FSE

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I snatched Daniel's controller from his hand and paused minecraft, going through the process of saving and closing the game.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

"He hasn't played Oblivion yet." Seth sat down next to Ted, and stopped Ted from sprawling out across him and Daniel. I pulled CoD out of the tray and looked for his Oblivion disk.

"You haven't played Oblivion yet? Man, your parents are horrible." [Daniel]

"Well, I also never knew what it was about, so it's not like I'd ask to play it." [Me]

"Which is stupid. These games are amazing." [Ted]

"Yeah. I kinda got that from what Seth said about them. Also, where's the case?"

"Oh, it's the metal one. I got the collector's version a couple years ago, to replace the old disk. It'd gotten scratched up from being used so much." [Seth]

"So, Seth, how did you play the game? I usually ended up being a warrior, and just slaughtering all the bandits and stuff." [Ted]

I found the case and put the disk in, then sat on Seth's lap. "Oh, I usually was a rogue-like character. You know, sweet mother, sweet mother-"

"-Send your child unto me,-" [Seth and Daniel]

"-For the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear!" I felt excluded. Obviously because I had no idea what they were talking about, and was the only who didn't join in to their freakish chant.

"You know, I think my parents would go comatose if they heard you guys just now." [Me]

"Good, then my parents would be able to take you in and we could spend more time together." [Seth]

"Psh, that's not how it works."

"It's not? Hm, I was under the impression that I'd spend the rest of my life with you." There was an awkward silence. I just turned around and hugged him as the game's music started playing. I felt both of us being moved as Daniel and Ted wrapped their arms around us. Ignoring the game's track looping over again, we continued to hug and cuddle like this for a good minute and a half. Seth finally had the courage to say he wanted to see how I played the game, and I rolled over, sitting in his lap normally again.

The game was easy, running through a dungeon and looting bodies and such. I didn't run into any issues until the cave rejoined the main sewer and those red guys came back. The others were pretty quiet, which I found odd, since in any other game, they'd probably be telling me what to do, but they refused to give any help for Oblivion.

"Why are guys being so quiet?"

"This isn't the kind of game to be telling people what to do." [Seth]

"It's open world, there's millions of ways to play the game." [Ted]

"Open world? I've been in the same dungeon for some thirty minutes." [Me]

"Just wait til you leave the sewers." [Daniel]

"Oh, do I come out in the closed off-" I clicked the button to save and leave the sewers, and found myself on a small beach with a massive river in front of me, with rolling hills in the background. I wasn't used to playing open world games, I'd honestly only ever played Halo games, and not even all of them. It was like opening my eyes to the whole world, seeing how big the game was.

I followed the markers to the cities and wandered around a good bit. I eventually figured out fast travel as I was looking at the map to try find the fastest root to do the first quest. I was sure it was just an introduction quest, but then it started to spiral out of control. Everything was getting out of hand, a city destroyed, and apparently there were entire religions and cults and strange demon worshipping people in the game. I started getting stressed out, and decided to go somewhere else after I finished with Kvatch.

I found something called the "mage's guild", and headed for that, since I had taken a liking to magic. I don't care if it was confusing and poorly done, it felt like a giant middle finger in the face of my parents. After about two hours of gameplay, Daniel said it was time to go, and Seth showed me how to pause and save the game.

We left for Daniel's house within a few minutes, but none of us licenses or even permits, and Seth didn't have a bike, so he got to cling to me as we headed up the hill. Seth's parents never got the oppurtunity to teach him, since he couldn't really go in public without looking like a satanist, and it's not like he had anywhere to go, since he had no friends. Not that I cared. I thought it was nice, aside from the constant squeezing of my rib cage, and hearing the little wimpers next to my ear. He kept his eyes shut tight and his head nuzzled next to my neck the whole ride there.

We soared up the hill, and got an incredible view out over the ocean, that was diminished by the people who'd planted massive walls of trees on their yards, or filled it with swing sets, and other periphinalia. I didn't pay attention when we went down the hill, mostly because we were going way too fast for even my liking, and we kept going until we were half way to the end of the road.

Daniel turned and stopped a few yards in front of us, facing the house on our right. We all stopped about where he did, and got off our bikes, dragging them over to the lawns. Daniel opened a garage door that was built into the ground, and we rolled our bikes in there, while Seth leaned up against any wall he could, trying to get over motion sickness. We all followed Daniel into the house, and I was completely bewildered by the size on the inside.

