Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Today.” Gold Ship announced dramatically, spreading her arms wide with a grin. “We will be playing the pinnacle of survival horror.”

She made jazz hands at the camera, already expecting the influx of excitement that her statement was going to bring considering she’d already been streaming for a good half an hour and had done nothing besides recounting the trials and tribulations of her last grocery run.

In her defense, said excursion had been way more interesting than it sounded. But regardless, the mere mention of survival horror was enough to get her chat riled up.

EldenShin: FINALLY!!!

bbnos: Silent hill stream?

2gay4u: watch she’s gonna pull up some shit like cod

Gold Ship laughed, watching as guesses flooded her chat. “Nah, I wouldn't put you all through a Call of Duty stream again...Or would I?" The immediate barrage of complaints she got nearly made her cackle. "No, no, okay, I swear I won't switch up on you guys, again. And I was told on good authority that this game has lesbians in it, so I’m excited.”

Homolander: ‘good authority’ she says

Lux45: ofc thats why ur playing a survival horror

“Hey.” Gold Ship leaned back in her seat, reaching for her controller. “Maybe if Silent Hill 2 let me play as a lesbian I would’ve finished it.”

Lux45: fair enough

She was pulling her chat's leg with that one. Of course she was going to finish Silent Hill 2 at some point, but considering who exactly had recommended the current game she was setting up for, she was more than okay with pushing any other games she'd started back a little.

“And yes.” She continued, pulling the game up for her chat to finally see what she was talking about. “My girlfriend said you play as a lesbian robot looking for her wife, so if you think about it, this is basically Silent Hill 2 if it was gay.”

As the title ‘Signalis’ flashed on screen, Gold Ship let herself grin at the varying excited reactions she was getting, some of her audience clearly knowing the game to some extent. "I will now be expecting apologies for being doubted." She teased, navigating through the game settings to immediately set it on the hardest difficulty.

Her eyes kept going back to her chat as she fiddled with the game's settings, and while most of the comments she saw were talking about the game, a few of them seemed to have caught her previous slip of the tongue.

Golshimain: wait u have a gf?

quiggles: your what now?

She briefly considered pretending she didn't see those messages, but chances were someone had already clipped that part, so she didn't have the advantage of plausible deniability. But hey, maybe she wanted to take the time to brag now that the information was clearly out in the open.

Gold Ship gasped, offended. “What? Of course, the great and powerful Golshi has a girlfriend, what kind of question is that?”

EldenShin: breaking gamer steryotypes so true king

Homolander: nah I dont buy it

Pouting, Gold Ship pointed at the last message. “Mods, can we ban that one?”

Her chat seemed to take that as enough of a confirmation, and despite Gold Ship finally starting her chosen game, some messages still came up regarding her supposed girlfriend. She mostly ignored them or skirted around giving a concrete answer, which was behavior she knew she could get away with easily, and after somehow managing to die within the first twenty minutes of play time, the subject of her girlfriend had practically been forgotten.

She did briefly wonder if her slip of the tongue would get her in trouble, but it wasn't like she'd revealed much. It was no secret that she liked women, and if anything, this just finally gave her chat proof that she did, in fact, have impeccable game.

Because yes, she did have a girlfriend, one who supported her current career line which was amazing. But, even after three years, her girlfriend had made it clear that she had no interest in infringing on Gold Ship’s domain, as she put it.

Gold Ship had a sneaking suspicion that it also had to do with the careful professional image her girlfriend had curated for herself over the years, but Gold Ship didn’t mind it. It was hard to take that sort of thing personally when her girlfriend was more than happy to let her collapse against her after particularly long streams, or the fact that she had, on several occasions, interrupted Gold Ship’s streams just to text her that she'd made food for her because Gold Ship hadn’t noticed that she’d been going for seven hours straight without a break.

Gold Ship sighed wistfully, completely forgetting that she was on camera for a second, and glanced back at the door. It was still a little too early for her girlfriend to be back from work, so she figured she could get a good two hours in before she’d be home.

Oh, how she loved her job.

Her chat did not let the girlfriend issue go.

Even a week later, a week in which Gold Ship had become completely engrossed in searching for every piece of in-game lore she could find in Signalis, and forcing her chat to sit through a bunch of hour-long explanation videos with her, she still couldn't escape her chat's questions.

Golshimain: have we seen her before?

Core6: bros had like five other people with her on stream just guess

Gold Ship ran her tongue over her teeth, eyes switching focus between her chat and the boss fight she was currently barely surviving. "No, she hasn't been on stream. And guys, I'm not telling you her name, so stop asking."

And on command, the next message completely ignored the last part of her sentence.

midazzz: golshi girlfriend reveal when

"I'm not-FALKE YOU BITCH!" Gold Ship yelled, watching in despair as her character fell to her knees and a giant blue error screen appeared in front of her. And as if to add insult to injury, a small achievement popped up at the top of her screen, announcing that she'd managed to die seventeen times in one playthrough.

Why was that even an achievement? The devs had to be laughing at her or something, because why seventeen? That was such a specific number. Her gaze shifted towards the achievement name for a moment.

Ship of Theseus.

Oh, these devs thought they were hilarious.

Well, she would prove that paradox right and be persistent, after a break, because if not, she might actually start testing the durability of her screen.

Collapsing back in her seat, Gold Ship stared up at the dark ceiling above her, needing a moment after failing five times in a row to beat this stupid fight.

A ping pulled her attention back to the monitor though, long enough for her to read the latest message.

bsd45: can we like get a hint? whats she like?

Deciding that dangling that kind of information over her chat's head would be a good enough pastime, Gold Ship sat up. She hummed, tapping her controller against her chin in thought. “Hmmmm, I don’t know, she’s really shy, guys. I don’t think she’d like being on camera.”

bbnos: figures youd like one of the shy ones

ChasePacific: bet she isn’t even real

"Oh, she's very real." Gold Ship retorted, leaning her head in her hand, letting her mind wander. "She has the softest hair, and she fits perfectly in my arms. I'm pretty sure I could use her in javelin throwing if I wanted to."

Core6: do we have to remind you not to throw your gf or

Gold Ship grinned. "I'm just saying, she's very easy to pick up."

cable_crab: imagine passing up the oppertunity to say that you can bridal carry your gf

Golshimain: i need you to know that ur making me picture her as one of those flamingo clubs from alice in wonderland rn

"Nah, she's more purple than pink." Gold Ship tilted her head in thought. "Like light Lavandula, that color."

Core6: so you know the scientific name for lavender but not that you shouldnt put a metal fork in a microwave?

That comment made Gold Ship laugh, prompting her to grin at the memory of the whole fork/microwave incident. "I contain multitudes."

Before she could ask anything else, though, the distinct sound of someone walking in the hallway made her ears perk up. Gold Ship looked back at the door, checking the time on her monitor, then frowned back at the door. She must have lost track of time if it was already 7 pm, but then again, considering how locked in she'd been earlier, that was completely possible.

The sight of the doorknob turning was enough to make her panic, though, doubly so when a familiar voice was heard from behind the door. “Gold Ship, why are the Christmas decorations up?”

In an uncharacteristic move, Gold Ship immediately stood up as soon as the door opened, managing to somewhat block the camera’s view of the doorway and hence keeping the newcomer's identity hidden from her chat.

Laughing nervously, Gold Ship clasped her hands behind her back. “Not feeling very festive today, Mac?”

A halfhearted sigh was heard, followed by an amused voice. “I’d feel more festive if you didn’t cancel our date to stream today.”

Gold Ship could hear the flurry of pings going off behind her, her chat no doubt having figured out who the person talking to her was, not that it made her turn her attention away from the doorway. “Sorry.” She pouted, genuine in her remorse. “But you needed to work too, and I said I’d make it up to you.”

“…Were the Christmas decorations part of that?”

"Aww, do you not like them?"

"I like them just fine, but you are planning on cleaning them up before you go to sleep today, right?"

"Well..." Looking back, Gold Ship managed to read a few of the recent chats, brows furrowing at two messages in particular.

ArianeY: oof

Golshimain: first certified L gf moment damn

Well, that just wouldn’t do.

“Wait, they’re saying I’m a bad girlfriend,"

"Girlf-Did you tell them?"

Gold Ship waved the question off, having more pressing issues to deal with. "I need to prove them wrong, babe, c’mere.” She didn’t even wait to hear a response from beyond the threshold of her room, immediately turning and rushing out the door in pursuit of her fleeing girlfriend.

And maybe if she’d been paying more attention, she would have noticed the fact that her sudden sprint had unintentionally uncovered whoever had been standing right outside of her room. Or the fact that her chat had definitely seen enough to draw some conclusions.

Core6: wait

Core6: was that fucking mejiro mcqueen?

