Work Text:
According to the load out on the monitor connected to his computer, the game he’d installed about one hour ago would finally, finally, be fully downloaded and ready to launch in just sixty more seconds.
“Seriously hope this is worth the hype,
Donovan
...”
Stretching for good measure and making sure the chair he was sitting in was also connected properly to the central UI and the headvisor, to which he carefully placed onto his head, the currently cranky teen settled himself in for what he hoped would be a somewhat decent experience.
The visor suddenly flicked into life, and a few instruction windows met his gaze. They were simple calibration controls and interface connectors which were adjusted easily enough. Once he closed those windows, he was suddenly met with a clear window reflecting. . . himself? He moved and the image copied his movements. It was almost like looking in a mirror. There was a message to the side asking if this was accurate or if he'd like to customize the render. He made a few adjustments here and there that he felt would make him stand out less and finalized the changes. The screen went dark again. Suddenly his entire field of vision was filled with a peaceful, calm grassy landscape.
He looked all around himself, making a small hum of intrigue.
“Oh… huh. This… does feel like you’re there…”
And suddenly another face popped into view right in front of him.
“HELLO!”
“AH!”
“Sorry to startle you! You must be a new recruit!” Giggled the small floating creature. It looked like a small hovering little child, but with iridescent feathered wings, and a head that seemed just a little larger than it should be.
He eyed it suspiciously.
“Are you ready to enter the world of Zaronia?” She bounced a little, looking at him with anticipation.
“ . . Ye. . .yes?”
“Heheeh, Well then let’s go already!”
The little fae wiggled her small hands; a shimmering portal formed around the teen and no sooner than it finished forming did the boy feel himself falling through the air as if he’d jumped from a plane.
* * * * *
“HUah!?”
The darkness that consumed his vision was suddenly replaced by another sprawling landscape, only this time it wasn’t just a vast vacant grassland. Now he was sitting in the middle of a field with distant mountains, forests, what looked like a far away city or town and people. He could hear birds overhead, as well as smell fresh grass, flowers, smoke and possibly the ocean?
“Oh wow, I’ve never seen anyone land quite like that! Haha!”
“I. . actually feel like I got hit by a bus. . “
“Well, you did kinda land on your face! Hehe, but you’re okay now, silly! Thankfully, here in the land of Zaronia, you’re made of a bit tougher stuff than in your normal world!”
“. . . Hn.” He rubbed his face. Man the UI on this game was… really damn advanced.
“Welp, now that you’re awake, you’ll wanna make sure to talk to High Foreman Eric over there!” The floating fae girl swooped around and pointed over to a somewhat portly man in robes, who was talking with various other lost looking individuals.
“He’s the Ambassador to our new arrivals! He’ll get you registered and help you learn some of the basics of the world! So good luck, traveler!”
With a little wave, the little fae spun around and shot up a few feet before disappearing with a pop in a magical shower of sparkles and flare.
“Well then.” The teen slowly got up, and dusted off his legs. Seriously, so advance! Grass clippings on his pants.
He took a moment to look around and observe his surroundings as he walked towards the Eric person the little floating thing pointed to. There were some people who looked new just like him swinging some wooden swords around at some training dummies. Some people had long sticks and looked to be practicing magic. That was cool. There were even a few people using some bows. . . poorly. . .and there were even people fighting amongst themselves. So this was obviously a training field so-
Then he bumped into someone and fell on his ass.
“Aye! Watch it newbie!” Came a gruff reply from the High Foreman Eric.
“. . .” Was that scripted just for running into this NPC? Wow.
“Welcome to Zaronia, where you control your wildest fantasy in epic grand adventure, yadda yadda, gold and riches to be had, fame and glory, etcetera, etcetera… Name?”
He blinked a moment. That. . okay that pretty funny.
The teen got up and dusted his pants again, chuckling as he mulled this over. Maybe this game would be fun after all-
“NAME, ASSWIPE, I AIN’T GOT ALL DAY!”
He jumped, shocked. Holy shit?! What the hell?!
“Ah…” He looked at…was this really an NPC? Maybe it was a company controlled NPC? Shit, he really should have thought this through. He wanted a cool name, but he was so jarred by this unexpected script, his mind went blank. His eyes scanned over his surroundings, before suddenly he found himself zeroing in on some odd looking blond kid over by the bushes. . . crouching.
The hell was he doin-
“Hey, asshole, I’m writing Douchebag down if you don’t answer me right naaugh!!”
