Vivian and Sophia sat comfortably on the couch as they scrolled through countless possibilities of shows and movies to watch. Meanwhile their shy and nerdy roommate Amelia could be heard grumbling over the kitchen sink.

“You enjoying yourself over there Amie~?” Vivian teased across the apartment, leaning her head back onto the cushion to see the mousey girl struggle with a mountain of dishes and pans. Amelia pouted at them, eliciting a giggle from her two roommates.

“Y-you don’t have to be so smug about it…” pushing up her glasses, Amelia turned away trying her hardest to avoid further eye contact. However, that just invited more ribbing for the other two girls.

“A bet’s a bet, pipsqueak, you shouldn’t have agreed to it if you weren’t ready to lose.” Sophia giggled.

Amelia’s head sank in embarrassment. It was clear her roommates were perhaps misremembering exactly how that had gone down. Amelia didn’t ever exactly agree to join in on her roommates' attempts to one up each other. She just ended up getting pulled along for the ride. Like last night when, during a party the other two girls were hosting, a drunk Sophia had managed to drag cowering Amelia out of her room to socialize. The atmosphere and countless watchful eyes had somehow convinced the nerdy girl to participate in a friendly beer pong competition. A competition Amelia had no chance of winning. And one which led to her present predicament.

She wasn’t exactly upset about it. A girl like her was a bit too petrified with shyness to leave her room and do things on her own, and it wasn’t like she didn’t like her roommates. They were otherwise pretty nice, and cute and… Well. Getting pulled into the other two girls’ little contests actually offered her the chance to feel included. The only problem was, Amelia kept losing. And that meant she kept having to do all the chores around the house.

“Y-you guys only, um, only ever get me to do things I’m bad at…” she mumbled.

Vivian craned her neck towards her geeky roommate, making an over exaggerated hearing motion with her hand.

“What was that? Sounds like someone’s making excuses!”

Sophia giggled in response. Amelia’s face turned pink; she dropped the sponge she was holding and turned to face the couch.

“I’d like to see you two try and beat me at something I’m good at for once!” She pouted again. “I’d like to see you both looking so smug after you realize it’s not so easy when you don’t know what you’re doing!”

Sophia turned her attention away from the TV, clearly waiting for a much more entertaining show to begin in her living room. Vivian flipped herself over, her direct defiant eye contact causing Amelia to shrivel up back into meekness. She grinned.

“You’re not implying we’re just taking advantage of you, are you Amie?”

Amelia looked away covering her mouth with her hand. “Uhm, well…”

Vivian giggled. “Tell you what.” She flicked her eyes over to the girl next to her for approval. “How about we make another little wager, you pick what the challenge is. If you win we’ll both do the dishes instead, if either of us wins then you have to do the dishes AND clean the apartment for a month!”

Amelia looked to be considering it for a moment. Even if it was two against one, if she got to pick the playing field it would be fair right? It almost looked like she was going to think better of it, but then an idea hit her. Pensively, she looked back at Vivian.

“Ok, deal... But no backing down after I tell you what we’re doing!”

Sophia grinned. “And no backing down when you lose!”

“Yeah better take your time and pick something we’re both really bad at otherwise you don’t stand a chance!” Vivian smirked.

Amelia turned around, looking to the other two girls like she was, in fact, thinking hard about it, but really their nerdy roommate was just hiding the conspiratorial smile that was creeping its way onto her lips.

“Oh, don’t worry. I have a great idea…”

Amelia briskly made her way into her bedroom, leaving the other two girls snickering on the couch. They were both entirely confident in their ability to best Amelia at whatever nerdy little thing she decided to make them do. If anything they were more concerned about losing to each other than to her. That confidence persisted, even as Amelia returned with a game controller, a black box shaped appliance, and some cables.

Sophia broke out into laughter. “Really pipsqueak? Video Games? You know we’ve both played video games before.” She looked at Vivian who was very unsuccessfully trying to keep a straight face.

