Everyone watched as Kenzie fiddled with her iPad and statistics and graphs were pulled up on a large flat screen. She took out a laser pointer and stood in front of Leo, Danny and Alexa with a smile.
"First and foremost, welcome to Game Shakers. I'm Kenzie Bell and I'll be presenting the statistics and rates for the current state of our company." Kenzie explained.
"So you're going to brag?" Danny asked and the Game Shakers looked towards Kenzie with worry in their eyes.
"Not brag per say, more like...giving you insight on our financial side." Kenzie articulated.
"Oh cool," Leo responded as she looked at Danny "She's totally going to brag."
"Which isn't a bad thing," Alexa said, not wanting to dishearten the girl "We're here to see what you guys got and bragging comes with the territory."
"Uh...okay. Well, if you look to the screen and on the first graph, you will see a steady rise in sales with all our games." Kenzie explained, pointing at the screen with the laser pointer.
"Why are there only four graphs?" Alexa asked.
"That's the amount of games we have out so far, more are on the way." Kenzie explained and all three nodded.
"The most popular one would obviously me our mainstay, Sky Whale." Kenzie said, zooming into the first graph "With over 3 million congruent downloads on the App Store and 5 million downloads on the Play Store."
"Holy crud that's a lot!" Leo exclaimed with wide eyes and Babe quietly giggled at the look on Leo's face.
"It was a hit that-" Kenzie was about to continue to explain but she was cut off by none other than Double G.
"That made bank all because of me." Double G stated, moving from the side and standing next to Kenzie while pointing at himself "With my name attached to the game, Sky Whale turned into a Sky Rocket!"
"I heard that you guys didn't start of on the best of terms." Alexa pointed out.
"Well, you see, it was a complicated situation." Kenzie tiptoed, looking to Babe who shrugged.
"He sued us." Hudson stated with a dumb smile and the Game Shakers gave him strained smiles, trying to hide their frustration "What? It's true. Kenzie and Babe stole Double G's song, he sued them but a dumb kid's toy made him change his mind."
"Hudson!" Babe shouted.
"Yeah?" Hudson asked.
"Shush!" Babe exclaimed, wanting to strangle the boy.
"And it wasn't a dumb kid's toy," Double G said as he sniffed sadly "It was my childhood."
"Really?" Hudson asked "That's sad."
"I'll show you sad." Double G said through gritted teeth, stomping towards Hudson but Ruthless, Bunny and Trip quickly ran over to hold him back as Hudson giggled.
Leo stood up with an amused smile, walking over to Babe as she watched everyone argue.
"Is this an everyday thing with you guys?" Leo asked.
"Only when Dub's here." Babe said, looking at her friends.
"Unhand me peasants!" Double G shouted.
"So yeah, it's an everyday thing." Babe said, turning back to Leo.
Both of them laughed at that as Alexa put two fingers in her mouth and let out an ear piercing whistle, gaining everyone's attention.
"I get that you guys have got some...issues, but we're on a time crunch and you're just wasting your own time at this point." Alexa explained and Double G pushed Ruthless, Bunny and Trip away then dusted himself off, walking over to the side.
"On the bright side, you're doing an okay job." Danny said with a shrug, making Kenzie smile.
"If we don't have much time then I guess we should hurry this thing up, should I go Kenz?" Trip asked.
Kenzie nodded, handing him the iPad "Sure."
"Alright. Sup y'all, the name's Triple G but you can call me the Game Master." Trip introduced with a smirk.
"I'm good." Leo said.
"No." Alexa said with a shake of her head.
"I'm pretty sure no one calls you that." Danny said.
"Okay then, Triple G it is." Trip said, pulling up the four games Game Shakers had made "Sky Whale, Dirty Blob, Ballarina and Nasty Goats. All simple but very fun mobile games that are not only easy but fast and addictive once you start playing them."
"I always play Sky Whale on the toilet." Hudson stated.
"You too!?" Danny exclaimed as he walked over to him and they both high fived.
"I'm more of a Ballarina type of girl" Leo stated as Babe face palmed.
"Mine's gotta be Dirty Blob." Bunny said.
"SKY WHALE!" Ruthless shouted with a proud smile.
