The Man of the House

“I noticed you during the competition.” The woman gave a smile as she took a chair in front of a vanity mirror. “You did very well for yourself.”

“I suppose so,” I responded, feeling a bit awkward.

“Please, sit down, would you like anything?” She asked, gesturing to a coach in the corner.

The couch was made out of black leather. Why did it feel vaguely familiar to a certain couch I had seen countless girls play on in my old world? That had to be my imagination though. This wasn’t some porn star, but a celebrity. I forced myself to sit anyway.

“No thanks. What is this additional award I’m supposed to receive?”

She gave a smile, raising an eyebrow. “Isn’t meeting a celebrity like me in private already a reward? It really is fine. You don’t have to hold back.”

It seemed she was used to men drooling all over her. She had thought that once I was alone in private with her, I would act just like those other boys who drooled over her and acted all excited by her mere presence. Maybe, if I was a fan of hers, this situation would be different. However, in this world where everything was flipped, I didn’t necessarily know all of the new celebrities. The big names were the same, although the women had become action stars and the men had become sex objects. However, when it came to the low-tier celebrities who might never have had a chance because they weren’t quite hot enough, the men had fallen into obscurity and the women had gained a footing.

As it turned out, this was just not a celebrity I had ever recognized. Since I didn’t have any impression of her, she was just another pretty girl to me, which was something I wasn’t lacking in. Seeing me return a somewhat flat stare, her smile flickered slightly.

“Well, it’s still written into my contract, so let’s hang out for a bit, shall we?” She tried to recover her wounded pride. “I’m a big fan of video games, so I’m always excited to meet gamer boys like you. I know that there is a negative stereotype on gaming that it’s a girl’s world, but with the held of people like you, I think we can get rid of those stereotypes.”

“What’s your favorite game?” I asked.

“Oh… I like all kinds of games.” She responded with a laugh. “I’m really into the um… racer ones.”

“Oh? Do you prefer an arcade racer or a realistic racer?”

“A what? Um… realistic, naturally.” She smiled.

“What’s your favorite game?”

“Why… it’s the one you were just playing?” She responded quickly.

“That was an arcade racer through…” I couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

Perhaps she was able to get away with it in this world, but in my world, fake gamer girls were a very real thing. Of course, in this world, it’d be fake gamer boys. No one ever really focused on the phonies of the opposite sex. This celebrity didn’t game at all. However, she needed some kind of market and a demographic to cater to, and somehow, it had ended up being gaming. I had thought like everyone else that she was actually into gaming, but it turned out it was just a matter of an illusion.

How many girls dreamed of being a gamer who men chased after just like this girl? She was selling them on a lie. I might not have cared about it. I might have even expected it. However, some of my sisters were gamer girls, and they looked up to this woman who was nothing more than a phony, so it put a bad taste in my mouth.

“Yeah, that’s what I meant.” She tried to quickly cover up her mistake. “I’m not as good at racers as you, though. You were crazy good.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” I thought back to the shady way that I won.

“What do you mean by that?” She asked.

I shook my head. “Nothing. I was just thinking out loud.”

“Oh… well, have you heard any of my songs?”

“No.”

“Geh… well, anyway, I’ve come up with a song. Would you like to hear it?”

I glanced over at the door, and then back at the girl looking at me expectantly. I just wanted to return to my team. I wanted to voice my concerns about the game, I wanted to watch my sister and Avery compete in the duo, and I wanted to get ready for the group match. She had dragged me in here to live out some kind of weird fantasy. I had no clue, but I didn’t want to be a part of it. Yet, if I just stormed out, I felt like that might cause even more trouble.

“Alright, sure.”

Her smile grew, and then she got up and pulled a guitar she seemed to have to wait by her vanity. She sat back down and put the guitar on her lap. She then strummed a few cords, looked my way, and then started playing a song. I could tell immediately that it was a love song. It was very sappy, and she kept saying “boy” over and over again. The lyrics were something like “Boy, you mean the world to me boy, you’re like the moon to be, boy. Boy, won’t you be mine”, or something like that. I only half paid attention.

When she finished, her eyes were closed and she left the last note ringing through the air. She then opened her eyes, raising an eyebrow at me.

“What do you think?”

“A little repetitive?”

There were only three sentences that just got repeated ten times. The fact I couldn’t remember exactly what they were showed how forgettable the song was.

“Repetitive?” Her face flickered for a second, but then she smiled again. “Thanks, I will take your words into advisement. Would you mind if I named this song after you? You’re Noah, right? That has a nice ring to it.”

“I guess that’s fine,” I responded tightly.

She was good at what she was doing. Just taking the situation and flipping places, what girl wouldn’t swoon over having a member of a boy band play for her and then name the song after her. Had I been a thirteen-year-old girl… or a guy a boy from this world, then it would have been extremely effective.

