For a month, Camille and May, once a week in addition to their  usual Livestream, would hold their special cam show, earning a healthy  boost in their separation fund. However, as May pointed out, there was a  strangely sharp downward trend in the camshow's popularity each week,  coupled with a severe dip in donations. Camille was surprised to see her  stuck business partner be so mathematical and analytic.

"It's  these darn imitatiors." May concluded after some social media research,  "They're everywhere! So many women are gluing themselves together that  we aren't special anymore, even if we're a lot more stuck than they are,  which reminds me: people are getting more reckless trying to stand out.  Some got glued with stronger stuff than expected..."

"Sounds familiar..."

"Some  used glue that irritates or burns skin, and one pair of women had to go  to the hospital after their 'sticky kiss' glued their noses shut! This  is getting dangerous, Camille!"

May took off her reading glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I  give it maybe another week before the camshow becomes less profitable  than our regular content. We have to think of something and fast."

"So,  what are we supposed to do?" Camille asked. "We're still thousands of  dollars short of what we need to get separated, either we have to find  something else to make money with or we escalate."





May  thought for a moment. "We've naked on camera with our tits glued  together, not much we CAN do at this point to escalate." She thought for  a moment. "Unless you want to figure out how to get our-"





"No."  Camille cut her off quickly before she could finish that thought.  "Going to the bathroom is complicated enough. Besides, I don't think  that would help. A couple of girls in Canada did it and it looked like  it hurt like hell and the comments were mostly people calling them  idiots. Except that guy who kept saying they looked hot."





"That  traitor!" May said, only half joking. "Well, something else then. But  we need it fast, even the streams about what a stupid thing this is are  getting rare."





"I don't know." Camille shook her head. "I mean all that's really left is to do a news story or something."





"What, like on broadcast TV?" May asked in a surprised tone of voice. "That's still a thing?"





"Yes,  May. TV still exists and a lot of people still watch it." Camille  rolled her eyes. "But we need something else because I do NOT want to  appear on the news like this." She gave a little tug at their bond for  emphasis. "My Grandma watches the news."





But  May was already lost in thought. "We could announce that we were the  originals and reach out for help. Think about it, we could be free,  like, next week!"





"No." Camille said.





But  May already had her phone out. Camille sighed heavily and was about to  go into a tirade about what a terrible idea it was when she felt May go  rigid against her.





"I don't fucking believe  it!" She said. "Someone beat us to it!" She held up her phone and  Camille saw a half-dozen stories featuring a pair of girls with their  breasts pressed together (blurred out, of course) and pleading  expressions on their faces.

The stories,  both text and video, had headlines like "Stuck gamers plead for  freedom", "This was an accident, but now everyone is doing it", and "Two  girls played with glue, you won't believe what happened next!".

"Holy shit!" Camille took the phone from May and began scrolling through the stories.

"I  can't fucking believe it." May shook her head. "Upstaged by a couple of  copy-cats. We need to put this right. Call the news people and tell  them that WE are the originals!"

"Maybe not." Camille said as she tapped a link. "Did you see the last story?" She handed the phone back to May.

May  took the phone and read the headline on the screen. "After being freed,  gamers face onslaught of legal action." She read quietly to herself for  a moment. "Holy crap, they're being sued by... Everyone!"

"Aren't you glad we didn't go to the press?" Camille said, smirking.

"Yeah, that would have been a mistake." May said, still browsing through the article. "So many angry parents!"

"Yeah. Let's let karma take care of those two."

"So, where does this leave us?" May asked, glancing up from her phone screen.

"About where we were, except we know we are definitely not going to call CNN."

"Agreed."

There is an awkward moment of silence where the pair try to think, but they give up.





“So  what do we do, then? How do we get the damn money to pay the extremely  high prices for our separation? What other options are available?”, May  says, breaking the silence.





“I have absolutely  no idea. Contacting the news would be a bad idea, like we said, and the  cam show is dying down, I can’t really come up with any option except  starting a job and then wait a decade or two until the money eventually  reaches the right amount.”





“Are you nuts?!  Nobody shall know that we’re actually stuck like this, especially now  when people are getting sued! Besides, working would be extremely  difficult to do in our position and waiting for years is out of the  question.”





“You’re right.”, Camille thinks. “Maybe we can move to Canada where healthcare is free?”





