Chapter Text
“Boom!” Avery shouted, standing up and sending his chair flying backwards, “That is how you do it, guys!” He gave one final air punch for good measure and sat back down, glancing at the chat messages flowing in.
that final kill? fucking incredible
lmfaoooo this is too easy for him
that guy didn’t stand a chance omfg
avery pleaaaasssseeeee make a survival world
“Aww, thanks guys! You know, I have been considering a survival world for a while now. I’ll let you guys know if I decide to do it,” Avery said, aimlessly running his avatar through the Skywars lobby.
He always thought you could tell what a player would be like based on how they acted in the lobbies. JaxIsDead over there was sure to be an easy kill, they’ve already fallen off the parkour twice in the few moments Avery had been in the lobby. argyles0000cks, meanwhile, gracefully skipped over the blocks spiraling into the sky, so they at least knew how to move. Combat was another problem, Avery thought as he glanced towards another player standing dead still in the lobby. He paused for a moment. This person was in his last game, but he’d died way back at the start. D3rlord3, despite his knight skin, didn’t put up much of a fight. Avery was pretty sure he got knocked off an island just a few moments into the game. His head swiveled ever so slightly, somehow seeming to make eye contact through the screen.
yooooo wehns the next round starting i just got here
bruh whys that dude staring at you like that hello
death stare final boss omg
“And here we go!” Avery said as the world around him disappeared, giving way to a fresh island covered in red sand and buildings dotted with lime wool. He quickly began gathering supplies, looting each chest with record speed and bridging over to the next island. The blue team didn’t stand a chance next to Avery, leaving him able to talk comfortably to the audience while he fought.
hes on green team hes got this in the bag
yiiiiiikes
Wait what why is green good????
cause hes a slime bruh
oooh there’s that guy from the lobby earlier! over on yellow team
Avery paused to glance at the chat for a moment, having successfully knocked the guy from blue off the map. His head swiveled in game to look at the growing bridge of yellow wool just an island away from him, and sure enough, D3rlord3’s knight skin poked out from beneath his yellow armor. Another easy kill, Avery decided, and he began to rapidly bridge over towards D3rlord3, who seemed to think building up was his best strategy for some reason Avery couldn’t figure out.
He quickly built up behind him and gave him a gentle punch, leaving D3rlord just enough time to turn around before Avery whipped out his sword and knocked him off the island.
“Too easy,” he chuckled. He swiveled his head down to see D3rlord still falling for just a moment before he disappeared and the chat message popped up.
D3rlord3 was thrown into the void by AveryTheMayo
BAHHHAHHAHHAHAHA
poor guy all he wanted was to play skywars in peace
THE SINGLE PUNCH BEFORE KILLING HIM I CANT
theress no peace in skywars bro are u dumb??
The rest of the game passed by in a blur for Avery, just flashes of battles and bridging for the next few minutes until Lem0nosauurus from the red team managed to kill him after a painfully long PvP battle. And yet, Avery’s disappointment at the loss quickly disappeared when he found D3rlord waiting in the lobby once again. This time, however, he offered up a couple punches towards Avery’s avatar.
what is this guy doing hello
Acting like he’s sooooo good at this meanwhile he’s died every time we’ve seen him
nooo they’re twinning now cause avery punched him earlier remember
CAN THE NEXT GAME START ALREADY
whys he like obsessed with you avery
“He can just sense my talent, guys. He knows he’s in the presence of greatness,” Avery joked, punching back at D3rlord. “Nah, nah, I’m just kidding. Maybe he just watches my streams or something and wanted to say hi.”
AVERY YOU SHOULD TEACH HIM TO PLAY SKYWARS
YES IT WOULD BE SO CUTE AND FUN
Guys idk if he would be on board with that
yeah that could seem really condescending
Avery looked away from the chat as the game loaded in and he once again began to play. He could see D3rlord on the island next to him, red banners waving over the void as D3rlord began to bridge over towards Avery, each block being placed painfully slowly.
“What is this guy doing? He knows I’m just gonna kill him,” Avery chuckled, placing down wool to meet D3rlord in the middle. “He keeps going up, and I have no clue why. It’s not doing anything for him.”
He stared up at D3rlord for a moment. Both of them hesitated, waiting for the other to make the first move. Avery sucked in a breath.
D3rlord jumped. And for a moment, it almost seemed like he could knock Avery off the map. But there was a reason Avery’s first YouTube video was called “GODLY GAME OF SKYWARS,” and that was incredibly obvious to everyone watching the stream as Avery quickly took the upper hand in the fight, almost certainly knocking D3rlord down to just a couple hearts before delivering one final blow that sent him flying off into the void.