"Ballarina is the most fun in the bathroom." Kenzie said.
"Eugh! Y'all are disgusting!" Double G exclaimed "You obviously gotta play Nasty Goats on the toilet."
"Oh my god, can we please stop talking about what game we play on the toilet!?" Babe exclaimed.
"Don't act like you don't do it too." Trip said.
"I don't." Babe said but the looks everyone gave her were still unbelieving.
"Babe," Leo said and she looked at her "Come on."
"I really don't." Babe replied.
"Babe." Leo said putting a hand on her shoulder with an amused look "Come on."
"What-... I-...I play Sky Whale." Babe admitted and Leo gave her a teasing smile as Babe gave her a small shove with a smile of her own.
"God, I hope that's all the toilet talk." Alexa muttered as she looked at Trip "Go on Trip."
"Game Shakers not only works to make new games but we also communicate with our fans and reviewers to fix any issue the games have and update them to add in new stuff we'd think people would enjoy." Trip explained, showing screenshots of updates.
"Nice, taking criticism always helps make you better in the long run." Danny said.
"Plus, interacting with your fans comes with a lot of benefits." Leo added.
"Speaking of which," Alexa said standing up while checking her watch "It's time to wrap this up, do you have any other presentations."
"Oh, uh... well, Hudson and I still have to show you some other stuff." Babe said.
"Yeah, I prepared my banana juicer and everything." Hudson said.
Babe sighed, turning to look at Alexa "I have some other stuff to show you, just me."
"Ooh, sorry sweetie, we can't stay to listen or else we'll be late for our job." Alexa said apologetically.
"Oh..." Babe said disappointedly which made Leo feel bad.
"What job?" Trip asked.
"Leo's got a meet and greet in 10 minutes." Danny explained as he also checked his watch.
"We'll contact you later with the decision we've come to but for now, we gotta go." Alexa said, picking up her bag and starting to leave with Danny.
"See ya." Danny said.
Leo started following them but after taking one last look at Babe, making eye contact and seeing the disappointment in them, she stopped.
"Wait." Leo said as everyone looked at her "It may sound kinda crazy but I've got an idea."
"What you thinking'?" Bunny asked.
"I like you guys, I really do." Leo said with a smile, not taking her eyes off Babe who shyly smiled back at her "And for that, I think we should extend your time frame."
"But what about the meet and greet?" Danny asked.
"Oh no, we're still going but we're bringing the Game Shakers with us." Leo said, surprising everyone.
"What?" Alexa asked.
"Really!?" Trip asked excitedly.
"You're joking." Kenzie said with an excited smile.
"Hear me out, I don't have anything to do after the meet and greet, right?" Leo asked and Alexa nodded "Then why not give us non-New Yorkers a tour of the place so we can get to know you guys better and you can have more time to convince us on why we should join Game Shakers, what do you think?"
"Yeah! Of course we will." Babe said with a grin.
'There's that beautiful smile.' Leo thought to herself.
"I've never been a tour guide before!" Hudson said with a smile as he started walking but then hit the smaller couch and fell over.
"I can see why." Trip said.
"Hold up!" Double G exclaimed, gaining their attention as he looked at Alexa "You okay with this, Pretty Mama?"
Alexa sighed at the nickname but chose to ignore it for now as she responded "If it's what Leo wants then sure, I don't mind."
"Where's the meet and greet being held?" Kenzie asked.
"A convention hall a few blocks down." Danny replied and Kenzie nodded.
"Well c'mon, we're taking a taxi." Alexa said, leaving the building.
"A taxi? Are we all gonna fit?" Kenzie asked, following her.
"You will, I'll make sure of it." Alexa responded as the kids followed.
Double G chuckled "Well, y'all can take a yellow clown car there, I on the other hand, will be travelling in style."
"Are we taking the limo?" Bunny asked.
"No! We're not taking the limo!" Double G exclaimed, leaving with Bunny and Ruthless through the back door.
"The helicopter?" Bunny asked.
"Shut up, Bunny!" Double G shouted.
"C'mon, Ms. Tour Guide." Leo said holding out her hand to her.
Babe took it and they both walked out together, meeting everyone outside.
