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Jacob—known to most as Alpharad online—was living the good life. He streamed daily, had a loyal fanbase, and overall, things were going well. But lately, something felt off. His roommate, Jaiden—yes, that JaidenAnimations with millions of subscribers—had been out of state for the past three weeks visiting friends. And if he was honest with himself, he missed her. A lot more than he wanted to admit.
It didn’t help that his chat wouldn’t stop bringing her up.
“Another donation—thanks, LalaWoopise,” Jacob said with a small smile, currently mid-run on a Pokémon Sun Nuzlocke. He glanced toward the door like he expected her to walk through it any moment, ready to tell him about her trip. “Guys, I told you—she’s visiting friends. That’s why she’s offline.” He laughed softly, scanning the flood of messages, missing her all over again.
Streaming was the only way to distract himself. His friends were busy, and the only person he really wanted around wasn’t there. He didn’t even know when she’d be back—she hadn’t told him. Just shrugged, packed her bags, and left while he sulked in the doorway with a pout she didn’t acknowledge.
Another donation. Another question about Jaiden.
“I don’t know when she’s coming back!” Jacob whined dramatically. “She just—looked at me, shrugged, and left! Just say you hate me already!” He fake-cried into his hands, replaying that moment in his head. Her eyes, calm and unreadable, while he stood there, visibly bummed. Torture.
“Alright, no more Jaiden talk,” he muttered. Still, when he caught a Gastrodon, he named it Jaiden, and the chat exploded. What could he say? He missed her. Desperately. To the point of late-night rants to friends in voice calls.
“Just admit you miss Jaiden,” Giwi teased. “I do,” Jacob confessed, flopping back in his chair, staring at the Chiikawa plush she’d given him. “She barely called or messaged me. Four times, max. I’m not her boyfriend, but… I miss her.”
“It’s honestly pathetic,” Smith added, laughing. “We all miss Jaiden, but you look like a kicked puppy.”
Jacob scowled. “I’m not that bad. It’s just… lonely.”
“Sure, whatever you say.”
Hours into the stream, a loud noise echoed from the living room. Jacob paused the game. “BRB, chat,” he said, leaving to investigate—only to find their cat, Tostada, being a menace. He scooped the cat up, kissed its head, and returned to his stream, holding it up.
“It was just Tostada,” he said. A new donation came in: ‘Jacob thought it was Jaiden.’ He rolled his eyes. “No, I didn’t,” he muttered—but maybe, secretly, he had hoped.
More time passed. Another noise, louder this time. He ignored it. If it wasn’t Jaiden, he didn’t want to deal with the disappointment.
Then—quiet.
Moments later, the door creaked open. His chat exploded with purple hearts and spammed messages. Confused, Jacob narrowed his eyes.
“She’s not here, chat. What are you guys on about?” He laughed. “I know we all miss Jaiden, but you’re hallucinating.”
A familiar voice broke through.
“Yeah? You miss me? That’s sweet.”
Jacob spun around so fast it gave him whiplash. There she was. Jaiden. And before he could think, he pulled her into a tight hug.
“Chat wouldn’t shut up about you. It was annoying,” he mumbled into her shoulder.
She laughed—that soft, distinctive Jaiden laugh—and he melted.
“I was watching your stream earlier,” she said, pulling back just a little. “Made sense to come home now.”
He grinned and turned to the camera. “Alright, chat. This is going to break Twitter. Bye.” With a click, the stream ended.
Once offline, Jacob returned to Jaiden, wrapping his arms around her again and pressing a gentle kiss to her cheek. “You’re so irritating,” he muttered fondly. “You didn’t even tell me when you were coming back.”
She burst into laughter. “It was supposed to be a surprise. But then I heard you were whining about missing me, so… I came home early.”
His cheeks flushed. “I—okay, yeah, whatever.”
“I missed you too.” She smiled and kissed his forehead, hugging him tighter.
And that was when Jacob’s month was now better.