who_is_she

lfg

It was a Friday night, and Denver was rushing home, not to get ready to go out again and go to a bar or hang out with friends, at least not hang out with any friends in person. He was rushing home because his guild was having an event, and he had to rush home to get there in time. He hurried off the bus and up the two blocks to his small apartment building, up the creaky stairs and then unlocking his front door and letting himself in. He has to change out of his work clothes and into something more comfortable, and then feed his fish and himself, and by the time he was ready to sit down at his computer it was almost time for the event.

He pulled on his headset and fired up his computer, starting up the game, his knee jiggling a little in excitement. Truth be told, he wasn't particularly excited for the event he'd done many times before, but rather because he knew Nico would be joining him tonight. They often did things like this, Skyping while they played and having their own little conversations even while they interacted with the rest of their guildmates.

As soon as the game loads in, he logs onto his first character and opens up the chat to say Hello, everyone, in their guild chat-- even as he was inviting Nico specifically to a private party.

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Nico was seated on the floor of his dorm room with his laptop. It was the weekend, and his roommate was out with friends, and he'd been waiting around since classes let out for Denver to come online. He grins when his name pops up on his friends list, and goes to invite him to a private party, only to see that Denver has already opened one.

Hi :D, he types in their private chat, as he moves his character to where Denver's was on the world map. He waves at him when he finds him standing in a small group of people from their guild.

Are u still want to RP after the raid? he asks, then, before he gets a reply, adds, I can talk on the mic too. My roommate is gone. :P

He always got a little nervous about talking on the mic when he played games, but he liked talking to his friends from his guild, and Denver especially. They had started micing back when a few of them decided to play a co-op shooter game together, and, after the others had gotten bored of it, he and Denver had kept playing on their own. Now, Nico called him whenever he got the chance, which was often, because his popular party-boy roommate was hardly ever around and didn't pay him much attention.

Yes Denver types immediately, then realizes there were two questions there, Yes to both, I mean, he adds. He finds himself smiling over the keyboard, endeared by Nico's words on his screen, and clicks over to open up Skype and start up a call.

"Hello," he says when the call connects, talking in his usual monotone, "How was school today?" He'd found himself recently looking forward to spending time with Nico more than anything else, and greatly enjoyed the way their characters interacted and seemed to click with one another, it was quite unlike anything Denver had known, online or off. Particularly with the addition of romance, something Denver had never delved into in his time in the roleplay guild, but somehow it just seemed to happen between their characters, and they both agreed the romantic tension was there. Denver had been extremely wary to explore it, but it turned out feeling so natural and easy, and their characters just clicked together. It was somewhat extraordinary to think about at times, and Denver felt lucky to experience a close friendship like this for the first time.

"It was okay," Nico says in his thickly accented voice, finding it a little harder to speak in English than to write in it but bearing with it because he enjoyed the sound of his friend's voice, "I left my art supplies in my room and I had to borrow from the girl who sits in front of me again. She got kind of mad at me I think. It was kind of boring other than that. Oh, except in my class early this morning my history professor, the one who is a very old man, he fell asleep at his desk in the middle of talking. This guy in the front row had to go wake him up."

He laughs a little, clearing his throat as he sorts through his character's inventory to make space to collect loot in the dungeon. He'd brought one of his first characters, an illusionist named Domingo, who he'd recently been roleplaying a crime drama plot with one of Denver's characters, along with a few other people in the guild. Mostly, they'd been writing back and forth one-on-one, and Nico was playing him in the hopes they could pick up on it again tonight after the raid.

"Er, how was work?" he asks, missing a beat, "Lots of fun cubicle stuff, huh?"

Denver chuckles a little at Nico's stories of college, shaking his head a little. Even though mostly Nico had amusing stories to share about his time at college, Denver got the feeling that he wasn't doing well there, and Denver didn't envy him. He was glad he'd been able to get a job good enough to live on without ever going to college. His grade had never been good enough to get him into a good college in any case.

"Oh, yeah, lots. I entered about a year of handwritten payroll reports into spreadsheets," he says, knowing Nico will get a kick out of it, though he actually enjoyed his job. There were no surprises, and the only people he had to interact with were his boss and a few coworkers, and even then he didn't have to talk to them about things that weren't work-related. The work was repetitive and mindless but it made sense to him, and he was comfortable there.

The raid goes off without a hitch, and afterwards they stand around with their guildmates, congratulating each other on their loot and chatting idly, but gradually everyone trickles off to do their own thing, leaving Nico and Denver on their own.

