I feel a hand on my face as I come to, it’s Kai again, looking sad and sitting next to me. He’s rubbing my cheek as if I’m a dying grandmother in a movie. I thought I was supposed to be dropped somewhere at random when I died, but if that were true Kai wouldn’t be here.

“Hey, what happened,” I struggle to ask.

“You got knocked the fuck out man,” Kai responds jokingly as he wipes a tear.

“I thought I died.”

“No, Kay says you don’t die if you lose during a mission, you just respawn. Tournament counts as a mission. Thought I lost you.”

“Is that what made you cry?”

“I wasn’t crying.”

“I saw you wipe a tear away.”

“No, you didn’t,” Kai punches me.

“Dude, I can see the dried tears on your face right now.”

“Okay, so what if I was crying. Is crying over someone you care about really that bad? I thought you died. You didn’t respawn right away; you didn’t vanish to some random part of the world. When you did respawn, you were just passed out for three hours with a single HP. Sorry, I was worried about you. Maybe Kay is right, you’re an asshole.”

“I didn’t say it was bad. I just never thought anyone would cry over me. I was more shocked than anything,” I try to console him.

“Well don’t be, I’d hope you would cry over me too.”

“I don’t know, I don’t cry much.”

“Because you bottle up all of your emotions, then you explode by doing things like shooting Kay until you need to reload.”

“Okay, she’s a trash human being. I get where you’re coming from, but you’re starting to sound like my therapist.”

“Didn’t know you were going to therapy.”

“I stopped.”

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Of course, you did because it’s so hard for you to lean on other people. You’d rather your emotions eat you alive from the inside because you’re a lone wolf. I get it, you’ve got trust issues but so do everyone. That doesn’t mean you get to ridicule someone for displaying how they feel.”

I’m not good with emotions. Sometimes I feel like the only emotions I have are anger and sadness. I can’t read other people’s emotions; I can’t even read my own most of the time. Kai seems like he just always knows what is in everyone’s heart. I don’t see the good in anyone until they show me it’s there, but he believes everyone has the capacity to do good. I wish there was an awkward silence but all I can hear is Kai breathing angrily through his nose trying to pretend he’s calm.

“Do you remember how we met,” I ask him.

“Yeah, we were playing Travian. You were an asshole. You kept raiding my city. I didn’t even have an army until you started doing it over and over again.”

“Then two of my cities got wiped out and I didn’t raid you for a while. You sent me a message when you found out saying that you knew how it felt, then sent me supplies.”

“You apologized and invited me into your guild. I remember. What’s the point of this story,” Kai seems annoyed.

“I don’t know. Just trying to show that you’re the one who understands emotions and I’ve always been motivated by accomplishing goals. I don’t know,” I struggle to sit up. “I don’t know what any of this has to do with me almost dying.”

“We’re past that. Why do you want to keep every conversation surface level? I’ve known you for almost fifteen years at this point and you try to keep me at arm’s length like we’re not friends. I cry over the possibility of losing you and you want to play it off as a joke. As if we aren’t even friends.”

“We’re friends,” I quickly answer.

“Are we? Because when a friend worries about you, promise not to make them worry again. You don’t make a bad joke.”

“We’re best friends. You’re my best friend. We’ve never met in person, probably never will, but you’re my best friend. Hands down.”

“You’re more than a friend to me. Don’t ever be afraid to lean on me.”

Kai gets a call from Daamin and patches me in, “glad to see you up Sleeping Beauty. Princess Charming waited next to you for two days,” Daamin laughs.

“You said three hours,” I nudge Kai.

“Whatever,” he rolls his eyes.

“I hate to interrupt you two love birds but I need you get back to the amphitheater,” Daamin sounds proud. “I’m about to get us that first piece of code.”

“Yeah, we’re on the way,” I end the call.

“So, I was out for two days and sent somewhere random,” I ask.

“Yeah, but I didn’t want you to freak out.”

“How did you find me?”

“You know how games have debug menus and you can do all kinds of cool stuff with them?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Kay’s is a remote control, and I might have borrowed it.”

“Can’t believe she gave it to you.”

“She didn’t but she did make pickpocketing a skill in game.”

“I love you man,” I look at Kai but he looks away.

“Love you too,” he stutters over his words, but I don’t make fun of him for being emotional, I learned my lesson.

“How far are we from the amphitheater?”

“Couple hours, remote let me choose where you’d drop.”

“You want to drive?”

“You fine with a pink Maserati?”

“Absolutely.”