Chapter Text
“I just can’t believe he’s been replying to me!”
“Vee, he replied to probably about a hundred people on those Tweets.”
Vincent rolled his eyes, trying not to let that get to him. Sure, he replied to a lot of people under his Tweets but this was just the beginning. This was how it started. First, replying to Tweets, Alastor would get familiar with his profile, then he’d get into the DMs, then a real life meet-up!
Then…
Well, that was basically his end goal, right? Meet up with Alastor and be his best friend forever.
“You don’t get it, Vi,” Vincent argued. “We had a whole conversation in his replies, this is progress!”
Violette, who had been his only friend since middle school, nodded, but she was clearly not convinced. “Listen, I know you’re not supposed to share your birthday candle wishes, but you wished to get dicked down by that mystery man, didn’t you?” she snickered.
“No, I didn’t wish for that,” he almost growled. “I don’t even believe in that stuff anyway. A birthday cake can’t grant you wishes.”
“But you’re convinced those tarot cards he pulled meant something?”
“I don’t believe in that either, I don’t believe in anything, but if he thinks that whole tarot nonsense means something then I can use it to my advantage.”
“Mhm. And you’ll be adding it to your cork board in your room with the red string?” Violette teased.
“I don’t have one of those, that’d be insane!”
Violette’s gaze drifted to Vincent’s backpack, which was next to hers on the bench, she reached over to it to pull out a notebook, one that was not labelled, unlike the notebooks where he took his notes for classes. She opened it to a random page and showed it to him. Vincent stared at his own handwriting.
Alastor’s Anecdotes Upload #183 Notes
“And this isn’t insane?”
Vincent’s cheeks reddened as his face scrunched. “Okay, okay, maybe it’s a little insane,” he relented. “Maybe but we’re gonna be best friends, I assure you!”
“Uh-huh, and what’s gonna happen to me when you befriend your YouTuber crush?”
“It’s not a crush-”
“Don’t get distracted by that,” Violette rolled her eyes. “You better not be thinking of abandoning me.”
“No, no, of course not!”
“Good because I was beginning to worry that you’re planning to just fuck off down to the South once you’ve ‘befriended’ this guy.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be friends forever, I owe you that after you beat the shit out of the guy giving me shit. I can be best friends with you and Alastor at the same time.”
Violette burst out laughing. “Yea, you better, I’ve been putting up with your bullshit for years.”
That was very true, Violette put up with so much of Vincent’s antics, and he put up with hers. They were very different people but they had found each other when they needed a friend. Vincent hadn’t really had friends before Violette had moved to New York from, funnily enough, old York, in England. Vincent was tall, pale and had light eyes, and Violette was short, had darker skin and dark brown eyes. Their personalities were more similar but Violette was more bold than Vincent was.
More able to stand up for herself, and Vincent.
But they did help each other out sometimes. Violette scared away guys who gave Vincent a hard time, despite being tiny, and Vincent… well–
Violette must’ve noticed something behind them because her expression changed. “Oh, fuck,” she then grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him over the table as she also leaned over it, so they met in the middle.
Their lips met and it wasn’t awkward, they had done this numerous times that Vincent knew what Violette wanted him to do whenever they did this.
Violette scared away guys who gave Vincent a hard time and Vincent kept away guys that gave Violette a hard time.
He didn’t really feel anything when they did this. Violette was pretty but she was more like his annoying younger sister than a girlfriend. She then let go of his shirt collar, signally that he could back up and sit down again.
“Sorry, I saw that fucking wanker and didn’t want him coming up to me.”
Vincent wiped his mouth with his hand. “No worries,” he replied. “He’s still not leaving you alone, even though you said no?”
“Of course not, straight men never do.”
“What am I, then?”
Violette raised an eyebrow at him, tapping her fingers on the notebook he used to write about Alastor’s podcast.
“A big fucking homo. My dyke self sniffed it out the moment we met.”
Vincent rolled his eyes. “I’m not gay,” he replied. “I kissed other girls before I started fake dating you.”
There wasn’t anything wrong with being gay. Vincent wouldn’t be friends with Violette, a lesbian, if he thought there was. He just wasn’t gay.
“Sure.”
“Vi, I’m not gay.”
