Page 90 of Level Up
“Would you kindlyshut up,” Damien says. The hint of abitter smile peeking out above his chin turns to more of a grimace as he concentrates.
“Sure thing, Atlas.”
He huffs a laugh but carries on with his stern expression—at least on the visible part of his face—until he finally strikes the killing blow against Nurendoth, thus initiating the end cut-scene. At which point speedrunners are able to stop the timer and consider themselves officially finished with the main quest.
He hits the timer button so hard I think his mouse is going to break and then throws both his arms up in the air in triumph—or possibly defeat. “Fucking hell, that was tough.”
“This is why you don’t base your strategy aroundTreagan?—”
“This is why you mind your own damn business,” he says jokingly, pointing at his camera—I assume he’s glaring at me, even though we still can’t see his face.
LinkFarts:dude totally let her win this time
LinkFarts:ladies first might be a good rule for sex but not gaming
SpacePudding:Link, you have never had sex, so how would you know?
LinkFarts:i have too
HadTrash93:Your right hand doesn’t count
LinkFarts:jokes on you i’m left handed
Damien laughs sarcastically and I realize he’s reading the chat, too. “Good for you, Link.”
ToastOnBeans:Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this stuff with a minor
LinkFarts:i’m 22 you fuckheads
Damien turns his head to where I assume Malcolm is sitting on the couch again, though I can’t hear whatever Malcolm is saying to him. “Nah, let him stay. The run’s over and they’re having fun dunking on him anyway,” Damien says to him.
LinkFarts:you guys all suck
“Definitely past his bedtime,” I say with another nod.
As if on cue, Damien yawns, but I think it’s for real. “Mine too, apparently,” he says, although I know he usually stays up way later than this. Talking to me. “Anyway, thanks to everyone who stuck it out with us this time. And let this settle it once and for all that Oddly is the superiorStones of Ayorexpert.”
HeySMR:Hear! Hear!
I tell Helmi togo the heck to sleepbefore the stream ends, and Damien calls me up to video chat privately as soon as it’s over—the camera is already tilted towards his face again.
“Hey,” I say, though I suddenly feel incredibly awkward. And a thought keeps nagging at the back of my mind. “You didn’t actually…letme win, right? Just to prove some sort of point to the assholes?”
“No, I didn’t.” He sounds a little annoyed that I’m even asking, though it could just be that he’s really tired. “I hadn’t spent as much time practicing this run, plus you have betterstrategies. Also,someonehas been keeping me up late every night this week. I’m kind of exhausted.”
“Does that mean you don’t want me keeping you up tonight?”
He smirks a little. “I didn’t say that.”
I smile back. “This was really fun today,” I say, like I’m surprised. Maybe I am a little. The fun far outweighed the nerves this time.
“We could always do more collabs,” he says with a shrug. “Doesn’t have to beStones 4speedruns.”
“I suppose…” It does sound fun, but I don’t know if it really fits my channel to do this regularly. My streams are just supposed to be an hour or two of cozy gaming—I can’t playSOAall the time. And it’s not like Damien would play anything else on his streams.
Honestly, it’s not even the biggest of my concerns right now.
“You know,” I add as I start picking at the laminate on my desk again. “There’s something else we could collab on…”
