dizzy-nexis

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658, @musicluverr, @tamimemo, @leathernourishingshoepolish, @captaincyberqueen, @dellalyra

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658, @musicluverr, @tamimemo, @leathernourishingshoepolish, @captaincyberqueen, @dellalyra

Word Count: 2243

It’s past three in the morning.

Kenma ended his stream only minutes ago, having spent the past seven hours playing a hardcore Pokémon Nuzlocke (as decided by his viewers). 

And he’s not even tired. 

He sighs as he relaxes back into his gaming chair, his fingers idly messing with the strings of his hoody as he watches all the messages coming through on his discord server.

He frees one hand and leans forward just enough to grab his mouse, opening a clip that one of his fans sent in the chat. Kenma realizes shortly into the video that it’s from one of his own streams, an older VOD that’s most likely still up on his neglected YouTube channel.

He makes a mental reminder to start posting on the website more often; his fans clearly like watching the videos after all, regardless of the lack of uploads.

Kenma watches his past self yell almost incompehnsibly at the game he’d been playing, a soft smile coming across his features as he picks up on Kuroo’s voice quietly taunting him underneath all the screaming.

“Some things never change,” he mumbles to himself as the clip ends with the two roommates arguing over each other.

And suddenly it all feels so bittersweet, a sense of nostalgia filling his chest and leaving a sour taste in his mouth. Because while things may not have been easy then, they were simpler somehow; less demanding of Kenma despite the fact that he’d had so many more pressing responsibilites.

He hears himself sigh and briefly wonders when exactly he’d started getting so old.

It’s almost laughable - Kenma reminiscing over his college years at the age of twenty-four.

He releases a low breath, his gaze straying from the chat to the list of active users on the side of the screen. Unsurprisingly, there aren’t as many people online as there usually is and one name manages to catch his eye.

Kenma rarely ever cares to check on things like roles and ranks in his server, he has moderators for that very task after all. But there is a role that he personally made himself when the server was first created, strictly for the purpose of having his friends in one place.

No one has been added into that level in years.

Until now.

Now there’s Y/N.

Kenma isn’t the person who placed her there (he didn’t even know she’d joined his server before this very moment) and the only other people with the ability to do so are his mods.

With this realization he remembers the message he’d recieved from Moe, one of his very first moderators, from earlier that day.

“You can thank me later.”

Kenma had been confused at the time, even assuming that she’d texted the wrong person and not bothering to respond.

Now he understands.

There’s only a moment of hesitation, his cursor hovering above that unmistable gray symbol, before he finally just clicks.

He isn’t sure how long he waits, long enough to feel a sense of dread beginning to sink in but too short to dwell on the feeling.

And it’s futile really, the way Kenma tries to hide his grin from the camera when Y/N finally answers the call wearing cat ears and a blanket that seems to swallow her whole.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she suddenly says, her gaze deepening into a glare.

Kenma wants to laugh because she probably knows exactly what he’s thinking right now. “Like what?” He does his best to appear nonchalant, leaning back into his seat and running a hand through his hair as he stares at her through the screen.

She looks different like this.

Or maybe he just isn’t used to seeing her on video.

“Like I’m some little kid or something,” Y/N huffs, her eyes rolling back as her blanket falls to her lap.

“More like a little cat,” he mutters almost unthinkingly. He watches her eyebrows furrow, her head tilting as his words reach her ears.

“Huh?”

Kenma shouldn’t tease her. He really really shouldn’t. “It’s fitting,” and yet he’s completely incable of resisting, “Kitten.”

Y/N’s jaw quite literally drops, her eyes widening as her face turns a satisfyingly bright shade of red.

And Kenma can’t help but think that she looks so- so- (what was the word?) something.

“Wh- what did you just?” She shakes her head, “You- why would you- ugh!”

Cute.

Yes. That’s the term.

Kenma thinks she looks cute right now.

The realization is slow to hit, his mind even slower to catch on as he watches Y/N fan her face and cup the skin of her cheeks.

It isn’t even the right word, honestly - to kenma - she looks adorable, cute was just the first thing that came to mind.

Why did it come to mind?

“You’re the one wearing cat ears,” he defends. He’s not sure what he’s defending at this point (himself? his thoughts? his weird obsession with cats?); he just doesn’t want her to take it the wrong way.

What would be the wrong way? Flirtaitiously?

But, if she were to flirt back, Kenma doesn’t think he’ll care.

“You piss me off,” Y/N suddenly announces, her voice full of exagerated annoyance, but there’s no doubt that she’s smiling at him - because of him.

