As long as he stayed away from my female.
Kassie blew a raspberry and slammed her hand down on the table. “TeaBag, you are just hilarious. But I would take it easy and stop stressing so much, you will lose even more hair if you keep worrying about the time.”
Fenwick grabbed the top of his head and felt his hairline. He narrowed his eyes. “Har, har, you are so funny. For your information, I have a very strict hair regimen, and my hair follicles are spectacular.”
A laugh caught in my throat, turning into a cough that sent Skittles flying from the bowl Kassie and I had been sharing. The chat lit up with laughing emojis, and I tried not to straight-up panic, in mortification.
By the grace of Night I was able to say, “I’m far too clumsy to be around masculinity this fragile.”
One by one, the other gamers in our video chat erupted with laughter, their faces lighting up our screen. Somethingunfamiliar bloomed in my chest, a pleasant flutter of acceptance I rarely experienced outside of moments with Kassie.
I made a fucking joke!
Kassie turned to me, beaming with pride, mouthing an “I love you. So proud of you.” Her hand reached over and lay on my leg. “You’re so hot when you take down the enemy like that,” she said.
Fenwick scoffed. “I’m not the enemy today, I’m on your side, ye one with grass highlights for hair.”
Kassie's lips curled into that particular smile, the one that meant trouble. I recognized it immediately. She was about to unleash one of those bizarre ideas that only ever seemed to strike her mid-shampoo, those post-shower proclamations that left me wondering if the steam had temporarily rewired her brain.
“You know, speaking of grass, did you know that grass is kind of like the pubes of the Earth?”
The whole chat groaned; several heads fell to their desks. I cracked up beside her.
****
Several hours into the game, our raid party had fallen into a chaotic rhythm. Commands flew across the voice chat, while our fingers danced over keyboards and controllers. As the designated healer, I had the simplest job: keep everyone alive. Though everyone understood my priority was always Kassie. This whole event was her brainchild anyway, a clever strategy to boost visibility for the supernatural streamers in our community who were still building their audiences.
While Fenwick maintained his human appearance on camera, the flick of his tail occasionally betrayed him in the background. The lycanthrope's headphones nestled awkwardly against his fur, though viewers seemed to find the combination endearing. Byron struggled with his massive minotaur horns knocking against his microphone, yet somehow managed his controllerwith surprising dexterity. The phantom drew the most criticism—forced to drape himself in a sheet to avoid revealing too much of the game through his translucent form, chat mercilessly mocked what they assumed was a bargain-bin cosplay effort.
Kassie still had other monsters to help with their systems at home, but overall, this cosplay night was a success.
“Fuck! It got me!” Kassie threw her controller onto the desk and crossed her arms. I tried my best not to look at her breasts that seemed to look extra… nice.
How long has it been since we mated?
Three hours? It was such a long time.
I shifted in my seat and healed another player.
Fenwick tilted his chin and snapped his fingers. “Hey, Mothman, you wanna come over and heal me? I swear it’s like you don’t like me.”
This little shit talks a big game, but in front of me, he pisses his pants.
A rumble vibrated through my chest as I navigated my character across the screen. From the corner of my eye, I caught Kassie's subtle movements beside me, but forced my attention back to the raid. Every instinct screamed to track her every breath, but I had teammates depending on me… even if one was Fenwick.
She does like it when I do light stalking. I'd fly overhead in town, my wings casting flickering shadows across the cobblestones as she’d walk between storefronts or visit Elowyn at the pharmacy. I’d track her scent until she wandered toward the forest edge. That was when I’d dive, the wind whistling through my antennae, swooping down to catch her in my arms with a playful growl that’d make her squeal and melt against me, her pulse quickening beneath my touch in that way that drives me wild.
Damnit, I was getting hard.
“Going codematcheveryone, codematch,” Fenwick said, and I snapped out of my trance.
“What code is that? What formation, I don’t know that!” I said in a panic.
I felt something warm on my inner thigh, and I squeaked in surprise.
Please, no.
Kassie hummed. “It’s your turn, Atlas.”
