Au: Regular (timeskip)
Tags/Warnings: Dual POV, use of a pseudonym (username: ForestFire) instead of (Y/N) in most cases, swearing.
Word Count: 1.6k
•──────⋅☼⋅──────•
You were so fucking loud.
Even with a headset on, surrounded by a crowd of game developers chatting up a storm and the game of the year at his fingertips, you were louder. The room seemed to hang on your every word as they fell from your lips, and the spotlights were frantically glued to your frame. He wasn't supposed to be watching you or how your perfectly formed outfit fit your shoulders, hips, and waist or how your laugh bubbled up and blessed his ears.
Kenma huffed looking away to try and focus on the game in front of him. "I like the MC. What's their name again?"
His chat popped up with the answer easily, Tye. Tye was a gentle, monotone-sounding character, calm and forceful with their words, confident without being loud.
Kenma nodded in thanks to his chat. "The voice actor is really good. I like their voice."
Again your laughter cut through his headset, sharp, excitable laughter that made his ears ring. Kenma glanced at his screen that showed his camera's view, finding you in the background, laughing at whatever Hux said, and smacking his shoulder. Kenma glared before looking at the time.
"It's time for me to get off, I will be playing on stream, don't worry."
He logged off fast, hardly realising he had just finished the first few minutes of the newest instalment of his favourite series.
"Fern," he grumbled, taking up the non-existent space by your side and cutting Kenji off from being able to brush his shoulder against yours.
"Ken! How did your first play go, did you like it?" Kenji seemed none the wiser to Kenma stealing his spot.
"It was mostly cutscenes, but it looks amazing. I like the main character too. Their voice is nice."
Next to him, your feet shuffled, nudging his on accident. He glances, taking a breath as your wide eyes meet his. "I'll keep that in mind! What did you like about their voice?"
Now closer to him, your voice was much sharper as you tried to speak over the bustling crowd.
"They're different from the other characters who were loud and ambitious. Tye is mellow and calculating, and their voice matches."
You smiled at him before turning to the other gamers, Kenma remained focused on you, though.
A hum went over the hall's speakers before the man who had been conducting the event appeared on stage. "Hello, and thank you for everyone's attendance, either in person or online. Thank you for being here to experience this as we launch what is our most anticipated game yet. You have already seen the first few minutes of play-through as played by our guests Kodzuken and ForestFire. By tomorrow morning, the game will hit the shelves for you to buy in-store and finally experience yourselves after months of anticipation."
Next to him, Kenma felt you shuffle, giving a small apology before walking off in the direction of the bathroom. No one else seemed to notice except for moving out of your way.
The man, whose name Kenma had already forgotten, continued to speak. "But as our night comes to a close, we ask that you all stay and watch the credits as they go across the screen and be thankful for the effort that these people have made to create this game and get it to you to enjoy. Without each and everyone one of them, this game would not have been possible." He took a deep bow saying, Thank You, before walking off the stage and letting the screen go over all the names of all the workers and their jobs.
Everyone's name was the same size, no one too large or too small, all in alphabetical order. Kenma read each one as they slowly panned over the screen until one name in particular appeared. Kenma's brow furrowed, looking around. No one else seemed surprised, maybe as they were all in on the project, or rather that they were waiting for their own name to appear. Beside him, Kenji, Hux and Turret didn't react either.
Sighing, Kenma huffed and weaved through the crowd toward the bathroom. The music quieted as he entered the hall, and a familiar voice echoed despite their attempts to whisper.
"Sol, Please don't tell me what people are saying... Don't get Uvo to tell me, either! Gah! Maybe I should've used a different name; people are gonna know!... I'm not crazy, I'm nervous. This is the biggest piece of work I've ever been a part of! This isn't an Indy game!"
"Fern?"
You hastily hung up the phone, letting Solarii get cut off, and turned with big eyes to look up at Kenma before sulking against the wall. "How do you even know that name?"
Kenma's head tilted before deciding to take a seat next to you. "Fern? I don't know, I just said it's cause you were bad at the game."
Lifting your head from your knees you gave him a befuddled look.