Amelia narrowed her eyes and grinned, her uncharacteristic confidence a bit unnerving. “But you’ve never played this video game before.” She walked over to the television plugged in her console and swapped the input to show a brightly coloured title screen:

Subspace Voyager

>Start

Scoreboard

Options

Exit

Doing her best to look triumphant over the two confused girls on the couch, Amelia moved the cursor down to the scoreboard, and pressed a button on the controller bringing up a list of points

1. Ame♡: 168,431,000
2. Ame♡: 145,321,150
3. Ame♡: 111,623,200
4. Ame♡: 90,168,680
5. Ame♡: 87,742,750

Nearly bubbling over with enthusiasm Amelia continued. “All you two have to do is beat my high score, then you win.” She threw the controller onto the footrest in front of her roommates, before sitting down next to the TV. “I’ll even give you all day to practice!”

“Like we’ll need all day to beat you!” Vivian looked at Sophia, grinning. She turned back to face her bespectacled roommate, making sure she saw the determination on her face as she reached for the controller. ”Just watch!” Without hesitation Vivian started the game, getting a brief explanation of the controls. Easy! She just had to avoid getting hit while she shot at the enemies on the screen.

Her little character greeted her as the game started. It didn’t take very long for her to realize that while the rules were simple, the game was… far from easy. First of all, unlike most games she’d played, this one was extremely overwhelming. It wasn’t necessarily hard to understand, but there was just so much going on. The screen was a kaleidoscope of colors. Bright and vibrant. Everything from the environment, to the enemies, to her character, to even the projectiles she had to avoid, was pining for her attention. The background was made up of captivating swirls of light the enemies and her character kept threatening to get lost in if she didn’t keep her eyes on them. The bullets coming at her were pulsing and blinking, warning her of their presence yet straining her eyes. Every time she scored a hit on an enemy, the edges of the screen shone a soft blue light and the little creatures exploded into points. Everything did its very best to keep her attention utterly transfixed on the chaos filling the screen, she wasn’t used to it. Her eyes were watering.

The difficulty ramped up quickly, what had started as a couple of enemies shooting slow moving projectiles at her had turned into a full on swarm sending wave after wave of bullets at her. She blinked trying to give her weary vision a rest from darting back and forth trying to keep track of it all.

“Relax Vivian, you’re going to strain something.” Amelia snickered from the sidelines, causing Vivian to shoot her a look of annoyance.

Suddenly a disorienting white flash of the screen interrupted her, just for a very brief moment. However, it was just long enough to completely derail her concentration. Stupid Amelia! She’d gotten hit! Her vision darted to the top left of the screen where one of her three little hearts representing life had dimmed. The loss of focus proved to be another mistake as once again the screen flashed. Vivian’s thoughts stalled again. Her head was spinning. No wait she couldn’t… she couldn’t lose yet… she had to win! She had to beat Amelia at her little bet! She couldn’t… FLASH. Her third life disappeared, leaving her blankly staring for just a moment at the game over screen:

Surrender? Give Up?

The words flickered back and forth between each other. She shook her head, trying to scare the dizziness that had come over her away. Pouting Vivian looked away from the television to see Amelia doubled over laughing.

“What was that about not needing all day?" she chuckled.

Vivian glared at the smug girl, causing her to sink demurely into her chair again. Meanwhile Sophia stifled a giggle on the couch next to her. Frustrated, she turned to face her fellow competitor. “What’s so funny Sophia? I’d like to see you do better on your first try!”

Sophia looked back at her, very unsuccessfully trying to hide the teasing grin on her face. “Viv, you didn’t even get on the scoreboard.” She laughed.

Flushed with embarrassment Vivian turned back to look at her score. It was barely over 3k. “I-well-Shut Up!” Vivian threw the controller at Sophia. “Alright then girl it’s your turn, show us how easy it is.” Vivian could hear Amelia unsuccessfully stifling another giggle at her words.

