The Great YouTuber Slash Fiction

Chapter 1: robertisnotonfire - Internet Famous

Originally posted March 21, 2017 to AO3  

So what.

It was just a simple tweet.

It was just one of your videos.

Yours.

It was just that your subscriber count had doubled, then tripled, almost quadrupled at this point.

It was just nine simple words and a link:

@danisnotonfire
So don't cry, craft has a theme song now:

It was just that, that and then a million phangirls. Because once you had one fandom hooked, the rest came a-following, and a-watching, and a-clicking that red button.

Unreal. It's unreal.

The views come in, and eventually so does the ad-rev, and soon enough, you've got money, and soon enough, you've saved for a trip.

A con. You'll go to a con you guess. Only fair to see the people that made you, you suppose, famous--

"Hey, are you RobertIDK from YouTube?"

It was your first fan encounter. It was clumsy and awkward. You stared stunned until your fan there was polite enough to call you back here, down to earth.

Sorry. You apologised, took the unofficially mandatory picture, and went back to your dazed out world which suddenly seems more realistic than the real one.

You flew. To the con, of course. Have people meet you and you meet people. Including your favorite YouTubers. You would have thought it would be weirder, considering that you did write weird songs about them, but they seem cool with it, and you guessed they've seen stranger things in the Land of the Internet, the World of Wi-Fi.

Dan seemed to like you most though. They were all nice, of course, but Dan's next to you the whole time, asking you questions about everything and anything.

Your family. Where'd you grow up. How old are you, when's your birthday. How long have you been playing guitar. Why. How long have you been songwriting. Do you want a career in music. Would you agree to a record deal if you somehow got the offer. Know any good jokes. How have you been watching me, yes, Phil too I suppose. And on and on until he says:

"Are you free this evening?"

"Um, yeah, why?"

"Because we should meet up after this," he said, gesturing to the convention around you. "I know a place, nearby that I think you'll enjoy. Found it last time I came to this con."

"Um sure," you were willing, of course, but you were surprised by the invitation. Dan just invited you to hang out with him. Dan Howell. Dan Motherfucking Howell. Invited you. You. The fanboy loser.

"Great," he responds.

"See you and Phil there, then."

"No." He said Phil's not coming. Nobody else would be there either. It'll be just him and you, you and him. He had a mischevious glint in his eye, and a certain kind of smile.

And you would swear Phil was giving you a glare, but that's not possible, because there is no reason to have given you one, because Phan wasn't real, you'd just been on Tumblr too long, and besides, Phil didn't seem like the glaring type anyway.

Hours later, the convention calmed down, the influx of fans decreased, and excitment headed to bed and waited until tomorrow morning. You're done with exciting events for today.

And so it's just you and Dan, after the chaos off to head to wherever.

You attempted to summon a taxi. Don't, says Dan, he'll be escorting you there himself. Then he grabbed your hand and started to tug your arm in a direction, like a toddler that saw a toystore.

It's called El Alma del Sol, the place. It's a Mexican restaurant. There were tables, a bar, and tacky decor. In one corner, a band played music, and a few couples danced in front of the stage. Somehow, the atmosphere was both busy and serene.

You two are sat at the bar. He asked about your day. Did you enjoy your time at this con? Yes, you tell him, it was interesting being on the other side of the signing table.

He laughed. Still had the glint in his eyes. He said he remembers that feeling, saying you'll get used to it soon.

"How do you feel about this?" He asked.

"What?"

About being an internet star. Oh. Yeah. That.

So what. It's just internet fame.

He did the laugh again. "You're dealing with it better than I was. I suppose you've got a better handle on it then I did. Makes sense, you are a older than I was."

He told you all about his teenage years on YouTube, surprised at the growth of his channel, and all the mini panic attacks he'd have when he uploaded the videos. He said it felt weird to be some kind of famous.

"What was it like, ya know, meeting your YouTube idols?" You asked. It seemed like a decent question, considering you're now almost at the same level as those you'd fanboyed over. Sure, you exaggerated a bit in you videos, but you really did love your YouTubers.

"You mean, Phil?" You nodded. "It was certainly strange. It was like-- oh, the thanks miss."

The lady gave you chips and your drinks. As soon as Dan got his food, he took a few bites, and then redirected the conversation back to you.

Weird. He kept avoiding the topic of Phil. Weirder still, you heard his phone vibrate, and saw the screen light up with texts from the aforementioned smol bean.

Are they fighting? You wondered, but you thought it would be rude to ask.

So, you do what anyone else would: keep socializing.

He keeps wanting to know more about you. You're running out of things to say, there only so much to know about you.

"Why don't you tell me a bit about you?" You tried.

"You watch my videos, you already know so much about me. You've seen all the potential I have to be socially awkward."

"Well I'm running out of things to say!"

He did the laugh thing a third time, then leaned up to your ear and whispers.

"Then don't say anything. Come dance with me."

Suddenly, you're yanked off your barstool and dragged to the the dancing area in front of the stage.

It's clear that neither of you knew any sort of partner dance, so your steps were uncoordinated and off-beat. It doesn't matter to either of you though, and you were both laughing, loudly, although you could barely hear yourselves because the band was so close to you.

But all good things must come to an end, and the place had to close for the night. You and Dan were forced to exit the place at twelve am.

But you had fun. "Should we do this again tommorrow?"

"Definitely."

You started in the direction of the hotel, seeing if there are any cabs that happened to be available, when Dan shouted something.

"Wait, Robert! One last thing!"

Dan leaned in to give you a swift kiss on the lips. "See you tomorrow!"

Yes. Definitely.