Childe sat down in his desk chair, scooting it into place with a sigh. He looked at his animated screensaver, the snow endlessly falling onto a hill-covered landscape. He knew he had to stream that night, but man, was he unmotivated. After breaking up with his long-term girlfriend and having to move cities entirely just to escape her, all with his little brother by his side, was rough. Ajax had always tried his best to be happy on his streams, fake or not, it helped not only him to escape, but his viewers too.
That's the real reason Childe did all of this, his viewers. They gave him the motivation to go about his day and allowed him the absolute privilege to provide for him and his brother and still lead a life of luxury; and he never wanted his followers to think that he didn't know that none of this would be possible without is why he had to motivate himself to login and stream, and yet it was all so hard.
With a yawn, and a heavy sigh, he logged into his computer, opening up Discord on one of his monitors, Twitch on the other side monitor, and his game on the main screen. He looked over at his Twitch, scrolling through the recommended streams, hoping to find any small streamers to donate to for point rewards. That's when he came across this man, under the screen name of "Morax" and wow just the thumbnail of the man was stunning. He could feel his heart skip a beat at just the sight of the man.
Without hesitation he opened a new tab to log into his alternative Twitch account, where he followed a lot of people he enjoyed watching on the downlow. He quickly searched up the username of the beautiful man, hoping to catch his stream before it ended.
[itzyaboiajax has joined stream]
Zhongli glanced up at his laptop screen when he heard the ping go off, pausing in the middle of his sentence to greet the newcomer. "Why hello…I assume your name is Ajax?," Zhongli tilted his head, before his lips spread into a soft smile. "This must be your first time here, I've never seen your username before, I don't really do much, but it is very nice to meet you"
Zhongli watched as his chat joined in to also welcome the new person to his stream, it made him happy to see how kind and welcoming his community was. It was like a breath of fresh air compared to many other communities. Yes, he didn't have the nicest set up, his backdrop was his rather bare wall, except for the stunning chinese calligraphy piece behind him, and he streamed on his laptop with his only microphone being his wired headphones. A lot of his followers found it endearing and he didn't want to change it. He didn't need a fancy set-up when all he truly enjoyed doing was talking to his viewers.
Zhongli's streams usually consisted of him greeting his viewers and letting the conversation flow and change naturally. It was nice, and he made a rather good amount of mora out of it, alas he still had to continue his work at the funeral parlor, but streaming was a rather rewarding hobby.
His attention turned back to the chat, who were seemingly trying to catch his attention for whatever reason, apparently he was caught up in his own thoughts for a lot longer than he'd originally thought. Apparently the new viewer had to leave, but not before following and subscribing to Morax's account. Zhongli smiled, a tad wider than the last, "Thank you Ajax, I do hope you can stay longer next time"
[Tartaglia's stream is starting soon!]
Childe really did hate having to leave Morax's stream so early, he would've loved to have seen what the man did on his channel, but unfortunately it was time for him to stream. He would add Morax to his list of small streamers to donate to, something told him that Morax was a very special man.
He scrolled through his Discord server (lovingly named The Tar Pitz), there were some cute pieces of fanart that he would definitely have to show off at the end of the stream. The viewer base was now getting ready for the stream, debating on what game Tartagila would be playing that evening. He chuckled at how they theorized why they thought he was playing whatever game he would be.
Childe tried to only stream games on Friday nights, as to not overcrowd his page with too much of the same thing. He was infamous for playing shooters, typically first-person shooters, and he ranked top on their leaderboards. A lot of people claimed that he was hacking, but his viewers were well aware he was just that good, even in real life he was proficient in every weapon he could possibly get his hands on, as covered in one of his Truth or Dare streams.
He hummed, getting up to make sure Teucer was okay before he started streaming. He made his way to his little brother's room, peeking his head through the doorway. Teucer simply looked up at him with a smile, moving his Mr. Cyclops plush to one arm to wave at his big brother. "What's wrong?," Teucer asked with a head tilt.
Childe simply chuckled, "Nothing's wrong, I just wanted to make sure you're okay before I start streaming, but if you need anything I'll just be in my office okay?"
Teucer nodded, "Mhm! I know! Have fun big brother and good night!"
Childe smiled and left his brother's bedroom, closing the door behind him as he made his way to his office to finally start his stream. He sat down in the office chair once more, slipping on his headset and making sure his microphone was connected and at the proper angle. He clicked the button and the Starting Soon screen faded away to reveal Tartaglia. He waved to everyone, that movie star grin on his face.
"Hello comrades! It's a beautiful evening to be streaming for all of you beautiful people," he did his two finger salute, welcoming any and all who joined in on his stream. "Y'know I think it's been a while since we promoted small streamers~," he cooed.
He typed up Twitch on another tab, thankful to see Morax's stream still up. He smiled triumphantly, sharing his screen, "Today, I would love to donate to the lovely Morax, and encourage everyone else to join in. He's a very down to earth man who just enjoys talking to his viewers''
Tartaglia joined Morax's stream, his face flushing ever so softly. He wondered who the hell gave Morax permission to look this stunning. He hoped to the archons that his chat wouldn't notice the way his pale face flushed at simply the sight of a man he barely knew.
Zhongli glanced up, his chat was going crazy for some reason. He just assumed it was because someone new had joined, and while he wasn't wrong, it was just the physical person who had joined that made chat freak out. He didn't quite understand why everyone was freaking out over this "Tartaglia" person, until one of his viewers had explained that he was one of the biggest streamers on this platform.
He nodded in understanding before making eye contact with his webcam. "Well, I may not know who you are, but I welcome you Mr. Tartaglia," he smiled.
Childe's heart sped up at the view of that gorgeous smile. He inhaled deeply, furiously typing as he prepared his donation, clicking send and watching the emoji of a small meteor fall onto the screen.
[Tartaglia has donated 10 Million Mora: I love your streams! Keep it up! And feel free to DM me if you ever want to learn how to play video games ;)]
Tartaglia's chat erupted, spamming the simp emoji's, much to the moderators dismay. Childe just chuckled, so what if he hadn't offered that up to anyone before, Zhongli wouldn't know that!
Just as he was about to exit the stream, Zhongli had begun to speak, "I apologize for my sudden silence- nobody has ever donated so generously before, thank you sir, and I would assume you play video games? I wouldn't mind learning at all, I believe it would be fun to collaborate Mr. Tartaglia. I would assume you're on stream right now so I'll let you go, but thank you so much, it truly means a lot"
Childe could hear his heartbeat in his ears, this man was entirely too amazing for his own good, he didn't know if his heart would survive. However, he couldn't be falling so soon, neither he nor Teucer were ready for that again.
He exited the stream, going back to his own. "Alright~ Who's ready for some Overwatch?," he smirked, hearing his Discord pings go off at the mention of Overwatch, everyone wanted to play with the master afterall.
[Tartaglia's stream has ended]
The stream ended after about 6 rounds and a fanart showcase, and it was well after 2 am. He was exhausted, but it was always fun when he got to play with his viewership, he loved interacting with his fanbase. However, the lateness had definitely gotten to him.
Getting up, he stretched as he walked to his bedroom, taking off his clothes to change into pajama pants. He checked his phone to see an unread DM, yawning, he decided he'd check it in the morning. Plugging his phone in, and slipping into bed, it didn't take long for Childe to fall into Morax-filled sleep.