July

"It's not Miami Beach," I laughed, just managing to squeeze between two cars and shifting into park. Amanda was specially allowed a couple days off for the fourth, (ie, she was skipping the few summer classes she had and Lewis had graciously given her the days off), so we had driven a couple of hours to a beach where we would be celebrating American independence in the country they had declared it from. "...but I thought it would suffice," I finished, looking over to the girl in the passenger seat.

Amanda placed her book in her lap and peaked over the dash to survey the area from her laid back position. We had picked an expectational great day; the sun beat down just hot enough that the water would feel like relief, and there were only a few clouds that dotted the sky. It was supposed to rain in the afternoon, but right now the view in front of us looked like it belonged on a postcard. "Hm," she hummed, looking down her nose as she pretended to critique it, "It will have to do... I guess." She looked over at me and smirked as she collected her things.

"I'm sorry, I'll be sure to fly us over to Florida next time you want to plan a day trip to the beach," I said raising my eyebrows at her as she slung a towel over her shoulder and playfully smacked my arm with her book.

"You're sarcasm is noted," she laughed, rolling her eyes and stepping out of the car. I quickly followed her, only stopping to grab the small cooler we had managed to steal from Trott and Katie out of the boot. Amanda had happily abandoned me and was already skipping down towards the water with her tennis shoes in hand. She had her bathing costume and a pair of swimming shorts on already, and was quickly pulling off her cut off tee shirt with the American flag on it and piling it with her other things at a random spot on the beach.

A few families gave her odd looks as she revealed her tattoos, the obviously American boy scout symbol stretching across her shoulders. One mother even shooed he kids to a spot farther down the beach. She did look  a bit dangerous, but the way she laughed and waved at me made her hardly seem like a delinquent, nor did her small, lithe frame suggest anything harmful towards kids. If only they were lucky enough to know her, they could easily see the justification behind the love I held towards her.

"Is this where you want to stay?" I asked once I had caught up to her.

"Yeah sure," she muttered absently, putting on a pair of sunglasses and tugging at my arm. "Come on Smiffy I want to go swimming!" she laughed, walking backwards and nearly tripping over the sand as she dragged me towards the water.

"I haven't even got my shoes off yet," I chuckled, pulling away long enough to peal off my clothes as she danced around me. She had on a one piece but the back dipped down low enough to proudly show off her back artwork that she loves so much.

She bounced on her heals as she watched me undress, and as soon as I had stuffed my shirt into my bag she was pulling my down to the ocean by a hand. Immediately diving in, she gave a tiny squeak at the chilly temperature of the water when she resurfaced, but wasted no time in pulling me in after her.

August

I came home from Trott's to find Amanda sitting in the middle of our living room floor with my keyboard in her lap. She was slamming on the keys in frustration as she played what sounded like the original Mortal Kombat theme, and shoved it to the side as soon as she saw it was me in the doorway. "Thank god you're home," she moaned, falling over to lean up against the front of the sofa, "I already finished all the work I needed to get done and I'm so bored." She placed the back of her hand to her forehead dramatically, feigning faintness.

"Should we get this on record?" I asked, kicking off my shoes and joining her on the floor, "Amanda Blackwell actually doesn't have anything to do?" I brought one leg up to rest my arm on as the other stretched much farther away than Amanda's did; it was adorable how small everything seemed on her compared to me.

"I have plenty to do," she rolled her eyes, "I still have that huge block that me and Duncan recorded yesterday to edit, and of course three more character models to do for my final, and I have to schedule that appointment with my teacher about that job offer during the school year..." Her eyes glazed over and her face looked surprisingly more stressed, but then she quickly shook herself out of it. "Am I going to do any of that?" she asked rhetorically, winking and shaking her head, "Not likely."

"Well I have a free night as well," I laughed, "We just finished the voice overs for the filthy animals so all Trott has to do now is edit and upload." I reached my hand around and threw my arm around her shoulders, bringing her close enough so I could kiss her temple.

"How's that going?" she asked as she leaned her head into my chest, "I loved the last explosions spotlight one you did." She laughed and starting singing the Willy Wonka parody we made.

"Everyone seems to really love it," I shrugged, "I'd like to get you in for a Christmas special were planning."

"Christmas?" she asked incredulously, "It's August."

"Listen," I chuckled, "Don't underestimate our inefficiency."

"Oh, excuse me," she joked, holding up her hands in defense. She got more comfortable against my side, leaning her head back on my shoulder and continuing, "but seriously, do you want to do something tonight?"

"We could go to the cinema?" I suggested, trying to think of a movie we haven't already seen.

"Nah, we have to go more clique than that," she said, giving me a smug smile and stretching her arms over her head.

"More clique than a movie date?" I asked incredulously, earning another smile. "We could always go on a long romantic walk through the park and then eat at that shitty little french restaurant down the street," I suggested.

"We could make a blanket fort and watch romantic comedies," she shrugged.

"I could surprise you with a lantern-lit picnic in our back garden?" I guessed.

"Alex we don't have a back yard," she pointed out. There was a moment of silence as we looked at each other, and then both of us burst into laughter. It wasn't actually that funny, but for some reason neither of us could stop giggling like idiots.

We eventually calmed down and ended up in the same position as before: leaning against the couch and having no idea what to do for our date night. I finally looked at her to find her already grinning at me, and I couldn't help but feel as if my breath had been taken away. I couldn't believe I was actually here, sitting with my girlfriend in our own flat together; it all seemed like it couldn't possibly be real.

"What are you staring at?" she giggled, playing with a strand of her hair.

"Nothing," I answered, shaking my head. "You want to go look at the hamsters at the pet store for a few hours?" I asked after a moment.