No, he really wouldn’t mind at all.

~~~

“Favorite color?”

“Oh come on.” Kenma rolls his eyes, taking a small swig from the can of soda he’d grabbed from the mini-fridge just beside his desk. “You know my favorite color.”

Y/N gives him an incredulous look, “Um, since when?”

Kenma’s eyebrows raise, “Um, since the first day we met?”

“You’re literally lying,” she says with a mouth full of some sort of food. He doesn’t know what she’s eating at this point; first it was chips, then tomato soup, a thin slice of pie (Kenma’s sure that she was trying to rub it in his face), and now it seems to be a kind of fruit.

He’s never seen someone eat so many diverse snacks in one sitting.

Y/N’s eyes suddenly widen, “Shut the fuck up.”

Kenma’s at a loss for words, and he’s sure that Y/N can see the disbelief in his features as he sets the drink on his desk.

“No, like seriously shut up.” She lifts one hand, using her index finger to point at Kenma - or (more accurately) the camera of her webcam.

He blinks. “I didn’t say anything.”

“I’m trying to think here, okay? So shh,” she glares at him.

Kenma makes a show of pressing his lips together, mimicking the motion of zipping them up and tossing aside the key.

He can see Y/N trying to suppress a smile at his actions, a small huff of a giggle escaping her own lips when he pretends to struggle against the imaginary lock on his mouth.

Her face suddenly lights up with recognition, “Red!”

Kenma’s charade breaks. “That’s what you were trying to figure out this whole time?”

“I was right?” She suddenly looks confused, more confused than when she didn’t even know the correct answer.

“Obviously.” His head tilts, “Did you just guess or something?”

A sheepish smile, “Or something.”

“You just guessed, didn’t you?” It’s not really an actual question at this point, they’re both all too aware of what she did.

“Well I mean- kind of?” She shrugs, a clumsy movement that makes her appear so much younger than she probably is. “To be honest, I just happened to remember that Nekoma’s colors were red and black. So,” she hangs on to the word for a brief second, “Lucky guess?”

“Well what’s your favorite color?”

Y/N had suggested a scuffed form of twenty-one questions, a version with no drinking (not that either of them were against it, Kenma just doesn’t have any alcoholic beverages in the house) and no limit on how many questions they could ask.

It’s been years since Kenma had gotten to know someone like this.

She hums with consideration, “I’m not sure. I like all of them.”

“That’s such a cop-out answer,” he light-heartedly scoffs.

“Oh don’t even,” Y/N straightens in her seat, the black cat ears slipping further back on her head. “At least I didn’t make you play a ten minute guessing game,” she retorts.

Kenma tsks, “That was not ten minutes.”

“Well it felt like it. So hah!”

He laughs as he stretches out his legs, adjusting the waistband of his sweatpants when he notices that they’re off-center. He looks back up at the screen, eyes fixated on the way Y/N tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“How old are you?” Kenma asks out of mere curiosity, because he knows she must be at least close to his age, but he feels so much older in comparison to her cheerful nature.

She’s staring intently at something off to the side, scrutinizing whatever happens to be there. “Twenty three.”

Only a year younger, maybe even less depending on her date of birth.

But-, “Wait,” his eyebrows furrow. “Didn’t you date Sugawara in high school?”

He regrets bringing it up the moment he’s finished speaking, mentally cringing at the idea of talking about her ex’s.

Y/N groans, her face falling into her hands. “Don’t remind me.”

“That bad huh?” And if Kenma’s being honest with himself, he feels strangely . . . relieved.

“Like I love the guy,” Oh. “In like a totally platonic sort of way though,” she suddenly rushes to explain.

Kenma nods, “Right.” He pauses for only a brief second. “So you were a first year when you started dating then?”

Y/N’s head tilts with obvious bewilderment, “What? Oh,” she laughs. “No, I was a second year. I just have a really late birthday.”

“Oh okay,” he releases a small breath of relief. He isn’t sure what he would’ve done if he found out that one of Y/N’s boyfriends was a sick fuck that preyed on first-years.

That’s something he couldn’t let himself overlook, no matter who it was.

“Why’d it end then? Was he not,” he hesistates, “Good to you?”

They’re getting into dangerous territory now; it’s none of his business why their relationship didn’t last, but it feels like it should be. And he supposes that if they’re going to be friends and if he’s going to come into contact with said ex-boyfriend, then it would be better to know anyways.

Right?

Who is he kidding? That’s just an excuse.

He has no real reason for wanting to know, but that’s not going to stop him from asking.

Y/N shakes her head, a thoughtful expression painted across her features. “Nothing like that. It was almost like he was too good to me, you know? It was a good relationship but it was like so good that it was uneventful and boring. We just don’t mesh well romantically.”

Kenma nods as though he understands when really - the truth of the matter is that - his only relationship had ended on such bad terms that he hasn’t dated since.

“And you’re twenty-four right?”

“Yeah,” he confirms without thinking. Then his eyes narrow on her form, “How do you know that?”

She sighs deeply, as if even the mere thought of it is taxing. “Sho has not shut up about you since we met, it’d be more shocking if I didn’t know that at this point.”

Kenma smirks, “All good things I hope.”

“Please,” she rolls her eyes, “That man is practically singing your praises.”

“What the hell does that even mean?” Despite the confusing choice of words, Kenma feels himself chuckle at the idea of one of his closest friends boasting about him to a complete stranger.

“He just like won’t stop talking about how cool you are, or how you’re so fun to be around. Or how you’re the most awesomest - yes he used that word - person he’s ever met.” Kenma’s disappointed when she unexpectedly stops, her hands raising to massage the skin of her temples. “It’s honestly starting to get annoying. Like you’d think he was trying to make me fall in love with you or something,” she snorts.

Is it working?

The words are on the tip of his tongue, his stomach turning at the possibility of her responses.

Kenma swallows thickly, “So what? He’s trying to set us up?”

Some questions are better left unasked.

“I guess so?”

“That’s a little weird.” Only a little bit though.

Y/N smiles then, but it’s mischevious and temptingly playful. “Really? You don’t think we’d look good together?”

His mind races at the implication behind her words, his body growing warm from her teasing tone of voice. And he abruptly feels so thirsty, his tongue brushing across his lips as he watches the way her lashes flutter when she blinks.

“Now I never said that,” he murmers in return and he can’t tell if his voice is as throaty he feels like it is.

Her gaze flickers down somewhere below his face, and Kenma silently berates himself for his choice of lazy clothing, before slowly trailing back up.

Her voice is soft when she speaks, her eyes never straying from his. “Neither did I.”

Kenma’s breath catches in his throat.

He forces a smirk, “I guess we can agree on one thing then.”

Her grin comes back in full force, wicked and full of invitation, “I suppose we can.”

Yeah, Kenma definitely doesn’t mind when she flirts.

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658, @musicluverr, @tamimemo, @leathernourishingshoepolish, @captaincyberqueen, @dellalyra

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658, @musicluverr, @tamimemo, @leathernourishingshoepolish, @captaincyberqueen, @dellalyra

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658, @musicluverr, @tamimemo, @leathernourishingshoepolish

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658, @musicluverr, @tamimemo, @leathernourishingshoepolish

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658, @musicluverr, @tamimemo, @leathernourishingshoepolish

Word Count: 2381

You look up from your phone with confusion, eyebrows furrowed as you turn and make eye contact with Shoyo. Your features practically light up upon seeing him, a grin enveloping your face as you stand from your seat. 

“Sho!” And maybe your voice is a bit too loud in the quiet atmosphere of the cafe because you can see multiple heads turn in your direction as you begin making your way towards him. But you can’t find it in yourself to care when Sho’s arms come around your waist and he lifts you from the ground as your face is buried into his neck. 

“Hi Y/N.” His voice is warm in your ear, his tone full of affection for you as his grip tightens around your waist. 

And suddenly you feel so silly because your eyes are watering and you’re hiding your tears against his skin in complete embarrassment. You know you’re being uncharacteristically emotional, and you’re able to realize that you’re causing a scene. But even so, it’s been so long since you’ve seen Sho that you’re incapable of holding in your emotions even if you wanted to. 

Shoyo squeezes you tighter against him, most likely becoming aware of your current state of mess and trying to comfort you. Unfortunately for you though he underestimates his strength, resulting in your ribcage beginning to ache and your voice getting breathless from the lack of air.  

“Okay, okay,” you manage to get out, struggling to pull away as you pat his shoulder with one hand. “You’re crushing me here, Sho.” 

“Oh!” He releases you nearly instantaneously, laughing when you stumble as your feet come in contact with the ground. “Sorry, Y/N,” he rubs the back of his neck with one hand almost bashfully. 

He looks so different from when you last saw him, (How long has it been? Eight months? Nine?) but his ever-lasting smile is enough to make you feel like nothing has changed at all.

You hear a throat clear, “I feel like I’m interrupting something.” Only then do you remember who you’re even supposed to be meeting in the first place. “Should I give you guys some space?” He’s teasing you, you can recognize it in his voice, but when you turn to look at the man standing awkwardly off to the side you don’t recognize the face. 

But you know who he is. How could you not? 

“Hi Kenma,” you greet with an enthusiastic smile. He’s different than you expected; only a couple centimeters taller than Shoyo and admittedly more good-looking than you initially would’ve anticipated. 

He’s wearing a simple sweatshirt and jeans, his overgrown bleached hair tied back to (one can only assume) keep it out of his face. 

And, if you’re being honest with yourself, you feel a bit overdressed.

You’d made sure to do your makeup exceptionally well today, always wanting to impress when meeting someone new. You even wore a skirt for the occasion, although - judging by both of their casual outfits - it seems that it’s entirely unnecessary . 

You move forward to hug Kenma just as he reaches out with his right arm, presumably to shake your hand. You both pause, your gazes meeting as you realize the awkwardness that’s about to ensue. 

You don’t let it. 

“Can I give you a hug?” 

Kenma’s eyes grow wide, “You want to-? Why would you-? You-.” His hand retracts, his fingers restlessly playing with the hem of his hoodie as he looks you over. “You want to hug me?” It’s only the third coherent sentence he’s said since you’ve met, but it’s a surprisingly wholesome question all things considered. 

You can’t help but laugh then because he also seems to be a lot more timid than he’d ever been online. 

“I’m really good at hugs,” you tell him, your arms still outstretched in his direction. 

“You-,” he stops again, his head tilting as he gives you an unreadable expression. “Fine.” 

You mentally cheer even as he rolls his eyes, opening his arms for you rather reluctantly as you step closer to him. You give him no chance to change his mind, practically throwing your body into his in order to wrap your arms around him. 

And despite his earlier unwillingness Kenma returns your embrace with equal fervor, his hands encircling your body and pulling you into him almost roughly. 

It feels odd at first, because of course it’s only natural that you’ll be uncomfortable when you hug someone who’s essentially a stranger. But then you let yourself relax against him, and end up getting a feeling reminiscent of when you hugged Shoyo just moments before.

“Happy now?” Kenma’s voice is muffled but you can still clearly understand him, enough to know that he probably wants you to let go. 

You back away with a cheeky smile, “I’m never happy.”

His eyebrows furrow disbelievingly, “Well don’t you just seem like a bundle of joy.”

There's the streamer you know.

“Oh!” You suddenly remember what you’d been doing previously, anxiously looking back at where you were sitting. “Let’s go get my stuff.” You turn to make your way back to your seat, the men trailing closely behind you. 

“We’re leaving already?” You hear Sho ask and you glance back at him with a confused expression. 

“What do you mean?” Realization dawns on you as you’re grabbing your purse. You look at Kenma with a glare, “Did you not tell him what we’re doing?”

The plan for the day was simple; meet at the cafe, then travel from said cafe to Kenma’s house, where you would have all the time in the world to cuddle with some cats. 

Kenma looks at you incredulously, “Of course I did. Right Sho?” 

“Yeah. I just wanted some food first,” the shorter man laughs. 

“We can grab some before we go.” Kenma suddenly raises an eyebrow, “Did you follow through with your end of the deal?” 

You smirk, “Do you even have to ask?” You reach over to grab the white bakery box sitting on the table just besides your phone. 

“You put it in a box?” 

“Of course I put it in a box, I’m not a savage.” 

You notice Kenma lean towards Shoyo as you hand him the pie, “Is it normal to put a pie in a box?” 

Shoyo leans in even closer, “I have no idea.” 

You lean in too, lifting a free hand to cup your mouth, “You guys suck at whispering.” 

