Most people like to say Rain is a bit of a nerd, although his friend Sky tells him that is absolutely not true. He says Rain is too annoying and uncool to be a nerd.
"I'm a nerd, you are more of a geek." Sky is fond of telling him.
If you ask Rain what three things he hates the most, he will say broccoli, high school and P'Phayu, not necessarily in that order.
He feels that broccoli is self explanatory, it's a stupid tree shaped vegetable. High school is so brain-numbingly boring. Who doesn't hate it? As far as his senior P'Phayu, the upperclassman seems to spend all his time delighting in teasing Rain. To every other student he is a good senior but to Rain he is an absolute menace. Rain isn't sure why P'Phayu has singled him out but that's the way it's been since Rain's very first day of highschool. That had been last year, now Rain was in his second year and P'Phayu was in his final year, so at least Rain could look forward to one year free of the annoying senior.
He looks over at the table where the senior is sitting, or maybe glares would be a better word. As if he can feel Rain looking at him, P'Phayu turns his head and dares to wink at Rain. Winks! Ugh, how is he so annoying?
"Rain, are you even listening to me?" His friend Sky asks. Rain hadn't been and sheepishly admits it. "I asked if you have already downloaded Midnight Aurora, remember it goes live tonight and you, I, and P'Pai are supposed to campaign together."
P'Pai another source of Rain's annoyance, he has nothing against the guy but why does Sky have to date his sworn enemy's best friend of all people.
"I know," Rain says, "I downloaded it this morning before school. Who's going to be our fourth?"
"Um, it's P'Pai's cousin, you don't know him." Sky says. Rain doesn't notice that his friend fails to meet his eyes when he says this.
Rain was so excited about Midnight Aurora, he had started begging his parents to get him the latest Avi Biotech Virtual Reality 5 system for Christmas as soon as he had seen the first teaser trailers for the game. Although they didn't understand why Rain needed a new gaming system when his ABVR4 was only a few years old, they had finally given in just so he would shut up about it.
As soon as he gets home he puts on his head set and starts trying to log in, although the game isn't due to go live for another hour. Sometimes new games come up early to Relieve log in congestion.
While he is waiting he enters their discord chat. Sunflower Monkey is already on. That is Sky's character who is named after his favorite flower and his favorite One Piece Manga character. So is Wind God. Rain can't help but to roll his eyes at P'Pai's character name. There is another person on, Dragon Storm, Rain assumes this must be P'Pai's cousin. What a cool name, Rain can't help but be impressed.
"Welcome to the party, Damp Kitty," P'Pai says.
"Mysti Tyger is an awesome name, much better than Wind God." Rain says with a huff.
There is a deep chuckle from Dragon Storm. "I think it's cute." He says and Rain isn't sure whether to be flattered or offended. He would rather be cool than cute but at the same time the laugh and the man's voice over his headset gave him pleasant shivers.
"Oh it's up, refresh everyone." Sky says with uncharacteristic excitement. Rain refreshing his screen and to his delight the play icon changes from red to green.
The new technology of the AVBR5 is amazing. The first system had come out almost twenty years ago allowing players to experience games first hand through their Avi or player avatar. It had been slow and clunky back then though giving the player a feeling of disconnect between the real world and the game. The 5 however connects almost immediately and Rain blinks around in amazement at the starting city they had all chosen.
"Wow this game is beautiful." A voice says beside him. It's a human, of course Sky would choose a human. It even looks vaguely like Sky, except with bright pink hair. Sky was a golden mage, a healer class, as his starting class. One great thing about Midnight Aurora was you could eventually unlock all classes on one character, some games forced you to build multiple characters for new classes.
Rain finds a looking glass, an in game feature that allows a player to examine their own avatar. He has chosen a cat-like creature known as a Feli. His shape is human but he has bright blond hair long enough to be pulled back into a ponytail, ears the same color as well as a tail that is yellow with black stripes. He can vaguely see his own features in his face but he has whiskers and when he grins he sees cat like fangs. He is a dancer which is a hybrid support and dps class.
"What's up kitten?" Someone says as an arm is thrown over his shoulder. This is obviously Pai. Pai's Avi is a wolf-like creature known as a Canil. He has golden brown short hair and ears. His tail is long and fluffy as well. Even Rain admits to himself that it is a good looking Avi, but he would never tell Pai that. He doesn't need his ego inflated more. Pai is another hybrid class, a shinobi mage which is like a ninja that can use magic.
"Come meet my cousin, Storm, then we can all pick up the starting quest." Pai tells him.
