Don't be Salty (A SaltTube fic)

Salty Fan

When Inanimate Insanity was canceled, saying Fan was upset would be an understatement.

Even with all the changes Salt had made once she took over, Fan stood by the show, he defended it online, he'd even tried to join. He was told to "Never show his face again or else she'd like, literally cry" but still, it was a nice opportunity.

For Fan it was a typical day, currently he was going through Salt's many socials, he was updating his fan blog with his theories on what was to come with the show ending, and what caused it to so abruptly end, when he saw a photo of a test tube steering a ship. He scrolled further up on Salt's feed and saw a selfie of them walking on the street, and recognized a local tea shop in the background. They were in his city. Right now. This was his opportunity! If he could find them, he could ask what happened with the show, and have exclusive news for his blog.

Salt shared everything that was happening on her socials, so finding them wouldn't be too hard, this could be it, and he'd get to meet that new test tube girl. She had been his favorite contestant on season 2 so far, and her upgrade to co-host was a great decision.

His phone suddenly vibrated. Salt had just posted a selfie inside an electrical parts store, in the background he could see the store name. It wasn't very far, so he decided that was a good starting place. He grabbed his notebook and began the walk there, when he arrived the store was empty outside of a few employees. He checked around the area, just in case, only to determine they had really left.

He couldn't give up this easily, this was his only chance. Salt hadn't posted any new selfies yet, so he'd have to rely on his own theories for now. From what he's gathered about TestTube so far she was good with mechanics, maybe they were scavenging for specific parts for a machine or repair of some sort. In that case they'd go to the nearest mechanical parts store next, so he looked up the nearest store and headed over. He didn't find them there either.

This city was huge, of course he wasn't going to be able to find them, he didn't really expect to anyways.

He found himself self-reflecting, maybe he was latching onto misguided hope because he was unable to handle his favorite show being canceled after dedicating so much time to being a fan, maybe giving up on this was his first step in letting go-

His phone buzzed.

He quickly checked. It was a new selfie from Salt.

He would've let go, really he would've, except the selfie was at the parts store down the street. They were right there, there's no way he could miss them this time.

As he walked he felt nervous, how would he even approach talking to them? What if they all just ignored him? Salt certainly found him annoying, what if the others did too? Fan wished he didn't feel so anxious, it did nothing but make things worse.

As he approached the building he saw the group walking out, TestTube froze when she saw him. She looked at him almost warmly, as though she knew him.

It threw him off, but he pushed it down, he was a blogger, he needed to be bold, he couldn't let nerves get the better of him!

He stumbled as he approached the group "Hi I'm Fan- and I am a big fan of Inanimate Insanity, and since it's over I was wondering if I could ask some questions about-"

Salt leaned in and whispered something inaudible to TestTube, TestTube whispered something back, Salt then turned to Fan.

"Ew, I'm allergic to nerds, TestTube can you like, deal with him? Before I cry?"

"Um- right- yeah- okay- I guess I'll do that- Fan let's go somewhere else for a bit-" it was as if she'd lost all the composure she usually had on the show, Fan couldn't understand what was making her so nervous.