Work Text:
“YEEEEEESSSS!!!”
Daisuke threw his arms and legs up into the air in cheer, letting his chair spin. He had waited years for this moment to eventuate after a bitter amount of practice. Attempt after attempt, he would only meet a sore failure until today. At last, he had a point to add onto his side of the Guess My Block scoreboard!
“WOOOOO!!! LET’S. FUCKING. GOOO!!!”
A gleeful chuckle escaped the young man’s breath as he sighed from the energy and made a mental note to censor that line. On the other end, a contrastingly hushed voice spoke out.
“Wow, GG!”
Despite the volume, it was clear through tone that Tala was enthusiastic for Daisuke. Sure, her winning streak had been broken, but it always warmed her heart to hear her childhood friend beam. There was a certain persistently radiant spirit with Daisuke that not even the sun could match. He, undeniably, was an ineffable beacon in her life, and she hoped that beacon would be lifelong.
“Okay, I stopped recording! I gotta check the footage, I’m mostly worried about the audio quality. My mic’s been having issues lately, and I know that I was being loud. Hope my mom didn’t mind!”
“It was a little overwhelming for me, but I understand the energy.”
“Oh! Sorry, haha!”
Daisuke chortled infectiously. Tala followed suit.
“106 rounds later, you did it! I’m happy for you. Our YouTube Shorts audience is really going to be impressed,” Tala remarked.
“I’m so good at guessing games now! Safe to say, waxed lightly weathered chiseled copper stairs is my new favorite block,” Daisuke said with a grin.
The boy laid back in his chair. “Y’know, I’m surprised you don’t have as many subs as I do yet, considering the amount of times you appeared in my videos!”
“Really? Well, to be fair, my uploads are quite spotty compared to yours.. and I’m not sure if people enjoy what I do very much.”
“What?!? Why?”
“My comments section is sometimes either filled with complaints, or they wouldn’t stop mentioning you. They’re always picking on and making jokes about me, treating me like a baby, or talking about my appearance from a completely different video that you made.” Tala explained.
“I don’t really care about what they think of me, to be honest. It’s just.. it’s just– what’s the word, uhh.. disheartening? When I’m not seen as me, and I’m just in your shadow.. my videos that don’t feature you don’t have as many views. I do have my own niche, I guess. I guess I shouldn’t be complaining, haha, I really like doing videos with you–”
“But you AREN’T in my shadow! You’re a whole ‘nother person! We’re like.. um, chicken and pizza! We’re a great combo, but we are also good enough on our own”
“But the pizza is more filling than the chicken.”
“Well CLEARLY someone’s never tried York Fried Chicken,” Daisuke replied jokingly, teasing in his cadence.
Once again, her best friend proved to be incredibly caring, a loving warmth that she had only ever felt from him and would hate to lose. Daisuke wasn’t too good with words, sure, but his comfort is enough to make Tala feel somewhat whole.
For now, all she could muster out was a “..thank you.”
A silent pause filled in for a few seconds.
“Well, anyway, I think I should get to editing. I’ll catch you next time, Tala!”
“Alright then, uh, cya!” Tala responded. The two could listen to each other ramble all day, but they had business.
And that business was important.
As soon as both of them left the voice channel, she opened a new incognito tab and clicked the search bar.
Her hands glided across the keyboard in such inane speed to type out a URL like she had it down pat. A familiar red-and-white website popped up before her. She did not even have to use the in-website search bar, as she typed in a very specific arrangement that would immediately send her to where she wanted to be.
Like a computer geek in a cartoon, the reflection of the glowing monitor reflected on her dark pupils. The screen was akin to a spotlight on Tala, as there were no other sources of light in her humble room. This was a spotlight she was willing to embrace, yet she had to keep the knowledge of her tendencies only to herself. If word got out about this, *especially* to her other half, her reputation and her relationships would dwindle, to say the least.
She brought her hands up, elbow on the desk surface, and rest her chin on them. She processed the big words on the screen.
“1-20 of 425 Works in Daisuke/Tala (Video Blogging RPF)”
There seems to be a bit more than last time Tala checked, the black-haired girl noticed. She placed her hand on her mouse and scrolled down slightly.
