Astrid couldn't help but laugh, a loud laugh that left her gripping the cabinets as she fell to the floor. The cake batter, that only moments ago had been in the bowl, spattered across the kitchen surfaces; all other the walls, the floor and unfortunately Sophie's camera.

"It's not funny!" Sophie chastised her two roommates, batter hanging the frames of her glasses, "it's everywhere!"

This only made Niki and Astrid laugh more.

It all went so wrong so quickly, only moments ago was Sophie showing off her new electric whisk, showing the stream chat how it worked and saying how excited she was. Now she looked considerably less excited, downright mardy.

"It's in my hair!" She continued whining, her shoulders slumped and pout on her lips.

The chat spammed their laughter, clips of it sure to be all over Twitter later so that they could relive the moment.

"Stop, I'm crying" Niki squealed from the floor next to Astrid, fist banging the floor.

"We need to clean, stop laughing" Sophie spoke again, looking at the mess all around her trying not to laugh herself.

"You're right," Astrid held back a giggle whilst turning to Niki, "she's right"

Astrid planted her hands down, pushing to stand up, until her hand slipped on the splattered batter and she fell down again, face down on the floor.

This started the laughing all over again, Astrid falling right in view of the camera would also be on Twitter later.

The fiasco lasted another twenty minutes, ten of those being on the floor and the other ten were deciding whether to just give up and end the stream; seeing as all of the batter was on the floor and they had no more ingredients, they finally ended it.

"Bagsy not cleaning" Sophie almost shouted as she turned off her set-up.

"What?" Both the other girls asked in shock.

"It's your mess, and your stream, and your fault," Niki pointed out, putting up another finger as she made another point.

"Plus, you did it and I have stuff to do," Astrid told her, washing her hands under the sink, throwing a damp washcloth at Sophie.

"'Stuff to do'?"Niki raised an eyebrow, sliding onto a bar stool as both the girls watched Sophie work, Astrid nodded.

"And what would that 'stuff' be?"

"A lot of stuff, very important stuff" a smirk came to the blonde girl's face her eyes flicked between the other two.

The 'stuff' she needed to do was practice for MCC, it was in a week and, as she was now certain she wouldn't be dropping out, she really needed to train.

"Well, we know what that means" Sophie mumbled, eyeing Niki, who giggled; clearly they were thinking something very different to what Astrid was.

"I just wish we knew who that means" Niki retorted, giggles coming from the girls, yet again.

"You guys are stupid," she mumbled, eyes rolling, "that's not what I meant"

"Is it not?"

"Nope, I need to practice, Ace-Race is still kicking my arse" she informed them, picking up her phone and checking for messages, one from Dream asking when she'd be on, but nothing else.

"You've been spending a lot of time training," Sophie told her, trying to pour whatever was left of the batter into cupcake cases.

"Yeah well, Dream wants us all to be ready"

"Hmmm... Dream" Sophie's head turned to Niki, the two giggling.

"Why did you say it like that?" She smiled, eyes flicking between the two.

"Nothing-nothing" Niki spoke, lips tight to keep her smile in, "it's just-"

"You've been spending a lot of time with him" Sophie cut her off, "we just think maybe he's making a few excuses to speak to you"

Astrid's head shot up, that was insane.

Sure, they tried to call every day for practice but that was just because Dream was trying to help her. He was competitive, and she didn't want to let him down.

"That's not true"

"It so is! You've been locked away in your room so often now, we hardly see you"

That, however, was true.

She'd practise for hours on end, into the early morning - their time differences really kicking her arse. Astrid hardly had time to see George in the past few weeks, even though they now had a similar sleeping pattern, anytime she spent not practising she tried to spend either sleeping or streaming herself.

It had also become apparent, through her own streams of their practises and Dreams, that the two had gotten quite close. Twitter was possibly the first to notice, AstridWasTaken trended after most of their streams, something they both laughed off.

She wasn't too sure what George thought about the whole thing, he actively avoided the topic if anything. But she understood, she was getting closer to friends he never wanted her to meet.

And it might just change everything.

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Written:9th September 2022

Published: 26th September 2022

The story was not going to go in this direction, but comments changed my mind and I'm evil so.

Sorry for the long wait, i've been in a real writers block recently lol.