" volunteered as tribute"

         "Heather, I'm sorry, but I don't think I can see you as more than a friend. You're really awesome and I hope you find somebody that'll love you for you. It's not you, I promise, but our interests really don't align and I don't wanna hold you back from you full potential. This voicemail is getting a little long so I'll end it here. Good night and yet again, I am sorry." Heather played the voicemail again, making sure she didn't mishear or miss anything.

Satisfed with the fact that she did, indeed, hear everything correctly, she turns and deletes the message. After all, it wouldn't be the best idea to keep that constant reminder that she had, yet again, flopped at getting a significant other. 

Without a word, Heather pokes her head into Minx's room. As usual, her roommate was streaming. When she listened a little bit closer, she could hear Schlatt making his usual annoying remarks.

Smiling, she pushes the door open and heads into the girls room, catching whatever bullshit Schlatt had going on.

"Minx, you would do so much better if you got yourself a better set up. I mean, come on, man. You know you can do -" Schlatt trails off once he caught a glimpse of the redhead giving him a pointed look.

"Ah, hello, Heather." Minx turns with Schlatt's greeting, smiling at the girl. Heather gives her a small smile and waves at Schlatt, of which tilts his hat at her. 

"Hey, I'm thinking about ordering from that new Mexican place. Do you want anything?" Heather leans on the the back of Minx's chair and wraps her arms around the gaming girl. She waves at the camera, saying hi to the chat.

"Uhm, I wanna try some of thier tacos. Two of them, please." Minx responds, patting Heather's arm.

Heather pops a kiss on top of Minx's head - mainly to drive the chat crazy - and walks to the decently sized living room. Ronan was laying on Heather's favorite yellow and brown floral couch playing Call of Duty.

"Ronan, my man. We do be having Mexican tonight. Enchaladias, per usual?" She playfully pushes his legs off the couch so she could plop down and pull out her phone. Ronan chuckles and moves his legs into Heather's lap, making her roll her eyes.

"That would be nice! You ordering in or picking up?" He inquires, pulling the colorful knitted blanket over the both of them. 

"Ordering in. I checked, and they do indeed have delivery." She chuckles. 

"Nice."

"Nice." Heather echoes, dialing the number for the place.

Her call is picked up after the first ring, beginning the rather large order. She added an order of fajitas and extra Mexican rice just in case Nora was at the house. Heather knew for a fact that both Nora and Minx would destroy the rice, as it was one of their favorites. 

After she finished ordering and made a note on her hand for how much she had to pay, she scrolls through her Instagram dms.

Most of the messages are a mix of spam and people asking about comissions. However, throughout all the messages, there was one that caught her eye. Before clicking on that specific one, she goes about answering commision questions.

After all that's done, she takes a look at the thrid newest - and most intriguing - message. 

austinshowoffical

Hello there! You may know me as a
a friend of Minx. I heard from the aforementioned
that you are having some issues with dates. She
volunteered you to be the next contestant on our
dating show, Love or Host. I've attended some lives and 
looked through your Instagram and would formally like to 
invite you to hopefully search for a successful date. 

She looks at the message again, softly groaning. She knows that Minx meant well, but it didn't mean that she could volunteer her for a three to four hour Twitch dating show without asking if it was alright. 

It would defiantely be something new for Heather to try. After this last rejection, she really did want to try something new. At the moment, however, all Heather wanted to do was talk to Minx about her volunteering her. 

redhot_

Hi Austin! I very much am aware
of who you are, as you do have a tendancy
 to torture Minx with Schlatt. I was not aware
that Minx had volunteered me, and I'm not turning the
down the offer. May I have a few hours to think
about this? Thank you for considering me, a non Minecraft
streamer!

austinshowoffical

That's fine! I'll give you a few hours and if
you decide that it is something you want to do,
we can chat specifics! 

Heather smiles at the message. She knew she wanted to try it, but in all honesty it was something she needed to think about. Yes, she has about two hundred thousand views a stream and the show would get her more views, so people would think that she was immediately going for clout. 

As a sitter in one of Minx's particpating Love or Hosts, Heather knew for a fact that they all lasted at least a few hours and was late at night for some people. Especially her. 

The sound of knocking on the door brings her out of her thoughts. She pushes Ronan's legs off her lap and goes to the door to grab the food and pay. She does that, yelling for Minx and Nora in the process of carrying the two bags of food to the dining room. 

Heather notes that there is no opening of Nora's bedroom door, telling herself to check on the girl at a later time. The reason being that Minx has walked into the dining room, digging into one of the bags.

Ronan had already pulled his enchalida and share of rice from the bag and went back to his game. This left Minx and Heather in the dining room by themselves.

"So, I heard from a little bird that I was volunteered for Love or Host." She says after taking a bite of her own taco.

Minx grins at the mention, swallowing before speaking. "Before you get pissed, hear me out."

"I'm listening."

"You doing this could bring you more attention to your channel, which brings more commissions. More commsions brings you more happiness because you can create more and use that pretty little brain of yours. Most of all, you could have a successful Minecraft date and have a date to either go home to or bring home for Christmas. This could also be your early Christmas gift from me." 

Heather grins at Minx's defense, knowing damn well she was right. Yes, she was terrified that others would think she's using it for clout and ultimately think that she would host somebody, but she could use some more commisons to keep herself busy while the pesky pandemic was going strong.

"Okay, I actually was disappointed that you didn't ask first. You also do have a point and I knew I was gonna try it out before you even opened your mouth." Heather gives Minx a shit eating grin as the purple haired woman glared at her.

"So I prepared my defense for nothing?!" She playfully yells.

"Yep. Now, if you don't mind me, I'm gonna go tell Austin that I'm down to hopefully find the love of my life." She retorts, grabbing her rice and walking away to her room.

"I at least get to help pick your outfit!" Minx calls after her. Heather laughs at this, both of them knowing that she would go to Minx and Nora for outfit help anyway. 

She gets herself settled in her room with a shirt pattern laid out in front of her and her remaining food safely atop her bedside table. On top of the pattern was her phone and it was opened up to her brief dms with Austin.

Letting out a deep breath, she begins typing her response.

redhot_

Hi Austin! I know it's only been around an 
hour, but I have made my decsion! I would love
to be on your show!

austinshowoffical

That's great! If you don't mind, I'm
gonna give you a wind down of what's gonna
happen and such.

redhot_

I don't mind at all! Please feed me this 
nesscessry information!

austinshowoffical

Alright! So, we usually give five days
for applications to be put up for these things.
Since you're not a well known streamer, I'm gonna
give two days and I'm not gonna run contestants past
you, becuase it's a whole surprise. We usually start at
7, which is 3 in the morning for you. There's the usual
questions being asked and you have to dm the one you want
booted from the show. Got that?

redhot_

Loud and clear! I'd also like to let you know that
I am bisexual, so I don't mind it if some females apply!

austinshowoffical

I will keep that in mind! If you don't have anymore questions,
I'll see you on Zoom on the 17th!

redhot_

See you then! Pick some good ones lmao!

As soon as Heather sent that message, she realized that Austin would probably pick some popular creators - not like she's collabed with a couple - which would mean that a whole lot of people would be watching.

However, the upside to this is that she may find the love of her life. This meaning that she may never have to recieve another voicemail of rejection. 

"Ah, it is what it is."

oh wow, look! the author is actually updating a fic she's writing! it's shocking to me, too, so don't worry lmao. anywho, hope you all enjoy this first chapter!