As soon as the check came through you felt a wave of emotions. You felt regretful, joyous, pained, and relief all at once. You felt regret for having Sean actually donate so much towards your grandmother. You were very happy about it, but that was still his money. Though he said he was willing to give for charity, you still felt like this was a cheating way to get past this obstacle. It had been two weeks since you found out your grandmother was sick. You couldn't wait to tell her that her medical bills would now be paid, and a wave of gratitude towards Sean washed over you.
"Hey, Grandpa, you'll never believe this," You said, walking into the dining area. He looked up from whatever advertisement he was interested in and gave you his attention. "Grandma's medical bills, I think we can pay them off easily now." For the past couple of weeks your grandparents had stopped buying all the extra things they'd normally buy, like a new set of earrings or junk food. You decided to participate alongside of them to help them stay motivated.
"What, where did this come from?" You grandfather asked, seeing the check and snatching it away from you. You waited patiently for him to react. "Who is Sean McLoughlin?" Your grandfather asked you, scanning over the paper. "Damn.. that's enough money.." he whispered.
"Sean is my, uhm, famous comedian friend." You said, recalling the past argument with your grandfather. He raised his eyebrows.
"He sent this check? It's his money?" He asked "Does he expect us to pay it back?"
"I don't think so, he said something about him wanting to use it for charity, and I guess he considered this a worthy cause." You responded with. You looked towards your grandfather, who was now starting to show some emotion. He smiled, and you thought his face was almost turning red.
"So, this is from your online friend?" He repeated.
"Yeah, I told you, he's really nice." You said. You felt a sudden feeling of hope, but if your grandmother could get treated and cured, you wouldn't know how to repay Sean. Now that you got thinking of it, maybe paying him back would just be the defeat of a great act of generosity, but whatever the case is, you finally could stop worrying about the treatment costs, now all you had to worry about was your grandmother.
"I, I don't need it." You heard your grandmother say from the other room.
"What do you mean you don't need it?" You asked, slowly turning around to look at her. You hoped she was kidding, Sean willingly sent his money for this.
"I mean that you should use it," She started. "Didn't you want to go to that video convention thing?" She asked "The one you have been trying to save up for?"
"Grandma, this is now your money, not mine. It would be selfish to use Sean's money to meet him anyways, it just wouldn't feel right, and you do need it." You said. A small selfish part of you wanted to take this opportunity and use the money for yourself, but you knew that using it for your grandmother was much more important.
"I just know how important that convention is for you-" Your grandmother started.
"Yeah, but if it is to save your life you should know damn well that I pick you over a convention that happens more than once a year!" You said, battling with the small feeling of greed inside of you. You needed your grandmother, and you weren't going to let her stop you from giving her Sean's money. Her money.
"Fine," She replied, sighing. "But only if you take just enough to go to the convention, I guess you'll have to supply yourself with travel still then." You still felt like arguing, and you were about to come back with some other 'smart' response when your grandmother cut you off again. "I'll be fine. We'll use whatever is left, and we could also still save money up by only buying the necessary. Please, as a favor to me, go. Meat this Sean, he obviously seems very important to you." You felt your face heat up as she said the last part.
"What are you implying?" You asked "He's my friend."
"Oh, I wasn't implying anything," She responded with a gleam in her eye "But will you accept?"
You thought for a moment. You really wanted to meet Sean more than anyone else at this moment, even more than Alice.
"Are you sure you'll still have enough?" You asked, unsure.
"I'm sure, and if we don't, at least I could die knowing that you went and did something that could do a great deal of good in your life." She replied with a smile.
"Don't talk like that." You warned, and went over to hug her. "I love you." You said in your embrace.
☽ ☆ ☾
you stepped out of your car, hours of travel and a lot of money for gas, and you were finally here. Pax South. You breathed in admiration at the large building that the panels were to be hosted in, with a long hall for signing booths. You took an excited breath as you checked your watch, and soon your excitement turned to anxiousness. You realized Sean had already started his panel, but you did your best to get there on time. Realizing this and letting it sink in, you sprinted for the main entrance, your ticket tightly clutched in your hand.
As soon as you walked in, you found a brochure with directions to the different stages. You quickly located the stage Sean would be using, and walked as fast as you could towards his panel. You couldn't believe it as you walked alongside Youtubers, most of which you did not know. Some had lines of people waiting to meet the people they looked up to, and some were just hanging out for the experience. You grinned and took hurried steps towards the stage where Sean was at.
You had someone review your ticket as you walked in and you took your seat, which was towards the back, because that was all that was left. You looked up at the stage and nervous butterflies gathered in your stomach. There he was, in person, on stage, right there before your eyes. He was doing some sort of challenge, and he had a few other Youtubers up on stage with him. You could barely hear anything around you, not even his voice, all you were doing in that moment was staring in disbelief at where you were and trying to convince yourself that this was actually happening.
For the next half hour, you laughed and smiled at Sean's silly attitude and his adorable awkward personality. You almost wished that he could randomly notice you sitting there in the audience, all the way in the back, but you were patient. You were willing to be if it meant meeting him at the right time, when it was time for him to return to his signing booth. You started to chew your nails, thinking about what his reaction would be. Would he be surprised? Or maybe conflicted? He probably would be mad if he found out that you had used his money to come see him, especially since it was meant for your grandmother.
While contemplating this, the panel ended. You jerked up and mentally scolded yourself for missing the ending. How stupid am I? How come I didn't pay attention? You scowled and stood up to head to the door. Good thing about being in the back was the fact that you were closer to the door, therefore closer to Sean's signing booth.
You tried to walk at a fast pace as you searched for Sean's booth until you found a booth with a bunch of Septiceye-Sam merchandise. That has to be it. You thought to yourself as you quickened your walk. A line had already formed, and you noticed Sean making his way behind the booth. You ran away from his glance as your heart thumped against your chest, you were so nervous to meet him and see his reaction, you didn't know what to expect. You found a place in the line and waited, constantly checking your watch. Comparing your spot with the rest of the line, you were guaranteed to meet him, but for some reason that only made your heart race faster.
Time went pretty slow as you waited in line, but it slowed down an incredible amount when you were about fifth in line. You could clearly see his joyous face, with a genuine smile on his lips as he signed his fan's merchandise and took pictures with them. You were so distracted that now you found yourself in the front of then line, seeing Sean face to face, right then and there. You seemed to feel every heart beat pounding in your chest, every breath you took seemed louder.
"Hey Sean." You said simply. Your face heated up, hoping you didn't seem too plain. What if he didn't recognize you? You quickly looked down, hoping he didn't see.
"(y-y/n)? Is that you?" He asked, you couldn't tell his emotion, so you looked back up at his face. It was mostly shock, which relieved you a bit.
"Yeah, it's me, (y/n). I, uh, well I wanted to meet you." You said simply. You felt like you were standing there for hours before he did something you never expected. All of the sudden you found yourself in his warm embrace, a hug. You know that Sean said many times in his vlogs that he was good at hugging, and he wasn't lying. You weren't even one for hugs, but for some reason you found yourself smiling and returning the hug.
"This probably seems weird coming from someone you look up to," Sean started "But God am I glad to see you."