“Don’t  you know how much the gas is going to cost us to drive there?! We live  in freaking Southern California, the opposite end of the US!”





“Yeah, and flights and taxis would be too risky, people would see us. Well, then I don’t know…”





“Neither do I…”





There  was yet another silence between them, though much longer this time. The  room is almost fully quiet, all you can hear is the heater inside the  apartment and a few cars driving by outside on the streets. They look at  away inspecting the not too tiny apartment and then back at each other.  Camille looks down at their connected area while May looks down at her  phone. Suddenly, she hears sobbing coming from in front of her, she  looks up and sees Camille with tears in her eyes.





“Hey, Cam, everything’s going to be okay eventually!”, she tries to reassure her partner.





“But  what if it doesn’t, what if we never get the damn money? What if the  separation surgery doesn’t work? What if we remain like this forever,  what are we going to do then?!”, Camille yells out, tears flooding down  her cheeks.





“It’s okay, it’s okay,” May said,  as she hugged her sobbing friend. “Look, we’re going to get the money  eventually. And the surgery… it has to work! They can separate Siamese  twins at birth, so I’m sure they’ll figure it out. We just need to earn  the money, which we will do eventually! One day at a time.”







   She let Camille rest her head on her shoulder until the sobs were over.





   “Well, speaking of earning money,” Camille said, wiping a tear from her eye, “I might as well do some of my data work.”





   “That’s a good idea. I guess I could start of some of my consulting work. Want to get some shirts on?”





   “Sure.”





    They got up from the couch, a movement they were well-practiced at by  now. May held on tight while Camille picked her up and walked over to  the dresser. Button-up shirts were all they could wear now, but if they  each wore one it at least created the feeling of being fully dressed,  which seemed to comfort Camille. Once they were as presentable as they  could be, Camille walked them over to their work area.





They  had repositioned their desks directly across from each other, with a  single sideways-turned chair between them. They scooted in between the  desks and sat down, with May sitting in Camille’s lap. This worked, with  May being a bit lighter than Camille, though they would swap positions  if Camille’s leg’s fell asleep. They rested their chins on each other’s  right shoulder and reached past each other to their keyboards.





    Quite fortunately, Camille’s lab had been flexible with her, and  allowed her to continue taking part in the project, although in  considerably limited capacity. Still, Camille was good with math and was  able to analyze data for her team, even if she couldn’t assist with the  experiments themselves. She opened her email, and saw the lab had sent  her the data from several titration curves. Now, she had the somewhat  unglamorous task of predicting the optimal enzyme/cofactor ratios at  varying temperatures and pH’s. But, she took care of hours of number  crunching the other lab techs were anything but excited to do, and she  was good at it.





Meanwhile, May had found a way  to earn a little money on the side by helping other, newer videogame  streamers. Despite her flirty demeanor, she had a shrewd mind for  business. She knew how to analyze trends and predict what the newest,  hottest thing was likely to be. Other steamers, some of them as  well-established as her, paid her a decent commission to predict the  popularity of soon-to-be released titles.





    Between all of these things, the two of them were bringing in more than a  living wage. But after their living expenses, they still only managed  to save a fraction of it. Even by May’s most hopeful estimates, it was  going to be several years until they could afford the procedure at the  current rate, and that included how much debt they were willing to take.

Hours  passed like normal, or as normal as it could be. It wasn’t pleasant,  but both girls made it through their respective work day. They tended to  skip lunch to limit the amount of movement they had to put themselves  through, but that usually meant both were dying to eat by the time  dinner came around. The pair rose slowly from the chair, and Camille  gave a small groan of discomfort from the circulation returning to her  legs.





“We should’ve switched a bit more, huh,”  May said while grunting, now supporting the majority of their collective  weight as Camille’s legs returned to normal.

"Probably, but  you can barely last an hour before you start shifting around a lot.”  Camille wiggled her toes to ensure she had all feeling. “Okay, I should  be good to go.”





They made their way slowly to  the kitchen, one shuffle step at a time until they arrived at the  pantry. After they opened it, they both sighed as they realized there  wasn’t anything left aside from some ramen packages on the bottom.  Squatting or getting low to the ground was near impossible for them to  do without falling over and having to spend half an hour to get back up.  Because of this, they put most of their foodstuffs in the fridge and  cabinets between chest to eye level.

   

They looked down at each other for a moment before Camille spoke up. “Wanna order some groceries?”

