Chapter Text
Friday, March 7th 7:05 PM
Chase Hollow
Happy Friday! You wanna video call?
Buddy
Right now?
Chase Hollow
Yeah, if you got time.
Buddy
I’m not really in a big talking mood.
Chase Hollow
We don’t have to.
We can just hang on a call together doing our own things.
You don’t have to talk.
You okay?
Buddy
Yeah, I’m fine.
I’d like to video call, but I’m not dressed.
Chase Hollow
…You can put on a shirt?
Buddy
I mean I don’t have makeup on or anything flashy. I’m not going to be presentable.
Chase Hollow
No worries, dude.
It’s just a chill video call. I’m not gonna judge you for not being dolled up.
Buddy
Is it alright if I have my camera off?
Chase Hollow
Sure! :) I just wanna hang out for a while.
Buddy
Alright.
Chase darkened his phone screen and slipped his phone in his pocket. He then settled his spoon in his empty bowl before taking the bowl to rinse in the sink.
“Hey, Chase?”
Chase flicked on the tap and glanced at Deacon who still sat at the kitchen table and…had his book closed? Chase watched the water fill his bowl. “Yeah?”
Deacon took in a breath, paused, and then chose his words carefully. “What…are you doing? For tonight?”
“What? Like. Do I got a stream scheduled or something?” Chase watched the chaotic ripples of water.
“Sort of.” Deacon’s spoon clinked against the rim of his bowl. “You looked like you were going on a face journey just now when you were on your phone.”
“Oh! I thought DD was in a mood, but he’s just like…. I dunno. I think he’s just blunt, but if it was anyone else, they’d think he was being mean to them over text.”
Deacon’s eyebrows pulled together with worry. “He’s being mean to you?”
“No.” Chase shook his head and turned off the tap, halting the water flow. “He’s just blunt, and, now, I got a Discord call with him. I’ll be a while, so this is probs g’night.” He shook any water off his hands in the sink before grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and heading for the stairs.
“Chase.”
Chase paused and glanced in the kitchen table’s direction. “Yeah?”
“Don’t…,” Deacon sighed. “Don’t let him be mean to you.”
Chase rolled his eyes. “He’s not being mean to me, and if he’s mean to me, I’ll be mean back, okay? But that’s not gonna happen. Because he’s not mean to me. G’night.”
“Yeah, night.”
With that, Chase headed upstairs.
Once back upstairs at his computer, Chase perched his phone in its desk holder and collapsed in his chair. He then slipped on his headphones and connected them just before hearing the Discord tune, the indicator that DiamondDiva was calling him. Chase accepted the call, ceasing the tune. “Hey, DD, what’s up?”
“Nothing.” The sound of pages rubbing against each other came across. “I’m just taking notes.”
“Oooh, gonna flame another book?” Chase leaned towards his guitar stand and gently grasped his guitar's neck before lifting it and settling the guitar’s body on his lap.
“Mm, we’ll see,” DiamondDiva murmured. “I picked up a newly published book that part of the internet is raving about. I just started, but I’m not seeing as much to complain about.”
Chase lifted an eyebrow in confusion. “Isn’t that…good?”
“Uh-uhn. Not for a Facet Friday.” A pen tapped against paper. He sighed. “It might be better to make it a beach read rec…, but those videos are so much shorter.”
“Alright, then.” Chase turned a page in the notebook on his desk. “What d’ya wanna talk about?”
“I thought you said I didn’t have to talk?”
Chase nodded to himself. “You talk for a living. What, did you use up your words at the word factory today?”
“No,” DiamondDiva huffed, his frown evident in his voice, “I have to focus when I take notes.”
“Sorry,” Chase chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah, I said you didn’t have to talk. No worries. Will it be annoying if you hear my guitar?”
DiamondDiva paused for a moment. “...No. Just…maybe no really loud notes.”
“Hm? Loud like high-pitched or loud like….” Chase patted the side of his guitar. “Heads up.”
“...What?”
“I’m gonna do a test.” Chase scooped up a guitar pick from a star trinket tray on his desk. “Oh. Maybe take off your headphones.”
A muffled sound filled Chase’s ears before he heard DiamondDiva’s voice again. “Okay, they’re off.” A single burst of sound shot from Chase’s strings. “...Yeah, not that loud, thanks.” Another muffled sound came through before DiamondDiva’s voice was clear again. “High-pitched is fine if it’s soft.”
