You were packing your bag for your trip. A weekend away from home. That sounded like a miracle. Grabbing your keys you left getting in you car ((A/N: and driving to the air port if necessary)) traveling to where you needed to be. Barry said you could stay with him and Danny, but you politely declined, stating that you had a friend out there that you'd stay with. It wasn't true. You simply didn't want to do something embarrassing, like fart really loudly or set the oven on fire or something; so you booked a weekend at some (probably shady) motel, and hoped for the best. You were supposed to get to the office at about 12, but you were running a bit late, being stuck in traffic. You finally arrived at around 1, walking into the office, and seeing Arin waiting for you.
"I'm so sorry I'm late." You where exasperated, mostly due to how you rushed in.
"It's no big, you're on time. I messed up and pressed the 2 by accident. Whoops." He laughed a bit, "Well... Welcome. The others wanna meet you too but there;s a little... uhm thing we're kinda embarrassed about..." You grew slightly uneasy at those words, and raised an brow. "With all our sleuthing through your social media, we still don't know your name, and we never asked. I said I knew I figured it out before I went to wait for you at the door but I really don't. So..." He trailed off rubbing the back of his neck, looking honestly like an anime character.
"Oh that's no big deal!" You lowered your voice. "My names (_). Take the glory of figuring it out. Do it." You smiled and he just seemed so happy.
"C'mon lets go." He grabbed your hand, leading you to the couch. "Guys, its (_)! She made it." There was a loud 'ayyy' of approval, both about the name and your presence, but you noticed Danny wasn't there. Oh, you figured he was busy, that wasn't important.
"Oh hi, it's really nice to meet you!" Suzy smiled at you, getting up to kinda shake your hand, kinda hug you.
"It's nice to meet you too Suzy." You smiled, before Arin gestured for you to take a seat. You obliged, sitting in an armchair, that had a cupholder and honestly that was the coolest leather chair you ever sat in.
"So let's get down to business." Said Arin, just as Ross was about to speak. He pouted and Holly giggled a bit. "Tableflip has been canceled, unfortunately, and we don't know when it will be back up. That whole falling out with Polaris. Yeah..." Arin trailed off, as everyone else seemed to have a look of frustration. "So that leaves (_) here completely up for grabs on any session."
"Wow that sure is something. We can have her on steam train," Barry suggested, and Ross agreed, though muffled by him drinking out a fruit punch pouch.
"Okay any complaints." Arin looked to you, and you shook your head. "Okay cool. And tomorrow you can be a quest on Grumpcade, or something. Okay this is cool." You nodded, not really wanting to speak, simply cause you weren't sure what to say. "Alright then, we start in an hour." You smiled as they dispersed, only Barry and Ross being left.
"So what do you wanna do on Steam Train?" Barry asked, as Ross finished his Juice Pouch.
"Well... Is it okay if we do a demo of a game I'm gonna put on steam?" You said producing a flashdrive from your pocket. It wasn't your game, in the sense that all you did was the story and the character designs, everything else was done by your friend, but you had full permission to Upload it, given the profits would be shared, but you needed testers, so naturally it was a good idea to ask.
"Oh that sounds great. It would be great to promote the game too. Lets do that. Whats it called?" Barry took the flashdrive, and Ross crumpled his juice box.
"And what's it *hic* about. Oh man I got hiccups." He sighed, hiccuping again, and you giggled a bit.
"It's called fishy kisses. It's about a man who falls in love with a mermaid when he's a little boy, so he grows up, and dedicates his life to finding her, but instead finds just an assload of rare rocks so he sells them to save up for a wedding ring when he finally finds her. The end is gonna be great. Wanna hear the spoiler?" You were grinning at their faces, that were mostly just so pleased.
"I wanna hear the end!" Ross was acting a bit like a little kid.
"In the end, He buys a beautiful ring, but loses it as soon as he finds her, only having a rock shaped like a heart left in his pocket, and pulling that out instead. And she wraps it around a piece of string and wears it around her neck, and the love of the action turns her into a human and they buy a house boat and get married."
"Awwwwwh that game sounds so stupid and cute I wanna play it right now." Ross, took the flash drive walking to the computer, eager to play.
"Wait not yet, we gotta start after lunch." Barry followed after him and you stayed right in your spot, getting out your sketch book and doing little doodles. You made a few cats, a few anime characters, but your next few pictures were mostly of Danny. As you approached the end of your final page you realized those last drawings were of you and him.
You quickly went to turn the page, when you felt someone rest their head on yours, soft touching your ears. They then lifted their head, and spoke, in a odd voice. "Oh those are really good. Are those of Danny? He's really hot right. I'm the intern, and lemme tell you, he is most definitely packing down there. He's so hot right."
Without thinking you said, "Yeah he's pretty adorkable."
"Awwh, you really think that about me." The voice finally sounded normal and you jumped out of your skin a bit.
"Oh, hi Danny!" You were frazzled, your voice slightly trembling.
"Hi, (_)! You draw super well." He smiled.
"Thanks. I taught myself." You shut your sketchbook, not wanting him to see the pages filled of drawing of him.
"Well you're really good. I've known since your first live stream." He smiled.
"But I didn't draw then... also you were watching since then?"
