Stray Cat

Chapter Five

"It's a video game," Phil responded after gaping at Dan for a moment. He couldn't imagine his own life without videogames. "Have you ever played anything before? Any kind of videogame?"

Dan shook his head. "No, never. I've heard of them and I've always been curious, but I've never gotten the chance to try them before. I'm a quick learner, though. Would you mind showing me?"

"Of course we'll show you," Phil said, as Martyn was nodding his eagerness to help, too. Phil turned on his game console, grabbed three controllers, and he and Martyn explained the controls to Dan. They moved onto character selection, and Phil announced, "I'm going to be Tanooki Mario."

"Yeah," Martyn snorted as he picked Luigi. "Because you're secretly a furry."

"What's a furry?" Dan asked.

Martyn's body vibrated with suppressed laughter, making Phil's face get hot.

"He's joking," Phil insisted, trying not to look at Dan's ears. "I'm not really. Please don't make me explain what that word means."

"Okay," Dan relented, returning his attention to the screen. He selected Yoshi. "I'm going to be this guy. So, are we playing as a team or against each other?"

"Against each other," Martyn answered. "We're going to join an online race of up to 12 people."

Dan looked slightly apprehensive, so Phil said, "Don't worry, Martyn and I will go easy on you. We won't use our items against you."

Martyn looked like he was about to protest – he never even gave Phil special treatment when they played – but before he could say anything Dan's eyes narrowed, and he said, "Don't do that. I'm very competitive, so don't go easy on me or I'll make you regret it."

"Oh really?" Phil said, enjoying this side of Dan. "I hope you do."

To be fair to Dan as a new player, they started on the easier courses like Rainbow Road while Dan got used to the game. It turned out that Dan hadn't been exaggerating when he said he was a quick learner because it only took a few races for him to pull out of the back of the pack.

"I was just assaulted!" Dan proclaimed when he was hit with a bomb. "What is going on? This is discrimination."

"Oh," Phil giggled when he glanced at Dan's portion of the screen. "You're in the item cluster fluff."

"Protect me, protect me," Dan pleaded as he swerved to avoid more items.

"I can't! You're too far behind me. The only thing you can do is try to get to the front where Martyn and I are."

Dan was hit with another bomb and he shouted, "Shit fucking wank fuck!"

Phil laughed so hard at Dan's exclamations that he drove into a wall, and Martyn got 1st place. They played for the next couple hours and lost track of time until Martyn's phone rung.

"Shit, shit, shit, I was meeting a friend for lunch. I'm so late!" They were in the middle of a race, but Martyn abandoned his controller and got up. He jogged slightly in place, glancing between Phil and Dan. "Sorry, I don't just want to take off. Are you guys okay? I can cancel with my friend if you need me to stay or something."

"Are we not okay?" Dan glanced at Phil with wide eyes.

"Martyn came over when I told him I was fired because he wanted to make sure I was alright," Phil explained. He didn't want Dan to think that Martyn was here because Phil had seen his bruises and called for help. Phil looked at Martyn. "I'm fine. We're fine. Thanks for hanging out, Mar. Go enjoy your lunch."

Phil walked Martyn to the door, hugged him goodbye, and locked the door. When he returned to the lounge, he asked Dan, "You still want to play, or do you want to turn it off?"