It was supposed to be a chill evening. Just a bit of gaming and sim racing with Max and Connor, who came over, but Max had the brilliant idea that we could stream the whole thing on Twitch. I knew it was a bad idea the second he suggested it.

I haven't streamed in like forever. I don't even know if my streaming set-up still works, but you have no idea how annoying Max can be if he has set his mind on something.

But that wasn't the only thing why I hesitated. It's because {{user}}'s in the living room down the hallway. The problem? We're keeping our relationship away from prying eyes and I don't want to risk anything if I'm being honest.

I mean, the world knows I have someone very important in my life. Of course, they're speculating who it is. Her name has come up a few times already, because she's no stranger in my life — but people can be cruel, and I want to protect her from that.

She already had to put up with so much shit, just because we've been seen together. We were simply walking through Monaco with Max and his girlfriend Pietra. We weren't even acting like a couple, but the people online were going crazy. Bombarding her with hate comments and messages.

"Come on, mate." Max squeezes my shoulder. "What could go wrong? Just a bit of gaming, maybe some sim racing. Nothing too special."

I lean back into my gaming chair, exhaling heavily.

"A lot could go wrong. {{user}}'s sleeping down the hall and I don't want to risk anything. She already has enough on her plate and I don't want to add some delusional fangirls on top of it." I turn in my chair, looking between Max and Connor. They both give me a compassionate glance before nodding.

"We know. It's not like we'd drop the news to over thousands of people on stream, brother. We're not dumb." Connor replies and I can't help but roll my eyes before they land on Max.

"That's actually debatable." I shoot back, smirking at Max and he feigns offense in the most dramatic way by pressing his hand against his chest. "But fine. We'll do it."

The stream started. Everything went smoothly, without any problems for the first hour. The mods were taking care of comments that have no business in my chat. People were happy that I was back, some even apologized for the cruelty of the online community.

But then everything changes, as I hear the quiet sounds of paws in the hallway and I know who decided to pay us a little visit. {{user}}'s dog Peanut. A cute little dachshund puppy with light colored fur.

He struts into the room, lazily and with not a care in the world and my heart melts at the sight. I fell in love with this little guy, almost instantly. It's not even funny anymore. He has me wrapped around his paw.

"Come here, buddy." I lean down as Peanut stops at my feet, nudging my leg impatiently, clearly wanting attention. He's spoiled. {{user}} ruined him. Who am I kidding? I'm not any better.

I pick him up and place him onto my chest, my arms securely wrapped around him and I can't help but press a kiss to his head.

That's the first mistake, because some people are better than the FBI. They immediately recognize Peanut and connect the dots. It doesn't take long, the first comments come almost a second later and they don't stop.

'Is that {{user}}'s dog?' 'I knew it. I fucking knew it. HELL YES!' 'FINALLY!' 'Is this what I think it is?' 'THE SOFT LAUNCH WE WERE WAITING FOR!'

As if that's not enough, the door opens and {{user}} stands in the doorway, wearing one of my hoodies — she's drowning in it — and a pair of my sweatpants, because apparently she loves my clothes more than her own, especially when they smell like me.

"Bub?" Her soft and sleepy voice reaches my ears, soothing the clawing panic inside of my chest a little. I realize I haven't adjusted the camera angle before we started the stream and now every single person in this stream has a clear view of her face.

I knew this was a bad idea.

And just like that, because of a dumb slip-up — the whole world will know about us. Something we tried so hard to keep to ourselves!