For the last couple of months, every time Smitty opened the door, John had greeted with a different nickname each time. Even tho the man had a spare key, he liked to force Smitty to open the door, by ringing the bell constantly. "Hello Smyti" or "Sup Smitt". Or something along the lines of Smeet, Smotty, Smarty, Smeezy and his personal favourite; Smithers.

He had been seeing John so much, it was hard to imagine life without him. Sadly, he had to be reminded of the time where all they could do was talk through discord, when John had to leave to visit family. John came to visit him and told him his grandfather wasn't doing well, so he would be leaving.

Smitty looked worried at his friend and asked if he was okay. "I just… wished I could take you with me," John said," I don't like to leave you alone so sudden." Or at all, he thought. "I would love to meet your family, just not this time," Smitty said, smiling softly," They need you now. And who knows? Maybe in the future I get to meet the people who raised such a wonderful man."

John looked him in the eyes, cheeks dusted pink. "You would want to...?" Smitty laughed and hugged John. "Of course!" They hugged each other for a moment, before Smitty spoke up. "You need to go and pack your stuff, the sooner you see them, the better."

He was almost afraid to let John go, especially since he seemed to hesitate as well. "Yeah," John sighed and released the other," I'll see you soon." Smitty smiled sadly as John walked towards the door. "We'll play together," he said. John smiled as he turned towards his friend. "I won't be to far away." He tugged the other man closer to him and pressed a kiss against his forehead. "Now get that worried frown off your face, you're getting wrinkles," he said, smiling.

"Call me if you need me." Smitty nodded, cheeks burning and sad expression on his face. "Stay safe." He muttered as John gave him a final smile and walked out the door. He left a still slightly blushing Smitty behind, who could already feel the loneliness creeping up on him.

That had been a week and a half ago. Now they were recording a video together with Smitty, Miniladd, BigJigglyPanda, Vanoss, DaithiTheNogla and IAmWildcat. .

John needed some extra footage for videos, nothing to complicated and easy to process for his old record set-up. His grandfather sadly passed away, making John stick around until the funeral had passed. His mother kept his old recording stuff in a box, so he was able to make some extra videos for YouTube.

In between condolences from other family members and friends, helping out around the house, paying visits and spending time with his family, he barely had time to speak to his friends. To be able to play a mind-numbing game with them had him feeling happy and more relaxed than he had been.

Smitty was currently drawing, giggling to himself as he was trying to depict the word with a virtual pencil and virtual paper. Of course, Kryoz got it first. Somehow, to the protest of the others, he got the answer out of some weird lines, stick figures and scribbled words that no one understood.

Smitty couldn't finish the drawing, he was laughing to hard. The time ran out and Mini shouted out in rage as it turned out the word had to be ' Lion King'. "How the fuck did Kryoz get that?" Vanoss asked in amazement. John chuckled. "He knows me!" Smitty said, laughing loudly. "Yeah, no. There was no way to get that," Panda said. "What even were those weird scribbles on top?" Nogla asked. "It was the song!"

It was silent for a moment before Tyler loudly exclaimed how stupid it was and the others laughed, Panda wheezing loudly. Smitty didn't feel sorry for his weird ass drawing. As Kryoz choose the next word, he chuckled to himself. "Okay guys," he said," for this one, use your imagination."

The screen stayed blank.

The dots on top of the blank canvas showing 11 in total.

Thoughts were running.

Ding!

Smitty guessed the word.

Smitty felt the laugh bubble up and he couldn't help himself, almost wheezing as he realised what John had done. Mini wasn't far behind, guessing the words. "W-what?!" Panda yelled. John started laughing as well, almost rolling off of his chair. The others were left in confusion, before more dings sounded and some others guessed it as well, starting to laugh. "What? What is it?" Vanoss asked, feeling very confused. Then Tyler guessed it as well, roaring in laughter. Evan didn't guess the word in time, making him laugh as it showed him the word was supposed to be 'imagination'. The round ended, IAmWildcat was the winner and their laughter slowly died down.

As everyone was making sure the recording was okay, Tyler asked: "So, are you all coming to my 4th of July party?" He had already made a group-chat about it, to know who was coming and discuss sleeping arrangements. "Yeah, I'm actually leaving pretty soon," Miniladd said," I'm making a bit of a road trip off it for me." Tyler nodded as Mini gave him a questioning look through the camera. "I'm heading out soon too," BigJigglyPanda said," I've still gotta pack my stuff."

"I won't be able to make it, sorry guys, have fun tho!" Nogla said chipper. "Who knows, maybe next year," Tyler said. Nogla nodded then said his goodbye, he needed to feed Joe and Tony. "I'm technically not an American, but I'll still come," Evan said, with a grin on his face. "Damn right you are, I'm not going to be the only Canadian surrounded by Americans," Smitty said laughing. He felt happy, they were about to get together again and hang out. He loved hanging out with his friends.