Rain's mouth drops open when he sees the fourth member of their party. Dragon Storm is, as his name suggests, one of the dragon-like creatures known as draconians. He has long black hair tied up in a bun at the back of his head. To either side of his head he has pitch black horns curving backwards. His face is mostly human-like and Rain can't help but to think something looks familiar about him. He has an enormous pair of black wings and a thin black demon's tail. From the huge broadsword Rain can tell he has chosen black knight, a tank class.
"You're so handsome." Rain says before he can stop himself. Pai gives a little snort beside him.
"Thank you for the compliment, " Storm says. "Perhaps we should get going."
Rain nods and pulls his gaze away.
They watch the opening cutscenes, which are absolutely gorgeous. Rain had heard the story of this game was amazing and he can believe it after these scenes. They pick up the beginning quests, which is pretty standard of any game. Talk to a few npcs, pick up a few items to deliver, and kill a few beginning level creatures.
Rain is eager to get out and test out his skills, he begins with a buff to Pai's dps before performing his battle dance. He feels Storm's eyes on him as he performs the complicated steps and gives the other player a smile. He is suddenly glad he chose this class.
The four of them work extremely well together and they are level 10 before they log off for the night. It's a school night after all and it's already almost midnight. Tomorrow will be a long day.
At school the next day everyone is talking about the game. It seems to Rain that every student in their school must have played last night.
Ple, a friend from their class, complains that her brother, P'Som, is their group's tank. "He's terrible," she whispers looking over at the table where he sits. "Can't keep aggro for anything."
"Really?" Rain says, "Our tank is so good."
"You are so lucky to have P'Phayu in your group," Ple says dreamingly, "I have heard he has even won some professional level gaming awards at competitions."
"What?" Rain says blinking at her.
"Your tank is P'Phayu right?" She says. "I heard P'Som say he was tanking for your group."
"No, I mean Storm is," he stops and looks at Sky. It has just hit him, Storm Phayu.
"Excuse us, Ple," Rain says, dragging Sky away.
"Sky, be honest is P"Phayu dragon storm?" he asks his friend.
"Rain, be fair. If we had told you P'Phayu was going to be our tank you would have refused to play right?" Sky says.
"Damn right, I would have, Sky, what were you thinking? I can't play with P'Phayu." Rain says.
"Rain, it's too late to find a fourth now, or do you want to fall behind everyone on leveling while we look? I thought you wanted to raid at endgame and you heard Ple, P'Phayu is one of the best raiders." Sky says.
"But, Sky." Rain's voice has taken on a slightly whiny tone, "why him?"
"I honestly never understood what you have against P'Phayu, as long as I have known him he has been a nice senior." Sky says.
"To you." Rain says with a pout, "he just teases me."
"So does P'Pai but you like him." Sky says.
"Don't be so sure." Rain mumbles. Sky has a point though, he isn't sure why P'Phayu's teasing bothers him so much when P'Pai is hundred times worse.
"Fine, I will play with him, but I won't like it." Rain says.
"Is that right?" P'Phayu says from behind them. Rain rolls his eyes of course the senior would be rude enough to listen into a private conversation.
"That's right," Rain says, "and you better get us through endgame and raids."
"Oh, I definitely will. You are very enviable to have a tank like me on your team." P'Phayu says with a smirk.
"Full of yourself much?" Rain asks.
"Fine, if we come in the top 20 worldwide, I get a reward." P'Phayu says with a smirk.
"What reward?" Rain asks.
"No cheating, either you agree or find a new tank." P'Phayu says.
Top 20? That would be almost impossible, there were millions of players worldwide. Sure not all of them would go for the top tier raids, but still the number of raiders would be astronomical.
Besides, how bad could this reward of P'Phayu's be? "Fine," Rain says. "It's a deal."
To get a chance at a top spot of raiders they first had to get through several hours of quests, dungeons and story. Luckily there was a two week school break coming up and Rain had no intention of doing anything other than gaming with his team. He had already laid in a stash of water and snacks. If they could get through the main game before then they would have time to prog raid.
Even being first to the endgame didn't guarantee a team's success in getting a top spot raid clear. It could take weeks to get through them, or a good team could clear in a few days. Prog could be brutal with every little mistake causing a setback.
Watching P'Phayu in their first dungeon that night, Rain began to believe they could at least be in the top 100 although he still refused to entertain the idea of top 20. P'Phayu controlled the mobs so well that all the trash became nothing more than a tank and spank. They all worked together taking down the bosses efficiently. They seemed to be lucky with loot drops as well, leveling up their gear quickly.
Then ended their second night all over level twenty-five and there were only fifty levels to endgame.
The dungeon they are currently in is the longest and hardest one they had tackled so far, of course that should be expected for an endgame dungeon. The group is exhausted by the time they finish. At least after defeating the final boss everyone gets a nice new weapon upgrade.
