Epilogue #2
Chris pressed a kiss just behind his ear. Isaiah smiled, curling his fingers more securely into Chris’s sleeve, then finished the last of the cake they were meant to be sharing.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Isaiah asked for the fifteenth time that day.
“I’m sure.”
“You know you don’t have to, right?”
Chris sighed. “But it is a good idea. You agreed.”
“It is, but…”
Silence hung between them, pulled so tight Chris was seconds away from backtracking, laughing it off and telling Isaiah to cancel the show.
“I want us to own our story,” Chris said. “But only if you want to. I don’t want to intrude on what you’ve built, I just thought this could be a good thing. A way to share our side of the story. A warm audience, kind of.”
Isaiah grinned and kissed him hard on the lips, pulling away so quickly that Chris found himself chasing the feeling. “Tablet please.”
Chris handed over his tablet and watched as Isaiah rushed around setting it up on the desk and adjusting the lighting as best he could. He told Chris to sit just out of frame for the start, and then he was logging in.
Showtime.
Isaiah didn’t count down.
One second he was adjusting the borrowed tablet on Chris’s desk, dragging the lamp closer to soften the shadows. The next, the red “live” banner flared at the top of the screen.
Chris’s stomach dropped.
The viewer count climbed in violent little jumps. Hundreds. Then more. The comment section began to sprint before Isaiah had even said hello.
He wasn’t sure if he was imagining how much more feral the comments were than the last time he’d watched Isaiah do this, but the constant pings were insane. He’d faced start lines with less noise, media scrums that were less intimidating.
Isaiah smiled at the camera like he’d been born in front of one.
“Hey,” he said easily. “I’ve missed you.”
The chat exploded.
Chris hovered just out of frame. He could see the edge of the screen, just able to make out the stream of words that flashed up faster than he could process.
PillowPrincess21
WE HAVEN’T SEEN YOU SINCE THE VIDEO
MidnightLover38
are you okay???
DaddyZ_123
we’ve got you
FeetPlz69
Just take off your clothes already
Isaiah leaned forward slightly. “Before we get to the main event tonight, I want to clear up a few things.” He swallowed, glancing at Chris.
“The video circulating is real. It was filmed consensually and it was intended to be private. We did not release it, and the person who did…well, it’s been addressed. ”
Comments poured in.
PillowPrincess21
I KNEW IT
MidnightLover38
whoever leaked it is trash
PixelsBiggestFan5
production value lower than usual but still hot tho
Isaiah huffed a soft laugh at that. “Yes. Well. Not exactly a studio shoot.”
PillowPrincess21
low budget boyfriend cut
MidnightLover38
Wait so he’s your boyfriend???
MidnightLover38
kinda liked seeing u w someone
NightKingisDaddy
he only does solo stuff tho???
Chris’s stomach swooped. Then another comment rolled by, so quick he almost missed it.
NightKingOfficial
Collab when? Both of you. Check your DMs
NightKingisDaddy
Oh MY GOD
Isaiah’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, I see you.” He squinted at the username. “That’s bold. You know I don’t do collabs though.”
Isaiah’s eyes flicked to Chris, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
PillowPrincess21
IS HE THERE
Chris’s pulse slammed. Isaiah bit his lip, looking at Chris with a questioning gaze.
Chris had about two seconds to think. It had been easy to say they should do this before the reality of all those people hit.
He hadn’t planned what to say, perhaps naively hoping he could let Isaiah handle it.
He was better with words, better at turning a mess into a well-rounded argument with footnotes.
But the comments kept coming.
CuddlyBear345
if you hurt him we riot
MidnightLover38
is the doper guy there
PillowPrincess21
show us
“Don’t call him that,” Isaiah snapped. “I will ban you.”
Chris just knew the grin on his face was sappy as fuck, but he couldn’t get enough of Isaiah defending him. He stepped into frame before he could think better of it. “Uh,” he said, raising a hand in something approximating a wave, “hi.”
The chat detonated.
It was overwhelming. Lines of text stacking so fast they blurred.
Emojis. Hearts. Flames. Drool. Requests that made him feel like his face was on fire.
It was too much. He’d run through heatstroke once in Seville, and this felt similar.
His vision was tunnelling, ears ringing, body unsure whether to fight or flee.
“I’m Chris,” he managed. His voice sounded strange to his own ears—thinner than he wanted. “You probably know me from…recent events.” That was stupid. Too vague. “I mean, recent videos.”
Isaiah bit back a sharp laugh at his expense.
“Or, if you’re into running” he added, because apparently, he’d decided tonight was for self-immolation, “from my illustrious doping ban.”
There it was.
The chat kept moving.
NightKingisDaddy
oh shit
PillowPrincess21
bad boy era
PixelsBiggestFan5
we love a redemption arc
PillowPrincess21
Look at that fucking jawline. I would.
His face burned.
Isaiah’s hand slid onto his knee under the desk. Chris focused on that.
“I know,” he said, the words tumbling over each other now they’d started, “that a lot of people have opinions. About the tape. About us.” He glanced sideways, just for a second.
“I want to just… I want to be really clear that Isaiah didn’t do…
He didn’t do anything wrong.” His throat tightened unexpectedly.
“The video was made with my full, enthusiastic consent.”
NightKingisDaddy
Enthusiasm was pretty evident
Isaiah snorted. Chris forced himself not to look away from the camera, but the comments kept catching his eye. “It was private, and whoever leaked it violated that. So if you’re here because you think you caught something scandalous…” He shook his head, a small, helpless movement. “You didn’t.”
His chest felt tight. Too tight.
“I’ve spent the last two years being reduced to headlines,” he went on. He hadn’t meant to say that, but it just kept coming. “Serving a ban. Losing sponsors. Watching people decide who I am in comment sections. Asking about my future, wondering if I even had one.”
His heart was pounding so hard he could feel it in his throat. “I’m tired of letting other people write the story. There’s a lot I’m still unsure about. But I’m not unsure about Isaiah.” He swallowed. “I love him.”
Isaiah went very still.
CuddlyBear345
OH
PillowPrincess21
he said love
MidnightLover38
boyfriends confirmed
PixelsBiggestFan5
protect them
NightKingisDaddy
im crying
FeetPlz69
Show us your feet
BoysBoyzBoys18
Show us ur cock
Chris felt it then, the reality of what he’d just done.
His pulse roared in his ears, and he just hoped he hadn’t messed things up for Isaiah yet again.
“I don’t know if I was supposed to tell you that.
I’m…I’m not very practised at this. The only time I’ve been on camera like this was… ” He let himself trail off.
“When you did a private show with me,” Isaiah offered. He’d been quiet, letting Chris fumble his way through, but now it seemed he was open to owning it, their whole history.
MidnightLover38
Did he just say
PillowPrincess21
One of us. One of us.
MidnightLover38
Wait, when were private shows an option?!
NightKingisDaddy
OMG dreams do come true…hey @NightKingOfficial you doing privates/wanna boyfriend?