behind the streams | dnf

seventeen | burden

SAPNAP

"Guys, I think I'm going to hop off now."

Quackity's words blend into a yawn, and faintly I hear Karl's disappointed pleas that eventually reside in acceptance.

I don't say anything, but I move my character to stand besides them. Switching the point of view, my avatar looks straight into the screen and crouches a few times. Apparently people think it's cute.

"We'll miss you, Quackmeister!" Karl picks up on my actions and copies them. I mumble a few words of agreement. My mouth feels heavy.

"Thanks, guys! Bye chat!" Quackity's character turns a few times, crouching and standing at a furious rate before completely blinking out of existence.

Quackity has left the game.

On another window, I pull up Karl's stream. He hasn't switched to his facecam yet, but I can sense that the stream isn't going to last much longer.

My eyes are dry and I rub them several times. Some areas of my vision are fuzzy, resembling a camera's lens that has yet to focus. The computer's glow extends beyond the screen, spilling over the table and slowly driving me to flinch farther and farther from the monitors.

"Are you ending too?" Words blurt out harsher than I intended. My energy is slowly draining, and it always shows at the most inconvenient times.

I see him hesitate for a moment, a confused turn of his head towards the Discord window. "Um, soon. Probably. Are you?"

I swallow. "Um. Yeah." I could feel the fatigue trickling in half an hour ago, and now that Quackity's left, it's renounced itself, more empowering than ever.

Actually, I've been tired for so long now. Too long. It's been rooted into my daily life.

"Oh. Okay." He switches to his facecam. "Guys, I think I might end here too. It's pretty late anyways."

That's an understatement. My eyes glance at the time in the bottom right of the screen.

I rub my eyes as I leave the game without a goodbye, briefly realizing how terse I must look to the viewers. Leaning back in my chair, I watch his parting words, him reading the last donations, choosing who to raid.

Then something strange happens. I can see the hesitation in the way he shuffles in his seat, but he pushes through.

He flicks a button on the side of his microphone, muting him. His finger turns on the one attached to his headset, his eyes looking over towards the Discord window. He moves his hand to cover his mouth from the viewers.

"Sap, call me."

I startle, nearly knocking over a glass of water on my desk.

I blink, and he's waving at the camera. The stream ends.

My drowsiness makes me question if it really happened, or if I'm imagining things. But my hand naturally gravitates towards my phone.

I connect my headset to my phone in Settings and open Contacts.

Slightly shaking, I find his name. Delicately press the call button.

Wait.

My questions and nerves spike with every beat of my heart. It rings 4 times before connecting.

"Hello?"

"Hi Sappy!" His voice rings through my ears. I can't prevent a smile from cutting through my weariness.

"Hey Karl." An exhausted chuckle seeps out of me. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to check up on you." His tone is more serious now. "You seemed really off today in the stream."