Love Addict’s RPG Vol. 2 Ch. 80

Bit of a surprise here. I realized I was like 2000 words past a very obvious cut off point and figured I should probably make this bit it’s own chapter. Next one shouldn’t be that far out either because if this decision!

***

Oliver was surprised to see that Rebecca was telling the truth. A massive influx of sugar via another one of her ice cream monstrosities calmed her right down, at least to her previous level of anxiety before he'd made his grandiose promise. The awkward silence as she picked away at her treat and ate it in front of him in a panicked hurry made look back on the moment with embarrassment.

Still, he meant it. Rebecca was his number-one priority as soon as things with Zoe calmed down. Or rather, his second priority after maxing out Mia's Heart Events... which would currently make Rebecca his... third priority?

Dating sims, he sighed to himself. So many girls to woo and things to do, yet so little time...

After Rebecca made it halfway through her mountain, she felt good enough to resume idle conversation. It was nice. They kept things light, with Oliver consenting to have her lore dump the basic concepts of the 40th Space Reich universe to him.

Mia wasn't kidding when she said this shit was Hitler's wet dream.

The dumbed-down version was that humanity split into two factions in the far future after first contact with a galactic alien federation called the Communardic Elygium. One side embraced these new foreign friends and integrated into the Elygium's peaceful, hedonistic society, while the rest of humanity... became space Nazis without any subtlety to it whatsoever.

Calling themselves the Space Reich, the faction's mission was to conquer the galaxy on a platform of total human supremacy. There was also a lot of stuff about eugenics. Like, a lot of stuff about eugenics, and then you had junk about purging subhuman races and half-breeds from the galaxy.

That said?

Oliver still found himself a little interested in the setting. Learning that you didn't have to play as the Space Reich and could instead field an army of the peaceful, sex-having, space drug-fueled Elygium trying to protect their way of life helped a lot.

"Question," 

"Oh, um- y-yes?" Rebecca tensed up, worried she'd prattled on for too long.

"Why is it called the 40th Space Reich?"

"Ah! An excellent inquiry, soldier!" She exclaimed, going right back to having stars in her eyes. "You see, the galactic war has stretched on for thousands and thousands of years, and the Elygium has nearly destroyed the Reich tens of times over. It, um... it never fully dies out, though! Each time, the Space Reich comes back a little stronger... oh, um, well... not every time, actually. One early iteration was so overpowered that it almost won the war altogether!"

"...It wasn't the 3rd Space Reich, was it?"

"How did you know?!"

"Lucky guess," Oliver smiled, repressing the urge to facepalm.

Rebecca continued her lore dumping, excitedly explaining how the 3rd Space Reich used Neo-Aryan magic or some stupid shit to develop hyper-advanced technology better than anything the current Space Reich uses nowadays.

The longer the hyper-fixated girl monologed, however, the less conscious of her surroundings she became, and upon noticing the black lady over at the cash register giving them the most profoundly confused expression he'd ever seen, Oliver knew it was time to change the topic.

They briefly circled back to Zoe as Rebecca finished the last few bites, and Oliver was delighted to hear she'd come up with another suggestion. Once he'd actually heard her out, though, he was more apprehensive. It's not that it was a bad idea. Far from it, it was just one he wouldn't have thought of, and it might potentially feel awkward.

Nothing he couldn't handle. Probably wouldn't be worse than hanging out with a tiny autistic white girl who won't stop talking about Thinly-veiled Nazi Propaganda: the Wargame within earshot of a black chick. That, and it was something he needed to tackle sooner or later, anyway, so there was no excuse not to go for it.

Oliver thanked Rebecca for the suggestion right as she finished the final scoop. He told her she could go and wait in the car while he used the restroom real quick. There, he put the plan into motion by calling Bradley, getting him up to speed, and explaining his request as quick as he could to not keep the little lady waiting.

"So what do you think? That sound like something you'd be willing to handle?"

"Am I [Willing to Handle] it? Oliver, my FRIEND! Not ONLY am I [Willing to Handle] this MISSION you wish to assign me, your [Best Bro], but I would WILINGLY risk my [Continued Existence] to PULL it off with [Stunning Aplomb]!"

"...A simple 'yes' would have sufficed. Whatever, thanks, Bradley. Glad to hear you're on board. Seriously, though- don't be weird about this. All you need to do is track them down and pass along my number, okay?"

"Consider it DONE!" Bradley hung up first, showing off even more enthusiasm than usual to run off and complete his objective.

Given what Oliver asked of him, he supposed he understood his bro's excitement. He still had some lingering doubts over whether or not sending Bradley was the best way to go about it, however.