“Got’cha.” Chase dropped the guitar pick back in the trinket tray. “Just soft playing, then.” His thumb brushed down the strings, playing the same chord at a far softer volume.
“Thanks.”
“Sure, sure.” Chase played a different chord. “You can take your notes, and I’ll pluck mine softly. How’s that?”
Slight amusement found its way into DiamondDiva’s voice. “Good. That’s good.”
“Awesome.”
The pair fell into silence as each streamer settled into their own tasks. DiamondDiva’s pen scraped against his notebook, and his pages swiped against each other every so often. Chase switched between circling and scribbling chords and beats in his notebook and brushing his thumb against his guitar’s strings to test out a progression. DiamondDiva released a soft laugh and jotted down a note.
Chase’s gaze lifted to watch DiamondDiva’s profile picture in the Discord window. “Wassup?”
“It’s nothing, just…. Heh.” DiamondDiva flipped a page in his notebook. “Okay, this character’s going to send a wolfman into battle in their place. It—ha…. It completely spits on the message the book is trying to convey.”
“M’yah?” Chase nodded his head in a silent beat and replayed a couple chords.
“‘M’yah’,” DiamondDiva hummed in amusement. “This whole book, the main character has been learning about this world of different magical species and how they treat each other, and the society pits wolf people against each other in colosseum-type battle to provide entertainment. The main character is sending their wolf boyfriend into a fight to prove their might. I knew I just had to give it a little time before it got bad.”
“‘Prove their might’? Like…. Show everyone the wolf boyfriend is the strongest wolf guy ever?”
“It looks like it’s to get everyone to shut up while the main character preaches to the crowd, but the problem is systemic as well as social, so I don’t know why they thought this was the best way to go about things. Personally, I would’ve taken the opportunity to take my wolfman boyfriend and my other vampire love interest to the abandoned wizard’s tower, set up a fortress, and find ways to threaten the lawmakers into submission to rewrite the laws.” DiamondDiva tapped his pen against his notebook. “Oh, and publish a newspaper and hold a unity festival or something to combat forms of bias against—”
“Hold up, hold up.” Chase crossed his arms on the body of his guitar and rested his chin on them. “All of that’s easier than sending Wolfman Boyfriend into the ring, have him win, and shouting a heartfelt message to the crowd?”
“May not be easier, but it’s more effective and in line with the themes the book is attempting to convey.”
Chase chewed his tongue in thought. “...What age group is this for?”
DiamondDiva slipped a finger between the pages to mark his place and turned the book to check. “...young adult.”
“So like Twilight stuff.”
“...Perhaps.”
Chase’s lips tugged into a smile. “Didja think that Bella shoulda just not moved to Forks in the first place?”
DiamondDiva held back a snicker. “Yes, but then there’d be no story.”
“And that’s why Wolfman Boyfriend is gonna go throw some punches.” Chase lightly plucked a couple strings in a chord. “How’re you gonna have a wolfman bf and not have him hulk out in a fighting ring?”
“I suppose that’s the more marketable way for the story to go,” DiamondDiva hummed. “What ever will the fans do without their eye candy adapted into a fierce wrestler on screen?”
“Exactly.” Chase nodded, satisfied that his perspective was seemingly appreciated.
The call leaned into silence again. Every so often, DiamondDiva’s pen clicked, and Chase’s chord progressions seemed to glow in their ears.
“Are you looking forward to anything in particular for AveCon?” DiamondDiva asked.
Chase’s eyes lifted from his strings to the computer before his gaze fell back to his task again. “Sure. I got a panel or two with Sil, Vi, and the guys. It’s just gonna be sitting on the stage and telling people how to be a Youtuber-Streamer-Singer. I’m gonna say hi to all my fans and take pictures and tear through the arcade and go on my Stargoth Merch Hunt in the artist alley and gush about cool cosplays.” Chase’s voice treaded on as each idea of his passed in his thoughts of what he’d done at cons in the past. He paused, his eyes widening. “Hey, DD—”
“Mm?”
“—We should cosplay together.” Excitement sparkled in Chase’s eyes.
DiamondDiva was silent for a moment. His pen clicked. “Cosplay together?”
“Yeah! We’re gonna get recognized if we walk into the con, so we should go in cosplay when we wanna check out the floor and dealer’s hall and stuff.” Chase set his guitar aside and pulled up a web window. Quickly, he typed out ‘popular couple cosplays’ and scrolled. “We can be disguised, but we can still enjoy the con. I can go on my Stargoth Merch Hunt without gumming up the traffic in artist alley.”
