Work Text:
der @d3rlord3
streaming with avery on his channel in 15 minutes
🔁 Avery @averythemayo
SLIMEKNIGHT IS BACK LET’S GO
It started off as Avery’s idea. Admittedly, Avery’s idea was much more simple- he’d suggested that they react to their fans’ artwork. It was Derek who’d brought up the idea of pushing it a bit further, looking at the stories their audience had written instead.
(Avery thinks it’s honestly just because Derek has also seen all the fanart. He’s done the same thing, Avery just hasn’t gotten around to the fanfiction yet.)
While they wait for the stream to start, Avery admires the new loading screen- streams with Derek are on a different schedule, and he’s gotten a different loading screen for those instead. His own Minecraft avatar sits next to Derek’s gladiator-knight on a bench, their little characters kicking their legs and occasionally leaning their heads together.
It’s so cute. Avery almost feels bad when it gets replaced with their camera feed.
“Hello, everyone,” Derek says, comfortable in his chair beside Avery, “We know what’s happening on stream, but we’ll wait for a couple more people first before we say anything.”
Derek has gotten a lot more comfortable in front of the camera. Avery can’t help but delight in it, the easy way he manages their stream chat; the way he truly does fit perfectly into Avery’s own life. And it shows in other ways, too; Derek’s collection of plants has grown, all of them picked with Avery’s approval. He’s never not going to be charmed by the notes that are taped to the side of each pot, detailing how to care for each plant.
The same goes for Avery’s apartment. There’s a sweater on the back of the chair, a mug that’s been designated for Derek’s use- and on the shelves, there’s a scattered array of various trinkets and things that Derek has gifted Avery, often for no particular reason. Just because, Derek tells Avery, and it never fails to make him blush and smile.
One day soon, maybe they can move in together. But that idea still makes Avery turn bright red, so he’ll keep it to himself. Maybe in a few more months, he’ll bring it up to Derek.
“Can we start yet?” Avery wonders, checking the chat and making sure the announcement is up, “I really want to get today’s stream started.”
hello!!!
Hi D3r hi Avery!
EXCITED what have you planned???
“Go ahead,” Derek says, and Avery brightens up, “So! Today, we are doing a very intellectual activity, because we are educated and intelligent content creators-”
“We’re reading AO3, hide the weird stuff,” Derek deadpans, and the amount of chaos that one sentence generates is glorious. Avery cackles.
WHAT DID I JUST HEAR
SORRY??? HELLO???
WHO TOLD THEM ABOUT AO3
PRIVATE ANYTHING NOT RATED G NOW
Capital letters, unintelligible keysmashes, swearing, and screaming. It’s beautiful, and Avery cannot help but laugh uncontrollably, doubling over as Derek smirks at the camera (hot, and Avery needs to remember to go back and take a screenshot later, he can never have enough photos of his boyfriend).
“Would you do the honours?” Avery asks as he wraps his arm around Derek, and Derek laughs a little as he reaches for the mouse, “Of course, Aves. You have the list of recommendations, right?”
This is my worst nightmare
tell me i’m hallucinating
LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS?
“The first one is the one I’ve seen recommended the most, I think it’s the most popular,” Avery tells Derek cheerfully, “It’s called, uh, ‘A World That Doesn’t Exist?’ Pretty long fanfic, written by an author called Wifies, I think it’s based on the horror mod we played, and also the map you made for me.”
“Crossroads?” Derek asks, and Avery nods, “Yeah, that one!”
Derek pulls up the fanfic. The chat continues to crash out. Avery tries- and fails- not to laugh.
“Okay! Let’s start!”
‘At the crossroads, don’t turn left.’
“Genuinely, what is the obsession with left?” Avery asks to no one in particular, and Derek shrugs, “It’s a mod thing. I looked up some information for Crossroads awhile back, I got curious.”
“You do that for anything horror-related, though. I’ve seen your Youtube, it’s full of ‘Story Explained’ videos.”
“I like the lore, but I don’t want to actually play it,” Derek protests. Avery giggles, and continues to read, scrolling down some more to continue the story. It’s raining outside, perfect weather for the day.
‘That’s the first line in a book that Avery didn’t write.’
