Markus rushed to get his laptop and peripherals off the small dresser in his room. He’d not had the energy or urge to play FTO since Amy first gave him the news that she wanted an annulment. Now, the idea of playing the game with his new roommate had his pulse accelerating, and he felt like when he’d first started playing the game.

Taking the stairs three at a time, Ink was back on the first floor quick enough to see Issac pull himself away from the entryway wall. The smaller man coughed in embarrassment and pointed back up the stairs, “We need the third floor.”

“Okay,” Markus said and let Issac lead him back upstairs.

The programmer hadn’t known there was a third floor, but it made sense when he thought of how the outside of the buildings had looked when he’d rode his bike into the parking lot. The third-floor staircase was hidden behind a door, and when they reached the top, Ink understood why. The third floor was one large room that spanned the length and breadth of the entire condo. The walls were short before the peaked roof-line slanted overhead, making it hard to walk anywhere but the central parts of the room. One half of the room was set up as a recording studio. Thick backdrops hung behind and to the sides of an eight-foot-long desk.

“Ah,” Issac stopped and looked back at Markus, “Would it be okay for me to record us playing? I still need to make a video today before we leave for the meet and greet.”

Markus shrugged, “I don’t care.” He rubbed at the tattoos on his chest, “Oh. Should I put a shirt on?”

Issac’s eyes wandered over the inked skin on Markus’s chest. “The girls and some of the guys would probably enjoy the eye candy.” He froze, and his eyes grew bigger as if he just realized what he’d said. Issac whipped back around and moved towards the desk. He threw a squeaky, “Up to you,” over his shoulder as he went.

Markus just huffed a breath of amusement and followed. He sat his laptop and gear down on an empty part of the tabletop that Issac motioned to. Ink began setting everything up as Issac pulled extra camera gear out of a storage box hidden behind one of the backdrops.

As the vlogger worked, and his head was turned away fiddling with things, the guy started talking, “Vlogging can be a lot of fun, and stressful too. People start to think they can tell you what you can do or what you should be recording. How to play the game. What sort of home life you should lead. It gets kind of crazy. But mostly, my fans are just awesome. They’ll come together to defend me and others who get trolled on my channel, and are very supportive of the fact that I’m gay.” Issac connected one of the cameras to the back of his computer tower.

He stilled, with the power cord to the camera in his hand, and looked at Ink, his face serious. “Are you sure we should tell everyone that you’re my boyfriend? They will all think you’re gay, Markus. There is no way that won’t get back to your workplace. Is that really okay? Is it really necessary? We could just tell everyone you’re my roommate.”

Ink realized he’d not explained himself nearly as well as he thought. Yes, he’d said what he did in part to piss off that hidebound looking agent, but that wasn’t even close to the real reason. He’d also not thought of Issac’s feelings. Maybe the guy had someone he liked.

Markus hooked his headset around his neck and looked at Issac seriously, “I’m sorry. I should have discussed it with you first. I have hope that if word gets around that you have a boyfriend, you might not hear from this weird “fan” of yours anymore. Or it might flush him out of the woodwork, so you don’t have to worry anymore. I didn’t ask you first, and I should have. If you’re uncomfortable with this or have some other reason you don’t want to pretend, I’ll call Dalton myself and tell him we were joking and that I’m just your roommate.” For some reason that Ink didn’t want to look at too closely, he felt a little disappointed at the idea.

“You really don’t care that your company and the whole world will think you’re gay?” Issac’s head was tilted to the side, his eyebrows furrowed.

Markus snorted, “When I was undercover, people thought I was a drug-dealing pimp. I think I can handle people saying I’m gay. I can’t say this enough, there is nothing wrong with being gay! Besides, knowing my coworkers, they would probably hold me a coming-out party.”

It was Issac’s turn to snort. He shook his head and smirked, “Fine, we’ll do this your way. Just be ready for the fallout.”

“Oh don’t worry, I was born ready.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

“You’re character is a fairy mage, right?” Ink asked as he logged into the central platform for SlideRuleGames. All of SRG’s games could be accessed from their special app.

“Mhm,” Issac said as he finished setting up the extra equipment.

“I guess I can play my fairy toon too. He’s an assassin. I could play Ink, my vampire knight, but I don’t want to remove it from SRG’s Tavern.” Markus said as he logged into a character called AyeByte.

“Play whatever character you’re happy with. Should I call you Ink, Markus, or that toon’s name during the game? I go by Ice, so it would be great if you could call me that.” Issac sat in his chair and adjusted his headset before logging in.

Markus swiftly pulled up a menu and clicked the option to leave the tavern before answering, “Oh, call me Ink. It’s what I’m used to being called.”

Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ink’s phone started going apeshit as messages came flooding in. At the same time, his character was having the same flood happen.

Sunshine: What the heck is going on?

Zarn: No! Come back!

Poe: Dost mine eyes deceive me?!

Moose: Oooo. You left to go play with our cute little gay boy didn’t you?

Demonshade: WTF?!!!

Underdog: wut the fuk dude. You ghost us for THIS long then leave? You best have a good reason...

Jolly: U ok?

Ash: :( don’t leave us! You’re family!

Tempest: Sweet friend. Please tell me this is a one-off, and you’re doing it for your new roommate?

On and on, the messages scrolled. Ink found himself smiling painfully. He’d forgotten how much these people meant to him and how much he meant to them in all of his wallowing and self-pity.

Instead of answering them, he logged into their voice server.

“Ink has joined the server,” An Australian sounding bot called out.

“Relax, everyone. Ice has to record some gameplay, and I’m helping. I had to leave with a toon to protect Nevermore Tavern. I’ll leave the rest.” Ink reassured everyone before they could speak.

“You’re doing good then?” Sunny, aka Benton, his friend and boss asked.

Markus rubbed at a tattoo of FTO characters that sat opposite of his heart on his chest. It was artwork done by Tempest, the head of the art department. She’d made it especially for Ink and depicted twenty-odd friends and his main toon in what looked like a silly group photo. “Yeah. This was a good idea. Thank you.”

“Your welcome!” Moose called out in the voice chat. “Now go away and have fun with that cute boy!”

“Bye!” Ink said among everyone’s farewells before he logged out of their server.

“They really like you, don’t they?” Issac asked next to his shoulder. He was reading everyone’s panicked texts with a smile that looked a little wistful.

Ink found himself genuinely smiling as he looked at the flood of messages, “Yeah, they really do.”