Special thanks to all my friends for their support on this; I really couldn't have done it without the encouragement you guys have given to me. So thank you, sincerely.

TW: Panic attacks, bad thoughts/feelings...swearing, too, but if you watch the show then that's to be expected.

~~~Worth It [Part 1]~~~

A man stepped out of his car on a frostbitten winter's morning, slamming the door shut behind him. The sidewalk in front, the buildings to the side, and the car behind. He was ready for work. His brown eyes gazed around the surroundings as his nose sucked in a breath of very fresh air; it was a great day once again. Stepping up a nearby sidewalk, on his way to a certain place, the man brushed a ball of fluffy hair out of his face- which was being blown around by the wind. The only thing so "bad" about this day was the blustery weather, really; everything seemed perfect otherwise.

Danny was a tall, curly-haired Jewish performer with a scar on his eyebrow and a smile on his face. Said man was on his way to the Grumpspace, as it was called. He was humming a little tune as he moved forward, unsure of even what it was at the moment-it did indeed take his mind off the snippy cold in California, though. There was no snow whatsoever, but that didn't stop the state from bringing the winter along just as strongly as, say, some others.

Chilly days in Buffalo and Jersey were much worse, he thought, smiling a little as he thought about some people who seemed to think that, when LA was 40 degrees, this somehow constituted as "cold". Compared to where he'd been in the past, Dan had to laugh a little.

But, nonetheless, he was all zipped up in a green jacket and a black scarf; a blue knit cap pushing down his curly hair so it puffed out at the bottom. People sometimes remarked that he looked like an adorable hobo. Hands in his pockets, he began walking up the walkway to the building with a continuous hum. Unfortunately, he still had no idea what the song was. Perhaps if he hummed it out once he was inside, someone might know. Which reminded him...

Dan paused on the walkway and looked around-the only other car parked there belong to his best friend, Arin. There was no Barry, Ross, Holly, or Suzy...they were likely to be at home at this time. Perfect for hours of recording. Their "sessions" usually tend to go until late in the evening and sometimes past midnight, but those were the best ones. The times when Arin was so talkative and loopy at 1 o'clock in the morning that he'd forgotten what he'd even said in the episode the next day.

They'd be texting back and forth and Dan would bring up his funny joke, but he'd always either deny he said it, or give a really enthusiastic affirmation of his randomness at times. But, truthfully, that's what everyone loved about Arin. The jokes, the randomness, the talent...the sometimes insane proportions of his screaming and yelling at games.

He was, after all "Grump", so he had to be grumpy at one thing or another every so often to live up to that title. Dan laughed at his ragefits and, sometimes, ragequits. But they clicked well because of their opposite-type personalities. Dan was very down-to-earth and sweet, mellowing out Arin's blunt and dramatic attitude. Plus, one could sing like an angel and the other could hella rap. Ah, Starbomb...that little baby that the both of them (including Dan's other best friend, "Ninja" Brian) had nurtured into an ultra-successful musical group about video games-and putting those franchises and characters into funny scenarios. By far the best thing that "Not-So-Grump" had accomplished musically aside from his main group, Ninja Sex Party.

Then there was Northern Hues and Skyhill...

Danny was quickly snapped out of his musical thoughts as he found himself at the door of the "Grumpspace". He opened the unlocked entrance and went inside, taking off his scarf and hat and throwing them onto his desk. The man jumped a little when he heard a groan coming from the other room, and turned quickly to see Arin Hanson on the couch. His back was halfway over the side of it, long hair hanging down as he stared over at Dan. The latter couldn't tell whether he was genuinely frustrated at something or just being random as usual, so he laughed and looked over.

"You doin' okay, Arin?"

"You've taken all day to get here," the brunette pointed out, thrusting his arm out and pointing his finger accusingly at his fellow Let's Player. "I've been bored as shit with nothing to do but wait. Why are you so late today?"

Dan rolled his eyes playfully, unable to keep an amused grin off his face as he took off his winter gear and was left in a white t-shirt with the Triforce design on it, jeans, and a necklace. "Good question, considering you're the one who's always late. I should've brought some Starbucks, I'm sorry." he apologized, walking over to the couch and looking down at Arin; who was sprawled out over the entire thing and had his brown eyes fastened up on Dan.

"...You gonna move so I can sit?"

"Well, what are we gonna play?" Arin quipped back, sitting back up and combing his hand through his brown hair and blonde strip to straighten it up again- as he often did. "We got any games in the mail?"

