Multi Chapter - Blog Posts

Skipping Stones

Chapter 1: Seeing Ghosts

“Are there any spirits here with us?”

The rain fell, as always, pattering against the windows, droplets sliding down the panes. Lightning flashed in the ink black sky every so often, followed closely by the low rumbling of thunder.

Six hands placed firmly, determinedly, fearfully, with uncertainty on the planchette on the ouija board, surrounded the group of three. The flame of the slowly melting candles around them reflected their mixed emotions in which the darkness of the mansion would’ve hidden otherwise.

The trio tonight consisted of a small-looking, timid boy, whose thick brown hair curled in front of his eyes, quite literally covering them, though not covering his quivering hands. A girl with the sparkliest hairband, her eyes equally shiny with tears that were still kept at bay. Lastly, a girl with the boldest red hair with a shine of determination and adventure in her eyes. The three look to be about seventeen to eighteen years of age, with the bold red-haired seeming to be the oldest of the group. 

“Can we go back home please? I don’t like this!” The timid boy squeaked. The hairband girl said nothing but nodded quickly.

“Oh come on, y’all agreed to this! We’re not going till we have a sign, you said so yourself!” The bold red-haired scoffed, pressing her hands firmly on the planchette, looking up to the grand chandelier hanging in the middle of the ceiling, the patterns on the white alabaster shades long obscured by the layers of dust.

“Is there anyone here with us tonight? Please give us a sign.” The bold red-haired repeated, louder, her voice echoing slightly in the empty mansion. 

Of course there was someone, they just could never see. People come and go, hoping to see something, expecting to see something, only to leave disappointed. Their closed eyes never seeing, never noticing. Even when they set candles to light up the dimmest of nights.  

All focused on a board and a planchette. 

Oh well, I couldn’t care less anyway. So what if they couldn’t see, I’ll send them running. I always will. And this group was no exception. 

“Oh my god! The front door! It opened by itself!” The timid boy screeched and jumped up to his feet. The bold red-haired shouted a warning but the damage was done as the timid boy stumbled, knocking over a nearby candle. The candle rolled over to the sparkly hairband girl, frozen in the confusion, the flames flickered to her skirt and caught fire. The girl screeched, swatting at the growing flame singing her skirt. 

“Get it out! Get it out!” She kicked and screamed, knocking more of the surrounding candles to the ground. Scrambling to her feet, she rushed towards the open front door, under the falling rain into the thick fog, with timid boy following closely and hastily behind. 

“Hey! Come back! What the hell!” The bold red-haired girl called out after them in protest, her voice muffled by the rain. The two that ran could no longer be seen. 

The bold red haired girl sighed in dismay, holding her head in her hand. She got up and cleaned up the mess, putting out the fire of the fallen candles and gathering them with the ouija board and planchette. Then, finally sat back down, back against the railings of grand stairs, a hand running through her red hair that fell messily on her shoulders.

Silence fell again. The darkness returned. I blended out of the front door, which was still wide ajar. Rain was entering the mansion, splashing slightly onto the marble floors. I went up to the girl, approaching closer to her. 

I thought she looked small. Smaller than I thought. Smaller than she was before.

More rain seemed to have splashed in. She shivered slightly, bringing her knees to her chest. So, I made myself small. As small as her. Just for a bit. 

She mumbled something inaudible, resting her head on her knees, soft red hair spilling onto the floor.

“It’s warm here.” She said softly. “Maybe there aren’t any ghosts here.” She said, staring past me. Into the foggy rain. 

Chapter 1: Seeing Ghosts _end_

Is This Love?

Luffy x Male Reader. Angst. 1551 words. Part 6

Desc: You meet Luffy in the kitchen, stress piles up.

You walk into the kitchen with a sigh and look around, trying to find something to eat. Your stomach has already started to rumble now that you’re more aware. Thankfully when you open the fridge you see a plate with foil covering it, saved for you. There’s a note that says “Felt you’d probably be hungry.” and then another that says “LUFFY DO NOT EAT. THIS IS FOR (Y/N).” Hell yeah. You grab the food and take off the foil, putting the plate in the microwave. While it’s heating up you hear the door open, quickly facing it to see Luffy. He pauses, staring at you.

…

…

beep beep beep

The unusual silence is interrupted by microwave beeps, your food is done. The captain’s eyes trail to the machine. Uh oh. “Luffy, please, I'm really hungry.” You plead with him, slowly stepping in front of the microwave as Luffy visibly starts to drool.

“...I won’t eat it.” He states with a shake of his head, as if shaking the gluttony way. It makes you stop.

“You won’t?” Maybe he just ate?

“You can eat it, I’m not hungry.” Wow, so kind. You’re still cautious though, taking the food out of the microwave while continuing to keep your eyes on the rubber man. He says he’s not hungry but his eyes are still instinctively following the plate. The scent travels to his nose and he pinches it shut.

“Did it go bad?” He looks away, then shuts his eyes. Out of sight out of mind. “Oh, you’re trying to resist. You can get Sanji and he can just make something for you, we can eat together.” He perks up at that and turns to go get the cook before remembering that he came in here in the first place to talk to you, turning back around. “Did you forget something?”

“The kiss.” You flinch, so focused on the food that you’d forgotten about it too. He tilts his head at you, confused by your reaction. “I thought you liked it?”

“No-” He frowns and you backtrack. “I mean no, I did. But not too much. Since we’re friends obviously.” You clear your throat, nice going. He’s silent again before walking over to you, grabbing your plate while you’re distracted but putting it to the side before you could think that he’ll eat it. “Uh?”

“(Y/n).”

“Yeah..?” Why’s he so serious all of a sudden?

“You liked the kiss because we’re friends?” He’s pressing, none of his usual playfulness sighted.

“Y-Yeah.” You repeat, nervous.

“I thought you loved me. Like a lover loves their lover.” He’s looking at you so intently.

“Oh.. uh.” This is sudden, you haven’t prepared an answer.

“Did you change your mind so fast?” Luffy asks and you panic a bit. Wording it like that makes you seem like the bad guy if you say yes, but saying no would admit that you haven’t been able to move on at all. While you’re thinking Luffy slowly gets closer until your noses are touching.

“Luffy..?” You’re getting nervous, blood already rushing to your head again. ‘Is he gonna kiss my nose again?’ Luffy hums in response, his eyes trailing down to your lips. He’s getting that urge again, like he wants to kiss you on the lips, but off. It’s like his heart is telling him it’ll be amazing but another part, the deep remnants of his brain that’s also connected to his heart, makes it feel wrong. That something isn’t right. His cheeks and the tips of his ears flush slightly as he looks back up at you.