“Yeah…”





May  and Camille spent the next hour lying on the couch watching YouTube,  having shed their tops to get more comfortable. Their minds were  distracted by a mixture of cat videos and DIY tutorials. There were more  videos of people gluing themselves together, which the duo decided to  ignore for their own sanity. Eventually, the doorbell rang, and  Camille’s phone buzzed with a notification.





“Ugh,  finally,” May moaned. She moved her legs in tandem with Camille until  they were both firmly planted on the floor. With some penguin-like  movement, they got to the front door, eager to finally get something to  eat. Camille turned the doorknob and pulled the entrance open. Their  bodies froze the moment they saw that groceries weren’t the only thing  awaiting them.





"Hey, I’m y’all’s Uber Eats  delivery, I just wanted to let you know that they didn’t have any… uh…”  The delivery boy’s eyes drifted up from his phone to the sight of two  beautiful women, half-naked, pressing their breasts together. In an  attempt to avoid ogling at the sight of a lifetime, the younger-looking  man turned around to finish his sentence. “Pineapple juice! T-they were  out of pineapple juice. So please use the app to get a refund on that.”  Without skipping a beat, the driver headed down the hall and downstairs,  leaving the duo in their own bewilderment after being exposed on  accident for the first time.





"Ugh, i  can’t believe we actually let him take a peek! I’m gonna die of shame…"  Camille exclaimed, her face flushed in deep red. "I know, right? He  should’ve paid us for that show we’ve given him." May was more focused  on other aspects.

"Hey wait a minute, that’s genius actually! Cam, what if we…"





"No strip clubs." Camille immediately rebutted.





"...Fine. No strip clubs."





They picked up their groceries and awkwardly shuffled into their kitchen.





"Y’know, I feel like there’s a little something while we failed to consider." Camille started thinking out loud.

"How are we gonna cook while in this condition?" Camille started pulling on their connected fronts for emphasis.





"OW. Gentle, please!" May started to complain.





"Oh  you’re one to talk. The way you pull during the cam shows hurts like a  motherfucker! My nipples are still sore…" Camille vented her  frustration.





"Well at least you know it’s  coming, you could’ve given me a heads up just now! Ugh, anyway, how are  we gonna cook, this whole shit screams safety hazard.

Come to  think of it, we’ve only been feeding off of delivery and fast food the  past few weeks, haven’t we? It might be showing in our figure…" May  started pinching her stomach, and she had a small, yet noticeable amount  of fat between her fingers.

"I wish I could work out again…"





"Aw,  May…" Camille knew she wasn’t the most athletic person, but with her  current predicament, she’s being a literal dead-weight to Camille, whom  she knows values her appearance a lot.





Camille started to think. "Maybe there’s a way to get some basic exercise in while we’re like this?"





"Appreciate  the thought, but I follow a specific training regime, which would be  impossible to pull off right now. Best we could do is doing some  stretching and tugging, and maybe build up a sweat that way. That might  even shake the glue a little more loose, eh?" May said jokingly.

"But actually…

Holy shit, Cam, CAM!"

"What?! I’m literally right here! I always am! No need to yell!"

"Cam, I’m having another brain blast. Maybe that tugging idea isn’t so dumb after all." May is visibly excited.

"What,  the thing we tried weeks ago and doesn’t work besides hurting like  shit? No thanks, that glue ain’t coming loose. I thought we were over  that already." Camille tried to reason.

"No no, this isn’t about that. I’ve just thought of another way to rake our viewership up again."

"What? How?"

"So  what we’re gonna do, is start a new series of cam shows. Instead of  doing the usual sexy stuff, showing off our tits and all, we’re gonna  try to actively separate on camera."

"Didn’t we already do that too?" Camille thought back to her sore nips.

"Yes,  but no. It’s gonna be a new series! ‘The Unstuckening’! We could do  some stretching exercises, like yoga and all that jazz. It’s gonna show  off our body much better, we get our sweat on and stay healthy, and most  importantly, we can counteract the stupid glue trend we unintentionally  kickstarted. Think about it! Those wenches will cut out their stupid  act once they copy us and get unstuck eventually. We could save lives,  Cammy! LIVES!"

Camille gently smacks May’s cheek. "Calm that ego down."

"Ow.  Okay maybe not save lives. But the rest still applies! it might shoot  our numbers into new heights!" May is starting to get giddy now.

