August 5, 2019, 8:11
Sonoma, California
bad boy supreme aka Leo
Staples Inc.™
I can't believe I'm saying this
Staples Inc.™
But I need your advice
August 5, 2019, 14:22
Sonoma, California
bad boy supreme aka Leo
bad boy supreme
why the fuck did you think i would be awake at eight in the goddamn morning
bad boy supreme
whats up?
Staples Inc.™
I'm not gay
bad boy supreme
okay?
Staples Inc.™
Well?
bad boy supreme
well what
Staples Inc.™
Help me
bad boy supreme
with what? give me some context for christs sake
Staples Inc.™
If I think a guy is hot is that gay
bad boy supreme
not necessarily?
Staples Inc.™
Oh good
Staples Inc.™
Because I'm not
Staples Inc.™
Not gay
bad boy supreme
cool
bad boy supreme
you know it's not a problem if you are right
Staples Inc.™
Of course bro
Staples Inc.™
I'm just not
bad boy supreme
okay then
August 5, 2019, 14:40
Houston, Texas
hazel's boyfriend aka Frank :)
perpetually scheming
I owe you ten bucks ?
hazel's boyfriend
Ha
hazel's boyfriend
Which bet did I win
perpetually scheming
Jason
hazel's boyfriend
Already?
hazel's boyfriend
Excellent
August 6, 2019, 2:46
San Francisco, California
Sparky aka Jason Grace
Sparky
U up?
percy
No ?
Sparky
Liar
percy
Oh my goodness you've caught me in a lie
Sparky
I have so many ideas for when you're in Sonoma
percy
Oh ?
Sparky
Is that a bad thing?
Sparky
If you don't want to I can throw them all out
percy
No no no i want to hear them this just isn't a typical 'u up?' text i have to recalibrate
Sparky
Nah bro, i'm straight
percy
Of course i forgot
Sparky
Anyway, I totally want to take you to see the giant redwoods because you're from New York and need to see something tall besides skyscrapers
Sparky
And also Sonoma Plaza, it's so pretty
Sparky
And I know that you think the wineries are all bougie or whatever but they're also really pretty, you'd fit right in!
percy
Why because i'm pretty?
Sparky
Isn't that your job?
percy
You have a point
Sparky
Are you busy tomorrow?
percy
Gonna catch up with Will and the cousins. We might stream together too, not sure. Not on my channel i'm taking the whole month off
Sparky
A bold strategy
percy
Didn't say i wasn't working
percy
The air bnb has a hot tub for a reason, gotta stay on that grind for the OF content ? ﾟﾒﾪ?
Sparky
Oh yeah, forgot you were a water boy
Sparky changed percy's name to Water boy
Water boy
Ew
Water boy changed Water boy's name to waterboy
waterboy
Much better
August 6, 2019, 10:18
San Francisco, California
Hazel shuffled out of her room in the Air BnB that she and Percy were staying at, following her nose to the kitchen.
"Morning." Percy flipped another blueberry pancake. "Grab a plate."
"Is this Sally's famous recipe?"
"Obviously. How'd you sleep?"
"Eh. Fine. How 'bout you?"
"Not much, Jason was texting me all night."
"Oh?" She stopped with her fork halfway to her mouth.
"Not like that, he's just gone overboard planning for when we visit him in Sonoma."
"About that. I think I'm going to go to LA then….are you okay going on your own."
"I'm not a child, Hazel."
"I'm just checking!"
"I'll be fine. Say hi to Piper for me."
"Of course." There was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it." Percy said. "You're still in pajamas."
"You're the best."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Hazel heard Percy plod down the hallway and open the door. Chatter filled the entryway, and grew louder as Percy reentered the kitchen with their guests.
"Hazel!" Will hugged her, "Oh my god it's been forever since I've seen you!"
Nico offered her a side hug, a gracious overture for anyone besides Will. "Good to see you Haze."
"Grab some pancakes." Percy ordered, "I made enough for all of us."
"Only if they're Sally's recipe."
"Why on earth would it be anything else?!" Percy threw his hands in the air.
August 8, 2019, 7:15
Sonoma, California
Will Solace aka Over_the_Rainbow
Jason Grace
How did you know you were bi?
