Again in 2021, VIL was once simply every other fan, operating a small YouTube channel the place he shared his favourite VTuber moments. That is when he stumbled throughout Ava Lamp’s streams — and one thing clicked.
4 years later, he was once on one knee on a balcony at TwitchCon 2025, asking Ava to marry him.
Like many fashionable romances, the affection tale between VTubers VIL and Ava Lamp began on-line. “I appreciated her character, content material, and fashion,” VIL informed Mashable at TwitchCon 2025, including that he appreciated “her method of joking” and her “very slime-girl VTube fashion.”
“So, I adopted her and began clipping her [streams], and he or she spotted the clips,” he stated.
VIL proposes to Ava Lamp at TwitchCon 2025.
Credit score: Courtesy of Ava Lamp and VIL
From there, an internet friendship started to develop. They talked extra, collaborated, and, in the end, VIL become a VTuber himself. Earlier than lengthy, the 2 had been inseparable on-line — “easiest pals,” as he put it.
He began to fall for her, however Ava was once transparent: There was once no likelihood of romance. She was once a lesbian, and he or she would by no means date every other content material writer. “However then that modified,” she joked to Mashable.
Two years later, the buddies made up our minds to wait TwitchCon 2023 in conjunction with a gaggle of mutuals. It could be their first time assembly in individual. They shared a resort room with every other good friend and spent all 3 days facet by means of facet — guffawing, exploring, and, it sounds as if, complicated everybody round them.
Their pals saved asking in the event that they had been courting. They’d snigger and deny it. After all now not! How ridiculous.
“We spent lots of the weekend in combination, and just about did the whole thing in combination,” she stated. ” whilst you simply in point of fact click on with anyone? You’ve got that spark? That is what I felt. And I used to be identical to, ‘I will’t now not inform you. As a result of if we depart right here, I am not going to be courageous sufficient to inform you this later.'”
At the closing day of the conference, she typed out a notice on her telephone within the backseat of an Uber and passed it to him. “Please do not hate me,” she stated.
The message, as they bring it to mind, went one thing like this: “I do know I have stated I would not date a person and I additionally would not date a content material writer, however once you have to understand you and seeing you in individual, I think sparks.”
“It was once so humorous as a result of she did not in reality question me out at any level within the notice,” VIL stated. “It was once simply her blurting out her emotions in this notice. To my wisdom, this was once a 0 % likelihood of going down. And now, , it was once one hundred percent likelihood. So I used to be more or less blue-screened.”
Behind that Uber, they dove immediately into the massive questions — marriage, youngsters, transferring. They already knew each and every different as pals, however now they had to know in the event that they had been suitable. Seems? They had been.
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Sharing a kiss at TwitchCon.
Credit score: Courtesy of Ava Lamp and VIL
There was once only one drawback: distance. They lived around the nation from each and every different. So, for the following yr, they made it paintings long-distance. They traveled to peer each and every different each and every different month, streamed in combination, or even wore the ones bracelets that buzz when the opposite individual touches theirs.
After TwitchCon 2024, they made up our minds it was once time. Ava packed her lifestyles right into a U-Haul, and so they made the cross-country power in combination — between two hurricanes.
“Riding that U-Haul was once terrifying,” VIL stated. “I had most effective pushed that massive of a truck one or two different instances. In order that, plus all of my spouse’s lifestyles assets, are in a truck. And I am the only riding.”
“Not anything dangerous came about, regardless that,” Ava reassured him.
By the point they sat down with Mashable on the San Diego Conference Heart for TwitchCon 2025, the 2 had been fiddling with each and every different’s palms, each dressed in matching silver bracelets with pink jewels — replacements for his or her long-distance ones. Transferring in in combination, Ava stated, was once a “massive aid” as a result of “after all we get to spend all of our time in combination.”
Because the primary milestones in their courting had all covered up with TwitchCon — they met in individual at TwitchCon 2023, and after TwitchCon 2024, they moved in in combination — they knew TwitchCon 2025 needed to be one thing particular.
VIL began a secret team chat with all their pals, everybody with the exception of Ava. The morning of the primary day of the conference, Ava was once taking her time getting able whilst he attempted to stick calm.
“I attempted to play it tremendous cool,” he joked, however the engagement ring — a brief one till the true ring, made with stones from her grandmother’s and great-grandmother’s rings, was once able — was once burning a hollow in his pocket.
“I used to be obsessively checking it to verify it did not fall out,” he stated.
“I noticed you test your pocket a pair instances, however I did not clock what that was once. I believed you had been simply nervous about dropping your telephone or one thing,” she laughed.
They grabbed brunch with pals, however he was once desperate to get to the conference heart. He had a plan: a balcony overlooking the sea. Ava, then again, sought after to forestall by means of the merch desk first.
“Ultimate yr, she sought after merch and it was once bought out, and I knew I did not need that to occur once more,” he stated. “And so when she’s like, ‘Are we able to get this merch actual fast? I need to be certain that I am getting it ahead of anything else occurs.’ In my head, I am like, ‘No, we wish to move!’ However I additionally did not need her to fail to spot the merch. So I am going, ‘Sure, yeah, that is fantastic, however are we able to you ought to be a little bit fast?'”
In the end, they reached the balcony. Their pals, who had been all in at the plan, requested different con-goers to transparent the world. Then VIL informed Ava to test one thing on Discord. She opened her telephone — and noticed a commissioned piece of artwork of his VTuber character proposing to hers. When she seemed up, he was once on one knee.
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He does not have in mind precisely what he stated. All she recalls is that she stated sure.
“[I love] how candy you might be and the way you put on your middle for your sleeve,” Ava stated when requested what she cherished maximum about him. “And you are now not afraid to be emotional. I really like how candy you might be and the way sort you might be.”
Then VIL made her cry.
“I really like how unabashedly your self you might be,” he informed her. Up to now, other folks had attempted to suppress her pleasure, he stated. “I’m so satisfied that you’ll be all of your self and you’ll simply include your self. You’re keen on type. You’re very alt-goth. You like to dye your hair. You’re keen on development Gundams, you’re keen on Legos, you’re keen on Disney. I really like you. I really like you being you. And I am satisfied that we will be able to be our easiest selves in combination. You at all times inspire me to be my easiest self.”
They don’t have marriage ceremony plans but — but when Twitch CEO Dan Clancy needs to sponsor it, they’re now not antagonistic.
