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Avery @averythemayo
50k celebration qna stream on now come watch!!!
Derek doesn't mean to watch the stream. It's not like he's a fan or anything, not quite, he just... enjoys Avery's streams as background noise sometimes. Avery's a good Youtuber- he speaks to the camera naturally, like it's second nature to him, and does the same with his viewers on the couple of occasions he streams. Derek's always struggled with that part, meticulously writing and rewriting scripts until it sounds right to him. He doesn't even use his voice, most of the time, because he always feels like it sounds weird on recording. The Minecraft chat function is his saviour, in his videos. But then again, considering Avery mostly does server games on Hypixel, he doesn't think the other creator would have the time to type in chat between plays.
But as it so happens, Avery is live, Derek is editing a new video and so he decides- why the hell not. So he joins the stream, turns up the volume, and zones out to listen.
It's Avery's celebration stream, for hitting 50k; Derek congratulates the other silently, and half-listens as he frowns at his own screen and his editing software. It's not like he has that many followers, by Internet standards, but he's still grateful for the 10 thousand or so people who think his content is somehow worth watching.
On stream, Avery's Minecraft character hops back and forth in the Hypixel lobby as he chatters away. Derek tunes him out and keeps editing, staring at his screen. Sometimes he decides he has a love-hate relationship with video editing. It's good when it turns out right, but the work needed to get there... damn.
"Next question! Do I do any sports? Well, I skateboard," Avery tells his audience on-stream, cheerful as he messes around with the lobby parkour, "I'm not the best at it, like, no championships or anything, but I'd like to think I'm pretty good!"
The other creator's voice is almost soothing, background noise so he can focus. Avery doesn't scream that much, thankfully, enthusiastic as he is, so Derek doesn't mind listening to him talk. And eventually, after about half an hour, Derek gives up on editing and leaves the stream in favour of an early night.
The next morning, Derek wakes up to his phone absolutely blowing up. He is not a morning person, by any means, so his phone ringing non-stop with notifications makes him want to hit something. Unluckily for him, there is nothing within reach that he'd be fine with destroying, so instead, he reaches for his glasses and squints at his phone.
Why the hell does he have dozens- hundreds, even- of notifications?
Most of them are from his rarely-used Twitter account, the rest all Youtube notifications, so Derek opens Twitter first, staring.
He's hallucinating, is his first conclusion.
Logically, these kinds of things happen. A lucky break, the kind of thing that leads to follower counts and likes spiking, the lucky algorithm timing-slash-blessing that Derek never cared enough about to engineer for himself. So what's triggered this? His notifications are too flooded to be of any use, so he scrolls through until he sees a linked video, a clip from Avery's stream last night.
When Derek clicks on it, he's not sure what he's expecting.
On-screen, Avery grins in his little corner, his avatar hopping back and forth between two jumps as he scans the chat.
"Next- oh, this one's interesting. Who would I want to collaborate with, given the opportunity?"
Avery hums. Thinks for a moment, moving a few jumps forward, then a few jumps back. Then finally, he grins, and says, "I mean, the obvious big names aside, you all know who I idol-worship... Actually, there's this one Youtuber I like to watch sometimes!"
He's not stupid. He can see where this is going, with all the mentions and the sudden activity on his Youtube. But that doesn't mean Derek is ready to hear his own, stupid, channel name come out of Avery's mouth. He came up with that channel name while he was sleep-deprived and running on nothing but adrenaline and caffeine one night. It's a little embarrassing to hear.
"-His content is more like. Complicated, you gotta lock in, but he's really good at his work, so I'd recommend you check it out if you're interested! He deserves more appreciation, he's got this really clear way of explaining things and it makes me more interested in the content," Avery says brightly as the clip ends, and Derek just sits there, at too-fucking-early in the morning, staring at his phone.
He takes off his glasses. Cleans them with his shirt. Puts them back on. And no, nothing has changed- the earth continues to spin on its axis, Derek still wants to go back to sleep, and apparently Avery's comments on stream have given him a giant boost in terms of viewership and likes. This is something that he's going to have to deal with going forward, apparently, he thinks. Tentatively, he looks through some of his mentions on Twitter, and then- interestingly enough- sees a tweet from Avery himself on his timeline.
