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Streaming something a little different today! Hope to still see you all there! <3
“Hey Pandreo, you know that streamer you’re always telling me about?” Pandreo made a non-committal noise as he tried to decide between two clashing concepts. Really, both were good, which was why he was having such a hard time. “The one that uses that blue thing instead of a face cam?” That got Pandreo’s full attention. He’d been following DivineDragon pretty much since he established his channel. He was a cosy game streamer for the most part, occasionally venturing to other game genres either just to shake it up or for the purpose of a collaboration.
“Wait, blue thing ? It’s a dog , Fogado!” Pandreo couldn’t keep the judgement from his voice as he addressed his roommate. “What about him, though?”
“I invited him to play with Alcryst and I on stream today.”
Pandreo dropped the papers he was holding. “You and Alcryst , who exclusively plays first person shooters?” Fogado grinned at him but said nothing. “You two are going to destroy my favourite streamer. Who will I watch then?”
Fogado gasped in mock hurt. “ Me! Obviously! You should be watching my stream tonight!” Pandreo shook his head, giving his roommate a thumbs-down. “This is so rude. I was going to go easy on him but now there will be no mercy. You can explain to Alear why he gets absolutely throttled.”
Pandreo picked the papers he dropped back up, trying to return to his work. “Though, how did you manage to get a cosy streamer to play COD with you guys?”
“Hm? The three of us are friends.”
Pandreo dropped the papers again.
“You are friends with my favourite streamer and you did not think to tell me ?”
Fogado shrugged. “I thought if you met then you’d recognise his voice or something. I was just protecting his identity, sorry buddy.”
Pandreo sighed, resting his head in his hands. “It’s okay, I’m not actually upset. But. Wow . I’ve been friends with a friend of my favourite streamer this entire time.” He let out a pathetic little whine that, if Fogado made a comment about, he would deny to the ends of the earth. “I don’t want his ID by the way, this is just weird .”
Fogado only laughed at him
-
Alear let out a squeak as he watched Fogado’s character blow his own’s brains out. The respawn screen loaded and he could only let out a sigh.
“You said you’d go easy, Fogado,” he commented. “I’m not an FPS gamer.” Regardless, he respawned and moved back into the fray.
“You can blame my roommate for that,” Fogado’s voice rang through the call. “He keeps booing me and saying he’s rooting for you.”
(It’s true. Pandreo had been sitting behind Fogado—out of view of his face cam—the entire stream. Despite this, he was watching Alear’s stream on his phone, making occasional comments aloud about how he hoped Alear beat him and that he sucked. Fogado was not going to take that lightly.)
“I’m rooting for you Fogado!” Alcryst’s voice came quietly through the call. Alear would call the moment cute if it weren’t for the fact that Alcryst immediately shot down his character.
“We’re dating though, Alcryst. I’m rooting for you too.” Alear suddenly felt like a third wheel in his own stream.
“ Ah. Fogado’s roommate please cheer him on. My kill:death ratio is making me sad.”
“You heard him Pandreo! Stop talking shit behind my back!”
Alear could only laugh as he heard a faint “unlikely, Fogado!”
PartyAnimal: I prefer watching your streams over my roommate’s any day
“ Aw Fogado, your roommate is such a flatterer!” Alear gushed, narrowly avoiding getting gunned down by Fogado again. “He’d rather watch my stream, how does that make you feel?”
“Betrayed. Might take it out on you later.” As if to make a point, Fogado made an all-out attempt to kill Alear, as if to make up for Alear dodging him. “Ow! Pandreo! Foul play! Stop throwing things at me!”
Alear giggled. “Hey, is your roommate cute? Rooting for me, seems like a good time, the whole package?” Fogado let out a shocked gasp, his character falling to a standstill. Alear took the opportunity for a headshot. “ Yes, one point for me!”
“I can’t believe you’d ask me that. Also, more foul play. Don’t kick a man when he’s down!”
“I got him, Fogado.”
