Chapter Text
The first time James had come across him, it was completely by accident. He’d been scrolling as he waited for his food to finish heating up when he misclicked onto a livestream.
Despite being a streamer himself, James surprisingly didn’t watch many streams himself. Maybe it was because he had to balance streaming with college. Maybe it was because he’d gotten somewhat bored of gaming. Either way, it didn’t change the fact that he didn’t watch streams. Let alone TikTok Lives.
Just as he was about to click out of the live, the streamer spoke.
“Hello, James.” The man—probably around the same age as James, perhaps a little younger—murmured, glancing up from whatever he was doing. James paused.
Nice, he thought faintly, his voice is really nice.
jaymzplayz: hi! :)
He typed into the chat out of curiosity. The accent seemed… familiar. Like Sirius’, but a bit stronger.
James couldn’t fully see the live-streamer, who’s display name was ‘Arcturus’, because the camera cut off his face at his lips. But his voice was nice, and James was bored, and the live count was a whopping ten people including him.
So, for some reason, he stayed.
✦✧✦
Every night, at exactly eight PM James’ time, Arcturus started his live. Mostly with a sketch book in his lap, with his latest project opened up to. But sometimes he liked to switch it up with oil or charcoal. Even acrylics, if they got lucky.
One thing that was nice and James wasn’t used to, was the small chat. Oftentimes, whenever he’d stream, so many people were spamming his chat he could barely read and reply to it.
But the chat was mostly made up out of—what James had gathered, at least—Arcturus’ friends who seemed to know him in real life. Sometimes there was the oddball; a curious viewer, like James had been at first. But, unlike them, James had stayed.
And, whenever James would join the live, Arcturus would greet him with a gentle smile and a lilt to his voice whenever he would say James’ name.
So it became routine. James would spare an hour to watch Arcturus sketch. Was delighted when he’d get to see the man work with colours instead of graphite, and was reluctant when it came time for him to start his own stream.
Maybe the view count of the live never surpassed fifty, but James couldn’t help but be slightly glad of it. And maybe it was selfish. But James had never claimed to be a selfless man. He was more than happy to keep that gentle smile to himself and those other four consistent viewers.
jaymzplayz: what are you drawing tdy?
James typed into the chat as soon as he joined before noticing Arcturus’ set up had changed slightly. Now, instead of a phone proper up against something with Arcturus sitting in front of it, it seemed like a more traditional streaming set up.
jaymzplayz: new set up!!
James pointed out the obvious, and yet it still drew a smile from Arcturus.
“You’ve gifted so many live gifts it’s racked up to a pretty good amount.” That familiar, lilting voice instantly had an effect on James. Many nights James had fallen asleep at his computer—he’d switched from his phone to his monitors after roughly a month—and accidentally missed his own streams.
Thankfully that wasn’t as common, but over the year James had definitely fallen asleep a few too many times. Often waking up to the ‘Live Ended’ message displayed across his monitor. It was those nights, ironically, that James slept the best. The soothing soft drone of Arcturus’ voice while he talked about whatever the fuck he wanted. The occasional response in French when ‘Pandora’—another regular viewer and a suspected friend of Arcturus’—would make a comment in it.
“I thought I’d treat myself a little, since it seems I’ve attracted such a loyal fan.” Arcturus teased dryly. And James would admit it: he may have a gifting problem. It also probably came from the fact that the first time he’d sent Arcturus a TikTok gift after a couple of months watching him, the man had gotten so flustered and surprised James had genuinely been flabbergasted by the reaction.
Naturally, James had gifted him another just to see his reaction again. Arcturus had been so adamant that James couldn’t send him anymore because, in his own words, ‘he had only started streaming for his friends, who couldn’t FaceTime’. Therefore James had sent three more gifts.
Arcturus had ended the stream before James’ hour was up.
Back then, James had thought he’d gone too far. His teasing too much for the more reserved male.
Yet Arcturus had greeted him with a smile and his name next time James had joined the stream. And while Arcturus had still been reluctant about the gifts, it wasn’t like he could refuse them. Eventually, though pure stubbornness and consistency, James was proud to say he’d gotten Arcturus used to receiving gifts from him.
He made enough from when he streamed Fortnite and other similar games either way, so ten dollars here and there was practically nothing.
It honestly wasn’t until an ‘Evans’ had made a joke about James being Arcturus’ sugar daddy did James realise just how many gifts he’d sent. Not that he cared. Plus, the slight blush that had risen to Arcturus’s cheeks—Arcturus now showed a bit more of his face, up to just a little past his nose, now—had been well worth it.
jaymzplayz: youre so good i genuinely cant believe you dint have more followers
jaymzplayz: *dont
James leaned back in his chair, eyes tracking each movement of Arcturus’ hands as he held the mechanical pencil loosely. That’s how he started out every sketch. Eventually, if it was a graphite drawing, Arcturus would flesh out the rest with proper pencils (something about different hardnesses and that makes them darker? Arcturus was the artistic one, not James, thank you very much).
“I’m good with my one hundred and fifty followers.” Arcturus shrugged, flipping the pencil idly as he scrolled on his iPad off to the side. Probably looking for more inspiration past the rough base he had down.
jaymzplayz: your art belongs in the louve
jaymzplayz: lourve
jaymzplayz: louvre
jaymzplayz: you know what im talking about
Soft. Arcturus was soft in a way James hadn’t experienced.
