The moderator introduced the other panelists after herself. Four people total sat at the long table, facing a seated crowd. Naruto was glad she hadn't used their real names. He was afraid he'd wind up with a stalker or something. All she'd said was, "You'll see us around at the convention, so come say hi." There were a lot of people in this room. Naruto had sold t-shirts he'd designed. The first set was black t-shirts with rainbow font with something he'd said in one video. If you watched the video, you'd get it. He'd donated all proceeds to an organization that worked to prevent youth suicide in the LGBTQIA community. Once Naruto saw that people bought the t-shirts, he put up others that were orange that had jokes he'd made in blue font. He'd let people know he was keeping the money for himself this time, and made a joke at his own expense. People were wearing those shirts. Naruto had to take a moment.
A hot guy in the second row was wearing one of Naruto's black t-shirts. Naruto focused on the other panelists instead. He'd told himself ifa long time ago that if he were ever recognized as Lord the Seventh at a convention, he'd be polite and friendly. That if someone wanted to somehow sleep with him, he'd probably say no. Two people could sleep together and have completely different thoughts and expectations about it. Besides, it'd been so long since Naruto had gotten laid—a microphone screeched with feedback and Naruto jumped in his seat a little.
"Ah, the microphone succeeds in its desperate quest for my attention," Naruto joked.
"Good. We've been conspiring," Mary Jane, the woman next to him, joked. She'd done a response video to one of his once. "I really hope you don't wind up hating me if you ever see this," Mary Jane had said, and then broke his heart while making him laugh uncontrollably at the same time. And now they were on a panel together. All four panelists mostly agreed and sometimes argued with one another over the hour. Naruto, at the height of professionalism, groaned in frustration, "That's not how they defeated the final boss. They did when they finally got to first base." He'd made a whole video on it that was fifteen minutes long.
The audience burst out laughing, and his fans cheered. The hot guy in the second row did noth. He was practically bent double laughing, then straightened up and cheered loudly. Naruto grinned. "True love conquers all," the moderator agreed, to the delight of the audience. She concluded the panel. Naruto stood on shaky legs.
People wanted to walk to him and take photos, so he did. He liked all the attention. Spending time with people was refreshing. This had been a new experience, and it had turned out okay. He was going to enjoy the rest of the convention and if people walked up to him a lot, awesome.
Two days later, the hot guy nearly barreled into him. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt that showed off his toned arms, and black basketball shorts. "We've met," Naruto said, surprised that he couldn't remember where. The guy shook his head. "I'd remember you if we had." They looked at each other a long moment. "But uh…let me give you my number. You could text me if you—" He didn't finish his sentence, but was trying to find something to write with. Naruto held out his phone. The guy rattled off his digits rather than touch the phone, and Naruto texted him using his online name. "Thanks," the guy said without checking his phone. He hurried away towards another event.
That evening, Naruto closed the hotel room door behind him with a tiny sigh of relief. Too much fun for one day, if such a thing was possible. He'd gotten takeout from a nearby all-night restaurant, and he gladly tore into the bag now. After he'd washed his hands, he went to check his phone. He'd turned it off for the panel and hadn't turned it on except to text the hot guy his number. He switched it on, now. A text popped up. "Hi Lord the Seventh. I'm Sasuke." Naruto remembered where he'd seen him. They hadn't met. Naruto had seen him in a video, and he now dug around the internet for it.
It was ten minutes long, three years old, had thirteen views and no comments. A group of guys was in a hotel, laughing and talking. Just was a vlog recorded at this convention around the time Naruto had gone viral. The men looked and sounded plastered. "We just graduated college, so we can do this," one slurred, holding up a bottle of wine. "And what better way to celebrate?" Everyone briefly introduced themselves. "Sasuke hates wine. We gave him raspberry vodka," the man holding the camera announced. Sasuke glared around a large frosted-glass bottle and drank directly out of it.
"Oh, slow down there, Sasuke," someone laughed nervously.
"Recite the alphabet backwards," said the cameraman. "We're going to cut you off for the evening."
"Rude," grumbled Sasuke.
"Drink responsibly. Know your limits."
"It doesn't count if you're at a con," someone piped up offscreen. "Say something inappropriate, Sasuke. I dare you."
Sasuke rose an eyebrow for a moment, then held up the vodka bottle before setting it carefully aside. "Lord the Seventh can do whatever he wants to me."
"That's not inappropriate. That's barely innuendo."
"I think about it a lot."
"You're so boring."
Naruto had grinned from ear to ear the first ten times he watched the video. He had a fan who wanted to have sex with him! He hadn't watched the video in over two years. He never thought he'd meet—this was Sasuke_dancer. Sasuke, who took him seriously. Naruto looked at the paused image. He realized—before Sasuke knew who he was, Naruto had watched him dance. Not the lyrical jazz stuff at first.
Sasuke was amazing at dance videogames and often, a small crowd gathered. Naruto, whenever he'd flown here to visit friends and go to the con, had been part of that crowd. There was always a point where Sasuke's shirt would cling to his back with sweat, and his ponytail would be plastered to his neck. Naruto always got massively turned on seeing him like that, and would rush off to be alone.
Sometimes small conventions had dance contests. Not videogames. Real dance stuff, like you'd see in a movie. Singing contests were always fun, and karaoke was popular at cons. Naruto was an awful singer, and a person who didn't dance a lot, but he liked watching. Dance was rare. So, conventions that held contests stood out. Naruto had seen Sasuke compete twice. He'd won awards both times. Everything looked effortless. It was like every bit of movement was available to Sasuke, and he was going to do something amazing once the music started. He'd been wearing basketball shorts and a black t-shirt each time. The dances weren't sexual, but everything Sasuke did was sexy.
And now Naruto had his number.
(And then they had a one-night stand and became friends afterward. The uncensored version is on A03.)
