Chapter Text
As you followed the volunteer, you couldn't help wondering where you were going. Were you in trouble? Did someone complain? Did this have something to do with the CAH game before the panel? The questions swirled through your head as you walked into a private room down the hallway, away from the main floor and other events. This room seemed almost like a small conference room or office and you and your friends sat down in the indicated chairs, looking at each other nervously. The volunteer then asked if anyone wanted anything to drink and when all of you declined they stepped out of the room. After several seconds of quiet you look at your friend and ask if he is okay. He looks over at you and nods. No one else says anything. Finally, you all hear voices in the hall. Unfortunately, they walk right past, and the tension in the room begins to rise again until you hear a voice call out "Wait, you guys walked right past the door!" It sounded like the volunteer who had lead you to this room. You all turn to face the door, unconsciously holding your breath, which rushes out of all of you when Jack steps in the room, followed closely by Bob and Wade! They grin at the stunned reactions on all of your faces. Wade sticks his head out the door and waves his hand, calling to someone "They're in here guys!" In walks Mark and Felix. One of your new friends actually faints. Someone else starts to hyperventilate. You have to check yourself to make sure it isn't you.
As everyone crowds in the room and then gets settled in seats, you and your friend exchange glances. He looks confused and you are sure you do as well. Finally, Mark speaks up. "So you are probably wondering why you were pulled aside from the crowd like this." Your group nods slowly. Mark continues "While we were getting setup for the panel, the audio technicians were testing the microphones. You probably saw them." Another group nod. "What you didn't know is we were getting our microphones and headsets setup up then as well and we heard your discussion. We thought you sounded like a fun group, so we had the audio guys leave a mic on you during the show and left our mics on a channel to hear you. Your commentary was great! We loved almost everything. Especially since we know mostly who was talking." You blush very red. Why did you have to be the only woman in the room?
Jack turned to you and asked "Who were you explaining things to during the panel?"
You cleared your throat nervously and pointed to your friend. You then explained he was not a big YouTube fan, but was interested in gaming and webcomics and that you had dragged him along to the panel with you. He ducked his head, blushing, and mumbled something no one understood. Felix turned to you and him and said "Is this the voice at the end who said he might have to start watching some of this junk with you?" You grinned and nodded as he ducked even lower in his chair, slowly nodding and blushing even brighter.
Just then Wade cut in and said "You know we never got anyone's names here. Do you mind introducing yourselves?" We all went around the table and introduced ourselves to the YouTubers. Afterwards, Wade said "Hey, [y/n], you almost made me give us away with several of your comments." Bob chuckled and added "Yeah, Wade started laughing when you were explaining the proposal thing and I thought for sure someone would say something to give us away." Your eyes got huge for a second as you realized what he meant. Then you blushed a brilliant scarlet, groaned softly, and hid your face behind your hands. They had heard you explaining Septiplier. Oh. My. Gawd!
Jack, Felix, and Mark must have known what brought that blush and groan on, because they laughed. Jack even thanked you for standing up to people about Septiplier. Your friends looked embarrassed as they realized they too must have been heard. As the YouTubers talked to the group, you all calmed down a bit and got to know each other. In a few minutes, Mandy, Molly, Marzia, and Signe came into the room as well. They announced they had gotten tired of waiting and asked to be shown back to the room by the same volunteer who had brought everyone else back. The women looked at the table and suddenly grinned at you. They introduced themselves, in case anyone didn't know who they were, and Signe said "So you were the one making us crack up while the guys were on stage. You were much more funny than they were." Jack winked at you and stuck out his tongue at his girlfriend as everyone laughed.
The group made room for the women to join them at the table, with Signe and Marzia sitting on Jack's and Felix's laps, Mandy pulling up one of the extra chairs and sitting next to Bob, and Molly just coming over and hugging Wade around the shoulders and leaning over him. The YouTubers made sure to include their significant others in the discussion, which lead back to the CAH game before the panel. Mark wanted to know how that happened and who's idea it was. You blushed as all your friends pointed to you. You explained that you had been to conventions before, although not recently and had noticed there was always downtime, so you had decided to pack some items in your bag to make the time go faster. You pulled your bag out to show them when Wade yelled out "Hey! I remember you from the signing now. I recognize that bag. You made me the awesome scarf with my logo! And you gave Bob one with his logo. I think you gave Jack and Mark something too."
