I smiled, today was the day. If there was one thing that would make me forget about some recent events... It would be the Portland Comicon. I've been wanting to go to the real thing ever since I was 12, but I didn't have enough money to pay for plane tickets, a hotel room, or even just the Comicon tickets themselves! So I managed to scrape together what money I had and just go to the somewhat local one. I lived in the small town of Sandy, Oregon in a tiny suburban home. I put on my favorite Markiplier shirt and some shorts as well as a cheesy pair of pixilated glasses.

"Well, (Y/N)," I said to myself as I got into my red Malibu. "Maybe you could get lucky and meet Markiplier!" I scoffed. "Psh, like he would come all the way from LA just to ride a train full of crackheads to go to a makeshift Comicon,"

I started the ignition and backed out of my blue home's driveway. Once checking there was nobody coming my direction, I pulled out and drove down the large hill toward Portland. Sandy was a quick 30 minute drive to the juggernaut city of Portland so it was really surprising to any newbies around Oregon to go from a small town that was mostly country to a huge city full of sky scraping buildings and crackhead homeless people. I gave a sigh as I passed OMSI, my favorite place as a kid. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry was filled to the brim of fun interactive science doohickeys and even had a 3D printing class. My love of science and engineering actually landed me a job as a robotic engineer.

I finally found a decent parking spot and walked out of my car, giving an uncontrollable smile as I remembered my favorite episode of Prop Hunt (whichever one you like). I skipped across the pavement toward the convention center and walked through the doors. I shook my head from memories of thoughts I had that made me sick to my stomach. Sauntering down the stairway-- as I didn't feel like getting stared at by some creep on the escalator-- I made my way to one of the few things I was actually there for: "the Pendulum" as I called it. I always forgot its actual name but I enjoyed seeing it swing side to side and change its direction of swinging as the Earth rotated. I finally decided to go into the convention room after staring at the Pendulum for a good 20 minutes. My eyes went wide as I studied the amount of stands and cosplayers. Clutching the 100 dollars I had brought with me, I struggled to find the willpower to not buy the first thing I saw. (I haven't been to the actual Portland Comicon yet, so I don't know what it's like, but I've been to the convention center and it's HUGE)

I observed every stand thoroughly and decided to go check out a cell to clear my mind so I could check out the rest. I looked down at my schedule and noticed there was a huge Mario Kart 8 tournament just about to start. I gave an excited gasp and rushed to the other side of the room. Halfway there I rammed my head into somebody's chest and landed flat on my ass. "Oh my God!" I screamed. "I'm so sorry! It's just there's a Mario Kart tournament and the prize is is the new 3DS XL with Mario Kart 7 and its decal is a really cool Mario Kart theme..." I had to stop for a breath. I looked up to the man I bumped into with my flustered face while I was still on my butt, so he seemed extremely tall.

"It's okay," he said as I noticed his face was redder than mine. He held out his hand and I grabbed it. He pulled me up and I noticed his Markiplier shirt.

"Oh... S-so are you a M-Markiplier fan t-too?" I asked shakily.

He gave a hearty laugh. "In a way, I guess. So I heard you needed to go to a Mario Kart tournament?"

"Yes! I only have like five--" I looked on my watch. "Two minutes to sign up!"

"Okay, come on! I know a short cut," The man said. He grabbed my hand and rushed me to a clear path where no one and nothing was in the way. He then pretty much dragged me across the floor and threw me in front of the table.

"Hehe... Uh, are sign ups still open?" I asked.

"Yes. There are two spots left, so you and your friend can sign up as a team if you would like," the receptionist replied.

I turned to the man. "Uh, what do you think?"

"Sure. Just to warn you, I don't play console games too often,"

"Okay then! Let's see... I'll sign my name here... (First name) (Last name)... And uh, what's yours?" I asked.

"Mark. Mark Fischbach," Mark started to laugh as I put two and two together and finally realized who he was.

"Anytime now," the receptionist stated.

"Oh, yeah, right. Mark Fischbach..." I wrote down the words, savoring every syllable of Mark's name.

"Alright then, I'll go bring this to the referees. You'll hear your names being called over the intercom. See you then," the receptionist informed us. She picked up the clip board and snatched the pen out of my hand, then walked to a back room.

I shut my open mouth and averted my gaze from Mark so I wasn't creepy. My face had turned a deep scarlet as the earlier scene of me bumping into him played in my mind. I bumped into the Markiplier! I silently squealed. "U-uh... S-sorry ab-bout e-earlier..." I stuttered.

"No worries," he responded. "But I see you're a fan of mine?"

"Yeah... A pretty big one... I watch your videos every day and never miss a single one. Have you seen a comment made by (your regular YouTube username)?"

"Yeah. Quite a lot. They're really funny comments, although the first few ones I saw were pretty sad,"

"Yeah... Sorry for blubbering about my horrid life in your comments sections.... I just needed to talk to someone and I didn't want some therapist doping me up on anti-depressants,"

"It's fine. Are you doing okay now?"

"Yeah. I'm just really sorry... Am I a bother? 'Cause I can leave if you want me to,"

"Oh no no no! You're actually one of the first female fans I've met that hasn't tried to full on kiss me. Listen, if you are still upset about what happened, I'm always here to help,"

You sniffed. "Thanks,"

"Anytime,"

The intercom crackled to life. "For the team tournament will Team Animoo and Team... Erm... Warfstache come to the stage?"

Mark gave you a questioning look. "What?!" You asked defensively. "I put that before I knew your name! I just thought it'd be a cool name considering we both like Markiplier...."

"Whatever, let's just get to the stage," he said, chuckling.