P'Pai examines two gift boxes he had retrieved from the boss's treasure chest then grins mischievously. He tosses one each to Rain and Sky. "Here you two take these glamour pieces they will suit you best," he says with a grin. Rain probably should have known he was up to something by the way he was wagging his tail.
Rain and Sky look at each other in confusion and press the accept for the glamour. Rain watches as Sky's gear shimmers and changes into a blue belly dancer costume and looks down to see his is now a matching pink one. Rain growls and brings up his inventory screen to dispel the glamour. He is going to kill P'Pai.
"Aw you don't like it?" P'Pai says, laughing. "Don't worry I got a nice screen shot."
Rain hisses and swishes his tail in irritation while Sky says, "Stop playing around, we have three more endgame dungeons to get through." He brings up the menu to fast travel from the dungeon to the nearest town and P'Pai follows quickly behind him as usual.
Beforre Rain can bring up hus menu, P'Phayu comes up behind Rain and wraps his wings around him, saying, "So very cute, do you want to dance for me little kitty."
Rain shrugs him off, trying his best to ignore the shivers the senior's voice gives him. "Stop it." He quickly brings up his menu and leaves P'Phayu chuckling behind him.
In town, Rain equips his new weapon. Instead of the usual chakrams, these are designed to look like fighting fans and in Rain's opinion are super cool. He gives them an experimental toss into the air and likes the way they move.
The second endgame dungeon is even more difficult. At this rate there is no way they will manage all four tonight. Rain can hardly stop dodging AOE attacks long enough to throw his weapons and it's all Sky can do to keep up with the healing. After four tries they still haven't beaten the final boss of the dungeon, their gear needs repairs and they all feel battered and bruised. They aren't really hurt of course but while they are hooked up to the game they are still given the sensation of being injured.
"Let's stop here for tonight." P'Pai says as Sky performs a healing spell on Rain. "We'll go to town and pick up new gear pieces and supplies then Sky can study our efforts to this point. That boss has got to have a weakness." Sky is the strategist of the group and is brilliant at picking up mechanics by studying fights.
After getting their gear, Rain disconnects from the game and checks the chat boards. Everyone is talking about the final boss of the dungeon.
"No one has beaten that boss yet." Rain types in their discord channel. "The chat boards are running wild with theories."
While they wait on Sky, Rain checks out the new picture P'Pai has put up on their screen shot channel. His cheeks grow pink with embarrassment and indignation. P'Pai hadn't been kidding about having taken a picture of Rain and Sky in the belly dancer outfits.
"Take this down." Rain types.
"Never." P'Pai answers," I plan on making this my new phone wallpaper." Rain huffs at this and notices that P'Phayu is typing something.
"So cute." He says causing Rain's cheeks to heat up even more. Will the senior never tire of teasing him?
An @everyone ping draws them back to the strategy channel.
Sky had placed a screenshot of the time Rain had failed to dodge a certain attack, it had been a low damage attack with a small bleed to follow. "Look at the boss, when Rain got hit the boss received a debuff. It's the one time we almost beat him, remember?"
It had been a minor attack that had gone out four times during the first five minutes of the fight. Sky says, "Four times, I think we are each meant to take one hit. That way the damage from the bleed is still easy to heal though."
"Get some sleep everyone," P'Phayu says, "We'll tackle it on the morning."
"Oh, but we could be the very first to beat the dungeon, by morning others will have figured this out." Rain says sulkily.
"It won't matter, at most people will gain a few hours on us. There is still a lot of endgame left to go," P'Phayu tells him. "We'll start fresh in the morning."
Such a control freak, Rain thinks as he closes out discord and goes to get ready for bed.
By morning the dungeon has indeed been beaten and the one after that, which is apparently straightforward. Rain pouts thinking they could have been two dungeons closer if they had gone back in last night.
With their new strategy the final boss is a snap and the next dungeon is easier as promised.
They equip all their new gear and prepare for the final dungeon. It is reputed to be the hardest one of all and no one has even beaten the second boss yet.
Although Rain won't admit it, P'Phayu had been right, they hadn't lost anything by waiting until this morning.
The first trash pack of the dungeon hits harder than some bosses and Rain uses his support dance to boost the parties' defense. Normally P'Phayu would group several trash packs together and use his defensive cooldowns while they burned them down, even Rain had to admit he was brilliant with this. In this dungeon though that just isn't possible. They have no choice but to take on these packs one at a time.
The first boss is brutal, but they manage to get past him.
At the second boss, right away Rain notices the npc. He is hiding behind some rubble in the corner. An npc present in a boss fight means one of two things, they must be protected or they will eventually be fought as an add.
