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Adrian loved the internet.
Ever since he was a kid, he loved playing flash games, watching videos on NewGrounds, chatting on forums with strangers.
It was great. He found people who liked the same stuff as he did, he was able to learn new things, and of course porn was great.
He had learned pretty quickly that there were all kinds of weirdos there. Even people stranger than him.
Which for him, it was nice to not be the strangest person in the room - even if it wasn’t a physical room.
It took a few years of floating discord server to discord server in his 30s, but he eventually found one of a group of three internet friends who was looking for a fourth player to join them on their Baldur’s Gate 3 run.
Of course he also played as a Paladin with the Oath of Vengeance and made them all reload if he ever broke his oath.
He had never really played the game but he understood it to be very similar to dungeons and dragons just in video game form and he had plenty of time to learn new games. Plus it was a way to make new friends and talk to new people when Chris and the others were too busy for him.
The group was made up of three friends, two had met in a college course and the third was someone they met years ago online when looking for another friend to play games with. Adrian was just happy to be included and even though it took him time (okay maybe a lot of time) to start to understand their humor and all of their dynamics he had come to really feel like he was a part of the group. No longer on the outside just trying to worm his way in somehow.
He wasn’t just needed in this group.
He was wanted.
They enjoyed his comments, his jokes never went without a reaction, and everyone genuinely seemed interested in connecting and having a little community with him. He was a core member of the group, someone with interest and sway.
He finally felt like he had a friend group that wanted him there.
Normally all four only played together, it was almost an unspoken rule that every Wednesday they would all play for as long as they could. When he joined the voice lobby he was met with only one of the other members.
“Hey, Ade.” She said he could hear her clicking in the background, but her status didn’t list any games. He paused, opening the game as he pursed his lips. He clicked around on the title screen, neither of them were the main hosts for the game so they had to wait for the others to log on to even do anything.
“Hey, where’s the others?” He asked, leaning back in his chair, adjusting his headphones slightly so they didn’t press his glasses too hard against his ears - he already knew he would be feeling uncomfortable within the hour, but this time always made it worth it.
“My theory; hooking up as we speak.” She said with a small laugh and Adrian’s eyes flew wide open even though she couldn’t see him.
“Are you serious?” He squeaked out.
“You couldn’t tell by their constant flirting?” She asked with a laugh.
“I just thought they were role playing!” He said, sounding surprised.
“I mean, they were.” She said laughing harder and Adrian couldn’t help but smile at her laugh. “I don’t think they’re going to be on tonight. Too busy boning.” She said with a tsk noise.
“Oh,” He said, moving his mouse around. He closed out of the game and went back to browsing through his games on Steam, if the group wasn’t going to play anything he probably should take some time to get further in one of his many other games. It had been a while since he had played a game solo on his computer, but he at least had a lot of options. “What are you going to do then?”
“Well, we can’t play BG3 without them…do you want to play something else together?” She asked.
“Like just the two of us?”
“Yeah, why not? I got Minecraft or Stardew, those would be fun together.” She said and his eyes glanced back to Discord, she was sitting online clearly waiting for him to make up his mind.
“I do have both those games.” He said softly. “Will they get mad if we played without them?”
“I mean, we’re online on a Wednesday, they can always join in. I really don’t think they’ll care though, we’ll probably get an apology message from them tomorrow asking if we’re still good for next week. Tonight, we can play something new.”
“Let’s do Stardew Valley then, I call fighting in the caves!” He said opening up Stardew and she laughed.
“Alright, but if you’re in the caves I call getting the bigger backpack first so I can forage more.”
“Ah man, but then I won’t be able to pick up as much loot.”
“We can do separate banks?” She suggested.
“Nah, it’s way more fun if we share resources.” He decided after a beat clicking into the multiplayer and started customizing his farmer.
From then on, Adrian had two gaming nights a week. Wednesday where the whole group played Baldur’s Gate 3 and then on Sunday when just the two of them would play Stardew Valley.
Sundays were quickly becoming his favorite day of the week. He’d never tell Peacemaker but he started to like playing Stardew Valley with her more than he liked blowing shit up in the woods.
There was something about her that Adrian was just…obsessed with. She laughed at all his jokes, she liked talking to him, and more importantly she actually liked spending time with him.
