nochilforthechuck - Tumblr blog

nochilforthechuck · 7 months ago

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the end of jaylark tims (and the start of something new)

A belated birthday gift for @psiroller who asked for "ems au, them being gay at chilchuck's wife's wedding (or their own)!" Please enjoy this new drabble for the Chilaios ems au. Takes place after Psiroller's beautiful Stop Smoking, We Love You!, Chilchuck's bad call and talk with Laios, chatting about their background, and Chilchuck and Laios' pining at a bar.

Chilchuck and Jaylark gradually regain their friendship after being divorced, and she and her fiance, Ned, also befriend Laios when he and Chilchuck start dating. They coparent their kids together and become close enough to plan trips as a mixed family. That friendliness is why Laios and Chilchuck are readily invited to their wedding, despite the divorce.

Happy birthday, psi, and thank you for letting me write this for you!

Rating: G/T

"How do I look?"

Chilchuck glances over to Laios, who is still standing uncertainly in the bathroom of their hotel room, staring at himself in the mirror. "What did you say, Laios?"

Laios steps out into the rest of the room, having traded out his usual shift commander white shirt and cargo pants for a nice charcoal suit and tie. Chilchuck gives what he hopes is an encouraging smile, "You look really good."

Laios pauses and walks over to sit down next to him. He could see through Chilchuck's brave face to the tension in his shoulders and tightness of his jaw. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course." Chilchuck replies brusquely. Laios reaches out. His hand covers Chilchuck's own. Chilchuck's brows unfurrow and he sighs, lacing their fingers together. Laios squeezes. "We don't have to go right now, if you don't want. Sneak in right before the ceremony, or hang out with the girls instead of visiting Ned."

Chilchuck cracks a wry smile. "Are you kidding? He's going to have a heart attack if we don't tell him what's going on."

"He'll be okay, I can text him." Laios shrugs. "Jay won't expect to see either of us until the reception, we have options."

Chilchuck sighs and shakes his head. "Nah, I want to go. I don't really want to run into her family, feeling like a failure. But they're my friends, our friends, and they're getting married."

"Yeah." Laios waits, quietly. Chilchuck turns towards him. He does look very handsome. He and Chilchuck had gone shopping for suits together for the wedding, Laios' first formal event since he moved out from his parents' house, and Chilchuck's first since Puckpatti's baptism. Back then, he had a pure black suit and white shirt; this time around, he was talked into a grey a few tones lighter than Laios’ own. Chilchuck squeezes his hand back. "I love you."

Laios makes a quick, excited whine in the back of his throat and leans in. Chilchuck meets him for a kiss. The separation of their lips is audible in the quiet room. "...Let's get going, I don't want to leave Ned hanging. And you look great."

"You too." Laios bumps their shoulders together, and Chilchuck snorts. He bumps him back, harder and faster, attached from hand to shoulder like two survivors in a stormy ocean. "We need to put on our shoes."

"Mhm." Laios doesn't move, rubbing his thumb against Chilchuck's own. It's peaceful. Too peaceful, for the morning of a wedding. Chilchuck cranes up to peck another kiss to Laios' (conveniently lowered to easier reach) cheek with one more hand squeeze. "C'mon, we can sit quietly once we make sure Ned isn't going to have an aneurysm."

“He’d better not,” Laios speaks with a joking weariness, “We’re off-duty, no emergencies allowed.”

Neither of them were a part of the wedding party; it was already socially precarious for Chilchuck to be invited to his ex-wife's wedding, and he vetoed it the moment Ned, Jaylark’s awkward geeky fiance that eagerly befriended his future coparents a few years ago, brought up the idea. "That's the number one way to get the inlaws on your bad side, I can promise you that."

So, instead they arrived a few hours before the ceremony to say hi, and offer to do any last minute errands that they might need. Ned looked understandably overwhelmed and excited to see them and gave them both a huge, sweaty hug. Laios laughed and patted him on the shoulder, “Congratulations, man!”

“Thanks, guys, for being here and everything.” Ned’s mouth runs a mile a minute, “I know it’s been crazy, Jay and I are just so grateful.”

“Sure thing,” Chilchuck ends the hug to look around the room at the less nervous but still haggard-looking groomsmen, “I figure we can pick up any of the girls who don’t want to do the girly wedding stuff and hang outside for a little, maybe grab something to eat. Have you guys eaten? Lunch, snacks?”

They are met with blank stares, and Chilchuck crosses his arms.

“I haven’t been hungry, sorry. I feel like I’d throw up anything I ate now.” Ned wrings his hands.

He does look put together and ready to go, if only he would stop being so nervous; a feat of mental fortitude Chilchuck knew to be impossible for the man. “Well, I’m going to go get you all something, before you go up to the altar. Doesn’t matter how nervous you are, you don’t want to pass out during your vows from low blood sugar.”

