Seven’s heart tripped in his chest. Fuck, he loved that man.
Enzo was being weird. He’d been oddly twitchy since the meeting with their moms. While they spent the afternoon attempting to run down the names of some of the women—the few his mother could remember by name—Enzo kept stopping to covertly check his phone. If Seven was less trusting, he’d think Enzo was stupid enough to cheat on him, but he knew he’d never be that stupid.
But it did beg the question: who was on the other side of that text chain?
After work, Enzo insisted on taking him shopping. Phillip, it turned out, was the personal shopper at the department store inside the mall on the nice side of town near Enzo’s penthouse. For two hours, Seven was forced to try on outfit after outfit while Enzo sat splayed on the sofa, legs wide, arms resting on the back, like he was hoping Seven would say fuck it and just fall to his knees right there.
He considered it—anything to be done with this shopping situation. They left with four bags of off-the-rack couture and a promise that the rest would be delivered. Enzo wouldn’t allow Seven to know the cost, but there was no way it was less than twenty thousand dollars. Enzo acted like it was a trip to the second hand store.
After shopping, he took Seven to a nice restaurant where he drank a little too much wine. Just enough to be tipsy, but not enough to be drunk. It was nice, kind of like a real first date. After their meal, Enzo finally agreed to take him home. Usually, Seven would be streaming with his friends in an hour or two, but tonight, he would have to settle for a shower and hot sex with his much older boyfriend.
In the elevator, Enzo’s fingers tapped out a beat at the small of Seven’s back, his gaze on the ceiling, like he was afraid to make eye contact.
“Why are you acting so weird?” Seven asked as the car ascended towards the top floor.
“What? I’m not. How am I acting weird?” Enzo countered, his voice an octave higher than normal.
Seven narrowed his eyes. “That. That right there. You’re hiding something, I know it.” The elevator dinged, letting them know they’d arrived on their floor. He scoffed. “Saved by the bell.”
When they stepped off the elevator, the apartment was eerily dark. Even when they’d fallen asleep last night, there had been a dim glow of a lamp from downstairs. But now, the only glow came from a strange throbbing neon green in the office.
“Uh, I think someone landed a spaceship in your office,” Seven joked, even though he found the light a little unsettling.
Enzo snickered, taking Seven’s hand and dragging him towards the light. Once they reached the office, Enzo flipped the switch, then stood back, letting Seven look his fill.
“What did you do?” he asked, breathless.
Someone had rearranged the office so that Enzo’s desk now faced out towards the night sky and a new desk was left in its place. On the wall behind the desk was the source of the glow—ten hexagonal-shaped lights strewn about the wall. The chair was black leather with a padded headrest and arms, and there were not one but three separate monitors sitting on the desk’s surface.
“Now, I don’t know much about computers, but the twins do,” Enzo said. “But if there’s something you don’t like, we can change it. Okay?”
Seven didn’t answer, just floated closer to the desk. His heart was in his throat, his hands trembling slightly as he ran his fingers over the keys. They were decked out with things like pixelated swords and shields. Seven picked up the piece of paper that was sitting on the desk beside the mouse. It was a typed message in font just large enough to feel threatening.
Seven,
Welcome to your new command center. Don’t freak out (actually, do). Here’s what you’ve got:
4090 beast build w/ custom loop & aurora coolant. She purrs like a panther and runs your Arthurian sim at ultra with RTX maxed out. Go ahead. Try to make her sweat. You won’t.
128GB RAM because we could, not because you’ll ever need it (unless you open 300 tabs while live streaming in 4K, which you should).
Triple-monitor spread with the G9 ultra-wide in the middle. Cinematic enough to make Rowan Thorn Vale cry.
Custom keyboard with hot-swaps and silent reds (for your rage control). We mapped macros for your favorite combos. Check the cheat sheet in the drawer.
Shure SM7B mic and full mixer set-up.
Your controller is pressure-sensitive and personalized. Try the D-pad. We might’ve added a surprise.
Nanoleaf panels sync to ambient game music. You’re literally mood-lit now.
Fridge stocked. Snacks sorted. RGB everything. We even gave your bot a British accent. You’re welcome.
P.S. Boot-up line is your Rowan voice clip from that secret Season 1 side quest. Yes, we ripped the files. No, don’t ask how.
P.P.S. Enzo has no idea what any of this means. Do NOT let him near the mixer. Or the coolant valves. Seriously.
Love,
