SillyNate's Collab Month

Back from HIATUS & Natigail comfort

A/N: I'm bringing this book back! Let's pretend I didn't just leave it unfinished for a year and a half. I might have to make the chapters slightly shorter (their length and complexity is what broke me back when I tried to do five updates a week originally. If you're just getting to this bonus book now, you have to remember that it's set in July 2015. And now I leave you with a little dabble of Nate worrying about actually being able to complete his Collab Month, only he's more successful in getting out of the funk than I was. I seriously need someone like Abbey in my life. I'm hoping to update this once a week, though not on a certain day.

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"Why did I say that I could post 23 main channel videos in a month as well as uploading my daily vlogs? Did I have a death wish?" Nate mutters under his breath as he's encountering yet another scheduling problem.

All his YouTube friends want nothing more than to collab with him but everyone is so busy that it's a pain in the arse to figure out the logistics. He's heading to LA soon, for Vidcon, and it's a nightmare trying to figure out how he's supposed to find time to film everything. And edit it. There's only 24 hours in a day and he's got a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on too and daily vlogs always take out a chunk of his day. He feels like he spends half his days editing.

"Did I hear a panicked yelp?" Abbey asks and walks into our bedroom.

It's incredible how much my flat has changed since she moved in six months ago. It's a different space now, filled with her possessions as well as mine and things have stopped being hers or mine and are simply ours. I love it, though I know Abbey still struggles with fully embracing this place. We'll be looking for a new flat together soon.

"No," I whine but I'm lying and I was always bad at doing that. "It's just someone can't film the day we arranged and now I have to magically move around some of the other filming slots. It's a nightmare."

Abbey's face softens, as it always does when I reveal my worries and insecurities to her. Before I really got to know her, I thought she pitied me when she looked at me with that expression but that's not the case. She's just worried about me and she never wants me to feel stressed or on edge, just like I feel about her.

She walks over and settles her hands on my shoulders and starts to rub circles with her fingers.

"You'll figure it out, love. You always do. Everyone is so excited and though the month has only just started, I know you can make it through to the end. It's a hell of an ambitious challenge but you've committed to it now. You can do it."

I sigh and sink back into her touch. This might be the perfect time to ask her something I've been meaning to do for ages. She's been on my channel before but not properly and I have plans that involve her heavily and I have yet to ask her. I've been a bit nervous about what she might say.

"Abbs..." I say softly. "I've actually been meaning to ask you something. You know how I'm filming with Sabrina tomorrow and Zoe, Alfie, Jim, Tanya, Niomi and Marcus the day before we fly to LA?"

"You mentioned something about that, yes," she says and I can feel her hands tensing and digging into my skin harder, like she's purposely trying to distract herself.

"I want you to be in those videos as well," I say, "if you want," I rush to add.

I have video ideas for the collabs that could work without Abbs but I have even better ones if she agrees to be in the video.

"You want me in two of your collab month videos? Should you be repeating guests?"

I'm almost too baffled to answer, as she didn't reject the idea immediately. She still seems to have a long way to go though and there's reservation and hesitation in her voice, even is she attempts to mask it with humour.

"I want to film couple challenges with our friends and a girlfriend vs. sister with Sabrina."

"Wait, like a who knows you better video?"

"Yes," I say. "I'd have questions about myself and whoever knows me better wins."

"I'd love to kick Sabrina's butt," Abbs says thoughtfully and I know the wheels in her head are already in high gear, I can practically hear them churning. "It would essentially just be hanging out with friends, right?"

She's looking for the confirmation and a push to agree to it. It's a very Abbs thing to do. She's walked all the way over to the edge, which is impressive when you're scared of heights, and now she just needs the final boost from me. I know she's only putting aside her discomfort for me and I know she wants to feel excited about this without the worry that instinctively gnaws at her stomach. She wants to have fun with our friends and attempt to get over her "fear" of the camera.

"It would. We'd have so much fun. It's like game night or something like that. I would also like to determine how we're much better than Zalfie, Janya and Narcus. And I want to show off how well you know me and I know it'll piss of Sabrina. She's so competitive. It'll just be all fun and games."

"But do you even have time to finish the collab month? Weren't you worried that it would never work out just moments ago?" Abbs teases but it's still a sore spot and I am still worried, so I fall silent.

"Nate, I'm only kidding," she continues. "You can do it. I have complete faith in you, even if it means you'll spend goodness knows how many hours hunched over your laptop editing."

"Will you be in the videos?" I ask.

"Yes," she says. I turn around to see her smiling shyly and put her hands up in front of her face. I reach for her fists and take her hands in mine.

"I'm confident we'll have a blast recording," I assure her. "And you're right, I will complete this challenge. But I'll reward myself by not making it a yearly tradition. It's much harder work than I realised."

"You never think things through," Abbs scolds but her voice is kind. "You just jump right out into it."

"Well, then it's good I have you to keep me grounded," I say and pull her into a hug, burying my face in the crook of her neck and letting her scent and warmth calm me down. I can do this and Abbs will be a part of my videos. 

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I hope you're as excited as I am for this. Just remember it's a year and a half before the events currently unfolding in Becoming a YouTuber?!. Let me know your thoughts, if you want. :)