"good game guys, good game," fundy says.

"NO, NOT GOOD GAME!" wilbur shouts. "THAT WAS BULLSHIT!" tommy and i laugh.

we play a couple more rounds, but nothing interesting happens. i don't get impostor again, and wilbur targets me when he's impostor.

"alright guys, i'm gonna log off," tubbo says. a collective "same" immerses from the crowd. everyone disconnects the call one after another. once i leave, i sit back and smile.

that was easily the most fun i've had in a long time.

after about a minute of scrolling through twitter, i get a call from tommy on discord. i answer it, even though i had just spoken to him.

"long time no see," i say.

"hi," he responds. i laugh at how awkward he sounds.

"do you need anything?"

"just wanted to talk about the stream." i laugh and shake my head.

"really, don't worry about it. it was fun, i didn't mind you two streaming-"

"have you ever considered streaming?"

my train of thought comes to an abrupt halt. me? a streamer? just the thought makes me want to laugh.

"please, i'm not very good at minecraft, or any games for that matter. it wouldn't work. plus, i'm still in school, so-"

"so am i." tommy pauses a minute, thinking about what to say. "my stream loves you, as you know. you'd already have a following. i'll raid all of your streams and i'll be in as many of them as you want. and you don't have to be good at the game. quackity sucked at first, he still does suck honestly, but look at how successful he is." i laugh.

"i guess. i don't know, i'll think about it. in the meantime though, i'd love to keep being on you and your friends' streams." i smile.

"POGCHAMP!" tommy yells with a slight laugh. "maybe i could get you on the dream smp..."

"no way. oh my god my friend would FREAK out."

"who's your friend?"

"lindsay. remember her? you said hi to her on the love or host and she lost her mind."

"oh yeah, i'll say hi to her next stream."

"oh lord, don't feed her that power." we both laugh, then sit without speaking for a minute.

"i'm gonna invite you to a discord server," tommy says, breaking the silence. i mutter a quiet "okay" and await the server invite.

he sends me a link to a server called STREAMERS POG. i laugh.

"but i'm not a-"

"i know. but i asked dream if i could invite you and he said it was okay." i shrug and accept the invite. the second i join, a bunch of people say hello in the general channel. quackity greeting me in spanish is definitely my favorite welcome.

: hi guys! and hola quackity :)

: hi val!

: hello!

: @valerie vc2

i hear tommy disconnect from our call and watch as he moves into vc2. i join him, along with tubbo and quackity.

"HOLA AMIGA!" quackity shouts. i wince at how loud he is and laugh.

"hola," i reply giggling.

"hi valerie! i've missed you!" tubbo says. i smile.

"it hasn't been that long tubbo," tommy says.

"i missed you too!" i respond. i hear tubbo laugh.

"i'm replacing tommy and making you my new best friend."

"i would love nothing more."

"WHAT THE HELL?" tommy shouts, making tubbo and i burst into laughter.

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

over the next couple of days, i grew close to the streamers. i love them all, but i'm probably closest to tommy. we talk everyday and end up exchanging phone numbers.

i still haven't made my own twitch, but my platform has grown a LOT. i now have 200,000 followers on instagram and twitter, and people have even started making stan accounts. i've also seen fan art and fan edits floating around here and there, which is insane. i still appear on everyone else's streams, though, and i've been thinking about streaming.

as i'm scrolling through instagram, tommy pings me on the streamers discord.

TommyInnit: @valerie join vc2

i react with a thumbs up emoji and join the call. there are already multiple people in call, including tommy, tubbo, wilbur, quackity, karl, niki, sapnap, george, and dream.

"hi, valerie!" karl says as i join. everyone says a collective "hi" quickly after.

"hey guys, there's a lot of people here, is something happening?" i ask.

"well, dream, george, and i have been talking..." sapnap starts. he pauses for a second.

"about?" i prompt him to continue.

"we're considering having some people fly out to the uk and visit sometime in february," george says. my eyes grow wide.

"and..?"

"and tommy has been begging for us to invite you," wilbur says quickly, earning a "HEY!" from tommy.

he's been begging for me to come?

"i want you to come too!" tubbo adds in.

"we all do, so what do you say?" dream asks. i sigh.

"i'd love to guys, but i don't know what my parents would say..." i say sadly.

"you're eighteen, no?" karl says. "you're an adult. you can make your own decisions."

"i guess, but they don't know any of you guys, how would they react?"

"i'll try talking to them, if you want. i'm the oldest here so i might have the most influence," wilbur says.

"maybe if you tell them there will be another girl they won't feel weird? since it's mostly guys?" niki chimes in.

"and there's me and tubbo, we're your age. they know me from the love or host, right?" tommy says. i nod.

"yeah, they know of tommy, will, and tubbo because of the show," i say.

"maybe us three can talk to them?" tubbo suggests.

"i'll try talking to them myself first, and i'll get backup if necessary." everyone murmurs in agreement.

"if you're worried about money being a problem, don't," dream says. "i'm paying for all the plane tickets."

"no no, it's not money, i just doubt they'll want me on the other side of the world with people i've never met in real life. but i'm going to do my best to convince them because i really want to do this."

after about an hour of discussing the plans for the trip, everyone disconnects from call. i receive a text from tommy wishing me luck with talking to my parents. i send a quick thank you, and go downstairs to wait for them to come home.