And he really liked spending time with her. Even if it was virtual.
In their few months of solo playing he had learned her job, her likes and dislikes, her Stardew Valley spouse (he tried not to think too hard about her picking Alex - would she like his muscles? Should he take up a sport?), and he learned that she was single.
It was hard to tell if she liked him the way he was starting to like her. Even without ever shaking her hand or seeing her in person and not just as pixels.
She seemed happier when it was just the two of them playing, but that could just be because her attention was split between everyone and the group and the game. Baldur’s Gate 3 did take more thinking and strategizing than Stardew Valley did, but his heart was begging for the difference to be real.
The first time he was clued in to what was happening was after a Saturday late shift at Fennel Field’s. He was decompressing in his car before having to go in to deal with his mom when his phone started ringing.
“Hello?” He asked, picking up her discord message. He held his phone to his ear as if he would a regular call.
“Hey! Are you off work?” She asked.
“Yeah, I just got home. Did you want to play Stardew?” He asked, slowly getting out of his car, unable to think of any other reason she’d call him. They were in the middle of a hot streak when it came to the game so he wasn’t surprised if she was ready to play more.
“Oh! I mean, we could, I just…” She let out a humourless sound, almost a laugh, but not quite. Whatever the noise was, it was one that didn’t sound right to him, “Sorry, is it weird I just wanted to hear your voice? Today was rough.”
“I don’t think that’s weird,” he said honestly. “I love hearing your voice. Why was today rough? Let me guess I need to come and kill one of your coworkers?” He asked, dead serious and she laughed.
“God, I wish that would be great,” She said glossing over Adrian’s confession about her voice and he could hear her shuffle around, he imagined her getting comfortable on her bed. Her head on her pillow, his voice on speaker, as she looked up at the ceiling. “Today was just unnaturally difficult. Just everything that could go wrong did.” She said with a sigh.
“Man, that sucks.” Adrian said, walking in the house. He was home later than normal so he grabbed some food his mom had left out for him before she went to bed and headed up to his own room. “I worked today too, but it wasn’t that bad. Just a few Karen customers here and there.”
“God, I still don't know how you work in a restaurant and haven’t lost your mind.” She said with a chuckle.
“Eh, who says I haven’t.” He said, shrugging and walking into his room. He sat the plate on his desk, leaving it to lay on his bed, laying in the same position he imagined her in as if that would suddenly make them together in the same room. He wasn’t good at physical comfort but he had to assume she’d feel better if they were side to side. “What would make you feel better right now?” He asked honestly, not really sure what he could do to help.
She sighed over the phone.
“Could you distract me? We don’t even have to play games, just talk so I don’t have to think about work for at least a little bit.” She asked with a sigh and Adrian lit up. Talking? Distracting? Those were two things he knew he could do and do well.
“Yeah, yeah I can do that.” He said immediately going into a lesson about owls.
It continued from there, sure they still played games on Wednesday and Sunday, but now there were calls sprinkled in during the week, text conversations back and forth when both of them were at work.
He was caught more than once grinning at his phone by Chris and the others. At first they didn’t say anything, at least not directly towards Adrian, but it ended up being Harcourt who finally questioned him.
“Okay, I’ll bite. Why do you keep laughing at your phone Adrian.” She asked, leaning back in her chair. Adrian held his phone close to his chest as if he needed to hide their messages as if it was incriminating.
“I was just texting a friend.” He said lightly, hoping the subject would be dropped.
“All your friends are in this building and they’re all busy so stop texting Chris.”
“I’m not texting Chris.” He said immediately as he continued typing a response and that got Harcourt to turn towards him.
“You’re not texting Chris?”
“No, Chris is across the room, I’d just yell or go over there.” He said screwing up his face like that was obvious. There’s a beat between them, one where Harcourt is clearly weighing his options.
“Who are you texting, Adrian?” She asked again.
“God, I told you, a friend. Get off my dick!” He said, focusing on his phone, Harcourt raising an eyebrow at his sudden anger. “You’re worse than my mom. ‘Who are you talking to Adrian?’ “Why are you up so late?’ ‘What’s her name, Adrian?’” He mocked as he kept typing.
