Chapter Text
“Oh, thank you plat_stars for the $1k!” That was something Kakyoin didn’t expect to repeat so many times in a year, and it was only the 11th of February.
He’d been streaming for a year and two months, or maybe a little more, under the name h.green. It started as something to tide him over during his Christmas break, mostly friends from school watching him as they hurled jokes around. But after picking up a game he thought was obscure, he found out he was first to play the game on his platform. He also became the one to popularize it, all because of a few clips of him losing his mind growing viral.
It was all unexpected, but he appreciated the newfound popularity. Even then, it was hard for him to comprehend it all, never being the type to appreciate the limelight. He kept going on as he did, though this time with a few friends of his turning into mods. His fanbase’s growth was fast, and a few months later, he was at the top of his game; it would stay that way for a long while.
Along with this fame were more fans, friends, and fans-turned-mods. As much as he put himself down, he was a friendlier face amongst his peers. He was interactive with his audience, not caring for a missed kill or accidental hit when he read over the chat. He wasn’t sure if it was that or his stupid little jokes that gained him further fame.
Then, as soon as the New Year hit, a new viewer became a meme to his viewers and a conundrum to him: plat_stars.
Kakyoin knew a lot of the people watching were devoted to him, watching every hour of his streams, and as much as it weirded him out—he was still some 18-year-old—he at least appreciated them. While odd when he thought back on it, two of his friends were people who gave him a little over a hundred dollars a while back. But whoever this was, was different and a lot richer.
The first donation still ran clear in his mind, sounds and all. He took a break from playing a dress-up game that the chat forced him to play. Taking off his headphones, he wrapped them around his neck as he glanced over the chat. The faint sounds of a knock-off pop song continued to play in the game while he sipped on his bottled milk tea, reading over a few messages he saw. Everyone kept pestering him about his abandoned Animal Crossing island, and he would comment on it later. A person also asked about his set-up, to which he tilted his camera around to show off how he’d covered everything in cherry patterns, from his keyboard to his mouse; as much as it was just something he found cute, the fruit became synonymous with him.
The loud ding of a bigger donation played from his headphones, sudden and catching him off guard. He turned back towards the screen with the game before whipping his head back to the one with the chat, still getting used to having double monitors. He grinned and was ready to utter a silly thanks, only to pause and gawk. Off to the side, he saw the chat go wild.
plat_stars donated $1,000! What the actual fuck! The prompt only appeared for donations over $100. Maybe Kakyoin should start up another tier.
He fell back into his seat, slumping into it out of his shock while a large grin spread on his face, pushing himself away from the camera. “Who the hell are you?” he asked, still picked up by his mic despite his widening distance from it. Soon, he pulled himself up, tugging his shirt down as the prompt disappeared from his sights. Even then, his excitement didn’t die down.
“Um, who was it? Plat_stars?” Kakyoin slipped his headphones back on, rolling his chair closer to his desk once again. He took a glimpse at the chat which confirmed his question. “Right. Okay, uh, thank you for the donation. Have I ever gotten anything that big? God, no, I haven’t.”
He ran a hand through his hair, his affectionately nicknamed hair noodle bouncing with the motion. It took him a lot of rambling to get over the donation, but he brought it up again in the other hours of the stream. This was a big donation; he knew he should have made a big deal of it all.
Then it happened again the next day, and he had as big of a reaction as the first. And it happened again. And again. And again. It got a little old.
The shock of it all died down within two weeks, and the donation ended up as just another donation amongst $1 ones. Instead of saying his thanks each time, he took the chat’s advice: at all times, his blank green screen had plat_stars on it in bright pink comic sans, contrasting against each game he played. While some asked him to take it down and he considered doing so, that’s when he realized how much all that money was. On the 27th day of the madness, he thought back on what he spent the money on while building a giant cake statue in Minecraft.
It sunk in how important each donation was, aiding in every single way he could think of. He paid for a few medical checkups he put off, gifts his friends never expected he felt they deserved, and even some debts his parents had. He made adequate money prior to this stranger’s kindness, but everything this person gave pushed him further into a spot of financial comfort he never thought he’d ever be in.
With that in mind, Kakyoin took his time to thank whoever it was every week with earnest speeches about how much he appreciated it all. His chat would spam the word ‘gay’, and he’d laugh and say, “I know.” Except he didn’t, but that wasn’t important.
From there, we return to now, with Kakyoin just having finished a stream. He pulled his headphones off after shutting his PC down, getting up from his seat with a sigh. It was a long stream, one where he was on the verge of screaming. Remind him to never play any rhythm games on the hardest mode anymore.
Each step he took away from his set-up took away more of his boisterous Internet personality; it was all a ruse when he thought about it, knowing in himself he had been a silent type over the years. The camera gave him confidence, regardless of whether he wanted to admit it.
