There I am, sitting on the sidewalk, curled into a ball, and crying. I feel like I'm falling. Falling from a cliff with nothing but rocky terrain below. Nothing to catch my fall.

Nothing.

I know that bystanders are staring at me, but I don't care. They didn't lose their family. At least, I don't think they did.

I look up and see a figure race towards me. The figure's blurry, though, since tears are kinda messing up my vision. I don't even have to wipe them away to know that it's Dan. I can see the outline of his poofy hair.

He squats down to my level and whispers, "(Y/N), are you okay? What happened?"

I have this weird thing that when I'm upset and somebody talks to me, it makes me cry. And if I was already crying, it'd make me cry more than I was previously.

And, since I was already crying, now I'm bawling my eyes out. Instead of saying what happened to Dan, I wrap my arms around him and hug him. As you can see, my nervousness to hug a celebrity kinda disappears when I receive horrible, horrible news.

Dan doesn't question anything. Instead, he hugs me back, pulling me even closer to him. "All right...don't talk if you don't want to...I'm right here. I'm here, (Y/N)," he says in a soothing voice.

I bury my head in his shoulder, inhaling and exhaling deeply to try and calm myself down.

He smells nice. Like a mix of sweat and cologne. Okay, when I say that, it sounds disgusting, but it actually smells really good, okay? Don't judge me.

I pull apart, thinking that I'm ready to verbalize what happened to me. Or to my parents, I should say.

My answer comes out as a stutter. "M-my parents. Th-th-they—"

Dan cuts me off. "Shh. Don't try to talk just yet, okay?" he whispers, smiling softly. His eyes are burning into mine as he rests a hand on my shoulder. He doesn't seem to care about the bystanders gawking at us. "Let me take you home."

One bystander even mumbles, "Is that Dan Avidan?"

Another one says, "Yeah, I think so."

I open my mouth to say that I am more than capable of walking home by myself, but close it once I realize that I could use the support of another human. I then nod, trying to force a smile. I do smile, but it comes out as a pained one. Sorry, but that's the best I can do at the moment.

   Dan nods and stands up. He holds out his hand to help me up.

   I take it, and he pulls me up with surprising strength. So much strength that I fall against him.

   He looks down at me and smiles, saying, "Didn't expect me to be that strong, huh?"

   I regain my balance and stand up straight. I laugh dryly to myself and say, "Actually, no..."

   "That's why you should never underestimate me," Dan says. "I just might surprise you."

   I don't really know if he said that in terms of just his strength or other things that he might say or do. However, I don't really care at the moment. I care about crying and stuffing my face with chocolate. Screw planning for my mom's funeral. One of my cousins can do that.

   I smile awkwardly, my legs shaking slightly. I'm still so shocked and sad that it's affecting how I human.

   Dan looks around at the crowd that has gathered around us. He sighs quietly, grabbing my hand. He then pushes through the crowd, walking with me to Coffee Shop's parking lot.

I look down at our hands. Geez, Dan's hand is warm. It has both literal warmth and spiritual warmth. He has "spiritual warmth" because his hand's grip almost promises that he'll be there for me during this hard time.

"You walked here, right?" Dan asks as we stop in front of what I think is his car. "I just don't wanna have to come back for your car later."

"Y-Yeah, I walked here," I mumble.

Dan nods and unlocks his car with his keys.

It's actually a pretty nice car. Luxurious. It's big, sleek, and red.

   Like the blood my mother lost and my dad is probably losing.

I shake my head to myself, trying not to think about that. I wipe leftover tears from my eyes with my hand as Dan opens the passenger door for me.

I smile at him. "Thank you..." I then climb into the car.

It must be new. It has that "new car smell", if you know what I mean. Basically, it smells like leather.

Dan shuts the door for me, making his way around the car to the driver's side. He gets in, shuts the door behind him, turns his key into the car, puts it in gear, and begins to drive.

It's silent in the car. So silent that my ears are ringing. Part of me is thinking about putting on Ninja Sex Party to get rid of the silence and to have something to talk about with Dan. But I'm currently unmotivated to move my hand to my purse/bag to grab my phone. I'm too sad and lazy.

A few minutes go by, and I realize that Dan hasn't asked me for my address. Not only that, he isn't driving in the general direction if my house...

I decide to bring that up. "Um...don't you need my address, Dan?"

Dan smiles to himself, keeping his eyes on the road. He shakes his head. "Nope."

He doesn't explain any further, and I don't ask him to. I don't feel like prodding as of now. I kinda hope he doesn't already know where my house is and is taking the long way, since that's kinda stalker-ish.

A few more minutes pass, and Dan pulls up to this house I've never seen before.

And then it hits me.

"Dan, is this your house?" I ask, in awe.

Dan nods, taking the keys out. "Mhm. I figured that you could use some support from a human while getting all the chocolate you desire." He looks over at me. "Treat me like a therapist, if you like. I wanna help you deal with whatever it is you're going through."

What a nice guy. It's unbelievable how nice he is.

However, one thing is bothering me, and I decide to put it into words.

"How come you couldn't have stayed with me at my house?" I ask. "You could've supported me and fed me chocolate from there too, right?"

Dan smiles. "I could have, but I figured you'd want the support of not just one man, but two."

"Two?" I ask curiously. Then it hits me. I gasp happily. "Is Arin coming?"

