Tristan did his absolute best to expand and improve his content, doing as much work as he does in his day job.

Using the knowledge he learned from computer class, and a bit of watching tutorials, he edited and clipped all of his streams in a video editing software. Usually by just including the reading and answering portion of each question. Then he scheduled and uploaded clips on Mr. Loveboy’s social media accounts.

He began to interact more with his audience on the comment and reply section of his social media accounts as well. Making them feel more appreciative of the persona behind Mr. Loveboy.

And he started to stream video games every Tuesday and Thursday. Particularly his favorite ones where he can just relax and be more himself, albeit still roleplaying as Mr. Loveboy.

For the first two weeks, Tristan barely noticed any  audience increase. He felt bummed about his plans not working and almost considered quitting again.

But the words of encouragement of his friends, as well as appreciative comments of his fans, reminded him to never give up and continue the hard work. Their guidance and support motivated Tristan to continue. 

As weeks passed by, Tristan’s hard work had started to sprout a result. He started to gain a small but noticeable increase of traffic in his YouTube channel via the clips he uploaded onto his social media account, including Reddit.

It resulted in a slight bump of questions, as he now receives two to three questions per streams. He considered it a big win as it was miles betters than canceling a stream due to lack of questions.

His average viewers also bummed up from four to sixteen per stream as well. It thrilled Tristan with Mr. Loveboy’s growing audience that provided more comments, allowing Tristan to interact with his fans.

He was up to the moon that more and more people were interested enough to watch his content.

Tristan recently followed his friend’s idea of reading love problems from Twitter and Reddit. It resulted in longer streams that sometimes lasts half an hour due to a plethora of love problems people posted around the internet.

He had to control himself and not answer every question he could find in a single stream.

Tristan also began to collaborate with his vtuber friends since he started to do gaming content. It was rather difficult to be more himself while still roleplaying as Mr. Loveboy when it comes to bantering, trying his absolute best not to be too “out of character”.

However, that didn’t deter the joy he had. Not just making collaborative content with his friends, bur rather simply having fun.

The collaborations also resulted in an accidental advertisement for his channel. It was a happy accident Tristan will gladly take, even his friends even teased him about it.

Because of his longer streams, Tristan had more clips to make, love reading or gaming alike. It increased his workload, which he didn’t mind. At least he had always something to do to occupy his time, and the payoff was worth it.

After a slow, three-month journey, through sheer perseverance against his doubtful mind and cheers around him, Tristan was confident that he had succeeded in executing his and his friends’ plans.

He gained a small but consistent audience of twenty to forty viewers per stream, depending if he’s doing a love reading stream or a gaming streaming. His Twitter followers rose to seven hundred followings, and he reached one thousand subscribers on YouTube. He even reached a small following on Facebook and Reddit.

Tristan celebrated Mr. Loveboy’s YouTube milestone with a surprise karaoke stream. He only sang ten songs, as they were his favorites, and while he was not super confident with his singing abilities, he did his best to give his audience a blast.

I hope my neighbors don’t mind why I’m singing so loud!

The stream peaked around eighty viewers, the most viewers in a single stream he had so far. It was enough for Tristan to be happy about. Seeing the labor of his hard work pay off was fulfilling.

Tristan let out an enormous sigh as he just finish his last song, taking his time to catch his breath. “Thank you all so much for attending my one thousand subscriber celebration. I should practice singing more, as my throat is kinda raspy right now.” He chuckled in-character.

He clasped his hands. “Before we end the celebration, I would like to give my friends a shower of gratitude for their continuous support. I wouldn’t be here without them. And to you guys as well! Thank you so, so much for joining me on my journey of helping humanity with their love problems. I still have a long way to go, but I am looking forward to it.”

“I will see you all next time. Farewell.”

Tristan changed scenes to an ending screen on OBS, muted his mic, placed his headphones on his desk, and leaned back in the chair.

He let out another huge sigh of relief as he still could feel his whole body beaming with joy. He looked at the live comment section, his audience thanking him for a pleasant karaoke stream.

I can’t believe I just sang in front of so many people!

Suddenly, the group chat notification ping interrupted his thoughts. He opened it and he couldn’t help it but to feel another wave of joy. His friends showered him with compliments for the milestone, as well as his “surprising” singing capabilities.

He read their comments repeatedly, each read slowly overwhelmed him. He sent them a lengthy message expressing his gratitude for their support throughout his streaming career. Wishing everyone a successful journey towards their career as well.

