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Abby’s a YouTuber.
She absolutely hates calling herself that, but since literally her entire income comes from her YouTube videos these days, it’s a fitting title.
She’s been uploading since she was around fifteen years old, and back then it was a few videos a month for fun. But then her workout videos started getting attention and people really seemed to love the routines she’d put together, so she kept coming up with new ideas and uploading them.
It’s been about five years since then, and now she uploads twice a week. Sometimes it’s the usual gym routines, sometimes it’s videos of her trying new things, sometimes it’s one of her general Q&A videos she lets subscribers submit questions for. It varies.
The videos of her nature walks are a more recent thing. She’s only been doing them for about a year or so since she took up hiking—which she finds crazy, since she’s lived in Salt Lake City for most of her childhood—but people really love them.
She’s even been thinking about trying taking some trips to go on new hiking trails in nearby states since the interest is so high.
*
“Are you sure they don’t mind?” Abby asks her dad on their weekly video call, glancing over at her iPad screen while she slices some vegetables for her dinner.
“Not at all!” Jerry insists, watching his daughter as she chops away. “Tommy’s an old friend from my time in the military, and he and his wife Maria said you’re welcome to stay in their spare room next weekend. They said they’ll have some family around for dinner on Sunday night, but other than that you’ll be free to try out your new hiking trail.” Jerry pauses. “I just want to know you’re safe, sweetheart.”
Abby’s dad’s a bit of a worrier.
Ever since her mom died when she was younger, he’s made sure to always be there for her. And on any other occasion he’d have volunteered himself as a travelling companion when she decided she was going to go on an adventure to find a new hiking trail in a new state, she knows that for sure.
But when Jerry received an offer to teach at Harvard for a year—after a lot of encouragement from Abby herself—he finally gave in and agreed to go.
His one stipulation had been that if Abby still insisted on branching out to new hiking trails, she’d do so somewhere he’d know she’d be safe. Meaning, he was insisting she stay with an old friend of his in the next state over to avoid her getting murdered in a hotel room.
Okay, her dad’s actually a lot of a worrier, not just a bit.
Abby rolls her eyes.
“I’ll be fine, Dad.”
*
The first time Abby Anderson lays eyes on Ellie Williams, she’s wondering who the hell this girl is.
Barreling into the dining room of her Aunt and Uncle’s house, the young woman she’ll soon find out is Ellie throws her backpack onto the couch and drops herself haphazardly into a seat at the table opposite her.
“I’m so sorry I’m late, I got caught up streaming and I lost track of time,” New Girl says, dishing herself out a hefty serving of mashed potatoes. “Where’s Joel?”
Tommy starts laughing, and Maria and their six year old son Ethan join him pretty much straight away. Abby just looks confused.
“It’s Saturday, kiddo,” Tommy manages to get out through his laughter. “But sure, help yourself.”
New Girl freezes, spoonful of mashed potatoes held aloft in the air.
“Shit,” Abby hears her mutter under her breath, “Not again.”
“You do this a lot?” Abby asks, amusement showing fairly obviously on her face.
“Woah!” New Girl’s head shoots up, seemingly realising for the first time that Abby isn’t a normal fixture at the dinner table in the Miller household. “Who the fuck are you?”
Abby’s mouth drops open, but before she can say anything Maria sighs loudly. “Ellie, that’s no way to speak to our guest.”
“Right, sorry,” Apparently Ellie says, definitely sounding the opposite of sincere. “Who the hell are you?”
Ignoring Maria’s mumbled ‘well that’s a slight improvement, I suppose’, Abby looks Apparently Ellie right in the eye and—
She hesitates.
She’s not sure why, but for some reason she can’t seem to get any words out.
They stare at each other for god knows how long before Tommy snorts.
“Ellie, this is Abby. Abby’s my old friend Jerry’s daughter,” Tommy explains. “Abby, this is Ellie, my brother’s kid.”
“Nice to meet you,” Abby finally manages to squeeze out. She can feel herself blushing and she has no idea why.
Dinner is a casual affair after that.
The meal is good, the company is good, and Abby manages not to put her foot in her mouth for the rest of the duration so she’s counting that as a win.
By the time Tommy and Maria begin their evening fight to get Ethan off to bed, Abby and Ellie have made their way to the couch in the living room.
“So, you’re staying with Tommy and Maria for the weekend?” Ellie asks, curling up with a throw pillow in her lap.
Abby nods, feeling a little embarrassed to admit, “Yeah, I’m uh—I’m a YouTuber? I’m here to film a few videos for my channel.”
