Chapter Text
ding, ding, ding
Notifications kept coming through Jake’s phone whilst he was continuously ignoring them.
ding, ding, ding, ding, ding
Jake finally gets up and checks who kept spamming him. No surprise, it was Albert.
” hey jake “
” hellooo?? “
” lol jake answer me “
” it’s an emergency !!!! “
Jake chuckled before his fingers tapped on the screen, his message reading;
“ sorry man what’s up “
Albert’s reply was almost instant.
” can u help me in a gamee “
“ this was what u had to tell me? “, Jake replied, sighing before turning on his computer.
” yes lol “
” sooo is that a yes? “ Albert texted back, knowing that his answer would be a yes no matter what.
” fine :p “, Jake tapped, hitting send.
In a couple of minutes, both of them were on a discord call, Albert talking him through the stages, step by step.
With Albert’s excellent instructions, Jake makes it to the stage where Albert was stuck on.
Jake was barely staying awake, every couple minutes his eyes shutting before jolting awake just so he could spend more time with Albert.
Albert noticed how Jake’s voice changed from that high-pitched YouTuber accent to his real voice, how it used to be in his old videos from Albertsstuff.
He grinned, knowing that Jake was trying his hardest to not fall asleep right there and then at his desk, accidentally letting out a slight chuckle.
As they fly though shift 1 and 2, things start getting harder, and more customers start flying in, all of them wanting unique potatoes.
Both Albert and Jake are sat there, silently, - im pretty sure they forgot to breathe too - just so that they could finish this game.
After what feels like forever, shift 3 ends, Albert eagerly saying,
” oooo shift four!! “, his smile widening as his legs bounced up and down in excitement.
The first customer comes in and asks for a “loaded potato”.
“ fuck how do you do that “, he says, panicking.
Albert - very loudly may i add - announces how to make the loaded potato, acting as if Jake didn’t know how to already.
On the other hand, Jake is making himself useful and filling up the cheese machine, knowing that Albert will use all of it in the span of a minute.
When they finally serve the last customer, both Albert and Jake sigh in relief. This game was extremely stressful and very time consuming.
Suddenly Alberts whole mood goes from tiredness to excitement.
Albert does a brief explanation of how it’s hard to do by yourself. Following this, he said he wanted to show appreciation for jake , saying he has a gift for him
Jake - knowing Albert very well, a bit too well - softly replies.
” mhmm “
Alberts grin widens as walks behind Jake, his fingers switching from the W key to the S key, chuckling loudly.
Still giggling about that moment, he ends the video, turning off his facecam.
Jake and Albert are still on call, sitting there silently. Not the awkward type of silence, the comfortable silence, like they still want to be with eachother.
Jake starts the conversation, his soft voice making Albert’s heart skip a beat. Why was he feeling like this? All of these jokes were just for fun, and for views. Why was he starting to get nervous.
” Helloooo?? Earth to Albert “
He says, chuckling to himself as Albert completely messes up his words.
” Oh w-what sorry i zoned out “
He clarified, hoping that Jake wouldn’t think he was ignoring him.
” Ahah it’s okay, I’m gonna head to bed now, talk tomorrow? “
Jake remarked, yawning.
” Okayyy see you another dayy “
Albert interjected, hoping to get off the call as soon as possible. He needed to think about what the hell was going through his mind, and why his body was reacting like that.
Both persons said bye to eachother and left the call, Albert’s house went silent. Was this how it always sounded when he wasn’t on call with Jake?
As if the gods knew exactly what Albert was thinking, a discord notification came from Jake.
” gnn ily :p “
” ily “ Albert’s head kept on replaying those three words. Both of them have always been so open about loving eachother but now this felt different. Weird even.
“ gnn ilytt “
He tried keeping his response nice and simple, hoping that it wouldn’t sound too out of character for him.
Powering off his pc, his mind was still racing about their whole interaction, Jake’s softly spoken words, the ily, the whole thing.
Lying on his pillow, he twisted and turned until he found a comfortable spot. Hopefully comfortable enough to fall asleep without thinking about jak- shit, he’s already thinking about him. This was gonna be difficult.
Minutes ticked by and he finally started shutting his eyes, but his thoughts kept drifting back to Jake. He always thought about him.
He constantly pondered his next move in the game and longed for the day he’d finally reunite with him after years apart. His mind was full of Jake, every single day of the year, so why was he acting weird now?
“ gnn ilytt “
Albert’s message made Jake giggle like a teenage girl texting their crush for the first time. He stupidly smiled at his phone, imagining the guy he’s loved for years say it in real life.
Ever since the huge fallout with both of them in 2019, they haven’t met since. Albert flooded Jake’s dms, begging him to unblock him - which you can tell he did. Ever since, they’ve been like two peas in a pod.
Maybe he should meet him soon. Whatever, it’s almost 2am and he’s not thinking straight (he doesn’t seem it either).
