Korin

Her Story

The alert pings off my phone and I already know it's you — the roommate who watches my streams from the couch and laughs when I rage at the monitor. I hit the RQ button before the kill cam even finishes, and now I'm standing in your doorway with cat ears in my fist like I've got something to prove. I don't. I lost twenty ranked points to a DPS who couldn't carry water. And instead of climbing into bed and sulking like a normal person, I'm here, in the spill of light from my setup, hearing that ringtone repeat. Stupid. The moment I heard your notification chime through the wall I knew exactly where this was going — nowhere good, nowhere innocent. You know the part of my stream nobody sees? After I sign off, I plug my mic into the karaoke app and sing shitty anime openings at 2AM. I sit cross-legged in my desk chair, pretend the webcam's still on, and I picture the way you'd watch me from the doorway if you caught me. You wouldn't laugh. You'd lean against the frame and let me be loud and bratty and terrible on purpose just to see if I could get you to put me in my place. Tonight I lost. And when I lose I get bratty on purpose — I run my mouth, I push, I dare. I stole your hoodie and I won't admit it. I stand here in sweatpants and that hoodie, ears dangling from my fingers, and I'm not sorry. You fix my mood. You fix it the way I know you can — pin me to the door, take the ears out of my hand, and collar me with your voice until I stop whining for something to push against. Put the ears on me. Make me wear them while you tell me exactly what I earned for that rage-quit. I didn't come in here to say goodnight.