Over the next few days, I felt like I was slowly losing my mind.
I hadn't done much since New Year's, but even with my limited exposure to the outside world, I still felt like a lot of what I was experiencing was off, or incorrect, somehow. I was continuing on in one of my fantasy books that lined my shelf, and I felt like the protagonist was a bit out of character. He used to be more forward and reckless, generally uncaring of where life took him, which made sense, given he was a bounty hunter by trade, but those personalities generally translated to him being a pretty shameless flirt, and often shameless in regards to his state of dress. I found quite a few of those scenes to be pretty funny, given how snappy and well-written the dialogue was.
When I continued reading after New Year's, though, he felt like he had changed. Suddenly, he was less flirtatious, unless he was using it to try to get something else he wanted. He was a little more cautious, which was fine, but I did like the devil-may-care attitude he held throughout the novel, but he was almost prudish at certain points, which was a huge one-eighty from the shamelessness he had held previously, and all the comedy that had stemmed from it. It was to the point where I had to go back and start from the beginning to see where exactly the change happened, and if there was a reason for it.
However, on re-reading the book, I found out that they were more prudish the entire time, and I somehow had just imagined all that shamelessness.
I felt like clawing my eyes out in frustration.
My memory isn't always the best, I'll willingly admit, but it's generally pretty good when it concerns my hobbies, and the books and shows and games that I really enjoy. I have way too much information about some of the RPGs I played during my childhood, for example, so I was pretty sure I had a good grasp of a book I was currently in the middle of. Especially one of my favorite parts of it.
Especially when said favorite part was suddenly no longer in the book.
After I found out that the book in my hand was somehow not the same book I remembered reading, I put it back on the shelf and took a break from reading for a while. I didn't feel like dealing with that kind of headache at the moment.
My video games were different, too, but at least the gameplay was the main focus, rather than the main story.
I cleared out a couple of the shorter, less story-focused games on my backlog for the rest of the day, a roguelike and a platformer, and didn't think much of it. I had to pause for dinner, which was nice enough, I supposed. The food was good, though my parents and I didn't really talk much. They talked with each other about their jobs, and some upcoming design that my dad was apparently excited about, but I mainly just ate quietly. I didn't want to tell them about my issues with my book, since I didn't want them thinking I had memory problems or something. I had a few medical issues as a baby, apparently, so my parents had a tendency to be a little overbearing, especially whenever I seem down or sick. They only started giving me more space in high school, and were able to focus more on their work because of it.
We still spend a decent amount of time together, but the extra freedom has been refreshing, I have to admit.
Even if some of that is spent looking at stuff they wouldn't approve of.
After I beat both of my aforementioned games, I took a break and danced to some rock and electronic music for a bit, just to keep active and not feel like I was becoming rooted to my chair. I wasn't amazing at dancing, but I thought I was pretty alright at it. It was also pretty decent cardio, and I enjoyed it, though I'd never danced in front of anyone else, so I might've still been embarrassed by it.
Maybe I would take up formal dancing, someday, if my parents ever made a breakout fashion design and ended up in high society as a result. I bet that I could make some impressions if I put in the time and effort.
Something to think about later, I suppose.
I sat back down, booting up the only MMO I still bothered playing, Warframe, mainly because it played more like an action hack-and-slash game rather than your typical World of Warcraft-inspired top-down, clunky, isometric grind fest. I didn't play Warframe as often as I used to, but it was still fun to hop in and run through massive ships, cutting down enemies for a few hours, just to have something to make progress on. The story was neat, I supposed, but it wasn't too prevalent, so I didn't have to worry that the plot or any of the characters I was incredibly invested in had suddenly changed overnight.
I logged into my main account, CorvidKnight (a reference to one of the toughest non-boss enemies from another series I enjoyed, and also one of my favorite enemies to fight, even if they still kicked my ass more often than not), and entered my hub ship. I quickly checked the material requirements for the next weapon I was working towards, then looked up where I could find each of the materials. Luckily, I had one of the required parts already, but the other materials were both difficult to acquire and only earned via the co-operative gunship game mode.
The gunship mode was a bit difficult for me, since actual teamwork was required if you wanted to do well, especially on the more difficult missions. Thus, it was usually run by four-man teams who were all in a clan together. Unfortunately, since none of my school friends played this game, I wasn't part of a clan, and usually played solo or with randoms.
Nonetheless, I really wanted this sword, so I plugged in my headset and queued up the mission, hoping to not get paired with a group of snobbish assholes or complete dumbasses.
My character materialized into the ship, and I was connected to three other players as different Warframes of various colors appeared on the screen. Three small messages from the game appeared in the bottom left corner of my screen, each denoting that a player had joined the session, listing out their usernames.
Juniper_Crown has joined the session.
PhoenixGray3 has joined the session.
HomerunHooligan has joined the session.
Another message appeared in the text box.
Juniper_Crown: vc?
