(5299 words wut XD) 

Warm...

It felt like his cheap blankets had suddenly become the perfect temperature to snuggle up with on a cold winter night. 

King stretched his body out like a content cat, then released a long breath as he pressed his face against a solid warmth, then nuzzled happily. He could faintly hear something going off that sounded like one of his phone alarms, but it was clearly in another room. 

Not worth getting up...

"Babe?" 

King pressed his forehead against the warmth in front of him, earning a quiet chuckle that vibrated through the firm surface. 

"As much as I am enjoying having you in my arms, your alarm has been going off for some time," Baron's voice said next to his ear, making King grumble and turn his head so that he could try to disappear into the blankets. 

Baron was silent for a few more minutes before speaking again as his arms loosened from where they had been wrapped around him. 

"I should go turn it off, at least," Baron said, making King immediately reach forward to grab the man's shirt, but when his hand pressed against something warm and solid, and clearly not fabric, he blinked open one eye, then the other. A few more blinks and his vision was clear... and a blush darkened his face! 

"You look startled? Is everything okay? Did you have a bad dream?" Baron asked as he quickly sat up, worried. 

After a few moments of processing, King realized that he'd fallen back asleep after his mom had come to pick up Tili earlier. Her flight had been at four in the damn morning, but that didn't stop them from waking up early and making her a big breakfast, as well as some snacks for the trip. 

Baron had even carried her most of the time he was preparing things. His growing stress had been evident through their bond. 

When it had finally been time to say goodbye he'd been crushed, and honestly, King hadn't faired much better. Seeing that sweet girl cry as she was picked up in his mom's arms to be brought to the airport had made him want to scream. 

After she was gone they'd basically sat on the couch together in silence, watching an old movie and nibbling at some leftovers trying to distract themselves, but eventually he'd drifted off. 

He tried to remember how they'd ended up in his bed, and without Baron's shirt, but he was drawing a blank. 

"You fell asleep on the couch so I picked you up and brought you in here to sleep, but when I tried to let you go, you wouldn't release my shirt, so I ended up shrugging out of it," Baron said, making King slowly nod as he accepted his words. 

That all makes sense, but then why were we sleeping together? 

Baron grinned sheepishly, but King could tell that there was sadness behind the gesture. 

I wonder how long he's practiced hiding his pain for...

Baron's smile immediately slipped from his face as he lifted a hand up to rub at the back of his neck, averting his gaze. 

"I'm sorry I slid into bed with you. It was inappropriate." 

King watched as Baron sank into himself, clearly uncomfortable with his own decision. 

Honestly, if he'd been awake, he wouldn't have minded one bit if he'd gotten into bed with him.

No need to stress about such a thing.  

"I don't mind," King said after only a few moments. 

"I was just a bit startled because I didn't remember waking up earlier at all." 

Baron looked up as he spoke, his eyes terribly red from crying earlier. 

Aww, my—he paused, surprised by his own thought. 

"U-uh, let me go get my phone. I think that's my alarm for a stream I need to do," he said as he quickly got up and walked into the other room. 

When he picked up his phone, his face paled and he hurried back. 

"I-I have to stream in twenty minutes, crap!" 

Normally he set those alarms to go off an hour before it was time to play, but...

Glancing up at Baron, the man looked even more ashamed than before. He then mumbled out a nearly mute "I'm sorry, I let it go for a while because you were so soundly asleep." 

The guy before him seemed nothing like the adorable, strong, Baron he had gotten to know. His shoulders were hunched and he could barely hold his gaze. His hair was also an absolute mess and it looked as if he might cry again at any second. 

Walking over to his computer, King turned it on, then hesitated for a moment before switching on the laptop, too. Once that was done he turned around with a small smile and moved back over to the bed before sitting down and grabbing hold of Baron's warm hands. 

"B, would you like to play with me again?" he asked, trying to get the man's mind off of his stress... at least a little. 

Baron seemed to consider his words, but instead of replying to his question, he asked one of his own. 

"Um, how much money do I have in my account now?" 

King opened his mouth, then shut it before turning his phone screen on and clicking on the app he was using to hold their money. 

When he pulled up Baron's account, he was surprised to see that the number had grown quite a bit again. 