“I feel like I’m gonna throw up.” His voice is breathy. The feeling of throwing up at the thought of kissing you but nausea not kissing you; but now he’s getting sick just being close to you and these feelings that are a mix of too positive it's nauseating and too negative it's sickening are swirling around in his body. A clash of what he’s been wanting his whole life and this sudden, strong, unfamiliar new want that he doesn’t know what to do with; especially when he isn’t even sure how you feel now. He slowly starts to heat up, face hot while his stomach grows cold. It’s too much. “I think I’m sick.” You don’t know what’s going on either, Luffy suddenly going limp. You manage to catch him in your arms before he falls to the ground, but he’s panting and letting out struggling murmurs. This is bad, He rarely gets sick, but is this even a regular sickness? You lift him up to eye level.

“Did you eat something bad?” You ask him but he shakes his head, eyes unfocused with one thing still in his mind. Something that he has to do to finally find some sort of answer.

“Axe… axe in.. shoe ate..” You aren’t sure what he’s talking about but he hasn’t passed out though, which is a good sign. Just in case you rush to bring him to the medical bay.

__________________________

“Again!?” Chopper yells in shock when you burst inside. This is the 3rd time in 2 days that you’ve ended up here, though he notices it’s not for you this time. “Luffy!?”

“I feel sick…” The usually energetic man mumbles, letting you carry him. You lay him on the bed and he groans.

“Did you eat something bad again?” The reindeer asks while checking Luffy’s temperature with his hoof, quickly pulling it away when it burns him. “You’re burning up!” The doctor quickly puts a cold towel on the captain’s forehead to cool him down. “What happened?” He asks you this time, the victim unable to answer from dizziness.

“I don’t know, we were talking in the kitchen about what happened and he suddenly got feverish and limp.” You explain, going more into detail in hopes it’ll help even if it’s embarrassing. “He was asking if I was still in love with him.” There’s a sudden sizzling noise and the two of you look to see Luffy’s gotten so hot he’s literally steaming. The heat from his forehead is evaporating the water in the towel. Chopper runs and grabs an ice pack to replace the towel, putting more all over him as a temporary solution. You stare in horror, is how things are going to end? After all that he’s survived before?

(Luffy’s POV)

Everything is muffled. He can hear faint voices but can't make anything out. All he feels is heat, discomfort, and the cold sensation on his body that is working less and less. Still… he can’t die like this. He isn’t King of the Pirates yet. Those feelings stir in his soul, trying to reach his body and strengthen him like they have so many times before; but before they can… they’re restricted. Emotions and thoughts, these new sensations, they’re restricting them, corrupting him so strongly it causes havoc in his very flesh. Uncertainty if you really moved on so easily, worry over what’s going to happen now, confusion of why it feels so much worse thinking of you moving on. All forcing its way in his heart, amalgamating into a debilitating fear. Fear of these sudden emotions. Why… why are they hurting him?

“....y ..ffy..” A voice again, unintelligible but it’s enough to remind him of himself; of his determination to live. He manages to focus his eyes just enough to see you leaning over him. You, with tears in your eyes. Why? His eyes start to close again… “Luffy, please! I’m still in love with you!” ..but something drums in his chest and his eyes snap open, feeling a tear plipping onto his face. You’re still in love with him, you haven’t moved on. Heat starts to dissipate from his body and the fogginess in his head clears. He has an answer. Finally. His vision starts to blur again, but from something different. He’s tearing up. Ahh.. he’s so relieved. The chains that were paining him break and travel from his heart out through his eyes in the form of tears. A wobbly smile forms on his face.

“I’m h..appy “ His voice is shaky as he speaks. There are still worries, unanswered questions in his chest; but right now all of them are overwritten by the joy of knowing you still love him. Before you can respond though he says something else, “I’m sleepy..” and with that he closes his eyes and falls asleep.

(Your POV)

You stand there, not quite knowing what to do after crying thinking your captain was going to die. Kind of embarrassing. You turn to see Chopper awkwardly holding fever medicine, also not knowing what to do. “S-Sorry.” You step back to let Chopper walk over to Luffy and check his temperature. It’s still a little warm, but no longer feverish.

“Okay.. um..” He takes the ice off of Luffy and you decide to leave to let the doctor handle the rest. However, as soon as you get close to the door you hear a struggled groan as Luffy’s face reddens again. You step back from the door and he goes back to a peaceful sleep. You decide to not leave. “...Can you stay here?”

“Yeah—yeah I’ll stay.” You say while sitting down, Luffy snoozing. Good for him.

Would be crazy if he actually just fucking died huh. He dies and thats the end of the story, thanks for reading guys make sure to read my other stuff. How mad would you guys be? Personally it'd be just a little funny, but only a little. He didn't die though, so you're welcome. Almost forgot @yuurivalr

Is This Love?

Luffy x Male Reader. Fluff. 2119 words. Part one, Part two, Part three

Desc: Luffy doesn't know what's going on but he does know that he enjoys eating fish.

Thump thump thump thump

Luffy bursts into the men’s quarters and flops onto his bed, putting his hand on his still thumping heart, “Hah… Hah…”

Thump thump thump thump

What’s going on? Is he having a poisonous reaction? But neither Chopper nor Sanji said anything. “Nnn…” No, it can’t be that, because it happened when you hugged him. That’s it! He’s just excited from being hugged by you after a whole week! He scratches at his heart… this doesn’t feel like excitement though. A scary thought pops into his mind as he starts to vibrate. ‘Am I dying!?’ If he’s dying why did he run away? He could’ve gone to Chopper but it was like everything in him told him to run, to get away. Like he just got caught trying to snag food while Sanji’s cooking or ate a week’s rations. “Uuuu..” He rolls onto his back and takes a big breath, letting it out to calm himself down. It’s okay, he isn’t dying and there’s no enemies, he isn’t in trouble either. It was just a hug from you. You used to do that all the time. You hugged him because you loved what he did. You loved it, you love him. Love.

THUMP

Dizziness starts to take over his mind again, as he shakes harder. Nonono. He wraps himself in his blanket hoping he’s cold but he feels too hot, kicking it off. Too excited, too dizzy, too much! He takes a giant breath and rolls back onto his stomach, letting it out and floating slightly before falling back onto the mattress. This is a mess, this is the worst. Then, a knock at the door.

