Chapter Text
“Is this… ah! There we go. Greetings, all!”
Berdly gave the camera a wide smile, watching as a whopping three viewers poured into attendance.
The first chat came quickly.
‘user1682: hey’
“Hello! Welcome back, uhm, 1682? You’re aware that you can alter your username, correct?”
This anonymous account had been a recurring fan of Berdly’s streams. They spoke relatively infrequently, but they had been in chat for the past three months.
Consistently.
As in, every single stream.
Not that Berdly minded! It was pleasant to have such a dedicated viewer.
(Though he could do without their biting remarks about his gaming skills.)
Redirecting his attention away from the chat and towards his open game menu, Berdly moved his mouse to the game he had planned for this stream. It was a small indie game, but it piqued Berdly’s interest.
“Today is going to be a shorter stream, I believe.”
He opened the game, and his eyes drifted back to the chat. Two new messages were waiting for him, a third one popping up just as the video game opened.
‘user1682: yeah’
‘user1682: hold on’
‘mosscout: how’s this?’
“Very… interesting, I suppose.” He replied with a raised brow. “Care to share what it means?”
The teenager turned back to his main monitor, narrating the game title as the intro played.
(-)
Kris did not mean for watching Berdly’s streams to become a near ritualistic practice.
It just happened.
Truly, it was as if they didn’t have a role to play in it.
And they planned to stop soon, anyway.
They were just curious about what their classmate did when he wasn’t obsessing over jotting down notes.
(That sounded like a lame excuse, even to Kris.)
The human shifted on their bed, rolling over to their stomach and propping up their phone on their pillow. They tucked their hands under their chin and watched the stream on their cracked phone screen idly.
“No backseating this stream! I’m serious!” Berdly scolded his audience, his nasally voice crackly through Kris’s old phone speakers.
Snickering, Kris couldn’t help but respond to him. They weren’t even sure if anyone else was in the stream at this point— the game didn’t seem interesting, not to Kris anyway— but they knew he’d see it.
Riling Berdly up was always the fun part, online and in person. Maybe it was a sick sense of satisfaction to make the poor guy mad, but it was funny.
(Maybe they wanted his attention. They’d never admit it, though. They wouldn’t even dare let the thought fully form in their brain if they could help it.)
‘mosscout: i think you need the help lol’
They chuckled dryly to themself when they hit send, rolling over onto their back and smirking up at their phone as they held it above them.
Quickly, Berdly responded.
“Mosscout, I swear I’ll mute you.” Berdly promised gruffly.
Perhaps the video was glitching, but Kris could’ve almost sworn they saw a hint of a smile pulling at Berdly’s beak.
‘mosscout: who’s gonna talk toyou then?’
“Bah. I don’t need commenters.”
They supposed that was fair. Berdly had, what, two jobs? He certainly wasn’t streaming for money.
Still, they continued chatting.
‘mosscout: lol yes you do’
‘mosscout: brokeass’
The small smirk on Kris’s face grew when Berdly chittered angrily on screen. They watched his feathers bristle with annoyance, and they found themself shifting again, sitting up with their back to their headboard and curling their legs up to their chest to steady their grip on their phone.
“I am well monetized, I’ll have you know.”
‘mosscout: is that even how you use ‘monetized’ in a sentence’
‘mosscout: no that’s literallllllgyyy not correct
“Y-yes it is! You don’t know anything.”
(-)
At some point, Berdly had paused the game he was playing to pour his full attention into his chat.
Well. Maybe that wasn’t quite correct. He was patiently waiting for one person’s responses and eagerly responding with a witty retort or a nervous attempt at humor.
Berdly glanced at the time at the bottom of his computer.
11:37PM
“Oh, Angel above!” He gasped. “I hadn’t noticed the time.”
‘mosscout: ? it’s only like twelve
“It’s only— I have a strict schedule that you are ruining!” He squawked at the camera.
‘mosscout: it’s Friday’
“That means nothing to me! Bah, you couldn’t understand. You’re probably some sort of sleep-deprived degenerate.” He snarked back before turning his attention to his computer. He hovered his mouse over the ‘end stream’ button.
“I assume I’ll see you again, yes?”
‘mosscout: no’
‘mosscout: mayb’
‘mosscout: goodnight tho’
“Goodnight, ‘mosscout’.”
Click.
(-)
When the stream ended and their phone screen went dark, Kris exhaled shakily.
They dropped their phone on their lap and ran their hands down their face, staring up at the ceiling as a rush of emotions flew through their body.
Guilty interest and shame were the main feelings pounding at their heart, but they also couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of endearment along with it.
A confusing pot of emotion stew.
They dropped their hands to their side and slowly slipped under their covers. Like a cape, they pulled the dark fabric over their body and dug their face into their uncovered pillow.
This wasn’t happening again. Ever.
As their eyes drifted close and the heavy sensation of sleep made them feel weightless, they swore to themself that they would never interact with Berdly’s streams anymore.
They had no reason to.