Heavy...
His left arm was aching uncomfortably, pulling King out of his doze. He tried to roll onto his right side, but something solid kept him still.
"P...? You gained too much weight, bud."
When he only felt a slight nuzzle against his bare chest in response, King sighed and opened his eyes. The moment his vision cleared, the weight vanished, allowing him to slowly sit up and shake out the pins and needles he felt in his bad arm.
Prince was there, and looked like he'd been sleeping on that arm until he was woken up by King's movements.
"P, let's switch sides when sleeping, okay? I can't have you on my left arm or leg now," he said, still a little bewildered about the weight he'd felt.
Curiously, he reached forward and picked up the little raccoon, then frowned.
He's really not that heavy.
Prince wiggled sleepily in response to the attention, excited but still clearly drowsy.
"Ah, sorry bud," he said as he set the little guy down... and immediately got a snuggly hug for his efforts.
"Love you, too."
He gave Prince a little back rub before looking at the time on his phone.
"Oh, good thing I woke up. My alarm is gonna go off in a few minutes," he said as he quickly got up and carried Prince with him to the bathroom.
He waited for his friend to do his business, then quickly relieved himself before flushing and washing his hands, then lifting Prince up to the sink.
"We're gonna start washing our hands after we got potty when I can help you, okay?" he said as he turned the water on again for him.
Prince, evidently, knew exactly what he was doing, because he immediately dipped his hands beneath the water and began scrubbing happily.
"Oh, right. Raccoons do tend to wash their hands and food," King mumbled as he grabbed the soap and put a pump of it into Prince's waiting paws.
He stood there quietly and watched as the little guy eagerly scrubbed his hands to perfection, then handed him a little towel to dry them.
Once done, he set him down on the floor, then checked himself in the mirror. His hair was a bit messy, but that was easily manageable. Within four minutes he was stepping back out of the bathroom, his hair reasonably styled but still the perfect amount of messy.
"What should I wear tonight, P?" he asked as his friend followed after him, always on his heels when not in his arms.
Prince cooed and chattered quietly in response, understanding what was about to happen after having seen him work a few times already over the past few days.
Thus, he quickly ran ahead and grabbed at the big, comfy sweatshirt King had draped over his gaming chair.
"Of course you'd want that. You can fit inside with me and nap while I play," he said as he grabbed the item, much to Prince's delight.
He couldn't really wear it during a broadcasted game, though, because then Prince would be on his stream and that wasn't fair to Baron.
Granted, he never really stopped the raccoon from climbing up into his lap during streams or anything, but Prince just never bothered joining him unless he had his hoodie on, which was only during off-stream practicing.
"I'll wear it later, okay? Then we can snuggle while I wind down from work," he said as he went to hang it up in his closet.
Prince didn't seem too happy with his choice of a simple sweater in exchange, and quickly found his way up onto King's bed to throw a little tantrum beneath the covers.
Sitting down once dressed, King made sure that everything was set up, then looked over at the still-fuming raccoon beneath his blankets.
I might have spoiled him a bit too much...
Just as he was thinking that, a little black nose poked itself out from beneath the covers and twitched a little.
But on second thought, he's adorable and deserves all the love.
His second alarm began to beep, letting him know that it was show time. Quickly turning back to face his computer, he reached forward and booted up the game, then tugged on his headset and grabbed his controller.
It was another scheduled match set up by his sponsors, which was honestly fine with him. Whichever side won got an extra three hundred dollars, and fans could also donate directly during the match since it counted towards the official ranking.
So far he was number twelve, and while that might seem a little ways down the list, when you considered that nearly a million people played the game regularly, it was actually a pretty incredible feat. Especially since he'd only been playing for a little over a year and a half.
The only thing that was actually holding him back from rising higher, faster, were the people he often got paired with during his competitive matches.
While he was rather versatile and could play different jobs, as well as multitask in stressful situations, most of the players that had been assigned to fight with him as teammates over the past few months hadn't been all that useful.
Maybe they'll actually give me someone good this time...
The area where his character was waiting suddenly darkened before a notice of a match invitation flickered onto the screen in dark gold and black letters.
Clicking accept on his controller, King allowed his character, who was a pretty burly guy with a mess of brown hair and thick armor, to be teleported into an arena.
Aw man...
He recognized the person now standing beside him.
I don't want to play with her again.
MrsK.