“Hey, Luf, you in there?” Luffy flinches, it’s you. The door is unlocked, he was too panicked to lock it, but you knocked anyway to be nice. You aren’t sure why the captain ran off, after all. “Did you change your mind about giving me the fish? You didn’t have to run away, you can just tell me.” You’ve misunderstood, thinking Luffy ran because he wanted the fish but left to control the urges. But so has he, even if your voice is making him feel weirder. “You can still eat it, we can’t finish it all anyway.” On cue his stomach grumbles, fish does sound good right now. The captain looks down at his chest, he’s calmed down. That’s it, he’s just hungry, but what a weird type of hunger. Flip flops hit the floor as Luffy walks over, opening the door. “Oh, there you are. What happened?”

“I’m hungry.” He states, though his cheeks are still a bit flushed.

“...You sure? You look a little red, I mean you can eat anyway if you’re sick. You end up healing faster when you eat.” That’s true, but feels a little bad, not wanting to go back on his word. Especially when it’s for you.

“I caught it for you, though.” Luffy mumbles while he shifts in place. You think for a moment before replying.

“Okay. We’ll do this. I’ll eat as much as I can with the others, then you can have all the rest. Sounds good?” This brightens him up. That means he’s technically not breaking his word. He puts a hand over his chest, no quick thumping.

“Better.” He whispers, then he looks up at you and gives you a big hug, catching you off guard. It’s a little embarrassing but you did tell yourself you’d try to act normal again, so you hug back. He buries his face in your chest and everything’s normal.. until you hear him take a big sniff.

“???” You look down at him. “Did you just sniff me?” He looks up, resting his chest on your chest.

“You smell strong.” Weird, but if this put you off then you’d not have fallen in love with Luffy.

“..Thanks?” Could be a compliment.

“Mhm!” ..It was. Sanji was right. “Okay! Now let’s go!” Luffy hops up on your shoulders then points towards the deck. Cute. You run in the direction and he laughs before hitting his head on the top of the doorway. “Ack!” Oops.

____________________

Drool pools in Luffy’s mouth as he watches you eat. Intense, and it’s making you feel guilty for keeping food from him. “You don’t have to wait in here, you know. I can just call you when I'm full.”

“What if someone eats my food?” He’s nervous, staring intently at the fish on your plate.

“I’ll defend it.” Your tone is determined and his eyes meet yours.

“Promise?”

“Yeah.” You hold in your urge to hug him, your heart can’t take it right now, so you settle with petting his head. His eyes widen for a second before he smiles at you.

“Shi shi shi.” So cute!

‘Resist resist resist.’ You clench your jaw to hold it in, but it doesn’t matter since Luffy ends up giving you a quick hug before leaving the kitchen anyway. “Dammit..” You clench your fist on the table. When you look back at the others you notice everyone staring at you. It’s so obvious what they’re thinking, it pisses you off a bit so you take it out on Usopp. He gasps at your fork stabs into his food and shoves it in your mouth.

“Wha- Why only me!?” Too bad.

__________________

You pat your stomach with a content sigh. You’ve eaten a little less fish than being full to then save as much as you can for Luffy, but you’re still content. You want to spoil him, especially when he seemed excited about it. Enough to be upset and run away. “Hrm..” You hope he’s okay being kept from eating. Hopefully the variety of food will make it better. Grilled fish, fish soup, fish cake, sushi, lots of dishes that you can enjoy amazingly if you don't inhale it. You go outside and call for Luffy but there’s no answer. “Luffy!” You call again, now you hear the sound of hurried flip flops before he jumps on you.

“The smell was making me hungrier.” He had to go far so he couldn’t smell it. You chuckle a little then lead him back into the kitchen, setting him down once inside. His eyes widen with sparkles at all the food left. Here he’d thought there would only be a little, but you left so much for him. You smile when he looks at you gratefully.

“Hey, Sanji’s the one who made it, I just left what I couldn't eat for you.” To be honest there’s still some stored away, but you won’t say that for the chef’s sake.

“I’ll thank him later!” The captain yells and quickly stretches his arms to grab the pot of fish soup, immediately dropping it when it hurts. “HOT!” It’s falling! You run over and manage to catch it, wincing when the metal burns your hand. Still, you hold it and set it back onto the table.

“Here, be more careful.” You tell Luffy and give him cloths to use in order to hold the pot safely. He nods and uses them, tilting the soup into his open gullet happily. While he’s demolishing the soup you put your burnt hand under the sink, running cold water onto it. A minute passes and you hear Luffy put the empty pot down, grabbing sushi and putting it in his mouth before he finally notices what you’re doing. ‘Whar happefed” His speech is muffled by the food as he walks over to you.

“Burned my hand catching the pot, but it would’ve dropped otherwise.” You explain with a sigh. Fast reflexes but you wish you’d grabbed a cloth. Now your hand is burnt and you’ll have to go to Chopper later. The captain swallows the sushi in his mouth and stares at your burnt hand, then his safe ones. He’s fine because he let go immediately, but now you’re hurt because of it. He should’ve been the one to put it back on the table, but he wasn’t, and now you’re injured. He stretches his hand to grab a piece of sushi and puts it to your mouth. “Luffy I’m fu-mmphh”

“Get better.” He states and you chew it. It’s good, made by an excellent chef, but you really don’t want to eat more. Still, you can’t disobey your love so you swallow it. “.. ‘m sorry for dropping it.” Wow, he apologized. Maybe because you actually got hurt because of it. He sounds guilty too.

“It’s okay, the soup is good and I didn’t want you to miss it.” You tell him and go back to your hand. “I knew you’d love it.”

Thump thump

Luffy flinches and puts a hand on his heart, it feels weird again. He scratches at it as you sigh. You’ll have to go to Chopper but it’ll burn worse once you take your hand out of the water. Still, you take a deep breath and bite the bullet. “I’m gonna go to Chopper, enjoy the food!” You say quickly and hurry to leave the kitchen before the pain gets worse, not noticing the rubber man watching you every step of the way. Once you’re gone he shifts around uncomfortably. He did love the soup, you’re right. He loved it a lot, but now his chest feels weird. ..Maybe it’s just heartburn. Luffy gulps down a glass of water and gets back to eating, trying to ignore what’s happening. The food tastes duller.

Meanwhile

“Owww…” You’ve made it to Chopper and he’s started patching you up. The ointment being put on is good for you but it burns so bad. You have to grit your teeth when the reindeer gauzes up your hand after.

“You should’ve just let it fall!” He’s upset you hurt yourself over some soup. The doctor would get it if Luffy, maybe even Sanji, burned themselves to catch a pot of food; but not you! The door suddenly opens, it’s rubber boy. He’s holding fish cakes in his arms.

