Modern Family: New Life

On Saturday at six in the evening, Leonard and Howard returned to Andrew's house, much to their surprise. They never imagined in their wildest dreams that the most popular guy in their grade would be a nerd like them, into pop culture and video games.

They also realized that no one at school knew about Andrew's secret hobby. Only they knew, and that made it feel even more special.

Mrs. Thompson spoke with Howard's mother, telling her that she would keep an eye on them to make sure they didn't do anything dangerous and that everything would be fine since they were staying the night.

"Guys' night!" Howard shouted as he entered Andrew's room with a big smile. It was the first time he had been invited to a friend's house, not counting Leonard. Plus, Andrew wasn't an unpopular guy like most of the nerdy classmates he knew—or like himself.

Howard tossed his backpack onto Andrew's bed and opened it, revealing lots of junk food, sodas, comics, and a few Xbox video games.

Leonard did the same. In his backpack, there were mostly DVDs, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, Christopher Nolan's Batman, Back to the Future, among others.

"I don't think we have enough time to watch all these movies and play video games," Andrew commented, a little surprised by the amount of stuff Leonard and Howard had brought.

"We do," Leonard and Howard said in unison, handing Andrew a written sheet, which he took and examined.

"A schedule?" Andrew murmured with a puzzled expression.

Each time slot had a movie or video game listed, along with how long they would last. Breaks were also planned for group discussions.

"Yeah, we did it just yesterday. Thanks to the internet," Howard said with a smile. They would make the most of every hour. They had all night, and since tomorrow was Sunday, they could sleep in.

The first thing they did was put on Spider-Man 1, starring Tobey Maguire, from 2002. The movie lasted two hours, and during it, they ate junk food and drank soda.

'I'll have to burn off these calories later,' Andrew thought. It wasn't healthy to eat this way, but his body was young, and he could afford the occasional indulgence. 99% of the time, he ate healthily, so a single day off from his diet wasn't a big deal.

At eight o'clock, they ordered pizza, and while eating, they watched the second and third Spider-Man movies, completing the trilogy. It was almost 1 a.m. when they finished watching all three films.

"Which one did you think was the best movie?" Andrew asked, getting up and stretching. His legs were numb, and his body felt stiff.

"Of course, the third one," Howard replied.

"The first one, without a doubt," Leonard answered, looking at Howard, who returned the stare.

"The third? Seriously, Howard?" Andrew said, and along with Leonard, they looked at him with judging eyes.

'Why do they always turn against me?' Howard thought.

The third one was the highest-grossing film of the trilogy, but fans didn't like it as much as the first and second.

"The best Peter Parker is in the third. He's popular and dark. Don't tell me you didn't like the dance he does, leaving all the girls speechless," Howard said, trying to justify himself, but only earning more dismissive looks from Leonard and Andrew.

"It was expected that you'd like it for that reason..." Leonard said, shaking his head.

"A dark and cool Peter? You don't understand the essence of Spider-Man," Andrew commented.

"I do understand! I just prefer that Peter who doesn't mess around. And why do you prefer the first one, Leonard? Because a nerd like you gets powers and suddenly becomes cool? You're not that different from me," Howard said, and Leonard's expression darkened because Howard was right.

"Ha! I knew it. Come on, Leonard, if you were given spider powers, the most daring thing you'd do is climb walls as fast as possible so the bullies wouldn't beat you up," Howard said with a victorious smile.

"The best one is the second," Andrew interrupted, trying to hold back his laughter from Howard's comment. "The best villain is Doctor Ock, and Peter faces the most important decisions. There's great character development," he added.

"You guys stick with the clumsy nerd from the first one and the existentialism of the second. I'll stick with the Peter who doesn't let himself be stepped on. Case closed," Howard said, knowing they wouldn't reach an agreement. They had an itinerary to follow, and they couldn't waste time on a discussion that would go nowhere.

Next was to play video games, but not on the Xbox—on the PC.

"Better not download any viruses," Andrew commented, standing behind Howard, who was sitting in the chair in front of the computer.

"Relax. I'm an expert in IT. I already downloaded this game on my PC, and nothing happened," Howard said with a confident smile.

Quickly and with great agility, he entered the website and started downloading a horror game they were supposed to play that night. The game would take a while to download, so they had a brief break, which Andrew took advantage of to go to the bathroom.

When he returned to his room, he saw Leonard and Howard intently watching the computer screen. They were watching a video, and from the speakers, a voice Andrew recognized was coming out.

It was his voice!

'I forgot about the videos I recorded!' Andrew thought with embarrassment, rushing over to the computer. Without warning, he paused the video and closed the tab, pushing Leonard and Howard aside.

"Hey, I was watching that!" Howard complained, looking at Andrew with a frown.

"You were about to get the attack helicopter!" Leonard said, still very hooked on the video.

"That video is private..." Andrew said with a strange expression because of the complaints from the two guys.

"I've never seen a video like that. The quality is really good..." Howard said, with a hand on his chin.

The videos he found online about video games were usually of poor quality and often short in length. He'd never seen a format like the one he'd just watched; even though the video was only three minutes in, he saw that it had 12 minutes of duration. Very strange.

"Yeah, how did you do it?" Leonard asked curiously, looking at Andrew.