Chapter Text

If there was one thing that people managed to learn pretty quickly upon getting to know Gold Ship, it was that she slept like a rock.

No matter the place, whether it be naps or her tendency to sleep the day away after streaming for way too long, getting her to wake up was practically impossible.

Which was why only a few people knew that, in actuality, Gold Ship was no stranger to being forced awake.

And as it was, there was one specific person who was to blame for that.

It was ironic, really, for all of McQueen's practiced poise and natural talent for looking as refined as possible, she was practically a hurricane when asleep.

There was no clear reason for it, but the second McQueen entered her REM cycle, it was all flailing limbs and twisted covers. McQueen would probably compare herself to one of those inflatable tube men during those moments, but Gold Ship would disagree. She was pretty sure McQueen could make a semi-professional kickboxer with the way her limbs were somehow able to leave bruises even in her sleep. She was basically doing the training regimen for it anyway, except Gold Ship was the punching bag in that scenario.

Not that she minded much. Gold Ship had learned pretty quickly that living and sleeping in the same bed as McQueen meant that more often than not, she was going to be woken up by kicks and shoves in the middle of the night. At first, McQueen had been embarrassed by that habit of hers, but after the years they'd spent together, it had become fairly easy for both of them to just accept it as another part of their daily routine and not think much of it.

So yes, Gold Ship was used to that type of roughhousing, not whatever this was.

Instead of flailing limbs waking her, Gold Ship was greeted by someone violently shaking her shoulders. Truth be told, if Gold Ship hadn't seen McQueen over her, she would have assumed she got caught in an earthquake and was just very late to the party.

Gold Ship groaned, blinking her eyes open tiredly as her shoulders continued to be maneuvered for her. “What, what? ‘M up, I swear.”

Of course, the first sight that greeted her was McQueen’s face, but the second thing Gold Ship noticed was her expression. It was twisted into one of concentrated panic that, unfortunately for her, did nothing to make Gold Ship feel any urgency.

To be honest, Gold Ship didn’t linger much on McQueen’s expression at all. No, instead she was preoccupied with appreciating the sight of her girlfriend practically looming over her, all while still scantily clad in one of Gold Ship’s shirts that were definitely too big on McQueen’s smaller frame.

It would probably take McQueen putting something else in her field of vision for Gold Ship to get back on track.

And so, McQueen promptly shoved a phone in her face, the brightness immediately making Gold Ship whine in displeasure as her eyes were assaulted by the sudden light. “Can you please explain this to me?” McQueen spoke urgently, seemingly unaware of the difficulties Gold Ship was having with just keeping her eyes open.

Blinking the sting out of her eyes, Gold Ship managed a tired grin as her eyes focused on the time displayed on McQueen's phone. “It's not even seven yet. Don't you know that screen time first thing in the morning is bad for you?”

“You sit in front of a computer for twelve hours a day, you have no leg to stand on here.”

Deciding that McQueen clearly wasn't in the mood for their usual banter, Gold Ship dropped the issue and tried to sit up, squinting as she took the phone McQueen was waving at her and began scrolling through it.

McQueen pushed herself off the bed and onto her feet, immediately beginning her usual stress routine of pacing back and forth, all while her tail swished behind her. “This is bad. No one was supposed to know, and now it came out in the dumbest way possible. Ugh, I don’t even know what they’re going to do-“

“Hey, why did you order a skateboard?”

McQueen stopped her pacing and, in a surprising demonstration of speed, snatched her phone out of Gold Ship’s hand and swiftly turned away from her. “It’s nothing! And why are you going through my emails?”

Gold Ship grinned sleepily, fully preparing herself to change topics if only to help calm McQueen down. “Were you actually listening to me when I was talking about attaching rockets to one?” She swiftly crawled to the edge of the bed, wrapping her arms around McQueen’s waist and tugging her back against her. “Hmm, you’re so good to me, Mac-chan.”

She pressed a light kiss against the nape of McQueen’s neck, smile widening at the noticeable change it caused. McQueen still refused to look at Gold Ship, but she wasn’t pulling away either, and if anything, she now seemed to be relaxing back into Gold Ship’s touch.

Deciding that maybe trifling with McQueen this early wouldn't be fair, Gold Ship sighed and asked. "It's not on gossip rags or something, right?"

"Gold Ship," McQueen said, clearly hiding her worry with irritation. "Your stream outed us, of course it is."

"Eh, technically it was a dual effort." Gold Ship shrugged. "You usually never go inside my room when I'm streaming because people can see you. I don't know why you did it yesterday."

McQueen opened her mouth, retort ready on her tongue, but the words seemed to die in her throat as the truth of Gold Ship's statement settled on her mind.

Pulling herself out of Gold Ship's hold, McQueen rubbed her temples tiredly. "Okay, I concur, it's not completely your fault." She audibly sighed. "This is going to be such a hassle to deal with."

Gold Ship hummed absentmindedly, reaching over for her phone and swiping it open. “So, since it's all out there, can I set that picture of us last Halloween as my profile now?”

“No!”

Gold Ship pouted, hand already typing away at her phone despite McQueen’s vehemently negative response. “Oh, come on, you were so cute as mustard.”

McQueen let out a strangled sound of embarrassment, somehow still finding it in herself to sit down next to Gold Ship. Though instead of adding anything, she merely leaned her elbows on her knees and dropped her head in her hands. An expression of complete defeat.

Gold Ship glanced at her distressed girlfriend, blindly throwing her phone back towards the head of the bed and sliding forward to put herself right at McQueen’s side. "Don't sweat it, Mac-chan, it'll blow over. Give it a week and no one will care."

McQueen didn't seem to hear her attempts at consolation, dropping one hand to gesture towards her phone with it. “Can people see your account if you’re just watching a stream?”

Gold Ship frowned, not having expected McQueen's next question to be that. “Uh, I don’t think so?”

“You don’t think so?!”

“I mean, I don’t know.” Gold Ship defended. “I don’t worry about that stuff. And why are you worrying about it anyway?”

McQueen inhaled and exhaled sharply, looking like she was on the brink of a breakdown. “Because I watch your streams, Gold Ship.”

That admission made her pause.

It wasn’t like Gold Ship didn’t think that McQueen supported her; she definitely did, but she’d never thought that McQueen actually consistently watched her streams. Sure, if she was playing a game that McQueen liked or had suggested, then she was more likely to tune in. But Gold Ship was very aware that most of her chosen stream games weren’t to McQueen’s taste.

So really, her response to this new bit of information should be pardoned.

“…You do?" The uncertainty in her tone made McQueen look up, brows furrowing in confusion.

“Of course I do,” McQueen answered back, as if it were obvious. “I’ve been with you for years; is it that surprising to you that I enjoy your general disposition?”

Those were a lot of big words just to say one thing, but for once, Gold Ship would refrain from commenting on it. Instead, she shrugged, gesturing vaguely. “Yeah, love you too, but like…Aren’t you usually at work when I stream?”

“Yes, I-“ McQueen sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she stood and resumed her pacing. “Sometimes I just have busy work to do, and I’ll turn on your stream just to listen to…I don’t know, okay, I like hearing your voice, and your laugh…It helps me relax.”

Gold Ship didn’t know what to say to that.

It was uncharacteristic of her to be at a loss for words, and yet McQueen had somehow managed to do so.

She glanced down at her lap, ears folded against her head in thought, then looked back at McQueen, who was looking at her suspiciously. “You're doing that face again, please don’t make it weird.”

“Oh, I would never.” Gold Ship laughed, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. “No, it's just...That’s really sweet. Like I’m getting a weird feeling here.” She rubbed a hand against her chest, frowning slightly. “It feels like that time me and Spe-chan tried to eat five pizzas in ten minutes.”

McQueen grimaced, though the look was clearly halfhearted. “Do you have to compare it to that?“

"I couldn't think of anything else."

"Right." McQueen easily let the issue go, taking a seat next to Gold Ship. “Either way.” She continued. “I’m gonna have to make a separate account to watch now. I can’t risk it.”

Gold Ship still wasn't sure what 'it' was, considering everything was already out, but McQueen seemed resolute in her decision.

She tilted her head, absentmindedly running her hand over McQueen's shoulders as she thought of some way to help. They couldn't deny anything really; it would just come off as disengenuous, and pretending it never happened was off the table too because, if the headline McQueen had awoken her with meant anything, people were definitely going to talk about it.

McQueen probably wanted to do damage control, and sure, Gold Ship had what was probably zero experience in that, but she got the gist of it. Managing one's image or something, making the public accept whatever information they learned until it was normal again. Simple.

A lightbulb might as well have gone off over her head as Gold Ship snapped her fingers, grinning excitedly. “Oh, wait, I know! You can come on stream with me. We can clear up things and-”

"We are not doing that."

