#moistcritical

Of course, it was still a new and fresh relationship that neither of you was 100% sure would last even if you did put your 100% into it

But with the one year mark nearing, that theory no longer held authenticity, he couldn't help but ask

You tried dodging the question or using the 'no reason' excuse but eventually you were bound to crack

And when you did and told Charlie you were afraid that he'd be embarrassed to be with you after all the shit people would probably say in response to your relationship going public that he'd break up with you

To say his jaw was on the floor would be an understatement

“Let them say what they wanna say, ok? Let them run their mouths and watch as they clamp them shut when they have to deal with me afterwards. Just trust me, alright? Just trust me and my love for you and sit back to enjoy the show.“

This poured a whole new sense of confidence in you, enough for you to agree to the reveal which, at your request, was done in a tweet rather than on-stream like Charlie had wanted

The man had to pluck your phone out of your hands every minute to keep you off Twitter and other social media where you wanted to survey the damage and sum up the responses 

When you finally managed to get a good look without your boyfriend’s intrusion, you were surprised, to say the least

Pleasantly, but confusedly too

Both due to the same reason of the absence of hateful responses to the Tweet

Scrolling far enough found you a few and also revealed why there weren’t more

Because your man had gone off on each and every asshole that dared to even hint at something bad or disrespectful about you

In typical Charlie fashion, he did it with roasts that got you bursting out laughing and served as a great reminder to how much you love this man

And how much he loves you

Basically how off your predictions were and how you, from now on, will work harder on getting past the infamy brought upon you by judgmental people

- No, seriously, Evelien was worried you two would break the sound barrier with your shouting and cheering

- The way you officially celebrated that milestone, however, was not a classic party

- First of all, because of the raging Covid issue that was still at large play in the world at the time

- And second: Because you had made a promise to your brother

- Since you were dead-set on doing all you possibly could to get your own following and not piggyback off of his, you never collaborated on anything together

- There was not a single stream or video where you featured him and you had allowed only very few of his to feature you as a background lurker taking care of the technical stuff

- That being said, when Jack would complain on your avoidance of him like two siblings in high school (with a role reversal), you made him the promise

- “When, or if I reach 1 mil, we’ll collaborate, ok? Not only that, but we’ll play Among Us!”

- Ah, thinking back to that, do you feel the nostalgia?

- Time flies so quickly you’ve come to measure it in anniversaries rather than days and months

- Why anniversaries?

- Let’s get to that story, shall we?

- You were the last one to enter the lobby, having purposely been given a time later than intended so everyone could gather before your arrival

- You were nervous as all hell, palms sweaty, bouncing leg, restless fingers, the whole nine yards

- But the atmosphere that you were engulfed by, the warm wave of welcoming you felt wash over you when the people present greeted you, it was too overwhelmingly calming to no suppress that other dreadful feeling of anxiety within you

- Jack’s friends proved to be as nice as you had expected - even more so!

- Of course, you’d previously met Felix, Joel and Dave countless times you considered them your friends too at this point

- But there were also five people you adored there that you were yet to meet

- Rae, Corpse, Sykkuno, Toast and Charlie

- They were your idols from the very start of this career path of yours

- They were also the main reason behind your nervousness whereas, if it had only been the other three, Jack and you, you wouldn’t have bat an eye

- Each one of them congratulated you with so much genuineness, it made you feel like getting wrapped up in the most comforting, safe and warm hug in the world, further stifling your fears and worries

- It was impossible to stay nervous around people as wholesome, kind and sweet as them

- Truth is, you aren’t such an angel either, but you played the part nicely

- You couldn’t let your horns poke through during your first official time meeting some of these people, after all

- But, as any person with siblings can confirm, all it took was one snide remark from Jack to get you to roll your eyes and sass him right back

- Now that was the real you

- And, to your surprise, someone noticed the change right away

- “That’s why I find you so entertaining, that’s why I became a fan - you’ve got a quick wit and a knack for perfect timing whether that be a joke or sarcasm. I strongly respect people like that.”

