by Aidan Wayne
“There you go,” Cynthia said. Sam jerked his head up at the sound of her voice. “Couldn’t ruin your good mood too long, with your weekend plans, hm?” When she’d asked, Sam had told her he had someone special in for a visit. She’d winked at him, which had left Sam utterly nonplussed.
Now she was grinning. And, hesitatingly, Sam grinned back.
* * *
When it was finally time to leave work, Sam raced home, filled with yet another mixture of excitement and anxiety. It seemed as though he went through a different flavor of it every day, in the time leading up to and surrounding Dovid’s visit.
But tonight, Dovid was going to come to Sam’s apartment after dinner. And spend the night. In Sam’s bed, with him. Tomorrow Sam didn’t have work, so they could wake up together at a decent hour, have breakfast together, and just enjoy the whole day.
Sam was so happy he could hardly stand it, and so nervous he felt as though he might burst. He hoped Dovid liked his flat. He’d ended up leaving the main room as it had started, just making sure everything was picked up and swept clean, but he’d moved things around in his bedroom so that his furniture was more back against walls instead of dividing it in half, and he’d found that he quite liked the change. It made things a bit more open and airy.
Sam’s flat was up a set of stairs, and he shared a hall with the residents who lived below him. It was fairly easy to navigate he thought, but he hoped it’d be alright for Dovid. Then again, the Airbnb Dovid was staying at was also up a flight of stairs, so maybe Sam was silly to worry.
He gave his flat one last nervous once-over and then had to leave so that he wouldn’t be late to the pub where he was meeting Dovid and Rachel for dinner. Rachel had been looking forward to talking to him too, apparently, and Sam liked her. He didn’t at all mind spending more time with her. They’d decided that they’d spend the evening continuing to brainstorm with Sam about his channel, and then Rachel would go back to their Airbnb while Dovid went home with Sam. They were going to have all of Friday night and Saturday together, for a date day.
He got to the pub and didn’t see either of them, so he bypassed the bar and went over to get a table, taking out his phone to text Dovid to let them know he’d arrived.
He’d only just finished sending the text when he caught sight of Rachel and Dovid coming in.
Sam got up to meet them. “Hello.”
“Hey,” Dovid said, turning towards him. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “Honestly. Now then, food time. We had a pretty full day of being led around and filming. I’m ready to eat again. Sam? Where did you want to sit?”
“I had thought to get a table instead of going to the bar. It’s not as, ah, friendly? But it’ll be a little quieter, for talking.”
“Then table it is,” Dovid said, reaching a hand out. Sam took it. “Lead the way.”
They took a seat and Sam, at Dovid’s request, read the menu aloud to him and made some suggestions on what to order. They all also got drinks, because Dublin was, if nothing else, a walking town. Sam’s own flat was only about fifteen minutes’ walk from the pub, and it was a beautiful evening. July in Ireland meant the sun was out til quite late, with it getting cooler as the day wore on. It would be fine to walk back after dinner. And he was looking forward to enjoying an evening stroll with Dovid.
“So,” Sam asked. “How was your day?”
Dovid waved a hand. “Meh. Filmed a bunch of stuff. How was your day?”
Sam had to laugh. “Oh come, it must have been slightly more exciting than that?”
Rachel flicked Dovid on his side. “We did a lot of architecture stuff. So he’s feeling a little left out.”
Dovid shrugged. “It’s more Rachel’s thing than mine. I mean, I can feel things? When I’m allowed to touch. But the majestic beauty of buildings is sort of lost on me.”
“Oh dear, I can see how that might make a dull day.”
“Don’t get me wrong—the facts were pretty cool and stuff. Just...we smushed a lot into the day since it was our last official day of filming. And museums sometimes make me tired.”
“Did you at least go to some interesting ones?”
“Yeah, a few.”
Sam smiled. “Oh good. There’s that at least. Did you enjoy the National Leprechaun Museum?”
