SLEEPSONG (BoyxBoy)✔️

Chapter 44

"And I know next to nothing of you, it would seem," he quietly countered, "but I want to get to know you, and I want you to get to know me, too, so we can start building up to a place where you'll feel comfortable around me. I do not, that is to say, know where to begin doing so."

Yeah, that I understood since we both seemed to be suffering from that ugly little problem.

I thought about it, wondering how to respond, but it hit me that it might not be so complicated.

If we were going to start anywhere, the basics would be a good place.

"How about finding some common ground?" I proffered, giving him a tentative look. "I like to read, and write, and make music, and sing, and dance, and I adore playing video games... what is it that you enjoy doing, Sebastian? What do you do in your spare time?"

He took another drink, not looking at me.

His bronze skin was a sharp contrast to my own, I noticed.

"I enjoy the outdoors," he said after a long, pregnant pause. "The woods, the mountains, the city, the ocean, it doesn't matter where I go, I have always been drawn to the wide open world. I like exploring new places, like it so much that when I ran out of places to visit I grew restless and instead started developing video games so I could create and explore entirely new worlds."

A shock went through me but I hid it fairly well.

"That's why you became a video game developer?" I asked, blinking,

"It is," he said simply, closing his eyes. "Weeks ago, after I bought you that television to replace the one I shattered, I was tempted to buy a game console and purchase the MMVO you were playing since it was a world that I had no hand in creating. It looked interesting."

"Atlas Chronicles?" I asked, blinking; then an idea popped into my head, and for the first time in my life I actually felt like a genius. "You know what? That doesn't sound like a bad idea."

"What?" he grunted, opening one eye and peering at me with furrowed brows.

"You heard me," I told him, thoughtfully mulling it over. "You should buy yourself a PSXL7, a gaming microphone, and a copy of AC so we can play together. It would be a good opportunity to get to know each other for real, and stay in touch, without getting too intimate. Plus, gaming with you would likely allow me to start trusting you, and enjoy hanging out with you, for real."

"Are you serious?" he asked, mouth quirking skeptically. "Or are you joking?"

"I'm serious," I said indignantly, fuzzy face growing hot. "You should totally buy a game console! You can even be a vampire or a werewolf on Atlas Chronicles, and the character customization is incredibly diverse! You could seriously recreate yourself if you wanted to! I mean, I literally made my character look exactly like me, after all - you saw that with your own two eyes."

"I did," he said slowly, thoughtfully, and to my surprise he seemed to be considering it. "What is the world itself like? How do vampires and werewolves view each other? And how do the players view such races?"

"Oh, that?" I asked, frowning. "Vampires and werewolves on Atlas Chronicles are supposed to be mortal enemies and they usually butcher each other on sight. Same goes for the other races when it comes to vampires and werewolves. Everyone hates us since we're overpowered and have no ties to any sort of faction, even our own, which means that we're dangerous. Also, other players can be pretty racist sometimes."

"Seems fairly realistic," Sebastian said, and something in his tone made me freeze; I glanced at him to see a dark, calculating look on his face, but after a second he relaxed and finally turned to look down at me. Those eyes flitted across my face, unreadable but calm. "Fine. I'll order a system and everything I need to start gaming with you tonight."