The entire back wall was a massive sheet of glass, probably reinforced and five panes thick, but still massive. The wall we came out from was opposite it, and was painted with a giant symbol of a gear. There were two doors on either side of us, and the wall to our left had a bar, but sort of punched into the wall was a kitchen, with an island in it, despite the bar. The wall to our left had another room, also missing a proper wall, and it had a few lounge-like objects in it; pool tables, old arcade games, and a TV with every console I could name connected to it, and a couple more. To add to the enormity of the main room, the ceiling looked almost thirty feet high, certainly over the standard height for any house. Above the first door we came from was a balcony, connecting hidden rooms to each other, and I tripped and fell back into a chair as I was looking around.

We weren't the only ones there, but only one other person was there. They were a Zebra, with a lot of gray hairs and graying muzzle. He had a nice build, and certainly looked more fit than I'd expect of someone that age. He had a nice smile, and was drinking a beer while he leaned against the bar.

"Hey, Papa." The zebra nodded in acknowledgement as he took another sip of his beer.

"Are mom and dad here yet?" [Daniel]

"No, the flight hasn't come in yet."

"Oh. Where's grandma?"

"She went on a walk with your sisters. ... Which one's your boyfriend?"

"This one." Daniel grabbed Ted's arm and pulled him closer, hugging him, and showing him off. Seth sat down on my lap and wriggled his butt into mine a little, just enough to coax me into being hard as a rock.

"Should've known. Apparently otters are our preference as Parkers."

"Huh?"

"You're dating an otter, I'm married to an otter, my dad married an otter after my mom died... Claire has a crush on an otter. Seriously, when your sisters have kids, your nieces and nephews are all gonna end up with otters... What would you call that? A zotter?"

Seth snickered, "No, you'd call it an obra."

"Heh heh, yeah, probably. ... So, I know he's Ted, so... you're Seth, right?"

"Yup."

"Thought so. Daniel couldn't stop talkin' 'bout you guys when he got home. He was so excited that his dad would get to see his boyfriend."

"Papa..." Daniel blushed, obviously embarrassed.

"Hey, Don's gonna be fine with it. You know, as long as neither of you go on to be another god damn Greg. That kid was disturbed. Bent on making weird weapons. Scary thing is that he sold them to another manufacturer at the island for royalties, and they've begun work on a weapons arsenal."

"Oh, crap." [Daniel]

"Who's Greg?" [Ted]

"Uhh... I'm gonna give you the least bias opinion you're gonna get around here right now. He's the psychotic son of the one of the other founders of the Industry." [Daniel's Grandpa]

"How's he 'psychotic'?" [Ted]

"Well, he's brilliant, but he likes to make weapons. Some of them are more of just war tools than weapons, but others are only blatantly weapons. I mean, it's hard to find a practical use for a device that levels cities."

"I'm suddenly scared of this guy."

"Well don't be, he's a coward and a weakling. His only strength is his machines and his ability to manipulate others. He's working on some project right now, but I think he's just gonna end up killing the poor kids. Seriously controversial stuff."

"Killing kids?" [Me]

"Uhh... Don't worry, you aren't an orphan, so you're fine. If you were, I think you'd want to act as idiotic and incapable as possible."

The door to the garage suddenly opened, and two adult zebras walked in. The second Daniel saw them, he let go of Ted and bolted to them, being held in their loving embrace. The loving embrace of a parent. Of a parent who actually loves their child. Of a parent who doesn't want to watch their child suffer.

Watching Daniel with his parents was like being spat in the eye by the universe and then kicked in the crotch. A part of me loathed them for it. For having what I so badly wished I could have. When you don't see your parents for a year, you're supposed to be glad when you see them again. But I wasn't, and I didn't miss them. It felt like my life was turning back into the hell it used to be. Just as painful, just a different kind of pain. Before I was keeping a secret from my parents and any one who'd tell, forcing that stress upon myself, but believing it nessecary. Now I was honest with them, and they hated me. They hated every fiber of my being. They wanted to watch me suffer. They-

"Ow, Alex, stop." I blinked and realized I was digging my hands into Seth's side, cringing with hatred and a want to hurt my parents.

"S-sorry," I whispered in his ear.

He whispered back, knowing that the others were talking, "You were thinking about your parents, weren't you?"

I nodded, trying to blink away the tears, even though I knew that blinking only made things worse. I rested my head on his shoulder, crying as softly as possible so as to not attract attention to myself. It was fine for a few minutes, feeling his soft fur, his breathing, the heat from the lines on his body... It helped to soothe me. I finally sighed as my tears stopped slipping out of my eyes. A part of me felt dead inside. Dead, like my love for my parents.