~~~

“Honey, I’m home!” You giggle as you enter the foyer, glancing back at Kenma as he lets the door fall closed behind him. 

“You know I have a roommate right?” He shakes his head as he steps past you, gesturing for you both to follow him as he walks deeper into the house. 

You tilt your head, “Oh you mean your ex best friend?”

He turns to look back at you with a deadpan expression, “There is something seriously wrong with you.” 

Kenma suddenly stops in what appears to be the kitchen, pulling out a chair at the marble island set just a few feet across from the kitchen sink. You sit in it before he can, directing a cheeky smile in his direction, “Thanks.” 

He sends you a sarcastic grin, “Oh yeah no problem. I definitely wasn’t trying to sit there or anything.” 

Shoyo sits in the chair next to you while Kenma drifts slightly away to open a drawer and grabs something. Shoyo then sets his food on the counter, ripping open into his bag of chips and unfolding the wrapper of his sandwich. 

Kenma takes the seat next to him, pulling the pie box towards him in order to lift the lid. You lean forward to eye him, “Are you trying to eat my homemade apple pie cold right now?” 

The streamer sighs out of clear frustration, his spoon falling from his hand and falling onto the countertop with a low clang. “How am I supposed to eat it then huh? Do I have to put it back in the oven or something?”  

“What?” You shake your head, “No but the microwave would do a lot.” You get up, making your way around Shoyo to grab the pie from him. “Do you have a pie slicer?”

He looks up at you expressionlessly, “You realize I eat pie every other day, right?”

“You realize I know nothing about you, right?” You sigh, rounding the island and setting it next to the kitchen sink. “Where is it?” 

“In the drawer right where you’re standing.” 

Well that’s convenient, you think to yourself as you step back slightly to pull open the drawer. You’re a little shocked by what you see to be honest; it’s full of cooking and baking utensils, all well organized and put in their rightful place. Thanks to this though, you’re able to find the pie slicer within only a couple seconds, setting it on the counter as you close the drawer. 

You cut a relatively big slice out of the apple pie, “Where’s the plates?” 

“Here,” you flinch as a glass plate is suddenly set on the counter beside you. “Sorry,” Kenma mutters when he notices your reaction, his voice so low that you almost don’t hear it. 

“It’s fine,” you say in return, despite the fact that you’re still kind of shaken from his unexpected closeness. 

You set the piece onto the plate, barely even having time to react before Kenma is lifting the plate and moving across the kitchen. He puts it in the microwave in almost record time, closing the door and then just standing there. 

You only wait a few seconds before he abruptly looks back at you with an expectant expression. “Well? How long?” 

“Oh,” right, “Fifty-two seconds.” 

His eyebrows furrow, “You’re kidding.” 

“I never lie about pie,” you tell him seriously. But then you sigh, rolling your eyes when he doesn’t move to start the microwave.  “Forty five seconds is too cold, fifty five seconds is too hot, and fifty-two is my lucky number.” 

He looks at you like you’re insane but doesn’t argue any further, “Whatever you say.” 

You turn to make eye contact with Shoyo, leaning against the counter as you fold your arms across your chest. “Do you want a piece, Sho?” 

He grins at you, “Hell yeah I do.” 

“Are you offering my pie to other people right in front of me?” 

You shoot Kenma a look, “You mean my pie.” You straighten, “And yes. I am.” 

Kenma looks at Shoyo, “You’re lucky I like you.” He pulls open a cabinet just to the right of the microwave, grabbing two more of the same white plates he’d used for himself earlier. 

You plate another slice before pausing to stare at the third dish sat before you. “What’s this for?” 

“My pet fish,” he answers sarcastically. “Who do you think it’s for, Y/N?” 

“Well sorry I can’t read your mind,” you retort. Sure you’d had an idea of who it was for but you didn’t want to use it for yourself before he’d confirmed it. 

By the time you’ve finished microwaving your own slice of pie, both Shoyo and Kenma are standing in the entranceway waiting for you. “What are we doing,” you ask, completely clueless as to why they’re standing. 

“We’re planning on watching a movie,” Shoyo explains. 

“Oh okay,” you grab your phone with your free hand, following behind them as they leave the room. 

“You know,” you announce as you’re walking down a set of stairs, “I’m kind of surprised that we haven’t come across any cats yet.” 

You see Kenma nod, “Yeah they tend to stay away from the main floor of the house; it’s colder than every other floor.” 

“Even the basement?” 

He looks back at you with an eyebrow raised, “I’m not some fiend that leaves my basement in negative two degrees like some people. Both Kuro’s and I’s bedrooms are down here.” 

“Oh,” you suppose that makes sense. 

“See look,” you all reach the end of the staircase, where Kenma pauses to point out two cats lying on the last step. “This is Mars and Dusty.” 

“Oh my gosh,” you practically squeal, forgetting that two other people are currently standing on the stairs with you as you step forward. Shoyo stumbles into Kenma at the movement, to which the taller man barely manages to avoid the cats as his feet make contact with the landing. 