The point of view switches to Derek’s pretty quickly. Avery pokes fun at fanfic-Derek’s whole aura farming, from the ‘Unfortunately for you, I have a pickaxe’ to the character’s whole ‘setting multiple traps’ thing, and clings onto Derek when the ‘horror’ elements are brought back in. It’s a good story. Avery would love it more if there was less horror in it.
‘Place the flowers. Fill the well. Break the grass. How long has it been?’
“In the mod,” Derek says, “They use barrier blocks and code to keep you in the church area, so that you can only move in certain directions. When you do the actions- the flowers, the grass- it changes the barrier blocks, so you feel like you’re in a loop. I don’t think it keeps you there that long, though.”
“Twelve hours,” Avery says, shuddering, “That’s horrifying.”
‘A break in the monotony. Two signs, placed in the middle of the grass, with words written in the same hand as the book that started it all.’
‘You are real. You are special. Remember who you are.’
Even in this story, Avery thinks, Derek is his saviour. The light in the darkness. Avery can’t help but smile, reading the story, and he leans into Derek more, intertwining their fingers, “It’s you, isn’t it? Who put the signs there?”
“Well, this isn’t in the mod, and it’s obvious that it’s my character who wrote the book,” Derek teases, a soft smile on his face; he presses a kiss to the side of Avery’s head, and they continue to read on. The chat starts to flood with messages about how cute they are together (which Avery already knew, but it’s always nice to break his chat a little).
Fanfic-Avery continues to look for fanfic-Derek. D3rlord? Or Derek? The fanfic uses D3rlord, but it’s kind of weird for Avery to read, honestly, now that he’s so used to Derek’s actual name. Beside him, Derek is reading intently, and the chat reacts along with them, under threat of ‘if you give us spoilers, we’re ending stream’.
‘The floor gives way from under him, all of a sudden. Avery expects to hit the ground, to feel a jolt of pain, but instead, there’s no such thing. He opens his eyes, blinking, and sees a golden helmet. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who the figure who’s caught him is, after all- a golden helmet, a red cape. It’s him. D3rlord.’
“They finally met!” Avery cheers, delighted, “Now kiss!”
“Aves, they’re still strangers,” Derek reminds him.
NOW KISS. Avery’s so real for that
I love this scene in the fic
ah yes the bridal carry moment
The characters keep going. Something goes wrong, as it’s bound to in a story like this, and they read on, completely invested as the story’s version of Derek finds his way out of the trap that was set by the eldritch entity acting as the villain of the tale, finds a spell, tricks Avery’s character into backtracking. Recites the spell to bind himself to the entity and kill it, and Avery reads on with wide eyes.
‘An interruption. A voice. D3rlord whirls around, feeling the gaze of those golden eyes on him, and looks into familiar eyes as Avery takes a step forward.
“D3rlord?” Avery asks, and there’s hurt in his voice, pain in his eyes. D3rlord stares at Avery, and knows it’s really him. He needs to get Avery out. Needs to save him. He has to save Avery, because it’s Avery the King wants, and he cannot let that happen. Only one of them will make it out of here alive, and it’ll be Avery.’
Avery grips Derek’s hand tightly, presses their shoulders together, his eyes wide.
‘It tears D3rlord’s heart into pieces, hearing Avery pleading with him, desperately insisting that there’s another way. How he wishes there was another way, another solution. He knows there isn’t.
“Avery, you can’t stay here. You have so much life to live,” D3rlord tries, but it only seems to fire Avery up further. The slime takes a step forward, shaking his head, and shouts, “And I owe it to you!”
“No, you do not! That is an insane thing to say, you don’t even know me!”
D3rlord’s voice cracks. He can’t do this. He can’t stand here, and break Avery’s heart, knowing that Avery will grieve him. He can’t. But he has to, because- because even if Avery is heartbroken, he’ll be alive, and that’s all that matters.’
Their characters continue to argue. Derek’s character slowly moves forward, and Avery’s character continues to insist that he’s not leaving. In front of the screen, Avery grips Derek’s hand even more tightly, glancing at him every now and then.
“No, no, no,” Avery repeats, “Don’t step backwards, Avery, don’t do it-”
‘“You won’t leave?” D3rlord asks, already knowing what Avery will say.
“No.”
D3rlord hates to do this. He doesn’t want to do it. Doesn’t want Avery’s last memory of him to be one of betrayal. It’s not fair that they had so little time together. That they couldn’t spend an eternity together, couldn’t learn everything about each other slowly. He moves forward; pulls Avery into an embrace. Immediately, Avery’s arms fly up to hug him back, and D3rlord desperately tries to commit the feeling of Avery hugging him to memory.
