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Tomura does get nervous talking to new people, but he almost has a sense of ease to him when interacting with folks online. They can’t see him fidget and he doesn’t have to worry about them wanting him to make eye contact. He’ll occasionally stream games for folks in his favorite server. He likes the company of chatter in the background.
Iguchi on the other hand is not very socially adept. He does what he needs to to get by without being harassed in public, but that’s about it. The first time he joined a group VC he couldn’t even bring himself to speak. He eventually just sent a text in the general chat that said his mic was broken.
Tomura will occasionally chime into dialogue in the voice chat, saying if he agrees with something someone has said or if he thinks XYZ video game sucks, but he keeps an idle watch of who’s watching his screen.
Iguchi’s hands are shaking ever so slightly as he types responses to different folks in the chat. The conversation often moves so fast that he doesn’t have time to respond. He’ll type something out and then back out before sending it because the moment has passed. He’s really glad he’s not speaking now, because surely his voice would be shaking as it escaped his mouth. He finds some peace in watching Tomura’s gameplay.
At a certain point, different people in the call leave to do their own things or go to bed and it’s just the two of them. It’s very quiet at first, but Tomura, not liking the silence but not wanting to go to bed quite yet, strikes up a conversation.
It’s about little things at first, just a question here and there. Simple questions. What games do you like? You into esports at all? Did you hear about XYZ title coming out?
Tomura leaves ample time for Iguchi to type out responses. When Iguchi answers Tomura reads it and gives his own answers in response. It’s an easy flow to get lost in. It’s something comfortable.
The way Tomura talks about games and laughs with someone he’s barely met, its kind of cool to Iguchi. Confidence is a trait he wished he had.
Three am rolls around and Iguchi is having trouble holding his eyes open. He’s stopped shaking for the most part, but he knows he’ll have to leave soon. He types out a message asking if they could hang out like this again, but he hesitates over the send button and lets out a sigh.
Tomura blinks, hearing the idling of Iguchi’s mechanical keyboard and dejected sigh over the mic that Iguchi had forgotten to mute in the first hour of joining stream. He’d been doing so well. Just needed a final push.
“Hit send.” The command hit’s Iguchi’s brain like a brick. Was this guy some kind of psychic?? He complies regardless, figuring he might as well. He hits send.
Tomura doesn’t reply, instead sending over a friend request.
“I’ll let you know the next time I want to stream, that sound okay?”
‘yeah’ Iguchi sends before Tomura tells him to have a good night, ends the stream, and leaves him alone in the call.
Iguchi leans back in his chair, letting out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. This was all so new to him. Hopefully that guy didn’t notice how nervous he was.
Tomura turns off his PC for the night. That was the most nervous person he’s ever talked to on call. He didn’t mind doing social heavy lifting to get the friendship ball rolling though. Helping people open up took a bit of dedication, but for the right people, it was something Tomura loved to do.