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“Fuck,” Ed curses, pulling off his headset and tossing it to the couch as the match stats pop up on the screen and he returns to the lobby. He nearly had the game. Lucky shot.
He’s about to enter another match when he looks up from the screen and notices someone in the doorway watching him.
Izzy stands there, his plush shark tucked beneath one arm and his soft, matching, shark-patterned blanket tossed around his shoulders. Ed melts at the sight, smiling.
“Hey, bud,” he calls softly as the frustration from the game drains out of him. “Did you wanna watch Daddy play?” he asks, patting the space on the couch beside him.
Izzy creeps closer and shrugs his shoulders. Ed looks back at the screen. Izzy doesn’t always like these sorts of games when he’s little. Probably too intense and visually stimulating.
“I was getting tired of this one, I think,” he lies. “You wanna pick me out a new game?”
Izzy brightens up, climbing clumsily onto the couch beside Ed.
Ed powers up the switch instead and passes Izzy the controller. His face screws up in concentration as he carefully considers each game he scrolls past, and Ed feels fondness settle warmly in his chest.
He settles on an indie puzzle game that Ed hasn’t played much of. It has soft muted colors and a dreamlike ambient soundtrack. Ed finds it easy to sink into the gameplay.
Izzy cuddles into his side, slotting safely against his chest. Ed loves it when he comes to him for something like this. To feel cozy and safe.
“You want to play, too?” Ed asks. Izzy rarely does, but he still likes to offer. Izzy shakes his head, nuzzling into Ed’s embrace.
“Mm, you’ll supervise, yeah?” Ed says.
“Yeah,” Izzy agrees.
As Izzy’s eyes light up, following Ed’s character across the screen, Ed feels the usual buzzing in his head quiet down just a bit as his world becomes, for a moment, nothing but the gentle company of his oldest friend, soft and vulnerable in his arms, and the limitless wonder of a brand new world to explore with him.