Quick note: I seriously apologize for doing nothing in this chapter. It'll pick up and I'll be less descriptive. I promise ;-;
On that note, as much as I wish I owned Cry and Pewdie, they're kind of people, and that would be slavery. Slavery is a no-no. Valve owns L4D2, though I have a copy of the game!
Okay, reading time.
Beep boo bee boop.
It was the sound of an incoming Skype call that woke me up. I rolled over, managing to entwine myself further in the already tangled mass of blankets, and looked towards the clock. It was too blurry to read the analog display, so I brought up a hand to rub at my eyes. Still blurry. Then I suddenly remembered why.
"Contacts," I hissed.
Beep boo bee boop.
I twisted my body in an attempt to free myself from the covers and damn near fell out of the bed. I wound up sliding awkwardly down the side of the bed head first until I was in a very awkward headstand. The blankets still trapped my legs in their linen-y grasp.
Beep boo bee boop.
I kicked and squirmed, and finally released my legs from the blankets. However, the covers were the only things restricting gravity from taking full effect on me, and I slid the rest of the way to the floor, landing on my back with a jarring "Oof!"
I still needed to put in my contacts, if only to see the name of who was calling, but decided it could wait until I'd taken the call and yelled a great mix of "sir," "friend," and various curse words for waking me up after a stream. Sundays are no-wakey-Cry day.
Beep boo bee boop.
I pulled myself off the floor and stumbled to my desk, practically collapsing into the chair. I found myself cursing my preference of desktop over laptop, not for the first time in my life. A push of the monitor's power button sent a steady glow of blinding white into the room.
I clenched my eyes shut, covering them with my right hand for extra protection from the harsh light. "Okay, ow," I breathed, my voice thick with sleep. I managed to get one eye open, barely squinting, and moved my hand away from my face to grab my mouse. My left hand moved to take its place, choosing a spot above my eyes, though, so I could still see. Well, see fuzzy shapes at least.
Beep boo bee boop.
"Yeah yeah, I hear you already," I murmured to the beeping program. My cursor hovered over the 'answer' button and, clearing the sleep from my throat, I clicked it.
"Heh heh heyy Cry!" Pewdiepie's cheerful, nearly chuckling greet filled the room. It was obvious who it was, despite my covered eyes, from the moderate Swedish accent and freakishly high level of spirit; Though to be fair, he probably hadn't just been woken up by obnoxious beeping, forced to wrestle with a mound of blankets (or lost against them, for that matter), and/or attacked by blinding light.
"Hey Pewds," I greeted. "Ah..God. Not the best wake up call, friend." I removed the hand from above my eyes and squinted lightly from the loss of shade, though my eyes were more or less used to the invading light at that point.
Pewdie fell silent for a moment and looked at me.
I decided to fill the silence. "Something wrong?"
"Y-Your… mask. It isn't…" he stammered before trailing off.
This time it was my turn to fall silent. I slowly spun my chair around. Oh,I thought to myself. So that was why I had peripheral vision.
"Shit," I spat. Then, over my shoulder I snapped, "Again, not the best wake up call!" I stood up from my chair and took a step towards the nightstand where my plain, white, pokerface-esque mask lie, but stopped. With an aggravated sigh, I turned back around and sat again, resting my forehead in my hands. "Well, the cat's sort of out of the bag, so there's really no point in wearing it now," I muttered. When I looked on the screen, I saw a blurry Pewds raising a questioning eyebrow at me.
The blob that was his head shook from right to left slowly. "I'm sorry about that, Cry. I was just calling to see if you wanted to play some Left 4 Dead 2 later. I finally found a map that seems to work."
"You mean you want to shoot up some zambies?" I pulled my lips into a smirk, even though I was still a little upset. "I'm there."
"Yay, zambies!" Pewdie did a little 'woo' in a falsetto voice before another silence settled upon us. I could tell he was in shock from getting this secret unexpectedly revealed to him.
It was actually a little relieving in a way, to have someone discover my secret. It had been so long since Scott, Russ, Red, and Snake had somehow seen me without the mask, that all of the excitement that came with seeing them face to face was gone. I decided to milk this opportunity a little. "So, what do you think?" I asked, motioning slightly to my revealed face.
"I thought you had glasses," he said hurriedly, like he'd wanted to ask me about it but didn't know if it would upset me.
"Contacts," I replied with a small nod. "I got them last week. Still need to put them on, though. You kind of just woke me up."
"Aw, seriously? I'm sorry, man, I didn't realize…" A pause. "Isn't it like 4 in the afternoon over there?"
I shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I can't see the clock display. I was a little busy fighting my bed anyway." I scooted to the side to give him a clear view of my bed in all of its half-hanging-off pile of twisted covers glory. "Plus I had a livestream, so I was up 'til about seven this morning."
"Right, I guess it is Sunday. Gah, I'm sorry 'bout that, bro."
"Ah, don't worry about it, Pewds. Just give me a few minutes to get ready and we can kick some zambie butt. You can stay on the call if you want."
"Alrighty, I'll set up my own stuff while you get yourself ready." Even though the computer screen was blurred, I could still see the big grin he flashed me. I returned it with another smirk.
"Alright, friend."
With that, I stood again and made my way to the bathroom connected to my room. I strode to the sink and splashed some freezing water on my face. If I wasn't awake before, now I am, I thought as I blindly reached for a towel to dry my face with. Fresh contacts went from their saline solution to my eyes, and I blinked once, twice, while the world snapped into crystal clarity.
"I can see!" I whooped. I heard a chuckle from the next room as I turned to walk back into the bedroom. "Alriiight, time to get out of these pajamas." I turned towards my computer and put on a mocking sultry expression. "You can watch if you want."
I held a straight face for maybe 3 seconds, and my friend fared even worse than I. For a split second he had looked like I had slapped him in the face with a fish, but then he launched into a fit of hiccupping giggles and light snorts. I started laughing too, starting with a restrained "pffft," and growing into a full-blown laughing attack until I was left doubled over and breathless.
"Oh God my siiiiides," I coughed lightly as I unfolded myself.
I opened my eyes, which had been clenched shut from the crippling laughter, and saw Marzia leaning into the Skype window.
"Don't you be trying to steal my boyfriend now, mister," she teased in her heavy Italian accent. A small smile played across her petite features and I giggled again.
"I make no promises," I choked through my constricted throat. Then, with a shake of my head, "Kidding. Love ya, Marzia," I pointed at her with both of my index fingers, my thumbs facing up towards the ceiling, and from across the room I saw her smile grow. She connected her thumbs and index fingers, made a heart symbol back at me before placing a kiss on Felix's forehead and exiting the frame.
I gathered my clothes from the dresser beside the bathroom door and turned to pad off into the bathroom again to change when I heard Pewdie clear his throat.
"I think you're forgetting something," he said. I glanced over my shoulder to and he nodded towards my nightstand. I changed the direction of my gaze to look over there.
"Wha.. My mask? I told you I'm not wearing it. Actually, I'm surprised Marzia didn't have a fit—"
"No." He nodded again. "You might want to check what time it is."
I shot him a slightly confused look before walking over to pick up the small clock.
9:04 AM
"Dick," I muttered as I heard the uproar of laughter begin behind me. I turned around as he started clapping like a blonde-haired, blue-eyed seal. Into the bathroom I went, slamming the door behind me. Was I mad? Not particularly. Was I tired? You bet. I emerged with a fresh navy hoodie and gray jeans. Pewdie was still riding out the final giggles of the joke.
"Yeah, you enjoyed that one didn't you?" I muttered with an eye roll when I took my seat. "I got two hours of sleep, you know? Everyone's going to think I'm drunk, as usual."
"Sorry, Cry. I had to. I really didn't mean to wake you up, I just got the time zones mixed up and I somehow forgot it was Sunday—a real genius Pewdie moment if you ask me. But your face was just priceless, especially since I could actually see it for once. Oh! That reminds me; I never actually got to tell you my opinion on how you look without the mask!"
I winced, looking away from the screen. "Please, don't do that, friend." Despite knowing he'd only have good things to say—he was a nice guy; there was no way he'd insult me over such a sensitive topic. Or ever, really. I just didn't want to hear the same speech I'd earned from the few other who stumbled upon me without my mask.
He cocked his head to the side. "Why not?"
"I just don—"
"Cry." I looked back to Pewdie's digital face. "You look great. Definitely different from how I pictured you, but really great." He pulled his best pedophile face, and in his classic Piggeh voice, added "Awwww yeeeaahhh."
Needless to say I fell out of my chair with laughter.
Really. Only he would ruin a bro moment for something like that.
"Alright bro," I heard him say from the desk above my fallen figure. "You ready to kick some zambie booty?"
"Let's do this, friend!"
A/N:
Yayayayaya chapter 1. Alrighty folks, strap yourselves up. You're in for the long haul. Again, sorry for doing nothing in this chapter. Merp.
Don't expect daily updates. I can't do this shiz every day. But I'll see ya soon.