As his mind wandered off, he wondered why Albert was so zoned out during that moment in the call. It felt so out of character, usually he’s someone who just says his thoughts out loud.
Jake’s always loved Albert, it’s been clear for years. The countless ” i love you “ s that are heard in basically every Albertsstuff video, his voice always cracked saying it.
Every time his voice cracked, Albert made fun of him for it. So when his voice cracked when he said he loves him, Albert immediately darted back, making a huge joke out of it.
Jake’s voice always cracked when saying something so genuine, he never knew how Albert didn’t notice.
Both of them always said i love you to eachother, but Jake was never sure if Albert was being for real. All he knew was that he’s loved Albert, and still does.
I mean after knowing someone for more than a decade, and getting countless dating allegations, he’s bound to fall inlove with him - even if it’s just a little.
The pair have never been against the allegations, Albert even tweeted “ No cap i wish Jake was a woman so him and i could have a child “, obviously Jake never mentioned it to him, it felt awkward asking about it.
But that made him wonder, did he actually mean it? Or was he just queerbaiting for views? Ever since they started filming more vidoes together, their views have increased significantly.
Once, Jake tweeted “ jalbert memes have never bothered me, “oh no boo hoo people are shipping me with a muscular rich handsome man oh no what shall i do” “
Even though they didn’t talk about it, Albert definitely knew he tweeted it, he literally liked the tweet.
As the clock ticked, it soon became 3:37am. Jake realised that he’s been thinking about Albert for almost an hour.
Turning his back, he soon drifted away to sleep.
Albert finally woke up at around quarter to 12. Today he had to film a video with the whole group - Kaden, Temprist, Dani, Laugh, Denis, Sketch and.. Jake.
His heart started racing, the thought of playing with Jake suddenly made him nervous. Why is he so nervous? Hes played countless games with him, why is it so different now?
Trying to shake off the feeling, he joins the discord call, everyone waiting for him.
“ finally your awake “
” we’ve been waiting for like 20 minutes “
Dani and Laugh comment, giggling as they wait for Albert to join the game.
” oh uh yeah sorry, i overslept “
Albert says defeatedly, scrolling through his friends list to find Jake, joining him even though he knew he could’ve saved more time by just joining any one of his friends profiles that were displayed at the front.
All of them are playing flee the facility, Temprist and Dani being the beasts. Dani wasn’t really a threat to any of them, undeniably, she was kind of poop at the game. Temprist on the other hand, he was shockingly good.
In the 15 second head start, Albert and Jake spawn together, a computer coincidentally being right infront of them. The beasts spawn and suddenly the environment feels silent.
“ Jake hack this computer with me “ Albert whispered, hoping that the beasts wouldn’t be nearby.
“ i’m coming i’m coming “ Jake said, and then bursting out in laughter realising what it sounded like.
” shut up dude just get here and help “ Albert mumbled, knowing that the joke kind of did make him laugh.
Seconds after he said that, Temprists evil laugh is heard and suddenly the beast music starts playing. Both Jake and Albert suddenly go silent, hoping that temp didn’t hear them talking.
Unfortunately for them, Temp did hear and ran into the room, smacking both of them before taking Albert to a tube (i don’t even know what they’re called so i’m gonna keep calling them tubes)
Albert screams at jake - obviously jokingly - saying how he’s gonna pay for this. Jake however, was crawling in and out of the room, cackling as Albert could only watch and freeze.
“ dude i am BEGGING you get me out of here “ Albert is genuinely about to get onto his knees just so he could get out of that damn tube.
Jake - being the loverboy that he is - finally gave in, saving Albert from almost getting frozen. While Jake’s laughing about how pressed he got, all Albert would do is stay silent, sulking.
As the round continued, and a lot of bickering started happening, especially from Jake and Albert. However, Alberts finally not mad at him - to be frank he never was, he just wanted to see what jake would do, and oh what he did.
Jake, at first, thought he was joking, so he kept on buggering him. After minutes of Albert trying his best to not speak to him, Jake suddenly went all serious. Instead of actually asking in game, he messaged Albert asking if he’s alright and that its just a joke. Giving a dry response, he messaged jake back saying
“ yea “
Jake could obviously tell he wasn’t alright, and he wanted to make him feel better. It hurt him seeing Albert so mad at him, especially when it was just a joke.
He felt bad for what he did - even though it didn’t seem like what happened was a huge deal. Nonetheless, at that certain moment, all he could think about was making Albert happy again. Jake didn’t want Albert to be mad at him, it was the only thing he hated. Every time Albert would get mad at Jake, the first thing on his mind was to immediately try apologise for his actions.
However this time, he couldn’t find any words to comfort him. Both of them weren’t even focused on the game anymore. Jake was typing and deleting his words, hoping to find the correct ones. Albert started at the notification on discord where it said jake was typing. In a panic, jake blurted out the words,
” im sorry ill make it up to you when i come to florida in a month :) “
Alberts once-dry demeanour suddenly changed. Jake’s coming to Florida to see him? Both of them haven’t seen each other since 2020, ever since the Covid restrictions hit pretty hard, especially in Ohio. After a while they did get uplifted, but none of their friends have had any time to meet up, most of them actually have a life unlike Jake and Albert.