"Oh, come on." Gold Ship whined, turning McQueen's chin to face her. "My chat is usually chill, and we can play some game that you like. I can keep the stream to like three hours if you don't want to stay long, but it'll be a great way to do damage control."

McQueen held eye contact with Gold Ship, clearly debating the pros and cons of her suggestions, all while Gold Ship's ever-present grin stared back at her.

It must have been a long list because it took a few minutes for McQueen to shake her head and look away. "I can't."

"Why not? You'd do great on live, like the poshness would probably help-"

“I am not going on stream with you,” McQueen stated sharply, shaking her head as she stood. “I can’t have my image affected more by this. I think it’ll be best if we just keep doing what we’ve been doing. We stay in our own lanes, and eventually this'll all blow over.”

Gold Ship slumped. “Ah.” She uttered, glancing towards the wall while McQueen riffled through her nightstand. “Okay, cool.”

Her lackluster response made McQueen’s head lift immediately, focus returning to Gold Ship, and to be honest, even she hadn’t expected her response to come out as sadly as it had.

Don’t get her wrong, she understood where McQueen was coming from, she did. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt to hear that her mere existence, in a sense, was tainting McQueen’s reputation this much. Was what she did that embarrassing? Or was it just her? She knew that McQueen was mostly projecting what she thought others believed and not her own thoughts, but still.

Ouch?

McQueen sighed, immediately abandoning whatever task she had begun to return to Gold Ship's side. "Gold Ship." She uttered, probably expecting an audible response, but Gold Ship merely hummed.

It rang as insufficient in McQueen's ears, prompting her to reach out and slowly turn Gold Ship to face her. “Gold Ship,” McQueen said her name again, softly this time. “I'm sorry, that came out wrong. You're not the problem, okay? It's just, I work with business partners, I can’t…It would be unprofessional. I mean, what would they think if they saw me doing that?”

“That you’re fun?” Was Gold Ship’s immediate answer, followed by a gesture towards herself. “That you have an awesome, dashing girlfriend who makes bank on the regular and has great taste in games.”

"Just give me time to think, okay?" McQueen settled on, brows furrowing in worry. "I need to consult with people and see if this blows over...Just give me some time, okay?"

Gold Ship playfully tilted her head from side to side, feigning indecisiveness, which McQueen quickly halted by pinching her side. "Ow! Okay, okay, I yield." Gold Ship laughed, shooing McQueen's hand away, now well and truly soothed from her previous concerns.

"Sure." She nodded, pressing a kiss against McQueen's head. "I can give you time if you need it."

McQueen finally smiled, looking the most relaxed she'd looked since waking up. "That's all I ask."

Her next stream was anything but uneventful.

“Heyyyy,” Gold Ship greeted, directing a salute towards her monitor. “How’s your week been, guys?”

cable_crab: hows our week been? bro hows yours

Gold Ship ignored the obvious meaning of the question, instead going into a deep dive on the larger-than-normal catfish she managed to catch a few days ago. That story alone got her chat back on track, but unfortunately, to ease the people who were still trying to turn the conversation towards her relationship, Gold Ship let her chat decide what game she'd play.

She'd never felt so vulnerable showing her entire game library before, just knowing that they were going to pick a game that she'd either been putting off or one that they knew would raise her blood pressure.

Which was why Gold Ship was disappointed but not surprised when they all settled on Silent Hill f.

The good news was that it managed to keep her chat occupied for the better part of an hour. The bad news was that barely thirty minutes in, Gold Ship was realizing that she was not, in fact, built for this.

“What the fuck was that?” Gold Ship hissed, shoulders hunched up while she held her controller in front of her as if it would protect her from whatever was going on in the game.

The eerie sounds of wind blowing and metal clanking around persisted despite the chill it sent up her spine, and really, Gold Ship had half a mind to shut the game off and end her stream right there.

frog_blur: bro its just fog

Gold Ship gestured towards the screen, very unsettled by the continuous sounds that were coming through her speakers. “Do you guys not hear the banging? There’s something out there in that fog, and it’s gonna kill me if I move.”

Golshimain: so ur just gonna stand there?

“You know what, yeah, I’ll stand here and we can switch to Papa’s Pizzeria to have some real fun.”

Core6: bro what did you even think silent hill f was gonna be like 😭

Gold Ship threw her hands up, not caring that she nearly tossed her controller in the process. “I thought it was like Resident Evil, and it's not! What the fuck is this?”

She put her controller down, getting up only to start pacing behind her seat.

Lux45: can we keep a tally of how many times you have to get up for this game?

“Fuck. You.” Gold Ship muttered, pointing a finger directly at her camera as she fell back into her seat and grabbed her controller. “My blood pressure is going to the moon, and you want to start a countdown for it?” Despite her complaints, she quickly focused back on the game, moving her character through the cramped streets towards her objective. Once she made it, she let out a deep sigh as a cut scene played, only to then groan when it ended and tossed her right into a 2v1 fight.

Then she made the mistake of glancing at her chat again.

bsd45: damn so no sh2 after this

“I am SUFFERING!” Gold Ship yelped, nearly knocking her glass of water over as she swung her arms in an arc in front of her, as if it would translate to her hitting the attack button on her controller.

Evidently, it didn’t, and Gold Ship immediately stood when her character somehow managed to get stuck on the spreading red weed on the ground, which in-game might as well be a substitute for quicksand.

Gold Ship slumped back in her seat, having decided that letting the monster on screen kill her was much easier than trying to get out of the situation she'd brute-forced her way into.

Core6: is this gonna be the controller breaking stream lmao

"That." Gold Ship snapped her fingers. "Is a great idea. I'll get McQueen to supply them."

She did not, in fact, mean to name-drop McQueen then, but in her defense, she'd already gone two hours without mentioning her. That in itself was a feat.

KratosKin: supply?

Gold Ship nodded. "I'm gonna test throw a bunch, just for you guys."

Lux45: lmao why does your gf have to get them?

"'Cause I can ask her to."

Satsukim: wow

cable_crab: is this what dating rich is like

Golshimain: I can’t believe ur a sugar baby

Gold Ship laughed, quietly filling that label away as something that she could call herself in front of McQueen just to see her reaction. “Hey, I work hard for what I get. And I do other stuff.” She crossed her arms, puffing her chest out in a show of pride. “I’ll have you know that I’m the one who does all the grocery shopping in this house. And I mean going in stores and getting things, not door dashing. I can cook too, I’m basically Mac’s personal chef.” She was way too into her explanation to even care that she was giving away information that McQueen would have definitely thought twice about giving.

bsd45: new golshi lore just dropped

Core6: how can you cook but not know whats NOT supposed to go inside a microwave

“Again.” Gold Ship shrugged, leaning back in her seat. “I contain multitudes.”

EldenShin: omg youre literally a stay at home husband

“I’m a great house husband.” Gold Ship bragged, dramatically dusting her shoulders. “One time, Mac came home to a huge tray of tiramisu, painstakingly made by the great Golshi herself. And I had an entire aquarium set up in the living room, too. All for ambiance! It was great.”

midazzz: quick, would you win a fist fight against a shark

Golshimain: does this mean we’re getting a cooking stream soon?

“Okay, first, yes, easy. I’ll just poke it in the eye. Destabilize it and boom, hit it right in the nose.” Gold Ship mimed punching the air, eyes eventually drifting towards the second question and tilting her head. “Eeh, I’ll have to ask Mac for the cooking thing though.”

Core6: is she gatekeeping your cooking

“Well.” Gold Ship hummed, tapping her finger against her desk. “I could do the aquarium bit, at least. I think I can fit an aquarium in here, right guys?”

Achtung22: another disaster to add to the log lets fucking go

bsd45: what the hell sure

MejiroMcQueen: I love you, but please don’t do that again.

Gold Ship glossed over the chat for a second, grinning at the people agreeing with her idea, until she noticed a familiar name and had to do a double-take. She leaned forward, scrolling through her chat until she found what she'd only barely caught, and yeah, that was definitely McQueen. No one else would use that kind of punctuation in a literal chat stream.

Unfortunately for her, the rest of her chat had also quickly figured out who it was.

EldenShin: lmaooo the wife has spoken

Lux45: wait is that actually her?

Well, that was surprising. Gold Ship hadn’t expected McQueen to still be watching her stream, much less actually chatting during one, after what had happened.

She almost wanted to text McQueen separately and ask her what changed, but this development alone was enough to top her mood off.

"Oh, look who couldn't stay away from me for a few hours." She teased, running a hand through her hair as if wind was going to flow through it and majestically blow it back. "Ah, the woes of being tied to a gorgeous specimen such as I."

cable_crab: nurse shes out again-

MejiroMcQueen: Please stop talking like Opera, it's uncanny.

1magineAcylinder: who?

Gold Ship watched with amusement as some of her chat tried to talk to McQueen, clearly unaware that her even talking to Gold Ship right now was more than she would usually do.