Vivian pouted. Ok so maybe her dork of a roommate had been right. Maybe she wasn’t too familiar with that specific kind of game. But just wait, in an hour or so she’d be coming for that highscore! She crossed her arms and leaned back on the couch. Her face, still burning red from her roommates’ taunting. Her eyes locked onto the screen, determined to figure out a better strategy for her next attempt while she had the benefit of being an observer.

She watched Sophia click NO on the game over screen. Watched the instructions come up again. Watched the little character appear on the screen once more. It started just like her go had gone. A very small amount of enemies, to get you comfortable, get you used to how the game played, then the real challenge would start. The screen quickly filled back up with lights and colors, the edges of the screen shone again as her roommate’s point total grew. All the while Vivian’s eyes roamed and her mind raced trying to make sense of it all. It certainly helped to not have to tell her hands how to move on top of keeping track of everything else going on.

“Come on Sophia, Focus!” Amelia taunted. This certainly would be a lot easier without Amelia interrupting them! But at least she was messing with Sophia now and not her.

Which means Vivian could just watch and focus.

“Focus on the game.” Amelia chimed.

Vivian breathed deeply, concentrating on her strategy.

At first she’d thought Sophia’s attempt would be exactly the same as her own and she could just memorize stuff to get further and further. But the longer she watched, the less sure she was anything was being repeated. It all looked different. Just different enough to keep you from getting used to it. Remembering it wasn’t going to help. So maybe it was just practice. Maybe she just had to familiarize herself with the game. Maybe she just had to stare at the screen and it would all start making sense. She took a few deep breaths. Maybe she was overthinking it. Maybe she just needed to...

“Relax…” The ever more familiar voice of Amelia suggested. “You want to win right?”

Relax. Yeah that sounded nice. She did want to win…

Inadvertently her eyes started trailing Sophia’s character. The occasional blue glow from the edges of her vision soothed her further. She sank into her seat. Only now realizing how pretty the game was. She could really appreciate it now that she wasn’t the one playing. It was bright, and inviting. Soothing. She couldn’t help but keep staring. The lights started to blend together into captivating shapes and patterns… patterns? Patterns! That’s it! Vivian sat up in her seat, beaming. The problem was she was trying to keep track of every little thing. But now that she was looking at everything together she could clearly tell how it all moved in groups. It made it trivial to figure out how the character had to move to survive. Vivian smirked proudly. She’d win this easily now!

“Oooh you made it to the first boss! Good job Sophie, you’re doing so well!” Amelia cooed. She gave Vivian a devious smile. “Much better than Vivian.”

Snapping out of her internal gloating, Vivian turned to see that a new very large enemy had appeared on screen. Panicked Vivian looked up at Sophia’s score seeing it had passed hers by a fairly large margin.

“Hmpf!” Vivian let out as she crossed her arms. Hoping her malicious stare aimed at Sophia’s avatar would cause her to lose right then and there. Sighing, she resigned herself to study the boss. It was just a really big enemy, it shot a ton of the blinking little bullets and looked like it also had slightly different other weapons. It was honestly impressive Sophia was holding up so well having ne—

The screen flashed as one of the new projectiles made contact with Sophia’s character. Vivian’s brain froze. Her thought, completely lost.

“Not yet, I want to win…” she heard Sophia mumble. The sound of her voice finally reminding Vivian what the flash meant. Sophia lost a life! Ha! Finally! She leaned forward, reveling in how Sophia fruitlessly struggled to dodge the hazards. Her movements became a bit more uncertain, uncertain enough to get hit again. Flash! A dopey smile spread on Vivian’s face. It was almost her turn again! She turned to look at Sophia, expecting to see her roommate's strained expression as she struggled. Instead her eyes fell on a placid if not slightly confused looking girl transfixed on the screen. Vivian ceased her gloating for a moment, slightly worried.

“Hey Soph, you ok—” her sentence was caught off by a final flash just barely at the edge of her vision. She blinked a few times. What was she saying?

