rose and pearl
Zombie’s eyes darted back and forth between their working monitor and Discord monitor. They were currently busy editing a video for their channel, waiting for… something to come out of their boyfriend’s digital mouth.
The annoying thing about having a YouTuber boyfriend who also was in a group channel with his- their friends was that usually, he was busy recording a video for someone’s channel, be it his own, for the Party Crashers, or for one of the others’ channels. Sophist offered multiple times to get Zombie into a few of them, and while they did join for some (Lethal Company in particular was very fun for them, especially hearing everyone screaming), they didn’t want to do it too often, since most of the time the games they played could only have a max of 4 players, and Zombie never really wanted to butt in a lot. After all, it was their collective channel. The Party Crashers were just the four of them, and they didn’t want to disrupt that dynamic.
It definitely would have been perfect, seeing as their mascot was a literal star, and the five points could have represented all five of them, but Zombie was way too stubborn to want to change their brand at this point. And besides, Zombie’s channel was so different to the rest of them. They did video essays and yapped about random things, while the rest of them did gameplay content. It definitely didn’t matter that Zombie also streamed gameplay and had a second channel on their own with their brand of gameplay content. Definitely not.
Zombie realized they were staring off into space when they heard a Discord ping. It was from Sophist, which sent them smiling from ear to ear.
Sophist: hey baby we’re done recording
Still grinning, Zombie’s hands were put to work as they typed out their message.
Zombie: and you text me instead of talking with your friends? kinda cringe honestly
Sophist: im still in call with them, thank you very much
Zombie giggled. They swiveled their chair to face the other monitor; the video could wait for now.
Sophist: whatcha up to
Zombie: I was working on a video until you showed up
Sophist: don’t lie you were waiting for me to stop recording
This was true; Zombie barely got any work done as they anticipated their boyfriend’s return. But he didn’t need to know that. They weren’t willing to let him win that easily.
Zombie: and what if I was?
Sophist: well that would make you kinda cringe
Zombie’s mind raced to fill in the gaps of their conversation; if this were happening in real life instead of in a discord conversation, they imagined Sophist would be placing both of his hands on their waist while staring deep into their dark, cocoa-like eyes. They really did hate how far away they had to be; even if Sophist was just a car ride away, it was still a long distance relationship.
Zombie: don’t lie you love when I wait for you
Sophist: I do, still makes you cringe
Zombie: stfu
Sophist: you wanna join the call? The boys miss you
Zombie: we all know that you’re the one that misses me
Sophist: misses you more, they still wanna see you
Zombie: fine fine, give me a second
It wasn’t a surprise to anyone else that the Crashers liked Zombie. After all, if they didn’t, Sophist probably wouldn’t have been dating them; his friends meant that much to him. That didn’t stop Zombie from thinking that they only really hung out because they were dating Sophist. It was an anxiety thing, which Zombie had somewhat accepted and somewhat tolerated, knowing it would be a while before they ever could get therapy.
They joined the call in the group chat they were all in; everyone’s facecam fully on while Zombie still set up theirs. Everyone greeted Zombie as they came in, a flash of excitement washing over them, despite the fact that Zombie joined their calls often.
Nick was the first to greet them. “Hey, Zombie.” Vern and Brent were quick to follow.
“Hey, guys,” Zombie replied, still fiddling around with their camera.
“Can you believe this bozo was waiting for us to stop recording?” Sophist said with barely contained love.
“Oh shut up, Sophist,” Vern rolled his eyes. “We all know you like it when they wait for us.”
Zombie’s facecam finally booted up, their inky brown eyes staring directly into it. Meanwhile, Sophist’s pale face suddenly shifted to a rosy pink, noticeable even with the somewhat poor quality of his webcam.
“No,” he tried to deny, though his face betrayed him, revealing his true intentions. Zombie rolled their eyes at the sight.
“Anyway,” Zombie said, “what were you all recording today?”
“Just another Mario Party video,” Sophist sighed. “Wished you were there.”
“I told you I was gonna be busy! Besides, I can’t really join you on those games. What would I do, be another commentator?”
“We could have done Simon Says again,” Brent suggested. “We always need a 5th for that.”
