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Time got ahead of me, and now it was nearly three in the morning. I curled my toes into my mattress, and fluttered my eyelashes in an attempt to rehydrate my bloodshot eyes.
The only light in my room was being emitted from my computer screen, as I began to close my Chrome tabs. Chirping crickets and ruthless, pouring rain filled my ear canals. "I guess that's it for tonight."
I reached my numb hand behind my desktop for my contact case, before being interrupted with a melodic tone. My game window was still open, as it's usually the last thing I exit out of. "A duo request at this hour? You've got to be kidding me."
My expectations were low, but this player exceeded them completely. They were nearly max level, and had sets of the best gear in game. "Holy shit! They have dragon gear?"
"Scratch what I said earlier. I don't mind playing a few more rounds." I mumbled to myself, giggling. After accepting their duo request, they instantly joined a lobby. I expected to be carried this game, but the veteran player expected me to do all of the dirty work.
I didnt want to humiliate myself, so I went along with it. Though, I merely scratched by the levels. They were all high-ranked dungeons, ones that were nearly impossible without an efficient duo partner.
An hour had passed, and my partner wouldn't stop joining lobbies. I thought I had proved myself, but their actions debunked that thought. "Jerk." I thought to myself.
In the game, you only unlocked a direct message feature once your friendship level reached five. I couldn't express my bundled frustration, since I was stuck with pre-recorded emotes.
Using a few of my bought emotes, I tried to lighten the mood. Dancing after beating a difficult round, and even saying "Goodjob!" despite their sloth actions, yet they wouldn't emote back. "Come on, man! You're seriously making me do all of the work, and you can't even emote back?" I mumbled.
The blue-rays which secreted from the digital screen began to make my head ache. It was five in the morning now, so I didn't mind hopping off the game. Before leaving, I sent my useless duo partner a friend request, hoping that they would accept.
Pushing away my desk with my numbed feet, I instantly burrowed my face into the soft pillows. Tonight would be a sleepless one, as there's no way I'm going to be lively tomorrow with four hours of sleep.
I attempted to rest my head, and I actually fell asleep for an hour or two, before being adruptly woken. Aches of pain radiated throughout my skull, causing me to awaken. "That's what I get for staying up so late."
Flinging my slender legs off my tattered mattress, I then made my way to the kitchen. Patches of blueish grey painted the sky, assuring me that it was dawn. "I need to drink water, and maybe take some painkillers too."
Shuffling through the medicine cabinet, I accidentally disorganized their placements. "Found you!" I said excitedly, bringing out the painkillers.
I gathered one or two of the circular pills in my palm, and chucked them into my mouth. A short, yet sweet taste coming from the outer shell of the pill lingered atop my tongue, before being washed away by my gulps of water.
It was Saturday, a day that I promised myself to not do work on. My movements were sluggish, as I leaned over the marble counter. "What day is it?" I wondered.
I scrolled up on my filthy phone-screen, checking my calendar widget. The colored, digital text read "October 18", which instantly caused my sluggish act to change.
"The Halloween event starts today! I can start grinding early for costumes." I exclaimed, before sprinting my way back down the corridor.
I shoved the door open, then quickly slamming it shut behind my back. As I powered up my computer, I stood upright, untangling my headphone cords. "Did they accept my friend request?"
The game started up as a default, since I had changed the setting. To my surprise, that asshole of a teammate actually accepted my friend request. "Maybe we share the same timezone, and they were just tired."
"Friendship level one, we're really starting from the beginning, huh?" I said to myself, my eyes straining themselves to look at the pixels.
The player from last night was offline, but now that they were added, I could stalk their profile. It was only a few clicks away, but now, I could see everything.
There wasn't a lot of info to go off of, so I decided to use trusty websites. This way, I could hopefully learn more. I typed their username into the search box, and waited patiently as my internet did the work. "Come on, Player 2, who exactly are you?"
Even with the handy website, the knowledge I learned about my previous teammate was limited. "That's cool, a veteran player."
"But, that's it. Nothing else, just their mind-blowing stats and endgame gear." I continued.
I hung my head back, groaning loudly as my search came up with nothing. It's not like there was a way to check their other friends, and the guy didn't even have any linked communications. "Boring!"
To my surprise, the guy was offline. It's rare meeting people who had a similar timezone to me, so I became more intrigued. "Hmph, maybe they'll wake up around noon."
"That gives me about five hours to grind! I'm coming for you, limited costumes." I exclaimed, quickly getting situated upon my chair.
In between rounds, I occasionally checked the status of my new online friend. To be honest, I don't even know why I was so intrigued. Maybe it was the similar timezone, or just the fact that they were so odd.
My eyes grew dry and stingy, as the clock passed by with light-speed. Lootbox after lootbox, I came up with nothing but a few common accessories. "There's no point, I'll just try again later-" I groaned, before cutting off my words.
There it was, the chime I had been desperately waiting for. "Ding!" it sounded, alerting me that a friend had come online. Nobody else usually came on at this time, so I knew that it had to be him.
"Welcome back, Player 2." I said to myself.
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authors note; alright here we go, second fanfic; so far i like the idea
artwork by: Bianca Pricop on artstation
words: 1095