“What’re you doing here?” You ask him but he just takes a bite of the fishcake, chewing and swallowing before a content smile forms on his face.

“Tastes better!” He states happily, casually squeezing himself on your other side.

‘aaaaaaaaaa’ He leans against you. So close, basically on your lap. To be honest you're not complaining but why is he so close?

“Luffy be more careful! And don’t eat in here. You’ll get crumbs on the bed.” Chopper scolds him but the captain just rests his head on your arm, tilting it up to look at you with a small frown. Dammit, he’s too adorable. What’s worse is ever since you confessed you’ve become even more sensitive to his presence instead of less. There’s crumbs on his lips and he licks them to get it off.

“I don’t wanna, my food doesn’t taste as good without (Y/n).” He likes you!? Wait, that could just mean he doesn’t like eating alone, makes more sense. He continues to stare at you and puts a fishcake in his mouth. “Wanna shtay.” His face is so close, the other side of the fish cake is pressing against your lips and he’s only getting closer. It's not long before you have to open your mouth to avoid making a mess, biting into it as he looks into your eyes. Before anything else happens a small voice speaks.

“Um..” Chopper is still sitting there, now rather awkwardly. Even if he doesn't understand what you two are doing he does understand that you’re both getting crumbs on the bed.. and while ignoring him. Once you become aware of his presence you inhale and start to choke on the fishcake, pulling back to cough. It makes the reindeer panic as he turns into his human form to squeeze your stomach til you hack out a piece of fishcake onto the ground. Gross.

‘What a waste…’ Luffy stares at the discarded fishcake.

“Luffy don’t even think about eating that! And get out!” The doctor has had enough, picking the captain up and kicking him out of the office to tend to you properly. Once outside Luffy pops the rest of the fishcake in his mouth.

“Weird.” He doesn’t understand why he was getting so close to you. He just felt like it was right for some reason. In fact, he felt like the fishcake was in the way. That it was stopping him from looking at you properly. He wants to look at you more, see all of the expressions on your face. His mind wanders to the one where you look a little embarrassed. That one is his favorite. Yes, he needs to see that one more often.

Thump thump

This is taking more chapters than I thought.. hope you don't mind. At this point I don't actually know if this is going to be slow burn or average burn. I was planning on putting more romance into this chapter but it just felt.. wrong. So I scrapped and rewrote it. This isn't really my best work either. I feel like i could write this better, make the flow better, but I keep writing these when I'm tired and I'm too impatient to just wait to post it and proofread it again when I'm well rested. Sorry about that.

Next

A Heartstruck Collision - CH3

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Masterlist

Pairing: Zach Hadel x f!Reader

Warnings: None

A/N: Wanted to post this way earlier but oh well- This Chapter features a little more coworkers and a little introduction to Zach

Tags: If you wanna get tagged for the next chapters, just let me know!

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You had survived the 30 minute walk to the office, albeit you ran out of breath in an embarrassingly short amount of time, you’d just blame the hot california air for that though. 

You were on your first break as of now, another few frames already finished and Raphael already started to clean up the first few opening frames to get a look at how it would turn out. 

Just as you were about to take a sip from your coffee, you were startled by a voice coming from behind you.

“How are my favorite animators doing!?” Luckily you didn't spill the hot liquid over yourself. You turned around to watch Arin lean over Hayley’s shoulder. “Whoaaa, Arina looks so good dude!” Ross was laughing at that, of course that’s what Arin would pay attention to most. 

“Damn, you guys are working crazy hard on this.” Dan seemingly appeared out of nowhere, the cup of coffee now tightly clutched in your hands. God, they seemed like entities that just popped up whenever. 

Ross suddenly jumped up from his seat: “Oh by the way, good that you guys are here now.” Arin and Dan’s heads shot up immediately. “So yesterday we bumped into Chris and he made the suggestion that we could maybe make a deal with Adult Swim in terms of where to stream the show.” 

“What do you mean?” It was funny seeing Arin go into Business mode. His whole demeanor switched up and you once again realized that while yes, he was the funny internet video game boy, he was also your boss now and the owner of quite a big company. 

“Cause’ Netflix takes everything from their creators.” Ross argued.

“And Zach and Michael made Smiling friends on Adult Swim and they never had any complaints.” He continued, Arin furrowed his brow. 

“Well I guess you’re right but like- we can’t just call 'em up and ask about it, I’d have to do meetings and tell them about the premise and ughh..” Arin groaned. Not the kind of groan which wanted to shut you down but rather one that just acknowledged how annoying the process would be.

“But we did all that with Netflix already, just didn’t file a contract yet.” Dan looked over at Arin, his voice was positive as usual. “Yeah but I’d have to do it all over again.” He whined, earning a sarcastic eye roll from Dan. “I mean we can help out as well you know..” Hayley chimed in. 

“That’s true I suppose, I’ll give you guys an update as soon as possible alright? Did Chris say anything about talking to Zach?” 

Ross nodded.

“Who is that Zach guy by the way?” You turned around to Dan who was now sitting on the corner of your desk. 

“Oh he’s like a friend. Maybe Psychicpebbles rings any bells?” You slowly shook your head, raking through your brain to possibly find a file labeled something similar. 

“He’s so fucking funny dude.” Arin said, stepping closer to you to get a look at your screen as well. “Also he has a very interesting manner of speech.” 

Dan laughed at that statement. “Yeah he has like this super nasally voice, the guy’s awesome.” 

You let out a breathy laugh. The kind of uncertain laugh that was only used when you weren’t sure about something but everyone else was apparently getting a joke. 

“And he made, what was it called? Smiling Friends?” “Yep.” 

Smiling friends..

Yeah that you had heard before. You even vaguely remember to have briefly scrolled past it yesterday. If your memory wasn’t betraying you that is. 

“Is ist popular?” You felt rude asking that question yet it was more or less meant in a way for yourself to evaluate whether or not you were actually familiar with the entire L.A. scene.

“I'd say so.” Dan answered with a shrug. Popularity wasn't really something that mattered to him, as far as you knew from his band and what he has said on Game Grumps on many occasions. 

You leant back in your chair, the drawing you had made yesterday night popping into your mind. 

Could this be counted as a weird obsession? You'd hope not, after all you were more curious than anything to find out who this Zach guy was. 

Maybe you should look up Chris’ channel? Nope, that would definitely feel like stalking. But then again, you wondered, why? It’s a public channel, probably a big one as well. 

Grabbing the pen from where you had left it, you just decided to get on with it and simply wait until you met him, if you even did. 