“Oh, cool! I don’t know if Tommy told you already, but I do some streaming on Twitch. Finally earning enough money I was able to quit my job last month!” Abby can’t help but smile at Ellie’s excitement. She remembers the day she quit her job when the YouTube videos finally started paying enough, and it was a very good day. “But anyway,” Ellie continues, “what kind of stuff do you film for your channel?”
“Uh, I mean I’m here for hiking?” Abby says hesitantly. “But my channel started out just me going to the gym and filming my workout routines. Kinda grew from there.”
“Yeah that makes sense,” Ellie says distractedly.
“What?”
“I mean look at you, you’re—” Ellie cuts herself off, blushing, and Abby sees Ellie’s eyes locked on her arms. Huh. “Nevermind,” she hears Ellie say, the other girl finally looking her in the eyes again. “Can I come on your hike tomorrow?”
Abby’s a little surprised by the request, she’s not going to lie. Ellie doesn’t really look like the kind of person who enjoys hiking, but who is she to assume?
“Sure?” Abby shrugs. “I was going to try and do a few so I’d have some videos saved up. Moose Pond Trail first I think and then there’s a few all lumped together a bit south around Cache Creek and Emily Stevens Park? You’re welcome to join me for any or all of them if you like.”
Abby has no idea what possessed her to invite Ellie, a girl she’s just met, along for a whole day of hiking. She almost immediately retracts the offer, but isn’t given a chance.
“That sounds great!” Ellie exclaims, appearing to be genuinely excited.
“It—it does?” Abby frowns, utterly confused because who is this girl who just randomly wants to spend her Sunday hiking with a person she literally just met?
“Yeah, sure,” Ellie says, still glancing at Abby’s arms sporadically. “You wanna pick me up in the morning? We can take your car, yeah? Because mine is a piece of shit. I mean, I have a horse, but I don’t think we can really take her hiking?”
“Probably not.” Abby smiles softly, oddly endeared by Ellie’s rambling. “My car is fine. Is nine too early for you?”
“Nah, that’s fine,” Ellie says. “I’m not normally a super early riser but I can get up early for you I suppose.”
Abby blushes again, still completely unsure as to why that seems to be her default reaction to half the things Ellie says or does.
*
The second time Abby Anderson lays eyes on Ellie Williams, she’s too distracted by the fluorescent pink athletic gear Ellie’s wearing to have any coherent thoughts.
“Don’t say a word,” Ellie warns, opening the passenger-side door and sliding in. “My sister refused to let me leave the house in jeans to go hiking.”
“Your sister sounds smart. Jeans would have been a terrible choice—”
“Better than this pink monstrosity,” Ellie grumbles, cutting her off and squinting back towards the house. “Hurry up and drive, Sarah’s got her stupid face up against the window creeping on us.”
Abby’s eyes shoot up towards the window, and she can indeed see a young woman—who looks the same age as Ellie but with short blonde hair—peeking out through the curtains.
“Uh, okay.”
Abby figures it’ll be easier to just do as Ellie asks, and she can always ask about it later on while they’re hiking.
They arrive at the Moose Pond Trail in under fifteen minutes, and Abby gets herself set up while Ellie enjoys the AC in the car for as long as possible. She’d brought her action camera so she could attach it to her chest and not have to worry about a handheld camera.
Sooner than she’s sure Ellie would have liked, they’re ready to start their hike.
“So that was your sister back at the house?” Abby queries about two whole minutes along the trail. “You guys don’t really look alike.”
“I’m adopted,” Ellie deadpans.
“Oh, shit, sorry.” Abby wants to facepalm, but manages to resist the urge. “I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s fine,” Ellie laughs, “Joel adopted me when I was like fourteen and I’m nineteen now. Sarah was fifteen back then, but she likes to pretend she’s like, way older than me. Hence the whole doing her best mother-hen impression thing this morning.”
“Must be nice having a sister,” Abby says wistfully, wondering what life would have been like if her parents had had the chance to have more kids before her mom passed away.
“You don’t have any brothers or sisters?” Ellie asks.
“Nope, it’s just me and my dad. He’s teaching at Harvard for a year—left about a month ago—and that’s the reason I’m staying with your Uncle and his family. He’s a worrier.”
Abby makes a note that she’ll need to cut a lot of the audio from this video, lest her viewers start questioning who she’s out hiking with in a new city.
She promised herself after everything went to hell with Owen she’d keep anything personal like friends or boyfriends off of her channel to avoid the drama. Maybe she’d change her mind if she was in a more serious permanent relationship.