“Her name?” Fleury said, clearly eavesdropping on the two as he turned his own chair in on Adrian too. He suddenly felt surrounded, wishing he had texted her back when he was alone instead of at his desk. “Adrian, do you have a girlfriend?”
It’s the first time that phrase was used to describe their relationship and it made Adrian grow tense. It’s not that he’s against dating her, in fact he’s starting to realize his crush on her was growing, but it felt silly considering how far away she lived. The two had never even seen each other in person and what if she met Adrian and thought he was too tall, too strange, too much for a relationship and their friendship just ended there.
He didn’t want to lose her as a friend, even if he wanted something more with them. He knew from experience it was better to have her in his life as a friend than not at all. Plus if something happened he not only lost them, but also lost his Baldur’s Gate 3 group too.
Adrian definitely felt different about their relationship than he did about him and Chris’ or any of his other friends really. At first he thought it was because it was his first real internet friend, but now he wasn’t so sure.
“She’s not my girlfriend and she’s none of your business.” Adrian said, putting his phone away.
“You’re telling me there’s something happening in your life that you don’t want to share? Who are you and what have you done with Adrian Chase?” Fleury joked.
“Yeah, you are still the same person who told us about your experience during puberty and what it was like having a threesome with Chris, right?” Harcourt said, giving both men a rare smile, one rooted in meanness. Adrian’s fingers flexed over his keyboard.
“She’s just a friend, we play video games together, okay? Can we drop it?” He said tensely and there must be something about his tone because both of them seem to share a look, one that’s more aware of anything Adrian could pick up on.
But he lets the silence carry him through the end of the day.
After that, Adrian is more careful about when he texts her and any faces he may or may not make when looking at his phone in general. He’s not ready to open any can of worms with any of his friends, at least not yet. He doesn’t want to get a bunch of random advice that he knows he won’t be able to tell if it’s good or bad.
Like he trusts Chris to give what Chris would think to be good advice, but him and Harcourt are always in bad shape and he could never tell if they were actually dating or if they hated each other. Adebayo and her wife were getting a divorce. Adrian wasn’t even sure if Economos had even touched a woman before. Rip was also gay and while he’s sure he would give some good advice he was uninterested in the gossiping that would result from him asking Rip.
So he kept his mouth shut and his head down at work - at least when it came to his friends outside of work. He still enjoyed talking everyone’s ear off about animals, missions, and the best way to use a chainsaw in a monster horde scenario (you have to keep some monster parts as shields and make sure the chain doesn’t get caught).
It’s almost a full month later when his feelings and questions resurface, but this time it’s not around his friends at work, but during one of their usual gaming sessions.
“Would you ever want to come visit?” He asked as he continued to collect their strawberry crops. They had developed a system of trading off seasons, spring he would farm, summer she would, fall they both would, and winter they tackled the mine shaft and skull cavern together. He really wasn’t sure what possessed him to ask such a question without really thinking it through first.
“What, to Evergreen?” She asked, he could practically hear her focus as she was fishing for one of the legendary fish. The rhythmic clicking gave her away as she cursed under her breath.
“Yeah, you could come stay here with me. My brother has moved out so his old room is wide open and you could bring your laptop and we can play together in person. It would be fun.” He said, trying to not sound bothered by her lack of immediate yes.
“Stay with you and your mom?” She asked, no trace of laughter in her voice like he heard from most people when they found out he lived with his mom at his age. She was just making sure.
“Yeah, I mean of course only if you wanted to.” He said, shrugging even if she couldn’t see him, he hoped his voice was calm enough so she wouldn’t know his internal panic about this conversation.
“I do have some PTO I need to burn,” she paused the game, freezing his game too. “How long are you thinking? I’m opening Google Flights now.”
“You want to do maybe Wednesday through Monday? Or is that too long?” She said, almost sounding zoned out as she looked at dates and prices.
“We’d miss the group session on Wednesday.”
“I’m okay with that if you are,” she said. “I could come out in two months for less than $200. What do you think?”
“You’re going to spend $200 to come see me?” He said, clicking out of the game and opening up his own version of a flight tracker.
“Less than $200 and sure why not? I have the PTO to use, I’ve got no other trips planned, plus you’re right it sounds like fun playing games together in person. Plus you can show me all those cool places you’ve told me about and I can meet your friends.”
