This was originally going to be a single chapter story, and literally just a simple romantic smut scene between The Batter and The Player, but then thirteen pages and a journey of self discovery later I realized this was way more than a single chapter story and broke it up. I would like to dedicate this chapter to S, for their lovely and well-constructed review of the last chapter.
I love you.
Those were the words that danced on the tip of The Batter's tongue. Why couldn't he just say it? He knew if he did, a thousand pounds would be taken off his chest. It was so easy to smile at his Player, to talk to her, and she was happy chattering away with him. The Batter was happiest when he could hug his Player, or when she would playfully punch his shoulder or knock his hat off his head. But is was just friendly banter on his Player's part, she couldn't possibly have any romantic feelings for him? After all, she was real with a life. The Batter was a character in a videogame, and he would be forever.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" He blurted one day.
The Player looked at him strangely. It was an awfully strange question to ask, and at one of the most strangest of times. They had just exited a battle with a burnt Elsen when he asked.
"Why do you want to know that?"
The Batter blushed furiously.
"Well... You spend an awful lot of time here, I don't want to steal what time you aren't in school away from a boyfriend."
The Player chuckled.
"No offence Batter, if I had a boyfriend all the videogames in the world wouldn't steal me away from him."
She chuckled again, then looked at The Batter with a serious expression. He met her gaze only briefly before looking away.
"Hey," She said playfully.
"If you're applying for the position you just have to ask."
The Batter responded by rolling his eyes and trying to remain sarcastic.
"I'll keep that in mind."
"What the fuck?!"
It was his Player swearing, not the sound of the door to the room The Batter was in opening that caught his attention.
"Player! I..!"
He was caught with his pants down, literally, hand wrapped securely around his painful hardness. He frantically tucked himself back into his pants and pulled his hat over his eyes. His Player stood staring at him, mouth agape and shaking her head slowly side to side. She took a deep breath and turned her back to The Batter.
"Uh, I'll just be going. Let you get back to what you're doing..."
As quick as she showed up, The Player was gone, leaving The Batter alone and embarrassed. The Player had caught him. Unbelievable. He was always so careful to avoid touching himself when The Player could possibly turn the game on, how did she show up now? The Batter looked at the computers time and mentally slapped himself. The Player had been home from school for almost two hours, of course she would show up. How did he lose track of time so easily? A painful throbbing from his lower regions reminded him of what he had been doing before. He sighed, with The Player gone, he might as well continue.
"Were you thinking about the Queen?"
When The Player returned the next day, she wasted no time in asking about what she saw before. The Batter felt his face heat up and he turned away in shame.
"I wasn't thinking about anything..."
"Look, I'm sure you're well past puberty, grown men don't pop like that unless they're thinking of something."
The Batter did his best to dodge his Player's questions, but they were in Zone 0 and there were no Spectres for him to fight as an excuse not to talk. He sighed and twisted his cap nervously in his hands.
"I was thinking about... Someone I know. Please, can we not talk about it?"
The Player nodded her head.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I really shouldn't be asking you about... That..."
They spent several hours sitting in Zone 0 in awkward silence with only occasional chatter. The Batter nervously snuck sidelong glances at his Player, looking away when he noticed she was doing the same. He was fidgeting. He alternated between crossing his legs and stretching them out. Eventually, The Player stood up and walked over to him.
"Well, we might as well get on with the game. We can beat The Room by the end of the day if we try."
Again The Batter faced The Judge and his Player in battle. He felt the rush of power coursing through him as he stood in his monster form. The Bad Batter, there again, ready to be defeated in a blaze of glory. He fought his hardest, even though he knew the outcome of the battle. Eventually, The Judge landed the final blow and The Batter sank to his knees.
"Nice effort Batter, but still a little short. Maybe one of these playthroughs yes?"
Already The Batter was returning to normal, his claws and fangs going away, eyes changing from dead and bulbous to their original human looking and cocky orbs. He flashed a smile at The Judge.