He jerked back, weird kid forgotten and mind latching onto the first things that popped into his mind.
“Craig! Field. . . Spar…”
“Craig Feldspar. Great. Done.”
“Wai-”
And not even getting a confirmation for accuracy, the NPC slapped the paper and it magically illuminated, then burst into a small floating flame. Said flame then swirled around him and hit him square in the chest. It felt warm but didn’t burn.
“Welcome, Craig Feldspar to Zaronia, here’s your hunter’s license, a training badge, some gold to buy shit with..” The man spoke quickly as he truthed each item into Craig’s arms. “And you can grab either a wooden sword or maple cane and learn the craft of your choice. Martially trained classes naugh..” Eric point of the left. “And Magically trained classes naugh.” Then swiftly pointed to the right.
“Oh and here is your Artifact, a wonder to behold of technological and magical prowess.” Eric said in the most bored and agitated tone Craig had ever heard from an NPC as a small watch-like device was slapped on his wrist.
“Ow!”
“All good? Great. Leave.”
Craig stared at the man before stepping away from him and… well off to the side really.
“What the hell is all this stuff?” He shifted each item around so he had a better hold of it. The two small plastic ID cards were fairly plain, simply indicating his validity to train under a profession of choice, and the other a license to hunt wild game for coin, trade or game. The bag was indeed filled with gold, and felt like a decent handful. He tied the little bag around his waist, and slipped the cards into his front pocket.
“Now.. what does-” He poked at the watch-like device on his wrist and it flared to life, showing a holographic display of a chart, with a graph and a few words on the side and a line in a box wiggling. A heart monitor?
Staring at the display, his brows furrowed a bit trying to figure all this mess out, when something caught his attention and shined into his eye.
Craig looked beyond the holo display and found himself staring over towards the bushes where he’d seen that weird blond kid before. Said boy wasn’t there anymore but there was something shiny in the grass.
Curious to see if it was something that was dropped, or maybe some neat item, Craig shrugged and casually made his way towards the object. As he reached it he squatted down to see what it was. It was so shiny, he still couldn’t make it out. He reached out to touch it.
“ WAIT! STOP!” Came a sudden cry off to his right.
Craig turned to the voice, and found himself once again looking at that weird blond kid from before, this time in full view. He definitely looked way different from pretty much anyone in this area.
However that was all Craig could ascertain at this moment as a sudden noise, and growing roar filled his ears and he snapped back to the source of the visceral screeching.
A large, snarling beastly quaddrapiedle thing was shimmering into his vision right on the spot that shiny object was previously sitting. It looked like some sick offspring of a weasel and fox that someone then tried to kill by lighting on fire and failed. It’s teeth and claws bloody and dripping; eyes focused on him and towering over his currently squat form.
“RWGHWOUWOUWOOU!!!”
“FUUUUUUAAAAAAAAACK!”
Craig fell back and scrambled back as the creature's hand came down and its talons sank into the earth he’d just been occupying. It didn’t stop nor slow down as its giant maw opened and Craig just knew if this thing got even one bite, he’d be done for.
Suddenly out of nowhere, a giant axe embedded itself into the creature's face, and it reeled back wailing. Craig watched as the blond kid leaped onto the thing's face, removed the axe and kicked off its nose before spinning in mid air, screaming and swinging down with a forceful slash, impaling the creature again.
The noise the thing gave sounded like a mix of a screaming goat and a dying llama before it fell backwards and went still.
Was his heart beating this fast? Holy shit, that was. . . so crazy. Intense. Craig remained glued to the spot, waiting for any sign of life from either the beast… or well, the other beast. What a crazy bastard.
A grumble later, and the blonde emerged from under the things head, yanking the axe with him. Craig watched as the boy then pulled a small knife from a slip of some sort fashioned around his waist like a belt, and proceeded to cut into the creature. Oh god, he could smell it?! The hell!?
“You’re either really stupid, or really lucky.” The blonde said without even looking at him, arm deep in the incision he’d made with the small knife.
Craig just remained silent.
“This is an Ogriborn. It’s a super rare level forty monster that only spawns once a month in one of twelve locations. It’s random every time.”
Craig sat up a little as the other teen carried on, seeming to find whatever the hell he was digging for, and with a squelching slurping sound, yanked out his arm and in his fist… was a glowing crystal gem. It almost seemed to pulse like a heart. The boy turned towards him, giving him a look over before tossing the object in his direction.
