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His brothers really weren’t too thrilled about bringing him to this party. Their youngest sibling, the spam mail Addison? At one of Queen’s events? It was just a recipe for him to make a fool of himself- to make a fool of them. Nobody likes spam in Cyber City, so why would anybody in Card Kingdom or TV World? Why should the scrawny little white Addison be allowed to attend such a lavish event?
Well, he shouldn’t have been, at least not according to Pink, but Blue insisted it was cruel to leave him behind when technically the Addisons had been invited as a group. Even if it was heavily implied that White’s much more colorful counterparts were the darkners the queen had truly intended to attend.
He didn’t feel welcome. He wasn’t welcomed, but nonetheless, the youngest Addison had prepared for the biggest night of his life by donning his fanciest suit and heeled boots, binding his chest, and styling his recently cut white hair.
What the others saw as a nuisance, he saw as an opportunity to start anew, to meet people who might recognize his talents and see him as more than the scammy little mail carrier that Cyber City once knew. Out with the pathetic woman he once was, and in with the charming salesman he knew himself to be, or at least wanted to be...
...is how he felt for about five minutes.
The music was loud and the guests were louder, all mingling together in this egotistical show of wealth and influence that Queen threw every year. It was a party for big shots, and White was anything but that, so as his fellow Addisons made business deal after business deal, all White managed to do was get in the way.
For no matter how the little thing tried, he just couldn’t catch anyone’s attention like his brothers could, lost beneath the flashing neon lights and dauntingly large crowd. He’d come here to be seen as something greater than he was, but in the end, he wasn’t being seen at all.
He made small talk here and there, sure, but nobody was truly interested in him. Not as a darkner, and certainly not as a salesman, though even if they were, it wasn’t as if he’d be heard over the cacophony of laughter and music and obnoxious conversation anyway.
He couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by it all, in the middle of a crowd who spoke but never listened. He wanted, no- needed to get away from it all, the sheer noise overstimulating and overwhelming. He could handle the chaos of the internet at the best of times, but something about this was all too much to bear amidst the disappointment of being ignored yet again, and so the Addison ran off.
Or at least, he tried to.
All he’d wanted to do was take a smoke break on the balcony, but as it turned out, it’s quite the challenge navigating your way through hundreds of darkners at someone of White’s size. If he wasn’t careful, he might very well bump into something...
He wasn’t careful in the slightest.
“Ah-!” With a hard smack, the Addison bumped directly into something hard. Or really, more like someone. And for once all night long, it seemed he was finally the center of attention.
“Shit! Sorry!” He blurted out before he even looked up at the guy he’d run into, though that wouldn’t last long.
Almost immediately, fear washed over him at the sight that lay above him. The darkner was enormous, towering over the little Addison like a giant. He’d hold his hand out awkwardly, drink sloshing wildly from the sudden intrusion, and worst of all, his expression lay entirely blank; literally. The screen where his face should be was dark.
Mr. Ant Tenna. White had bumped into Mr. Ant Tenna, the successful television host behind the Dreemur Family’s TV Time.
Of all the Pippins and Zappers, the Werewires and Shadowguys, the Plugboys and Poppups- why did he have to bump into this man in particular? It truly seemed the world was out to get him.
“I-I’ll get you another [Drinks On The House], s-sir! I-I’m so [I Apologize]!” White spluttered, cheeks tinted pink at the reputation-ruining blunder of spilling Mr. Ant Tenna’s drink.
He expected vitriol out of the guy, or at least annoyance. He figured he’d be looked down upon by such a powerful darkner as the lord of screens. No one, and I mean no one so famous from Cyber City was ever as nice as they seemed. Then again, Tenna wasn’t from Cyber City, was he?
“Well, hey there! You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” His face would pop back into view, a wide, goofy smile gracing his glowing white screen. “I’m not that old! Right, folks?” He’d ask to seemingly nobody, bringing his hand up to his face as though he were speaking to a nonexistent camera.
“I-I just- A-Apologies, Mr. Tenna! It won’t happen [You Won’t Get An Offer Like This Again!]!” Angel, fuck him. All night long, he’d been trying so hard to suppress that irritating spammy vocal quirk of his, but it seemed in his anxiety, his control had started to waver.
Tenna didn’t really seem to care, though. “Oh, but I’m sure it will! Queen’s got us packed like sardines in here! It wasn’t your fault!”
It was absolutely White’s fault.
“Say! What’s your name, short fella?” Tenna leaned down as he spoke, tone endearing instead of mocking when it came to his height- or lack thereof.
