Simon, once again, finds himself on stream before an audience that is steadily rising in the hundreds. This time, he is playing a game Grace’s students have been raving about for weeks.
The Golden Ages, is its name — an open-world RPG with stunning graphics and an even more amazing storyline. Simon roleplays the recovering Prince of an Empire that fell over a millennia ago.
“Now, after hundreds of years frozen under glaciers, the young Prince must now learnt to adapt to the new world around him while dealing with unhealed traumas,” Simon had read aloud right before he started the game. He cracked his knuckles, “Well, this is going to be interesting.”
Now, 48 minutes into the game — and even longer into the stream — Simon is completely immersed in the gameplay.
“It’s much better than I expected it to be,” he admits to his chat, eyes flickering between the game and his flooding chat. He takes note of a comment,
headintheclouds67: This is boring ngl
Simon simply snorts at that.
It’s true that TGA is much different from the usual action-packed games he plays. But it’s a nice change of pace.
One could say that the game play is slow-going, but Simon enjoys it; the way the lore of the MC is built up over time, the way the relationships between the characters are unhurried and non-linear — reminding him so much of how it is in real life — and the way the trauma of the MC is expressed and dealt with, all of it is so beautifully constructed.
“Maybe,” he finally responds, eyes shifting back to the PC screen, “But I like it.”
Simon continues playing and reaches a scene where he had to choose whether or not to accept the embrace of the MC’s caretaker. After mulling over it for a minute, he clicks on “Accept”.
He isn’t surprised by the influx of messages entering the chat following his decision making, but one particular comment catches his eye,
fearmepeasants: lmao, are you making (•••) gay as well?
This time, Simon turns to face the camera with a perfectly brow. He sees the person try to quickly assert their comment as a joke and all he does is chuckle.
Chat tries to berate him for making them panic at his reaction. But, amongst all of it, another person comments,
myasshurts: you seem to really like the mc’s caretaker.
Simon shrugs, “I mean, he’s well written.”
lmaoherasshurts: well-written, or reminds you of a certain someone 👀👀
The rest of the chat quickly goes from berating to teasing him and someone asks,
ihaventsleptin2years: does your husband look like him?
Simon hesitantes to answer but does so nonetheless.
“Not in the slightest. And, as you all can see, I look more like him than anything else.”
noduckslefttogive: then are they similar in any way?
This time, Simon pauses. Though, he probably shouldn’t, because the answer is obvious: yes.
On the surface, they couldn’t have been any more different. The caretaker, he is generally known to be a cold man. He rarely ever smiles and is more task-focused than any character shown so far in the game. He is stoic, blunt and a hard man to understand.
But he is also kind. He is understanding of the MC and his issues even when nobody else seems to. He doesn’t try to force his affection on the young Prince, but makes it known that it is always available. Silence with him is never uncomfortable — healing with him is never uncomfortable.
So yeah, they were similar.
Just as Simon opens his mouth, his eyes read,
princessgumgum: awww, he’s thinking about his husband
noduckslefttogive: lmao, bro went into his inner monologue
crackaddict87: now I REALLY wanna see the guy that has this dude so in love
A chorus of “SAME”s and “I know right”s enter the chat and Simon rolls his eyes. He chooses to close his mouth shut instead of answering, letting them ramble on about his “mysterious lover”.
20 or so minutes go by in a flash and just as Simon unlocks a vital piece of lore, the door of his gaming room clicks open. A hair of messy blond flickers into his peripheral and Simon pauses the game to fully face his darling husband.
“Good evening star,” he says with a smile, “Done already?”
Ocean-blue eyes sparkle as Grace tip-toes into the room, voice lowering just a bit. “Yep, there wasn’t too much to grade so I’m done already.” Carefully, he moves to take a peek at Simon’s screen while staying out of the camera’s view.
At the mention of Grace, the chat explodes with messages of,
princessgumgum: PAPA STAR
lordoftheskies: PAPA STAR IS HEREEEEE
stuckinabloodocean: HOW ARE YOU MR. STAR?!
bigdihdaddy: WE WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT YOU!!
Simon is silently glad that Grace can’t see the last one.
“Is that TGA?” Grace questions from beside him. Simon nods, “Yeah; you kept on mentioning it so much that I finally decided to try it out.”
Grace chuckles sheepishly at his words, “Sorry if I overdid it.”
Simon feels his heart soften.
“Of course not, my love. Besides, the game is really good so far.”
His husband breathes out a sigh of relief before turning to stare at the digital wall clock in the room.
“It’s nearly 8 30PM, should I start making dinner?”
The rumble of Simon’s stomach answers the question for him.
Both Grace and chat laugh at him, and his husband blows him a kiss before existing the room. Simon lets the minute pass as he catches his breath.
He knows what chat is saying before he sees it,
greywolflover: our boy is WHIPPED
anteater69: awwww, he looks so in love
starlingmydarling: MAY THIS KIND OF LOVE TACKLE MEEEEE
keepingitcool: LOOK AT THE WAY HIS EYES ARE SPARKLING
Simon ignores them and continues the game, “Keep that up and I’ll end the stream early.”
They easily call him out on his bluff.