Dan stayed next to you, intrigued about the process and so you distracted your mind by drawing and explaining everything to him in grave detail, which he attentively listened to, occasionally asking questions. 

*** 

You were happy with your work today. if it weren't for Ross’ fear of all of you getting a burnout you would have continued for another three hours at least. 

“Hey (y/n)!” 

You turned around, bag already slung over your shoulder. 

“Oh, you were about to go home now?” 

Hayley held a deck of cards in her right hand. 

“Uh I mean yeah, what's up?” 

“Thought we could play a game of cards real quick?” 

Raphael peeked up behind her, sitting at the little coffee table adjacent to your workspace. 

‘Why not?’ you thought and shrugged. You put the bag down beside you and sat next ro Raphael. As Ross had said before: Team Building and stuff. 

***

Raphael had won three out of three rounds and Hayley was growing frustrated. What was especially amusing though was to see the otherwise shy guy gain more and more confidence with every good card he put down. Then again, watching Hayley bite her lip excessively while trying to figure out what cards you both had was equally funny. 

“I give up.” She said dramatically, throwing her hand open onto the table. 

“Does the fact that the French made these cards give you some kind of buff?” she groaned into her hands, earning a laugh from Raphael. 

“Nope, just got luck on my side.” 

You were truly happy about the fact that you had basically landed a jackpot with these coworkers. The conversations that had started up while you had been playing didn't feel forced, not like anyone was trying to force themselves to get along. 

“(y/n)?” Hayley spoke up again. “Hmmm?” 

You had been absentmindedly shuffling the cards through your hands, one falling down as Hayley startled you. 

“You just moved to L.A. right?” You nodded with a strained noise as you tried to reach for the card which had fallen under the table, hair falling into your face. 

“We could go to this cat café that opened up! it shouldn't be too far away from here I think. We could go next Thursday, I should be free by then!” 

You had finally found it, victoriously you held it up before putting it in a random spot in the deck. 

“Sure, I'd love to!” 

A cat café did sound nice. The town next to where you grew up had one but you had only gonewent there like two times before they had to close up. The cats had been very cuddly though. 

“I have an appointment on that day..” Raphael said with a disappointed tone, seemingly sad about his own schedule. 

“Well then it's a girls date- we can go there again though.” 

The ease with which Hayley said all that was truly baffling to you. If you had been in her place you would probably have tried to make ends meet immediately which would have just resulted in an unoriented mess where you would never end up going anyway. 

Raphael agreed to your plans and then was quick to be on his way home. You and Hayley stayed behind for just a little, saying bye to everyone that was still left along with the two of you. 

You were happy to finally drive your car back home this evening and fell asleep with the thought of a nice day of getting to know L.A. next week.

A Heartstruck Collision - CH2

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Masterlist

Pairing: Zach Hadel x f!Reader

Warnings: Alcohol consumption and a weird hypothetical

A/N: Zach is mentioned for the first time let's goooo

Tags: If you wanna get tagged for the next chapters, just let me know!

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

“Ughh, that is disgusting dude..” Ross closed his eyes, trying to shield his mind's eye from what Chris had just said. 

“Hey don’t shoot the messenger, I’m only re-telling what Zach asked me!” Chris said with a fit of giggles accompanying it. 

“Yeah but that’s like- No dude, I wouldn’t!” Another giggle from Chris who now looked over at you:

“Alright, (y/n) what do you think?” You really tried to ponder over the hypothetical but the alcohol in your bloodstream was telling you that ‘yes, and’ couldn’t be the answer to everything. “No, I wouldn’t!” 

The hypothetical stated that if you were alone in the world and the only other person was a relative, whether or not you’d sleep with them to save the human race. Nope, there was truly no comeback to counter this one.

“I’m still not convinced that Zach isn’t a social experiment.” Ross said, rubbing his eyes. You didn’t know who the guy was but apparently he had more of these theoretical situations which he regularly posed as questions to his friends. 

At this point, the bar was practically empty. Hayley and Raphael had left about an hour ago and if you were honest, you were growing quite tired as well. 

“By the way, what was that about Game Gyaru? Like where is it gonna be streaming?” 

Chris asked, clearly suppressing a yawn himself. 

Ross, Jackson and you looked at each other, Jackson just shrugged and returned the focus to his drink. “Well I guess for now the plan was to have the Pilot air on youtube and then i dunno, I think Arin said something about having talked with Netflix?” Ross frowned, not entirely sure if he was right about the thing. 

You nodded along, that was about what was written in the mails that went around.  

“Ugh but Netflix sucks with this kinda stuff. You won't even get any profit off of those media vampires.” Chris stated, the alcohol definitely turned him more confrontational. 

“Well what do you propose we should do then?” You asked.

“I mean, adult swim is like pretty fucking good with their creators. My friends also have a series on there and they never complained about anything.” 

Ross suddenly appeared to be in thought, Jackson had also perked up again. 

“Welp, anyway I think I'm gonna head home, tired as hell.” Chris stood up, you copied. Going home was definitely in order now. 

“We should talk to Arin about reaching out to Adult Swim, might be a good idea.” 

You agreed absentmindedly but that was a thought for tomorrow. 

Chris and you walked outside, the air hitting your lungs in a weird way. 

“Aw fuck..” you whispered. 

“Huh?” 

You truly were smart sometimes. Drinking alcohol when you still had to drive home. It was a short drive, yes, but still a bad idea. 

“I just realized I still gotta drive home, guess walking for 30 minutes is gonna sober me up nicely.” you let out a laugh realizing that getting angry about the situation wouldn't solve it regardless.  

“Oh shit, yeah you're right.” 

Chris probably wanted to go home but with your confession, he probably felt bad or that it would be awkward if he left now. Instead he put a hand on your shoulder, lightly tapping it with an apologetic smile. 

“I know we don't know each other but I could walk you home? Just for safety and all that. Or maybe Ross and Jack-” 

"Chriiis!" 

A car pulled up and stopped right in front of the bar. There was no traffic going on so there was no urgency to find a parking spot. 

“Lyle you son of a bitch- you're like what-” Chris looked at his phone. 

“1 ½ hours late! You stood me up man..” 

“Oh shit really?” The guy inside the car seemingly looked at the time and then started laughing. 

“Holy fuck I’m sorry!” He wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. Talk about time management. 

“You could drive us home though, that's (y/n) by the way. We've both got alcohol in our system so we need a ride.” 

Part of you wanted to protest, you didn't want to be a bother on your first day of meeting all of these people. The rational part of your brain decided against it though, Chris surely wouldn't have made the offer if he thought it would be a burden. And Lyle also seemed like a sweet guy. 

