Chapter Text
The uneven ticking sound of the computer flans went over and over, like a nail being scratched on a chalkboard. It was incredibly hot in your room because of your computer - tucked right between the desk legs and wall. It was the only spot it would fit that wasn't on your desk. The fans did a poor job at cooling it down, due to it being pre-built. It was the best you could have at the moment, so as long as it let you play, the specs didn’t matter to you.
For the past three hours, you have been playing Overwatch.
And it’s been absolutely insufferable.
The screaming of your teammates blaming you, the maps and gamemodes - overall it was hell. You didn’t know why you wanted to play a first person shooter right now, especially after coming right home from work. You had school, then you went straight to work after. You did all your math homework on your breaks, just so you can have free time for yourself at home. The better choice would be playing a solo game.. Not a multiplayer game.
Your head was aching from your headphones, and you were on a five loss streak. The moment your current game ended, your thumb and pointer finger hovered over the Alt + F4ing keys, ready to press then. But instead, you pause and take a deep breath.
“Fine, I’ll play one more, if I lose, then I’m done.” you say. Bad choice.
Hitting the queue button for support, you wait for the system to put you into a game. In the meantime, you open your phone and scroll through social media posts to keep you busy.
Ding! Match found!
That was a quick queue. Usually it takes five minutes for a game this late, since it’s the middle of the night. Grabbing onto your mouse, you sit back in your chair, ready to play the game that decides if you go to bed or not.
—-
Nothing new.
Your teammates have been screaming and arguing for half of the game so far. Your tank and other support kept throwing insults, telling each other to kill themselves, to quit the game - all the fun stuff that comes with playing Overwatch. You debated muting them, but honestly it was kind of funny to watch unfold. Your team wasn't doing too poorly, currently tied 3-3 on an escort map, meaning there would be at least two more rounds until the match ends .There was not a single second of silence, due to your tank constantly screaming at your other teammates.
You hold down the tab key with your pinky, eyes skimming back and forth through the scoreboard, looking at the enemy teams, then your. Everyone was doing fine besides the Tank. It didn’t help that he was trash talking everybody on the team either. If you opened your mouth, it was extremely likely he would go after you next.
“Do not play that character! Dude, you’re fucking ass,” the Junker Queen said when somebody on the team picked Genji. Most people react this way because Genji has an insanely high skill ceiling, so unless you’re cracked.. You’re not gonna perform that well. Thankfully, you were in the highest rank in the game, so most people know what they are doing.
The Genji didn’t say anything, completely ignoring his comment. “They’re going to full counter you here,” he added, laughing obnoxiously into his microphone. You push your microphone closer to your mouth. Alright, this guy has awful gamesense. I need to talk to him.
“Hey. They have two people sitting in their backline, and you aren’t attacking them. What are you doing?” you say, holding the push to talk button down. You weren’t negative towards him at all - your tone was very neutral. The last thing you wanted was this to get even more heated.
Immediately he responds, his microphone coming out all distorted as he deepthroats it.
“Yeah because my teamates can’t get any kills, why the fuck are we running a Genji into their comp? Fucking garbage teamates every game.”
You lean your cheek against your palm, and readjust the sizing on your headphones. There was nothing you could say to change this guy's mind. It’s always everybody else, never me. You snap the headset adjusters, making it fit more comfortably on your head. The plastic was very cheap, and after a couple of hours of use would give you an insanely bad headache. It was sufficient enough, since it had a built-in microphone as well. The audio output wasn't that good, and was often distorted, but in this case it was your teammates' microphones who were the problem.
You continue to play the game, healing your toxic teammate. It was better not to argue and just to play, hopefully he would stop making rude comments and just suck it up and play better. You managed to get the score up to 4-4 with only thirty seconds left to go.
Maybe it was a mistake that you wanted to encourage everybody, but you did anyway.
Turning your microphone on, you say, “Alright let's go guys, we got this.”
“Genji swap off right now, he’s useless on this point,” the Tank snaps immediately, and you respond snarky.
“Our Genji is not the problem? Are you mentally okay dude?” You click the push to talk button, snapping at him. There was a silence for a few seconds, only the sounds of in-game voice dialogue, and the background music getting increasingly more intense as the clock ran out.
“He is 17-10, are you stupid? He would actually be useful if he swapped to a hitscan or literally anything else.”
God, this guy was such a loser.
“Yeah, who made you team captain dude? Keep on talking,” you instigate further, giggling as you cut your microphone out. It was funny as hell to hear him keep getting worked up, especially since everybody was playing fine besides him.
