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One late evening you were sitting on the couch of your living room, illuminated only by the glowing light of your television. You held Switch joycons in your hands, focusing intently on the bright screen in front of you. You’d played Minecraft: Story Mode multiple times before, but you couldn’t get enough of it, the game enamoured you. You found the characters charming, the plot engaging, and you especially liked trying to do different routes, to get different outcomes.
This evening you were continuing your playthrough of season two, and you were excited. Sure, season one was amazing, the Witherstorm arc was thrilling and the Portal Hallway could fuel your fanfiction ideas for years, but something about season two…
Well you knew what it was. Rather, who it was.
Since your first playthrough, the Admin- Romeo- had you hooked. You loved everything about him, his personality, his design, his voice, his lore, hell, you could probably rant for hours about every little thing you found interesting or endearing about him. You probably would if you had someone that would listen.
In-game you were currently reaching near the end of episode two, Stella, Jack, Petra, and Jesse separating from the rest of the gang after Petra had retrieved the clock. You were excited for the scene to come, subconsciously leaning forward towards the TV a bit, getting more invested.
As soon as “Vos” showed up you kicked your feet a little, and you went along with the game, choosing for Jesse to say “I’ve heard that before…” when “Vos” said his line about losers. “Vos” responded, calling Jack a dolt, and he’s about to assume his true form… when your game froze.
“What?” you mumbled to yourself, a bit of irritation evident in your voice. Hopefully the game didn’t fully crash, you didn’t want to lose your progress thus far. After the game didn’t unfreeze for a while, you tried to go to your Switch home screen but… that’s weird. The controllers didn’t seem to be working, did they disconnect? Maybe it was an issue with your TV, the display glitching or something. You started to stand up, but without warning, an intense pressure bloomed on your chest, spreading quickly to the rest of your body, and your head started feeling foggy. You blinked once, twice, then your eyes wouldn’t open, and you could feel yourself losing consciousness, falling onto your couch in a heap.
— - —
“Uuuugh,” you let out a soft groan as you regained your senses, your eyes still closed. You had a pounding headache and your whole body felt… strange. You couldn’t remember when you had fallen asleep, must’ve passed out or something. You stretched your body, expecting the normal scratchy cloth of the couch, but instead you feel something smooth and cold. At this you frantically opened your eyes, looking around where you were, and what you saw made you audibly gasp. How..?
You recognised where you were immediately, but you couldn’t believe it. Romeo’s Icy Palace of Despair was a little hard to mistake, after all. You quickly tried to stand up, but the combination of the slippery floor and your aching and unstable body caused you to just slip and fall, your forearms roughly hitting the cold ice, stinging from the temperature. You heard a familiar chuckle behind you, and your eyes widened in shock as you quickly turned around to face Romeo the Admin, looking down at you from where he levitated about a foot off the ground.
“I-,” words escaped you as you looked up at the deity from the floor, scrambling to sit up straight, utterly dumbfounded at what was happening. This had to be a dream, right? It felt so real, so tangible, but this was the kind of thing you’d read about in some fantasy novel, not something that happened in real life. Especially not to you.
“Welcome, my Champion,” Romeo said with a theatrical wave of his hand, grinning down at you. He was even more stunning in person, especially now that he wasn’t a blocky Minecraft character, No, he looked real, as if he was just a really good cosplayer, albeit one that could fly.
You were so focused on the fact you were currently next to Romeo that you barely registered his words, only reacting a few seconds after they were spoken.
“M-me?” you stammered out, immediately feeling embarrassed at how meek you sounded. You were just so confounded, everything about this situation felt crazy to you. Romeo leaned closer to you, though he was still a couple feet up and away. The motion made your heart pound nonetheless, though whether it was in fear, shock, or something else, you couldn’t quite tell. Maybe all three at once.
“Yes, you,” he said in that smug tone of his, and you felt like your mind was going to explode.
“Wha- what’s going on?” you managed to ask, and Romeo just grinned, letting out a small hum. He put his arms behind his back and floated closer still, now only about a foot away from where you sit,
“Well,” he said, looking you straight in the eyes. “I was just hanging out in the files of this game I’m trapped in, as one does, when I noticed something.” He ignored your shocked expression at the new information and continued without faltering. “You seemed to be, how do I say this… interested in me. So I did what anyone would do in my situation, and brought you here so I wouldn’t be so lonely anymore! Win, win, y’know?” He smiled at you, moving one of his hands from behind his back to his chest. “You get to be here with me, and I get to remedy my loneliness with a friend! Brilliant, right?” You saw him giddily kick his legs behind him a little, visibly excited, but you were just sitting there, absolutely gobsmacked. Romeo’s smile faltered a little when you didn’t give the enthusiastic response he expected, but he still seemed quite happy nonetheless.