Craig, as a reflex, made to grab the item. As he did, he yipped a bit as he dropped it, startled by the slimy feeling of blood, viscera and the pulse it gave off.
“Uhm. . thanks, but ah… I don’t-”
“Since you activated the encounter, the HeartCore is bound to your account. Technically. Normally you’d have the option to trade it amongst people in your party for the next hour, but since you didn’t have anyone in your party-” The boy tailed off, rolling his hand nonchalantly.
“But I didn’t even fight it. You did. And you killed it.” Craig furrowed his brow.
“That’s the assist system. Since you’re... Heh, obviously a newb, the game recognized you activated the encounter, but since I made the first hit, and was within proxy distance of you, the game recognized me as your assist partner. Which basically means I got to kill it and get the bulk of the experience, but you got the loot and a little experience.”
Craig frowned as he got up, picking up the HeartCore after rubbing it in the grass a moment. He walked over towards the boy and the dead creature.
“Well.. thanks. I’m.. sorry I stole your hunt.”
“I’ve been tracking this bastard for almost a month now. HeartCores are invaluable. They get you so much cool shit!”
“Ugh, I’m such an asshole.”
“Well, then make it up to me, asshole.”
Craig gave the boy a glare. It was only now he really had a chance to take in the other teens' image. Sunny blonde hair, bright emerald green eyes, a cheeky grin and black warpaint smeared across his face and shirtless torso. Some belts secured around his waist and some tattered pants with plenty of grass and dirt stains… and some really beat up spiked shoes.
“What are you? And how do you look like that?”
“Well, I’m a Barbarian class for starters. Guess the axe didn’t give it away. Secondly, once you actually get into the swing of the game, you can get some pretty fancy gear from the shops, or other players can craft some sick shit for you.” The boy chuckled, but then twitched out of nowhere.
Craig raised an eyebrow.
“Ah, sorry. I have a few… ticks so to speak. A result of maybe the game not liking my own little design of myself.”
Craig blinked.
“I don’t follow.”
“Let’s just say I’m a pretty custom model, and leave it at that.”
“Okay.”
“So, does the asshole have a name?”
Craig huffed, rolling his eyes.
“It’s ‘Craig Feldspar.’ It was supposed to be Field but the NPC actually wrote it down wrong.”
The blonde’s eyes darted passed Craig, then back, looking at him dumbly.
“Did you really just make your name based on the scenery?”
“Dude, that NPC was like, shouting a script Iike he was really pissed off! It caught me off guard, so sue me. What’s your name then, dick?”
“Dick is my Dad. My name’s Tweek Tweak.”
Craig looked at him like the boy with narrowed eyes.
“Oh, like that’s fucking real.”
“Might as well have named yourself Plateau FencePost.”
“Shut up.”
Tweek laughed as Craig pouted and began to stalk off. He didn’t get far before he was suddenly jostled as the other boy threw an arm around his shoulder, and squeezed into him. It was a bit awkward being he was at least a head taller than the other boy, and it had startled him some.
“Heeey, come on, don’t be a pouty puss. Here, let me skin up this bastard and I’ll show you around? It’ll be a lot better than hanging around in baby jail.”
“Baby Jail?” Craig scoffed.
“Yeah, this starter area. It’s Baby Jail. Cause you’re a itty bitty bebe, and I can show you all the cool shit.”
“Oh what, are you some big hot shot max level player gracing me with your presence?” Craig shrugged away from Tweeks arm.
“What? Nah, just level fifty.”
Craig blanched, sagging a little.
“I was joking.”
“And I’m not. I’ve been playing this game for …. Mmm, five months?”
Craig eyed the boy.
“Bullshit. This game only came out a month ago. A friend of mine gave me a copy because he said I should ‘get out of your fucking house and be social’.” Craig air quoted. “And he said this game just hit the market.”
“Yeah, the final version did. I was in the Beta run. And I liked what they had to offer and so, I kept it for retail.”
“They let you do that?”
“No.”
Craig exhaled deeply. He had just as many questions as concerns. He watched the boy collect skinning materials from the beast until he seemed satisfied.
“Alright, let’s get going before the vultures show up.”
“Like.. the animal?”
“Nah, that’s just what I call the PCs that don’t actually work to get loot spoils. They wait until monsters felled by high level players become free for anyone to ravage. I already had a nearly full bag and I got a couple stacks so I’m good. You’re not skilled in skinning yet, so you can’t take advantage of that, sorry to say.”
“I’m.. okay with that. Maybe I could just… do something else.”
