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The room is dim; the usual LED lights behind him are already on, casting the whole room in a comfortable green glow. The room is silent; the only sounds are the quiet tapping of a keyboard, the clicking of a mouse and the rhythmic breathing of the streamer.
Simon’s doing his last checks before stream, ensuring everything is in order and working before he can finally start.
After deeming everything good to go and getting the okay from his mods, Simon is finally able to start stream.
He waits a few minutes, eyes lazily watching the first few comments as the viewers start pouring in. A smile tugs at his lips as the comments welcome him, asking about his plans for the stream.
“Okay, I think we’re about good to start, don’t you think?” He mutters, eyes scanning the chat, watching it fill with affirmations.
“Alright then! Welcome to the stream, guys. SimonSays grab your gas masks, your glass bottles and your bricks cause today we’re playing some The Last of Us, Part II” He says, the intro to his stream coming effortlessly.
The chat fills with the usual excitement. Simon adjusts himself in his chair before picking up his controller and starting the game. “Alright. Let’s go. I wanna kick some infected ass” He grins.
-
A couple hours into the stream, there’s a faint knock on the door behind Simon’s setup. Though the sound is quiet enough that Stream certainly hasn’t heard it, they’re quickly alerted to the disturbance as Simon’s eyes fly from the monitor in front of him to somewhere off-screen. There’s never been anyone else in Simon’s streams, not outside of the very few collaborators, but this doesn’t seem like that.
The door cracks open slowly, letting in a strip of warm light from beyond it that cuts through the low lights of Simon’s streaming space. Not unwelcome, just... different.
Simon’s eyes flicker to the screen briefly, quickly checking the environment around Ellie and Dina in-game. He seems to deem the spot good enough, quickly setting down his controller and turning a bit in his gaming chair, giving the stranger in the room his full attention.
The chat is already flying by, speculating about who the intruder is, only speeding up as Simon’s face softens.
His shoulders drop, his whole body seemingly relaxing in the presence of this person; a small, tender smile graces his lips, and his eyes go lovesick-soft, narrowing slightly as his entire face seems to light up.
There’s a barely audible voice from the door, though it isn’t difficult to guess what is being said as Simon’s smile widens and he responds, “Hi”. Though quick, his voice is softer than any of the chatters has ever heard it. Honeyed, warm and filled with love.
“-m I interrupting?” The visitor asks softly, as he seems to walk closer to the setup. “Mm, no, you’re good”, Simon answers, somehow his voice seems even softer.
“Okay, that’s good”, the voice hums, “I brought you food”.
There’s a quiet thud as a plate and glass are set down on the table near Simon’s controller set-up. Though the visitor seems determined to stay out of camera, a small sliver of tan skin and a cream colored, knitted sweater can be seen on the edge of the camera.
Simon’s eyes stay locked on the man, a soft “Thank you, Star” falling from his lips as if second nature. Like he hadn’t even thought about it.
He probably hadn’t, because chat goes wild. Speeding by even faster than before, too fast to really keep up with. Most messages related to the mystery visitor being referred to as “Star”.
“STAR?!??!?!?!?”
“SimonSays has a partner????”
“SIMON HAS A BOYFRIEND???”
“THAT’S SO CUTE WHAT THE FUCK”
“He brought him food omg???”
“DID HE JUST SAY STAR???? I HEARD THAT RIGHT????”
The men’s conversation goes on, neither paying any attention to chat as it flies by.
‘Star’ says a quick “You’re welcome” before asking what time Simon thinks he’ll be done. “I’m almost done with my markings, I thought we could do something when you’re done. Watch a movie, maybe?”
The man’s voice is soft and even, a bit higher than Simon’s voice, a little less rough.
Simon’s nodding before he can even think. “Yeah, yeah that sounds really good”. His eyes finally move away from ‘Star’ and flick over to his second monitor where Chat is still flying by at an impressive speed, though he still isn’t paying it any mind. Instead, he finds the clock at the bottom of the screen.
