David Builds It is Now Live
Deep in the depths of Youtube, there is a channel. It’s not huge. A few thousand followers at most but those followers are dedicated to its host.
The channel, called ‘David Builds It’ was a rather sweet little self-help channel. The premise was simple. The older gentleman, David, would film various tutorials designed to help people learn how to do everyday tasks. From tying shoelaces to building cabinets. Painting decks and oil changes. Creating a fishing lure and even taping up a hockey stick.
The lore of David was a little fuzzy but in the few months since the creation of the channel, his loyal followers had tried to collect all the little tidbits they could, to create a comprehensive picture of the man they had all fallen in love with.
From what they had pieced together, he was an older Canadian man, still handsome even in his 60’s. He was retired from a Government Job and possibly lived in Ottawa or its surrounding. He had a wife he adored and children. No one was certain how many or what age they were but he had more than one, based on the small comments he made in regards to ‘The Boys’ which littered his videos. He never named names, always filmed his videos in areas with limited identifying features, either outside or in a custom build workshop.
He may also have grandkids? He had mentioned the term ‘The Kids’ in several videos but no one was 100% sure if he was referring to his own children or other people. It could be both. Some said it wasn’t. Given his age, it was a bit odd that the first video he dedicated to ‘The Kids’ was about how to change the lightbulb in the fridge. Not something young children needed to know. So maybe the kids were also ‘The Boys’?
There was a third group he referred to, called ‘The Team’ which also got the occasional reference and who the viewers were fairly certain was some sort of friends group. Not much was known about this group but David had mentioned one time, as he showed how to properly clean a blackstone BBQ, that he had learnt it from one of the guys on the Team.
The viewers also knew that David was an ally. That had been made clear when he had worn a t-shirt with ‘Free Dad Hugs’ written across the front in rainbow font in one of his videos, which had led his fans to believe that one of his ‘boys’ may be gay. When his followers had questioned it in the comments section, he had even gone so far as to reply that he had gotten it for Ottawa Pride the week before he filmed the video in question.
That had definitely earned him a few more followers, with people reaching out confessing that as members of the Queer community, they had used his videos to learn things their own parents refused to teach them because of their sexuality.
Occasionally, viewers would send him requests. Little asks for him to attempt. The first one was also David’s first live stream. A viewer asked him to build a Bekant Desk from Ikea on a livestream. It had been meant as a joke, the desk notoriously difficult to build but David had taken on the challenge with gusto, setting up his camera in his workshop. This livestream, far from discouraging David (even if he did admit that the desk had beaten him and the weird contraption was far from correct) had led him to profess he wanted to get better and try again. It was also the first time viewers heard the voice of his wife. The woman didn’t appear on camera, but it became evident early on that she was behind the force behind the channel, offering occasional suggestions and reminders when David lost his tools and laughed with him at the absurdity of the task.
That livestream had ended with David asking his unnamed wife if one of ‘The Boys’ would like the Bekant and his wife laughing at him.
Quickly the faceless woman who had married David won the crowd over and although she was invisible to the viewers, she and David were quickly dubbed ‘couples goals’ for their good natured jokes, close to chirping and the way David smiled on camera when his wife complemented and encouraged him made his already handsome features light up.
Of course, it had all started somewhere.
The very first video from David had been titled, ‘For my Boy’. It had been a fuzzy, slightly out of focus video, going through the steps of how to properly tie a bowtie. The quality had been terrible but David’s charm had quickly won over his followers as he interspersed his tips for getting the perfect bow with comments about how proud he was of his ‘boy’ and how he hoped that everyone could take something positive from this. His outro, with his promise to be there for his family and always willing to help them to the best of his ability had fully won his position as an internet darling, albeit a lesser known one.
The following videos were an upgrade, the quality and lighting improving but they were sporadic. Sometimes David would post a few times a week and sometimes he would go radio silent for weeks on end. His followers would often leave comments and #wheresdavid would inevitably pop up during the longer breaks. One time, David had returned to livestream after a few weeks of silence, apologising and saying he and his wife had been in Las Vegas. Since that had been the week of the MLH Awards and David was a proud Canadian who had done a few videos about maintaining hockey gear (his tutorial on how to sharpen skate blades had been one of his more popular videos), a few of his followers had asked him if he had seen any famous hockey players while he was there. David had even read out the comment and grinning, stated he had.
And yet, David had refused to be drawn any further into the conversation, even when a few people had asked if he had met Ottawa’s own hockey darling, Shane Hollander. He had simply smiled and continued to teach his viewers how to change the chain on a chainsaw.
But one day, a livestream became David’s most memorable. Because it featured The Boys.