"Sky, try healing the npc." Rain suggests. If Sky's healing spells are effective on the npc then most likely they are meant to protect him. Sky casts a simple healing spell and the npc's health starts ticking up. They manage to beat the second boss with the npc's help.
"Good job spotting that, Rain." P'Phayu says, making an unexpected warmth spread through Rain. Rain tries to ignore the implications of this.
The final boss is a three part fight. They study each mechanic as it is happening and after a few wipes manage to bring the boss down. Rain dances around in celebration and even Sky lets out a celebratory whoop.
Rain immediately checks the standings when they log out.
"We were the 23rd team to beat the dungeon," he tells the others in discord gleefully.
That night, Rain has a problem falling asleep. He can't stop thinking about how he had felt when P'Phayu had told him he had done a good job. The memory fills him with a strange euphoria he doesn't understand. When P'Phayu had been nothing more than an occasional nuisance at school, Rain had been able to keep up the pretense that he hated the senior, even to himself. Now that he sees and talks to the senior everyday he knows his feelings are changing. Rain has caught himself wondering more than once what it would be like to kiss P'Phayu. What it would be like to have that low voice whispering in his ear. Rain turns over and smacks his hand on his pillow in frustration. This is no good, in fact it's as far from good as it could possibly be.
The next day they take on the normal mode raids. These generally go pretty fast, there are two teams already starting on the vicious level raids already, their party is struggling however. Rain knows he is the reason.
Rain's head isn't in the game that day, he is having trouble keeping focus. When Sky yells at him for making a stupid mistake on the last levels of the raid, Rain just wants to cry. These are the normal mode raids, what will the vicious level ones be like?
"Let's take a break," P'Phayu tells them.
Rain marks his character as being away from keyboard and removes his headset.
He lays his head down on his desk without moving. A ringing lets him know someone is calling through discord, assuming it's Sky, Rain accepts without lifting his head.
"Rain, what's wrong?" Rain jerks his head up, it's P'Phayu.
"I didn't sleep well last night," Rain admits. He isn't about to tell the senior he is the reason he didn't sleep well.
"Do you need to take a break for today? Be honest it's not going to do any of us any good to go on if we can't make any progress." P'Phayu says, but his voice is kind.
Rain thinks it over and shakes his head. "I think we can finish the normal modes and take a look at level one vicious. We almost had it that last run. Just let me go wash my face to wake up and I will be ready this time I promise."
"Okay, good boy, you do that. Let us know when you are ready to go." P'Phayu says and hangs up.
"Good boy." Rain repeats getting up to go wash his face and grab a bottle of water.
When he comes back, he sees Sky has sent him a DM apologizing for losing his temper. Rain messages back that it's fine and sends him a silly gif of a cartoon kitty attack hugging a puppy. He and Sky have been friends a long time and he knows Sky will roll his eyes at this, but secretly like it.
After that Rain keeps his focus on the game, easily dodging the AOEs and timing his buffs perfectly. They clear level four normal mode without any more wipes and do a few practice pulls for the level one vicious mode. There are over a hundred teams on level one already and five on level two.
When Rain logs off for the night he is surprised to see a DM from P'Phayu.
It is a picture of a teddy bear snuggled up in bed with a series of z's above its head.
"Sleep well, cute boy." The message says. Rain catches himself smiling at this. He has to admit that P'Phayu is an extremely good team leader.
Rain takes a shower and falls asleep almost as soon as his head hits the pillow.
Phayu smiles at the screen shot, and saves it to his file. He knows Rain would be embarrassed by it but it really is adorable.
Phayu has been gaming for as long as he can remember and he's not ashamed to admit he is good at it. In the past couple of years he had stepped back a little, the games had all begun to seem too easy and Phayu wanted a challenge.
Then one late night he and Pai had been bored enough to join a battle royale type game with a bunch of low levels. Phayu wasn't even trying to win, he spent most of his time giving advice to a noob by the name of Raindrop. To his delight the noob had taken his direction beautifully and had made it to the final round before being eliminated.
This had been a few days before Phayu's third year of school had started. He had been surprised when he had recognized the voice of the boy who he had helped among the incoming freshmen. What's more is the boy's cute looks matched his cute voice.
Phayu immediately wanted to get to know the boy better but for some reason Rain only thought that he was teasing him. Unfortunately, Phayu does have the nature of a natural born tease, especially with someone he likes.
For over a year Phayu has been pursuing Rain in his own way, but it wasn't until they started playing Midnight Aurora together that he made any progress with the boy.
Phayu is looking forward to claiming his prize.
"Twenty four hour maintenance," P'Pai says with a little whine that makes Sky roll his eyes.