Dan nods, amused at how excited I am. "He was already coming over to hang out, so I figure it'll be a nice surprise for him." He chuckles. "And I can see that it was a nice surprise for you too."

I nod, smiling, even though a certain sadness still weighs on my heart. I still feel happy, but I also feel sad as well. "It was. And Dan? Thanks for caring so much about my emotional health. It means a lot."

Dan smiles. "Anytime. Always happy to help a wonderful woman such as yourself."

I begin to feel flustered. I never thought I'd be able to feel flustered when my mom is dead and my dad is gone, but here we are.

With one last smile directed at at each other, Dan and I get out of the car. We walk up to his house and he lets us in with his key.

His house is nice!

There's a fair amount of rooms, and every room is furnished with beautiful stuff. "Nice house," I say, looking around.

Dan smiles. "Thanks." He sits on his couch and pats the spot next to him, obviously signaling for me to sit down next to him.

I obey. As soon as I sit, Dan grabs my hands. He holds them tightly, but not too tightly. Just right enough to feel secure in his grip. He says, "If you wanna tell me what happened, I'm here. And so is chocolate. And if you don't, that's fine too. But chocolate and I will be here either way."

I laugh a little as he lets go of my hands. After a few seconds of thinking, I declare, "Okay. I'll tell you what happened."

I then tell Dan about what happened to my parents. All the while, he listens and doesn't try to interrupt.

When I'm done with my tale, Dan grabs my hand once more. "Oh, (Y/N)...I'm so sorry..."

Ugh. Here come the tears again. I try to wipe them away, but more tears take their place. Before I know it, I'm full-on sobbing.

Dan sets me in his lap and hugs me tight. "Shh...it's okay...I'm here...I'm here..."

I hug him back. His soothing touch is enough to calm me a little bit. I'm not sobbing anymore. I'm just breathing shakily, a few tears still running down my face.

Dan whispers to me, "It's all right. I'll be here for you during this time, okay? And I know Arin will too. We've both got soft spots for you."

I smile a little. Celebrities have soft spots for me..! "Thank you..," I mumble into Dan's shoulder.

"Anytime," he says back.

That's when I hear someone burst through the door. I don't even have to pull apart from the hug to know that it's Arin. "'Sup, bitch! How are—whoa," he says, referring to me and Dan hugging.

Me and Dan don't react. We just stay hugging.

Arin immediately gets the wrong idea. "Wow, that was fast. You guys met literally yesterday and now you're together?"

I pull part first and get off of Dan's lap. "What?" I ask incredulously.

Dan pinches the bridge of his nose. "Just because people are hugging does not mean they're dating, Arin."

"Well wha—hey...what's wrong, (Y/N)?" Arin asks, noticing my tear-stained face.

"It's none of your business, Arin," Dan says calmly.

"No...I'll tell him..," I say to Dan, who nods. "Well...I just found out today that my mom has been murdered and my dad is gone. Nowhere to be found..."

Arin's expression morphed from concern into pity. "Oh, I'm so sorry, (Y/N)...come here." He opens his arms for a hug.

I stand up and hug the cinnamon roll tight, and the cinnamon roll returns the tight embrace. "Well, I'm glad you came," Arin states. "Because now Dan and I get to surround you with all the food and support that you could ever want."

I smile, pulling apart. "That'd be great. Thanks, Arin."

Arin smiles and shoved me into the couch. "Don't move a muscle." He runs into the kitchen and grabs a bag of (your favorite candy) and yeets then at me. He then puts on Dan's TV like it's his house.

Dan then grabs a Game Grumps blanket from the opposite side of couch and puts it on me. It's surprisingly warm. "And if you ever wanna talk about how you feel," Dan says, "we're always listening."

I smile and nod, knowing that Dan's not lying. The sincerity in his eyes show me that.

Arin then looks like a lightbulb went off in his head. "Guys, I have an idea."

"I'm scared," Dan says.

Arin narrows his eyes at Dan. "Don't be, because this is actually a great idea," he grumbles through gritted teeth. He then smiles, like what Dan said doesn't bother him at all. "How about we go film a 10 Minute Power Hour with (Y/N)? A self-care one!"

Dan looks hesitant. "I don't know...would this be the best time for her to be...you know...on the internet for hundreds of thousands of people to see?"

I, for one, love the idea. I could use a distraction from what's been going on. "I'd love to be on a Power Hour!"

"Wait, really?" Dan asks, knitting his eyebrows together.

"Yeah! I could use a distraction!" I say excitedly.

Arin smirks at Dan. "Well, look who was right about what (Y/N) wanted."

Dan huffs and looks away, "Shut up."

"Wanna do it now?" Arin asks me. "You'll get to meet the rest of the Game Grumps!"

"Sure!" I say.

"Then come on! Let's go!" Arin grabs my hand and pulls me to the door. "We'll take my car."

We're now outside, and Arin pretty much throws himself into the car while I get in the passenger's seat at a normal speed. I laugh as Dan defeatedly clambers into the backseat, pouting childishly. "I feel like a fucking kid," he mumbles.

"Suck it up, buttercup," Arin says in a chipper voice. "We'd gonna go film a video!"

And with that, Arin pulls out of Dan's driveway and begins the drive to the Game Grumps office.

~~~

I'm so sorry for the bad quality of this chapter! Writer's block sucks! :(