(Racket took one of my throw pillows) 

While Grim got the carrot mess cleaned up in the kitchen, Ian sat down on the couch and tried to figure out how to calm down the little creature in his mind. 

It didn't seem to matter what he did, though. The poor guy just kept screaming and running around. 

"I'm sorry about him, he never shuts up unless you can scare him to the point of playing dead," Grim said as he wiped off a cabinet. 

He didn't want to scare him... the poor thing already seemed more than scared enough. 

"Does he have a favorite food? Or toy?" he asked. 

Grim stared at him with a frown, then shrugged one shoulder. 

"No clue, but he's never taken an interest in anything. It's always just screaming and playing dead when he gets too stressed or tired." 

Ian pursed his lips as he tried to think, but the screaming was just too hard to focus through. 

No wonder Grim has a short fuse sometimes. 

He couldn't imagine his cat yowling so much. 

Deciding to take things one step at a time, Ian leaned back in the reclining sofa and put his feet up, then closed his eyes. It took a bit of focus to get himself to relax through the noise, but he eventually managed to step into his mind. 

The little guy was still scurrying around and, of course, screaming, but it was clear that it was running low on steam now. 

It eventually stopped a short distance away, gasping for air, then slowly looked to the left, then let out a little scream, then looked to the right, followed by another tired scream. 

Then, finally, it flopped over and stuck its tongue out. 

He waited a few minutes after that to be sure that the opossum wasn't going to get back up, then quietly made his way over, slowly becoming visible as he moved as to not startle the little guy, who still had his eyes partially open. 

Once he was close enough, he sat down beside him, then slowly reached out a hand to gently pat his fuzzy back leg. He didn't want to touch near his face yet, because that was never somewhere you wanted to pet any animal if you didn't already know them very well. 

The little possum didn't react, but that was to be expected. It was still trying to catch its breath, so it wasn't playing dead all that well, but Ian gladly played along and didn't instigate anything. He simply sat there and softly ran a few fingers along its fur, not moving them too far and being consist in his tempo. 

It's not so bad, sweetheart. 

He didn't broadcast that thought, but as time went on, he noticed that the little guy was slowly getting his breathing back under control. 

There we go. 

As the possum began to come around again, Ian carefully tucked his face against his arm that was resting on his bent knee. His hand continued to move in the same rhythm until the opossum inched away from it, but Ian didn't move a muscle after his hand drifted to the floor of his mind. 

He could hear the possum snuffling around him, but it didn't dare come too close. It was hard to hold still for so long, but he was managing decently well. He just had to thinking about a few different things to keep his mind busy, while still paying attention to the sounds from the possum. 

What felt like hours passed, but in all honesty, he knew that there was progress being made. For one, there was barely any yelling for the majority of that time, and if there was, it was just little startled yips here and there. It probably wasn't used to seeing any people, too, so he couldn't fault it for being so stressed all the time. It seemed like a puppy with no socialization.   

Eventually, the little guy wandered off into the depths of his mind, likely intent on resting. 

Ian waited a little while longer before slowly opening his eyes with a quiet sigh. He moved his shoulders a bit and gave a small yawn, but then realized something. 

I can't move my right leg much.

Looking down, he immediately realized why... then fell in love all over again. 

Grim was asleep with his head in his lap and a forest green throw pillow hugged against his chest. 

Ian immediately lifted his hands up, but then found himself at a loss as to what to do with them. He wanted to hug his handsome love, but knew he shouldn't, but then he wanted to stroke his hair, but that might wake him up. 

Instead of doing either, he lifted his hands to his hair and tugged as his eyes began blinking constantly, snapping mental photos of the beauty to look back on. 

He continued to stare like the pervert he was until he heard a light thump on the carpet near the breakfast bar counter by the kitchen. 

Oh, he climbed out of his highchair. 

Ian paused for a moment and looked over at the clock on the wall, then stared back down at Grim with a deadpan expression. 

You left him in that highchair for two hours? 