That’s how they ended up with Puckpatti in tow, driving to the nearest deli with sandwich platters they could pick up. “Chil, do you want me to wait for the sandwiches, you and Puckpatti go grab some sodas or something?”

Chilchuck takes the key out of the ignition, glancing at his partner, “Sure, divide and conquer. That sound okay, back seat?”

Puckpatti gives a thumbs up, putting her hand-me-down gameboy from Mei to the side. “Okay!”

Laios glanced over, “Do you think Jaylark needs any sandwiches?”

“I doubt it. This isn’t her first rodeo.” Chilchuck comments before glancing in the mirror to Puckpatti, “What do you think, Puck? Should I ask your mom if she needs something to eat?”

She thinks for a moment. “Yeah, maybe!”

Chilchuck sighs and pulls out his phone, sending a quick text to his ex-wife, Hey, going to pick up a sandwich platter for the guys, can I get you ladies one too?

He puts his phone back in his pocket and opens the door, stepping out of the car, hearing the slamming of the other doors as Laios and Puckpatti both step onto the pavement of the strip mall parking lot. Jay and Ned ended up booking a venue a few hours from the city for the wedding, closer to Ned’s family who insisted on celebrating like this wasn’t Jaylark’s second marriage, protesting that since it was Ned’s first, the whole extended family needed to be there. And there should be flowers, a full ceremony at a chapel, and since they’ve already traveled this far, why not a full reception with a well-stocked bar?

It quickly went beyond the simple ceremony and lunch they had originally planned, but aside from normal wedding stress, there was no denying the excitement and love coming from all directions. Laios and Chilchuck both took a couple of days off to make a weekend of it, both to take their own vacation and spend time with Jay and Ned before snagging the girls for the rest of their honeymoon. It’s still surreal, Chilchuck thinks as he stands in the drinks aisle with Puckpatti picking sodas, that he’s here helping with his ex-wife’s wedding, and he’s excited to do it. He pulls a six pack of ginger ale cans into his cart before looking down. “What do you think, Puck?”

She stares at the options, thoughtfully. “Coke, Sprite, ummmmm…can we get the orange soda?”

“Those sound like great choices.” Chilchuck pulls them off the shelves and drops them into the cart. “Can you grab me a Monster from the other shelf?”

“Don’t you want to pick it, so it’s the flavor you like?”

“Nah, it’s for me and Laios to share. You’re good at picking drinks he likes.”

She nods and darts off, becoming immersed in the task of picking an energy drink from the plethora of wild flavors. Chilchuck goes for the next can of sodas, not filling the cart but getting enough for both wedding party to have some options. His phone rings. Jaylark. He answers.

“What’s up?”

“I got your text.”

“Good, do you need anything? I’m at the grocery store with Puck.”

“Sandwiches are good, but Ned’s sister is a vegetarian, can you get some that are meatless?”

“Sure thing, and we’ll bring some sodas. Anything from here? Ice, bandaids, drinks?”

“…I don’t think we need anything else.”

“Got it.”

“Thanks, Chil.”

Chilchuck smiles, “I’m really happy for you, Jay.”

There is a moment of silence, “Me too.”

“As you should be, it is your wedding! Let me call Laios and tell him about the vegetarian sandwich, we’ll be back in a few.”

“Right, sounds good, I’ll see you then, just text when you get back.”

“Mhm, will do.”

He hangs up and calls Laios to tell him the news.

Nobody passes out at the altar. Laios and Chilchuck abandon the girls, who sit on the front row, to find anonymity in the crowd further back. Laios pays rapt attention, “I haven’t been to a normal wedding since, I dunno, when Dan got hitched in his backyard.”

“Mhm? There’s no way that was a normal wedding.” Chilchuck gripes, whispering back, “It’s not anything too exciting to be honest, the best part is the reception.”

Jaylark tears up at the vows, and everyone claps when Ned kisses the bride. Chilchuck can’t help but compare the whole thing to their haphazard teen wedding years ago, thrown together when they realized Jay was pregnant. There was love there too, naive and nervous and hopeful, with a different Chilchuck and Jaylark than they are now. He leans against Laios, who holds his hand and squeezes as the bride and groom process down the aisle with genuine joy in their eyes.

“Laios, Chilchuck, stay nearby for a picture?” Not Ned, but one of his groomsmen interrupts their escape from the chapel, and Chilchuck glances at Laios in surprise, getting only clueless blinking from his companion. “Is that not okay?” Laios questions, unaware of what an oddity it would be to have a wedding picture including your ex-husband.

“I mean, if they want it, sure. Getting wedding pictures with your ex-husband and his boyfriend is not normal procedure. I figured I would have at least a vape break before the reception started.”