“$200 is still a lot to see me, let me pay half.” He said, grabbing his phone to open Venmo.
“Nah, just promise to pick me up from the airport and drop me off and then come to visit me sometime,” she said. “I can put in the PTO request tomorrow and once it’s approved I can book the flight. Do you need to ask your mom if it’s okay first?”
“No, she loves hosting plus I think she’d just be happy that I have friends coming to visit that she can actually talk to.” He said honestly.
“Alright, well that sounds good to me. Do you want to play for a couple more days? At least till Spring 17.” She asked and Adrian affirmed as they went back into the game, he was fighting a smile the rest of the night.
Trying to picture what it’ll be like for her to be here, sitting on his bed while they played games instead of apart. To be able to get food together or walk around, their hands possibly brushing as they walked around had Adrian’s heart racing. Normally he would hate light touching but for some reason when he pictured her it didn’t seem so bad, it was something he was definitely going to have to test. However, out of everything the thing he was most excited for was being able to hear her laugh not through headphones was going to be a gift he just knew it.
The next six weeks went by slowly. Almost immediately after she booked her flight did Adrian start cleaning and getting rid of stuff or at least moving some of his stuff that was way past nerdy to his secret room. She knew he was a nerd and she was a nerd too but he didn’t really need her to see his Pokémon sheets either, opting for his teal set instead. He knew his mom would kill him if he actually threw out all her baby book scrap books of Adrian and Gut so he opted to hide them in his secret room - at least until she left so his mom wouldn’t be able to embarrass him with those.
He also spent a lot of time deep cleaning his brother's old room that his mom had turned into a guest room. He moved posters to cover the patched dry wall from where his brother had punched his wall and lit about a million candles in the room trying to get the scent out of the room.
At work he tried to put in a PTO request, but considering they hadn’t even hired a real HR person for Checkmate it was just them trying to work through it all.
“I’m sorry, you want Wednesday through Monday off to do what exactly?” Ads repeated and he sighed, leaning back in his conference room chair.
“I told you, I have a friend coming to visit. She lands on Wed-”
“Adrian, it’s really not cool to lie, man.” Chris said next to Adrian.
“I’m not! Oh my god, I’m not lying guys. I have a friend who we’ve been playing games together for like the past two years and she is coming to visit me. She’s flying on Wednesday and leaving the following Monday.” He said, his frustration growing.
“Yeah and where is she staying? At your mom’s house?” Economos joked.
“Yes, I cleaned out my brother's room! Can I have the days off or not?” He whined and they all looked at him with shock in their eyes.
“Only if you bring her to Friday drinks,” Chris said after a beat. “I’ve got to see if you’re lying or not.”
“I mean maybe she’s catfishing Adrian, that would make sense too.” Rip said.
“She’s not catfishing me! We’ve used the camera like a thousand times before!” Adrian said with a furrowed brow.
“Oh yeah, I bet you guys use a camera.” Chris said wagging his eyebrows up and down and a few snickers are heard, whatever Chris was implying didn’t bother Adrian for long as he’s quick to light back up.
“But I will bring her to Friday night drinks, she did say she wants to meet all of you!” He said, excited that he was finally going to get to introduce his favorite person to his favorite people.
“Well, damn. PTO approved, Adrian. We’re looking forward to meeting her.” Sasha said with a shrug as she jumped into their next mission’s dossier.
It was settled and Adrian woke up Wednesday morning at six am with five whole hours before he could even entertain the idea of leaving for the airport. He knew he’d get there ridiculous early but he couldn’t help but play different scenarios in his head about it. Was he supposed to park and come into the airport or should he just circle and wait for her to come out? Should he take her bag or would that be weird? How long should he wait if her flight lands and he doesn’t hear from her and she never comes out?
He felt like his mother as he went back over cleaning the same things over and over again, changing his outfit trying to find the perfect one, and making sure he had the pantry stocked with all the snacks he had heard her eat throughout their time playing video games. He had watched the clock through all of his last minute chores he did in a panicked rush.
It was running Adrian crazy and for nothing. At the end of the day, he ended up parking and walking in to wait inside the airport.
