Chapter Text
Neuvillettes nerves were through the roof; he blinked a few times at his response, his heart booming in his chest. After a few moments a response came, TheDuke accepted… oh archons… he was screwed wasn’t he? He placed his phone down onto the counter and attempted to calm himself down. He had to get a grip… he just had to.. He sat and stared off into space for a good while; his soup getting cold once more. Though he no longer felt very hungry.. so he repackaged the food and placed it into the fridge. It was late, he was drained both mentally and physically… he just needed sleep! Yes! Sleep would clear his mind.
Sleep was a luxury to Neuvileltte, he often worked late hours into the night surrounding himself in media and papers. People often said the streamer life was a luxury but it wasn’t as cushy as people make it out to be. There's a lot of logistics that have to be reviewed.. and not to mention all the technology maintenance.. having to constantly come up with new stream ideas and new games to play. Having the perfect dialogue voice, an aesthetic setup, a nice outfit, a nice face, all of this came into play when streaming. Thumbnails were a nightmare.
While on autopilot Neuvillette wandered into his bedroom and fell into his bed. He allowed the comfort to consume him, the warmth slowly spreading through his body from the blankets. After a moment he curled up in the middle of the bed, proceeding to close his eyes and attempt to sleep. The silence around him was comforting… just being able to unwind in general was such a beautiful experience to him.
Sleep came quickly.
-
“So you got yourself a little date?” Navia teased with a wide smirk on her face that left Neuvillette choking on his water.
“Wha… huh?! That’s preposterous! Whyever would you think that?” Neuvillette stuttered out, his voice a little trembling as he processed what he’d just been asked. A date? He was far too old for such trivial things!
“Don’t play dumb with me Neuvillette, I saw the stream last night… who wouldn’t?! It’s trending all over social media.” Navia delights herself in causing Neuvillette to turn even more shades of red, her assumptions only growing stronger. “With TheDuke.. you two are collaborating? That sounds nice.” Navia gently nodded and took a sip of her tea glancing back up at the other male.
“It’s… it’s trending?” Neuvillette asked slowly as if the words felt foreign on his tongue. How could such a thing be trending when there was so much else in the world to focus on? Why focus on him? He couldn’t catch a break..
“Yes, your little appearance on TheDukes stream is trending… Archons, they're already creating fanart of you two! These artists are fast…” Navia mused while she focused more on her macaron then on her poor guy friend who was suffering greatly.
Fanart? FANART?! OF THEM?! This really was getting out of hand… they were just being friendly with each other. As two large streamers it’s only common sense to do a collaboration isn’t it? Bringing both of their platforms together can only benefit them! So why are the fans blowing this out of proportion all the way to romance? Neuvillette couldn’t even imagine himself with TheDuke.. Well… maybe he could… the male was just so handsome.. and those arms… they could most certainly sweep him off his fe-
OH NO YOU DON’T! Neuvillette slapped his cheeks and shook his head while taking a deep long breath to calm himself down. Those thoughts were trivial and unrealistic… so there was no reason to have them. He attempted to ignore the sudden stares he got and hide his red cheeks but it was no use, it was just too noticeable.
“Monsieur.. Should we end our little meet up here? You look like you have quite a lot on your mind.” Navia spoke in a gentler tone this time as if she’d noticed just how confused Neuvillette was currently with himself.
“Ah.. I think that’s a proper proposal, thank you, Miss Navia for meeting with me. I shall let you know when my next stream is to check for your availability.” Neuvillette returned her thoughts as he placed his napkin down, rising to his feet, gently smoothing over his outfit to rid himself of the wrinkles.
-
He had no clue what to do… Wriothesley stared at his computer screen blinking when he saw a video call request from LudexOfWater. Surely he should answer no? It was the day before their collab… so it only made sense to call and go over the logistics! His mouse hovered over the accept bar with a small tremble. His other hand was smoothed through his hair, glancing at a mirror he had in the corner to check himself. Finally, at the final ring, he clicked accept in silent agony
He nearly toppled out of his chair upon the call connecting, seeing the look of ethereal beauty the other male had while sitting down. Most would say he’s overreacting right now but he was never one to listen to the haters.
“Ah, Good day.. TheDuke?” LudexOfWater politely spoke with a smile that could give Wriothesley consecutive heart attacks. He sounded unsure about calling him by his streamer tag..