"It could be worse," P'Phayu says, "Remember when Galaxy Stargate Trailblazer was new? They were taken down for almost a week because of DDoS attacks."
Sky remembers. GST had drawn some haters for being a very inclusive community. They had developed new counter measures against the attacks that had helped many future games including Midnight Aurora but it had taken time to get them in place.
"Let's just use it as an opportunity to rest up and start fresh the day after tomorrow." P'Phayu continues.
Sky waits for Rain to whine or add his own complaints but he just says, "Okay, good night everyone." And disconnects from the call.
Sky has been worried about Rain these last few days. His game play has been almost perfect since the one night he had been so off, but Rain has been unusually quiet. At first Sky had thought it was because he had yelled at Rain, but they had said worse to each other and been okay. Besides, Rain didn't seem mad, just distracted.
Sky decides it's time to do his best friend duty. He sends Rain a DM asking him to have lunch the next day.
They meet at a small bistro near Rain's house for sandwiches. Sky arrives first and automatically orders Rain's favorite Roast beef sandwich with chips and pink lemonade. He hopes if he butters Rain up a little he will be more likely to tell Sky what is going on.
When Rain came in he didn't greet Sky with his normal chatter or sunny smile. Sky frowns and says, "Do you have something you want to tell me?"
Rain looks at him surprised, the he asks, "Sky, how did you know you liked P'Pai?"
Whatever Sky was expecting it wasn't this question, "Well I didn't exactly at first. P'Pai always has the worst reputation for being a player, remember? I thought he saw me as just another conquest. Plus I wasn't really interested in dating anyone. But he kept pestering me and I would miss him when he wasn't there. I found myself smiling when I thought about him, even when I didn't want to. I discovered that I cared about him and wanted to know more about him. What's all this about Rain, do you like someone?"
Rain takes a sip of his lemonade and mutters something Sky can't understand.
"What?" Sky asks.
Rain speaks just loud enough that Sky is fairly sure he is speaking Thai, but there is no way to tell what he says.
"Rain, speak up, I can't understand you." Sky says.
Rain takes a deep breath and says so loudly that people sitting at the the tables surrounding them turn to look, "I like P'Phayu!"
Sky's mouth drops open as Rain blushes bright red and his head in his hands.
"Wait, our senior and static member P'Phayu, the one that you, and I quote, hate more than broccoli," Sky says with a grin.
Rain lifts his head and looks at Sky miserably. "What am I going to do, Sky? Why does it have to be him?"
Sky stands up and pats him on the back, "you can't always control your heart," he says. "As far as what you are going to do, you don't have to decide that right now. Just think about what you really want and go after it. You're the type of person that goes after what they want."
"You always said that was annoying though," Rain says.
"Rain, buddy, I'm going to tell you something once and if you ever bring it up again I will deny it. Everytime I have said you were annoying, I never really meant it. You never give up, I like this quality in you." Sky says.
"Really?" Rain asks
"Really. Now come on, if you are finished eating you can buy me ice cream." Sky says.
When Rain got home he decided to take a nap, between their raiding hours a day thoughts of P'Phayu Rain wasn't getting enough sleep lately.
He wasn't surprised when he had the dream. It was just a different version of the same dream he had been having a lot lately, more innocent than some of them had been. In the dream he and P'Phayu were dressed in Joseon period hanboks. P'Phayu pulled him close and nuzzled Rain's neck. He purred something into Rain's ear that sounded like "stupid means cute". The words really didn't make sense but Rain felt goosebumps at them.
Rain woke with a start and a familiar, but not unpleasant, throbbing sensation in his penis. It's the way he has been waking from these dreams of P'Phayu recently. He grabs a change of clothes and decides to take a shower. Luckily his parents weren't home yet, his dad was already complaining about the number of showers Rain was taking lately. Rain tried his best not to blush when he blamed it on the heat and humidity.
Before getting ready for bed, Rain thinks about what Sky had said. Decide what he wants and go after it. What he wants is P'Phayu but for the last year he's made clear to the senior he doesn't like him. P'Phayu has done nothing but tease him all this time.
For some reason that makes Rain think about his dream. He can hear P'Phayu saying, "Stupid means cute." Is his brain trying to tell him something? Rain thinks back to a friend he had in preschool. His friend was head over heels in love with the girl that sat next to him, but always teased her instead. Is his dream trying to tell him that P'Phayu is the same? Could the senior like him back or is that just wishful thinking on Rain's part?
Rain decides maybe it's time to swallow his pride and find out, but not until after they clear this raid tier. If he's wrong it could be devastating to their static.
After coming to a decision Rain sleeps better that night than he has in weeks and wakes up feeling refreshed.
