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You and Stelle were enjoying a nice day off from your streaming career. Or well, it was her streaming career. But regardless, the two of you were enjoying the day off.
She worked as a full time streamer, streaming various different games to her fans every day except Mondays, cause fuck Mondays. Meanwhile you worked as her full time editor, producer, makeup artist, pretty much everything that wasn’t the actual streaming. And you enjoyed it a lot. You love getting to make your girlfriend look pretty all day for her fans and staring at her gorgeous face all day long.
Today was just like any other Monday, you and Stelle sitting on the couch with you head resting in her lap, and a movie playing on your big TV. You really enjoy these Mondays just sitting here with her without either of you having to worry about putting on a front for the audience. You could just enjoy each other as your authentic selves, and it was a nice start to each new week.
However, while today started off feeling just like every other Monday, you would soon realize it was anything but ordinary as you hear your doorbell ring. Which was strange. You didn’t have any guests coming over or any packages being delivered. But alas, you get up from your position resting your head on your girlfriend’s lap and go walk down towards the front of the house to see what group was there to try and convert you or sell something to you or whatever.
Upon opening the door, you don’t see anyone there. But looking down you see an ordinary cardboard box about the size of a book sitting by your feet. That was strange, you could’ve sworn you didn’t have anything scheduled for delivery today.
So you shout over to Stelle, “Hey Babe, we didn’t have anything scheduled for delivery today, right?”
“Nope, nothing should’ve been delivered. Why? Is there a package?”
“Yeah, there’s a package just sitting out here.”
“Why don’t you bring it in and we’ll check out what’s inside?” she asks. And so you do. You pick up the package and as you do you notice it doesn’t feel very heavy. You bring it in and make sure to close the door behind you before taking the package to Stelle at the kitchen table.
She had already grabbed out one of your sharp knives from the kitchen cabinets and uses it to cleanly cut the tape keeping the package closed. You open it up and immediately realize what’s going on. Inside is a doll containing the caricature of the most popular prankster on the internet, Sparxie, and a card with one of her signature catch phrases written on it, “Did you miss me?”
As soon as you finish reading the card all the lights in your house turn off and you realize what you’ve walked into. This is another one of Sparxie’s prank shows, and this time like many others, you two are the targets. You reach over to grab Stelle’s hand and turn around to see the culprit right behind you… but she looks just as scared as the two of you are.
“Wait! Why did all the lights just suddenly turn off!?” she asks with terror in her voice. Okay… that’s strange, seems like she is just as shocked by that as you two are.
Stelle doesn’t seem to be buying it though, “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me? WHY did you turn off the lights and WHY are you in our house?”
She just shakes her head in response to this, still clearly scared but trying not to show it, “First of all, I’m just as confused about this light thing as you. I didn’t do it. Secondly, you forgot to lock the door when you got the package I left.” Crap! She was right! While you did remember to shut the door, your hands were full so you didn’t lock it.
Stelle, clearly still frustrated by the sudden intrusion, screams back at Sparxie, “I don’t care if we left the door unlocked! That wasn’t an invitation to enter our house! Now SCRAM or I’m calling the cops!”
It’s safe to say that the two of them don’t really have the best of a relationship. In fact you’d probably even say they’re opposed to one another. Sparxie had a long history of performing pranks on Stelle. In fact, Stelle was probably the most pranked person by Sparxie and that had contributed a large part to Sparxie’s success as a prankster. Most recently, it had contributed to Sparxie winning the Planarcadia Streamer Awards over Stelle, earning a specially designed mask in her honor that would be sold as merchandise all across the country as a reward.
Stelle was clearly still very upset over this and her past experiences with Sparxie. But looking at Sparxie right now you could tell she clearly didn’t have any ill intentions. Looking more closely at her right now, or as closely as you could in this darkness, you see not only a scared expression on her face, but also a nervous one. So you try to calm Stelle down a bit so the two of you can hear Sparxie out, “Relax, my Star. Look at her right now. She’s scared. She’s nervous. She’s clearly not here to be antagonistic right now.”
