The Bear in the Streaming Room

Marcus pulled his beanie **hat** lower as he navigated the crowded hallway, desperately trying to become invisible. At seventeen, he'd mastered the art of blending in—mostly because his real self was live on Twitch every night until 2 AM, where he was "ShadowByte," the sarcastic speed-runner with 50K followers who never showed his face.

His older sister's golden retriever, Buster, chose that exact moment to come barreling around the corner. The **dog** had zero chill, zero spatial awareness, and apparently zero respect for Marcus's social camouflage. Buster's leash tangled around Marcus's legs, sending him sprawling directly into Harper—his English lit partner, the one with the vintage band tees and the laugh that made his chest feel weird.

"Smooth," Harper said, grinning as she helped him up. "You okay, ShadowByte?"

Marcus froze. His stomach dropped like he'd missed a quicktime event. "What?"

"Your hoodie." She pointed to the tiny pixelated skull on his chest. "I watch your streams. Your Dark Souls run was literally insane."

"Oh. Uh. Thanks." The **running** monologue in his head was screaming every curse word he knew. How had she found him? He was so cooked.

"I was gonna ask," Harper said, casually leaning against her locker, "but your HDMI **cable** setup in your background—is that the good 4K one? Mine's trash and I can't get my stream to stop lagging."

Wait. She streamed too?

"Yeah, it's the premium one," Marcus heard himself saying, surprised by his own confidence. "I could help you set it up sometime. If you wanted."

"Friday? My parents are out, we could order pizza."

"Bet."

That night, as Marcus hit "END STREAM" on his longest broadcast ever, he caught his reflection in his monitor. His little brother's giant teddy **bear** sat on his desk—a stupid gag gift from his birthday stream—and for once, it didn't feel embarrassing. It felt like exactly who he was: a dork who loved video games, spent too much time online, and maybe, just maybe, was about to have his first real Friday night.

Marcus grabbed his phone and typed out a message to Harper, then hit send without overthinking it. Some characters were worth leveling up IRL.