“Wriothesley.” Wriothesley mumbled out without thinking while staring at the screen in silence otherwise. It took him a moment but finally he got a hold of himself, straightening up with a jerk. “Eh.. y-you can call me Wriothesley! That’s my real name.” Dammed stuttering.. Wriothesley thought with a small curse. That’s it, he was dead, his only chance at a first impression, ruined… The other would surely hang up and cancel their collab now. Surely he-
“Nice to meet you Wriothesley, I’m Neuvillette.” The man whom he now knew as Neuvillette started with a kind smile.
f*ck his name sounded good on Neuvillettes lips… it was practically purred out in such a sinful way… He wanted to hear his name on Neuvillette’s lips while bent down on his-
Wriothesley was quick to drag himself away from that hole, that was a hole of no return.. he was lucky he’d even managed to escape that rabbit hole. Archons… he really had to start thinking with his head and not his dick.. thinking with his dick is what got him into most of his problems.
“Wriothesley? Are you listening?” Neuvillette asked with a small tilt of his head, his attention diverting to the camera. Panic coursed through Wriothesley almost immediately, how long had he been spaced out?! What had he missed? Oh he was screwed!
“Wha- huh? Yeah! Of course I am.” Wriothesley choked back a nervous laugh, leaning his head against his hand, his elbow placed up on his desk. Neuvillette gave him a skeptical look but thankfully nodded along.
“Alright… So as I was saying, since we both have large platforms I expect this to be a fairly popular stream. Stardew Valley is a very large game with lots of quests and story. We likely wouldn’t finish in one stream so I was wondering if you’d like to make a small series of streams? Of course, assuming you enjoy the first one.” Neuvillette explained to a now fully engaged Wriothesley, he nodded his head a few times throughout the words to indicate his interest.
Oh? Already setting up a second date?
He was delusional…
“That sounds lovely Monsieur Neuvillette! I’d love to create a small series, it’s sure to get plenty of views.” Wriothesley exclaimed with a slightly out of ordinary grin on his face, Clorinde would likely say he looks stupid right now.
“Ah… The honorific isn’t necessary truly, it only makes me feel old.” Neuvillette chuckled gently, looking slightly embarrassed through the screen.
“Oh.. I apologize, I should have inquired with you first, Neuvillette.” Wriothesley apologized quickly, hanging his head down slightly, disappointed in himself for not checking in with the others. He really did overthink a lot didn’t he?
“No need for an apology, you only did what you assumed would be right so what is there to apologize for? For others they may have appreciated that.” Neuvillette reasoned while he rummaged around for something on his desk, looming around.
“Ah, did you lose something?” Wriothesley asked with a small title of his head, trying his best to seek cool while he was internally screaming and kicking his feet.
“Well I seemed to have misplaced my phone.. I’ll look for it later. Navia may still have it.” Neuvillette muttered the last part under his breath before scratching his head in slight confusion and looking back up at the camera.
“Oh, well I hope you find it. So what’s the plan for the stream? Will we be connected through a call? And I’m assuming you’ll be hosting the game.” Wriothesley asked curiously, straightening up a bit in his chair. Sigewinne always got onto him for his bad posture.
“That’s what I was planning on, we could probably get on call about an hour beforehand just to set everything up on the tech side and be ready to go live.” Neuvillette responded with a sort of look that made Wriothesley’s heart flutter.
“I uhh.. yeah that sounds perfect!” Wriothesley spoke out with a grin on his face, leaning back into his chair to try and look more reserved.
“Then I guess we’ll see each other soon! I have to go now but I hope you have a delightful evening Wriothesley.” Neuvileltte gave a polite grin to Wriothesley before waving and ending the call.
Oh Wriothesley was such a mess, he buried his face into his hands before calling back in his chair groaning out. How was he supposed to pay attention and conduct a proper stream when he kept on getting distracted by the beauty that was Neuvileltte? Neuvillette… the name suited him well. Such a unique name for such a unique individual. Hopefully he'll be able to survive next week.
-
“And we are live in 3… 2… 1…” Neuvillette broadcasted his screen, showcasing the menu of Stardew Valley as people started to flood the chat in quick succession. Screams of excitement and anticipation could be conveyed through the chat as it exploded in rushes of blue and red hearts and exclamation points. His own personal emojis are also visible in the chat for those who have purchased his subscription. He glanced at his monitors to ensure that everything was in check before testing his mic.
“Good day, I know lots of people have been excited for this stream ever since it was announced, so here we are.” Neuvillette spoke calmly with a kind smile on his lips visible through the camera.
“I gotta admit.. I’ve been nervous ever since we confirmed this stream is actually happening.” Wriothesley could be heard through an audio call him and Neuvillette had created, his voice was calm and soothing. Wriothesley was also streaming on the other end, likewise, his chat was flooded with the same energy as Neuvillettes. Except his chat was more of a bully as they relentlessly teased him.