“Whatever you say,” Violette shrugged. “I’m just saying that obsessing over a guy for two years isn’t very straight.”
“I just wanna be his friend, he’s so cool and interesting and I just want to get to know him on a personal level, we’d get along so well!”
“I ain’t one to crush your dreams, Vee. Just don’t hop on a bus to go see him before you know what he looks like.”
“Of course not!” Vincent assured her. “How would I know who he is if I didn’t know what he looked like?” He breathed in through his nose before sighing. “I wonder what he looks like…”
“He could look like anything, he could be ugly.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
Violette snickered. “What if he’s a merman-”
“Those aren’t real.”
“Let me finish. What if he’s a merman but instead of a normal fish tail, it was a shark tail? You’d love that.”
Vincent’s face scrunched. “You’re making fun of me, aren’t you?”
“What? No…”
“C’mon, Vi, just be in my corner.”
“Babe, I’m always in your corner. If I wasn’t I would’ve stopped hanging out with you when you got this obsession, you’re weird but chill and I like that. I support this weird ass plan you’ve got going on to befriend this mystery man with the sexy voice that you dropped on me this morning.”
“Vi, just tell me you think it’s gonna work,” Vincent begged, chin on the table. “I’ve never wanted anything so badly.”
His friend looked down at him and sighed. “I’m not gonna give you false hope but…” she paused, “you can probably do anything if you try really hard.”
“You think so?”
“Sure.”
Vincent lifted his head again and grabbed his notebook, putting it back in his backpack. “Listen, Vi, I assure you, I will get in his DMs and we will become best friends,” he asserted. “If you want something, you gotta go out and take it, and that’s what I’m doing!”
“Just make sure you’re prepared for finals, though, you got those this month.”
Vincent rolled his eyes. “Yea, yea, I got it, don’t worry!” he paused. “What are you gonna do about those guys when I graduate?”
“I dunno…” Violette replied, “find a new beard? Pfft, just kidding, you’re irreplaceable.”
“I’m being serious.”
“Well, you’re not gonna magically stop existing once you graduate, we can still fake-date.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Of course I am,” Violette then decided to change the topic.“Are you redyeing your hair soon? I can see the roots coming out, you want help?”
“Uh, yea, probably. Thanks.”
“I still don’t get why you dye it black of all colours, your natural hair is nice, mousy-brown isn’t that bad of a shade.”
Vincent shrugged. “I guess I just think it looks better.”
“Babe, it just makes your skin look more pale, since the hair is so dark.”
“Okay, that’s your opinion.”
“Yea but it’s the correct opinion.”
“But you’ll help me redye it?”
“‘Course, it’s your choice if you wanna have hair that doesn’t compliment your skin.”
. . .
Alastor often did not use the desk in his room when he did assignments and other personal work, preferring to lie on his stomach on his bed, kicking his legs like a teenage girl as he stared at the screen. He wasn’t doing anything particularly interesting or important at the moment, just staring at the metrics of his channel. He didn’t pay much attention to it most of the time as he didn’t do this for monetary benefit, he had originally done it as a part of an assignment in his sophomore year of college and had uploaded it for fun, and then didn’t stop.
Did he make money from it? Yes, he made a little bit, but he did it for fun, for his small audience. It had grown gradually over the last three years and once he graduated at the end of the month, he’d probably be investing more time in it over the summer if he couldn’t find work fast enough.
His mother didn’t have a problem with him taking a break after graduation.
There was a knock on his bedroom door, pulling him out of his contemplation of his metrics.
“The door is unlocked,” he called out, not looking up from his screen.
The door cracked open and his friend Minnie poked her round head in.
“How are you doing, Alastor?”
Once he was addressed, did he finally look up from his screen, looking at Minnie. “I’m doing quite alright, Minnie,” he replied. “How are you this evening?”
“I’m also good. Were you still wanting to go out tonight?”
Oh, that was right. Alastor had agreed to go out for dinner with Minnie and two of their other class members. He was not the biggest fan of “going out”, he’d rather stay indoors and make himself dinner (and dinner for other people). He did enjoy dancing with Minnie, though, since they had both been permitted to enter bars after their twenty-first birthdays the previous year (they had started going out when Minnie had become of age).
