CHP- 1

First thing Teetee noticed about Por was that he was annoying.

"WHO STOLE MY DRAGON STONES???"

The message appeared in the world chat of Dragon Ball Online at 11:48 PM while Teetee was quietly playing after finishing his homework.

The chat became crazy instantly.

[KINGVEGETA]: skill issue

[M1LKTEA]: maybe ur just dumb

[P0RSCHE]: SOMEONE OPENED MY CHEST

Teetee laughed softly.

Rain was falling outside his window while his laptop glowed in the dark room. His parents were already asleep, but Teetee was still awake, sitting on his bed and playing.

Another message appeared.

[P0RSCHE]: IM REPORTING EVERYONE HERE

Teetee finally replied.

[TT_NIGHT]: maybe use a password next time

A few seconds later-

[P0RSCHE]: WAIT U CAN DO THAT???

Teetee laughed loudly.

That was how everything started.

-

At first, they were just online friends.

Teetee found out that P0RSCHE's real name was Por after calling him "Porsche" for two weeks.

Por found out that TT_NIGHT's real name was Teetee after Teetee forgot to mute his mic while his mom shouted:

"TEE! STOP PLAYING AND SLEEP!"

Por laughed so hard that he disconnected from the game.

After that, they started playing together almost every night.

It became their routine.

10 PM.

Homework done.

Lights off.

Headphones on.

And Por waiting in the lobby.

"YOU'RE LATE," Por complained one night.

"It's only been two minutes."

"TWO MINUTES IS ENOUGH TIME FOR ME TO DIE."

"That sounds like your problem."

"You're so mean."

But Por still waited for him every night.

Teetee didn't know when Por became special to him.

Maybe it was during exam season.

Teetee stayed awake late at night studying when Por suddenly called him.

"Still awake?"

"Yeah."

"You sound tired."

"I am tired."

Por stayed quiet for a second before speaking softly.

"Want me to stay with you?"

Teetee blinked.

"Why?"

"So you don't suffer alone."

That night, Por stayed on call while Teetee studied.

Por talked about random things.

His school.

His classmates.

How Wave always stole his fries.

How he wanted to dye his hair silver.

Teetee barely studied anything.

He only listened to Por's voice.

There was something warm about hearing Por talk late at night.

Something comforting.

Something dangerous.



-

"You're smiling at your phone again."

Teetee almost dropped his phone.

North sat beside him in the school cafeteria and stole one of his fries.

"I'm not smiling."

"You literally are."

"I'm not."

North looked at him suspiciously.

"...It's a boy, right?"

Teetee choked.

North gasped dramatically.

"OH MY GOD IT IS."

"Shut up!"

"You like someone online?!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

North looked way too happy about this.

Teetee wanted to disappear.

The problem wasn't liking someone.

The problem was liking Por.

Por, who lived far away.

Por, who only knew him through calls and messages.

Por, whose face he had never clearly seen because all his selfies were blurry.

Por, who somehow became important to him.

"You're doomed," North said.

"Thanks."

"I'm serious. Online crushes are painful."

Teetee already knew that.

But every night, he still logged in to play with Por.

-

One whole year passed like that.

Late night calls.

Playing games together.

Sharing songs.

Complaining about school.

Sending random selfies.

Arguing about which Dragon Ball character was strongest.

Por always defended Vegeta like his life depended on it.

Teetee always called him dramatic.

Por always threatened to block him.

But he never did.

Somewhere during all of that, Teetee fell in love.

Hard.

And Por never noticed.

Or maybe Teetee was too scared to find out.

-

One Friday night, everything changed.

Teetee logged into the game and immediately noticed something strange.

The server was crowded.

Messages were flying everywhere.

[SYSTEM]: Announcement will begin in 5 minutes.

"What's happening?" Teetee asked.

"No idea," Por replied.

Then the announcement appeared.

Dragon Ball Online servers will officially shut down next month. Thank you for your support.

Silence.

Teetee stared at the screen.

"...What?"

Por laughed nervously.

"They're joking, right?"

But they weren't joking.

The chat exploded with angry messages.

People were crying.

Yelling.

Spamming emojis.

Teetee suddenly felt empty inside.

Because this game wasn't supposed to end.

This game was where he met Por.

Where they spent almost every night together.

"Teetee?"

"...Yeah?"

"We still have LINE," Por said quickly.

"Right."

"And Instagram."

"Yeah."

"And Discord."

"Por."

"What?"

"Why do you sound scared?"

Por became quiet.

"...I don't know."

But Teetee knew.

The game ending felt like losing something important.

And he hated it.

-

The last day of the game felt sad.

Teetee and Por stayed online until sunrise.

Neither wanted to leave first.

Their characters sat together on a cliff inside the game.

Wave and North joined them later.

The four of them spent hours talking and joking around.

Trying not to think about the ending.

Then finally, the countdown appeared.

10...

9...

8...

Por suddenly spoke softly.

"Hey."

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for meeting me here."

Teetee's chest hurt.

"Idiot," he whispered.

The screen turned black.

SERVER DISCONNECTED.

And just like that-

It was over.

-

At first, nothing really changed.

Por still texted him every day.