“What sort of cosplay were you thinking? I know I’m friends with Violet, but I don’t have any of her sewing skills,” DiamondDiva admitted with a tinge of disappointment in his voice.
“Oooh, some of these are pretty cool.” Chase copied and pasted pictures in his Discord chat with DiamondDiva. “Take a look.”
After a couple clicks and a pause, DiamondDiva spoke, “These are couple cosplays.”
“Mhm.” Chase continued to scroll.
“You want to do a couples cosplay with me?”
Chase’s scrolling halted. “Oh, sorry. Is that weird?” A brief rock of worry settled in Chase’s stomach. “I guess we’re not really gonna be Chase Hollow Like and Follow and DiamondDiva when we’re cosplaying. We don’t need to do a couple’s cosplay if it’s weird for you.”
“No, no. I just wasn’t expecting it,” DiamondDiva assured Chase. “A couple’s cosplay is fine.”
“Awesome.” Chase continued his search again and muttered the pairs’ names for each one he knew. “Oh! You wanna do Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask? They’re stupid popular. We’re gonna blend right in, and if we wear wigs, then we don’t have to worry about hiding our natural hair.” He paused. “...Well, you probably can get away with just styling your hair a lil different.” The image of DiamondDiva blow-drying his wet hair into Tuxedo Mask’s style had Chase staring off for a moment in silence. In fact…, helping DiamondDiva get ready for a day at the con sounded pretty fun….
“We should get something we can order online and get in the mail so we don’t have to fuss with making anything.”
Chase woke up from his brief daydream, registered what DiamondDiva had said, and clicked his tongue. “...Buy online, eh?” He tapped a finger against his mouse before searching up ‘sailor moon cosplay’ in a new tab. “Geez,” Chase whispered. “Yeah…, yeah, maybe. …Fifty…. Sixty…. Three hundred?!”
“...Chase.”
“Mmnyeah?” Chase groaned.
“Don’t worry about it.” Intermittent clicks filled Chase’s ears. “I’ll buy yours too.”
Chase lifted an eyebrow. “What? No. Don’t buy mine for me. I got it. It was my idea, and I’m gonna be the one to wear it. I should be the one to pay for it.”
DiamondDiva sighed. “Let me order it with my Tuxedo Mask cosplay. It’ll save on shipping and getting them both from the same place is going to mean that the costumes will more than likely be comparable in quality. If you’re really bothered by it, you can bring the money with you to AveCon to pay me back. I won’t buy something ludicrously expensive.”
“Gimme your Venmo.”
“...No.”
“DD. C’mon. Gimme your Venmo so I can pay you back.”
“No. Pay me back in cash at the con. I won’t accept anything else.”
Chase groaned in frustration. “Okay, I owe you. Don’t let me forget.” After a pause, Chase’s eyes widened. “Wait, you bought that eyeliner for me too. How much was that? What do I owe you?”
“That was tax deductible.”
“What do you mean? It still costs money.”
“That eyeliner pen is one of my work supplies. It’s a business expense. It has nothing to do with you. You don’t owe me any money for it.” Not that he’d use that particular eyeliner again except for very specific looks, but that was fine.
Chase sighed and decided to surrender. “Alright. Don’t put yourself out of a lot of money, okay?”
“I’ll be fine, Chase. I won’t go over the top.” Chase heard a few more clicks before DiamondDiva spoke up again. “Do you need a wig?”
Chase’s eyes widened at the thought of adding more to the cart. His thoughts scrambled through more cost effective options. “I really…. Oh, wait, wait. Wait. Wait. Get your finger off your mouse.” Chase scooped up his phone and immediately tapped out a message to Silver. “Don’t even. Don’t touch your mouse. Are you touching your mouse?”
“I’m resting my hands in my lap and am pushed away from my desk on the off chance that you have knowledge about a bomb planted in my mouse. Allegedly.”
Chase snickered and sent his text. “I’m waiting to hear back from Silver about borrowing her Sailor Moon wig. I’m pretty sure she made one a while back and made a video on how she did it. Dude. Cosplayers are insane.”
“And how.”
“Dude, they’ll freaking…. They can turn cardboard into accessories and foam boards into armor, and they look super real!”
“I’ve seen Violet churn out a ballgown in a week.”
“IN A WEEK.” Chase leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling, mouth agape. “I dunno how people make dresses and clothes at all. A ballgown in a week. What kinda magic is that?”
“Uhh, a very practiced pattern and loads of experience,” DiamondDiva answered, a bit distracted. “And a sewing machine. And a serger. And several movie musicals playing in the background.”
