“Oh,” Rodney says softly. “I like it when you’re confident. That’s sexy as hell.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Kei says and a moment later, I can hear Rodney groaning.
“Shit. Sorry. Unmuted again.”
I shake my head, cursing the way my cheeks are heating at the silly compliment. They’re ridiculous but they make my stomach flip and warm every time. I still have no idea if he actually means what he says, but I can’t deny that I’m enjoying the attention.
“Tonight was really fun,” Rin says, hopping up and down in front of me. “I would be down to play together again in thefuture. Sometime, I should try to get a huge ass lobby going. We could do double killers if I can find enough people to play.”
“I’d be down,” I say right away. “Thursdays are my variety day so anytime you wanna try a lobby of something, let me know.”
“Bye, you guys,” Kei says before disconnecting from the game. I run my person over to a corner before turning back to chat.
“Thanks everyone for stopping by. Let me read these last few subs before I go,” I say, looking at my notifications. “Thank you ToriToriTori, I’m in your walls, Scholarships for everyone, Rodney’s toes.” I snort, looking into my camera. “Why? Just why? Why the dismembered body parts? I can’t with y’all sometimes. Also you’re not in my walls. Shut the fuck up before I have nightmares.”
I finish reading the notifications before signing off and sending my raid over to Kei since he’s switched over to playing SkyDive by himself. I send a message in chat, saying I had fun tonight and that I hope he can get his final achievement.
When that’s all said and done, I turn back to my character in the game. Rodney is still here and I walk over to him, crouching in front of his character, grinning to myself. He’s probably saying goodbye to his chat as well.
“Holy shit,” he says all of a sudden, like he’s finally looked at the screen and noticed me. I can’t help but chuckle. “I thought everyone else already left! Don’t scare a guy like that, Snow!”
“Are you done talking to chat?”
Rodney hums. “Yeah, just sent them over to Suga.”
“Me too,” I say. “So you can call me Gayle again.”
“Okay, Gayle,” Rodney says softly and my stomach warms at the shift in his tone. Now that it’s just the two of us, we can just talk without worrying about chat or running from a killer. Now this suddenly feels way more intimate and special.
“I had a lot of fun today,” I tell him, making my character sit on the ground. Rodney matches me, sitting across from me. Ourcharacters look nothing like ourselves but this still feels nice, just sitting across from each other and chatting softly.
“Can I tell you a secret?”
My stomach swoops. “Of course.”
“I was kinda nervous about playing together tonight.”
I find myself grinning so wide that my cheeks hurt. “Really?” I ask, my voice lifting up into a teasing tone. “I was nervous too. My kid had to give me a little pep talk. How embarrassing is that?”
Rodney hums softly. “That’s kind of adorable, not gonna lie.”
“You think I’m adorable?”
“Yeah, I do. Is that okay? I don’t wanna like make you uncomfortable or anything like that.”
“You’re not. Making me uncomfortable, that is.” I bite on my bottom lip for a moment before adding. “I kinda don’t know when you’re just teasing or when you’re being serious. Like all the flirting and thirsting? I kinda assume that’s all just for show and to get your chat all riled up.”
“No,” Rodney says right away, his voice getting serious. I sit back in my chair, waiting for him to continue. “Gods, this is so embarrassing but everything I’ve said when it comes to you has been straight from my heart, not a single filter in sight.”
“Oh,” I breathe out. I pick up the duck stressball that Calloway gifted me a few years ago, squeezing it so the little eyeballs pop out. “That’s umm, that’s really good to know. I was kinda worried all these feelings I’ve been having were one-sided.”
I hear a squeak and then a loud bang before there’s silence. There’s a long moment where Rodney doesn’t say anything. I’m starting to get worried before I hear, “shit. Sorry. I got so excited that my headphones fell off my head and then muted themselves. I’m here!”
I snort with amusement, that warmth in my chest bursting forth until all my limbs feel tingly.
“The feelings are not one-sided,” Rodney says, his voice having a bit more composure.
“Good. That’s really good,” I say, not really knowing what else to say. I squeeze my little ducky again. “Hey, Rodney?”