Everyone knew that she was really just a super fan of his, as her name entailed. Not that she was terrible at the game, or didn't deserve the starter endorsement she had gotten from the gaming company. She did play relatively well, but the one time they'd been paired together she hadn't stopped fangirling and spamming him with questions while he'd been trying to focus on their match.
They had lost, and he was still salty about it.
He immediately considered muting her as soon as they were connected to the voice chat, but he knew that it would be frowned upon if he did. People liked hearing them discuss things and a lot of those people weren't his subscribers... yet. He needed those people to hear him the most.
Reaching over, he turned on his personal fan chatroom and was immediately greeted with a multitude of hellos, his, and OMGHESHEREs.
He gave them his best nonchalant smirk, immediately making people spam the chat like overwhelmed teenage girls.
Most of them probably were overwhelmed teenage girls.
Glancing toward his bed, he raised a slight brow.
Really, P?
The raccoon was currently holding onto the edge of his blanket, staring at him with narrowed eyes.
Don't you tear that, he warned as he narrowed his own eyes to try and get his point across.
When he looked back toward his game he noticed that he had been put into MrsK's party and she'd typed an enthusiastic hello sweetie! Let's do well together this time, too!
He couldn't help but make a deadpan face, because it would have been something much less pleasant if he'd tried for anything else.
His fans, of course, caught his displeasure right away, and it was no surprise when they began to spam the chat with their frustrations.
CHR0N!CPÃ!N: How dare they put him with that stalker again!!!
ELEVATORMUSIC: SHE WAS PRACTICALLY HUMPING HIS CHARACTER LAST TIME THEY WERE PAIRED TOGETHER!
GAY4KING: Can't blame her, honestly... but can we talk about who he was clearly looking at a moment ago?
Looking away from the chat as he heard a new voice in his headphones, King steeled his expression.
"Hi Sweetie! It's so great to be able to play with you again!"
King forced a smile.
"Nice to see you again, too," he said as he glanced at his bed again, only to see that a certain raccoon was now nowhere to be seen.
P?
He was about to start looking around when he remembered that he was streaming and quickly refocused as the MC for the match entered their broadcasted chat.
"Hello to our King and Queen of Finality!"
The hell is my queen?
Feeling a tap against his leg, King looked down without thinking as the MC continued to speak, going over the basic rules for those who were watching that were newer to the game.
Prince looked up at him, opening and closing his mouth a few times to indicate that he was hungry.
I just fed y—err, I forgot.
They had come back from their walk and simply passed out for a nap. Then gotten up and immediately gotten ready to stream.
I'll feed you after! It shouldn't be too long of a match.
Prince, however, was having none of his silent promises. When he didn't get up right away to go get him his overdue lunch, he began climbing up his pant leg!
Unable to really do anything about it without causing even more suspicion, he tried to ignore the raccoon as the match finally got underway, but right as his character was teleported into the forested arena, Prince reached his lap and came into view of the streaming camera.
The MC immediately went silent at the same time his comment channel seemed to pause, or freeze, from shock.
Shit.
King was about to try and explain himself when he noticed that the enemy team was already moving. The match had started, and now he was stuck with a frustrated raccoon in his lap and enough awkward silence to fill a hospital room after a failed paternity test!
He considered shoving him down, but when Prince just snuggled in against his shirt with a few quiet squeaks, he disregarded him and refocused his attention on the game.
The MC seemed to snap out of his shock, too, and started announcing things for their... King glanced down at the viewer numbers and had to force himself to keep his mouth from dropping open in shock.
He normally had about four or five thousand viewers, and it was clear that his numbers had likely been around there a few moments ago, but now...
Fourteen-thousand and climbing?!
"Team Alpha is looking strong as they form a plan..." King ignored the man's rambling in order to focus on his own predicament.
As he'd expected, MrsK just fell into step behind him, just like she'd done during their previous match.
"I'll follow your lead, Sweetie!"
King wanted to roll his eyes, but instead he simply said, "you go ahead and lead. I want to see what you can do."
He had hated the last time he'd had to play with her because she always stayed in the back. Sure, she played a healer, but the healers in the game were versatile if you put in enough effort to learn how to play both versions.
MrsK hesitated for a moment as she thought about her response, then replied with a nervous laugh.
"Sure, let me show you what I can do!"
King grinned and glanced at his chatroom, but then realized he shouldn't have. There was so much spam about Prince that he couldn't even keep up reading it before the words flew off the page as new ones took their place!
I'll deal with that later.