Dovid raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me? The what?”
Sam was aghast. “They didn’t take you to the NLM?”
“No,” Rachel said slowly. “But that sounds amazing. What is it?”
“It’s a museum about Irish folklore. Hands-on. It’s really quite wonderful. They have guided tours every day. And a darkland tour, Friday and Saturday evening.”
“Darkland?” Dovid asked.
“Tales of the darker kind,” Sam explained. “I believe it’s adults only.”
“Oh man,” Dovid said. “Can we go?”
“Tonight?”
Dovid shook his head. “No, not tonight, but tomorrow? That sounds like a fun way to end a date day. I like being spooked. And I like stories.”
Sam grinned. “Of course. That sounds like a lot of fun.”
“And uh, you said they do normal guided tours?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to do that maybe Sunday? With Rachel, if she wants to and you don’t mind if she comes.”
“Of course I want to,” Rachel said at the same time Sam said, “I don’t mind at all.”
Silence.
Rachel laughed. “I like you.”
Sam smiled. “Oh good, I’m so glad. It would have been very unfortunate if you didn’t like me.”
“Nah,” Dovid said, “I wouldn’t let her not like you.”
“Excuse you, I was the one who liked Sam first, remember?”
“True. I’m still grateful.”
Rachel wrinkled her nose. “Oh, stop.”
Dovid raised an eyebrow. “Hey, you make up your mind. Do you want me to be grateful or don’t you?”
“He’s this ball of mush when it comes to you,” she told Sam. “Honestly, it’s a little ridiculous.”
“Excuse me, I’m a cool, suave YouTube star.”
“That’s what you hope your fans think.”
“I feel he’s plenty cool and suave,” Sam said with a grin.
“See? Sam thinks so.”
“Sam loves you.”
“So? That just means he’s the only one who really matters.”
“Boys,” Rachel said, managing to sound both delighted and disgusted at the same time.
“No, but really,” Dovid said, “Can we make that a plan? Darkland tomorrow night with you and the regular tour Sunday all three of us?”
“Of course. I think that’d be wonderful.”
Rachel clapped. “Yay!”
“Now then,” Dovid said, “how did your day go?”
“Oh,” Sam said. “It was fine. Nothing majorly stressful today, which was a nice change of pace. But otherwise quite unexciting.”
“In short, you hated it?”
Sam averted his eyes, not that Dovid could see. “Well, I—I won’t pretend that I loved it. But again, it wasn’t too stressful today. And hardly anyone yelled at me.” Only his father of course. Sam did so wish he worked sales at a different company. Only, his father wasn’t all that computer literate, so these sorts of issues happened a bit more than once in a while, and he always requested Sam specifically.
Sometimes Sam even had it in him to wonder if his father made said requests so he had someone in particular to be cross at.
Then again, it wasn’t his father’s fault that computers weren’t his thing. He was brilliant in sales, and it was no doubt frustrating to have the same issues over and over. If Sam could help alleviate some of that frustration, it was his job to do so. Both figuratively and litera
lly.
Dovid sighed. “Hardly anyone still means at least one person did.” Dovid was not a fan of the way Sam was sometimes treated in IT.
“It’s really alright.” Sam tried to sound reassuring. “It’s just how my father communicates, I think.”
“Wait, your dad? Your dad’s the one who yelled at you?”
Oh dear. Sam hadn’t meant to say that. The last thing he wanted was for Dovid to form a poor opinion of Sam’s father. He was a good man; it was Sam’s own failing that he was such a disappointment to him. He shrugged. “He was just upset about the computer bug.”
“Oh.” Dovid frowned. “Well then. He must’ve been happy when you fixed it.”
Sam had to let out a self-deprecating chuckle. He didn’t think he’d ever made his father happy doing anything.
“What? What’s funny?”
And that was probably another thing he shouldn’t be telling Dovid or Rachel. “Nothing. Really.”
