Page 1 of Game Over

My screen flashedred as I took damage, warning that my health bar was rapidly descending as I came around a corner, looking to press my team’s advantage and move the target closer to the checkpoint.

Easier said than done since my fucking support seemed to be asleep at the goddamn keyboard.

I wasn’t thebestOVWatch player in the world, but I was good enough to play competitive matches and get pretty high up the rank tree—landing somewhere in the middle of Master.

My boyfriend, Jesse, wasabsolutelycarrying my ass. His character, Maverick, a cowboy in assless chaps and a hat so big that it should’ve made shooting fuck all totally impossible, ran past me as I crouched behind some crates in the hopes that whoever was firing on me would go after them instead.

Or, maybe our healer would get her fucking head out of her ass.

“I need heals Eva, like yesterday!” I half shouted into my mic, eyes flicking to the chat window to watch the comments sailing by.

doctor_karma: Look out, Frogmire to your right!

Right_asRayne: feeders fr bro

PeapodThePlayful: Gotta get on your game, you’re playing TARAble

“It’s in the name, PeapodThePlayful!” I quipped back with a laugh. “I never promised you a winning streak, just that I’d play.”

Glitched_Attraction69: rough night, little omega?

My eyes caught on the familiar username, a tiny pitter of excitement settling deep in my belly.

“Hey Glitchy,” I said with a flirty little smile, turning up the pouting to a thousand now that my money maker was in the chat. “Peapod is being mean to me again.”

Glitched_Attraction69: :( can’t have that

Glitched_Attraction69: need a mod princess?

PeapodThePlayful: omg relax WK

Eva cursed down the comms, and I had to bite back a sigh. She was kind of hopeless when it came to the game, but she was my best friend, so whenever she asked to play with us I kind of just had to deal.

Even if it totally fucked up my rank.

“Nah, I’m?—”

“To your right,” Jesse called, warning me about the Marksmen to my side, setting up their ult to wipe my ass out.

“Shit!”

In a last-ditch effort to stay alive, I burned my own ultimate, a beam exploding from my sword, transforming quickly into a ball that looked like yarn attached to my weapon as I whipped it around, ready to take out any target within its reach. It only lasted ten seconds, but luckily I was faster than the Marksmen, his stocky build and heavy armor great for carrying heavy-hitting weapons and taking damage, but totally shit at evading quick attacks.

Either by luck or the other team's lack of ability, their healer was nowhere to be seen, giving me ample opportunity to even the field out while Eva struggled to raise my health bar.

“Thanks, E.”

“You know it, T.”

“Fuck yeah!” Jesse cheered in my ear, his deep, melodic voice sending a thrill from the top of my head down to my toes pressed into the soft rug under my desk.

I bit my lip to keep myself from smiling too hard. Though Eva knew that we were together, it wasn’t exactly public information to anyone else. By both of our choices, at least as we settled into our relationship, we didn’t want the pressures of public opinion getting all up in our business. Not to mention, I made most of my money on SLCK’d—an omega-only fetish camming website—it was a real concern that once my audience knew I had a boyfriend at home, and that they were abeta, it could seriously fuck my numbers up.

But that was getting harder and harder to care about. Falling in love with Jesse had been like falling asleep. Slow at first, and then all at once it was justthere. Now it’d been six blissful months and I was so smitten… maybe it was time to be public. I could deal with the consequences as they came.

Besides, most of my money came from Glitch anyway—and I doubted that he’d give a fuck if I had a boyfriend as long as I still made time to chat with him every day.

I managed to stay alive a little longer, even as the other team wiped Eva out, leaving us without a healer. But Jesse was so far ahead of me now, there was little more I could do than try to keep the opposing team off him.

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