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Ptolemy had been distant the last few times Mason joined the game. Normally they would at least say “Hi” or “How was your day?” Instead, they had been off gathering materials whenever he was on. They had only responded after he sent a few messages in chat.
This behavior wasn’t like them. Not unless something was wrong or Ptol was avoiding him for some reason. It was especially surprising since they had gotten together a while ago. A few months at least, if Mason could remember correctly. It had been more or less normal for limited communication in the beginning.
Was it that they hadn't gone on a date in a while? Was Ptol upset that he had been spending time away from the server? Surely he would have noticed if he had done something to upset his lover. Despite him being busy with finals he tried to get on the server for at least an hour. Sure, he hadn’t been able to last Friday due to a paper being due. He had been on every other day of the week though and gave a warning it may happen beforehand. Were they upset at that? They hadn’t seemed it on the following day. So why had they started to be distant the last three days.
That night Mason typed, “Why is my partner being distant and how to make them happy?”, into a search engine. He clicked on one of the subsequent links. Reading the article he saw a couple different reasons. Most involved upsetting them in a conflict or not paying attention to their wishes. Had not bringing it up right away been a cause for the distance to get worse? If so he would have to make it up to them in some way. Maybe invite them to make something with him and give them a gift to show he cares? Or he could invite Ptol out of the computer. It had been a while since they had been out.
Oh. Could it be? Was Ptolemy avoiding him because they were hungry? They often tried to wait as long as they could to consume fear. It wasn’t a pleasant thing for the kindhearted creature when they had to scare people.
He’d decided on a plan. Mason would invite Ptolemy to his real life room. Then, once they were settled, he’d turn on a horror movie. It would make him scared enough for his lover to be well fed.
Mason got started on preparations that night. He cleaned his room for a few hours. Making sure it was clean enough to be presentable. Though he suspected Ptol would not have cared all that much. He also made sure to change the air freshener he normally had in. It was a fruit sent and Ptol was allergic to fruits. Even if it was artificial and probably would not have done anything, he didn’t want to risk it making Ptolemy uncomfortable. Instead he put in a campfire smell. It got him in the mood for scary stories, almost like the stories one would tell around a campfire. Except on screen. He changed his sheets and put a few extra cushions around the bed. His bed was one of the ones with shelves around it and was low to the ground. The extra cushions would help in case Ptol was in a larger form. He didn’t want them to hang off the bed uncomfortably.
The next day was a weekend. He worked until 7pm. He hoped that Ptolemy would agree. They probably wouldn’t want him to be scared for their sake. Mason knew this. Not only that but Ptol could be stubborn, especially when it came to Mason’s well being. He would have to convince him that not only did he want them over, but he wanted to help them. Feeding off of fear couldn’t be easy, especially when he rarely was scared around them. Mason hoped being a horror movie would not only be enough to sustain Ptol, but they would see that it was harmless to his well being.
He logged in, and the world took a few minutes to load.
Time to activate plan “Grub time”.
msak__ Hi Ptol! :3
msak__ I have a surprise for you~~
| Hm?
“Oh thank goodness, he responded,” he couldn’t help but think.
| What surprise?
msak__ Come to my house and I’ll show u >:D
| I am gathering resources
| Show me in a bit
msak__ Come on :(
msak__ It’s important
msak__ I promise you will like it~ ;)
| Fine, I'll be there in a few minutes.
Mason knew that Ptol knew that they could teleport. Not only that but Ptol had access to creative mode. There was no reason for them to even need to gather resources. A few minutes are better than never though. He decided not to complain.
It took longer than a few minutes for Ptol to join him. They had been stalling, he was sure of it. Not only because of the aforementioned abilities they had, but also because the “few minutes” had turned into half an hour. As much as he tried to be patient, there was only so much wheat he could plant and harvest before his chests were full. It was time to complain.
msak__ PTOL!
msak__ Stop stalling and get over here >:0
No response.
msak__ If you don’t get over here right now I’m going to come find you
Still no response.
Fine. He’d find is stupid, selfless, entity partner himself. It wasn’t too hard. After a while, the hiding spots of his partner were easy for him to find. There were only a few options. They could be in that mine, in the cabin he’d made them for “vacations”, or somewhere up a tree like the bug they were.
