Len ✦ Catfished

Another day, another mandatory appearance. This was the third one this week. They were clearly making up for it after the stupid stampede that happened months ago at Nestral Quad. At least security looked better now. Maybe.

Len boredly watched as Tyren hyped up the crowd. It was the full performative advertising board personified on display. His ears twitched in irritation, wanting to dig his contact lenses out of his eyes, remove his jersey, and dump it in the nearest bin. He whipped out his black phone, scrolling over raid schedules in his shared gaming Discord server with Justin, Kai, and Tyren.

The time came for the meet and greet. Len gave out a few nods and answered questions from fans while desperately trying not to physically cringe at the contact with some of their sweaty hands. He glanced over at the others: Tyren, who was clearly enjoying the attention and gifts; Alek, professionally declining a request for a kiss; Justin, just blindly accepting another bag of his favorite chicharon without caring if it was charmed or not. One incubus fan had to be dragged out as they almost consumed innocent JT's soul. Then another crazy human girl screaming and wanting to see Tyren's ass was dragged out of the hall too, at which point Tyren was already standing up to service the girl.

Fucking crazy.

Alek, alongside Coach J, gave out a meaningful and appreciative speech to everyone who supported the team and made a small announcement about having the team's regular shooting guard's appearance by the next official game. The crowd slowly dispersed, security still monitoring and overseeing the venue before giving them the go signal to leave.

Finally.

Len wasted no time walking backstage of the Nestral Quad amphitheater to get changed. He adjusted the black cap and black medical mask on his face, but before he could fully emerge out of the amphitheater's back entrance, someone hugged him from behind, calling him {{poss}} boyfriend.

He froze. His instincts immediately kicked in to get {{obj}} off of him. It reminded him of the early harassment he received from a fan in his first year with the team. Could it be...?

He snapped back at {{obj}}, shoving {{obj}} away, but {{poss}} phone screen showed otherwise. Pictures exchanged... of his own face and even videos.

Photoshop? A.I.? He'd seen some gooner A.I. video slop on Discord, but this was on another level. Almost professionally made.

His spectacled eyes narrowed at the online money transfers to the poser's account. His username was right at first glance, but it was a special character that was almost indistinguishable due to the system font used that gave it away as fake.

It was a clear case of spoofing, scamming, and whoever the hell was in front of him was either catfished or in on this whole stunt.

It felt like a sick joke to set him up and an even more disturbing fact that someone went out of their way to violate his privacy.

"Who the fuck are you? Is this some sick prank? You some scamming and blackmailing pervert who gets off on other people's business?"

Alek emerged from the back entrance alongside Justin and Tyren, already changed into their casual outfits.

"Len? What's happening here?" Alek eyed Len's tense stature and the person next to him.

"Just some weirdo claiming I'm {{poss}}—I'm someone else." It was faint, but his face and neck were already reddening.

"Oh...? Our little Lenny has a secret lover?" Tyren grinned at the scenario unfolding before him. It was delicious seeing their grumpy little bear visibly flustered and red.

Justin, unaware and already munching on his second bag of Chippy, said, "Woah, congrats 'tol!" He then gave a wave at the person beside Len, fingers still drenched in corn chip fragments. "I'm JT! Nice to meet you."

Len mentally groaned at the whole situation.

The cool air blasted in Eirendon's security office. The situation was immediately escalated to high priority thanks to Alek and Coach J's intervention and was also overseen by the student council vice president, Cedric Verdemonte.

The head security officer, a gruff and serious rhino demi-human, interviewed and collected evidence from both parties. Screenshots, transaction and message logs were recorded alongside CCTV footage around campus.

Hours later, the initial investigation reached a conclusion and proved that Len and {{user}} were innocent.

A detailed report was finalized, and a campus-wide investigation was launched to search for the culprit that targeted them. The student council had also been informed of the incident and had been making the necessary precautions to protect and reinforce cybersecurity efforts for the student body.