I'm sure it'll be fine, he mentally assured himself while staring into the bathroom mirror and touching up his hair with water. Long as he keeps things simple and doesn't say anything that might give off the wrong impression, then...

Oliver paused, picturing the worst-case scenario in all its gruesome detail.

On second thought, maybe I should've bit the bullet and asked Mia instead... he sighed. Oh well. What's done is done. Slumping his shoulders, Oliver left the building as he calmed his anxious mind with a repetitive mantra reminding him it was only two more days until Lucky Bastard was back in business.

He was surprised to see Rebecca waiting for him in the front seat when he made it to his car. She looked uncomfortable and was constantly shifting around while twiddling her thumbs. Even so, she still looked up with a nervous smile when she noticed him, causing Oliver's heart to pump faster as he shot a smile of his own right back.

"Hey, there," he said, getting in and buckling up. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Y-Yeah, well, I, um, I told you that I only needed to get a little more used to you, and I mean, heck. I-I held your hand for a little bit! It'd awful silly if I couldn't sit next to you after that, d-don't you think...?"

"Maybe a little, but don't feel like you need to force yourself-"

"I'm not forcing myself!" Rebecca puffed out her cheeks, not beating the mouse-like allegations. "I'm, um... I'm exactly where I want to be..."

"Okay, okay, not planning to die on this hill anytime soon," Oliver laughed softly and checked the time. 8:30. Unfortunately, it was probably too late to offer to take her somewhere else, but it didn't hurt to make sure. "I guess I should be getting you home, then?" He asked.

"Uh-huh. I still wanted to fit some games into the night before I get tired, b-but... I, um, I wouldn't really mind if you wanted to take your time, either. Driving around at night has always calmed me down, so..."

Oliver brightened up at his chance to spend more time with the adorable dork, giving her a smile as he said, "Your wish is my command, mein fraulein."

It was meant to come off as entirely innocent, but Rebecca blushed as furiously as if he'd been intentionally teasing he. Oliver sighed. He really couldn't help himself. Still, progress was progress. It didn't scare her off from sitting up front with him, so he took off, and the two struck up another round of mild conversation.

This time, Oliver managed to get Rebecca talking about herself instead of her hobbies. She was incredibly reluctant when he made the initial push and tried flipping the script by asking him about himself, but she wasn't a good enough conversationalist to pull that off and got swept along.

Once she started talking, though, she found it easy to open up and Oliver learned all kinds of interesting things about his new friend.

Rebecca's dad was a freelance software engineer who created 'software solutions', whatever that meant, and her mom wasn't in the picture. Aside from that, most of her family lived in the UK. Much of this conversation focused on her grandpa, a decently well-known painter who- and Rebecca was very excited to tell him this- occasionally did some work for the company that made 40th Space Reich on the side.

"Damn, really? That's cool as hell. What kinda stuff has he done for them?"

"He mostly paints models for promotional purposes, but he's also done some paintings for their sourcebooks and even a few book covers!" Rebecca beamed. "He's really good. Here, I'll show you a couple-"

"I'm driving, Rebecca," Oliver laughed softly.

"Oh. R-Right... I, um... I'll t-text them to you later, then, ahaha..."

She continued endlessly singing her grandpa's praises for another couple minutes. As soon as she finally ran out of nice things to say, the conversation awkwardly pivoted back to Rebecca herself. After high school, Oliver learned that she got a two-year general studies degree at a local college just so she had something under her belt before entering the workforce.

Given how cagey she'd been about the topic, he was surprised when she started talking about her job.

"I work customer service at one of MR&LBG's call centers... you know, um, the bank? Basically, I'm who the bot would put you on the line with after telling it half a dozen times that you want to speak to a human, ahaha..."

The thought of Rebecca working any job that required her to talk to people was so out there that Oliver was tempted into looking away from the road long enough to give her a confused look.

"...Really? Huh. Can't say I was expecting that."

"Would it make more sense if I said I don't really have to talk to people?"

"It would, but it would also raise other questions,"

"The job is mostly about listening to people talk about their problems, and when I do have to speak, I'm, um, n-not really having actual conversations with them. I just say stuff off of scripts I had to memorize. Anything past that, and I transfer the call to someone who actually knows what they're talking about, ahaha..." 

"Oh, okay. That doesn't sound too bad, then... that said, I've read a few horror stories on the internet about working for call centers. Hope it's not as bad as they make it out to be."