You gasp, your hand reaching up to cover your mouth as Kenma looks up at you with wide eyes. And sure you feel bad but you’re still completely unable to hold back your laughter at his expression. 

He watches you giggle, his facial features growing even more incredulous the longer you laugh. “You literally almost killed the first two cats we came across and you still want me to let you cuddle them?” 

“Wait wait wait,” you panic as he reaches down and scoops up the two cats with his free hand. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be laughing I just-,” you cut yourself off with a snort, “I just was not ready for you to look at me like that.”

He shakes his head, “What the hell is wrong with you?” And while the words themselves could be considered harsh he can’t even hide his smile as he says it. 

You tuck your phone into the waistband of your skirt, silently praying that it won’t fall out as you reach towards him with your free hand. “I promise I’ll be gentle,” you tell him.

He hesitates. 

“Please,” you pout. And you feel completely pathetic as you do because you’re literally begging to hold a cat right now. (But - to be fair- it’s a really cute cat.)

You can see the exact moment Kenma’s resolve breaks, his shoulder’s relaxing as his expression falls. 

He sighs, his head falling back to look skyward as he finally gives in, “Fine.”

“Yay!” You’re practically bouncing on your feet, your smile wide as you step down to the bottom stair and become eye level with Kenma. 

“But,” he suddenly says and you pause mid-cheer, “Let’s go sit down first.” 

You immediately nod, “Okay.” 

You don’t care where he wants you, to be entirely honest; as long as you get to cuddle with some cats.

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658, @musicluverr, @tamimemo, @leathernourishingshoepolish

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658, @musicluverr, @tamimemo

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658, @musicluverr, @tamimemo

Word Count: 2659

To be honest, Kenma is doing this entirely out of guilt. 

Sure it isn’t technically his fault that people have no self control and don’t know how to mind their own business, but his fans were probably the main root of the problem. So he felt some sort of responsibility towards her, regardless that they’d never met before today. 

“Are you loaded in yet?” He waits a few seconds, almost impatiently so, his eyebrows slowly raising as he waits even longer. “Y/N?” 

A soft sound of movement, a throat clearing, “Sorry, what?” 

Kenma sighs, “Are you loaded into the game yet?” 

“Oh- yeah. I mean almost, my wifi’s being weird.” She laughs then and it’s so painfully forced that Kenma physically feels himself cringe. He has to give the girl props though, she’s doing a lot better acting excited than he is despite the fact that she seems more nervous. 

He’d only asked for her discord on complete impulse, not really considering what would happen if she agreed until it was too late. Don’t get him wrong though, he isn’t upset about it; finding new people to play his favorite games with is always enjoyable for Kenma. 

But he also isn’t looking forward to this being any more awkward than it already is. 

“Are you on the server already?” 

Kenma shakes his head, “No, I’m waiting for you to be ready so I can start streaming.” 

“Oh,” she says and Kenma only then realizes that he’s been treating her like he treats everyone else, even though they know essentially nothing about each other. “Sorry, I’ll be done as soon-.” 

“Don’t worry about it.” And now he’s interrupting her; great first impression, Kenma. “I’m trying to finish eating right now anyways.” 

She doesn’t say anything for a moment and then, almost out of nowhere, “What are you eating?” 

Funny thing about that though is that he’s not. 

“Ummmmm-,” he trails off, desperately searching his brain for some sort of response. “Apple pie,” he finally manages to say. 

“Wait really?” Y/N suddenly sounds much more genuine than she had mere seconds ago. 

Kenma hums in confirmation, head nodding even though he’s currently lying straight through his teeth. 

Why? Who knows. Kenma definitely doesn’t. 

“I had apple pie too,” she goes on to explain. “Literally like ten minutes before I turned on my PC.” 

Kenma isn’t actually eating any apple pie right now, so it’s not as much of the insane coincidence that Y/N seems to think it is. But it is one of his favorite desserts, so he did have some fairly recently enough for it to be considered at least a bit strange. 

“You’re kidding,” he tries to match her enthusiasm.  

“Do I look like the type of girl to joke about something as serious as apple pie?” She’s teasing him now but his mind is slow to pick up on it, unintentionally leaving her in awkward silence as he processes her words. 

“I don’t know,” he drags out the last syllable. “You sound like someone who would.” Kenma has never actually seen what Y/N looks like - and sure he might be comfortable lying to her about eating apple pie - but joking about her appearance without even properly seeing it first seems like a line he shouldn’t cross. 

She scoffs then and Kenma can almost picture the exact face she pulls in the process, having frequently seen the same expression on his own roommate’s. “I have literally never been so offended in my entire life.” 

Kenma subconsciously shrugs, “I have to keep everyone humble somehow, you know.” 

~~~

“I got some stone,” Kenma tells Y/N as he runs over to drop a Stone Pickaxe in front of her. Although, this time he does it close enough to ensure that she doesn’t have to move to pick it up. 

“Oh thanks,” Y/N herself is busy collecting wood, but she’s definitely mining more than she really needs at the moment. 

“I know I explained this a bit earlier but we wanted to stream together just to clear some stuff up,” Kenma says when he notices how confused everyone still is in his chat. “Like how we actually don’t know each other. Right Y/N?” 

Y/N’s character suddenly turns to him in game, mimicking a head nod. “Yeah, I have no idea who this guy is. What’s your name again? Kenny?” Kenma admits that he has to stifle a laugh as she starts running around him in circles. “Well I guess I wouldn’t know because I don’t know you.” 

Kenma rolls his eyes, “You know what I mean.” 

“Yeah,” she easily agrees. “Just like how we didn’t know each other during that game, I also totally didn’t mean to kill you either.”

“Oh yeah definitely not,” Kenma nods, looking over at his chat for a brief second as Y/N stops before a random oak tree to start collecting even more wood. 

Why is y/n mining so much wood???? 😭 😭

y/n’s skin is so cutteeee

I love how Kenma’s just watching her run around lol

But Kenma’s attention is suddenly brought back to the game when he hears the sound of something being attacked, only to see his health two and a half hearts lower and Y/N standing suspiciously far away from him.

“What did you just do?” 

“Huh? What?” She plays innocent almost too well. “What do you mean?” 

“I’m beginning to think you killed me on purpose,” he teases as he starts making his way towards a cave he spots in the ground. 

She gasps, as though she genuinely feels betrayed by his words. “Of course I didn’t mean to, I would never do something like that.” 

He nods as he enters the cave, immediately running towards a vein of coal embedded into the wall. “Oh right of course. Because I totally didn’t see you aiming that fireball at me or anything the other day.” He shakes his head light heartedly as he begins collecting the coal with his own stone pickaxe. 

“See I’m glad you agree with me, Kenma,” Y/N joins his side in the cave, mining the stone beside him before placing down a crafting table. 

His head subconsciously tilts, “I thought you didn’t know my name.” 

Kenma watches as she places a furnace next to the crafting table, “That was before.” 

“Before what?” He opens the furnace when he sees it light up, his curiosity satisfied when he realizes that she’s cooking some Porkchops. 

“Before I knew it. Obviously.”

“Oh duh,” Kenma makes a show of facepalming, adjusting his hand just enough to look into the lens of his camera. “Should’ve known. How could I be so dumb?” 

“You tell me,” she says nonchalantly. “Isn’t that like your forte?” 

Kenma pauses at her words, shifting his gaze back to his monitor as he uses his mouse to slowly turn and look at her. “What?” 

“What?” 

LMAOOOOO

y/n has no chill lol

STOP CUS I LOVE HER

“Did you just call me dumb?” He’s definitely hearing things, because there’s no way that the girl who was fake laughing twenty minutes ago is now teasing him like they’d been friends for years. 

“What- no- I would never- I mean-,” she’s stuttering practically on purpose at this point. “Oh, iron!” 

Kenma turns his character in the direction that Y/N is looking towards, eyes squinting as he leans forward in his seat to try and spot it. 

And then he hears her giggle. 

“Ha! Made you look!” 

He sighs, rolling his eyes half-heartedly as he leans back against his chair. “You’re literally a child.” 

Y/N manages to stop laughing for only a brief second, “I can’t believe you-,” her voice suddenly breaks off with a gasp as she tries to catch her breath. “Fell for it,” she’s barely even able to finish the rest of her sentence, too busy practically cackling.

Kenma finds himself chuckling along with her, even though she’s entirely making fun of him right now. But he doesn’t care, not even a little bit. 

Because for the first time since they’ve met, the interaction feels real. 