"Consider this, good dame," Gold Ship leaned forward. "Gift me a few subs and I shall stop talking like the great and powerful ginger overlord."

crab_cable: theres no way

MejiroMcQueen has gifted 600 subs

Well, that was quick. Also, a lot more than she expected, but hey, she wasn't complaining.

Gold Ship grinned, winking at the camera now that she was sure McQueen was watching. “Thanks for the subs, Mac-chan.”

EldenShin: hello?????

bsd45: holy shit

ChasePacific: all hail golshis wife

“Wow.” Gold Ship snickered. “You guys are all so easy to win over.” Her eyes wandered over her moving chat, gaze laser-focused for one specific name to pop up as minutes passed by.

When nothing came, Gold Ship sighed and resigned herself to going back to her game. McQueen was probably engrossed in her work by now, and Gold Ship was just thankful that she'd taken some time out of her day to do this. Sure, it wasn't exactly what she'd suggested, but it was a close second. Gold Ship could recognize and appreciate that.

Taking a deep breath, Gold Ship reloaded her game and immediately hunched her shoulders when she began all the way at the bottom of the map, meaning she had to do the entire trek back to the objective all over again.

Lovely.

Wanting to procrastinate more, Gold Ship chanced another look at her chat, eyes widening when another message from McQueen came in.

MejiroMcQueen: I have to go, but I’ll see you later this evening. Have fun dear.

Gold Ship smiled at the monitor, unknowingly kicking her feet under her desk as she read McQueen’s chat. “Mhm, see ya, Mac-chan.”

It took her a few moments to bring her focus back to her game screen, blinking in surprise as the fuzzy feeling that had been bubbling in her chest somehow didn't dim upon seeing the still frighteningly intense situation her character was in.

Well, she'd use that as fuel to get through a few more hours at least, not like she didn't have something to look forward to now.

Looking back at her chat, Gold Ship straightened at the reminder that her face was quite literally on camera and could be seen by a significant amount of people.

Lux45: simp

Core6: dude ur down bad

Gold Ship didn't even try to argue, turning back to her game and gesturing towards it. "Do you guys want me to continue with this or go lie face down on the floor and think about how much I'd love to ditch you all to go spend time with the prettiest girl on the planet?"

Her threat did little to dissuade her chat from ganging up on her, and even when Gold Ship managed to get back to the game, she still felt a little destabilized by everything that had happened.

Destabilized? Her? Since when did Gold Ship get destabilized like this on stream?

McQueen was going to ruin her reputation at this rate, which maybe was a little fair, all things considered. But unfortunately, Gold Ship was quickly realizing that she couldn’t find it in herself to really mind it either way.

Chapter Text

“So,” Gold Ship drawled, leaning her chin against McQueen’s shoulder. “Are you gonna go on stream with me?”

The two of them had been lounging in the kitchen. Or, to be more specific, McQueen had been attempting to cook something, and Gold Ship had decided that watching that train wreck would be infinitely more fun than handling dinner herself.

Her sudden question and touch made McQueen noticeably jump and drop the spatula she’d been using to stir her current grandiose meal attempt. Which really only consisted of salted spaghetti and a separate pot of what Gold Ship had to assume was tomato sauce, even if its consistency was way more watery than it should be for some reason.

There too, Gold Ship had to assume that McQueen did that by accident.

McQueen quickly relaxed at Gold Ship’s sudden closeness, no doubt more than used to it at the point, and shook her head. “No.”

Gold Ship hummed in disappointment, rubbing her face against the top of McQueen’s head. “But you chatted on stream the other day.”

“That was just to make sure that you weren’t making a fool of yourself.”

“Oh, I’m always making a fool of myself, baby.” Gold Ship announced, absentmindedly blowing air against McQueen’s ears, one of which twitched in irritation. “It’s why you love me.” She added as if it were obvious.

McQueen flushed, looking all too much like she was trying not to give Gold Ship the satisfaction of a reaction and clearly failing in that valiant attempt.

“You’re really lucky I love you.” She eventually mumbled out, lightly shoving Gold Ship’s nose with the back of her head. “Wait, since when do you stream on Sundays?”

“I thought I’d switch things up a bit.”

“…You’re just trying to get me to join, aren’t you?”

“Well, that’s a preposterous suggestion. I’m a lord of honor, Mac-mac, I would never.”

McQueen gave her an unimpressed look. "Mhm, I'm sure."

Gold Ship pouted, realizing that McQueen was most likely not going to budge on this issue. "Fine." She sighed, sidestepping so that she wasn't completely glued to McQueen's back. "But just so you know, I will be streaming on Tuesday at 1 pm and showing off a package I'm getting. So if you want to grace me and chat with your presence, I would be eternally grateful, my lady."

"While I appreciate the eloquence of your request, I'm still not going to do that." McQueen chuckled at hearing Gold Ship audibly groan in response. "My picture is easy to look up. I don't think your chat needs to see me on camera to get the idea."

"I'll change your mind eventually." Gold Ship vowed, finally turning her attention to the stove. Her ears tilted to the side in a rare show of hesitance. "So," She uttered, eyeing McQueen with an uncertain smile. "Should we order out for dinner?"

McQueen glanced down at her failed attempt at dinner, ears drooping sadly. She gave the stove a long look before sighing and nodding. "Yes."

"Great. I'll order from that Italian place you like."

"Check out what came in the mail today, losers."

Gold Ship began making the improvised sound of fanfare, making sure that her chat could see the box in front of her as she opened it and pulled its contents out.

The package inside was long and dark, though Gold Ship wasted no time in laying it on the floor and getting to work. She could hear the pings of messages coming through, ignoring them for a few seconds as she pulled out the object she'd ordered months ago.

"Ta-daaaa." Gold Ship announced, standing abruptly, all while holding the unlit lightsaber over her head as if she was about to be knighted. "Guess who's about to be your new Sith lord for eternity?"

Achtung22: HOLY SHIT DOES IT LIGHT UP TOO?

Core6: damn that looks like good quality

ramp_up: wait is that a rando design or an official one?

"I don't know, wait." Gold Ship lowered the lightsaber, spinning it in her hand with a frown. Admittedly, she knew a fair amount about Star Wars, and she'd also specifically asked for a set that essentially surprised the buyer, so if it was an official one, now would be the time for her to find out.

She spun it in her hand a little more, only to then hold the hilt up to the camera. "It's Anakin's, right?"

Core6: looks like it

Gold Ship pulled the lightsaber back, looking it over for a few moments before grinning. "Guess we gotta kill some younglings with it then."

EldenShin: YES

Lux45: omfg of course

Golshimain: YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE GOLDSHIP NO-

"Henceforth." Gold Ship said, lowering her voice to sound more gravelly. "You shall refer to me as Darth Golshi! Or I shall run you all through!" She accentuated her threat by jabbing the saber at the monitor, nearly giving herself a heart attack when she accidentally hit her computer.

midazzz: mayhaps you have some more to learn

"You dare doubt my capabilities, wench?" Gold Ship yelled dramatically, backing away to the center of the room and waving the saber wildly. "You will all be dead where you stand."

midazz: I mean i dont doubt it

1magineAcylinder: yes please-

Gold Ship laughed, dropping the act along with the saber to lean towards the camera. "Okay, so, full disclosure, I got this cause I wanted to learn the whole Duel of the Fates choreo, so you will all be my witnesses while I go on this long and treacherous journey."

She left out the part about wanting to learn the fight choreo with McQueen, because, as surprising as it may be, the Mejiro heir was obsessed with the Star Wars movies and, if nudged enough, Gold Ship knew that she could be convinced to learn Duel of the Fates with her.

Unfortunately, her plan had also included demonstrating it for her chat, but after McQueen made it clear that she would not be joining her on stream, Gold Ship realized that her plan would probably never happen.

Well, not if she didn't try harder at least.

“But in the meantime,” Gold Ship drawled, swinging the lightsaber around. “I can definitely use this as a baseball bat, right?”

Core6: technically yes

Gold Ship nodded to herself. "Good enough. Okay, let's test this baby out."

Her hand immediately closed in on one of the pillows that were littering her floor. Sue her, she'd forgotten to clean up properly that day, but then again, it wasn't like her chat could see her floor.

She lifted it, about to throw it into the air and whack it with everything she had, but paused. Her eyes drifted towards the door, aware that McQueen was most likely nearby and no doubt would be leaving for work soon. Which meant Gold Ship had a limited amount of time left to come up with an excuse that would get her into the room.

Gold Ship dropped the pillow, looking around the room for something that would get the genius part of her brain flowing.

It only took her a few seconds for her gaze to settle on a half-full plastic bottle she'd left at her desk, then on the window at one end of the room.