Rebecca let out a long, exasperated sigh as her body went limp, the side of her head thumping against her window. "It's... pretty bad sometimes, yeah. Or, um, most of the time, really..."

Oliver frowned. "So, what? You get paid to let people yell at you all day?"

"No. I get paid a lot to let people yell at me all day, ahaha... but... yeah. Anyone with a big enough problem that they need to call their bank about it usually isn't in a great mood, and all that anger has to go somewhere, right? Might as well be me..."

"Christ. I don't care how much they're paying you. That can't be worth it, can it?"

"My hobbies don't pay for themselves, and I have a lot of hobbies..." Rebecca managed a weary giggle.

"Still..."

"Honestly? Getting yelled at isn't great, but it's not the worst part of the job... that'd be whenever I have to talk with some sweet old lady who got tricked into buying thousands of dollars of gift cards by some Indian scammer or a father of four who just can't make their mortgage payment on time because one of their kid needed surgery and their insurance pulled the rug out from under them... 'I'm sorry, Sir/Ma'am, but there's nothing I can do to help you'..."

That unrelenting urge Oliver had to hug and comfort this dorky girl never tormented him as hard as it currently did. It took all his restraint to keep his eyes forward and his hands on the wheel. He sucked in a deep breath. It was okay. They'd entered Foamy Shores and weren't that far from her house.

"S-Sorry. I, um, I killed the conversation, didn't I...?"

"That was... admittedly a pretty big bummer, but that's okay. Learning more about you was worth the buzz kill." He said gently, then moved along the conversation before she could get hung up on it. "Let's say you could have any job in the world, though. What would it be?"

Rebecca blushed at the first half of his comment, but the question distracted her precisely as he hoped. She made a puzzled expression, then an embarrassed one.

"It's, um... hard for me to say..."

"Why? Can't think of one?"

"N-No, it's more that the job is, um... kind of silly and unrealistic, ahaha..."

"Come on, loosen up," he teased. "That was the whole point of the question! I did say any job in the world, didn't I?"

"You did, I just... ah... um..." Rebecca's voice caught in her throat, but she'd lost a lot of armor by now. So much that she felt it'd be sillier not to open up to him. "Okay. I'll tell you. If I could have, um... any job in the world, I'd... w-well, all I'd want is to play games for a living..."

"...You mean like Zoe?" Oliver asked, fighting off the mental image of Rebecca putting on makeup and dressing like a camgirl.

"N-No! No! I-I, um, I could never- ah... ahaha... I meant more along the lines of competing in Sorcery the Consumption and 40th Space Reich tournaments for a living!"

"Oh, right. Yeah, that makes more sense." He laughed awkwardly. "Have you tried?"

"Mhmm, I go to pretty much every local tournament there is for every game I play, but... my brain always turns to mush when I'm in a competitive setting... and, w-well, even if I could pull it off, tournament winnings aren't really enough to live off of. Most of the big players are also content creators, and I, um... I'm not like Zoe. I just plain don't have what it takes to do any of that."

"Hey. Never say never. It took me almost twenty-three years to start breaking out of my shell, but if I could pull it off, there's always hope for you."

Rebecca smiled at the thought. She didn't believe him- her shell was built around her brain, after all, but it made her feel nice that he'd said it, and she didn't want to ruin the moment with her pessimism. "Thank you, Oliver..."

"No problem," he said, making one of the final turns before they reached their destination. "Personally? I think you should go for it. It's a nice dream, Rebecca. A really nice one. I'm kind of jealous, to be honest."

"Jealous? Huh? Um... of... what, exactly?"

"The fact that you have a dream to begin with, I guess?"

"I, um... I don't see what's so special about it, ahaha...? Everyone has a dream, don't they? Don't you?"

"Not really. I have things I'm interested in, but nothing I'm so passionate about that I want to spend the rest of my life on it. I don't really have anything like Mia does with her art, Zoe with her streams, or you with your games..."

"Oh. That's, um... well... that's no good..." Rebecca bit down on her lip, pushing down her shyness to keep talking. She felt the pain coming from his heart and wanted to do what little she could to help out with it. "Boxing! Um, I-I mean, w-what about boxing? You're still young enough to be a pro boxer, and, um, you're really good at it!"

"I'll probably end up fighting again whenever I need more cash, but it's not like I fought Mia's brothers because I wanted to. My back was against the wall, and my only choice was to punch my way out of it," Oliver laughed softly. "Though... I guess I'd be lying if I didn't say I like fighting to a certain extent. Just not enough to actively make it my day job."