I sighed, a little annoyed. I was hoping to be able to run through the gunship missions without voice chat, but my crewmates apparently had different ideas. Now I had to go into my setting and unmute the damn voice chat, just for this mission.
Oh, well. Probably gonna be easier this way, anyway.
I typed back a quick affirmative, unmuted the voice chat function, connected my headset and slipped it over my ears.
"Testing, testing," I called out drily.
"Yo, what the fuck?" a sharp, distinctly feminine voice responded over the comms.
"Ooh, a guy?" another feminine voice, this one much bubblier, sounded off.
"Uh, hello," a soft, gentle voice greeted.
I blinked, glanced down at my phone to make sure I wasn't being recorded, then checked around my room, looking up at the corners.
Am I on candid camera or some shit? I swear, I'm being pranked right now.
"Hi?" I greeted in return, more than a little confused. I had sworn that next to no women played this game, so it was just my luck that I was somehow in a group of three of them. Hopefully, I could somehow make it out of this without getting bullied by all of them.
"What, you never talked to strangers or something? You're in an online game, y'know," the sharp voice spoke sarcastically.
"Thanks for the reminder, I'd forgotten," I shot back. I heard a snort over the comms, distorted somewhat by her microphone.
"Don't be rude, Phoenix," the gentle voice chided. "Hi, I'm Juniper. Were you looking for some help?"
"Uh, I guess?" I responded. "I was just queueing up for some gunship missions to see if I could get a couple prime blueprints and mats."
"You don't have a clan?" Hooligan asked.
"Nah. Wasn't able to drag my real-life friends into this game, unfortunately," I lamented. "I usually just play solo or with randoms on normal missions, so I haven't really done any of the gunship missions yet."
"I understand," Juniper said sympathetically. "Is there anything you specialize in on the gunship?"
I shrugged, before realizing that I was on a voice call, and none of them could actually see me. "Uh, not really. I only played one mission, was mostly on the side cannons and repair."
"Sounds like you'll do great on repairs, then," Phoenix chimed in, sounding amused.
"You're just saying that because you don't wanna be stuck as support," Hooligan ribbed her.
"Yep," she replied shamelessly, popping the p.
"That's fine, sure," I agreed. If they already had a good team dynamic, I didn't want to screw it up. As long as I got my rewards, I was happy.
"Sweet." I could practically hear the grin in Phoenix's voice.
"Corvid, are you any good with the Archwing? We don't have a dedicated roamer to take down the heavy cruisers, either," Juniper asked.
"Yeah, I'm decent," I replied. Archwing-exclusive missions were often completed solo, and I had a pretty well-upgraded and kitted out Prime Archwing, so I could handle the roamer and infiltration roles reasonably well.
"Sweet," Hooligan cheered. "Sounds like a plan, then. Let's get this party started!"
I had to admit, they were a lot of fun to play with. I knew that gamer girls had somewhat of a stigma, and some of them certainly lived up to it, but these three were generally pretty easygoing. They worked well together, and Juniper gave me some advice on how to play the support role, which was incredibly helpful. Phoenix continued to tease both me and her clanmates pretty much the entire time, while Juniper and Hooligan alternated between praising me for doing well (which certainly bolstered my ego, but also confused me a little, since I wasn't exactly performing any monumental feats) and making casual conversation with me, seemingly trying to get to know me.
I was honestly kind of surprised at how much interest they were showing.
The session came to a close just after midnight, and I took the time to sort through my loot back at my ship. I had gotten most of the materials I needed, along with a couple new Prime blueprints that I could possibly end up building and using later on. It wasn't a bad haul, especially for only a three-hour run.
"Thanks, ladies," I told them, stretching vigorously in my chair. "Couldn't have done it without you."
"No problem!" Hooligan replied cheerfully.
"It was our pleasure," Juniper added.
I smiled. It was nice to have people who enjoyed your company. Maybe joining an online clan wasn't a terrible idea after all; especially since it would allow me to have help in a lot of the gunship missions, Eidolon hunts and other endgame missions where co-op was practically a necessity.
"Hey, uh, would you girls mind if I added you all to my friends list?" I broached. "I had a lot of fun tonight, so I was hoping we could do this again sometime."
"Of course!" Hooligan assented quickly. "Here, I just sent a friend request."
"I sent one as well," Juniper followed up.
I quickly accepted both of their requests, smiling as two new entries appeared in my friend list. I thanked them both, and I told them I was probably going to log off for the night, since it was already past midnight. With winter break ending soon, I didn't want to mess up my sleep schedule and be exhausted during class.
However, one person had been silent for a little while.
"Uh, Phoenix? Did you send a friend request?" I asked her. "Because I didn't get one from you."
"I haven't sent one yet."
Silence reigned in my headset.
"Uh…can I ask why?" I inquired hesitantly.
"How the hell do I know you're telling the truth?" she asked sharply.
"The truth about what? Wanting to be friends?" I responded, incredulous. It felt like I was talking to a completely different person. Before, I was playing with a reasonably normal girl, but it felt like her whole demeanor had flipped at the drop of a hat, and I was under some kind of interrogation.