"With The Player on your side, I've got no hope. But maybe next time we should see if I would be victorious?"
The Batter turned his gaze to The Player.
"If you'd fight alongside me as a monster?"
"There's something I need to tell you."
"What is it Batter? You look so serious."
"I..."
The Batter took a deep breath to steady his heart. He was going to do it, spill his heart and finally tell his Player how he felt. That he loved her, that every moment with her was the greatest moment in his life, that...
"I... ugh..."
The world spun before The Batter and he collapsed to the ground. He heard his Player call out to him but couldn't respond. Everything was getting dark, he could barely feel his own body. The Player wrapped her arms around him and struggled to lift him.
"Batter? Batter!"
If The Batter was fully conscious, he would be impressed with how strong his Player was. He was at least a foot taller than her, and certainly weighed more. She struggled to drag him to a red or yellow box where he could recover health. The Spectres were a constant problem, and with The Batter out of commission, The Player was near her breaking point long before she reached a box.
It was then a large shadow loomed over her...
"I appreciate the hospitality, but I don't want to try my luck taking a big gulp of Plastic."
"Well, when you're dying of thirst I'll remember you said that."
The Batter was aware of voices in his ear, but all he could see darkness. His body was lying on something comfortable, and a heavy cloth of some sort was tossed over him. Slowly, The Batter's eyes peeked open and he saw he was in a room that looked awfully similar to Dedan's office. He carefully sat up and looked around. There was a doorway leading to an adjoining room that caught his interest and he attempted to stand up and walk towards it. His attempt failed however, and he landed in an ungraceful heap on the floor.
"It seems your friend is awake." A burly voice said from the adjoining room.
The Batter turned his head toward the door in time to see his Player come walking in. She had a worried look on her face that quickly turned to relief.
"Batter! You're awake!"
The Batter smiled weakly.
"Where am I?"
The Player smiled warmly.
"This is Dedan's house. He found us after you collapsed and brought you back here to recover."
She stifled a yawn.
"I haven't left since, I wanted to be here when you woke up."
The Batter felt a current run through him as his Player placed a hand on his head and stroked his hair. He closed his eyes and allowed himself begin to drift back to sleep when he felt his Player tugging him to his feet.
"Hey, no sleeping on the floor. Come back to the couch."
Leaning on his Player, The Batter made it to the couch and laid down.
"Dedan!" His Player called.
"We need to borrow your coat a while more."
The large man poked his head into the room.
"I have important business to attend to, if you leave before I get back make sure to lock up."
The Player nodded and bid Dedan farewell.
"He seems awfully nice." The Batter murmured sleepily.
His Player nodded and joined The Batter on the couch. It was a large couch, Dedan being a large man, but she chose to sit almost touching him.
"I was worried about you."
The exhaustion was obvious in her voice. She looked over at The Batter with heavy eyes and tried to frown.
"You were poisoned and I didn't realize it. Your health hit zero and-"
Her words were interrupted by a mighty yawn.
"Log out and sleep." The Batter said softly.
She yawned again and shook her head.
"I want to stay with you."
How it happened he wasn't quite sure, but The Batter watched lovingly as his Player slept peacefully leaning against him. He himself had dozed off on Dedan's couch, the aftereffects of his Health reaching zero having taken their toll on the man. When he initially had fallen asleep, his Player had been sitting next to him with her head resting on the back of the couch. Sometime during their shared nap, she had shifted and now rested against The Batter. He was captivated with her sleeping form. Her body moved slightly with each breath and a lazy smile was on her lips. Every so often her nose would wiggle like she was amused.
"Player? Are you awake?"
He tried to wake her up but his Player didn't seem to hear him. He could always move from the couch and wake her, but that would be a rude awakening. The Batter's only other choice was to stay on the couch and let her sleep. But the longer his Player laid against him, the more he found it was hard to keep his thoughts from drifting south. Giving in to his temptation, he shifted slightly and put an arm around his Player. She stirred in her sleep, but otherwise remained unmoving. Taking a breath to calm himself, The Batter pulled her closer to him. Her head lolled to the side and landed against his neck. Each breath she took ghosted across his skin and made his eyes flutter. And of course, make a rather uncomfortable tent form in his pants.
