The match was already halfway over.
On Hannah's screen, soldiers were running through a ruined city, gunfire echoing between crumbling buildings as she moved through the map with the kind of confidence that made it obvious she had played this game far too many times.
"What are you doing?" Hannah asked. "Don't tell me you're dead again."
A burst of static crackled through her headset.
Heads up. Enemy UAV spotted.
A buzzing sound followed. Hannah spotted it almost immediately and raised her weapon.
Bang.
A single shot, the drone disappeared in an explosion, and she continued through the map without slowing down.
On the other end of the call, Zoey groaned.
"I told you I'm bad at FPS! It's not my thing! Bring me Tekka or Street brawl and-and-"
"And you'll show me how you lost in the semifinals against Alice?"
Zoey had absolutely been ready with another complaint, but Hannah had found the one argument that could shut her up.
"NOT FAIR!"
Hannah smirked.
"I'm just saying."
"I'm sure she got raised by Ryuu himself or something! What she was doing with her fingers should be considered illegal!"
"If we sent everyone who's better than you to jail, prisons would be overflowing."
"Are you trying to end me live?!"
Hannah didn't answer. She was busy picking off another player, followed by a second and a third. Her character moved through the battlefield almost effortlessly while Zoey continued complaining in her ear.
A notification chimed from Zoey's phone.
Her stream’s chat continued scrolling rapidly on her second monitor. Zoey stopped talking.
"Hm?"
She glanced at her phone.
"Wait a minute..."
Her hand reached for her phone.
Something about the notification had caught her attention. Whatever had appeared there had managed to do what Hannah's teasing couldn't: make Zoey forget about defending herself.
Hannah fired another burst.
"Not like I counted on you to win that game anyway."
She eliminated another opponent.
Zoey suddenly made a noise that was somewhere between a gasp and a scream.
"UUHHH, WHAT?!"
Hannah winced and pulled one side of her headset away from her ear.
"I think you just broke my eardrum."
She waited for Zoey to explain herself.
"What is it?"
"I'm sending it to you in DM."
The excitement had vanished from Zoey's voice. She sounded nervous now, enough that Hannah finally gave the conversation more attention than the match.
"D-do you think it's legit, or...?"
Hannah's phone buzzed.
She opened Zoey's message and read it, then went over it again to make sure she'd
understood correctly.
Her expression slowly changed.
"...Oh."
The chat immediately noticed.
CHAT:
what happened?
HANNAH WHAT DOES THAT MEAN
ZOey??
IS IT GOOD NEWS???
Hannah leaned back in her chair.
"Well..."
She checked the message one more time.
"Congratulations."
Zoey didn't answer immediately.
"You'll do it?"
"Of course, duh. You saw it just like me."
That was apparently all the confirmation Zoey needed. The nervousness disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, and she sat up straighter before turning toward her camera, pushing a loose strand of orange-red hair away from her face.
The chat was going completely insane.
"Okay, okay, okay!"
She raised both hands.
"GUYS."
The scrolling chat became even faster.
"I have NEWS."
Zoey's grin grew.
"I just got proposed a collab!"
She was already bouncing in her gaming chair, feet curled underneath her. Her headset nearly flew off with how enthusiastically she was moving.
"I-okay, first of all, shut up. I'm being professional for once in my life."
She slapped both hands onto her desk.
"You're not ready. You're actually not. Like-brace yourselves. Hold a chair. Sit a wall. I don't care."
Hannah could already imagine the disaster this was going to become.
Zoey leaned closer to the camera, eyes wide.
"An important skincare brand proposed that I do a livestream to present their product..."
She deliberately left the rest hanging, clearly enjoying the attention from chat.
"Annnnnnd- in collaboration with someone really..."
Her excitement made it increasingly difficult to maintain whatever dramatic delivery she'd been attempting.
"...famous."
Hannah raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sure everyone knows her already."
Zoey pointed dramatically toward the camera.
"She has snow in her veins and eyeballs made of melted rubies."
Hannah nearly choked on her drink.
"She's like an Instagram elf lady that everyone thinks is AI-generated, but she's REAL!"
Zoey was getting more excited with every word.
"Red eyes! White lashes! You know who I'm talking about, right?!"
Hannah took a slow sip of her tea.
"Ah. Cool, cool."
Her voice was completely deadpan.
"Collabing with a Photoshop filter."
Zoey practically vibrated in her chair.
"She's, like, insane!"
Hannah could hear the smile in her voice.
"I don't even know if her look is real or not. She never said anything about it, and the fans are always like-'Is it dye?' 'Is it lenses?' 'Is she an alien?'"
Zoey gasped as if she'd just remembered the most important possibility.
"Which is, by far, the most rational theory."
Hannah shook her head.
"You're going to scream the moment she breathes on camera."
"NO I'M NOT-"
Zoey stopped.
Zoey stopped when she realized how that had sounded. Heat rushed into her face before she could recover.
Hannah didn't need access to Zoey's chat to guess what her viewers would do with that.
Unfortunately, the chat had eyes.
CHAT:
she's blushing already
DID SHE JUST GULP
CRUSH ALERT 🚨🚨🚨
ZOey???
WE KNOW
Zoey stared at the messages in horror.
"I'M NOT-"
Zoey pulled her sleeves over her face.
"Anyway!"
She cleared her throat.
"Everyone guessed right."
Zoey pointed toward the camera as though announcing something of national importance.
"I'm talking about the model Layla."
Hannah slowly lifted her tea and took a long sip directly into her microphone.
Zoey stared at her.
"Seriously?"
Hannah smiled.
"Can't wait."
She let Zoey wonder where this was going.
"Gonna be a great collab."
"For your channel."
Hannah took her time before finishing the thought.
"And your... confusion."
Chat had already spent the last minute accusing her of having a crush. Hannah joining in was enough to send Zoey retreating into her oversized sleeves.
"I'm gonna die."
Hannah laughed.
"On stream."
"Yes!"
"That's unfortunate."
"Layla's gonna see this."
Zoey's voice became muffled behind her sleeves.
"I'm gonna combust and leave behind moisturizer vapor."
Hannah didn't even hesitate.
"At least your skin will be hydrated."
Zoey vanished from her webcam, followed by the unmistakable sound of something hitting the floor.
CRASH.
"...Zoey?"
No answer.
The chat reacted for her.
CHAT:
F
F
F
F
LMAOOOOOO
ZOey DOWN
Hannah sighed before retuning her attention to the game.
Somewhere beyond the webcam's view, Zoey groaned from the floor...