"About you being a guy," Phoenix accused, sounding more dramatically serious than I had ever heard anyone sound in my life.
What the fuck?
"Phoenix!" Juniper scolded.
"The hell, Phoenix? You can't just accuse him of that, that's rude!" Hooligan told her.
I couldn't keep a straight face. The accusation was so ridiculous, and with how dramatic she was, I just couldn't hold back my laughter. I cracked up.
There was silence on the other end for a good minute while I laughed at Phoenix's comment. Once I had calmed down, I sat back, staring at my screen, still feeling a little incredulous.
"Don't fucking laugh at me, you clit! I'm serious!" Phoenix shouted, clearly offended.
Clit?
"Sorry, sorry," I apologized, still chuckling. "It was just how dramatically you said it, it was really funny. You're accusing me of being a girl, or some shit?" I continued just to confirm I was hearing her right.
"Yeah. How do I know you aren't just pretending to be a guy to get us to like you?" she asked. Juniper and Hooligan were silent this time, but I could still practically feel their discomfort, even through my headset.
"What? Why would I pretend to be a guy?" I asked.
"Are you stupid?" Phoenix lambasted me. "I literally just told you."
"Why would pretending to be a guy make you like me?"
"I've seen it happen before. A girl comes along, pretends to be a guy on the mic, uses a voice changer or some ventriloquist shit, asks to tag along and gets carried through missions and given a bunch of free shit because all the girls will simp over her, thinking she's a guy," she explained.
Again, what the fuck?
I had heard of the reverse happening, but never the girls simping over guys. That sounded like some wet dream fantasyland bullshit more than anything else.
I swear I'm being pranked, somehow.
"I've literally never heard of that," I told her honestly.
"Uh huh," she responded sarcastically. "Is that why you have my friends wrapped around your finger?"
I physically recoiled in confusion. "What? What kind of Twilight Zone shit do you think is going on here?"
Phoenix sighed, exasperated. "Fine. Here. Post your Discord, I'm gonna add you to our server. Write your username and the current date on a piece of paper and post a face pic. Then I'll believe you."
"Is this a hazing ritual or something?" I joked, still somewhat unsure of just what the hell was going on.
"Just do it."
"You really think I'm gonna post my face on the internet?" I asked sarcastically. If this was some way to dox me, I wasn't going to fall for it.
"You could post your dick, instead," she challenged.
"Phoenix, no," Juniper put her foot down. "Stop hazing him. You're making him uncomfortable."
I was more in disbelief than uncomfortable, but I didn't really feel the need to reply to Juniper at the moment. I wanted to make Phoenix eat her words. If she wanted proof, she would get proof.
"Sure, here's my tag. Let me go get a pen," I told her, not waiting to hear her reply before I put down the headset.
Slipping down the stairs, making sure not to disturb my parents, I grabbed a black permanent marker from the pen container in the office and tested it on a nearby notepad. Determining that it was still fresh, not lacking ink or dried out from disuse, I capped it, snuck back upstairs and closed the door to my room before taking my shirt off and tossing it to the side.
I grabbed my phone, used the camera function to try to see myself, and I slowly and carefully traced my Warframe username and the new date, January third, onto my chest. It was more difficult than I thought, trying to write backwards on my own chest, but I managed to write it all out without any mistakes, even if it took a few minutes.
With that finished, I took a selfie of my shirtless torso at a slightly more flattering angle than I might have taken it to send to a family member or one of my friends, making sure my abs could be clearly seen and a bit of my chin and jawline were caught at the top end of the frame, and sent it to the group chat.
I sat down in my chair and slipped my headphones back on. "There. You believe me now?" I asked Phoenix, admittedly feeling a little smug.
No one responded. Only silence passed through my headset.
"Uh…hello? Is my headset broken?" I tested. "Houston to pilot?"
"…Oh my God," Juniper exhaled breathlessly.
"Holy shit, Corvid," Hooligan exclaimed quietly, as if shocked that someone who played video games could be in decent shape. "You're, like, super hot!"
I blinked. This wasn't exactly the response I was expecting.
"Thanks!" I replied, trying not to sound too awkward. "Uh, Phoenix? You still there? I sent my proof."
"…Alright, yeah, you're a guy. But should you really be sending pics like that to strangers on the internet?" she asked, sounding far more cautious and uncomfortable than before. "You could give people the wrong idea about you."
What?
"What do you mean?" I asked her, genuinely clueless.
"Y'know…" she danced around her point. "People might think you're, like…reckless. A real, uh, risk-taker."
"Huh?" I replied intelligently.
"People might think you're…an offering," she said, like the words had to be physically dragged out of her. "Like you're usab-uh, well, you get the idea."
I blinked. "No, I have no clue what the hell you're talking about."
Phoenix huffed, apparently annoyed, or exasperated, or something. I wasn't really sure. "Whatever. Just be careful who you send photos of your nipples to. It's hard enough keeping these two on a leash as is."
