LEVEL 3

PLAYER ONE: REMY

The girls left, and we went home. None of us spoke, really, on the drive back. Trevor shoved me at the door to our apartment, and I knocked into him. But he was faster, claiming the game room. “You’re not deleting any of my game play, asshole!” he called from the spare room.

I kicked off my rain-soaked Doc Marten boots. “That just shows how immature you are that you’d think I’d do that. Really, I’m hurt, Trevor.”

Nah, he could keep his game play if he gave me his girlfriend.

Questions plagued my mind. Why did she have to taste so good? I hadn’t even gotten under those panties yet, and I was addicted to her. Better people with morals and ethics would have probably felt guilty after tongue-fucking the blue slushy underwear of their twin’s girlfriend in an empty movie theater on a double date. Let the record show, I wasn’t one of those better people with morals. It only made me want her more.

What did she think? How did she feel? I didn’t have her number, so I couldn’t text her, but I felt an overwhelming urge to check on her, especially as the week dragged on and she didn’t come back over. There was no asking Trevor; he was busy with school, working out, coaching, practice, and overall making my parents very proud in his academic pursuits. All I did was play drums, sweep the tattoo shop floors, ready inks and artist stations, and pierce a couple of lobes for thirteen-year-olds. The whole time, she was the only thing on my mind. Her giggle, her taste, the way she looked in my t-shirt, the skin of her soft thighs against my tongue… I hadn’t changed out my piercings since that night, wanted to keep some reminder of her embedded in the metal.

It was weird she hadn’t come over. Maybe Trevor was having her over when I was at work. That was the thing about having a brother who wasn’t up your ass all the time: we never talked—both a pro and a con in our relationship. He’d know something was up if I said anything. Then, I wondered if they’d hooked up. The thought made me want to beat my drum set until my arms fell off. I mean, of course, they were fucking, right? If they were, it wasn’t when I was at the apartment, so maybe it was at her place. Gross. He didn’t deserve her. Trev was fine, but I was better—better for Fauna, at least. She wasn’t the typical shallow airhead he usually dated. Fauna was quick-witted, surprising, unique…

Ah, fuck. I was down bad.

So I resolved to stop being chicken shit and to try to talk to her. She gamed, I gamed, I’d talked to her while gaming before…as my brother, but whatever. Trev came home sweaty from practice, showered, microwaved a burrito, and then locked himself in the game room. I knocked on the door around ten thirty, and he emerged, passing me my favorite old school controller I liked to hook up to the monitor.

“She’s all yours,” he yawned, breezing past me to our room.

She sure is.

I settled into our gaming chair, the neon lights of our setup fading into multi colors around me. Slipping on the headset, I casually clicked into his games, seeing who was online.

Dude bros from his soccer team in his shooter games. Typical.

The RPG game, V, however, had multiple green dots indicating friends were online. I joined, rolling my eyes at my twin’s douchebag, muscle-man avatar. My heart skipped a beat when the bright pink, big-tits avatar popped up on the screen.

“Hey, I thought you were going to bed?” Fauna said in a chat bubble above her hip-swooshing character.

“Couldn’t sleep, thought I’d play some more,” I answered. “How are you?”

I dared to ask. It could have seemed redundant if they’d just been hanging out, but I couldn’t help myself. I had to know she was okay.

Her avatar blew a big pink bubblegum bubble. “Still kind of shaken up from the other night. Thanks for helping, though.”

Oh no. Oh no, no, no. Was she talking about me ? About what happened at the movies? I felt like Trev wouldn’t have casually handed me my controller if so. He would have fucking punched me.

I swallowed, regaining my composure, resolved to get more information. “Yeah…what?—“

“What up, ass hats?” a dude’s voice trilled through my headphones.

Another answered. “Yo, Trevor, you actually hanging with us past your bedtime?”

“Hi, Fauna,” the first voice crooned.

Her giggle lit up my chest when she replied, “Hi, Chet. Hi, Josh. Are we going to chitchat about the weather or go defeat some titan monsters?”

Their character ran up to her—armored-out mercenaries, just like Trevor’s character. Fauna’s avatar whipped out a broom and flitted above us. “You guys fight, I’ll heal. Then, I’ll finally have the HP to make it past this god-awful level.”

“You got it, baby,” Chet answered.