She tilted her head in thought, and then shrugged, "Sure why not?"

October

"Are we rolling?" I asked Ross as he pointed the camera at me. We had just practiced the skit a few times with Smith (who kept messing up his lines), and I was anxious to actually film.

"One sec..." he muttered, looking into the view finder and then pressing a couple of buttons, "Yep, we're recording."

"Sweet," I muttered, brushing a couple of stray hairs out of my face and trying to get into some kind of serious mentality for the run through. Knocking lightly on my apartment door, I called out for Smith in a sing-song voice. "Smith! Are you ready?" I asked, feeling weird standing outside my own flat. We had agreed not to tell the fans that we were dating, even though they all ferociously shipped us anyway, so we were pretending it was Smith's flat instead. We were still worried we might not work out, and Smith wasn't much for letting the fans know anything about his personal life anyway, so I made sure to edit out any references I would accidentally make about our relationship or living arrangements in my Youtube videos.

We heard the door next to us open just as Smith answered, and all four of us looked mortified as mine and Smith's middle-aged accountant neighbor stepped out into the hallway. He seemed to start as he noticed us and stopped dead in his tracks with his hand still on the doorknob. There was an awkward silence as he took us all in, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Even Ross was in a banana suit, since we had just filmed a scene with him in the car.

"Hi Mr. Catilano," I greeted nervous, not even bothering to pull the hood down on my banana costume, since I really couldn't make this look any better.

"E- evening Miss. Blackwell," he said, giving us a nervous, closed mouth smile and nodding awkwardly. He nearly jumped when he looked the other way to see Trott standing at the end of the hall (also dressed as a banana), waiting for his cue to walk over to us as part of the video.

"Good day Mr. Catilano!" Smith called as he stuck his head out into the hall. Our neighbor seemed to give up when he saw the cheep looking banana top on Smith's head.

"Good evening Alex..." he sighed, turning to lock the door and start down the hallway. You could see Trott trying to stay serious in the silence of his walking that ensued, but I nearly lost it when he raised his hand and waved at the already confused man.

As soon as we were sure he was gone we all looked at each other fell into fits of giggles, trying to keep quiet so we didn't elicit all our other neighbors out of their flats. Throwing an arm around Smith's waist, I buried my head into his chest as I tried to calm myself down from laughing so hard.

November

The door to the livestream room swung open and my boss stepped through with his tablet in hand. "Hey Amanda could I get you to..." he started, and then looking up to see Smith sitting next to me, he added, "Oh, are you here to distract my intern again Smiffy?"

"Of course," he agreed, throwing an arm around my neck and pulling me into a headlock, nearly taking my out of my chair in the process, "I'm secretly here to sabotage your business Lewis." 

"I don't do much work here anyway," I snorted as Smith let go of me and I gave him a hard shove to the shoulder that sent his wheeled chair far enough away that he couldn't grab me again. I looked back up at Lewis and gave him a guilty smile, to which he tried to look disappointed and failed miserably.

"Minty is going home sick," he said once he stopped laughing at our exchange, handing me the tablet, "Do you mind finishing up today's releases?" I saw that only three or four had to go at 5 pm, so I gladly accepted the task.

"Sure no problem," I shrugged, "I'm almost done with Sjin's 'let's build', is there anything else you need me to do?"

He paused to consider. "Not today at least," he said, pointing towards my computer screen, "When you're done with that you're welcome to go ahead and pack up for the night." 

"I think I'll stay and get a few of my videos done if you're going to be here," I told him, "I've got a lot of multicams to edit and my computer isn't that powerful." I looked towards Smith who was now trying to look busy in front of Lewis. "I promise I'll keep an eye on this kid," I added, clasping him on the shoulder and giggling.

"I'm sure you will. I guess I'll leave you to it then." Lewis turned to leave but stopped short at the doorway. "Oh I forget to ask you Kirby," he pipped, looking back at me, "I was wondering if you wanted to help with the livestream schedule tomorrow."

My face lit up in a smile. "Of course Lewis, I'd love to," I smiled, feeling honored that he would ask me to be responsible for such an important task. The livestreams were coming up quickly, and already S.A.M, Si, and I had been here til midnight a couple times a week to run test streams with Hannah or Turps. So far I hadn't caused anything major to fail, though I had to admit this wasn't my area of expertise. I was an artist after all, and it wasn't long ago that Mike was doing anything even remotely technical with my YouTube set up. Still, I was learning a lot and even decided on a few media and film electives so I could get better at production.

"Yeah I haven't really been able to work with you too closely yet," he nodded, "It will be nice to get your input on it, since I'm pretty rubbish at any kind of layouts anyway." He laughed and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. 

"I'm your girl then," I laughed, giving him a lackluster salute. 

"We might need a couple special guests as well," he added with a smirk, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning up against the open door frame, "Let me know if you think of any youtubers that live 5 minutes away from here, okay?" He added a wink at both of our surprised expressions.

"Really!?" I asked, "I thought I'd just be helping!"

"Well if you don't want to..." he teased, starting to turn away.

"No no," I said, jumping up, "I want to! I just didn't think you'd let me on them. I mean, I am just an intern."

"Manda, don't argue with the man," Smith laughed, coming up behind me and placing a hand on my shoulder.

"You also have 300,000 potentially new donators to bring to our charity," Lewis say, placing a hand on my other shoulder and giving me an earnest smile, "Don't sell yourself short. You're a great asset here at Yogscast." I gave my boss the most thankful smile I could muster, and his seemed to only grow wider to see how happy he had just made me.

