Localkoolkid sat alone in his dimly lit room, the glow of his monitor casting long shadows on the walls. The VLR.gg homepage was open, but he wasn't reading. His mind was somewhere else, stuck in an endless loop of memories, images of HenBabyH and Cabo_ together, laughing, holding each other, living the life he had only dreamed of.
His fingers would hover over the keyboard, eager to type something, anything, but what was the point? The sharp wit had dulled and his passion for the forums dwindled. He could not see Hen's name without a hard knot forming in his chest that he couldn't bear. He couldn't sleep, and even when he managed to doze off, he was haunted by dreams of things that would never be.
Days faded into nights as loneliness festered like an open wound. The world outside went on, without a care for his pain. He barely ate, barely moved. The thing that kept barking at him was the possibility that HenBabyH might notice his absence and reach out. But those messages never came. The notifications remained silent.
---
One night, staring blankly at his screen, he heard a soft ping. A DM. His heart leaped, but it wasn't from Hen.
Kirya: "Hey, you haven't been posting much. Everything okay?"
Localkoolkid hesitated. He barely knew Kirya—just another name in the sea of VLR posters. But something about the message made him pause. He typed back before he could second-guess himself.
Localkoolkid: "Dunno. Just not feeling it lately."
Kirya: "I get that. Sometimes the forums feel like a black hole. Wanna hop on a call? No pressure, just talk."
A call? Localkoolkid stared at the message, fingers trembling. He hadn't spoken to anyone properly in days. A part of him wanted to refuse, to stay in his misery. But another part, a desperate, lonely part—clicked the call button.
Warm and gentle, it was a soothing voice on the other end of the line. "Hey, man. I'm glad you answered."
For hours, they talked. For a long time, it just ran to forums, old posts, and inside jokes. However, as night dragged on, Kirya wrung more out of him. He poured into his frustrations, heartbreaks, and his exhaustion. Kirya listened not like how others pretend to, but actually did.
“You don’t have to do this alone,” Kirya said softly. “You’re more than just some guy in the background of someone else’s love story.”
Localkoolkid felt something shift inside him. It wasn’t instant healing. It wasn’t forgetting. But it was… hope.
---
Weeks went by. Localkoolkid began posting again—tentatively, slowly. But his posts were now light, free of the sadness that had clung to them before. And Kirya was always there: in his DMs, in voice chats, in the little moments that made life feel real again.
One evening, Kirya sent him a simple message.
Kirya: "Wanna get dinner sometime? I think it'd be nice."
Localkoolkid's heart skipped a beat. He didn't have to think about it.
Localkoolkid: "Yeah. I'd like that."
And then, suddenly, the burden of the past started to disappear.
For the first time in ages, he was looking forward to tomorrow.
---
Discord