“Ha… I beat your score Viv!” Vivian’s question got interrupted as Sophia snapped up excitedly. “Though I still didn’t even get close to Amelia. Playing this is probably all she does when she’s locked up in her room…” Sophia grinned weakly, handing the controller back to Vivian.

Amelia’s taunting laughter filled the room.

“You two ready to give up yet?” Their nerdy roommate looked at them smuggly. It was not a look either of them were used to seeing on the girl, but it was clearly a challenge. A challenge their competitive spirit did not let them back down from.

“Are you kidding? We’re just getting started! Right Soph!?” Vivian confidently grabbed the controller again.

Sophia smiled brightly. “Mhm! In your dreams pipsqueak!” Amelia frowned at the nickname, causing both girls on the couch to giggle. That’s right! And this time Vivian knew the secret. She selected NO on the game over screen again. This time she knew what she was doing.

She once again got through the first few waves with ease. The screen began to flicker with that pleasant blue light as she began to earn points. The difficulty ramped, creatures and blinking lights kept spawning in ever increasing numbers but still Vivian did not feel overwhelmed. In fact, she felt calm. Relaxed. This was so much easier. So much easier when she just focused on the patterns. Vivian sighed, leaning back comfortably onto the couch. She maneuvered her character easily around the blinking lights. Fluidly, confidently. And her score kept going up, not that she dared look at it while she was playing.

“That's right Vivi, just focus~” she heard.

Yeah focus... Vivian smiled hazily, she didn’t need to look at her score, not while the edges of the screen kept flashing that wonderful blue light. That meant she was getting points. Which meant she could just focus on the game. It really was so pretty. The appearance of the boss enemy interrupted her train of thought. She made it! All she had to do was beat this thing and she’d be ahead of Sophia. She’d be winning.

She faintly heard Amelia’s voice “You want to win right?”

Fueled by the determination of pulling ahead of Sophia, Vivian sat up in her seat. Her pulse quickened. The boss was another jump in difficulty, but unlike Sophia, Vivian was ready for it. Expertly she dodged out of the way of the large exploding projectile that had done-in her rival. The boss's health bar ticked down and down. She was almost there! Almost there!

FLASH! The aggressive flare from the screen scrambled her thoughts and nearly knocked her over. No! She was so close…! So close, she couldn’t lose yet! She leaned forward. Gaze utterly fixed onto the screen. She wanted to win…

And just like that, the boss burst into an array of brilliant colors. An unrelenting stream of blue flickering at the edges of the screen rewarded Vivian. She felt herself involuntarily shiver. Her mind felt fuzzy, making her almost miss when Amelia started talking to her again.
“Great job Vivi! You're doing so well! So much better than Sophie!” A wave of warmth ran through Vivian’s whole body at her roommate's words. An involuntary moan passed her lips. She’s doing well… Yeah she’s doing well. She’s winning. Doing better than Sophie…

The blue light faded. What… what just ha-? FLASH. Her mind emptied. Another life, gone. The second stage had started. Right she was playing Amelia’s game. Her head felt fuzzy. The game she had to win. She had to win… FLASH!

Surrender? Give Up?

Surrender? Give Up?

The words flickered in front of her. For a moment, she couldn’t do anything but just stare. She… she lost?

“Awww, better luck next time Vivi. Guess you have to try again~” Had Amelia always sounded so… nice…? Vivian blinked. Wait, that was a taunt! Right?

“Yeah… guess I have to try again…” Her response had a lot less bite than she expected it to… “I mean!” Vivian tried her best to shake the fog out of her head. “I’m coming for your highscore. Just watch!”

“Not if I do it first!” The controller swiftly vanished as Sophia snatched it from her hands. Vivian wanted to protest, but before she could Sophia leaned forward and started another game.

The screen came to life, the soothing blue hue of her rival earning points coaxed Vivian back into staring. Right it was Sophia’s turn to play. Which means she could just watch. Watch, focus, and enjoy the game. The pretty game. Her eyes followed Sophia’s character. Followed it back and forth as the first level blurred past her. As she heard Amelia taunting her rival from beside the screen. She was taunting her, right?