“I suppose I can go out,” he said.
“Peachy, I’ll be in the bathroom getting ready, let me know if you need anything!” Minnie wiggled her fingers at him before closing the door.
Alastor supposed that he should get ready, get in clothes more suited for going out. It obviously wasn’t a fancy event, just an outing with friends, but he wanted to look more presentable.
He didn’t hate going out, the socialisation with people he was familiar with was fine, but it always brought upon the type of socialisation he disliked.
Strangers approaching him, or people he was with, and flirting. Read the room, who wants to be approached and flirted with by a stranger?
Everyone but him apparently! At least, Minnie loved it when strangers flirted with her and bought her drinks and asked her to dance with them. Alastor didn’t understand it, Minnie said that it was fun but why would he want to dance with a stranger who he didn’t know the rhythm of when he could dance with his friend who he already knew very well, especially since she was the one he was going out to hang out with.
Besides, the types of men in bars who flirted with Minnie usually ended up getting handsy and pushy, which was when Alastor needed to step in and get them to go away.
All he could hope for tonight was a good time.
. . .
Since it was Friday night, Vincent was staying up later than he would on a weeknight. He was lying in his bed, on his phone. Since he was in his pyjamas, he had taken out his contact lenses and swapped them out for his glasses, just in case he fell asleep as he scrolled.
Then he received a push notification from Twitter.
Alastor B @AlastorsAnecdotes
Nothing better than good whiskey, good conversation and good dancing!
On the Tweet, Alastor had attached a photo of a table he was sitting at in a bar, the photo was focused on the drinks on the table. In front of where Alastor sat, was a small glass of a red-orange liquid with a small bit of lemon peel on the edge of the glass. There were a few other drinks on the other end of the table and Vincent could vaguely make out people sitting there, only their busts, though. Alastor never posted anyone’s faces when he did post photos (which was rare).
Vincent didn’t really give a fuck about whoever Alastor was hanging out with tonight, just that he figured they were both women. One had pale skin and was chubby and the other was thin and had beige skin. One of them was probably Minnie.
Should’ve been him.
Vincent knew this was Alastor’s drink of choice, sazarac. He’d never been to a bar, obviously, and had never drank alcohol, aside from a few sips of beer that his father had given him on occasion. What he wouldn’t give to go to a bar with Alastor and dance with him…
He almost wrote that but that was too desperate. He couldn’t risk Alastor ignoring him and never replying to him again.
Vincent 🦈@fincentwm
You’re probably having a blast! If anything crazy happens you should talk about it on your podcast, that might be fun :D
He was filled with anxiety and dread every single time he replied to one of Alastor’s Tweets, until he got his response and read it.
Alastor B @AlastorsAnecdotes
Yes I’m having a great time and I’ve considered it but I don’t think people subscribed to a mystery podcast would be interested in drunk shenanigans aha
Vincent’s fingertips felt like they were sweating as he typed another response.
Vincent 🦈@fincentwm
I certainly would be! Maybe you could do a poll on your community tab to see if others would?
A few moments later, he received another response.
Alastor B @AlastorsAnecdotes
Maybe? I’m not the best at all the other features other than uploading videos I barely managed to attach photos to my tweets haha
Vincent had figured that maybe Alastor was tech-illiterate, which explained why his “videos” weren’t videos and just audio over a still image with captions. The guy probably didn’t know how to operate a normal camera or even a webcam.
Vincent 🦈@fincentwm
You should look up some tutorials or maybe ask a friend to help you out?
Vincent would gladly help Alastor do anything he needed to do with his videos… or anything else he might need but he didn’t say that. That’d be weird.
Alastor B @AlastorsAnecdotes
Thanks for the advice, I’ll consider it
Vincent didn’t even really suggest anything very monumental but oh my God, Alastor thanked him. He wasn’t sure if Alastor had managed to remember him by his profile yet but… soon he would and then they could bond further, in DMs.
Alastor would initiate it. Vincent wouldn’t send a DM request. He had to let Alastor do it.
Once they were in DMs… maybe he could get a photo of Alastor, so he could finally put a face to the voice!
Vincent could be patient though, he’d wait for as long as it took. It would be worth it!