"So are you really gonna do…" Bea paused and looked around the backyard, then lowered her voice. "What she asked?"

"I'm leaning towards yes," Trent replied after a moment.

"Huh. You talk to Ann about it?"

"I did, actually."

"And?"

"She said she's cool with it."

"Interesting." Bea took another pull on the pipe and passed it to him. He accepted it and did the same. "How much work did you get done? Actually, where are you with your writing stuff? I haven't really been keeping track, which makes me feel kind of bad, given I'm your girlfriend."

"Don't feel bad, you're busy," Trent replied. "So, at this point, I'm in the process of publishing my compilation of short stories. There's only five, but they're closer to five novelettes than five short stories, so there's enough content there for a whole thing. I was originally thinking of writing a few more to sort of fill it out, but it's become obvious to me that I'm just not into short stories, or short anything. I want to write novels. So they're just gonna be what they are. Really, the only thing holding them back right now is a cover. I've got in touch with a cover artist and they're putting together something right now. It's two hundred bucks but, you know, spend money to make money. Honestly, everyone in the online forums I lurk around tells me I'm not gonna make much money with them, but I like them and Ann put work into them, and so did I, so I said fuck it. I'm almost done putting the final touches on my first novel, and my second novel should go faster, it needed less work. I hope to have all my backlog shit actually out before April."

"I'm sorry I haven't read it yet, I just...I have a thing. About only reading finished, final versions of things," Bea said.

"It's okay, Bea. I won't even be mad if you don't read any of my stuff. Don't feel obligated."

"Your other two girlfriends do."

"Mae reads the fan fiction that I wrote specifically for her and constantly forgets to read the short stories she asked to read, and Ann is my editor. It's really not a big deal." He took another pull and passed the pipe back to her, but she refused it.

"I'm good and toasty," she said. "Plus, I wanna be, you know, here. For when you do...what you're gonna do. Later on."

"Yeah. Actually…" Trent checked his phone. It was pushing midnight. "Probably about that time."

"Probably," Bea agreed, getting to her feet.

"That excited, huh?" he asked, grinning as he stood as well.

"Yeah...don't make me feel weird about it," she replied uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry," he said as they headed back inside, "I don't mean to tease you, it's just…"

"What, exactly?"

"I'm not sure. You're just so...straitlaced."

"I'm learning things about myself," she replied after they came inside. "It's...a process."

"Fair deal."

He expected to hear loud talking, or at least conversation, but he heard nothing except for the sound of some Linkin Park playing quietly. He and Bea walked into the living room. Trent laughed softly at what they found.

Gregg had come over to hang out not long after Mae finished up her business in the basement. They'd ordered a lot of Taco Buck and all five of them had hung out, mostly just talking and eating and laughing. Mae talked some about what she'd done. She'd recorded an hour long session of the game, which she planned to chop up into three twenty minute segments. She had spent the next hour and a half navigating social media, sort of building up what little hype she could, posting on some relevant message boards, and had finally ended her session by uploading the first episode. Trent had been curious to see it, they all had, but she only allowed Ann to watch, as both a test audience and to make sure she hadn't said anything particularly stupid.

And Mae had been resisting the urge to grab someone's phone or laptop and check to see how it was doing, wanting to let enough time pass for, ideally, something to happen. Instead of sitting there, endlessly refreshing it, waiting for anything at all to happen, letting her anxiety build. Eventually, Ann had headed off to do some more work, and they'd gotten the couch folded out and prepared, as Gregg had opted to spend the night.

They'd watched a few cartoons, then played some rounds of Mario Kart 64, passing some weed back and forth, and finally Bea had wanted to take some time outside, and Trent had wanted to join her, so they'd left Mae and Gregg in the living room.

That was half an hour ago.

Apparently in that time, all the excitement and then the weed had gotten to both of them.

Gregg was curled up on his side and Mae was spooning him, both of them snoring softly.

"I'm tempted to take a picture, but I think Mae would break my phone if she found it," Trent said as he walked over.

Bea laughed. Trent gently disengaged Mae from Gregg. Mae remained passed out completely, comatose as always, but Gregg stirred.

