The Spy in the Storm

Kai's hands shook as they adjusted the HDMI cable behind the TV. Their mom was hosting her book club tonight, which meant the living room would be occupied until at least ten. Which gave Kai exactly three hours to figure out if they were actually going to do this.

"You okay up there?" Maya called from the beanbag chair, scrolling through her phone. "You've been messing with that cable for like, five minutes."

"Fine," Kai lied, heart hammering. "Just want everything to be perfect."

Perfect. Right.

They'd been secretly watching Riley's streaming channel for weeks now — not in a creepy way, or at least that's what Kai told themselves at 2 AM when they'd binge-watch Riley's gaming videos. Riley with their ridiculous laugh and the way they'd go off on tangents about medieval history and that one time they'd spent twenty minutes explaining why sphinxes were actually underrated mythological creatures.

Riley, who Kai had been crushing on since seventh grade gym class when Riley had defended them from those basketball bullies.

Riley, who had no idea Kai existed.

"You're literally going to spy on their stream again?" Maya said, reading their mind. "Just join the discord, coward."

"I'm not spying," Kai protested weakly. "It's research. Emotional intelligence gathering."

"That's literally what spying IS, Kai."

Lightning flashed outside, illuminating the living room in stark blue-white. Thunder followed seconds later, rattling the windows. The router's lights flickered.

"No, no, no — " Kai scrambled to check the connection. The stream buffered, frozen on Riley's mid-laugh face, pixelating into digital oblivion. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Well," Maya said philosophically, "there's your sign. The universe has spoken."

But then Riley's voice came through, crackling but clear: "...so anyway, that's why I think we should do a community movie night. If anyone's still here, hit me up? I'm kind of lonely over here."

Kai stared at the screen. Riley's camera showed them sitting alone in their room, rain hammering against their window, looking unexpectedly vulnerable.

"Oh my god," Maya whispered. "Kai. KAI."

"I know," Kai breathed, hands trembling. "I know."

"Do it NOW or I'm typing for you."

So Kai did. They opened discord, found Riley's server, and typed: hey, i'm here if you still want company

The response came instantly: omg yes!! wait aren't you that person from the chat who always makes the smart comments about sphinxes??

Kai blinked. Riley knew about them?

yeah that's me lol

Well then, Riley typed, followed by a friend request. About time you joined. I've been waiting for you to notice me for months.

Outside, another flash of lightning split the sky. But Kai wasn't scared anymore. Sometimes, they thought as Maya elbowed them, grinning, the universe knew exactly what it was doing.