~
Everyone sat in the taxi as it drove towards the convention center. Alexa sitting in the front seat with the driver and the kids sitting at the back although it was a bit cramped with only four being able to fit so Babe being the last one, she had to sit on Leo's lap for them to fit.
"When you said you'd make us fit, this was not what I had in mind!" Danny exclaimed.
"I can't feel my toes." Kenzie said, seeing as how squished her legs were.
They hit a bump and Babe bounced a bit, almost hitting he head on the roof of the car.
"Better than a possible concussion, Kenz." Babe commented but then she felt arms wrap around her waist and blushed to see it was Leo.
"I hope this helps." Leo said to her.
"Y-yeah," Babe said as the hit another bump but she was held in place because of Leo "T-this helps."
Kenzie smirked at their little interaction but then the car swerved and she fell to her right, accidentally slapping Hudson.
"Ow!" Hudson stated but then he giggled and slapped Trip next to him.
"Ow! What the, why!?" Trip exclaimed.
"Kenzie started it," Hudson said with a shrug "I thought we were playing Broken Slap a Friend."
"The game is Broken Telephone!" Trip corrected angrily.
"Why would I slap you with my cellphone?" Hudson asked and Trip face palmed but Danny laughed.
Kenzie saw Babe shuffling a bit on Leo's lap and adopted a look of confusion.
"What's up, Babe?" Kenzie asked.
"I don't know, it's just something in Leo's pants is kinda poking me." Babe said, causing Leo and Danny to widen their eyes.
"Oh, uh...that's just my phone, yeah, sorry I can't move it, it's a bit cramped in here." Leo said awkwardly clearing her throat with a small blush.
"Oh, ok." Babe said with a nod 'That's a pretty big phone...'
"Stop right here!" Alexa said and the taxi parked in front of a building with people lined up at the front, she took of her seatbelt and looked back at them "Alright, kids, let's do this."
~
Leo stood at the front of a line of people, taking pictures and signing whatever her fans brought her, some already taking pictures of her from the line. Meanwhile, Alexa and the Game Shakers stood to the side but Danny stood by Leo's side.
Leo finished signing a game for two girls who squealed in excitement.
"Thank you, Leo!" One of the girls said.
"You're the best!" The other girl said.
"No problem, you guys want a picture?" Leo asked and the two girls grinned.
"Please!" One of them said and they both ran over to Leo's side and they all took a selfie.
"Awesome!" One of the girls exclaimed.
"Thanks Leo." The other said as they left.
"See ya!" Leo said with a wave.
"So..." Danny said as they waited on another person to step forward from the line.
"So...?" Leo asked, smiling and signing another person's game and they left.
"Back at the taxi, with Babe, was that...?" Danny asked, knowing what it really was.
Leo sighed "Yup."
Danny couldn't help but laugh at that and she elbowed his arm.
"Don't laugh. How would you feel if a pretty girl was grinding on you for ten minutes straight?" Leo asked.
"Pretty?" Danny asked with a smirk.
"You know what I meant." Leo responded with an eye roll, looking to the Game Shakers and making eye contact with Babe, giving her a small wave.
Babe waved back and Kenzie couldn't help let out an aww at that, causing Babe to roll her eyes.
"What?" Babe asked.
"You two. You're aww worthy." Kenzie said with a smile.
"We literally just met today Kenz." Babe reminded.
"So what? Love at first sight is most definitely aww worthy." Kenzie replied.
"Kenzie, there's no love at first sight. It's just a crush that'll go away over time." Babe said "I mean Leo's the coolest girl ever and I'm just...me."
"Yeah and you're cool." Kenzie said "Leo clearly already likes you, she just needs to get to know you better."
"You can see how busy she is Kenz, there's no way that's gonna happen." Babe replied.
They could hear people outside gasping and chattering as Double G, Ruthless and Bunny flashily entered the convention center.
"Double G in the house!" Double G exclaimed as he smirked at everyone, winking at Alexa who rolled her eyes "That's right, I'm famous!"
"Oh my gosh! It's Double G!" A girl screeched and the entire line of people took out their phones and swarmed Double G, taking pictures of him and even grabbing at him.