Now he did feel like waking him up, but Bubba took his attention back as he slowly made his way over to them, then promptly put his front paws up on the couch next to Grim and, before Ian could stop him, jumped right up onto his chest without a care in the world!

Grim immediately grunted and woke up with a cough, but Ian managed to grab Bubba right before Grim could toss him off the couch like a giant fuzzy football!  

"Little shit..." Grim grumbled as he pushed himself up and glared at the capybara Ian was still hugging against his own chest. 

"You left him in his high chair. You can't blame him for being upset," Ian said, though he wasn't sure if Bubba had come over just to piss off Grim, or simply wanted to snuggle and didn't care who was in the way. 

Judging by the expression the animal was making towards Grim, which was still mostly blankness, but with an added hint of malice, it might have been both. 

"I-I think our match is starting soon," Ian said, trying to smooth things over as Grim and Bubba glared at each other. 

They might actually be a little late if they didn't get on soon. 

Grim stared at him for a moment, but his gaze did soften a bit before turning away to look at the clock. 

"Tch..." 

Soon he was standing and walking away, allowing Ian to give a quiet sigh of relief as he released Bubba. 

The capybara calmly slumped off the sofa and wandered around the corner, making Ian hurry after him... until he noticed that he was slowly sauntering towards his room instead of Grim's. 

"I-I'll log on now," Ian said to Grim, raising his voice a little so that the man could hear him from where he was already getting himself ready to stream. 

Ah, I need to get dressed, too. 

After quickly logging his character in and helping Bubba wiggle his way up onto the bed, Ian tugged on a pair shorts and a black long-sleeved shirt.

Once he felt he was ready he settled down into his chair and looked at the camera now pointed at him on his desk. He'd tested it out a few times with Grim beforehand, but still...

This would be his first time streaming with it. 

If he did well, they might offer him more money, too, so no matter how nervous he felt, he wanted to have a good stream match with Grim. 

And, of course, most importantly, he wanted to impress his love. 

Logging into the voice chat, he kept himself muted for the moment as the MC quickly announced his presence. 

"Here's the other half of our second duo, our current King, Renegade!" 

Pressing his push-to-talk button, Ian greeted them. 

"Good evening, loves."

He opened his user channel so that he could keep an eye on the chat every so often, too. 

"Hang on a minute," Grim said, startling Ian a little as he turned his chair to face him, confused as to why he'd suddenly come into his room when they had a match about to start. 

"I knew you'd put on something simple," he told him, making Ian look down at his basic red shorts and black long-sleeved shirt. 

He wasn't used to it mattering. 

"You need to look sexier than that. I want them to be jealous that you're my bitch," Grim said as he walked over to his rather-full closet and began looking at item after item. 

I feel like you keep adding things to my wardrobe cause I don't remember seeing half of the stuff you're looking at right now. 

"This will work," he said after a minute as he returned to his side and held up a nice-looking dark red silk shirt. 

That... you want me to wear that for a live video game match? 

There were at least fifteen other shirts he could think of that would be a better fit, but before his mind could even form that thought completely, he was tugging off his current shirt and accepting the item. 

It was pulled on a second later, then Grim leaned in to straighten out his collar, then nip his neck! 

"I know you love it," Grim teased as he leaned away a moment later, not an ounce of remorse to his words.       

He looked incredibly smug, and the grin on his face only grew as he reached over and picked something up that he'd evidently put on the bed a few moments ago. 

"Bottoms," he said, making Ian's brow furrow as his face warmed. 

You really want me to wear those on camera? 

They were workout shorts... and a tad tight. 

"They don't need to see those. They're for your husband," Grim said, making Ian quickly jump up and tug his pants and boxers down right in front of Grim in order to pull the tight shorts on. 

They hugged him like a second skin, leaving little to the imagination... but thankfully didn't give him a wedgie. Once he was sure they looked okay, he straightened back up and smiled, except... the guy was no longer standing in front of him. 

