Cosplay Husband

11. The FantaCon Experience

EREN: I groaned when I first as the line entering the building for FantaCon. I thought we'd be out here all day for sure. To my surprise, the line moved exceedingly quickly, and we were able to get inside within 10 minutes of arriving.

Armin's eyes lit up immediately. They were like little blue Christmas lights that would never burn out. He mumbled to himself while his eyes darted around to stare at all the costumes.

"Eren, see that girl? She's dressed as Amarys from the books!" Armin whispered excitedly.

"Yeah..." I mumbled. Since the books didn't have any pictures, I wasn't sure how accurate that girl's costume was. But Armin didn't seem to care.

"That's what's cool about cosplay; if we don't know how the character is supposed to look, we all have a different interpretation. But that's what's so great; no one cosplays them quite the same." Armin beamed.

I nodded. He was really excited about this, even if he'd been through the same routine over and over again.

"Oh my God, I've been looking for a figurine of this guy for ages!" He suddenly exclaimed, making a beeline for a booth up ahead.

"Hey, wait!" I uttered stiffly. I didn't want to get lost in the sea of nerds. Once when I was four, I had gotten lost at the mall with my mom and cried for an hour. I'd never tell anyone about it, but that experience scarred me for a while.

I found him gawking at a little doll of some anime character.

"Aww...if I bought this, I'd blow all my cash..." He whined.

"You can't buy it online?" I asked.

"I've tried, but I couldn't find it anywhere." He said. He reached out and brushed his fingers over the figurine, until the seller saw him and he recoiled swiftly.

"How much is it?" I asked involuntarily. I dreaded to know.

He held up the price tag and I nearly pissed myself.

I sighed. "Alright, I'll lend you half the money you need for it, okay?"

"What? Why?" Armin's eyes widened again.

"There's not much I want here, so I figured I'd just spend my cash on you. Besides, it's kinda like payback for dragging you to the party last night." I shrugged.

"Eren, you really don't have to...." Armin's voice held a hint of pining for the figure. He sounded like a kid who had been offered money by his grandparents in front of his parents, and was expected to turn them down.

"Whatever." I insisted, digging around in my pocket for my wallet. Thank God Armin had sewn pockets on our costumes. I opened it up and slapped half the cash he needed on the counter.

Armin fished through his wallet and produced the other half. The booth keeper reached behind him and pulled a box off the shelf and handed it to Armin.

Once the box touched his hands, his eyes lit up again.

"Eren, how can I thank you?" Armin beamed.

"Don't worry about it," I decided, "isn't that what I signed up for? Isn't this what being your cosplay partner is?"

If you've never walked into a McDonald's wearing full cosplay, you should be aware of all the people who are bound to stare at you when you walk in.

My hands were shaking from the sudden attention from everyone around us. Despite Armin's shy nature, he didn't seem too bothered by it.

We ordered our burgers and sat down at one of the tables.

"You're normally so shy, but why is it that when you stand out the most you'll seem more confident?" I asked.

"It might seem weird, but when I become the characters I cosplay I try to act the same way they'd act. Rhys wouldn't be bothered by anything; he has a kingdom to rule and he has to stay cool and collected in dire situations." Armin admitted.

"You're really good at it," I offer.

"Thanks; I was in drama back in high school, so that kinda helps." Armin replied. "I never did any of the musicals, though...I don't like singing in front of crowds."

"Neither do I. Mikasa said I sounded like a wounded duck once." I laughed lightly.

Armin traced his tray with a French fry. "Hey...can I ask you about Mikasa?"

"What do you wanna know?" I questioned.

"Why did you break up with her? You said she was kinda crazy..." Armin trailed off.

"Well, initially I wanted to break up because she was going off to Harvard and I was going here. But she didn't wanna break up, and she got angry about it. She started leaving me nasty notes in my locker, she slashed the tires on my car, and she broke into my room and wrote on my wall in red Sharpie." I explained.

"Dang," Armin nodded.

"So then I was like, 'You realize we have to break up now, right? You're crazy psychotic'. And she was like, 'But I love you', and I'm like 'I do too but I don't love this'. So we just kinda split up. I haven't seen her since, and I'm not sure I want to."

"Mm." Armin nodded.

"When did you first figure out you were pansexual?" I asked.

"Ehh, I always kinda knew I liked more than girls. I got teased a lot for it, but Farlan and Isabel helped me through it." He replied.

"Are you planning to see them soon? I'd like to meet them."

"Maybe over Christmas break when I go home." He answered.

"I don't even wanna think about going home." I said.

"You said your dad called you stupid...?" Armin questioned.

"Yeah, not like I'm not used to that." I shrugged.

"What's your mom like?" He continued.

"She's sick with cancer." I state.

"Oh..." He mumbled.

I'm glad he didn't apologize, but I realized I had said "I'm sorry" when he told me his parents died.

We sat there in an awkward silence before I figured out I was done with my meal and emptied my tray in the trash.

"Ready to go home?" I asked him.

He nodded.

On the way home, we didn't speak for a very long time.

Finally I asked, "When's the next convention?"

"Umm..." Armin scrolled through his phone. "It's in March, it's called 'GamaCon'."

"Who are you going to cosplay?"

"I think I'm gonna cosplay..." More scrolling. "Here: Roxas from the game Kingdom Hearts." He held up a picture of him for me.

"Who do you want me to be?"

He held up another picture of a guy who looked nearly identical to his character, except mine had brown hair.

"Who's that?"

"Sora from Kingdom Hearts. He's one of the main characters, and my character Roxas is what is known as Sora's 'Nobody'. I could try to explain it but I don't really know how to without confusing you; it confuses me sometimes." He admitted.

"Let's get working on it, then." I smiled.