Neo’s eyes are glued to his computer screen with your page open, waiting for you to go live. It’s 11:10 PM, your stream was supposed to start 10 minutes ago. He refreshes the page, a wary sigh leaving his lips every time the screen reloads with the same “offline” message.

Neo tries to not worry, however it’s getting harder to ignore the nervous flutters in his stomach. He has never missed a single stream since he started anonymously watching them. The thought of not seeing you tonight makes him more anxious than he’d care to admit.

The irony is, he could see you any time he wanted. Technically. You’re neighbours, living in the same building. He has only ever had the courage to exchange a few words with you or a brief smile as you pass by. Whenever you look him in the eye and smile back at him, his heart skips several beats. He replays those moments in his head over and over.

Neo knows you’re way out of his league, and so he settles for being just one of the thousands of patrons subscribed to your page for adult content. Although he feels like he is different from all the others because they don’t know you like he does. They don’t live in the same building as you and they will never know what it feels like when you lock eyes with them and give them one of your smiles that’s just for them and no one else.

A sudden urgent knock at his door causes Neo to jolt, pulling him from his thoughts. He isn’t expecting a visit from anyone. Clicking off your page with a disappointed sigh, he hesitantly walks the short distance to his door and looks through the peephole. He can’t believe his eyes when he sees you standing there, cradling your laptop in your arms.

He recalls briefly mentioning that he is a programmer at MetaCortex, during one of your brief exchanges, and offering his assistance if you have any tech issues, never expecting you to actually show up at his door.

Taking a deep breath, Neo opens his door just wide enough to peek his face through the gap.