Five Times I Wanted To Say "I Love You"

First Time

Most people would be ecstatic about going to a convention, especially if they were going for the first time.

Bay was not most people.

'Dear God, this was a mistake.' Bay wanted to kick himself for (actually!) managing to convince Cal and himself to attend the event.

There were too many people in there. Way, way too many. 'Why did I come?'

Bay knew that he would've felt a little nervous around such a large crowd. But, all the same, he had hoped that the feeling would've faded when he arrived. It was clear to Bay then that the feeling hadn't disappear; no, Bay could've sworn that it had amplified.

It definitely didn't help his nervousness that most of the cosplayers he'd seen had really put their effort into their outfits. Like, really put in their effort.

Bay had a laughably simple outfit compared to those guys. But so what, right? ("Plus, Nathan's a badass," he'd gushed to Cal earlier that day. "I'm telling you that you gotta play Uncharted, dude!"). Though, really, Bay was 87% sure that anybody who saw him couldn't even guess that he was actually cosplaying; he hadn't managed to get the simple outfit quite right either. Bay didn't have any makeup skills so he'd figure it was fine if he didn't showcase the finer details of the character; boy, was he regretting that decision now.

'I could've smeared some dirt, maybe some brown paint on myself. Maybe I should've asked Jan to help me. God, maybe I could've even asked Jett to do something,' Bay lamented to himself as he passed by more and more people.

Since he'd arrived, Bay had seen Mileena with  her fully exposed canines; Azir in all his golden-armoured glory; Batman in his Dark Knight armour; a functioning Iron Man armour; a fully bandaged man wearing a bloodstained hoodie (Bay didn't recognise the character but the bloodied Grim Reaper's scythe resting on the man's shoulder screamed "Murderer!"), to name a few.

"Uh, Cal?" Bay tugged at the other boy's sleeve.

Cal was still looking down at the booklet when he turned to Bay. "Can you hold on for a sec? There's too much going on in this guide. It's like jeez! How do you even arrange these booths?"

"Let's leave," Bay said abruptly. He tried not to dart his eyes around too much when Cal looked up at him. He knew that was the telltale sign of lying. "I've already got what I wanted," he explained before Cal could ask.

Cal crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at Bay. "You want to leave?"

Bay calmed himself (somewhat), lifting his chin so that he could look at Cal properly. "Yes."

"Really?" Cal raised his eyebrows (because he could never lift just one brow).

"Yes."

"Then can you at least come up with a more believable lie?"

"I'm not lying!"

'Ah, crap.' Bay knew that his voice had been too loud when he was met with the stares of the curious people who had turned to face the duo. Bay also knew that he probably gave one of his most nervous smiles ever in his attempt to act like he did not just half-yell at his best pal a few moments before.

Cal didn't seem to mind the sudden stares though. He only started walking forward, tugging Bay along by his wrist, apparently forgoing looking through the guide book. Bay followed obediently, hurrying a little so that he could fall in step with Cal. 

"We've literally been here for an hour, Bay," Cal began, letting go of Bay's wrist. "The most we've seen is, like, five booths. None of which actually had anything worth picking up."