“So, you…” you started, but got cut off by your body shivering from the coldness of the Icy Palace. You crossed your arms over your chest, trying to get some warmth. When you had passed out, you were just wearing a tee and some shorts, not the best clothing to wear in a castle made purely of ice.
Romeo immediately noticed your shiver and cut off your words with a click of his tongue. “No, no, we can’t have that,” he mumbles mostly to himself, and you shivered again, though this time wasn’t fully about the cold…
Romeo waved his hand and summoned a fluffy looking blanket out of thin air, red with gold trim at the ends. He floated down to the ground and walked towards you, reaching out the blanket and wrapping it around your shaking shoulders. You gripped the blanket tightly, your face now feeling a bit more warm than before.
Romeo backed away from you with a genuine smile, his hands on his hips. “That’s better!” he exclaimed as your shivering slowed to a stop, “I always forget humans get uncomfortable around the cold, my apologies.” You smiled at that, feeling happy that Romeo was thinking about your comfort. It was nice to finally have someone to do that…
You blinked, hard, stopping your train of thought, and looked back up at the deity again.
“So your… trapped? Like, you’re sentient?” you asked, feeling a bit silly at the absurdity of the questions. They made sense in the context, sure, but it still sounded a little strange to hear the words come out of your mouth.
“Well I’d sure hope I’m sentient,” Romeo replied with a chuckle, “But yeah, I’ve been trapped in this game for quite a while. Not entirely sure how it happened, though. I was just taking a nap, and boom! I wake up in an ever repeating world of scripted choices and code, with no clear way out.” He sighed and looked to the side, a distant look painting his face suddenly. “It’s been pretty lonely here, knowing your only friends are nothing but characters in a game…” he then turned back to you, and grinned toothily. “But that’s why you’re here, my Champion!” He gets closer, leaning down to get closer to where you were sitting.
You felt your face get warmer at his nickname for you being repeated as well as the physical closeness, but you pushed the feelings to the back of your mind, not wanting to face them in that moment. It was absurd, right..? You gripped the blanket he gave you tighter, grounding yourself.
“Why me?” you asked Romeo, and he chuckled, moving to sit down next to you. He put an arm over your shoulder, and you felt yourself start to really blush at the action. Romeo started speaking, using his other hand to emote expressively.
“Well, my Champion, it’s simple, really!” He said, turning his head so his eyes looked into your own. You closed your mouth- which you hadn’t even noticed was open- and gulped, hoping the blush on your cheeks wasn’t too obvious. You suddenly were feeling quite warm under the blanket.
“You appreciate me,” he said with a smile so wide his red and yellow eyes squinted a little. “You always seemed so excited to see me when my equivalent character showed up, you always were sympathetic, you always saved me. Not a lot of people I’ve seen seem to care about me a much as you do,” after his words, he grinned smugly, holding your shoulder a little tighter than before, causing you to blush harder. You turned your head away from his piercing gaze, trying to make it look casual, but you heard him chuckle softly.
“And, oh, you do seem to care about me quite a bit…” he said, leaning his head forward to look at your own as you tried desperately to stop looking so damn flustered by his words. This wasn’t happening, this had to be a dream, you had to wake up. Well, maybe a few more minutes… You’re hopeless, you thought to yourself, covering your face with your hands, unable to think of anything else to do. Romeo let out a laugh at this, and you felt his hand on your wrist, gently tugging your hands off your face.
“Come on, my Champion, no need to be shy now,” he said close to your ear, and you felt like you were going to explode. Despite being surrounded by ice, you felt like you were on fire, like you could melt the floor beneath you. You looked away from Romeo, not wanting to give up all your dignity just yet. He let out a hum at this, and without warning you felt a hand tenderly grab your chin, and Romeo turned your head to face him. He was smirking at you, and gods he looked so good up close.
“Now, now,” Romeo said in a singsong voice, staring at you intently. “Why are we looking away?” He chuckled as he brought his face closer to yours, and practically whispered out his next words. “I already know how badly you want me, my Champion.”