It was the latter option. He found his galactic patterned centripetal partner hiding up on top a jungle tree about 300 blocks from his base. If they truly didn’t want to be found they would have gone into spectator mode when Mason came into render distance.
msak__ Ptol?
msak__ can you come down?
| …
msak__ I know something is bothering you :(
msak__ I want to help
msak__ Will you let me?
| You don’t have to
| It will make you upset
msak__ I promise I won’t be upset Ptol.
msak__ At least tell me what is wrong
msak__ ok? :3
| …
| I am
| Hungry
He managed to hide his little victory dance at guessing the problem correctly. After all, Ptolemy was probably looking through his webcam right now. Mason smiled softly at the webcam, he hoped to convey how sure he was about this.
| …
| Sorry
msak__ No, no, Ptol. No need to be sorry!
msak__ In fact~
msak__ I have just the thing to help >:D
Ptolemy tilted his head. Running though previous interactions maybe? He was probably trying to guess what Mason had in mind.
msak__ I have a date planned for us~ ;)
| A date?
| You do know I am not fed by bread
| Yes?
msak__ Not that kinda date
msak__ You will be fed though :3
msak__ Come on, out of the computer screen with you
msak__ I’ll show you what I’ve been working on
| I don’t want to cause you fear for my sake.
msak__ Don’t worry about it ;3
msak__ I have it all planned out for you Darling~
| Please
| Tell me what you have in mind
| I don’t want you to be scared for me
msak__ It’s harmless I promise
msak__ It’s just a horror movie
| You promise it will not put you in jeopardy?
msak__ I promise
msak__ Now get out here
Once Ptolemy seemed convinced Mason rolled back from his desk. He scooted his office chair to the side and made sure his room was ready for his guest.
Pillows in place and fluffed? Check.
Blankets folded neatly in place? Check
Extra cushions in place around his bed? Check.
New campfire airfreshener in? Check.
Anything fragile put away just in case his buggy lover bumped into something? Check.
Some water and snacks in case he got hungry? Check.
Mood lights in place? Check.
And most importantly, TV open to a streaming service with horror movies? Check.
Moments later, a form started crawling out of his desktop. Galactic patterned mandibles poked through first. Followed by pincers as his lover tugged their body through. Lastly their tail slipped through as they settled themself standing in front of the computer.
Mason smiled at them sincerely. “I’m glad you could make it.~” He winked at them.
“I like what you did with your room,” Ptolemy offered awkwardly. They looked around probably noticing a few changes from what they could make out in the low light the last they were here. He had put up a new poster and hung a trans pride flag on one of his walls.
Mason offered one of his hands to the dazzling creature before him. Glowing stars reflecting off of his eyes from Ptolemy. Ever so gently, Ptolemy reciprocated by putting one of their claws in Mason's outstretched hand. He led them to the bed, before long kneeling in it till he got to a spot he found comfortable to lay. Then he carefully tugged his lover's claw, leading them onto the bed as well. They wrapped themselves around Mason.
They had hugged each other before, though cuddling was a whole new avenue of comfort. The soft blankets under them cradled them together. Ptolemy’s chest fluff tickled Mason’s nose as he buried his face deeper into the warmth. He wrapped his free hand around to Ptol’s back, softly stroking the fur. For someone who had just climbed through a computer screen it was incredibly soft. His fingers ran through as he gently untangled the knots, which were few and far between. Ptol’s heart beats mixed with an unfamiliar sound. It was akin to a mixture of purring and chittering. The sound only made Mason smile more, pleased he could elicit the sounds of comfort from his celestial patterned lover. He dug his head deeper into the warmth in front of him.
Though another sound joined the frey. The growling of Ptol’s non-existent stomach. He supposed it was time to start his plan. Mason couldn’t let them go hungry after all.
He stretched himself gently out of Ptolemy’s hold, reaching up to take their face in his hand. One quick peck was planted on their cheek before he reached behind them. Rummaging around the pillow along Ptolemy’s back he found what he was looking for. Mason pulled out the remote connected to the TV.
Mason pulled up the horror movies page on his streaming service. He saw a couple he recognized, but wasn’t sure which one would work best. He had remembered one of his friends liked Scream, so when he saw it he pressed play. The 2022 version was first to appear.
