Phantom had an air of mystery to her. You don’t know where the Director found her and she never made it a habit to disclose her life before becoming a rogue. Trench and the Director were the only ones that knew, and she planned on keeping it that way.

Keyword: planned .

Your first attempt was short and sweet. It wasn’t an actual attempt but something more along the lines of being reminded of your plan when she asked where you were heading off to.

“Lancer and I are about to play some Apex.”

“Oh.”

“We...could use a third...if you’re interested.”

Phantom looked past you and focused more on the direction you were going as if she was trying to envision going with you before she scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Really? You spend your downtime playing video games like a child?” She mocked. Her mouth stretched slightly into a condescending grin.

“It is called downtime for a reason.”

“Whatever...I’ve got better things to do than that.” She then turned and walked off. Nose pointed up to amplify the snootiness of it all.

Other Rogues would’ve felt their egos bruised, especially the more childish ones. You, on the other hand, it didn’t phase you. On and off the battlefield, Phantom always gave off this cocky vibe. It wasn’t like she could never back up her attitude though. You never wanted to end up on the wrong end of her scope.

Something else about her stand-off-ish-ness felt artificial, though. Like she was devoiding herself of pleasure and fun. It’s what made the plan exciting.

‘Maybe she’s not used to being invited to things.’ You thought.

First attempt: fail.

💞💞💞

Second attempt: initiate.

The next try was when you, Phantom, Switchblade, and Dallas were deployed for an extraction mission. While the cowboy was asleep, you and Switchblade were discussing your gaming plans for when you got back to base.

“Nah,” Switchblade drawled. “I don’t feel like playing with some random idiot who rushes in alone.”

You chuckled. “Then we’ll play some DBD.”

“Nope.”

You scoffed and rolled your eyes. “Come on, dude.”

“I’m only playing when we have a full-stack.”

“Well, we could probably get Glitch to play.” You turned your attention to Phantom, catching her looking in your direction.

The brunette slightly jumped and turned away with a scared expression. Her eyes darting a bit.

“Phantom?”

“Not interested.” There was her usual stand-offish tone.

While you smirked, Switchblade didn’t take too kindly to the response.

“No one wanted to play with you anyway…” She thought of an insult but groaned when nothing stinging coming to mind for Phantom. “Whatever.” Sitting back with her arms crossed.

“It’ll be fun~. You play as a survivor and have to escape a killer.”

“And how is that supposed to be fun?”

“It’s the thrill. The adrenaline.”

Phantom raised her eyebrows as she pointed towards her sniper rifle. “Uh...hello?”

“Ok, it almost carries the same adrenaline, I promise it’ll be fun.”

“Don’t waste your time, Y/N. Prissy Pants is too good to play with the likes of us.” Switchblade droned.

“Wanna prove her wrong?’ You asked, trying to lure her into saying yes.

Much like the first time, she thought about it but shook her head. “I’ve got better things to do.”

You shrugged, leaning back against the seat. “Alright.”

Second attempt: fail.

💞💞💞

Final attempt: commence.

Later that night, most of everyone was tucked away in their rooms. Sometime during the night, your stomach began growling, waking you up from a well-earned sleep. Figuring you could simply snag something sweet to eat and something cool to drink, you walked past the recreational room.

“Come on…”

It was low but you were sure you heard someone messing around with something by the set of TVs you and the others played on. You quietly entered the room as to not alert the person of your presence. Inching closer to the couch, there Phantom was seated on the floor sitting cross-legged in a large t-shirt that reached down to her thighs with her hair down from its usual buns. There she was, fiddling with the PlayStation wires in an attempt to get it connected to the television.

“Do you need some help?” You asked, causing her to jump and drop the cable in her hand.

“Jeez! You scared the hell out of me!” She placed a hand over her heart to help calm the beating. “What are you doing up, anyway?”

You giggled, sitting on the couch. “I could ask you the same thing. Whatcha doing~?”

She sent a glare back at you before rolling her eyes and continuing messing with the wires. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Trying to plug both ends of the HDMI wire into the PlayStation.”

“Don’t be a smart ass.”

“Hey, you asked.” You replied, throwing your hands up in defense. “You know...you could’ve just asked. I would’ve been happy to help you. ”

You moved from your seated position and kneeled by Phantom, missing her gaze as you gently took the wire from her hand, plugging one end into the PS4 and getting up to plug the other one into the back of the side the TV. You then grabbed the power cord and plugged it into the outlet before placing the PS4 box on the TV stand next to another. The final step was picking up one of the controllers and handing it to Phantom, who had moved from her spot on the floor to the middle of the couch. She sheepishly took the controller, looking over it like it was a foreign object to her.