- What surprised you even more was that this came from Charlie

- He was, at the time, the one you had the least amount of admiration for out of everyone in the group

- No specific reason, you had just never been too caught up with his content 

- But to hear that he was a fan of yours, it put your entire world out of balance

- And you being you, you had to even the field as to not feel like you had come off as rude later on

- “Oh, what a coincidence, I’m a fan of yours too!“

- Yeah, he still, till this day, pokes fun at you for that line and the high octave with which you said it

- It’s a golden moment, the perfect start to something even better

- At his offer/question, the two of you exchanged contact info and other social media after the stream ended and promised to talk about a collab soon

- Bad thing is, you couldn’t even focus on the excitement of the idea when you knew you were a con artist in the current scenario

- So, you did what any reasonable person would do: pulled an all-nighter watching his videos to get a clue as to what kind of content he put out and what his personality was like on camera

- Turns out, the camera probably makes no difference whatsoever, judging by his energy, he’s a crackhead 24/7

- And you were well aware you had enough of that energy for three lifetimes, but you were still willing to see it through and see where it would take you

- Well, since I’m from the future, I can tell you that it’s led you to an engagement

- Yup, almost two years following your meeting and a hundred collabs (the last of which was the proposal itself) later, you and Charlie live in a shared apartment, engaged to be married

- See what I meant when I said you count time in anniversaries now?

- There’s now two eras of your life you can clearly distinguish: medium chaos era and maximum chaos era

- The latter you’re still living out with your fiancée by your side

- If things go as planned, you’ll be living in this era till the obligatory ‘death do you part’

- Many things will change by then

- Hell, many things have already changed

- But one factor has remained a constant

- Charlie continues to watch each and every single one of your videos, giving Jack a run for his money for the position of leader of your fan club

- Speaking of Jack...

- He couldn’t be happier for the two of you, his body wouldn’t be able to contain a single ounce more of joy without combusting

- But he is quite salty about the idea of being taken down from his pedestal as your biggest fan

- Let’s be honest though, he stands no chance when compared to the man that’s head over heels in love with you and randomly tells you so in your stream chat just to make you giggle like a dummy mid-stream

- A love story of the times witnessed by thousands of people, what more can I say other than

- "Welcome to this interesting community." He said, his tone making you giggle, "Stick around after the panel, I could drop some knowledge if you'd like. For this YouTube thing and for college."

- "Yeah, I'm really amazed at how you could balance the two at the same time." You blurted out, not noticing what your words really meant

- Charlie, however, did notice, "Oh, so you're familiar with my dumbassery on the internet, I see."

- Your eyes instantly widened, a blush creeping up your neck and to your cheeks, one he unfortunately also caught sight of and laughed

- "Don't be embarrassed, I find it charming." He told you with a wink that practically melted you in your seat

- And if, at the time, you didn't know where the story would go past that interaction or even if it would go anywhere, you still would've never guessed that you and him would start dating

- He was the bold one to ask for your number on the last day of VidCon before he had to fly back to Florida and you had to take a roadtrip back home to San Jose

- Of course, you gave it to him

- And yet you still were surprised when he texted you six and a half hours later

- “Hope you had a safe drive and I hope you’re ignoring this if you’re still driving XD”

- That opened the gates for practically non-stop texting and calling/facetiming from that point onward

- You chose to make it official two months after that despite wanting to do so IRL but being prevented by the pandemic that took over

- And you made it internet official a year and a half later

- The long wait was a result of several reasons

- For starters, you wanted to accumulate your own following and not piggyback off of Charlie’s 

- Secondly, you’d be lying if you said you weren’t nervous, both of you were

- Mainly because of the internet’s love for gossip, drama and cancel culture which you knew would be triggered by the age gap of eleven years between you and Charlie

- Neither of you ever noticed the difference in your relationship, but you knew the people on the internet most definitely will and would also make a fuss about 

