Advisory
: This is a story about a young woman, engaged to be married, flirting with and being seduced by a new friend; there are some light cuckold/voyeur elements, but ultimately it's a tale about reluctance & infidelity. It is
not
a story about a cheater getting her comeuppance. If you don't like this kind of story I completely understand, but you should probably find something else to read.
All characters and events are fictional.
_______________*_______________
Mark and Chelsea sat side by side at the computer, reading the email. When they were done, Mark turned to his girlfriend.
"Well? What do you think, babe?"
"Honestly? It's not the worst idea I ever heard. But, we don't know this guy at all, he's just some internet rando.
"I know. But I looked at his channel and he seems pretty legit. I mean, he's got almost a million subscribers."
"A million?" Chelsea was clearly surprised. "For, what, a guy in his living room giving workout tips?"
"I don't know what to tell you. But, yeah, I guess so. Not to sound mercenary, but that's a lot of fresh eyeballs: could be a good promotional opportunity for us. And, you know, we could definitely use a bump in subscribers. Also, we were gonna do a video on that game anyway."
"Bah. I don't know, Mark β it just feels weird." Chelsea looked at her boyfriend and could tell he wasn't ready to give up on the idea; she sighed inwardly. "Okay. Why don't we look at his videos and see what he's like."
Mark clicked over to the channel to open a couple of the most recent videos and watched as Dylan β the email correspondent β exercised and talked about the proper technique for stomach crunches and bicep curls. Chelsea could almost feel her pupils dilating.
Ohhh, ok. I get it now
, she thought.
"Well, what do you think?" asked Mark. "He seems friendly enough."
"You know what? Screw it, let's give it a shot. You're right, it could be good. Write him back and say we'll meet him for lunch; maybe he's cool. And if it doesn't feel right, we can always bail. What's the worst that could happen?"
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
To a very specific kind of person, they were a dream couple β exactly the kind of relationship you fantasize about while knowing it will never, ever happen for you. And to these same kinds of people, they were also famous.
Mark and Chelsea stumbled into their new career quite by accident and had spent the first year generally walking around in a daze over their good fortune. Before that there was a rough patch. They were edging out of their mid-20s, living together. Mark had quit his video editing gig and was having no fun looking for new work. And while Chelsea took up odd jobs to support them, Mark kept to his hobby as an avid gamer, spending long hours sitting in front of a screen with a controller in his hand.
But, luckily, this was not a source of tension or resentment. Instead, they'd pass most evenings in the living room, Mark playing his video games with Chelsea right beside him β watching, teasing, bantering back & forth. For whatever reason, they each enjoyed their "backseat gamer" time.
Eventually, just for fun, they made a video about one of the games and put it online. Ostensibly Chelsea's non-gamer review of the game, it was really a vehicle for slickly-packaged jokes, memes, and pop culture references. The video took off, and so they made more. In effect, they'd recreated the experience of being in their living room β like the couple themselves, the videos were sarcastic but warm, witty but accessible, and often very funny. It turned out people just enjoyed spending some time with them, in no small part because they were clearly well-matched and in love.
And it didn't hurt that the pair was easy to look at. Mark, although hardly toned β he sat in front of a computer for a living, after all β kept fairly trim and had amiable good looks: 5'8", with light brown hair and a neat goatee. Notably, he was handsome enough that it was not a bonkers mismatch for him to be coupled with Chelsea ... and Chelsea was a dish. Shorter, around 5'4", with shoulder-length straight brown hair framing her cute, friendly, bespectacled face. Even on camera she tended to dress casual & unsexy, with hoodies or baggie t-shirts camouflaging her slender yet deceptively shapely figure β but it was no secret that most of their fanbase had a wholesome crush on her.
In any event, their channel quickly racked up subscribers, and within a matter of months they were pulling in enough money to officially become full-time content creators. They'd release a new video once every week or two, and in between they'd stream their play sessions to connect with the fanbase and supplement their income. They sold endorsements, they sold merch, and generally they had a grand old time. A few months after committing to their new profession, they got engaged.