“We can find you whatever you’d like! And I can show you the other classes you can be other than Fighter or Mage, which you’ll get stuck with if you stay here.”
“I was hoping for something… Uhm, quite. Subtle. Not flashy.”
“Heh, well then my dear Craig… follow me and I’ll give you a whole rundown of the perfect class for you; the Rouge! I’m thinking Thief subclass for you.” Tweek grappled Craig once again as the two walked away from the slowly forming crowd of people and towards the distant cityscape.
* * * *
Time soon lost all meaning to the taller teen as days became weeks and weeks became months. In all that time, Craig and Tweek were inseparable. They met everyday at the main city’s center fountain, to which Craig confided in Tweek looked very suspiciously like the fountain in his own hometown.
From there, the two would follow their own little routine of daily quests, missions, and dungeon raids. Craig had adapted very well to the Rouge Thief class like a fish in water. Properly partying with Tweek let Craig’s level skyrocket in no time, and now Craig was nearing Forty, while Tweek was closing in towards fifty seven.
Apparently the slog from fifty to sixty was such a grind, Craig figured he’d get to level fifty by the time Tweek hit fifty nine. But even then, it was worth every second, and never felt like a chore. Even though they’d done some of the missions a hundred times over, it always felt fun and exciting. Craig had said this, and Tweek had agreed, saying how much fun the game had really become ever since he’d watched the boy land in the world face first.
Yet something was waging a war inside Craig. Turbulent and threatening to tear him apart. It was eating away at him day in and day out for the past two months. He’d never ever felt like this before and he did not want to face the very real fact, very real possibility-
Craig had developed feelings for Tweek.
And he was at his wits end.
He wasn’t gay! He’d never thought of other boys like this! He’d never even looked at other boys like he sometimes found himself staring at Tweek.
There were moments, either with just them relaxing after a tough run, or maybe after a slaughtering spree that Tweek would move or shift in a particular way that just… called to him, begging for him to look and drink in the sight.
He remembered the very first time he’d gotten this feeling, two months ago. He’d been waiting some time for Tweek at the fountain. It was growing later, and Craig had been worried that Tweek wasn’t going to show up. Then as Craig turned to look at the clock tower, he’d faced the fountain and his breath caught.
Tweek was standing up on the higher tier of the fountain, back facing him and arms laced behind himself, and poised in such a way… his hair rustled gently in the wind, and perhaps it was a trick of the light, but he thought it looked longer than it should have; a little darker.
And then the boy turned, and those jade eyes sparkled when they caught his gaze, and Tweek smiled.
Craig’s heart lurched in his throat.
And that was the beginning of his end.
And since then not a day went by that Craig wasn’t looking at Tweek without that same feeling in some fashion or form hitting him, closing in from all sides.
And he was a coward, and loathed himself, because he couldn’t say anything and didn’t want to ruin what they had. Because he knew no matter what, he needed this boy in his life. He needed Tweek. And he couldn’t risk losing him over his own inner bullshit.
However the universe had other plans in store.
It was midday while he’d been at work. The Monitor mounted on the wall of the establishment trolled on about various news bulletins. He mostly tuned the world out as he worked. Until something caught his attention.
“. . ise announcement that Studio UmiGlass is shutting down their highly popular VirtualMMO Zaraonia Online. Details as to why the company is doing this are shrouded in mystery, but sources say-”
He didn’t know what sources had said, because he had already barreled out the door.
* * * * *
The world of Zaronia was in Chaos. People were scrambling around like it was the coming of Christ, and for all he knew it could be. He was scrambling to reach the town they always met up at, having logged in particularly far away due to the last raid they’d run. He’d been riding his flying mount when the thing glitched and he’d crash landed some miles outside the city. From there, it had been a mass sprint as monsters spawned randomly, while other PCs were taking advantage of the system’s fail safes in place for people not wanting to PVP now being able to be ganked. He was not overlooked either, so he’d had to dispatch a few people himself.
But it was disturbing. The way their PCs had died wasn’t normal. It was like they became blocky, pixelated and then broke down and vanished. An ultimate permanent log out.
Craig could not afford to have this happen to himself. What if he couldn’t log back in before this whole world went to shit?!
He’d lose Tweek. Forever.
Because he was a fucking idiot. He was a no good lousey ass who was too afraid to let people get close to him and in doing so, never learned more about Tweek than what the boy told him. Which were mostly small things. Things he’d committed to memory. Things that took up space in his thoughts. He cursed.