"AHH! Back you savages! Back!" Double G screamed and shouted as Ruthless and Bunny tried to keep the crowd at bay.
"Should we do something?" Hudson asked.
"I think so," Trip said and he turned to look at Alexa "Should we?"
Alexa on the other hand was smiling happily as she recorded the entire exchange "Give it a minute."
"Mom!" Danny exclaimed.
"Fine." Alexa said with an eye roll "Let's go help him."
Alexa, Danny, Trip and Hudson ran over to help Double G, Bunny and Ruthless. Babe was about to run over as well but Kenzie held her back.
"What? What's up?" Babe asked, confused on why she was held back.
"Now's your chance. Leo isn't busy anymore and I'm pretty sure this is gonna take a while to settle." Kenzie informed, gesturing to Leo who was watching the crowd in amusement.
"What are you trying to say, Kenz?" Babe asked.
"You and Leo get out of here and get to know each other by giving her that tour." Kenzie said as Babe widened her eyes.
"Kenzie, that's genius!" Babe said with a grin.
Kenzie nodded "I know, now go do you're thing and also make sure you seal the deal."
"Kenz, I think it's a little bit early to try and get a kiss from her." Babe said and Kenzie rolled her eyes.
"I meant seal the Game Shakers deal." Kenzie said.
"Oh, right." Babe nodded.
"Go, we'll meet you guys back at Game Shakers." Kenzie said and Babe nodded, running over to Leo.
"Hey Babe, Double G's kinda dying out there, huh?" Leo asked in amusement.
"Yup. But uh...why don't we get outta here, things seem to be getting a little bit crazy." Babe suggested.
"What about everyone else?" Leo asked.
"We'll meet them back at Game Shakers." Babe said nonchalantly.
"Okay. Yo, Danny!" Leo shouted and he looked at her, she pointed to herself and Babe then pointed to the back door and he nodded, giving her a thumbs up. She took Babe's hand and they both ran out through the back door and onto the sidewalk "Now what?"
"How about that tour?" Babe suggested with a smile.
Leo smiled "Lead the way."
~
"And this is Emerton and Vine. Looks empty now but at night, the people that live here come out and start selling all kinds of things that they stole, I mean borrowed." Babe said and Leo laughed.
"Gotta respect the hustle, I guess." Leo said.
"Yup. Queens isn't even that far off from here either." Babe added.
"You think we'll see Spider-Man?" Leo asked excitedly.
"There are surprisingly a lot of Spider-Men in this city, so maybe." Babe said with a shrug.
"Back on the topic of hustle, how did you guys manage to make a gaming company on your own?" Leo asked.
"With Kenzie's brains and my networking skills, it came easy. Even if we almost got sued but it worked out anyway so whatevs." Babe said "What about you? Famous YouTube star with over 25 million subscribers and holding almost every world record in gaming, how'd you do it?"
"Games always came easy to me, along with the fact that I'm a weirdo that talked to herself while playing said games, my channel just rose over time." Leo explained "Along with Danny's amazing editing skills and Alexa's business degree coming in handy as my manager. I never would've gotten to where I am without the people around me, I'll always be thankful for that."
The more Babe looked at Leo, the more attracted to her she felt. She was everything she imagined her to be and more, she was almost starting to believe this whole love at first sight thing that Kenzie kept talking about.
"And you? Who is Babe Carano?" Leo asked.
"Not much to tell really. Just a girl from Brooklyn that got lucky with some great friends and a crazy life." Babe said with a shrug "Before that I was usually a loner that people were too afraid of because I didn't let anyone mess with me and I was a bit of a troublemaker."
"Was?" Leo asked with a raised eyebrow.
Babe laughed "Okay, still am. Just not as much now."
"Wow." Leo said.
"What?" Babe asked.
"Never thought I'd meet a cute badass but here we are." Leo said and Babe blushed.
"You say that now, but I'm a lot to handle." Babe said stopping to look at her.
Leo stepped closer to her as Babe backed up until her back was to a wall. Leo held onto her hands, closing them together and leaning in.
"I'd know how to handle you." Leo whispered as Babe bit her lip, her eyes going from Leo's eyes to her lips.