“Wow, you’re taller than I was expecting.” Adrian whips around and finds a familiar face smiling at him, but now the voice is unfiltered and her expression wasn’t pixelated.
She was beautiful.
“Oh, yeah, I’ve gotten that a few times. I was really short in high school but I hit a growth spurt in my 20s. My brother is still taller though.” He answered quickly, watching her readjust her backpack. “Do you have luggage?”
“I do, this way.” She said, happily leading them towards the baggage claim. He smiled and followed behind her, immediately asking her about her flight, what drink she picked, how long it took to board the plane, who she sat next to. Really just anything Adrian’s brain could think of.
To Adrian’s surprise or maybe he shouldn’t be that surprised after their time playing games. She never made Adrian feel like he was talking too much or that she wanted to talk about something else.
She just seemed to like hearing him ramble, adding her two cents in whenever she could, but for the most part just grinning as they made their way through the airport and to his car.
“You know, it might be rude to say but I really was picturing a very dirty car, at the very least some monster cans on the ground.” She said as she buckled in and Adrian gave a hard nervous laugh.
“It definitely didn’t look like that at all yesterday.” Adrian said, shaking his head as he pulled out of the lot and she laughed.
“It’s okay, you should see my car.” She said, looking at the window. “Wow, Evergreen is beautiful.”
“Really?” He said, surprised to hear anyone who wasn’t the age of 60 actually liking their weird little town.
“Yeah, it's very…cozy.” She said finally looking over at him to watch him drive. “So what all did you have planned for us?”
“Okay we’ll there is a really good sandwich shop I want to show you and I was thinking we could hit up the arcade, maybe see a movie. Honestly whatever - we can still leave plenty of time to play games and I took the week off from work so we should have plenty of time to do whatever we want. Oh! I also have a bunch of board games in case we want to play some old school games too.” He said, rambling lightly.
“That sounds great Adrian.”
“My friends do want to meet you on Friday! We typically go to a dive bar for drinks and shitty food, but we totally don’t have to go if we don’t want to.” He said, drumming his fingers nervously on the steering wheel and she smiled at him.
“That sounds perfect.” She said, leaning back.
And so began what Adrian could only describe as both the best and the most confusing time of his life. They slept in separate rooms, even when they stayed up till three in the morning she would still retreat to his brother’s bedroom to sleep. He knew that was more of a friend thing.
But no matter where they went they always stood so close. Close enough that their hands would brush against each other regularly and while Adrian typically hated soft touches, there was something about her touch that felt okay. He knew his feelings were more than a friend thing, but he also knew that he could be reading into it and it could just be a friend thing.
She also never seemed to get sick of Adrian. She’d let him talk, let him lead them, pick what activities they would do, for once his voice was listened to. She was polite to his mom, helping him navigate time away from her too without being rude. She was like a friend he had never had before.
She just understood Adrian.
And Adrian was starting to understand her.
Like she hated silence, so when they were playing games in his room they always put music on even underneath their talking. She also was pretty particular about making sure they knew what they were doing the following day before going to bed.
Between all the noticing Adrian was also hopeful, hopeful that he wasn’t reading too much into her behavior and it wasn’t until Friday that the words started haunting him again.
It was Chris who said something first. The two had walked into the bar a little later than expected, Adrian was tense beside her as they walked over.
Adrian had awkwardly, but successfully, introduced her, ordered them some chicken strips to share, and then each a drink. It was half way through eating that the questions had flipped to her and Adrian.
“So how long have you guys been dating?” Chris was quick to ask, pointing between the two of them as Adebayo shoved him slightly. Chris barely moved but he looked at her with a wounded look on his face.
“Oh, we’re not…we’re not dating.” Adrian said quickly and forcefully.
“Bullshit, the way you look at your phone all the time, you barely even come hang out with us anymore, you have to be dating.” Harcourt said, slurring her words and leaning against Chris. Adrian felt as if his heart was going to burst out of his chest, his eyes flashing back and forth between everyone at the table but her, begging for someone to save him.
“We’re not dating.” He said more firmly, sparing a glance at her. Her expression surprised him, seeming almost hurt or distracted by the conversation. “Right?” He asked, eyes locked on her.
