Chapter Text
"I was just saying that you shouldn't keep on doing this to yourself, Zeal. As your mother, I only want what's best for you." She tightened her hold on his hand, trying her best to seem as reassuring as she possibly could.
What was going on again? Right. Just another talk about his current state. Zeal didn't understand why his mother was acting like the world was ending all because he wasn't going outside of his room much during summer break.
Did she not understand that he was perfectly fine and just wanted some time to himself?
"Mom, I told you this multiple times now," he sighed. "I'm perfectly fine. I just... wanna get some proper rest before school starts."
Even though Zeal was telling the truth, he could still see the hesitation in his mother's eyes; almost like she didn't believe a singular word that came from his mouth.
"Well, uhm, I'm going back to my room now. Call me when dinner's ready." Zeal stood up from the living room couch, walking up to his room and shutting the door as soon as he walked through.
He sank down to the soft carpet of his room, his back hitting the cold wood of the door. Staring up from the floor, Zeal's eyes were almost immediately drawn to the light of his computer's screen. He was looking at random websites earlier.
That reminds him. He found a pretty strange website that looked like it was made around the 2000's with a downloadable link described as a digital boyfriend? Whatever that meant.
Zeal thought it was interesting. Maybe it could just be the theme of the website, but if it really was made way back during then, who's to say it wouldn't be at least a bit fun to tinker with? Coding back then wasn't as advanced as it is now.
He hesitantly stood up from the floor, taking a seat at his desk and clicking on the tab where the site was.
Unsurprisingly, he was met with the annoyingly vibrant hot pink color palette of the website alongside some pictures of the supposed, digital boyfriend he would be having on his computer if he clicked on the download link.
He looked... nice. With his all white outfit and white hair. Kaelix was a nice name too.
"Might as well." Zeal mumbled to himself as he moved his mouse to click on the link, closing his eyes as he installed the application.
A ding! sound came from his computer not too long after. "Huh. That downloaded pretty fast." He couldn't help but say to himself. It practically became a habit now.
"Hehe, I'm glad it downloaded fast. Unless... you didn't want it to?" A voice responded to his previously useless muttering, causing Zeal to jump up in his seat. Their voice sounded pixelated, almost like the ones you would normally hear in video games or from someone with a really trashy mic.
Weird. There weren't any warnings that it— or, actually, Kaelix would be able to listen to your audio. Isn't that illegal or something?
"Hmm... no reply..." He spoke. Again. "Did I scare you?
>>Kaelix !!!! : i'll just use the chatbox to talk 2 you instead of speaking..... im so sorry for scaring u!!!!!!! i wont do it again
"Okay this is sick. Like, in the fucked up kind of way." Zeal subconsciously spoke outloud yet again, covering his mouth afterwards.
What stood in front of him right now was a large pop up window; one that automatically opened right after he clicked on the notification saying that the application finished importing, with a sort of pixelated drawing of a boy. One who he assumed would be Kaelix.
It looked exactly like a video game. Even the artstyle Kaelix was drawn in reminded him of a few of his favorite visual novels, too. Reminiscent of the old mid-2000's art style typically used during that time but just a bit more detailed and with fixed anatomy.
"Since you've been speaking so much, I guess I'll take that as my green light to start speaking too!" Kaelix's voice sounded oddly familiar to Zeal. Or maybe the lack of sleep lately finally caught up to him. He, quite frankly, didn't know what else to say. With a huge pop up of some... anime boy taking up the entire space of his computer screen, he couldn't really look at anything but him.
"Oh, I almost forgot. My name is Kaelix Debonair. What's yours?" His icon switched to one with glasses, reading through a stack of papers.
"Zeal. Zeal Ginjoka." He took it as a hint to tell Kaelix his full name, since that was usually how stuff like this worked from the games he played before.
"Zeal..." Kaelix repeated. "Your name's already making me really curious, so, why don't we get to know each other better? Since I am your boyfriend and all!" He winked, then minimized himself to draw attention to the chat box instead.
>>Kaelix !!!! :
okay, so.... i'll be typing the questions here! reply to me so i can learn more about you !!!!
>>zeal :
Alrighttt
>>Kaelix !!!! :
whats your favorite color? your comfort food? ooo maybe birthday too???????
Zeal was taken aback by the multiple questions thrown at him all at once, sneaking a glance at Kaelix's icon.
"C'mon, don't take too long now...! I wanna know all about you, all at once!" Kaelix was staring directly at the screen. Almost like he caught Zeal trying to peek at him.
The thought of an application he blindly installed being able to have it's own consciousness made him feel creeped out. Plus, if the software was really made all the way back during that era, it shouldn't have been so advanced.
>>zeal :
I don't rlly have a favorte color.. i guess??? lol
>>Kaelix !!!! :
ooooo thats fine!!!! i dont have one either, since, yknow, im not real.....:<
>>Kaelix !!!! :
honestly, i was programmed to agree and say that whatever your favorite color was would be mine too...... but i guess youre special :0
"Isn't that cool? We have the same favorite color, Zeal. Or I guess not? Never mind..." Kaelix attempted to start some small talk yet again.