“Shut up you dumb bitch, you can’t even heal me because you’re a fucking woman. Like god. Stop talking. Get off this game”
What the hell? That was incredibly uncalled for. You laugh so hard - not knowing if it was funny he was getting upset at you, or due to shock.. You think of something to come back to him, but you open your mouth and you’re speechless - you let go of the push to talk key.
“Don’t speak to her like that,” the Genji turned on his microphone for the first time. His voice was high pitched - slightly shaky, it sounded like his microphone was super close to him too. He had a microphone the entire time and ignored the tank? Impressive as hell.
“Nah fuck off, stop white-knighting for her. You guys are so absolutely trash at this game and you don’t deserve to be in this rank. I’m telling you the moment you rank up you won’t do shit.”
“Yeah and I’m telling you how much of a dumbass you are,” you snap back, earning a laugh from the Genji. There was no response from the Tank, realizing that now two people were ganging up on him. “Hey Genji, just ignore him, you’re doing fine.Good shit,” you reassure him one more time to let him know. Plus, he’s no longer 17-10. Ever since you stood up for him he’s been playing better. Maybe that’s because encouragement makes people play better… hmmm I wonder why.
“T-thanks, your heals are insane.” He replies back, and you smile at your screen. “Can you flank with me? Their healers are low,” he says, and you respond to him with a yes and follow him.
The rest of the game went so much smoother since the tank stopped talking. The only people speaking in voice-chat were Genji and you, making callouts and giggling every time you guys died in a stupid way together. You managed to win the game by one point. You were smiling the entire time, and your chest hurt from laughing. You were sure your parents were going to be pissed from how loud you were.
“Good shit dude, you’re insanely good!” you watch the play of the game, which displayed his username: XxShadowxX, in a large bold orange font. He killed three people on the enemy team, with you helping to heal him during this. You stretch your legs out under your desk, the pain of sitting for hours finally hitting you like a truck.
“No you,” he teased back, “for real though, thank you, you’re like the first good healer I’ve played with all night.”
You smile, inching your mic closer to your mouth. “Thanks bro, good luck in your next games! GG’s!”
“Ggs. Hey, wait-”
Taking the headphones off your head and rubbing where they were, you place them on your desk. You scooch your chair to get out, finally standing up and stretching your legs. You should really go to sleep now, but you did swear to yourself that if you won the next game, you’d play one more..
Okay okay, I’ll just play one more - and if I lose, then I’ll go to sleep .
—------
She didn’t ask to play with me?
He closed the software that was running in the back of his computer. That was the most stressful game he played - and you made it even worse. He never had to watch his mouth, or think about every play he was going to make until you started talking. He didn’t want to leave a bad impression on you, especially since you were so so sweet to him.
Should I friend her? No,no we only played once together - I don’t want her to be weirded out. It’s too early to do that. But she seemed really cool. She laughed with me, she spoke to me. I- fuck, okay, I’ll just friend her and hopefully she thinks nothing of it. She’s a cool duo partner. He turned on his cheats to make sure the game was won, after you mentioned how you were going to drop out of your rank if you lost. He did everything he could to win it for you, just to hear your voice thank him.
His mental rambling kept going on and on as he stared at the scoreboard of the last game you two just played. Your username, Y/N - which was most likely your first name. A really cute name. He feels his cheeks heat up as he pronounces it out loud, a small bit of drool running down his lip. Your icon, which was a small purple rabbit. He right clicks your profile, viewing your rank and your favorite characters to play. You’re mostly a support player! He can boost and carry you to higher ranks.
He moves the Cheeto bag off his mouse pad to the side of his decks, grabbing back onto the wireless mouse. It was an insanely expensive “pro gamer mouse” that one of the proxies had stolen for him. He uses it so often, the batteries need to be replaced every week, so there’s not one day that Hoodie regrets giving it to him. He has to hit more convenience stores just for battery packs because of him.
His body inches closer to the screen, with his finger on the left mouse button. Just send it, just send it. He re-adjusted in his gaming chair, his thighs slightly trembling. Do it, do it, do it. He was swallowing an unnecessarily amount of times, and each gulp he made was sure audible. He had to play another game with you again. He needed to hear your voice, your laughs and giggles, your screaming in real time. He already had the entire gameplay saved; he just wanted to talk to you more, see you more - and he’ll make sure of it.
He moved the cursor over your username, right clicking so the info panel pops up. He moves his face closer to the screen, and his mouth widens in a grin. Right before he clicks the ‘add friend’ button, a ding goes off.
Match found!