VidCon 20XX was under way, and many channel runners large and small came from every corner to attend. At this time, it was a Thursday evening, where attendees were only energetic enough to bring their things to the hotel rooms, and maybe mingle with a few others. Some of the larger channel runners had to go to the main convention area to set up for their schedules with panels and booths for meeting fans.

As the sign-ups wound down, the YouTubers dispersed to respective hotel rooms for the night. The group channels, like Game Grumps and Achievement Hunter, had collected in the rooms together, while single channels like Seananners and CaptainSparklez all had their own rooms. And after a half hour, only a few creators were left in the lobby.

One was waiting for the rest of his 'crew' to arrive, one particular Canadian member being worriedly late. The other YouTuber was more than happy to stick around the lobby and chat up with a few fans. After the mingle greet, he made his way for the elevator, being reluctantly followed by the taller Italian YouTuber, who had given up on trying to get a hold of his friends, feeling to exhausted from the trip there to wait any longer.

They each stepped into the small elevator, giving one another a polite nod for a moment, then remaining silent. But in one quiet moment, the elevator gave a violent shake, as the two men inside, nervously balanced themselves from the jolt.

"…That didn't sound good…" the shorter man muttered, looking to the other.

"Uhhmm…" he looked around, biting his lip and pushing the red button at the bottom of the floor buttons. "…Well, this sucks."

Once he had hit the button, the UV lights above them turned a hint of red, illuminating the elevator in a deep glow. This was supposed to alert security of a faulty elevator, but the shorter man looked around tensely.

"Great…" he muttered, looking down and rubbing his arm.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, fine, just…yeah, I'm ok…"

It was in that moment, the taller one tilted his head and turned to full attention to the other.

"Wait, aren't…aren't you Markiplier?"

The shorter man looked up and nodded, still looking concerned. "Y-Yeah, I am. Just…trying to get to my room."

"Yeah, same, but hey, it's good to meet you at least, probably not the best place to meet in though, huh?" he said, giving a half smile.

"That's for sure…" Mark responded with a stunted laugh. He looked up to the other, pausing briefly, before standing a little straighter. "You look familiar. You have a channel too, right?"

"Yeah, though it's far from as big as yours is. Channel, I mean, well, I'm assuming that too, but…" his brief innuendo allowed the two of them to laugh for a moment. "Yeah, I'm ChilledChaos. Or you can just call me Anthony if you'd like."

"Oh, yeah, Wade talks about you every so often. I've been checking out a few of your videos, they're pretty good!"

"So are yours, dude, I just saw the one you uploaded a while back, with the game about…" he paused, remembering the video he was referring to. A video that affected several of Mark's fans, and Mark himself. A video about a game that they had just unintentionally gotten into a similar situation as such game.

Presentable Liberty.

He chuckled nervously and shook his head, looking back to Mark with more concern than before. He could tell that Mark was back in his tense thoughts, as he tried to push the other buttons for any sort of reaction. "They should be moving us soon…"

"Hopefully…hopefully this isn't just some sort of big joking test someone's pulling on us…"

Anthony looked back over to him, knowing the situation was bringing back the loneliness of what the game did to him. He shook his head and smiled, leaning against the railing of the elevator.

"No, we're probably just going to have to wait a little while for this to start running again. And then…" he smiled wider, recalling one of his older videos. "The top floor will have a billiards room and a big TV, with a mini-casino."

"Yeah," Mark smiled with a sigh, having also played the game he spoke of. "We just have to go through a bunch of nonsense levels, possibly exceeding the weight limit with Half Life characters coming in."

"There's that…" Anthony nodded, before remembering a video of Mark's that he had seen, one of the first videos he had seen of his. "Or it's going to open and start flying around like some Willy Wonka hell."

"Oh, fuck, I'd rather not!" Mark laughed, gripping the railing as well.

Anthony decided to keep Mark as distracted as possible, whether it be through talking about games either of them played for their channel, to talking about friends and family, how they got about YouTube, and as the minutes became hours, they didn't really run out of many things to talk about. Eventually, the elevator jarred back to life, the motion startling them. Through the series of laughter and conversations, they hadn't even realized how tired they had become. And upon reaching their floor, chucking at how they were on the same level, they walked to Anthony's hotel room.

"Dude, it's been so great talking to you," Mark started, mid-yawn. "If I was in there by myself, I don't know what would have happened."

"I think we both know, Mark…" Anthony responded, shrugging, before sighing and patting him on the shoulder. "I saw what the game did to you…and it's gotta feel pretty lonely sometimes, trust me, I understand it. Sometimes, doing YouTube makes you feel like there's really no one else there, when you're recording by yourself so much. That's why I do a lot of multiplayer stuff, it gets to me too, the loneliness…"

"Maybe that's what I need. Bob, Wade and I haven't done much stuff together recently…they've both always been too busy."

"Well, look. I'm still getting settled into my new apartment back in Connecticut. If you ever feel like recording stuff with me, once I'm finished with everything, I'll message you and we can talk it over in more detail. Ok?" Anthony requested, a genuine smile on his face.

Mark, always being one to focus on his own channel rather than merging with others, thought on it briefly. He did seem like a funny guy to game with. And, well, he helped him. If Mark was alone in there, too many thoughts of Presentable Liberty would have just flooded back into his head, as he had just only gotten over them at this point. After a moment, he nodded, sighing softly.

"Ok. Keep me updated. When you're free, I'll give you my Skype and we can go from there."

"Alright, that works for me." Anthony smiled again, before stretching a bit. "Welp, I need to go to bed. I was supposed to meet up with my friend Steven, and he texted me saying he was going to come by early tomorrow, and it's already two o'clock."

"Shit, really?" Mark asked, looking at his watch. "I had no idea it was that late! I need to get to a panel at ten tomorrow!"

"Well, that's a little after Steven should be here, mind if we come and check it out?"

"Sure thing, man, I'd love to have you there…" Mark's face turned a slight red as he stammered briefly. "I mean, not in that way, obviously, I just…I think I'm too tired to speak proper English words."

"It's fine, dude," Anthony chuckled. "Ze and I are already pegged as internet boyfriends. Long story. I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Alright. Goodnight, Anthony~"

"Goodnight, Mark."

They parted ways as Anthony stepped into his room and promptly went to bed. Mark, on the other hand, stayed awake for a little while longer, his thoughts running through what had happened on this most eventful first night of VidCon. Eventually, he took to his bed, his phone on his pillow, earbuds in ears, as he listened to a familiar, calming voice speak in his head, easing him to sleep.

"Welcome, Internet~"