"Yoga,  eh? Well I did suggest some exercise, so I can’t exactly say no to that  now. Doing it live on camera though… you know how clumsy I can be."

"Come on, it’s gonna be fun! I’ll instruct you, and if anything goes wrong, no biggie. It makes good content."





"…Fiiiiiiine,  I guess you’re right. It’s worth a try at the very least. Who knows,  maybe we’ll actually pull ourselves apart before our surgery if we keep  it up long enough" Camille started to chuckle, and May followed suit.

"’The Unstuckening’ though? Really?"





"Shut up, it’s a work in progress. I’ll come up with something better later."





Both their stomachs started to grumble, which was a weird feeling with them being pressed so intimately tight together.





"Oh, right. Guess we should finally get our grub on" Camille stared at the groceries.





"…"





"Pizza?"





"Pizza."





They shoved some DiGiorno’s into the oven and called it a day.

May  kept the idea of that yoga stream in the back of her mind, and if  Camille doesn’t feel ready yet, she will help her get ready. The trick  is very simple: Practice.

“Camille.”

“Hmm?” the other woman asked as she typed on her keyboard.

May  grinned “About that Unstuckening idea, I think we should totally try it  out. I’ve been planning it for a while now, like I dreamt about it.”

Camille sighed and patted May’s head “Hello? Can Ms.Ego here give me back the normal May?”

May  spun the chair around to face Camille away from the computer “Now hear  me out, to improve our chances of success, we should practice it first.”

Camille  played along “If you’re that confident about it, sure. How bad could it  be? I was the one who suggested it in the first place.”

“Great! Now stand!” May ordered as the two got up.

They  then slowly moved over to an open area “This’ll do, grab the yoga mat.”  May told Camille while she tried to plan out how to proceed with this  genius idea.

Camille laid out the mat and positioned the two on top of it “Done. Now what?”





May  closed her eyes to think “Hmmm…Okay okay…Uh…Imagine that the camera is  over there.”, pointing at the desk, specifically Camille’s Gromit Mug.





May  then drew imaginary lines with her hands “Then we set it up so that  it’d only see our sides, tease the viewers, and we would do poses  that’ll either be really suggestive, or tried to stretch this glue  out.”, she then gave the bond holding the two some experimental tugs to  prove.





“Then what poses can we even do? We’re literally stuck at the front here.” Camille stated the obvious.





The ever so playful May simply smirked “Observe.”





She then leaned back, forcing Camille to lean forward as well “May!”





May  quickly put her hands and feet down and propped her self up with  Camille on top of her, hands planted on the floor “Hmm…Let’s start  simple.”





May then pushed Camille back straight on her knees. With the two now kneeling on the mat, May suggest a simple move.





“Okay,  I want us to try and lean back while keeping our bodies pressed  together. Stretch our limbs!” May extended her arms and leaned  backwards.





“H-Hey! Hold on a second!” Camille stammered out as she started to felt tugging on her chest.





“If you don’t lean back, you’ll fall onto me!” May replied without looking back.





Camille quickly does the same pose to balance them out, resulting in their breasts gluing them together while they leaned back.





May  stretched her arms out before straightening her pose back up again  “Hmmm, perhaps we can kick it up a notch. Up!”. May quickly stood up,  pulling a startled Camille along.

May  grabbed her phone and browse the internet for yoga poses. One of the  poses caught her eye as she quickly showed it to Camille.

“Are you sure? That looks difficult.” Camille asked.

“What? It’s just raising our legs behind us. What’s the hard part?”

“The STUCK part.”

May just rolled her eyes “It could save lives, Cammy. Lives! And it’s just practice for now.”

Camille knew she had no choice, and reluctantly agreed again.

May quickly hold onto Camille tightly “Hold me closer, it’ll be an eye candy for the viewers.”

Camille did so before observing the image on May’s phone “So now…we raise our legs?”

“Yeah.  I raise my right leg, you raise yours, and we tried held it for a bit  using each other as support.” May raised her right leg and easily held  onto Camille.

“Okay…” Camille slowly raised her  right leg as well, balancing her weight on her left leg and holding  onto May, “Uh…I don’t think I’m that good at this.”

“Don’t  sweat it, it’s free content either way. And what are the chances of us  becoming unstuck if you fall?” May said back, using her right arm to  hold up her feet. However, she forgot to account for Camille’s ability  to balance herself while she was messing about.