“Avery,” D3rlord asks, eyes squeezed shut, “What’s in your inventory?”
“What?” Avery asks, and the worst part of it all is that he can hear the way hope fills Avery’s voice. Avery trusts him, and yet, this has to happen. D3rlord opens his eyes, blinking away the tears that begin to form, and asks, once more, “What’s in your inventory?”
And when Avery begins to check, distracted- D3rlord lets go of the embrace, and pushes Avery off the ledge.’
“He did not,” Avery hisses, scrolling down, “No, I refuse to believe it, this is not how it ends-”
“Avery,” Derek says, “There’s only one more chapter, and that’s the epilogue-”
“No,” Avery insists, “Come on, come on, happily ever after-”
Derek’s right, though. There’s no happily ever after in this story, and Avery can’t help but keep glancing over to check that Derek’s okay. It’s silly, he knows, because this is just a story and Derek is fine and breathing and in front of him, but still.
When they finish the story, Avery leans back in his chair, and declares, “If this is the Crossroads lore, I’m never finishing the mod.”
“I’d do what he did if it means saving you, though,” Derek says, quietly. That has Avery whipping his head around to face his boyfriend; Derek meets his eyes, his gaze steady, and Avery shakes his head, gripping his hand tighter, “No. I forbid it.”
“For you?” Derek replies, “I’d do anything.”
“No, listen to me,” Avery tells him, reaching over to grab his other hand, “No dying for me. You live for me instead, got it? No self-sacrificial shenanigans, Derek.”
And that has Derek huff out a laugh, and Avery cracks a smile, holding Derek’s hands tighter.
“...It’s a really well-written story, though, Aves.”
“Yeah, but it broke my heart. How do we leave likes?”
they’re so sweet with each other…
YOU LIVE FOR ME INSTEAD???
May a love like this find me
WIFIES WHEN I FIND YOU
“Okay. Next story,” Avery announces after a little break, pulling it up on the screen, “This one is called ‘Wait for Me, I’m Coming’. The tags say this one is… Hadestown inspired? The musical?”
“It’s a musical based off Orpheus and Eurydice,” Derek offers, “The Greek myth.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of that myth,” Avery realises, “Explain it to me, though?”
He likes Derek’s voice. Sue him.
“Eurydice and Orpheus are in love, but Eurydice dies,” Derek explains, and Avery rests his head on his hand to gaze at his boyfriend, “Orpheus is a musician, so he sings his way into the Underworld to try to get her back. Hades agrees to let him go, but he has to lead Eurydice out of the Underworld without looking back.”
“That one,” Avery agrees, “Okay. Ready?”
ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
Excited excited excited
avery’s gonna hate the cliffhanger
“Ready.”
This one is less painful to read- at least, that’s what Avery thinks. Derek’s character gives Avery’s character his cape, to keep with him on the walk out of the Underworld, and Avery nods in approval at his own character’s determination to keep going.
“You’re Eurydice, right?” he asks Derek, and Derek laughs, “Yep. That makes you Orpheus.”
‘Avery pulls the cape closer. It’s not very warm now, after everything he’s put it through, but it’s still comforting. Finally, he reaches the doors. He takes one step through, into the black space beyond the golden doors-
“You made it, Avery.”
A voice. Derek’s voice. Overwhelming relief washes over Avery, he’s there, he made it, he didn’t fail him-
“Could you come over and help me? I can’t walk very well.”
A quiet, self-deprecating laugh. Avery smiles at the void, relieved beyond compare, because he made it. He made it, and now it’s over.
(Avery!)
They’re safe. The King let them go.
(Let him go, stop this- Aves, Avery, it’s not me-)
He moves to turn around-’
Their audience needs help. That is Avery’s first reaction.
“What do you mean the chapter ends there, come on, no, that’s not the right person, no,” Avery complains, and he turns to bury his face in Derek’s shoulder, “Story-me is an idiot, Derek, I don’t want to know how this ends, I know the original myth has a sad ending.”
“There, there,” Derek soothes, patting Avery’s back consolingly, and Avery sits back up to point accusingly at the camera, “All of you need therapy. Get therapy. Stop making the fanfic versions of us tragic and sad.”
YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED THE FIC
can’t believe he js told us to get therapy
…But tragic and sad makes for such good stories
“Next chapter, next chapter- what do you mean it’s your character’s point of view?!” Avery whines as Derek clicks to the next chapter. His audience is evil. Avery appreciates the work and the fanfiction, but really. His fans need to stop with the tragedy.
‘“Avery, Aves, it’s not me-”
He keeps pleading. Even as the dread fills him, even if he knows how it ends, and even if he could never hate Avery. Eurydice will love Orpheus even when he turns around. But Orpheus will not forgive himself, and he can’t let that happen, can’t let Avery drown in the guilt of a decision that was made long ago, long before they met each other.
And Avery will blame himself. Derek knows him. He can’t let that happen, can’t let Avery drown in guilt, and he needs to let Avery know none of it is his fault. He needs to save him; even now, when the end is at stake, Derek can’t bring himself to blame Avery. It was all predetermined, wasn’t it? Orpheus and Eurydice again, and then the cycle will turn over and restart, only this time it won’t because the King has won.
Before him, Avery makes a move like he’s about to turn around. Derek shakes his head, the golden tears fall and his vision blurs again, and the migraine intensifies, Orpheus turns back and Eurydice still loves him, has always loved him, and Eurydice can never hate Orpheus and will never hold it against him, he turns back because of love.
Avery hesitates.’
“Happy ending, happy ending, happy ending,” Avery chants.
“Hey, Aves,” Derek says, with a smirk on his face that promises nothing but trouble, “Did you know this fic was finished yesterday? If we’d done this a day earlier, it would have ended here.”
His boyfriend can also be kind of evil sometimes. Avery loves him anyway.
“Hurry up, next chapter,” Avery whines, poking Derek in the shoulder, “Hold my hand, I need emotional support.”
The next chapter loads. Avery’s character hesitates- and doesn’t turn around. He walks out of the Underworld, successfully, and reunites with Derek’s very alive character. Avery exhales in relief, and then cheers.
YESSS
reading this fic along with them
UNDOOMED THE YAOI!!!
YAY HAPPY ENDING
“Better?” Derek asks with a teasing grin, and Avery grins, “A lot better. I like happy endings.”
He goes back to the recommendations list, and- wow, okay, most of these have a description that includes either ‘tragic’, ‘sad’, or ‘angst’. His audience needs therapy. Avery tells them as much, again, while Derek desperately tries to stifle his laughter and his chat complains indignantly.
There’s way too many sad stories.
“I found a non-tragic one,” Avery celebrates, “This one is a… soulmate AU! Are these popular? The description makes it sound like they are.”
Derek leans forward to read the chat as Avery pulls up the fanfic, and turns back to him, “Seems like they are. It’s a common fanfic thing. They’re making us soulmates in this one.”
“Aw. Cute,” Avery decides, before he narrows his eyes at the camera, “Don’t make me read another sad story. I can’t handle the emotional rollercoaster.”
Avery is so real for that
i just got here wtf is going on
But I like the angst :(
“Oh,” Derek says, surprised as he looks at the summary, “This one’s about, like, us. Not our Minecraft characters.”
“That’s new,” Avery notes, skimming the summary and the tags. Nothing sad, so they’re safe. This one is a simpler, but still cute, story- soulmate marks appear just above the collarbone when one soulmate touches the other for the first time, little marks to represent the other person. They’re friends and content creators still in this one, but they haven’t met in person.
Derek’s character falls for Avery’s first. There’s a whole, very sweet paragraph where they’re wondering if they’re soulmates; Avery’s character is a bit more enamoured with the whole idea of soulmates than Derek’s is.
“I like this one,” Avery declares, “It’s so cute. I need them to hurry up and meet each other, and then I need more cute soulmate fanfics.”
‘He’s nervous. Rightfully so, he thinks, because he’s meeting Avery for the first time. He already knows what Avery looks like, he’s sent Avery a photo of himself, but it’s just different in person.
“Over here!” someone shouts, and he looks up to see a familiar face, bright eyes and an equally bright smile as Avery waves at him, “Hi!”’
“Do you think this part is in my perspective so the author didn’t have to describe my appearance?” Derek wonders, and Avery scrolls back up to check the date of publication before giggling, “I think so.”