"Now how many special guests are we talking?" Smith laughed, "Is there still room for three very witty and attractive lads?" He puffed out his chest in pride, causing Lewis to give a huff of laughter.

"Of course Smithy," he nodded, "It would be great to have you three on to do something."

"Awesome I'll let the others know!" Smith cheered, obviously happy they would be a part of something so well known and respected by the YouTube community. 

"Man, this is great!" Lewis laughed, "I'm glad I came in here, I've already got two of the fill-in nights planned!" He reached over and shook both of our hands and added a quickly, "Thanks guys," before leaving us to finish our work for the night. 

December

"So many people have asked who you're girlfriend is Smiffy," Amanda said, looking up from her phone where the comments continued to flood in. It was only 2 hours into her stream and already there were more fans than any of our Hat Films livestreams had ever gotten. She had predicted that many would drop off after the first hour once their curiosity about her was sated, but still the numbers climbed. Already her and Sjin had done a Christmasy adventure map, and now it was my turn to join her in playing a few gmod games. We were reading out comments while we waited for Tom to set up the server, and it was hard filtering out the suggestive or invasive comments.

"It seems like more of them what to know who your boyfriend is," I said in a mocking tone, giving the fans something else to focus on. The chat exploded with things about Amanda, whether it was about the two of us or just her. There was also a lot about Sjin and her, though it was hard to feel threatened when there was a creepily large age gap between the two.

"It's more like I don't have one... Anyway, MaddieKit wants to know why you won't open your eyes," Amanda japed, looking up at me and smirking.

"But my eyes are open," I whined, earning a laugh from my girlfriend at the old running joke between the four of us.

It was actually really hard to keep it just friendly between the two of us, I wasn't used to not being able to touch her or compliment something she did for so long. I was even more nervous to accidentally let something slip about our relationship, since there was no editing on a livestream. Of course the fans knowing about us wasn't actually the end of the world, but I wanted to respect Amanda's wishes of keeping our work life and personal life separate, as well as avoid all the new comments and personal questions that would surely cluttered our comment sections.

"Notinabangbutinaburrito wants to know what you name you would give a planet if you discovered one," Amanda said, turning the attention away from our relationship status.

"Uh, I don't know," I shrugged, feeling like she was expecting me to say something funny for the viewers, "It depends on the type of planet. I need this kind of specifics."

"Fine," Amanda laughed, "It's blue, and one of those gaseous ones."

"Well then I'd have to name it Amanda..." I muttered, smirking at her, "Cause you're mostly comprised of hot gas..." Her mouth dropped open and I quickly started apologizing.

"Wow," she said incredulously, rolling her eyes, "I thought you were gonna go for Bartholomule or something. Ouch, whatever."

"Bluebunny98 wants to know what you're going to do when we reached 200,000 in donations," I said, quickly changing the subject again as I noticed the question on my phone.

"We are not reaching that tonight," she muttered, shaking her head as she looked at the current number donated, "unless someone wants to donate like 50 more thousand..."

"You have to give them motivation," I told her, already thinking of something embarrassing I could get her to do with the fans to support me. There was the classics: getting ice water dumped on her, making her drink a mystery liquid, dressing in one of the humiliating costumes the Yogscast kept around here, but none of them seemed good enough for people to donate.

"If we reach 200k I'll punch Smith in the kidney and you all get to watch a grown man cry," she said semi-seriously, looking over in my direction.

"I... don't really think that's a good idea," I muttered.

"Come on Smith," she laughed, "it's for charity."

"I'm not agreeing to this," I said resolutely, looking back through the comments to see what they had in mind. There was an overwhelming amount of people that were shouting 'kiss', and I knew the power of shipping could probably get us to 200k tonight on Amanda's stream. Maybe it wasn't professional to submit to fans' demands, but I was actually genuinely curious if we could make that much money in donations tonight. "You're fans want us to kiss," I said, playing it up as if were a joke.

She shot me a look, and I realized she was either good at acting aloof or didn't actually want to kiss me. "Absolutely not," she said, looking back at the chat to see the comments coming in so fast she couldn't read them, "We are not baiting fan girls."

"Come on Kirby," I mocked, "It's for charity!" I gave her a big, toothy smile as she glared at me through hooded eyes, but I could see her constitution weakening.

"Jokes on them because we're both mature adults," she sneered, "A kiss isn't that big of a deal."

I leaned closer in my chair. "Do I hear a confirmed challenge?" I asked, enjoying teasing her.

"Oh hey look," she said as the screen behind us changed to the gmod loading screen, "The server's up."

"There you have it folks," I cheered, "only 46k left. Remember, all proceeds go to charity!" Amanda only smirked and rolled her eyes as she pulled on her headset.

----------------------------------------------

"Getting nervous?" Trott asked Amanda as she took her turn on our Worms game. I had been playing up the kiss all night, and once we had Trott and Ross join us we really made a big deal about it.

"We only have one hour left for 3k, don't get your hopes up," she muttered, tired of the joke. She specifically went after one of Trott's worms, which she used the baseball bat to hit into the water.

She had reproached me during the break, and continued to text the three of us discretely telling us horrible ways she was going to mangle us or asking why we were all so excited to see something we were so used to. As we continued to play the game the donations kept going up slowly but steadily, and after being distracted by the finishing of the game we looked back up to see the chat exploding along with the donations counter.

"Wow," she muttered, looking over at me, "I guess it's just about time to wrap this stream up."

I wheeled over in my chair to where she sat, and she seemed to try and not see me and where I was going. Trott moved over to let me through as Amanda said, "Well thank you guys for watching, I hope you enjoyed..."

"Come here," I smirked, brushed away the hair that hung in her face, "I still have to kiss you."