"Wha…" he murmured, looking over his shoulder and blinking blearily. "Trent? We can't...do stuff. I'm...married."

Trent couldn't help but laugh. "Gregg, get under the blanket," he replied, picking Mae up as he found himself doing most nights, "and get some sleep."

"Uh...yeah. Okay."

Bea was trying, and failing, not to laugh in the background.

"I miss Angus," Gregg murmured as he pulled the blanket over himself and got settled.

"I know, he'll be back tomorrow," Trent replied.

Gregg yawned and pulled the blanket more tightly around himself. "Your place is so cool."

"Thanks, Gregg. Goodnight."

"Night." And then he was out.

Trent looked at Bea. "Would you lock up?"

"Yeah," she replied, still smiling.

Trent headed upstairs and came into the bedroom, where he found Ann laying in bed, reading a book. "Oh, is it time?" she asked.

"I guess so," Trent replied, laying Mae down on the bed. He frowned as he looked at her, considering it. Did he really want to do this? The answer was almost immediate: yes. He already had most of a hard-on. Should he do this was the real question. He couldn't really think of a reason not to beyond some vague, uncertain bad feeling he had. Like he was doing something wrong. And the excited lust he felt only made him feel worse.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Ann said.

"The truth is I actually really want to, I just feel...weird about it," Trent replied. He looked up at her. "What do you think I should do?"

Ann pursed her lips, thinking about it. "You should do it," she said finally.

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah. You want to do it. Mae wants you to do it. Bea wants you to do it. I'm just north of ambivalent towards it. I have to admit, now I kinda want to see. No one else is going to know about it and even if they did, it isn't their business. I think you're just feeling guilty about it because some part of you thinks you're supposed to. I know that feeling. It's not quite the same thing, but it's along the same lines of principle. My prison book story. If you truly don't feel comfortable about it, then you shouldn't do it, but if you want to do, and you have no good reason not to, don't let fear hold you back. Just do it."

"Yeah...you're right," he replied after a moment, then started undressing her. "I'm doing it."

Ann grinned. "Hot."

"I hope so."

He finished undressing Mae and getting her adjusted on the edge of the bed as Bea came into the room. She closed the door behind her. "We are secure...wow, this already looks hot."

"I was hoping to ask a favor of you," Trent said as he finished getting Mae's panties down.

"What's that?" Bea asked.

"Can I bust in your mouth?" She raised an eyebrow. "I mean, it's just...I can't bust inside of Mae without having to clean her up. Or on her without having to clean her up. And...it'll just save on the cleanup, you know?"

"Mmm-hmm," Bea replied, "it's not just that you want to put your dick in my mouth and have me suck you dry and swallow it all, huh?"

"I mean...it isn't just that," he replied. "If you don't want to-"

"No, I'll do it," she replied. "But you gotta eat me. And tonight."

"Deal," he said.

Trent finished stripping down and got up against her. He definitely still felt weird about this. But she had asked for it, and he wanted to do it, and Bea was pretty into it, and even Ann seemed interested, having set her book aside.

He slipped inside of her, then grabbed her hips and adjust her a bit.

"Ah man," he whispered. He started stroking into her. "Wow. This is-whew. This is good."

"Well, it is your girlfriend's pussy," Ann murmured.

"No, it's-this is different."

"Honestly, I've watched porn like this before," Bea said, a little breathlessly, "and it turned me on more than I wanted to admit. But seeing it, like, in real life...my stomach is turning over in that way where you're like crazy turned on."

"I'm definitely not gonna last long," he groaned as he fucked Mae in her sleep, sliding into her again and again.

"I should get a picture," Bea said.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"Yeah. I mean, Mae will want to see it," she replied pulling her phone out.

"Just hurry up and make sure that its, like, password protected or something...ah fuck…" he groaned.

"Got it," she said as she snapped the pic.

"Okay, down on your knees," Trent replied, panting now.