True to his word, Alcryst’s character shot him down not even a second later. Maybe agreeing to play with two people famous for their first person shooter skills was not one of Alear’s brightest ideas. “That was so mean, Alcryst.”
“You killed my boyfriend.”
“Your boyfriend’s been killing me this entire time!”
“Heh.”
Alear shook his head, glancing at his chat briefly before he clicked respawn. “Ah, was that coming on too strong? Sorry, Pandreo!”
(Pandreo had to hold his breath so as not to make a noise that would certainly disturb Fogado. Okay, maybe he was feeding into the parasocial relationship too hard, but hearing Alear say his name after asking if he was cute? Christ, Pandreo might as well have ascended already.)
“Ah, my chat’s suggesting we play…zombies? So that I don’t lose so bad…”
“What? Then I can’t kick your ass for hitting on my roommate.” Another shot narrowly avoided by Alear. Maybe he should be fearing for his actual life if this kept up.
“I’m sorry that I like men, I thought you would understand,” he tried his hardest to sound annoyed–though he couldn’t be genuinely annoyed at his friend–as he made his way towards where Alcryst had been camping. Hopefully he could end the match with one kill on each of them, to keep some pride as a gaming content creator.
“You are not playing the gay card on me! One minute left in the match, Alear. Run while you can.” Alear laughed as he rounded a corner, finding Alcryst’s character perched in a perfect position, if only Alear could work the controls like someone who wasn’t dying every ten seconds.
“I don’t think I will actually,” he hummed, letting off a shot and praying that it hit its target. “ Yes! Two points for Alear!” He pumped his fist despite knowing that nobody could see him. “Um…yes, thank you chat! My efforts have finally paid off!”
“Well done Alear! It’s only natural that I would fall today.”
“So dramatic, Alcryst. Show a little anger. You died to an animal crossing player .” Alear let out a gasp in mock-hurt.
“I’ll have you know that animal crossing is as demanding a game as your little shoot-ems . Also, ten seconds before I’m crowned victor.” Alear couldn’t help but laugh at himself. He didn’t know how many kills the other two had but he was certain that it was more than two.
“I think you’re right, actually. Oh, congrats Alcryst! I think Pandreo owes more to that raccoon than he owes in student debt.” Alear couldn’t help but laugh as he clapped at Alcryst’s—obvious—victory. “Pandreo what did I say about throwing things?”
Again, Alear could faintly hear Pandreo speak through Fogado’s mic, a small “stop embarrassing me in front of Alear!”
“Zombies! Also, he has a nice voice. You never answered my question, Fogado.”
“Zombies! Alear please kill more than two of them this time.” Alcryst sounded happy, perhaps because of how thoroughly he had beat them in the last round. There was the sound of keys and a mouse clicking very audibly from his mic as Alear waited for the settings to load.
“I will! I think I’m getting the hang of this! Even chat believes in my skills.”
“Skills, he says. Also, Bunet’s hot, but I can’t say much about Pandreo. He’s orange. Ow!” Alear could only guess that Pandreo had thrown something at Fogado again.
“Why do you have so many projectiles in your room? And I like orange.”
“Join before we go back to PvE.” Alcryst’s voice rang out suddenly. “Alear please stay with at least one of us.”
“It’s like you guys have no faith in my skills at all.”
“We don’t. Stay close , divine one,” Fogado’s voice had a mocking tone to it, but Alear couldn’t react before they loaded in and he was met with the sounds of the zombies. Right, stay with them, as they suggested.
The rest of the stream went much the same, Alear being carried by his friends. By the end of their final round, he was cheering for himself, giving himself a round of applause as he celebrated, “guys, you see that? Twenty kills! Whoo! Skills!”
“Alear, Alcryst has over two hundred .”
“Alcryst is inhumanely good at FPS, Fogado,” he pouted despite knowing that nobody could see him. “Don’t you think that’s an unfair comparison? Hey, chat, you agree with me right?” He watched as the majority of his chat agreed with him. (He couldn’t help but look out for Pandreo’s username amid the masses.)
“Yeah, and I still have over a hundred on you as well.”
