Love Addict's RPG Vol. 2 Ch. 63 (Patreon)

This one took me a little longer despite only being 3k words. It went significantly off script and I had to keep retooling how far I wanted to take it. I think things are firmly established now and we've got a good path forward, though.

---

Mia was glad she decided to fuck around in the grocery store longer than she needed. Whatever happened, the overall vibe going on was much more positive. It was too early to tell if Oliver and Zoe had truly hit it off, but the early results proved promising.

This hadn't been how she wanted their introduction to go down.

Mia knew her friend better than anyone. How prickly she was, how rough around the edges. Zoe was an acquired taste. Mia worried that her favorite little troubled white boy might not’ve had what it took to stomach Zoe long enough to get really 'get' her.

She also knew that her adorable boyfriend chronically underestimated himself. He was funnier than he thought, more charming, and always knew exactly what to say, even if he often fumbled the delivery.

Zoe never stood a chance. 

Even so, Mia was still somehow impressed with his results. Zoe was giving Oliver her full attention when she got back. She wasn't playing a game, wasn’t messing with her phone, no. Zoe was messing with him and having a hell of a time doing so.

Short of opening the door to find them making out, Mia couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.

"Hey," Oliver peeled off Zoe's pasty and tossed it at her, getting it to land flat on her boob. "Welcome back."

"Glad to be back," Mia started walking toward the kitchen. "Did I miss anything? Feeling like I might've."

"Nothing major. We mostly just talked, and-"

"Mia, what's the big deal?" Zoe got up and cut off the path to the kitchen. "Loverboy over there said that you're mad at me. Is that true, or what? Cause you know you're supposed to tell me off if I'm being a stupid piece of shit!"

Mia looked briefly at Oliver, watching his face fall into his palm. Relatable. Her cheeks burned from Zoe's lack of tact and from suddenly being thrust into the spotlight. Unless yelling at her brothers counted, direct confrontation wasn't something Mia excelled at.

She looked away and rubbed her wrist, mumbling, "Thought we'd long since established you should always assume you're being a stupid piece of shit."

"Well, duh," Zoe laughed. "It's the specifics I need to hear! What exactly am I doing wrong, huh?"

"I... mn... didn't say you did anything wrong, it's... it's just..."

"Come on! Spit it out, girl!"

"I-I..."

"Zoe, back up a little," Oliver suddenly called out. "You're making this a lot harder for her."

[Mia has gained +1 Affection!]

Zoe looked at him and then at Mia. It didn't occur to her how uncomfortable Mia looked until then, making her feel stupid. Why were other people always so hard to understand?

"...Sorry," she backed up a little. "Spell it out for me? Please?"

"I'm not mad. Just… upset. Don't generally mind taking care of you, Zoe, but when you shut yourself away for days at a time, it starts to feel less like I'm helping a friend and more like I'm looking after a pet who barely knows I’m there.”

“God, I’m the fucking worst,” Zoe groaned. “I'm sorry I'm such a stupid bitch, Mia. I had no idea you felt like this. It sucks that I have to stream as much as I do, but it is what it is, you know?”

"...Sí. I know."

"I'm gonna make it up to you. We'll hang out as much as you want this next week, starting right this fuckin' second! And Olive can stick around, too! Just the three of us, and- oh, fuck- call Rebecca while you're at it! I miss that little dork!”

"Sounds great..." Mia managed a soft smile. Her voice was quiet. Reserved. "I'd like that. Think Becca’s skipped too much work lately to get away with it today, but I'll see if she's not willing to ditch one of her game sessions this weekend..."

"Awesome! Man, I’m so fuckin’ glad we got this sorted out. C’mere, you!” Zoe hugged Mia close to her chest, smothering her worse than Stacy did the night before.

Oliver thought Mia looked like one of those stress balls with the bulging eyes. He would've found it equally arousing and hilarious if he wasn’t preoccupied by concern.

"What are you gonna do when your temp ban is up?" He asked.