“Well, are you still nervous? Your Grace..?” Neuvillette asked innocently with a tilt of his head for the camera.
Silence filled the other end, except for a sudden rustling of items followed by a crash. Neuvillette widened his eyes slightly, he couldn't see Wriothesley’s stream so he wasn’t sure what had happened.
“Wr- Your Grace? Are you ok?” Neuvillette questioned, concern lacing his tone as he leaned further into the mic.
“Hah.. I’m fine!” Wriothesley shouted from the other end, his found slightly distant. Had the man fell? Neuvillette waited patiently for Wriothesley to continue speaking, his brows knitted slightly together. “I’m good! Sorry I lost balance in my chair and fell back, these damn rolling chairs. So easy to fall in.” Wriothesley nervous voice could be heard from the other end, closer now, Neuvillette assumed Wriothesley had stood back up and sat into his chair once more.
“Ahh I see, be more careful!” Neuvillette scolded gently before he started to move his mouse to create the new world in the game. Little did Neuvillette know, Wriothesley’s chat was going insane right now. Teasing him for falling and telling him that it’s painfully obvious that he has a thing for Neuvillette. “What farm would you like? There's a standard one, a beach one, a forest one, one where monsters spawn at night, a river one, and one with a little bit of everything.” Neuvillette explained while he started to customize his character.
“What's the catch? Do all of them have a different strategy?” Wriothesley inquired as he started to load up the game.
“Indeed there is, for example.. the forest farm gives you a replenishable stock of hardwood, a material used in many crafting recipes but has less room for farming. The Hillside farm gives you access to more mining areas though monsters spawn at nights. I’d say the four corners dark is the best for a beginner like you, it has a little bit of everything and not much of any drawbacks.” Neuvilletye suggested while he put the finishing touches on his character.
“Then let’s go with that one, I trust your judgment.” Wriothesley answered as he found himself at the menu screen and clicked on online play. They’d already friended each other so he’d be able to easily access the farm once it was created.
“Alright then, I just created the game. Go ahead and load in and create your character.” Neuvillette suggested while he clicked through the opening dialogue. “You downloaded all the mods right?”
“I most certainly did.” Wriotehsley grinned a little on the other end, proud of himself for being so proactive and not procrastinating for once. While the options for creating his base character there was somewhat limited, he did his best with what he had before finally clicking to start the game.
Neuvillette smiled as he finally saw Wriothesley’s character load into the game for the first time. He’d downloaded a mod to allow them to share a house instead of having a main house and a cabin so they could better organize things and have more space. As such that meant the house could be bigger than it usually would be in a vanilla game.
“So.. the whole story is that this guy worked for a corporate company slaving away on a 9 to 5 until his grandfather died and left his farm to him so the guy took it as a way to escape the job and seek a new life? Interesting…” Wriothesley summarized the plot as he straightened up in his chair and prepared to start the session. Noticing a pixely box lying on the floor before picking it up with the interact button. It was Parsnip seeds, 15 of them.
“In short, yes.” Neuvillette responded as he left the house with his own seeds and started to use the hoe to till the land around him to plant the seeds. “There’s a lot of complexity to this game if you haven’t realized. Lots of quests, things to do, and characters to build up hearts with.” Neuvillette explained while he planted the seeds and started to water them once Wriothesley's character came out of the house as well.
“Hearts? What’s that?” Wriothesley knit his brows slightly.
“There's a bunch of townspeople, even more with the mods I added. Some you can gain hearts with to gain friendship and gain access to new items and areas. Others you can gain hearts with to romance them.” Neuvillette described the system briefly while he watched Wriothesley’s character start to mimic what Neuvillette was doing with his own seeds.
“Romance them?” Wriothesley’s curiosity now peaked completely while he paused his movements for a moment.
“Yes, you can give certain townspeople gifts and such and get them to be your boyfriend or girlfriend and then get promoted once more to wife or husband. There's many different intimacy events through that too where you learn their story.” Neuvileltte smiled a little at the screen, trying his best to ignore the chat that was suggesting certain things.
Wriothesley was silent on the other end for a few moments before speaking. “Have you romanced a lot of the townspeople?”
“I guess you could say that, I’m in the process of trying to do all of them at least once. So the viewers can see their stories.” Neuvillette answered while he started to chop down some trees for materials.
Silence once again followed his answer before a question Neuvillette was not prepared for sounded across the line.
“Is there a mod to romance other players?”
