Page 27 of Falling in Love with A Tiny Bat

Picking apart when people say something that means nothing is a skill I’m fairly well-versed in.

Several strained moments pass while Alexios and I stare deeply at one another. Several more strained moments usher in a realization that Alexios’s cheeks are yandere girlcrimson.

“Oh my word,” I exhale. “You’re flirting with me.”

“There it is,” he murmurs. “Also, we just indirectly kissed.”

A cold wash runs down my spine. I look at the now half-eaten tortilla in my hand, which bears no evidence he ever took thefirst bite out of it. “No.”

“Yes.”

“No, this is not an anime. We don’t say things likeindirect kiss.” And, also, since thisisn’tan anime, I shouldn’t be comparing his expression to ayandere girl. If he is the yandere chara type—AKA the psychotic-for-love archetype—I am in the most massive trouble. Ever.

“I am actually partial to the idea of indirect kisses. There are fewer sensory planes to navigate.” An edge enters his pretty, stormy eyes as he nudges my quesadilla in his plate with his fork. “Do you suppose this might be a gateway drug? I find it uniquely enticing.”

If I had to make any suppositions, it would be that he’s a few screws short of a functioning Ferris wheel. Sidling my way past him, I grab a fork, stab a broccoli, and point the tree his way. “You have fun with whatever is going on between you and my quesadilla germs. I’m going to go stare at my baby, and maybe fall asleep while doing so.”

He flashes me a smile. “Have fun, snowflake.”

I stuff my broccoli in my mouth and quip, “Don’ttell me what to do.”

Chapter 7

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pretty babysitters shan’t sway my ironclad emotions.

“What is up, everyone? Welcome back to my Terraria Let’s Play. I’m CapyZahra, and today we’re on the hunt for the Shimmer. Again. And, no, I’m not going to cheat and look at the comments. Anyone who tells me in the chat where I should be looking is dead to me, because—as a reminder for those of you watching on YouTube or Leopard—the struggle is filmed in front of a live Twitch audience.” My brain somehow manages to get through my usual opening spiel while simultaneously reminding me that I will be sitting here for roughly three hours. Without checking on my baby. Or going to the bathroom. Because I try not to do that when I’m streaming solo. When I’m in a group, someone usually pops in to entertain chat when I say I need to break, but things are harder when it’s just me. At least tonight is a Terraria stream, and I’m not in any elaborate cosplay for it. “Okay, that’s the replay intro out of the way. How’s everyone doing tonight?”

Jumping around on top of the 2D tower I’ve spent roughly seventeen hours building out of blocks, I glance at my other monitor, where the chat is flying by with its usual greetings. Smiling whenDaniBird153joins, I say, “Looks like we’ve got a lot of familiar faces in the chat today. Welcome back, welcome back. Remember, if you’re doing homework right now and using me as background noise that inevitably becomes foreground noise, the full upload will be available on my second channels, but that GPA will haunt you for the rest of your life.”

I make my little character jump off the tower and double jump just before getting fall damage. “I can’t wait until we enter Hard Mode and can get some wings to negate the fall damage completely… Luck has not been with me in delivering thathorseshoe item that does it. Speaking about wings, though, I was looking through a list of them the other day, and I picked out a few I liked, but does anyone want to coordinate a poll vote on what I should aim for first?”

I glance at the chat while I run my character toward the next place on the map that I haven’t searched for the Shimmer biome. Immediately, an influx of nerds who know how to play the game, memorize the Wiki, and probably can defeat all the bosses with a slingshot jump in toUm, Actuallyme.

“No, hold on. I’m seeing a ton of great points where stats and early Hard Mode availability is concerned, but I’m only interested invibes.”

The gamer boys who aren’t happy I’m a gamer girl rage about how it doesn’t matter howprettymy wings are. Ineedto get a good enough pair as fast as possible and defeat Plantera before the evil biomes take over the world,obviously. It’ll be a headache for me if I don’t, and I’m seriously justso stupidfor not considering this.

Except.

Of course.

Ihaveconsidered it.

I do happen to know how the game works, and it would be lovely if people could just chill and enjoy it. Some fan clubs are crazy toxic. Like. Undertale. I quite nearly almost quit that one because of the overwhelming pressure everyone was putting on me about getting thecorrect ending. The way my chat read throughout the entire playthrough made it seem like I was bound to ruin something at every turn.

Streaming sucks sometimes. If I didn’t have to rely on the number of watchers and views, and if the twelve-year-old haters here weren’t helping me make a living, I’d only ever do streams for my real supporters on the Discord server linked to my Patreon.

God made me a streamer to challenge my virtues.

I stand fully by that.

Mom criticized how entranced I was by the video games she gave to my brother growing up, reminding meconstantlythat they wereboy thingsand awaste of time for me. My birthdays were full of play cleaning supplies while my brother got Gameboys and PlayStations.

I enjoyed the wonders ofsweeping the floorwith a cheap, tiny plastic broom while he got microwave pizzas and Mario.

Boys will be boys.

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