“Press the big circle button in the middle.” You instructed, to which she did.

Meanwhile, you grabbed the television remote, changing the channel to the correct input, and sat next to her, not noticing how she stiffened up a bit.

“So…what do you wanna play?”

“Oh um…I was thinking of playing that one game that you were talking about before?”

“Dead by Daylight?”

“No, the other one…with the shooting?”

“Apex?”

You leaned in closer to her, the proximity causing your face to heat up a bit as you opened the game for her. The two of you sat there in awkward silence as you waited for the game to load up.

Phantom looked over the buttons. “So how do I play?”

You giggled. Taking the controller and taking her to the shooting range before handing it back.

“You’re on my account, so you’ll have access to all of the characters. Here you can try out the guns and the characters’ different abilities.”

“They have abilities?”

“Yeah, why don’t you choose one and I’ll show you.”

Phantom had a cute curious expression on her face as she cycled through the characters before stopping on the teleporting goddess herself, Loba.

She smiled. “I like her.”

“She’s cute, right?”

“Yeah. What does she do?”

“Well, her tactical ability lets her throw her bracelet and teleport.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, try it.”

As Phantom messed around with the ability, you happily watch her get into it. An open smile on her as she perfected her throw and landed where she wanted to go, even bettering the wait time and the get the more accurate location.

“So what does her ultimate do?”  She asked you.

“Basically, she’s like a roaming shop. Kind of like Runway...only better.”

Phantom raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Oh yeah?”

“Yup! Once she opens up her black market, all the loot around the area is up for grabs. Though you can only take two weapons and that includes explosives. Bullets, on the other hand, you can take until your backpack is full.”

“Cool.” She looked on in amazement as the light from Loba’s cane emitted a bright flash upon being planted. “What about something offensive?”

“Well, she’s more of a support type. There are characters with more offensive abilities if you prefer them.”

She shook her head. “Not yet. I wanna see the guns!”

For the next few minutes, you showed Phantom the ropes and watched as she experimented with the different guns. Surprise, surprise, she showed the most love to the sniper rifle class of weapons. Particularly, the Triple Take and the Sentinel. She shrugged with a smirk when you expressed how unsurprised you were. She was ready to move on to an actual match.

“You can slide to move faster and make sure you stay with your squad!”

“I got it!”

“Don’t waste your ult!”

“I know! You only told me like five times!” The pinging sound played, which confused her. “What’s that noise? It’s getting on my nerves.”

“It’s your teammates pinging an enemy.”

“Well, I need them to shut the hell up. Can’t focus and I’m not blind!”

You laughed. “Aww, you’re getting angry at your teammates online for the first time. First of many.”

“Ugh! And this is fun to you? I feel like I’m getting a migraine.”

“Watch out for those canisters ahead!”

“What do they do?”

“It’s an enemy’s toxic gas, it’ll deal a lot of damage if you run into it.”

“Oh...scanned? What?”

“That was an enemy scan. They know where you are.”

“Fuck.”

And this continued for a few minutes.

By the time she was tuckered out, it was around 3 in the morning. The brunette let out a heavy yawn as she stretched her arms before flopping back against the couch’s back cushions. You were leaning forward with a smirk, satisfied that so many (few) attempts finally yielded a success.

“So?” You spoke.

She looked at you with both eyebrows raised, lost on what you wanted before realizing. “I guess…video games are kinda fun.”

“Have I ever steered you wrong? I’m so glad too, I’ve got SO many games for you to try!”

“Woah! This was enough for one week.”

“Aww come on! You have to try something else.”

“That was enough adrenaline for me.”

“There are other games, y’know?”

She paused her movement. “What kind of games?”

“Games like…” You tilted your head in thought. Phantom thought it was cute, like a thoughtful puppy. “Mario Party...Mario Kart--”

“Who the hell is Mario?”

You giggled. “Babe...it’s not important. There’s also Just Dance and Animal Crossing and...Stardew Valley.” You gasped in realization. “We could be a gay farming couple?”

“Farming?”

You nodded.

“And you have fun with that?”

You nodded. “There’s also fishing and mining and you can even battle some monsters in the mines. It’s SO fun! Wanna try?”

Phantom glanced between you and the television before sitting back on the couch. “Maybe just for a little bit.”