Without wasting much time, the both of you got into his black car. 

Quickly you gave Lyle your address to which he thankfully replied with a: “No problemo.”

The smile was apparent in his tone of voice. 

The car ride went by in a comfortable silence, Chris here and there talked about who you were and about the Game Gyaru Series, saying he'll talk to Zach about it, the guy who was still faceless in your head. You wondered if you'd ever get to fill in that gap.

***

You waved them goodbye as you got out of the car, having thanked Lyle about a hundred times already to which he simply replied with a genuine smile. 

Waddling over to the apartment complex, you realized that they drove off only when you had actually entered the place, ‘how nice’ you thought as you walked up the stairs. 

When you entered your apartment, the first thing you did was throw your shoes to the side and drop down on the couch. Although you had been tired and ready to sleep for the entire duration of the drive, now you felt more awake than ever. You groaned, thinking about how you had to walk to work tomorrow and quickly grabbed the remote, trying not to dwell on it for too long. 

“What did he say the show was called?” You mumbled to yourself, clicking through the shows presented on your smart tv. Did Chris even say what it was called? That guy, Zach, made the show, that was all you knew. No last name and no face. Exhausted, you turned the tv off again and slumped over to your desk. 

It was one of those weird states of mind where your body was tired and ready to collapse and yet your mind had that last little ounce of ‘can't sleep’ which could keep you up for who knows how long. 

Perhaps doodling a little might help tiring your mind? Pinterest was opened multiple times and closed just as many times. Nothing you were in the mood for was showing up on your front page and you didn't have any ideas on what to search up for inspiration. 

Maybe draw the evening? 

And that is what you did. You tried your best to draw a little sketch of Ross, Jackson, Chris and you in the booth. Jackson's head was resting on the table, at that point he had been very out of it. Meanwhile Ross and you were arguing with Chris about the strange hypothetical. A little speech bubble coming from Chris, a man whose face was replaced by a question mark was in it. 

Maybe it hadn't been your best drawing but it definitely was a fun addition to your sketchbook. 

Finally feeling tired enough, you slumped over to your bed, practically falling into it after setting your alarm for an hour earlier.

A Heartstruck Collision

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Masterlist

Pairing: Zach Hadel x f!Reader

Warnings: None

A/N: This is gonna be a slow burn fanfiction and Zach won't show up til some chapters in so I hope you can have a little patience for me :> This is super self indulgent btw as you can see from me making Game Grumps an intrinsic part of the story

Tags: If you wanna get tagged for the next chapters, just let me know!

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Living in L.A was.. different, to say the least.

Don't get it confused, it wasn't horrible but it certainly was a different experience from what you had known of a “normal life” up until that point.

If you had to use just three words to sum it up, you'd probably say: loud, busy but fun.

You had moved there a few weeks ago after landing a job as an animator at the Game Grumps Company. Your bosses, Arin Hanson And Daniel Avidan, had, after years of only talking about it and never acting on it, started working on an animated Series called “Game Gyaru”.

The ad hadn't just drawn you in because you had been a fan of them for many years, but also because of the style that they were going for. 90's anime with all the good stuff: Magical Girl Transformation, feel good humor and beautiful sparkly, saturated images.

Not only the job offer was great in and of itself but the pay you were about to receive would definitely make up for some of the left over student debt as well as the fact that your apartment was being paid for you by Arin or rather, his company.

They say “never meet your heroes” but in this particular case, you might've just gotten extremely lucky.

You had your first meeting with the Grumps just a week ago. It hadn't been anything special. A few awkward handshakes, tripping over your own words and an introduction to your new workspace (which featured one of the most expensive and fancy drawing tablets you had ever seen by the way) and of course, a brief meeting with your future colleagues. Well- a brief meeting with their names so to speak.

Apparently Ross O'Donovan, which you had been following as well, would be working on the project alongside you in addition to some other names that you haven't had a face in mind to connect them with.

They were most likely cut from the same cloth as you, other kids who just graduated from an art school that totally drained them and that have been begging for a stable job and finally getting a chance to put their degree to something useful.

As you had gotten home after your first day there, it had felt surreal. It still did even a week later and the mere thought of what your younger self would say if they saw you working under their favorite content creators was definitely tripping you up (hence the periodical screeches you had let loose whenever you thought about the matter at hand)

Much to your dismay though, all of the excitement for your new job was not enough to get you to finally properly move into your home. There were still about a dozen boxes standing around, just waiting for you to finally confront all of the useless stuff you had bought and acquired over the years.

Then again, you justified the leftover boxes by saying that you had already unpacked all of the very important stuff like dishes or clothes and yet you knew that someday you would have to face the consequences of your own procrastination.

“Did you just move in?”

“Oh no I uh.. I've been living here for a year now”

You could already hear the conversation happening in real time if there ever came a moment where you invited someone over.

‘Not today though” you thought, a sleepy yawn accompanying It. The last few days had been spent wandering around L.A or doodling various characters to try and get yourself in the right headspace for the coming months. An Art-Block would definitely be the worst thing that could happen right now so drinking in the entirety of a new city should hopefully keep your inspiration going.

Deciding to wrap up for today though, you finished your glass of water and closed your sketchbook, letting the pen collide with the hardcover of the book.

The apartment wasn't really big, yet that was absolutely fine. It meant that keeping the place clean was going to be significantly easier and the chances of losing your keys or important letters sank by at least 5%.

Just as you closed your bedroom door behind you, your phone vibrated in your pocket.

>>Hey there! Arin wanted to text you himself about tomorrow but he got kinda caught up so I just wanna make sure you're ready for tomorrow? :D<<

The text you had gotten was from Ally. She often aided Dan and Arin with their endeavors and all of their projects so it was no surprise that she also assisted with this one. Your encounter with her last week had been quite short lived yet her welcoming personality had you immediately feeling like this was going to be a comfortable working environment and one of the first things she had said to you was:

“And if there is anything you need, you can always come to me, I've got an ear for everyone”.

If that wasn’t the sweetest first thing you had ever heard while being somewhere completely new, you didn't know what was.

>>Hi :) Yeah I'm good, a little nervous but I'm sure I'll manage o7<<

You threw the phone onto your bed, pulling out your pajamas and putting them on, another vibration from your phone telling you that Ally had probably responded.

>>Oh yeah I totally get that dw! Just for your own peace of mind though, you really don't gotta get caught up with putting on a show or acting super professional, we're all friends here :D<<

You couldn't help but smile at that message. That interaction alone contradicted everything that you had heard about working life. Your parents and teachers had done a great job with the whole “that won't fly later in life” and yet here you were, using emoticons while speaking with one of your superiors.