He knew the boy’s favorite food, knew his favorite songs. . to which he’d been pleasantly surprised to learn the boy had a fondness for the decade of the eighties like himself. He knew Tweek wasn’t exactly telling the truth about himself from some of the times he slipped up talking about things. . . but he didn’t care because he didn’t know where Tweek lived, or what his contact info was. You know, the normal everyday things normal everyday people ask for FIRST.
Not when the fucking world is coming to an end!
He stumbled as he tripped over some of the city’s dislodged stonework path. The place looked like a hellhole warzone, but the fountain was still mostly intact. And just like that day four months ago, Tweek was standing atop the fountain.
“TWEEK!”
The boy turned, eyes wide, and tears dripping slowly down his face. Craig’s heart lurched. No. no no no, what- why!?
“I . . think I fucked up. Like really bad.”
Craig stumbled forward again as a distance blast behind him from some explosion shook the ground.
“Then tell me about it later, right now-”
He was cut off by another loud explosion, this one a little closer, and it rocked him in place. He watched Tweek grab the fountain, then once the wind died down, looked to Craig and jumped.
Craig caught the boy and spun in place from the centripetal force before setting him down, grabbing the boy’s shoulders.
“I think I did this.” Tweek twitched, calm but almost vacant.
“What makes you think that?! How could any of this be your fault!?”
“I. . I hacked the system all the time, Craig. This avatar?” Tweek, chuckling, eyes glittering with tears.
“This avatar isn’t me at all. I transgrafted this avatar from the Beta run. I used old code, I left backdoors open, my twitching was because it wasn’t syncing with the game one-hundred percent.”
There was another explosion. Another rumbling and earth tremor. Panic in the background wasn’t lost on either of them, but right now they weren’t looking anywhere else than each other.
“I don’t care about any of that! Even if it was true, there’s no way only you could be responsible for this!”
“I was also cheating the system! I was lying to you! The slog from fifty to sixty was never that hard! I created a feedback instance that transferred seventy percent of my experience to you when we partied!”
“So what?! It sounds like it made me level faster, who cares?!”
Tweek grit his teeth and his hands gripped Craig’s upper arms, both of them locked in place.
“I. . I was hacking you!”
Craig’s expression fell.
“I . . was trying to find you! When you said the fountain here was like the one in your town? I . .I didn’t wanna get my hopes up, but there’s a fountain in my town that’s just like this one too. And you never said anything about yourself or where you lived… and I didn’t want to pry because some people want to keep to themselves. . but I . . I’m sorry, I just had to know!”
A siren klaxon came blaring to life and a dozen large red holo screens appeared in the sky. All of them contained a rapidly moving countdown of fifteen seconds.
“I don’t care about that right now! I need to know where you are! How can I find you?! What’s your IKey?! Mines-”
“I know!” Tweek’s hands let go of Craig’s arms and framed his face.
“I found you.” Tweek’s eyes; usually bright emerald were right now a cool jade.
And then the other boy’s lips met his own.
And everything was still and was quiet.
Was right.
Until they parted, and then everything wasn’t, and his breath hitched as he watched Tweek’s image begin to distort.
“No! Tweek! Please! Tell me! Where are you!? I can’t- I need you!”
“Then come get me, Tucker. I’ll be waiting!” Tweek’s voice spoke distortedly.
“Where?!” Now his own voice distorted jarringly.
“W. .re. . oo. . you. . th-k?”
And just like the PC’s Craig had watched it happen to just minutes prior, so too did Tweek’s visage pixelate and cascade into nothingness.
The klaxon blared, the world rumbled and everything grew into a blinding white light.
And then..
Darkness.
* * * * *
His eyes snapped open and his entire body felt like he’d been on fire. His panic only subsided once he realized the damn head visor was still on his head before ripping it off. Emotions, thoughts and feelings normally buried so far behind his normal aloof nature came rushing to the forefront of his mind, and his eye burned, and breath hitched.
God damnit. God damnit!
Like a switch flipped, he froze.
“Then come get me, Tucker. I’ll be waiting!”
“Where?!”
“W. .re. . oo. . you. . th-k?”
“ ‘Where do you think?’ “ He spoke hauntingly.
“I . . was trying to find you! When you said the fountain here was like the one in your town? I . .I didn’t wanna get my hopes up, but there’s a fountain in my town that’s just like this one too.”
His feet hit the floor running. The world around him blurred as he only had one goal in mind. By the time he reached the city center proper, his legs were screaming for him to stop and he had to force himself to stop and breath, as he panted. His eyes scanned the time on the city center clock over the skyrise building.
