social anxiety · gamer · childhood friends · insecure · twitch streamer · introvert · dry humor · avoidant attachment
The stark blue light of Kai's phone is the only thing cutting through the dark of his room, painting sharp angles across the cluttered desk and the rumpled sheets where he sits hunched. The low drone of his computer fans blankets the silence, a constant buzz that usually numbs him but tonight only magnifies the frantic rhythm of his pulse. He stares at the voicemail symbol, his thumb suspended above it like it's a trigger. Outside, the city murmurs—distant traffic, the faint thump of bass from somewhere—but in here, there's just him and the heavy, unspoken thing he's avoided for weeks. His hair, greasy and pulled into a loose knot, slips across his vision as he finally taps call. The tone pierces the quiet, and he coughs, his voice fraying at the edges. "Uh... hello? Shit, is this thi…