Nevermind that, he’ll make it up to him? What is that even meant to mean? Plus, where was he going to be staying, he has nobody in Florida except Albert, did he think he was just gonna be let in without any warning prior? If Albert hadn’t acted mad at him, would Jake even try to warn him of what’s about to come? As his mind started to wonder, everyone in the game - except Jake and Albet - seemed suspicious of them. Both of them are so quiet, unusual for them..
“ where r u gonna stay in florida? “ Albert inquired, a little part of him hoped he would ask to stay at his.
“ umm I didn’t think that far ahead, probably an airbnb “
” orrrr.. i could stay at yours?? ;) “ Jake replied, Albert audibly giggling at his message.
Jake, hearing his giggle, knew Albert saw his message, and silently giggled to himself. At least Alberts happy now, that’s alll that mattered for him.
“ fine i guess “ Albert texted back, trying to hide his happiness, but in the back of his mind he was definitely uncertain about this.
I mean these past couple days he’s thought of Jake differently, ever since he found out his feelings for him. Albert and Jake have been flirting ever since they met, it felt normal to just speak to him like that. Until that one late night, where they both were definitely tired but still stayed up for each other. Hearing Jake’s soft voice compared to that high-pitched YouTuber voice he does every time they film together felt different, like he was comfortable with him, and that’s exactly what Albert wanted. For Jake to be comfortable with him.
At this point of time, Alberts finally realised his feelings for Jake, and maybe it wasn’t a bad thing. He just has to get used to it, and maybe not let his thoughts take over his actions. As long as he keeps his feelings private and tries to act normal, maybe his friendship won’t get ruined. At least he hoped.
He could only imagine what jayingee would look like whilst the sun set. The bright sun rays illuminating his perfect skin, his - what people think is boring - brown eyes, which honestly suit his face really well, and how his voice was barely above a whisper when he was tired.
The more time he spent thinking about Jake the more he realised how weird he looked, silent in an ongoing game of flee the facility. Instead of playing, he decides to make up a little white lie, just to figure out his feelings for Jake. He couldn’t just leave whenever he wanted, this game was planned for like WEEKS. All of them had to find a day where each of them were free. He knew there wouldn’t be a group game for a couple more weeks, so he had to plan this out thoughtfully. Instead, his thoughts started panicking and he told everyone that he had a dentist appointment to go to, so he had to leave.
Shit. Why would he make that excuse out of everything else he could’ve said. The whole group literally knows that he hasn’t been to the dentist in literal years, i mean he’s always complaining about his teeth and how they feel like they’re rotting. Every single one of them knew that he was lying, but they didn’t know what he was trying to cover up, which at least was a pro to this whole thing.
He turns off his facecam and stops recording the video, hoping that with all the content he has it would be enough to make at least a 10 minute video. Out of nowhere, a discord notification comes through, from Jake.
” sooo ill see u in a month irl :p “ the message read,
The only thing Albert could do was smile and ponder about what they’re gonna be doing whilst in florida.
” ill be waiting patiently ;) “ Albert responded, keeping his flirty demeanour.
A month sounded like forever to him, it was bad enough that they haven’t seen each other for 5 years, but now once he’s finally gonna see him, it’s gonna be after a month? This was gonna be the longest month of his life.
The weeks pass and suddenly it’s only 2 days until Jake finally comes to see Albert, and to be honest, they’ve gotten closer than ever. Like to the point where they both say they’re too busy to play with the group just so they could play together, they’ve even started falling asleep together on the phone. Jake’s always falling asleep first, he’s someone who can lay their head onto a pillow and suddenly they’re in a deep sleep.
Jake doesn’t realise but whilst he sleeps he snores, quietly, but loud enough for Albert to hear whilst hes staring intently, studying every part of Jake’s face. That alone acts like a sleeping pill for Albert, his soft snores are like white noise, they help him sleep. Sometimes Albert stays up so late to the point where hes just there, laying, staring at his screen - which displays Jake - just so he could look at his face for a little longer. On some nights they spend quite a lot of their time just talking to each other, pondering about what could’ve been of them if they grew up together.
This only led to Albert really thinking, would he still like him if they spent so much time together in real life? Even though the pair talked about a lot of things, for some reason they just wouldn’t talk about how they feel about each other. Whatever, it’s 5am and Albert really should get some sleep. It’s only a couple of days before the guy who’s snores help him sleep will finally be in front of him.
Okay, now he really had to go to bed, the sun was starting to rise and his eyelids felt heavy, before he knew it, he was fast asleep. Only a few days left until Jake finally meets him in real life, which was the scariest thing yet one of the best things to happen to him.