And just like that, an idea popped into her mind, and with it, her grin widened.

She quickly went over to the window, opening it fully before backing away a few paces until she was standing in front of her desk again. Winding her arms back, Gold Ship set her focus on the lone bottle on her desk, the one that was directly facing the now open window.

"Watch this, guys." She jeered, moving her wrists around as she tightened her grip on the lightsaber. "I'm gonna hit a straight home run." She waited a few beats, doing a show of shifting her weight before rearing her arms back and swinging the lightsaber down until it hit the poor water bottle.

The impact of it cracked through the air, only followed by the loud sound of it smashing itself against the wall right next to the window.

Okay, so that first hit was a bust, whatever.

"We're doing a take two, wait a sec." Gold Ship quickly announced to her chat, dropping the lightsaber on the desk and running to collect the bottle again.

By the time she returned to place the bottle back on the desk, however, a voice could be heard outside, one that was specifically calling for her.

"Gold Ship, what was that?!"

Gold Ship grinned, making a shushing motion towards her chat before turning towards the door. She immediately did everything she could to force down her smile, and then, with the most innocent voice she could manage, asked. "What was what, sweetie?"

She decided to take some pity on McQueen and actually walk over to open the door, allowing McQueen to peek her head inside without exposing herself too much. "We were just chatting a little, wanna join?"

McQueen's eyes immediately narrowed upon seeing her, and yep, that was a sign that Gold Ship had most likely failed at tapering down her smile. Gold Ship turned on her heel to walk further back into the room, lest McQueen truly lose patience with her, but unfortunately, her attempt at an escape was useless.

"You." McQueen walked right into the room, seemingly unfazed by the fact that she was now on camera, and grabbed Gold Ship's tail. Gold Ship, for her part, merely yelped at the contact, and she immediately began gesticulating when McQueen proceeded to tug and lead her into the hallway by the tail.

"What the hell, McQueen?" She tried to argue, though she was quickly silenced by McQueen holding a finger up behind her.

"For once in your life, shut up."

McQueen dragged Gold Ship past the threshold of her room, finally letting go of her tail to instead press her against the adjacent wall. "You really just can't help yourself, can you?"

"I'm like, pretty sure that I have no idea what you mean." Gold Ship answered innocently, trying to look as clueless as possible.

"Right." McQueen sighed, seemingly waving the entire situation off. "I'm guessing you hit something with your new toy, and that's what that sound was?"

Gold Ship grinned. "You know me so well, Mac-chan."

McQueen nodded, as if it were an obvious fact. "Okay, as long as you're not hitting anything breakable, that's fine. But if you make any holes in the walls, you're going to be paying for repairs, got it?"

"Loud and clear, ma'am." Gold Ship brought her arm up in a salute, winking at McQueen. "I'll even do the repairs myself."

That proclamation got a little laugh from McQueen, one that Gold Ship didn't miss despite how quickly her girlfriend managed to quiet the sound. "Glad we understand each other. Anyways, I need to go to work." McQueen sighed, absentmindedly playing with the hem of Gold Ship's shirt. "But...We can revisit the stream conversation later, okay?"

Gold Ship's ears perked up, eyes shining with glee. "Wait, seriously?"

"I-" McQueen cleared her throat. "I may have realized that it could be fun. And I talked to some people about it, so I'm open to considering-"

Gold Ship nodded, unable to stop herself from swooping in and kissing McQueen even if she clearly wasn't finished talking.

Luckily for her, McQueen easily melted into the kiss, resting a hand against Gold Ship's chest and clutching at the fabric covering it in an attempt to pull her closer. In response, Gold Ship hummed happily, letting her tongue poke at McQueen's lips teasingly before pulling away. Her grin only widened at the dazed look on McQueen's face, prompting her to cock her head in a mocking rendition of confusion. "You good, babe?"

"Huh?" McQueen shook her head, blinking a few times before meeting Gold Ship's gaze again. "You did that on purpose."

"Do I need an excuse to kiss my girlfriend?" Gold Ship asked, drawing out the title with a grin. "Here, take another one for the road." This time, McQueen had her eyes shut before Gold Ship's lips made contact with hers, and she eagerly matched her energy as well.

Unfortunately, McQueen was a stickler for being on time, so she did eventually have to pull away. Gold Ship might've felt a little insulted when she checked her watch immediately after, but hey, she'd gotten two kisses out of this and a possible yes to her request. As far as she was concerned, she was winning.

"I have to go," McQueen said, hand drifting down to squeeze Gold Ship's. "Try not to break anything before I get back."

Gold Ship hummed in acknowledgment, zipping past McQueen to grab her coat. "And you have a good day at work. Tell Teio that she still owes me for last month's bet."

McQueen sighed, stepping into her coat as Gold Ship held it open for her. "This is why you aren't invited to office events anymore."

"Hasn't stopped you from bringing me as your plus one, though." Gold Ship sang, letting McQueen put her own heels on. "Besides, I won that bet fair and square."

"I don't doubt it. I was there." McQueen straightened her posture, fiddling with her bag. "But yes, I'll tell her."

"Bye bye mon amour." Gold Ship called, earning herself an amused smile as McQueen looked over her shoulder.

"I'll see you tonight." McQueen paused with her hand on the front door, pointing a finger at Gold Ship. "Also, please finish your stream by eight today, we have a reservation to catch."

Gold Ship tilted her head, trying to remember when she had agreed to an outing. "We do? Where is it?"

"That," McQueen said, drawing the word out in a clear show of satisfaction at having pulled one over Gold Ship. "Is a surprise, dear." Her expression composed itself once again as she added, sternly. "Be ready and dressed by the time I get back, love you."

In some rare twist of fate, Gold Ship was the one left completely flabbergasted when McQueen shut the door.

She shivered, still not quite used to seeing McQueen be so assertive, but boy, did she love it.

Gold Ship practically skipped back to her room, throwing the door open with way too much force, and announced. “Sorry, guys, today’s stream is only gonna go until seven. I have a date.”

She walked over to her desk, falling into her seat heavily, and began scrolling through the chat for a few moments, choosing to ignore any particular comments referencing anything about being 'walked like a dog' or whatever that meant.

midazzz: we're losing her guys

Achtung22: overnight stream cancelled ig

crab_cable: wait does she always drag you out like that for dates?

Gold Ship raised a brow, easily guessing who the 'she' in question was. "And if she did?"

crab_cable: didnt know she rolled like that, my bad

"Well, obviously." She shook her head, gesturing down at herself. "Mac's gotta have some bite if she can tame all of this."

Core6: so you can be tamed?

Gold Ship sighed wistfully. "Only if it's her."

EldenShin: yeah nah shes gone guys

bsd45: dude how did you even pull that?

“Listen closely, young grasshopper.” Gold Ship pressed her hands together, staring at the camera with a deadpan expression. “If you feed into your own whimsy, chicks will flock to you.” She paused, running over the sentence again, and shrugged. “Or something, whatever it was that Mark Twain said.”

Lux45: who?

EldenShin: the kids are not alright omfg

Golshimain: mARK TWAIN?

“Oh, no, I meant Don Quixote.”

Achtung22: bro what

Gold Ship snickered. "You can all laugh at my advice, but it successfully got me a girlfriend, so."

Core6: cap

EldenShin: theres gotta be more to it

midazzz: wait yes pls can we get some backstory

“Hmmm, I don’t know.” Gold Ship lamented jokingly. “It might get me in the dog house.”

rouxlsbox: from what little we know already its a wonder you aren’t put in the dog house more often

That got a cackle from Gold Ship. Raising a hand in surrender, she shook her head. "Okay, you got me there." She paused for a moment, thinking over the request she'd gotten.

McQueen would probably be fine if she talked about them a little, right? It wasn't like Gold Ship was going to go in-depth about sensitive things, and besides, McQueen might as well have already agreed to show up on stream, so really? She basically gave Gold Ship the green light on this, too.

And it wasn't like she was likely to break anything by doing this, so technically she was still following McQueen's instructions.

"Okay." She said, kicking her feet up on her desk. "I'll tell you a little about the grand romantic tale that happened between me and Mac-mac."

Lux45: oh i cant wait to hear this

Achtung22: chat take notes

Core6: why do i feel like this is also gonna be a disaster

“It won't, trust." Gold Ship gestured vaguely. "Anyway, obviously me and McQueen grew up pretty different, but we ended up at the same school when we were in middle school. Same university, too. It was fate, really.” She nodded sagely. “McQueen just couldn’t stay away from me.”

bsd45: bro ur gonna summon her again if you keep this up

Golshimain: pls do shes so gorg

"Yeah, she is." Gold Ship sighed, pausing only when the intent of that comment finally sank in, and frowned. "And she's mine."

