#vrchat couples

This New Year’s will be different. I’ll be in Tennessee for a whole week with his family. His mom invited me, and since his twin brother lives in Nashville now, everyone will be together.

I’ve already spent about two and a half months at their house, so it’s not unfamiliar. But this time feels new because it’s a vacation. A trip. And it’s the first time I’ll get to share New Year’s with him in person. A whole week surrounded by his family, not as a guest passing through but as part of the plans.

For the past four years, our New Year’s tradition has been inside VRChat. Headsets on, avatars glowing under digital fireworks, music playing in virtual worlds. We would laugh, dance, kiss through pixels, and pretend it was enough. Those nights were sweet and they carried us through when distance was all we had.

But this year will be different. This year I won’t be staring at an avatar. I’ll be looking at him, his real smile, his real eyes, the warmth of his hand in mine. When the countdown begins, my heart will race not because of a screen loading fireworks but because he’s right there, standing next to me. And when the clock strikes midnight, for the first time, we’ll kiss for real.

I’m excited about so many things. I’m excited for the little, normal things we’ll get to do together, the kind of moments that don’t need to be dressed up to feel special. But I’m also excited for New Year’s Eve, for going out and being in the middle of it all, and for finally being able to grab him in the middle of the crowd and give him a big fat kiss when the new year begins.

I’ve even started thinking ahead at work. Yesterday I checked the calendar to see what days we had off so I could go ahead and put in my request for paid time off. I wanted to get it done early, to make sure I’d be approved. But it turns out it’s too soon. I have to wait until next month. Now I’m counting down not just to the trip itself, but to the day I can finally lock in those dates and know for sure they’re mine.