"It wasn't difficult. I used software to record the screen of the PC while I played and commented. Then I transferred the video to a video editor to cut out any irrelevant parts, if there were any," Andrew replied.

In his past life, he had watched many YouTubers who focused on video games. He was a big consumer of that content. One of his unfulfilled dreams was to become a YouTuber like that.

There were several reasons; he didn't have time because of football and his hectic life (training, studying, eating well, even doing some odd jobs to make money, etc.). The little spare time he had, he used to relax by watching series, movies, or playing video games.

However, in this life, it's different. Since he was reborn, he had a lot of free time on his hands. His family took care of all his needs, so his responsibilities were much fewer compared to before.

In his free time, he recorded some Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare gameplay and edited them—all from his PC. It was easier to play and record from there. He just never uploaded them to YouTube.

"Can we finish watching the video?" Leonard asked. Howard nodded and looked at Andrew, waiting for a positive response.

'Do they really want to watch it...?' Andrew thought, feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness. It was strange for them to watch one of his videos, especially since he had commented on it himself. But seeing the enthusiasm on Leonard and Howard's faces, he decided to let them finish watching the video.

He sat on his bed, watching as his friends followed the gameplay closely. Every now and then, they would make a comment, be surprised by one of his eliminations, or laugh at his jokes in the recording.

Andrew realized how quickly they had gotten hooked and understood why.

First, it's 2008. YouTube was barely three years old since its founding, and the videos Andrew used to watch in 2024 were infinitely superior to those back then. The "gameplay" format didn't even exist as such, and the content on the platform was mostly homemade videos, comedy clips, music, and the occasional viral video.

What little there was of video games were low-quality recordings, with no editing, mostly made with external cameras pointing at the screen.

In contrast, his video was different. It had good image quality, a touch of editing, and entertaining and funny commentary—features that practically no one on YouTube was using.

Leonard and Howard were watching something new—something that not only looked good but also had humor and useful tips. Andrew, without meaning to, had created a pioneering format for this era. He had just tried to replicate the gameplay videos he used to watch in his past life, adding his own twist—or at least attempting to.

'Should I upload it?' he thought, a doubtful look on his face. He hadn't expected his friends to enjoy it so much. He knew they represented the kind of audience he wanted to reach.

Maybe he had a unique opportunity to do something big with this kind of content. Being a pioneer, coupled with the high video quality, editing, and his commentary, could help him achieve his dream of becoming a YouTuber.

When the gameplay ended, Leonard and Howard didn't stop there. They found two more videos in the same folder and immediately played them, fascinated by Andrew's tricks, plays, and spontaneous advice during the matches. When they finished, both turned to him with excitement.

"You have to upload this to YouTube, Andrew! The tips are really good!" Leonard said, adjusting his glasses, which had almost fallen off from his sudden enthusiasm.

Howard nodded eagerly. "Yeah, yeah, you have to upload them right now. They're fun, and you give tips even I could use. And I'm good at Call of Duty… Plus, I've never seen a video like this on YouTube before."

"Do you really think I should?" Andrew asked, trying to sound nonchalant but clearly flattered.

It's always nice to get positive feedback on something you worked on!

"Yeah! What's there to lose?" Leonard replied.

"You could help a lot of noobs," Howard added with a smirk.

Andrew laughed, feeling excited. "Alright… if you insist, I'll do it right now!"

He sat down at the PC and opened YouTube, navigating to his channel tab. He had created the channel back in 2005 under the nickname PlayerZ—the first thing that came to mind.

With a few clicks, he uploaded the video, gave it a title, and hit the Upload button.

"There it goes... my first video," Andrew said, a little nervous. He was more anxious than during his recent football games, though those had felt easy to him given his current skills.

"What's going on? Why's it taking so long?" Andrew asked, frowning as he stared at the screen.

"Your video is longer than most others. Maybe in the future, the internet will be faster for stuff like this," Leonard replied.

'Right, I forgot about that...' Andrew thought, crossing his arms as he watched the painfully slow progress bar barely move.

Finally, when the upload bar reached 100%, the video was live on the platform.

"What now?" Andrew asked.

"Now, PlayerZ, get ready to go viral… or at least get those five stars from the two of us," Howard said with a grin.

On YouTube, the "Like" and "Dislike" buttons didn't exist yet. Instead, it used a five-star rating system. Comments were available, though.

The three of them laughed and gathered around the computer, ready to refresh the page as many times as it took to see if anyone discovered the video, gave it stars, or, in the best-case scenario, left a comment.

The night went on. They chatted and kept refreshing the page every now and then, throwing out the itinerary Howard and Leonard had originally planned.

Andrew even suggested that they make videos like his. He believed they had the skills for gaming and were smart enough to provide entertaining commentary—at least that's what Andrew thought, knowing them from the TV show.

However, neither of them seemed very enthusiastic. They didn't see themselves as the kind of people who could create interesting or entertaining videos. They felt they lacked Andrew's charisma and ability to talk to himself while coming up with engaging things to say.

The night flew by. Andrew had more fun than he expected. He'd never had friends to share his hobbies of video games and geek culture with before.

They finally went to bed. Howard and Leonard slept on mattresses on the floor. Since it was summer and hot, they didn't need blankets.

As for Andrew's first video, it didn't receive any stars, comments, or subscribers. Howard and Leonard promised to subscribe once they got back home and were on their own computers.

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