His head thumped and you grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Are you kidding me? Seriously that's it?"
"Uh, I think so? It made sense, ForestFire, Fern, it worked."
You slumped, and Kenma felt like he would stop breathing. "This must be some cruel joke."
"Why?" he asked, choking as your forehead brushed his shoulder.
"You have no idea I deeply obsessed with you I am."
Kenma could feel his cheeks burn red, temperature only rising as you leaned away.
"I was an active part of your community when I was in college. My username was in-Fern-o. Everyone called me Fern. I thought you figured it out and hated me for being a crazy fan!"
"I'm still stuck on the obsession part." That earned his a smack on the arm
"Kenken! Listen to me! Did you seriously have no idea?"
"None. Seriously."
Sighing, you slumped against the wall again and closed your eyes.
Kenma furrowed his brows. "So you kept with the Arcadia's Inferno theme?"
You just shrugged. "I love that game with all my heart."
"So much that you voiced the main character in the newest one?"
You whined again, dropping your head to your knees. "Please don't remind me."
"You voiced Tye, Fern." He stated, placing a hand against your shoulder. "And your voice is fucking cool."
You sighed beneath his hand. "You think so?"
"Ya, I do." he rubbed your shoulder, encouraging you to sit straight. "How did you get into that position anyways?"
"They asked. They were looking for a mostly unknown voice actor and were going through my program's graduates. And then thought it would be cool to have me, a player of the game and a streamer, do the voice acting."
"That's so cool. But why did you run?"
The way your face shifted slightly was hard to watch. Weights seemed to pull at every part of your body.
"People don't like it very much when social media people get involved in professional fields. I made my name by streaming, but I'm trained in voice and stage acting. But people are going to see my name up on those credits and think I'm not worthy of that position or that it was just handed to me."
Kenma nodded to your words, leaning his head back against the wall. At this point, the freshly pressed button-up shirt he chose to wear had gained wrinkles. He undid the top button. "No one is going to agree with everything or be supportive. But there will be thousands of people that will lift you up. Their anger will die down before you realise it, and they'll be off to criticise the next thing. So just enjoy what you're doing."
You didn't respond. Instead, your head fell onto his shoulder. And to him, everything clicked together, and time stopped.
•──────⋅☼⋅──────•
You smiled at the screen while playing through Arcadia's Inferno four. Tye's voice, while also your own, felt so detached and different from yourself that you nearly forgot that you were involved with making the game. At times, you couldn't help but recite the lines that came up.
<Hey, Forest! You're supposed to be talking to us! Not the NPCs!>
You laughed at your chat. "Sorry, sorry. I can't help it. It's muscle memory at this point."
In the game, a giant flame erupted, catching Tye on fire for a moment before you dived for the nearest patch of water.
The door to your side creaked open to reveal the long dark hair and dyed tips on Kenma, Cat clawing up his shoulders to peek in as well. He gave you a soft grin before revealing two cups of tea. You looked back at your stream, and Kenma sat on the new chair by your table, placing a hand on your knee.
You continued to stream, and Kenma, used to the scene, continued to sit quietly and sip his tea. But Cat, well, cat preferred to have attention, and at the soonest opportunity, he jumped off Kenma's shoulder, across the table and onto your shoulders, where he weaved around your body and chair to get comfortable. Not caring about the broken cups and spilt tea he left in his wake. You sighed, apologising to chat for a moment before pausing the game.
You ignored the chat's increased messages and handed Cat off to Kenma (of course not before having him sniff the camera) and left in search of a broom and mop. Kenma followed.
"He's a menace."
"He just likes you." Kenma laughed quietly.
"And I like my tea that you prepared, which he spilt." Tou glared jokingly at the feline, before heading back to your room to clean it up.
Kenma stopped you, gentle hand on your elbow, which made your skin tingle. "I'll make us more."
You sighed and pecked his cheek before walking off. Kenma burned and tossed Cat aside to hold his cheek.
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I get my wisdom teeth pulled in one week. Yay - Bacon
I will be joining the wisdom teeth club in two weeks. Yay us - Kiwi