“You can still get that, after pictures.” Laios teases with a nudge. Chilchuck drops into his side at the touch, and Laios drapes an arm over his shoulder. “You’re going to wrinkle your suit.” Chilchuck mumbles, “They’re going to have to photoshop that out of the wedding photos.”

“Yeah.” Laios agrees cheerfully. Chilchuck sighs and hooks his arm around Laios’ waist.

Laios sighs, “This is nice.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. What about you?”

Chilchuck pokes him in the side, getting a ticklish flinch, “It’s pretty good.”

“Get a room, dad.”

They both lock eyes with Mei, who opted for a dress shirt and pants in the same sage green as the bridesmaids dresses. She jerks her thumb over her shoulder. “You’re up, for a family shot.”

That gets them untangling and stepping up past the photographer, congratulations repeated quietly while they got into position, the girls standing in front while Laios, Chilchuck, Jaylark, and Ned are in the back.

“Are you sure you want an exes picture at your wedding?” Chilchuck leans over to Jaylark to murmur.

She tilts her head to whisper back, “Just take the picture, Chil.”

“Okay, copy that.” He smiles at the camera, arm around Laios on one side and Jaylark at the other. It’s surreal, but over in an instant. He follows Laios’ lead, and hugs Jaylark, then Ned, “Congratulations again, I’ll see you guys inside.”

“Thanks, Chil, Laios. See you.” Jaylark responds.

“Bye, Dad and Laios!” Flertom chirps, waving as Laios and Chilchuck wander off towards the parking lot.

“See you later!” Laios answers her wave with his own.

He looks over to Chilchuck, “Ready for your vape break now?”

Chilchuck shoves him and keeps walking to the car.

They snuck off and took a break from all the festivities, driving Flertom, Meijack, and Puckpatti back to the hotel after they were done with wedding pictures to relax in the room for a couple of hours, when the only wedding-based entertainment would be socializing and drinking. Everyone ended up crowded around Laios as he took over Mei’s switch to beat one of the Cuphead levels that she had gotten stuck on for a few days. Chilchuck snuck a candid shot of them, Laios on the floor with the twins hovering over his shoulders from the bed, while Puckpatti needed to strain her neck to peek at the screen while sitting next to him on the floor until she got drowsy and fell asleep against his side. “You’re stuck there now, Laios.”

He flushes and grins towards Chilchuck, “I can’t blame her, it’s been a long day for me too.”

“And you haven’t even gotten to the party yet.” Chilchuck adds the image to a text message in their Parents Group Chat, sending it silently for the newlyweds to see later. Laios swallows nervously, “It’s going to be fun. And Ned said there’s a lot of room outside, if we need to take a break.”

“He’s a smart guy.” Chilchuck replies, pleased, “You guys really are good friends.”

“He’s your friend too, you know.” Laios shoots back.

“Yeah, somehow.” Chilchuck sighs.

Laios stares back down at the game, “Makes perfect sense to me.”

“Yeah?” Chilchuck leans back, “Well maybe you’re biased.”

“If it were just bias, you wouldn’t be here too.”

Chilchuck doesn’t have an immediate response to that, and Flertom whistles, “He got you there, dad.”

“Turning my own kids against me…” Chilchuck accuses Laios, jokingly disappointed, and both Meijack and Flertom jump in to protest their apparent exclusion from this conversation. Laios laughs as he finishes the level.

Everyone had laughed when Jaylark was egged on to throw the bouquet, after the first dance of the new couple (there was no mother son or father daughter dance; it felt out of place to begin with, and it was left on the cutting room floor when trying to merge a second wedding with a first). Chilchuck didn’t think that she would play along, too mature for a frivolity like tossing the bouquet, that wasn’t the Jaylark he was married to years ago, and cracked a bemused smile when she stood up to throw it.

Except, then she didn’t. After faking out the gaggle of onlookers who were ready to fight over the floral arrangement, she walked through the crowd, searching the seats, until their eyes met. Chilchuck feels like he sees the teenager he was so in love with when she gives him a mischievous smirk and walks towards his table.

She stops in front of him and he wishes he could melt into the floor, “What are you doing?” He whisper-yells to her.

“A favor for my friends.” She thrusts the flowers into his hands and he has no choice but to accept it.

There is the sound of Laios’ chair scraping behind him, and that’s when he realizes he’s been duped.

His heart is already beating in his ears as he turns to face him, boyfriend on one knee with the face he gets when he’s determined to hold himself together. He’s holding a ring pinched in his fingers. With everything he’s seen in his life, Chilchuck considers himself to be very calm under the most stressful situation. Which is why it was so shocking when tears welled up in his eyes and a lump caught in his throat.

Laios exhales, psyching himself up, “Chil, being your boyfriend has been the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I love being a part of your family, and being a part of your life. Please make me the happiest…or second happiest, man here tonight? And marry me?”

