Dorian pinched the top of his nose, the sides of his mouth pulling down into an even more fierce frown that he had before. Touring. What the hell does a gamer vlogger do doing a tour? This is ridiculous. "This betrayal is significant." He said brilliantly. Jameson knew the exact reason Dorian did all his own filming and editing and what not…He was terribly shy and horrid with people and yet…
He sighed, interrupting Jameson's half sincere apologies. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but could someone please explain what this all entails?"
"Apparently, it means that us and a few other YouTubers are being given money to tour around the world and do funny things? Maybe some Q&A." Ace said once he had gotten back to the phone, the uncertainty in his voice was evident.
Dorian smiled a tiny bit, seemed that Ace had similar feelings about the whole ordeal. "Let me guess…we can't refuse?" The question aimed at the managers that apparently had no idea what the best interests for their clients were.
"No, you can't!" Charles, Ace's manager cheered into the phone as Ace groaned in the background. Charles had snatched the phone away from Ace and was now talking fast-paced. "Me and your manager already booked both of you tickets to L.A!"
"For the love of- Alright. Fine. I assume the compensation is enough for me to forget that this is the worst thing that has ever happened. Ever–"
"It is." Chimed in Jameson.
Dorian threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "Well?! Shit. Fine. I will participate. Mostly because if I refuse it's a breach of contract–"
"It is." Jameson deadpanned.
Dorian growled out a curse. "Please forward me the details." he said pleasantly after a few moments of meditative breathing. He was going to have to do some serious yoga after this call.
"When do we leave?"
Charles handing the phone back to Ace and he sighed. "Two days from now." He said, sounding defeated and tired. "Now, I'm going to go collapse. Ta ta." He said, hanging up the phone.
Dorian tossed his phone across the room. Booting up his camera for a simple "Tell All" video, he dropped down to the floor and lay there for a moment staring at the ceiling. At least that Ace guy sounded nice… Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he made a good connection. It's always good to know the people in the game. Maybe I could even make a…a…friend.
Chuckling in disbelief to himself, Dorian pulled himself up into a quick lotus position before switching into a more challenging crow position. Sighing through his nose, he figured getting out of the cloudy city of Seattle wouldn't be so bad. What could go wrong?
Ace grabbed his camera for a vlog video, made some tea for the aesthetic and started the vlog. "Heyo, it's me AceAddict! Guess what, I'm going to go on a tour type thing! I just heard that a few other vloggers are going too! Some of them being JaxySweets and CreepyCreatures!" He exclaimed to the camera, waving happily.
"Hey gamers. CreepyCreature here." Dorian said, leaning just so that he did, indeed, look super creepy in the frame of the camera. He had decided to do a quick live stream instead of a video. Already about a thousand people were watching.
"As you all know, I'm not a fan of the vidcons, despite you all asking me to go the past couple of years. You all know I do E-three, BlizzCon, Pax… blah blah blah. So on and so forth. But I go as a spectator–" He glanced down at the chat box, where fans could comment on what he was saying. So far everyone was saying hi and commenting that he should start going to conventions as a player and 'whoop peoples asses in competitions'. The left side of his mouth twitching up into his classic smile.
"Well. Surprise! I'll be joining a few other vloggers from different channel types in the up coming and new convention tour in LA. Sorry guys….I actually don't know what it's called." He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I was a little to anxious to ask… Anyway. I'm sure I'll have more info to send out to you guys later, but I hope to see you there. Maybe. I don't know. Right." He spaced out on what he was saying as the anxiety he had just yogaed away came back full force.
"Follow me on twitter and Snapchat for updates, ya'll. See you around and as always – Stay Creepy."
He ended the stream and dropped his face in his hands.
"Oh. God."
"Ta ta Aces and Other Cards! See you later darlings!" Ace said into the camera before hitting stop on it. "Didn't go as terrible as I thought…" He muttered as he began too pack things away, he stopped for a bit to order some books on Amazon for the plane.