~~~

An hour later, Kenma’s stuck in a cave and Y/N is doing who even knows what on the surface, when his roommate walks into the room. 

Y/N is in the middle of telling some elaborate story about the first time she ever played minecraft when Kenma hears his door open. He doesn’t really react at first, only glancing at his viewfinder to confirm that Kuroo’s walking into the room. 

“And then-,” she abruptly stops. “Did I just hear a door open?” 

Kenma would have thought that his microphone (or even discord for that matter) wouldn’t be able to pick up such a soft noise. He’s been proven wrong a lot today though. 

“Yeah sorry,” he confirms as he turns to actually look at the person now entering the room. “It’s my roommate, just give me one second.” Kenma mutes himself in discord but keeps his stream’s audio on, trying not to censor Kuroo as much as he wants to. He then just decides to leave the world, knowing there’s really no way to pause an online game. 

“You? Apologizing? Since when,” the older man snorts. 

Kenma closes his eyes with a sigh, “Shut the fuck up.” 

“That was unnecessarily harsh.” 

The streamer adjusts in his seat, turning in his chair to face his roommate. “I’m still streaming, what do you want?” 

His best friend frowns, “I’m bored and being swarmed by cats out there.” 

“Did you get in the catnip again?” He briefly gets distracted by the sound of Y/N saying something in his headset, but isn’t able to understand anything she’s actually saying because Kuroo is speaking at the exact same time.

“It was only like this much!” He makes a small gesture with his fingers to further prove his point. 

Kenma stares at the distance between his pointer finger and thumb for an unnervingly long amount of time. “Only that much huh?” 

Kuroo suddenly hides his hand behind his back, “Hey don’t look at my fingers like that, you perv.” 

“It’s not my fault you just happened to measure the exact length of your di-.” 

“AHHH!” 

Kenma flinches as he’s cut off by a blood curdling scream, his pulse skyrocketing as he frantically turns back to the game. 

He somehow manages to unmute himself, his fingers clumsily controlling the mouse to log back into the world. “Holy shit are you okay?” 

“Fuck- yeah sorry!” Y/N is still being loud but it’s nothing compared to the way she’d yelled only a second ago. “Jesus, I’m so sorry; that scared me so bad.” 

Kenma feels himself relax against his chair, mentally sighing as he glances back at Kuroo with a clear expression of relief. “She’s good?” 

“Yeah,” he nods, swallowing unsteadily. “Fuck, did you hear her?” 

“Are you kidding? I think the whole street heard her,” he jokes and Kenma can’t help but smile. Leave it to his best friend to be able to relieve such a massive amount of tension with one simple sentence. 

“Your roommate heard me?” Her voice practically exudes embarrassment. 

He chuckles, “Yeah, I think you both gave us a heart attack.” 

“Oh no,” she groans. “I’m seriously so sorry.” 

“What even happened?” (Translation: what the fuck made you react like that?)

“I was just focused on building a house and then a bird or something - I don’t even know what it was  - slammed against my window.” She pauses and Kenma can hear her release a deep breath. “It scared the absolute shit out of me.”

“Okay I guess that’s fair.” He feels something tap against his shoulder and turns to look at Kuroo’s questioning expression. “A bird hit her window,” Kenma elaborates for him. 

His roommate suddenly laughs, “I think chat was more worried than we are.”

Oh noooooo

Poor Y/N 😥

She needs therapy after that 💀

“They like her more than both of us combined,” Kenma confirms. 

Y/N makes a disapproving noise, “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” 

“Here wait,” Kenma says to pretty much no one as he grabs his headphone splitter and the second headset he always has on hand. After plugging everything in, he adjusts his microphone and wheels in another chair so that both men will be able to talk to her. “Okay, my roommate can hear you now by the way, Y/N.” 

“Oh. Hi there roommate!” 

Kenma frowns as he turns back around in game to start heading for the surface, “Why didn’t you sound that chipper earlier?” 

Y/N doesn’t get a chance to respond before Kuroo does for her. “Because I’m better than you.” 

Complete silence. 

“You’re not even going to try to deny it huh?” He shakes his head, still trying to find his way through the maze of a cave he’d somehow managed to trap himself in. 

“I don’t know; I’d feel mean if I did,” she responds without an ounce of hesitation. 

“Yeah why are you forcing her to do stuff, Kenma,” Kuroo suddenly chimes in with a teasing tone. 

“Fuck you Kuro. No one asked you.” 

Kuroo reels back in his chair, as though Kenma had physically slapped him in the face. “Um wow okay. I can really feel the lo-.” 

“Finally,” Kenma (accidentally) interrupts as he sees sunlight shining down into the cave. “I’m coming up by the way.” 

“Wait, already?” Y/N sounds strangely panicked. 

Kenma nods slowly even though she can’t see him. “Why,” he can’t help but feel suspicious now after her reaction. 

“I haven’t finished building yet.” 

He begins towering his way out of the hole, “I’m sure it’s not that ba-.” He suddenly stops as he sees a building in the distance. 

“I’m sorry, you said you aren’t done?” His roommate says beside him, basically voicing Kenma's exact thoughts as he sprints towards the house. 

“What the actual fuck this is amazing.” Kenma marvels as he opens what he can only assume is the front door. “How did you do this in two hours?” 

Her character suddenly runs over, crouching in front of him and dropping something on the ground. “I might not be super amazing at PVP, but I’ve been building since I was in elementary school.” Kenma scoots forward to pick up the item, his eyebrows furrowing when he realizes it’s a bed. 

“What’s this for?” 

“I wasn’t sure which room you’d want so I just decided I’d let you pick,” she explains. 

Kuroo nudges Kenma's shoulder with his own, “That was really nice of her. Right kenma?” 

But he's strangely at a loss for words because he just can’t get over the fact that, “She made it red.” His head tilts, “Why’d you make it red?”

“Oh,” she seems surprised by the question. “I don’t really know. I just thought it suited you, I guess.” 

“Hm,” he hums in acknowledgement, making his way over to the first room he sees and placing it beside the purple bed already placed against the wall. “Why don’t we just have the same bedroom?” 

