OFFLINE REALITY

Shoot.

A/N: If it's the chat talking, it is in italics.

"There's one guy behind, one mid," Sky pushed a key on his keyboard and spoke into his microphone while his eyes were glued to the screen. He was in the middle of a game and could only focus his attention on the surroundings in-game on one monitor. The other monitor had his streaming set-up on and his chat was cheering him on, hoping that he could secure the win for the round.

"Ah shit." Sky was shot on the left and he saw his character fall to the ground. "There was one more to the left," he alerted his teammates and spectated the rest of the game. He looked over to his other monitor to see some of the comments that were coming in. People told him that he stood too out in the open, making it easier for the enemy to shoot him down. Some were very nice, telling him that they still had a shot at winning the game.

"Yeah, we do still have a shot. It's okay, I'll do better at the next round. I forgot to check the left side. Need to remember that next time," Sky spoke to his chat like they were his friends. He wished that he could talk to people like how he could through the screen but that would be impossible. Speaking to a screen was, after all, much more forgiving.

"Your aim is very good though. Have you been playing long?" one of the comments asked.

"If you're talking about this game, then probably not. Maybe two months? But I've played other FPS games in the past so that helps." Being someone as socially awkward as Sky is, all he could do was stay at home and sit in front of the computer all day. Playing games had already become second nature to him.

"But it might be difficult to stream every day for a while. I would need to complete my studies this year so probably a few times a week. I'll stream on the weekends for sure so log in and say 'hi'." Sky informed his viewers of his schedule. Being an independent streamer had its advantages. He was able to stream as and when he liked and not stick to a specific schedule.

"Oh, you're still studying. Where?" one comment said.

"Well, I'm not comfortable in telling you guys where I study. I hope you don't mind. Though, I wish to make my own games in the future. Maybe I'll let you guys know if that happens." Sky didn't share much about himself online because he was afraid people would find out about him. After all, he was a nobody in the real world. Sometimes Sky thought that it was easier for him to just 'live' online instead. At the least, he was worry-free when at the screen.

The game ended with his team winning by a clear margin. His chat congratulated him and asked him to play another game, one last game perhaps.

Sky told his chat that he was down for one last game and was about to start queuing for his next match when he received a DM in his Discord. He paused his screen share and opened up the message.

Julyas:
Yo T-IAN, you were great that round. Basically carrying the team, me included! Anyways, I was wondering if you would like to play the game together again? My ID is JULYAS (pronounced as Julius). Accept my friend request?

Sky saw the friend request pop up on his screen and hovered his cursor over it. Now, usually, Sky would just ignore and delete people's DMs and requests. He didn't know who they were or what motives they had and would rather keep himself safe than get into unwanted trouble. But today, Sky was feeling unusually bold. His cursor hovered over the 'Accept' button for a little before clicking down on it, finalizing his decision.

"Looks like we will be playing with a friend today. Let me just add him in," Sky told his chat. His chat was surprised because Sky had never played with anyone before. It was being flooded with shock emotes and puzzled faces. He turned his screen to the waiting page so that his viewers wouldn't see the ID number of the person he was about to add. Once the Discord was set up and they were friends in the game, Sky spoke into the mic.

"Hey, it's Julyas. Thanks for accepting my friend request! Are you streaming now?" Julyas sounded a little nervous over the call. Sky was glad that he didn't have a webcam because no one would see that he was smiling at how Julyas sounded.

"No problem man. You can call me Ian if that's easier for you. T-ian may be a little difficult for some people to pronounce. And yes, I'm streaming. Hope you don't mind." The chat was exploding by this point. They didn't know that they could call him Ian, instead of T-ian.

"No, only Julyas is entitled to that since T-ian is difficult to pronounce. You guys still call me T-ian. Anyway, you are typing, not talking so you can type my full name."

"Aww, you're so nice to Julyas. We ship!"

"What ship are you talking about?" He was acting like he didn't know but Sky knew what they were talking about. This was not the first time that his chat was fantasizing about such things. He has seen many fan-made videos about him and other streamers. Whatever story you can think of, it is on the internet (Fuck rule 50) but since Sky has never shown his face, they didn't who it was so they pictured him as a very handsome person. He has never really bothered much about it. At the very least, he was a cool person on the internet, unlike in real life.

"Your chat is really funny, Ian," Julyas said. "Shall we start the game?"

Sky could tell that Julyas was feeling a little awkward about what was going on and was trying to change the topic, which meant that Julyas had his stream open. That made Sky a little self-conscious for some reason. "Yeah, let's go. I'll queue for a game."

One game became two games. Two games became three. Before they knew it, it was already past midnight. The number of viewers on his stream had started to drop because it was getting late.

"Julyas, it's getting late. I'm going to end the stream now." Sky said his closing lines and thanked his viewers for watching him play till this late before closing his stream.

"Alright, time for me to head to bed." Sky said, forgetting that Julyas was still there.

"Wait! I'm still here you know." Julyas could be heard chuckling over the other end of the line. Now that the stream has ended, no one would be able to hear their conversation anymore.

"Yeah, I know. I was telling you it's time to hit the sack. Aren't you tired from playing all night? I even missed out on my assignments today." It was true that Sky hadn't had time to complete his work but it was just tutorial assignments, nothing too bad.

"I have assignments too, but it was much more fun to play with you. And I stand by what I said in the beginning, you were great at the game." Oh, so he's a student too?

Sky thought that Julyas must be the type that had many friends and people after him because he had a way of talking that made the other person feel happy and fluttery on the inside. "You're being too nice. I'm just really lucky, that's all. Look, it's late. I have to go to bed to avoid waking up late tomorrow. Class is still ongoing, sadly."

"Then shall we game again tomorrow?"

Sky thought about it but decided not to give any answers for now. He was already bold enough to play with another person today. "We'll see how it goes."

"I hope you can make it then. See you soon, Ian."

"See you soon, Julyas."

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(1329 words)

A/N: This game is the game that I am addicted to too but unlike Sky, I fucking suck at it. Can you guess the game that Sky is playing?

My baby, stepped out of his comfort zone to play with someone else. Proud mama here.

I know nothing interesting happened here but it's important 😂

I'll see you in the next chapter!