May I request Idia playing relaxing games with mc, like Minecraft or stardew valley but whatever it would be called in there world? I think he plays a lot of pvp games but idk how often he plays Minecraft or something else relaxing.
I love your writing by the way, it always cheers me up when I see it:)
Ahhh I’m so glad you like my writing! I hope you like it!!
Pixelated Hearts
Featured character: Idia Shroud
Tags: romantic relationship, minecraft and stardew valley mixed together
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If someone had asked Idia Shroud what his ideal date looked like before he started dating you, his answer would've been embarrassingly simple.
No crowds.
No restaurants.
No hand-holding in public.
No awkward conversations where he had to somehow keep eye contact while simultaneously remembering how human interaction worked.
Ideally, his perfect date involved staying inside his room, ordering food, sitting several feet apart from the other person, and communicating primarily through a shared game rather than direct conversation.
Most people would probably find that depressing.
You somehow found it adorable.
Which was precisely how Idia ended up spending a Friday evening sitting cross-legged in front of one of his monitors while you occupied the chair beside him, both of you completely absorbed in a farming and building simulator called Harvest Horizons, a game that was essentially the Twisted Wonderland equivalent of Minecraft and Stardew Valley mashed together into one impossibly relaxing experience.
The game itself wasn't particularly exciting.
There were no ranked matches.
No leaderboards.
No competitive modes.
No opportunities to utterly destroy strangers online.
It was just farming, building, fishing, decorating houses, and occasionally getting chased by little monsters whenever the sun went down.
Normally, Idia would've gotten bored.
Or at least that was what he told himself.
Yet somehow, when you were involved, he found himself spending hours meticulously designing tiny gardens and helping you collect materials for increasingly ridiculous building projects.
"Okay, okay, hear me out," Idia said, leaning forward in his chair as his fingers flew across the keyboard. "What if we build a giant floating castle?"
You glanced over.
"A castle?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
His blue flames flickered brighter.
"Why not?"
You laughed softly.
And immediately, Idia's brain short-circuited for approximately three seconds.
It happened every time.
No matter how long you dated.
No matter how comfortable he became around you.
You would laugh.
And suddenly his internal processing power dropped to critical levels.
"You're staring."
"I-I'm not."
"You are."
"I was strategically observing."
"You were staring."
Idia groaned and buried his face in his hands.
"This is bullying."
"It's not bullying."
"It totally is."
Meanwhile, your character continued planting crops completely unbothered.
Honestly, this was why he preferred games like this when he was with you.
Competitive games were fun.
He loved them.
But competitive games made him focus on winning.
Relaxing games made him focus on you.
Which was somehow much more dangerous.
Because instead of concentrating on objectives, he found himself noticing little things.
The way you always planted flowers around every building you made.
The way you refused to cut down certain trees because they looked pretty.
The fact that every single animal you adopted received an absurdly detailed name with plenty of thought put into it.
The fact that you somehow spent more time decorating your tiny virtual house than actually progressing through the game.
"Why is your entire bedroom covered in bookshelves?" Idia asked one evening.
"Because I like books and it looks cool."
"They don't do anything."
"They look nice."
"That's not efficient."
"You built an aquarium."
"It looks cool."
You stared at him.
Idia stared back.
Then both of you started laughing.
Eventually, the game became less about the actual gameplay and more about spending time together.
Some nights, you would spend hours gathering resources while chatting about whatever happened to come to mind.
Other nights, you'd fish in complete silence while soft music played through the speakers.
Sometimes you'd work on giant projects together.
Other times you'd wander aimlessly around the world just because there was nowhere else either of you needed to be.
And somehow, those evenings became some of Idia's favorite memories.
Not because anything exciting happened.
But because nothing exciting happened.
There were no expectations.
No social pressure.
No complicated rules.
Just the two of you existing comfortably together.
One particular evening, after several weeks of playing, you logged into the world and immediately noticed something different.
Your character spawned inside a newly constructed building.
A very familiar building.
You blinked.
Then looked around.
"...Idia."
Silence.
"...Idia."
More silence.
"...Did you build Ramshackle?"
From the other side of the room came a strangled noise.
You slowly turned your head.
Idia had pulled the collar of his hoodie over half his face.
The tips of his hair were glowing bright pink.
"It was supposed to be a surprise."
Your character stood in the middle of a remarkably accurate recreation of Ramshackle Dorm.
The creaky stairs.
The furniture.
The decorations.
Even the little details had been recreated.
Every room.
Every corner.
Every tiny imperfection.
You stared.
And stared.
And stared.
Because it must have taken hours.
Dozens of hours.
Maybe more.
"Idia."
"D-don't make it weird."
"You built the entire dorm."
"I had free time."
"The entire dorm."
"It wasn't that hard."
"It definitely was."
His flames practically exploded with embarrassment.
The truth was that it had taken forever.
Not because building it was difficult.
Because he kept restarting sections whenever they didn't look right.
Because he wanted it to be perfect.
Because it mattered.
Because you mattered.
You walked your character through the digital halls quietly before stopping near the front entrance.
Then your character placed a single sign on the wall.
Idia blinked.
Walked closer.
And read it,
home.
The room became very quiet.
Dangerously quiet.
The sort of quiet that always happened whenever you accidentally said something that made his heart forget how to function properly.
"...Bro."
You smiled.
"What?"
His face disappeared further into his hoodie.
"You can't just hit me with emotional damage like that."
"It's true."
"Stop."
"Idia."
"Please."
His flames had gone completely pink.
You laughed again.
And there it was.
That feeling.
The one he never really knew how to describe.
Not excitement.
Not nervousness.
Not even happiness exactly.
Just warmth.
The kind that settled somewhere deep inside his chest whenever he looked at you and realized that spending time together didn't need to be complicated to matter.
It didn't need fancy dates.
It didn't need dramatic moments.
Sometimes it was just building stupid little houses in a block game.
Sometimes it was planting virtual strawberries together.
Sometimes it was sitting quietly beside each other while digital rain fell outside a pixelated window.
And somehow, for Idia, those moments felt just as important as anything else.
Maybe even more.
Several hours later, long after midnight, you eventually fell asleep beside him, your head resting against his shoulder while the game continued running quietly in the background.
The virtual sun was setting over your shared farm.
Animals wandered lazily through fenced pastures.
Lanterns glowed softly around the paths you had built together.
And in the center of everything stood your little digital home.
Idia looked at the screen.
Then at you.
Then back at the screen again.
His expression softened.
"...GG," he murmured quietly.
Not because you'd won anything.
Not because there had been a competition.
But because somehow, against all odds, he felt like he had anyway.
Then, carefully, so carefully you never even stirred, he rested his head lightly against yours and let the pixelated sunset continue glowing across the monitor long after both of you had stopped playing.
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