Did I pack enough clothes? Dorian wondered to himself as he landed in LA, two days later. His anxiety was through the roof. He was clutching his backpack to his chest like a small child, which must have looked odd with his six foot frame. He was waiting at the carousel for his bag. This is the least fun thing I think I have ever done. I officially hate airports.
He was supposed to meet up with AceAddict and their driver, but he didn't see his name or gamer tag on any of the signs being held up around him. Maybe a bit farther down?
Spotting his bag, he snatched it up, almost knocking over a toddler as he did so. "Oh god. I'm-I'm sorry." he told the glaring mother. Smiling awkwardly he trotted off in a random direction.
Ace waved to Dorian, the sign with his name held high. "Dorian!" He called out when he saw the man almost run over a random kid. Ace walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder when he didn't respond to Ace's yelling.
Dorian jumped about ten feet in the air and gave a mighty gasp. "FU–! Oh. Oh it's you." He dropped his bags and clasped Ace by the shoulders. "Thank god. Hi. I'm Dorian." He was struck dumb for a moment, still holding the other man by his shoulders.
Ace is cute as hell.
"I'm Ace, sorry for being rude over the phone. I was sleep deprived out of my mind!" Ace said cheerfully, a huge smile on his face. "I don't think you should make a habit out of running over toddlers." He said, the smile still on his face.
Dorian cleared his throat, letting go of Ace as if he had been burned. "No harm to foul." He gave Ace an awkward pat on the head, "I wasn't my nicest self either."
He glanced over his shoulder at the toddler and mother that were still glaring at him. "The tiny Satan needs to not be in my way." He muttered out the side of his full lips.
"The mother or the child?" Ace asked, steering Dorian out of the door and into the parking garage. He was quite curious to what Dorian thinks or at least his fucked up while sleep-deprived brain was curious to what he thought.
"Both." Dorian said as he let himself be steered by Ace. He was kind of happy that he could disassociate from his body for a moment and just talk to him. "Females are terrifying. Tiny females even more so. They're all claws and vicious…codding." he finished with a shiver as Ace nudged him in the right direction again. Dorian pulled a hand through his hair and adjusted his glasses. The smaller man paid not attention to Dorian's preening.
"Understandable," Ace muttered, trying to move them back in the right direction as he made sure they were going the right way. "Anyhow, do you know JaxySweets? He's a pretty popular baking channel."
"I can't say I do." Dorian said peering down at Ace rather than paying any attention to where they were walking. "I'm not much of a cook. I can barely make ramen without burning down my apartment, much less an entire cake." He laughed quietly at himself.
"Oh, I was just asking because I got news that Jax, the creator of JaxySweets, is going to be doing this too." He said, pulling Dorian over to a pretty large truck. "Put your bags in the back." Ace instructed the man, putting his own bags away too.
"Maybe this won't be so bad then, if I get free cooking lessons out if it." Dorian spoke quietly as he folded his form into the truck. "Are you excited about this?" He was honestly curious about Ace and how he seemed so comfortable bossing Dorian around.
"A bit." He said sheepishly, shoving his bag into the truck and getting in the driver's seat. "I have some friends in L.A. so this is a good chance to see them without having to pay for the trip." He admitted, pretty damn happy that he would be able to see Cherry and Micah soon.
"That's awesome! At least one of us has real friends." Dorian joked at his own expense. This is probably the longest conversation I've had with anyone other than Jameson in forever… "You've been here many times then? To visit?"
Ace shrugged, stating the car. "A bit, they used to live in Floridia with me but they had to move for Cherry's work." He said, pulling out of the garage and heading to the hotel where they would all be staying.
Dorian nodded, making a slight sound of affirmation in the back of his throat. "This would be my first time." He said glancing out of the window as they drove through downtown. It looked just like Seattle, except a lot more sunny, he was sad to notice. He had hoped the city would inspire some awe within him since it was such a big gaming hub.