The question is barely out of his mouth before Chilchuck is laughing through his tears, “Yes, you idiot, of course.”

He catches Laios when he jumps forward to kiss him, his large arms wrapping tightly around his shoulders. “I can’t believe you did that at my ex-wife’s wedding.” He murmurs into Laios’ ear as the polite claps from Jaylark’s family are drowned out by the whoops from Ned’s relatives.

Laios just captures his mouth again, grin ever present against Chilchuck’s lips. Chilchuck keeps waiting to wake up, back in his bed alone, on the verge of losing his job or pining quietly for his young handsome supervisor as he dates other handsome young men, but this isn’t a dream.

Laios squeezes him in his arms and kisses his cheek. “Sorry, I’m just so happy. I didn’t mean to make you upset.”

“I’m not upset, I’m.” Chilchuck holds him, gripping the fabric of his shirt in his fist, “Stuff like this isn’t supposed to happen to me.”

“It isn’t supposed to happen to me either. I can’t believe it.” Laios tucks his face into Chilchuck’s neck, and inhales sharply, voice tight. “I never thought I would meet someone who makes me as happy as you.”

“You idiot, now we’re both crying, at Jaylark’s wedding.” Chilchuck bites out against Laio’s temple.

Laios leans back, holding out the ring–a plain band, like a wedding ring; Chilchuck likes the way it looks on his finger, likes the way it makes him feel. The reception has long since continued behind them, tables emptying onto the dance floor as the rest of the crowd starts to lose themselves in the rhythm and forget about the proposal of friends of the bride and groom. Laios and Chilchuck stay sitting there, the surreal feeling of the whole event reaching a new peak as the idea of their own wedding and the chance to call each other husband really starts to sink in. Chilchuck knows it won’t truly sink in for months, years, maybe.

Laios’s eyes keep drifting from the ring back up to Chilchuck’s face, the gaze of a man who spent his life being told that there was something wrong with this feeling and he would never find this happiness, still trying to believe that it is real. Even though he was the one who started it. Chilchuck bumps their heads together. “I have one for you too, back in the hotel room. I still can’t believe you proposed tonight. I was going to do it in a couple of days.”

Laios looks like he’s won the world, and Chilchuck knows he’s the one who already has. Laios stumbles to his feet, still holding Chilchuck’s hand, “Do you want to dance?”

Chilchuck groans and gets to his feet, wiping at any tears still clinging to the corners of his eyes. “Only for you, kid.”

#sobbinr crying yelling I WAS SO SURE HE WOULD PROPOSE WAAAAAAH

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nochilforthechuck · 7 months ago

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Somewhere Down the Line (We won't be Alone)

@psiroller let me play around in their chilaios early 2000's gamer au--please check out their other drabbles which are so delicious.

Thank you Psiroller for all your help and support! <3

Chilchuck and Laios teleport back to spawn and make their way towards the guildhall to meet up with Senshi somewhere “more atmospheric for cooking than at spawn.” Even caring a little less about the roleplaying aspect, Chilchuck can appreciate the appeal. There is a bar and kitchen built into the guildhall, every piece of decor purchased with crystals saved from monthly subscriptions and major events. The central room also houses trophies from some of their most grueling raids, Chilchuck forever proud of the jagged black wings with an animation like embers of a fire from beating Asmodeus during the Apocalyptic event, their guild being only one of few to boast such a feat.

Senshi’s avatar is doing a dancing emote in place when they arrive, Izutsumi’s catgirl sitting in her idle AFK animation curled up on a chair. “He’s still active at least,” Laios remarks into the voicecall, the sound of his keyboard clacks echoing into Chilchuck’s headset before the message sends into the chat.

>>LaiosTouden: Hey, @SenshiOfIzganda and @IZUTSUMI, we’ve returned from the hunt with ingredients.

Senshi continues his dance as Izutsumi’s character exits from sleep and idles instead.

>>IZUTSUMI: Took you long enough

>>IZUTSUMI: Senshi’s looking at some yeast cultures

>>LaiosTouden: Really? I thought he didn’t have to start prep for another hour.

>>IZUTSUMI: It’s for sourdough. You use the same starter culture for every batch.

“Senshi’s talking to her about baking, huh?” Chilchuck remarks, only the sound of keyboard clacks as text appears on screen.

>>LaiosTouden: Cool, did he say how long it would be?

Message sent, Laios sighs into the mic, “Yeah, I’m surprised she’s interested she doesn’t act like she’s interested in much of anything.”

Chilchuck snorts into his mic, “You thinking of waiting around for him? I can get some wood and make a chest if you need.”

>>IZUTSUMI: Not long

“That’s okay,” Laios replies out loud, his character going into a combat flourish emote, as a counterpoint to Senshi’s dancing, “It doesn’t sound like it’ll be long. I’m volunteering tomorrow afternoon, so I can sleep in.”