"Let's go, bitch! We have a match to win!" Grim shouted from his room, making Ian frown and blink a few times before slowly sitting back down and checking that everything else was ready to go. 

When Grim appeared at the top right corner of his screen a few moments later, Ian swallowed down his remaining nervousness and turned his new streaming camera on for the first time. 

The MC, who had been in the middle of introducing Grim, suddenly seemed to become tongue-tied as the voice chat went completely silent. 

Did I do it right? Can they see me? 

He was about to lean forward and check the connection, even though he could see a little screen beneath Grim's that clearly showed his own face staring back at him, when he suddenly heard the notification for his personal chat channel start chiming like crazy. 

A quick glance to the window told him plenty. 

BichWut: WAIT. HOLD ON. Grim thinks he can get THAT fine piece of man?! 

MimiIsAPerv: Boi, my face deserves to be between your pecs!

DiviIsAPerv: Do you have an OnlyFans? Because I want to be your one and only fan.

MimiIsAPerv: Divi... I'm willing to share since your name speaks to me. 

OhLawdHeCumin': Heck no he's mine! Ren baby, call me Daddy and I'll take care of you forever! 

"Alright all you bastards, he's my bitch. Go get your own," Grim snarled through his mic as Ian finally relaxed and gave his audience a thoughtful smile. 

"Hello, loves. I do apologize, but I can't argue with my man," he said honestly, even as his chat continued to blow up with fans going crazy over his appearance. 

He'd never really thought that he looked particularly above average, so the extra attention just made him chuckle a little as their characters were teleported to the arena to begin their match. 

He had decided to play more like a healer this time, but also had a few good melee attack skills up his sleeve in case of emergency. Of course, that left him limited on space for his healing abilities, so he'd had to plan which ones to put on the easy-access key bars. 

When he saw Grim's character teleport in beside him, his inner fanboy twitched and he had to force himself not to squeal. 

He's so cute! 

While Grim's character was definitely more manly than his own cat boy, the guy's human had evidently had a bit of an overhaul. At least, in terms of cosmetic gear. 

Grim didn't normally waste time applying cosmetics to his character and usually preferred the look of his normal armor to anything fancy, but right now his character was wearing dark purple robes with gold trim, dark red oriental pants, and he even had a monocle settled over his left eye.  

Needless to say, Ian happily took several screenshots as he had his character dance around Grim's a few times. 

MayonnaisePacket: Nooooo, don't be fooled Ren!

Ambidickstrous: Boy's gone...

He knew that his expression was still reasonably passive, but he couldn't help but take the screenshots. Grim's character never dressed up! It would have been a wasted opportunity if he hadn't!

The MC went on about introducing their opponents, but he paid them no mind until Grim's character finally reached forward and flicked him on the nose, snapping him out of his excited daze immediately. 

His chat continued to blow up as they started the match, but his entire focus was now on making sure that he performed to Grim's expectations. He might have taken a few more screenshots as they were running and during their first interaction with their opponents, though. 

After making sure that they were going to win that altercation, of course.  

"Ren is on the ball today! Look at those perfectly timed heals, and to pair them with melee attacks? Has anyone seen a healer charge into an actual fight without getting slaughtered when their casting is interrupted by damage?!" 

It honestly was a pretty daunting task, and he struggled a bit at first since healers were generally the initial targets during a match, but Grim never left his side for a second, and if he was being honest, he seemed even more protective than normal. 

D1ckDoodler: Guys, Grimmy is totally being a jealous boyfriend right now! 

ChocolateChipSpaghetti: I can't argue... and I thought Renegade was obsessed. What's wrong, Grim? Worried you might lose your simp when he realizes that someone better will be dboxing him after this match? 

FlamingosAteTheDinosaurs: *silently slips away to message him*

"I have to agree with the chat. Can't blame the guy for playing defense," the MC said, making Grim snarl and sneer out quite a few choice words that were not exactly suitable for fragile ears. 

That led to Grim slipping up and actually dying, leaving Ren to fight two on one... and barely survive. 