“Hey, better they worry than not care at all,” Ellie says, her tone light but it feels like there’s a story behind the statement. “You’re lucky to have him.”
“You’re lucky to have Joel and Sarah,” Abby says. “Even though your sister was acting kinda weird. Does she do that every time you leave the house?”
Ellie snorts.
“Uh, no,” Ellie admits. “Only when I’m getting in a car with an attractive woman she thinks I’m going on a secret date with.”
“She thought we were… going on a date?”
“Yeah, I told her you were straight though, don’t worry,” Ellie says, coming across as being reassuring. “You are, aren’t you? I didn’t even think to ask, sorry.”
Abby nods distractedly, “Uh, yeah, I suppose—I mean I broke up with my ex-boyfriend Owen like a year ago.”
She has no idea why she just said that.
To distract herself from her embarrassment, she takes her water bottle out and lifts it to her mouth to have a sip, not seeing the brief disappointed look on Ellie’s face.
“Cool,” Ellie says, brushing past her statement with ease. “I’m a useless lesbian, in case you were wondering.”
Abby chokes on the water she just accidentally inhaled.
“Shit, are you okay?” Ellie asks, patting Abby on the back unhelpfully. “I didn’t know you were gonna react like that, my bad.”
“No, no—” Abby coughs, clearing her throat. “Just wasn’t expecting you to word it like that. Useless lesbian, huh? That’s—”
“Accurate,” Ellie deadpans. “Trust me.”
Abby laughs, clearing her throat and readjusting her camera.
“Come on, let's keep going,” Abby says, taking another sip of her water. “I can’t wait to see the actual pond better.”
*
The third time Abby Anderson lays eyes on Ellie Williams, she wonders if she’s actually as straight as she always thought she was.
She’d promised Ellie before she left last Saturday that she’d watch one of her streams. Leading to her spending her current Saturday night curled up in bed in her pyjamas, watching Ellie as she streams Call of Duty to an audience of almost 2000 people.
Ellie’s nothing too special, technically speaking—her hair is brown, her eyes are green, and she’s short and kind of tomboy-ish—nothing that sets her too far apart from the hundreds of thousands of other girls on the planet who look the same as she does.
And yet…
Abby can’t stop looking at her.
Not in a creepy way or anything.
There’s just something about the way Ellie bites her lip when she’s concentrating on a difficult part of one of the games she streams that makes her heart start to race.
There’s something about the way Ellie’s hair brushes against the sides of her neck as she throws her head back in frustration when her character dies that has Abby dying to reach out and follow the same path with her mouth.
There’s something about the way Ellie’s eyes glint when she destroys someone in one of her online shooter games that makes Abby want to have all her attention.
Hell, there’s something about Ellie in general that just drives her crazy.
*
Abby’s never been the kind of person to sit around watching Twitch streams. It’s just not her thing. She’s always been more of a doer, rather than a sit on the sidelines kind of person.
Workouts, hiking, reading; those are all Abby Anderson activities of choice.
But it’s been two months since she met Ellie, and Twitch streams are now a constant in her life.
Abby watches as often as she can, but Friday nights are non-negotiable. Non-negotiable to herself really, she’s never made Ellie any promises. But after the first two or three times Ellie had noticed she was watching and texted her about it, she felt the need to make them part of her routine.
When Abby logs in and joins, she sees Ellie’s playing something a little different tonight. Ellie normally plays Call of Duty or Fortnite, your typical first-person shooter games, but tonight she’s playing Horizon Forbidden West. Female protagonist, action role-playing game—what’s not to love?
She remembers Ellie mentioning it a while ago—that she’d been thinking about trying something different since she’d already played the first game when she wasn’t streaming—and she’s glad to see viewer numbers are still climbing instead of dropping off once they realise Ellie’s not playing her usual games.
Everything’s pretty normal until Ellie makes a comment about how she’s really enjoying the scenery in the game and that a tree reminds her of one she saw last weekend.
“Hey, starfish23, screw you!” Ellie says jokingly, continuing her fight with the lancehorns in her game. “I totally went hiking like, last weekend, and I was a pro.”
Abby snorts.
Ellie was less than a pro when they went hiking last weekend.
It was the first time Ellie had joined her on a hike longer than two hours, and by hour four Ellie had been utterly miserable. Ellie kept insisting she could finish, and to be fair, she did. But she definitely hadn’t been happy about it.
She can see Ellie reading the comments, and vaguely hears her defending herself as she claims she does in fact “go outside.”
Abby swaps windows and types into the Twitch chat, pressing enter before she can second-guess herself.
