Game Over

Andy stayed out on the patio until he heard the music dull inside. He sighed and went inside, remaining on the upper level that overlooked the rest of the club. He rested his arms up on the bar of the balcony and watched as the attending game cast appeared up in front of the crowd. He saw not only Ashley and William, but the rest of the main cast as well. They all looked at each other and nodded.
"Alright, alright. Settle down..." William waved a hand to quiet the chattering crowd. "We're gonna introduce ourselves before we get into all of this exciting stuff, alright? My name is William." He began and looked down the line.
"Sup, guys. I'm Jake." The face that Andy had for so long recognized to be Mourner brightened with a cheerful smile as he gazed around the room.
"And?" William prodded.
"And what?"
"Say something interesting about yourself."
Jake raised an eyebrow. "What is this, the first day of high school?" He snorted, getting a few snickers from the crowd. "Alright then. I'm Jake, I shred on guitar when I'm not running around in weird jump suits for character creation purposes and I own two dogs."
He glanced at William.
"How was that?" He rolled his eyes.
"Marvelous, Mr. Pitts." William grinned. "You're my favorite student already."
Jake elbowed him and looked to the person next to him to go.
Andy leaned in a bit to get a better look, assessing the next person to be shorter than Jake, and a bit more reserved as he could tell by the closed off physical stance. Arms folded and standing quietly, observing.
"I dunno how I'm gonna top that." He teased a bit and then looked out to their semi-large audience. "Okay, my name is Jinxx-"
"That's not your real name!" Someone out in the crowd yelled.
The man Andy had known as Mystic tilted his head and once again lifted the microphone to his lips. "Impressive deduction, Sherlock. Since you seem to feel so compelled to correct me, what is my name?" Jinxx waited patiently, lips pulling up into a crooked smile when there was nothing but silence. "If you must know, my name is Jeremy. But unless you're my mother, some other close family member-"
"-or me." Jake grinned.
"Or Jake..." Jinxx sighed heavily. "Then please call me Jinxx."
"I'm glad you consider me family, Jeremy." Jake put a hand over his heart. "It's touching."
"I've known you since I was 12, do you really want to be testing me right now, Jacob?" Jinxx shot back. Andy held back a laugh, watching the two. This guy was feisty as hell.
"These two grew up next door to each other." William informed the audience with an amused eye roll. "Alright! CC!"
The man next to Jake, tall and lanky, with long black hair pulled back by a grey beanie, lifted his microphone.
"Hello. I am CC. And, no, name guy, that is not my legal name either but unless you're family, then you're not gonna know me by anything different." CC scanned the crowd. "Alright good. And something interesting... I dunno, dude." He looked at Jake who stood at the end, who raised the microphone up to his lips that had curled into a devilish grin.
"CC here once cut his butt shaving."
"What the hell- Not cool!" CC glared.
The whole room erupted into laughter, even Andy. He looked at the line again and suddenly made eye contact with Ashley, who stood at the very end. The amusing argument being had between CC and Jake was now background noise, as Andy and Ashley held the eye contact for a few moments longer. CC was the one to unknowingly break it, nudging Ashley.
Ashley looked at CC, then back at Andy. "My name is Ashley, and I like at-home movie dates with popcorn fights, and long walks on the beach." He said smoothly, not once faltering the intense eye contact that was still being held. Andy felt so weightless as he gazed on, and it's not that he couldn't look away, but that he didn't want to. He never wanted to.
"Geez, man. What is this, a Tinder bio?" CC snickered.
Ashley smirked ever so slightly, and Andy could feel his knees weaken a bit.
"Nah... I'm more the Grindr type..." He hummed, suddenly glancing away to look at CC.
"Ooh, sorry ladies. Looks like he's all for dicks, not chicks."
"Alright, Ceese, cool it." Ashley laughed. "Stop advertising, will ya? I'm only interested in one dick in particular." He grinned again.
Andy practically fell backwards, totally taken off guard. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. Did he just-? Holy hell, he did.
Maybe Ashley was just being a sly smartass?
Andy took some steps back and leaned against the wall, staring at nothing as his brain processed.
The group up front talked for a while longer, now serious as they explained the game, the concept, how they got to be a part of it, their experience, and other things. Andy wasn't paying attention, too preoccupied to do so, but the sudden chanting startled him from his daze. Andy lifted his head and saw they were chanting along with the game release countdown that had appeared on a large screen, and the cast had gone.
Feeling the beginnings of a dull headache, Andy disappeared back to the patio and sat down on one of the chairs. He leaned over and buried his head in his arms with a loud sigh.
"Something wrong, Prophet?"
Andy startled upwards.
"Wait- what?" He panicked. Was he back in the game?! Prophet was his name in the game-
"Prophet. It's.. On the back of your vest. Can I.. Not call you that?" Andy turned and saw Ashley, who had one fine eyebrow raised delicately.
"Oh.. No. Sorry, I'm just kinda tired.. Yeah. I'm fine." Andy laughed, face flushing.
Ashley pulled up a chair next to him. "I was just wondering if you wanted to go get something to eat someplace. The rest of this thing is just partying and dancing, and I'm not in the mood." Ashley shrugged casually. Andy blushed darker.
"Oh- um. Yeah. Sure." He stammered. Ashley smiled, standing again.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

Notes