While they didn’t necessarily run back to Dorian’s house, both of them certainly picked up the pace, setting the stuff in the sitting room before Dorian led Reina into what she only could assume was an office by the gaming set up on a desk with a console and TV against a wall. Dorian didn’t say much as he slid into his chair and turned on his computer before starting to scrounge through the many drawers in his desk before pulling out two headsets and pointing towards another rolling chair.
“You can take that one, it you want. I’d assume you’d rather have your own chair unless you’d just rather stand or sit in my lap or whatever.” She smiled at him before sidling up to him in the extra chair as Dorian moved his cursor over the ‘Go Live’ button. “Alright then…here we go.” Almost the second they went live, comments started to pop up saying hello and how much they were looking forward to tonight’s stream. Dorian sat and watched as the comments flew across the screen and donations popped up every now and then.
“Waiting for more people?”
“I prefer to do general hello,” Dorian explained. “Saves more time and lets me focus on the game.” And so they waited, watching the comments scroll and his background graphic of a character that looked suspiciously like Dorian in ragged dark clothes. After about five minutes, he turned on both their mikes. “Hello and welcome back to the stream, everyone. Hope you’ve all been looking forward to tonight since I haven’t been on in a while. I moved house for school, and before any of you ask, no I will not be telling you where I’m going. However, for those of you who do go to school with me…you’ll have to settle for this….” He tapped his keyboard and both he and Reina appeared in the lower right corner of the screen. “There you go, as promised. A face reveal….”
They both watched as the stream of comments seemed to pass by even faster than before, saying things like that Dorian didn’t look how they expected, telling him how attractive, hot, and sexy he looked, and asking what anime he was from. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the barrage of questions, but Reina started to notice that a few had turned their attention towards her, asking both who she was and if she was Dorian’s girlfriend. “Sorry, everyone, I’ve forgotten my manners.” He gestured to Reina, who waved. “This is Reina, she’s a friend from my new school, and she might also be playing a bit tonight.”
“What?” she asked, turning towards him.
“There wasn’t really a plan for tonight’s game,” Dorian admitted. “Honestly, I’m not sure if I’ve ever truly planned a stream, but I was looking to either play Raft or Neon Abyss, but I’ve got an idea since I promised to at least try the Pantheon of Hallownest to start a few streams until I beat it.” He went into his main file which, everyone watching noticed, was at one-hundred and twelve percent.
“Is that the max?” Reina asked. She watched as Dorian jumped up the side of a wall and walked to a strip of moving darkness in an ornate sort of frame.
“I thought this was the final percent for the longest time,” he said, quietly. “I‘d been smashing my head against the final challenge of this, an enraged, petty sun goddess, only for one of my wonderful followers to tell me that I hadn’t finished something else. Thank you Kelpsey, but you’ll get to see her when we make it to pantheon’s peak….” The tone of his voice and even his posture told everyone that his expectations were low, but that he was still going to make an effort. His eyes flicked up to the chat that was cheering him on, and Reina was impressed as he didn’t really even seem to pay attention to the bosses he was taking out.
“A Sneaky Chicken’s trying to tell you something,” Reina pointed out when Dorian had a break. “They’re saying something about a bet?”
“Of course, it’s Chicken,” Dorian sighed, smiling. “The hell do you want, man? What crazy scheme have you concocted this time?” Dorian singled out the messages and chuckled dryly as he read them out. “Alright everyone…here’s another new fact about me, brought to you by A Sneaky Chicken…I’m a cosplayer and you can find my profile on Cos-mos. He is also a paying member for my secret content and has made a bet with me. If I complete the Pantheon of Hallownest tonight, I will have to give you all a few minutes of free, premium cosplay content from me. If I lose…Chicken has to gift five subs. I accept your challenge, Chicken, even if it is weighted in favor of chat.”
Reina watched as Dorian corrected his posture and sat up a little in his chair, before continuing the next round of bosses. She watched intently but couldn’t help but wonder if she could spur him into more of a fervor to complete the run.
“How many more until a break?” she asked, watching as Dorian destroyed some weird-looking creature hanging from the ceiling.
“Three more until the next hot spring,” he answered, ripping through the next boss. “Why?”
“No reason,” she replied, innocently. He looked at her warily out of the corner of his eye before turning attention back to the bosses. He didn’t have to chance to turn to her as he appeared in the hot spring before she moved her mike and the left headphone and leaned in. “I want to make a deal with you….”
“What?” he asked, confused.
“Since you’re being punished for completing the Pantheon,” she continued, “let me give you a reason to win.” There were goosebumps on the back of his neck as he felt her breath on the side of his face. “If you can beat the Pantheon, you can sleep next to me tonight…and I’ll even let you snuggle with me….” Immediately, his posture and attitude shifted from blasé and indifferent to determined and ready. His eyes blazed with a fiery determination that Reina hadn’t seen, and he leaned forward like a true gamer who was done messing around.
“Handle chat for me, will you?” Reina split her attention between Dorian whooping ass on the screen to the new comments that were now flooding in about how they’d only seen him get like this once before and asking Reina what she’d told him. She laughed a bit when someone suggested they put the Doom music on as Dorian tore up the bosses, seemingly, without a second thought.