Will Solace
Good morning to you too
Will Solace
But also like….idk. I just kinda knew I was different when I was in Austin, and then I moved to SF and realized that I'm not actually that different
Jason Grace
That's not helpful
Will Solace
Sorry?
Jason Grace
Like….how did you know you also liked guys?
Will Solace
Let me ask you a question
Will Solace
Would you kiss a guy?
Jason Grace
Sure
Will Solace
Do you want to kiss a guy?
Jason Grace
Maybe? That's what i'm trying to future out
Will Solace
Okay. You liked kissing Piper when you were in a relationship with her, right?
Jason Grace
I guess
Will Solace
This is getting nowhere. Restart.
Will Solace
Imagine if instead of kissing Piper you were kissing whatever guy has put you in this crisis
Will Solace
How does that make you feel?
Jason Grace
Oh
Will Solace
Does that help?
Jason Grace
I think so
August 5, 2019, 23:23
pied_piper piper mclean official
Sometimes i think i'm not actually bi and i'm actually a lesbian in denial, and prove everyone who said it was just a phase right
August 7, 2019, 18:45
Chesapeake Bay, Virginia
Annabeth had never been more nervous to hit the go live button since the first time she decided to stream. Her subscriber count had blown through the roof since she streamed with Leo. She was used to her community. A small, insular community that, while excited that she was blowing up, seemed likely shared her discomfort with the influx of people, of voices clamoring for attention in chat. She still had fifteen minutes before she was supposed to start the stream, and she was already sweating. These people had joined her for Minecraft content and she was about to play chess. God, she just needed someone to talk to, someone who could help.
Leo? His collab had a lot to do with the explosion in followers. But she didn't really know him well enough to be asking for advice. Jason wasn't a bad option if she didn't happen to work for him. Percy was a great friend, but he didn't exactly give great advice. She kept scrolling through her friends list, even as she passed by everyone who actually streamed, and was honestly considering asking Clarisse to just tell her to stop being a wimp, even if she didn't actually understand the situation in the slightest. She scrolled back up. Maybe Piper? She probably had some experience.
Annabeth went to open the chat, but a slip of the finger and she instead clicked on the call button instead. Annabeth fumbled with the phone in a panic, trying to hang up, but in the precious seconds before she could, Piper answered.
"Heeeello?"
"Ah! Hey Piper, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to call you, bother you, I mean, actually I just meant to open the chat but-"
"It's fine, what'd you want to talk about?"
"It's nothing important, I'm so sorry."
"Girl, stop apologizing. You wanted to talk and we're talking. What's up?"
"I just…I'm looking for advice I guess."
"Luckily I am full of wisdom."
"How did you handle it when you blew up?"
"I just pretended like nothing had changed."
"Really?"
"Sure. If you act surprised that you achieved something then anyone will take credit for it. People drive women off this platform for every reason, I'd rather be known for being confident than for being a doormat."
"Okay, so what do I do if I'm not at all confident?"
Piper laughed. "No one actually is. You just have to fake it, and eventually, it will just come naturally."
"How do I deal with all the new people?"
"Make sure they know the rules of your stream, and stick to them. And probably hire more mods, if we're being honest, that was the biggest game changer for me. Having a good mod team is essential."
"I'll make sure I start looking."
"When are you streaming next?"
"Literally in ten minutes." Annabeth tried for a laugh but it came out forced. "I'm a little nervous." Then, before she could think better of it, "Do you want to join me for part of it? I was just planning on playing chess but-"
There was a beat of silence.
"Yeah. Yeah, actually that sounds really nice. Your streams are always way more chill than mine are."
"You watch my streams?"
Either Piper didn't hear her, or she chose to ignore the question. "I'm going to text a couple of my mods and see if they can keep an eye on your chat this stream. I'll send you the usernames of the ones that can so you can give them mod status if you want."
In the next ten minutes they sped through setting up an account for Piper on and approving mods before seven o'clock hit and it was time to go live.
"Okay!" Annabeth clapped her hands, "So, you've never played chess before, right?"
"I know how the pieces move and that's about it." Piper confirmed.
"Alright." Annabeth laughed, "That's perfect, actually. So, what we're about to do is called, brain/hand chess. I think probably we'll start with me being the brain and Piper being the hand but we can switch off later."