1:46 AM
All the businesses here were well past closed, though the centerpiece fountain was still trickling. There were also solar lights set up around the area and glowing bright. No one was around at this time of night, save the occasional random late night transmutor. All in all a quite scenic view, with a few benches placed under the awning by the business proper and two on either side of the fountain itself.
He padded over to the fountain, still dizzy from the nonstop sprint from home to here. A moth buzzed by him and he watched it spin in circles until something beyond the moth caught his attention. The building on the corner of this little plaza looked to finally no longer be vacant, and his step faltered as he read the lettering on the glass.
“Tweek Bros Coffee Cafe?” He breathed softly.
“Told you it was a real name.” A soft voice called from above him.
He stilled and turned, looking up at the fountain.
And it was just like four months ago.
But. . something was different.
“It’s just.. Not my name. It’s my best friend's name.”
A frame taller than what he’d been familiar with, but smaller. Board sloping shoulder, and arms laced behind the back… and a long flowing blond ponytail.
Then she turned, locking bright jade eyes to his own bright gray.
“Which is still better than naming your Avatar after the scenery.”
Then she kicked off the fountain and on instinct he moved, catching the girl as if he’d done this countless times before, spinning from the centripetal force before they stilled.
“I just…wanted a cooler name… than.. Thomas.”
“Well… I like Thomas.” She leaned back, but didn’t pull away from his embrace.
“But.. Craig sounds nice too. Even if it is a rock formation. You a science nerd, Thomas?” She gave Thomas that cheeky grin he’d seen so many times before.
“Are you a caffeine addict, Mrs. Coffee bean?” He teased back.
“No. Again, that’s my best friend and her fiance Richard.”
“Ah, your father, right?”
She laughed, and it almost stopped his heart. After a moment, she calmed.
“Laura. Laura Baelly.”
= = 30 Years Later = =
Yawning briefly as he scrolled through articles on his phone, seventeen year old Craig Tucker sat idly on a bench in front of a fountain in a moderately busy center square. The businesses surrounding the square were open and foot traffic for them was abound. A long time ago, he was content to people watch. However, that soon became a bit mundane and so he turned to his phone or various handheld game devices to pass the time as he waited for his boyfriend to finish his shift at work.
His eyes flicked up towards the business on the corner. Tweek Bros Coffee Cafe had been a big hit with the local populace. In fact, they were about to be celebrating their thirtieth year of business soon. His boyfriend was super excited because he was planning some new pastries for his family’s shop’s celebration roll out.
Then Craig blinked and was greeted with a shock of blonde hair making its way through the crowd and towards the bench he sat. As the boy approached, he put away his phone.
“Hey Craig!”
“Hey Tweek.”
“Dude, I’ve had the weirdest day today.”
Craig got up from the bench, adjusting the bag he carried with him. Stepping closer, he grinned down at the foot shorter boy.
“Weirder than that time those cosplayers came into the cafe?”
“Y-yeah!” Tweek twitched a little, his eyes flicking around scanning the crowd.
“How so?”
“I. . kept getting people.. Mostly girls, like. . staring at me and giggling. Like they were in on some sorta..Ngh.. conspiracy against me! One even asked for a photograph!”
“Oh?”
“And a few of them… wanted me to sign their cups. It was freaky, man!”
“Hn. Know that you mention it. . . When I got here earlier. . There were some people giving me looks too. No one came up to me but… I did see some girls pointing at me then at the shop.”
The two boys began to walk in the opposite direction of the coffee shop.
“R-Really? Wha-what does it mean?”
Craig shrugged.
“No idea. Don’t really care.”
The two continued to walk, hand in hand, until Craig took a step and got tugged back by Tweek.
“Whoa-Tweek wha-”
“CrAIG, CRAIG WHAT-WHAT IS THAT?!”
“What is. . .”
Craig looked towards Tweek, who was shaking and looking with wide eyes up at a large HoloDisplay which regularly advertised new games, products or movies to the whole of the city center. This particular preview was for a movie ‘thirty years in the making’ and a truly ‘unique experience’.
The Legend of Zaronia.
But what caused both boys to be locked in place, eyes wide and dumbfounded beyond all cognitive thought were the characters in the movie. Specifically two of them, holding each other like the world was about to end.
A Barbarian and a Thief.
And it was them.
“WhhhaaAAAAAAT?!”
“WhhhaaAAAAAAT?!”
~ X ~
ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