Camille’s left leg started to wobble a bit “Uh..I think we should…Oh Shit-“

She  fell to the side, dragging May down to the ground as well. The two  landed in a heap of entangled arms and legs with their cheeks pressed  against each other and chests even more so.

May, who landed on top, lifted up her face “I think you’re ready for the Unstuckening Stream.”

“Can we at least workshop the name first? I’d prefer to have the stream be named anything else.” Camille said from the floor.

“Bet.”

Over the next couple of days, the pair’s routine didn’t alter; Wake  up, shower, eat, and get work done. Occasionally they’d do some Yoga  both for Camille to feel more comfortable with the idea, but also to  give May some kind of physical activity to burn energy. This combined  schedule worked and filled the time leaving the two busy enough to not  think too hard about their current state and future plans, with one  notable exception

“Glue-ru’s Yoga Routine?” May  suggested while the two attempted a makeshift tree pose, each mirroring  the other for better stability

Camille felt unstable in the pose and soon dropped her foot, stabilizing the two. “No that feels too campy.”

“Okay what about Perma-partner Power Hour, the alliteration is catchy… next pose.”

Camille  leaned back as May did, supporting each other as they bended backwards,  they had gotten pretty good at this one. “I don’t like that one, for  obvious reason”

“Yeah, bit too bleak… sorry” May responded, still in thought

“Next  ones the modified twisted triangle?” Camille asked. The poses they  attempted never were quite right, but it was more about attempting them  than succeeding anyway

“See you got this, come on. Lean in 3… 2…”

The  two both leaned left as they raised their right hand in the air and  grasped the others, all the while using their other hand to reach down  to their feet. The end result was supposed to allow them to form a  triangle in the gap between them but… well there was no gaps between  them. Not really anyway. Though they couldn’t complete the pose the  attempt tugged massively on the connections they have like trying to  slide 2 magnets apart. It was as they were nearing the farthest, they  had gotten when each noticed something off.

“Is that smoke” May asked concerned

Shock washed over Camille’s faces as she realized “We forgot to take our food out of the oven”

They  both scrambled to the kitchen, as they opened the oven to find one of  their meals wasted. Charred to a crisp. Thankfully they had turned off  the oven before anything caught fire. They didn’t dare try to extract  the burnt food, some oven ready pasta dish that looked more like  charcoal now, it was best to let it cool and to deal with it later.

“Okay,  phew, that could have been real-“ May glances at Camille and stops,  tears begin to form. “Oh… Camille it’s alright. It’s my bad I should  have been keeping an eye on time. We can like-“

“It’s not that” Camille says, rubbing her eyes. “I just… I can’t stop worrying about us…”

“Us… Camille everything will turn out fine.”

“And  what if it doesn’t” Camille asks quietly “What if we can’t raise enough  money… What if something happens. I know we’ve put back a lot but what  happens if one of us gets hurt and we have to dip into that fund. If  neither of us noticed the smoke, do you know how much fire damage costs  to fix… We can’t even cook right. What are we gonna do if we they  can’t-“ By now Camille had started spiraling, the what-ifs piled on her  like massive stones, each pulling her deeper, the odds of separation  seemingly fading from any possibility. It had all become too much… that  is until she felt May's hands hold her head up to look at her.

“Listen”  May said softly “I know what you’re feeling Cam, trust me I get it. But  you can’t be breaking down just yet. Do you realize how far we’ve come.  Back when this first happened we could barely walk anywhere without  pulling something. We had burning food and made it here before anything  happened. I promise you, that we’ll fix this. I’ll burn the candle at  both ends if it means we make it out of this” Mays words washed over  Camille like a waterfall. She’d always been good at pep talks. How else  could she convince her costar to entice the fans all the time “Just  promise me you’ll keep holding on. We gotta believe we’ll fix this. I  can’t do that without you.”

Camille, relieved slightly looked at the burnt food sitting in the oven and sighed “I guess we’ve made progress in some ways”

“Maybe tonight we try making progress on cooking” May asked hesitantly”

“Heh…  last time we did that you had to sit on the stove while I tried to cook  past you. Almost turned on the wrong eye.” Camille smiled at the memory  of it

“I remember, trust me, how about this  time we try cooking together instead. Seems a bit more manageable” May  smirked “Also, it’s good to see you smile. You know the fans love it”  She teased

Camille nodded, the smile widening a bit. “Something simple like…”

“Noodles? Spaghetti would be nice and easy.”