He had no doubt that the question and answer session at the end of the match was going to revolve around his new friend, so he pushed the issue to the back of his mind for the moment and focused on keeping himself alive.
At first, MrsK struggled to handle her character when they got to their first confrontation. She died within two minutes, even with King's assistance.
To his surprise, however, she'd managed to deal a decent amount of damage to the other teams main damage dealer, allowing King to finish the guy off and deal a reasonable amount of damage to the healer before being forced to retreat.
Their opponent gave chase, but quickly realized that his speed wasn't nearly enough to keep up and withdrew as well.
That left King time to regain his hit points and regroup with his resurrected partner.
"I'm sorry about that. I'm not used to being in front, but I won't let you down again!" MrsK said, making King actually grin slightly as Prince carefully turned around to curl up in his lap, seemingly watching the game now with a twitch of his nose.
It was obvious that MrsK wanted to ask about the fuzzy brat in his lap, too, but she thankfully kept her words to herself and as the second skirmish got underway, her playing did improve.
She had also taken the time during their regrouping to change some of her armor, giving her better defense against the enemy's attacks.
The opposing team hadn't taken her for much considering that they'd likely reviewed her last match with him, but it was a pleasant surprise to see that she could adjust to new situations.
Two faint beeps alerted them to the other team finally joining the group chat.
"Hello," one of them said in greeting, though his tone wasn't the nicest.
Feeling quite a bit more confident now than he had going into the match, King smirked and relaxed into his chair a bit as he returned the greeting, causing quite a stir from his chatroom.
FLOATURGOAT: HE KNOWS HE'S A GOD!
BLLSNMYMTH: I WANNA HUG HIS RACCON!!!
GAY4KING: I wanna BE that raccoon!
King gave a quiet chuckle as he returned his focus to the game. They were just approaching their opponent from a small rocky outcropping, giving them the advantage.
"Hey King, you guys make it official yet?" their opponent who had greeted them a few moments ago asked out of the blue.
Of course, King knew that he was just trying to mess with him concerning MrsK's obsession over him, so he ignored his words as the MC began calling out plays.
King was the first to attack this time, not wanting to seem like he was forcing his teammate to do all of the forward fighting.
He quickly charged ahead with his weapon held low, swinging first upward, then around and downward. His movements were much faster than one would expect from a character so large.
Normally brawny characters, and warrior classes in general, didn't focus much on speed. That was more of a thief or rogue type of stat.
King, however, didn't care much for stereotypical things, so he'd put quite a bit of speed into his big guy. Of course, that left his defense and attack a bit lacking, but considering his ability to dodge, his opponents rarely got the chance to take advantage of that information. He easily demonstrated those skills, too, scoring them their second kill right before MrsK picked off the remaining injured healer.
"With two more kills under their belts, team Beta is looking like they've learned a thing or two about working together since their last paired match!" the MC said excitedly, drawing King's eyes back down to their number of watchers.
Twenty-five thousand.
He quickly redirected his gaze to his own personal blog and reached over, clicking the refresh button.
Four thousand...
He'd just gained four thousand watchers in the time their match had been going on!
Feeling a sense of adrenaline surge through him, King quickly had his character run forward, guiding MrsK toward the enemy's respawn location.
He then laid three snare traps and added a spell of immobility to a little grassy area before ducking back behind some trees.
Soon enough their enemy had respawned, but they knew better than to just charge in since newly revived players got an invulnerability buff for the first thirty seconds.
That's why they waited and watched, biding their time and listening to the clicking of the other group turning on and off their group chat function so that they could talk privately between each other.
Their opponent's plans, however, quickly came to a screeching halt when their healer ventured ahead of their combat class and got tangled in one of King's traps!
Because they had already died several times, the healer's teammate was forced to quickly defend them against MrsK's immediate assault, awarding King an opportunity sneak around behind them and attack from the back, triggering a double-damage effect!
Within thirty seconds the combat class was down again, and while the two combined had managed to eventually kill MrsK again, King easily finished them off and promptly ended the match with a double-kill!
"And there we have it folks! Your king and queen of Infinity have done it! Crushing team Alpha in a shockingly-quick match!" the MC shouted, making both chat groups go crazy.
Most of the messages he could catch were positive and in his favor, but their opponents had brought quite a few fans to the party, too, and several of them were spamming the chats saying that it was an unfair fight or that it had just been bad luck on their player's part.
Unfair and bad luck, huh? One of those players is ranked ten and the other is thirteen. While I'm rank twelve and MrsK is twenty. How is that unfair?
