I quickly sent Cass a few texts, and soon we had what felt like a workable plan. I’d start a Discord server for only me, Daniel, and Cass. Then Cass and I would do a duo quest and stream onto the Discord for Daniel to watch us. Maybe I’d even start a new Dark Mage character so he could understand that class. Since Daniel himself said that Discord was the only social platform he used, hopefully this solution would work for him.
Tuesday night, Daniel and I worked for half an hour over FaceTime on his calculus. He was understanding it ... sort of. I did have to explain the new concepts to him a few times, but I was getting addicted to the look on his face when the light bulb lit and he understood. It was like his already-big smile got bigger.
“Man,” he said, shaking his head as he wrote in his notebook. He’d propped up his phone on a dresser again, and I could see him sitting cross-legged on the middle of his bed with that floral bedspread. “Ireally think you should think about being a high school math teacher instead of a math computer.”
“I don’t want to be a math computer; I want to studycomputational mathematics.” My phone was propped up on my desk for our video call.
“Whatever.” He shook his head, smiling. “Well, hopefully part of that is showing others how to do complicated stuff. Because you excel at that.”
“Well, considering the next thing I’m going to be showing you is how to fit in with my friends, it’s a good thing you think I’m good at this. Are you feeling okay with the calculus for now?”
“Yes!” He exaggeratedly closed his notebook. “It’s time to learn to nerd!”
I laughed. “Yeah. We have a lot to go over.”
“I’m ready. You have no idea how much time you’ve freed up for me. This homework would have taken me three hours if I had to figure it out on my own,” he said. “Okay, what first? Do I need to dress like a vampire when I come to this party? I have a black Toronto Maple Leafs T-shirt somewhere. I much prefer the traditional blue but—”
“No. No sports shirts. No jerseys. No hockey T-shirts.”
“What about soccer?”
“Do you wear soccer shirts?”
“I’m literally wearing a Toronto FC shirt right now.” He pointed to it. “The team is awesome.”
I shook my head. “No sports. I already got you aDragon Arenashirt. And you’ll need to be able to talk about your fandoms.”
“Fandoms.” He shook his head. “LikeStar Warsor some shit? Honestly, I’m not really into light swords or lasers.”
I closed my eyes. This was going to be harder than I thought. “Lightsabers.”
He shook his head, disappointed. “I was making ajoke. I know they’re called lightsabers. I may not be intoStar Wars, but I am a human being living in this century.”
I exhaled. “Okay, soStar Warsisn’t your fandom. Is there a fandom youareinto? Like me ... I likeStar Wars, but I’m also intoDoctor Whoand She-Ra. And I like anime.”
“You’re, like, seventeen, and you still watch cartoons?”
“Yes. Now, there must besomethingyou like.” I crossed my legs on my desk chair. “Lord of the Rings,Game of Thrones, MCU?”
“What’s MCU?”
“Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Marvel movies.”
“Ah, like Avengers and Superman.”
I shook my head. “Superman is DC. But yes, like the Avengers. Although DC would work, too. You into Batman?”
“No, but I’ve seen some of the Avengers movies. They’re fun. Would this Marvel stuff be nerdy enough for your friends?”
I shook my head, laughing. What was I doing? This conversation was surreal. “Yeah, it would be fine. It’s not like a super hard-core obscure fandom, but it works. If anyone asks, you’re really into the MCU. Read the MCU Wiki, pick a favorite character and movie, and learn as much as you can about it. If anyone asks you something you don’t know, we’ll deflect.Dragon Arenais your main fandom, with a side of MCU. You’ll need to know more aboutDragon Arena.”
“Okay. Should I start a character?”
“There’s no point. You’re supposed to be a level-fifty Dark Mage, and you’ll never get that far. We just have to make peoplethinkyou play. Cass and I are going to do a duo quest and stream it live onto a private Discord channel so you can watch us.”
He shrugged. “Okay. Sounds like a plan. When are we doing this?”
I couldn’t tonight—I had an English essay due tomorrow. “When can you do it? Tomorrow night?”