A door opened and shut, and a moment later Dedan walked into the room. His face looked impossibly soft for the aggressive man, and he offered The Batter a smile when he saw the two on the couch.
"Still asleep?" He asked.
The Batter nodded.
"She was worried sick about you. Kept blaming herself for you fainting. Said she should've noticed you were poisoned."
The Player nuzzled The Batter in her sleep.
"You should wake her up soon." Dedan said.
"I don't know a lot about Players, but I know that if they stay in-game for an extended period of time it's bad for their body. She's obviously getting sleep, but she'll need food and drink as well."
The Batter looked at his sleeping Player fondly.
"Piss or get off the pot, Batter. It's no secret you've taken a liking to your Player. Now don't bullshit around your feelings."
'Don't bullshit around your feelings.'
Simple enough advice, in theory. In practice, it was one of the harder things The Batter was expected to do. Five playthroughs in, it was obvious The Player wasn't coming back just for the thrill of the game. She had memorized the puzzles, mostly. She knew the best area's for level grinding, the locations of items, and managed to talk Zacharie's prices down every time her and The Batter shopped.
"What do your friends think about you spending so much time in-game?"
It was questions like that that made The Player laugh.
"Pfft, like I have friends. Naw, I don't spend that much time in-game. We spend a lot of time hanging out, and most of my friends spend a lot of lot of time in-game too."
"So you're not cheating yourself out of your life or anything?"
The Player sighed in annoyance.
"You realize I'm a law student, yes? I know when people are dancing around stuff. I have to deal with dancing assholes all day, I'd rather not deal with it from you too."
"You've played the heck out of this game, aren't you getting bored?"
The Player nodded guiltily.
"A little? The only reason I really come back anymore is to spend time with you and everyone else."
"Really? You actually want to talk to us?"
"Why is that so hard to believe?"
"Batter... Can I talk to you?"
Playthrough six? No, seven. Not a single Zone had been purified, yet they had been to the room. Broken the game if you will. Fighting was a formality now. Aside from the Spectres, but it wasn't their fault they couldn't be taught. The Player was recognized as much as The Batter himself, the Elsen spoke with her, swapped stories, she even visited some of them when they were in the Zone. A lot had changed.
"Of course, what do you want to talk about?"
His Player had been acting strange for a while. She seemed distant at times, not involved in conversations as much, not interested in what was going on in the Zones. The Batter's fear that she must be getting bored with him returned, and he was in a nearly constant state of anxiety.
She asked if they could return to Zone 0. The Judge was away visiting other Zones, so it would be empty. Even Zacharie admitted he had business elsewhere. They were in one of the underground rooms, The Batter leaning casually against a wall, and his Player sitting on a floating box.
"Is something wrong Player?"
She wrung her hands together, unsure of how to proceed.
"Do you love the Queen?"
The question caught The Batter off guard and his jaw slacked.
"I..."
The Queen was his wife, canonically of course. They had a child together and built the Zones from scratch. Or so the story supposedly goes. The Queen certainly loved The Batter, because even after he purified the Zones she still wanted nothing more than for him to return to her.
He knew it was coded in his being for him to have love for the Queen, but when he tried to think of her in a loving way... It didn't happen. He respected her, cared for her of course, as he had come to care for people even such as Dedan. But love? No, love was a feeling he reserved for his Player.
"I care deeply for her, but that care is not love."
"Can you... Feel love, Batter?"
Another heavy question that made The Batter's heart and stomach plummet. He wanted to scream 'yes, yes I can feel love, it's all I feel for you.' Dedan's words from what seemed like ages ago crept into his mind.