“Do we have any meat to put in that? I know your always harping about Macros” Camille said sarcastically

“I’ll just put extra protein in my shake tomorrow. So, what do ya say. Ready to make some more progress together.”

Camille smiled and nodded, and the two set to work.

“First  things first we are gonna need some pots.” May said looking around “I’m  gonna hazard to guess they are in the bottom cabinets.”

“Starting with the hardest job it seems” Camille muttered.

“Just means the rest will be easy. Now remember the Shavasana pose” May chimed

“You mean what happens when we fall over”

“Yes  that. We just need to ease our way down instead. You know, if you hold  onto me you can squat down and slowly roll back. Once we get the pots we  need to start putting them in higher cabinets… you ready.”

Camille  looked nervous but decided it was better than nothing. She held her  arms open as May took a small hop, wrapping her legs around Camille.  Slowly and with great effort Camille lowered herself and as the reach  the floor she gave out, about to collapse in a heap. May quickly spang  into action as she pushed into Camille, allowing the two to lay flat on  the floor.

“Heh, maybe we should do a cooking stream” May teased

“One stream at a time please” Camille groaned

May opened the cabinets, grabbing two pots, smiling to herself

“And how do we get up with those” Asked Camille, still pinned beneath her cohost

“One  step at a time.” May looked at their surroundings and smiled “Okay  there may be some tugging, can you try to lean forward while pushing on  my shoulders”

“O…kay” Camille said, confused.  She shimmied and maneuvered her arms to Mays shoulders and began to  apply pressure, their skin beginning to stretch as far as it could go.  While slightly painful Camille continued “What now”

May  winced as she held the pots. She began reaching her arm closest to the  top of the counter as she did her best to place it on top. “Just need  another inch”

Suddenly May felt a jolt, almost  like a rocking sensation, as she saw Camille attempt to shift the two  just a tad closer. “That’s the ticket” May smirked, placing the first  pan down, which was then shortly followed by the second. Eventually  Camille’s strength faded as the two slapped back together, “I think…  huff… we know another pose… to use now”

Eventually  the two made their way back up, may adjusting herself to be on her  knees in front to Camille, as Camille lifted her legs and brought them  down, using the inertia to rock her body forward and up. This combined  with some pulling from May, the two stood once again.

“See, easy...” May smiled

“…Yeah… easy…”

The  rest was simple, the two got some water, set it to boil, and grabbed a  jar of pasta sauce from the cabinet next to the stove top, using the  other pot to warm it up, as well as add some oregano. The two stood with  the stove to their side attending their own pot, noodles entering the  boiling water. Leans to grab stuff just out of reach felt easier, and  more natural than they had before

“Hehe, guess yoga’s been paying off for us” Camille said, a soft smile forming once again

“Was that a chuckle. And here I thought we’d lost hope”

“Yeah… guess I was just Tense is all… sorry” said Camille sheepishly

“Hehe, that’s a good name”

“What”

“Releasing Tension. We should call the Stream that.” May smirked, continuing to stir the pot of sauce.

Camille smiled wider, but as she did that gnawing sense of unease overcame her again. One question kept rearing its ugly head

“Hey… May…”

“Yeah Cam”

“When this is all over… are… are we still gonna be friends”

Silence fell over the kitchen

“….”





“….”





“What do you mean, Cam?” May eventually replied.





“I  mean…. Let’s say we do finally get separated. Are we gonna be able to  like... Are we gonna continue life as we did before? Will we even be  able to? Or are we gonna really stay in touch at all after this?”  Camille asked, averting her gaze. Simply asking the question seemed to  feel like a punch to the gut to her, especially at the end. She could  feel like tears were starting to form in her eyes just at the thought of  not really seeing May after it was all said and done. However, Camille  could feel the arms of her friend wrap around her back, pulling her into  a soft hug soon after.





“Listen…. I don’t know  what the future may bring for us, be it separation or remaining  together. But what I do know is that there is NO way the two of us will  be breaking contact after this. …..Outside of maybe the literal sense.”  That earned a soft smile from Camille, who rested her chin on May’s  shoulder while she listened. “But look at what all we’ve been through  together. How are we not gonna stay friends at the very least after all  of this? You get what I’m saying, Camille?”