He was honestly surprised that Mae hadn't woken up. She'd shifted a little and he thought she might have been coming awake near the beginning, but she was still out. It was weird because this was a thing she clearly wanted, but she wouldn't be awake to enjoy it.

All his thoughts derailed as he triggered. He barely managed to pull out of her in time and put his cock into Bea's open mouth. She immediately sealed her lips around it and started sucking and bobbing her head. He groaned loudly, placing a hand over the back of her head, and immediately started cumming. She groaned as she sucked him dry, pulling all of his cum out of him as his cock twitched in her mouth and the waves of sexual rapture rolled through his body. She sucked out everything, staring up at him lovingly.

"Bea," he groaned as she finished him off.

"Mmm...yes, dear?" she replied, smirking up at him.

"You are an amazing girlfriend."

"I know. I'm going to wash my mouth out. Get ready with that tongue," she said, standing up.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, and began moving Mae into a sleeping position. She was still out cold.

"I love your dynamic with her," Ann said, grinning tiredly.

"Me too. Do you, uh, want any attention too?" he asked.

"I appreciate the ask, but I'm too tired. I'm going to sleep now," she replied with a yawn.

"Okay. Goodnight, Ann."

"Goodnight, Trent."

A moment later, Bea was back in the room, and she was horny.

"Hey Trent...you still awake?" Bea asked softly.

"Hmm? Yeah," he said. "Why?"

It was about ten minutes after the lovemaking that had come out of his oral pleasure he'd given her and they were laying together, him curled up against her back.

"I was just thinking, I wanted to give you props. Like, too many guys don't get compliments or recognized when they do good shit, and I just wanted to say, like...I don't know, maybe I know too many assholes, but I feel like most dudes walking in on their girlfriend passed out on a sofa, spooning another guy who was their close friend, even if they knew he was gay, they'd either lose their shit, break up with her, or give her the silent treatment for three fucking days. But you just laughed, brought her upstairs, and tucked her in."

"Well...don't get too wrapped up in the praise," he said, "I have to admit, I don't really know how I'd react if it wasn't a gay guy. Gregg doesn't ping my 'competition' radar. I'd like to think I'd have reacted the same way, because it is what it is, just Mae crashing out with her best friend. But...I don't know, sometimes I worry I'm not as good a guy as you all think I am, just because I'm not being tested in certain ways."

"I see what you're saying," Bea replied. She rolled over suddenly and looked at him in the dim light offered by the streelights outside. "But I think you're a good person. It's more than just not flipping out over that scenario. You don't get pissed when Mae goes and spends time with Gregg or Angus or me. You don't try to control her relationships. It's...healthy. And appreciated."

"I wouldn't fucking survive trying to control any of you," he replied.

Bea giggled. "Okay, yeah. But it matters that you aren't doing it not because of that reason, but because you care about us and respect us and want us to be happy." She kissed him.

"Thanks...go to sleep," he said.

"Okay." She yawned. "You too."

They shared another kiss and she rolled back over.

Trent woke up to something that he hadn't awoken to literally a single time since coming to Possum Springs: an empty bed.

When he opened his eyes, he came awake with the notion that something was wrong. He rubbed his eyes, looking around, listening. He could hear voices, talking somewhere, probably downstairs. When it finally dawned on him that he was completely alone in the bed, it sent a shock of panic through him and he threw the blankets off and jumped to his feet. Hurrying downstairs as he tried to parse out what was going on, if he should be worried, he found all three of the women in his life in the living room, talking.

They all fell silent as he came to a stop at the foot of the stairs.

"...you okay, babe?" Mae asked.

"Uh...yeah. Are you all okay?" he replied, blinking, still coming awake.

"We're fine," Bea replied. She looked amused. "You realize you're naked, right?"

"Uh." He looked down at himself. He was. He looked back up. "Good thing no one else is here," he said, then paused. "Wait, where's Gregg?"

"He got called into work a few hours ago," Bea replied.

"Oh. Sucks." He shifted on his feet, still a little fuzzy. "Anyway, I, uh, just...thought maybe something might be wrong."

Mae broke into a wider smile. "So you ran down here immediately, completely naked?! That's so sweet!"

