Chapter 100: Late Night Gaming.
Sophia fell asleep, she had no idea when but after a few yawns, she was out.
One moment she was talking, something about a client coming in Monday morning with unrealistic expectations about a colour correction, and the next her voice had slowed and her breathing had settled and she was gone. Liam looked at her for a moment in the dim light of his bedroom, the conversation dissolving into the quiet of the apartment, and reached over to pull the duvet across her shoulder.
He lay there for a few minutes doing nothing in particular.
Then he got up.
The living room received him as Liam, himself, couldn’t sleep.
He sat on the sofa in a t-shirt and shorts, picked up the controller, and powered on the PS5 with slight excitement as he knew this wasn’t going to be his regular gaming section.
While it loaded he thought about Mateo briefly and how he must be having the time of his life right now.
The kid was fine. Sixteen, capable, and currently alone in an apartment he had been navigating in various capacities for years. One night wasn’t a crisis. One night was, if Liam was being honest with himself, probably the most entertainment Mateo had experienced on a Sunday in recent memory.
He navigated to the PSN friend search.
He had clocked the gamertag two sessions ago without making it obvious — displayed in the top corner of the screen during their Uncharted session, Liam retained this piece of information subconsciously, it was a lot easier to do considering his username was basically his name.
[MaTe0_Reyes99]
He typed it in and sent the request.
He expected to wait. Expected Mateo to be deep enough into a session that the notification would sit unacknowledged for ten minutes at minimum.
The request was accepted in under thirty seconds.
Liam looked at the screen.
Not only accepted — a message arrived immediately, the notification appearing before the confirmation had fully processed.
[MaTe0_Reyes99: who is this]
Liam settled back against the cushions.
[MaTe0_Reyes99: if you’re a random I’m reporting you]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: I don’t accept randos bro]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: last warning]
Liam checked the time. 1:34 AM.
He typed back but he knew he couldn’t give himself away just yet because what was the fun in that.
[Att_Ghost: The person who beat your ass a few days ago.]
Liam had no idea if this would land but if Mateo was gaming frequently then there was a chance this was a possibility.
He put the controller on the cushion beside him and waited.
Two seconds went by and Mateo kept talking to himself.
[MaTe0_Reyes99: LMAOOOOO]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: beat my ass?????]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: BRO YOU ARE HALLUCINATING]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: BEAT ME. AS IF.]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: you are a camper and you still died]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: my little cousin plays better and she’s SEVEN]
The messages arrived with the rapid-fire velocity of someone who had been storing this material and was now deploying it without a breath between rounds.
Liam wondered if it is was this easy to ragebait him.
[MaTe0_Reyes99: Att_Ghost more like Att_Useless]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: actually embarrassing that you found my ID]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: delete yourself and the game]
Liam read through the full cascade.
“Fucking hell,” he thought, genuinely taken aback by the concentration of it.
“Was it always this toxic?”
He could not recall online gaming culture being quite this specific and committed during his era of it. Whatever Mateo was in person — quiet, guarded, the studied nonchalance of a teenager managing his own vulnerability — online he was an entirely different animal. The mask was completely gone. What remained was pure, unfiltered sixteen year old energy with a controller in his hand and nothing to lose.
An invite appeared before Liam could respond to any of the messages.
[MaTe0_Reyes99 has invited you to a session.]
[Game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III]
Liam opened his library.
Call of Duty was not among his purchased titles. He navigated to the store without closing the invite, found it, and started the download. The progress bar filled in two minutes and fifty seconds — the connection doing its job efficiently and without ceremony.
He accepted the invite.
The lobby loaded. Private match, two players, one versus one.
Mateo had constructed this specific scenario with the intentionality of someone who had been waiting for exactly this opportunity and had a prepared venue ready when it arrived.
The match started.
Liam lasted four minutes and eleven seconds before Mateo identified him.
It wasn’t the frequency of dying — plenty of players died frequently. It was the pattern. The specific combination of movement that suggested confidence, followed by consequences that suggested the confidence had no foundation, followed by a respawn that repeated the exact same sequence with minor variations that didn’t improve the outcome.
