Page 20 of Now Streaming

Min found herself staring at Hayden, him staring back, both of them just standing in the middle of the exhibition hall, not saying anything. But there was something about the energy of the moment that Min didn’t want to be the one to break.

And then she found herself shoved hard, losing her balance. Strong hands grabbed her waist, steadying her, as a group of teenagers dressed like comic heroes barreled through.

The spell broken, Min laughed. “C’mon. We got too much to see to stand here all day.”

They found two more games to play, a shooting game and a racing game, both of which Hayden won. Min was pouting, but her heart wasn’t really in it as the morning passed and she lost herself to the convention. She stopped at every booth that drew her eye, took pictures of several people in costumes, and bought some pieces of artwork from her favorite artists. She had tensed when she had glimpsed Alex, but the exhibition hall was large and packed. The longer they wandered, the safer she felt, and she was grateful for it.

It wasn’t until Hayden pointed to the concessions area that she realized how hungry she was. After waiting in yet another line and choosing a hot dog and a much-needed Diet Coke, they found a spot at a large, shared round table already inhabited by a few other attendees, each admiring the convention exclusives they had already managed to purchase. To the side of the tables, several TVs showed various news interviews and broadcasts about the convention, as well as replayed some trailers that had been released during the panels that morning.

Min ate her hot dog with the focus of a starving woman, taking deep gulps of her soda and letting the calories and caffeine flood through her. When she came up for air, she spent a few well-fed minutes watching the crowd swirl around her.

“Why do you wear a disguise for your stream?” Hayden’s question almost made her jump, they had been sitting in comfortable silence for so long. She wiped her mouth, crumpling her napkin in her hand before reaching for one of his chips and snagging it before he could stop her.

“To be able to blend. When I’m streaming, my outfit, my makeup, everything screams to be noticed and grabs your attention. After a while, most of my viewers tend to only notice the loud and colorful outfits. It means that I can come here as my plain old self, blend in with everyone, and go completely unnoticed. I love it.”

“You’re not going unnoticed.” She glanced up at that, frowning, wondering if he had seen Alex, or sensed what happened earlier, but he just rolled his eyes at her. “The guy at the demo booth was practically throwing himself at you.”

That startled a laugh from her. “He was passing out T-shirts. He sees a million women a day, much better looking than I. He didn’t give me a second look.”

Hayden just shook his head at her supposed naïveté. “The rideshare driver noticed you.”

“I was the only one talking.”

A muscle flexed in his jaw, and she watched it, fascinated, wondering what was going on in that head of his. Finally, he met her eyes, his own glinting with some emotion Min couldn’t identify.

“I noticed you. Right away.” His voice was soft, almost velvet, and she felt it run through her, heating her blood in a way that had her adjusting herself in her chair.

“That was completely different,” she said. “I was the only one in the waiting room. You thought I was taking your picture. The circumstances alone were memorable enough that anyone would notice me. But trust me, I’m not one to get noticed in a crowd of people.”

She wasn’t sure why she was arguing this point. It wasn’t like it did her ego any favors. She had accepted a long time ago that she was cuteenough, prettyenough, funnyenough.It’s why FlameThrower was such a thrill. When Min streamed dressed as her persona, she felt like she was letting free the part of herself no one would accept in her regular body. The outfit somehow gave her permission to be more herself, while still allowing her to retreat into anonymity when she needed to.

Yet another reason she needed to get her streaming career back on track. She missed being FlameThrower.

Meanwhile, Hayden was looking down at her, something in his eyes deep and dark and… dangerous. Min felt caught, like he was weaving a spell and she couldn’t look away.

“Min, if I had seen you at a coffee shop, if you had just been sitting there, reading or on your laptop or who knows what, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from approaching you. I would’ve done my best to be charming and nice and the whole time I’d be nervous as hell that you would see right through me. If I got your number, I wouldn’t even make it home before I texted you. And if I had managed to convince you to go on a date with me, maybe dinner, maybe a movie, literally anything you wanted, I would’ve been crawling out of my skin hoping I didn’t fuck it up.”

Her eyes were huge on him, her thoughts both racing and also somehow blank. She had no idea what to do with the words he just said. A guy had never told her something like that, so she couldn’t help her knee-jerk response.

“You’re lying.”

He leaned closer, his mouth almost to her ear and his voice softer so it didn’t carry to the other attendees milling around them.

“FlameThrower is beautiful because everything she puts on doesn’t cover up who she is. The wig, the contacts, the outfits, can’t hide how fucking gorgeous you are, no matter how much you try to distract from it. You’re beautiful, Min. Flame is just an accessory you wear.” His voice somehow dropped even lower, his breath stirring her hair. “I’m happy I get to see the real you.”

With a shiver, Min pulled back, her eyes wide, flying from his eyes to his lips and back. Her brain had completely stopped functioning.

“Whosaysthings like that?”

His mouth quirked at the bewilderment in her voice, but before he could reply, the TV behind them blared, suddenly loud and piercing.

“Online streamer FlameThrower is supposed to be competing in today’s Bleeding Sword tournament, and boy do people on the street have something to say about it. We asked Kickoff attendees their thoughts.”

Min spun to face the TV just in time to see a microphone was shoved at a SpongeBob.

“It’s honestly disgusting that she would be allowed to compete when everyone knows exactly what she did to get where she is. Or rather, the people she did.”

The screen changed, flashing censored versions of the pictures that would haunt Min for the rest of her life. She forgot to breathe as the reporter came on the screen.

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