“The Moon Will Sing”
A fanfiction based on a Crane Wives song. Quaint.
She scrolled down some more, reading out a few more titles in her head.
“Angeleyes”
“Static”
“Ruler of my Heart”
“MINECRAFT WON’T ADD INCHES”
Quite a few more music-themed titles. That last one was obviously a crackfic.
Through a brief skim of the tags of each, there certainly were some interesting plots. Daisuke Mpreg was a recurring theme in the genre, it seems. Not that anyone could escape from Mpreg, and especially not that Tala’s complaining.
Grabbing the can of Mountain Dew next to her keyboard, Tala took a large swig. She was preparing for a lengthy reading session.
The most recent one that was posted caught her eye, so she decided to read that one first. Five-thousand words. She clicked the title, then actually made a thorough readthrough of the tags.
It was then she noticed the “main character death” tag.
Oh, she was in for a bumpy ride.
Tala began to read. The beginning started off slowly, saccharine almost. It was almost pure childhood friend fluff. “Wonder how many people know that piece of lore,” Tala thought. It wasn’t something that was mentioned often, other than Daisuke reoccuringly introducing her with the epithet “my childhood friend Tala.” Which, now that she thought about it, might have been more frequent than she thought. A tint of red pinched her cheeks and ears.
Before she knew it, the story transitioned to something bittersweet. Daisuke had apparently gained an internship for a space freight company, which Tala believed to be an interesting concept. It reminded her of an old episode of Malo Korrigan and the Space Tracers that she had watched with her friend. As cool as it sounded that Daisuke had gained a galactic internship, he had to say goodbye to Tala.
The next few paragraphs of the fanfiction significantly piqued the girl’s attention.
A week before Daisuke had to leave for his months-long journey, Tala had finally gained the courage to confess her feelings to him. Although this was all a fictional scenario, the real world version felt her heart’s rapid rhythm, as if she was fully immersed with her alternate counterpart. Hell, even she was getting nervous thinking about how fanfiction Daisuke would react. The author seemed to know their personalities like the back of their hand, even if their only reference material is the two’s content personas. You could never underestimate a writer’s attentiveness.
Real Tala faced the imaginary tension reading Daisuke’s dialogue in her head and pivoted her chair back and forth as she gave her Mountain Dew can a slight squeeze. The sound of the can crinkling felt like a mockery of how nervous she was over something that wasn’t real, but when her authentic feelings were being reflected in the scripts, then it was a big deal to her.
And, to her surprise, somehow, fic Daisuke had responded to fic Tala’s confession with reciprocation. He had that recognizable cheery and casual demeanor, but he spoke so fervently. He liked to make others laugh and is undeniably scatterbrained, but his feelings for Tala were very affectionate and real. Something the real Tala had particularly enjoyed was how the writer compared their duo to several natural parallels.
The sun and the moon, flame and water, land and the sea.
Towards the end of the scene, they made a promise. A promise to call themselves lovers after Daisuke returned from his trip, and to figure out their futures from there.
Real world Tala felt a sort of serene excitement. If this dedicated fan had analyzed their behaviors enough to know what might happen if she expressed her love, then perhaps she had a reason to finally tell Daisuke her feelings. Her own RPF is quite a weird form of encouragement, but it’s encouragement nonetheless.
Though, her bright mood shifted quickly when she remembered the tag she had noticed before reading. The one she had to brace herself for.
There was a time skip from the confession to the “end” of the ship’s delivery. Tala brought her hand up to her mouth and her eyebrows furrowed. The freighter had not returned, and everybody on that ship was presumed dead.
This included Daisuke.
Fic Tala found out the news, and was unsurprisingly devastated. With the only light of her life blown out, she had no reason to continue anymore if she had to navigate the rest of her life in the dark. What came next was unspeakable, and a sentence explaining that they were going to stay together, no matter the realm, marked the end of the piece.
To say that narrative empathy hit real Tala with blunt force trauma was a sore understatement. Tears fell on her keyboard, breath hitching. Both hands wiped her eyes and covered her red face.