“Oh,” Dovid said again. “Um. Okay.”
“So,” Rachel said. “Did you think any more about Patreon?”
Sam was grateful at the subject change, and eager to further discuss the service. “A little.” All through the work day, actually, when he wasn’t daydreaming about seeing Dovid again. “And I really do like the idea of it. Though I worry about a few things.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Mostly content,” he said. “The weekend is really when I have the time and energy to record and upload videos. I thought over trying to upload a Patreon-only series, like you suggested, but I just can’t think of when.”
“You can’t do it on a weekday?” she asked.
“I could try. I’d worry about being able to keep it up. Sometimes when I’m done at work...by the time I get home, the very last thing I want to do is talk more. I babble enough Friday night and Sunday afternoon when I record.” Sam sighed and wished he were better than this. This was something he wanted to do so much, and he still had excuses. “I’m sorry, it must sound so silly to you, since you do this practically every day.”
“Not at all,” Dovid said. “You only have so much energy in a day, right? And with you being an introvert, working your day job saps a lot of it. I get it.”
“What about doing a shorter video?” Rachel suggested. “All your current uploads are forty-five minutes to an hour. That’s a lot of talking. But your Brightforest review was only about fifteen minutes long, even if your playthrough is your regular forty-five. What if you did a weekly Patreon video, that released on, oh, Wednesday evening when you were done with work, but you only played and talked for like ten or twenty minutes? It’s bonus reward content, so most people wouldn’t mind that it’s a shorter video.”
Sam considered the idea. Twenty minutes of straight talking did seem a lot more feasible than twice or triple that. “I think that might be okay,” he said after a moment. “I could probably keep that up.”
“Awesome,” Dovid said. “Want to talk reward levels?”
“Oh yes, please.” He’d been browsing the Patreon website on his phone, to get a better idea of what people did for rewards, but it had gotten a little overwhelming. Dovid and Rachel always managed to break everything down in easy, much more manageable bite-sizes.
“Cool, well, for our Patreon, we have three tiers. One dollar, five dollars, and ten dollars. One dollar is just a thank-you tier. People donate because they like us, and we post some of our brainstorming about video projects and stuff, including some polls we don’t put up on social media. Five dollars and they get a link to see our videos before they go publicly live. So we upload Monday’s video on Sunday, and Patreon gets the link for it first. Ten dollars and they get the video link, but also an exclusive-to-Patreon something that we release once a month.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Sometimes it’s a Patreon-only video, sometimes it’s a song I’ve written that they get the free download for. And once in a while we host Patreon-only giveaways, on top of the giveaways that we have on our regular channel. Like we said before, Patreon is a great way to supplement your income on top of YouTube view count.”
Sam nodded thoughtfully. Three reward tiers seemed to be a bit much, especially since he wasn’t as creative as Dovid, but if he did a Patreon-only series for one tier, and maybe also did an early-release link for the other...
“Speaking of giveaways,” Rachel said, “Dovid said that you were offered a Loot Crate box to review?”
“Yes. I’m guessing you both think I should do it.”
“Should nothing,” Dovid said. “Do it if you want to. But I won’t lie and tell you I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“If you want,” Rachel said, “I could help you film it. I mean, not while I’m here obviously, because you won’t get the box in time, but I could give you some pointers about doing something in front of the camera while staying out of the camera.”
“Oh! That would be much appreciated actually.” Sam had wanted to do the unboxing, since it had seemed like it would be fun, but he had been nervous about letting his viewers actually see what he looked like. Dovid, for instance, was so handsome, with his curly black hair and strong jaw, the build of his body. It was no wonder he was teased about showing off. Sam was just... Sam. And he didn’t mind what he looked like, even less so now that he had Dovid so wonderfully adamant he found Sam attractive. But he knew that media consumers tended to care about that sort of thing.
“Awesome. We can do that Sunday too, if you want.”