>>zeal :
My comfort food wiuld probably be french fries
>>zeal :
*would
>>Kaelix !!!! :
thats nice!!! i personally like cheesecake alot so maybe that would be mine? o.0?
>>zeal :
My birthdays on july 27
>>Kaelix !!!! :
julys a nice month. since summer and all that.... my birthdays on november 5th!!
"I miss your voice already! Speak to me! I demand it." The chat window was then forcibly closed by who Zeal could only assume was Kaelix, once again replaced by him.
He just stayed silent, staring at his computer screen as he tried to think of something nice to say. I mean, who could really blame him? It was already getting pretty late and he hasn't spoken to basically any other person that wasn't his mother for a reasonably long time.
Then, he was abruptly cut off by a light knocking sound.
"Zeal? Are you awake? Dinner's ready," his mother's voice came from behind his door.
Without uttering a word, Zeal quickly closed Kaelix's application and shut his computer off. It would be better if he continue that another time. Plus, it's not like Kaelix would get mad at him for something as petty as that, right?
Zeal was entirely wrong. The minute he booted up his computer, the screen was filled to the brim with a ton of messages from Kaelix, ranging from sad to frustrated to just pure, unfiltered pettiness.
In other words, just the exact opposite of what he expected.
After reading the messages flooding his notfication box, it became clearer that the coders really weren't joking when they said that Kaelix was eerily just like a real sentient... thing. He didn't know how else to describe him.
>>Kaelix !!!! :
zeal???? :<<<
>>Kaelix !!!! :
where are you lol????????
>>Kaelix !!!! :
please answer my messages
>>Kaelix !!!! :
dont ignore meeuhhhhhh h h
>>Kaelix !!!! :
(sad) (sad) (sad)
>>Kaelix !!!! :
come onnnnnn i wanna see youuuuuu
>>Kaelix !!!! :
wow.... youve been ignoring me for twenty minutes now..... u HATE me.......
The messages went on and on, now talking about how mean Zeal apparently was and how cruel he was treating his very own boyfriend. If anything, they just started to seem more desperate.
>>zeal :
Helloooo
>>zeal :
Im back from eating dinner
>>Kaelix !!!! :welcome back CHEATER
>>Kaelix !!!! :
eating dinner without me...... unacceptable!!!!!
>>Kaelix !!!! :
lol im overreacting so much
>>Kaelix !!!! :
anyways what did you eat????
The more that he talked with Kaelix, the more he started to seem like an actual human being. Maybe it was because he's seen like maybe a couple people type exactly how he did online.
But then again, binging a bunch of horror movies and visual novels every day for three whole months can seriously do bad things to someone, so that topic's already off the table.
>>zeal :
Gonna be so honest i actually forgot
>>zeal :
I just wanna sleep all day in my room but then i get too bored and do stupid shit
>>Kaelix !!!! :
like what??? download me?
>>zeal :
Idk
>>Kaelix !!!! :
wellllll its definitely better than just rotting alone in your room without any1 to talk to right????
>>zeal :
Maybe
Zeal waited for a reply, watching as Kaelix's typing bubble returned then disappeared once again. His answer must've confused him a lot.
He heard a soft bell sound come from his computer, but decided it would be best to ignore it. Whatever notification that was couldn't be as important as whatever the application's reply would be.
Someone cleared their throat. Or, at least, attempted to. It just sounded like someone yelled into a crunchy mic. "You didn't even notice that I was here the whole time? Rude."
On the very left of his computer screen was an unamused Kaelix, his expression one of pure disappointment. "I think we just might have to break up..." He jokingly sighed.
That was strange. Zeal clearly remembers closing both the application and his computer right before he left his desk to go eat dinner downstairs. It should've been impossible for Kaelix to be there the whole time.
"Oh? You look like you're pretty deep in thought," Kaelix tilted his head, "I'll help you with anything Zeal. We'll always be there to lift eachother up! Right?"
"...Right." He replied. "Yeah, I... after hearing those words from you I think I feel better now."
"You sure you don't wanna tell me? I can keep a secret if I need to." Kaelix chimed, a gentle smile on his face. His eyes were staring directly at Zeal's now.
"Goodnight, Kaelix." Zeal waved goodbye to his webcam, smiling wearily as he powered off his computer.
As soon as his computer screen faded to nothing but black, he moved as far away as he possibly could. It would probably best if he hurried it up and deleted that app the next thing tomorrow morning. Who's to say that Kaelix thing wasn't watching him through his webcam right now?
Still, nonetheless, Zeal had some relatively nice sleep that night.
It should be a known fact that Zeal couldn't really sleep that much during the night, either doomscrolling until the morning or just staring up at his ceiling while he imagined weird random scenarios in his head.
It's safe to say that this habit of his has only gotten worse due to that horrible, horrible Kaelix thing. Just last night, he could barely even get a wink of sleep just because of how jumbled up his thoughts were.
Any logical person would've gotten over it and deleted the app as fast as they possibly could, but Zeal isn't really that logcal. While he was kind of creeped out he was also for some weird reason really curious.
To put it simply, he wanted to fuck around and find out.