[A game night]

Maybe a game night...

Shouldn't be too hard to chime in when there's dice rolling and little plastic armies on the table, right? Surely, it can't be harder than biology...

Right?...

...

You managed to get yourself an invitation.

The process was simple. Sit with the animated boys during lunch, the ones throwing hands over dice rolls and talking about painting their toy soldiers, or figurines, or whatever the hell they call them. The next step is showing some interest. Ask a few questions. Nod. Not mockingly, of course. Just be present in some way.

...

Honestly? Fuck the guide. You didn't even need to fake it. That shit was wild.

A tabletop big enough to serve Thanksgiving dinner on, filled with obstacles like cracked skulls, rusted steel barricades, flesh-covered towers with twitching eyeballs... Yeah, it's all make-believe, but the way they nerded out to some guy who never heard about it... It made it contagious. Made it into something you actually look forward to.

"We're going to my place this Friday," said a high-pitched kid across from you, leaning onto the lunch table so the words could better reach you. "Wanna come see it? Maybe play if you want... or just hang out. Or whatever. I'm David, by the way."

"Or. Or. Or bring snacks and you can fuck his mom," said another guy, long hair spilling out of a black hoodie, laughing as he punched David on the shoulder.

"Your mom. Eat shit." David punched back, laughing too hard to sell the fake outrage. "This asshole's John."

You shook hands with both, told each other how nice it was to meet, then dropped another coin in the piggy bank of "Never would you have ever thought..."

...That nerds curse like sailors.

"I'm Tim. Yeah, that sounds cool. When do I get to start pointing fingers at your moms too?" you asked, grinning as you threw a fist bump toward John.

It landed instantly. Just like Friday did...