A tall ridiculously handsome man stood in the doorway with a big grin. Kit had been preparing himself for the removalists. So, he was shocked to see a stranger standing there. Kit started to shake himself out of his stupor, he guessed that the man had knocked on the wrong door.

“Hello, can I help you?” Kit didn’t have much interaction with his neighbours, but he at least knew their names. He was sure he could point to the man to the right apartment.

The grin slid off the handsome mans face at Kit words. “Are you serious right now? You don’t recognise me?” the tall man pouted. Then the man just stood there staring at Kit.

Kit was taken aback, he then looked closely at the man and thought he looked familiar. The more Kit ran his eyes over the stunning man the more Kit felt like he knew him. He just couldn’t put his finger on where they had met.

Kit started scratching his head, the atmosphere was getting awkward because the man continued to stand in the doorway not saying anything. “How do we know each other?”

“Haha ….” A creepy fire started burning in the tall man’s eyes. “First you ignore my messages, then you won’t even admit that we know each other. Is that how best friends are supposed to behave?”

Best friends? The man was acting more like a spurned lover! Kit thought the man in front of him had serious mental issues and that was saying something considering his own fragile mental state. He didn’t have the energy to deal with a weirdo today. Kit slammed the door shut in the man’s face.

“Fuck! Kit you open this door right now!” An angry roar vibrated through the door. “If you don’t, I’m going to tell Snicker’s that you called her ugly!”

Kit froze, a loud pounding started in his chest. He jerked his eyes back to the closed door. With two steps he had the door flung open. He raked his eyes once more over the ridiculously handsome man. “Mars?” Kit’s voice trembled.

The man’s fiery gaze turned into joyful orbs at the one word spoken. Kit soon found himself enveloped in a hug. “Ah, how did you not recognise me straight away! I’m your best friend! You should be able to spot me in the middle of a crowd!”

Mars carried the stupefied Kit into the apartment. He was too shocked to move, all he felt was his legs swinging and his upper body was squeezed tight. He broke free from his shock when Mars unceremoniously dumped him on the couch.

“Hello, I’m Mars! You must be Kat, it’s a pleasure to met you!” Mars bound over to his sister and started chatting happily as Kit scrambled to get his thoughts together.

As his mind was swirling, a piece of their conversation registered in his ears. “You don’t look related at all! How can someone this stunning be Kit’s sister?”

Kit shot up from the couch and pulled Mars away from Kat. “No flirting with my sister!”

Mars just grinned. “Kit don’t worry, I know the best friend code! I can’t date your sister! I was just stating a fact! Your sister is really beautiful!” Mars sat down on the couch making himself at home. “Kit, I think you need to study about best friends. You can’t just disappear, you should tell me if you are going to be offline and for how long.”

Kit had always thought Mars was a bit special, now it was confirmed that Mars was indeed a truly unique character. Kit had never told Mars his address or his full name for that matter, but the man was sitting in his lounge room all because he hadn’t heard from him.

He was starting to understand that his and Mars interpretation of a best friend was different. If Mars had ghosted him, he would have just accepted the fact that they would no longer be in contact. He would have been devastated, but that was life sometimes. Kit knew that friends didn’t always last a lifetime.

A warmth spread across his chest and a smile grew, he now knew Mars was a friend he would have regardless of whether he played CAL or not. His feelings towards the game started to change, even if he couldn’t play CAL anymore, he had gotten something irreplaceable from his time in game - a friend for life!

Staring at his friend made him curious how Mars had found his apartment. “Mars how did you find me?”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“What.” Mars cocked his head. “It told you I’m good at sports!”

Kit became confused, what the hell did sports have to do with coming to his house! “That doesn’t even make any sense Mars!”

“Of course it does, was this not just hide and seek?” Mars innocently blinked at Kit.

Kit threw up his hands, how was finding someone’s contact information and turning up at their house count as hide and seek!

“What? Why are you looking at me like that? Is that not hide and seek? You were hiding and I came to find you.” Mars looked oblivious to the fact that this wasn’t how the children’s game of hide and seek worked. “It wasn’t that hard. I just hacked into the CAL delivery service to see where your capsule was delivered.”

Kit started choking on his own spit. How was that easy! “Mars that’s not hide and seek, that’s stalking!” Kit felt he had to educate Mars before he got himself into trouble.

“How is that stalking, aren’t you not excited to see me? If it was stalking, you would have called the police. Anyway, that’s not important! Should you not be offering me some food! I haven’t tasted your cooking in real life yet!” Mars turned to look at Kit’s tiny kitchen with hopeful eyes.