- And oh boy they did

- Many harsh words were thrown around all over social media

- Accusations of you using Charlie for your personal growth and fame

- Accusations of him using you for popularity 

- Suspicions of your relationship being a publicity stunt

- Assumptions that the relationship started before you were a legal adult

- It was enough to make you and Charlie turn off the router in your apartment and go off the grid up north for two weeks where you’d never felt more secure

- The toll that haters had taken on your relationship was mended in those two weeks

- During those 14 days no one had a say in you relationship nor your feelings other than the two of you and it felt like none of those shitty things even happened

- But you could live in bliss only for so long

- Eventually, you had to return to the less-than-pleasant reality of what you two had stirred up by revealing your romance to the world

- This time around, however, it seemed like a lot of the hate had been turned into acceptance 

- Hell, there was more support than hate now

- There were the statements your friends and fellow streamers made in yours and Charlie’s defense

- Not that you needed defending, you hadn’t done anything wrong but it was nice regardless

- Soon thereafter you both sat down and addressed everything: the start of your relationship, making sure to point out when and how it had started, clarifying it was all legal

- You pointed out the controversy and addressed how disappointed and hurt you both were by the assumptions but made it crystal clear that none of the accusations were true

- Deep down, you and Charlie both knew that no matter what you said or did, people would judge one way or another

- So, instead of looking at it from the downside angle, you turned to the silver lining, living your best life, out of earshot of all the negativity

- What matters is your love for one another - something neither of you have ever had to question

- You couldn't help but chuckle, "You're all out of luck if you expect me to know where that is. Hell, I don't even know where Science 17SE is and that's where my class is being held as we speak."

- He laughed as did you, "Seems like you're way more fucked than I am." He commented, trailing off for a second before speaking up again, "You wanna go on a scavenger hunting for your class then?"

- "But what about you? Don't you need to find yours too?" You asked, ready to turn down his offer

- "Nah, I'm not going to class. I was gonna attend the post-grad presentation and shit but I'm starting to second guess if I even want that. College fucked me up enough already, I don't need to go through another hellhole anytime soon." He chuckled, running a hand through his hair before readjusting his cap

- "Don't scare me like that, dude! I'm a freshman here!" You complained, turning his chuckle into laughter

- "In that case, I'll be the human embodiment of the warning people should be given before going to college. What's your major?"

- And just like that, you got to talking

- You walked out of the second building with the intention of searching the third for your class but just ended up lounging on a bench outside in the warm sun and soothing breeze

- March was treating you well, allowing you two to talk your asses off, imagine if it was raining instead...

- You came to know a lot of things about him

- His name: Charlie, his age: 27, where he's from: Tampa, he graduated from the University of Tampa with a degree in Human Sciences

- What interested you most was what he said about his career: Content creator on different social media platforms

- You would've questioned him more if you both could stay on one topic for long enough but you kept segueing from one into another

- And an hour and a half ended up being far from enough for you to talk about everything you wanted

- Seeing as how you were talking like long time friends, you hadn't noticed the time pass by, but when you realized the next class was about to start, you had to run much to your own and his dismay too

- "I hope to see you around, Y/N." He told you as you were about to part

- "I do too but if you're not doing the post-grad program, I'm afraid we won't be seeing a whole lot of each other." You replied, not thinking much of it

- "I'm actually starting to reconsider it." He said and suddenly you were thinking much of it

- That's all you could think about for the rest of the day and the morning after

- The only thing that could invade your mind and replace it was the happiness you felt when you saw him back on campus the following day

- "Are you stalking me, old man?" You joked as you walked up to him in the quad

- "I beg of you to not call the cops on me cause we will indeed be seeing quite a bit of one another. But you'll never know....am I stalking you, or is it just a coincidence...." he trailed off, seemingly finally fathoming what you had said, "And I'm not an old man, kiddo."

- You gasped theatrically, 'hurt' by his insult, "I'm no kid, you ass!"