“My point remains!”
The two bicker for a few more minutes before Alcryst abruptly interrupts with a “I’m going to say bye to my stream so I’m muting.” that brings them back to reality. Right , all three were streaming.
“Guess that’s my cue to mute as well. Seeya Alear! Thanks for volunteering to get your ass handed to you today!” Fogado called cheerfully, leaving the call before Alear could even protest.
Alear sighed, leaving the call himself. “Thank you guys so much for joining me even though we played something very different from my usual streams! I hope you enjoyed watching me get thoroughly beaten by two people I thought were my friends.”
He skimmed his chat, smiling to himself as he read all the goodbyes and thank you for a fun streams.
“If you’re going to the con in Elusia this weekend please make sure to check out all the talented artists down artist alley! Totally not saying this because my friend threatened me to promote his art. This one’s for you, Rosado!” Alear giggled at himself, preparing his stream over screen. “With that, it is unfortunately time for me to end the stream. Once again, thank you, and goodbye!”
-
“Hey, how many more booths are you going to make me stop at?” It’s not that Pandreo was bored or that he disliked looking at all the diverse artists, it was the fact that almost every time Fogado made him stop the streamer would get recognised and Pandreo would have to stand to the side like an awkward little accessory.
“Says he who drags me to stop at every stall with DivineDragon merch he sees.”
Pandreo couldn’t really protest that.
“Besides, it’s not like you don’t like looking at the booths too.” Fogado was grinning as he moved Pandreo over to another booth, manned by a person energetically giving the longest sales pitch Pandreo had ever overheard and the prettiest person Pandreo had ever laid eyes on.
His hair framing his face, a dual blue and red that matched his eyes, oh his eyes , somehow even prettier shades, standing out so brightly against the faint shadows underneath them. He was wearing a mask, obscuring the rest of his face from Pandreo’s view, and yet he was so enamoured. The way his lashes framed his eyes, the way you could see him smiling even through the mask as he greeted people, Pandreo was smitten at first sight.
Thank the gods for Fogado bringing Pandreo to this booth.
Prettiest-man-Pandreo-had-ever-seen seemed to recognise Fogado, lighting up and beckoning him closer as they were already moving towards the booth. Pandreo couldn’t help but feel a little betrayed that Fogado knew someone so pretty but didn’t think to introduce him to Pandreo.
“Hey Fogado! Can I interest you in some merch of your favourite streamer?” Gods, even his voice was cute, though Pandreo felt a tinge of familiarity when he spoke. Whatever it was, Pandreo couldn’t place it.
“You can fuck right off , you know I’m not going to buy your dragon shit.” Pretty-guy giggled and Pandreo felt like he was going to ascend. Truly, he could die today and he would have seen and heard all that mattered in the last minute, “Pandreo, that’s usually your cue. You alright?”
No, he wasn’t alright, Fogado had called attention to him while his brain was still rebooting. He was going to make a fool of himself.
“You are so pretty .” Called it.
Pretty-guy blushed so hard that Pandreo could see red peeking over the top of his mask from where he was standing. Fogado sighed. Pandreo wanted to dig himself a hole in the ground and bury himself.
“You’re, uh, not so bad yourself,” pretty-guy spoke after a moment, bringing Pandreo out from his funk. “Better than not so bad. You’re, um, very attractive.” He was fumbling his words and Pandreo wanted to combust, he was so cute.
“Didn’t I tell you to stop flirting with my roommate the other day?”
Okay, Pandreo’s brain, forceful reboot. He remembered those things being said to Alear, and this guy, cute as he was, sounded so familiar, and knew Fogado. Had Pandreo just met his favourite streamer without knowing? He was going to die.
Pretty-guy ( Alear? ) let out a choked noise followed by what sounded like a whine . “You didn’t tell me he was so attractive! You told me he was orange! This orange is very attractive!”
If Pandreo wasn’t still coming to terms with the fact that Alear, DivineDragon , thought he was attractive , he probably would have laughed at that.