Part of you was excited to rub it in their faces the next time you would call and yet you knew that they probably wouldn't look at animation as being a serious job. At least not if you weren't working for an actual company that had their shows playing on public tv.

Even though it was a sad thing to think about, they'd probably be more impressed if you were working on Family Guy.

With a tired sigh you plopped down on your bed, the slatted frame squeaking beneath your weight.

You contemplated for a second about whether or not you should cover yourself with your blanket. Another aspect that needed adjusting was the heat.

Luckily your apartment had air conditioning but you didn't want it running the whole time. Just because someone was paying for your place didn't mean that you had to max out every cost as much as possible.

Before drifting off to sleep, you decided on the old “one leg covered and one not”, using your body's built-in AC system (which actually worked quite well).

As you slowly succumbed to your own tiredness, your head was filled with all kinds of different images. Some were familiar, clearly influenced by the events of the past days but there were some which didn't quite fit into any picture.

You had met one of your, up until now unknown, colleagues. His face was obscured, your mind clearly leaving out the one part which would make it realistic.

You couldn't really make out what the conversation was about, only the feeling of butterflies to indicate what it was about.

Your hands had touched briefly as he took the pen from your hands, leaning over your shoulder from where you were sitting at your desk. You swore that your body actually started to heat up from what was just a random dream.

He was correcting your drawing a little and then he looked at you, his face so close to yours now and even though he had no face you just knew that he was smiling at you, his gaze softly looking at your lips and back into your eyes.

Gently, he put the pen down onto your desk while you were slowly closing the distance between you.

You felt his breath on your skin, his lips ghosting over yours, almost, finally touching-

“Ughhh what the fuuuck…”

Alright, your first paycheck would buy you an alarm that doesn't sound like an army drill.

Rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you slowly sat up in your bed. Motivation to start your job wasn’t necessarily the issue, of that you had enough. Sadly though, your sleep schedule had a mind of it’s own. Still remembering all the nights you had spent up and working on your portfolio only for some company that ended up using the Chairman’s son (who had no degree or any creative abilities whatsoever) to design their new bougie logo.

Some might say that there was bitterness attached to memories such as those.

Deciding that huffing and puffing over previous job opportunities wouldn’t get you out of bed though, you finally stood up. Immediately regretting it as you felt your head spin from the sudden movement.

Maybe a little less motivation?

You slowly made your way toward the small kitchen, coffee being the only thing on your mind when it came to the matter of waking up. As you waited for the old machine to get started, you went back into your bedroom. Opening the wardrobe and looking at it. Contemplating.

You wanted to seem put together but also not too much - didn’t want to set expectations that you would only be able to hold up for a week maximum.

A simple t-shirt and jeans. Yeah, that is business casual, right?

In a way you felt stupid for even having to think about the whole thing. It would most likely be no issue if you showed up in sweatpants and a tank top for your whole time being there, as long as your work was good nothing else mattered.

Especially working as an animator, you had learned from personal experience that after 30 minutes your body seemed to magically shift into the most absurd positions anyway. So better be comfortable than not.

After donning on the not so carefully planned outfit, you walked back to your now steaming coffee. One look at the watch on our wrist told you that you had about 20 minutes left. Downing the beverage in a span of time that would definitely result in stomach issues, you opted for the bathroom. The mantra here was the same as with the clothes: Not too much but not too little.

***

The office was nicely cooled, a stark contrast to the humidity outside. You already heard many unfamiliar voices coming from your workspace, nervousness bubbling up inside you. ‘What are these other people like?Would they be way better at this whole stuff?’ Would they fire you if they saw that the others were more qualified? Usually you wouldn’t talk so negatively about the degree that you had worked so hard to get and yet in moments like these you always felt so inferior.

“Yeah, (y/n) should be here any minute now as well.”

As you heard Ally’s voice, you took one last deep breath. ‘It’ll be fine, just play it cool. You’ve come this far’

Turning the corner to the animator’s space, you were met with three unfamiliar faces. They weren’t scary looking or anything, the whole scene itself just felt comical and intimidating. As if you had been intruding on something even though they had been waiting specifically on you.

“Hey, sorry, hope I’m not late or anything?” You glanced at your watch once agin. Just on time.

“Oh no, we all showed up more or less right now so nothing to worry about!” Ally showed you a sympathetic smile to which you couldn't help but reply with one of your own.

The introductions luckily went by quite fast, leaving little room for any awkward silences that you always dreaded when it came to meeting new people.

For one, there was Hayley who seemed to come straight out of the hipster era from the 2000’s. She had long blonde hair that went far past her shoulders and was contrasted starkly by the red beanie which she had pulled halfway over her head so that a lot of the fabric was casually hanging down at the back of her head. It was already clear as she introduced herself that she was an energetic type of person. That and the fact that she had been living in L.A for 3 years now, definitely made you feel a little inferior, even though she seemed friendly.

Jackson, a tall brunette guy whose style was very normal (in a good way), had also been living here with his girlfriend for about one and a half years now. The way he talked and the ease with which he spoke made him appear confident and yet there was something very humble about him. Perhaps a sort of ‘gentle giant’?

Lastly, there was Raphael. He came over to the USA all the way from France and although his english was as good as that of any foreigner who dismissively says that their “english wouldn't be very good” (which was the universal sign of their english surpassing even shakespeare), he still had a french accent which drew everyone in as he was talking. It sounded so much more fancy even though it was just a regular introduction. His hair was tightly coiled at the top and what especially stood out about Raphael was the white tattoo on his right forearm. The white ink stood out like it was some magic seal and depicted a moth breaking out from its cocoon, one wing already free'd.

Out of the other two, he was the most timid one and the only one that felt like he felt as out of place as you did.

“Alright, now that all of us are here, I just wanna make sure that all of you got the mail about the concept for the Pilot?”

Everyone agreed in a half-unison “yeah”.

The Idea for the Pilot was quite simple in and of itself. It was no secret that the whole series was heavily inspired by shows like Sailor Moon or Cowboy Bebop which is why it was set in a sci-fi world which still felt all retro-y. The episode was supposed to start with a little sequence in which Arina was playing an arcade game in their little spaceship and of course, she was losing and punching the machine. Then, Daniella was supposed to come into frame and tell her, in typical Dan-fashion, that it was alright to which they’d have a little banter.

Afterwards, the actual story of the series was supposed to begin. Their superior, a man who coincidentally had a lot of similarities to Barack Obama, informs them about a mission. A woman apparently paged them because her son was acting strange.