As soon as the game is up they go into level three of the vicious tier raid. Levels one and two had lived up to their name, but they had finally managed to clear two before maintenance. The levels are a little like normal mode but the fights are harder, longer, and the mechanics are trickier. The devs really outdid themselves with these, only two teams are on tier four so far.
The first few pulls go quickly, they are looking for any tricks or clues to the fight. Finally they start seeing the pattern, thanks to Sky's studying the moves and P'Phayu's brilliant tanking skills. They clear level three as the 17th team. They make an attempt on level four, doing a few pulls just more or less so Sky can get some footage to study, before they end for the night.
News goes out the next day, the world first team, a team from Japan, has cleared the tier. Within an hour a second team from Europe has cleared. That means they need to be one of the next eighteen teams to clear to be top twenty. Word about the mechanics will start getting around soon giving the later teams more of an advantage, Rain feels as if they must clear today.
It's not just coming in top twenty anymore, Rain has come to feel that everything rides on his and P'Phayu's deal. Even the courage Rain needs to confess to the senior that he likes him.
He opens discord to see a message from P'Pai. "Rain, I heard that the boss is easily distracted by cute kitties. I think you should wear the belly dancer glamour."
"Stop fooling around," Rain messages back. "We need to focus today."
"What's got you so fired up?" P'Pai asks, "Okay okay, fine let's do this then. Sky has some strategies to try."
"I don't want to waste a single pull today," P'Phayu says, it seems he also feels as if today is the day. "Everyone check all your gear, make sure you have plenty of food and pots before we go in. If not, there are extras in the team chest."
Rain checks his inventory and grabs a few stat potions out of the chest. His gear is good to go.
"Oh, we need a team name just in case," Sky says.
They think it over for a little bit, "What about weather boys, because of our names?" Rain suggests.
Everyone agrees it's an excellent name.
"Okay, has everyone studied Sky's notes and diagrams?" P'Phayu asks.
Everyone confirms they have. So they register for duty.
"Rain, buff everyone from the beginning then concentrate on dps between buff windows." P'Phayu says. "Sky make use of those heal over times, try to reserve a couple burst heals for emergencies while we are learning mechanics. Try to throw out a little dps as well if you feel it's safe. Pai, use your backup heal spell if necessary to help with the healing, otherwise really concentrate on high dps. Align your burst window with Rain's buff window. Let's do this."
They make good prog on the fight but around mid afternoon they get stuck on the last quarter. Rain feels like they are running out of time.
"Okay, guys, we have to be missing something." Rain says, "It could be anything."
"I think it's something to do with the add phase." Sky says. "Remember when we kill the adds and get a small buff, but it's not really big enough to help? What if we try killing the adds at the same time? P'Phayu and Rain on the ice add and myself and P'Pai on the fire add."
"My Sky is so smart," P'Pai says.
"Let's see if it works first," Sky tells him. "Everyone keep communicating how much health your add has so we can keep them even. Save bursts for the boss just normal attacks we aren't having a time issue with the dps check until we get back to the boss."
They coordinate their attacks on the next pull and the adds fall simultaneously. Rain can almost feel the rush of power that goes through him when the buff hits. This has to be the strongest buff in the game to date. With the buff they easily take the boss down to five percent before wiping that pull. Rain starts to feel the excitement building in him. They can easily see why they wiped there and they have a limit break available if they make it past that part again. That will take the boss down another two percent. Rain can feel that this next pull is the one.
Everyone seems to be in perfect alignment for the next pull. They breeze through the add phase and when they reach five percent this time they easily dodge the attack that killed them last time. Rain signals P'Pai to limit break while he loads up his final buff window. Sky puts down an auto heal mechanic and P'Phayu guards the team from the raid wide damage mechanic that follows. Everyone uses Rain's buff window to throw out top dps. The boss quickly drops from three percent, to two percent, then to one. Rain knows not to get cocky; the chances of wiping at less than one percent is heartbreakingly real. It happens all the time.
"Sky, all shields now, no need to save them." Rain yells. "P'Pai don't forget to dodge, dps is important but a dead player is zero dps."
Rain holds his breath as they reach point one percent. This is really happening. He can barely contain his excitement now.
"Give it everything now," P'Phayu says, "he's about to enrage."
In the end it's very close but just as the boss is queuing up his enrange his health drops to zero. It takes Rain a minute to realize they have actually done it, they have cleared the raid tier.
Before they celebrate with pictures and open the chest, P'Phayu registers their win. Now it's just a matter of time to find out where they placed.
They take several screenshots, then they open the chest. P'Pai takes the weapon since his dps is the highest on the team. Sky gets a new healing accessory. There is a music sheet they decide to share for the team house. They all agree to let P'Phayu have the mount as team leader. The final piece of loot is a kitten minion that everyone insists Rain take.