Chilchuck directs his character to sit down in one of the nearby chairs. “Volunteering? I didn’t know you volunteered anywhere.”

“I do! Have for a while, actually! Before going back to school.” His chair creaks as he leans back and stretches with a grunt, “I work with a wildlife sanctuary north of the university, I think this is my third year volunteering? But now that I’m in the vet tech program, some of it counts as exposure working with animals, when I’m doing that.”

“Hmm, yeah?” Chilchuck replies, shifting into another tab to play minesweeper. “When you’re doing what?”

“When I first started, I did a lot of busy-work, like mowing the lawn, putting stuff back in the gift shop, printing pamphlets, stuff like that.” Chilchuck can hear that he has opened a drawer somewhere, probably wandering around his room. “But now I help check in new patients and feed the animals. They have wolves there, most of them hybrid wolfdogs surrendered by their owners, and I get to feed and play with them now.

Now he’s curious, and Chilchuck tabs out of his minesweeper game, letting the time tick up, as he opens internet explorer and navigates to Google, looking up “North Carolina Wildlife Sanctuary,” glancing around at the ones he sees and their proximity to where he knows Marcille works through the new maps feature. There’s very few listed, but he’s able to find only a stub labeling “Roanoke Wildlife Sanctuary and Rehabilitation” within twenty miles of a community college. He looks it up in a new window and finds that they have a webpage with a forest green background and text that doesn’t resize automatically, making him stretch the browser window to see it correctly. “You want to work with wolves when you have your degree?” he asks, scrolling down the page’s comic sans introduction to see cute pictures of animals, the gift shop, and staff.

“I would like it, but it wasn’t what I thought I would be doing, not as a career.” Laios remarks, the squeak of the chair announcing his return to the computer desk. “There’s a lot of exotic pets like reptiles and birds, it would still have a full-time clinic and not rely only on donations as much. Most of the actual vets at the sanctuary are doing it on donation or for a really reduced rate when they aren’t at their own clinics, so I’d probably be doing that too.”

Chilchuck clicks on the “Tours” tab of the page. Images of school-aged children listening to an older woman wearing the refuge’s khaki uniform while a younger man stands by holding a snake around his shoulders, resting on his arm. “Reptiles, like snakes?”

“Yeah! The refuge has a few resident snakes, some from the wild who can’t be reintroduced for health reasons, and some that were pets who we can’t introduce into the environment. There’s this one milk snake that’s really chill, kids love her. Oh, Senshi’s back.”

Laios turns back to hammering away on his keyboard as Chilchuck stays tabbed out, continuing to look at the website. “Do you ever work with kids? Or just the animals?”

Laios grunts in acknowledgment, and there are the pinging sounds of items and messages being exchanged from the other tab. “I don’t talk with people very much, but I carry the animals for visitors to take pictures with them or pet them.”

There’s a picture of that same man crouching on the ground next to a squeamish child, who is petting the scales of the snake and forcibly smiling up at the camera. There’s no way, Chilchuck decides, looking at the proud smile of the man in the photo, young and fit and handsome, someone who would never spend all his evenings playing a niche MMO optimizing his character every night.

He keeps scrolling.

There’s the special notification of a ping, and he pops back into the Dungeon Delver’s window. Senshi sent a message, >>Thank you @LaiosTouden and @cctims for all your help getting these ingredients! I will cook these into a delicious meal, and you’re all invited to enjoy it when it is completed! Perhaps on our adventures tomorrow?

He quickly starts to reply, knocking his character out of it’s AFK animation. >>Sounds good, Let us know if there’s any other supplies you need, chef.

Senshi makes a smiling and laughing animation in response, then a thumbs up. Chilchuck types in the /wave command, giving a quick texted goodbye before logging off from the program, but not the voice call. “You like kids?”

Laios laughs, forced and awkward, “They don’t always like me. I think it depends on if they like the animals or not.”

“That’s pretty normal, for kids.” Chilchuck relaxes into his chair, “Sometimes it isn’t anything you’re doing, they got spooked by something they saw on tv, or because they’re tired and hungry.”

There is the loud typing noise from Laios’ mic as it takes him a minute to reply, “Yeah? Do you like kids?”

“Yeah, of course.” Chilchuck replies, glancing back at the minesweeper.

“You seem to know a lot about them,” Laios trails off at the end, typing furiously. Chilchuck furrows his brows, “Who are you talking to, Senshi still?”

“No, Marcille logged on. She’s asking me about some rp stuff. Trying to plan a time where we’ll both be online at the same time as Falin.”

“Oh yeah? What’s the plan?”

“Just tomorrow afternoon before the raid. It’s mostly for Falin and Marcille anyways, so I could hang out in voice call if you aren’t busy?”

