Enter Asterion

Kyo hated interacting with other people in games, which may be a little counterintuitive when playing an MMO. People were annoying and loved to mess with you, hiding behind the anonymity of a screen. Kyo always preferred interacting with people in real life; he had long since mastered the art of scowling which allowed him to intimidate anyone annoying him into running away. But Kyo’s face was shrouded by his avatar and a computer screen so he had to actually verbally tell someone to fuck off. It was a lot easier to just keep his mic off and hide in the middle of nowhere.

That being said, there was one player that Kyo didn’t mind: Asterion. At first glance, Asterion seemed like every other person that played WanderQuest nowadays. He was good at fighting; in fact, he was probably the best fighter with a level of 375—the highest in the game. But as Kyo hung out with him more and more, he started to realize that Asterion was pretty similar to him. He played WanderQuest to escape for an hour or two, with as little player interaction as possible.

If he was being honest, Kyo didn’t even know how the two of them met in the first place. No one had ever come to his valley before thanks to how far it was from every city, and when he went to Caspia to sell his wares he never told anyone where he lived. If Kyo had to guess, Asterion had probably been poking around for some quest—he was always completing quests like his life depended on it—and accidentally stumbled across the valley. Whatever the reason, Kyo was glad they had met those few months ago. Because Kyo was in love with Asterion.

He wasn’t really sure when it happened. Months and months of hanging out almost every night had turned into a friendship Kyo had never expected. He didn’t have that many friends in the real world, but he felt like he could count Asterion among those few. They almost never talked about their real lives—even without WanderQuest’s strict policy on not sharing private information, Asterion made it clear he liked to keep his gaming and his real life separate—but Kyo still felt close to him. He knew that Asterion liked to play WanderQuest to alleviate the stress of the day, choosing to get it out of his system by beating up monsters instead of planting flowers like Kyo preferred. Despite that, Asterion wasn’t aggressive. He liked the adrenaline rush from fighting monsters, but the main reason he did it was because it was one of the best ways to level up. Asterion had also shared with Kyo that he liked being the best in the game, even if he didn’t always like all the fame that came with it.

A sudden chirruping noise broke Kyo out of the mindless plant watering he’d been doing. A message appeared in the bottom left hand corner of his screen. It was a private message from Asterion that read I’ll be there in a few minutes. Kyo busied himself with the rest of his groundskeeping as he waited for Asterion to arrive. This happened almost every day, and yet Kyo couldn’t help but get excited as he saw Asterion appear on the horizon.

As Asterion bridged the distance between the two of them, a new message appeared on Kyo’s screen. Hey, Daffodil! How r u today? it said.

Kyo typed out a quick reply. Long day at work but i’m better now. U?

Kyo knew it would be easier to have a conversation if he turned his mic on; even if he didn’t have a fancy headset like he’d seen other gamers use, his computer still had a microphone, albeit a crappy one. The problem was, it had been months and at this point Kyo was committed to the bit. When he and Asterion had first started hanging out, Kyo told him that his mic didn’t work—his go-to excuse to get people to stop pestering him. Asterion had accepted the lie with grace and said they could just message each other instead, so they had created a private chat to use. After months of hanging out, Kyo was fine with talking instead of typing their messages, but sheer embarrassment was keeping him back.

After a few more seconds, Asterion’s response appeared on screen. Pretty good. i killed a whole pack of Wild Beasts today!!! there were like 30 at least!

Asterion’s avatar somehow perfectly displayed his excitement, with a wide grin and slight jumping up and down. Kyo kept his character’s expression at a passive smile, but in real life he was grinning like an idiot. He always found Asterion’s eagerness to share his fights with him so endearing.

How’d u manage that on ur own? Kyo typed, not wanting the excited energy to end. There was a small gap in time where both avatars sat still. Kyo used this time to stare at Asterion’s avatar. His hair was always the thing that attracted Kyo’s attention the most. It was a light blue color and went down to his middle back. The sides were pulled into a half bun so as not to block his face and there were a few braids scattered haphazardly. His eyes were a deep cobalt that reminded Kyo of some of the flowers in his garden. Asterion had a new set of armor from last time—possibly a spoil from his last battle—and this one was a light leather set covered in small sigils that probably provided magical protection. Finally a wave of messages started pouring in, so fast that Kyo almost couldn’t read them in time.

U remember that new skill i got from leveling up? the Blade Storm? it summoned every sword i had in my inventory and sent them out in a spiral to kill all the closest monsters. it’s cool but also kinda sucks cuz now i have to keep all my old swords instead of selling them if i want to use the skill. then i used that light bomb u gave me the recipe for and it stunned all the Wild Beasts. their eyes reflected the light so i found them way easier and killed the rest with Ol’ Reliable.

Ol’ Reliable, of course, being Asterion’s nickname for the best sword he had in his inventory. It changed all the time as he acquired better items, but the name signaled whatever sword was currently the most powerful.

Kyo followed along as best he could. He still wasn’t completely sure what Wild Beasts were, no matter how many times Asterion described them. He also refused to look up a picture—a mistake he’d made when he first started playing, but not one he would repeat—so he just smiled and listened to Asterion.

That’s cool. Glad u figured out the new skill he typed so Asterion knew he was paying attention.

Asterion smiled again, and Kyo’s fingers burned to run through his hair. He didn’t care that he was looking at a computer screen and that this man might not even exist—not in the way Kyo thought he did, that is—he loved him. He wanted to meet him in real life, wanted to see who he really was behind the avatar.