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A voice crackles to life in Tim's headset, "Get back here, loser! Stop being an asshole!"
Tim does his best to run. His health is low and the player giving chase doesn't seem to want to give up anytime soon.
The gamertag hovering above the player's head displays the name SuperNova. He's wearing a skin that makes him look like an astronaut? Not that Tim can see much of it, considering he's also fully decked out in armor.
There's also the overpowered sword in his hands, the blade swiping endlessly at the air and nipping at Tim's heels.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Tim mutters. He's holding a controller, squeezing it so tightly he thinks it might break.
Tim sticks his tongue out in focus, staring intently at the screen in front of him. His eyes are burning, but he doesn't blink. If he did, he thinks he'd die on the spot.
"Guys," Tim says into his mic. "K, Ives, we got health potions at base, right?"
"Uhh," Kon responds, fighting giggles. "Yeah. What mess are you leading back here? You good?"
"No," Tim replies. Behind him, Supernova swipes again. Tim tries to dodge but sees his health bar shoot downward as the strike connects anyway. He only has one heart left. One! This isn't good. This so isn't good.
He hears Sebastian cackling, but ignores it. "Shut up, Ives."
"Look man," Sebastian replies, "This is your fault. Why were you at spawn?"
"I WASN'T DOING ANYTHING," Tim shouts. "Bro, I just wanted to trade with people!" he's whining now, at Supernova this time. "How does that make me an asshole?"
"Dude. You weren't trading. You were scamming new players!" SuperNova scoffs—his voice would be a rather pleasant deep baritone, if not for the fact that it sounds like it's being recorded via microwave.
"It's not scamming!" Tim interjects, "It's called being an entrepreneur!"
"Okay, Mr. Entrepreneur," Supernova replies. "You know, it kinda sucks I gotta kill you, 'cause you actually sound cute." The next thing Tim knows, the sword lands directly on his character's head, and a title card that reads "Redbird07 has been slain by SuperNova" appears on his screen.
"Nooo," Tim wails, as all his items and XP scatter.
"Wait," he hears Kon mutter, and then he's reading the text quietly aloud, "Redbird07 was slain by SuperNova? Red, you got your ass kicked by SuperNova? That SuperNova?"
"Should I recognize him?" Tim groans. He hears SuperNova dissolve into laughter. He stares down at his controller, the sound of SuperNova fading as the player runs off.
"Of course," Kon replies. After a beat, Tim's phone pings. He glances at it. Kon's sent him a link to a twitch stream that's currently live… belonging to a streamer named SuperNovaGaming.
Tim opens it and gazes blankly at the livestream. There's a webcam in the corner, displaying the image of a giggling boy around Tim's own age, with messy dark hair and freckles.
Then, the words Supernova said before finally register and Tim blue screens.
Suddenly, all he can think is how "It kinda sucks that I gotta kill you, 'cause you actually sound cute." He feels warmth rushing to his cheeks.
"Damn," Tim says. The boy on screen grins. It makes Tim's heart skip. "What an asshole."
Yeah, what an asshole.