Mateo had apparently catalogued this across their previous sessions and there was no way he wouldn’t pick up on this sloppy gameplay.
[MaTe0_Reyes99: WAIT]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: hold on]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: did you just]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: you walked into an explosion]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: that YOU threw]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: is this]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: IS THIS LIAM]
Liam typed back while waiting for the respawn timer.
[Att_Ghost: I was testing the blast radius.]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: THE BLAST RADIUS OF YOUR OWN GRENADE]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: I CANNOT]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: I actually cannot do this right now]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: why are you like this]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: genuinely asking as a concerned person]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: does my sister know you play like this]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: she would end things immediately no discussion]
Liam looked at the last message.
[Att_Ghost: She’s asleep.]
A pause. Noticeably longer than the previous responses.
[MaTe0_Reyes99: …asleep WHERE]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: it’s 1am]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: Liam]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: LIAM]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: she’s at YOURS??]
[Att_Ghost: Focus on the game.]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: I don’t want to know]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: I genuinely do not want to know]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: anyway you’re still terrible]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: completely unrelated to everything else]
Liam died again. The kill cam replayed the sequence with the impartial cruelty of a system that had no interest in protecting anyone’s dignity — Mateo’s character dispatching him from a position Liam had walked directly past without checking, twice, before the inevitable conclusion.
He stared at the screen for a moment.
[Att_Ghost: Let me win one game.]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: no]
[Att_Ghost: Let me win one game or I wake your sister up and tell her you’re still awake at half one in the morning.]
The response took five full seconds.
[MaTe0_Reyes99: …]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: you wouldn’t]
[Att_Ghost: I have her in the other room and I’m looking at the time right now.]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: that is BLACKMAIL]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: you’re blackmailing a minor]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: this is illegal]
[Att_Ghost: I’m a lawyer. I’ll handle the paperwork.]
Another pause. Longer.
[MaTe0_Reyes99: FINE]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: one game]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: but I want it formally noted this is under duress]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: and it doesn’t count as a real win]
[Att_Ghost: It counts completely.]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: it does NOT]
[Att_Ghost: Starting the next match.]
The lobby reloaded.
Mateo pulled back — Liam could feel it within the first sixty seconds. The response times carried a deliberate lag, a fraction of a second of hesitation inserted before each engagement that created just enough space for Liam to act before the consequence arrived. The angles were slightly wider. The positions slightly more exposed. It was the gaming equivalent of a professional athlete running at thirty percent and still having to concentrate to make it convincing.
Liam won.
By three kills.
The post-match screen loaded and he looked at it with the quiet satisfaction of a man who understood completely how the result had been produced and was choosing not to examine it too closely.
[MaTe0_Reyes99: okay]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: as agreed]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: I apologise]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: for the record I played at 5% and it was still close]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: which should honestly concern you more than it concerns me]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: like as a human being]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: that should keep you up at night]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: how are you this bad]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: I need an actual answer]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: I’m not mocking you I genuinely want to understand]
Liam read the last four messages in sequence.
[Att_Ghost: That’s it. I’m waking her up.]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: LMAOOO]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: snitch behaviour]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: you BLACKMAILED me first so]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: also she won’t even care she’s knocked out]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: I know my sister]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: she sleeps like a rock after a long day]
Liam set the controller down, there were so many comebacks he coudl drop but Mateo was a child.
Looked at the bedroom door.
Sophia’s breathing from the other side of it was steady and completely undisturbed by any of this, which confirmed Mateo’s intelligence about his own sister was accurate.
Liam picked the controller back up.
[Att_Ghost: One more game.]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: I knew it]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: I absolutely knew it]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: you can’t help yourself]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: this is actually kind of sad]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: but okay]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: because I respect the commitment]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: no handicap this time though]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: full send]
[Att_Ghost: Full send.]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: you’re going to regret this]
[MaTe0_Reyes99: sending invite]
The lobby loaded and Liam looked at the screen with the settled acceptance of a man who had made a choice he knew he would soon regret.
From the bedroom, Sophia slept on without interruption.
Mateo sent the invite and Liam accepted it, round three began.