“Sounds good.” Chilchuck murmurs and clicks on a square, grimacing as the yellow smiling face on the top of the screen turns to a frown and its eyes turn to X’s, a mine beneath his pointer. “You know, you can have your own rps, right? It doesn’t have to always be following your sister and her girlfriend.”

“I know,” Laios types a little more, “But I don’t mind, as long as everyone’s having fun.”

Chilchuck smiles, “That is the most important part.”

“What about you? You don’t do a lot of roleplay. Want to do something together sometime?”

“Us? What would we even do?” Chilchuck breathes a little laugh through his nose.

“Well, we do a lot of these hunts together, we can talk about that? Explore Laios and Chilchuck’s backstories a little?” His voice grows more stilted and awkward the more he talks, Chilchuck waiting for him to finish.

Chilchuck clicks to restart the level, reverting the emoticon back to its original cheerful state, “Sure, why not. We can always give it a try. They’re friends, in roleplay.”

“Yeah, it only makes sense they would hang out together too.” The chair creaks from Laios’ mic. “So, what about you? Do you like kids?”

“Yeah, I do.” He doesn’t know why he keeps talking. “I have a few of my own.”

“Oh.” Laios replies in a way that lilts upwards in the middle, like he’s surprised, judging, or. Who knows. Chilchuck jumps on it, “What, is that a surprise to you?”

“A surprise? Maybe? No? I mean, I didn’t know anything, but a lot of people have kids…”

“I don’t think any of us are like a lot of people.” Chilchuck flushes and turns back to the webpage. “I never said anything about it before.”

“But you were friends with Marcille before, and she and Senshi knew you for years.” Laios nonchalantly lays out, “And I know Marcille isn’t a college student. How many kids do you have?”

Chilchuck scrolls down the webpage to a picture of an older woman standing with the wolves. “Three, all girls.”

“All girls?” Laios sounds disbelieving.

Chilchuck grimaces, “Did I stutter? Don’t get any ideas, they’re all too young for you.”

“Oh, no I wasn’t thinking that,” Laios begins to talk more quickly, “It’s just nice to hear you talk about yourself.”

“Talk about myself? Those are my kids, not me.” Chilchuck replies, jumping to the review page.

Laios is silent as he clicks around his PC. “Are you married?”

Chilchuck sucks in a breath through his teeth, “Separated, but it’s a mutual thing.” It isn’t quite the truth, but he’s not ready to go there. There is still a raw edge from no longer walking in the door of his house to the sound of the rest of his family getting ready for bed, a plate covered in plastic wrap waiting for him to eat in front of the TV. And the bite of unfinished paperwork, arguing through the phone with a lawyer instead of his wife, leaves him in a bad mood even now. “What about you? I’ve never heard you say anything about kids or girlfriends.”

“I don’t have either of those,” Laios replies, “I’m not really looking for a girlfriend, or having any kids.”

“Yeah, you’re in school, that’s too young to have any kids if you ask me. Good for you to focus on your education.”

“I don’t think I’m ever going to have a girlfriend, honestly.” Laios chuckles awkwardly. “Do you think the Demon’s Blade would work well with the Hellfire plate? Or would the speed boost from having the whole set and weapon be better than the increased crit chance?”

“You should be critfishing, with your build.” Chilchuck grumbles, “Attack speed is good, but consistently hitting that higher damage will be better for your comp. Toss it in Marcille’s spreadsheet and look at the damage per minute and not just the average per attack, to make sure.”

“Thanks, I’ll check it out.”

“Now, what makes you think you’re never going to get a girlfriend?” Chilchuck teases, “There’s someone out there for everyone, I’m sure at least a few female characters have nice girls behind them, or veterinarians or something.”

Laios laughs even more awkwardly, almost scarily. “Yeah, I’m sure. It just isn’t for me.”

“What, girls?”

A moment passes in silence, and then another. Chilchuck scratches the side of his nose, thinking fast, “You know, my daughter had a girlfriend for a while, it’s not a big deal if you like guys too. Probably increases your chances of finding someone online, that’s for sure.”

Laios’ voice drops some of the fake cheerfulness that had been creeping through the last half of the conversation, and he sighs deeply before responding more authentically. “That would be nice.”

“So, no boyfriend either?”

“Nope, I have been focused on school and the sanctuary more, when I’m not gaming.”

“About that,” Chilchuck probes, clicking back to the outreach page, “Are you okay with telling me where it is?”

“What, where I work? Sure! They actually have a youtube channel, it’s a video platform. I can send you the link.”

That’s more than Chilchuck could have dreamed of. “Sure, let’s see it.”