D3rlord3 was doomed to fall by AveryTheMayo
atp I feel kinda bad for the guy
DUUUUDDEEEE THAT CLUTCH
avery you should really teach him skywars tricks pleeeaasseeee
Avery cleared his throat, launching snowballs at another player as he skipped around the map. “Guys, I can’t just offer to teach him how to play Skywars. I mean, it sounds fun and all, but I would sound so rude and condescending, and I’m just not gonna do that. Sorry, guys.”
He glanced back toward the Twitch chat and promptly almost fell out of his chair.
D3rlord3: I’d be happy to take lessons
D3rlord3: I definitely need them
“Jesus Chris–D3rlord? You’re here? On my stream?” Avery cried out incredulously, attempting to gracefully climb back up into his chair. On screen, he could somewhat make out the world turning white as someone punched him into the void, but that didn’t matter now.
D3rlord3: Yeah I just got here
Avery took a deep breath and double-checked the messages. “Guys, stop flooding the chat. I can’t read what he’s saying.”
But sure enough, the bright text still read that D3rlord wanted to be taught to play Skywars. By Avery. Who was probably qualified skill-wise, but certainly had no idea how to teach someone to actually play the game. PvP just came naturally to him; he had never really thought about specific ways of getting better, just a general idea that if he kept practicing he’d be good someday. How he was meant to transfer those skills to someone else, he had no clue. And yet, the next words that came out of his mouth were:
“Sure, D3rlord. Right now?”
D3rlord3: Sure. Give me a moment
Avery exhaled. His phone buzzed. A Twitter notification popped up on the screen: D3rlord3 sent you a Direct Message.
“Jesus Christ!” Avery yelped, dropping his phone on the floor, “Give a guy some warning! Do you even follow me on Twitter?”
omg are they messaging each other??
wait what if this was planned all along or something
Bro let him live even if it was planned it’s still fun
THEY SHOULD COLLAB FOR REAL
Tf does he need a warning for it’s just a dm
Avery rolled his eyes and picked his phone up off of the ground. He leaned back in his chair and prayed he looked normal.
D3rlord3: Hey Avery, I figured this would be easier than the Twitch chat
averythemayo: all good lol :)
averythemayo: if its okay i might just talk to you through the stream and read your messages
D3rlord3: Whatever works best for you
D3rlord3: And yeah, I’ve been following you on Twitter for a while now
D3rlord3: Thanks, by the way. I appreciate this
averythemayo: ofc! this is gonna be so fun!
averythemayo: fair warning tho i’ve never tried to teach someone to play skywars so idk how well this will go
“Okay, I’m gonna set up a private party, that way we’ll be on the same team for duos instead of singles. You’ll get a notification in the Minecraft chat when I do it so you can join,” Avery told D3rlord, fingers flying across the keyboard to make the party. He tried to ignore the fact that D3rlord following him on Twitter probably meant he watched his streams with some regularity. A few moments later, the notification that D3rlord had joined appeared on his screen, and Avery steeled himself for the next round.
“So my first piece of advice is stop building up, I guess. It’s not really doing anything to help you in the end, and if you really wanna be good you have to be more willing to fight,” Avery said, punching D3rlord’s avatar, “And then we should probably work on some PvP skills too so that you don’t keep dying to me.”
D3rlord3: Avery
D3rlord3: We’re on the same team
D3rlord3: You can’t kill me
D3rlord3: Right??
Avery snorted. “No, of course I’m not going to kill you. But everyone else here will if you don’t get better at PvP. The round’s starting, so just follow my lead, okay?”
D3rlord3: I don’t think I’m ready for this Avery
“Nah, you’ll be fine. Here we go!” he grinned as the two of them spawned onto their island. “Okay, you gotta be fast with collecting supplies from the chests and mining stuff. That’ll give you time to prepare.”
Avery patiently waited as pieces of armor slowly covered D34lord’s skin, having already raided two of the chests on the island.
“Perfect. Now, do you know how to speed bridge?”
The look D3rlord gave him through the screen was more than enough of an answer.
“Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Uh, how do I explain this?” Avery said, gnawing on his lip. Thankfully, no one seemed to be bridging towards them yet, but Avery knew they didn’t have much time.
tell him that he just needs to get good at letting go of crouch quickly
Literally its just reflexes he just needs to practice
“Chat’s telling me it’s all in the reflexes. They’re not wrong, but I really don’t have a better way of explaining it beyond practicing. We gotta go though, otherwise someone’s gonna come kill us,” Avery said.
D3rlord3: Maybe we could try in another world?
D3rlord3: Or somewhere else on Hypixel where people aren’t actively trying to kill us?
Avery coughed. “Uh, yeah, sure. Let’s see how this round goes first. Who knows, maybe my incredible teaching skills will kick in under some pressure.” He lifted his hand away from the keyboard for a fraction of a second to flash his fingers crossed, then began building towards the next island.
“You know this part, right? Gathering more supplies?”
