6

Setting: Same night, same room.Colby's living room is a whole different vibe now. The air is thick with that quiet post-revelation energy. Sam's still a little shaken. Matt looks lost in thought. Chris has stopped joking. Nick's arms are crossed, like he's bracing for something.

Jake: "Okay, she's not scared to talk about deep shit. So if she said something about you three? I know it's about to go deep."

Nick: "She replied to a comment that said 'Do one on the Sturniolos next.' This is literally her response."

Matt: half-joking, half-serious "If I cry I'm suing you, Nick."

Chris: grinning "Let's see what the therapist assassin has to say."

The video starts playing. Same girl. Same piercing green eyes. Same low, smooth voice with a dangerous edge. But this time? She's not just talking. She's warning.

⸻

Melinda (on screen):"It's very clear.

Chris? He's terrified of relationships. He always backs out when it starts getting serious — and I don't think he does that because he wants to hurt people. I think he does it to protect himself. Either he's been deeply hurt by a girl or he's never found a kind of love that made him feel safe enough to open that locked part of himself."

Chris: visibly frozen "...Jesus Christ."

Colby: side-eyes him slowly "She clocked you in like 10 seconds, bro."

Sam: quietly "That was disturbingly accurate."

Melinda:"And Matt? Matt's anxiety? The fandom makes it worse. Not better. Actually, y'all make it ten times worse. And that's not what a fandom is supposed to do."

Matt: staring blankly at the screen, jaw tight

Jake: "Dude... you good?"

Matt: mutters "I just... she's not wrong. At all."

Melinda:"You're supposed to make your faves feel safe. Not like they're walking into a war zone every time they open their phone."

Nick: eyes flicking to Matt "You've said that before."

Matt: softly "Yeah. In therapy."

Melinda:"Nick is gay. ACCEPT IT. Celebrate it. He's a fucking icon. You don't get to 'ship him straight' just to feed your own daydreams. That's not support — that's erasure."

Nick: visibly emotional, swallowing hard "...I love her. I actually love her."

Chris: gently "She said that for you. No one else. Just you."

Melinda:"And don't even get me started on the stalker situation. The fact that people got mad the boys didn't speak out?

Listen to me:That.Is.Their.Right.

They don't owe you that story. They don't owe you their trauma. They don't have to perform pain for your closure."

Colby: sits up straight "Okay now that line? That was a bar."

Sam: nodding slowly "She's saying what we can't say without getting cancelled."

Melinda:"And I have a strong-ass feeling a lot of the triplet fans are really young — and hey, that's fine. But let me make something very clear: 1. They're not gonna date you if you're 15. 2. They don't even know you exist. 3. They do not belong to you. In any fucking way."

Chris: flatly "THANK. YOU."

Nick: quietly, half-laughing "I've wanted to say that for years."

Melinda:"If they wanna take a month off YouTube and disappear, that is their right. This is their job. Their livelihood. Not yours.

Yeah, you have the privilege of watching them on your phone or TV or iPad. But that's all it is — a privilege. Not a pass. Not ownership."

Matt: rubs his face with both hands "Why is she dragging them and defending us at the same time?!"

Colby: "Because she's not dragging them. She's dragging the entitlement."

Melinda:"And you especially don't have the privilege to get mad when someone says, 'Matt is the pretty one.' 'No, Chris is the pretty one.' 'No, it's Nick.' WHO CARES. They're brothers, not fucking Hunger Games tributes."

Chris: laughs through his nose "Okay but 'Hunger Games tributes'—lowkey iconic."

Melinda:"Oh — and let's talk about smut with real people for a second.

Writing smut about actual, real-life people? Is disgusting. I don't care if you call it 'fanfiction.' It's invasive. It's violating. It's not 'creative freedom' — it's crossing a boundary they never consented to."

Nick: visibly tense now "Can we pin this video to the top of our entire existence?"

Matt: nods slowly "No because some of that stuff really did mess with my head."

Melinda:"You wanna fantasize about them? That's your business. But you don't get to make it their problem. You don't get to post porn links or write 10k-word fics and tag them. You don't get to put them in situations they didn't choose to be in — just because you're obsessed."

Jake: "This girl is holding the entire fandom by the throat and somehow still being respectful."

Melinda:"Imagine opening your app and seeing your face in a sexual edit you never agreed to. Imagine being a 20-something guy just trying to make videos with your brothers and seeing your own body in something explicit that you didn't create. That is genuinely terrifying. That messes with your mental health. Bad."

Chris: quiet "She's not exaggerating. That shit is so real."

Melinda:"This fandom?It's toxic as hell.And it needs to do better.

If you actually love the Sturniolo triplets? If you actually want them to keep doing YouTube, to stay here, to feel safe?

Maybe try something radical.Like respect."

The video ends. Silence.

No one speaks for a moment.

Matt: barely above a whisper "...I feel seen."

Nick: "I feel protected."

Chris: after a long pause "I feel like... maybe there's hope."

Colby: "Who is she?"

Sam: quietly "Melinda."