Connection
Notes: Request for Cullrian meeting in an MMO, their characters being married, and them being friend's in RL but not knowing the other plays the same game until one night.
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Cullen won't admit that he punches his router when it dies, or that he's immediately calls Dorian up. Begging to use his internet for the night, because there's not enough time for him to fix it before the night's scheduled raid.
"Fine," Dorian sighs after a bit of unexpected resistance from his friend. "But I'm not going to be able to entertain you. I've got already planned commitments to stick to."
"That's fine," Cullen agrees thankfully. Dorian is a good friend, and normally Cullen would like nothing more than to spend the night talking. But it's a raid. He's not going to have any attention to spare so it's good that Dorian will be busy too. "I've got my own things to do too so I won't bother you at all. I just really need a working internet connection."
"Fine, let yourself in when you get here," Dorian says with a chuckle before hanging up.
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Dorian's not in sight when Cullen shuts and locks the apartment door behind him. He calls out a greeting and gets a distracted answer from back in the kitchen. Cullen moves immediately to the couch to set up his laptop. Freeing a plug from the tangle of cords that is the nearest outlet. Half of which are just chargers for various devices that aren't hooked in. He can see Dorian's laptop already set up on the dinning room table, and he looks ready for a long session of something.
"I'd offer you something, but you know better than me what's in the kitchen," Dorian says when he appears. An overlarge mug of coffee in hand to go next on the table. "You do know most people take food from their friends, not stock them up when they're not present."
"I'm not stocking you up. I'm laying out supplies for myself. You never have anything edible," Cullen answers and powers on the computer before getting up. He's going to need something to drink at the least. He's cutting it close but he'll only regret it if he doesn't have something on hand later.
"Hm-hm," Dorian snorts, but doesn't continue to snipe at Cullen. His attention already on his screen as he slides a nice looking set of headphones on.
Cullen ignores the still full pot of coffee and goes for water. Coffee's too easy for him to drink, and he always drinks too much, and he doesn't need to stop halfway through to use the bathroom. He'll never hear the end of it from Fletcher if he does. Cullen grins a little to himself. The raid isn't even all that important, and Cullen's pretty sure most of the people who wanted to be in on it won't show up. That's fine with him though, because he knows Fletcher will.
Fletcher's been the healer to Cullen's warrior almost since the start of his playing the game. They've been a good team, and Cullen's enjoyed both the storyline quests and the more... personal storylines they've built up together.
The raid isn't really all that important to Cullen but for Fletcher and Shane it'll be their second anniversary, and Cullen's looking forward to what the healer is going to do to keep up with that fact.
A familiar flicker catches Cullen's eye as he leaves the kitchen and he turns his head to look at Dorian's screen even though he's late. The HUD is familiar and Cullen stops, because he didn't know Dorian played. The surprise stops him long enough to recognize more than just the layout of the screen though. "Dorian?"
"Not now, Cullen," Dorian says distractedly. Flapping one hand at him to shoo him away even as he frowns at the screen. His healer character, far too familiar, maneuvering around the building of their clan. "I'm waiting for someone."
Cullen doesn't move as Fletcher runs around. Chat comments scroll down as he's greeted, and Dorian types out a few brief greetings of his own. And a question about Shane. He's getting visibly annoyed by the time Cullen stirs himself out of his surprise. Dorian is Fletcher. The healer that Cullen's been playing with for several years now. The person he's been flirting with and married in game is his best friend.
It shouldn't make as much sense as it does.
"Where is he?" There's a hint of worry threading through his voice that prompts Cullen to speak up again.
"Well," he ignores the sour look he gets for interrupting again. "His internet went down and he had to run to his best friend's home to get a working connection, and you know how slow his laptop is to boot up, Fletcher."
Dorian slowly and carefully plucks the headphones off his head. He spins halfway around to fix Cullen with a hard stare. "Would you care to repeat that?"
Cullen's laptop finishes booting, and the automatic startup of the game starts. The music is rather distinctive and Dorian turns that hard look to the laptop. "You are not Shane."
"No, but I do play a level 23 warrior named Shane," Cullen says and he's a little stunned still, but amusement is winning out. "He's married to this sarcastic healing mage who doesn't know how to stay in the back of the party and always insists he should be able to hit things with his staff. I was kinda in a hurry because tonight was supposed to be their anniversary and- What are you doing?"
Dorian is shutting the top of his computer down. Forcefully putting everything to sleep and standing up with an intent expression. He looks almost like he's girding himself up for something as he steps away from the table. "What I always promised myself I'd do if I ever met the smug bastard behind that hard-headed warrior."
Water sloshes out over Cullen's wrist and onto his jeans, but Cullen doesn't really care because despite the ominous words, Dorian doesn't punch him with anything more than his mouth.
They don't sign in that night for probably the first time in over a year, and Flethcer and Shane miss their anniversary. Cullen thinks he rather enjoyed spending it with Dorian on the couch anyway.
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