He managed to take out the opponent's healer before having to run from their damage dealer. Somehow, though, he was able to make it back to their own respawn point just in time for Grim to revive and knock out the pursuing elf's remaining hit points!

"Thanks, sweetheart," Ian said calmly as he settled his character down for a quick rest to recuperate his own hit points and magic points. 

"Gotta take care of my bitch," Grim replied with his classic snark, earning a content smile from Ian that sent his chat into a frenzy. 

DNT: How can Grim say such things to such a sweet boy?!

CatTastrophe: Grim's got him delusional. Ren, you can do so much better! 

Ian gave a quiet chuckle as he set out with Grim's character again to hunt down their enemies. 

CricketsInMySoup: That is NOT the look of someone who seems delusional. He's absolutely OBSESSED! 

He couldn't argue that one. 

His attention quickly had to turn to their next altercation, forcing him to focus as he healed and defended himself while Grim went characteristically wild. 

Perhaps a little excessively...

Once again, he had to hunker down and try to keep Grim from getting himself killed. He even ended up taking a pretty nasty fireball attack for him just to give himself enough time to heal the stubborn guy. 

That managed to allow them to kill both enemies, but when the dust settled his cat boy was still suffering from a pretty severe burn over most of his body and the effect still had two minutes left to tic away at his health. 

This might kill me...

His mana points were completely drained, too, so he couldn't cast anything or rest until the ability wore off. 

He was just getting ready to give up and let his character die when Grim's pulled him into a tight hug and began whispering a healing spell that quickly engulfed them both in a bright white light. 

When the light finally dimmed about ten seconds later, his sweet cat boy, Renegade, looked up into Grim's eyes and immediately wagged his singed tail.

Ian was all smiles now that all of his hit points and magic points were restored by the spell Grim had evidently been holding onto just in case of such a situation, even though he'd chosen to play a damage dealer this round. 

Wait a second. No wonder why he has been taking a bit more damage, he must have taken off one of his shielding abilities to add that healing one. 

His thoughts were quickly diverted when Grim's character patted his head, then started running off towards the enemy's pillar, silently signaling that it was time to get a move on. 

Ian quickly got Renegade moving as the MC called out that they were heading towards the finale if the other team couldn't get themselves back in the game! 

Unfortunately for him and Grim, the other team wasn't interested in going down so quickly. To their surprise, however, they bypassed Grim somehow and actually ambushed Renegade, forcing him to divert abruptly and put up a shield in order to block two massive simultaneous blasts from both their opponents! 

The attacks shattered his shield and sent him flying backwards into the forested area he'd just emerged from, making him take a good bit of damage as he slammed into a sturdy tree. 

He wasn't given any time to shake the hit off, and as his character staggered and fumbled into a run, still a little stunned from the impact, their opponents closed in. 

Ian did his best to heal himself as he saw Grim's character quickly approaching on his radar, but right before he could appear, Renegade's hit points dropped to zero, making his character fall to the forest floor, unconscious. 

The MC announced the knock out right before Grim's snarl cut off any further words. 

"How dare you fuckwads touch my bitch!" 

The two opponents that had just killed him turned to look Grim's way, but they were given no further chance to respond as a massive wall of fire incinerated not just them, but the entire forest around them. 

Grim even burned his own character a little bit from the rebound effect of such a massive spell, but he clearly didn't pay it any mind as he turned right back around and darted for their opponent's pillar, his robe still sizzling. 

Grim made short work of its hit points since he'd geared mainly for damage this round. Ian had intended to join him, but when he noticed their revived opponents going after him again as he approached, he realized something. 

We're getting low on kills. I can't risk dying again. 

So, instead of trying to continue onward, he quickly skidded to a halt, then spun around and darted back towards the middle of the map. 

"Oh? Perhaps Renegade has figured out their plan now? He's also not as heavily equipped as he normally is, so he's managing to pull ahead rather well!" the MC announced, though Ian was no longer paying attention. 

He was managing to get away decently well, though, which was buying Grim precious seconds to continue wailing away at their enemy's pillar. 