"I have to do my outro thou-" she tried to say, but I grabbed her chin and pulled her lips to mine. I didn't care about what was going on around us, for I was focused on how soft and sweet her lips were from her chap stick, and how much of a hassle it was to wait almost 6 hours to kiss her. I was going to do something dramatic like dipping her, but I ended up just gently kissing her, something that was completely out of my character.

When we pulled away, there was a second where I got lost in her eyes as they fluttered open and looked at me, but she was professional enough that she managed to pull away and address the audience again. "Anyway, I want to thank you guys for donating not because you enjoyed my content, but because you wanted me to kiss Smiffy," she tried to sound jaded, but her smile gave away her real feelings, "Byeee!" All four of us waved at the camera, and S.A.M told us that we had officially ended.

"Well I think we were pretty successful tonight," I smiled, standing up.

"I hate you," Amanda said, punching me rather hard in the arm.

"I love you too," I smirked, wrapping my hands around her small wrists and kissing her again. 

January 

"What's this one from again?" I asked, pointing to the tattoo on her calf. It had two hands clasped together, in front of a chess piece with an orange star burst effect.

We were currently laying on our bed, taking a break from playing fallout to watch the weather as a storm raged outside. I knew none of us would be going into work or school tomorrow, so neither of us bothered to go to bed at a reasonable time. Amanda had on a pair of shorts and one of her own promotional long sleeved shirts, so I was entertaining myself by looking at all the tattoos on her legs and trying to recall the stories behind them.

"That was when I went couch surfing to California during spring break," she said, somewhat bored, "I had met up with a tattoo artist who let me stay the night in his flat and we played a few games of chess while he did this piece." She rolled up her sleeve to show a small, watercolor wolf in different shades of blue. "He enjoyed the experience so much that he gave me this one for free, and I was happy to design it after the two of us," She finished, turning her head to look at me.

"Isn't that a bit dangerous to be trusting strangers like that?" I asked, "I mean, did you just meet him? What if he did something horrible to you?"

She shrugged. "He wasn't strong enough that I couldn't handle him in a fight, and besides, I'm still here with a happy story to tell so he didn't end up being a predator," she explained nonshelantly.

"You're so worldly," I muttered, "pulling her closer to me and snaking my arm under he neck, "How do I ever compare to someone who keeps stories under her skin?"

"Don't you be getting all poetic on me Mr. Smiffy," she laughed, turning her head up to kiss my bearded jaw, "Trust me, a lot of these I got for stupid reasons."

"I think you've told me all of them," I mused, rolling up her other sleeve and holding her arm up so I could admire the artwork there. One of them in particular caught my eye; it was the one of a sunset peeking through a steep gorge, surrounded by a forest with one particular tree hanging precariously off the side. It wrapped all the way around her bicep like a sleeve, and it was one of the few tattoos I didn't know the story for. "What about this one? why is it there?" I asked.

She immediately pulled her arm out of my grasp, covering it with her hand. "That's not a story you want to hear babe," she muttered, rolling over and away from me.

"Come on," I hushed, "How bad can it be? You always tell me you'll explain it some other time..." I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and kissed her neck, trying to get her to relax for me.

"You really want to know?" she asked, "It isn't as happy as the other ones."

"Of course," I smiled, leaning over her to plant a kiss on her cheek, "I'm here for the good and the bad."

She sighed and rolled back over so she was on her back again and lifted her arm so she could look at the tattoo. "This was at the camp I used to work at," she started, taking a deep breath, "Someone many years ago had hammered in a line of nails that they could use to climb up on a specific tree that hung over the gully. It was really dangerous of course, but it became a tradition to climb up there when a couple wanted to make out or we wanted to escape our duties for a while." I nodded to show I was listening as she paused to take a breath. "Well," she muttered, "I was in a really bad place back then. I had depression, had lost a good chunk of my friends because of it, and I had a hard time trying to connect with the other staff at camp."

"So what did you do?" I asked when she stopped and looked up at the ceiling, refusing to meet my eyes. I now felt bad for pushing her into reliving whatever traumatic experience she had gone though.

"One night, I left a note in my tent and went to the tree," she muttered, quickly wiping away a stray tear that suddenly appeared out of the corner of her eye, "I stayed up there all night. I... I wanted to watch the sunrise one last time."

I felt the contents of my stomach turn to water at the implications of what she had just said. I had no idea Amanda had ever attempted, or even thought about for that matter, suicide, and I nearly cried myself when I thought about what it would be like if she had ended her life so early on, without even starting to her YouTube channel or going to college or meeting me. "But you're still here..." I prompted.

She nodded, sniffling lightly. "Yeah, that was the night they wanted to turn everything in the kitchens and dining hall upside down for a prank. One of my few friends, Stitch, found my note when he went to wake me up for it and managed to find me just before the sun came up," she said through a shaky breath, "It was the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen..."

I was curious on what happened, but I kept quiet, not wanting to push her further than she wanted to go. "I'm sorry," I said for lack of anything else to say.

She took a deep breath and shook herself out of the trance-like state she had been in while telling the story. Looking over at me with bloodshot eyes, she gave me a small smile. "Don't," she told me, "I started to turn my life around after that experience. And now I'm here four years later, next to the love of my life, in our own flat, down the street from my uni and workplace where I play video games for a living. Everything... worked out alright."

"I'm glad I could be a part of that," I said, planting a gentle kiss on her lips, "And I'm glad you were here to change my life so drastically too."