"It is, actually," Ann agreed, looking amused.

"I think what really freaked him out was the fact that Mae was up before he was," Bea said.

"That-yeah, I guess so. Uh, what's up?" he asked.

"I was apparently excited enough about my first video that I woke up," Mae said. "But then I wanted to watch it with everyone and Ann was already up and I apparently woke Bea up but she said to let you sleep but now you're awake so come here!" Mae snapped, patting the spot next to her on the couch. Or rather slapping it rapidly.

"Coming," he said. "I wanna see this." He sat down between her and Bea, then grunted as Mae scooted over into him to make room for Ann. "Sorry I smell bad but we had sex last night and I haven't had the chance to shower," he added.

"The sacrifices we make," Bea replied.

"Okay shut up! I'm finally going to look," Mae said, navigating on her laptop, which sat on the coffee table in front of them.

"It might be nothing," Ann said. "Like, not to rain on your parade but-"

"I know, I know," she replied, "but I just have to see now. I'm going to explode if I don't and-whoa! I've got ten subscribers already!" She laughed loudly and then suddenly looked around. "Did any of you subscribe?! You'd better tell me."

"I did," Bea said.

"You said you wouldn't watch the video before me!"

"I didn't watch it, Mae, I just subscribed to your channel oh my lord!"

"Oh...okay. Thanks. But no one else?"

"I didn't," Trent said.

"No, I didn't," Ann said.

"Cool. So, nine subscribers."

"Wow, thanks, Mae," Bea said.

"It's not-I mean," she growled, "thank you but it's not the same!"

Bea laughed. "I get it, Mae. Come on, can we finally watch it?"

"Yes."

She switched to the videos tab.

"I like your banner, where'd it come from?" Ann asked.

"I drew it myself and cool! Fifty views! And they're not bullshit views either because you can't just sit there and hit refresh anymore! And some comments! Hold on…"

They waited while she read the three comments. Two them basically amounted to generic 'this is cool' comments, and one of them praised Mae for going more retro as a more late two thousands YouTuber instead of a modern Twitch thot.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Mae muttered. "And should I be insulted? I mean I get the gist of what they're saying…"

"Could've worded it better, but I guess take it as a compliment," Bea replied. "I mean, it's got some gatekeeper vibes but...I kinda agree. Too many modern let's players are either screamy or slutty and I mean I'm not one to slut-shame, because that's bullshit, but I also place more value on people who are actually into what they're doing."

"The good thing is they like it," Ann said.

"Yeah, now stop with the suspense," Trent said.

"Okay, okay. Don't make fun of me," she replied, scrolling back up and full-screening it.

"We won't," Trent said.

"I might make fun of you a little but that's only because you make fun of me every third chance you get," Bea replied.

"I appreciate that you recognize the times I don't make fun of you but could have," Mae said, then played the video.

The intro for The Suffering booted up, running through the studio logos, and Mae appeared in the upper right corner. Trent had gone through a phase of watching a lot of horror let's plays about five years ago, so he at least had a passing understanding of what it should look like. Or, at least, what the successful ones looked like. Mae seemed to have done a decent job. Good angle, good framing, the quality wasn't great but it also wasn't terrible.

"Hello handful of people who might actually watch this," she said, looking at the camera, "I'm Mayday and I'm an absolute trash mammal, recording in my boyfriend's basement in the fucking Rust Belt. I've never really done this before but we're poor as shit and twenty years behind over here in the Belt, so I missed out on like a shitload of gaming. And that includes horror games. My boyfriend is fucking awesome and is now buying me horror games to play and I figured why not record this miracle? Now, just so that you don't think I'm full of shit, I'll admit that I've already played this game once because once I saw the boxart I had to, and once I started, I couldn't really stop. So that means you get to see the Prologue because it only unlocks after beating the game once, and I haven't seen that yet! So let's get started because I fucking love this game."

