Chapter 14 #2
Enzo couldn’t imagine that. It wasn’t like he hadn’t played video games.
He’d grown up playing GTA and Mortal Kombat with his brothers.
Hell, he still played things like Madden and even Call of Duty when he had time, but he never talked about it like Seven was.
To Enzo, it was just a game. Seven talked about it like it was a lifeline.
The idea of a baby Seven playing this game with such fervor that the world noticed was so adorable Enzo wanted to squeeze him until he popped.
“If it’s like D&D, does that mean you create your own characters? Storylines? Stuff like that?” he asked, drawing on what little he remembered of the game.
Seven leaned back, screwing up his face like he was deep in thought.
Finally, he said, “Imagine a video game where you’re dropped into a high-fantasy world full of knights, dragons, magic, monsters…
moral choices. You can build your hero from the ground up, just like in any D&D game.
” Life was starting to return to Seven’s voice, his words coming a little faster.
“But there are set players, too, like a cast you can interact with. You can even play as those characters if you want.”
“Which did you choose?”
Seven’s gaze floated away from Enzo’s, almost like he was embarrassed.
“I play as an origin character—Rowan Thorn Vale. He's one of the pre-made mains. The devs wrote this whole backstory for him. He’s a ranger from the cursed Greenwood, his dad’s a knight who abandoned him, and he’s got this whole brooding ‘hero-who-never-asked-for-this’ vibe. ”
“Dad who abandoned him, huh? Sounds familiar,” Enzo said softly.
Seven gave a humorless laugh. “Yeah, he spoke to me as a kid. We both had daddy issues.”
“You didn’t change anything?”
“Not the core stuff. His race, his voice, his past. You can change his class or stats if you want, but his story stays the same. It’s nice to…live inside someone else’s emotional trauma for a while.”
“And you’ve kept him all this time?” Enzo asked.
“The fans…our watchers,” Seven mumbled. “They kind of ship me with another origin character.”
“Ship?”
Seven nodded. “There’s a…romance thing that plays out in our adventures.”
Enzo felt his face fall. “A romance? With another player?”
Seven rolled his eyes. “Not another player, another origin character. Ser Thalos. They like watching our interactions.”
“Are you cheating on me with a fictional character?” Enzo teased.
Seven snorted. “Shut up.”
“Did the others make up their own characters?” Enzo asked, genuinely curious about the inner workings of Seven’s friend group.
Seven shrugged. “It varies. Weirdly, we all fall back to a specific class. Arsen is almost always a paladin, Levi a rogue, Nico sometimes switches it up, but is usually a barbarian. We’ve just been playing this game for so long we’re all kind of set in our ways, I guess. We always follow the same pattern.”
“Like you falling in love with this…Ser Thalos every time?”
He could always tell when Seven was embarrassed or horny because the tips of his ears turned bright red like a beacon. Like now.
Enzo didn’t understand any of this, but he found himself mildly irritated that he was competing against Seven’s fictional love interest. Still, it was clear this game meant a lot to him. “I want to watch you play sometime.”
Seven’s eyes went wide. “You do?”
“Yeah. Why? Can I not? Do you not want your fictional boyfriend to know about your real one?” Enzo teased.
“You sound jealous,” Seven shot back, a smile playing at his lips.
“Oh, I am,” Enzo promised. “But it seems important to you.”
Seven nodded. “It is. We were trying to get tickets to see the voice actors play D&D live on stage, but it sold out in seconds.”
Enzo’s eyes went wide. “Seconds? Really?”
Seven snickered. “You really don’t understand anything about fandom culture. I really wanted to go. I mean, we all did. But I…” He trailed off, his ears darkening to scarlet once more. “Never mind.”
“Oh, no. No way. You…what?” Enzo prodded, dying to know what it was that had Seven looking so embarrassed.
Once more, Seven’s gaze drifted from his. “When I was like…twelve, I wrote a letter to the actor who voices Ser Thalos and he wrote me back. I kind of hoped I could meet him, to show it to him, to see if he remembered me. It’s…stupid.”
“That’s…so cute,” Enzo said begrudgingly. “So, you’re gonna play tonight?”
Seven sighed heavily. “You know I can’t.”
Enzo frowned. “I do? Why can’t you play?”
Seven gave him a pained look. “How would I? My laptop can’t run a game like Paladin.
The lag would get us killed. I need my PC, and since Jericho and Freckles couldn’t even get close enough to my place to get my clothes, I doubt they’ll be able to snag my whole set-up.
Besides, I wouldn’t ask them to go to that kind of trouble. ”
Enzo frowned. “Are there computers just for gaming? Like pre-made ones?”