“Daisuke…” she mumbled between sobs. The fanfiction was spot on in encapsulating how much he meant to her, because she knew that she would react in that exact way, had she found out that her other half is gone. To live on would be torturous, and it especially impacted her how the couple’s promise was left unfulfilled because of how late Tala had waited.
She thought hard about how much she truly loved Daisuke. Childhood friends who started a career together in Minecraft streaming and have stuck by each other. They definitely had rough patches, but no relationship is perfect, and what matters is that they were able to bounce back from the circumstances. He had motivated her and tried his best to be there for her, whether it be boosting her channel or saving her from those pesky creepers.
If there’s one thing that the fanfiction had taught her, it’s that it’s better to do things sooner than later in case tragedy would strike a week later.
Still amidst the crying spell, she reopened Discord and her direct messages with Daisuke immediately popped up. She thought it would be more personal if she had talked about it in a voice chat rather than only texting it out, so she shot a quick message.
“hey can we talk in vc rq? i have something to tell you”
“Sure! What’s up :D”
“Oh I just posted the vid btw our fans are supwr hilarious! Check it out when you can”
Tala was surprised by how hastily he responded, but how he would reply to Tala like she had said something urgent just made her adore his dedication more. She clicked the call button, and he returned it as fast.
“Hello?”
“Hey Tala! What did you want to tell me?”
“Ah.. well.. uhm.. sniff ”
As she was still crying from thinking about what she had read, there was a noticeable quiver in her voice.
“Wait– are you crying? Tala, what’s going on??”
Daisuke’s tone switched up from lighthearted to heavily concerned. Reasonable, considering his best friend had randomly messaged him about needing to say something to him and sobbing. He thought he had not assessed how serious the situation was initially, and mentally beat himself up for it.
“Daisuke.. I love you… hic so much..”
“I love you too! But what’s going on?? Is something happening? Why are you crying?”
“N– No I mean like.. I love you– in a more than friends way..”
Silence and a sniffle built a pause in between.
“Well… let’s say you aren’t the only one who feels that way.” Despite the blithe tone, his words were stern.
“...really?”
“Of course, Tala. I loved you like this for a very long time! But.. I dunno, even I got nervous to tell you. But I’m happy you were the one to, haha. You’re so brave!”
“Y– You know.. it’s funny, Daisuke… I had the idea.. from a fanfiction of us.”
“Wait what?”
Tala’s confession escaped from her mouth on impulse, despite her mind telling herself not to earlier. Her heart dropped and she immediately wanted to reel it back in, but she couldn’t.
“I swear! I was just c–”
“You read all the fanfics too?!” Daisuke exclaimed.
“Huh..?” Tala replied, puzzled.
“Oh man, that’s such a funny coincidence! I was reading one just earlier that was really sad, but you also confessed to me there!”
“THAT’S THE SAME ONE I READ?!!?”
“Holy moly!! You know what this means?! We’re soulmates!”
Just like earlier, the call filled with laughter for a good few seconds, with a small “this is so ridiculous” coming from Tala’s mouth.
As soon as it died down, the girl brought up a question.
“So.. we’re dating now, right? To make it clear..”
“Of course, babe!”
Tala’s heart soared upon the confirmation. Daisuke couldn’t quite see it, but she kept spinning around in her seat.
“Not sure if I’m a big fan of that pet name, but I’m happy to be yours.”
“Oh sorry, my moobloom!”
“Nooo!” Tala tittered.
She then remembered what she had planned to do earlier, but instead of closing the voice chat to return to it, an idea popped up.
“Hey, since we’re here, do you maybe wanna… read some fanfiction together? Of us?"
“What the hell, sure!” Daisuke cheered, as usual. “Call it the first date.”
He was always happy to spend time with her, and it would still be the same as every other instance, but here, they knew that they were spending time as boyfriend and girlfriend.
While they admittedly had lots to figure out in their relationship, such as how public they’ll be about it to their YouTube audience, they were overjoyous to just live in the moment. Tala then remembered who got her to this place to begin with, the very author who wrote that melodramatic piece of encouragement. Under her breath and a smile, she whispered,
“Thank you, notcharley.”