"You're close to seventy-five thousand," he said, startling the guy into a sloppy, confused grin. 

"R-really? I have that much now?" he asked, his voice a whisper of disbelief. 

King quickly nodded and scooted next to him, then held up the phone between them. 

"See? The money we made last time was on a matching day, so it got us close to thirty-thousand. Since we split it, fifteen went into mine, and fifteen to yours. It also looks like my mom is still getting your money back, so she added more, too," he said with a proud smile. 

Baron's eyes were still wide when he reached for the phone and carefully took it in his shaking hands. 

"I-I really have this much money?" he asked, looking back up. 

King reached up and patted his head, unable to help himself. 

"Yep! That's all yours!" 

Now tears did start falling from Baron's eyes as the man stared back down at the screen, dripping a few droplets onto it without even realizing. 

King was going to say something else to cheer him up, but before the words could come out of his mouth there was a plump, wailing raccoon sitting on his bed, bawling its eyes out!

"Aw, baby," King cooed as he tugged Prince into his arms and immediately began rocking him while pressing little kisses to his fuzzy head. 

"Your daddy worked hard so that you'll be able to have all the strawberries you want, isn't that great?" he said as he rubbed Prince's back and stood up, then walked over to get situated in his gaming chair. 

Thankfully, Prince calmed down reasonably quickly as he got his game set up one-handed, but didn't turn on the stream yet. Instead, he opened his personal profile channel and chat, then logged his character in. 

Another moment later and he had his headset on but muted, and was clicking into the voice chat server. 

"There he is, guys! Our King is here!" the MC immediately shouted as the chats started spamming. 

"Hey B? Are you alright with being on camera right now?" he asked Prince as he patted his back a little more. 

He'd thankfully cried himself out quickly, leaving a sniffling baby nibbling at his shirt like a child. 

I...

King smiled. 

Recently he'd been able to catch tiny bits of Baron's actual thoughts, though the majority of it was still just emotions. And, considering what he was feeling from the guy right then, he understood that he was alright with being on camera as Prince. 

So, after checking his reflection in his computer screen, he fixed his hair a bit, then switched on his camera. 

The amount of noise his profile chat made at that exact moment could only compare to an ambulance siren blaring right up against your ear!

Needless to say, all he saw was an insane amount of; Omg, it's Prince! Prince baby! And his favorite so far,  Where is our fuzzy baby's strawberries?! 

Reaching up, King pressed the unmute button, then smiled at the camera. 

"Hey guys, Prince is just going to watch for today." 

LIKLEY DRUK: Thats fien! We Lvoe im!

FriendNeighborhoodHerpes: That's okay! Hi sweet baby! 

Thankfully, Prince's thick coat hid any obvious signs of his little bout of crying, making it much easier to continue with what he needed to do without a bunch of questions being sent his way. 

"I'm ready to go. Hopefully there won't be an issue with my teammate's connection this time?" he asked, pointing the question towards the MC. 

"O-of course not! They'll be ready in just a moment!" the man said, sounding as if he hadn't planned to provide a partner this time, too. 

Fool me once. 

Though honestly, he hadn't really been fooled the first time, either. He'd just wanted to play with Baron and things had worked out well overall. This time, however, there would be no Baron and the MC needed to provide him with a person if he wanted a duo match and not a solo one. 

"Ah, here they are! Your partner today will be another well known player, Grim!" 

Uh...

His chat suddenly went completely silent for all of three seconds before blowing up like a volcano!

BabyDrama: Wasn't he just recently unbanned for intentionally killing his partners in PVP? 

YeahItsBig: How could you throw our baby to that wolf?! 

George: This isn't going to be a fair fight! It'll practically be a three on one if the other team can bribe Grim!!!

King pursed his lips and inwardly sighed. It really was going to be a three on one. Even if his opponents didn't end up bribing Grim, the guy was a complete nut. He wouldn't hesitate to take him down, teammate or not. 

They need to change the rules to a full ban if you intentionally kill a teammate during a broadcasted match. He's done it too many times. 

Or heck, at least ban him from competitive matches. 

He knew that they wouldn't, though. Some people actually liked him and just wanted to watch the world burn.