"Shall we pick up where we left off?" he says to Nico, making his character, Azoychka, wave at Nico's. They had just reached the climax of the plot they'd been working on, and Denver's character was on his way to save the life of his partner, Nico's character, who had been kidnapped by bandits.

"Sure!" Nico says eagerly, unable to keep from grinning to himself, "Where do you want to go for the bandit thing? Frostwall has some bandits, and they have that little cave hideout. Deepholm does too. And Deldrimor. Any one of those?"

He moves to the bank, and starts putting away the loot he'd found on their raid.

"Let's do Deldrimor, actually, they have that underground area full of bandits," he says, before warping to the closest point he had to the area and moving his character into position.

"That works," he says, warping into the area and moving his character in position at the head of the bandit hideout. He fought his way through the bandits to the place where Nico's character was, pausing in the room with his greatsword drawn.

Domingo! he types in their party chat, then has his character walk forward and kneel at Domingo's side, Are you all right? Are you hurt? I have some potions. He has his character drop an area of healing, admitting to himself at least that in this particular situation, his character would be very upset and emotional at the near loss of his partner.

I'll be all right, now that you're here. My leg maybe is broken, though, Nico writes, picking up a pencil that was sitting on the floor next to his computer and chewing on it; writing still made him a little fidgety, particularly with this character, for some reason, though he didn't know what he had to be nervous about.

I'm sorry, he writes, before having Domingo "laugh bitterly" in the emotes, I...did not think you would come for me. I should have listened to you. You were right about everything. I cannot do these things alone, even though I think you play too much by the rules.

Of course I'd come for you, he types, smiling a little to himself, emoting his character healing Domingo's injury, You're my... friend.

It's not difficult to draw these particular emotions from his own experience, as his friendship with Nico had often been confusing and bizarre solely because Denver didn't have much experience with friendship.

Azoychka looks up, removing his helmet to see his partner more clearly, he types, quickly flipping open the inventory panel to hide his character's helmet, "You were not wrong about everything. I would not have made it this far without your disguise. I know I can be a little... tightly wound. I thought I would find you in a worse state, and I regretted not... Appreciating what a good partner you've been to me. I would miss you dearly if you were gone."

To his own deep confusion, Nico feels his ears growing hot as he pictures the scene in his head, the dashing soldier removing his helmet and freeing his long, flowing hair as he looks into his partners eyes, and he clears his throat as quietly as he can before typing his reply.

"I feel the same way about you," he begins to type, but backspaces quickly and folds his hands as he reconsiders.

"Well, I'm glad you won't have to miss me," Domingo laughs, looking into his partner's eyes for the first time since he had arrived he writes instead "The afterlife would not be complete without you, anyway, my friend."

He hits send, then bites his lip, and he can feel his heart beating against his ribs.

"Um, Denver," he says, his voice cracking a little over the microphone, "Can I ask you...is this, like...gay?"

He chokes a little on the last word, and feels as though his eyes are starting to water.

Denver feels a curious flutter in his gut at Nico's response, and hesitates when Nico mentions it to him. Nico had made comments in the past about being straight, or looking for a girlfriend, and Denver wondered if Nico was going to back out of this emotionally-charged situation.

"Do you mean like, the characters, or us?" he asks, licking his lips, unaccountably nervous suddenly, "Because... I can't deny that Azoychka has deep feelings for Domingo, possibly bordering on love. And, as for us... Well, it's just the characters... right?"

Nico swallows hard. All his life, he had only ever had one other person express to him personally that they didn't think that being gay was shameful. Everyone who had ever been close to him had treated the subject with disdain at best, and he had sometimes even echoed their opinions himself in their company, even though it gave him a sick feeling in his gut and their words would ring in his head for days. But here, his good friend, arguably his best friend, was telling him it was okay, at least in a fictional context.

"I...yes," he says, letting out his breath slowly and keeping his voice steady with tremendous effort, "That is...true, I guess. Domingo I think feels the same, I can...be open minded to this. Um. We can. Keep going, like this, it's...your turn...now."

"Yeah, all right," Denver says, still a little unsure himself, but comforted and reassured by the steadiness in Nico's voice. Denver had never really examined his own sexuality in any depth, and had assumed the straight identity because it was easier and safer, and he'd never really followed the arguments within his family against being free with your sexuality.

After a little more discussion, Denver has his character kiss Nico's, and again he has to fight down a strange and excited little flutter in his gut.

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