“He is orange!” Not the hill you should be choosing to die on, Fogado. “Hey, buddy, you okay?”
“No,” he forced out. “Fogado, I’m going to scream.”
“Oh. ” Yeah, oh. “Alear, you broke my roommate.”
“ Fogado, ” Pandreo let out a pained whine. “You know the prettiest person on the planet, and you didn’t introduce us?”
“Actually I don’t think you should be comparing-”
“ Shut up! The prettiest person on the planet is standing behind this table, talking to you like you’re old friends, and you’ve never introduced me?” Pandreo made an exaggerated gesture in Alear’s direction, not willing to look at him and see the red taking over his features.
Fogado held up his hands in defence, giving that shy smile he gave when he was trying to get out of trouble. “I thought you would recognise his voice,” he said in defence.
“ That doesn’t work when you all-but call him by his streaming handle, Fogado. ”
Caught red-handed, Fogado gave an awkward laugh. “You’re right, I don’t have an out for this one. Hey, why don’t I help Rosado with his booth so that you two can spend some time together? Does that make up for it?”
Pandreo crosses his arms, prepared to chew out his roommate for his deflection, when a hand reaches out and waves in front of them. “Yes!”
Pandreo looks over at Alear, face still red from Pandreo’s words, and smiles, wide and goofy. It’s not like Pandreo was going to say no , but it’s nice to hear that Alear seems to want to spend time with Pandreo as much as Pandreo wants to spend time with Alear.
With a nod to Fogado and a quick goodbye to Rosado (who barely even acknowledges them leaving), the two walk away from the booth. The energy Pandreo had from scolding Fogado was wearing off and soon enough, he was back to being nervous in the presence of his favourite streamer . Alear seemed to notice his jitters and tentatively took Pandreo’s hand in his, guiding him so that they were away from most of the people.
“You don’t have to be so nervous, Pandreo. I’m just a person.” Alear brought his mask down to sit under his chin, giving Pandreo a smile that, honestly, probably could have killed him. “I did want to spend time with you, but if you don’t feel comfortable being alone with me, we can go back to Rosado’s table.”
“No!” Pandreo had never felt the need to defend something as much as he felt the need to defend their time together. “It’s not that I’m uncomfortable with you, it’s just. Wow. I’ve admired you and your channel for so long that it feels unreal getting to see you in real life. On top of that, you really are the most attractive person I’ve seen in my life, so I’m torn between wanting very much to ask you on a date and also not freaking the fuck out that I’m having a conversation with someone I’ve admited from afar for so long.” Pandreo took a deep breath. Alear stared at him, only breaking eye contact to blink.
Pandreo was so over.
And then Alear smiled, and Pandreo was so over for a very different reason.
“I’m glad to hear that, Pandreo.” Alear held out his hand for Pandreo to take. “How about we get to know each other a little?”
Pandreo was so, so, so over.
-
“So today we actually have a guest behind the mic that you all, uh, cannot see. Which isn’t different from usual I guess, but…” Pandreo stifled a laugh at his friend’s nerves. “I am so not used to this. Ahh. Behind the mic we have my new friend Pandreo, who has so kindly let me use his face as my “sim-self”’s owner.” As if to accentuate the point, Alear chose that moment to load in the pre-made Pandreo sim that they’d made together. Why Alear wanted to use Pandreo as a model rather than creating a random sim, Pandreo didn’t know.
“Good afternoon. I’m glad my face can be of some use even if Alear’s the only one to see it right now.”
“Right. It’s a nice face—um, anyway. I’ve made Pandreo off screen, so that just leaves making myself. Now, I’m not about to reveal my face through a sim , so instead I will be making little Sommie—the little dog I use to represent myself, for those who don’t know!”
Alear makes a pretty accurate Sommie in what must be record time, especially considering he would occasionally get distracted by something either his chat or Pandreo himself said. When Sommie was made, Alear loaded them into a random starter home in a world Pandreo wasn’t paying attention to.