I guess I'm the one up on the offering plate now. 

Maybe Grim was his punishment for not having Prince play. 

Looking down, he pressed a kiss to Prince's fuzzy head, then grinned at the camera. 

"Fine, let's do this." 

MissileOrgy: HE KISSED HIS HEAD! I WANNA KISS PRINCE'S HEAD! 

ISitBehindYouAtSchool: I'm so jealous right now. 

He'd just have to play a bit extra in the coming week to build back his rank points after this match, but that was fine.     

The MC quickly got them situated, knowing that King was clearly unhappy with the pathetic excuse for a teammate he'd been given this time. 

His chat was also quite peeved, but they quickly began writing stuff to try and encourage him instead of make him worry. They all knew that he was likely going to be dead the majority of the match, but he would still do his best. 

Glancing up at the faint sound of chiming, King noticed that his donations were already starting to climb. 

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. 

Grim: Hey there babe, how's it going? 

King felt his eye twitch as Prince abruptly nipped at his ear, making him tug his fuzzy tail gently as a reprimand. That only got him a snarky squeak and lick to his cheek in response, though. 

You're a brat, you know that? 

To his surprise, Baron responded with a smug sensation drifting through his mind, making King grin at the fuzzy doofus hugging his right side. 

LickTheDoorknob: Who's he calling BABE?! You ain't getting none, Grim! 

DiviIsAPerv: NO ONE TOUCHES PRINCE'S KING EXCEPT ME AND PRINCE!!! 

King glanced back up as the image of someone came onto the screen in the upper left hand corner. Grim's greasy smirk and narrowed eyes were staring right at him, making him nearly want to puke. 

"Hey there, my King. How about we talk in private for a minute?" Grim said, getting right to the point... and winking. 

King was just opening his mouth to decline the offer when he felt a little clawed hand slip inside as Prince turned his body partially toward the camera and grumbled. 

MimiIsAlsoAPerv: You tell him baby! You should shift back right there, too, and tell him verbally where we can all see! 

King felt his face deadpan at his perverted fan before he gently removed Prince's little paw from his lower teeth and replied calmly. 

"I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in speaking privately before a scheduled match." 

If he had to bribe Grim just to play fairly, he wasn't interested. 

Grim raised an eyebrow up into his black hair and smirked. 

"You sure you wanna decline so soon?" he asked as he leaned forward a little. "I'll give you another chance to accept." 

King leaned back in response, his mind not wanting to even appear like he was interested in the guy coming closer to him. 

"I'm good, I don't need to bribe other players in order to earn donations on this game, but thanks for the second chance." 

His donation chime rang several times after he'd said that, making him give a quiet chuckle as Prince settled in his lap, facing the screen. 

Grim narrowed his eyes and shrugged. 

"Alright babe, then I wish you luck in our match," he said, making King's smile widen as he gave off a boyish impression. 

"Thanks!" 

The MC was wisely quieter than usual as the game got started, only announcing the bare minimum as the characters for the match spawned into the arena. 

Grim tended to play a character that focused more on healing and debuffs, so if he liked you, you would get amazing healing and assistance to take down enemies, but if he didn't like you, not only would his healing be terrible, he would use his bind, blind, paralyze, and other debuffs to make your life hell until you were killed by their opponents. 

I'll just have to try and dodge as much as I can when he starts coming after me. 

Unfortunately, it didn't take him long to start biting at King's heels. As soon as they entered the jungle area closest to the enemy's pillar he noticed a flash of light from his left, giving him just enough time to dodge to the right to avoid a binding spell!

"Sorry babe, thought it was our enemies," Grim said, playing it cool that he'd nearly bound him right there in enemy territory! 

Prince tapped his paws on the controller King had settled in front of him, clearly frustrated by the move, too... or by the fact that there were still no strawberries. 

King considered just charging ahead, but in all honesty, Grim was pretty much the textbook example of the quote keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. 

The moment you try to get rid of him is the moment he shows his true colors without holding back. 

I can still use him. I just need to be extremely careful. 

Soon their opponents, some up-and-coming team he hadn't yet heard of or been paying attention to when the MC was talking about them, came into view on his radar. 

