Liam stepped into the restaurant and took a deep breath. There was always something about the bar/restaurant at one of these conventions that made him nostalgic for when he was a kid.

His parents had still been together back then, and he’d dragged them to a few of these conventions when he realized there were events within an hour’s drive where not only would his favorite stars be in attendance, but he could also totally meet them and get an autograph!

That’d been back in the days before stars started to realize they could charge a fee for the privilege of giving an autograph and the speaking fee the convention paid them was enough to get them out, so you could just walk up and get stuff signed.

That’d been pretty fucking cool for a kid who’d always looked at those actors as larger than life heroes on the screen and thought it was the most awesome thing ever to meet them in person.

Though part of the free autograph gravy train might’ve been because he was a cute kid wearing a costume and that was enough to get him through the line without having to pay for an autograph. He was a little hazy on some of the details considering it was from early elementary school.

He also hadn’t been old enough to get into the hotel bars for some of the after hours fun back then, but he’d heard stories from other people over the years. Supposedly things had been different in the ancient era before the Internet when only the most diehard fans showed up to these conventions.

His dad had a pretty cool story about having a drink with Shatner that may or may not be true. He really didn’t want to think about the second half of that story since it involved him and his brother getting a stack of quarters to go play in the hotel arcade, that was back when kids could be left to their own devices for a few hours if they had some quarters and a convenient arcade, while his mom showed off her original series outfit to the good captain.

That part wasn’t true according to his mom. It was true according to his dad. Though he was a man known to be full of shit, not to mention bitter about the divorce, so Liam was more inclined to believe his mom.

Besides, he sort of had to believe his mom if he didn’t want every viewing of the old-school crew of the Enterprise to be ruined by the thought of movie-era Captain Kirk railing his mother.

Liam let out that breath. It held the faint smell of smoke that hadn’t quite been cleaned out of the walls despite it being decades since a blanket smoking ban had gone into effect.

There was also an undercurrent of new plastic both from all the shiny things people had bought in the dealer hall and from all the costumes made of complex hydrocarbons fans had molded from ancient plant and dinosaur corpses into reasonable approximations of their favorite costumes from their favorite shows and movies.

And of course there was the food. It smelled greasy and deep-fried. The kind of stuff that could be thrown together quickly for a clientele that wasn’t known for being in the health food market.

“Smells like home,” Liam said.

“Your home smells like someone with a pack a day habit,” Anna said with a grin. “Don’t forget I’ve been friends with you since elementary school.”

“Yeah, and I still hate going home because of that smell,” Liam said, getting another faint whiff of the underlying smoke smell that couldn’t quite be cleaned out of walls that’d absorbed decades of cigarettes.

He heard snickering from a nearby table and looked over to see a group of guys barely fitting into their T-shirts featuring cartoon horses that grown men really shouldn’t be into to the point they wore them on their clothing.

Those ponies also shouldn’t have been doing some of the naughty things they were up to on those shirts. It was in poor taste, but then again at a convention like this Liam figured you were bound to have at least one interaction like this if you were there for the whole weekend. Especially on weekdays when only the hardest of the hardcore were out, as opposed to Saturdays when the normies came by to check things out.

Though there did seem to be quite a lot of Sparklefang fans here on day one.

“Got a problem?” he asked the guys.

“Nothing that couldn’t be solved by your friend coming over here and sitting on my lap,” the nearest one said to Anna, prompting his friends to start laughing all over again.

“Oh dear,” Anna said, trying to sound mock distressed. Liam grinned and watched the show. These assholes had no idea what they’d gotten themselves into. “I’d love to sit with you, big boy, but I can’t as long as you’ve got your shields up like that!”

The dude frowned, and it caused the scraggly pubic hairs covering the spot where his chin continued into his lower neck to twitch.

This guy might think he was the Han Solo of his own personal journey through life, but it was clear to Liam that he represented a different character from that saga. Both in terms of size and in terms of his approach to the ladies.

“My shields are up? What the fuck are you talking about?” he asked.

“I think it’s a Star Trek thing,” the dude sitting next to him said.

“Yeah, as in the stench around you is so intense that no woman is going to come within ten feet of you this weekend,” Anna said, flipping him the bird and moving along.

They jeered and called after her as she walked away, but Anna strutted like she owned the fucking place. They could go fuck themselves as far as Liam was concerned, and that’d been well and truly deserved after the way they’d been talking to Anna.

“Did you have to be so mean to those guys?” Rick muttered as they followed her.

“Antagonizing the socially maladjusted assholes who think women owe them sex because they have penises is always going to be something I enjoy at these conventions, and I’m not going to tolerate it if you try to defend them,” Anna said.

