Little Wonder (Phan)

Forty-Eight.

It was the first day of the convention, and we were one of the first people to speak and be asked questions. We were going to be on a panel with Mark, Sean, and even Felix. The holy trinity of YouTube. Of course, mixed with the YouTube couple of the year. Sean was on his knees currently, saying hi to Winnie, and trying his best to get her to smile. But I knew she'd like him the second she laid her eyes on him, his hair, for one, and his accent. She was always interested in different accents. "Why is your hair green, is it naturally like that?" His smile was even larger with her questions, bringing her into his lap and playing with her curls, causing her to giggle happily. Signe had offered to watch over her while we were doing the panel, Amy was next to her, but Marzia had her own tiny booth and meet and greet, so she sadly couldn't be here with us, but she promised to see us before the entire thing ended. She wasn't usually to far from Felix anyways. "Papa, how long are we going to be here?" My turn to answer now.

Squatting down to look into her eyes, I smiled gently, pecking her forehead. "Not to long, cub, but papa and daddy have to do something important, okay? Auntie Signe is going to watch you while we're gone, can you be a good girl and go with her?" Pointing towards the woman with a smile, Winnie gave me a frown before wrapping her arms around my neck. "Oh come on cub, we aren't going to leave you, we'll be back before you know it. Who knows, maybe Uncle Ethan is slinking around somewhere. Go with Auntie and see if you can find him for me, alright? Can you do that for me, cub?" She nodded, as if though it were her main mission in life, and took Signe's hand in her own, pulling her down the stairs and into the main section of the convention, but I don't really think she understood that Signe was about to get swamped. Or Wiishu, as she was known by multiple people all over the internet. Standing back up I got a little dizzy, and fell back into Phil's chest. "Well, aren't you just my knight in shining armor."

Getting back up on my own I turned around and smiled at him. "Are you ready for this, Dan?" He was whispering, resting his forehead against mine, brushing our noses together gently. I didn't exactly know, I hated these stupid things. Where I couldn't act like myself, or let one side of myself be seen. The side that loved Phil as more than a friend. But one day I'd be able to build up enough courage to tell the entire world. One day. Taking his hand in mine I was ready to walk out onto the panel, when he pulled his hand out of mine. Right, I had already forgotten, no affection. No PDA. There was going to be multiple cameras, phones, so many videos up on the internet. We couldn't give ourselves away now. We've hidden it for so long.

Grinning as we walked out I heard the cheering and began to wave, I loved all the smiling faces, a little flustered when I saw tears, but happy nonetheless. I didn't know why the mere sight of us made so many people happy, or tear up with joy. It was a complete mystery to me. "Hello, LA!" I shouted out, I'd been told to give the greeting, Sean following, Felix right behind him, and Mark and Phil doing it in unison. "And welcome to the 2019 VidCon!" Throwing up my arms, cheers started to get even louder. "We will be your hosts for the next hour or so, so I hope you don't think you've wasted your money." Winking at the crowd I went to my seat, right in the middle, right next to Phil. Just how I liked it. I actually had them move it before the actual panel started, it's not that I hated Mark and Felix, but I was sitting by my husband.

Holding his hand underneath the table, I knew I was taking a huge risk, but it was a risk I was willing to take as questions started to be asked. We did our skits, and what we'd had planned, but we ended up having another 30 minutes left, so we just went for more questions. But the question I was pinned with was something I was not ready to answer. I wasn't prepared, so I might have been freaking out just a little bit. But Phil squeezed my hand, and I listened. "So, I was wondering, who is Winnie? I mean, I think a majority of us know who she /is/, but if it's not /to/ invasive, and I'm sorry if it is, but whose is she?" It was a small girl, she couldn't be more than 14, and I knew it wouldn't be right to snap at her. Honestly, I would be asking the same question if it was one of my YouTubers. "A lot of theories have been going around that she is Carrie's, since they look so similar, but she's too young to have a family, or what we think ourselves she might want to start having one." She was flustered herself, her face was red and she thought she was crossing a dangerous line. She was afraid. I didn't want her to be afraid.

"Winnie is --" Looking over towards Phil, an action I knew would cause commotion among the internet, I took a deep breath. Was this finally going to be the day? Leaning forward into my microphone, I froze for a second, Phil was still squeezing my hand, and my heart was beating faster than it had moments before, and even the other three men at our panel looked a bit nervous, they knew we liked our privacy, but we weren't rude. We didn't know how to answer. I didn't know how to answer, and they couldn't help without some more questions raising. I took another deep breath and smiled down at her, how much time had passed since she had asked? Was my spacing of time going to cost us? "Winnie /is/ a child of a YouTuber, but I don't think it right to out whose she is. The parents have told us that they are not comfortable yet with revealing who they are." Alright, so far so good. "But I can assure you that when the day comes that they are ready to tell you all, you are going to be so happy. She's wonderful."

She was listening intently, she was the only one I was focused on, everyone else didn't exist right now, it was like I was telling her directly. "And just to make it a little bit harder, she's adopted, so I hope you guys have fun with that." They knew I loved teasing them, they could see it with my large grin, and I could hear their grumbles and complaints, but no one spoke against me. "Anymore questions?" But there were none and we wrapped it up, the entire panel, well, for today. I went back with Phil and fell into his arms, letting out a big breath of relief, I hadn't given anything away, it'd been close, but we were safe. "Gosh, Phil. I think I need a bit of a break of that one. How about we go get Winnie and chill out at the pool?"

Sean heard us and offered to call Signe, which we accepted with appreciation. Within minutes Winnie and Signe were back, her light eyes were twinkling and she was beaming at the two of us. "PAPA! DADDY!" She ran at us, hugging our legs the best she could, her arms were full of things, and her hair was all done up with a cute bow. "Auntie Signe is the best! She took me all around and we got to go to secret places, and! And!" She dashed out of sight for a second before coming back with Ethan in hand, and it seemed like he couldn't stop her, he was actually being pulled along by her. "I FOUND UNCLE ETHAN! LOOK!" It was clear she'd had sugar, and I suddenly knew that my idea for the pool was a genius one. She could run off, or swim off some energy and then sleep well tonight. We had two more days here, so she would have to get to sleep pretty early and then wake up even earlier it seemed.

"Good job, cub. Hello, Ethan." Smiling at the younger man, I was given one back. Taking Winnie's hand in my own I began to direct her back to the hotel. "Sorry to cut the chit chat short, but we really do need to be going." It sounded rude, I really hope they didn't see it as that, I wasn't trying to be rude. I just really wanted to get to the pool. 

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It's short, with a weird ending, but I swear I have a plan for the next chapter that I think you'll enjoy!