February

Midterms have officially killed me. With class critiques and the number of projects and tests building up, I was ready to fall apart. I was now stretching myself too thin between work, my channel, my school work, and (most importantly) my relationship. I was staying late in the studio to work on my various assignments, which meant Smith was left alone until 1 am every night, waiting until one of the teachers kicked me out and sent me home. He would cling to me the rest of the night, keeping in some form of contact to holding me outright; it was cute, but also a bit stifling.

I had just finished my organic arts development study and was quickly longboarding home before I caught frostbite. I was used to coming home in the dark and cold, but the thought of our warm apartment was particularly appealing tonight. I absently thought about some movie we could put on in the background as we cuddled together and maybe made some hot chocolate.

I heard the music faintly before I ever opened the door, and I decided to keep quiet as I gently set down my longboard and pulled off my shoes. So far I could only hear the acoustic guitar coming from out bedroom, but tiptoeing closer, I could just make out Smith singing under his breath. I recognized the song as Dave Matthews Band, which made sense since everyone who learned to play the guitar in the mid to late 90s started on them, but I didn't know which one it was.

The door was cracked open, and I could see Smith sitting on the bed, acoustic guitar in hand, illuminated by the glow of a single bedside lamp. The song was mellow, and his husky voice only added to the soft aura in the room. His eyes were closed as his fingers deftly plucked at the strings and walked up the neck of the guitar, it was almost trance-like to watch him.

He had apparently reached the bridge, and with it his volume started to rise until I could just make out lyrics. "...I was just wondering if you'd come along," he peaked, having to actually sing to keep his tone quality, "To hold up my head when my head won't hold on..." It was the small things like this that made me realize just how in love I was with this man, just like how he laughed at every joke I told to humor me, or how he would lift me up instead of just grabbing something I needed from the top shelf of the cupboard. We had lived together almost 8 months now, and I fell in love with him more and more everyday, even if I didn't think that was possible.

I knew the song now; it was The Stone, and my brother would sometimes play it back when I was a kid so it explained why it felt so homey and familiar. Taking out my phone, I quickly pulled up the lyrics and crept into the bedroom.

"I'll do the same if the same's what you-" Smith sang, and then abruptly stopped as he felt my weight on the bed. "Oh, um hey, sorry," he muttered quickly , swinging the guitar to the side to lean in for a kiss on the cheek, "I was just messing around, waiting for you to come home..."

"Don't stop," I smiled, "I like listening to you sing." I was normally the one to break out into song at home; Smith was much more self conscious around me than on YouTube, so I didn't get the pleasure that often.

"I'm not that good," he muttered, slightly coloring as he looked up at me, "Besides, I can't sing the high parts."

"Well go ahead," I smiled, motioning to the guitar, "I'll help you out."

He gave me an apprehensive look, but started the main chords again. "I will go alone. God oh, I wish this," he sang, his voice washing over me like gentle waves, "To turn back the clock and do it all over again."

I saw where he was in the lyrics, and quickly joined in. "I was just wondering if you'd come along," I sang quietly, jumping a partial to harmonize with him.

When we had finished the song we had a quick conversation about our day, but was soon quieted as we settled down into the bed for another relaxing night.

March

"God, this place is a mess," I muttered, having come to check on the three hat lads in the old common room.

The inevitable had eventually happened; Hat Films were now part of the Yogscast. After all the Capture the Monument maps and Charity Livestreams, and the fact that they were all over here nearly every day anyway, Lewis had decided on offering them the space since we were now expanding into the offices upstairs. The whole business seemed to be flourishing with new channels and even a few more editors for the extra workload, and our server room has seen an amazing new upgrade. Unfortunately, because I'm still just an intern, I now am exclusively limited to the less powerful computers in the livestream room and my laptop, since the new common room wouldn't be ready for another month and all the Chillblasts were safely tucked away in storage.

It also meant a stricter relationship between Smith and I, since we were now technically coworkers. Lewis didn't really mind, but we both had to be stringent on not bothering each other during working hours if we wanted to stay on task. Our relationship had reached a comfortable familiarity now anyway, since we got to see each other at night and my course work was lessening. Still, it wasn't uncommon to find us together on breaks or sneaking off to Smith's car now and again.

"Half of this isn't ours though," Trott muttered from his desk in the back corner of the office. There were desks and fan gifts and computers everywhere, and he was right in saying most of this was here before them.

"Ah look, it's Kirby!" Smith smiled, and I noticed that Ross was holding up a small camcorder, "She's come to help clean up." The last thing I wanted to do was help, nor was I looking to be in a vlog after rolling out of my 8 am class in baggy jeans and one of my dirty painting hoodies, but it seemed like Smith was determined to rope me into it.

"I've come to mourn the death of my office," I muttered, stepping around all the junk to get a better look in the room, "I have to work in the men's bathroom now..." As soon as I said it, I got an idea. Quieting their laughter, I turned to Ross. "Wait, cut this. Do you guys want to do something funny?" I asked them, giving them a devious smile.

Stepping out of the room and spotting Duncan's open door, I quickly poked my head in. "Hey man, do you still have that tent you used for the Don't Starve challenge?" I asked.

"Uh, probably," he laughed, "Check in the closet where we store all the costumes." 

"Thanks!" I yelled as I left him to his work. Checking the closet proved useful, for the pink, flowery one-person popup tent was shoved in the back. Grabbing my laptop and the tent, I quickly walked out the double doors and, making sure to knock to check if any one was in there, set up my new 'office' in the middle of the men's bathroom. 

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"To those who don't know," I addressed the camera once we had redone the earlier conversation, "Some of the new editors and I used to use this room as an office space." I looked to my left to see Smith aiming a party popper at me. "Don't you fucking dare Smith," I threatened as he pulled the string and launched, and I decided just to glare at him in response.

