Inevitable - Crank Gameplays x Reader

3) An Interesting Panel

Okay so we haven't been posting and we're totally lame.

That's it.

That's our excuse.

Enjoy the chapter~

"Jaiden! Hurry up!" I urged, practically urging her towards the convention center. Since we had already gotten our badges, there was nothing left to do except explore the convention grounds.

But Jaiden was going so slow.

"C'mon, (Y/n), chill." Jaiden feigned annoyance but I saw her trying to mask a smile.

I finally managed to get her inside, and it was honestly a sight to take in.

Palm trees lined the entire pathway, leading up to a substantial fountain in the center of a roundabout. The scenery wasn't what caught my eye, however; it was the floods of people in and around it.

Some were cosplaying different characters that I recognized from video games, others just dressed casually like Jaiden and I. And as we made our way through the wave of people, I also recognized a spot of blue.

The building itself was mainly a gigantic room, filled with a few booths. It was more meet-and-greets, however, an each section was labeled for convenience (not that it was convenient to me; I had no idea what the numbers meant.)

Jaiden seemed to know where she was going, unlike me, so I just followed close behind and tried not to get lost.

"My panel starts in a good few hours." Jaiden finally spoke up when we got to a relative clearing. "You wanna go check out the booths, or try to find some YouTubers we recognize?"

"Hmmm," I thought, "Why not both? I wanna check out the booths, and we can see if we spot any people's along the way."

With that we set off to the first booth we say, which happened to be selling shirts of a game we didn't recognize.  Lot were just run by companies, so Jaiden and I passed them by. We stumbled upon the jackpot when Jaiden spotted a booth selling plushies, and after that we decided to save our money for lunch.

"You 'bout ready to head to the room where my panel will be held?" Jaiden piped up while taking a sip of her drink. (Pepsi again. Note to self: Jaiden can't be trusted.)

I just nodded in response, getting up from our table. The restaurant we were at was a hot spot, so our spot was swiftly taken.

Now that I knew how to navigate my way through all the convention-goers, it took less time to get to where we needed to be. Since Jaiden was the panel host, and I was with her, I got early seats. So did anyone with a creator pass or who was friends with Jaiden, like me.   

I sat down in the front row- where the 'reserved' seats were. Jaiden went backstage to make sure everything was going smoothly, and assured me the panel would 'start soon.'

I waved her off, pulling out my phone to pass the time. It wasn't long before someone sat next to me, though. And I recognized the face.

"Hey." He said with a smile, and I took the moment to get a good look at his face since I hadn't been able to at breakfast. I honestly wouldn't have remembered, had it not been for the electric blue hair.

He had light skin and bushy eyebrows, face knitted together in a kind way. I didn't pretend to not notice his acne, but in a way it suited him. He was cute, I'd admit. And his grey-blue eyes only added onto the red on my face.

"Hi." I finally replied, turning my mouth up to a small smile. I didn't know why he had decided to sit next to me, of all places. The entire front row was empty.

"I'm Ethan." He offered a hand my way, and I sh00k it. I hadn't expected him to continue this conversation.

Quickly looking down at the pass looped around his neck, I made out the bolded words 'CREATOR' and underneath that 'CrankGameplays.'

Remembering I hadn't told 'Ethan' my name yet, I spoke up with a soft "(Y/n)." and he nodded in acknowledgement.

"What're you doing here alone?" Ethan spoke up. He seemed to notice how awkwardly the question came out, and his cool facade fell to pieces when he scrambled to backtrack.

"Wait, that's not- it's just- y'know, if you don't mind me asking. It's usually just creators allowed in panels early, and I don't recognize you as a YouTuber-" Ethan's rambing seemed to only make the situation worse, so I cut his off with a laugh, his cheeks dusting pink.

"S-sorry!" I giggled out, trying to regain some composure. "I'm not a creator; just a friend of Jaiden's." Ethan seemed to relax at this information, probably glad I was laughing at his slip up and not at him.

"So what're you doing here all alone?" I countered, nudging Ethan's shoulder teasingly.

"Hey, I'm not alone now." Ethan mumbled, smile lighting up his face again. It was contagious. Before I knew it, the panel was started, and most of the front row was taken. Jaiden's Q & A room wasn't as big as some other panels going on, but there were a lot more people here than I expected (no offense, Jaiden!)

Soon enough the crowd around us started cheering as Jaiden came on stage, shyly giving a wave to the crowd. I gave her a double thumbs-up, and I figured she noticed me out of the corner of her eye by the way her posture straightened and smile grew wider.

With how focused I was on Jaiden and how she was going around the stage, I managed to not notice the pair of blue eyes that were locked on nothing but me the entire panel.