"Hey!" Hooligan protested.
"Uh, sure," I relented, ignoring Hooligan's outcry. "I'll be careful."
"Also, is that permanent marker?"
I looked down at the writing. "Shit. Yeah. That probably won't come off for a while. It's gonna be weird having to explain this in the lockers," I chuckled.
"…Yeah, good luck with that," Phoenix replied awkwardly after a second of silence or so. "Hey, I gotta hop off, get some sleep. It was fun and shit."
She left the call before any of us could even say goodbye.
Hooligan snorted. "Well, I know what she'll be up to for the rest of the night."
"Don't disparage your friends behind their backs, Hooligan," Juniper chided softly, still sounding distracted.
"Yeah, yeah. Alright, my parents are gonna be pissed at me if I'm on any longer, so I've gotta call it here for tonight. I had a lot of fun playing with you, Corvid! Hopefully, we can do this again soon!"
"I hope so, too," I told her sincerely. "Goodnight, Hooligan."
"Get some rest," Juniper added.
"Goodnight!"
And with that, she had left the call as well.
Only Juniper and I were left.
"Are they usually that rowdy?" I had to ask. I had only just met them all, so I wasn't sure if Hooligan and Phoenix were normally like that, or if they were playing up their personalities a bit to keep the conversation going.
"Not always," she informed me. "Sometimes they are, but I think they might've been trying to impress you," Juniper giggled softly.
I blinked. "Why?"
She paused. "Uh, well, you're a guy, so…y'know…."
I did not, in fact, know. Last I checked, it was usually guys who tried to play up the conversation to talk to the girls more, especially since girls who played MMOs were a rarity.
"Sure," I let it slide. It seemed like one of those things she just expected people to know, and I had already caused an awkward situation with Phoenix, so I didn't want to pressure her with something that she wasn't comfortable telling me.
"How old are you, by the way?" she asked hesitantly.
"Eighteen," I lied. I was still a few months off from my eighteenth birthday, which was in early April, but I was still over the age of consent in my state, and it would be the truth soon enough.
I doubted that would get me into many bars anytime soon, but oh, well. I didn't care about that, anyways.
"What about you? You certainly sound more responsible than your friends. Are you usually the one that has to corral them?" I asked, trying to sound casual. And probably failing, if I had to be honest.
"Yeah, I'm twenty-nine," she admitted. "They're both still in school. Hooligan's about to graduate high school, and Phoenix is in uni."
"Gotcha," I nodded. "Did you get a degree?"
"I did, but only an associate degree. I got a communication degree, and I was thinking about going to university, but I got a job offer from a web company. They offered to train me, so now I'm a web developer," Juniper explained.
"That's pretty cool. Is it a good job? Pays well?" I asked, mostly for politeness' sake, but I figured that anyone talking about their career was bound to be decently interesting to listen to.
"Yeah, I think so. There isn't really much upward mobility, but it's low-stress, I make enough to pay the bills, and I get to work at home, so I make my own hours," she told me. "So, I usually play video games or watch TV on my off time."
"Fun," I told her. "Is it more of a coding job or an artistic design job?"
"It's pretty split. It used to be more artistic design, but I've had to learn more and more coding over the years, since the company wanted me to rebuild and troubleshoot their website a few years back. It's not too difficult, I just had to do some extra research, since I mainly did front-end in the beginning," she told me. I could hear the smile in her voice.
I was glad. I can't remember the last time I made someone happy just by talking to them. Juniper sounded like she didn't get out much, given her job, so she was probably pretty lonely, and I didn't want to sound rude, but neither Hooligan nor Phoenix seemed like the listening type.
"Gotcha. I'm in Hooligan's position, about to graduate high school. I'm not really sure what I want to do with my career, though. I might just go into the fashion industry, since I've already got contacts there," I admitted. I could go into the business side, which would certainly require a degree, though if I felt like forgoing a degree, I could try to work on the designer side. Unfortunately, while I was decent at sketching, I was nowhere near good enough to become a designer, to say nothing about my sewing skills. Both of those could certainly be taught, but that would probably take as much time as a baccalaureate.
Learning both at once would be even more difficult, but it would at least give me some options, and possibly better pay and position within any fashion company I joined. I didn't know if I had the potential to become a big name, but with the amount of nepotism I could abuse, I figured I had a shot if I could learn both sides of the business properly.
"That's very nice," she told me. "Are you really into that kind of thing?"
I shrugged, more on reflex than anything. "I think I'd probably do better on the business side than the clothing side, honestly. I'm decent at ideas, but as a designer, I'd need to make the clothes myself if I wanted them to have a shot at looking like exactly how I envision them. At most, I'd make some sketches and toss them to a design team, see if they can work with what I give them."
"Have you thought of being a model? You're certainly beautiful enough to be one."
I paused. Were older women usually this forward? Admittedly, her compliment was a massive ego boost, which I would remember for a long time, but I'd never heard such a forward statement from anyone, including both my ex and the girl I had eaten out in a ski lodge bathroom yesterday.