"Anyway," I continued, "Shall we journey on over to our new common room?" I motioned with my hand for Ross to follow me, and together we traipsed through the hall and out in front of the toilets. Opening the door, I displayed with my hand the popup tent, which had Tom Bates and Alex Turner in there typing away on laptops. I had found them both on break and managed to convince them to take part in the skit, and they did a good job of looking crushed and miserable as they both tried to fit in the tent comfortably.

"This is our new office," I explained to the camera as the three of them tried to hold back their laughter, "So uh, thanks Hat Films. We're really glad you've joined..." I gave the camera a sarcastic smile and Ross stopped the recording. I turned to the editors who both still seemed miserable and gave each of them a hand out of the tent, "Thanks guys!" I smiled.

"I don't get paid enough for this," Alex muttered, trying to sound jaded. 

April 

I quickly jammed my keys into the lock, opening up the door to our flat and promptly stepping inside. We were swamped with trailers to do, and today had been particularly hard since I had about 8 hours of footage to edit. Amanda had critiques today as well, which means she left before I woke up and she wasn't able to go to the office today; I had been looking forward to seeing her all day.

I could hear my girlfriend's soft voice coming in from the living room, and could make out the back of her head on the sofa as I kicked off my trainers. I thought nothing of it, since she would sometimes talk to Kevin when she was feeding him or cleaning his tank. I heard her soft cooing as I approached her, but it wasn't her sea cucumber that she was talking to.

I sighed, not even surprised, and sat down on the recliner faced parallel to where Amanda sat cross legged with a blanket in her lap. "Uh, Amanda?" I asked, placing my elbows on my knees and running a hand tiredly through my hair.

"Hm?" she asked, not looking away from the thing in her hands.

"Mind telling me why there's a pig in our flat?" I asked, looking at little pink creature as she brought it up to her face and smiled when it wiggled it's flat snout at her.

"The plants and animal life sciences class was practicing castration on live animals," she said absently, as if stealing animals was like stopping at the store, "I saved this little buddy before they could get a hold of him." She was still looking at the piglet, which was about the size of a small cat, and talking in a gentle, soothing voice the entire time.

"You do realize that's kind of illegal?" I asked, not even knowing where to begin, "We also can't keep pets or Erik will kick us out."

"Well what the landlord doesn't know, what hurt us," she smiled, holding out the pig towards me, "Besides, look at that face!!" It did seem very happy in her hands, and gave a tiny snort at me.

"Amanda there are so many things wrong with keeping a pig in our-" I started, but she interrupted me.

"He's only going to stay here for a few months until I find a suitable farm for him," she said, hefting him into her arms and scratching behind his ears, "Would you calm down Alex? They're not as much trouble as you think."

"Well they're like... dirty and stuff..." I muttered, watching as the pig curled up in her elbow.

"That's a misconception spread around by factory farmers to save money on keeping the pens clean," she snapped at me, "Did you know they don't ever use anesthetics for castration? Let me cut you're balls off without drugs and tell me how you like it."  

"That's not what I-" I tried, but I had set her off now.

"Pigs are actually really intelligent and social creatures. Did you know once they're fully grown they have the brain capacity of a three year old?" she lectured matter-of-factly, "Some have even been taught to play Play Station games." 

"You should have him play some Minecraft with you on you're channel," I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. I knew the minute I tried to deter from this crazed plan she would start attacking me again, so I just accepted it and would ask questions later. Amanda took care of Kevin like it was her life depended on it, so there was no question she would take care of the pig and hopefully I wouldn't have to worry about him so much. "What's his name anyway?" I asked, walking over to sit next to her and stroke his side; he was surprisingly soft and reacted positively to my touch.

"Bartholomule," she smiled, seeing that I was warming up to the idea.

"Isn't that the name of you're Ultralisk in you're Starcraft 2 series you're doing?" I asked, referencing what she called the strange alien Zerg creature in her play through.

"Heh, yeah," she laughed, still stroking...Bartholomule as his eyes started to shut.

I just smirked at her ridiculous behavior, and realized I would never give this up for the world. Kissing her on the temple, I got up to start dinner. As I was walking into the kitchen I heard a rustle as Amanda shifted into a laying position, the pig curled up between her side and the sofa. I smiled as she also started to doze off from her busy day, and the thought of actually spending my life with her became a tangible thing to me.

May

I heard my phone alarm go off and I quickly reached over to turn it off. However, I regretted it instantly as I felt my tight muscles creak and groan with the effort. Amanda was curled up on my side, breathing softly and making my arm go numb. The fact that we were sleeping on the hard ground didn't seem to help either of our cases, for Amanda started groaning and jerking her arms and shoulders to try and loosen them up when I had shaken her awake.

"What time is it?" she muttered, sitting up and rubbing her eye with a fist adorably. Today was the last day, and we were getting close to winning.

"Six," I told her, "Come on, we gotta pack up and get moving. Tom wants us posted up on that ridge so we can keep an eye out for when they pass."

My girlfriend had been dropping hints that she wanted to join me on one of my airsofting weekends for a while now, and since I've been gone at least every other weekend now that it's starting to warm up, I thought I owed it to her to let her come. She was pretty good for her first time and listened to all my directions attentively, and the boys seemed to enjoy her more than the couple other girlfriends people have brought with them, so I was pretty happy she came. Amanda really enjoyed the camping part, but you could tell the actual shooting and combat weren't her forte. 

"Or," she smiled, laying back down, "We could shag in a tent and pretend we overslept."

"Don't tempt me," I laughed, looking for a clean shirt in our bag and tugging it on. It had rained all weekend, so most of our stuff was wet and probably starting to ferment.

