"Uh... right." I take a breath, trying to reboot my brain. "We came here to game, right? Where's your laptop? Let's get this party started."
She looks back up at me, seeming relieved by the change of subject. "Yes... come in... I'll get it set up..."
I walk into her room, and once again, my brain has to recalibrate what "normal" means.
Her bedroom is as large as an entire hotel suite. Maybe larger. But somehow, Luna has made it seem... cozy. The room is pristine, not a speck of dust anywhere. There are more curtains at the back covering what I'm assuming are more floor-to-ceiling windows.
There's a pile of plushies on one side that could probably be classified as a small mountain. I spot Kirbee, Bikachu, various anime characters, and what appears to be approximately one thousand variations of cute round animals. Her walls are covered with posters from games and anime, creating this vibrant collage of her interests. Her bed is enormous, piled high with even more plushies and approximately seventy-five pillows, and the sheets feature cute anime girls from a series I don't recognize. At the foot of the bed is a large flatscreen TV mounted on a stand.
On one side of the room is a desk that's so massive it could probably accommodate four people with ease. She has a desktop computer with three monitors, a custom mechanical keyboard that's probably worth more than my entire setup, and a gaming mouse that looks like it has more technology in it than my phone.
Luna moves to her desk, and I absolutely do not notice the way her butt jiggles as she walks. Nope. Not me. I'm a gentleman. I deliberately look straight up at the ceiling like it's the most fascinating thing I've ever seen.
She opens a drawer and pulls out a gaming laptop with peripherals to match: keyboard, mouse, headset. All color-coordinated, all expensive-looking.
I walk closer and start setting everything up, plugging in the peripherals while Luna grabs the charger. She leans under the table to plug the laptop into her power strip, and I get an unobstructed view of her perfect ass, it—
No. Nope. Not doing this.
I look straight up at the ceiling again, studying it with the intensity of someone who's about to be quizzed on ceiling architecture. Luna, this absolute angel and the most shy person I've ever met, invited me to her house to game. I will NOT spend my time here just perving on her. Not a chance. I refuse.
She slowly stands back up and unplugs one of her monitors, connecting it to the laptop instead.
"Okay... ready!" she says, smiling at me. "What should we... play?"
"How about Legend's League?" I suggest.
"Okay!" Luna says, and there's this little spark of excitement in her voice that makes me smile.
I boot up the laptop, which loads at a speed that makes my ancient desktop at home look like it's powered by a hamster on a wheel, and we quickly start queuing up for a match.
Legend's League is a 5v5 team-based fighting game where both teams compete to destroy the opponent's base first. Throughout the game, heroes get stronger by gaining experience and leveling up, or by earning currency from killing enemy units and buying items. It's basically a game designed to test both your strategic thinking and your ability to not rage-quit when your teammates do something stupid.
While we're queuing, I find myself looking around the room again.
"Your room is really nice," I say. "Somehow you made this massive space feel... I don't know, cozy?"
"Thank you..." Luna smiles, looking genuinely pleased. "I know it's... really big... so I tried to fill it with... things that make it feel... smaller... more safe..."
That's both adorable and kind of sad. This massive room that most people would kill for, and Luna fills it with plushies to make it feel less empty.
"I can see that," I laugh, gesturing to the pink pile in the corner. "Pretty sure you have every Kirbee plushie that's ever been made. Big fan?"
"He's just... really cute..." Luna says, dead serious, like this is not up for debate.
She's so cute, I think to myself, when suddenly—
Queue pop!
"Oh! Here we go," I say, cracking my knuckles in an exaggerated gesture that makes her giggle softly.
The match ends quickly, and not to brag, but Luna and I absolutely wipe the floor with the opposing team. Twenty minutes, done. Average games can go on for almost thirty, but we coordinated so well it was almost unfair. Luna's mechanics are insane, and I nearly match her in skill.
There are moments when Luna dies, and I take the opportunity to playfully tease her.
"Wait, did Luna just die? Is that allowed? I thought you were supposed to be good at this game," I say with mock disappointment.
"You've... died more... than me!" she retorts, and there's a smile playing on her lips that makes my chest feel warm.
"Okay, rude. This is a team game, Luna. We're supposed to support each other, not call each other out," I reply, laughing.
We play a few more games, falling into an easy rhythm of friendly banter and coordination. Luna gets gradually more talkative as she gets comfortable, though her speech still has those characteristic pauses that make everything she says sound gentle and thoughtful.