It's the next day when the rankings come out that they find out they placed 14th world wide. A huge achievement.
Rain checks his DMs and sees one from P'Phayu, "Ready to give me a reward, cute boy?"
"What do you want?" Rain asks.
"Simple," P'Phayu tells him, "You have to stop avoiding me."
Oh, Rain had begun to think, or maybe hope, that the senior was going to ask him for a date, or even a kiss. Rain is surprised at how disappointed he is by this reward.
A lot of players avoid fishing in Midnight Aurora. They say it's boring and pointless, especially since only a couple of the fish are even used for crafting recipes. Fishing is considered something only for hard core completionists to worry with.
Rain likes it however, he finds it relaxing and it's exciting when he catches a new fish to add to his log. There are some very rare fish that can only be caught in certain weather or during a specific time of day, those are really fun to tick off the list.
Now that they are done with the raid tier, Rain spends a lot of time in game fishing. It calms his overactive mind which too often these days focuses on a certain handsome senior.
As if summoned by his thoughts the voice behind him says, "I thought I told you not to avoid me."
Rain jumps. "P'Phayu, how did you get here?"
"Why can't I come, it's an open server." P'Phayu says with a little smirk.
"I'm not avoiding you," Rain pouts, "Can't you see I'm trying to catch this fish?"
"If you're not avoiding me, how come you haven't been answering my DMs?" P'Phayu says, "And when you log on you never come by the company house anymore."
"It's a very difficult fish to catch." Rain says, trying to avoid the subject. To be honest he's suddenly feeling very shy everytime he is around the senior. After their raid team clear and finishing at an astonishing 14th place world wide, Rain had half expected P'Phayu to ask for a date for his reward, or a kiss his brain not so helpfully supplies. Part of him, the part that had finally admitted he liked the senior, had hoped P'Phayu felt something for him as well.
"What's wrong, Rain?" P'Phayu asks in a more serious tone.
"It's nothing, I...." Rain isn't sure how to finish, but then something suddenly occurs to him, "wait how did you find me?" The company menu might have told P'Phayu what area he was in but not the exact location and this map was vast, no way P'Phayu accidentally stumbled on him. There is only one way P'Phayu could have known exactly where he was. "Are you in my room? You are, aren't you? Why are you in my room?"
"Your mama let me come up, and I borrowed your spare headset." P'Phayu confirms. "I came over to talk to you." Rain shivers at the thought of P'Phayu in his room, probably with the spare chair Rain keeps for when Sky comes over to play pulled up right next to him.
P'Phayu pulls up the in game clock and says, "Looks like the window for catching your fish is over, have lunch with me and we can talk."
Rain smiles at the idea of going to eat with P'Phayu. He has to remind himself it's just lunch, not a date. He pulls up his menu and logs out just as P'Phayu is taking off his headset.
"Going to wear that?" P'Phayu asks with a grin.
Rain has been playing since he woke up that morning and suddenly realizes he is wearing nothing but boxers and a ratty oversized t-shirt. Rain flushes with embarrassment and grabs a pair of jeans and a clean t-shirt going to the bathroom to change.
Downstairs, Rain stares at the huge bike with wonder and a little fear. He knew P'Phayu rode the bike to school but seeing it up close it looks more intimidating than he imagined.
"Ever rode on a big bike?" P'Phayu asks. Rain shakes his head. He's ridden the smaller taxi motorcycles but nothing compared to this one. "Well today is your lucky day."
He grabs a spare helmet and puts it on Rain, strapping it under his chin. Then he mounts the bike. "Hop on," he tells Rain.
Where P'Phayu had made getting on the bike look easy and effortless, Rain felt clumsy and awkward getting on. He put his hands on the senior's shoulders to steady himself.
Once Rain is on, P'Phayu pulls Rain's arms around him before slipping his own helmet on. "Hold tight, I wouldn't want to dump you off." P'Phayu says in a teasing tone.
The design of the bike forces Rain to cling to the senior's back, he can feel the strong muscles and wonders if P'Phayu works out.
P'Phayu takes him to a Korean restaurant, which happens to be Rain's favorite. Rain wonders if he somehow knew or if it's just a coincidence.
"So what would Rain like to eat, order whatever you like my treat." P'Phayu says.
Not a date, Rain reminds himself. He orders all his favorites and is surprised when P'Phayu doesn't order anything but a bowl of rice for himself.
"Oh, aren't you ordering anything?" Rain asks.
"Too late for that stupid boy, if you want to snoop for my information you are ten years too soon." P'Phayu says.
Rain pouts at this, "you are teasing me again."