Avery @averythemayo
omg guys don't crowd the poor guy??? I appreciate your support but he must be so confused
Derek smiles, a little. Well. It's already a strange morning, and he hasn't actually, fully woken up yet, so Derek is well within his rights to be a little bit reckless. Just a little.
der @d3rlord3
can't believe i left stream after the skateboarding answer and missed the shoutout. thanks @averythemayo
For the record: Avery does not have a crush. He'd just like to make that clear. His viewers are all heathens for even suggesting that he has a crush.
Just because he talked about how cool D3rlord is does not mean that he has a crush. He wakes up bright and early, gets everything in order, and winces at the sheer amount of Twitter notifications. It would appear Avery underestimated his viewers, because wow. That's a lot of mentioning D3rlord, and guilt creeps in as he scrolls through his timeline. He's glad to get the other creator some recognition, really, but still. Will D3rlord be too overwhelmed? He's gonna have to fix this somehow. Avery sends out a quick tweet, begging his fans not to crowd the other Youtuber, and settles for scrolling through the timeline some more.
He really didn't mean to go on like that last night. Avery was going to say something simple, like everyone was expecting- Technoblade or Grian, one of the big Youtubers he basically hero-worships, but something had just compelled him to be honest. And if he's being honest, well, there's no competition. There's just something about D3rlord, the way he thinks and explains things without even needing to use his voice, and it draws Avery's curiosity.
@d3rlord3 has mentioned you.
The notification makes Avery yelp over his morning coffee as he scrambles to read it. It's just a couple of lines, concise and simple, but Avery blinks at it in surprise. The skateboarding answer? He remembers that question, one that was fairly early on. D3rlord watches him? Like. His videos? Is a regular enough fan to have caught one of his streams?
He's always been a little shy on his Twitter account, following just the big names and a couple of artists he likes. Somewhere in the mix of notifications that have started flooding in since D3rlord's tweet, there's a simple, innocuous one, informing him that D3rlord now follows him on Twitter. Without hesitation, Avery follows him back. Well. D3rlord started it, so it'd be okay for Avery to continue it, right? He stares at the Tweet for a while, wanting to reply, and eventually comes up with nothing.
Finally, Avery makes a decision, and starts up a direct message.
Hey, this is Avery! I saw your tweet, no trouble at all, but hopefully the notifs aren't too overwhelming! My viewers can be a bit much.
Is it too formal? It seems too formal. He deletes the text and tries again. Is it too awkward to mention his viewers? Does it feel condescending? He's a bigger creator, it might feel condescending, he really doesn't want to mess this up. One more try.
Hey this is Avery :) No trouble at all! Really do love your content lol
Okay. Yes. He hits send before he can think too much about it, and then promptly drops his phone on the ground when the message shows as read a couple of minutes later. Oops. Avery shoots a panicked glance at the houseplants in his apartment, like they can save him from whatever Avery's going to do next, until his phone- still on the ground- buzzes.
Fuck. He paces around for another couple of minutes. Look. It's just- well, D3rlord is cool. Avery genuinely doesn't understand why the guy isn't more popular, because every video of his is very clearly methodically crafted and thought through. And he's fun. Even through just his Minecraft chats, he's got jokes and sarcasm. Finally, Avery steels himself, and picks up his phone again.
One new message. It's concise. Very D3rlord.
Congratulations on 50k. You more than deserve it.
Avery grins. Winces a little at the crack in his phone's screen protector, the one that's popped up from dropping it on the floor- he has to fix that somehow- and then types out a reply.
I'm glad you're getting more recognition too! Dude your latest video on cipher stacking was so so so cool
It's a little too enthusiastic, in hindsight, but if D3rlord watches Avery's content, he knows enthusiastic is Avery's thing. And he follows Avery, and he likes Avery anyway, so there.
Avery slumps back into his sofa, hand dragging across his face. He's never really felt self-conscious about his streaming before; why is it so different now? D3rlord does online content too, Minecraft content even, so there's no real reason he should be feeling this self-conscious. Maybe he's just out of practice when it comes to social interaction, who knows.
His phone buzzes again. Avery's thoughts promptly take a backseat, and he scrambles to reply.