Matthew's hands hurt from clapping too hard. He and Steph had just emerged from the production Hamilton and his love for musical theatre was burning stronger than ever. The dance sequences, the harmonies in the songs and the upbeat pacing of the entire production made him want to throw himself back into acting projects again. The lighting, costume, set and music accompaniments only clinched what he felt to be an absolutely phenomenal production that he would love to see again in the future if it went on tour. As much as he loved his job, the sheer amount of consulting meetings alongside script writing and research time meant that he and Steph had little spare time to spend on fun activities like going to the theatre.

Frowning in thought, Matthew opened up the calendar on his phone and scrolled through what he had coming up. Maybe he could attempt to organise something with AJ and Peter from Random Encounters since he had been forced to pull away from so many projects due to personal commitments in the past. It was a shame really, he had loved working on the FNAF musical and was looking forward to working on the Phoenix Wright one but YouTube had gotten in the way yet again and forced him to cancel. A slight pang of guilt hit Matthew as he remembered the several promises he had made to the guys over at RE that he hadn't been able to fulfill. Made him seem a bit of a lousy person, although they did understand why he had to cancel – it wasn't like he just decided he didn't feel like attending.

Whilst Matthew sorted through ideas and future plans in his mind, Stephanie had interlaced her hand with his. Swinging their hands gently between one another, she hummed My Shot quietly as she did not want to disrupt Matthew's train of thought. Slipping the theatre program into her bag and zipping it up, she allowed her husband to randomly wander through the city, towing her along for the ride. Staring around at the city around her, she allowed her mind to drift to past memories. She had spent several years in this city, working as a consultant whilst Matthew desperately hunted for jobs. When he came up with the idea for Game Theory as a method of boosting his CV, Stephanie had thrown a lot of her spare time into it, desperate for Matthew both to find a job to help support them and also to give her husband some happiness. He loved theatre but the endless unemployment and disappointing auditions had been wearing him down massively, she saw it in his eyes every day when she asked how his day had gone.

"We should probably head back to the hotel now. Fastest route would be to take the subway and then walk a couple blocks."

Her husband's voice broke Steph from her reminiscing with the subtle reminder that they were wandering around a city at night. Looking at the streets around them, Steph's eyes drank in the city night life that they didn't get in their local neighbourhood. Their home gave them seclusion and quiet from the bustling life of the city which they had both grown sick of after New York but a part of Steph longed to stay in the city a bit longer. They rarely had any time to act spontaneously as their lives were so rigorously structured. YouTube gave them both creative freedom but alongside consulting and planning ahead with videos, they had a very fixed day-to-day schedule.

"Can we walk back? It's only half an hour. We could walk by the river?"

Steph stared up into her husband's eyes with a pleading expression, hoping that he would cave for once. They could both be very stubborn. Matthew was torn between keeping his wife happy and enjoying a quiet walk in the city, with the potential dangers of walking back through the city late at night. The riverbank at night could be very quiet and empty, meaning that there would be no witnesses around if something happened to them. He didn't want anything to happen to Stephanie but the logical part of his mind reminded him that the statistics of a couple getting mugged were much lower than that of a lone person getting mugged or attacked. Sighing, he nodded to Stephanie – grinning as Stephanie squealed with happiness and skipped towards to the riverbank, towing him along behind her.

I could be anywhere in the world now but there's nowhere I'd rather be than by her side.

That thought fixed in Matthew's head as he followed his wife, gripping her hand tightly as if she was going to slip away and vanish into the city streets. They didn't need to constantly hold a conversation; the silence between them as they walked together was content rather than the awkwardness that others claimed was constant in relationships. Stephanie's brown hair floated slightly in the breeze that blew in their faces, the individual strands moving of their own accord in the air and catching the light differently. His eyes trailed to her shoulders, seeing them relaxed and back rather than hunched forward when she was stressed. She wore Matthew's leather jacket over her shoulders but didn't put her arms through the holes, so that she could hug the jacket around herself easily. Holding hands with Stephanie had been the one constant in his life for the past decade and he hoped that it would still be a constant in the decades to come.

He could have had fallen for a beautiful actress but he chose me over the rest of the world.

Soon the riverfront came into view and the couple stood for a moment, staring quietly at the water as it rushed along on its journey to the sea. The water was dark, inky black almost from where they stood, so all they could see was the shadows on the surface of the river. The moving current made the shadows look like fierce dancers, drifting and crashing and flowing in whatever direction it chose to go. Stephanie stared at the water's surface for a while, feeling a connection with the current. Life was an inescapable current, one that dragged you along for the ride whether you wanted to go or not. Throughout the journey, you would crash into rocks and other obstacles such as grief and loss. Yet sometimes you were lucky enough to have another soul swimming in the current with you and for Stephanie that was Matthew. They had found one another and clung to one another in the storm that was their lives, braving near poverty and going hungry but still remaining together. Nothing had managed to separate them and nothing would ever be able to in the future.

Stephanie tore her gaze away from the water and turned to look at Matthew who was staring out at the horizon with a wistful look in his eyes. Her eyes traced his strong jawline, his kind eyes and the furrow of his brow, which more often than she wished was filled with stress lines. He loved his job, he really did but she knew better than anyone that he was a sensitive guy and that all the unnecessary hate comments did get to him. Producing theories, especially ones of a controversial nature or on very popular games with defensive communities, meant that he would receive a backlash no matter what idea he proposed. Yet he held on because, despite the hate, there were millions of theorists who supported him and the GTLive supporters were one of the most positive and kind communities that he had seen on YouTube for a long time.

A honk of a nearby car startled Matthew from his thoughts to see Stephanie staring straight into his eyes. Chuckling slightly at the unblinking stare of his wife, he leaned forward and kissed her on the nose – smirking as she jumped back in shock and said:

"Boop."