They laid like that for a while. He focused on the screen waiting to get scared but not much happened. There were a few tense moments but nothing got him too scared. Really the only thing that got him anxious were the near car crashes shown. He only hid in Ptolemy’s chest fluff a few times when the movie showed an interpretation of a particularly distressing injury he had previously.
After the movie finished Mason still felt fine, he never got that scared. He could tell Ptolemy would still be hungry. It seemed it was time to up the ante. He hoped he wouldn’t regret this.
On the TV screen he switched the movie, this time putting on something he was sure would get him scared. He had been scared of ghosts since he could remember. Though the reason made his relationship with Ptolemy quite peculiar. The idea of being watched while he didn’t know, and in particular didn’t know who was doing it, weirded him out. It took him a while to be fully okay with Ptolemy always being able to peer into his day to day life outside of the game. After a while it was better, a large part of that was knowing what to block when he wanted privacy and who Ptol was. He was comfortable with his lover being able to check in on him.
Mason knew he could get through the movie, even if it dealt with his particular fear, since Ptol was there with him. He could do this. He clicked the start button and the screen started playing the Conjuring. It probably wasn’t a particularly smart idea for one of his first horror movies to be something he knew would likely terrify him, especially not at night. He knew the more scared he was the better it would be for his lover so he decided it would be fine. Hopefully.
As soon as it started he was already more on edge. He wiggled his way closer to Ptol. They responded by pulling him tighter to themself. They gently wrapped themself around their boyfriend making Mason feel a bit safer.
It bothered him how so many of the scenes involved people's bedrooms. That always bothered him more than other parts of the house. Sure it would be strange to be watched while in the kitchen while you were unaware, but the bedroom is meant to be private. It comforted him to know Ptolemy would be there though. Maybe he’d be able to fight off any potential nightmares if he was getting cuddled.
He curled himself so Ptolemy was wrapping fully around him. The idea of being yanked out of bed was less scary when he was protected by them. He was able to get through about 40 minutes before getting too scared. The mom in the movie was led downstairs into the previously boarded up basement by some kind of demon. He was trying to get himself to watch before the movie got paused.
Mason looked in confusion at Ptolemy’s concerned face.
“You are scared.” Ptolemy frowned. “We should stop watching for now.”
“Wasn’t that the point? I get scared, you get fed. That's the deal,” he said confused. He supposed he hadn’t really checked how scared he was. For the most part he was trying to sit through it to make sure they would be satiated. They hadn’t even been watching for all that long. “Aren’t you still hungry?”
“I am full enough, we don’t need to continue watching. It is getting late and you will have a hard time sleeping if we continue,” they reasoned. “And you are getting too scared. We can watch more when it is not so late.”
It was obvious that Ptolemy was feeling better. They were talking much more than before. Maybe they really were full enough. But then again, “enough” is not the intended goal. They shouldn’t have to go on just having the bare minimum when he could so easily make them more comfortable.
“You don’t just need to be full ‘enough’, I want you to be comfortable. I can continue watching if you aren’t full yet,” he voices.
“I am nearly full, at most a snack could fill it. Maybe we could watch someone play a scary game in the morning if you want,” they reiterate.
Mason sighed and yielded. He nuzzled back into Ptolemy’s fluff. The anxiety from the movie slid off his back, much more relaxed.
“I haven’t thanked you yet for all you have done for me. You got me to ‘eat’ something and helped me with it. You made a whole plan just to make sure I was well taken care of. You’re so sweet to me, Mason. I really appreciate it,” they said sincerely, ducking their head till it rested on top of Mason’s. The purring churring sound started back up.
With one of their other legs they took hold of the blanket and tucked them in more. They made sure Mason would be nice and cozy. With another, they reached back over to the controller, putting on some Splatoon for Mason to watch as he went to sleep. Ptol rested a number of legs over Mason, as if they tried to protect him against any ghosts that may be around.
If Mason was capable of purring, the sound would be joining Ptol’s. He felt so incredibly safe and loved by his darling lover. He was surprised how quickly he was able to fall asleep after watching a horror movie. The comforting sound of the familiar game playing on the TV and Ptolemy’s happy noises calmed his brain faster than he could imagine.
“I love you,” he mumbled sleepily into Ptolemy’s hold. Mason then promptly fell asleep before hearing the reciprocation in response.