Camille  pondered May’s response. It made sense; it’d probably be harder to cut  contact fully after this. Though something stuck out to her.





“Yeah,  I think I do. But… ‘at the very least’? What’s that supposed to mean?”  Camille responded. May seemed to turn slightly red in the face.





“U-uhhhh…  I dunno, I… I’m just saying, we don’t know how things will really turn  out so…” May rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. “My point is,  I don’t wanna cut contact, Cam. Maybe I’ll take a day or two to just be  by myself, sure, but I’d never wanna lose you for good.”





That seemed to earn a small laugh from Camille, which May soon joined in with as well.





“Yeah, I think we’ll both be due for some alone time.”

“Ha. Without a doubt. You do feel the same, right Cam?”





“Yeah, I do. Thanks. I guess everything’s just kind of starting to get to me more than it should,” said Camille.





“Fair enough. I- Oh! Ggotta stir the noodles. Don’t want ‘em sticking together like us,” said May.





“Haha, nope. Though unlike us, they’d still be edible at least”





With  one final shared laugh, the two continued to prep the noodles in mostly  silence. Once the noodles were cooked and soft enough, they took the  noodles off the heat and glanced down towards a cabinet slightly down  towards the floor.





“We’re gonna need that colander, I forgot.” May said.





“Yep…  Here, what if…. Let’s try this.” Camille spoke as she opened the  cabinet door, then put her hands against the countertop. “If I hold us  up by the countertop, you think I could lower you down enough to grab  the colander?”





“Uhhhh maybe? Oo, if I put an arm around you, the tugging shouldn’t hurt so much, right?”





“Yeah yeah, let’s do that!” Camille nodded as May wrapped an arm around her waist.





“On three, now.” May spoke, to which Camille nodded.





“One…”

“Two…”

“Three.”





And  with that, Camille slowly lowered herself and May down towards the open  cabinet. May used her free hand to reach into the cabinet as soon as  she could, not wanting to risk going down too far and falling.





“Ah… You got it down there?” Camille asked as she heard may moving a few things around in there.





“………Yep! Here it is!” May replied as she pulled out a medium-sized colander. “You need help pulling me up?”





“Nah, I… think I got it.” Camille said as she began to slowly pull herself and May upward again.





“Well  how about I just…” May planted her feet on the ground and let her arm  around Camille’s waist come free and grip the counter, now trying to  pull herself up as well. This proved ever so slightly more effective,  and the two soon got back on their feet and standing up straight.





“Whew! That did help.” Camille smiled as they set the colander in the sink.





“Good. Here, I’ll drain the noodles. Just uhh… let’s go slowly.” May said.





“Yeah, sounds good. I’d rather not end up with burns on my back.” Camille replied.





With  that, May grabbed the handle of the pot with the hot water and noodles.  After a brief discussion of how to do this, they opted to slowly  shuffle sideways the short distance from the stove to the sink, as it  was less likely to splash that way. One short walk later, and May was  close enough to dump the noodles into the colander, a large billow of  steam rising from the sink as the hot water slowly drained out into the  pipes of the sink.





“Aaaaaand we are done!” May smiled in relief.





“Oh  good cuz I am starving.” Camille replied. After a short time, May  lifted the now-drained Colander from the sink and the two moved to pour  the noodles into the pot with the sauce, now mixing them with a wooden  spoon.





“So uhhhh…. May?”





“What’s up?”





“…Releasing Tension, huh?”





May perked up, now smirking at Camille. “You coming around?”





“…Maybe. It’s honestly better than anything I’m coming up with.”





“Sooo… Releasing Tension it is?”





“Releasing Tension it is.”





Both girls leaned back enough to look each other in the eyes with a smile and nodded simultaneously.





“Then  how about we eat, and if neither of us think up anything better while  we eat, we’ll settle on Releasing Tension. How about it?” May said.





“Deal.” Replied Camille.





The  two had spent the past few hours getting ready for their first  Releasing Tension stream. Luckily there was a Yoga mat in the closet  that hadn’t gotten used too much. It’d do for now, they decided.







“Man…  From cam show to yoga stream. What an odd road.” Camille said as she  glanced at the Yoga mat, then at their camera. It took some time to  rearrange things appropriately to allow the camera to capture them at  any decent angle, but it would also do for the time being.





