Work Text:
When Vash’s college classes had ended, the young blonde snatched his messenger bag off of the back of his seat and ran out of the building as if it were on fire. He made a beeline for the wonderful house he shared with his twin brother off campus. Unlocking the many locks on the front door and kicking the door shut without bothering to lock it back before he booked it up the stairs. He took the steps two or three at a time and launched himself into his room. His laptop was out of his bag and open on his bed in one fluid movement and he was quick to pull up ol’ reliable, his favorite person’s friday stream.
Vash had found them about a year ago through some of their eclectic attempts at ASMR scenarios and he originally followed so that he could continue to get fresh scenarios to listen to and pretend he had a friend to. But, he continued to watch them when they moved on to try new things on their channel, and now, he never missed an upload.
When they switched over to doing faceless streams, Vash fell in love with the longer form, more off-the-cuff style of content. He especially fell in love with the ability to send them money and watch their reactions real time.
Of course, Vash knew better than to try and ‘buy’ the streamer’s attention that way, but he still loved the way their voice brightened up and they recognized his username whenever he sent them a hundred dollars or more. It made his chest feel warm and filled his belly with butterflies each time. Especially after a hard day of college classes like the one he’d just had, their casual video game streams were a wonderful balm.
However, his mood dipped a bit when he heard the familiar jingle of a donation being sent, and he saw the familiar pop-up that his streamer had for large donations.
“Wow! Thank you for the 500 dollar donation! That is an insane amount of money to send to me.” They said, just as surprised by the amount of money as Vash was. Though, they didn’t feel the knot of hurt that tied itself in Vash’s chest.
No, this doesn’t mean anything. It’s fine. It’s just a donation. He told himself. Plus, I can easily outdo that, so it’s nothing special. Yet, his logic didn’t soothe the pain at all. His chest continued to burn and ache while he laid on his bed and tried to watch the stream as normal. Eventually, he had to turn it off when his eyes began to burn with tears. He couldn’t get his mind off of that donater, though. The idea of another person loving his streamer so much that they’re willing to send so much money ate at him as the hours ticked by without him moving. It made him burn with a noxious mixture of agony and anger. Vash didn’t even know who had sent it, but he knew he hated them.
He similarly hated that he felt that way. He knew what it meant, and it made his stomach twist and his mouth turn sour when he thought about it too much. Oh god, am I like my brother?