Chapter 21
Rohan
Ican’t believe I had sex with Tyson. I mean, he gave me a handjob that night.
Does that count as sex? Does fingering me count?
I think it does. Something’s wrong with me.
It’s the game. This is all some weird dream.
Why am I dreaming of Tyson Moon fingering me into complete delirium?
I don’t fucking know. But it’s the only explanation for what’s been going on.
We decide to camp out at the hot spring map for the night cause you know, I was so busy sucking dick and getting fingered that night kinda crept up on us.
We’re lying under the stars on the blanket I brought.
Tyson gave me his cape to stay warm, though I told him I don’t fucking want it.
He just threw it at me, turned over, and went to bed.
Any other time, I could probably easily let the rushing water nearby lull me to sleep.
This is the perfect campsite. But my thoughts are consumed with Tyson.
Me with Tyson in my mouth, me with Tyson in me.
How much Tyson’s dad sucks and how much he doesn’t deserve any of that.
Ugh. I can’t take it. No, it’s definitely just the game.
I can’t get too invested in whatever is going on with us.
I’m pretty sure the whole Zero thing is also probably throwing my decision-making skills off when it comes to Ty.
Yes, that’s it.
I’m getting him and Zero mixed up for sure.
But they’re the same person.
Ugh, whatever. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to get out of here and go back to hating each other anyway. It’s just because we’re trapped here with nobody else to fuck around with. That’s all.
It means nothing.
No matter how good it feels?
No matter how kind of nice it is to talk to him?
Fuck!
I screw my eyes shut and try to go to sleep. The warmth of Tyson’s body and the smell of him invading my senses from his cape are not helping.
“You’re fidgeting,” he says, his back still turned to me.
“I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are,” Tyson says, shifting to face me.
Great, now I really won’t sleep.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I mutter.
Why do I get the feeling he cares about me lately? I keep thinking about how mad he was at the boss battle. I have no idea how I’m supposed to feel about that. About any of this, honestly.
“Then why can’t you sleep?”
“I wanna get out,” I say, my voice cracking.
“Of the game? Or this map?” he chuckles.
“The game.”
Away from you.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be out soon,” he whispers, his brows pinched.
My breath catches in my throat and threatens to stop my heart when Tyson reaches over and tucks one of my curls behind my ear, out of my eye. I swallow hard, frozen in place.
“I wanted to tell you something else earlier…” he starts. I bite my lip, hoping that whatever he’s going to say won’t make me spiral even more than I already am.
“Yeah?”
“It’s funny, really, but I wanted to say I started playing Seeker because of you. Probably wouldn’t even have the job I do if not for…” Tyson says, staring directly into my eyes.
“Ty … stop telling me shit.”
“Why?” he chuckles.
“I don’t know … I don’t like it.”
You’re making me like you.
“Well, it’s true. And I’m sorry I got in the way,” Tyson says.
“Stop…” I whisper, burying my face in his chest. I don’t want him to see me like this. I hate it so much.
I’ve already had to give up one thing to him that meant a lot to me.
This is something I can control.
Right?
* * *
We make it back to the town again and head to Leon to give him this stupid fertilizer that almost cost us our lives.
Well, mine, but we don’t know what will happen if one of us dies.
We’re not trying to find out anytime soon.
Tyson’s hand brushes mine when we’re walking through the garden, making me snap my head towards him.
“Relax, I’m not gonna hold it or anything,” he says, tilting my chin with his knuckle.
“I don’t care if you did,” I snap, pushing his hand away.
“So, you want me to?”
“Want you to what?!”
“Hold your hand,” Tyson smirks.
“Yeah, so I never said that,” I say, crossing my arms.
“I’m starting to figure you out,” he laughs.
“What are you talking about?” I huff out, but Tyson keeps walking ahead toward the weird NPC we think is our way out of this damn game.
“Nothing, come on.”
I roll my eyes before following after him. We find Leon exactly where he always is and hood up just like it always is. Lately I’m wondering what he looks like underneath it. The game feels as real as we do, so I’m pretty sure we could wrestle it off him or something. Just so we can get a look.
Or we could ask nicely.
But something about him tells me he wouldn’t oblige.
“We’ve got your dirt,” I say, handing him the bag of fertilizer.
“Wow, you two are quite the duo.” He whistles, inspecting the loot. “This is exactly what I’ve been looking for.” Leon grins.
“Alright, are there any other quests available?” Tyson says, tilting his head, watching Leon warily.
“Not right now, but I’ll come find you boys, when something comes up.” He smiles.
We both exchange a long look before turning back to the NPC. “Are you sure that’s all?” Tyson asks.
“I’m pretty sure,” he says, pressing a finger to his chin.
“Okay…” I start slowly. “We’ll be in town then, if anything else pops up.”
“Yup, I’ll see ya, boys later,” Leon says before turning around and heading deeper into the garden.
Have we hit a dead end?
“What now?” I look to Tyson.
“I don’t know. Let’s head back to the inn and wait it out. Maybe a new quest will show up tomorrow or something. Like it did before.”
“Yeah…” I nod and follow Tyson back to the inn.
“Tyson, was there anything weird about this game … you know that you found during testing?” I ask.
He hasn’t really spoken much about Understory, like the game from the outside.
We were both beta testing, and I don’t really recall anything weird popping up during my plays.
Except that it always seemed like there was only me and Zero or Tyson on the server.
But I thought it was maybe because there weren’t many testers.
We almost always played late into the night together.
“Mmm … I personally didn’t find much wrong with the game. But my coworkers kept reporting they were having trouble staying connected to the servers,” Tyson hums.
“That’s so weird … I never had that problem,” I say, furrowing my brows.
“Me neither.”
“And I’d actually never seen Leon before,” I tilt my head.
“Wait, I was thinking the same thing. But I thought maybe he was a part of some patch or special event I didn’t know about. Seeing as I’m not on that team.”
“Hmm … yeah he could be…”