"Huh?" Zoe looked his way, as did Mia once she was free of titty prison. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just thinking that... I don't know, it's nice and all that you want to make things up to Mia, but it's not really gonna solve the underlying problem, you know?"

Mia rubbed her wrist and looked at the floor. Her cheeks were somehow a shade redder than when they were sandwiched by Zoe's cleavage.

[Mia has gained +3 Affection!]

Zoe's reaction was strange. She just kind of stared at him blankly until frowning.

[Zoe has lost -1 Affection!]

"Yeah. I know. Streaming is a really rough job, though. There's not really anything I can do about it."

The affection loss wasn't a good sign, but he couldn't just drop the topic. "You could try taking a day off once or twice a week...?"

"You'd think that'd be all fine and fuckin' dandy, but it's not," Zoe sighed. "I'm popular enough to get by right now, sure, but people are fickle. They'll drop a streamer for the littlest thing, so you gotta get a solid brand going if you want to keep people around. Mine's that I barely fuckin' sleep, meaning I'm almost always fuckin' streaming. That's what works for me, Olive. That's what makes me my money."

Boy, howdy, was Oliver uncomfortable. Mia, too, and Zoe hadn't even finished.

"It's not that I don't want to take time off. It's that I can't afford to. Not when I've got so much forward momentum going! Or at least I did before this fucking temp ban... damn it! Now I'm gonna be a whole week behind on all the biggest releases, and anyone who cares about that shit is gonna find some other pair of tits to watch while I'm gone, and there's no guarantee they'll be waiting for me when I get back!"

Frustrated, Zoe collapsed against the couch with a groan. An awkward silence hung in the air following her outburst. It got to her, making her self-conscious of how she acted.

"Sorry," she huffed. "I didn't mean to go off like that, I just-"

"No," Oliver cut her off. “You’re all good. I’m the one who’s sorry. Didn’t mean to tell you how to do your job when you obviously know how it all works way better than I do.”

"Not your fault, Olive. I-" Zoe's phone started buzzing, so she grabbed it. Her eyes widened when she saw the illuminated display. "Shit, that's a lot of notifications! Stupid fuckin' phone, can't even do one fucking job, can you?! Give me a second, you guys. I need to do some PR real quick..."

"Sure," Mia said quietly, placing the freshly-bought syrup bottle on the coffee table. "Do what you need to do. I'll finish breakfast in the meantime. Mind helping a girl out, mi amor?" She gestured at him with her eyes, pointing toward the hall.

"...Yeah, of course,"

While Zoe was distracted with her phone, the two zipped straight past the kitchen and returned to Mia's room for a quick chat. Things unraveled quickly from there.

“Jesus, Mia. How did things even get this bad?”

“The way things usually do," she shrugged. "Gradually."

“Man... between the energy drinks, the sleep deprivation, and the non-stop hustling, Zoe’s gonna… fuck, I don’t even wanna say it…”

Mia looked depressed as she slumped against the nearest wall. “Sí. Happens to be my biggest fear, and I don't know what to do."

“What can you do?”

“Me, personally? Not much more than I already am..."

"Any chance you could get her parents involved?"

"No. Zoe went no contact."

"Oh. Shit."

"Mhm," Mia frowned. "Supposing they actually cared enough to get involved, they'd only make things worse."

Oliver took Mia's left hand, holding it tight. "What sucks more than anything else is that I can totally understand where she's coming from. I can't imagine living under that much stress, that much pressure to perform... God, no wonder she's always working her ass off..."

Mia went silent. For a second, Oliver thought she might’ve been crying.

“Mia?”

"Not saying she was lying, but she wasn't telling the truth, either. Zoe isn't so small that a break here and there would torpedo her channel, mi amor. Far from it. She could pay all our living expenses and still earn a fat sack of cash every month."

Oliver stared, his face tensing up. "I don't understand. How was that not anything other than a bald-faced lie, then?"

"Cause I think Zoe believes it. Easier than admitting she's got a problem."