She put her guitar back up, but when she sat down again, she sat right next to me. Her arm came around the back of the couch, not quite touching me, but boxing me in and closing the distance.

“I don’t say this to any of my other fans, but you’re really cute.” She declared. “Ever since I saw you, I knew that I wanted to meet you.”

Bullshit! Everything she was doing had a rehearsed feel to it. I had a feeling she had done this to dozens of her fans! All of her actions were suspicious.

“Really…” I didn’t speak nervously but in complete disbelief.

“I have a confession to make.” She seemed to ignore the tone of my voice. “I arranged this meeting deliberately. This wasn’t one of the awards, but something that I arranged on my own. When I saw you on that stage, my heart started to bleed. I yearned for you.”

As she spoke, she leaned into me, and I had no choice but to start leaning away. “Yearned?”

“Yes. You’re so cute and funny. What’s not to like? Would you like to be my boyfriend?”

“Your boyfriend?” I repeated, trying to figure out if I should laugh or cry.

She stopped leaning for a second, biting her lip. “It’s a shame it will only be while I’m here. You know I’ll be back on the road soon. I have my new single out, and the life of a musician is always busy. My manager won’t let me have a permanent boyfriend. I had too many fans, and if they found out we were dating, it would be dangerous for you. That’s why our relationship has to be secret.”

“A secret boyfriend?” My voice was only becoming more incredulous.

“I know it’s not ideal, but it’s the only way I can keep you safe. This will just have to be our little secret.” She put her finger on her lips seductively as if to punctuate that point.

“What do you mean?” I frowned.

“I want to consummate my love with you,” She declared. “I want to show you that my feelings are true. I’m a virgin, and since you are too, then when we unite, we know it’ll just be the two of us.”

“Um… I’m not a virgin.” I declared.

She stopped for a second, blinking, but then she shook her head. “You’re a gamer boy. Of course, you’re a virgin.”

“What does that have to do with virginity?” I was now basically lying on the couch as she kept leaning more and more toward me.

On that note, I was almost certain this skank was no virgin either. She had probably done it with just about every guy as she rose to the top. She gave me that kind of impression.

“You don’t need to hide it from me.” A perverted look started to show on her face, which was probably her true character finally breaking through. “I’ll make you feel real good.”

She pushed her lips together and finally lunged for me. I lifted a hand and caught her face, her lips pressing against my palm. If this had been me from only a short few weeks ago, I probably would have gone for it. It would have been free sex, and she was a celebrity too. I would have been happy to have fun with her. I had banged a random stranger and kept their money, so why couldn’t such a scene be just as fun.

However, that was the old me. That was the me who was just living in the now. I was acting selfishly and alone as if there were no consequences and no one else in my life mattered. I was trying to be better now. It didn’t always work. Sometimes, something happened like with those friends of mine. I ended up embarrassing myself or others. I was only sixteen though, and it had only been a few months since I had been in this world. I still had a lot of growing to do, but I at least had a path, and I recognized that this wasn’t the path I wanted to take.

A playgirl like her probably was filled with STDs. After we were done, she’d lead me on or try to do the heartbreaker routine. My darker self would imagine that I would break her, turning her into a cock loving slut. Yet, what if I succeeded? What would that accomplish? I’d just be fucking with the feelings of a girl that I didn’t have any feelings for, and who I was sure didn’t have any feelings for me. I pushed back with my hand, trying to regain the lost ground I had given.

“What’s the problem?” She asked, her mouth partially muffled by my palm still in her face.

“I have a girlfriend,” I responded simply. “I’m not interested.”

Her eyes flashed. “What? Not interested? Of course, you’re interested. Why wouldn’t you be interested?”

I let out another sigh, knowing where this was going to go. She was going to get all butthurt over the rejection. She was going to get angry and pushier, and it was going to turn into a thing just like with Nora and the girls.

“I’m gay.”

She blinked. “What?”

“I’m into men. I’m a gay man.” I declared.

She sat back, and I quickly stood up, straightening myself out. “You’re gay?”

“Yup!” I declared. “No fixing it now.”

I turned and walked to the door.

“Damn it. I should have known it. All the fucking gamer boys are cocksuckers!” She snapped.

I stopped with my hand on the doorknob. “Tell me… were my matches fixed so that I could win?”

She looked up at me in surprise, and then she chuckled. “They always give the boys a handicap. If they didn’t, then they wouldn’t be able to get any to arrive. It’s a fucking shame all they attract are butt pirates.”

I left with that last attack, heading back to my team. It may seem like I was running away, but to me, it took a real man to accept insults without retaliation. I had nothing to prove to her, and engaging with her gave me no reward. I may have had a handicap on the single’s game, but in the group game, it’d be impossible to cheat in that way. It was time to win properly.