"Hm... yeah, I-I wouldn't want that, either ahaha... there, um, there has to be something you're passionate about, though! T-Then again, I, um... I could just be being autistic... so much of my life is defined by having dozens of little hyperfixations that part of me really struggles to comprehend how someone else might not have any at all..."

Oliver trusted Rebecca but wasn't comfortable telling the girl about his dating sim obsession. He could only imagine how nervous that would make her. Other than that, though? He didn't really have anything that qualified as a fixation. He liked things- anime, video games, and so on- but only casually.

Nothing he could rant about for hours on end about how Rebecca could.

Nothing except for...

"Maybe there is something, but it's even sillier than you telling me you want to play games for a living..." Oliver laughed awkwardly.

Rebecca unconsciously leaned in closer, tilting her head. "What is it? If you don't mind telling me, I'd, um... I'd love to know."

"The only real thing I'm passionate about is love, I guess,"

"L-Love...? You mean, um... you're passionate about your relationship with Mia, or, um... w-what, exactly?"

"Yeah, I am. Mia means everything to me, and I'm passionate about her, but I was talking more about how I feel about being in love in and of itself. Does that make sense?"

"I, ah... can't... say that it does?"

"Figured as much, yeah... It's cool. I'm kinda just babbling, anyway. I've never tried putting this into words, so..."

"H-Hey, um... just because I don't understand doesn't mean I wouldn't love lending you an ear if you wanted to try sorting out your feelings. You've, um... you've been such a patient and kind listener in the short time that I've... that we've been friends, s-so, ah..." Rebecca kept fidgeting as she talked before sighing and slumping over. "I'm just trying to say that for what it's worth, I-I'm always willing to hear you out..." she mumbled.

Oliver briefly thought about the offer, a mild blush coloring his cheeks. He'd opened up about his feelings to Mia more than a few times by now, but the thought of doing so with someone new scared him. Maybe not as much as it should've, though.

He felt like Rebecca understood him on some level, and he couldn't imagine her judging him. Between that and her eagerness to help, his defenses cracked.

"Up until pretty recently, I've been totally alone. I went through some rough shit in my high school years, wound up isolating myself, and it took a lot of work to get out of that spot. But even then, I don't think I really recovered. Not fully. I still isolated myself from the world, and I'm only just starting to feel like an actual human being again."

"...Because of Mia?"

"Mostly, yeah..."

"Mostly?"

"There's... been a few moments here and there where I've felt things towards other girls," Oliver saw Rebecca's eyes widen a tiny bit, so he quickly clarified, "It's not how it sounds- I'm not a scumbag, I'm only trying to say that... um... okay, so maybe there isn't a way to phrase it without sounding like a scumbag, but fuck it. I come to life whenever I'm flirting, getting attention, or even sometimes just seeing a girl do something vaguely life- and it's not just from Mia. She knows about this, by the way, and I'm not sure what all she's told you, but..."

"It's okay, Oliver. Take your time and say whatever you need to."

Surprised by her gentle reassurance, he took a deep breath and finished off his thoughts. "You know how people always say that loving yourself is way more important than being loved by others? I don't think I'm built like that, and that scares me. Even with Mia being so... understanding... it still hasn't been easy to look myself in the mirror and come to terms with who I am."

"In your own words, then, who... um... who are you?" Rebecca cocked her head.

"A black hole, maybe? Someone who could have the best girlfriend in the entire world and still feel that deep, deep down, it's not enough..."

Rebecca gulped. This was some pretty heavy stuff, and she didn't have any advice. She simply felt terrible that he felt bad and wished there was more she could do to help.

"I, um... I'm the least qualified person to give relationship advice, but... Mia is the most patient, understanding, and, um, stubborn person I've ever known, ahaha... as long as you two are being honest with each other and communicating about all this, I have no doubts that everything will work out in the end!"

It took him a while, but Oliver smiled calmly and agreed. "I think so, too. I'm lucky to have her."

Rebecca smiled back.

It wasn't as sincere as something nagged at the back of her mind. She was a good girl who loved her friends more than anything else in the entire world. The kind of girl who'd never make leading comments that would advance some nefarious secret agenda she was building toward.

Not consciously, anyway.

In a fit of compulsion, Rebecca reached over and placed her hand on top of his. It was so easy when she wasn't actually thinking about it. So natural.

Suddenly, the smile was sincere.