“Ooohh,” Kuroo drags out. (Kenma had completely forgotten he was there.) “Putting your bed next to her’s huh?” 

Apparently they both decide that it’s better to ignore him this time because all Y/N says is, “Why would we share a bedroom?” 

Kenma blinks, he thought the reason was obvious. “So then we have more room for other stuff in the house instead of constantly needing to build for more space.” 

“Oh. Okay yeah that makes sense.” 

His best friend suddenly reaches over to press his mute key for discord, “Kenma’s got moves guys.” 

“Shut up.” 

~~~

Kenma enjoys streaming with her that night. He really, really does. 

But again, he’s doing this out of guilt. 

Or at least that’s what he tells himself when he ends up messaging her again that very next day.

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658, @musicluverr

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658, @musicluverr

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658

Word Count: 2187

It’s been an hour since Kenma started streaming, and he’ll admit that he’s starting to get a bit bored. He usually enjoys playing Bedwars on stream but he’s been doing it so often lately that it’s beginning to get repetitive.

“What the hell is this guy doing,” he asks as he notices someone start building a tower of blocks on the emerald island. Kenma sprints over to the player, jumping up to knock him off the tower. 

“Hype_boy2000 was killed by Kodzuken!”

“People that play minecraft are brainless sometimes I swear to god,” he hears Kuroo mutter in his headset. 

Despite living together, his best friend usually only joins the stream via voice call, so he can interact with Kenma’s viewers and still be comfortable in his own room. Kenma honestly actually prefers this, it’s easier to hear him and he doesn’t have to worry about his roommate doing anything dumb in front of the camera. 

He shakes his head, “You play minecraft.” 

“Exactly!” 

Kenma snorts, taking a quick glance at his chat to see how his audience is feeling. 

Kodzuken is a GOD

People who play mc are losers🙄🙄🙄 (I play mc)

I’m not bad at the game but watching Kenma makes me feel like I am 💀

He looks bored 😕

His eyebrows furrow then because he’s almost completely positive that he’s hiding his feelings well enough for no one to notice. Apparently he’s not. 

He feels something tug at his neck and briefly looks down to see what it is, resisting a smile at the sight of one of the younger cats, Mars, playing with the drawstring of his hoodie. “Do we wanna try playing something else after this?” 

“Why? You gettin’ bored of winning all the time,” his roommate teases and Kenma has to force himself not to react to his words because he might just be joking but he’s hit the nail right on the head. 

Kenma pretends he doesn’t hear him as he kills the last player (winning himself yet another game),“I’ll go one more round and then we can figure out something else to play.” 

OMG do you guys see the paw????

SHOW US THE CATS

We wanna see the cats

“I think the only reason you’re famous is because we have a million cats,” Kuroo announces and Kenma can almost see the accompanying eye roll. 

“I’m fine with that,” he shrugs. “But I guess I can show you guys the cats before we start.” 

He changes his scene in OBS so that it’s only showing his camera, making sure he’s in full view before he scoops up the bengal cat still sitting in his lap. “This is Mars, we got him like a month ago. How old is he? Um like five months I think?”

He sets him back down on his desk, “There’s only like four cats in here right now by the way.” 

ONLY FOUR???

How many cats does he have lol

“I think there’s like fifteen in the house right now,” Kenma’s head unconsciously tilts as he silently counts all their cats. “No- wait. Seventeen now, plus however many Minnie will have when she gives birth.” 

“Yeah but don’t worry we have three different rooms in the house for them, plus the loft and then the house itself is three stories.” Kuroo chimes in, defending Kenma’s apparent obsession despite the fact that he supposedly doesn’t care. “And then we have like ten cat towers and eight litter robots.” 

EIGHT?????

Oh so they’re rich rich

Half of those litter boxes would pay all my bills 💀

“Anyways um-,” Kenma pauses to reach for the orange cat currently laying in the cat bed beside his desk. “This is Enji, she’s been with us for three years now and she’s five years old.” Enji meows in disapproval as Kenma picks her up and tries to show her to the camera. She fights against him, her claws digging into his forearms and making him grimace. “She doesn’t like being picked up.” 

As if on cue Enji jumps out of his arms and lays right back down in the bed, eyeing Kenma like he’s just committed some sort of grave sin. 

“Well now that she hates me,” he shoots the camera a look, “Let’s go grab another one.” 

He stands from his chair, taking a cursory glance throughout the room to spot any other animals lingering. “Oh-,” he notices a ball of fluff hiding in the cat tower sitting in the corner of his streaming room. 

Miomi is much more willing to be picked up, her purrs echoing throughout the room as he cradles her in his arms and walks back to his desk. “This is Miomi, she’s a ragdoll obviously.” 

“She’s my favorite,” Kuroo suddenly chimes in. “Literally so cuddly I love it.” 

“She is very sweet,” Kenma agrees as he strokes the cat’s stomach. She blinks up at him slowly, her purrs lessening as she drifts back to sleep. “We’ve had her the longest, ever since we moved in.” 

Kenma gently moves to set her back into the cat tower, to which she stretches only once before immediately falling right back asleep. He then looks up towards the cat shelves he’d put on his walls a few years ago, snorting when he spots exactly who he was expecting to find up there. 

“Come here little buddy,” he coaxes the animal into his hands who meows in protest as his little paws reach out to cling onto his shoulders. And Kenma is just barely able to move into the camera frame before he starts practically screaming. “This is void,” he pauses to lightly pat his head, knowing that usually helps to calm him down. “Any guesses as to why we named him that?” The question is entirely rhetorical. 

“Dude he’s like blending into your fucking sweatshirt,” Kuroo suddenly laughs. 

Kenma leans forward to look at the viewfinder of his camera, “Holy shit he is.” 

Void starts meowing again at the change in position and Kenma can feel himself flinch from how loud it is. “Hey hey hey, it’s okay. You’re okay,” he swiftly places him back on the shelf. 

“That’s all the cats in here,” Kenma tells his viewers as he sits back down. “I might do a full video introducing everyone but it would just take a while to film because a few of them like going outside a lot.” 

“Yeah I haven’t seen Binx inside in like two months,” his roommate further adds. 

“I see him in the backyard a lot but he’s usually sitting up on the fence,” Kenma notes as he reopens the game on his stream. 

Kenma goes outside???

He went out to touch grass

Binx is such a funny name lol

He ignores their jests, running in game to play his final round of bedwars for the night. “How about a three v. three?” 

“Oh yeah you haven’t played in teams in a while have you?” 

“A couple months I think,” he responds as he selects the game. “What do we wanna play after this?” The streamer directs his gaze to the chat while he waits for his character to load into the game. 

“I was thinking something like Spiderman, or we could play Stardew with Kuro,” he adds just as he’s spawned into the map. 

“Um, hello?” His roommate’s voice is loud with disbelief. 

“Hi.” Kenma takes a moment to collect as much iron and gold he needs before sprinting to get a stone sword and some wool.

“Do I get a say in this at all?”

Kenma feels his eyebrows furrow, “You realize that you’re here solely for the viewers entertainment right?” 

He begins speed-bridging across to the emerald island as he hears his best friend scoff. “Fuck you.” 

“No thank you,” Kenma hums as he finishes off the bridge and jumps into one of the emerald spawners. 

“Sometimes I wonder why we’re friends,” while the words themselves are mean, both men know that Kuroo is entirely joking as he says it. 

Kenma subconsciously nods, “All the time.” 

He spots another player from a distance and moves to crouch behind a pile of blocks next to the spawner. “I think my strat is to just kinda run and kill everyone and let my teammates worry about the bed,” he explains. 

The player passes by then and Kenma manages to take him out within a few simple hits, as he usually does. He looks over at the chat, expecting the same praise he always receives after getting a kill but is entirely thrown off by seeing a completely random topic of conversation instead. 

AHHHHH IT’S Y/N

Most unexpected duo ever💀

I was literally watching her stream twenty minutes ago

Wtf is happening lol

“Y/N?” Kenma is more than confused at this point, completely lost as to who or what his chat is obsessing over. 

“What’s that? Is that like the name of the map or something?” 

Kenma’s in slight shock for a moment at his question because there’s no way he lives with someone as stupid as Kuroo. “You’re literally an idiot. Look at chat, dumbass.” 

He decides to start making his way back to his team’s island, building a bridge to the diamonds to collect any that spawned on his way. “Oh she’s a streamer too apparently.” 

“Oh really?” He turns his character to look in the general direction of their island just out of simple curiosity, only to see something totally unexpected. 

He watches as one of his teammate’s suddenly jumps out from behind a giant pyramid of blocks, running towards an encroaching enemy player and knocking him into the void before they’re even able to make it onto the island.

But that’s not what makes Kenma stop and stare. It’s when the player starts jumping around, punching the air and spinning in circles as they seemingly celebrate the kill, that Kenma pauses. “What the fuck are they doing,” he hears himself mutter as he finally remembers to finish bridging to their island. 

GIVE HER THE STUFF

She needs supplies to cover the beeeeedddd

Y/N kinda sweaty ngl

He blinks, “That’s Y/N?” 

He runs over to her, abiding to his chat and throwing the stuff he collected on the ground in front of her (it’s not like he’s going to need any of it anyways). But she just stares at him, and he realizes that she must be dumber than he initially thought because she definitely doesn’t know what he’s doing. 

He tries his best to non-verbally tell her to pick it up - which takes longer than Kenma would like - but she finally understands and runs forward to grab the items. “Holy shit,” he mutters to himself as he turns and sprints back the way he came. 

He decides to start getting the beds of the enemy teams and he’s in the middle of killing the last player on the purple team when he sees a highlighted message pop up in his game chat. 

“Thanks :)” 

He knocks the player off, hearing the tell-tale sound of their death as he opens game chat to look back at the message. “Shouldn’t she be paying attention to the game?” He says it like he’s annoyed, and he’s sure that it comes off that way to his viewers judging by their reactions to his words. 

But he’s almost certain that Kuroo is able to tell that he’s not (he’s the opposite really) when he teasingly says, “Aw, she said thank you Kenma.” 

“Shut up.” 

And despite always being notoriously calm on stream, Kenma’s face suddenly feels warm.