“Yeah, but I feel like that’s been done to death at this point. You all have, like, three Simon Says videos on each of your channels.”
“We can always do more skribbl or gartic phone,” Nick pointed out.
“Can we not?” Vern whined. “I don’t know how to draw.”
“I don’t know how to draw either!” Sophist countered. “Doesn’t stop us from doing it.”
“Doesn’t Zombie always win those anyway?” Brent asked. “They’re the one that can actually draw.”
“Look, I appreciate you all trying to fit me in,” Zombie interrupted. “But it’s really fine! I don’t need to be in every video.”
“Yeah, but…” Sophist trailed off, never finishing his sentence.
Before Zombie could even ask, Vern yawned, which caused everyone else to yawn.
“It’s getting late. I’m gonna go to bed. Still got class tomorrow.”
“Imma head out as well,” Nick added. “Was fun, y’all.”
“Same. See you guys,” Brent continued, disconnecting first. The other two disconnected shortly after, leaving Sophist and Zombie in the call. Sophist smiled, staring at his partner with all the awe in the world. They stared at each other for a while before they both broke into a laughing fit.
“What?” Zombie finally asked.
“Just staring at my beautiful wife,” Sophist replied.
Zombie rolled their eyes again, fond of the familiar vocal stim. Sophist got it from Zombie, who got it from Vernias. Eventually, it became a whole group stim, as Nick and Brent originally used it to mock all three of them before it was naturally folded into their vocabularies.
“Why don’t you wanna be in more videos with us?” he whined.
They groaned. “Sophist, I told you! There’s not always enough room for me to join. And I’d really rather not replace one of you just for a video.”
“You wouldn’t be replacing us, you’d just be…” Sophist thought about it for a second. “Okay, maybe you’d have to replace one of us. But we could play more games that can do up to 5 players.”
They scoffed. “Like there’s a whole lot of those.”
“We can find some, I’m sure of it.”
“I also don’t even know if people would like to see that much of me, to be honest.”
“What do you mean? People always like seeing you. The videos with you in it always have the most positive comments!”
“You read those?”
“Well, only some of them, but still. The masses love you, honey.”
“Well, I’m not talking about the masses here, babe.” Zombie shrunk in their chair, embarrassed to admit what they were really scared of.
“What do you mean?” he asked, head tilting in curiosity.
Zombie remained silent, instead using their eyes to communicate. When words failed them, they often resorted to nonverbal cues. This time, their eyes were darting to the group chat, though Sophist couldn’t exactly see that through the screen. Zombie sighed, knowing that they would actually have to say something.
“I’m talking about the boys.”
“Oh. Why? We always talk about how much we want to hang out with you and have you around in videos.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t know if that’s because they actually like me or if it’ just because I’m dating you.”
Sophist scoffed, clearly offended. “What? Of course they like you. What makes you think that they don’t?”
“I don’t know. I don’t really feel like a part of the group. I’m just here because I’m dating you.”
“Babe, that’s not true and you know it. We constantly ask you to join us for videos. We always want you to be in calls with us. You know I always enjoy your company, and they’re very clear that they enjoy your company as well.”
“Yeah, but I don't really see it,” Zombie frowned.
“What do you mean?” Sophist asked softly. “Do you want me to ask them to literally say that you’re a part of the group?”
“I don’t know, maybe not like that, exactly, but something a bit more clear?”
Sophist sighed, quickly typing something in and sending a message to the group chat. Almost immediately, they received affirmations from the other three. Not simply stating, “Yes”, but enthusiastically yelling at Zombie that they were indeed, part of the Party Crashers. Not just the Party Crashers, but the friend group as a whole.
“Look, see? The masses love you.”
Zombie gave a small smile. “Okay.”
“Now, can you stop whining about this and just join us in more videos, please?”
“Okay, fine. What’s your next video?”
Sophist adopted a wicked grin. “Marvel Rivals.”
Zombie rolled their eyes, considering Marvel Rivals was one of their biggest hyperfixations at the time. “Okay, well, I didn’t need convincing to join that game.”
“Atta girl,” Sophist said fondly, still staring at his partner with all the love in the world.