching the rapid flashing of the spike.
On the other side of the screen, the office chair spins desolately, abandoned by its occupant. Kazuha holds down the criminal with his weight, leaving him nowhere to go. He ravages the delicate neck, renewing the fading scars with fresh ink.
The spike starts to flash red, Scara runs his hands through Kazuha’s hair. “You absolute dog. You’re not even going to finish the game?”
”I got the Ace. Now, I want my reward.”
The ‘DEFEAT’ banner flashes on the screen but Kazuha takes the prize anyway.