I'm the ending, she's the start

Ava was nervous throughout the fanmeet, and not just because of the crowd surrounding her. She checked the time on her watch almost every other minute. She knew that the others would not meet her until after two o'clock, but she wanted to get over meeting them as late as possible. For one, she hasn't even met any of them in real life. What if she can't talk to them about anything? Or they might start hating her if she says the wrong things? Her real personality was so far from the one behind the monitor. And then there's the whole incident with Will.

She tried to collect his thoughts and focus on the task at hand, her fans, for the time being. She tried to reassure herself that everything would be fine, and if the others really appreciated her for herself, then her initial shyness should not be an obstacle in their friendship. And if it bothered them so much, then it was simply not meant to be. If we look at the worst possible case, Niki will be there, it's hard to be sad next to her.

Around 2:30 p.m., she saw the familiar group appear behind all the fans. So, she hurriedly said goodbye to her fans and started marching towards them. She stayed for an extra half an hour, so they couldn't be that pissed at her for leaving. She began to play out the worst possible scenarios, just to prepare. She was jolted out of her thoughts when Niki suddenly jumped on her. They almost ended up falling over. This caught her quite off guard, as she didn't even see anyone running towards her.

Niki was her best friend. She never had a girl best friend before. She had boy best friends, but it wasn't the same. They never understood certain parts of her the way Niki did. You couldn't talk to them about your feelings, you simply couldn't talk to them about certain topics.

"You will suffocate me." Ava groaned after a minute. Niki hugged her so tight that she couldn't breathe.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." That's when Nikki looked at Ava's face really close for the first time. "Is everything okay?" As expected, Niki immediately noticed that something was off. Given the amount of time they spent together in the past six months, it's no wonder that they knew each other inside and out, and Niki noticed such a small thing.

"I have something to tell you." Ava whispered into Niki's ear. "If it's just the two of us around." She added it. Niki looked at her confused. Ava was not usually this secretive. Ava didn't know what to confess to Niki yet. Obviously, she couldn't fully share what had happened before. Maybe share details and weave a story around them? After all, the best lies are those that are based on the truth.

Meanwhile, the others also came closer. Ava's heart was beating so loudly that she barely heard the others greeting her. Phil, Tubbo and Jack were there. She knew them quite well; they streamed a lot together. They were one of the few people Ava allowed close to her. She hugged them all and gave them a kiss on the cheek. However, there were also Tommy and Ranboo there, who she didn't know any better other than as a superficial acquaintance. She tried to greet them warmly and as friendly as she could. She believed that first impressions mattered a lot. Next came Will. Until now, Ava had not even dared to look in his direction, but now that he looked at her for the first time, many emotions were reflected on the boy's face. He was mostly confused. Ava tried to break the momentary silence between them.

"I'm Ava, I'm very happy to finally meet you in person. I've heard a lot about you from the others."

"Will. I'm also very pleased to meet you."

Then they looked deeply into each other's eyes and without words concluded that the events around noon had not even happened. Maybe one day they'll discuss things together (if they get intoxicated enough), but it's definitely not going to happen now. Will was a very good actor, he could give quite dramatic performances in his videos, so it was not difficult for him to pretend. However, despite not being the worst actress, Ava was so nervous that she couldn't do quite as well. Phil also noticed that there was something between the two of them, something unspoken, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.