"Alright, time for the Q&A with the winners, first, and I'm sure that everyone knows the first question I'm going to ask!" the MC said, making King slowly glance down at Prince, who was now staring up at him, seemingly understanding that the match was now over and food was likely to commence.
Almost done, bud. Just a few questions left.
"This question is obviously for King. I'm sure it's not just me who is curious, so please tell us; Where did you get that raccoon? Is it a shifter? Is it yours?"
King pursed his lips and reached up to pat Prince's fuzzy head.
"Um, I found him. He was having a pretty rough time so I brought him home to see if I could help him out a bit. He is a shifter, though I haven't seen him change yet. And um, that means that he is definitely not mine," he finished right as Prince began climbing up his sweater, clearly wanting his attention.
King set his controller aside so that he could hold him and was rewarded with a happy little hum.
"Ah, so that's how it is. Well, do you happen to know his name? Or have you given him one?" the MC asked, making both chats suddenly begin spamming name options in case he hadn't come up with one yet.
"I do know his name, but I don't feel like that's appropriate to share, so I've just been calling him Prince."
Both chats immediately disintegrated into fangirling squeals of one form or another, and even MrsK cooed a bit over the name.
"So, what are your plans with him? How long has he been with you?" the MC asked, making King shake his head and grin a little as Prince reached up to try and grab at his nose.
"Um, I'm not really sure. I'd like to help him get back on his feet. He's been with me for a few weeks and is really sweet so far," he said honestly as he grabbed that little paw, allowing Prince to hold his thumb instead of his nose.
"Alright. I'm sure everyone else is wondering, too, but will we be able to see him again in one of your upcoming matches?"
MrsK added, "yes! That would be so awesome if we could. He's absolutely adorable!"
King smiled but shrugged one shoulder.
"It's really up to him. I don't want to use him for any kind of promotion when his other half doesn't seem to be in control. If he climbs up again like he did today, you guys will see him, but if not, then you probably won't."
The MC made an agreeing sound, then finally changed the direction of his questions.
"MrsK, how was it working with the King again?"
Uh oh, here comes the fangirling again.
To his surprise, however, MrsK was quite composed compared to their last time speaking to the MC together after he'd interviewed them as the losing team of their previous match.
"It's been great! I learned a lot this time and I didn't even realize I could play my healer to be a partial damage dealer. I really appreciate the new information and I'll work hard to perfect that way of playing to the best of my ability for our next match together."
Glancing to the side, King read through a few comments from his fan page.
COSMICPOPCORN: Wait, hang on. King, I don't like that expression!
GAY4KING: DON'T DO IT IT'S A TRAP!
Uh...
He was just turning his attention back to the little interview when he felt Prince climb up a bit higher, then snuggle against his neck with a few quiet squeaks.
ITWASJIM: TRUST THE RACCOON!
WAFFLES: I VOTE FOR PRINCE OVER MRSK!!!
STARTSTOP: MARRY PRINCE INSTEAD! HE'S CUTER!!
WEVILKNIEVEL: I SECOND THIS!
YOWHAT: Third!
TRCKNTS: 4th!
KINGLVR: NO MARRY ME!
Why am I suddenly marrying someone?
Feeling another tap against his nose, King smiled and reached up to take Prince's paw for a second time, then looked back up at the screens.
"Is it alright if I head out? I forgot to feed him lunch and I feel like I might get beat up soon if I don't get him something to eat," King said, adding an adorable smile to his words to help get what he wanted.
Normally he would stay for as long as the MC wanted, but there was technically a set time limit that he had to stay. That limit, however, was up thirty seconds ago.
"Ah, no problem! Go ahead and take care of your little guy, and thank you for such a great game!" the MC said right before MrsK replied.
"Thank you for teaching me some new things today. I had a great time and hope to play with you again soon!"
King nodded.
"Thank you for the match, you've improved a lot since we last played and I look forward to seeing how well you do next time," he said honestly.
He then gave the camera one final grin before switching it off... then flopping back into his chair and hugging his little raccoon tightly.
"You little brat. You couldn't have waited, could ya?" he chided even as he grinned and pressed a kiss to Prince's forehead.
He got an excited bit of chatter in response, eventually making him push himself up.
"I suppose its time to eat. Let's have a big, early dinner, then maybe something yummy for dessert, hmm?" he said as he lifted his buddy up and headed out of the room, intent on further spoiling his already spoiled raccoon, even though he knew shouldn't.