"Yeah, I've been watching that long. It caught my eye. And that time you showed your sketchbook. You were really proud, and so was I!" He looked really proud too. You'd been streaming since twitch came out, while you were still in your emo phase. Okay, so it was a bit odd, but also kinda nice to know someone famous enjoyed watching you.
"My sketchbook looks even better now. Check this out." You flipped to your traffic drawings, of both realistic and anime style people. He grabbed the book up, looking through your drawings, and for a moment it completely slipped your mind that you had drawn the two of you on the last filled page. So when he came across that page, he blushed just slightly, at the adorable little things you made of him hugging you, and carrying you, and also in a pillow fort. He figured that was a bit of a private page and handed the book back to you, not making a comment.
"You've gotten so good, I'm so proud of you (_) you lil' cinnamon roll you." He ruffled your hair, and walked off, just before Ross, came back and beckoned for you to come. So you did. But as you started introductions, you just stared toward the door, wanting another hair ruffle.
After the recording session, which was a total hit, you sat back on the couch for a bit, before going to watch some editing happen. Not much needd to be done, but you just didn't want to go back to your motel, and you didn't have enough money to dick around the city. So you just sat there, not really doing anything, before getting up and watching a normal Grump recording session. Just some Zelda. But the banter was even more priceless in person. You just stood in the doorway, listening to them, quietly giggling. When they were just about done, you left, grabbing your bag off the chair you left it on. You looked for your phone to call an Uber to take you back to your motel, but upon reaching in your bag you saw that your sketchbook wasn't there. You looked around and still didn't see it. Oh god you had really private stuff in the back of it where was it.
"Ross have you seen my sketchbook, it's black with so much glitter on it." You asked as he walked by.
"No, but here's your flashdrive. I think Danny was over here just before he started with his session, ask him when he comes out."
"But I don't really want to..." You trailed off and he looked at how quickly you had and awkward look on your face.
"Oh. Oh! Oh... Okay I'll talk to him and ask him about it." He smiled at you, handing you your flashdrive and walking to that but of the office, and you sat down and waited for him to come back. After 10 minutes passed, you grew a bit worried. Were they both looking for it. Or were they making fun of your drawings. Oh god did they find the back. You began to panic, and headed for the door, not quite wanting to stay there any longer, you felt really out of place now. On your way out you saw Arin.
"Where are you going, we-"
"I need to go right now immediately. Text me if you see my sketchbook please, bye." And you absconded, getting in your Uber and heading back to your Motel. You quickly went to your room, shutting the door behind you and sliding to the carpeted floor. It was dimly lit, with one creaky bed and an old TV. Nothing to write home about it and at this point, that's just where you wanted to go. Your phone buzzed.
Hey I have your sketchbook, I was trying to jumpkick again, and knocked over your bag. After you left I found it under the chair, you gonna come get it or you want me to bring it to you. -Danny.
You sighed, ashamed for overreacting. "I'll get it tomorrow."
I probably won't be there tomorrow, so I'll leave it with Ross. -Danny
"Please don't."
Then come get it. I don't want you missing your sketch book. -Danny
"I can't, I'm busy."
Then I'll bring it to you, where are you? -Danny.
You sighed. You didn't want him to see your crappy low budget motel, and know you blew off rooming at his and Barry's place for this. So you said you were at the coffee shop next door, and rested your head on the wall.
omw. -Danny.
You didn't want to see him again. You were not ready to see him again. Whenever you thought about him you just felt so sick and panicked. You checked your bed for bugs, and laid down with your face in the pillow, the gentle AC letting you relax, as every thought you had made your face hot.
You woke up to your phone buzzing on the nightstand. You sat up and checked it to see it was ringing.
"Hello?" You groggily said.
"I'm at the coffee shop, where are you?"
Oh fuck. "I'll be there in a sec, I'm down the block."
You hung up putting on your shoes, and heading out the door, running down the steps and exiting the parking lot, and he was right there in front of you..
"Why were you in that sleazy motel?" He stared at you, genuine concern in his eyes.
"That's uh. That's where my friend is staying right now, she's in a bit of a rough spot and well uh-"
"What's her name?"
"Katherine?" You hoped that was the same name you gave on the phone. His face softened and he handed you your sketchbook back.
"I hope you don't mind if I took another look. I really like the work you have in the back." He sounded pleased, but your face reddened like a tomato. The back is where all your smut was. Such FILTH.
He got ready to leave before pausing, "And one more thing, I know you're lying. You said Laura over the phone." Shit. "If this place is too low for you to sleep in tonight, which I know it is, call me I'll give you my bed. Or couch. Or Barry's bed." He smiled and ruffled your hair again before walking off. Shit. You were hot again, your face practically on fire, and you ran back to your room and slammed the door behind you. Being around him was just too much, you didn't want to be here anymore. But at the same time. You wanted to be closer to here. Closer to him. You screamed into the pillow on your bed, and checked your phone. No notifications from anyone. Only the final call to remind you of your embarrassment. Your stomach growled. You were really hungry. But you needed to save money, and couldn't afford wasting it on dinner tonight. This whole trip was a big splurge already. You had to hold off until you got home. Where you would be alone all day. With no one to care for you...
You thought of Danny's friendly hair ruffles again and desperately wanted to run your fingers through his. To have him hold you close and nuzzle you. For his hands to run down your sides, gripping your hips and pulling you closer so he can gently press himself against you, and you against him.
Shit your face is hot again. Maybe you just need to sleep a bit more.