Walking around the green screen to the rest of his room, he sighed as he looked around. His shiny, new gaming corner was the only pleasant thing there. Everything else in his room was old, all secondhand furniture from before he was even born: a shabby mattress with shabbier sheets; a dingy closet he forced himself to keep clean inside; a desk he once used for school that now collected dust; to say he needed a room renovation was an understatement. Maybe he’d ask his mother about it.
Then his mind returned to plat_stars. How much had he donated? He took a moment to count down the days since it all began, and he had to puzzle over January having 30 or 31 days. “That’s—right, and then you add—oh.”
41 days. $41k worth coming his way, only because he enjoyed watching him play video games. While his audience loved to condense the stranger to just another ‘simp’ or obsessive creep, it didn’t feel that way to Kakyoin. No, there were never any attached messages to the donations, nor any attempts to get in contact with him. It was strange, but all the money that came in was legitimate, so he couldn’t complain.
Contemplating this all, he threw himself on his bed, reaching for his phone plugged into the wall. He always wondered who plat_stars was from the beginning, but it strengthened the longer he let all this money flow in. He scrolled through Twitter, liking random posts until a thought struck his mind.
Maybe it was time to find out who the hell it was.
He was quick to type, not thinking twice about his wording. Soon, he’d end up with a tweet that read like this: ok, so i thought about it and i honest to god just want to find out who plat_stars is?? If you’re out there drop me a dm, screenshot proof of the money. i legit wanna start talking to whoever it is lol.
He looked over it and thought something felt off. He hummed before attaching an image of a cat meme he saved a while back. Yeah, that felt a lot better. Rolling over onto his side, he tweeted it out for the world to see and was ready for the barrage of joke replies and messages he’d receive.
And they all came in full swing, but he was in no place to complain. He sighed and looked over some replies to his post: a few ‘good luck’s amongst an ocean of memes and fancams. Maybe he’d nap on it, at least after checking whatever DM requests he received within minutes. Unsurprisingly, it was a lot, much more than he’d received any other day.
He scrolled past messages, all saying something among the lines of, “It’s me!” Though he had serious doubts, checking a few of the accounts and not seeing anyone he thought was a contender, nor any actual proof in the messages. At least one person sent a picture of their cat, with which he replied a quick thanks.
Was Kakyoin losing hope scrolling through? Yes, and it showed as he yawned, his eyes coming to a near close with his sleepiness. The more that he thought about it, this was a useless endeavor, especially with the lack of planning on his end. He grumbled and had his finger on his phone’s lock button, ready to get some rest. Then, his eyes met with a message that differed from the rest, appearing as he was ready to turn off his phone.
Someone with the display name jojo, the username ‘star_plats’, no profile picture. Underneath all this information was a message that shared his post and said, i was waiting for this lol. He squinted before pressing on the message, not sure what he was expecting to see. Instead, he only saw an indication of typing, and he waited in silence. He still had his genuine doubts about this person,
w8 my paypal won’t work, Jojo replied.
Kakyoin blinked, not sure if he wanted to wait, but he was already awake. ok take ur time, he said, staring at the screen and their three messages. He was expecting an unrelated or random image to come into his messages, and he sighed. It’ll be good to screenshot at least, he thought to himself as he waited with low expectations.
And waited.
And waited.
And an image came in, taking a long while to load despite the speedy Internet in the house.
Kakyoin grumbled as he rolled over onto his stomach, held up by his forearms as the picture loaded inch by inch as the person sent more. It was like a slow reveal in a musical, a curtain pulling up to reveal what was to come; except this time it was a loading image, inching downwards to show off what he needed.
At that point, too tired out from his stream, his internal overwhelming shock translated into a few blinks at the screenshots of PayPal transactions. Kakyoin Noriaki, Payment Received. $1,000 in each row. All the dates lined up too, all coming one after the other, becoming more impressive with the visualization of it all. He knew it could all be edited easily, but he doubted anyone could have done all this work in five minutes.
u know what. He sent that after looking over every detail again, sure of its legitimacy but used to being extra cautious.
what?? The reply was immediate, making Kakyoin chuckle.
i believe u. tthank you jojo.
you don’t need to thank me. your streams are nice
im superthankful for all your donations, u know! but do u not want anything for it?? its kind of a lot dude lol.
i don’t really want anything though.
how abt we talk for a bit?? Kakyoin wasn't sure how the other would respond to the suggestion, but he felt it was adequate. He wouldn't force Jojo into anything, anyway.
A pause, a rather lengthy one. This Jojo person took longer to type this time, at least a minute, though the reply Kakyoin received had him cackle: ok.
Their few messages sent were the start of something special, though neither were aware.