Something Like This

[1] I can 'Dupe' Anything Better Than You

"You actually clicked publish on that stupid video?" Duper's voice crackled through the headset, half-laughing, like he was waiting for Zman to go back on his word instead of doubling-down.

Zman adjusted his own mic to his face, leaning back in his peeling chair. The glow of his monitor lit up the empty energy drinks scattered across his desk. "Yeah, man. Every word's true. You wanna act like it's not?"

A pause. Then Duper's voice increased in volume. "Dude. You called me a 'pathological liar' in the thumbnail. With, like, my eyes being red."

"Because you are a pathological liar. About everything," Zman shot back, grinning. He could already see the comments flooding in, about half his fans losing their minds, the other half somehow managing to try and defend Duper already.

Downstairs, he'd heard some commotion. He'd muted before slightly taking his headphones off, then figuring its just Duper himself verbally having a fit, he puts the headset back on before unmuting. Duper was mid-rant now, voice stale, something about their "creative differences" and "respect for the hustle." Zman rolled his eyes. The irony was insane coming from a guy who faked half his dupes to begin with. He grabbed his phone, thumbing through notifications; the views were climbing fast. This was gonna be fun.

Duper's rant hit a crescendo, his voice sharp enough to cut through the empty static of Zman's lack of a response. "You know what your problem is? You're so obsessed with 'exposing' people, you forgot how to play the damn game."

Zman smirked, spinning his chair lazily. "Sure I do. I owned up to my own actions already in the video." He tapped his keyboard, pulling up the clip, his own voice- yikes, he had to turn that off, admitting that wrongdoing made him cringe.

A beat of silence. Then Duper's breath hissed through the mic, like he was steadying himself. "Alright. Fine. Then don't wait for my response video, I'm not holding back on your stupid offense."

Zman's stomach dropped. He knew exactly what Duper meant; their discord chats, their DMs, there was a lot he couldn't find. His fingers hovered over his mouse, suddenly too aware of the heat creeping up his neck. But before he could deflect, Duper's discord notification pinged, a shared screen popped up, revealing a folder titled "Zman_Backup_Files"

The folder's contents spilled across Zman's second monitor like a confession; probably hundreds of chats, his username and responses highlighted, all different platforms, overwhelming at first to the naked eye. His throat went dry. "Where the hell did you get this?" he demanded, voice cracking halfway through.

Duper's laugh was low, almost sympathetic. "You left your account logged into my PC genius. Took me five minutes." A pause, then quieter: "You're really gonna sit there and call me fake?"

Zman's fingers dug into his armrests. He leaned forward, forcing a grin. "Sure, I've done a couple of things wrong that at the time, I couldn't list, but at least I'm not out here pretending my whole personality isn't a cash grab or an attempt for a brand deal."

Silence. Then Duper's chair creaked audibly. "...You know those sponsorships are important to keep the dupes going."

Zman tapped his fingers against his desk, the rhythm uneven like a stuttering heartbeat. The glow of Duper's shared screen burned in his peripheral vision, those raw images, those mind-numbing highlighted bits; but he couldn't look away from his own screen. He thought about starting a live stream, something to document this all-

But Duper's voice cut through the static again, sharper now. "You gonna answer, or did I just out-talkyou?"

Zman exhaled through his nose. "This just means your stupid gimmick is fake Duper. I know what you were involved in, I know the type of shady people you did deals with- Hell, you took an AI sponsorship Duper."

The silence that followed was thick enough to choke on. Duper's mic picked up the faintest creak of his chair, like he'd leaned back too hard. When he finally spoke, his voice was eerily calm. "You dug up old sponsorships of all things? Lowkey pathetic.."