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2025 was a year of many firsts.
Lukey downed another shot at the bar with his friends. A smile lingered on his face as he reflected on the past handful of months and as he gazed longingly at the profile of a certain boisterous man beside him. He couldn't have imagined it ending such a year any other way.
From his gig in Italy doing a documentary voice over, to being invited by Tubbo to join the Realm and meeting Pangi, to a subathon that flew him to the Netherlands and funded a Twitchcon Trip, and then to just a day ago—scaling the walls to break into Tubbo's office! Now he was sharing drinks with some of the people who made this year phenomenal.
He didn’t cry much or often, but... he could feel it. The tears that welled up in his eyes but didn't fall. He was unbelievably grateful as he stared at the bottom of the glass before him, his skewed reflection smiling back.
"Hey, you okay?" A familiar voice filled with concern enveloped him along with an arm that draped over his shoulders. It pulled him into a warm, semi-embrace.
And how could he forget?
Lukey turned his face, eyes meeting the features that had long been engraved in his mind, now questioning him with worried brows. There were mere centimeters between them. His eyes flicked down to the lips still wet with alcohol before going back to the brown pupils darkened by the pub lighting.
His smile grew. "I'm good, yeah. Just... reminiscing. It's been a good year."
Pangi leaned back, the tension leaving his shoulders, his brows relaxed before becoming furrowed again. "Just a good year?"
"Yeah!" Lukey's voice cracked, "I just never expected myself to be here as a proper content creator—a streamer—hanging out with other streamers ya know?"
He gestured his free hand to the room around them, to their friends talking animatedly in the background and the ones still doing shots beside them. A snug, comforting warmth settled in his chest.
“I was always just that friend who hung out in the background of streams. Production crew and all that.”
"No, no, I get that..." Pangi leaned in closer, his breath tinged with vodka. "Your year though, it’s just good? Not great? After all… you met me!"
They both laughed, probably for different reasons, but for Lukey it was at the Dutchman’s audacity... and maybe partially because of how cute he looked in that drunkenly smug way.
Pangi. He would’ve been a champion in being a part of so many of his new experiences this year. From their first collaboration in the Realm—the big yuri or yaoi question that set off another string of firsts: their in-depth roleplay, their meet-up, their pizza “date”, the viral wrestling clip, to their Christmas song filled with not-so-hidden innuendos. Not to forget, his favorite moment, how Pangi gave him one of the most memorable birthday present of all—a manhunt through Amsterdam Central, and the time spent together after. His cheeks grew warm just thinking about it.
Lukey brought his arm around Pangi's neck, a comfortable, familiar position they managed to sink into whenever they found themselves together. Another first—he'd found someone he just felt in tune with no matter the situation.
"Naur, your year was probably better than mine after you met me!" Lukey argued back, bringing his head closer to Pangi's. "After all, it was me who kept us trending on Tumblr and it was me who made our yaoi work!"
"You?!" Pangi leaned back, slightly appalled. "I'm gonna tell Pili!"
Lukey shrugged, a grin still on his face. "Do it, no balls."
"Bigger balls than you!"
He grinned even wider. "And I bet they aren't blue, thanks to your truly!" Lukey took a faux bow, only to be hit on the shoulder lightly. Their eyes met again and they laughed, their laughter intermingling with the rest of the noise in the pub. They both downed another shot together, their eyes never leaving the gaze of the other.
There lingered a silence between them after the shots, only shared by quiet smiles and everything unspoken from the year behind them. It was broken by a face coming in between them, Tertel, his face blushing from the cold and his entire body vibrating with energy.
“Alright, alright! No more yaoi tonight! Please!” Tertel teased them both. Lukey only rolled his eyes in reply, his own smile turning into a smirk when he heard the scoff from Pangi who was now separated from him. “We’ve been calling you both for ages!”
Now it was Lukey’s turn to be confused.
“Ages?”
“Yeah, bro. You and Sem were taking shots in your lil corner you didn’t hear anybody shouting?” Tertel looked genuinely confused, which stung a little considering how on any given day he looked like an innocent puppy—Pangi’s words. “The fireworks are gonna start in a few minutes and the spots near the road are taken. Don’t make me miss them cause you two lovebirds decided tonight was the night.”
“Fuck off.” Lukey laughed and pushed the younger Brit away, hiding his reddening face behind a fist.
Tertel shrugged. “Hey man, I’m just the messenger. Wouldn’t want you to miss the big moment out there ya know?” He held up his camera subtly, still with that blank look on his face. Lukey sighed and held up his hands in defeat, before looking to Pangi.
“Can’t miss the big reason why you’re here right?” Pangi groaned, but made no argument.
By the time all three had made it out near the sidewalk, the shouts of many people could be heard, they were counting down in sync. “Ten! Nine!”
“Come on,” Pangi said, his voice low but cutting through the other noise. He didn’t wait for an answer, Lukey only felt a warm hand fall into place with his. The heat from the contact searing, compared to the frigid night air that wrapped around them as they ran and pushed through the crowd. As for poor Tertel? Lukey didn’t have time to care. “Three! Two! One!”
They emerged from the crowd, right up against the fence that prevented them from falling onto the beach-walk below, just as the first firework streaked across the night sky in a brilliant streak of silver. It burst into a hot, white bloom that painted both his and Pangi’s faces in light.
“HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!”
The shouts drowned out the following fireworks that screamed and bloomed in the air, curtaining the crowd in a myriad of colors from their light. But Lukey wasn’t paying attention, because he was engulfed in a sudden warmth and the beat of his heart booming in his ears. He could only smile and hope Tertel, lost somewhere in the crowd, was making sure that camera captured this moment… but it didn’t matter, cause this wouldn’t be the only time. It was just another first.
A first of hopefully, many more to come.