“So normally I would give the starter homes a little makeover when I first start a save, but since I have Pandreo here next to me, he’s going to have to work for every luxury I give to his sim. My little Sommie, though? Gets everything he wants. Game over if he runs away, unfortunately.”
Pandreo lets out an indignant gasp, clutching his hand to his chest. “I thought I was here to look pretty and make you laugh. So not fair.” There was no bite or annoyance to his words, and he was even grinning as Alear looked over at him.”
“I’m just making it fun for you, my dear Pandreo.” Alear wasn’t looking at him anymore, which Pandreo was grateful for because his face felt like it was going to melt off.
True to his word, Alear made him work for the benefit of his sim while Alear’s little dog lived like a king. He would have his chat come up with dares for Pandreo whenever they decided that it was time to spice things up. Take a sip of this weird drink blend whenever he wants his sim to make a friend (easy), hold his breath for as long as possible to decide what type of job his sim would get (easy…ish. While his actual job wasn’t an option, at least he didn’t end up in the military.), keep a handstand for half a minute to pay his bills on time (harder).
Pandreo was picking himself up from where he’d fallen on Alear’s floor when he heard his friend’s excited “ oh! ”.
“What happened?”
“Little Pandreo is getting married for money,” Alear claims in a sing-song. “I was just thinking that it was getting a little lonely for Sommie, his poor owner is never there to treat him like he deserves.” Alear was lying, because whenever Pandreo was busy completing a dare he would fill Pandreo’s sim’s queue with actions directly involving Sommie or pertaining the little dog. “Time to get Pandreo a wife. ”
“I would prefer a husband, honestly.” Look away from him, Pandreo. You are not there yet.
“Too bad,” Alear hummed. “Normally I would listen to your wishes—I would never give my sim-self a wife either—but I got this really cute custom content the other day that only works on female models, so unfortunately your sim likes women.”
Pandreo huffed out a laugh. “Can you at least fiddle with the gender controls?”
Alear lets out an affronted gasp. “Of course! What do you take me for, my dear Pandreo?”
My dear. There it was again.
Pandreo stayed silent, letting Alear do all the talking as he created the sim that was to be “Pandreo’s wife”. Pandreo sits, staring at Alear as he concentrates, admiring him from so close and just wishing he could grab his hand in his own. Despite how strong Pandreo had come on during their first meeting, they were only friends. Despite how much his desire to ask Alear out on a date had grown , they were only friends.
And, yeah, friends was much more than he could have hoped for all those months before they met, but. Pandreo yearns. He wants to touch, he wants to hold Alear and keep him close, he wants to kiss him. He wants. He wants so bad that it hurts, but they are friends. And Pandreo wouldn’t risk that for anything.
“-and now that Lueur is done, I would like to bring Pandreo back from wherever his brain has disappeared to. Hey, Pandreo!” Alear was waving his hand in front of Pandreo’s face, startling him so much that he almost fell out of his chair. “What do you think of your soon-to-be wife?” He was grinning like Pandreo missed out on a joke.
When Pandreo looked at Alear’s screen, his brain short circuited.
The sim was pretty much a copy of Alear, minus the genderbending. The hair, the eyes , even the clothing that she wore resembled what Alear liked to wear. Did…Alear do it on purpose? Is that why he was so insistent on it being a wife, so he could do this without raising any flags about his true appearance?
“What do I..?” Pandreo trailed off, turning to look at his friend. Any doubt Pandreo had about the scenario disappeared at the nervous look on his face. Alear was flirting , in his own weird gamer way. Pandreo smiled softly, leaning over to mute Alear’s mic like he has seen him do before.
They were kissing before Pandreo had time to talk himself out of it.
He should have asked first, should have done more than look for signs of discomfort. But they were kissing now, and Alear was reciprocating, and his lips felt so soft and natural pressed against Pandreo’s own that he couldn’t help but leave the self-lecture to later.
Pandreo pulled himself away, resting his forehead against Alear’s.
“I think that I’m in love with you.”
Alear’s breath hitched in his throat, but he smiled, wide and goofy like he was truly happy.
“I think I’m in love with you too.”