"That's... even sadder, somehow..."

“Isn’t it?” Mia smiled thinly. "I'm sorry I didn't warn you about any of this, mi amor. In my defense, I was just happy to finally be getting my shot at a relationship with you. Really didn't want to get into how bad things were at home. Thought it might scare you off, or you'd think I was stupid for taking care of my friend, or-"

“Hey,” Oliver stood in front of Mia. He cupped her cheek with his hand, stroking it with his thumb. “I already promised I'd help you figure things out with Zoe, so stop stressing about it. This doesn't change anything."

“...Really?” Mia leaned into his touch.

"Mia, I just got through the 'Big Brother Boxing Battle' arc. Pretty damn sure that the 'Codependent Roommate' arc is gonna be a cakewalk by comparison."

[Mia has gained +3 Affection!]

Mia lightened up enough that she started to quietly laugh, music to his ears. "Was personally hoping we'd be starting the 'Honeymoon Phase' arc, but alas..."

"That one's next. I promise."

"Better be," she sighed. "So how're you thinking you'll pull this off, mn? Fill me in."

"Shouldn't be too hard. You both care a ton about each other; it’s just that you suck at communicating and need someone to bridge the gap. The streaming shit, though? That’s the real problem.”

“Tell me something I don’t know. Worried that a week won’t be long enough to make much of an impact. She’s really addicted to her job, Ollie. Check out one of her streams when you go home tonight. You’ll see for yourself how bad it is.”

“I’m going home tonight?”

Mia smirked. “For now, yes. Not willing to risk waking up in the same bed as you on a workday.”

“Fair enough. I’ll have a look later on, then. Maybe we’ll get through to her, maybe not. Worst comes to worst, we’ll just have to rely on my backup plan.”

“That being?”

“Well,” Oliver attempted to give Mia a teasing grin. “I could always try making Zoe fall for me.”

It worked. Though it took her a second, Mia cracked a thin smile. “Mn. Might be onto something with that one, mi amor. Tried just about everything else I can think of, so we might as well give the power of love a fair shake.”

Though her sarcasm was obvious, Oliver recognized she was still half-serious. Mia similarly understood that so was he.

“Think you actually could?”

“I think it’s possible, yeah? Zoe's... I don’t know, Mia. She won me over pretty fast. She's funny, interesting to talk to, and she's got this weird charm to her that I can't explain."

"She’s cute, too,” Mia added as a test.

“Yeah, she actually is pretty cute…” he agreed rather dreamily. “At first I only thought she was hot but there was this split second where it hit me, and I just-” Oliver noticed Mia’s widening grin and snapped out of his trance, embarrassed and ashamed.

[Mia has gained +1 Affection!]

“Not even fifteen minutes alone with her, and just look at the song you’re singing...” Mia clicked her tongue. “Starting to think you might be a touch shallow, Ollie.”

The s-word got to him.

“I’m not shallow! I just…”

“Just?”

“…Develop crushes concerningly fast?”

“Ah,” Mia nodded, still smirking. “Sí, that’s much different. Changes everything.”

“I fucking give up,” Oliver shrugged.

“Only having some fun, mi amor. It's all good." She eased up on him, smiling more sincerely. "Far as your backup plan goes, it's a little... idealistic. I joke about wishing the three of us could have some sexy fun together-“

“The word ‘joke’ being in quotations,”

Mia ignored him. “But Zoe doesn’t have much of a sex drive, and she’s not especially one for romance, either. Not sure how well it would actually pan out.”

“Yeah, she told me some of that…”

“This before or after she gave you the gold star?”

“Before,” Oliver avoided her grin. “Still, I… look, I know how this is going to sound, but I’m pretty confident I could win over Zoe if I actually put the work in.”

There was a long silence where Mia stared at him with an unreadable expression. “And this confidence is coming from where exactly? Not to stop you from shooting for the stars, but your sole romantic accomplishment thus far is that you asked out a girl who’d been hopelessly crushing on you for eight years. The bar was so low that not even Satan could shimmy underneath it, mi amor.”