EldenShin: lmao did you just realize that we can perceive her

Gold Ship narrowed her eyes, pointing at the monitor. "You're all on thin ice. But back to what I was saying." She dropped her hand, gaze veering towards the drawers to her right.

While she affectionately called this her room, it didn't really resemble one. It wasn't furnished like a room, and really, it only served as a space for her to stream and have her gaming setup all in one place. That should probably qualify it as an office, but Gold Ship had tried to make it look roomy, so that label hadn't stuck.

Regardless of what it was called, and the fact that she already had a room in the house that she shared with McQueen, Gold Ship had taken it upon herself to put up a few pictures of them to make it more roomy. And the drawer next to her just so happened to be one of her chosen podiums for said pictures.

It wasn't meant to represent a specific event in their lives; anything like that was either in their room or somewhere tucked away in McQueen's office at work. Instead, it was just a simple picture they'd taken while going fishing with some of their friends. Gold Ship was, of course, fully decked out in fishing gear, holding up a fish that she had somehow managed to catch via tackling rather than with a fishing rod. McQueen hadn't been quite as extravagant, but Gold Ship had managed to convince her to wear the usual yellow hat that came with an excursion such as fishing.

She hadn't caught anything that day, much too afraid of being pulled into the lake after Gold Ship had made some joke about fish being strong enough to do so. But despite that, McQueen was smiling in the picture, wide and unembarrassed as she stood next to Gold Ship and her catch.

Gold Ship smiled at the memory. They really should set up another fishing trip soon, and maybe this time McQueen would actually catch something.

She looked back at her chat, noticing that she'd been quiet for much too long. "Back to what I was saying." She repeated, choosing not to address how lost in thought she'd been. "We knew each other as kids, and I guess I always liked bothering her, so that kind of just continued."

1magineAcylinder: yall really just pulled a slowburn annoyances to lovers huh

EldenShin: ao3 is weeping rn

Gold Ship laughed. "No, no, that's pretty accurate. I'd annoy her, and she'd just let it happen. Then we both got different jobs, and I-" She paused, for once feeling a little out of her element being this vulnerable. "I kind of realized how much I missed her. She worked a lot, like way more than now. I think she was a workaholic for a while."

Yeah, she was going to stop elaborating on that.

"So obviously, I decided to confess." She announced with a shrug.

Core6: im afraid to ask how you confessed

midazz: im not

midazz: dont leave us hanging golshi how did u do it

"Oh, it was a grand gesture." Gold Ship grinned at the memory. "I basically rigged the faucets at her job to only dispense pink lemonade for a week, cause, of course, Mac-chan loves sweets, so I was being considerate. And, I even had a line of dessert waiting for her when she got home." Gold Ship gestured vaguely. "I mean, she wasn't living with me back then, and I didn't have the key to her place, but it's fine cause I broke in to set everything up. It was great."

Achtung22: dude...

bsd45: i mean it worked

EldenShin: what do you call that? criminal rizz?

"Again." Gold Ship shrugged. "It got me a girlfriend, so I don't want to hear any judgment from any of you single losers

Core6: ouch?

crab_cable: if im not single can i still judge?

Gold Ship shook her head. "Nah, it's still outlawed. My stream, my rules, bucko."

Core6: i dont buy it can we bring your girl in for a second opinon?

Achtung22: lmao true i wanna know what she thought of your confession technique

"I can't."

Lux45: booo coward

"Okay, look, here's the deal." Gold Ship whispered, leaning forward as though her chat would be able to somehow hear her better. "I'm trying to convince McQueen to join me on stream, but she thinks you guys won't like her...Among other things."

EldenShin: deadass?

cable_crab: is this about the nepobaby thing

cable_crab: that was a joke i swear

Gold Ship frowned, pointing at the screen. "We will be talking about that later, but no. She's just...Known, so showing up on stream is a little iffy for her."

Core6: i mean fair

"I can try to convince her." Gold Ship sighed. "She might reconsider, but if she says no again, I'm not gonna force her."

EldenShin: no thats totally okay we get it

midazz: yeah its up to you two in the end

Gold Ship chuckled, leaning her chin on her hand. "Aww, thanks, guys."

Lux45: we can respect boundaries when we need to

Lux45: also dude ur really down bad

Core6: guess she’s worth it

"I would literally let all of you die horrific deaths just to see her smile."

Lux45: damn

Golshimain: ow????

Achtung22: valid tbh

EldenShin: lesbian love really does go crazy oml

Gold Ship laughed, finger gunning at the camera. "Oh, you know it."

Chapter Text

“Are you sure you want to actually go on stream with me?”

"Is it that hard to believe that I’d want to?”

“It’s not that.” Gold Ship mumbled, cocking her head to the right. “But, you don’t usually agree with me on things. Like, remember last night?“

McQueen sighed. “That wasn’t-I just said you couldn’t dress up as a French king for our hypothetical wedding. You know what those people wore, I’m not going to have the most important event of our lives ruined because you wanted to wear some heinous white wig with a scepter at the altar.”

Gold Ship pouted, crossing her arms on the table and leaning her head on them sourly. “It would've looked cool. Besides, I thought you were just mad because of the pen thing.”

“The pen thing-That was YOU?!”

Ah. Maybe she shouldn’t have admitted that.

Gold Ship sat up, momentarily averting her gaze away from McQueen, only to grin sheepishly and shrug. “Surprise?”

McQueen didn’t seem as perturbed as she had been on the day of said event, merely furrowing her brows in confusion. “Gold Ship, what if I had a meeting that day? It would have been a disaster.”

“Oh ye of little faith.” She assured, getting up and circling the table to rest her head over McQueen’s. “I made extra sure to only rig your desk pens to disassemble, not your meeting ones.”

“That-“ McQueen started, immediately halting and notably making no move to pull herself away from Gold Ship. “God.” She eventually muttered, raising a hand to lightly pinch Gold Ship’s ear. “What am I going to do with you?”

Gold Ship grinned, linking her arms around McQueen and pressing a quick kiss against her cheek. “Love me forever and ever until the day we die and get matching gravestones?”

McQueen huffed out a decidedly unladylike laugh, but the sound rang like music to Gold Ship’s ears anyway. “You’re incorrigible.” She said softly, followed by a harder pinch against Gold Ship’s ear. “But seriously, don’t do that again. I think Special Week is gonna need a few days to recover from what happened already.”

"Mhm." Gold Ship vaguely acknowledged, ears flicking forward when McQueen forwent her previous treatment of said appendages to caress them instead.

Surprisingly, McQueen didn't resort to pinching her ear again despite how clear it was that Gold Ship was only partially paying attention to her words. Instead, she maneuvered herself so that she was facing Gold Ship, lifting her arms to rest them around her shoulders, which admittedly was serving as a very effective way to keep Gold Ship's attention on her. "You stream late tomorrow, right?"

Gold Ship nodded, idly letting her hands travel down the length of McQueen's back as she, for what was probably the hundredth time, marveled at how easily her girlfriend's body fit in her hands.

McQueen didn't seem to notice what the inner workings of her mind were focused on, nodding to herself as she took in the information Gold Ship had just given her. "Okay, then I should be able to join you when I get back. Are you planning anything specific?"

"Huh?" Gold Ship uttered dumbly, blinking her eyes in confusion as she tried to catch up with what McQueen was talking about. "Uh, I'm just playing games, I think. Unless you want to make it a Q&A thing."

"Let's wait to see the reaction before deciding that." McQueen hummed, tapping a finger against Gold Ship's shoulder in thought. "I assume if your chat is as hyperactive as you, then we'll have our answer quickly."

Gold Ship grinned sheepishly. "That a good thing?"

McQueen gazed up at her, smiling fondly. "Well, I won't deny that it is quite cute when you do it. I don't know about anyone else, though."

"Wow, keep talking like that and I'll think that you like me or something."

"Gold Ship-"

"It's okay, Mackie, I like you too!"

"...Please don't make me regret this."

Gold Ship probably should have prepared some kind of itinerary for how her first stream with McQueen was going to go.

Should have was the keyword there. Because when the day finally came, Gold Ship realized that she had practically nothing.

Not that it was too bad. She was a creature of spontaneity and procrastination anyway. Why would she have a plan? So obviously, when she did get a message from McQueen mid-stream telling her that she was home, Gold Ship felt nothing besides excitement.

"She's here, guys." Gold Ship announced, spinning in her chair happily. "Finally."

Achtung22: is today the day?

1magineAcylinder: three weeks late but hey

"She's worth it." Gold Ship sighed, putting her phone face down and crossing her arms. “I’m gonna hold my breath until she walks in, wait.”

Lux45: bet

Golshimain: rip ur lungs

gayboi: mate at this point ill eat my eraser if she actually shows up

Refusing to back down from her previous claim, Gold Ship merely narrowed her eyes and mimed slashing her own throat while staring directly at the camera. The jury was still out on whether her chat even got the message, but it didn't really matter since barely a few seconds later, she could hear footsteps approaching her door.