“Suit yourself,” Rick said with a shrug that said he didn’t want to get into it with her.

As they walked through the restaurant Liam noticed the place was nearly full even though more than half the convention was busy trying to get into that tiny room for the documentary screening.

“This place is a hell of a lot busier than it’s been in past years,” Anna said, looking around.

“Makes sense,” Michael said. “You have a bunch of Sparklefang people trying to get into that documentary screening, so all the regular con people are here trying to get a bite to eat while they think the other half of the convention is occupied.”

“A split convention,” Liam said, shaking his head. “Rough.”

“It looks like there’s room at the bar,” Anna said. “Who’s up for pretending we’re back in college?”

“I don’t remember ever eating at the bar when I was in college,” Michael said.

“What about the time I found you at the strip club on your lunch break?” Anna asked, looking down at her elbow like she was seriously considering putting it to good use.

“I told you that place had a good lunch buffet,” Michael said. “Did the fact that I was sitting at the bar and not looking at Heaven up on the main stage working her way through nursing school maybe tip you off that I wasn’t there for the titties?”

“It tipped me off that my boyfriend was spending his lunch hour in a strip club and lied to me about it when I asked him why he couldn’t meet me for lunch that day,” she said.

“Right, and we’re about to have lunch here at this hotel bar. That isn’t a strip club,” Liam said, desperate to avoid the two of them launching into this ancient argument again.

He was so used to it that he could recite all their points, both good and bad, from memory. His old speech teacher would’ve been proud.

“Fine,” Anna said.

“Come on Anna,” Liam said. “The statute of limitations on that one has run. You can’t be mad at him forever.”

“I’m going to go check out the menu at the bar,” Rick said. “Maybe check out some of their overpriced glowing con drinks or something.”

Though Liam noticed that Rick made a beeline for a couple of pretty girls in Sparklefang T-shirts who looked like they were more interested in getting a bite to eat than the documentary. Liam figured Rick would sit there staring at them without actually making a move, but didn’t begrudge him the hustle.

Even if it was a flawed hustle, which could be the title of the dating handbook Rick lived by.

Liam turned back to Anna and Michael, though it looked like they were about to launch into their old argument for all that he’d tried his best to head it off at the pass. He sighed, knowing there was going to be no stopping them now that they were really getting going, and looked around the bar to see if there was an obvious escape.

“Okay. I’m going to go sit at the bar while y’all work this out,” Liam said. “Have fun.”

They didn’t acknowledge him as he moved towards the bar. Typical. They were one of those couples who were always so preoccupied by the constant drama that was their love life that they didn’t pay attention to anyone around them when they were deep in that drama.

It’s not like it would be the first time Liam had a meal all alone at a convention. He had his phone, and he could always catch up on his reading. He’d always been a big fan of bringing a book to a restaurant and sitting alone and reading, and hadn’t even realized some people considered that weird until later in life when he’d seen people debating its weirdness online.

He made his way over to the bar and had a seat. The bartender, a pretty blonde in a tank top with tattoos down one arm, was there immediately, and Liam couldn’t help but notice the way her eyes ran up and down the half of his body she could see over the bar.

“How can I help you?” she asked.

Liam glanced across the room to his friends who were still arguing, then over to the other end of the bar where Rick was still working up the courage to talk to those Sparklefang girls, and then thought about the annoyance of that screening where he’d had to fight to get the asshole to show the damned movie. He let out a long suffering sigh.

“I need something strong,” he said.

“We’ve got a wide variety of stuff made especially for the convention,” she said, leaning forward.

Which gave Liam a good look down her tank top. From the way she grinned as she caught him looking, it’s not like there was any chance she could miss where he was looking, she enjoyed the attention.

Though one of his mottos in life was to always assume a service worker laying on the charm was angling for a better tip, and not because they wanted the tip and maybe a little more where that came from.

Giggity.

“Do you have a menu?” Liam asked.

She pulled out a piece of paper that looked like it’d been quickly copied in the hotel office that morning. It featured a variety of drinks, and all of them had vampire themed names that made it clear the hotel bar/restaurant was getting in on this year’s theme.

“I don’t care about all the cutesy con stuff. What has the largest amount of booze in it?” Liam asked.

She pointed to one that was called the Pan Galactic Blood Blaster. Which was a play on a reference to a line from Vampire Vixens that paid homage to Hitchhiker’s Guide. He smiled. That seemed like an auspicious drink given its pedigree.

“I’ll have that one,” he said, only wincing slightly as he looked at the twenty dollar price tag.