~~~

“You guys saw that right?” Kenma is in disbelief as he spectates Y/N, who’s currently just standing and not doing anything to stop the enemy player running towards her. “What the fuck is she doing now? Is her game frozen?” 

Y/N doesn’t react at all as she’s being attacked and Kenma can feel his jaw literally drop when she’s abruptly killed.

“Red Team has been eliminated!"

He sits back in his chair, his eyes wide and mouth still agape as he tries to process what just happened. 

He didn’t really care when she knocked him off the bridge, was even slightly impressed that she was willing to take down her own teammate to survive. But that all changed when she didn’t even try to fight back against the other player. 

“We just lost,” he whispers, mostly to himself, and the sentence feels foreign on his tongue. 

He can hear his roommate saying something over the headset but he can’t quite understand what it is, nor does he currently care enough to try to figure it out. 

“We lost,” he repeats, louder this time and it’s insane because he feels like laughing. 

He can feel himself grinning as his character loads back into the lobby, “I can’t believe we actually just lost.” 

And he feels almost giddy as he watches his win streak fall all the way back down to zero; because, for the first time in two years, something is different. 

And never has he ever been so happy to lose.

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658

Word Count: 2171

“Hey guys,” you smile at your webcam, “How’s everyone’s night been so far?” You adjust to get just a bit more comfortable, wrapping your favorite blanket around your legs as you observe their responses in chat. 

“Oh my god you had sushi for dinner? That sounds so good.” You lean forward to get a closer look, “Awe thank you. I tried so hard to do my makeup today,” you inform everyone when you see a compliment fly past. “It took me like four business days to finish my eyeliner,” you roll your eyes at the memory. 

You start humming softly as you read through chat, prompting everyone to start spamming for music and making you smile. “Okay okay, I get it guys I’ll put some music on.” 

You pull open Spotify, selecting one of your favorite non-copyrighted playlists, “Is that loud enough? Oh- too loud?” You turn it down by about twenty percent, “Is that better?”

You grin, letting yourself relax against the back of your chair. “I don’t really have a plan for the stream; I just wanted to kind of chat for a little bit, explain why I was in the hospital and stuff.” 

YOU WERE IN THE HOSPITAL????

You laugh when you see the message, realizing too late that you’d probably just dropped a bomb on everyone who doesn’t follow you on any of your other social media. “Oh yeah, sorry guys.” You suddenly snort, “Did someone just say I was in hospice for being dumb?” 

You shake your head subconsciously, “Even funnier though is that they’re kind of right.” 

You reach forward to grab the bottle of water resting on your desk, “Don’t worry it’s not anything serious. Like at all.” You pause to take a brief sip of the iced liquid, cringing at how cold it is when it enters your mouth. “Holy shit,” you shudder, “That was so fucking cold.” 

You take a deep breath to regain your composure.

“Anyways, so basically I fell and hit my head yesterday and my friends just wanted to take me to the hospital to make sure I didn’t get a concussion or anything. And then it turned out that I was actually - like - super dehydrated so they wanted to give me an IV drip to get some fluids in me.” You lift your water bottle pointedly, “Hence the new addition to the stream.” 

Normally you’d rarely ever have water during a stream, and if you did it was kept in a much smaller bottle. It’s different now though (your roommate made sure of that) since your current water bottle is big enough to cover your entire face if you were to hold it up. 

“But now I am a-okay and in perfect condition. Well, mostly anyways.” 

You spend some time just singing along to the music and responding to some of the messages you see in chat. You feel yourself relaxing as you talk with everyone, your tense shoulders loosening and your voice growing just a bit louder as you get more comfortable. 

You’re always nervous to stream at first, despite having done it hundreds of times by now. You don’t think you’ll ever not be nervous to be completely honest. It was such a surreal experience, to be able to be so closely connected with so many different people from so many different places, that you were terrified of ever losing it. 

“Oh my god you guys. So I made some pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips in them the other day and they are literally like the best thing I’ve probably ever baked in my life.” 

Better than your blended cookies?

You roll your eyes, “Oh ha ha; you guys act like you’ve tried it. I promise you all that it’s literally ten times better than it sounds. I’ll have to post the recipe at some point because I genuinely think a lot of you would love them.” 

I can attest to that ✋

“Sho,” you excitedly exclaim as you see your friend’s username. “You guys know Shoyo right?” You feel your head tilt, watching the varying responses flood your chat box. “Well if you don’t know who he is, he’s literally - like - famous for playing volleyball.” 