"The way this works is that I'll tell you the name of a piece that I want you to move, and you move it however you think it should."
"Oh god we're going to lose."
"Maybe. We'll play a computer a couple of times so you can get a feel for it, and then we can try playing other people."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Let's begin then….pawn."
They lost the first game. And the second and third. By the fourth, they managed to scrape out a win when Annabeth lowered the challenge rating.
"So we're basically gods now." Piper said, celebrating the win. "I feel good about that. I think we're ready to play other people."
Annabeth laughed. "Sure. Do you want to switch who's who?"
"God no, I'm barely good at this."
"Sure. Here, let's try to match with someone for a game. We'll have to do it on your account."
"Why?"
"Because anyone we find on mine will blow us out of the water."
"Oh, I get it, she's just trying not to embarrass me. I see how it is."
"Wouldn't want you to lose all the confidence you've gained." Annabeth joked. "No chat, Piper isn't streaming, she's just hanging out with me today."
"I wanted to learn how to play chess so that Annabeth stops embarrassing me at Among Us."
"I don't think they're….directly comparable-"
"Sure. Who's the best of our lobby at sussing out the impostor? You. Who's a grandmaster at chess? Also you. I see no fault in my logic."
"I guess I can't argue with that."
They're luck against other people was about 50/50. Piper eventually agreed to switch, so she was the brain and Annabeth was the hand, but despite her protests, they managed to work better that way. Between games, she kept an eye on chat, but Piper's mods were miracle workers. She only just noticed the spam of, "PIPER HAVE YOU SEEN THE PICTURES?" "IS THIS REAL" and "WHOS THE OTHER GUY" before they were swiftly taken down. Something about it twisted inside of Annabeth's gut. She opened a window to twitter and navigated over to trending-
#depresso_espresso
#reddit leak
#SFMOMA
Her heart sank as the pictures immediately showed up. Nico and his boyfriend holding hands at the museum, Nico kissing him on the cheek, Nico with his arm around him-
pied_piper aka Piper
Annabeth Mechanitus
Check twitter trending quickly
pied_piper
Why?
pied_piper
Oh my god
pied_piper
What the fuck
pied_piper
Can this be our LG?
Annabeth Mechanitus
Absolutely
"Alright everyone, I think this is going to be our last game!" Annabeth said, succeeding at putting on a chipper façade. I've got to run, some architect stuff is demanding my attention. I'm so sorry Piper, didn't mean to spring that on you."
"No worries! I remember what it's like to stream and also have a real job. I had fun either way."
They ended stream as quickly as possible.
"I don't think they know it's Will." Piper said, scrolling through the horror show that was the thread. "I'm getting a lot of s asking who it is, if I knew that Nico is gay….this is disgusting."
"I'm not super close to either of them." Annabeth admitted, "but Jesus christ, who the fuck would do this to them? Hang on, I'm gonna text Reyna and see how Nico's doing."
"Like, how do they think I'm going to react? 'Wow, how disgusting, I hate gay people?' I'm fucking bisexual, why would I care about who anybody else loves? And what, that I'm going to expose his life further after someone just decided to out him? He's my friend and they want me to stab him in the back?"
"Piper, what they think about you doesn't have anything to do with who you actually are. They think they know you, but they're wrong."
"I know, but the fact that apparently everyone on the internet thinks I'm that disloyal of a friend…I want to throw up."
"Reyna says, quote, "Not well, what do you fucking think, Chase?""
"Obviously. I mean….oh my god, I have to see how I can help I'm sorry you had to end stream so suddenly-"
"It's fine Piper. Go help your friend."
August 7, 2019, 20:53
r/depresso_espresso
Posted by u/heytherediangelo
Spotted Nico in the wild today! Look how happy he looks! ? ﾟﾥﾰ? ﾟﾥﾰ
[image description: Nico is standing on his toes to kiss a blonde man on the cheek]
[image description: Nico is sitting at a café, speaking to the same blonde man, who has his back to the photographer]
[image description: Nico is smiling and holding hands with the same blonde man, his back still to the camera]
[image description: The blonde man has his arm around Nico's shoulder, pointing towards a different exhibit in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]
Upvotes: 2.9k Downvotes: 696
u/cringey
Stalker much? Did you follow them from the museum? Wtf is wrong with you?
u/obnoxiously_medical_semiconductor
OMG PROOF THAT HE ACTUALLY IS? I TOTALLY GOT THOSE VIBES!
u/curlydawning3
Some of you need to relearn how to be good people you just fucking outed your favorite streamer
u/RudelyElastic
They seriously think they've done something cool
u/rudely_joyful_basin
Who's the guy he's with?