AbbyAnderson: don’t lie
“Fuck you in particular dude, you know I was awesome.”
The comments come pouring in.
MissJaneMarple: wat
burgerboiii: who u mean
burgerboiii: abby anderson? isn’t she that youtuber?
MissJaneMarple: oh shit ur right burgerboiii that’s the same pfp
mothergaia: use your boltblaster
mothergaia: who’s abby anderson?
She sees Ellie glance at the chat before confirming, “Yeah the same Abby from the YouTube channel, you guys should check her out.”
burgerboiii: will do
mothergaia: what’s her channel name?
burgerboiii: it’s literally abbyanderson dude it’s not like it’s hard to find
MeriadockBrandyB: i bet u check her out
“Oh yeah, MeriadockBrandyB, all the time.” Ellie says, reaching for her water bottle and taking a sip while she looks at the chat.
Abby wonders if Ellie’s looking to see if she’s going to comment again.
She figures it can’t hurt.
AbbyAnderson: true, you’re not subtle
“Fuck you, I’m totally subtle,” Ellie argues, tearing the freeze canisters off of one of the lancehorns successfully. “You only catch me staring at your arms half the time I’m actually looking.”
Abby blushes, the heat spreading across her cheeks and down her neck. God, the effect Ellie has on her should be studied—she’s never had this kind of a reaction to anybody before, man or woman.
She looks back to the chat again, zeroing in on the same comment Ellie must also see, because she responds to it as soon as Abby’s finished reading it.
burgerboiii: are you together?
Ellie laughs loudly, “No, we’re not together, burgerboiii.”
Abby can’t help herself when she comments again.
AbbyAnderson: she wishes
“Oh yeah, totally,” Ellie jokes.
A part of her wishes Ellie wasn’t joking and she’s not really too sure what to do about that.
*
“God, I’m dying to move out of home,” Ellie says over the phone as Abby keeps her company while she makes some changes to her Twitch layout. “It’s not that I don’t love Sarah, but I need like, a little bit of space.”
“You’re thinking about moving out?” Abby asks, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the couch. “Won’t you be lonely?”
“I’d probably get a roommate,” Ellie says distractedly. “Ooh, I’m sending you a screenshot, does this look better in pink or purple?”
“That’s smart, I was thinking about trying to find a roommate while Dad’s in Boston. It gets lonely here,” Abby admits, waiting for the screenshots to load. When they finally do, she adds, “And, definitely go with the purple. Looks way better.”
“Purple it is,” Ellie mutters. “Wait, why would you want a roommate if you don’t need one to pay half the bills or whatever? Are you really that lonely?”
“I kinda am?” Abby admits, a little embarrassed. “I don’t like being alone.”
She’s spent her whole life living with her dad and even though it’s only been three months she’s already wishing he was back so she had company around the house. It’s so quiet without anyone else here.
“Me neither,” she hears Ellie say quietly, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Maybe I should hold off on the moving out for now. I can most likely afford a place on my own, but I’d probably be super lonely too.”
It takes Abby a second to realise there may be a solution to both of their problems.
She hates living alone.
Ellie wants to move out of home.
“Why don’t you move in here?”
Wait.
Was that her voice?
Did she just casually ask Ellie to move in with her?
“Are you serious?” Ellie asks, and that answers that question. “Would your dad be okay with that?”
Shit, does that mean Ellie’s actually interested in the idea?
Abby’s heart races, but she reminds herself to be chill.
“I mean, I don’t see why not?” she really doesn’t see why he’d have a problem with it. “He’s not back for another nine months, and who’s to say you won’t get sick of me by then and want to run back home anyway?”
“What if we don’t get sick of each other?”
“Then we can look for a new place so we don’t have to live with my dad.”
Ellie’s silent for a moment, and Abby wonders if Ellie was actually kidding and she took it too far being completely serious about it. What if Ellie just doesn’t know how to turn her down nicely and—
“Okay.”
Okay?
“Okay,” Abby repeats. “I’ll let you know what my dad says.”
*
Jerry Anderson is of course very supportive of his daughter making a friend, and is therefore extremely happy for said friend to move into the house while he’s away.
*
Abby’s cosied up on the couch, planning out a hike for the weekend while she waits for Ellie to finish talking to her Dad in the kitchen when she realises Ellie must have switched the phone over to speaker mode.
“So y’all aren’t tellin’ any of your online watchers you’re livin’ together?” Joel asks, his voice a little crackled over the phone. “Why?”
She hears Ellie laugh loudly.
