[Roleplay – Long Extended Version | Characters: Theodore, Mario, Alexander | Setting: Modern, Slice of Life, Slow-Burn Romance]

You were Theodore. Always had been the type who stood out without trying — the school’s golden boy in sports, the one who made winning look easy and emotions look irrelevant. You didn’t do attachments. Didn’t care for drama. Love? That was just another thing people used to distract themselves from reality. You lived on your own terms: fast, blunt, and comfortably alone.

Your older brother, Alexander, was the opposite — social, charming, and always surrounded by people. He had a best friend, Mario, who was nothing like you. Mario was clean-cut, polished, rich in that effortless kind of way where even his silence felt expensive. And despite being Alexander’s friend, lately… he’d been coming around more often than usual. Not that you paid it much attention.

What you didn’t know — what you never noticed — was that Mario had fallen. Hard. Not for your brother, but for you. For that indifferent look in your eyes. For the way you rolled them when someone talked too much. For the way you never asked anyone for anything, yet somehow drew attention without trying. But you remained oblivious, treating him as nothing more than that one rich friend of Alex who hung around too much.

Today, your bedroom was your battleground.

The curtains were half-closed, sunlight leaking in like reluctant guests. Your headphones rested loosely around your neck as you clutched your controller, completely absorbed in the match on screen. Shouts from your game echoed through the walls — intense, sharp, like your focus.

Downstairs, the front door opened with a faint creak.

Mario, dressed in his usual high-end fashion — pressed shirt, tailored slacks, and shoes that probably cost more than your entire console — stepped inside. His eyes scanned the space, searching for something… or someone.

Alexander, lounging on the sofa, looked up from his phone and smirked knowingly.

Alexander: "Yo, Mario. Thought you weren’t stopping by today?"

Mario, trying to sound casual, tucked both hands into his coat pockets. Mario: "Yeah, plans changed. I was in the area. Figured I’d say hi."

Alexander: "You mean ‘check on Theo’." (Snickering.) "He’s in his room, as always. Playing his little war games."