Chapter Text
Money has always been a touchy subject for Sennith. While his childhood wasn’t exactly devoid of money, more so devoid of affection, things had been okay financially before he’d ran away. The years after that though were rough, to say the least. He’d been homeless for a good while as he tried his best to get himself through school. He took up some part-time jobs to pay for things while considering dropping out. He did get a little breathing room though, eventually.
Being friends with someone who is filthy, old family money, rich doesn’t really raise one's self esteem when talking about finances. And it isn’t like Arabella was ever standoff-ish with her wealth. She wasn’t at all scared to get her hands dirty and was even less scared of spending 2 of his paycheck’s worth of money on one brunch with him. Arabella was rude with a sharp tongue, but she wasn’t selfish with money. There just comes a guilt when people start spending stuff without doing anything in return.
He’d raised this point to Arabella and she backed up, somewhat.
So, this is how Sennith finds himself in this situation, sat on a seat in a familiar coffee shop across from Arabella. The shop was far enough from campus to warrant only a few customers but close enough to not be a hassle to walk to. They came here often enough for the staff to have reserved a table for the two of them, their usual orders at the ready. Sennith had been complaining about his lack of funds of late and asked her for some suggestions.
“You know, my cousin streams on twitch.” Arabella says, taking a bite out of her strawberry cake. “He makes his own money that way.”
“That’s because he probably has this huge, fancy set up at home. C’mon, Ara. Something I can actually afford to do.” He rolled his eyes, biting at the plastic straw between his teeth.
“Public library computers are a thing.” He knows she meant it as a joke, but he genuinely thinks about it for a moment. There must’ve been something in his expression because, not a second later, Arabella perks up and her eyebrows furrow. “That was a joke.”
“. . .” Sennith is quiet as he pokes at his lunch with a fork.
“Sennith, no.” Her voice is terrifying and any sane person would immediately heel at the tone but Sennith was decisively *not* sane; if only for the fact that he was actually considering this. “I’m going to do it.” He looks up at her, “Find me an agency? I’ll audition.”
Exasperated, Arabella throws her head back and groans. “God, I don’t know how I put up with you.”
And Arabella, bless her heart, actually gets him a contract.
There are barely any people in the library on the day he’s set to debut, which is a small mercy. He’s quick to set everything up on the crusty computer, his model, his camera, the layouts for the stream, everything. His set up is bare bones and maybe a little sad but he thinks that’s kind of part of his charm. He takes one final glance at his screen, a funny caption flashed on the screen for his debut stream with simple fonts in an obnoxious sans font. Just his style.
His heart beats wildly in his chest while he plugs in his old headphones. Now or never, then.
He starts the stream, greeting everyone. His model moves side to side as he does and it beams back at the screen every time Sennith smiles. His model is a simple one, just an artsy version of himself with a rat on top of his head. It’s charming, the way the company made him look. It sends a blush onto his cheeks that he’s grateful the model doesn’t reflect. “Wow! There are… more people than I expected.” He chuckles and the chat goes wild.
h2dox: WOAH CUTIE
Mikoo: yo?? 80k for a debut stream??
Shawttyyy: “debt stream” LMAOOO
He looks to the side and there are, in fact, 80 thousand people watching his stream. His agency did a great job with advertising him and got a good few people excited for his streams. He makes a note to treat Arabella to something after this as he clears his throat to speak again.
“I joined auditions because the public library PCs are free to use and I need a job.” He said shamelessly. His screen then flashes to the next slide, reading:
“Lore: I’m homeless. I need money” with a funny stick png next to it.
His manager (Manager!!) had said his honesty would do the trick with his type of viewers. Makes him relatable, or whatever. “So, if my streams are scuffed, you know why. It’s my budget set up.” He winks, and the little Sennith on the bottom left winks too.
The chat scrolls by, laughing at his antics.
dkkek: LMAOOO
xxNuts: he just like me fr.
He finds himself smiling and is about to move on when a name in chat seems to draw some attention.
Runiel Azuline Ch.: sen i sent you 10k pls respond
Dkkek: RUNIEL
Catpop: Hi Runi!
Nom_nom: I have money
SomeoneHelp: Runiel LMAO
Froggyyyy: im dying
Ratatat: runIEL
S187ck: debt moment
Sennith laughs to himself as Runiel’s message passes on by, thinking it was a joke. His laughter soon dies to complete, horrified, silence when a rat runs into frame with money in its hands. There’s a number with a terrifying number of zeros on it that he is sure that he’s only seen on Arabella’s bank account. Runiel’s username pops up on top of the rat, along with a thank you message he had written on the off chance he’d actually get super chats.
Sennith heart stops for a moment, then races to killer speeds.
What the actual fuck.
The chat goes by fast, some in as much shock as Sennith and the others laughing at that Runiel guy. Sennith doesn’t have half the mind to read what any of them are saying, his eyes completely glued to the fading numbers of the super chat.
And like any other time Sennith had been put in an unexpected situation, he blurts out the first thing he has in mind;
“I don’t want to be a sugar baby.”
And the chat goes wild. Text racing across the side of his screen so hard, the poor old library computer starts to freeze. It makes a loud, concerning, sound before all Sennith is looking at now is a black screen; his horrified expression gazing back at him, flushed cheeks and all.
Twitter has a field day with his debut stream. #SennithSugarBaby is number one trending for days after.
At least the stream went okay.
He checks his bank account the next day. He’s ten thousand dollars richer. The security guard had to physically hold him up so that his head wouldn’t hit the pavement.