Waiting In The Lobby

FOR ANNIE

__________________

"YOU ABSOLUTE ASSHOLE"

"FUCK YOU CAMPER!"

"Sniper on the roof! Gawdammit Brad he's on the FUCKING ROOF!"

You laughed at the language coming from behind the closed door as you passed it in the hallway. You padded to the kitchen and fridge and pulled out the ingredients to make yourself some lunch. Bread, meat, cheese, and condiments piled on the counter and you took a minute to admire the picture it made. Food had always been scarce when you were growing up and what food had ever been available had been portioned out. You lathered mustard and mayo and stacked ingredients carelessly as your mind wandered over to the cursing voice.

Munk had been a godsend. You smile as you remember when you met online. He had been a random party member in a Call Of Duty lobby and had actually wanted to talk to the other team members. You had kept your mic off because, well, assholes were assholes and you avoided dealing with them whenever you could. The game had gone well and the team had won so you took a shot, unmuted and simply said "GG," which was short for "good game."

The knife in your hand sliced through the bread with a little violence as you thought of what had happened next. The moment they had known you were a female, attitudes changed and so did tones. "Women shouldn't have any rights" and "Log off and kill yourself" had echoed through your ears. But the thing you didn't expect was the level of anger that had come across when Munk spoke. "Hey assholes. She ranked better than half of you in the last match so why don't you shut your mouths before I beat your ass in person."

You didn't know how, but the growl in his tone made them all go quiet and you were pretty sure you had heard someone whimper. You had messaged him thank you and on a whim sent him a friend request, which he accepted with surprising speed.

That was nine months ago and since then something wonderful had been born. Once you found out you both lived in the same city, an actual friendship started to bloom. You would meet at a local diner and piss off the waitresses by doing nothing but talking, sharing music, and drinking coffee. Eventually, the stars aligned and when he mentioned he needed a new roommate, you jumped at the chance to be out of where you had been living.

Thus began the best non-brother/sister relationship you had ever known. You taught him that clothes do not, in fact, clean themselves and he taught you that there is an actual difference in headphone quality. And when you asked about streaming online, he patiently sat you down and showed you how to build a channel. He was the brother you had always wanted.

Smiling fully to yourself, you put all of your ingredients back in the fridge, grabbed your plate and walked back to the cursing door and opened it. Half the room was lit with red and the other half was green which always gave off a weird year-round holiday vibe. Two large desks were back to back in the middle of the room, each with their own gaming system. When you had started streaming, Munk had suggested the setup because it would allow you both to have your own unique background without giving away that you were in the same room. Your streams never overlapped and that allowed for you each to be as loud as you wanted with your respective communities. You had grown to love the regulars who showed up to your stream and the chill vibes they all brought. Munk too enjoyed his streams but that was because he had a large number of subscribers who wanted to jump his bones and he reveled in the flirting. Whenever you laughingly pointed that out, he would simply look directly at your chest, point, and say "Titties."

You sat down at your setup and began booting up hardware and checking the systems, plate forgotten temporarily. You watched the top of Munk's head bob and shake as he went through his final goodbyes to his community. You were genuinely happy for him to have found those people. As thirsty as they might be from time to time, they all seemed to really care about him and his well-being which was rare on the internet.