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Chapter Thirty One

"Nooo..! What if they don't like meee?" Meredith whined childishly.

A few days had gone by, and Meredith was back with both Lyra and me. Lyra said she would be going to the supermarket, so I asked Meredith to join my monthly livestream. She tried to pull out of it, making excuses, but I wouldn't take it.

"They'll love you," I reassured her, holding her hand as I gently pushed her into a seat next to mine. "C'mon! It'll be fun!" She pouted up at me, her cheeks flushed and puffed out. I leaned over and placed a small kiss on her forehead. She blushed even more as I leaned back, a smile on my face. "Don't be so shy."

The livestream started, and immediately, subscribers came flowing in. Some commented "first" and others congratulated me on reaching subscriber milestones. However, the majority commented on who was sitting beside me, and Meredith hid behind my arm, peering out to read the live chat.

"Hey guys!" I greeted, smiling brightly. "Welcome back to another monthly livestream! I'd like to thank you all for the support and fan art sent in; they're all lovely!" I turned to peer at Meredith, laughing as I said, "More importantly, many of you seem to notice the person beside me." Meredith flushed. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Still hiding behind my arm, she whispered delicately, "H-Hi. My name's Meredith."

"She's a friend of mine, and quite frankly, she's pretty dope at Parallel," I commented, filling them in. "I decided it would be great to introduce her, since she had time on her hands to come over here." A knowing look crossed her eyes. "So, this month's livestream will be dedicated to questions towards Meredith and such."

"Can I choose the first question?" I heard Meredith ask beside me, her eyes sparkling brightly.

I smiled at her, saying, "Of course!"

Pulling her hair up into a ponytail, she peered at the monitor and sufficed a small smile at the chat. "Ah, something a lot of you are asking me is why I have two eyes colors." She peered up for a second, a finger to her lips. "My parents told me from a young age about heterochromia iridium, which is something that causes me to have two eye colors. I don't mind it really, even with a lot of people insulting me by saying I was a hybrid. It didn't bother me that much, but sometimes it hurt." She smiled lightly and added, "I mean, it's rare. So it's not very common amongst others."

I peered down at her with a small smile. Her eyes are pretty to me. I don't understand why anyone would call her such a thing. Pointing at the monitor, I said, "Ah! This person wants to know if you have any tips on how to play Parallel."

As Meredith answered questions and I listened, I was a little embarrassed to see some comments saying things like "get you someone who looks at you the way Lukas looks at Meredith" or "relationship goals". Meredith didn't notice, still too busy answering questions. That was until most of the chat was spammed with a new ship arising from my supporters.

"W-What's a ship?" Meredith asked me, a little confused.

This only caused even more mayhem in the server, and I nervously laughed at her, my cheeks flushed. "A ship is when people.." I trailed off, my ears burning red. How am I supposed to explain that? "..er, find.. a specific couple to be.. compatible, and in a way.. they, uh.. support it."

Meredith immediately understood, her face reddening, and covered her face with her hands. "O-Oh!"

"Y-Yeah," I mumbled, peering over at her. Peering at the monitor, I only flushed even more as more intimate comments came about.

"Kiss her!"

"bro u're w h i p p e d !"

"if you dont want her, can i have her?"

"Alright, alright," I said, evening my breath, "Let's all settle down now. Meredith gets flustered easily, so this isn't going to be easy on her." Almost on cue, Meredith clung onto my arm, still embarrassed. I couldn't help but place a small kiss on her head, and immediately, tsunamis and floods of comments almost wrecked the server of the livestream.

"Holy—! He kissed her!"

"OOMNMGMGGGG"

"woAh O^O if Lukas got a girlfriend, I can get one too"

"Uśê Çödé Twisted Įñ Thë Łîńk Bēłøw!"

"NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR CODE"

I peered over at my stream, smiling as I put a finger to my lips. "Give her time; she's just embarrassed and new to all of this shipping trope."

After a few minutes or so, we were convinced by my supporters to play a round of Parallel for them, as to which we luckily won. I wasn't entirely sure if Meredith felt the same, but, with her beside me the whole day, I felt as if my heart was at home.

A/N

I honestly didn't want to use the word "fans" or "fan base" because my baby Lukas would never call his subscribers something like that (though I'm not saying it's entirely wrong or that your favorite YouTubers who do so are narcissistic). I just think Lukas would find them more of friends than fans, so using the word supporters made me feel more comfortable because I just don't think in any world would my mochi child call his supporters his "fans" or such.

(Again, not trying to offend anyone.)

Anyways, this chapter a little short, and I apologize.

Don't worry, I haven't lost passion; I just realized that the way I think of updating stories makes me feel like my writings' only purposes are like manufacturing instead of enjoying what I want to do.

I used to think that if I didn't update in at least three days from my last update that I was a bad author, but I realized that I'm still young; there's still time for me. Writing is a hobby and something I want to pursue when I'm older and get the chance to, but there are other options for my free time to do.

If you read the whole thing, it means a lot!

I hope you'll stick around for the next chapter and the chapter after that!

Thank you, everyone!