Tangled Lines: a tri-fic [inevitably incomplete]

Chapter 2: "You've Got a Slyfox!"

Part 1: Aleks

I chuckled as I scrolled through the ImmortalHD tag on Tumblr. The nobs were having a collective freakout over my secret blog, and even though I knew that some of them had already found it, they were actually choosing to respect my privacy for once; only a few people had mentioned the URL, but everyone else was shutting that down. The nobs are fucking unpredictable.

I sighed, returning to my blog. My ask box had a few dozen messages, most likely full of people asking if I was the REAL Aleks. Reluctantly, I decided to at least look at them. There were crazed fangirls asking to marry me, a few chiller nobs making jokes, some people threatening me for impersonating ImmortalHD, and finally, for some reason, a message from Eddie.

"You little shit, why didn’t you tell me your URL??"

I smiled at my best friend’s message and tapped the answer button.

"I don’t want people to know, asshole. That’s the whole point."

I hit “private post” and sent it off. People had known for a while now that I visited Tumblr sometimes, but it never seemed to occur to them that I actually had a blog of my own.

I glanced at the time display at the top of the screen and sighed; it was almost 9 AM, and I had been lying awake for the past few hours. James’ bed was fucking uncomfortable, so I hadn’t had much sleep last night. Being angry doesn’t help you rest, either. That asshole had pulled me away from some legitimately important work, and for what? To make a fool out of me? I wasn’t planning on sticking around for much longer.

Placing the tablet down on the mattress, I pulled off the t-shirt I’d jacked from James’ closet and tossed it at the hamper in the corner. His room was a mess, and it took me a little while to find my own clothes. It wasn’t particularly warm either, and I shivered in my boxers while getting dressed. I’d have to shower when I got home, because doing that kind of stuff at the Creature House would likely end in some awkward shit.

I trotted down the stairs and glanced around the kitchen for an apple or something. The cupboards held nothing but chips and other junk food, so I grabbed a bag of Doritos to hold me off till I got home and could actually cook something decent. James was still asleep on the couch in the front room, but I refused to leave peacefully.

The front door slammed unceremoniously behind me as I walked to the car, my shoulders up against my ears. I pulled out my car keys and fumbled with the lock for a moment before getting in and starting the car up. If James had been awake, I would’ve just flipped him off and left without a word. Seriously, he was one of my closest friends, but I couldn’t stand the shit he pulled sometimes. Once, he had hugged me out of nowhere during some casual Halo with the guys, after we completely beat their asses at some multiplayer. It was a little surprising, yeah, but I didn’t mind. What I did mind was the fact that he followed up with some radiation jokes and a legitimate punch in the shoulder. It’s like he’s afraid of being soft sometimes.

Part 2: Eddie

I jumped as the front door slammed and Puppychef went running for the living room.Aleks must be home, I thought to myself as I closed Twitter. I adjusted the green beanie on my head and made my way to the kitchen to see him.

"Hey man! Where’d you go last night?" I bumped into him jokingly as I passed and leaned against the counter.

“Didn’t you get my note? James asked me to come over at the most ridiculous hour.” He pulled a bowl and spoon out of the dish drainer as he spoke, rummaging around for some cereal in the cupboard. I sighed and rolled my eyes at the mention of the other gamer.

“And you spent the night? What happened?” I pulled the fridge open for him and he thanked me with a nod. Aleks shook the almost empty milk carton and sighed; we hadn’t bought groceries in forever, but there wasn’t much of a point, with PAX coming up so soon. The hype was too real for food!

“It ended up being a prank or something, and I didn’t exactly feel like driving back home after, so I crashed there, nothing else,” Aleks responded as he poured his breakfast.

“That doesn’t sound like something James would do, though.” I grabbed an orange and started peeling absentmindedly as he sighed and turned to face me.

“Yeah, well, he’s an asshole. I shouldn’t have listened to him in the first place…I dunno, dude,” he said as he made his way to the couch with his cereal.

I followed and collapsed down next to him, throwing my arm over his shoulder and pulling him in.

“You don’t need that James,” I laughed as I ruffled up his hair. “You’ve got a slyfox to keep you company!”

“Damn it, Eddie,” he coughed between giggles. Aleks swatted at me and broke free from my grasp, a huge smile spreading across his face.

“Fuck, man, let me eat!” He grabbed his bowl and started shovelling the sugary cereal into his mouth. What a dork. Puppychef jumped up onto the couch with us and I stroked her head. She grunted in response, and I turned on the TV.

"Y’know, Brink isn’t as bad as they say," Aleks said through a mouthful of breakfast. If I’d been eating, I would’ve spat my food everywhere.

“Where the hell did that come from?!” It was our mission to make sure everyone knew how shitty Brink was, most recently by breaking a copy of the game at RTX.

“I dunno,” he replied, and continued chewing. He must’ve seen the look of shock on my face because he started snickering under his breath.

“Calm down, dude, I’m kidding,” he put down his empty bowl and nudged me playfully. I had the urge to push him down and tickle the shit out of him, but I stopped myself. The kid was probably exhausted still, and we both needed to get to the last of our recording and editing.