Chapter Text
"Aw, fuck."
Sunlight filtered through the blinds, casting strips of light across Jesse William's bed. The man thumped his fist on the keyboard as the respawn screen came up on his computer.
"That spawn was actual bullcrap. We're starting again, I refuse to stop streaming two minutes in." He loaded up a new world and pressed play. Sand surrounded his player on one side, open ocean on the other. He climbed up a little and saw a meadow and a small oak forest.
"Okay. I can work with this." He went to the tree and started collecting wood. A donation popped through, playing it's usual jingle as it came up. "Casey, thank you for the dono. Uhhh...my favourite fruit is pineapple. Yes I have it on pizza. Least favourite is bananas." Jesse quietened down for a few minutes and focused on getting enough wood to make tools, while the chat waged war on whether pineapple belonged on pizza.
Out of nowhere, a screeching filled his apartment: the fire alarm. Concerningly, the alarm didn’t seem to worry Jesse. He ignored it and continued digging into the side of a mountain to hide away for the night. The chat complained about the noise as he did so. Eventually the screeching stopped and someone ran to his door. Without knocking, they slammed it open.
"JESSE! WHY THE HELL WAS THE TOASTER ON FIRE?!"
"It wasn't me," he said, continuing to play. His girlfriend-slash-fiancée was stood in the door, frowning angrily.
Donna looked at him angrily. Her body was barely on the camera but when she marched in and folded her arms, the camera got her fully. "We live together. Alone. You literally can't blame it on anyone else."
"Sorry guys, one second," Jesse paused the game and turned round to face her.
"You're streaming?!" She went red and backed away from the camera.
"Yes. And maybe I was hungry before I started."
"So you put toast in the toaster and thought it was a good idea to leave it?"
"Okay, in hindsight not the best idea-"
"Did you mute this?"
Jesse's eyes widened as he turned round to check the stream. The chat was going to fast that it was causing Twitch to lag, and he couldn’t keep up.
WolfclawGaming: Girlfriend?
Friesaregood: The girlfriend?!
chileanywaysACAB: ITS THE GIRLFRIEND OMG
hundwasserArt: OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD
JJBakes: ITS JESSICA ITS THE GIRLFRIEND
Jesse turned back to Donna. "Ah shit. Sorry Donna, they heard all of that."
Donna rolled her eyes. "Why am I even...whatever, they were gonna find out eventually." She came closer. "Hey chat. Stream. Ugh, I don't know. I'm Donna, Jesse's girlfriend. Sending you all love from the east coast." She backed up again. "When you've finished, you can make more toast Jes."
She left the room, closing the door softly behind her. Smiling, Jesse turned back to the stream.
chileanywaysACAB: Omg her name's Donna
MinecraftStanley: we know her name!
JJBakes: o-o name pog
Faustie: That was the cutest thing! Ever!
WanderingSoul: girlfriend pog
"Oookaayyy I'm ending the stream early. I’m low-key really hungry. It’s not ideal, but I promise to do a longer stream on Saturday! See ya!" Jesse ended the stream and quickly turned his equipment off. He closed the blinds to cool the room down a bit before leaving the room. The fanbase was going to have a lot of fun with Donna's impromptu reveal.
He opened the door to their poky kitchen. Donna had clearly moved to a different room, leaving out the bread and a plate for Jesse. He put some bread in the toaster and opened his phone as he waited.
Having two phones was the best idea he'd ever had. Before, when his Twitter and Instagram had been on his home phone, it was a nightmare. Now with the second, he could have a home phone to text his friends and family without having notifications from social media coming through constantly.
He opened his Snap and clicked on 'Lactose IntolerANT'
Me: yooo charl i just finished streaming and set the toaster on fire halfway through lol
He tapped his fingers on the back of his phone as he waited for Charl's reply. They'd been friends for nearly seven years at this point. He knew a lot about her, and she in turn knew a lot about him. They'd met twice: once in Oakland where she lived when Jesse was visiting, and the second time was when they did a joint tour together. She claimed the latter counted as meeting more than once, but since they never technically left each other for more than a few hours Jesse didn't.
Lactose IntolerANT: What?
Lactose IntolerANT: You set the toaster on FIRE?!
Me: in my defence i forgot about it and Donna didn't remind me
Lactose IntolerANT: iN mY dEfeNce...BY THE WAY! Why didn't you tell me Donna was gonna be on today?!
Lactose IntolerANT: I wanted to be there to tease you :(
Me: it wasn't planned
Me: she yelled at me because the toaster was on fire
Me: and everyone heard
Me: so she said hi
Lactose IntolerANT: I can't believe-
Lactose IntolerANT: Hold on can you call?
Me: lemme grab the toast. i don't wanna burn it again
Jesse put his phone down as he popped the toast up. He didn't understand why it failed to pop up on time last time, but it did. He buttered it and moved to the table, taking his phone with him.