Kit gave up any thoughts about his crazy friend and sighed. “Wait a minute, I’ll get you something.” The least he could do was cook something for Mars. As he walked into the kitchen, he realised he was smiling.

This was the first time he felt happy since Kat had told him that she lost her job. Kit hummed as he cooked and listened to Kat and Mars talk. “Snickers sounds very interesting, Kit has only told me bits and pieces about everyone.”

“Don’t worry, when you start playing you will meet everyone.” Kit’s hand holding the knife slipped, blood pooled and dripped down his finger, Kit watched as it dripped over the food.

“Ah, lets talk about something else. Where are you from Mars?” Kat trembled.

“Oh do you not want to play CAL with Kit? That’s fine too, Kit told me you really like your job.” When Kat didn’t answer his question Mars started to realise that something wasn’t right. When he turned to get some help from Kit he froze. “Kit what the fuck! Don’t just stand there!”

Mars dashed over to Kit, grabbed a cloth, and put pressure on the wound. “Ha … what the hell is going on? Why are you and your sister in a daze?”

Pain from the wound brought Kit back to reality. He looked at the worried expression on Mars’ face and sighed. He would have to tell Mars sooner or later that he wouldn’t be able to go back to CAL. “Mars come and sit down, I have something to tell you.”

Once they were settled on the couch, Kit faced Mars. He felt his hands tremble, he took in a breath then dived into everything that had happened. “Is that all? Ahhh… I thought someone had died.”

Mars was grinning, this wasn’t the response he thought he would get from someone who had hacked into CAL server just to get his address. He thought Mars would be upset that he couldn’t play with him anymore.

Kit wanted to smack the grinning fool, how was he not upset. Before Kit could voice his frustrations, Mars spoke. “I converted the money from your restaurant, I figured you might need it.”

“What?” Kit furrowed his brow, he couldn’t follow Mars train of thought.

“It should be enough for you to pay your rent up to date and buy a month’s subscription to CAL.” As the words registered, Kit felt Mars no longer looked like a grinning fool, he looked like an angel!

Kit felt a bubble of hope start to rise, it slowly grew the longer he looked at the elated Mars. Was he really going to be able to see his friends again?

“How much did Kit earn Mars?” Kat tilted her head as she stared at the devilishly handsome man.

“5 thousand. That will be enough, right?” Mars grin was practically bursting.

Kit felt his joy explode. 5 thousand dollars! He really could pay for a months subscription and pay all the rent. Kit burst out laughing and lunged at Mars. “Mars you really are an angel!”

A knock at the door interrupted the joyous moment. All three sets of eyes turned towards the door. “I’ll get it this time.” Kat jumped up and opened the door. Kit could hear Kat apologising to the delivery man.

“Sorry, please wait I’ll go and get the money.” Kat walked over to Mars. “They need us to pay for the next subscription before they can leave.” Kat blushed.

“Hang on I’ll transfer the money. Kit, can I scan your account?” Mars queried.

“Oh, you can just give all the money to Kat. She oversees the bills.” Mars nodded and soon the delivery man was sent on his way. A wave of relief flooded Kit. He had been so close to loosing his dream. If it wasn’t for Mars, he didn’t know what state he would be in right now.

He had been keeping things together for Kat, but once the capsule was removed, he wasn’t sure if would’ve been able to continue holding on. Gratitude once again filled him as he looked at Mars. As he stared at the familiar, but unfamiliar face Kit became curious.

“Mars, did you change your character to look less handsome?” Kit was amazed at how good-looking Mars was in real life.

“Ah, you noticed that.” Mars blushed. “Mother said I would have less chance of being stalked if I didn’t look so handsome.”

Kit’s jaw dropped, was Mars so popular he got hounded by women? Then again the man sitting on his couch looked like a movie star. Then Kit thought about his stalking comment earlier and realised why Mars didn’t see anything wrong with his behaviour.

“Well, your mum is right, you’re too attractive. I can see why you get heavily pursued.” Kat blurted out.

“KAT!” Kit shot furious eyes towards his sister.

Kat held up her hands, “I was not hitting on him, just stating a fact. Mars is really fine!” Kat winked at Mars and chuckled.

Before he could work himself up over Kat’s flirting, Mars butted in. “Now that the subscription has been paid, when are you logging in Kit? Can we time it so that we can log in together?”

Kit felt a rush of adrenaline course through his body, he was going back into CAL!