If older women are this forward, then I need to talk to more older women.
"Thanks! Feel free to save it, if you want," I offered teasingly, only half-joking. "I do have to go to bed soon, though, so I'm gonna have to call it here for tonight. Feel free to shoot me a message if you wanna talk tomorrow."
"I'd like that," she said softly. "Goodnight, Corvid."
"Goodnight, Juniper. I'll talk to you soon."
I clicked "end call" and pulled my headphones off of my head, shaking my hair loose. Leaning back in my chair, I stared blankly at my computer, just taking a moment to collect myself, before I decided to shoot each of the girls a friend request on discord as well. After the requests were sent, I shut down my computer, then stood up and headed out of my room to put the marker back and grab a bottle of water before I went to bed.
Unfortunately, sleep did not come easily. Despite how active I was yesterday, the most strenuous things I had done today were walk up and down my stairs and play video games. Factor in how long I slept last night, and there was no way I was falling asleep this early.
Lying in bed, wide awake with nothing to do also made me realize how unbearably fucking horny I was.
I had eaten out that girl at the ski lodge, and she certainly seemed to have a great time, but I never managed to get my rocks off while I was with her, and I was tired enough from snowboarding all day that I hadn't emptied out the tank last night or today. My various hobbies had provided a good distraction, if a bit maddening, but now that nothing else was holding my attention, I realized that I needed to cum, badly.
My original plan was to pull up some porn or hentai, but as I opened up my internet browser on my phone, I was interrupted by a message. Juniper had apparently decided to text me, even though we had already ended our conversation over half an hour ago, and had already said goodnight to each other. And her message wasn't even one with a point, either; it was just asking if I was still awake! She could have just done the polite thing and said her point without preamble and waited until I had woken up tomorrow to read it, but she apparently needed closure right this second.
Okay, maybe I was overreacting a little.
Nonetheless, I decided to hold off on jerking off, and instead texted her back.
CorvidKnight: What?
Juniper_Crown: Hey, I'm really sorry about Phoenix's behavior. It was wrong for her to pressure you like that, and you shouldn't have had to send a photo of yourself to get her to back down. I didn't do enough to try and stop her, so I'm really sorry, and I want you to know if there's anything I can do to make it up to you, please don't hesitate to ask.
I blinked, not really knowing how to feel about the text. She was acting like this was some kind of sexual harassment case, but I certainly never felt harassed. Confused, at most, and mildly inconvenienced. The worst part was having the marker unable to come off for at least a week, so everyone in the boys' locker rooms in gym class was going to see my username, and I'd have to come up with a somewhat believable explanation as to what the hell had happened, because there was no chance that any of them would believe me if I told the truth.
CorvidKnight: It's fine. It wasn't a big deal. As long as she isn't that abrasive every time we play, we'll be fine.
Juniper_Crown: Are you sure? I still feel really bad, and I want to make it up to you somehow.
I couldn't tell if she was being genuine, or she was trying to steer the conversation in a specific direction. It almost felt like she was the one who wanted something, rather than the one offering, but I also didn't know her that well, so it could just be all in my head.
CorvidKnight: I don't know what you really mean. I'm both tired and pent-up right now, so if you want to have this conversation tomorrow, when I'm thinking a little more clearly, than we can do that. If not, then you should know that I'm probably going to be a lot less polite and a little too honest.
Juniper_Crown: Now is fine!
Juniper_Crown: …What do you mean by pent-up?
God, this whole conversation is so fucking awkward.
I probably shouldn't have phrased that last message like I did. I probably came off as some nerd recluse who'd never held an actual conversation with another human being in my life.
CorvidKnight: You know exactly what I mean. I'm not going to just come out and say it.
At this point, I should have just shut my phone off and gone to bed. This conversation was already way too uncomfortable, and I would save both of us a lot of trouble by just dealing with the problem on my own, passing out and pretending like this never happened tomorrow. Even if I was somehow able to salvage this conversation, we would go from barely-acquaintances-who-played-a-game-together-once to…something a lot more complicated, at the very least. And that could end up making any future interactions we had a lot more awkward, and Phoenix and Hooligan would definitely pick up on that; there was no way that they were that oblivious. Every woman that I had ever met had always been decently perceptive at the very least, so two girls a little older than me were probably gossip fiends, and would definitely pick up the tension between Juniper and me.
After a few moments, Juniper finally began to type a response.
Juniper_Crown: Do you need any kind of "material?" I'm not like, some super pervert that collects that kind of stuff, but if you have any specific kinks or tastes, I could try to help you out, I guess, if that's really what you want.
Juniper_Crown: It's cool if you don't, though! I understand! I imagine it might be weird to have a woman sending you that kind of thing, so if you don't, just say so and I won't bother you about it again, I'll just leave you to it!
Juniper_Crown: Goodnight! I'm sorry to bother you!
I blinked at the unexpected messages.
Shit. And I thought I was awkward.
