3, 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝

💜 💬 ✈️

streaming in 10, ladies and lads

call me

↳ no

the rolling stones are english like us haha i wonder who isn't english

↳ absolute losers

WILL ANY OF THE DREAM TEAM BE ON THE STREAM

↳ i wanna

simp

↳ i'm retiring

One more minute.

Sitting in front of my equipment has never been more stressful. The thought that Dream could call me at any moment on Discord is a lot to think about. I look down at my fingers, only to find myself picking at my nails. I swat myself. Shaking my head so as to hopefully get rid of my nerves, I put my hand on the mouse and close the Discord tab.

Haha, Dream, try calling me now!

I take the bag of cereal from next to my right monitor and start to munch on my Coco Pops. Feeling proud of myself, I come to the conclusion that I don't have to play Minecraft. That's not a Twitch streamer's only duty.

I change the category of my oncoming stream to Just Chatting, hoping it doesn't seem too much like clickbait in the eyes of the chat, and start.

"Welcome, ladies and lads. Change of plans. Minecraft tomorrow. Let's have a chat today."

When I check the chat, I notice that there are thousands more people here than there usually are. I choke on a Coco Puff and cover my mouth sloppily, scrolling through for questions.

"'Can you sing?' I mean, kind of. I'm no angel like Niki though. I usually write for people. I help out with Minecraft parodies and sometimes original stuff like Internet Ruined Me. No, chat, I did not write Fallen Kingdom. I'm eighteen."

I read the next few questions and answer them, only to be raided by thousands of viewers yelling 'Dream raid!!!" I stare at my monitor wordlessly for too long.

so this is why you didn't pick up my call

By this point, the chat is flooded with 'Hi Dream' and 'Simp.'

"Fuckssake, Dream," I murmur, unable to hold back a slight smile.

sing a song

sing a song

sing a song

"Guys, I'm not singing a song."

lol im gonna go sleep bye

dream made us do this bye az

"Are you seriously going to cause so much disruption in my intellectual, respectful, kind-hearted chat and then just leave? Thank you for all the subs and donos, guys, though, seriously. You really don't have to."

sing and you don't have to answer my discord call

"Okay. Chat, this lunatic has been giving me ultimatums since the first day I met him. Which was yesterday so that doesn't seem like a lot. But this is like the third one already."

has donated $100

now you have to sing

The automated lady reads the message out loud. I bury my head in my hand that's propped up on the table. "Now I have to or else it'll look like I scammed you. You're a manipulative bastard, Dream."

The chat goes crazy with "Sing!" and "Yayyy!"

With a sigh, I go get my guitar. This isn't what I usually do on my streams. Usually I'll go on hardcore mode in Minecraft, stuff my face with Coco Puffs and try my best to get as many epic fails as possible so I can be in a highly-viewed Youtube compilation.

I get back in front of my monitors and bend the camera down so it shows my guitar sprawled over my crossed legs. "I wrote this about having to go to uni in a year and nobody really cares but, haha, you know."

When I finish my song, chat is full of really sweet people and...simps.

"Thanks, guys. Haha, chat, I'm not going to bow--not even ironically--because that's seriously cringe. And, lads, it's not really crotch cam if there's a fucking guitar covering the facilities."

Suddenly my phone rings. An adrenaline pursuing something like confidence over me, I answer it immediately. "Hello?"

"I forgot that I could just call your phone."

I look directly at chat, wrinkling my nose. "So did I."

We talk for the rest of the night, a lot of it on speaker so the chat can hear. Even though it's our first full voice conversation, it feels natural. With the chat's support, it almost feels like we're all kids in a playground, laughing with each other. TommyInnit pops in; so does Nihachu.

People always feel like kings of the world at nighttime. Maybe it's because everyone else seems to disappear and there's that emphasis on the now; it doesn't matter why. Because something occurs to me, as I end the stream and keep Clay on the phone. It's a thought that horrifies and relaxes me simultaneously.

I haven't felt this happy in a really long time.