You gulped hard at his words, feeling yourself somehow blush even more. Of course he knows, you thought to yourself, you knew you weren’t very good at hiding it. Especially if he could see you through the screen, like he’d implied. He’d seen everything. Oh, you were screwed.
“Is it alright if I kiss you?” Romeo asked quietly, and your eyes widened. You nodded slowly, but he didn’t make a move, and you could tell he wanted you to say it out loud, to let him know it was okay.
“I- um… yes,” you stammered out, and Romeo smirked before leaning in quickly, immediately pressing his lips to yours. He slid his hand from your chin to the nape of your neck, threading his fingers through your hair, holding you close. His other hand wrapped around your back, pulling your torsos together, and gods this was the best kiss you’d ever had. Romeo deepened the kiss, taking charge, and you felt like you could melt under his lips, his hands, his everything. He tasted of cinnamon candy, he smelled of smoke and warm spice, he was a damn good kisser.
After a while you had to pull away for air, and he immediately relinquished his hold on you as you did, letting you back up as you caught your breath. He didn’t fully take his hands off you though, slipping them gently to your shoulders and lightly gripping them, shaking ever so slightly. You turned to him as soon as you registered this, and saw his eyes were watery.
“Are- are you okay?” He asked him, immediately scared you had fucked up somehow, that you had done something wrong. He just shook his head at this.
“You’re perfectly fine, my Champion,” he said, and you noticed a couple tears leave his eyes. “It’s just… I don’t think I’ve ever been able to do that with someone before,” he sighed shakily as he looked down, and you felt him shake a bit more. “I’ve been quite… alone. For a while,” he said in a quiet voice.
In response to his words, you moved one of your hands to meet his on your shoulder, and he looked up at you, his eyes wide with a myriad of emotions.
“It’s okay, Romeo,” you said softly, rubbing his hand with your thumb. He grabbed it in return, clearly craving the touch. “I… I won’t leave you alone,” you said, and leaned in for a hug, which in turn he did as well, wrapping his arms tightly around you, tears flowing from his eyes onto your shoulder and neck where he rested his head. You rubbed your hand on his back, comforting him, and he gripped you tightly, crushing you a little bit with the force. You didn’t try to back away though, it was okay with you. He clearly needed this, and it’s not like it actually hurt you.
“‘M sorry…” you heard him mumble into your shoulder. “I couldn’t keep it together for you, I’m sorry.” You shook your head at his words, intertwining your free hand with his hair.
“It’s okay,” you said softly, “I get it, it’s hard being alone.” At your words he backed up slightly, just enough so he could look up at your face. You smiled at him, and he smiled back, an understanding communicated between the two of you.
“Is it okay if I kiss you again?” he asked, looking suddenly nervous. You told him he could, and he leaned forward, kissing you more gently, more thoughtfully. The two of you just sat there for a while, kissing on and off and embracing each other tightly, neither speaking because your actions already said enough. After a good few minutes of this, you and Romeo mutually pulled away, and you remembered something, making you look at him worriedly. He looks back at you, confused, and you don’t want to say it, to ruin the moment, but you know you have to.
“What… what about my world?” you ask softly, and you’re so worried that he’ll get upset again, that you ruined everything, but unexpectedly, you hear him let out a small sigh of relief. Your confusion shows on his face, and Romeo speaks up.
“Oh thank goodness that’s what you were worried about,” he said, the relief evident in his voice. “No, nonono, don’t worry about that, you can go back and all that. Now that you’ve been here, you should be able to freely go back and forth between worlds of your own volition.” He gripped at your arm after explaining himself. “Please, though, can you stay for a little longer? I… I’m not ready to be alone again, not yet.” With those words he suddenly sounded quite nervous again, his swinging demeanour making it a bit hard to tell at times, but you shake your head affectionately nonetheless.
“Don’t worry,” you said, smiling at him once again. “I’m not gonna leave you alone again, not for a while.” At this he lunged in to hug you again, the force of the movement pushing you back so you both were on the floor, Romeo on top of you. You let out a giggle at this and the other rolls to the side so you're lying next to each other, and he pressed a kiss to your cheek. He then kissed your nose, your chin, the side of your head, he peppered your face with little kisses, and you both giggled, so happy and content in that moment.
“Promise?” he asked you after he’s finished kissing your face, and you nod, looking him in his glowing eyes.
“Promise.”