David had been in his workshop. He had wanted to show his viewers how to build a dog house. Apparently it was meant for one of the boys, as a gift.
David had been mid build, drilling a hole into the frame of the house. Between the drill use and his own rambling which had included talking about a restaurant he and his wife had gone to the night before, he hadn’t heard the footsteps or the door opening.
In fact, the first time he seemed to register someone else was in the room was when another man stepped into view, his back to the camera. He had dark hair and was wearing a red shirt but with his face turned away from the camera, it was difficult to see his features.
“Hey dad.” The man said and David quickly turned off the drill, looking up from his work and smiling.
“Hello boys.” He greeted, smiling. “What brings you both here?”
“Sorry to bother you. We were wondering if we could borrow the chainsaw? A tree fell down outside the cottage and it's partly blocking the driveway. Ilya leant ours out to Zane and he hasn’t given it back yet.” The dark haired man said.
David immediately placed the drill down.
“Of course you can.” He replied, turning to look for the tool in question. Another figure stepped into view, this one with blonde curls and wearing a black singlet. Unlike the first man, this one moved to the partly made dog house and leant down to get a better look, pulling him in profile but thanks to the light, it was still hard to make anything out.
“Is this the house for Anya?” He asked, glancing up as David moved out of view briefly.
“Yep.” David replied from off screen, the sound of things being moved around audible.
“She already has a perfectly good dog house. You are spoiling her dad.” The dark haired man said.
“I’m no worse than you boys.” David stated as he stepped back into view. “Besides, I thought it would make a good video.” He nodded towards the camera.
Both men turned to face the camera, their features becoming immediately visible. And immediately recognisable.
“Dad. Are you livestreaming?” The dark haired man, who those who followed Canada’s most popular sport would recognise as one of the top Hockey players in the world, Shane Hollander, asked. The man next to him, who was definitely the Ottawa Centaurs Captain and Shane’s husband Ilya Rozanov, leant forward to read the chat which was currently exploding.
“Yes. I thought it would be fun.” David said as he hefted the chainsaw onto the bench beside his work.
“Huh.” Shane said as beside him, Ilya grinned and waved.
“Hello people.” Ilya said. “Are you enjoying Papa's video?”
“I’m sure they are Ilya. I’ve seen the analytics.” Shane said as Ilya straightened up.
“Good. The first video was for me, you know.” Ilya said.
“We know Ilya.” Shane said, grinning. “You have never struggled with a bowtie since.”
“Haas also appreciated the video. He used it for the MLH Awards. As did some of the other Rookies.” Ilya boasted.
“We are all very proud of the kids.” David stated, as Shane grabbed the chainsaw.
“Thanks Dad. We will get out of here.” He said.
The door opened and footsteps approached.
“Boys. Are you bothering your father?” David’s wife asked.
“No.” Shane blurted out as Ilya grinned. “Yes.”
“It’s fine Yuna. They were just watching the livestream chat.”
Off screen, Yuna chuckled.
“Anyway, we had better get home. Enjoy your build Dad.” Shane said, grabbing Ilya’s arm and dragging him out of view.
David, far from looking disgruntled at his work being interrupted, clapped his hands together.
“Right. Let’s get back to it everyone.” He said and picked up his drill.
Was anyone going to clue me in that DILF David Builds It is SHANE HOLLANDERS DAD!?!?
Wild Hollanov sighted on a dad building channel? What even is this?
Guys! The Boys are Hollanov!!!!! All this time!!!
Gay Icon David is dad to the gayest hockey players ever. Makes total sense.
OMG He is so sweet!!!! I’m gonna cry!!!!
The next day, a post was made on the channel, featuring a picture. It showed David, sitting on the steps out front of his house, his arm around his wife Yuna. On his other side, sat Shane and Ilya, the two hockey players pressed up against each other and holding hands. All four were smiling for the camera. The caption for the image read ‘Thanks to everyone for supporting this channel and my livestream featuring My Boys. I am going to take a few days off but will be back soon to finish the doghouse with you all. Looking forward to bringing out many more projects in the future. Best wishes, David Hollander aka, David Builds It.’
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So this was inspired by a prompt here on Tumblr about David Hollander starting a helpful YouTube channel. Credit for the idea goes to the OG prompter, @angusbeefiestick
I decided to do this as a little celebration for finishing my massive series and as a break from my Hollanov Fake Dating AU. And because the idea wouldn't leave me alone.
It's hurried but I had fun and I hope everyone likes it. Please let me know if I should clean it up and post it on AO3. Maybe add a little more to it (not my fault people keep suggesting cool additions)
