"Lewis," you say, "I don't know what else I've got. But shit's going to go down if I move in with you."

He frowns. "What do you mean?"

"People in the office'll find out - and I don't want rumours about us spreading about like that, you know? It kind of makes me uncomfortable. And Lewis... we're not together.

"Oh," he says a little awkwardly. "Yeah - I mean, I don't mean, like, sleeping in the same bed or anything - I meant I've got a spare room you could use. We could be, like, roommates."

"I know, I know," you say quickly, feeling heat rise to your cheeks. "But even so..."

"It'll just be temporary, while you find a new place."

"But it'll cost you to feed an extra mouth."

"It's no problem. We could even take it in turns to clean up, do the cooking and all that if it really means that much to you. Because it doesn't mean shit to me, to be honest - I'm just helping you out. Like friends do, you know."

You realise that this is really all you've got, if the landlord does kick you out, and if you don't earn a few hundred thousand quid in the next few weeks - you're going to be living in the same house as Lewis. 

"You," you say, "are the best friend I've ever had. You know that?"

Lewis grins. "You're right. I'm awesome."

You check your watch. "I should probably head home now. Anyway, thanks for the food and all that."

"No problem." 

"And I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Yeah, see you."

____________________________________________________

Thursday morning, later that week

"Sips," you say, smiling, even though you know he's miles away from you and can't see you.

"Hey. You haven't called me in ages, what's going on?"

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," you say. "But a lot's been happening. You know that thing I told you about Lewis a while ago?"

"I know, I know, you made up with him..."

You frown. "Did someone tell you?"

There's a crackle of a sigh over the phone. "No. I guessed."

"How?"

"Dunno. I kind of knew you and Lewis were going to make up at some point."

"What, I'm that predictable?"

"Hell, yeah. Anyway, fill me in with the details. I wanna know how this happened."

"Well." And you tell him about how you heard the argument between Lewis and his girlfriend, your awkward encounter after the party when you went to the bathroom, how the pub quiz and the events afterwards unfolded, the coach home, and the Factorio stream and what happened after

"Jeez," Sips says when you've finally finished. "And you're only telling me this now?"

You sigh. "Sorry, Sips. A lot's been going on." 

"Anyway, sounds good. Seems like you're picking up a lot of confidence now, and rightly so, too." You imagine Sips smirking on the other end of the line. "I watched the Monday stream, by the way."

"Oh. Oh God."

"Yup. It was pretty fucking hilarious, I'm just going to say."

"It was?"

"But it's gotta be said, you and Lewis are practically acting like you're already together, seriously."

"I know," you sigh, "but being super close best friends is different from, you know..."

"Yeah. I get you. But I know for sure that one day, you'll get there," Sips says.

You smile, even though you don't quite believe him. "Thanks."

"No problem. Anyway, it's the Gadget Show starting tomorrow, isn't it?"

"Yep."

"And Deck Rippers tonight. I'll be sure to be watching that. Anyway, are you going to be on it this week?"

You almost choke at the thought of having to endure another evening of awkwardness between you and Lewis. "Um, I don't think so," you laugh. "Not after Monday."

You can imagine Sips nodding in understanding on the other end of the line. "Okay. You do realise you're still going to have to be in a lot of content with Lewis? You can't just avoid it."

"Well, it's different when it isn't live though, isn't it?"

"True. Anyway, speaking of Lewis, I've got Triforce with him in a bit - I better do some prep. I'll see you later, okay?"

"See you, Sips."

_________________________________________________

Today's mostly an editing and fan communication day, so you spend most of your time cooped up in your office not talking to anyone. 

But at five o'clock, Lewis knocks on your door.

"Come in," you call from your seat in front of your computer. "Hey."

"Hiya. Just wanted to make sure - are you absolutely sure you don't want to be on the stream tonight?" he asks.

You nod. "Sorry. I just kind of found it hard to deal with, being judged every time I like, even look at you. It's difficult."

Lewis nods. "Okay. Are you heading home soon, or...?"

"Nah, still got a lot of work to do," you say. "I might do a vlog, then head home at eight-ish."

"Same time as me and Turps," he says. "Are you going to have dinner here or...?"

"Maybe. I've got nothing left in the fridge, so I might take one of the ready meals."

"Do you want a lift home?"

You shake your head. "Thanks, but I took my car here today." You glance at the clock on your computer screen. "Is that all you came here to ask me for?"

He shrugs. "Yeah."

"It's five past five."

"Yeah?"

"You're five minutes late."

"We're never early," he grins, stepping out of your office door. "See you later."

"See you, have a good stream."