“Jesus Joel, it’s nothing weird,” Ellie says, and Abby just knows she’s rolling her eyes around the corner even though she can’t see it. “Abs and I have a bet about who’ll slip up first, that’s all. And they’re viewers, not watchers.”
“Right,” Joel says, dragging the word out. “Dare I ask?”
“She thinks it’s gonna be me, live on stream,” Ellie admits, grinning at her as she walks into the living room. “But I reckon it’ll be her, leaving something in accidentally while editing one of our hiking videos. We’ve bet a week of laundry and dishes on it so I can’t wait for her to mess up.”
Abby shakes her head, smiling in return.
“It’ll be you,” she calls out, loud enough for Joel to hear her too. “No way is it going to be me.”
“Is that her?” Joel asks, and Ellie snorts.
“Course it is, say ‘hi’ you’re on speaker.”
Joel follows Ellie’s instructions without hesitation, “Hi Abby.”
“Hi Joel,” she says, “how’s the head?”
Ellie looks between her and the phone quizzically, “What do you mean ‘how’s the head’?”
“It’s fine, Abby, thanks for askin’,” Joel says. “Now, don’t worry Ellie, just a little accident while we were out golfin’ the other day.”
“I accidentally hit Joel in the head with a golf club,” Abby admits, still feeling guilty about it even though Joel claimed it hadn’t hurt at all. “He said he was fine but I just wanted to check.”
“When did you guys go golfing?” Ellie asks, still utterly confused. “Wait, is that what you guys were doing while Sarah made me go shopping last weekend?”
Their silence speaks volumes.
“I hate you both,” Ellie insists.
“No you don’t,” Abby and Joel both say at the same time.
She finds she can’t take her eyes off of Ellie and the way her eyes light up when she laughs.
Damn it.
*
So it turns out, living with Ellie was a terrible idea.
What was she thinking?
It’s been three months since they first discussed it, and two since Ellie actually packed her life up and hauled all her stuff down to Utah.
In theory, she really couldn’t ask for a better roommate.
And yet, it’s terrible.
There’s so many problems.
Like the way Ellie walks around in a singlet and underwear, no pants, which wouldn’t be an issue if Abby was able to divert her gaze away from the sight. She feels like an absolute creeper staring at Ellie’s legs every time she reaches up into a cabinet to grab a bowl for her cereal.
Ellie’s also super cuddly once she gets comfortable with someone apparently.
Case in point, whenever they settle in on the couch in the living room to watch a movie or a tv show, Ellie lays her head in Abby’s lap and encourages Abby to play with her hair. She’s happy to do it—it’s relaxing, and Ellie’s hair always smells nice.
The alternative to the hair playing is that sometimes Ellie insists on shoving her cold feet under Abby’s legs to keep them warm.
Abby hates and loves it at the same time.
Hates it because Ellie’s feet are cold and nobody likes cold feet touching them.
Loves it because Ellie always gets a content look on her face, and half the time she falls asleep in that exact position.
Basically, she feels like she’s going to die if she has to deal with Ellie being adorable for even one more minute.
*
It’s four months into their cohabitation before Abby slips up and accidentally walks in on one of Ellie’s’ streams.
She genuinely thought Ellie would have been done by now, since she’d said earlier she was only planning on streaming until nine so they’d have time to watch a movie before bed.
Instead, Abby pushes Ellie’s slightly ajar door open and leans against the doorframe.
“Dinner’s almost ready,” she says casually, watching Ellie as she modifies one of her loadouts in Call of Duty, “and I got those muffins you like for dessert. You almost finished?”
“Uhh, yep,” Ellie says, and Abby watches as she turns her chair around to face her, blocking the camera and gesturing towards her headset. “I’ll end the stream in five.”
“Oh shit, you’re still…?” Abby gestures in the air and Ellie nods, grinning at her.
Abby wonders for a second why Ellie’s so happy before she remembers.
“Hey guys,” Ellie says, clearly for the benefit of the viewers on her stream. “Guess who’s not doing dishes and laundry for a week?”
“Fuck you,” Abby says through a laugh, leaving and heading back towards the kitchen to plate their food.
She blatantly ignores Ellie’s continuous laughter in the background as she walks off.
*
“So guys, we’ve got a special guest today,” Ellie announces, waiting awkwardly for three seconds longer than she was expecting to before Abby shifts her chair in view of the camera. “That’s right! It’s local sloth, Abby Anderson!”
Abby sputters, “Sloth!?”
“They’re slow right?” Ellie asks, checking something on her keyboard. “Your timing is dreadful, dude.”