"Can you hand me my pants?" she asked, pointing to the camo trousers that belonged to Tom's younger brother and was close to her size. I had to admit I kept getting distracted by how attractive she looked in them, for they hung loosing around her hips where she had rolled them up and would expose the skin of her stomach and back whenever she bent over or reached for something. I knew she wouldn't be allowed back not because of how she acted but because of all the shots I had missed and all the near death experiences I had from staring at Amanda when I was supposed to be keeping watch.

Quickly rolling up the tent and hiding it under a piles of leaves and sticks at the base of the tree, we headed out at a light jog towards the gully. A good portion of the day went by as we listened to people talking on the walkie talkie and listening to jokes Amanda remembered from the internet. I was about to suggest that they went a different path when the distant rumble of a Humvee made us both stop talking.

"Is it them?" Amanda whispered as I pulled out a pair of binoculars. This area was regularly used for airsofting, and since it was private property, there wasn't much chance it was just civilians. Once I had confirmed it was them I hunkered down against the hill, radioed in that they were spotted, and slowly picked up my gun. 

"Can I shoot the driver?" Amanda asked.

"Don't shoot the driver," I muttered, lining them up in my scope to count how many were in the back.

"Why can't I shoot the driver?" she asked again.

"Because you will give away our position. It's two against... five not counting the driver, even if you manage to hit him through a tiny window," I told her, not really paying attention as I warned our team mates.

A small pop beside me and the screeching of tires made me jump. "I shot the driver," she said monotonously.

All of them jumped out of the convoy and aimed up at our position, causing us to jump up and duck back into the trees. I could hear a bullet whizzing by my ear as I jumped to safty, and Amanda was already lining up a shot when I got there. "Why did you do that?" I asked incredulously.

"It's guerrilla warfare," she giggled, taking another shot at a guy and missing.

"Stop shooting!" I said, shoving her gun away, "This was not the plan!"

"Well would you look at that, three of their guys are dead and that means our team only has to- Ow!" she swore, her sentence getting cut off by a bullet in her arm, "What the hell?"

I peaked around the tree trunk and lined up a shot, but the few that remained seemed to get back in the car and continue on down the path. "Well, it looks like they ran out of there quick, they probably thought this was the actual ambush, not the one down..."

I stopped as Amanda flopped on the ground, holding her arm. "I've been hit!" she cried, putting the back of her hand to her forehead dramatically, "I can feel my life draining fast."

"Amanda you're not technically dead, since I'm-" I started.

"Goodbye cruel world!" she cried.

"A- Amanda, you're-"

"Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life; But that the dread of something after death..." she recited.

"Aman... Are you really quoting Hamlet!?" I asked, unable to be mad at her for messing up the plan with this kind of performance.

"Remember who you are Simba," she whispered, clutching my shirt and then flopping to the ground in the most dramatic way possible.

I just chuckled, shook my head, and pulled her up into a standing position, radioing in a new plan of action as we started the run back to base camp.

June

Amanda rung her hands nervously as she waiting outside our apartment building. I was extremely nervous, but I didn't see any reason why she would be afraid to see her brother. He was staying with us for a couple days and then driving over to London for some kind of conference involving work. It was the first of Amanda's family I would be meeting, and honestly the first person from America that she was involved with; The only other friend of her's I had met was Deadmau, and they were more of business partners than actual friends. 

"What's wrong babe?" I asked, gently pushing her down to sit on the stairs so she could calm down. She had this fearful look on her face, and had been busy cleaning and preparing everything perfectly for his visit today. I wouldn't even bother pulling out the sofa bed for my brother, but maybe because I had seen him a couple weeks ago for airsofting.

"I'm just..." she muttered, looking down at her feet, "I don't know. Me and my brother have never been very similar, I feel like he's some stranger coming to stay."

"It has been a year since you've seen him," I told her, throwing an arm around her shoulder, "Once you two reconnect I'm sure you'll feel a lot more comfortable." She didn't seem convinced so I add, "We were nervous to meet up again, but look at us now." I nudged her a bit and smiled, and she returned the gesture but it didn't quite meet her eyes. 

"I mean... he's a physicist with PhD," she said listlessly, "I work for YouTube and go to school for video game design..."

"Just because you're not going into some hardcore science or math, doesn't mean he still won't be proud of you," I told her, rubbing her back gently as I tried to lighten the mood, "I wish my sister was a video game designer, that's cool!"

"Yeah, but-" A cab appeared in the roundabout, and Amanda immediately jumped up, ceasing all conversation. I followed her slowly, watching the man in the back pay the driver and collect his things through the dark windows. 

Mark wasn't very tall and his hair was thinning a bit, but he sure did look like Amanda, right to their builds. Their noses were identical, and they both had warm, almond shaped eyes that boarded more on green than brown. He wore a green flannel and a pair a ratty jeans, and all his things seemed to be in a backpack instead of an actual suitcase. I didn't expect him to be in a lab coat, but for some reason I imagined him to look a bit more formal and not like a tired college kid. He was married with a newborn, only two years older than me, but Amanda told me all about how he had to spend days in a computer lab running programs, so I excused his looks. He also was probably a bit haggard from traveling, but he broke into a small, half smile as his eyes fell on his sister. 

"Hi," she said, trying to repress a smile. As he got closer she ran up and threw her arms around his small waist.

"Hey Manda," he said almost awkwardly, his voice also higher than I expected and showing hints of a norther accent I was so used to with my girlfriend. You could see he was a little reclusive as he hugged her and then backed away a couple of steps, but something told me this was how their interactions always played out, for neither looked uncomfortable anymore. "Are you going to show me this apartment of yours?" he asked, looking up at the building in front of us.