“Okay, that sounds like a lot, actually.” Chase looked down at his phone and brightened his screen. He perked up upon seeing Silver’s new message. “Sil said that I can borrow her Sailor Moon wig! Awesome. Don’t buy one for me.”
“Noted. Is my mouse still at risk of exploding?”
“Nah. You’re good.” Chase typed out a thank-you text and sent it before setting his phone back in its desk stand.
The clicks resumed. “I’ll do research on the pre-made costumes and bring them with me to AveCon.”
Chase hummed in agreement and picked up his guitar again to settle it on his lap. His thumb brushed against the strings as he played chords idly. “Have you heard about that charity thing that our group does every summer? It’s coming up again after AveCon.”
“I haven’t.” DiamondDiva’s mouse clicked and his keyboard clacked. “It’s a charity livestream that collects money to donate to cancer research. Lasts eight hours or so, it seems. What about it?”
The E minor chord echoed in DiamondDiva’s ears. Chase tapped against the base of his guitar. “I help organize it and MC sometimes. I’ve had Silver and Goldie on before. They’re really awesome at keeping the energy up. I was wondering if…maybe you wanna do it with me this year?”
All manner of clicks and taps ceased. “...You…want me to join you? For the charity livestream?”
“Sure! Why not?” Chase’s lips tugged into a comfortable smile. “It could be fun. Maybe we could even hold hands on screen and send the chat spiraling.” He chuckled. “Oh, you don’t gotta be there the whole eight hours, by the way. Stop by for thirty minutes or, like, an hour if you can swing it.”
After a thoughtful pause, Buddy spoke up again. “I’ll consider it. It sounds like it could be fun. Can I give you a firmer answer at AveCon?”
“Yeah, sure.” Chase leaned back in his chair. “Take your time and think about it.”
“...Chase…, why cancer research?”
Chase clicked his tongue. “‘Why cancer research…,’” he echoed the thought. “I mean. It’s a great cause, and there’s still no foolproof cure yet.” His voice softened into a layer of seriousness Buddy was unfamiliar with—one that he was sure he’d never heard from Chase on any of his videos before. “There’s a lot of different kinds of cancer, and the treatments we’ve got are really hard on the people who suffer from cancer. Anything I can do to help push research to make new discoveries and find cures where they can…is really important to me. …My mom has cancer,” he murmured. “She’s in remission, and I’m really happy about that, but it’s still really scary, and I wanna give other people the chance to recover too, so…I organize the livestream to donate to cancer research.” He fell silent and tapped a finger against the base of his guitar.
“I’m sorry,” Buddy finally spoke. “I never would’ve known.”
Chase looked away from his computer and shrugged. “It’s fine. I don’t wanna be the sad guy. I don’t wanna drag down the hangout, and I don’t want my friends to look at me with sympathy every time I see them.” He dragged his thumb against the strings, playing a barely audible chord. “‘Cause…if I think about it…. If I get too in my head about it, it just….” His words trailed off.
Buddy cautiously offered words. “...It makes you feel like you have to be that way? Sad? And worried?”
“...Kinda,” Chase whispered. “…It makes me feel awful. It….” Chase breathed a sigh and attempted to shake off the oncoming dread. “It takes me right back to that moment when we heard the diagnosis, and I can’t—,” Chase’s voice cracked, and he released a frustrated huff. Buddy was silent as Chase breathed in, held his breath, and then sighed it out to compose himself. “…I hate that moment. I don’t want to live it in forever.”
“…That’s understandable,” Buddy spoke softly. “I’m so sorry you have to go through that. …Thank you, Chase. Thank you for sharing that with me. It’s…admirable. That you’re working so hard to help others.”
“Yeah.” After a pause, Chase shook his head and strummed a couple quick chords. “C’mon. Next subject. Let’s go. How about you?”
“Me?”
“Yup. Something about you.” An A chord sang out. “If you’re cool with that.”
DiamondDiva hummed in thought. “How about I talk about an upcoming collaboration I have? I’m doing a guest spot on one of Silver’s new videos about a vintage take on a Disney princess cosplay, and she wants to get into some of the history of it. We talked, and I said that I’d love to give her some clips to work with about the history of the Disney company—especially, some clips about the Regina George of the Disney company himself, Michael Eisner.”
Chase gasped, fully ready to lock into a gossip sesh. “Spill. Everything.”
DiamondDiva released a soft laugh. “Alright. It was the early 1980s….”