Lucien felt the heavy and firm grip on his shoulder, it scared him into not turning his head back and look at the stranger that made his brain turn on fight-or-flight mode.

The hesitation didn't make time pass by any faster, as the man didn't come forward, and the silence was just too long, so he mustered up the courage to finally turn back.

Once he did this, Grey's eyes seemed to lock onto Lucien's eyes, and this moment of contact almost felt like they were peering inside each other's souls.

This made Grey's expression turn complicated and painful. He was unsure of how to go forward.

But with the current situation at hand, he did not forget what he came over for, and what originally infuriated him at first.

Grey immediately confronts the other person by blocking him from Lucien. He questions him in a cold and discourteous manner.

"Just who are you?"

These four words seem to echo as Marshall said the same thing, the two voices came clashing at the same time, with each tone piercingly cold.

Meanwhile, Lucien noticed Grey's back. The man that shielded him had a broad and wide back, which was covered by his long and black coat, draped around his shoulders almost looking like a cape.

This intimidating stature didn't stop Lucien from becoming curious as to what was this man's true intentions for approaching them.

He tapped Grey's shoulder, and uttered a few words.

"Excuse me, but who are you?"

As he immediately asks this, the tension in front seemed to ease up a bit.

Marshall didn't say a word, but simply glared his harsh feelings towards Grey. 

Grey was hesitant to face Lucien.

Because earlier, he could still play it in the pretense of 'i want to confront the other person' but now that he asked him that directly, it made it that much harder to face him. 

Even if he saw him before in the hospital, even with all those hours spent chatting with him in-game, for him, it couldn't compare to experiencing what the real, living Lucien was like.

Before he could come to a decision, his world suddenly came to a halt. 

The memories of playing EVE together surged through Grey's mind, his eyes suddenly became blurry and he couldn't see what was infront of him anymore.

Only the warm crackling of a campfire remained, what was left of his sight was replaced by a beautiful night scenery of the forest. 

Small fireflies lit up the surroundings and the lake nearby, pine trees enshrouded the vast woods and Grey found himself sitting on a long pine log.

Across from him was Lucien's rugged avatar, placing his hands near the campfire to warm up.

A message box suddenly popped up in the chatlog.

<{ [ BloodReign_666 ] } : "As I was saying, KillSwitch, what made you want to become friends with me in the first place?

<[ KillSwitch ] : "Hmm...."

<{ [ BloodReign_666 ] } : "You challenged me with a 1v1 back then, but the reward was only to have me accept your friend request... I thought you were really just trolling me."

.....

Grey didn't hesitate to respond.

<[ KillSwitch ] : "I thought you were really cool."

The atmosphere was presented with a brief pause, until a few "ha~ha~ha~♪" emotes came swiftly from BloodReign.

<{ [ BloodReign_666 ] } : "You're kidding right?? But then again who wouldn't fall for my charm..."

BloodReign toggled the "wink" emote twice.

KillSwitch simply toggled the "rolling eyes" emote, but real life Grey imagined Lucien winking and thought he was cute.

Grey passed the same question to him, eagerly waiting for a reply.

<[ KillSwitch ] : "What about you? Why'd you decide to stick with me despite my constant bugging and antics?"

<{ [ BloodReign_666 ] } : "Hmm...."

Lucien's response was slower than usual, 

It gave the impression of him thoughtfully thinking it through before hitting 'enter.' 

Within a minute or two his response came.

<{ [ BloodReign_666 ] } : "Maybe... it's because you make playing EVE much more fun."

<{ [ BloodReign_666 ] } : "I remember the time when it was just me grinding to get the newest weapons or defeating king zombies on my own. But that kind of thing gets old fast... What i'm saying is, It gets lonely at the top..."

<{ [ BloodReign_666 ] } : "But ever since you came into the picture, suddenly, playing EVE wasn't just about getting the next high from getting a legendary weapon or defeating the boss anymore.I get to experience new things with someone, and i felt like i was a normal person for once."

<{ [ BloodReign_666 ] } : "Experiencing normal people things like playing games with friends..."

<{ [ BloodReign_666 ] } : "Heck, we even got married! If that doesn't say something about our friendship i don't know what will!!"

KillSwitch's avatar started to do the 'chuckle' emote.

<[ KillSwitch ] : "Friendship, huh?"

Before long, the completely unnatural pause in time slowly started readjusting itself and returned to the real time.

The image of BloodReign_666's hardy, tough avatar soon disappeared from his vision and Grey saw Marshall's sour face in front of him.

His expression immediately turned grim. The transition from the lovely and thoughtful Lucien turned into the wicked and scrutinizing gaze of Marshall.

It was almost as if he entered heaven, only to be pulled back once more into the deepest pits of hell.

But nevertheless, Grey finally found the peace in his heart to reveal the truth and become honest with Lucien.

He quietly turned his face around, only to see Lucien's gaze dart around his face, quickly observing him as if he was some hot-selling magazine.

He chuckled lightly and patted Lucien's soft hair. He felt like he was petting a bird's nest...

Lucien froze, he was startled by the sudden petting, but his gut told him that this person meant no harm..... To him atleast.

Grey began by hinting at a few things that only people that watched him closely in the game would know.

"Your username... It's BloodReign_666. Right? Your ranking is the global top 1, and as of now your account age sits at 2799 days."

Lucien didn't flinch, he was quite a star in-game so it didn't bother him that people looked at his profile alot.

But, who could this person be? Could he possibly be.... A fan?

Grey continued to press on.

"I heard you and a player by the username 'KillSwitch' had gotten married for quite some time now... I also read on the article that you guys share a couple's heart shaped bed in your room, and a scythe of darkness was gifted to you by your husband?"

This time, Lucien's reaction wasn't the same as that nonchalant version from earlier, his expression was quite the opposite.

His cheeks blushed red and his heartbeat started to beat fast. He recalled the last bit of what he said and he didn't want to believe that this stranger knew this information.

Crap! There's no way! 

He had whispered in a very small voice.

"H-..How did you know!?"

In a mischievous impulse, Grey leaned in and whispered softly into Lucien's ear.

"Try~to~guess?"

The slightly hot breath of Grey made Lucien feel the cold air releasing from his body. 

Just a small question was enough to make him nervous.

But a certain somebody abruptly ended their budding conversation.

"Hey. We're not done talking yet."