Game of Hearts

by Jerry Cole

  Pink noticed, because he grabbed him by the shoulder and whispered in his ear. “Hey, Al,” he said. “Don’t worry. We’ve got this. I promise.”

  Bjorn smiled, though it was shaky.

  He wanted to believe what Pink was saying. He wanted to believe it more than anything else Pink had ever told him.

  “Come on,” Pink said. “We better go. Get some beauty sleep for the big game tomorrow.”

  ***

  Bjorn had never been to a final as a finalist. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but there was a lot of fanfare beforehand. People clapped thunderously, to the point where Bjorn wished that he was wearing earplugs. shook hands with everyone on the opposing team and got to Mickey last. He wasn’t sure if he was right, but it felt like their hands lingered when they were shaking them, and Mickey’s skin was making his own tingle. He had been such an idiot about everything.

  But he couldn’t think about that now.

  He had to get into the glass enclosure and he had to fight. That was exactly what he did. Because the game was so much harder than usual, and because Mickey was his opponent—and, he reminded himself with a smile, not just the guy who he wanted to be his boyfriend, but the best e-sports player in the world—there were times when Bjorn was pretty sure that there was no way that he was going to be on the winning team. There were three games in the final, and the winner was decided on a two out of three game basis.

  AlphaChew lost the first game, but they narrowly won the second one. The third one lasted ninety minutes, far longer than World of Heroes games normally did, and AlphaChew came out as the loser. It wasn’t a tragic defeat—in fact, it was pretty even, and it was definitely worth celebrating in terms of an achievement. AlphaChew had been established as one of the most important teams in e-sports, and all of the guys in it had shown off how good they were. He knew that all their work had paid off, but it wouldn’t matter if their plan hadn’t achieved what he wanted it to achieve. Even now, with all the money that Bjorn had ever wanted, the one thing that he couldn’t really do without was only a few feet away from him, sitting in the other glass enclosure.

  Pink clapped him on the shoulder and looked at him, raising his eyebrows. “It’s time.”

  “If this doesn’t go well, I’ll be humiliated,” Bjorn replied, quietly enough so that all the other guys on the team wouldn’t hear him.

  “I know,” Pink said, a huge grin on his face. “And that’s still a good outcome, right? I mean, you’re established now. So even if you get humiliated by him...”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Bjorn said. He hadn’t even been that nervous about going into the final, but now that it came to leaving the glass enclosure, he could hardly make himself do that.

  “I’m going to wait for you until you’re ready to go, but I really want to go out there and stand behind that huge-ass check,” Pink said. “So whenever you are ready. No pressure, but hurry the fuck up.”

  Slowly, Bjorn followed Carl, Carpenter and Pink outside. The first thing that they had to do was shake the hands of everyone on the other team. He noticed that they all had huge smiles on their faces as they congratulated each other for a job well done, but that every time he saw Mickey, his expression sobered. It was certainly not a good thing, because Bjorn felt sick as he slowly, as slowly as possible, moved down the line. Since they were both team captains, they were supposed to shake hands first, but Bjorn had maneuvered so that he wouldn’t have to do that. So that he could shake Mickey’s hands last, because he needed to do that if he wanted things to go to plan. He was trembling and his hands were sweaty when he finally got to Mickey. He wiped his hand on his jeans before he extended it. Mickey grabbed it, looked into his eyes, and smiled.

  “Good job,” Mickey said. “You’re a really fantastic player, Bjorn.”

  “Thank you,” Bjorn replied. Mickey tried to get his hand away from him, but Bjorn didn’t let him. He knew that this was the moment that he had to do what he had been planning to do, or it wouldn’t happen otherwise. Mickey looked at him, a mixture of amusement and puzzlement in his expression. Bjorn moved toward him and grabbed his face with his hands, kissing him softly on the lips. If he had thought that the applause had been loud before, he had been wrong. Compared to this, that was nothing. Even behind his closed eyelids, he could see a thousand camera and phone flashes going off. Mickey didn’t do anything, he just stood there, and then slowly, very slowly, Mickey wrapped his arms around his waist and then he dipped him down, as though they were dancing.

  Bjorn loved it. He opened his eyes and smiled. Mickey smiled back at him, his cheeks reddening. They both straightened up, arms still around each other, and walked to the front of the stage.

  The host came up to them, a huge smile on his face. Bjorn knew exactly what he was going to ask, but he let Mickey handle answering the questions. All that he wanted to do was enjoy the feeling of Mickey’s arm around his waist, the way that Mickey smelled next to him. Mickey was amazing, and he was holding him tight.

  Bjorn was pretty sure that he wasn’t about to let him go.

  Epilogue

  “Again,” Bjorn said, kissing Mickey on the mouth. They were at the airport, and Mickey was about to fly home. He didn’t want him to, but he knew that there were some things that Mickey had to take care of. Adult things, things that Bjorn hadn’t even considered before. “I’m so sorry I was such an idiot.”

  “Will you stop?” Mickey said, smiling at him. “You’ve apologized almost every single day. Seriously, I’m starting to get a little annoyed.”

  “You’re annoyed at my contrition?” Bjorn replied, laughing and shaking his head. “Honestly, I should be offended.”

  “Oh, yeah, because it’s so hard to offend you,” Mickey said, chuckling and throwing his head back. “I could say you throw like a lass and that would scar you for life.”

  His arms were around Bjorn’s waist and he was holding him close. They were probably making everyone at the airport feel sick with how sweet they were being to each other, and he knew for a fact that he was annoying his teammates, who were waiting for him and would probably have to catch the later train to get back home. They did have enough money to change them to plane tickets now, which Bjorn was happy to do if it came to that. He was sure that the schedule was flexible. Well, no, he wasn’t sure. What he was sure of was that it didn’t matter. Mickey was there, he was with him, and he was going to spend as much time as he could with him.

  “Shut up,” Bjorn said, looking away from him and smiling. “I’m working on it. My masculinity shouldn’t be this fragile.”

  “I know, which is why I’m with you,” Mickey replied. Then he leaned in close to Bjorn and whispered in his ear. “If you want, I can let you fuck me next. You know, so that you can regain some of that proud masculinity or whatever it is.”

  Bjorn’s knees went weak at the mention of it. “When will that be?”

  “Next weekend,” Mickey replied. “You have a passport, right?”

  “Yes,” Bjorn said.

  “Then come visit me,” Mickey said. “I’ll pay for it. I’ll pay for everything.”

  “And then what?”

  “Then we can figure it out,” Mickey replied, winking at him. “We’re the most powerful e-sports players in the world. And we have all the time in the world, don’t we?”

  “Yes,” Bjorn said, his heart beating so hard he thought he might actually pass out. “Yes, we do.”

  *fin*

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