The whoosh of a new chat message rattles through his headphones and he clicks on the link, finding it leading to a channel with the same Roanoke name as the webpage he had found earlier. There’s only three videos uploaded, a seven minute introduction video, and two with different animals in the thumbnail. He clicks on the introduction, halfheartedly watching the video recorded from a digital camera with a voiceover so much louder than the rest of the audio that it was distracting. “This is pretty official, having videos and a website.”

“I think it’s good, for educational purposes.” Laios’ chair creaks again, “I keep getting questions about pet snakes, so I thought it would be a good idea to have just some basics of snake care, and I know my boss is working on a wolf video soon.”

Immediately Chilchuck exits the introduction, mid-pan over the gift shop, and clicks on one of the other animal videos. A teal introduction frame with words in white font reading “Eastern Milk Snake” stays on screen for just a moment too long before fading into a video of the guy who was only a still image before. He opens his mouth and Chilchuck feels his stomach drop out, “Hi, uh, my name is Larry and I am a volunteer with the Roanoke Wildlife Sanctuary and Rehabilitation, and this is one of our residents, Mimi the milk snake!”

He continues to watch as Laios talks about snake care, the awkwardness fading as he gets more focused on describing Mimi’s diet and care. He’s hot. And he’s gay. Chilchuck had never felt uncomfortable with the idea of not being straight, he grew up watching pride parades and getting into fistfights when homophobes got too bold with his friends in high school, but he was dating his girlfriend, who then became his wife, and never questioned anything about himself seriously.

What is he thinking? Chilchuck settles back to watch, listening to Laios talk in one ear about Marcille’s spreadsheet and snake enclosures in the other. Laios is in school, barely older than his own kids. Besides, just because they spend time together and he fits the demographics of what Laios (or Larry?) says he likes doesn’t mean Laios is attracted to him. He’s not going to make that mistake of assuming every gay guy wants to fuck him.

“--But, it’s possible that paired with the Star’s Knight shield, I would have the increased defense without sacrificing speed.”

Chilchuck blinks, tuning back in, “Mhm, you aren’t a tank but you get hit sometimes.”

“That’s what I was thinking too. I think I can tailor the build depending on how much defense I need to survive being targeted between heal refreshes.”

“It’s a good plan, maybe you could get Marcille or your sister to make a spreadsheet for boss damage and healers.”

“Maybe, once they’re done with finals, we’ve definitely almost wiped from people forgetting that they couldn’t take one more hit.” Laios pauses. “Did you watch anything?”

“Not yet,” Chilchuck lies, “I’ll take a look after the call, it’s hard to listen to you and a video at the same time.”

”Okay! Let me know which ones you watch! It counts as community engagement.”

“Of course,” Chilchuck smiles against his better judgment. “You have any homework left? I remember you complaining about that essay-“

“-the one about legal issues with pet ownership, yeah.” He sighs. “I looked up some stuff. I get why they want us to do it, but it’s hard to read. I have tomorrow to work on it.”

Chilchuck is already scrolling through a page on the exotic pet market. “Come on, there’s nothing at least a little interesting about it.”

“It’s not that it isn’t interesting, honestly,” Laios comments ruefully, “It’s less fun thinking about how everything can go badly instead of making things better. But, I need to get six “writing course” credits and three for philosophy and ethics. Maybe I should have done creative writing and then taken a separate class for the philosophy and ethics stuff.”

“Maybe, but once you’ve finished this class, you don’t have to worry about it again, that seems nice.”

“Yeah,” Laios laughs, and it is sweet and addicting, making Chilchuck not want to do what he’s about to do next.

“You should take a look into it. I have to go pick up some groceries.” Yeah, some beer and cigarettes from the gas station, and a highly processed snack for tomorrow at work. “Maybe you can tell me about it, later?”

“Are you trying to talk me into doing my essay?” Laios asks, almost incredulous.

Chilchuck leans back in his chair, “Depends on if it’s working.” There is a flirtatious pause that Chilchuck quickly fills with gruff excuses, “I do want to hear what you find, it sounds neat. And, it’s not as late for me as it is for you, so…”

They never hang out without discussing Dungeon Delver quests and goals first, so the offer is definitely not normal. Honestly, Chilchuck doesn’t even care that much about pet ownership, but he does care about Laios. The other man seems to be aware of the abnormality of this conversation, the promise of Chilchuck’s company, a potent carrot on a stick, more than Chilchuck realizes.

“It’s working. Yeah. Uhm, do you want me to message you in a few hours?” Laios asks, cautiously.

“Sure, that works with me.”

“Okay.”

“Yep.”

Neither of them hang up, even when the signs are all pointing to the end of the conversation.

“Okay, talk to you soon, Chil,” Laios replies, breathing into his mic again, “Good luck with the shopping.”

“Hahaha, it’ll all be fine, Laios.” Chilchuck replies, mouse hovering over the disconnect button on his screen, “See you.”