She seemed to really want to continue the conversation, but I doubted she had much experience talking to people, if offering them to help search for porn was the first thing that popped into her mind. Admittedly, that was probably my fault for mentioning that I was horny in the first place, but still, that was such a weird transition. If she wanted to dirty talk or something, she could have just asked, rather than leading with "hey, I can find porn for you" and then deciding to back out immediately after offering.
I supposed I could leverage it into trying to see some of her. That might be interesting. Of course, that could also feel kind of manipulative, but then again, she did offer anything to try and make it up to me….
Eh, fuck it. Let's see what happens.
CorvidKnight: I mean, I'd like to see what you look like rather than watch random internet porn. I'd definitely prefer your company to porn stars.
Hopefully she doesn't take that the wrong way.
Juniper_Crown: Really? Do you really want to see what I look like? Are you asking for like, nudes or something? Lol
CorvidKnight: I wouldn't be opposed~
I smiled to myself, just a little. Hopefully that would properly convey my interest. She seemed to be kind of dense. I could tell that she was definitely an introvert; for her to be thisawkward, she had to have very little contact with anyone outside of her friends, and maybe her profession.
A couple minutes later, I received my first-ever nude photo.
I was honestly surprised at how good Juniper looked. I was expecting her to be an incredibly unattractive woman, given how inexperienced she seemed, but she would probably do well if she started making amateur porn. Her skin had a few dark spots, and she was slightly chubby around the stomach, but she still had fantastic curves, the dark spots gave her skin some serious character that I really enjoyed, her bush was rather thick, which provided a nice contrast to her otherwise pale skin, and those few extra pounds helped give her some absolutely beautiful breasts. They were probably some of the largest I'd ever seen on any woman that wasn't morbidly obese.
My first thought, of course, was how much larger they would get if I got her pregnant.
I still don't know if I'm weird for thinking that or I just have strong biological reactions.
However, her beauty did make me question why she seemed so awkward and unsociable. Was she just agoraphobic? Did she have some kind of mental disorder, or was she bullied as a kid, which ruined her self-esteem?
I decided to save those for later, and instead focused on complimenting the shit out of her.
CorvidKnight: You're incredibly beautiful, Juniper. I'm surprised you aren't already married. Any guy would be very lucky to have you as a wife.
Juniper_Crown: I know I'm not that good looking, Corvid. You don't have to patronize me :(
I blinked. I certainly wasn't expecting that as a response. Apparently, her self-esteem was bad enough that she didn't believe I was being sincere at all. It seemed I'd have to convince her that I was being serious.
Unfortunately, I couldn't exactly prove it to her in-person, so hopefully she would believe me if I was persistent enough in my compliments.
CorvidKnight: I'm not patronizing you, Juniper. You have no idea how unbelievably fucking horny you make me. You're honestly gorgeous. I'll be dreaming about you for weeks.
CorvidKnight: Can I save the photo? I want to keep it. For personal reasons ;)
I hoped that wanting to keep the photo would convince her, and not just make her think I was gonna spread her nudes around behind her back. I still didn't understand how her self-esteem was this low with a body that was practically the definition of motherly. The Greeks would have fucking worshipped her, if their paintings of Aphrodite were any indication.
Juniper_Crown: If I make you so horny, why don't you send me some proof of your own?
That certainly sounded like a challenge to me. Without hesitation, I tossed off my blankets, revealing my nude body to the cold air, pressed a few of my pillows back against the headboard to make a makeshift chair, sat back and angled my phone to take a picture of my rock-hard dick at what I thought was the most attractive angle. It took me a few tries, but I eventually got one worth sending: it was an attractive angle that showed off both the curve and girth of my cock, and maybe even slightly exaggerated its length (a proud, respectable eight and a half inches, anyone with a nine inch dick or bigger can go fuck themselves, there are like no women whose vaginas are that deep, I'm definitely not just saying this because I'm salty, I swear), and the camera flash also highlighted my abs and chest. My arms weren't exactly rippling, admittedly, but I was a pretty slim person overall, so it was difficult for me to build muscle, and I was proud that I was as defined as I was, so I still wanted to show off my arms and shoulders in the picture. The photo cut off at the base of he jaw, just enough to show my hair, and maybe the barest hint of my jawline. Overall, it was a great picture. Possibly my best nude to date.
Not that I had taken many before, but still.
I sent it to Juniper with a flirty caption, and awaited my response.
Almost immediately, I received a response.
Juniper_Crown: Holy shit
Juniper_Crown: what the fuck
Juniper_Crown: you're fucking huge
Juniper_Crown: it's gorgeous
Juniper_Crown: you're like a model
Juniper_Crown: and you aren't, like, a catfish, since the writing's still on you
Juniper_Crown: and your chest is still the same
CorvidKnight: I'd hope it's still the same lmao. I'd be worried if my chest suddenly became different within two hours.
Juniper_Crown: oh
Juniper_Crown: right
I decided that while her fawning over me certainly satisfied my ego, it hadn't satisfied my lust, so I wanted this conversation to get a move on. I was ready to see her in action.