They sent memes.

Videos.

Homework complaints.

Random selfies.

But slowly...

Things became different.

Their conversations became shorter.

Replies became slower.

The late night calls stopped happening every day.

Sometimes Por disappeared for hours.

Sometimes Teetee did too.

And neither knew how to fix it.

Because the truth was-

The game had been their world.

Without it, things felt awkward.

-

"You should confess already."

Teetee groaned into his pillow while North sat beside him eating chips.

"No."

"You're suffering."

"I'm surviving."

"You posted sad song lyrics at 2 AM."

"That means nothing."

"That means everything."

Teetee threw a pillow at him.

North caught it easily.

"You know your problem?" North asked.

"What?"

"You act like losing him would destroy you."

Teetee stared quietly at the ceiling.

"...Maybe it would."

North's expression softened.

"Oh."

Teetee laughed weakly.

"Pathetic, right?"

"No," North said quietly.

"Just human."

-

A few days later, Teetee posted an Instagram story.

He was at a café with a girl from school named Mira.

She leaned close to him while laughing in the photo.

Pretty smile.

Long hair.

Good lighting.

Teetee posted it without thinking much.

Then he went to shower.

When he came back-

Por had seen the story.

And replied.

P0R: who's that?

Teetee blinked.

He typed casually.

TT: friend from school

The typing bubble appeared immediately.

Then disappeared.

Then appeared again.

Finally-

P0R: oh

That was all.

Just one word.

But it felt strange.

Then another message came.

P0R: she's pretty

Teetee stared at the screen.

His heart suddenly beat faster.

TT: i guess?

No reply.

Five minutes passed.

Ten.

Then suddenly-

P0R: do u like her?

Teetee sat up straight.

Before he could answer, another message appeared.

P0R: sorry forget i asked

Teetee frowned.

Something felt different.

TT: why are u asking?

Por replied instantly.

P0R: just curious

Liar.

Teetee knew Por well.

And right now, Por sounded jealous.

Teetee stared at the messages for a long time.

Then a dangerous thought entered his mind.

What if Por liked him too?

-

Por threw his phone onto the bed dramatically.

Wave almost got hit by it.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

Por groaned loudly.

"Teetee posted someone."

Wave blinked.

"...Okay?"

"She's pretty."

Wave waited.

Por looked at the ceiling.

"I hated it."

There it was.

Wave sighed.

"It took you long enough."

Por looked confused.

"What?"

"You're jealous."

"I'm not jealous."

"You sound jealous."

"I'm not!"

"You literally threw your phone."

Por paused.

"...Okay maybe a little."

Wave looked unimpressed.

"A little?"

Por covered his face with a pillow.

"I don't understand why I feel like this."

Wave snorted.

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"You like him."

Silence.

Por slowly lowered the pillow.

"...What?"

Wave looked at him like he was stupid.

"You like Teetee."

Por laughed nervously.

"No."

"Por."

"No."

"You really do."

Por opened his mouth.

Then stopped.

Because suddenly-

Everything made sense.

Why he waited for Teetee's messages.

Why his mood changed depending on their conversations.

Why seeing Teetee with another person hurt.

Oh no.

"Oh," Por whispered weakly.

Wave burst out laughing.

"Oh my god, you're in love."

"SHUT UP."

-

Teetee couldn't sleep that night.

He kept staring at Por's messages.

do u like her?

Why did that question feel so personal?

North turned over beside him.

"You're thinking too much again."

"I hate you."

"You love me."

Teetee sighed.

"...Can someone like another person without realizing it?"

North opened one eye slowly.

"That sounds very specific."

"Just answer."

North thought for a moment.

"Yeah."

Teetee looked at him.

"How?"

"Because feelings can grow slowly," North said softly. "Sometimes you don't notice them until something hurts."

Teetee's heart skipped.

Something hurt Por.

Didn't it?

For the first time in months-

Hope returned.

Small.

Dangerous.

But still there.

-

The next few days felt different.

Por texted him more often again.

He replied faster.

He randomly asked where Teetee was.

Who he was with.

What he was doing.

Teetee noticed everything.

And every time-

His heart beat faster.

One evening, Teetee posted another story.

Just coffee.

Nothing else.

Thirty seconds later-

P0R: alone?

Teetee almost smiled too hard.

Before he could answer-

Another message appeared.

P0R: WAIT THAT SOUNDED WEIRD

Teetee laughed loudly.

North looked concerned.

"You look evil."

"I think I'm winning."

"...Winning what?"

Teetee grinned at his phone.

"I don't know yet."

-

That night, Por suddenly called him.

Teetee answered immediately.

"...Hi."

Por stayed quiet for a second.

Then-

"Your voice sounds nice today."

Teetee froze.

"...What?"

"I mean normal nice. Not nice nice."

Teetee smiled slowly.

"Por."

"Hmm?"

"Are you jealous?"

Silence.

Then suddenly-

"GOODNIGHT."

The call ended instantly.

Teetee stared at the screen.

And for the first time since the game shut down-

He laughed until his stomach hurt.

Because maybe...

Their story wasn't over yet.

[ AUTHOR: Thank you for reading! wait for chp 3]

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