With very little fanfare, McQueen walked in, mug somehow already in hand, and paused at the scene that greeted her.

Gold Ship was sitting in her chair, now facing the door since she'd taken the sounds of footsteps as her cue to swivel around, and McQueen could very clearly see that her entire face was turning a concerning shade of red.

It was decidedly not the weirdest thing McQueen had walked in on, but it was up there.

“What are you doing?”

Her question must have done something because immediately, Gold Ship opened her eyes and let out a long, drawn-out breath. “Mac-chan! You’re here!”

McQueen looked back towards the doorway, then at her mug, before finally landing back on Gold Ship. “…I said I would be.”

Gold Ship waved her bewilderment off, getting up and immediately enveloping her in a hug. McQueen had somehow found the time to change out of her usual workwear, instead exchanging it for more comfortable pants and a shirt that definitely belonged to Gold Ship. Whether she did it on purpose was anyone's guess, but Gold Ship appreciated the sight of it all the same.

"Great." She eagerly tugged McQueen forward and settled her in the seat next to hers. "You don't need an introduction, right?"

McQueen glanced at the monitor warily, carefully placing her mug on the desk. "I believe that may be a little overdone at this point."

Gold Ship shrugged, accepting McQueen's cautious response and instead turned her focus towards her chat. "Okay, Mac here is gonna join us for the next two hours, so I need you all to be on your best behavior."

Core6: when arent we

midazzz: aye aye captain golshi

Achtung22: got it boss

Gold Ship narrowed her eyes, pointing directly at the screen. "That means no sex questions, got it?"

That statement was promptly followed by McQueen choking on her own spit, making Gold Ship look back in confusion just as her girlfriend was doing everything she could to right herself. "I-I'm sorry, what questions?" McQueen practically screeched, looking horrified, which Gold Ship might've found funny under different circumstances, considering how intimately they knew each other by that point. But, alas, Gold Ship knew that she needed actual boundaries in place or else McQueen would probably never do this again.

"Don't worry about it." She assured, patting McQueen on the head and looking back towards her chat. "But those are the ground rules, my little golshilings, step out of line and I will go on hiatus for the month."

1magineAcylinder: ayo chill

EldenShin: lmao is it that serious

Core6: oh the mods r gonna be on high alert arent they

"Good." Gold Ship grinned, gesturing towards McQueen with a flourish. "Now that that's settled, everyone, welcome the light of my life, the great and illustrious Mejiro McBeauty McQueen."

McQueen flushed, ducking her head down in embarrassment. "That's not my middle name."

Gold Ship shrugged. "Eh, it fits."

midazzz: hello mejiro mcbeauty mcqueen

gayboi: watch that stick somehow

Golshimain: i have smth to say but i fear ill get banned indefinitely so imma not

crab_cable: lmao same

EldenShin: hello golshis sugar mommy

McQueen actually paused at the last greeting, reading over the words in confusion. "What's that?" She muttered to herself, just loud enough for Gold Ship to hear.

Gold Ship leaned forward, dragging her tongue across McQueen's cheek and pulling away just as quickly. She ignored the loud squeak that came from McQueen, instead nodding towards her chat. "Huh, she is sweet. I guess sugar mommy is accurate."

Achtung22: BRO WHAT

midazzz: what happened to self control😭

Lux45: self control?

Lux45: whos stream do you think youre watching?

Core6: lmao is she good?

rouxlsbox: i think you broke her

Gold Ship glanced at McQueen, smiling happily upon seeing the way she was currently hiding her face in her hands. "Nah." She drawled. "I've done much worse."

rouxlsbox: what does that mean-

"Don't worry about it."

Surprisingly, her chat did somehow manage to behave just enough for nothing to go catastrophically wrong. Though that may have to do with the fact that Gold Ship immediately booted Silent Hill f back up instead of giving her chat the chance to pull out an entire questionnaire for McQueen.

McQueen, for her part, did take some time to fully relax while on camera. But after seeing the ease with which Gold Ship carried herself, it didn't take long for McQueen to let go of any stress she may have been holding on to. So much so that barely half an hour later, she was somehow just as immersed in watching Gold Ship play as her chat was.

“Why are they giving me a puzzle to do while a monster is on my ass? What kind of sense does that make?” Gold Ship lamented as she made her character aimlessly swing her, notably dull dagger at the creature in front of her.

McQueen quietly watched her swing at it, quirking her lips slightly every time Gold Ship ducked down with her character as she dodged.

Gold Ship eventually did manage to kill whatever four-legged abomination the game had decided to throw at her. “Okay.” She mumbled, maneuvering her character to the long line of hanging wooden slats nearby. She momentarily looked at the designs of each, zooming in on one and flipping it over. It revealed a symbol, but before she could be deluded into believing that she’d solved anything, her character uttered in disappointment. “I must’ve done something wrong.”

Leaning back in her seat, Gold Ship let out a sigh. “Okay, I give up. See you next stream, guys-“

“Give it to me.”

Gold Ship turned to look at McQueen, brows raising at the determined look that met her. "Are you sure?" McQueen didn't answer, only moving her fingers insistently until Gold Ship gave in and dropped the controller into her waiting palm. "Fine, knock yourself out."

McQueen easily focused on the screen, all while Gold Ship distractingly leaned her head on her shoulder, squinting at the ease with which McQueen moved within the game.

If she didn't know any better, she would assume McQueen had played this game before.

She glanced at the chat, idly scrolling through it as McQueen's eyes remained glued to the screen.

Achtung22: oh she's locked in

rouxlsbox: i cant believe golshi is letting her wife upstage her rn

Gold Ship scowled, about to argue against that claim, when a loud scream erupted from the game. Her gaze immediately swiveled towards it, eyes widening at seeing the grey, decaying, caved-in face of the monster she had spent ten painstaking minutes killing beforehand.

"It can come back to life?!" She yelped, tightening her grip on McQueen's shoulder as her girlfriend didn't even flinch when faced with the apparently unkillable monster she was now stuck with.

EldenShin: oh yeah lmao it only stays down for a little

crab_cable: putting you in the middle of a puzzle with an immortal on your ass is so unfair holy shit

Core6: welcome to survival horror

Achtung22: nvm maybe we're cooked

"'Course not." Gold Ship laughed, trying to hide her uncertainty. "Though Mac-chan, if it gets too hard, just know that the honorable Golshi is always here to lend a hand."

McQueen hummed in acknowledgment, eyes never leaving the screen as she expertly dodged and retaliated against the monster on screen. "Thank you, dear, but I'm doing fine."

And fine she was, as Gold Ship had to sit there, probably looking as shocked as she felt, as McQueen easily brought the monster down to its knees after a few well-timed hits. Gold Ship watched quietly as McQueen didn't even spare the monster another glance, quickly sifting through the in-game map before heading right back to the line of wooden slats waiting for her.

Achtung22: why isnt she the streamer here

Golshimain: need to see her do a speedrun wait

EldenShin: golshi u good?

"..." Gold Ship cleared her throat, moving her hand off of McQueen's shoulder to instead clasp them both in her lap as she watched McQueen easily solve the puzzle given to her. It might have been a little insulting if Gold Ship didn't find that clear demonstration of intelligence extremely attractive.

Shaking her head, Gold Ship let a smile pull at her lips as she focused back on her chat. "Okay, since Mac-chan has decided to grace us with her video game prowess, why don't I chat with you guys a little. That good with you, Mackie?"

"Please consult with me before you answer anything personal," McQueen said, not moving her gaze from the screen even once.

Gold Ship offered her a two-fingered salute, resting her head on her hand as she scrolled through her chat. "Okay, ask away then."

The influx of questions was staggering.

Heeding McQueen's request, Gold Ship did do her best to weed out some of the more personal ones, even ones that she saw no issue in answering. Gold Ship had to admit that there was something a little fun about the setup. Just being able to sit back and talk to chat while McQueen played next to her was very nice, and Gold Ship was already thinking of ways to convince McQueen to do an encore in the near future.

gayboi: lowkey yall should dress up as jessica and roger rabbit at some point

midazzz: truuuue you guys are literally them

Despite keeping her focus on the game mostly, McQueen did pause it to glance over at the chat for a second and squinted her eyes in confusion. Gold Ship was unable to stifle the smile that look caused. “Rabbits?”

“Wait.” Gold Ship reached for her phone, quickly pulling up an image of the two and showing it to McQueen. “That’s them.”

“Oh.” McQueen looked pensive, nodding towards Gold Ship. “Who’s who?”

Gold Ship grinned, leaning her chin on her hand and batting her eyes at McQueen. “Isn’t it obvious?” She drawled, cupping McQueen’s face with her free hand. “I mean, Roger is completely dedicated to his wife, and Jessica is gorgeous, knows how to dance, has the most beautiful voice ever, and has an amazing fashion sense.”