I love Hinata! I met him once and he was so nice.

You nod rapidly in agreement, “Yes! He’s seriously gotta be the nicest person I’ve ever met.” 

“Do you want to get on call with me?” You direct the question towards your close friend, subconsciously biting your lip as you await his answer. 

Still at practice unfortunately 🙁

You pout, “Oh no.” With a small sigh, “I just don’t know what to do now. You got any suggestions, chat?”

You read as many messages as you can, eyebrows furrowing further the longer you sit there. 

“I’m seeing a lot of minecraft; do we wanna play a bit of minecraft?” You hum in thought, swaying in your chair as you consider the idea. “How about Bedwars?”

Chat practically erupts at your words, capitalized letters and emotes flying by so fast that you don’t get any chance to read a single one. “Okay okay,” you laugh, “I get it.” 

You set your water bottle back down, adjusting your keyboard to sit properly before grabbing your mouse. “Let’s play some Bedwars I guess.” 

~~~

“Fuck you!” 

You groan as you release your mouse, throwing your head back in annoyance as you die yet once again. 

“How the fuck do I keep on dying? Literally what the fuck!” You chance a glance at your chat, hiding a smile at their reaction to your raging. You’ll admit it, while you are actually frustrated with the game, you’re definitely playing it up just a little bit for your audience. 

You don’t wait for the round to end after you die, leaving the game and immediately running to join another one. You’ve been playing in teams of three, hoping that having the extra assistance would help you stay alive longer. 

So far it’s proved to be completely futile. 

“We’re definitely gonna win this one you guys,” you say just as the round begins. “Me-,” you pause to look at your teammate’s usernames, “PinkyFluff_22 and Kodzuken are going to absolutely demolish everyone else.” 

What did she just sayyyyyyy 😳

I’m sorry you and WHO????

No way she’s playing with who I think she’s playing with

One in a million chance lol

Wtf

“What is everyone freaking out about?” You question as you patiently wait to collect some iron and gold, watching one of your teammates begin to cover the bed with a measly defense of red wool. “Kodzuken?”

You buy some wood and Endstone from the villager before purchasing a slightly better sword than the wooden one you were given. “Oh they stream?”

Girl 💀

How do you not know who he is?????

“Bro I don’t know,” you shrug, “I just work here okay.” 

You sprint over to the bed, breaking the wool to replace it with the Endstone, layering the wood on top, and then finally placing the wool around it again. “I guess I’ll be bed defense then,” you say as you notice that you’re the only person left on the island. 

“Oh shit someone’s coming!” You duck behind the giant cube of wool, watching the name tag get progressively closer to your island. You jump out as soon as you feel like they’re close enough, attacking the unaware oncomer and knocking them off the island within a few easy hits. 

“Fuck yeah!” You jump around excitedly, proud of the way your plan was actually successful this time. “See that? I told you I’m not bad!” 

You abruptly flinch as your character turns and comes face to face with another player. “Holy shit!” You release a sigh of relief as you realize it’s only your teammate, Kodzuken. “That scared me so bad. Oh my god,” you release your mouse briefly to place your hand on your chest. 

While you’re distracted trying to calm your heartbeat, Kodzuken suddenly stops before you. “What is he doing?” But before you even have time to be suspicious he suddenly drops a pile of diamonds and emeralds on the ground. 

You blink.

“Huh?” He looks pointedly at the gems then back up at you and back down, lightly tapping the block they’re floating on. “Is he giving them to me?” 

You glance over at your chat, your character finally going into motion when you realize they’re all screaming at you to go pick them up. “Jesus, sorry. I got them, see? Look, I’m picking them up right now.” 

You collect everything on the ground, crouching and un-crouching multiple times as a way to thank him. “Oh- shit,” you pause as a popup suddenly appears, “Stupid sticky keys!” 

By the time you manage to exit out of the window, Kodzuken is nowhere to be found. “Well,” you look at your webcam, “That was unexpected.” 

You quickly open game chat to send him a private message as fast as you possibly can. 

“Thanks :)”

It’s the best you can do with the little time you have but you hope he appreciates it nonetheless. 

“Okay, I’m gonna up our bed defense.” You repeat the earlier process all over again, only this time you add obsidian and make the outer layer made of wood. “Now that’s like literally impenetrable.” 

You upgrade your sword to a bow and arrows before purchasing some TNT and fireballs and buying the Miner’s Fatigue trap. “Now the real question is whether I try to attack the bases next to us or not.” 

Attackkkkkk

You’re gonna die

Kill them

We believe in you

“I guess it’s decided then,” you quickly shake out your hands. “Okay,” your voice fades as you run across the bridge you could only assume one of your teammate’s made. 

You’re extremely quiet as you make your way across, keeping your eyes on the island next to you and turning back every now and then to check on your own. You’re biting your lip as you slowly make your way across the rival team’s bridge, crouching the entire time to hide your name. 

You’re roughly twenty blocks away when you take the next step. Still crouching, you aim a fireball at their seemingly wool covered bed. “Yes!” You cheer as it makes its mark, blowing up the wool and revealing wood below it. 

You know that you’ve alerted the players at this point (there’s no way you haven’t) so all you can do is run into the fire. 

You’re panicking as you place some TNT around the bed, running away and into a player from the enemy team as it explodes. You use your mediocre sword to hit them away from you, mentally sighing as they get hit back enough for you to run away. “Oh my god oh my god oh my god,” you sprint towards the now revealed blue bed. 

“Blue Bed was destroyed by Soft_Paws!”

You squeal out of both fear and excitement, adrenaline racing through you as you’re attacked by two of the blue players at once. You throw a fireball at them, shouting for joy when one of them is successfully knocked off the island. 

“Holy shit!”

The next player is harder to kill, your health rapidly deteriorating as you battle with nothing but a stone sword and your adrenaline. 

You have one heart left when it finally happens.

“Ecstasy.png was killed by Soft_Paws”

“Yes!” You kick your feet out, jumping up from your chair with your excitement before remembering that you’re still in a game. “Holy fuck I did it. I actually did it, you guys!” 

She’s CRACKED

LETS GOOOO

WOOOOO

YEEEEESSSSSS

~~~

Roughly five minutes later, you’re still in the round. Everyone’s bed has been broken at this point but there are still three teams that are yet to be eliminated, yours included. 

You’re sort of just hiding at the base, watching the chaos from afar as your one and only teammate left (Kodzuken) goes on a murder spree. 

He’s running back to the team’s island when the incident occurs.

All you see is yellow leather armor and a yellow name tag, sprinting on the bridge connecting your base to the emerald island. You don’t even consider the fact that they’re currently being chased down by your teammate, you just aim. 

Your aim is exceptionally good, so good in fact that the explosion knocks off both the yellow player and Kodzuken. 

You freeze at the realization, your mouth falling open in complete horror as you piece together what you’d just done.

“I did not just do that,” you whisper, mostly to yourself as the events replay in your mind. “Oh my god,” you facepalm - forgetting (once again) that you’re still actually alive and participating in the game - and completely missing the person running towards you on the other bridge. 

You hear the sound of something being attacked, echoing through your headphones and making your eyebrows furrow with confusion. 

You abruptly gasp, but by then it’s too late. 

You’re dead. And your team has lost.

Taglist: @crazy-people-are-here, @existential-traveller, @peachesncats, @royalz658