Fictional Friendship

Chapter 1

Max looked around in panic. "No," they thought, "No no no no no." They spun around in the unfamiliar convention center, swarmed by cosplayers and visitors.

"Emily and Jac were just here literally two seconds ago." And although they were searching hallway through hallway, Max's friends were nowhere to be found.

"Where did they go off to?" Max thought. "They swore they would stay with me." Max felt their heart race. Everything was getting blurry, and their head started to ache. "Shit. I'm starting to have anxiety," Max breathed heavily.

They were starting to regret coming here. Actually, no. That was a lie. Max didn't even want to come in the first place. Their stupid friends dragged them here to this stupid cosplay convention, so they could get swarmed by stupid people in this stupid heat. And now they got ditched and was on the verge of an anxiety attack.

Anxiety was something familiar to Max, although they could never get used to it. But they had a way of coping with it, and that was Viggo Swanson. Viggo is the hero of a fantasy book that Max has been obsessed with since before he met Emily in the second grade. Max always admired Viggo for his strength- not just his physical strength, but his emotional strength too. Sure, Viggo may have been able to fight monsters and battle wizards, but he could also walk through a room full of strangers and not feel sick to his stomach. Max admired that.

So Max did what they always do; imagine that Viggo was standing there with them. Sure, Viggo was a fictional character that wasn't really there, but just imagining that someone was with Max made their hands a little less clammy, and a little less shaky.

Max stood up a little straighter, and gathered up just enough courage to go find their friends and-

WHAM!

Max plowed right into another cosplayer. Just their luck.

"S-sorry," Max's voice shook. Their eyes were glued to the floor and they refused to look up in the persons eyes.

"It's okay," the person said. Max reluctantly looked up.

"V-Viggo??" Max's voice shook as they stared right into the swordsman's eyes. Viggo smiled gently through his long blue hair pulled back into a messy ponytail. His leather robes were a familiar sight to Max's eyes. They were whisked away into a world of comfort and familiarity at the sight of their long-time hero.

"Are you hurt?" Viggo asked.

That was not Viggo's voice. Max clicked back to reality, back to the hot cosplay convention where the were.

"....no," Max whispered as they rushed into the nearest bathroom.