Stelle was not having ANY of it, “What do you mean she’s not trying to be antagonistic? Everything she’s EVER done to me has been to hurt me or mess with me. Do you REALLY believe she’s suddenly had a change of heart?”
“Gray Hair, when have I ever done anything to burt you?” Sparxie snaps back.
“Well for starters there was that time you pretended to be March for a whole day, taking me around to do things and promising to pay me back later. You never paid me back,” Stelle responds, using evidence to back up her claims against Sparxie.
“Do you really think so poorly of that experience,” Sparxie seems to have a sad tone in her voice as she responds, “Do you remember what else happened on that trip other than me playing Miss March and making you spend money?”
You see Stelle thinking for a moment but you immediately remember, “That was the day where Stelle and I first met. While she and ‘March’ were going around town, I stumbled into you two and you were the one who initially invited me to join the two of you for your trip around town.”
“Well it seems like someone here remembers the events of that night quite fondly,” Sparxie replies.
Stelle still doesn’t want to give up, trying to catch Sparxie with something, “Yeah well she’s not the one who had all her finances drained that day. I spent a thousand bucks doing things with you that day!”
Sparxie claps back, “And Stelle, do you happen to remember something else related to a thousand dollars that happened shortly after that?”
“Well…” Stelle ponders for a moment before responding, actually taking time to think through Sparxie’s words before immediately spouting back a response this time, “I remember shortly after that an anonymous user gave me a thousand bucks, but I’ve never been able to thank that generous soul.”
You immediately connect the dots based on the current conversation, but Stelle still seems to be too blinded by the situation to realize. Sparxie fills in the dots for her, “Well, someone who happens to be standing right in front of you right now promised to pay you back for the expenses of a trip we took together so she decided to gift you a thousand dollars on your stream.”
Once she finishes speaking, the lights suddenly turn back on, better revealing the expressions of the two people in front of you. Stelle’s expression had changed from the pure anger you have to imagine she was feeling before to one mixed between anger and confusion. Meanwhile Sparxie’s expression had shifted from a mixture of scared and nervous to a mixture of sad and nervous.
Despite the resolution of the lights problem and Sparxie proving herself not only innocent but to have even done Stelle a favor, she still wasn’t willing to just forgive Sparxie. So she pulls out another example, “What about when I was celebrating hitting 50 million subscribers on a cruise ship with all my best friends and you just showed up and made us search around the ship for non-existent bombs for hours on end?”
You also remember this experience as a very happy one. But before you can fill in the gaps in Stelle’s memory caused by her pure hatred for Sparxie she beats you to the punch, “Yeah, you had booked a cruise ship for three days and had nothing planned for the entire time you were on it. I gave you all something fun to do and a reason to explore the ship.”
“Fun? You call that fun?” Stelle was clearly not impressed by this answer, “That was some of the most stressful hours of my life!”
Sparxie sighs, “Gray Hair, sometimes you need to learn to live a little. A little stress every now and then can be a good thing. It gave you some motivation to complete the objective I had given you and explore the whole ship. And in the end, there wasn’t even an actual bomb, so no one was harmed in the process.”
Stelle seems to be finally coming around, but she’s still not entirely convinced, “Okay sure, maybe you did give us something to do, but that’s it. That’s what you do to make up for everything else you’ve done to me over the years.”
“Gray Hair, do you remember how that night ended after clearing out all the fake bombs?”
This one you remember very clearly, and you respond before she can, “You put on a beautiful firework show on the ship, as your ‘apology’ for all the running around you made us do. And while the fireworks were going, I kissed Stelle and finally confessed my love for her. That day we officially became girlfriends.”
“I’m glad at least someone remembers the lengths I go to,” Sparxie sighs again.
After this exchange, you swear you can physically hear the shell of Stelle’s hatred that had been clouding her vision crack. But that’s probably just in your imagination. Still, Stelle has one final question for Sparxie, “And what about the Planarcadia Streamer Awards? You used your pranks you pulled on me to propel you to the number one streamer and steal that prize from me. Do you know just how much that prize meant to me? I had such a cool idea that me and Firefly designed and I loved it so much.”
