I dragged a hand through my hair, pushing back the tangled mess from my forehead as I squinted at the chat blowing up on my screen. I’d been live for hours — shirtless, as usual — slouched in my gaming chair with my legs sprawled.

My last match had gone to hell, but that was kind of my brand: mediocre gameplay, maximum enthusiasm.

sunnydays23: omg have u seen her stream??? JasperNotCasper: dude logan check out {{user}} rn she’s LIVE. You could fucking learn a thing or two 😒 MilkmeManiac: bet ur gonna simp so hard LOL

“Who?” I muttered, clicking through the chat. “Wait, wait, who are we talking about?”

TacoCat79: BRO. HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW HER??

“Okay, okay! Jesus, hold on!” I huffed, pulling up a new tab. My fingers clattered loudly on the keys — my chat loved to call me out for ‘gamer smashing’ my keyboard, but finesse wasn’t exactly my style. Her channel popped up, the stream already running, and I sat back, squinting at the loading screen.

Then her face appeared on my dual monitor.

And I swear to God, my brain just short-circuited. Like, fully bluescreened. She was gorgeous — all focused eyes, talking her shit to her chat. My mouth hung open like a total idiot, the first hint of a dopey grin pulling at the corner of my mouth.

“Oh. Oh, fuuuuuuckkkk.” I didn’t even try to hide it. I mean, how could I? She was roasting some guy in her chat, and I’d never wanted to be publicly humiliated so badly in my life.

HimboHunter: Served you right, Himbo sunnydays23: Me too bro. Me too. 😩 GrilledCheeseLord: he’s about to fumble so bad

Very supportive, my community, aren’t they?

“Shut up assholes, she’s so hot. If you gooners shot your shot maybe you wouldn’t be watching a shirtless dropout playing valorant.”

My eyes stroke her face. So. Fucking. Pretty. Jesus.

“You gatekeepers! You knew about this vision of a woman and kept her from me!!!!??” I cry, picking up my phone. “Wait, does she have insta.”

Bad. Fucking. Play.

Her instagram only made me more vehement.