Jack said "Yeah. Now I remember that too. You gave me the Septic Eye Sam blanket and Mark got one with the Tiny Box Tim! Those were really cool." Signe and Mark nodded and Signe said "Jack showed that to me and I took it back to the hotel yesterday. We used it last night even."
Felix looked slightly stunned and turned to you as though you had just kicked his puppy. "What nothing for me?" You reached in your bag and pulled out a hat and scarf with the bro-fist on them and handed them over. Marzia laughed at Felix and said "Now don't you feel guilty." Felix was too busy admiring your work to pay much attention to Marzia's teasing comment. Everyone laughed as one of the event coordinators came in to check that everything was all right. When he left, your stomach gave an audible rumble, which you ignored, but everyone overheard. You got several raised eyebrows aimed at you. Finally you said you needed to go get some food soon. The others in your group agreed and you were getting up to leave when suddenly you were all invited to go eat with the YouTubers!
You and your friends agreed right away and you all slipped out to go find a restaurant. As you walked down the block, several options were called out and discarded, until someone suggested a little pub that was right across from you. Everyone agreed and you all headed in. As soon as you were seated, Felix and Mark looked at you. Finally, Mark asked you if you had a YouTube channel of your own. You shook you head slowly. Felix told you that you should definitely start one up. Jack, Wade, and Bob nodded. Bob even said "You are really funny [y/n]. You would do really well. Plus you were good at explaining things. you could definitely do an awesome game play channel if you wanted." You blushed a little again and your friends all chimed in with encouragement. Finally you agreed to set one up.
Mark said "Good. Put up a vlog post first thing about what has been going on at the convention. I'll give you a shout-out on my channel as soon as I get back and you are up and running. I want to do some collabs with you too." Felix said "Me too." Bob nodded. Wade, who hadn't been paying attention suddenly looked up and said "What?", which made Mark comment "Dammit Wade!", much to everyone's amusement. Jack grabbed his phone and made you add your information as a contact and put your Skype handle in as well so he could set up a time to collab too. Wade eventually caught on and wanted in on it too. Contact information was exchanged and your phone suddenly became the most popular device at the table. All your new friends wanted to add their info, the YouTubers all wanted to add you, and even the ladies wanted to add you so they could chat with you later. By the time the meal was over you were feeling a bit overwhelmed. Signe and Molly seemed to notice this and asked if you were alright. You said yes, but that you were getting really tired. You excused yourself from the group and went to the restroom. When you came back to finish your meal and get the check, you found someone else had already gotten it and your friend was holding your your leftovers in a box for you by the door.
As you headed back to your hotel room, exhaustion hit you in a wave. Fortunately, you were very close by, and you were able to get to your room before collapsing into a heap on the bed. You weren't really sleepy, just physically wiped out and emotionally drained. You decided to get out your laptop from your bag and go ahead and start a channel on YouTube right then. Your laptop had a small, built in camera, which should be good enough to film a vlog about PAX. As you got to work, you realized you have no idea how to render the video or what editing software you might need. You had plugged in you phone as soon as you got in the room, so you scooted over to grab it and send out a quick text. You then noticed that you had been added to a group chat. It was everyone from dinner. You grinned and posted your problem and the name of your new channel. You got an immediate response from Mark and Jack. They both said you probably would need to edit the vlog too much and gave recommendations for software. Felix posted a few minutes later with what he used and what he recommended for video capture and a good, inexpensive camera. You thanked them all and said you were going to sleep now and you would talk to them soon. As you turned off the screen, you saw several good nights messages posted. You smiled and crawled under the covers. You dragged your laptop up next to you, watched your video once, and decided it really didn't need editing. You posted it as it was, shut your laptop off, and fell asleep smiling.
The next day was the final day of the convention, and you wanted to go see everything you hadn't gotten around to yet. Before you got there however, you decided to make a run to the nearest electronics store and pick up a handheld camera to vlog right from the convention. Later, as you wandered PAX Prime, you got several text messages, which you stopped and responded to as they came in. You had a great day not really doing anything but relaxing and exploring. As you headed back to your hotel room, you thought about all your experiences here and wondered how this was going to impact your life from here forward. Well, that was a question for another day.