“I’d really appreciate that. Also, ah, maybe you might be willing to look the video over, before I posted it? I just worry about sounding dull on camera, if all I’m doing is opening a present.”
“Even better idea,” Dovid said. “Why don’t we go to a toy store or something and buy you a couple of blind boxes? You can do a mini-unboxing with Rachel’s help. Shouldn’t be longer than a five or six minute video so you couldn’t monetize it, but it’d be a good way to experiment. Slap on some music, throw it up mostly uncut and boom, you’ve got a new video. You could even use it to announce the fact that you’re starting a Patreon account. I mean, it’s just a suggestion, absolutely no problem if you don’t want to, but it’s an idea.”
“No, no,” Sam said, mind whirling with possibilities. “I—I think it’s a fine idea. And if you two are really so set on helping me with this, I appreciate it so much.”
“Sure thing,” Rachel said, right as Dovid said, “Of course.” They both stopped and grinned.
Sam had to smile too.
* * *
“So, if you don’t mind my asking,” Dovid said, as they ate dinner—it was all delicious. “And feel free to tell me to shut up, but what are the figures you’re looking at, in terms of YouTube and Ko-fi income right now? I mean, from view count alone they should be getting up there depending on adblock users. But if you gave us a ballpark, or even some more long-term goals, that’d be an excellent thing to add to your plan.”
“My plan?” Sam asked.
Dovid nodded. “Yeah. I mean, it sounds like you’re looking to grow. Or at least are interested in it.”
“I am. So much so, really. I just...”
“Hey,” Dovid said, rushing to assure him, “if you don’t want to talk about this, or you don’t want to do anything else relating to YouTube, tell me. I’ll stop right now.”
“It’s not that,” Sam said. “It’s more that...that I really do want it to work. The way you two live your lives and talk about what you do...the idea that I’d get to be independent like that but as a gamer is...it’s incredibly appealing.” More hesitation before, quietly, “It would be a dream come true. I just don’t know if I can. I’m not... I’m not all that good at very much.”
Dovid scowled. “Who told you that?”
“Wh-what?”
“Who told you you’re not good enough? Becaus
e, uh, last time I checked, you were a great gamer, an interesting Let’s Player, and a rising YouTube sensation. None of which would be possible if you weren’t good at things.”
A quiet sigh. “I’m sorry. It’s a hard habit to break, you know? I’ve been this way all my life.”
Yeah, Dovid thought. With a dad that apparently yelled at you. He took a breath. “Sorry. Sorry, I get... worked up. I’ve been told I wasn’t good enough a lot in my life. People see that I can’t and they make a big deal about it. So it bothers me to hear someone talk about themselves like that. Get me?”
“I do.” Sam reached for his hand and squeezed. “I do. I’m sorry.”
Dovid tried to smile. “Hey, nothing to be sorry for. You’re right, it’s a hard habit to break. I just don’t like you thinking about yourself that way, is all.”
“Thank you.”
“Sure thing. Now back to the topic at hand, it’s appealing to be self-employed, huh?”
“It really is,” Sam said. “I mean, it’s also terrifying and uncertain and scary, but I like gaming and doing let’s plays. It seems like it’d be worth a try to make a play of it for real. I can always go back to IT if it doesn’t work out.”
“That’s true,” Rachel said. “That’s really true. That you’ve got a backup plan is awesome.”
“Thank you. And I, well, I’ve been saving most of my new income. Thinking about cushions, and all that.”
“Even better,” Dovid said. “But that also means we should talk tax laws. We haven’t yet, and I’m not sure how Ireland’s work, but you really want to know sooner over later how to declare your new income. I probably should have brought it up before, to be honest. Hopefully if we figure out what you need to do now, you won’t get any penalties. Or they won’t be so bad.”
Rachel laughed. “Fun evening, huh?”
“Oh, quite,” Sam said. He sounded like he was smiling. “This is all so good to know. And I’m enjoying myself immensely.”