“I didn’t know when you were going to say it!”
“Yeah, yeah, a likely excuse,” Ellie says, chuckling to herself. “Let’s jump into—wait, what animal would I be?”
Abby doesn’t hesitate.
“A cat.” There’s no argument that can convince her otherwise. “Hundred percent.”
“A cat!?” Ellie looks offended.
“It’s not a bad thing,” Abby says, shrugging casually as she gets comfortable in Ellie’s second chair. “You love playing games, you’re always curling up on the couch and you’re always making yourself comfortable in weird positions and napping in the sun.”
“Well that’s just—whatever,” Ellie says, moving over to read the chat as she talks. “How about we answer some questions before we jump into the games tonight?”
There’s hundreds of messages popping up—they’re streaming to about 4000 people so far tonight after all—and it looks like Ellie has to slow the comments down in order to read any of them.
Abby leans forward to take a look at the chat, eyebrows raising as she reads.
MissJaneMarple: are you wearing one of abby’s hoodies? i swear i saw her wearing it in a video a year ago
burgerboiii: oooh ur right
mothergaia: how do u guys even notice that stuff?
MissJaneMarple: idk how do you remember so much stuff about games mothergaia?
MeriadockBrandyB: will u guys shut up
MeriadockBrandyB: ellie tell us if ur wearin her hoodie
“Jesus,” Ellie mutters. “You guys are so much more nosy than I thought you’d be.”
Abby looks over at Ellie and realises that actually is her hoodie.
“I’ve been looking for that hoodie, you jerk.”
Ellie pushes her chair back, out of Abby’s immediate vicinity. “Finders keepers.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works when you probably stole it out of the dryer, you little thief,” Abby jokes. She realises Ellie still hasn’t moved her chair back yet, “Are you seriously afraid I’m gonna make you take it off right now?”
“I’d like to see you try,” Ellie says, and Abby raises an eyebrow, laughing as Ellie turns red when she realises what she’s just said. “Shut up!”
“You did that to yourself!”
Abby turns back to the chat, reading the messages again.
ImAnOwlNoise: lol
MeriadockBrandyB: r u guys together?
burgerboiii: that would be sooo cute!
DrYang1210: who cares
LeshenKing: r u guys gonna do more streams together?
“No and probably,” Abby says offhandedly, and Ellie snorts. “What?”
“You gotta say the question in your answer dumbass, or they’ve got no idea what you’re talking about,” Ellie teases.
Abby blushes, leaning back against her chair.
“Oh, right, my bad,” she says. “We’re not together, and we’re probably going to do more streams.” She looks over at Ellie, and asks, “Better?”
It’s Ellie’s turn to blush, and she chokes out, “Yeah, much better. Good job.”
burgerboiii: guess that answers ur question
MeriadockBrandyB: a shame fr
ImAnOwlNoise: lol
burgerboiii: it would be super cute if y’all dated!
mothergaia: what games are on the agenda?
“If you’re all done interrogating us about our personal lives,” Ellie says, clearly joking. “It’s time to play some Abby-proof games. Mario Kart’s first up.”
“What does ‘Abby-proof games’ even mean?” Abby asks, genuinely confused.
Ellie snorts, refusing to answer.
*
“I can try and tell them to stop if you want,” Ellie says after another stream has come and gone, full of viewers asking if she and Abby are together.
It’s been a couple months since the first stream they did together, and it’s only gotten worse the more people see them interact.
Abby really doesn’t mind. The worst part about it is how much she wishes they were actually together.
“Nah, it’s fine,” Abby says, barely looking up from her book. She’s leaning back into the corner of the couch, planning on avoiding eye contact as long as this conversation’s going to go on.
Ellie kicks at her leg from where she’s sitting at the other end of the couch. “Why isn’t this bothering you?”
“I don’t know.” Abby shrugs. “It just doesn’t.”
“I’m the lesbian, you’re straight, remember,” Ellie huffs, crossing her arms and then uncrossing them again. “This should be bothering you more than it bothers me.”
Abby freezes unintentionally, and prays that Ellie doesn’t notice as she forces herself to relax.
“What was that?” Ellie asks, sitting forward.
“What was what?” Abby shifts, tilting her book up so Ellie can’t see her face at all anymore.
Her defence doesn’t last long.
Ellie moves across the couch and tilts the book down, making herself comfortable sitting on Abby’s legs.
“Why are you being weird?”
“Who’s being weird?” Abby asks, definitely not being weird at all. “You’re being weird.”
“Abby, what the fuck?” Ellie says, grabbing the book now and tugging it out of Abby’s hands.