Alright, I just need to distract them for a few more m—Ian was immediately taken off-guard by the large rodent forcing its way up into his lap one slow-motion stretch at a time. 

Bubba! This really isn't the time! 

The capybara couldn't have cared less. It calmly climbed up into his lap as Ian put his character on auto-run and did his best to dodge trees with one hand while failing to at least direct Bubba in some sort of direction with the other. 

The MC was babbling a mile a minute at the same time, while his chat chime was going crazy, but he really couldn't do much about any of that right then. 

As Bubba finally got himself situated... and facing the camera with the dullest expression known to man, Ian leaned around him and had his character dodge to the side just in time to avoid being frozen in place by a binding spell! 

He pivoted after the dodge, then put up a shield just in time to reflect an axe attack!

There's no way I can fight with him in my lap. 

But at the same time, he couldn't bring himself to push him down, either. 

"Stay away from my bitch!" Grim roared as the screen lit up in a second round of bright red flames, blotting out any other details around them. 

At the same time, thunder boomed through his speakers and the fur on his character's body stood up from the static electricity surging through the area. 

By the time he was able to see everything again, most of the trees around him had been decimated and were sizzling like freshly grilled steaks. 

Two bodies were also lying nearby, completely burnt with little bits of electricity zipping around them from head to toe as they slowly began to fade away. 

Ian had Renegade slowly get up and shake out his coat a bit, but before he could fully straighten up, he was yanked off his feet and tossed over Grim's character's shoulder!

He could hear the guy grumbling under his breath as he started running back towards the enemy's pillar, making Ian keep his mouth firmly shut. 

"Uh oh, Grim is really mad! For those who don't know, our foul-mouthed friend tends to get quieter and quieter the more infuriated he becomes," the MC helpfully stated, making Ian internally fidget. 

He hadn't meant to mess up so badly...

Thus, the moment he was tossed down on the ground next to the enemy's pillar he quickly got to work dealing as much damage as he could to it. 

Since their opponents were already killed several times and Grim had previously dealt a lot of damage to the pillar, even though it had regenerated some of it, they still managed to take it down before being interrupted again. 

The moment the screen flashed with the word Victory Ian muted his mic and leaned back in his seat, then gave out a long sigh of relief. 

Bubba took that moment to glance back at him, then slowly turned until he was facing sideways... and flopped right down against his chest, nearly making Ian fall backwards out of his chair!

His big fuzzy friend then took that opportunity to try and nibble on his hair, further distracting him as the MC seemed to start giving a play-by-play of the unorthodox wrestling match. 

Ian struggled with the seventy-plus pound rodent for several more moments before he heard the sound of some sort of switch being flicked. 

Huh? 

"Oh? It seems like Renegade is having trouble with his camera. We'll take our break now before we do our winning interviews," the MC said, though his words mainly went in one ear and out the other, because Ian honestly could barely hear him over the rushing sound of blood storming through his head as Grim shoved away Bubba, then grabbed his jaw in a vicelike grip and kissed him so deeply that he couldn't even manage to take a single breath!

The man's onslaught was welcome, of course, but it soon had Ian's excitement turning into confused worry as he fought to get air into his lungs!

Grim even followed him down when he did finally lean too far back in his chair, tilting it over onto the carpet. It was like the guy was starving and only devouring his mouth could keep him alive as he pinned him to the back of the padded chair! 

Ian was at a total loss and truly tried to keep up, but by the time Grim ended his attack and got up, silently walking back to his own room, Ian was left frozen in place, his wide eyes staring up at the slowly rotating ceiling fan above him as his poor aching mouth hung open in shock, gasping for air!

The sound of Grim's voice soon came through his headset informing the MC that there were some technical difficulties going on and that Renegade wouldn't be able to be on camera for the remainder of the evening. 

Thankfully, the match was already done, and Grim easily stepped into the interview, talking about it as if he hadn't just claimed another K.O., and of his own teammate, only moments beforehand!