“My- My [Name:]?” Oh, what a completely stupid question. It wasn’t as though the Addison had forgotten, more that he wasn’t expecting the Mr. Ant Tenna to care about the name of a nobody like him! “A-Ah- I’m [Now Presenting: White Addison]!”
“An Addison! Oh, you’re one of those fancy schmancy Cyber City advertisers!” He sounded so impressed that White felt like an imposter.
“Heh! Y’know, for somebody named White, you’re awfully red right now!” Tenna pointed, teasing him, though still, it remained charming instead of cruel.
“H-Hah- yes, well, Mr. Tenna, I just- wasn’t expecting you to ask my [What’s Your Name?]!” Or to care about me at all.
“Oh, please! Just Tenna is fine! No need for formality!” He replied sweetly. “Really, though, it’d be awful rude if I didn’t ask your name! You’ve been invited to Queen’s party! You’re clearly somebody special.”
“Me?”
“You!”
White really wasn’t beating the ‘secretly a red Addison’ allegations now! His cheeks were just the loveliest shade of crimson under Tenna’s eyeless gaze. Hearing the other say such a thing certainly did something for his ego, even if he knew he really wasn’t anything special. Not compared to a guy like Tenna.
“Hah- you [Really Think You Can Get A Better Bargain Than This?] so?” Oh, he was just fishing for compliments now. “I mean, coming from someone like you that’s worth a lot!”
“Oh? A fan, are ya?” Angel above, even Tenna’s blatant show of ego was charming! “Y’know I love meeting those!” He beamed, smile somehow managing to grow wider than before.
A fan… Was White a fan? It’s not exactly like he watched TV Time religiously, but he’d seen a few episodes here and there- just enough to know that Tenna was a much bigger deal than most darkners! After an encounter like this however? Well-
“Course I’m a fan! Everybody loves [Mr. Ant Tenna’s TV Time!]” The show’s jingle played out during that embarrassing little ad-clip, something mortifying for White, but oh, so delightful to the TV host!
“Oh, really?” His grin wobbled slightly, as though he wasn’t expecting a reaction like that out of the other. But much more surprising was the small red flower that’d blossomed from the tip of his nose. “Golly- to hear that from a new-fangled Cyber City darkner!” His smile turned dreamy.
And it was in that moment that it really hit White- what it felt like to be treated like a real person, not just the inconvenience most of the city saw him as. It felt so refreshing, so nice. Tenna was so nice. To be treating him not just like a starstruck fan, but as someone to be admired just for coming from the internet? It felt undeserved, yet so, so intoxicating.
And that wasn’t even mentioning the strange flutter in White’s heart as his eyes scanned the tall, handsome CRT that’d been so kind to him. That all-black suit that fit him so well, the way the red petals cast his screen in a rosy hue. White certainly wasn’t immune to a little celebrity crush.
“I ah- need to run to the restroom to- remove this-” Tenna interrupted his train of thought, playing with the blossom at his nose in a way that nearly seemed bashful. “It was very nice meeting you, White.”
“It was- [Nice To Meet You] too, Tenna…”
Several years later…
“What’s the matter, [Big Shot]? You’re starin’ into the void an awful lot!” The shorter darkner questioned, giving the lord of screens a grin so charming it made his head spin.
“Oh, it’s nothing, really! Y’know, I’m just so happy to have somebody new at the studio! Especially someone as accomplished as the Spamton G. Spamton!”
“Y’know, for such a good actor, you make a terrible liar.” Spamton snickered.
Tenna's antennae twitched before he sighed softly, resigning himself to the situation. “Fine, ya got me! But you’re gonna think it’s silly!”
“Well, you’re a silly guy!”
“Heh! Ya got me again, Mr. Spamton! Look, I know how this is gonna sound! I mean, how could I be unsure about this- but are you positive we haven’t met before?”
Caught off guard, it took Spamton a moment before he’d reply, though once he did, he blew the whole thing off. “Tch.” The ad-guy would roll his eyes. “You prolly just saw me on a billboard, Ant!”
“Are you sure?" The CRT seemed far more confident in this vague memory than Spamton was comfortable with. "You just seem so… familiar.”
“Oh, please!” The salesman spluttered a moment, though it went unnoticed with how quickly he regained his composure. “How could I forget meetin’ a [Star] like you?”
“Ah, gee- You’re making me blush, Mr. Spamton.”
“Heh. Just Spamton is fine.”