The silence in the motel room was absolute, thick as congealed gravy. Only the frantic whine of the AC unit and the tinny echo of Shondo’s voice through the Discord stream remained.
On screen, the viewer count exploded: 512... 701... 889...
Dewd scrambled back off Michael with a wet, mortified gasp, scrambling to pull the filthy sheet over himself. Michael whimpered, curling in on himself, desperately trying to hide his still-hard cock with trembling, dirt-crusted hands. Both their faces were masks of pure, animal terror – caught in the act, exposed to the very idol whose fantasy had sustained their hollow lives.
"Sh-Shondo!" Dewd stammered, voice cracking. "It's... it's not... we were just..." He gestured helplessly at the wrecked bed, the discarded Wendy's bags, Tuffnar's smug, shirtless form. "He... Tuffnar tricked us! He forced us!"
Michael nodded frantically, sweat dripping onto the stained mattress. "Yeah! Yeah! We... we were trying to get information! For you! About his... his alts! His plans! We were infiltrating! For the community! For you!" His voice rose in a desperate, unconvincing squeak. "We'd never... not like this... not for real..."
Tuffnar, however, didn't move. He remained half-propped on an elbow, his own arousal flagging but a vicious amusement lighting his eyes. He watched their frantic, floundering denials with the detached pleasure of a scientist observing panicked lab rats. His gaze flicked to the stream count: 1,102. Perfect.
Shondo’s silence was heavier than any shout. When her voice finally came again through the phone’s speaker, it was quieter, flatter, laced with a profound, weary sadness that cut deeper than anger ever could.
"...Why?"
Dewd and Michael froze, staring at the glowing phone screen like it was the eye of God.
"...Why," she repeated, the single word hanging in the greasy air, "...did you refuse? When I asked. When I told you the community was better off disconnected from him. Why did you keep crawling back? Why did you let him... this?"
Dewd opened his mouth, searching for another lie, another layer of justification. "We... we thought we could save him! Bring him back for you! He was lost, Shondo! We were trying to—"
"To help!" Michael blurted, tears welling in his red-rimmed eyes. "Everything we do... everything... is for you! This... this was just a sacrifice! A horrible sacrifice we made for you!"
Their excuses, born of panic and ingrained delusion, hung in the air like rotten fruit. Pathetic. Transparent. Utterly unconvincing.
Tuffnar’s low chuckle started then. A rumble in his chest that grew, building into a full-throated, unhinged laugh that echoed off the yellowed walls. He threw his head back, the sound raw and triumphant.
"HAHAHA! Oh, listen to you!" he roared, tears of mirth streaming down his cheeks. "‘For her!’ ‘To save him!’ PATHETIC!" He slammed a meaty fist onto the mattress, making Michael flinch. "You lying, simpering worms!"
He leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with manic fervor, staring directly into the phone’s camera lens, addressing Shondo, the stream, the world.
"I did this! ME! Because I love her! Not like these pathetic, faithless strays! I love her truly! I am her husband in spirit! Her most loyal knight!" Spittle flew from his lips. "They claimed devotion? They built shrines in their basements? Sent her creepy gifts? I proved it! I proved their love was cheap! Fickle! Worthless grease-stained nothing!"
He gestured wildly at Dewd and Michael, cowering and exposed. "Look at them! Your ‘faithful’ Shondogs! Look what I made them do! What they wanted to do! I made them choose me! Over their precious v-tuber fantasy! I made them crave the touch of another sweaty, broken man more than they craved your pixels! Because my love is stronger! My devotion is pure!"
He puffed out his chest, his voice rising to a fevered pitch. "I unveiled their filth! Their betrayal! Live! For you to see! So you would finally understand! So you could no longer deny! That I, Tuffnar, am your one true husband! Your ultimate fan! The only one who loves you enough to break your false idols and show you the rot beneath! They loved me more than they loved you! And that proves everything!"
His monologue ended, not with a shout, but with a panting, satisfied grin, his eyes locked on the camera, awaiting Shondo's acknowledgment, her horrified understanding, his twisted victory complete. Dewd and Michael could only stare, naked and shattered, the last vestiges of their shared delusion crumbling in the face of Tuffnar's deranged, triumphant logic and the silent judgment emanating from the glowing phone. The viewer count flickered: 1,587.