It was surprisingly sunny for September, though slightly breezy. Jesse much preferred cooler weather, it was an excuse to wear a jumper and hide his face. Anything to avoid being recognised in public, really. There used to be a time where he didn't, and he would immediately be recognised in the store. If he was quick enough now, he didn't get recognised by more than a couple of people.
Me: kay im good now
As soon as the message was read, his phone began vibrating. He answered the call, smiling as Charl's face filled the screen. She smirked at Jesse.
"So, did Donna get mad when she realised you weren't muted or?"
Jesse shook his head. "Well, kinda? She went real quiet then just rolled her eyes and said hi. Not gonna lie I was fucking terrified."
"Terrified huh?"
Jesse took a bite out of his toast, nodding.
"Pussy." Charl drawled.
"Hey!" Jesse put his toast down and frowned. "I am not!"
"Uh huh. And that's why you ended the stream...oh, not even two minutes after Donna left the room. You definitely weren't-"
"Okay! Okay! Maybe I'm a chicken. Whatever," Jesse huffed. "At least I'm not allergic to fucking milk."
"You don't get to me anymore," Charl teased. A muffled shout came from another room. "Harry, I can't say I care."
Jesse chuckled, eating toast again. "Oh, that reminds me. We finished the main season on the other server, so I was wondering if y'all wanna set a new one up tonight? I got sent a seed by a subscriber, it's supposed to be real good."
"You got a seed from a subscriber...and decided that you could trust it?" Charl moved over while Harry collapsed onto the sofa next to her.
"Hey Jesse."
"Sup. And yeah, I did. I got someone to run background checks, don't worry."
"What's this?" Harry asked Charl.
"Jesse got a seed from a follower, and he's suggesting we play it." Charl eyed the juice carton Harry had. Harry sipped the juice quietly, before nodding.
"Why not? It could be fun."
"Are you fucking kidding me? It could be dangerous!"
"Oh c'mon, how dangerous really Charly? Yeah we might loose our entire computer systems but we can always restart that again."
"Exactly!" Jesse said. "How long are you at Charl's for?"
"I go back to Medford next week."
"Soooo....could we play tomorrow?"
"What time?" Charl asked.
"9pm for you?"
"Isn't that 12am for you?"
"Doesn't matter," Jesse said offhandedly. "We won't be streaming, it's just some off-camera playing. See if you can get Hana into it too?"
"I'm sure she'll be more than willing. What about Juliet?"
"I'll send her a dm." Jesse smiled. "Right. I should probably clear up. I'm doing a surprise movie night for Donna."
Charl grinned. "Enjoy."
The call ended. Jesse put his plate in the washer and went in search of his girlfriend. He checked the living room first. The room was airy, with a large sofa in one corner. The TV was off, remote discarded on the table. Wind was blowing into the room, making it slightly colder than Jesse liked. He went over and shut them before heading out of the room.
He decided to check in their bedroom next. If Donna wasn't doing something in the living room, she could usually be found reading or something in their room.
Jesse pushed open the door. One of Donna's drawers was pulled open, and the clothes from it strewn across the cyan rug. He frowned and went to the door opposite their bed that lead to the bathroom, hand brushing against the pride flag he had hanging on the wall. He made a mental note to move it to his office before he next uploaded during June.
He knocked on the door. "Donna? You alright?"
"Yep!"
Something clattered on the floor. Jesse heard Donna stand up, and a minute later she opened the door. In her hand was a thin, white stick with a blue tip. Wordlessly, she glanced between Jesse and the stick. Jesse laughed nervously.
"Are you sure? You're clothes were a little...all over the place."
Donna sighed and shut the door. "Jes, I have to tell you something okay? But it might shock you."
"Sure? I mean I wanna tell you something too but-"
"I'm pregnant."
Jesse ran a hand through his hair. "Haha. First you hop on the stream and now you're pregnant. I love you, really, but pregnancy isn't something to joke about. You know how my parents have been begging me to have grandchildren."
"I'm not joking," Donna held the stick up, which Jesse now recognised as a pregnancy test. He took it. Two lines, clear as day.
"Oh shit."
"You're telling me," She took the test back. "My dad asked me to do one thing: don't have kids before you're married. And here I am."
"You don't have to keep it," Jesse said.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm saying, you have a choice. It's your body. If you don't want to keep it, it's okay with me. Your dad would never have to know."
"No I meant - why would you think I wanted to get an abortion?"
Jesse shrugged. "You just expressed how you were concerned about your dad so-"
"Assuming makes an ass out of 'u' and 'me'," she said. "I want to keep it, Jes. I honestly don't care what my dad thinks. I trust that you're gonna stick round." She put the test down and took his hands. "I love you."
"I-I love you too," Jesse stuttered, blushing.
"Now, what did you wanna say?"
"Oh! Movie night?"
Donna smiled softly. "Sure."