D3rlord3: No, Avery
D3rlord3: I don’t know how to mine blocks
He let out a laugh, “Sorry, sorry. Just checking! Oh, shucks, blue team is coming for us! You got a sword?” D3rlord flashed a sword in his hand as the leather-clad blue team sprinted across the island toward them. Avery drew in a breath, flexing his fingers over his mouse.
Now, he wasn’t normally one to brag about his PvP skills–or maybe he was, but let him pretend–but even he couldn’t deny that he obliterated the other team in this fight. Maybe it was the fact that he had to keep D3rlord alive to face another fight, but he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he landed hit after hit on the two players. D3rlord didn’t do quite as much, having landed one hit before backing off, but he was still alive, and to Avery, that was the more important thing for this game. He wasn’t quite sure what it was about D3rlord that made him so invested in the game, but he was certainly having a good time, and by the looks of the Twitch chat, so did his viewers.
“Okay,” Avery exhaled, “Nice job for your first fight where you didn’t die. Next time we’ll try out staying in for more than a hit though.”
LOLLLLLL
FUCK YEAH AVERY FOR THE WIN
and d3rlord3!
Can’t forget about his one hit!
Avery turned to face the center island, scanning for any players close to them. The center island still seemed mainly empty, despite it being so late in the game. He hadn’t been paying much attention to the Minecraft chat, but he vaguely remembered a decent number of players having been eliminated.
D3rlord3: Hey it was a tactical retreat!
“Sure, sure. Tactical retreat. Whatever you say, D3rlord.”
D3rlord3: ?>wdaswadd
The sound of a sword hitting someone rang out through Avery’s headphones, causing him to wince.
“D3rlord?” He spun around to see both members of the yellow team, decked out in full diamond armor, viciously attacking the knight. “Oh, fudgesicles.”
He immediately began hitting back at the yellow team, occasionally flinging a snowball to try to knock them back. In his peripheral view, D3rlord backed up once again, bow in hand but clearly only a few arrows to spare.
“Okay, I think we gotta run now!” Avery cried out, turning to sprint away from the yellow team. His heart pounded as if they were truly being chased, and he could only pray that D3rlord was still behind him. No death notifications had popped up yet, but there was no guaranteeing he wasn’t on just a couple hearts.
“This would be a lot easier if I could hear you talking,” Avery muttered, straining to hear if D3rlord was still behind him. He stopped abruptly, sword in hand, and turned to begin another round of attacks. His muscles relaxed just the slightest bit at the sight of D3rlord still glued to his side. Avery pulled out a bow and began shooting, trying to put a little more space between the four of them. Snowball hit on D3rlord. He’d gotten a few solid hits on one of the people, but diamond armor was a strong defense and he couldn’t be sure the player was anywhere close to death. Another hit with a sword on D3rlord. In the corner of his eye, Avery could see a deep green item lingering in his hotbar. An ender pearl.
“D3rlord! I need you to take this pearl and get out, okay? I know you can’t type at me right now, but if you’re going to stay alive then you just need to get away. I’m gonna toss it in just a sec, hold on.”
He fired another shot from his bow, knocking one of the players back several blocks. He got one more hit on the remaining player and quickly threw the ender pearl towards D3rlord, who… just stood there.
“D3rlord, take the pearl! I can hold them!”
D3rlord3: can’t leave you
Avery rolled his eyes. “Yes, you can! Stop messaging me and go! We don’t have time!” He could see the other players making their way back towards them.
D3rlord moved towards the pearl, picked it up. And for a brief moment, Avery thought he might throw it and get away. But the sword stayed firmly in his hand. Avery pursed his lips. D3rlord stared back at him through the screen, clearly unwilling to throw the pearl.
“Fine. Do what you want, I guess,” Avery said. The two lunged into battle, each practically spam-clicking their mouses to just try to do some damage. Avery landed a crit on the player nearest him.
“He’s gotta be low, he has to be. There’s no way,” he said, more to himself than the chat at this point in time. Before he could score another one though, D3rlord ran across his screen and hit the avatar mid-leap. They exploded in a mass of gear: armor, weapons, blocks now sprawled out across the island, the only other trace of them remaining being the death notification in the chat.
Arch1veDeEmEs was killed by D3rlord3
“Holy fudge! You just killed that guy! That was so freaking cool, oh my god!” Avery shouted, twisting to punch the ground near D3rlord.
ts was so fucking cool oml
cant believe he actually managed to kill someone
AVERY BEHIND YOU
Avery registered the message in the chat just a moment too late, spinning around and gearing up to fight just as the final player leapt into the air, landing the killing blow on Avery.
“OH FUDGE!” Avery screamed, “Shoot, I’m so sorry, D3rlord!”
AveryTheMayo was killed by KingInYellow
D3rlord3 was killed by KingInYellow
Yellow Team is the winner!