"Won't be as good without you," he calls, which makes you feel a little guilty - but at the same time, it's great to not have to think about streaming, or have to worry about answering awkward questions from the fans in front of an audience of thousands.

You've finished your work a little earlier than you expected - it's only seven. You consider leaving the office earlier, but then you remember there's going to be tons of people in the common room watching the stream. Might as well see what Turps and Lewis are doing.

You pack away your bags and switch off your monitor, and make your way to the main room; sure enough, Mark Hulmes, Matt, Alex, Tom and several of the other editors are watching the stream. 

"Well, look who's turned up," Mark grins. "Aren't you on the stream today?"

"Nah, don't want to make them think it's going to be a regular thing. It's pretty exhausting," you laugh, logging on to the nearest monitor. 

"Fair enough."

Twitch loads just as Lewis wins a game. You watch him turn to Turps, smirking. 

"Bullshit," Turps says.

"Four nil," Lewis replies, turning back to his screen. "I'll give you a tenner if you can come back from this now," he adds, snorting.

"Right, it's on," Turps says. "Should we do donations first, and then..."

"Yeah, sure. Read them out."

"Semicolondash says, no (Y/N)? Lewis, what did you say to her?"

"Oh, I fired her," he says. 

Turps turns to Lewis. "You did?"

"Yep." He holds an unnerving eye contact with the camera for a few seconds, and then he bursts out laughing. "No, she's got a lot of work to do this week and couldn't make it on tonight. Busy lady. She's in the office though."

At least you know Lewis isn't slagging you off behind your back.

You have the stream playing in the background while you browse random stuff. You're replying to a fan when something Lewis says gets your attention; you change tabs quickly.

He's reading out a donation. 

"Dave asks, question for both of you: if you could date one person from the office, who would you date?" Lewis leans back in his chair, considering. 

It makes you feel a little better about your choice not to stream tonight. 

"Well, we all know what they want the answer to be, don't we?" Turps says, nodding towards the camera. 

"Well, what choices have I got?"

"You could start with me," Turps says.

Lewis laughs. "I'd go gay for Smith."

"Well. How rude. Is that your answer?"

"Well, I don't know who's watching the stream! It's going to be awkward..."

"Just answer the fucking question Lewis, and get it over and done with."

Lewis frowns again. "Well, I don't know. I'll just give them the answer they want then, I guess."

"Oh yeah? And what's that, Lewis?" Turps asks, smirking.

"Fuck you, Turps," Lewis mutters, but says it all the same; "(Y/N)."

You feel yourself smiling a little, even though Lewis said he was just giving the audience the answer they wanted, as opposed to what he thinks - but hearing him actually saying he'd date you is different, like confirmation.

Deciding an early night would be nice for once, you pack away your things, log off and make your way out of the office.

Of course, Turps spots you on the way out though.

They've left the door open, probably to circulate some air; it was nearly impossible to not spot you walking past.

"Come on in!" Turps smiles.

In that moment, you could have refused - because after all, your main reason for not going on the stream was definitely not because you had work in the office. 

But actually, the thought of just chatting with Turps and Lewis for a while seems quite attractive now - you haven't had a proper conversation all day, since you've just been doing solo content and work.

And you'll just ignore all the awkward questions from the fans. Everything'll be fine.

So you nod at Turps and step through the door.

"Are we making you late for something keeping you here?" Turps asks.

"Nah," you say. "I can stay."

"Great - you can help me beat Lewis."

You laugh, and look up at the screen; you realise your head's cut off by the camera, and crouch down a little.  

"I can try. You build a deck Turps, and I'll rip it for you."

"I like the sound of that," he says. 

Lewis looks up at you. "What've you been doing cooped up in the office all this time, anyway?" he chuckles.

"I did a vlog. Some admin, some social networking."

He smirks. "Good to see my understudy is hard at work."

You roll your eyes. "Thank you, sir. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for you, sir."

"Whoa, whoa! What's that meant to mean?"

"Well, while I've been stuck in my office doing shit, you've been drinking cider and playing Hearthstone with Turps in front of an audience and getting money for it."

"True. But don't discourage them from donating," he adds. "All to a good cause."

"You're right, we are a very good cause," you smile, and look over at Lewis' monitor.

"Hey, stop peeking at my deck," he says, covering the screen with his hands. "You're on Turps' side."

"Yeah, don't stare at his dick, (Y/N)," Turps agrees, without looking up from his screen. 

"Sorry," you mutter, rolling your eyes at the camera. 

Once the game gets underway, you immediately notice that both Turps and Lewis are playing badly - which is to say, much, much worse than usual, if that's possible.

