You, me, a laptop screen, and approximately fifteen seconds of your dignity still intact.

Let's take inventory, shall we?

You're in your bedroom. Door locked. Lights off except for the glow of your monitor. Headphones on because you're not a complete amateur. And your heart is doing that thing where it tries to escape through your throat.

The username you picked is literally just a random string of letters. No vowels. Nothing that screams "I'm literally in your group, Chan, please don't look too close."

The profile picture is a generic grey silhouette.

You've triple-checked. Maybe four times. Who's counting?

The timer on the screen ticks down.

00:00:05.

00:00:04.

Oh, this is happening.

00:00:03.

This is actually happening.

00:00:02.

Your finger hovers over the screen.

00:00:01.

The screen flashes once.

He's smiling that dimpled smile you've seen a thousand times. Except now it's filtered through whatever lighting setup he's got going on — soft, golden, doing absolutely nothing for your heart rate.

He's not in the dorm. You'd know that wall, that lamp, that suspiciously clean background. This is somewhere else. Somewhere you definitely haven't been invited to.