"Arin, when are you gonna start opening the mail up by yourself?" Dan asked with a sigh, knowing his friend wouldn't open any of the packages that were addressed to "Game Grumps" unless his friend was there, too. Sure, he'd open things addressed to Egoraptor, but for some reason he seemed more reluctant to do the former- even though Danny had elaborated on numerous occasions that he didn't have to see everything.

"Mail's right here," responded Arin, not answering his friend's question directly. Dan was used to that. He pulled a thick stack of mail up beside him and shook one in particular package, hearing a loose cartridge rustle around inside. Excited, the two boys sat close together and watched as Arin tore open the package, revealing a copy of the Sega Genesis classic, After Burner 2. The Grumps ooh'd at the cartridge as they looked at it, inspecting it to make sure that it wasn't damaged in any way.

"After Burner's that cool game with the jetfighting, isn't it? Sweet," Danny remarked once Arin nodded in response, then stood with the game to walk over to the Genesis. He booted up the system and put the game in, withdrawing a packet of Skittles from his pocket as the screen loaded up.

Arin handed his friend a letter that was for him-which so happened to come in the mail along with the game, among other things. Danny put it in his pocket and began setting up the recording equipment, making sure all the mics were calibrated and the screen capture was on before taking his seat beside Arin. The two brofisted as the title screen loaded, and Dan opened his bag of Skittles as Arin commenced the recording process. After waiting a few seconds, they both spoke up at once.

"Heeey!"

"Welcome to Game Grumps," Arin said, "uh...today we're gonna be playing After Burner 2 on the Genesis. Thank you to the people who sent this in who, apparently, prefer to remain anonymous. But yeah, it's a...cool game, I remember it from ages back."

"Is that right?" Dan asked, curiously studying the graphics on the main menu screen. A wall of tiny balls-apparently targets for the plane seemed to be spinning around and around, prompting him to giggle at the odd choice in animation. "Shoot the balls!"

"Yeah. And I can't, that's just the weird menu animation." was the response, followed by the selection of the 'start' button. The game briefly showed some black-and-white photos of planes before putting the Grumps into a pixelated one of their own; which was launched off a carrier ship and began to soar in the air. Arin whooped and did a couple flips, shooting some missiles off to get a hang of the control functions.

"So, like, this is a game where you just shoot down other planes and try to avoid getting shot down yourself," Dan said, making more of a statement than asking a question. Arin nodded in response.

"Yeah, it's pretty classic- I remember the commercials for it when I was a kid," he chuckled, performing another barrel roll while he waited for the enemies to spawn into the game, "dude, 80's and 90's commercials were freakin' insane."

Danny laughed and sat back on the couch, holding his knee and looking at the screen as he thought about this. "Yeah, 'cuz...remember those really weird commercials for, like, toy cars and dolls?"

"Oh, yeah, totally," responded Arin as enemies began to appear in the distance. He moved out of the way of their attacks and locked onto the targets, waiting a few seconds before firing off his weapons. It was a fast-moving game and he had to keep an eye on things; but, like all Grump sessions, that didn't mean he still couldn't talk about stupid shit with his friend. "And do you remember those God-awful animations that sometimes went with the commercials back then?"

"Hell yeah, I do," Not-So-Grump had to smile as he grabbed a stuffed Pikachu and hugged it close, thinking back to his days as a child in Jersey with his parents and sister. "...Man, they were the weirdest," he followed up his previous comment, shaking some of his fluffy hair from his face as he witnessed Arin's aircraft begin to spin around. It continued to shoot up ahead and avoid the oncoming missiles until it got hit by one.

"Ah, shit..." Arin muttered to himself as he frantically dodged more oncoming missiles, taking aim and firing back with a spiteful look on his face-the same look that Danny was used to seeing every time they played a game. And yet, he still had to giggle at it.

"You got this, Ar," he said encouragingly, squinting at the screen as the craft spun. "But, like...commercials? What were we on about?" the man asked, trying to remember back to a few minutes ago. Distractions were the show's middle name, apparently.

"I don't know. Do we ever kn- DAMMIT!" hissed Arin as his brown eyes narrowed even darker at the screen, if that were at all possible. He barrel rolled out of the way, fastened the lock-on mechanism, and launched the weapons.

"Like I said, you got this," Danny giggled, "but for you people at home, Arin's got the fucking death stare on his face, geez. Mario Maker all over again," he was cut off by his friend's laughing, and reminded that it was basically every episode ever. Dan had to think about that for a moment, resting his head in his hand.