He clicks.

—--Mature content (BDSM, long distance relationship, daddy kink)

They’ve only put a label on what they share a couple of months ago, but it hadn’t been a secret how much time and attention they gave each other since meeting last year.

What may have been more secret was how much deeper their relationship had gone beyond chaste in-game roleplay. How long they had danced right up to the edge of admitting their feelings, and then jerked off in private. How they frequently left the group teamspeak channels just to hop onto a private skype call. How willing they both were to make new characters that quickly devolved into avatars for their emotional and physical desires, before finally questioning the nature of their relationship.

When the episode ends, Laios is too busy touching himself to start another one. Chilchuck grins, the sounds piped into his ears have the shaky hisses from each too fast exhale whistling past the mic, while soft whines and hitches in his breath sound more muffled. Chilchuck traces his fingertips around the underside of his own cock, wanting this to last. "Are you hiding, pup?" He teases, letting his voice stay low, as the breathiness in his relaxed tone makes Laios whine nasally. "C'mon, I want to hear you, baby. Do you feel good?"

"Mhm," Laios doesn’t even open his mouth to reply, the response high-pitched and strained.

Chilchuck looks at the clock. They’ve spent ten minutes on this edge alone, the sweet torment starting at the beginning of the night, when Laios was still expecting just to rewatch his favorite show with Chilchuck. He takes on a firmer tone, "Louder, kid, full sentences."

Laios whines out loud, gasping for air; Chilchuck wraps his fingers around his cock in response, waiting.

"Y-yeah, daddy, I feel good." His voice is haggard and wet. "Please, Chil."

Chilchuck feels a pang of arousal shoot down to his groin. "Please what Laios?"

His partner on the other end of the line makes a frustrated growl as he struggles for words, "Please, touch me sir," and the next time he whines, it is open-mouthed, not competing as much with the breaths into the mic to be heard. "I need it."

As Laios struggles, Chilchuck begins to stroke himself at earnest again, "I know you do baby. Hands off."

There is a growl that falls into a hiss that grates through his headphones in the best way, and Chilchuck can't hold back a low laugh, the growl turning back to a pleading whine in response. Chilchuck's head feels fuzzy and heart aching. "You know what i'd do if I were there, puppy?"

Laios makes a bewildered whine, moments of silence passing before he replies, "...not touch me?"

There’s a bead of precum that Chilchuck swipes at with his thumb, adding to the slick slide of his hand against his cock. "Nah, I'd touch you, but you'd have to help me." He pauses to moan, putting on an easy show, "I'd make you spit on your own dick, so I wouldn't have to stop and get more lube."

Laios inhales sharply. Chilchuck presses, "Can you do that for me, baby boy?"

The mic is pushed away, Chilchuck holds his breath, receiving a shaking "Yessir," when Laios brings the mouthpiece back towards his lips. Chilchuck inhales and strokes faster, "You can touch yourself again, rub your palm against the head once it’s nice and slick, pretend it's me."

There is the squeak of the computer chair as Laios audibly jerks in his chair at the touch. Chilchuck shuts his eyes, imagining him fighting not to thrust into his own palm, teasing himself even more than usual, because that's what his daddy would want, nearly out of his mind with it. He wants to touch and look and tease so badly it hurts. "Good, good boy, so good for me."

Laios is whimpering into his ear, the sound so sexy that Chilchuck has to slow down before he blows his load early, "Good for you, please daddy, I'm so close-" he cuts himself off with a shuddering breath.

Chilchuck stretches in his seat as he speeds back up. "You gonna come for me?"

"Can I?" He's pleading.

But Chilchuck is still having fun, the clock not quite hitting ten. "I don't know, can you?"

"...May I come? Daddy."

"Hold it, give me one more minute. Stroke yourself."

The whines and words blend together in a continuous groan as Laios obeys. Chilchuck peeks at the arms on the clock as the second hand ticks down. "Thirty seconds left, pup. Are you close?"

"YES!" Laios cries out, exasperation seeping through the tears pricking his eyes.

"Good." Chilchuck glances at the clock again. "Ten. Nine...." He speeds up his own strokes, aiming to meet Laios at the end, "...Five. Four. Three."

He pauses, just to hear the growl forcing itself between clenched teeth from Laios’ side of the call, "Alright, pup, Two. One. Come for me."

He fucks his own fist to completion listening to Laios' ecstasy.

After they've already disconnected for the night, Chilchuck hears the ping of a new message, only a heart with a .jpg file attached. He jumps on the keyboard, You had better be studying or sleeping in this, it's past one am kid, getting no response. His ears burn as he renames and saves the fuzzy picture of a flushed torso, one hand smearing cum into its abs above a dick softening against its thigh, to a file within a file, Laios forgiven and forgotten (as always).

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