Their little moment was suddenly ruined by Leo's phone ringing and she sighed, backing up and answering the phone.
"Hey Alexa...yeah I'm fine, Babe was just giving me a tour of the place...yeah we'll meet you back there...cool, bye, love you too." Leo said, ending the call and looking at Babe "Looks like we gotta head back."
Babe may have looked calm on the outside but she was very annoyed, like they couldn't have waited a couple more minutes? One thing was for sure though, she wanted Leo even more than she could imagine now and in more ways than one.
"S-Sure, let's go." Babe stuttered, clearing her throat and straightening up "We'll take the subway."
"How about we get some subway to eat on the subway? Two subway speedruns in one day." Leo suggested.
"Oh my god, you're such a child." Babe said with a laugh as she took Leo's hand and off they went.
"Tell me something I don't know." Leo said and Babe just giggled.
~
After about an hour, they finally arrived back at the Game Shakers building by entering through the back. Babe checked and saw everyone hanging out at the main area.
"They're all here, let's go." Babe said but Leo stopped her by grabbing onto her arm.
"Babe wait," Leo said and Babe looked at her as she smiled "I'm in."
"In?" Babe asked in confusion.
"I wanna be a Game Shaker." Leo stated and Babe widened her eyes with a grin.
"Really?" Babe asked excitedly and Leo nodded "Okay, hold on."
Babe walked past her and into a storage room, coming out with a black Game Shakers T-Shirt.
"Ooh, Leo likes." Leo said, taking the shirt and taking off her jacket along with her own shirt, leaving her in just a black sports bra.
Babe widened her eyes again and looked away, causing Leo to let out a chuckle.
"It's okay, Babe. I don't mind." Leo said with a smirk.
Babe looked at her and involuntarily bit her lip again upon seeing her fit stomach that had the faint lines of a six pack coming along.
"Yeah, I've been working out more for the past few months. Pretty good results if I do say so myself." Leo said.
"Uh huh..." Babe muttered in a daze as she continued to stare.
Leo put on the shirt and Babe snapped out of it. Leo put her jacket back on and closed it up to cover the Game Shakers sign.
"Ready to surprise them?" Leo asked.
"Let's do it." Babe replied with a smirk.
They opened the doors and everyone perked up, standing up and approaching them.
"Where have you two been!?" Alexa asked worriedly.
"On a tour, like I said." Leo replied with a shrug.
"Yeah, but you're just kids, it's dangerous walking around the city by yourselves." Alexa said.
"I was gonna be fine." Leo said, nodding over to Babe "I had Babe with me."
"Y'all are heartless! Leaving a man to die from his success! Heartless!" Double G shouted.
"Dub, don't blame them for announcing yourself to the general public. You should've known that was bound to happen." Kenzie argued.
"YEAH! AND YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!" Ruthless shouted as Double G glared at him.
"Argh! Whatever!" Double G shouted.
"So how was the tour?" Trip asked.
"Amazing." Babe responded and Kenzie smirked.
"Isn't Leo supposed to be the one saying that?" Danny asked with his own smirk, getting an idea on why they left together.
"I am and it was, plus I came to a decision." Leo said, gaining everyone's attention.
"Oh?" Hudson asked "Proceed."
"What have you decided?" Alexa asked.
"I've decided that..." Leo paused to look at Babe who nodded and she opened up her jacket to reveal the Game Shakers logo on the shirt "I'm gonna be a Game Shaker."
Everyone was dumbstruck by the revelation and they started cheering and celebrating, Ruthless running over to Leo and picking her up.
"Now with another celebrity on the team, Dub doesn't have to do all the work anymore!" Double G said with a laugh and they looked at him in confusion.
"You don't do any work though." Babe said.
"Ah, details, details." Double G said, waving her off.
"Speaking of details, we're gonna have to talk about them." Alexa informed which caused Leo and Danny to groan but she smiled "But for now, how about we celebrate?"
"To the limo!" Double G shouted, running ahead and everyone cheered as they ran after him.
"I knew there was a limo." Bunny said excitedly.
"Shut up, Bunny!" Double G shouted.
With Leo and her family now apart of Game Shakers, things have just gotten a lot more interesting for everyone.