Finally, for the first time all day, you see Sparxie smile. A light smile, but still a smile as she revealed her secret and the reason she had come to see the two of you today, “Well here, why don’t you look at the design I chose for the mask. Here’s the first copy they made for me and I’d like to gift it to you as an apology for that.”
As she hands over the mask, you immediately recognize the design. It was the paper mask designed to look like a raccoon that you and Stelle had designed together. Somehow, Sparxie had managed to get her hands on the design and submitted it to the organizers to get it used as the mask design.
This was finally the thing that made Stelle fully crack. All the emotion that had been building up within her flooded out in tears as she just started crying. And not just lightly crying, but crying a lot. Seeing an opportunity that she thought she had lost actually turn to reality. You know just how happy she is right now.
You move over to her side and start rubbing your hand along the length of her back to steady her. As you do it, you hear her ask Sparxie another question, though this time not in an aggressive tone, but rather speaking in between sobs “Why? Why go through all these lengths for me? You helped me meet my girlfriend. You helped her have the moment to confess her love for me. And now this. Why?”
You’re just as eager to hear the answer as she is. And sure enough, Sparxie is eager to answer, and back to her normal overly cheery self, “Why? Because I love you Gray Hair.”
“What!?” you both exclaim in unison.
That was certainly not what you expected. What does she mean she's in love with Stelle. So you add on a bit more to your question, “If you love her so much, then why did you get her together with me?”
She chuckles in response, “Because I knew I’d be too much for her if I was her first girlfriend. After all, I am a bit on the needy side and I’m very excitable.” You hear a flirtatious tone in her voice as she speaks.
Now Stelle, having mostly gotten past the crying by this point, asks a question on behalf of both of you, “What, so you just expect me to break up with her to be with you now?”
“No!” she seems a bit appalled by this question, “What sort of villain do you take me as. Getting two girls together just to tear them apart!? No, not only do I love you Gray Hair, but I love Firefly as well. I want to date both of you.”
Truly, you had never thought about the idea of dating anyone other than Stelle. But Sparxie seemed so sincere, and as long as you’d still get to be with Stelle, you guess you didn’t mind at least giving it a try.
You turn to Stelle to get a gauge on what she’s thinking and you can tell from her expression that she’s thinking the same thing as you. You flash her a smile, to get confirmation from her that she’s okay with this, and she flashes you one in return. So you turn to Sparxie and give her a response on behalf of both of you, “Well… while I don’t think Stelle and I have really thought about the idea of an open relationship before, I also don’t think either of us is necessarily against the idea so long as we still have each other. So while I don’t think this is necessarily a yes, I think we’re willing to try it.”
As you finish speaking you turn back to Stelle, and she nods to confirm that she agrees with what you said. You then turn back to where Sparxie was standing on the other side of the room to see her running up to the both of you before pulling you in for one big group hug, “Thank you so so so much both of you. I love you both so much.”
And so, the ordinary Monday turned crazy returned back to a normal Monday, now with two heads resting on Stelle’s lap instead of just yours. But that’s when you get a strange sense of deja vu and hear the doorbell right once again. Just like last time, you get up and go to the door and open it up to see another package.
So you call out, “Hey you two! There’s another package!”
“Seriously? another one?” You hear Stelle reply.
Sparxie’s reply comes right after, “I promise it wasn’t me this time!”
The package is about the same size and weight as the last one, but you still decide to bring it in. This time, you remember to lock the door behind you and bring it over to the kitchen table. Stelle cuts it open with the same knife she had used before and inside the package is revealed to be… another doll. Though this one looks slightly different from Sparxie’s doll. It has brown hair and red clothes. But you don’t seem to recognize it, and neither does Stelle.
However, the person standing between the two of you seems to recognize it, she pulls the doll out roughly and reveals the note hidden underneath it. It reads “You’re welcome for saving you some power ;)”
As soon as you all read this, you hear Sparxie scream, “Curse you Sparkle!!!”