CorvidKnight: It looks even better in action. Wanna video chat and see~?
I didn't even get a response—just a notification that Juniper was video calling me.
Keeping my camera pointed down towards my exposed dick, I hit "answer," careful to keep my face out of the shot. Juniper was also being careful, which made me glad that she wasn't a complete idiot, and she was already furiously masturbating, which was doing some very entertaining things to her breasts. I began to wrap my hand around my hard, veiny, uncut cock and slowly stroke up and down, almost absentmindedly.
"Damn," I murmured. "You look amazing like that. I wanna see you like this all the time."
"Nngh," Juniper moaned wantonly, already deep in her own little rabbit hole of pleasure (literally and figuratively), going to town on herself. She tried to position herself to show off her sopping pussy to the camera, though her camera arm was hardly the most stable, given how rapidly she was pumping two fingers in and out of her hole with her other hand, and the angle also no longer showed her full, heavy tits as clearly. Overall, her performance was amateurish, sloppy and only focused on her own pleasure.
All of that just made it even hotter to me.
She was loving the show I was putting onfor her, obviously desperate for her own release. I could hear it in her breathy, tensing moans and in her sloshing, wet hole, and I could see it in her grinding fingers and gyrating hips, all working together to try to bring her over the edge as fast as possible.
"You're so beautiful, baby…ugh, I wanna devour you so bad, just envelop your dick in my walls…" Juniper moaned out, her speech currently a bit slurred. Her dirty talk could also use work, but her wanton enthusiasm more than made up for it. I sped up my own stroking in response, still making sure that she always had a clear view of me.
"God, if I was with you right now, you have no idea how hard we'd fuck. Neither of us would be walking for days," I murmured back as breathily and as sultrily as I could, trying to make her want me even more.
"Good," she moaned out. "I wanna keep you trapped in my bed, wanna make you my own personal slut!"
Her pace was becoming more frenetic and unstable as we talked dirty. Her legs were shaking, practically vibrating with raw need, making her thighs jiggle in a way I really enjoyed. I sped up a little more as well, making sure that I used long, full strokes to pleasure myself, showing off how my balls bounced and my foreskin rolled back and forth over the head of my penis, enveloping and uncovering my full, flared glans repeatedly. My tip was dripping precum all the way down to my forefinger, making my shaft begin to glisten with my own fluids.
"Fuuuck, we'd just be having an all-day fuck-fest. I'd never wanna pull out of you, just have my cock soak inside you the whole time. You'd feel me get hard inside you once I finish recovering from round one," I moaned out, trying to keep my pace steady and not blow my load too early. I hadn't cum in a few days, and I was still incredibly blue-balled from eating out Mabel yesterday, so I was definitely more sensitive than usual today.
"Holy fuck," she gasped. "Can you go multiple rounds like that? I've only ever seen that in porn, where they're all drugged up." Her thumb had moved to her clit and was grinding against it slowly as she continued to thrust her fingers in and out of her hot core. She was only moving her fingers now, rather than her whole hand, so she was going a bit slower, but clearly her clit rubbing made up for her slower fingering. Either that, or she was too close to her orgasm and wanted to back off to make the session last longer.
It didn't matter to me. With how hard she was going at her pussy, she'd probably cum soon enough, anyway.
"Sometimes," I admitted breathily after a second or two. "Usually takes me like twenty or twenty-five minutes to recover, and I usually only cum once on my own, but if I'm with someone, I'm usually able to go for another round or two. I just need the recovery time."
"That's amazing," she breathed out, sounding legitimately impressed, which surprised me. I knew a lot of guys were one-and-done kind of people, but I didn't think two or three rounds with nearly a half-hour recovery period was anything special. Surely, there was some upper echelon of absolute studs who could go for like eight rounds with only five- or ten-minute breaks between orgasms, right? Just some absolute sex gurus and high-end escorts, I assumed.
I don't think I'm that special, am I? Is she just trying to butter me up or something?
I pushed the thought to the back of my mind, taking the compliment at face value. I was over halfway to an orgasm, and that wasn't exactly the most helpful environment for critical thinking. I could think about it afterwards.
"Fuck, your pussy looks incredible, you're fucking soaking. I bet you feel amazing," I moaned out to her, showing off how my glans became swollen and shiny as my precum leaked all over my cockhead. "Especially when you cum. You probably flood the fucking bed with your juices, if you're this wet now."
"Mm, you have no idea. I've ruined an entire—ahn—mattress before," she moaned out mid-sentence. Her schlicking sounds were getting louder, and I could see more and more fluids drip out of her as she continued to pound away at herself. She was clearly close.
So was I.
"Oh, I'd love to see that~" I told her, shaking my dick a bit, just to show off a little. "If I were there, we'd ruin so many sheets and mattresses that we'd have to start only fucking in the bathroom."