August 7, 2019, 22:59
San Francisco, California
Nico had been sitting in front of his computer, scrolling through his subreddit for three straight hours. The post just kept growing. He'd asked the mods to take it down immediately after finding out about it, but other people kept reposting it as soon as they took it down. Will had driven over within the hour, and he and Nico had been huddled together since, somehow managing to fit into Nico's gaming chair together. Will had consumed half a pint of Ben and Jerry's on his own. Nico thought he might vomit if he so much as looked at a crumb.
Reyna was sitting cross legged on the floor of his room, keeping an eye on Twitter. Hazel and Percy had gotten there almost as quickly as Will. Hazel had a murderous look in her eyes, and was talking to someone who knew a guy who knew how to do…something. Nico wasn't entirely sure what her end goal was. The damage was already done. Everything he had worried about since he blew up had come to pass.
Piper had called an hour ago and talked for just as long, asking if there was anything she could do to help with the situation. No, there wasn't. Yes, he'd manage. No, he didn't have any idea who it was.
"Alright." Reyna broke the heavy silence. "You've got a few options. First, you can deny that it's you."
Nico almost laughed. "No one with half a brain would believe that."
"I know." Reyna said. "But half the people are dumber than your average person."
"Gatekeep, gaslight, girlboss." Will muttered.
"Yeah, sure. If you don't want to do that, you can ignore it. Pretend like you haven't heard, tell your mods that any mention of it at all in streams is an automatic ban. Block word in YouTube comments. Will hasn't been identified, so that's the best thing to do for him. Nothing's changed, and you stick to that story."
"And get everyone who knows Nico on board to ban anybody who says that in their chat?" Percy asked incredulously.
"Or just ask that they ignore any comments." Will suggested.
"Last option, you can address it."
Nico threw up in his mouth. "No."
"It's the only surefire way to make sure it doesn't continuously get brought up."
"I'm not going to subject Will to all this backlash!"
"You don't have to! You only have to address the parts that have been exposed. It would actually help to take the heat off of people trying to figure out who he is by giving them something to distract them."
"I hate it."
"Same."
"But I'm going to do it."
"Sunshine, no. You'll just be giving them what they want."
"I don't really have a lot of other choices!"
"Reyna literally just listed other choices!"
"Tesoro, they think they know me. They're sure they know me, so they're not going to accept that it wasn't me. They know me well enough to know that ignoring it is as good as an admission. The only way to end this quickly is to give them what they want, and sure, they think they know me, but not like you do."
August 8, 2019, 12:00
Nico di Angelo depresso_espresso
No stream today! I only get to see why cousins once a year, so I feel no guilt in blowing you guys off to spend time with them, lol
August 9, 2019, 12:00
Nico di Angelo depresso_espresso
See yesterday's tweet, lmao
August 10, 2019, 5:17
San Francisco, California
Hazel yawned. She and Reyna had been awake for almost 24 hours at that point. She had reached out to Thalia and her people, and they had finally come up with some evidence as to who had outed her little brother. They were misguided and not malicious, which managed to earn them at least a small amount of mercy in Hazel's heart. Reyna, she suspected, did not feel the same.
She had been keeping an eye on Will's streams when she wasn't busy, and so far, everything had been a perfect act. Nico, presumably, had scheduled the tweets that he had put out beforehand. Neither she, nor Percy had posted in the days they were, supposedly, spending time with Nico. Will hadn't gotten anyone in his chat suspecting he was part of the leaked photos. Only Reyna was getting persistent comments, asking if she, as Nico's roommate, knew the blonde man or could confirm the rumors. Hazel and Percy had created alt twitch accounts and were modding her chat ferociously. Things were going to get better. Hazel would make sure of it.