"There is a difference between affectionate teasing and mocking teasing," P'Phayu tells him. "So are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
"I told you nothing is wrong." Rain says.
"Obviously there is. During the game we were friends, but since we finished the raid tier you started avoiding me again."
"I'm not...." Rain started.
"You are a very bad liar, you know. Are you scared to tell me?"
"I'm not a coward." Rain insists.
"Then tell me." P'Phayu says. He takes Rain's hand and says, "Rain, tell me, I want to know."
"I just thought," why is this so hard to say? "I just thought that maybe you liked me and that's the reason you were teasing me all the time."
P'Phayu raises an eyebrow at this, "what if I said that it was true?"
"Then I started thinking that I don't hate...what?" Rain says.
"What if I told you that I do like you and that I enjoy teasing people I like." P'Phayu says.
"But after the Raid tier, you never said, I mean do you, I..." Rain can't seem to form a coherent sentence.
"A certain stubborn boy never said that he liked me either." P'Phayu says with a smirk.
P'Phayu actually likes him? Rain is pretty sure his brain just crashed. Maybe it's a lobby error, he thinks ruefully.
When the food comes there is more than enough for both of them. Rain starts in on his bowl of rice but is surprised when P'Phayu insists on feeding him.
"Eat more than just rice." P'Phayu says, shoving a green bean towards him.
As they were leaving the restaurant, Rain says, "Did you mean it, that you like me?"
"Uh huh. What about you, Rain. Do you still hate me more than broccoli?" P'Phayu says.
Rain pretends to consider this, "Well not more than broccoli anyone," he teases.
P'Phayu laughs and ruffles his hair.
With the raid tier finished the four of them explore other aspects of the game. With the game just out there are a lot of features not online yet. They are planned for upcoming patches. Still there are fun things to do. There is a fun optional dungeon set that goes up to 200 floors but if you wipe you have to start from the beginning. They make it through after a couple of tries. There is also a casino type area full of mini games that they like to hang out in during lazy times.
P'Phayu has also started fishing with Rain, in fact he pretty much does everything with Rain. Sky of course notices this and DMs Rain about it.
Sunflower Monkey: So you and P'Phayu, what's that all about.
Mystie Tyger: We are kinda dating
Sunflower Monkey: Since when, and why am I just now hearing this?
Mystie Tyger: Just since yesterday, I haven't had a chance to tell you
Sunflower Monkey: So should I fix you a big plate of broccoli next time you come over
Mystie Tyger: STFU
Sunflower Monkey: I'm kidding, if you are happy, I am happy for you. Wait until I tell P'Pai though, you will never hear the end of it.
Mystie Tyger: I hate you.
Sunflower Monkey: I love you too.
School was about to start up again so Rain had an idea of inviting all of his friends from school to an in-game beach dance party. He sent out invitations for everyone.
That's how they all found themselves on the beach and in discord with a livestreamer DJ that P'Pai hired for the event. Sig, Por, Ple, P'Som, and P'Pai's brother and sister were there along with several people they had met during the course of playing the game.
The dance emotes that the game provided were varied and fun.
Rain and P'Phayu were watching the sun go down with the beach party behind them. The game had absolutely gorgeous artificial sun sets.
"Happy, cute boy?" P'Phayu asked him.
"So happy." Rain says. "You know what? I suddenly realize that an online game isn't just playing and messing around.
He looks around pointing out friends they have made while playing, there are people from all over the world. There are also his school friends they have become closer with.
"It's making friends and connecting with people." Rain says.
"Oh, anyone in particular you feel a connection with?" P'Phayu teases.
"Maybe," Rain returns. "There is that cutie from the US I like to go on hunts with."
"Brat." P'Phayu tells him. Rain giggles at this.
"Do you think we would have ever gotten together if it hadn't been for Midnight Aurora?" Rain asks.
"I think I would have eventually found a way to convince a cute boy that I wasn't so bad." P'Phayu says.
"Hmmm, maybe. Shall we join the party?" Rain asks. He brings up his glamour menu and changes into a pair of black pants and a golden mesh shirt with a black crop jacket over it.
"Oh, I was hoping you would wear the belly dancing outfit." P'Pai said from behind him.
"Sky, I don't think P'Pai needs any healing in the next boss fight." Rain says with a wink.
"Hey!" P'Pai says while the other three laugh.
"Let's join the party. The music is wonderful and I want to get lots of screenshots with all of our friends." Rain says.
In the end, Rain does get hundreds of screenshots. He thinks there will be other games in the future but Midnight Aurora will always be the most special to him because of all the wonderful memories he made in-game and out of it.
********
Notes:
Indulging my inner video game nerd hard on this au, something I've wanted to do for a long time.