King licked his lips and leaned forward slightly as he began casting a rebound spell on himself. It wasn't something he'd normally use, and he could hear the MC questioning him at the same time Grim gave out a quiet hum of consideration. 

Of course, the guy knew what his spell did, but if he were to continue pretending to only accidentally hit him, he would have to deal with having the spell rebounded at him multiple times. It could happen twice, or it could happen up to five times. It all depended on how high King had his intelligence skills set at the time of casting.  

Which was impossible to tell since he'd switched gear just to cast it, then quickly switched back to his main set without giving anyone time to check. 

Alright, let's do this. 

He sensed Baron focus in his mind, too, making him grin as their first enemy finally came into view. 

Not wanting to waste time and risk having three people targeting him at once, King immediately let loose with a barrage of massive spells, taking down the other person faster than he'd thought possible. 

He made sure not to let his guard down, however, and quickly dodged to the left as a paralysis spell zapped past him to hit their other opponent who had evidently been trying to sneak around to the side. He'd been right in the middle of casting a massive inferno spell, too, making King think that the first guy had just been a decoy to distract them. 

Thankfully, the paralysis immediately took affect, interrupting the other player's casting and giving King a chance to move into close-range combat to pick him off with a few well-placed weapon skills. 

Not wanting to waste time, King hurried forward toward the enemy's pillar and immediately began attacking it. Since they had no enemies to pretend to hit, Grim would have to deliberately attack him now, too, if he wanted to try any of his underhanded tactics.  

"You're a smart one, babe," Grim said as he nonchalantly began attacking the pillar on the opposite side. 

He wasn't using very strong spells, but he was at least not using his weakest ones, either. 

They got it down to about half before their enemies appeared on his radar again. 

The other one's in front this time...

Focusing, King jumped down from the pillar platform and began casting a quiet spell. It was also something most people didn't bother with in person versus person content, and boy did the MC make sure everyone knew that. 

"He's casting a quiet spell?! Guys, this is not how professional players work! What has happened to our King?!" 

The comment section also seemed a bit confused, but that was only to be expected. A quiet spell chose a spell at random from the ones on the players available set list. It could be anything from a simple blind spell, all the way up to blizzard or inferno. It was completely random, and even the caster didn't know which one would be picked. 

The only positives to it? It was extremely quick to cast, though it had a long recast timer. That then put the spell it summoned as a question mark overtop the quiet spell icon until it was used. That spell, in turn, was given the same cast time, shortening it far greater than it normally would be.  

 "So then, how about we exchange numbers once we win this match?" Grim asked as he cast a gravity spell that just-barely clipped the hair of King's character. 

Since it hadn't outright hit him, he only slowed down for a few moments before the affect wore off, but it was enough to get the guy's point across. It had been a warning about declining again. 

King bit his tongue on his response as he faced off against the other party's caster. It was clear that they weren't as good as him, but they still weren't a pushover and required a good amount of attention to take in a head-to-head confrontation. 

At least, without the help of his partner. 

He's about to shift gears and earnestly start attacking me...

"Oh ho! It's King and Magenta, facing off, but where is Onyx?" the MC shouted right before King noticed the faintest shadow to his left! 

The other character, a female cat girl, had snuck through the grass and now had a dagger nearly at his throat! 

King cast a knockback spell right before Magenta could try another attack, leaving him just enough time to lean backwards, avoiding the dagger by a fraction at the same time his rebound barrier triggered, reflecting a binding spell back at Grim! 

Son of a...

Grim easily dodged it, since he'd expected the response, but what he hadn't expected was an enhanced binding spell to be cast on him right afterward! 

Caught off-guard, King watched his spell hit home, then quickly turned and ran just far enough away to be out of Grim's range before spinning back around and unleashing an inferno blast on their two approaching opponents! 

It finished dropping the caster's hit points to zero, but the physical class, the cat girl, still had just enough left to leap at him as he was recovering from the spell's aftershock. Unfortunately for her, his rebound shield was still active, turning her attack back at her, knocking out the rest of her hit points and sending her character back to the respawn marker. 

King immediately darted forward afterward and into the thick forest nearby, moving as quickly as possible to put as much distance between himself and Grim as he could. 