Her words induced mental pain within him by way of cringe. If only there was a way to tell Mia that he could see a progress bar that measured the extent to which Zoe was in love with him at any given moment. He felt like that would've been pretty convincing.

Lacking such an explanation, Oliver defaulted to his most commonly used tactic; compulsively saying something insane and introducing his foot to his mouth.

“Confidence has nothing to do with it. This is simply the outcome that leads to the greatest increase in your overall happiness, so it's what’s gonna happen. You’ll get your best friend back, Zoe will get a reason to leave her room more often, and we’ll all live happily ever after.”

Mia stared at him long enough for Oliver to actually process the shit he’d just said. He’d just declared his intention to seduce girlfriend number two… to girlfriend number one. His pulse skyrocketed. There was a lump in his throat and a bead of sweat on his brow. 

Still. If Oliver knew Mia half as well as he thought he did, then-

[Mia has gained +5 Affection!]

Ah, yep. There it was.

Mia's cheeks burned as she adopted a lazy smile. She couldn't keep herself from pawing at her nameplate. "And I thought I went from zero to ten thousand..."

"Sorry... I... definitely got a little ahead of myself, there..."

"Happened to notice that, sí. Didn't see me complaining, though. Did you?"

"Nope, and I'm legitimately curious about what would make you complain..."

"Not much," she smirked. "Certainly not this."

"So my backup plan is a go, then?"

"Made it sound like adding Zoe to the harem was a fact, mi amor," Mia playfully cocked her head. "Wasn't aware that facts needed my permission, but... supposing they do... they indeed have it."

Oliver pushed down the creeping anxiety that made him question why he'd said what he did long enough to smile nervously at his girlfriend. "I'll see what I can do, then."

"No rush," Mia took his hand, leaning in for a quick kiss. "Can't say the idea doesn't excite me, but I told you I'm not in a hurry to complicate things. We've got a week, Ollie. Take things slowly. Get to know Zoe a little better while you spend time with me, and we'll figure out where things go from there. Okay?"

"Okay," he sighed, relieved. "Sure. I'd like that."

"Mn. Know what I'd like?"

"A few things come to mind..."

"Breakfast," Mia declared. "Not sure how what should've been ten or fifteen minutes of cooking got stretched into nearly an hour of emotional drama and flirting, but I've had my fill of that for now. Rather we went and filled up on something a little more edible, sí?"

Oliver agreed and followed Mia to the kitchen to help her like he'd promised a bit ago. Zoe was still on her phone, unaware they'd ever stepped aside.

There was a lot on his mind as he carried everything back and forth.

Oliver liked Zoe well enough thus far, but Mia was still his priority. It was the only reason he'd said what he did. Zoe's well-being and continued friendship were intrinsic to Mia's happiness, and that was a fact. Capturing her heart was the simplest way forward.

Though he agreed to take things slow, Oliver still wanted a quick look at his skill tree before getting up to any funny business with Zoe.

Tier two and its 'Love' category skills were calling his name. These skills would slightly boost the rate at which he gained affection, getting Mia closer to a healed wrist and Zoe closer to her first Heart Event. Now seemed as good a time as any to pick up one or two since the upcoming makeout session promised another chunky LP increase.

Part of him still felt uneasy, though. Like he was using Zoe as a stepping stone to Mia's happiness. There was a way around that, but the solution Oliver came up with made him nervous. All he had to do was fall in love with Zoe as hard as he had with Mia. That way, he figured his motives would be entirely sincere.

I hate that a week is probably so much longer than I actually need for that...

Shallowness aside, it was time for Oliver to focus on laying the groundwork, and what better way to start than by sharing a meal?

***

Stat Changes

Mia Rosas | Status: Girlfriend | 63/100 | ❤❤♡♡♡

Zoe Myers | Status: Mia's BFF | 13/100 | ♡♡♡♡♡