"Come on," she giggled excitedly, grabbing his hand and tugging him through the doors and up the stairs to our flat.

------------------------------------------------

They have been talking nonstop for four hours. Once the small flat tour was done and Mark had been acquainted with Kevin and Bartholomule (Who was growing bigger at an alarming rate and took a very intense liking to cat food), they had retreated to the kitchen and started talking in a endless chain of topics that seemed to flow into and past one another in some weird logic I couldn't comprehend. I sat with them, listening to Amanda bragging about her job or about school and her grades or about the channel's success. She told him all about the adventures her, Trott, Ross, and I got up to on a regular basis, and even went all the way back to Minecon 2012 to talk about everything she did there. They never even stopped to cook, instead talking as they worked on the stove to concoct some masterpiece that was one part vegan and the other part for the two of us meat eaters.

"Yeah Charlie's just to the point that she's starting to crawl out of her crib," Mark laughed, "I remember when you used to do that. It's not wonder you don't have brain damage from the amount of times you fell on you're head."

"It explains why I'm so weird," she muttered, taking a sip of her water. Mark and I both had a beer each, and were working on another when Amanda looked at the time. "Oh wow, it's already 2 am. I really should go to bed; I'm sorry I have a test tomorrow," she explained, "Listen, I got the sofa bed all set up, and I only have one class tomorrow so I should be back by the time you're up and ready. We can go get lunch and go site seeing and-"

"Thank you Amanda, it all sounds great," her brother smiled, calming her with a hand on her arm.

She smiled thankfully at him. "Goodnight," she said to him, and then turned to me, "Are you going to stay up for a bit Alex?"

"Yeah, now that you too are done catching up I can finally talk to him," I teased as she kissed my cheek, "Although I feel like you're my own brother after listening to all that."

"Goodnight guys," she said finally, disappearing down the hallway. Bartholomule, who had been happily munching on some carrot tops this entire time, gave a tiny snort and clacked across the hardwood to follow her. 

There was a moment of silence, and then the sound of me getting out of the kitchen chair and walking over to the liquor cabinet filled the room as I pulled out a single malt. "Whiskey?" I asked as I reached for the tumblers.

He turned to look at me and I held up the bottle. "Sure I'll take a shot," he nodded, "I didn't realize Amanda let you have that stuff in the house."

I shrugged, taking out two glasses. "We respect each other's wishes," I said, sitting down and sliding the drink across the table to him, "I don't normally drink it when she's around."

"I never really understood that straightedge stuff," he laughed, taking a sip, "I desperately wished for the longest time that she would break it to try some of my wine and beer, but I've never been able to convince her."

"You brew?" I asked, intrigued.

"As a hobby," he explained. "It was something I got into during college. While everyone was busy getting wasted," he laughed, taking another swig, "I was busy seeing which cheese tasted the best with my blueberry wine I kept behind my bookshelf."

I finished my glass and poured another, knowing my limit was far away from two beers and a couple shots of whiskey. Mark put his elbows on the table and twirled the glass in his hands absently; it was obvious something was on his mind.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I offered.

He sighed, his face turning serious. "Alex, what are you're intentions with my sister?" he asked, pinning me with a steely look.

"Uh, um," I stammered, taken aback by the sudden change in subject. I had planned out everything I was going to say if he asked me any variation of this question, but it seemed to all drain out of me at this moment. "I'm going to ask her to marry me soon," I blurted, not putting it as subtly as I had originally planned. I winced at his shocked expression.

"Right," he muttered, returning his gaze to his glass as he sighed uncomfortably, "I guess that's the answer I was looking for..."

"Is something wrong?" I asked. Mark was the closest thing to a father when it came to asking for permission, and the last thing I need was for him to withdraw his support for our relationship.

"It's not easy passing you're little sister off to someone else," he muttered, giving me a sad smile, "I just want to make sure this crazy move to another country was the right choice. I need to know someone's always going to be here for her."

"Listen, I'll always be here," I said quickly, feeling a bit panicked, "I love Amanda, more than life itself! I would never do anything to hurt-"

"I know," he said calmly, "I've watched all her videos."

"You- you have?" I asked. I always thought he was too busy for that kind of thing, and Amanda released a lot of content as well.

"Every single one since the beginning," he nodded, "Of course she doesn't know this but... I've seen the way you two act. Anyone with a high school education can see the love you two share. I just need to know that you're... prepared, I guess. All this stuff?" he motioned to the art, the sea cucumber, the spot where the pig had left a few greens on the floor, "It doesn't calm down, she's been like this all her life."

"I'm a bit scatter brained, I admit," I told him sternly, "but never in my life have I been more prepared for that responsibility. I love her."

He smiled and seemed to relax. "That's all I needed to hear, and I can see she loves you too," he looked towards the living room, "Well, I think I'm going to head to bed, I shouldn't let the jet lag get the best of me." He reached over and shook my hand, "Night Alex."

"Goodnight," I answered, felling a bit stunned.

A/N Okay so I owe you guys a HUGE apology for letting this go for as long as I did. I had finals (which I all aced like a mother trucker) and now I'm just trying to settle down and get back into "normal life" (whatever that is). I've been working on this chapter for a long time, since I wanted to make it up to you guys and do a long, fluffy, one shots kind of thing where I speed up the time period to bring it closer to the present. I still have a bunch of subplots and one huge one to add where shit really hits the fan, but I might skip another year after this, bring it closer to the present so I can start making more recent references, and get on with the story there, but I'm undecided still. Thanks for you're support as always and I hope you can forgive me for not updating. Thank you, happy reading!