The guy should still be bound for at least another two minutes, giving him time to try and pick off their opponents again. Attacking their pillar had only been a distraction, since he figured they'd already made a deal with Grim. The guy wouldn't let him win so easily. 

Casting a sneak spell on himself to silence his footsteps, King moved a little further away, then added an invisible spell to it before doubling back. 

He ignored the caster as he passed them heading toward his territory. They were normally less points when they focused solely on magic because it took time to cast some of their main spells, leaving them open to attack much more often than melee types. 

He was technically a melee type character, but he'd melded in some higher level spells after a lot of hard work and quests. 

Ah, there you are. 

He saw the notification that Grim's binding affect had worn off right at that moment, bringing a grin to King's face as he began casting blaze on the unsuspecting feline before him. 

You think you're sneaking up on me with your ability, but you still move the greenery around you the slightest amount. 

The spell hit home, and at the same time, set the surrounding forest on fire! 

"You know, I'm pissed at you, babe, but you sure know how to play this game well," Grim said with a hint of humor to his words as his character got closer and closer on the radar. 

Without his invisibility spell, which had fallen off once he'd casted blaze, he was easy to locate and would, no doubt, have Grim on him in moments. 

Not wanting to waste his chance, as he had no doubt that the cat girl's caster partner had turned around by now, King quickly casted a freeze spell, then added a poison one to seal the deal. 

He then quickly disappeared, recasting invisible as the cat girl was consumed by fire and poison, frozen in place just long enough for the spells to eat up her remaining hit points. 

"Did you guys see that? King really knows what he's doing here!" the MC shouted, his enthusiasm excessive. 

YoureNotMyMom: Bro, he's been amazing this whole match, where were you? 

DiviIsAPerv: How dare you not announce all of my baby's moves! What is your job again?! 

Not five seconds after the melee opponent died, Grim was upon him, flinging spells left and right, ignoring the rebound spell as it sent the majority of them back at him... until it didn't. 

Suddenly King was hit with a static attack by their other opponent, adding a paralysis affect that he couldn't manage to dispel! A gravity spell was soon added to it by Grim. The guy didn't even bother trying to say that he was aiming for the other guy, either. He simply sat there, smug that they now had him trapped. 

FriendlyNeighborhoodHerpes: This isn't fair! Hey Grim! I'll come hang with you, 'babe'. Let me spread my love to you!! 

As much as he tried to put up a decent counter-offensive, King was stuck moving at half his normal speed with a paralyze spell interrupting a lot of his abilities and spells. Overall, he only managed to get the caster to half life before he finally dropped to the ground, dead. 

Unsurprisingly, Grim's hit points dropped quickly afterward, as if he wasn't bothering to put up a fight at all. 

Bastard is gonna try and respawn with me. 

There was nothing he could do but immediately dart from the respawn point and cast another invisible spell on himself. He ran until he saw his opponents on his radar, then slowed to a walk, drastically reducing his movement speed but silencing his steps in the process. With the invisible spell hiding him from radar, he calmly waited and watched as his three enemies regrouped with each other, but before he knew it, Grim's hit points were already at zero again!

You... you're feeding them kills! 

"It's alright if you stay away, sweetheart. They just wanted to get you once. I'll take the rest of the deaths so that they can win and you won't lose too many rank points. Aren't I generous?" Grim said, making King glare at the screen until he felt something tapping at his controller. 

Glancing down, he met Prince's eyes as his fuzzy buddy looked up at him over his shoulder. 

"What's up, P?" he asked as he watched Prince turn back to facing the controller, then tapped on it a few more times. 

"You want to play, bud?" he asked as he glanced up, frowning as his invisibility spell began to wear off. 

When Prince gave a determined squeak, King couldn't help but grin and relax a bit. 

"Well, this is just a game, so why not? Play with me," he said calmly as he quickly casted another rebound barrier on himself then activated a strong defensive buff that would greatly increase his defensive abilities... as long as he was standing still. 

One last thing...

He switched one of his main skills to a simple draw-in ability. 

Alright, ready. 

Without another moment of hesitation, King leaped out from behind a large tree and began blanketing his surroundings with fireballs! 