She let her statement linger in the air for a few seconds, enough for McQueen to smile and relax, clearly expecting some sort of compliment, before turning towards the monitor and gesturing at herself. “I’m obviously Jessica here.”

The headlock she was promptly put in was completely worth it, in her opinion.

Gold Ship laughed, doing absolutely nothing to loosen McQueen's hold on her neck. "Hey, hey! I'm fragile cargo, Mac-chan, be careful."

"Fragile? Yeah, right." McQueen huffed, pausing only to look around for a few seconds before reluctantly letting Gold Ship free. "But fine, we don't need another eye incident anyway."

Gold Ship grinned, stretching her neck idly. "Aww, you do care about my safety."

"We're dating, of course, I care about you-"

"Ah ah ah, wait." Gold Ship interrupted, holding a hand up towards McQueen as she read the message that had caught her eye.

Lux45: wait what eye incident?

Gold Ship grinned, mouth opening to answer, but McQueen beat her to it. “We are NOT talking about that.”

“Aww, do you still feel guilty about it?” Gold Ship teased, nuzzling her face against McQueen’s cheek. “You’re so cute, Mac-chan.”

McQueen flushed, turning her head to the side, but other than that, doing absolutely nothing to move away from Gold Ship’s touch. “I don’t see how that’s relevant. And no, I don’t feel bad, you deserved it.”

crab_cable: ayo?

EldenShin: lmao should we leave you two alone?

midazzz: missmaams can we pls have a smidge of context

Gold Ship waved a hand dismissively, planting a quick kiss against McQueen’s cheek before focusing back on the camera. “Well, you see, even before we started dating, I was an expert prankster. Some would call me the king of pranks, actually-“

“No one calls you that besides Opera.”

“Shush.” Gold Ship shooed McQueen’s comment away. “Anyways, as the king of pranks, I obviously had to get big Mac a few times. Crush or not, everyone’s fair game in prank wars.”

Achtung22: prank a girl to make her ur gf, got it

bsd45: guys please dont actually do that

EldenShin: nah we need a batting average

gayboi: i fear golshi is built different cause there aint no way

rouxlsbox: its called bullying the girl you like smh

gayboi: mate do i look like a nine year old boy to you?

rouxlsbox: well

"Hey, you don't need a batting average for that." Gold Ship huffed, gesturing towards herself. "I'm the only credible data you need on this."

Core6: debatable

midazzz: wait go back to the eye incident i need to know what that is

Gold Ship glanced at McQueen, as if waiting for some kind of approval. But McQueen must have taken it as Gold Ship handing off the responsibility of storytelling to her because she immediately turned back towards the monitor. “As she said, expert prankster over here kept trying to throw things at me, and as one would expect, it backfired. A lot.” McQueen completed, hiding a small smile behind her hand as she looked at Gold Ship. “I’m surprised you can still see, to be honest.”

“Everything kept hitting my eye.” Gold Ship whined, dramatically sagging against the armrest. “First it was the hot sauce, then the eraser, then the kebab skewer, it’s like the universe wanted me to try harder.”

McQueen huffed. “I would’ve preferred if you didn’t do anything at all.”

“Is that why you helped ice my eye the last ten times it happened?” Gold Ship snapped her fingers, turning to the camera. “Wait, did you guys know she hit me in the face with a coconut once-“

“And whose bright idea was it to try and play tennis with one?” McQueen retorted, doubtlessly fully aware that Gold Ship would do it again if given the chance.

EldenShin: TEN????

Achtung22: thats literally some looney toons shit dude

rouxlsbox: bro im with your girl on this how are your eyes even functional

Gold Ship shrugged. “Superior metabolism.” She said, just as McQueen answered. “She’s a medical mystery.”

Core6: i would believe either one tbh

EldenShin: how do you not even wear glasses after that

"Oh, she has glasses," McQueen said, prompting Gold Ship to nearly give herself whiplash with the speed with which she turned her head. The smile that graced her was all she needed to know that McQueen had definitely let that information slip on purpose. "Should I go get them for you, dear?"

Gold Ship pouted, hand reaching forward to unpause the game and throw McQueen right back into the fight she'd been paused at. "Hey, look, more monsters to fight. Better hop to it, babe."

McQueen let out a small sound of panic, focus immediately returning to the screen and giving Gold Ship some breathing room to attempt to disprove the very real information that had just been said.

It took sitting through two hours of McQueen making Silent Hill look like a complete cakewalk for Gold Ship to decide that she wanted to take control of her stream back. And that, somehow, led to the two of them playing Overcooked with the synergy of two magnets repelling each other.

“Where’s the beef, Gold Ship?”

“I thought I was on pasta duty.”

“Why on earth would you be on pasta duty when you’re in the meat section?”

And, evidently, their little co-op game of Overcooked could be going better.

McQueen had quickly taken on the role of head chef, somehow, having no issue with giving Gold Ship tasks and stations to manage, all while her chat found the entire situation downright hilarious.

rouxlsbox: if this makes yall break up im gonna laugh

EldenShin: damn I thought you were the cook

Gold Ship snickered, leaning towards McQueen, whose focus had yet to budge from the screen. “I don’t know, ask Gordon Ramsey over here who’s the better cook.”

“We're about to lose another order, start frying the fish and chips.”

Sighing, Gold Ship heeded McQueen’s orders, actually managing to plate the next four orders without any complaints. At least until she mistimed the throw of one of her fries and ended up throwing them directly in the trash.

They both had to watch as the timer finally ran out, their previously perfect score of three stars going down to two because of her mistake. And Gold Ship could practically feel McQueen vibrating in annoyance next to her.

"We're playing it again."

Gold Ship glanced at the time, rolling her shoulders with a yawn. "It's been two hours, McQueen, I thought you didn't want to go over-"

"We're doing it again, Gold Ship, now."

Well, who was she to say no to that?

"Yes, Chef." Gold Ship snapped her hand up in a salute, letting McQueen restart the level with no more complaints. Though that didn't stop her from making things difficult either.

As soon as the timer began counting down, McQueen had already taken up a station and gotten to work. Gold Ship, meanwhile, was busying herself with taking out as many potatoes as she could. And admittedly, at first, she had been fully prepared to actually play the game, but seeing how focused McQueen was on her task made Gold Ship want to mess around.

Which was why, barely twenty seconds into the level, Gold Ship had taken to grabbing the raw potatoes on the raft they were using as a cooking station, and throwing them at McQueen's chef.

“Gold Ship, what are you doing?” McQueen panicked, trying her best to dodge the food that Gold Ship’s avatar was throwing at her.

“Think fast.” Came Gold Ship’s sole response, quickly followed up by a loud cheer when she managed to push McQueen’s chef off the platform and into the water below.

McQueen groaned in annoyance, dragging a hand over her face before scowling at Gold Ship. Too quick for her to predict, McQueen grabbed Gold Ship by the collar of her shirt and tugged her down so that she could speak against her ear. "You are going to take this round seriously, or you're going to be sleeping on the couch for the rest of the week, understood?"

And hey, if Gold Ship's in-game performance changed drastically for the next hour or so, that was definitely not her chat's business.

"I have to admit." McQueen sighed, watching as Gold Ship milled around their bed. "That was more fun than I anticipated."

Gold Ship paused, draping the towel she had been using to dry her hair over her shoulder as she looked at McQueen. "Yeah?"

McQueen shrugged, flipping a page of the book she was currently reading. "Yes, it was enjoyable and not too much of a headache."

"So, what you're trying to say is," Gold Ship kneeled on the bed, sliding close until she was practically pressing her face against McQueen's. "That I was right?"

McQueen rolled her eyes, accepting Gold Ship’s affection even if she was trying her hardest to appear annoyed. “You didn’t do anything. I just warmed up to the idea-“

“So I was right?” Gold Ship asked, saying it as more of a statement than a question. “I told you they’d like you. And that you’d enjoy it.”

“Your ego does not need more fuel right now.”

Gold Ship snickered, deftly lowering the book in McQueen's hand only to swoop in and kiss her. "I was right~" She beamed as she pulled away, looking all too pleased with herself, all while McQueen sighed but didn't argue with her claim.

Leaning back, Gold Ship settled next to McQueen. "So," She continued, hooking her chin over McQueen's shoulder. "Can we do this again?"

"Do what again?"

That prompted a loud whine from Gold Ship. "Mac, come on, I know you liked it today."

McQueen sighed, reluctantly nodding her agreement. "If you must know, I have all of Thursday off next week. Feel free to schedule something then."

Gold Ship grinned, mind already thinking of what games she could unleash on McQueen next time. "Aye aye, Mac-chan."