“Good to see you’re all enjoying Dorian’s hyper mode,” she noted. “Um…Jaquboi is wondering if you’ve got the mod installed?” Dorian didn’t answer but instead continued playing. “Dorian, you can’t be that focused to not pause and answer…?”
“I am answering,” he mumbled as he continued. “Don’t worry Jaquboi, I’ve still got your mod on…Grimm’s music is something I’d never miss out on.” With that, the boss appeared in a burst of red smoke, music swelling as Grimm bowed and Dorian bowed back to him.
“Oh,” Reina grinned, sitting a little more forward in her chair. “So this is Grimm….”
“I really wish this wasn’t the Pantheons to introduce you to him,” Dorian admitted. “He’s got some of the best dialogue….” His eyes flicked up towards the chat. “You guys want me to say the thing?”
“What thing?” Her question was answered as Dorian sighed with a small smile on his face.
“I sometimes think I’m too nice to you lot,” he sighed, and Reina could almost see the gears turning in his head. What came next sent chills down her smile and Dorian had a sly smile on his face and his voice dropped to a more melodious tone. “Wonderful. Wonderful. My kin arrive and the time has come. The searing fire…it carries well the Ritual’s promise….” Reina felt her heart skip when he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Dance with me, my friend. The crowd awaits. Show them you’re worthy of a starring role….”
He went back to his assault on the boss rush, leaving Reina visibly stunned less by what he said, but by the look he’d given her and the tone of his voice. Around twelve minutes later, Dorian put the controller down and stretched a bit. “I can see you all liked what you saw….”
“I think so,” Reina agreed, feigning being okay. “So, is it just one more?”
“Two more,” Dorian corrected. “First I gotta beat the pure vessel, but then we get to the point that makes this so hard…Abs Rad.”
“Abs Rad?”
“Absolute Radiance,” he supplied. “She’s the main antagonist of the game and is the reason for all the destruction and ruin brought upon the kingdom of Hallownest. I was playing before this DLC dropped and was happy that I beat her…and then I got suckered into this hell.” He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, reaching for his water bottle. “I suppose now it’s make or break time, folks…I’ve got some stuff riding on this.” As he grabbed his controller, Reina leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
“For luck,” she teased. The smirk Dorian had hid the fact that he was now going to be super distracted while fighting two of the hardest bosses in the game. The chat actually went quiet as he fought the pure vessel, carefully dancing around some attacks and landing face first into others.
“Don’t worry everyone, I’ve done this before,” he squeaked as he got hit yet again. “Just a few hiccups. I’ll heal to full for Abs Rad anyway.” Reina sat in silence, quietly munching on some sweets Dorian had lying around as the boss knelt in defeat only for a bright light to rain down from the top of the screen. “Alright…come at me you lamp-loving fuck!” You could’ve heard a pin drop if it weren’t for the music and sounds as Dorian fought the Radiance. It wasn’t perfect, but he was getting through it before racing up to the next phase…and then the next. Even Reina was starting to feel her heart race as he raced around to avoid beams of light of light before continuing to bounce around the boss…until the final hit.
She watched as the dark effects at the bottom of the screen reached up to grab the Radiance, holding it in place as the rest rose up to form a giant monster that ripped the Radiance open before dragging it down. As the ending scene played, chat went wild again with cries of amazement and congratulations as Dorian sort of oozed out of his chair.
“You not gonna watch the final cutscene?” Reina asked, curiously enjoying it.
“I’ve seen it before,” he sighed, closing his eyes, and smiling. “Finally…it’s over…I have nothing else to do….” As if on cue, he heard a donation tone hit and the text to speech.
“You still have to beat every boss on Radiant difficulty.”
“Nope,” he corrected, getting back in his chair. “Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Fuck that. I’ll have to pass on that, guys. Don’t you think I’ve suffered enough with the randomizer runs? Which will be coming back as soon as I play other games and get Hollow Knight out of my system for a bit.” Minimizing the game, he logged into his Cos-mos and scrolled to his premium content. “As promised…you get to see my special cosplays…but just this once…then we let Reina start her own file.”
293Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd5AH4Q1T0K
About two hours later, Dorian and Reina turned off the stream and went into his room. Reina went to bathroom to get ready for bed as Dorian changed and went to do the same. She watched as he grabbed a pillow and a blanket from his bed and made to leave before Reina spoke up.
“Where’re you going?”
“I’m letting you have the bed,” he stated. “I’ll just take the futon over here….”
“But you beat the Pantheon….” He raised an eyebrow at her as she climbed onto his bed and under the covers. “I made you a deal, didn’t I?”
“You were serious?” he asked. “That wasn’t just to tease me….”
“It was supposed to tease you a little,” she admitted. “But c’mon, Dorian, it’s supposed to be cold tonight and it’d be great to have someone….” After a few seconds of debating, Dorian slipped in with her, Reina smirking and immediately wrapping her arms around him. “Don’t be afraid to hold me…just keep your hands off my ass….”
“Will do,” he answered, trying to keep his voice level. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he could feel Reina’s doing the same as she held on to him. Certain that there was no way in hell he was getting any sleep, he suddenly started to feel Reina’s heartbeat slow to a normal pace, seemingly bringing his down with it.
“It doesn’t have to mean anything, dude,” she muttered, snuggling into his chest. “Now go to sleep…you said you wanted to start on my cosplay tomorrow, right?”
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