Then my stomach decides to make its presence known with a growl that could probably be heard in the lobby downstairs.
"Oh! Are you... hungry?" Luna asks, glancing over at me with concern. "You bought me... food last time... so... it's my turn!"
"Luna, you don't have to—"
But she's already pulled out her phone, a determined little smile on her face as she fiddles with it. Then she hands it to me. It's opened to an app that looks like a food delivery service, but fancier.
"It's the... hotel restaurant's app..." Luna explains. "They deliver... to the suite."
I look at the menu, and my eyes immediately start watering. Not from emotion, but from the sheer audacity of these prices.
Steaks that cost nearly a hundred dollars. Lobster. Foie gras. Caviar. You name it, they have it, and it all costs approximately one month's rent.
"Uh, Luna..." I start, feeling my wallet cry from my pocket. "This is all really expensive. I can't let you pay this much."
Luna tilts her head at me, and the gesture is so innocent and sweet that I feel my resolve crumbling. "But you... paid last time... It's only... fair..."
Before I can protest further, she gently takes her phone back, her fingers brushing against mine. They're soft. Of course they are. Everything about Luna is soft.
"Yeah but that was just a cafe, this is—"
"I want to," she says simply, with a firmness I haven't heard from her before. "Let me... pick some things... I think you'll like..."
She quickly taps through the app with more confidence than I've seen from her all day, then looks up.
"Luna, what did you—"
"It's fine," she says, and there's this quiet firmness in her voice that tells me arguing would be pointless.
"Alright, alright," I relent, smiling. "So what do we do while we wait?"
I spot the TV at the foot of her bed. "Is that TV just for decoration, or do you actually use it?"
"I use it... a lot..." Luna says. "Sometimes I... watch anime... or play... console games...while lying in bed..."
"Oh, you have consoles? What games?"
"Um... a lot of things... Do you know... Fario Racers?" Luna says softly.
"Fario Racers! Yes! That game is great. Want to play?"
Luna's eyes light up, and there's a competitive spark there that I've never seen before. "Okay... but I should warn you... I'm pretty good..."
"Oh really? Well, I won't go easy on you then."
"Good... I won't either..." She's smiling as she says it, and the combination of her shy demeanor and competitive words makes my heart race.
We settle onto her bed, which is possibly the most comfortable surface I've ever encountered in my life, like sitting on a cloud made of other, softer clouds, and Luna boots up her console. The TV flickers to life with the cheerful, colorful menu of Fario Racers.
Fario Racers is a pretty straightforward racing game: whoever reaches the end first wins, but you can grab power-ups to speed yourself up or disturb the other player.
We pick our characters and tracks, and the race starts. I'm doing okay at first, keeping pace, but Luna is good. Like, really good. She's pulling ahead of me quickly, taking turns with precision I didn't know was possible in this game.
Well, time to pull out my special move: Cheating!
I reach over and put my hand over her eyes.
"W-what?! Adam!" Luna exclaims, louder than I've ever heard her speak: actual regular volume instead of her usual soft whisper. "You're cheating!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I say with my best innocent voice, keeping my hand firmly over her eyes while my character zooms ahead. "This is just advanced racing strategy."
"That's not—you're covering my eyes!"
"Prove it!"
In retaliation, Luna reaches over and starts mashing buttons on my controller, sending my character careening off the track and into a pit.
"Okay, now you're cheating!" I protest, mock-offended.
"You... started it..." Luna says, and the glee is apparent on her face, lighting up her features in a way that makes her look even more beautiful.
"Oh, so that's how it is?"
"Mm-hmm..." She's grinning now, focused back on the screen as she pulls even further ahead.
We continue like this for several races. I keep trying various forms of cheating: covering her eyes, reaching over to mess with her controller, making distracting noises, even trying to tickle her side at one point (which fails because she just curls up and somehow still maintains her lead). She counter-cheats me more effectively, with perfect timing and zero mercy.
Eventually, she wins the final race with relative ease, pulling off a perfect drift into the finish line while my character is still stuck somewhere back at the second-to-last turn because she'd pushed me into a wall.
"And... I win!" she says, grinning at me and raising her hand in a victory sign, looking absolutely triumphant.
I can't resist. She's just so cute. I reach over and pat her head gently, my hand sinking into that impossibly soft purple hair. "Yeah, you destroyed me. Even with all my cheating, you still won."
She looks down slightly, blushing. "Hehe..." The sound is so soft and happy it makes my chest feel warm.
Ding dong!