Page 16 of Now Streaming

“Then what?” She pinkened at that. Her mind had definitely started spiraling south, and she stood up a little straighter, hoping a straighter spine led to a clearer mind. Worried about how distracted she was.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

She stared at him. This whole conversation was inane, and she knew it. She could easily grab a waffle or something else from the table and be just as full and excited for the day as she had been five minutes ago. But there was something about sparring with him like this that made her never want to step away.

The swift throat clearing of a server interrupted them, and Min jumped a little, stepping back. She hadn’t realized they had come to stand so close together, and would’ve been embarrassed if she hadn’t noticed what the server had brought with him. He moved quickly, and before Min could blink, the server switched out the empty French toast serving platter for a new one, full of fresh, hot, steaming French toast that smelled so good Min’s mouth watered.

She shot Hayden a victorious grin and piled a mountain of it on her plate before drenching it in syrup. Hayden shook his head, disappointed.

“Should’ve put a clock on the deal,” he said ruefully.

“Didn’t help you the last time you tried it.” The last time, he had offered her some spare med packs in exchange for ammo, but with the caveat that she only had ten seconds to decide.

She had shot his avatar in the face.

He just shook his head, remembering the same moment of the game, and walked out toward the tables to sit down. Before she knew it, they were heading to an empty table together, him filling two cups of coffee on his way and handing her one. They were silent while they ate but not awkward, which Min tried not to think about too much. After all, they both talked for a living. It was the life of a streamer. But it was nice to have the moments of quiet, too.

When her stomach was finally full and her coffee drained, she leaned back against her chair in satisfaction.

“That was way better than mediocre.”

“You eat like a lumberjack.”

“Don’t watch me if it bothers you.”

“It’s like watching one of those nature shows where the snake unhinges its jaw. I couldn’t look away. The horror was hypnotizing.”

Min couldn’t even be mad at his teasing, just rubbed her stomach a little, happy with her morning so far. He shook his head, smiling again as he sipped his coffee, and Min was shocked to realize she was enjoying herself. Who knew DeathsHead could be fun?

Hayden broke the silence first. “What’s on the agenda today? You have a panel, right?”

Min tried to hide her surprise that he knew about her panel. Maybe it was announced online somewhere. In fact, it certainly was, but she still didn’t expect him to care about something like her con schedule.

“Yeah, but not until the afternoon. I want to walk the floor first, see the sights. Soak in the nerdy atmosphere.”

“Dressed like that?”

She glanced down at her jeans and tee. “What’s wrong with this?”

“I don’t know. I guess it’s not very FlameThrower-y.”

Min shrugged. “I would prefer not to be recognized, especially now.” She took in his ripped jeans and the plain black T-shirt he must’ve washed a thousand times. It looked soft. And very, very good on him. Not that she would ever tell him that.

“What do you mean, especially now?”

Her eyes flew to his in disbelief, but she didn’t see anything to indicate that he was teasing her or lying, just curiosity. Did he really not know? How was that possible?

“After the photos leaked. I always preferred to blend before, but now it’s more of a necessity. Flame is a little too high profile to the wrong people lately. I don’t want to get yelled at on the exhibition floor.”

Hayden frowned at that, gears still turning in his head, and Min had to admit he didn’t seem like he knew what she was talking about. It was hard to believe, since when it had happened, it felt like those pictures were on every site she looked, that she was tagged on page after page of either the photos or some article talking about the photos.

But here he was, looking confused. Someone in the streaming community had really managed to miss her scandal. Amazing.

“Do you not follow the news?” she asked.

“If you mean streamer gossip, then no. I have other things to do.”

“Like what?”

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