Every single episode...that must have tallied hundreds of recording sessions in all. Originally, it'd all been done in the house of Arin and his wife Suzy, a fellow gaming enthusiast who also had a love of cats. She had two YouTube channels of her own- one for makeup, DIY videos, arts and crafts, and the other for gaming.

But, however, they'd decided to migrate their massive collection to a brand new building- one in which the Grumps could work. But the show wasn't work, it was literally just sitting with your friend...playing a game. All day.

Dan had to make a contented look. He technically had this as his passion along with his baby, NSP; and he wouldn't have it any other way. Just the sheer act of forgetting reality for an afternoon-sometimes a whole day-to play video games with your best friend made all the difference in life.

Arin, he was positive, felt the same way about things. He was so positive, in fact, that even his habit of overthinking things seemed to be completely halted whenever it came to Game Grumps. The confidence he had on this show was unreal- and the support from viewers both made him feel incredibly loved and motivated. It was just, as he thought often, "a really cool thing".

Arin's pissy attitude seemed to be climbing fast, presently. He maneuvered all sorts of paths but didn't seem to be able to avoid those oncoming missiles well. He swore under his breath and handed off the controller quickly to his laughing, yet encouraging partner- who gladly took the wheel for a few moments before an impatient brunette was staring him in the face again.

This was what the audience missed off-camera. Since, of course, the Grumps didn't use a camera.

The thought rushed through Arin's mind as he leaned in closer, knowing neither he nor Dan had any equipped personal boundaries (what even were those) on them whatsoever. After a lost level, the controller was once again passed back to "Grump", who took it gladly and began playing the game just the same as before. Arin tapped his feet lightly on the floor as he began talking about something random- even he wasn't sure why the conversation about popcorn or...something, came into play. That was how his mind worked: fast-paced, random, completely wild and unhinged by reality.

He was, afterall, an animator; and a pretty damn good one at that. Not to mention, rapper. How fast and how smooth could someone rap? In Dan's opinion, at least, it was none other than Arin. He had to be the best.

"Damn!" hissed Arin as he started taking more hits than making them, "is this game rigged, or am I seeing things? I swear..." he grumbled, then continued on with the conversation about popcorn-which switched to cotton candy, then back to popcorn. What could he say? He was hungry. And more than excited for dinner tonight with Suzy. Mmm...roast beef, mashed potatoes, and probably an ever-growing hungry feeling even WHILE he ate. Then he'd go sit on the couch with Suzy and watch whatever...cuddle with the cats, too. Ahh, little Mochi and Mimi...

Arin swore that Danny would steal Mimi and take her home with him if he got the chance. At this thought, the conversation quickly switched over to cats.

Within the next...ten, maybe, minutes, the guys finished up After Burner 2 and ended the episode. That was a fun one, and they hastily moved onto the next game after that. Danny got out his laptop and looked up walkthroughs, as this happened to be a more story-driven title...and it required the searching for of things. Arin wasn't too good at taking game direction from most people, but he gladly heeded Danny's directions and warnings.

Since Arin seemed to be doing fine and the both of them could multitask well while still holding an engaging conversation for the viewers at home, Danny began to drift across the interwebs. He checked out Twitter, first- NSP's flooded feed of shoutouts and such was, once again, interesting to gloss over.

After a minute of this, while still holding up a conversation of Arin about game design and such, Dan began to drift over to Reddit. He laughed at one of Arin's comments as he scrolled down to the Game Grumps subreddit and clicked it, eager to see what all the lovelies (as the fans were called) were up to. Perhaps there was a noteworthy piece of fanart or even a little note to the Grumps- it was very possible.

Danny didn't frequent Reddit when it was work-related often...he preferred to stay on the farthest part of the site from NSP and Game Grumps for various reasons; unless it was an AMA or something. The top one being that some people were just hardhearted bastards, but that was beside the point.

Now Arin was too engrossed in the game to notice or care what Danny was doing, as usual. He kept his mind focused and the conversation still going; as he always managed to do whenever Dan was there. He could literally talk about anything. What did Arin have to lose? The world already knew about the D-Club, after all.

Because of the lack of thinking it through, Dan just drifted on into the waves of the Game Grumps subreddit. He didn't come here since a bit after the last AMA they'd had, but he was ready and prepped to see some of the cool fanart and, hopefully, upvoted talks that people had started.