The whole episode basically forms about one bit where Arin pretended to be a monkey child called Franklin that was out of control. With the crucial detail that this behavior was caused by some cursed jewelry. The Pilot should end by Arina and Daniella stopping the main villain's henchman who was hexing said jewelry - meeting the big bad guy in the end as well. Typical foreshadowing.

After the brief recap of what was about to happen, all of you sat down on your desks, getting comfortable with the new equipment. Since Arin and Dan had already evaluated some of your concept art and decided upon which would be the best way to start, it was basically just piecing together the puzzle. Well, a puzzle which had to be drawn up and then cleaned multiple times but still.

After a while of experimenting and Jackson and Hayley actually getting somewhere with their segments, Ross also entered the office.

“Sorry I’m late everyone, I had to work on this other thing as well. I'll try to be on time in the future.”

All four of you reassured him immediately, partly also because you all had immense respect for the guy and his abilities.

“What have you gotten so far?”

“Me and Hayley just finished sketching up like three frames of our scenes.”

Ross nodded, trying to see where he could fit into the picture.

“You guys are still getting used to the program?”

His gaze fell onto Raphael and you who could only reply with a sheepish smile in return.

Was it bad that you weren't working as fast?

“If we have to hurry up you can tell us, it's just like new and all. I for one never worked on an actual series up until now.” Raphael spoke up, his accent naturally swallowing up certain letters.

Ross immediately put up his hands:

“Oh no, no, all good! I just wanted to check where everyone was at.”

He scratched his chin, seemingly in thought.

“Okay, this might sound super stuck up and shit but should I maybe take on the role of director? If I remember correctly from your portfolios, none of you have worked on a series so far, which isn't a bad thing-” he hastily added in between.

“I'm just saying cause I've been here the longest as well. Might make things a tad bit easier for all of us.”

It really didn't sound arrogant, it was just the truth after all. No one opposed the idea of having someone as an actual director, seeing that it would probably help the entire flow of the team in the future.

After a brief discussion of how the program worked and how to approach the whole project in the best way, the tension that had been present in the room before practically dissolved immediately.

Ross, having worked with multiple animators already, was definitely educated in how to make beginners feel alright with their abilities and there was a silent aura of thankfulness surrounding all four of you as you continued to work.

***

“Whew, good job everyone! Holy shit that is like so much for one day!” Ross looked at your screens with an astounded expression.

Very much exhausted from concentrating and your hand having cramped up like five times today, you finally stretched. It was one of those that made you feel dizzy and like you were ascending into another plane of existence.

“Do you guys have any plans now?” Ross asked, cracking his fingers one by one.

“Nope, not really. Well, aside from sleeping.” Hayley let out a breathy laugh and got up from her chair.

“I’d invite you guys out for a drink if you want to, some team building and what not.”

That offer would definitely not be turned down.

Ross had mentioned a pub that was actually in walking distance (a miracle from what you knew of American cities). And so, after telling Arin that you'd be finished for today, you guys made your way over there.

The conversations were held light, except for Jackson who saw this as a great opportunity to shower Ross in compliments about his works. The Australian seemed to be slightly overwhelmed by the onslaught of support but he hid it quite gracefully.

You stayed behind everyone as you walked, your social battery needing to be refilled a little before entering a place where conversation was inevitable. You weren't opposed to social interaction, you pretty much appreciated it and realized that you needed it and yet being in a new environment with what were basically just strangers (no matter how famous they were online), was absolutely draining.

As you entered the bar, you were immediately hit with the smell of alcohol and sweat. It wasn’t irritatingly strong but it was recognizable by everyone as you entered, faces twisting for just a split second.

Ross sauntered over to the counter, it was clear that he knew the barkeeper behind it. She vaguely gestured to a corner of the establishment, a little round booth where you were supposed to sit down.

You were leaning back against the soft cushioning off the wall, stretching your legs beneath the round table. The bar looked quite nice, you had to admit.

The whole place looked like it came straight out of another century but not worn out or scuffed. No, it looked fairly well looked after and it seemed that there was definitely no shortage of customers. If anything, you had gotten lucky that Ross had connections or otherwise the plans of a drink after work would have been quickly snuffed out.

The conversations started flowing once again after everyone had gotten their drinks. You mostly decided to listen, chiming in here and there if you had anything in mind that you thought would contribute nicely to the conversation. Otherwise you just sipped on your beverage from time to time, letting the alcohol relax you a little bit more, your fingers still hurting a bit from the way you were holding the pen the entire day.

“Yeah, my parents weren’t really happy with me moving across the entire world.” Raphael confessed, a look of guilt on his face. “I can imagine, you gotta tell us what it’s like in France, I’ve always wanted to go!” Hayley exclaimed, interest clear in her voice.

“It’s not super special, although the cities look nicer, no offense!” Raphael giggled. That you had to agree with. The beach was about the nicest thing in L.A that you had seen so far. Not to mention, walkable cities, who?

“I’ve been to europe once and yeah, it’s like entirely different with how the streets are and all-”

“Ross?”

You all looked up to the voice that interrupted the conversation.

“Oh Chris, what the fuck? What are you doing here?”

Ross got up and hugged the guy whose name apparently was Chris. Could that be the guy from DoodleDoods back then? You remember enjoying the creepy things he used to draw up seemingly on the spot. Didn’t he also have a gaming channel? What was the name again? Oney or something?

“I wanted to come here with Lyle but I think the fucker forgot or something cause I can’t find him anywhere.” He half laughed, he didn’t seem to actually be bitter about it.

“Aw that sucks, well yeah I’m here with my new animation team!” He excitedly pointed toward the four of you now awkwardly sitting in the booth. You gave a little wave to Chris who showed me a little smile in return.

“Animation- oh yeah right! The Game Gyaru thing I remember.” Ross nodded.

“Yup, that’s Raphael, Hayley right next to him and there are Jackson and (y/n)”

“Awesome, nice to meet you, I’m Chris!”

“Wait, you do OneyPlays right?” Jackson spoke up to which Chris threw up his hands in a gesture of feigned defeat. “You got me.”

After another minute of standing around had passed, Chris decided to simply sit down along with all of you, Lyle wouldn’t be showing up anymore anyway - his own words.

What surprised you about him was that talking to him felt very.. normal.

With the Grumps for example there was this feeling of “Oh my god they are internet legends” and although they were just regular everyday people, it still felt surreal talking to them.

The atmosphere in the bar was casual, like you couldn’t make any mistakes and as everyone was agitated in conversation, you realized that living here and working with all of them might actually turn out to be a really fun experience.