It wasn't a very strong attack, but that was fine. It's purpose was to stir up dust, making it impossible to lock onto another character without having already been targeting them.  

Thus, when his current target, the other team's caster, was the only one that moved forward, King counted his lucky stars, relieved that he'd been targeting that player when his spell had gone off. 

They quickly battled it out once again as the smoke began to clear, but no matter how hard the guy tried to attack, the rebound barrier continued to reflect everything thrown at it until, finally, his hit points dropped to zero. 

I just need to kill that cat again and I should have the win. 

That, of course, would be easier said than done, because as soon as the caster had died, he was attacked by not only the cat, but Grim, as well. 

"Player Grim, intentionally attacking a teammate in a professional match is grounds for a character ban," the MC said, though his enthusiasm wasn't quite there. 

He already blatantly attacked me before, yet you're only just chastising him now?

King didn't have time to be frustrated by the annoying announcer as he pushed his knockback ability, then tried for a spell, of Prince's choosing, only to be knocked back himself! 

"Sorry bud, I was aiming for the opponent," Grim said, having ignored the MC altogether. 

You're only saying that to pretend to appease the MC. 

Their opponent hadn't been anywhere near him at that moment, but she was now! The last shield from his rebound spell reflected her axe attack, but now that it was broken, King had to meet her next swing with his own large sword! They battled it out with Grim carelessly throwing spell after spell at them, hitting them both before King could dodge much. 

He was pretty much relying on his previously-cast defensive spell to get him through the onslaught. 

Their hit points slowly dropped in unison with Grim's help, but King wasn't completely focused on the cat girl. He waited and watched as Grim continued to cast, splitting his attention until, finally, the guy started casting thunderstorm. 

If that hit him, he'd be dead, but the cat girl clearly had on lightning gear, thus protecting her from the majority of electrical attacks. 

No wonder her defense isn't great. They planned to take me down with lightning once things got tight. 

Before Grim could finish casting, however, King targeted him, then Prince, reading his mind, activated his draw-in ability with a smack before King returned his target marker to the melee. At that same moment, Prince hit the controller again, twice, switching to his right sheet of magic, then pressing the quiet spell with an aggressive squeak! 

King's character immediately lifted its weapon into the air and instantly casted inferno on himself, burning out the remainder of his own hit points, but also obliterating his melee opponent and Grim, too!

ItsNotAToy: Brooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! 

JustALittleRabies: HOLY SHIT BALLS DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT?!?!

CudMuffin: Dude I think I just c—I mean, fell in love. 

The MC, seemingly stunned into silence, took nearly a full minute before he managed to announce the winners. 

"King and Grim pulled off the win! I have no doubt that King will be named our MVP for the match, too!" the man yelled, making King roll his eyes as he tossed his controller aside and picked up Prince, then turned his microphone to mute and walked off camera just in time for the little wiggling raccoon to shift back into Baron... and pull him in for a perfectly-tight hug! 

"You are so fucking amazing," Baron whispered against his ear as he held him close. 

King blushed and returned the hug, though his arms were much more gentle since the man was naked right then. 

"Thank you. Your sweet Prince helped me out at the end, and man that luck for that quiet spell. I can't believe it was one of my most powerful ones," he said, ending his words with a chuckle as the adrenaline from the match began to drain from his body. 

 Baron gently rocked him side to side a little, then released him as the MC started talking about interviewing the winning team. 

"Go ahead and do your interview, I'm going to start making dinner, if that's alright?" he said, earning a raised eyebrow from King as he slowly looked over Baron's naked body, then returned his eyes back up to his. 

"Ah, I suppose I could put clothing on first," he said with a chuckle, only for King to force himself to speak before he chickened out. 

"Y-you could stay that way, too. I-if you want," he said, fumbling over his words before realizing how perverted he sounded! 

Before Baron could even respond, King was diving back into his seat and sitting up nice and properly as he turned his mic back on and forced a smile. 

Interview time! Let's just do the interview! 

As he settled down to answer the MC's questions, he heard Baron give a quiet laugh, then saw him step out of the room from the corner of his eye, still completely buck naked. 

Darn it... I want to go watch him cook!