'Piss or get off the pot, Batter. It's no secret you've taken a liking to your Player. Now don't bullshit around your feelings.'
What was there to lose? His Player had caught him masturbating and still would speak with him. After an incident like that, what could possibly destroy their friendship?
"I... I believe I can feel love, yes."
The Batter strode over to his Player and stood in front of her. Her face was filled with confusion by his actions.
"Batter? What-?"
Her question quickly died as The Batter tilted her chin upwards and pressed his lips against hers. The contact surprised her, she never thought The Batter would do such a thing. She pulled away from him and instinctively wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Almost instantly, The Batter's arms dropped to his sides and he began apologizing.
"I..! I'm so sorry, I just, I..!"
His Player hopped off her box and put distance between herself and The Batter.
"I should be going..." She mumbled.
She headed towards the exit of the room they were in and The Batter followed.
"Wait, don't go! Please!"
Something in his tone caused his Player to stop and look at him.
"At first you were just like any other Player. You'd log on for a few hours, maybe a half day if you weren't busy, and I'd be stuck with you. You'd be Puppeteer and I your loyal marionette. But you tried to connect with me. You didn't act like other Players at all. I started to feel like..."
He struggled to find the right words.
"Like you saw me as someone like you. As a Player instead of some stupid game. And... I started to crave everything about you."
"Batter..."
She told him she needed to take a break. He understood fully, of course, but The Batter was still scared. 'A break' could be a few days, or months, or... Forever. His Player could uninstall the game files and erase him from existence if she wanted to. He wouldn't know, or maybe he would. Maybe he would be lost in an empty void for all eternity, doomed to hear the tortured screams of souls before him and his own maddened cries.
He went to Dedan for advice, of all people. It was a fruitless effort however, all Dedan could tell him was that he had done all he could do, the rest was up to his Player and luck.
"It's an all or nothing move, Batter, but if you didn't make it you would've driven yourself mad eventually."
So The Batter waited. It was almost a month before he saw his Player again, when he did he was overcame by mixed feelings of relief and apprehension.
"It's good to see you." He greeted with a bow of his head.
His Player bowed her head as well.
"Sorry it's been so long. Why don't we take a walk?"
Their walk took them deep into Zone 3 of all places. They walked through the hot furnaces where the Elsen's get their sugar. The Player loved the toasty temperatures, and there would be few people to interrupt them. They sat in front of one of the larger furnaces, the flickering lights from the flames dancing along their faces in a way that betrayed the tense atmosphere.
"I know you love me... And I care for you, Batter, I truly do. But no matter what either one of us says or does, you're a game, and I'm a person logged into a computer. I've always treated you like a human, and I'm going to keep treating you like one. But Batter, I could let myself fall in love with you just as easily as I could let myself fall out of love with you. We wouldn't... We cant..."
She wrapped her arms around herself and took a shaky breath.
"When I'm done playing the game, we wouldn't be anything special. One day, I'll find a guy in my world and any possibility of us being... 'Together' in any form, will be gone."
"I'd want you to find a guy in your world. It's what you deserve."
The Batter took his Player's hands in his and held them.
"Remember when you first started playing? We had a big game of pretend that I was good, the Queen was bad, and at the end of the day we could still pretend? Let's pretend. Let's pretend that when you play, you're part of this world. What do you say?"
The Player considered The Batter's words carefully. Her emotions swirled inside of her, hitting her in peaks of certainty and doubt. She looked up at him, gazed at his face that was full of such an open honesty, a portrait in which his heart was painted with vibrant colour.
She made her decision then, and slowly pulled her hands away...
This is the end of the story! A crappy way I know, but a sequel is in the works. (But I am trash and can't finish stories so...) I feel bad leaving a cliffhanger like this, but I feel like this is the best way to leave things. I want there to be hope of a happy end for The Batter and his Player, but I'm not ready to commit to making an ending, ya know? *Yes I'm trash...* Reviews are always welcome, and every bit of motivation helps me decide if there's going to be another one or not.