“Yeah  but I think you missed a few steps. From game streaming to becoming  practically conjoined to cam show to yoga stream.” May replied as she  also glanced over their setup.





“....Y’know what, yeah, fair enough.” Camille let out a soft laugh.





“Hey, at least this is bound to be less nerve-racking than doing a cam show, y’know?” May spoke.





“You’d think but… well we’re still topless.” Camille replied.





“...Fair point.” Now it was both girls’ turn to let out a laugh.





“But  in all seriousness, I think our cam show helped a lot. I’m still  nervous, yeah, but it’s not nearly as bad as when we were doing our cam  show.” Camille admitted with a small smile, which prompted May to return  the smile and place her hands on her partner’s shoulders.





“And  you still did great! Trust me, just go with the flow, and we’re gonna  knock this out of the park with this stream. And who knows? Maybe if it  takes off, we can alternate our game streams with Releasing Tension  streams every now and then. Keep everyone excited, not fully knowing  what to expect from us.” May said. Camille seemed to mull the thought  over in her mind.





“Hmm…. keep everyone kinda  surprised… not a bad idea. If we keep a variety going, it might just  keep people interested in us before this trend falls further.” Camille  spoke as she closed her eyes. “Sounds like a plan. Maybe we can do that  if this all takes off.”







May fist-pumped the air triumphantly. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t.”





“Yeah….” Camille was silent for a moment before piping up again. “Hey May?”





“Yeah? What’s up?”





“I  know I probably sound like a broken record here but… I just gotta say  again. Thanks. Not just for the confidence boost but…. Really for  putting up with me. I’m sure I haven’t always been the most agreeable  girl to work with, even before all this but-” Camille was silenced by  May putting a finger to her lips.





“Hey. We both  may have been a little insufferable, both before and while we’ve been  stuck. But y’know what? I think it all happened for a reason.” May  spoke.





“A reason, huh? What reason could that be?” Camille asked.





“Beats  me, really. But if I had to guess, someone wanted us closer. Maybe not  in… this sense, y’know–” May gave a small tug on their bodies for  emphasis. “--but I don’t think we’d have talked even remotely as much as  we have if this hadn’t happened. And I mean like… really talked. Heart  to heart.”





Camille pondered that. She had a  point. Very rarely had they talked outside of their streams about  something that wasn’t really about their next collab. And when they did,  it was always pretty brief.

“You’re right. I hadn’t really thought of that but… I don’t imagine we’d have bonded this much emotionally otherwise.”





“And  the best part? We don’t have to stop. I don’t want to. We’re gonna  remain friends no matter what.” May offered a smile as she spoke, one  which Camille couldn’t help but reciprocate as she pulled her into a  tight hug.







“No matter what. Yeah…” Camille spoke before glancing at the clock. “Hey, it’s about time for the stream!”





“Oh  shit, already?” May asked as she craned her neck to glance at the  clock. “Dang, time flies. Are you ready to get this underway? Might be  our last shot to raise the money.”





“Yeah… I think I’m ready.” Camille took a deep breath before she locked eyes with May.





“Let’s  move.” Said both of them simultaneously before the two began carefully  shuffling their way to their makeshift yoga stream setup. Camille began  working on making sure the camera was set up and ready to record–it was.  After that, she hit the stream preview button to launch their  countdown.





Two minutes.





The two carefully laid themselves down across their Yoga mat. It wasn’t the comfiest but they’d work on that.





One minute.





May looked down at Camille as she lay on top of her, her hands on either side of Camille propping herself up.





“Almost time.” May said.





“Yeah.” Camille replied with one final deep breath. “Can’t promise I’ll be too good at Yoga.”





“Oh  I’m no pro either. This thing’s been rolled up in my closet for… I  forget how long.” May spoke followed by another small, but shared laugh.





Thirty seconds.





Both  turned their attention to the camera. They may have been on the floor,  but they could still see glimpses of the number of waiting viewers.





‘God  I hope this goes well…’ both thought to themselves as they watched the  countdown go down and down. Both shoot each other one final look and  nod.





5





4





3





2





1





With a small beep, the camera started streaming the two of them on the floor.





“Hello everyone~!” May spoke eagerly as she looked up at the camera.





“Hello! And welcome to…”





“Releasing Tension.” Both spoke simultaneously.