Remus was kind. Peter was funny. Sirius was loyal. James loved and cherished the friendship he had with them. But Arcturus was different. He was sarcastic to the point where James had to actually think about what the male had said. Subtle and sharp, and unfailingly witty. Yet it was delivered with a curl at the corners of his lips. As if to soften the subtle blow against one's ego. Reserved for only a few people, and James was lucky enough to be one of them.
“I went earlier.” Arcturus turned the iPad toward the camera, showering the reference photo. Some old painting probably from the Renaissance, if James had to guess.
Then what the artist had said clicked.
jaymzplayz: you live in paris?
James asked curiously. While he would’ve never asked if this was some random streamer, he’d been watching Arcturus for a little over a year at this point, now. Hell, if Arcturus paid even a little attention to James’ many comments—which he knew Arcturus did—he could probably piece together where James lived, too.
But that would also mean Arcturus was streaming regularly at 2 AM. Everyday.
“Yes, I do.” Arcturus answered, seemingly trusting James enough to confirm the question. Though the fact he’d mentioned visiting the Louvre so casually had given it away, anyway.
jaymzplayz: ITS 2 AM THERE?
James wanted to chastise the man but couldn’t, seeing as his streaming habits were just as bad. If not worse, at times.
Arcturus’ lips twitched but he didn’t respond.
“I’ll be drawing Icarus.” He brushed aside the question, answer enough as he got out his oil pastels. A normal stream, just like every other before it.
✦✧✦
James was tired. It was well past midnight at this point, and he’d been streaming for three hours at this point. Any other night he would’ve been fine. James could pull all nighters without any trouble and still attend any classes he might have that day.
But shit had hit the fan, earlier on, and he’d considered just cancelling his stream to watch Arcturus until he fell asleep, but he’d done that earlier that week already. Finals were a pain in the ass, with his Stats class damn near sending him into psychosis after only missing one class worth of material.
nic0l3xx: james have you ever considered streaming anything else besides games?
batman4lif: I mean, he IS a gaming streamer?
nic0l3xx: obviously I know that
nic0l3xx: I was js curious like not everyones life revolves around gaming..
N.1.TSfan: hes lit a gaming streamer why would he want to do anything else
N.1.TSfan: most gamers stick to gaming and dont like other stuff
batman4lif: GIRL WHAT LMAOAOAOAOO WDYM THEY DONT LIKE OTHER STUFF
mcdonaldslargec0ke: LMAO IM CRYING WHO ARE YOUUUU
James just watched the chat in tired confusion.
“Do you know gamers in real life?” James asked, voice full of silent amusement as he felt exhaustion hooked its claws into him and a laugh bubbled up. “We’re actual people, y'know." He drawled, not paying much attention to the match he was in.
“And no, Nicole. I watch art streams but I don’t think I’d ever do anything besides gaming.” James dodged a shot and grappled away, looking around in game for whoever had tried to shoot him.
“I’ll leave that to Arcturus.” He didn’t even notice the slip up until he finished the match and finally looked at the chat.
batman4lif: ARCTURUS?? WHO TF IS ARCTURUS
mcdonaldslargec0ke: JAMES WHAT WHO IS THAT??? PLS WE NEED AN ANSWRR
nic0l3xx: wait is this your boyfriend? are you gay?
N.1.TSfan: ew not everyone is gay
mcdonaldslargec0ke: holy fuck shut up
guest: WAIT NO JAMES YOU HAVE TO TWLL US WHO ARKTUEUS IS???
Wormtail[mod]: no homophobia allowed. N.1.TSfan has been banned.
batman4lif: thank godddd
Damn. Why the hell were they overreacting so much? It was just a name and the chance of anyone in his chat knowing Arcturus—who had a mere 149 followers, with James being one of them—was slim to none. And yet now 400 something viewers were spamming his chat and James could barely keep up.
“It’s no one, just someone I like to watch stream.” James shrugged it off, clicking off of Fortnite. He’d wrapped up the match and it was starting to look more and more likely that he was going to end the stream early.
nic0l3xx: youve said before you dont watch streamers???
mcdonaldslargec0ke: yeah I remember someone asking for recs but u said u didnt watch streamers
batman4lif: just checked his TikTok and hes following someone with the display name Arcturus username is: ennuimortel ????
Oh. Oh. Had been using his main account for the entire year? And Arcturus never pointed out how James nearly had 15 Million followers and was watching some random French guy do art?
Of course Arcturus didn’t. No, Arcturus didn’t care James' smallest platform was TikTok and he still had a pretty big follower count. Had never mentioned it. (And maybe, just maybe, James found another reason to like him.)
James turned to face the camera. God, it was only 1 AM, he was buttfuck tired, and his chat was going feral over some guy he followed—not that Arcturus was just some guy.
“Please leave him alone.” James murmured tiredly, completely serious as he stared into the camera so everyone knew he meant every word he was saying.
“If any of you guys do some funky shit, I will find you and ban you on every platform so you can’t interact with me or him. He is a sweet guy who very much values his peace, and if any one of you disturb it too much I won’t be happy.” And with that, James ended the stream. Uncaring of the questions, exclamations, and emojis being spammed in chat.