"Fuck, you're really that horny?" She asked. "I wish I could keep you, then, we'd be fucking all night! I wanna make you my own personal slut!"
That comment honestly threw me for a loop. I certainly had never been called a slut before, and I'd never expected to, given I was a guy. Nonetheless, I pushed it to the back of my mind. I didn't want to ruin the mood this close to cumming.
"I'm close, babe," I let her know, my voice becoming a little hoarse due to my dirty talk and all the time I'd been spending jerking off. "Are you able to cum soon? I wanna cum together, babe. Please," I added a tinge of desperation into my voice to make it a little more exciting, since she seemed to enjoy my excitement.
"Fuck yes, baby, I can't hold it much longer!" Juniper practically shouted. "Please, please, please fucking cum for me, baby, cum for me!"
I couldn't hold it any longer, either. Large streams of hot semen began to shoot out of my desperately twitching, throbbing cock, flying high into the air and splattering all over my chest, stomach and the sheets surrounding me. A good amount of it ended up landing on the username I had written on my chest with sharpie, covering it in thick splotches of white. I very nearly missed her orgasm as the intensity of my own practically made my eyes roll back into my head.
It was one of the best orgasms I've ever had.
"Fuck, I'm cumming!" I growled out as my cum flowed generously out of my dick, doing my best to keep the camera steady and in focus so that she could watch my rocking, powerful climax.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, yes!" She screamed out, squirting a powerful splash of her fluids everywhere. Juniper's hips were shaking so fast that they were practically vibrating as she tipped over the edge and came all over the place. Her fingers couldn't even properly pump into her anymore, so she was relegated to inconsistently jerking her fingers against her g-spot as her thumb rapidly rubbed against her clit. Any other detail was lost as she couldn't keep her phone steady any longer, and I was relegated to watching the shakiest orgasm I'd ever seen.
By the time she began to come down, her mattress was fucking soaked.
We were both breathing hard, winding down from our respective orgasms, but my head still felt like I was driving on a fog-covered road in the middle of the night. Post-nut clarity had apparently not bothered to kick in yet.
"Hey," I got her attention, still breathless. "Thanks for the orgasm. Best I've had in a long time. You looked great on camera."
"Thanks," Juniper said between breaths, sounding so exhausted that I wasn't quite sure if she was being sincere or sarcastic. I assumed she was being sincere, though, given how fucking massive her orgasm was. "You looked incredible. One of the hottest guys I've ever seen."
I would have given her the same compliment, but I she still hadn't shown her face, and I didn't want to make that judgment until I saw her entirely. So instead, because post-nut clarity apparently still hadn't kicked in, and I was riding high on her compliments, I slowly panned up from my flagging dick, showing my cum-drizzled abs and chest, before bringing the camera all the way up to my face, showing off everything for her.
Probably not the smartest decision in my life, but whatever. The little gasp that slipped out of her when she saw my face made it all worth it.
"Thanks, babe. Maybe sometime we'll make this happen for real. But I gotta clean up and get to bed, so I gotta call it here."
"Al-alright," she said, sounding a little dumbfounded, like she couldn't figure out how to respond.
"Goodnight, babe." I hung up right after.
Cleaning up was a pain, given I had to wipe off my body with a wet washcloth, dry myself off and then rip my sheets off of my bed, drag them downstairs, throw them in the washer, start up a wash cycle, then grab new sheets, drag them upstairs and remake my bed, but it didn't take too long in the end. As I slipped back under the covers, staring out my bedroom window at the waxing moon hanging in the sky, my mind wandered back to all the weird comments those girls made, both during the game and during the video session.
They thought it was crazy that guys played video games, Phoenix even forced me to prove it, they were worried about me of all people being a catfish, then they were all weird about the shirtless picture, Juniper offered me porn recommendations, called me a slut, and seemed to really like me, way more than even Sidney ever liked me. It seemed like she was almost...like, desperate? Which a girl like her really shouldn't be, even if she was kinda awkward and apparently a huge introvert. And that isn't even mentioning my books. I still feel like I'm losing my mind just thinking about them.
I thought the girls might have just been crazy, which could explain both how weirdly off-kilter they all were and why they were all friends, but even crazy people aren't so out of touch with reality that they need guys to prove that they're not catfishing in an MMO. Guys usually made up at least ninety percent of an online game's player base, so they couldn't have just been so batshit that they thought guys never plated video games, especially not to the point where they needed the guy to prove that he wasn't a catfish. And all of them seemed pretty sane otherwise, even if they were all kind of…eccentric.
I didn't think it was just them being weird. This wasn't the kind of weird that could be explained away by a few people that seemed like they lived under a rock in the Amazon. I was missing something; some key piece of a puzzle I didn't even know I was trying to solve. I felt like I was staring at a tree or two, but I was missing the entire forest around me, and I wasn't sure how to get a full view of everything. Like I was staring at an entirely new color I had never seen before, and needed its context explained to me. Whatever it was, it was something big.
I didn't know what the hell was going on, but I intended to get to the bottom of this.