That got me annoyed. “Hey, shut the fuck up.”

I recognized these guys. They both went to high school with me and my brother; Chet played ball with Trevor. Sometimes, all of us lifted weights together. Typical bone headed idiots. They were likely harmless, but that didn’t stop my protective instinct in telling them to lay off my girl. I mean, Trevor’s girl. Luckily, we both had lower voices, and they couldn’t tell the difference in digital game land. Hell, they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference in real life if I wasn’t tattooed and pierced to the gods. Trev and I were identical in being six foot tall, muscular, and lean, with black hair and green eyes. Only, you know, I was a girl and he was a dude. Thankfully, we’d always gone after the opposite kinds of women. Until now, that is.

“Yeah, yeah, I won’t flirt with your girlfriend,” Chet complained. “I’ll slaughter a titan for her, though.”

“You challenging me, ass hat?” I settled into my seat, working the controls to learn in five minutes flat every combat combo and weaponry assist there was in this game. Because like hell I was going to lose to a guy named Chet in front of the girl I wanted to impress.

Fauna giggled. “Can you boys stop dick measuring, please?”

I answered, “No dick measuring here, sweetheart.” Literally. Jokes on them—I didn’t have a dick. I didn’t need one, though, not with how good I was with my tongue, my hands…everything.

I smiled at the sound of her voice and her cute as fuck little avatar flying through the starry sky.

Why was she in a party with these dumbasses? Maybe they were the only mercenaries in the game she knew. Suddenly, I had the urge to learn everything I could about V for Valin. I’d only casually played but knew it had a large fandom. It seemed like the kind of game Fauna would like.

The guys chatted about soccer and overall just shit talked as we took down a few titans. They were big, hairy, ugly monsters with a high hit point. Fauna flew around us, healing whoever needed an assist. Interesting—she chose to be a healer in this game. Healers were vulnerable to attack and could not receive aid, only give. Most non-combat fans chose to be magicians instead— but not her. I wondered why.

The third beast’s health meter was at half strength. We were getting our asses kicked and wouldn’t have survived without Fauna’s healing. Suddenly, she squealed into the headset. “Turnip! Stop!”

The boys laughed as I stabbed the titan in the eye.

Fauna answered, sounding flustered. “My kitten, Turnip, is clawing at the window screen. I have to go. I’m sorry!”

Without time to protest, her little witch avatar blipped into oblivion. Gone. My heart sank. At least I got to hear her voice and know she was okay. But what had she been shaken up about? I stayed with the party as the last monster fell, and we recouped. The least I could do was leave my brother’s character’s health restored and strength points higher. I was about to end the game when Chet spoke.

“So, Trevor. Fauna, huh? She finally let you hit it yet?”

Josh chuckled, his avatar drinking a potion and tossing the bottle into a bush.

“Why do you ask?” I lowered my tone a bit to mirror my brother.

Chet scoffed. “Well, you know I liked her first. If it were me, I would have fucked her by now. But last I heard, you two hadn’t done shit.”

Anger mixed with satisfaction behind my ribs. My brother and his girlfriend hadn’t had sex? Interesting. I was beyond pleased, but also beyond pissed these assholes even cared. “Don’t ask me questions like that. Don’t even think about her like that. It’s none of your fucking business.”

Chet rumbled back, “Sure, man, whatever. Don’t get all pissy about it.”

“I’m going to bed.” I ended game before they could respond. Waiting for a moment, I stared at my monitor, wishing Fauna would come back and chat, wishing I could chat with her as me and not as my twin.

But I’d gained some valuable intel on my little morally grey foray into V for Valin. Fauna had not, in fact, hooked up with Trev. Why? No idea. Clearly, she wasn’t shy, because a few nights ago, my tongue was licking sugar from her thighs and panties in the middle of a double date in a movie theater.

Also, Trevor’s friends were assholes. Shocker .

And Fauna had a kitten. Fuck cats. I hated the pretentious, fluffy little bastards. It’s okay, for her I’d over look her choices in animal companions. I’m sure I could talk her into getting a puppy with me when she was officially my girlfriend… Ah, fuck, now I was planning the future. It really was time for bed.

I’d heard her voice.

I’d tasted her skin.

I’d made her come twice now without ever taking off our clothes.

It wasn’t enough.

I needed more of Fauna Belrose— and I’d get it.