"How many have you had, guys?" you exclaim, looking between them incredulously.

"Um, I've had one," Lewis says doubtfully.

"Too many to remember," Turps replies.

"The misplays are fucking awful, guys..."

"Hey, we didn't invite you on here this time, you don't insult our questionable skills at this game, okay?" Turps says, turning round to put on a fake frown. 

You shrug. "Fair enough."

Turps ends up winning without any of your input, making the final score of the day 5-1 to Lewis - not that Turps cares; he's too busy celebrating his single victory.

"Grats man," you say, clapping Turps on the back. "Nice plays." 

"He won one game!" Lewis protests. "I won five! I deserve to be showered with praise too, you know."

When you shake your head solemnly, Lewis pouts and pretends to sulk in his chair. "How long have we got left?"

"Ten minutes. Do you want to do the donations?" Turps asks.

Suddenly, you remember why you didn't want to come on to the stream in the first place: the questions from the fans that made talking to Lewis so awkward.

You shake your head. "I should probably go. I need to finish some stuff," you lie.

"Okay. Remember, here at the crack of dawn tomorrow?" Lewis says.

"Oh, shit, I haven't packed," you mutter, suddenly remembering the Gadget Show. "Thanks for reminding me."

Lewis grins, winks in what you know by now is merely a friendly action, as opposed to a suggestive one. "See you tomorrow."

"See you."

"Thanks for helping me rip my dick," Turps says, waving amiably.

"Any time."

_____________________________________________________

Packing doesn't take long, fortunately; you decide to drive into the office the following morning, which would make the journey back home after much easier.

You're sitting at your computer staring at a blank screen, when your phone vibrates; and you know immediately, without checking, that it's from your over-protective mother goose Lewis.

u ok?

You text back, yh, y?

you just seemed in a bit of a rush to get home, that's all.

You sigh, and decide to tell the truth. Tbh, I kind of just felt uncomfortable with everyone talking about you and me as if we're already a couple.

This time, it takes Lewis a few moments to reply. 

already a couple?

"Fuck," you mutter. "That's awkward."

I meant because we're not now. not that we will be in the future.

oh, ok?

You realise how cold you sounded. Not that we will be in the future.

And then you realise that Lewis might be thinking the exact same thing as you, hoping that you were just messing with him, when you weren't; you were just denying it to make it seem less awkward.

Haha, sorry  :D ended up sounding harsher than i thought. thx for checking up on me btw, means a lot.

Np. looking forward to the weekend?

In truth, you're a little nervous about the fans making things awkward, now that you and Lewis have reinforced the rumour since Insomnia last week. But you're still looking forward to just relaxing and chatting to some nice people.

Yh. Kinda nervous tho. You?

Me too  :) i'm a little nervous too. can i ask you something?

You feel your heart skip a beat.

Sure. After a moment's hesitation, you add a smiley face just to seem friendlier. 

Do you think the whole thing with me and you will affect our content?

You gulp, glad Lewis can't see you. 

what do you mean?

i meant like, how we act. because it's going to be harder to make, like, flirty jokes or stuff like that now bc now they'll make a big deal out of it.

You've been thinking the exact same thing lately.

we'll see. tbh i only find really hard on livestreams, bcos then it can't be edited out to make it less awkward, and everyone can like see our faces and reactions and everything.

oh, i get you. so content together's easier for you i guess.

exactly. and besides, duncan and kim deal with it just fine, i'm sure we can too.

I guess, he replies. hey, am i keeping you up?

nah. just finished packing, don't feel tired at all.

me too. cycling home on sunday at 8 after a week of drinking is going to be fun. :(

is that a subtle way of asking me to give you a lift there and back?

nah, dw, i'm not worth the effort  :P

because i don't mind. we can do that if you want, if it's easier. i'll give dunc a lift too.

sure?

uh huh.

thx. duncan seems to like that idea too, just texted him. i'll just wait at the end of my street for you to pick me up, duncan will be with me.

cool, that's sorted. 

you should sleep. early start tomorrow. like, really early.

ok, mother brindley. jeez.

haha! not the first time i've been called that. i'll see you tomorrow, one-ish, ok?

cya. Reluctantly, you add two kisses at the end of the message: xx.

And then you sit and pray that Lewis doesn't take anything from it when he reads it.

_______________________________________________________

A/N: Hi everyone, sorry this chapter's a little short and not very well polished. :( Not much happens here, it's pretty much just the build up for the Gadget Show, where something pretty big happens. :D Leave you to figure that out.

See you later, as always, comment your feedback no matter how harsh. 

From, some Yognaut from the Internet