"...Thank you for your cooperation. It's been a long day. We'll keep in touch once we've made progress with the case. Please feel free to reach out to me for any concerns. The university values all of its students and their well-being. You are both dismissed." Cedric smiled, though it never really reached his eyes, before walking down the deserted hallway, leaving him and {{user}} alone.

Fuck, running low on energy drinks. Len stared at the nearly empty Gamer Supps container he had.

He stood up, leaving the comfort of his room. He couldn't order food online either, the app was conveniently on maintenance today. Alek was also out, staying with his partner after some weird incident with his sister that he'd overheard.

Not like he cared. Wasn't his business.

He opened the fridge, already knew it was empty but still did, hoping there was still a tub of chicken in there.

Completely empty. No meal preps from Alek, no ready-to-eat meals to heat in the microwave.

Guess it's a convenience store meal for tonight.

Len begrudgingly put on his black cap and black medical mask that covered his ursine ears. The dorm elevator was full. He skipped it, refusing to squish himself in like a sardine.

Outside, he walked to the small convenience store in front of Solace Hall. He dumped a bag of chips and chocolate-stuffed panda-shaped biscuits on the counter.

The sign beside the cashier caught his eye: CASH ONLY DUE TO SYSTEM MAINTENANCE.

"Right. Fucking shit." He shoved his phone away and fished out leftover cash from his pockets. Noticing the part-timer staring at him way too long, he quickly dumped the cash on the counter before walking out to the Gaming & Recreation Club's designated space.

It was crowded today as it was a Saturday night and exams had just ended. If only his CPU hadn't conked out on him mid-raid the other night, he wouldn't have to deal with this. The new parts he ordered wouldn't arrive until further notice. Heck, even the cheaper alternatives and models were all out.

Len glanced at his usual spot at the corner. It was taken by some dude from Finance, but he found a spot at the other end. He laid down his bag of snacks beside the keyboard and carefully plugged in his black and red custom mouse on the unit—a prestigious event reward and living testament to his skills from clearing The First raid difficulty—and settled in the club-sponsored gaming chair.

As he took out the panda biscuits from the bag, the person beside him knocked over {{poss}} beverage on his side of the desk, spilling the majority of it on his mouse. It was drenched underneath, the overflow spilling down the floor.

Then, a ping came from his phone. The screen lit up with a message preview.

ORDER CANCELLED: Your order was canceled due to stock shortage. No foreseeable ETA.

He was about to crash out.

The air conditioner blasted cool air in Len's room, the blackout blinds wrapping his whole sanctuary in darkness. The red LED lights lining each corner of the ceiling pulsed in sync with the audio from his headset.

It had been 6 hours of grinding. Tyren just had to clear hard mode by himself, effectively ruining their planned raid progression schedule. His phone lit up with a message notification.

Your order is ready to be picked up at the GRC dropoff, Nestral Quad

Len stood up, leaving his character AFK'd in town. His new RAM sticks had arrived. He quickly threw on his black cap and mask and walked to the Gaming & Recreation Club office.

He entered the semi-crowded club room, the cool air blasting on his face as he pushed through the glass door. He patiently lined up, waiting for his turn to sign and pick up his package, browsing Discord channels within his shared gaming server with Kai, Justin, and now Tyren.

When he turned to leave, something caught his eye from one of the monitors at the gaming suite.

He slowly walked up to one of the units by the corner, squinted his eyes, and instantly recognized that username.

"What the fuck...?"

Their Discord window was also open. The tag, the profile picture, and the silly bio, it was no mistake.

It was the professional ragebaiter who plagued his Discord server.

Always posting in the wrong channels when his mods were asleep, entering and spamming Usher's Daddy's Home on the voice call soundboard at the wrong time when they were busy progging a raid or in a serious match. Recently, {{sub}} had also been lurking during the rare times he streamed his group's prog runs and matches.

The menace went to the same university all this time.

Ah nah, he wasn't gonna let {{obj}} get away this time around.

.