"I know it might not mean much coming from me, but if you want my honest opinion, um... w-well... let's say a soldier somehow gets left behind. Tragic, but it happens. There was a big battle on a desert planet, and some rocks fell on him, making everyone think he was dead! He wakes up the next day and knows base camp is hundreds of clicks away. Does he give up and just die right there on the battlefield? N-No, of course not. He picks himself up, looting the canteens of his fallen brothers to sate his thirst. It's a last-ditch effort. He'll eventually run out of corpses to loot, and when he finally does, things seem bad. Real bad, but... somehow... through sheer grit and determination... he makes it back! Any guesses on the first thing he does?"

"He... asks for a drink?"

"Exactly! And then another! And another! He's been dehydrated for so long that obviously he'll want to just drown in all the water he can get, don't you think?"

"I guess so, but I could've sworn you said you weren't very good at metaphors..."

"Ah... ahaha..." Rebecca blushed and took her hand away when she noticed where it ended up. "I-I have my moments, I suppose?"

"I suppose you do," Oliver gave her a polite, if awkward, laugh. "Really wish you went with one that didn't imply I get a pass because I'm thirstier than everyone else, though..."

"Why? I, um... I thought that 'thirsty' was a good stand-in for female affection, personally..."

"Because 'thirsty' in this context usually means-" Oliver inspected the innocent way Rebecca inquisitively stared for clarification, then shook his head, amused.

"W-What? Am I, um, missing something?"

"Nothing important, no," Oliver chuckled. "I appreciate your rousing speech, commander."

"Leutnantin,"

"Leutnantin," he repeated to make her happy.

Which it did. Very, very much. So much so that she couldn't even look at him for a couple seconds, but as soon as she turned away, she noticed something awkward. Outside her window was an expensive house where a couple of lazy cats were idling on the lawn.

She recognized these cats. They were her neighbors, given that Rebecca was looking at her neighbor's house. Looking out the front window revealed many other cars parked on the curb right in front of her own house, too.

"W-What the- ah- um, h-how long have we been here, Oliver...?!"

"We've been parked for like... five... ten minutes, Rebecca? Did you not notice?" 

"N-No! Not at all! You should've said something, I-"

"I would've, but we were talking... and I didn't really want to stop unless we had to. Sorry. You're right. I should've-"

"Ah- no, it's okay, I'm just surprised, ahaha..." Rebecca smiled to herself. Hearing how much he enjoyed talking with her felt like a major win. Sadly, it was offset by guilt and knowing they were about to split up. "I guess I should probably get going, then..."

"If you're still aiming to get in some gaming, then yeah, probably. Otherwise, I'd-"

"You'd...?"

"Offer to sit around and talk with you more? Far be it from me to keep you from playing with your little army men, though."

"Huh. I'm, uh... I'm going to ask you another stupid question, but, um... you... really do like hanging out with me... don't you...?"

Oliver knew the drill by now. Doubt plagued her mind, and the best thing to drive it away was a patient smile and honesty. "I do, yeah. And I'll say it as many times as you need me to."

The Leutnantin winced as yet another round of enemy fire ruined her only remaining gauntlet, trashing it beyond repair. It crumbled to dust and was scattered away on alien winds.

"Ah... ahaha..." Rebecca gulped, weighing her options.

Sneak in a couple of hours playing 40th Space Reich with her dad and his friends, or sit around talking with her friend's boyfriend? Then again, Oliver's crappy old car wasn't the most comfortable place to be... oh, but maybe they could go out on the backyard patio together?

She never made much use of it herself, but the view was always pretty at this time of night, what with the moon's shimmering reflection slowly shifting along the salty waves. Why, some might go so far as to call it...

N-No.

No, no, no.

Ab-so-LUTELY not! I will not imagine myself having a r-r-romantic moonlight heart-to-heart on the beach with Mia's boyfriend. I. Will. NOT! You're a lot of things, Rebecca, but 'disloyal' isn't one of them!

But... if he really likes hanging out with me... maybe... just maybe... it would be doing him a f-f-favor...?

Yeah... Yeah...!!

Or rather, 'yeah, right', darn it... I just can't think of a way to frame it that wouldn't make me feel like a duplicitous... um... b-word...

She gave in with a soft, quiet sigh.

"Everything okay?" 

"Y-Yeah, I'm just thinking that maybe I should-"

"What... the... hell?"

"Huh? W-What's the matter? You, um... you look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Crap, sorry, didn't mean to stare- I just... that guy who came out on the deck just now surprised me a little. One of your dad's friend's I'm... guessing...?" Oliver asked, politely swapping out the word he'd actually wanted to use.

Her eyes lit up in recognition after noticing who he referred to. "Oh, no! No, that's just my dad, ahaha..."

"Of course it is," Oliver smiled thinly, nodding. "Of course it is."