“Thank you guys so much…”

Afterwards, he quickly made a tweet thanking his viewers for attending his thousand subscriber celebration stream, and teased them for what’s about to come next. Even if he doesn’t have an actual plans.

It excited Tristan for what’s about to come of his streaming life.

“Ah! Just a heads up. We will get busy until the first week of January due to winter break, so expect a wave of customers left and right.”

Tristan stopped filling up the food display, doubt in his face. “Really? But today’s the start of winter break though, and there aren’t much customers around.”

Fidel hummed. “It’s just the first day. Trust me, it will get worse. Christmas is going to be the busiest day of the year. So expect to double your caffeine intake.” He barked out a laughter.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad… Right?”

Fidel pat him on the back, and playfully shook his head. “Oh, you poor soul, I wish that was the case.” He said before he turned around to place jugs of milk in the chiller.

Tristan continued to fill the food display, but his thoughts kept thinking about Fidel’s warning.

I know things will get busy the closer Christmas Day is. But I think Fidel’s trolling me again… right?

The first two hours had a normal influx of customers, nothing that Tristan considers a “busy day”. But after eight AM, there was already a huge line that formed. Tristan didn’t think of it as a “busy day” since it was a typical morning rush of people wanting their coffees at morning.

However, the long line never disappeared.

It felt like the line never moved at all. Tristan felt pressured juggling between taking customer orders, making drinks, and delivering them at their table as fast as possible.

When he checked the time at the wall clock, he felt his spirits die when he noticed it was just ten AM.

“Told you! Learned that the hard way myself.” Fidel pat Tristan on the back. “Don’t worry, it will get worse.” He barked out a laughter again before he continued making a large batch of drinks.

Tristan gulped. He spoke too soon. He wished he believed Fidel earlier instead.

I’m so not looking forward to the next three weeks…

Tristan can only feel fatigue. Even when it’s just afternoon, the long line was still there.

He heard the chime bell rang, and was about to greet the customers when he saw the afternoon shift baristas enter the cafe. “Finally!” He exclaimed, following with a sigh of relief.

One barista looked at their wristwatch, then smirked at Tristan. “You still have ten more minutes, kiddo.”

Tristan groaned as the afternoon shift baristas chuckled before they continued their way to the storage room.

He patiently waited for the time to pass. Those ten minutes felt like an hour.

I can’t want to take a nap back home…

Out of nowhere, Tristan’s stomach growled loudly. It surprised him and turned beet red from embarrassment when he noticed that some customers definitely heard it.

“Well, at least you can finally eat now.” Fidel scooted next to him, making Tristan blush redder.

Then Fidel snapped his fingers. “Oh! You wanna eat lunch together? My treat!”

Tristan’s heart skipped.

To this day, he’s still not used to Fidel’s blinding smiles. He was about to accept when an idea crossed his mind. “Can I treat you this time?”

Fidel looked a bit confused for a split second before shrugging his shoulders. “Won’t say no to free food!”

Both of them chuckled at the same time.

They resumed their work. Fidel took the customer’s orders’ while Tristan made batches of coffee just behind him, his cheeks a shade of pink.

Even after these months, he still has a big effect on my heart. Why am I such a coward to confess?

When the two reached Jollibee, it was jammed packed with customers.

“Ah, yeah right. Lunch hour. Let’s try to find a vacant seat. We might get lucky.” Fidel murmured.

To their absolute luck, they found a vacant medium sized table that was just recently cleaned by a staff. The two immediately took a seat in case someone else might occupy it.

“What meal do you want? I’ll order this time.” Tristan asked.

“I’m craving for spicy chicken right now.” Fidel snapped his fingers. “Oh! Get me a large iced idea! I’ll pay for it! Thanks!”

Tristan shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. My treat, my money.” He said before he walked away and joined the long line.

I still have so much stuff to do later, and I have to plan a christmas and new year’s special stream with others too…

Tristan occupied his time by brainstorming until it was his turn to order nine minutes later. Afterwards, Tristan went back to their table holding a table number, then placed it on the table.

“You’re back! I forgot to show you something earlier!” 

Fidel began to look something on his phone. His big smile made Tristan curious about what he wanted to show him.

His curiosity broke when a very familiar voice played on the phone speaker. Tristan choked on his own saliva after the realization hit him.

Oh no… OH NO!

“Check this cool vtuber I discovered yesterday!” Fidel showed his screen towards Tristan, and he unconsciously held his breath by the confirmation.

It was a clip of Mr. Loveboy.