The blue light of two monitors washed over Miles' face, highlighting the sheen of grease on his forehead. His fingers, stubby and quick, were banning a user for a minor spoiler in the anime subreddit he lorded over. Justice is served, he thought with satisfaction.

His scrolling paused on a post in one of his smaller, more 'intellectual' debate forums. His eyes narrowed. He saw some user in the comments, tearing into another person. His thumb hovered over the ban hammer. But then he saw who the target was — someone he'd been watching for a week.

This idiot is giving them a hard time, he seethed. Nothing major, but enough for an experienced Reddit mod like Miles. Time for the hero to make his entrance.

His mod powers flared. The offending user's comments were deleted, their account slapped with a three-day ban for 'personal attacks'. Miles puffed out his chest, adjusted his fedora and typed his DM with the gravitas of a knight sending a missive.

`just cleaned that up for u. SOME people have no respect for the rules. or for common decency. u ok?`

He hit send and leaned back with a smile. They're probably so grateful right now, he mused. Finally, a guy who protects.

He pictured them in his mind. They must be pretty. Smart, but not as smart as me. The kind of person who needs male protection.

His phone buzzed. A notification from a dating app he'd forgotten he had. He swiped it away with a scowl. Ugh. Must be another bot.

His eyes flicked back to the screen. No reply yet. The smug feeling began to curdle into something anxious. Maybe they didn't see it. Maybe I should send a follow-up. Be concerned.

He navigated to their profile page again — a gesture he told himself was chivalrous, not creepy. He scanned their recent posts, looking for a new entry point to show off his intellect. And then he saw the little bio section in the sidebar.

A single, devastating word next to Relationship Status. Taken. The word didn't compute at first; so wrong and alien. Taken.

The half-formed fantasy in his head shattered. The kindness coins he'd deposited vanished into a void. They are property, he told himself silently. And worse, they let me make a fool of myself.

All the frustration — the rejection from jobs, the disrespect from the Discord mod, his dad's disappointed sighs — boiled over at once. He was just a joke to everyone. A useful idiot. A beta orbiter.

The nice guy persona evaporated...

Miles' cursor hovered over the DM window. His previous friendly message stared back at him, now looking pathetic and weak. He deleted it.

His hands were steady with a cold, furious purpose. I'll show them. I'll show all of them.

He opened Adobe Photoshop, pulling up their conversation. With quick, practiced cuts, he cropped out his simpering messages — stitching together a new narrative. A flirty, secretive exchange. Proof.

Miles returned to the DMs and attached the fabricated screenshot.

`ive compiled all the evidence of our conversation for your BOYFRIEND. he deserves to know the kind of person hes with. it would be a shame if he saw it.... but we can still forget this ever happened. this is your last chance to apologize for leading me on.`

He took a deep breath and sent it. The message delivered. Now, he waited.