“Mine’s custom, but yeah. You just have to have power, the right graphics card, stuff like that. We stream for extra money, so our set-ups are a little more elaborate, but you could walk into any electronics store and buy a decent system in a pinch. Why? You gonna start gaming?”
Enzo poked him in the belly. “Are you saying I’m too old to game?”
This time, it was Seven who cupped Enzo’s face, leaning in to ghost his lips over the older man’s. “I think you’ve played enough games.”
“Yeah?” Enzo’s tongue traced the seam of Seven’s lips until he opened for him.
Seven sighed into the kiss, tongue sliding over his. “Mm,” he said between kisses. “You’re benched. Or whatever sports metaphor you prefer. You’re all mine. No more games.”
The buzzing of Enzo’s landline had them both jumping back guiltily, then laughing when they made eye contact. Enzo wrapped an arm around Seven so he didn’t fall from his lap as he reached forward and pressed the speaker button.
“Morning, sunshine,” he said by way of greeting, well aware of who was at the other end of the conversation.
Drucilla ignored him. “I booked out the meeting room for ten o’clock. I’m assuming pastries are fine?”
“Yeah, as long as they’re from the Italian bakery on the corner. You know how picky my mother is.”
Your mother? Seven mouthed. Enzo held up a finger, letting him know he’d explain in a moment.
“Yeah, she’s almost as big a pain in the ass as you are,” Drucilla said, voice completely devoid of emotion.
“Oh, while I have you. I need you to draft a discovery motion for the case I forwarded you last night.”
“You want me to push aside everything else for this?” she asked.
Talking to her was like talking to a slightly less life-like chatbot. “Yes. This case is priority one.”
“‘Kay,” she said, then hung up.
“She’s definitely going to poison your coffee later,” Seven commented, tone conversational.
“That’s one of the many reasons I wouldn’t ask her—or anyone, for that matter—to make me coffee,” Enzo countered. “I’m not making an assassination attempt that easy on anyone.”
“Why is your mother coming?” Seven asked.
“Our mothers are coming. I need to have a little fact-finding session with your mother, and of course, my mother is coming along as her muscle so I remember exactly what’s at stake.
” Enzo’s gaze dropped to Seven’s lips before he dragged him in for another slow, thorough kiss.
“As if I need reminding,” he said when they parted.
Seven sighed dreamily, eyelids slightly heavier and cock half-hard against Enzo’s.
When he stood, Enzo started to protest, but he simply turned around before returning to Enzo’s lap.
He then watched Seven type in his password at his computer, his brows shooting up in surprise. “How do you know my password?”
Seven snorted, giving him a look like he was stupid. “‘Cause you stuck it to the inside of your desk drawer on a sticky note, genius. I go in there every day to return your cup.”
Enzo’s face grew hot. He’d forgotten about that. “Oh, right.”
Seven reached for the mouse, navigating to the search engine.
Enzo frowned. “What are you doing?”
“Just being nosey,” Seven said. “My mom had to fire someone a while ago before she was promoted. Maybe they decided to get even?”
“Do you know why she fired him?”
“Kind of? He only got the job as a favor to a donor. He was the son of one of his employees or something. A friend of a friend of a friend kind of thing. Mom didn’t want to hire him because he was cocky. She said he gave her the ick.”
“The ick?” Enzo echoed.
“Yeah, she said he was slimy. My mom already feels uncomfortable with men working for the program in any capacity. She says there’s just too much room for someone to take advantage of women who are already in a vulnerable position.
But the executive director out-voted her.
The guy only lasted a few months, though, because, just like she thought, he was a creep and was trying to harass the women in the program. ”
“Do you remember his name?”
“Mason? Marcus? Marco? Something like that. I’m hoping maybe they never updated the staff section of the website once he left. They’ve been having trouble keeping IT guys,” Seven said distractedly.
Enzo rolled the chair closer to the desk.
Seven laughed as he crushed him against it to peek over his shoulder.
This time, it was Enzo who couldn’t stop himself from running his nose along the soft skin of Seven’s throat.
Seven’s shoulders came up with a giggle.
“Stop, that tickles. I can’t concentrate. ”
“Sorry,” Enzo murmured, switching from lips to teeth, biting down, dragging a filthy moan from Seven before he clamped his lips shut.
Seven craned his head around to glare over his shoulder. Enzo gave him his most innocent expression. “What?”
Seven huffed in exasperation, then turned back to the website. “Shit. Figures, the one time they were actually on top of things. He’s not listed.”