“Another hour, maybe, a little more”, He hums, turning back to look at ‘Star’ as if looking away was impossible while the man was still in front of him. “Then I’m all yours”.
‘Star’ huffs softly, sounding like a cut-off chuckle. He mutters a quiet agreement as a tanned hand comes and strokes the hair by his temple. Simon leans into the touch before getting up from his chair, his hand reaching out to the man just out of frame, pulling him into a kiss.
They’re frustratingly good at keeping ‘Star’ out of frame; Simon leans into his space more, effectively hiding the man from the camera’s view and cutting off half of his own body as one kiss becomes a few more. The soft connecting of lips can be heard a few more times before Simon seems to be gently shoved back into frame, another tanned hand on the man’s chest. There’s a soft, melodic chuckle as ‘Star’ creates a bit more distance between the two.
“I’m gonna let you get back to the stream now”, He mumbles before planting a kiss on Simon’s cheek, followed by a dramatic “mwah” sound that makes Simon chuckle.
“Okay, go finish your marking.” He answers easily, “I’m gonna wrap up in about an hour”.
There are a few more quiet exchanges as ‘Star’ backs towards the door, and Simon settles back into his chair, finally turning his attention back to his monitors and the chat.
He finds it still speeding by, too fast to be able to read every message, but the few he does catch make him blush.
“Oh, shit”, He says quietly, eyes immediately finding ‘Star’ again, even though he was just staring at the man ten seconds prior.
There’s quiet concern in the man’s voice as he asks Simon what’s wrong and whether he was in frame. Simon’s eyes find the stream again, eyeing the camera and the chat before he shakes his head. “No, I think you’re fine, Star. They just learnt that you exist”, he answers, amusement clear in his tone.
There’s another response from ‘Star’, though it’s too quiet to be able to tell what exactly he said. Simon chuckles softly, “Yeah, they’re freaking out”.
There are a few more quiet exchanges between the two before Star bids Simon a good stream and goes to step out of the room, but seems to pause. He says something, a bit louder than his other comments but still not quite loud enough to be distinguishable, though it makes Simon laugh.
“What?” he asks, eyes practically twinkling as he looks at ‘Star’.
“Tell them…” ‘Star’ starts, voice fading again, though he sounds delighted by whatever he’s ordering Simon to share with Chat.
Simon chuckles, turning to address Chat again. “Okay, Star told me to tell you guys that it rains diamonds on Uranus and Neptune”.
Chat explodes again as ‘Star’ snickers and closes the door, finally blocking the yellow light of the hallway and bathing the room in its usual, comforting green.
Simon eyes his chat carefully, reading whatever messages he can as they go by before making some decision in his head. He nods once, just barely, and grabs the controller again. “Alright, let’s get back to playing”, He says, not offering a single explanation for the man in his apartment, whom he lovingly calls Star, who seemed absolutely thrilled to share a science fact with Simon’s Twitch chat.
-
The rest of the stream goes by as normal, despite Chat’s stubborn attempts; Simon offers no more commentary on the mystery man he calls ‘Star’. Chat is almost certain he’s going to ignore the man ever even entering the room, until Simon is bidding his final goodbyes.
“And as always, I hope you all have a good rest of your day, I’m going to go now, I have a movie to watch.”
Though a simple comment, Simon says it with enough mischief in his eyes to know exactly what he’s done. He smirks, making a quick two-fingered salute at the camera before ending the stream so quickly no one has time to object.
And as Simon puts away his things and shuts off his computer for the night, finally joining his husband in the living room of their apartment, his viewers are taking their curiosity to the internet, blowing up multiple social media platforms talking about the mysterious ‘Star’ that had invaded their stream.
Simon lets them, not even batting an eye as he turns off his notifications and settles on the couch. He cuddles up to Grace, practically glueing himself to the taller man’s side.
Maybe they’ll hear from ‘Star’ again. Maybe not.