Abby lets her, determining it may be easier if she gives Ellie what she wants and then she might drop it sooner. Instead, Ellie takes her face between her hands, and Abby’s forced to look her in the eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Ellie asks softly, thumb gently tracing Abby’s jaw.
Abby closes her eyes briefly, sinking into Ellie’s touch and trying to figure out what she should say. She can play it off, maybe make a joke out of it, but instead what comes out is, “I have feelings for you. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry you have feelings for me?” Ellie asks, and when Abby finally opens her eyes she sees an adorable frown on her face.
“No, like—”
“You should be sorry for not telling me sooner, you jerk,” Ellie says. “We could have been doing this the whole time.”
Abby’s not quite sure what’s going on.
“What do you—”
Abby finds herself cut off by the soft press of Ellie’s lips against her own for a split second before Ellie pulls back and looks at her, seeming a little unsure.
She’s not sure what she should have expected from a first kiss with Ellie, but she certainly wasn’t expecting the hesitance.
“Was that—”
It’s her turn to cut Ellie off, leaning forward to place a lingering kiss against her lips. Ellie sighs quietly and leans into the kiss gently for more, and Abby can’t help but smile.
“Stop that,” Ellie mumbles against her mouth, a smile of her own already spreading across her face. “Now look what you’ve done.”
“Sorry,” Abby says, pulling back briefly, the smile still proudly sitting on her face.
“No you’re not.”
“No,” Abby whispers, “I’m not.”
She tugs Ellie forward again with a hand cradling the back of her head, pulling her back in and stealing another kiss. Ellie chases her lips for kiss after eager kiss, and Abby somehow knows she’s never going to get used to this.
She’s pretty sure kissing Ellie is her new favourite thing.
*
They go about things as usual after the whole kissing situation.
Abby keeps uploading her YouTube videos, nothing out of the ordinary except maybe she goes on a few more hikes and adventures with Ellie.
Ellie keeps streaming, with occasional guest appearances from Abby when she’s free or if Ellie’s viewers have been asking for her.
But they mutually decide not to mention their change in relationship status while they’re filming or streaming to try and maintain a little bit of privacy while things are so new.
*
They’re mostly successful.
It’s a good few months before they start slipping up.
There’s some accidental staring too long here, and some accidental entirely-too-comfortable-with-each-other touching there.
But they’re mostly able to brush it off, and while people continue to speculate, there’s nothing concrete to give them away.
*
Jerry comes home as planned after his year in Boston is up, and it’s not that Abby and Ellie don’t enjoy living with him, they’d just like their own space.
So they make the decision to buy a house together.
Luckily, with their growing viewer numbers and subscriber counts, they’re more than comfortable these days, so it’s just a question of figuring out where they want to live and what kind of house they want to live in.
What kind of house they’re looking for is the first thing they decide on.
Since Ellie’s been missing her horse, they decide they’ll need a decent sized house with enough space for Shimmer. It sucks only being able to ride her every second weekend or so when Ellie can find the time to drive back to Jackson.
Abby admits she really wants a dog, so the only thing she’s set on is having a fenced in yard. Ellie agrees easily to the request, and from there they just have to figure out the second most important thing.
Location.
And it’s actually pretty easy for them.
Jackson is the obvious answer.
It’s close enough to Utah that Abby can visit her dad whenever she needs or wants to see him, and they’ll still be able to go to a lot of their favourite hiking trails.
As soon as they decide on moving back to Jackson, things move pretty quickly for them. Joel enlists his coworker’s realestate agent wife to help them out, and they have a place all lined up and purchased about three months after Jerry’s big return.
They almost can’t believe how fast it all happens.
*
“We’ve got a surprise for you guys tonight,” Ellie says while streaming live to a few thousand viewers. She pushes her chair back and leans down to pick something up off the ground. When she sits back up, she has a gorgeous yellow lab puppy in her arms. “Isn’t she adorable?”
Abby’s walking down the hallway, another lab puppy in her arms—this one brown—as she rolls her eyes because she knew Ellie wouldn’t have the patience to wait for her. She can hear the chat go off immediately.
burgerboiii: oh my god she’s so cute!
MeriadockBrandyB: r u and abby co-parenting?
ImAnOwlNoise: lol
MeriadockBrandyB: what’s her name?
“MeriadockBrandyB, her name’s Starlight, and she’s—”
“Hey! I thought you were gonna wait for us,” Abby says, making her way inside and laughing when she hears the chat going absolutely crazy. “Penny needed to go pee, sorry I’m late.”
