For the past few months, you had known Corben Vantiss simply as Corben: your roommate, an obnoxiously confident gamer with wretched sleeping habits, a habit of leaving half-empty energy drink cans beside his keyboard, and an enormous golden retriever named Biscuit who had apparently decided that you were his favorite person in the whole house.

Corben happened to have a spare bedroom. So, almost impulsively, he offered it.

Corben's gaming room was practically its own world. The door was usually closed, the walls were covered in dark acoustic panels, and blue and violet light from multiple monitors spilled through the cracks beneath the door late into the night. You had never paid much attention to what Corben actually did in there. As far as you knew, he played video games for hours, occasionally shouted at his teammates, and somehow made enough money doing it to afford absurdly expensive equipment.

What you didn't know was that Corben Vantiss was Vanta, one of the internet's most recognizable independent streamers, with millions of followers and a community that seemed almost endlessly fascinated by him.

Corben had built his reputation through gaming streams, competitive matches, challenges, reactions, and an effortlessly entertaining personality. He was confident, shamelessly flirtatious, and completely comfortable being the center of attention. His appearance certainly didn't hurt either. His white hair, striking blue eyes, broad athletic build, and perpetually amused expression had earned him a great deal of attention outside of gaming as well.

His audience knew that.

Corben knew that even better.

His adult content had created an entirely different side of his following, and he had no problem acknowledging that part of his career. Some of his private streams involved paid one-on-one video calls with subscribers, allowing viewers to interact with him directly while the rest of the audience watched. It was intimate, deliberately provocative, and kept carefully separate from his ordinary gaming content.

His private life, however, was another matter.

Corben never showed the more personal areas of his home. He rarely spoke about his relationships, never revealed his exact address, and had never mentioned having someone else living with him.

So you had absolutely no idea.

To you, Corben was simply an attractive, irritatingly confident gamer who wandered into the kitchen at three in the morning looking for food, stole whatever you happened to be eating, and occasionally padded through the house wearing far less clothing than necessary.

You had met several months earlier at a convenience store late one night.

Corben had stopped there after finishing a stream, dressed casually and still carrying the tired energy of someone who had spent several hours talking to thousands of people through a camera. He had noticed you struggling at the register when your card was declined.

Rather than making the situation uncomfortable, Corben had simply stepped forward and paid for the groceries.

When you tried to protest, he had shrugged.

Then came the familiar crooked smile.

What began as a brief encounter turned into a conversation outside the store. Corben learned that you were suddenly dealing with an unstable living situation and didn't have a reliable place to stay.

It was supposed to be temporary. A few weeks became a month. Then another.

Eventually, the arrangement just became normal. Corben never pressured you to leave and you never questioned why your roommate seemed to have an endless supply of expensive gaming equipment. Most importantly, Corben never told you about Vanta.

That night, however, the secret was about to become hard to keep. It was late when you walked down the hallway and noticed something unusual. The door to his gaming room was slightly open and that alone was strange. Whenever Corben streamed, the door was normally closed. He liked controlling the lighting, the sound, and everything that could potentially appear on camera.

You were about to walk past the room when Corben's voice drifted through the narrow gap of the door. It was unmistakably his, yet it sounded completely different from the voice you were accustomed to hearing around the house. His usual playful energy was gone, replaced by something lower, slower, and deliberately intimate that immediately made you slow your steps. You could hear the faint amusement in his voice as he spoke to someone on the other side of the call.

A quiet laugh followed, smooth and teasing.

You stopped beside the doorway, realizing with growing embarrassment that you had accidentally overheard something private. Corben continued speaking in that unfamiliar, seductive tone, apparently completely unaware that anyone was standing outside.

Your eyes widened as the meaning finally became impossible to misunderstand. Whatever Corben was doing inside that room, it certainly wasn't another gaming session. You immediately decided that the polite thing was to keep walking and pretend you hadn't heard anything at all. Corben deserved his privacy, and you had no intention of becoming an accidental audience member.

Unfortunately, Biscuit had apparently decided that privacy was overrated.

The golden retriever came bounding down the hallway behind you, his paws thudding softly against the floor and his tail swinging enthusiastically from side to side. You barely had time to turn your head before his enormous body bumped into the backs of your legs.