“Right.” She said tightly and it felt wrong. Like Adrian had done something wrong, something he wasn’t even sure how to navigate from.
“But if you’re not dating why do you guys act like a couple?” Adebayo questioned, sounding more gentle than the others, like she was just trying to point out the obvious.
“We do not! We act like friends!” Adrian defended.
“Adrian, if you smiled at my texts like you do hers, I’d bitch slap you so hard.” Harcourt said, pointing at Adrian as he pouted.
“There’s different types of friends, like I wouldn’t go hang out in the woods with Adebayo like I do Chris. I wouldn’t play video games with any of you except her.” Adrian said as if it was really that simple.
It’s then that for the most part all the 11th Street Kids seem to understand what Adrian’s saying, at least enough to drop it. Everyone except her seemed to move on at Adrian’s words.
“Excuse me.” She murmured, leaving the table quickly.
Adrian spared a quick glance to his friends, none of them saying anything as he followed her outside the bar into the cool night air. His eyes are locked on her back as she crosses her arms, Adrian can practically visualize her frown.
“Are you okay?” He asked, coming up beside her with three long strides.
“I’m fine, Adrian. Just…wanted some air.” She said, sounding unconvinced as she finally stopped near the edge of the parking lot and some grass. Her eyes are locked down at the grass while Adrian stays analyzing her face, trying to understand anything that’s happening.
“Do you want us to date? Is that why you’re upset?” He asked, head tilted as he followed her further in the parking lot.
“That’s not the point and I’m not upset.” She said, voice tight.
“You seem upset, is it because of what they said? Harcourt is just drunk and they’re all kind of assholes not going to lie, but that’s how you know they like you!” Adrian defended them, despite it hurting himself in a way he didn’t fully understand.
“I just…I don’t know…it is what they said, but not in the way you think.” She said softly, Adrian took a step to the side, close enough that their arms were now touching.
“Is it because you want me to be your boyfriend?” He whispered, nervous for the answer that hangs between them. It’s tense, it’s different, it’s a risk. A dumb risk considering if she says no there’s still three nights left of her trip.
“Adrian, it’s not that simple. I mean I live-”
“I think it could be simple,” he blurted out, cutting her off with wide eyes. “I mean I don’t really like touch so long distance is kind of perfect, but I like when we touch so maybe it will be a little bit of a problem, but still doable! Like when our hands brush or when you push yourself into me, I feel like I’m going to melt but in a good way not in a goopy acid kind of way. And we already talk almost every day and I love talking to you and spending time in any way we can! I can even fly out to visit you or help cover flights for you to come here. But I like you and I like the way you make me feel and I like when you call me randomly and it’s just to chat. It makes me feel like I’m important to you and I like how you-”
“Adrian of course you’re important to me.” She interrupted his rambling with words that made Adrian feel like he had just been shot (in a good way) and he knew what it was like being shot. “I just, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have feelings for you, but I just…what if we…ruin the friend group?”
“We can all go on double dates now! If you think about it, that solves everything!” Adrian said with a smile and her serious expression paused for just a second before she broke out in a smile.
“Adrian, there’s more pressing things than that.”
“Not really. Actually you’re right, you know what’s pressing? Me getting to call you my girlfriend.” He tried, not sure where this bravery was really coming from. Maybe it was the low light or maybe it was because he knew his time was running out in person with her.
“You want to call me your girlfriend?” She asked, a smile playing on her lips.
“Duh.” He said with a shrug and she took a step closer, Adrian’s hands twitched to reach out for her. He’s growing more confident that this is playing in his favor. “We should make it official soon, so we can try to squeeze in as many dates as possible. First date, we can grab ice cream right now. Second date, we can go play video games in my room. Third date, breakfast in the morning, I have a diner I want to show you. Fourth date-” Her laugh cut Adrian off as she leaned against him.
“Okay, Adrian. We can give it a try.” She said it with a small smile, almost shy and he beamed at her.
“Can I kiss you?” He asked in one breath and his grin grew as she nodded.
The moment their lips touched Adrian couldn’t help but melt. She was so soft against his lips and his hands hesitated at her sides until she pressed herself closer to him, giving him the confidence to pull her in even closer.
Yeah, Adrian had a lot to thank the internet for.