The characters don’t act entirely like then, but that’s to be expected, and Avery keeps on reading. They meet up, and order unspecified drinks, and Avery can’t help but laugh a little, because this is just enough like their actual first meeting for him to be fully, entirely immersed in the story.
‘“Here,” he says with a smile, “For you.”
The keychain is a small thing, a little charm that made him think of Avery. Der hands it over. Their fingers brush.., and the world slows down around them.
It’s like a jolt of electricity mixed with adrenaline; it starts at Der’s fingertips, where they brush Avery’s, and shoots up to- to where his soulmate mark would be. It’s too good to be true.
Der looks up, and meets Avery’s equally wide eyes.’
“Now kiss.”
“Aves.”
“What?”
HELPPPP
avery is me frfrfr
Kiss kiss fall in love~
The soulmate marks in the story are based on their Minecraft characters, Avery notes, not without some amusement; character-Avery has a golden gladiator’s helmet with a red flower; character-Derek has a couple of leaves with a small, cube-shaped slime peeking out from behind them.
“What would the marks actually be for us?” Derek wonders, and Avery hums, “I mean, the Minecraft avatars are cute and all, but I feel like we should get something else, you know? For the vibes?”
Avery suggests flowers and plants, but they can’t decide on any specific flower or plant for either of them; Derek volunteers animals, and then they run into the exact same problem. The chat is loving it, suggesting all manner of ideas, until Derek finally smirks, and tells Avery, “Maybe mine is a tomato.”
“Derek!” Avery complains, whacking him on the shoulder; Derek laughs, and Avery stops the playful hits to just… gaze at his boyfriend. He’s the luckiest person in the world, actually. To meet Derek, and love him, and be loved by him in return.
If you search up ‘heart eyes’ you get this
i have never felt more single in my lifetime
mom dad my emotional support otp is flirting again
“No, I’m kidding,” Derek says, before he tilts his head at Avery and then smiles, again- this time more soft, more gentle, the smile that Avery only ever sees directed at him, “I think mine would be something like a plant turned towards the sun. You always pull my attention towards you without even trying.”
“You-” Avery starts, before he completely gives up and resigns himself to his bright red blush, “Derek. You can’t just say things like that.”
“That’s my opinion,” Derek maintains, and Avery buries his face in his hands to hide his blush as Derek checks his phone like he hasn’t just made Avery short-circuit, “Also, we’re trending online because of this stream.”
“We’d better be, to make up for all the sad content I’ve been reading,” Avery complains, lifting his head to glare at the camera. If Derek gets a poetic answer, honestly, so should Avery. A couple of moments later, Avery slams down his hands on the desk, with a triumphant ‘Got it!’
“Got what-?” Derek asks, and Avery shushes his boyfriend, staring right into the camera as he grins, “Mine would be a compass pointed towards a glowing red star. Red, because it’s Derek’s colour, and the rest because he’s my North Star. I’m always going to look for him, I’m always going to find him.”
He sneaks a glance sideways, and Avery’s delighted to see Derek looking away, hand coming up to cover his face. Avery winks at his camera, and says, “Any artists in the chat, if you want to draw that, tag me.”
GETTING MY TABLET RN
if i don’t find a love like this i’m staying single
I CAN’T FIND MY PENCILLLL
“This one’s cute,” Avery decides with a smile as they finish the fic (no kiss, unfortunately, but no tragedy, either), “I like this one.”
“The last one had a happy ending too,” Derek points out, and Avery pouts again, “Yeah, but they made me panic before they gave it to me. This one’s just cute.”
It’s just three fanfics; they don’t have the time for more. So as they’re wrapping up, Avery waves at the camera; and Derek smirks, “Should we do this again?”
“No,” Avery interrupts, pointing an accusing finger at his boyfriend, “Too much angst. I can’t handle it, Derek.”
“Okay, okay,” Derek relents, holding up his hands in surrender. Avery grins, and leans into him, one hand wrapped around Derek’s shoulders as he pokes him, “End the stream, come on.”
“It’s your stream,” Derek complains half-heartedly, but he obligingly smiles at the camera, “Okay, see you all next time, chat.”
“Where we’ll do something less painful,” Avery adds.
Avery @averythemayo
can you all write less angst please
🔁 der @d3rlord3
what’s in your inventory?
🔁🔁 Avery @averythemayo
NO.