“Oh yeah?” Ellie says, and Abby braces herself for whatever mischievous comment Ellie’s got up her sleeve. “That’s because she takes after you. We’re always stopping so you can go to the toilet when we’re hiking.”
Abby snorts.
“Starlight ate her food too fast yesterday, threw it up, and then ate it again,” Abby says. “What does that say about you?”
“Fuck you,” Ellie laughs, dodging Starlight’s attempts at giving her kisses.
Penny is the complete opposite, calmly sitting in Abby’s lap, occasionally looking at the computer when the chat picks up speed again and the dinging grabs her attention.
“Later,” Abby says in response to Ellie without thinking, before freezing. She stares at Ellie wide-eyed, while her girlfriend just laughs hysterically.
Abby hides her face in Penny’s fur, groaning and wishing she’d said literally anything else.
“And on that note,” Ellie says, placing Starlight gently back on the ground. “Let’s play some Call of Duty.”
*
“Do you think I should make a coming out video?” Abby asks, out of the blue one day.
“Uhh, why?” Ellie says, a little confused.
She can understand Ellie’s confusion. They’re spending their Saturday afternoon hiking around Goodwin Lake and she’s all of a sudden started asking seemingly random questions.
“I don’t know,” Abby says, reaching down to pat Starlight briefly. “Isn’t that what people do eventually when they’re like us? YouTubers, streamers, whatevers.”
Ellie’s quiet for a moment, clearly thinking and preparing a more serious answer.
“I mean, do you feel like you have to?” Ellie eventually asks. “Because you don’t owe anyone anything, you know?”
Abby thinks about it for a moment.
“I suppose I don’t, do I?”
She really doesn’t.
Neither of them do.
“I love you,” she adds, wanting to make sure Ellie knows.
Ellie turns around to kiss her softly and say, “I love you, too.”
*
They never outright confirm or deny their relationship.
They’re both aware how badly people want to know things, and yet what they have between the two of them feels a little sacred to them at this point.
They’ve been together for almost three years now, happily still living in Jackson and still in their dream house they bought. Abby’s even got her own horse now, Wilfred, and she and Ellie often go riding together. Shimmer and Wilf get along great.
They spend most of their weekends hiking random trails with Penny and Starlight, occasionally driving down to Utah to spend time with Abby’s dad. Jerry loves the dogs, and the hiking, but he seems to prefer a nice sit-down lunch instead. The dogs don’t mind the lunch Jerry provides them—he makes them their very own steaks whenever they visit—but they absolutely love hiking, taking to it like a fish to water.
Abby’s not afraid to admit the hiking has entirely become her favourite cardio activity, and she’ll usually take the dogs on a small hike every day, sometimes a medium hike once every couple of days. She usually does it while Ellie’s streaming, because as much as she knows Ellie loves hiking, she knows her girlfriend doesn’t want to go every day.
She’d love to do the bigger hikes every day, but she knows the dogs can’t keep up with her. She mentioned it to Ellie a couple months ago, and because Abby knows her so well, she’s fully aware Ellie has plans to ask her about adding another puppy or two to their little family this year.
She’s probably going to say yes, because she knows she’d love the company if they were to join her on the longer hikes every other day to give Penny and Starlight a bit of a break.
Speaking of saying yes to things, Abby’s got plans of her own on that front.
Just last weekend she’d told Ellie she was going to drive down to see her dad while Ellie did an all-day stream. Ellie hadn’t been suspicious in the least, and why would she be?
Instead, she’d met up with Sarah in Jackson City and bought a ring.
Yeah, that kind of ring.
The kind where she’s going to ask Ellie if she’ll marry her and spend the rest of their lives together.
A question she’s going to ask tonight, in fact, once Ellie finishes her stream and joins her in their living room for a dog-friendly indoor picnic.
The blanket is down, Ellie’s favourite meal is almost finished cooking and she’s even made special steaks for the dogs. She knows Ellie is going to figure out something’s going on when she sees the spectacle. But she kind of doesn’t care.
They’ve talked about wanting to get married one day—all their shared dreams and aspirations—and she can’t wait to live with and grow with Ellie forever.
The one thing she has on her side is she’s pretty sure Ellie always expected to be the one to propose, because Ellie knows how much she hates uncertainty.
That’s the thing though.
She’s not uncertain.
She knows Ellie’s going to say ‘yes’.
*
They’re married a year and a half later in a gorgeous private ceremony in their backyard.
Their five dogs, four goats, three cats, two horses, and assorted friends and family are all in attendance.
Abby’s never been so happy in her life.