That’s right, Relax Sophie.”

“Relax… Sophie…” Vivian repeated. She’d taunt her too. That sounded fun.

Eventually the first boss arrived once more.

And eventually it fell to Sophia.

And that meant the screen filled up with blue light. Wonderful blue light. Except, to Vivian, it felt muted. She felt another shiver run through her but it wasn’t nearly as strong as the first time. Cause it was Sophia’s turn.

A pang of jealousy hit her. That’s right, Sophia was the one playing, not her. Amelia was talking about Sophia, not her. The blue light was rewarding Sophia, not her. She just wanted the second level to start, knowing how hard the transition was. Wanting nothing more than to see the screen flash to signal the end of Sophia’s turn. Because she wanted to win. And she couldn’t win if Sophia beat her.

The hue changed from blue to pink, and this time, Vivian was lucid enough to notice it. A blissful smile formed on her lips. It was only a matter of time.

Except, the screen didn’t flash. Vivian could tell by the shaky movements that Sophia was still dealing with that weird euphoric wave that crashed into her at the end of the first level, but she managed to avoid some enemies. She managed to see the glittering text of the points as a few of them exploded on screen. This time however the reward light wasn’t the blue of the first level, but a vibrant pink to match that of the new color palette. Vivian’s envy subsided for a bit as her mind took in the new sights. The game just kept getting…prettier… How many levels would they have to get through to even land on the scoreboard? Would each of them just look better and better than the last?

FLASH

“Good job, Sophie.” Amelia said.

Yes, the flash! It was almost Vivian’s turn!

FLASH

“Keep staring.”

She just had to keep staring.

FLASH

“You want to win”

She wanted to win.

Surrender? Give Up?

Surrender? Give Up?

Surrender? Give Up?

Both girls stared blankly at the game. Just taking in the blinking words on the screen.

“Ready to give up yet?” Amelia’s voice ripped Vivian away from her daze. Dreamily she shook her head. Oh right it was her turn. Trying her best to keep her eyes on the television she reached over for the controller.

“Not yet… My turn” she slurred as her hands fumbled for the controller.

“Not…yet…, Vivi’s turn…” Sophia responded as the gamepad slipped out of her hand and onto Vivian’s.

Vivian didn’t hesitate, before she even had a good grasp on the hard plastic of the controller, she hit NO to restart.

“You want to win that badly?” Teased Amelia.

“Uhm… Want to win…” Vivian tried to respond, but she was too busy trying to focus.

“Focus on the game,” she mumbled.

The pretty game.

She’d have to ask Amelia to let her play it again… later. After she won the bet of course. Because she had to win.

An unrelenting wave of blue light hit her, letting her know the first level was done.

It felt good to win.

She whimpered. Forcing herself to keep focusing through the pleasure. Her eyes crossed. Weakly shaking her head she persisted. She couldn’t fail at the same place again! She had to win. She had to win… Because… because…

Amelia’s words cut through her rambling thoughts “You like winning for me, right Vivi~?”

That… didn’t sound right. Wasn’t there a bet or something? Something about… chores?

“You want to win for me. Do better than Sophie right?”

Vivian found herself blankly nodding along to her roommate's words. Right… She had to beat Sophie. That sounded right, she was always trying to beat Sophie…

“Then focus on the game Vivi~”

“Focus” she mumbled once more. Barely noticing as Sophia joined in with her.

“Focus…”

Right. She had to win. Win for Amelia. Her mind was spinning. The notion of winning the only thing she was capable of holding on to. What was she trying to win? The swirling lights of the second stage greeted her. Oh right, the game.

Neon pink filled her vision. It felt warm. A simmering warmth spread from her core. Both girls sighed in unison. Not that Vivian noticed, she was too busy playing. Too busy letting Amelia taunt her. Tease her. Guide her. Her hands were moving on their own. Cruising through stage two before she even realized what was happening. Another overwhelming array of light telling her she had somehow stumbled through it all.