“And sorry, chat. Didn’t mean to scream like that at you guys,” Avery sighed as fireworks exploded around him.
D3rlord3: It’s okay
D3rlord3: That’s the longest I’ve ever survived in a game
Avery smiled slightly, tilting back in his chair.
that was the most intense game of skywars ive ever seen
“i can hold them” awwww thats so cute
The way he was willing to put his life on the line for this guy he just met omfg
where can i get a man like this immediately
“That was seriously good for your first time with something of a fighting chance. And thanks for saving me,” Avery told D3rlord, noticing that his cheeks were flushed red in the camera monitor. It must be something strange with his lighting. “You wanna try another, or was that enough for the day?”
D3rlord3: I think that might be enough
D3rlord3: My heart hasn’t raced this much in a long time
Avery grinned. “Same here. I can hear my heartbeat in my ears. Plus, I should probably wrap up the stream soon anyway.”
NOOOOOOOO
AVERY DONT LEAVE US PLEASE
can d3rlord come back another time
Yeah lol that was so fun i wanna see him again
“Only if D3rlord is good with it. I don’t want anyone putting any pressure on him for this, okay?” Avery told the chat.
averythemayo: dw about deciding now either you’ve got time :)
D3rlord3: I’d be happy to do this again
D3rlord3: I definitely need the practice
D3rlord3: :)
averythemayo: yay! lmk when you want to do it
averythemayo: it can also be off stream if you don’t wanna deal with that
are they texting each other again??
This is such a good duo omg
okay judging by avery’s face i think he said yes to doing it again
loooollll his face is so red rn
“Okay, guys, I think that’s where I’m gonna end the stream for today. Thanks for watching everybody!” Avery said, grinning at the camera before clicking to turn the stream off. He exhaled and leaned back in his desk chair once again. His phone buzzed on the desk.
D3rlord3: Thank you again for helping me out
D3rlord3: I really enjoyed this
averythemayo: of course!
averythemayo: i really enjoyed teaching you!
The typing notification appeared beneath Avery’s message, then disappeared. Reappeared, then disappeared again. He sighed and put his phone down again. Outside his window, the sun had begun to set already, leaving his apartment illuminated by the warm glow of the fairy lights strung on the walls and the brilliant lights from his gaming system. Avery padded into the kitchen, pulling out the hot chocolate powder to make himself a mug.
When he returned to his desk, still nothing had come through from D3rlord. He opened his Twitter to see dozens of notifications, all about the stream.
jizzie’s child @xXldshadowbabyXx:
looooved the stream today omfg i need d3rlord to come back
Decked Out Matthew @MayorKurtis:
lol that was one of the best games of skywars i’ve ever seen #BringD3rlordBack
kurt @nyadaalum:
found family but its skywars #BringD3rlordBack
◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️ @ComingFromCarcosa:
anyone else find this suspicious as fuck? some random just “happens” to be on avery’s stream and then gets a lesson where he and avery seem like they’ve been friends for years? idk seems planned to me
Pads @moonysdog103181:
literally no the fuck not? and who actually gives a fuck if that’s what happened it was fucking fun avery don’t listen to anything this person says #bringd3rlordback
Avery dropped his phone onto the desk before he could keep reading. For the most part he did his best to ignore any hate comments and just tried to put it all behind him. His first few months as a streamer definitely taught him that he couldn’t fight back against everyone. He took a sip of the hot cocoa. Checked his phone. Glanced out the window. Checked his phone. Looked through the fridge for dinner food. Checked his–D3rlord3 sent you a Direct Message
A Discord link. For D3rlord. Avery clicked it immediately, a smile spreading across his face as the app loaded in.
averythemayo: hey d3r!
averythemayo: is it okay if i call you d3r? or der?
d3rlord3: Sure, why not
d3rlord3: I thought this would be better than Twitter DMs
averythemayo: ohhh yeah i hate it on there
averythemayo: honestly i wouldn’t even use it but it’s good for the channel you know?
d3rlord3: I get what you mean
d3rlord3: Anyways I just wanted to tell you that I’m good to play more Skywars whenever you want to
d3rlord3: Really whenever is best with your schedule works for me
averythemayo: ok! my next stream is scheduled for monday at seven
averythemayo: pm, not am
averythemayo: i’m not a heathen
averythemayo: ik that might not work with your work schedule so lmk
d3rlord3: Nope, that’s all good with me
d3rlord3: I have to go, but I’ll talk to you then
d3rlord3: Bye :)
averythemayo: byeeee
Somehow during this conversation, Avery had made it from his desk to his bedroom, and he promptly flopped onto the navy blue comforter, nestling himself into the pillows. He opened up Twitter once again and quickly tapped out a tweet.
Avery @averythemayo:
stream with @D3rlord3 monday seven pm et :) come back for more skywars!