𝐔𝐆𝐇! ── 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝.

00:04

          Outrage erupted in the voice chat as Felix and Seán immediately protested. Slightly quieter, Poki and Rae expressed their dismay while Sykkuno just grinned and winked at his viewers.

          "I'd be mad, but Sykkuno's my favorite too." Charlie voiced with a chuckle.

          "Not you too!" Seán exclaimed.

          "What can I say?" Sykkuno smirked. "I'm just a lovable guy!"

          "Shut it, pipsqueak." Toast piped.

          "Hey!" Rory squeaked. "Take that back!"

          As the chaos drew to a close, Rory chose to speak up and provide some new information for her friends.

          "So, I know we were going to be short one person..." She started, unsure of what feedback she would receive. "Which is why I invited my friend, Val, to come join us."

          No one voiced their opinions, causing an overwhelming wave of anxiety to form within her.

          "But I can totally tell her to not join--it's completely fine."

          "Val's joining?" Rae questioned.

          Relieved that someone answered, yet still worried, Rory answered. "Uh, yeah."

          "She's, uh, cool..."

          "What? Do you guys not like her or something?" Rory asked. "You guys can tell me the truth, I won't tell her."

          Toast decided to unmute and chime in next. "It's not that we don't like her, Rae just has a huge crush on her so she's nervous."

          "TOAST!!!!" Rae screamed.

          Taken aback, Rory was silent. Her best friend had a crush on her other best friend?

          "It had to be said." Toast reasoned, but Rae was having none of it.

          "Still!" She whined. "Now I'm all embarrassed..."

          "Oh." Rory whispered.

          "I swear I was going to tell you." Rae blurted.

          "I'm not mad, Rae." She assured her.

          "You're not?"

          "Of course not."

          "Oh, okay."

          Rory spared her chat a glance, reading the comments—all of which were about Rae being attracted to the actress. As if on cue, Val entered the voice chat.

          "Hey, y'all!" She greeted from Rory's bedroom. "This is my first time both using Discord and playing Among Us, so this will likely not go well!"

          No one responded, Val's brows furrowing in concern.

          "Am I still muted?" She muttered, scrolling through the settings on Discord.

          "No, you're not muted, Val." Rory chuckled. "Guys, this is Val..."

          Her friends all greeted the new arrival at once, diminishing the previously awkward tension present beforehand. Rory was grateful they were welcoming her with open arms.

          "Who else is missing?" Poki questioned, brushing a hand through her curly hair.

          "Just Corpse and Jaiden."

          "Speaking of Corpse..." Charlie trailed off. "Rory, got anything to say?"

          "Hmm?" She questioned, eyes darting back to her other monitor from her comment section.

          "Corpse."

          "Is he here? Hi, Corpse!"

          "No-" Charlie sighed. "He's not here yet. What I'm asking is what's up with you two?"

          Rory furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"

          Felix scoffed. "This girl is way too innocent. Are we sure she's gone through puberty yet?"

          "Shut it, Kjellberg."

          "He's talking about the simping." Seán clarified.

          "We just met a couple days ago." Rory reasoned, shooting her stream a shrug. "We're just being friendly."

          "LIES!"

          She rolled her eyes. "Jeez, go meddle in someone else's love life before I come over and steal your girlfriend."

          Val burst out laughing. "You guys are too chaotic for how early it is."

          "It's noon?" Rae questioned.

          "And?" Val affirmed.

          A noise went off and the two missing people finally joined.

          "Hey, guys!" Rory greeted.

          "Where have you two been?" Sykkuno asked. "We've been waiting for 3 days..."

          "I had to restart my PC." Jaiden groaned.

          "I, uh, had to calm myself down a little." Corpse admitted. "I'm kinda nervous."

          Rory pouted once more at his words, heart aching. She knew exactly how he felt and wanted nothing more than to provide the slightest bit of comfort, but was aware she didn't have any right to meddle in his life.

          "We get it." She offered. "No need to stress."

          "Thanks, Rory." He smiled slightly behind his microphone. "Appreciate it."

          "Anyways..." Sykkuno started. "Shall we start?"

          Val chose to intervene, needing clarification. "Wait, Rory mentioned we weren't playing the way we're supposed to? I'm not exactly sure what the hell that means-"

          "We're playing hide and seek, basically." Rae explained.

          "Thank you, miss thing." The actress replied with a grin.

          Rory got up from her gaming chair after muting herself, peaking her head out of her filming room to stare at her best friend. Val, noticing her presence, muted herself and looked at her expectantly.

          "You have a crush on Rae, right?"

          Val felt her cheeks grow warm. "Uh..."

          Rory only smirked, plopping back down on her chair. "That's what I thought."    

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