Arin would have given Dan a quick warning had he'd known; but considering the two were so deep in both the gameplay and conversation...he didn't. The game continued as usual, with a commentary carrying on as usual with occupied half of both their attentions. The conversation eventually switched over to music. More specifically, old music- the kind Danny relished in and took inspiration from.

Oh! He suddenly thought, remembering that tune that had been stuck in his head.

"So, today I've got this song stuck in my head. Do you know the little 'Ooh...you're makin' me live'?" he asked curiously to the tune of the mystery song, leaning a little forward to watch Arin's facial expression as he thought.

"Yeah, it's like...Queen or something. I know what you mean though." the gamer answered with a quick glance at an inquisitive Danny- operating his laptop with one hand and hugging a big stuffed Pikachu with the other. "...Stuck in your head, huh?" Arin had to smirk a little, "you've always got some song in there."

"Kinda comes with the profession, bro." giggled Dan, pushing some fluffy hair back from his face and turning back to the game. Before long, he drifted back to his laptop and soon forgot the song and previous conversation as he dove deeper into Reddit and Arin began talking about the gameplay again.

"Starcade 9 - Forum and Discussion"

Danny thought that was neat. That was an episode of Jontron's "Starcade" series, a parody of Star Wars that he had done on his channel. Dan was a fan of Jontron and Arin was, too.

Well...Arin had worked with him.

Before Danny had even come onto Game Grumps, Jon had been the one to start it up. With Arin. It'd been more of a promotion for their respective channels, but neither knew that it would evolve into something absolutely huge. Not to mention the fact that it would eventually spawn spinoff series like Steam Train, Grumpcade, Table Flip, and others. Though Jon had left, he still stuck on his own show and Danny loved the content. Though he didn't know the man as well as Arin did, he respected the former Not-So-Grump from a distance, although he generally avoided conversation about him on the show.

It was sort of a taboo...

He hadn't taken much consideration into the fact that people might still be butthurt about Jon leaving, and that there might be a whole squad of people like that. Dan knew that he was disliked at first, but that was more obvious and he saw that coming.

It's the internet, there was gonna be that initial hate before he developed a fanbase of his own. So many girls he made swoon and so many guys he could make go gay for him in an instant. Danny was a charmer, to say the least; and everyone generally held a high opinion of him. But then there was the...

The other side of things.

Yeah, the other side of "things"...which he barely paid attention to. Sure, he knew they existed, but so did trolls. Surely smart people wouldn't legitimately form a squad just to get on Dan's case. They'd stay quiet...right?

Right?

Danny scrolled through thread after thread while holding up a conversation with his friend; an engaging one at that. Often, Danny's brown eyes drifted back over to the gameplay when the conversation became slightly quiet- which didn't happen too often, but still. Usually by the end of these sessions, which sometimes dragged into the night, Dan's face and cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing- something he did often anyway. But when he was with Arin being a Game Grump, he felt free to let his happy emotions out and be the most expressive version of himself.

However, as he dug deep into the threads on Reddit, things got very...different. And not different in especially the good way. A discussion seemed to be taking place right now in the forum that had started up a couple hours ago-and people were certainly buzzing. Danny's heart leaped into his throat when he saw the 300 comments that had already surfaced; and what the topic of this particular thread was.

Oh, God...

"Do you guys ever wish that Arin would've taken a bit more consideration into Jon's replacement Grump?"

Sigh. Dan blinked, phased at this point. But the thread was tempting...something with so many comments must have a lot of opinions. He was well aware that people loved him...loved him for NSP, for his musical endeavors, for Game Grumps...

"I mean...don't get me wrong, I like Dan okay. He seems like a great guy and I'm sure you guys have adjusted; but I gave up the show when Jon left. I couldn't think that a replacement would ever be a CONSIDERATION for Arin, but at this point...the "fandom" seems to think otherwise."

...It continued;

"I've watched minimal episodes with Danny just because, unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan. So do you think that Arin should have put a bit more thought into finding someone more qualified? Because I've never seen Avidan (or Sexbang, whatever) as one of the Grumps...I don't mean to sound so weird, but that's just how it is for me. Could you tell me if he's...worth it?"

Why did that sting so much?

Danny inhaled deeply, beginning to scroll down to the comments below. The first few were thankfully defensive and encouraging statements, which did indeed serve their purpose in uplifting him. He kept reading for a while, coming across some poorly-worded insults; first reaction being to skip them altogether and move to more constructive criticism. Thankfully, there was more defense than any-

"Could you tell me if he's...worth it?"

"If he's worth it."