“Coming right up,” she said with a smile, the tip she’d get from a twenty dollar drink no doubt dancing in her head.

Liam looked over to a table Anna and Michael had grabbed to settle into a quiet but intense conversation. Then he looked over to where Rick sat staring at those Sparklefang girls a little too intently without working up the courage to talk to them. He sighed.

So much for coming to a convention, letting off steam, and having a good time with his friends.

The bartender reappeared with something frozen, massive, and glowing that was already making him feel better even before he took the first drink. It definitely looked like he was going to get his twenty dollars’ worth.

“You should probably have something to eat with that,” she said, smiling again and clearly angling to up that tip with a food order.

“I’ll have a burger and fries,” Liam said.

A burger seemed like the kind of thing they couldn’t screw up at a hotel bar. Though he’d been surprised before.

One convention came to mind where they’d managed to screw up pizza, and because it’d been at the convention center downtown it’d cost an arm and a leg and there were no refunds. Not because of any policy of no refunds, but rather because the line was so damn long it wasn’t worth waiting to get his money back.

“One burger it is,” she said.

“Wait. This isn’t the sort of thing where you’re getting mystery meat patties from the same supplier that gives schools their lunch meat, right?” Liam asked. “Like I’m not going to get a burger that tastes more like Play-Doh than dead cow?”

The bartender snorted and leaned over the bar, once more giving Liam a nice view of her considerable assets. He figured he’d take another quick look since she was offering, and from the way she locked her eyes on his as he looked he figured she enjoyed the attention. That or he was going to have to up the tip, which he’d already planned on making quite generous.

He had the money thanks to his streaming endeavors taking off.

“No worries about that,” she said. “Jake in the back makes everything from scratch. It might be greasy, but you don’t have to worry about anything being microwaved like at the chain restaurants. We overcharge you, but we give you good stuff in return.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Liam said, winking. “And please. None of the weird convention stuff. I’m not in the mood for French fries that’ve been doused in food coloring to look like Gagh.”

“You don’t need to worry about that with the French fries,” the barkeep said. “We do that with some of the pasta when the Star Trek people come through, but not at this convention. We’re not going to try and make the fries look like a bunch of live worms.”

Liam blinked. He was surprised she knew what Gagh was. Then again if she’d been working here long enough to see a couple of science fiction conventions come through then she’d have some experience with trying to make human dishes look like something out of a science fiction show.

“That’s a relief,” he said. “But there’s no need to dress up my food all fancy.”

“You sure?” she asked. “I have to charge the same whether it’s fancy or old-fashioned.”

Liam winced. “Whatever’s easiest for you then.”

“No problem, cutie,” she said. “Let me know when you’re ready for more booze. Though you do get charged every time I refill.”

Liam looked down at the frozen drink. He’d only taken a couple of sips while he was going over his burger order, and already he was feeling pretty good.

“Go ahead and get me another one of these when it looks like the first one is running dry,” he said with a shrug. “With the day I’ve been having I could use it.”

“It’s the least I can do for one of the hottest VR streamers out there,” she said with a wink.

She disappeared to help other people before he could do more than blink in surprise. He was also curious if she meant he was one of the hottest VR streamers out there in terms of career or looks. Though his numbers backed up the former and the number of crazed fangirls in his stream seemed to back up the latter.

Liam shook his head, grinned, and watched her to see how she acted with everyone else. He noted with some interest that she didn’t seem flirty with other customers. At least not in the same way she’d been flirting with him. She even pulled up her tank top before she went over to talk to Rick.

Very interesting.

He pulled his phone out and pulled up a book about a supervillain falling in love with a superhero, with the wrinkle being they were both ladies. He got a kick out of the smartass villain, though it did do that old comic book thing where the characters had entire soliloquies both in and out of their heads while they were supposed to be in the middle of a massive fast-paced fight.

He was so engrossed in the book that he barely noticed when someone sat down next to him. He kept his eyes on his phone.

He figured if he kept his eyes on his phone then there was a chance whoever was trying to move in would take the hint and go away. He wasn’t interested in talking to anyone while he was trying to decompress.

He’d had a good interaction with the bartender recognizing him. The last thing he wanted was to ruin that high by having a bad interaction with someone who liked his channel and also lacked the social graces to realize he was sending out all sorts of “I want to be alone right now” signals.

Though it wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened, and he seriously doubted it’d be the last time.

“What is that device you are using?”

A chill ran through him. He recognized that voice, and suddenly he was very interested in the person sitting next to him.

He turned and smiled. It was none other than the Galactic Enforcer from the Vampire Vixens showing earlier.

This day just kept getting better and better!