Are You Okay? // Colby Brock

The Cons of Being Famous

Prompt: As it happens when you start gaining traction as a "celebrity", Colby starts getting more and more messages from people hating on him. It gets to be so much that he inadvertently lets it consume his life. Conflicts with his roommates arise and Colby starts spiralling deep into a pit of depression.  

TRIGGER WARNING: Below are mentions of self-harm, suicide, low self-esteem and abuse. Continue with caution.

Being a YouTuber, there's bound to be haters. That's something Colby's aware of and has since learned to grow a thicker shell against. He knows how to handle one or two comments blatantly insulting him or what he does (or both) and doesn't let it get to him too much. However, he only knows how to deal with one or two of these hate comments...

Colby groans as he's awoken by the sound of his phone going off, alerting him of a notification. Rolling over, he tries to salvage as much sleep as he can, considering he's still tired and it's pretty early in the morning (plus he went to bed late). However, the second he feels himself drifting off to sleep again, his phone dings again. And again. And again.

Groaning in annoyance, Colby rolls back over and blinks his eyes open, squinting at the light shining into his bedroom. He haphazardly flings him hand around onto his bedside table until he grasps his phone in his hand, pulling it his face. All he planned on doing was turning it onto 'Do Not Disturb' mode and falling right back asleep, but when he saw what notifications he got, he realized he wouldn't be going back to sleep with them in mind.

Notification from: Twitter

New trending hashtag! Check it out!

@blueeyesberry tweeted: #ColbyBrockisoverparty I used to stan him in middle school but now everything he does annoys me idk why

@colbybrockisover_ tweeted: #colbybrockisoverparty idk who started this hashtag but honestly im not complaining #colbybrocksucks #endcolbybrock #ruinhiscareer

@i_hate_colby_brock tweeted: This asshole has been jaunting around youtube like he owns the place for wayyy too long, lets all rally up and end this mans career! 👊 #ColbyBrockisoverparty #FINALLY

@blankisover._ tweeted: Who even is colby brock? He looks like one of those douchebags who fucks you over in highschool then comes back at like 30 and fucks you over even more #colbybrockisoverparty 

@michelleriagimonex tweeted: OK but has anyone else noticed that Coby Brock or whatever his name is looks like an offbrand uglier version of dan howell? No? Oh well, it's still true #colbybrockisoverparty 

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Colby's heart sinks as he scrolls down on his phone screen, realizing every single notification (even not linked to Twitter) is some sort of bash of him/hashtag about he's over party? Dozens of tweets, dozens of dm's on instagram, dozens of comments on his posts. The hashtag 'Colby Brock is over party' is even TRENDING on Twitter! And that makes Colby shrink in on himself.

Almost like he forgot about sleep, Colby spends the few hours looking through every single tweet and dm and comment, his heart cracking and breaking with each message. He's used to one of those comments now and then like 'ur youtube videos suck, loser!' but not this tirade of dozens and dozens of hate comments. It feels really crushing to know so many strangers who don't even know you are so full of anger and hate that they push that on you when they don't even know the half of it.

Eleven o'clock rolls around and Colby finally stops looking through all the hate messages, each one stabbing into him more than the last. Colby forces himself to get up, his mood forever changed from that morning alone. He heads to the bathroom and avoids his own reflection as he starts brushing his teeth. Eventually he looks up and, moreso than ever before, he really starts picking at his flaws. That one comment, saying he's and 'uglier' version of Dan Howell, that one really hit close to home.