Tumblr Fangirl turned YouTuber Girlfriend?!

12th

Can the perfect job opportunity just to present itself in the form of your friend casually suggesting you should work together with your former obsession?

I finished at university and I was still as lost as I had been months ago. It had calmed me to know that Emma would support me in whatever endeavour I chose but I still wasn't closer to figuring out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

Or if we're being more realistic, it was only the next couple of years of my life.

You didn't really just stay in one place of employment or even one career throughout your whole life anymore. People changed jobs and professions with much more ease these days and it was reassuring to know.

Still, my 1st degree in business felt empty. I had spent years on getting it and now I just had to use it as a key for one of multiple doors? It was too much pressure and I found myself wondering exactly what I had learnt at university. Sure, I knew theories and approaches and a great deal about businesses and how they operated, or how they should operate to be most efficient.

But it all just seemed so intangible.

Tumblr became my refuge in the first month following finishing uni. I was making GIFs, master posts and tending to the fandoms. I was unofficially Abbey and Nate's eyes in the Natigail fandom and what went on.

I had spent years attuning to the YouTube fandoms, and Natigail had turned out to be one of my biggest focuses. I liked figuring out what was going on by myself, like the rest of the hard-core fandom and whenever a rumour popped up, I'd research it myself before I asked Abbey about it.

I'd talk a lot about YouTube culture as well because I felt like it was important for people to understand it. The loyal viewers who'd grown up with the content creators knew what was going on but a lot of media people or non-internet people still didn't get it.

How could someone who was just chatting to a camera earn millions of pounds?

Because it was so much more than that, idiot, I had thought to myself too many times.

They didn't understand how long filming and editing could take but even if they did take that time consumption into account, they still didn't realise all the hours that couldn't be registered properly.

Building a loyal following online didn't happen over night, it took years and countless of hours.

I knew how long it had taken me to gain a following on Tumblr, and even if that was on a much smaller scale, some people still liked to pop by to tell me I didn't deserve it. I just blocked them. I saw all my mutuals on Tumblr as genuine friends of mine and I was happy to talk to anyone who messaged me, as long as they were nice.

One day, I was hanging out with Abbey at hers and Nate's flat. We hung out as a foursome a lot and we all got on extremely well but it was nice just to have one-on-one time with Abbey sometimes.

"You know you have so many great ideas, clever opinions and unique perspective," Abbey told me after I finished a rant about society in general and YouTube culture that was basically an oral recount of a post I had made on Tumblr, which already had 10k notes.

"I guess," I said, never too comfortable with outright praise, though Abbey always liked praising the people closest to her and she was always sincere. Sometimes, I wanted to look at myself the way Abbey or Emma saw me. They always seemed so sure of my capabilities while I would feel a complete wreck myself.

"I suppose Emma already tried to talk you into starting a YouTube channel?" Abbey asked and this was another reason I loved to have her as my best friend. She was so kind in her tone and not pushy like her sister could be sometimes. On some areas, they were like night and day. I loved them differently and for different reasons.

"She did but I don't want to do that. I know it worked out for you, even if you were apprehensive about it at first but I just can't. I've been in the fandoms for too long and it would just be too odd. I'd like to talk about things but I always have my Tumblr for that."

"I know and your writing is great but you do express yourself slightly different when you're speaking. You have a voice that just draws in people," she told me.

"Stop being so damn kind or I might slap you," I warned.

Abbey chuckled. "Well, maybe you should start a podcast and not a YouTube channel. That might suit you better."

"Hmm..." I pondered. "But who'd listen to me talk all by my lonesome? I couldn't do it on my own and even if I have no doubt Emma would love to do it, I don't want to "work" with her, you know? I like to help her review videos and comment on her ideas and such but not become colleagues of a sort, even though I'd probably actually get listeners if I did one with a YouTuber. I just want Emma to be my girlfriend."

"I'm sure you'd get listeners just by informing your following on Tumblr," Abbey said and then something sparked in her eyes, like she had an idea. "Wait, I've got it! I can't believe I didn't remember until now."

"What?" I asked and sat up straighter. Abbey looked so pleased with herself and excited.

"Nate has been wanting to do a podcast for ages but he's not sure how exactly to go about it. The two of you could make a podcast together. Whenever we all hang out you two banter so casually with each other. You both are so smart and knowledgeable but you have differnet perspectives. I know he'd love it."

My cheeks actually began to feel hot. It had been a big step for me to be so casual around Nate with all the odd trivia about him that I had still stored in my brain from my fangirl days. He was just a regular lad but after having watching him on my screen for years, it was a bit odd to actually become friends with him, at first. Now, however, I did feel perfectly comfortable around him and I was always one to debate with him, or banter as Abbey adorably called it. Working with him though? The potential of actually maybe possibly being able to have a shared project with SillyNate was enough to make my neck hair's stand on end.

"You can't be serious," I told Abbey.

"Deadly," she assured me and smiled wickedly. Abbey had set her mind on it already. I could see the determination in her eyes. I could also see the sheer conviction. She had no doubt that Nate would love to work with me on a podcast.

What was my life?

*************

Now, it's finally been revealed what "secret project" Nate and Megan was working on in Becoming a YouTuber?!, which is ahead by a few months of this story, though this one is catching up. I'm not sure exactly when this story will end but it will likely be before the main book ends. So maybe there's only a handful of chapters left or more. Who knows? But I hope you liked it. Thank you for reading.