They both laughed, Matthew's emerging dolphin laugh causing Stephanie to tip her head back and laugh, even more, her chest shaking. Grabbing a hold of her hand again, Matthew spun his wife in towards him, grabbing her side gently and holding her against his chest tenderly. A small blush spread across Steph's face and she buried her face into Matthew's t-shirt, bunching it up in her hands as a way of anchoring herself to his side. She nuzzled into him a bit like how Skip would cuddle into them both at home, planting his little head in the center of their chests and claiming any unused space as his own. He leaned his head down and rested his chin on the top of Stephanie's head, holding his wife in that moment as if the world was going to tear her away from him like a plastic bag caught in a gust of wind.

"I miss this. Moments like this, just you and me wandering through the world together. No schedule, no deadlines and no judgement. Why don't we do this more?"

Stephanie smiled up at Matthew knowingly, listening to the sudden wistfulness infiltrating her husband's voice. A small part of her heart longed for the same, to just escape from the world and be with her husband. To explore the world, roam the countryside and to learn about themselves and the beautiful planet that they lived upon. She let her mind drift for a moment, imagining climbing mountains and exploring underwater caves with him by her side, only to snap back to reality at the thought of the important things in their lives.

"We love what we do. As stressful as it is, we love it to pieces. Theories, consulting and the stress that comes with running YouTube channels pales in comparison to the joy we get from live streaming. We couldn't live stream if we were exploring the world! Though I'm sure Jason would try. Plus we couldn't bring Skip if we went travelling, he'd hate every second of it and probably seek refuge in your suitcase."

Matthew chuckled at the thought of their cat burrowing his fuzzy head into their belongings, probably ending up stuck underneath a towel and meowing pitifully until someone freed him. They had already cancelled several live streams this week in order to make this trip to New York for the Nintendo Switch event and to see Hamilton. At their usual streaming time, the couple was very twitchy – knowing what they were supposed to be doing at that time of day. They were meant to be streaming but instead, they were wandering a convention hall and playing all the available games. Stephanie was surprisingly good at milking cows, something that Matthew had joked to be a potential career if YouTube went bust.

"At least I have you. I'm never letting you go."

A pink blush emerged on Steph's cheeks and Matthew's arms clutched her to his chest, the comforting hug turning into a joking cage as he literally trapped her in his arms. She wiggled slightly in an attempt to break free but her husband held tight, laughing at her frustrated expression – occasionally leaning down to kiss the top of her head only to pull his head back quickly as Stephanie tried to head-butt him in order to break free. Determination flashed in Stephanie's eyes and she thought quickly for a potential solution to her predicament. A cunning idea popped into her mind and she decided to go for it since no-one was staring at them anyways.

Smirking, Stephanie moved swiftly, bringing her body upwards and planting her mouth onto Matthew's. Her mouth was warm on his and her lips moved softly yet powerfully, completely holding him in the moment – unwilling to break the kiss or to break the alluring power she held over him. Moving his hands from the back of her chest down to her waist, Matthew pulled his wife impossibly closer, until they were flush against one another – able to feel one another's heartbeats pounding in their rib-cages. Placing her hands on her husband's chest, Stephanie moved her lips softly across his, the movement so natural and fluid yet filled with passion and fire as if they hadn't done this a thousand times before. Every moment between the couple was new and exciting yet comforting and familiar, a perfect balance of fire and water in a world filled with scorching flames.

Breaking apart, the couple panted for breath – both their cheeks aflame with passion for one another. Stephanie grinned and skipped away from Matthew, now free from his clutches and incredibly smug that she still had such an impact on her husband after all these years. Staring after her, Matthew shook the cloud of bliss away and chased after her, grabbing her by the side and dipping her as if they were dancing in a ballroom. A slightly unladylike squeal escaped Steph's mouth as she fell towards the ground only to be caught by her husband.

"Matthew! Put me down right now!"

Immediately after saying that, Stephanie regretted it as she realised that he was the only thing keeping her from falling to the ground. The flash of fear in Steph's eyes was not lost on Matthew and he gently pulled his wife up again, drinking in the beautiful sight of his flustered wife. He leaned closer to her, his mouth gently tracing the curve of her neck and reveling in the way her body shuddered in response to his. He pulled away, controlling himself and stood upright once again, pulling Stephanie with him until they looked like a normal couple once again. He winked slyly at his wife before striding off in the direction of the hotel – Stephanie following behind him, slightly dazed after their encounter.

The city of New York was always loud. Their quiet moment by the riverside was completely unnoticed by the rest of the world. Blaring horns and flashing lights were everywhere you looked, the inky blackness of the river a stark contrast to the blinding brightness of the buildings and skyscrapers. Shouting could be heard from several streets away, the festivities of drunkards singing and celebrating some local sports team's victory spiraling into the night. So the couple walked silently, side by side and weaved their way through the crowds.

What would those strangers have thought if they saw that couple's romantic moment by the riverside? Would they call them love-struck teenagers and walk away? Yell at them for being affectionate in public where children could see? What would they think when they knew nothing of the couple's backstory? The couple would not care, for they experienced judgement and mindless hate in their everyday lives. They had weathered the storm of life, finding one another and escaping into the eye of the storm – taking refuge in the quiet for a while, getting to know one another before venturing out into the wind once again, this time hand in hand. From friends to lovers, to partners, these two held a bond between them that nothing could shatter. Sure, they had their disagreements and their problems but that dear reader is a story for another day.

A/N:

I quite like this one.

The next one shot is a reader request so leave your requests in the comments. It could be a scenario, a prompt or a retelling of an event that happened on the live stream.

Much love <3

Caitlin.