She moaned. Eyes threatening to roll into the back of her head. Involuntary her body dipped forward, being drawn in by the screen. Wanting nothing more but to fill more and more of her vision with that wonderful display of lights.

Which is why the next FLASH that hit her was so strong. Her avatar froze. Uselessly standing in place as another bullet hit her.

FLASH

And another.

FLASH

Vivian’s mouth hung open, drool leaking out as the game over screen blinked at her.

Surrender? Give Up?

Surrender? Give Up?

Surrender? Give Up?

Did… did she want to give up…?

“My… turn…” Sophia slurred. Weakly reaching over to pull the controller out of Vivian’s hands. She didn’t even try to resist. Barely even registering as it slipped out of her grasp.

The game started up again. And Vivian just kept staring. Staring through another one of Sophie’s turns. Through another one of her turns. The controller, getting passed back and forth, the girls mechanically handing it off every time the screen flashed again, possessed by the single minded determination to best each other. All the while inching closer and closer to the screen until gravity gave them no choice but to flop helplessly onto the footrest in front of them. The glittering lights washed over them. The screen, fully monopolizing their vision. Their vacant mumbling, enough to set each other off. Until both of them were simply repeating each other’s words in perfect unison.

“Focus…”

“Win…”

“Win for Amelia…”

They had long lost count of what attempt they were on. Long lost track of how far from the scoreboard they were. Long lost track of everything. Even Amelia, as she stood up from beside the screen. As she took her place between them. Letting out a demeaning little giggle as she pressed her body against theirs.

It was Vivi’s turn again. It had to be, because the controller fell into her hands. She just had to keep playing. Keep playing until she won. Her hips were swaying, legs grinding against each other in a fruitless attempt to deal with the growing need inside her. It felt good to win. Win for Amelia. When had her jeans dropped to her ankles? It didn’t matter, they were all girls anyway, and if anything, it helped. Helped push the growing dampness between her legs out of her mind. An involuntary gasp passed her lips as something pushed her panties aside and slipped inside her. Something that didn’t matter.

Her body was moving on its own. Grinding into… whatever it was. But her mind was still on the game. At least as much as it could be. The screen was just lights at this point. Nonsensical lights that made her feel really good. And the whispering. Oh god the whispering. Someone was whispering. She couldn’t remember who. It didn’t matter. She was winning. Being a good girl for Amelia. Her dopey smile widened. The thought had come unannounced but it felt good rattling around her head. She was a good girl for Amelia… A very good girl. Better than Sophie… She had to be better than Sophie. A better good girl. Because that meant she was winning…

Amelia smiled impishly, savoring the body heat of her two roommates as her fingers slowly pumped in and out of them. Just a little longer. Just a little longer and she’d never have to lose another stupid bet again.

Pink light flooded the screen. Both girls’ delightfully vacant moans caused Amelia to squirm hungrily. Clenching around her fingers, they went limp. Leaving them panting and drooling beneath her. The screen flashed and flashed and flashed. Ensuring her roommates would be unable to do anything but mindlessly stare at the game over screen. Sighing out in symphony.

“Surrender… Give Up…”

“Surrender… Give Up…”

“Surrender… Give Up…”

Vivian attempted to make the motion of handing the controller over to Sophia, but succeeded only in knocking it forward a few centimeters. Amelia giggled. Licking her fingers off in victorious satisfaction. She brushed her fingers across the girl’s backs, looking on proudly at how thoroughly her little invention had worked.

“Vivi? Sophie? Ready to give up yet?” She taunted.

“Give…up…” The girls sighed.

“Excellent…” She smiled.

Reaching over Vivian, Amelia fiddled with the controller, selecting YES on screen. She chuckled. Neither girl even managed to even break into her scoreboard. But that was alright. Her roommates had plenty of time to keep practicing… after she made a few changes.