They sat there and watched as she fired up a new game and got to playing. He noticed that Mae began to relax, both in real life and on camera, as the recording went on. She was obviously kind of tense and a little stilted, but some massive YouTubers and streamers that he knew of now had been the same way when they had started out, years ago. But he could tell she was kind of a natural at this. He wasn't sure why that was, but thought that maybe it had something to do with her brutal honesty, genuine kindness, and disregard for or even contempt of certain aspects of the social contract. She was rough and raw, but if he hadn't known, he'd think that she had at least some kind of background in acting.

Even for a first video and pretty much off the cuff, she was decent.

When the video was over twenty minutes later, she looked around at them. "So, what do you think? Lame vanity project or the start of something real?"

"Definitely not lame," Bea replied. "As for the start of something real? I'm terminally bitter and cynical, so I opt out of an opinion. I do support you, though."

"I think you could be onto something," Ann said. "But I don't know a lot about this stuff so…" She shrugged.

"And you, boyfriend?" Mae asked, looking at him. "I won't be mad if you think it's lame."

"I don't think it's lame, I think you're actually pretty good for it being your first time. I think if you get serious about this and keep practicing and going with it, people will like it."

"Hmm...are you bullshitting me?" she asked.

"I'm not. And to prove it I will give you my real assessment of what I think of where this is going."

"Okay, hit me with it."

"I think you'll have a relatively small but very loyal following, with the occasional fucking weirdo you'll have to tell to fuck off."

"I could see it," Bea said. "And that might be best. People's lives get fucking upended and, in some cases ruined, if they get too big on the internet. A little following of a few thousand regulars, maybe even five or ten, would be a nice place to be...provided a decent percentage of them actually chipped in a few bucks apiece."

"Yeah, that's where it matters. I've seen people with two hundred thousand subscribers on YouTube making less than a hundred bucks a month on . Maybe they were getting a lot of money from ad revenue on YouTube but...given how shitty that site is in general, I doubt it," Trent said. "But this is good, Mae. You did good. Although it feels weird being talked about in this context," he added.

"You're a big part of my life," she replied with a shrug, "and everything I said was true."

"I don't think you're a trash mammal," he said.

"Yeah yeah. Anyway, uh, it has begun."

"Congrats, dear. I'd kiss you but I haven't brushed my teeth yet and I slept for a long time apparently and my mouth tastes awful," Trent replied.

"I appreciate that," Mae said. "Um, if no one objects, I'm going back downstairs to record more because I actually super want to keep working on this and it feels, like, amazing to actually want to work on a project for once."

"Go with our blessing," Ann replied, smiling at her. "Because I know how that feels."

"Same," Trent said.

"Been awhile for me...actually I should really make another song, now that I think about it."

"Actually, can I talk to you about that? I kinda wanted to collaborate with you on something," Ann said.

"Really? Yeah, sure."

"I wish luck to you all, I'm going to go finish waking up and then get cracking on my own project," Trent said as he stood.

"Bye!" Mae said and raced for the basement. He heard the door slam. As he started heading upstairs, the door abruptly burst back open. "Oh my God! I almost forgot! Did you fuck me in my sleep last night?"

"Oh shit, right, I completely forgot about that," Bea said.

"I did," Trent replied.

"Oh…" She paused, pursed her lips, shifted around, "huh...I can't tell. Like at all. Weird. I'm guessing you didn't creampie me."

"No, I took a shot in mouth, for your information," Bea replied, walking up and messing with her phone.

"Oh, wow. Thanks Bea. Like...for real. If you were bi I'd totally eat you in return."

"I appreciate the sentiment, Mae." She turned the phone around. "Here."

"Whoa…" Mae murmured, staring at it. "That's...hot. And weird. But mostly hot. Jeez, I can't believe I slept through that, but also I can."

"I know exactly what you mean," Trent said.

She studied it for a moment longer, chewing on her lower lip, then passed the phone slowly back to Bea. "Can you do it again, and film it?" she asked.

"I mean...if you really want," Bea said.

"I really want." She seemed momentarily torn, and he knew she suddenly wanted to have sex. But, in the end, her desire to play The Suffering won out, she thanked them again and disappeared into the basement.

Trent laughed and headed for the shower.

He was dating some extremely interesting women.