"Scotty and Chrissy will be there as well, and that's everyone," Tyler said, thinking for a moment. "We should definitely film something once we're together," John said suddenly, after being silent for a while. "I take it you will join us then?" Tyler asked. They were aware of the current family situation John was in. "Yeah, I will be there. But I'll be leaving straight from here, that way I can make it in time," he explained.

Smitty tried not to sigh. That would mean he wouldn't be able to see John until the party. He wished time would go a little bit faster. "That's great to hear," Tyler said," but take your time John. We'll be waiting for you." Th others made an agreeing noise and said their goodbyes.

And soon it was just the two best friends lone in the call. They were silent as they both did some editing and other things. John was looking up plane tickets and Smitty cursed his editing program, this time it didn't even want to start up. It almost felt like the old days were they would do the same thing, both busy with their own thing, comfortable silence as they worked.

Smitty looked up at his second screen, where he could see John through his camera as he heard a door open. A woman's head poked through the gap in the door, dark curls framing her face, thin lips in a smile. "John, sweetie? Are you done playing with your friends?"

It wasn't hard to guess whom the woman was, her nose reminded Smitty of John's. "Hey mom. Yeah, I'm just about done," John, said, taking his headphones off and turning towards her. She opened the door entirely and stepped through. "Oh good. Your father could really use your help with the sink downstairs, it's clogged again," she said as she walked closer towards him. "Oh and your sister asked if you could walk the dog, the poor thing really needs to go outside and you could do with some sunlight as well." John nodded. "I'll be right down," he said, turning slightly back towards the computer screen.

In that moment his mother's eyes fell upon the monitor, spotting the brown-headed boy on the other side of the on-going call. "Who's that?" John looked slightly surprised from his mom to the screen she was intently looking at. He had almost forgotten Smitty was still there. He ignored the slight pang of guilt and pulled out his headphones, turning the volume up.

Smitty had been quiet as he studied the two family members interacting with each other. "Hey John's mom, I'm Jaren," he introduced himself, with a small wave," I'm one of John's friends he plays games with." John's mother seemed to think for a moment, before her eyes lit up.

"Wait, are you that Smitty boy John keeps talking about?" There was a smile on her face as she realised that this was indeed that boy. "Uhm, yes, I am, ma'am" Smitty answered unsure. He started fidgeting with the cord of his headphones. "How are you doing sweetie?" she asked, practically pushing John away from the computer to see the other boy better. John had been silently cursing his luck, but let out an undignified 'Hey!' as he was shoved aside.

He could barely see the monitor now and he felt slightly afraid to what more his mother might say. Only slightly. "I'm doing okay ma'am, my condolences for your loss," Smitty said. "Thank you," the woman said with a small smile," That's very kind of you. My son said you were always kind to him, thank you for that."

Smitty was unsure on how to react to that. The cord in his hands got all tangled up, the more he fidgeted with it. "He seems more happy now that you live close to him. He's so excited every time he talks about you," she said. John was slightly freaking out. Only slightly. "Mom," he whined. He got ignored as if he wasn't in the same room as she continued to embarrass him.

"Of course, he doesn't call me nearly enough," she said," and when he finally does, all he talks about is how amazing you are." Smitty was positive his face was beet red by now. He still didn't know how to react and unsure what to do with the information given to him. He'd process it many, many months later. "I see why he speaks so highly of you," she continued, unaware of the awkwardness streaming off of both men," You are really cute-"

"Mom!"

John had decided that that was the moment he was done with all the embarrassment. Leave it up to his mother to do that in front of his friend. He was just happy the others hadn't still been online. "I'll be right down to help you," John said, rolling his eyes as his mother moved out of the way. "Now leave."

His mother laughed as she walked towards the door. "Okay, honey. I'll go warn your dad," she said, and then winked. "Bye Smitty!" she called and out the door she went. Smitty let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding. His sigh of relief turning into soft giggles as he looked at the bewildered look on John's face. Poor man was probably traumatised now.

"Your mom is a lovely woman," Smitty said, trying to stifle his laughs. "If you says so," John said shrugging," You okay tho?" Smitty nodded. It had to be more embarrassing for the other than for him. He held up his hands to show the cable intertwined with his fingers. John chuckled.

"You shouldn't do that when you're nervous." Smitty shrugged as he started to untangle himself. "I can't help it…" John shook his head. "It's just a nervous twitch, not the end of the world." A small grin appeared on Smitty's lips. "Not unlike a mother spilling all my deepest secrets."

John groaned and covered his face in his hands. "Let's forget about that, shall we?" He groaned again. He still couldn't believe his mother had done that. "Yeah, forget about it and go walk the dog, soak in some sunshine," Smitty said, sticking his tongue out. John just shook his head as the other laughed at him.

Unknowns to them, his mother hadn't exactly left. She stood next to the slightly ajar door. Thanks to John not plugging his headphones back in, she could hear everything being said. She smiled to herself, then decided to leave down the stairs, not wanting to be caught red-handed eaves dropping on her son and his 'best friend'. And as she walked away, she could still hear them softly talk to each other.

"Hey Smithers?"

"Yeah?"

"I miss you."

"…I miss you too."