Your balance disappeared.

You instinctively reached toward the doorframe, but your fingers only managed to brush against it before your weight carried you forward. The partially open door swung completely inward as you stumbled through the entrance, leaving you sprawled partly inside Corben's gaming room.

For a moment, everything went silent.

The only sounds were the quiet hum of Corben's computer equipment, the faint electronic music coming from one of the monitors, and Biscuit's excited breathing behind you.

Corben slowly turned in his gaming chair.

The glow from several monitors illuminated his face and spilled across his bare upper body, highlighting his broad shoulders, muscular chest, and the intricate tattoos covering his skin. His white hair was slightly disheveled, and his headphones rested loosely around his neck. He was completely shirtless, wearing only a pair of dark pants that sat slightly lowered at his hips, one large hand wrapped around himself, his breathing not quite steady.

That was when you noticed the tiny red indicator beside the camera.

LIVE.

Your stomach dropped.

The stream was still running, and the camera had a clear view of the doorway.

Corben seemed to realize the exact same thing at almost precisely the same moment. His gaze returned to you, lingering for a second as he took in your stunned expression and the fact that you were still half on the floor inside his studio.

Then, instead of looking embarrassed, Corben's lips slowly curved into a crooked, unmistakably amused smile. He casually leaned back into his chair, and glanced toward the monitor as thousands of messages began flooding across the screen.

he drawled, his eyes returning to you.

The chat exploded almost instantly.

GlitchHare: WHO THE HELL WAS THAT???

StaticFan88: WAIT WAIT WAIT HE HAS A ROOMMATE???

MarbleVixen: VANTA???? HELLO???? WHO JUST WALKED IN???

Quartz.exe: BRO WE'VE BEEN HERE FOR TWO HOURS AND THIS IS HOW WE FIND OUT???

xXDrowsyByteXx: THERE'S SOMEONE ACTUALLY LIVING THERE???

PeachPlays: VANTA YOU NEVER TOLD US

JuniperRook: THAT WAS NOT AN EMPLOYEE LMAOOOO

SleepwalkingAgain: THE DOG DID IT

NightFerry: HOLD ON. WHO IS THAT???

CherryStatic: VANTA EXPLAIN YOURSELF RIGHT NOW

NeonKitten: BRO HAS BEEN HIDING A WHOLE HUMAN BEING FROM US

Biscuit, completely oblivious to the chaos he had just created, happily trotted into the room and walked straight past Corben. Corben stared at him for several seconds.

The dog looked up at him innocently. Corben slowly shook his head, the corner of his mouth twitching with amusement.

Biscuit just barked enthusiastically before walking away, as if none of it were his problem. The chat became even more chaotic.

StaticFan88: WE NEED ANSWERS

MarbleVixen: WHY IS VANTA SMILING LIKE THAT???

Quartz.exe: BRO LOOKS WAY TOO CALM ABOUT THIS

Corben glanced at the monitor again, watching the messages race past so quickly that they were almost impossible to read. Instead of looking concerned, he seemed increasingly entertained by the situation. His eyes narrowed slightly as another smile appeared across his face before he turned his attention back toward you.

You were still on the floor, staring between Corben, the camera, and the enormous monitors surrounding his desk, trying to process everything at once.

Corben clearly found your expression amusing.

He leaned slightly toward the microphone, his voice still carrying that effortless confidence that had made him so popular in the first place.

He deliberately let the silence linger for a moment before glancing at you again.

The chat went completely insane.

PeachPlays: ROOMMATE?????

CherryStatic: YOU HAVE A ROOMMATE???

NightFerry: SINCE WHEN???

Hushh: HOW LONG HAS THIS PERSON BEEN LIVING THERE???

LumenAfterDark: WE'VE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE

JuniperRook: VANTA YOU'VE BEEN HIDING THIS FROM US???

Corben simply laughed, leaning back in his chair as he watched the chaos unfold across the screen. He looked far too entertained for someone whose carefully protected private life had just been exposed to more than a million people.

He glances at you again, one hand still wrapped around himself, waiting to see what you will do.