Con = Convention = An event ranging from a single day to a whole weekend or even longer where people with similar interests come together to talk about their favourite things. You have conventions for anime, videogames, movies, but also other hobbies or even for specific professions. I've been to a few anime and gaming conventions, as long as they were sort of local. It's one of the coolest ways to meet new people.

Jason wouldn't let me get out of the long line for even a couple of moments so that I could find Aoi, but as soon as I'd signed up for the cosplay contest, I went looking for her. I just had to find her. I just had to find the only other person I've seen at this convention to cosplay the same anime as I'm cosplaying. I just had to check her out.

Though, I didn't have to search for very long. As soon as I'd stepped out of the crowd, she was standing there, talking to a friend. They seemed to have some discussion, but I just had to make sure. When I called out for Aoi, she looked up and didn't seem particularly surprised to see me, though the look on her face was still priceless.

That was really cool. Aoi seemed to be stunned, even though she appeared to sort of expect me to show up or something. I don't know. Lots of pictures were taken already, so she may have just seen me on social media already.

And then she totally accepted the hug attack, which is one of Sakura's main shows of affection when it comes to her friendship with Aoi, which was really sweet, as not everyone would have let a total stranger just jump on them.

Up close, Aoi's cosplay is really good. I may actually have competition in the cosplay competition for winning outfit this year. And I don't know if I care or not, since we're from the same anime and everything.

Of course, then Jason found me again.

Aoi seems a little uncomfortable under Jason's gaze, but at the same time, she's looking at him pretty curiously too. I don't know. They can figure that stuff out themselves.

"Hey, can I get a picture of you two?" The girl with Aoi motions for us to step closer together.

"Sure." I grin, then I look at Aoi. "If you're okay with it?"

Aoi nods. Is she starting to blush?

"What do you want to do?"

"First a normal pic." The girl with Aoi waves her hand. "You can do whatever later."

"Sure." I step closer to Aoi, standing next to her, my arms at my side, not really sure.

The girl pulls a face. "Okay, can I get like, a hug or something? Don't be so awkward." Though she mostly seems to be talking to Aoi.

Aoi lets out a sound, but then she slides her arm around my shoulder and I slide my arm around her waist, we fit together pretty well like this.

The girl takes a couple of pictures as we keep moving just slightly, creating a few different poses. Then she stops. A bigger group of people have gathered around us and are also taking pictures. "Okay, now you can do those magical girl moves. I know you want to."

I turn to Aoi, who's grinning, and I can't help but grin too. We definitely want to do that.

I hold up my staff and Aoi taps hers against it, then we start doing the sequence for one of the finishing moves that our characters always perform together. And even though the first couple of moments are a little awkward, that soon disappears and we finish the sequence synchronised. Wow. That was totally fun.

I keep laughing, trying to regain my breath. It's fun, but with this heat, even doing a simple sequence can get a little tiring.

"No way." Jason is now standing next to the other girl, then he looks at her. "You also have one of those friends?"

They share a look, enjoying teasing us apparently.

"Hey." Aoi steps to them. "I'm not that bad."

The girl levels a look at her now. "You know every one of Aoi's sequences. You know every move Deimos makes in the anime. And you know all the history of every character you cosplay."

"That's normal. Right?" Aoi now looks at me, almost pleading me with her eyes to agree with her.

I shrug a little. "It is for me." And I see the look between Jason and the girl. "You two are just being mean."

"No, just confirming something." Jason looks around. "Okay. I'm in desperate need for something to drink or something else cool."

"There's a stand where you can buy bubble tea and iced coffee near the entrance." Aoi looks at him.

"Iced coffee sounds good." Jason grins.

"Bubble tea?" Now, that's something I like to hear.

"Yes." Aoi grins too. "They have a lot of flavours, but I think I'd like to try their strawberry one."

"It wasn't there last year, was it?" I can't remember there being something like a bubble tea stand at the event.

"Nope. New this year." The girl with Aoi smiles.

"We have to try!" I grin at Jason. "Have to."

"Fine. Let's go." Jason smiles. Then he turns to the girl with Aoi. "I'm Jason. And you are?"

"Mya." The girl smiles.

Jason looks my way. Oh, we're doing introductions now? "I'm Izzy." I do a small wave to everyone.

Aoi looks at Mya for a bit, but then she seems to take a decision. "I'm Elliot." Elliot, so a guy?

"Elliot? Do you go by male pronouns?" Hey, gotta make sure I get this right. I don't want to hurt anyone.

Elliot seems to think this over for a moment. "Yes. And I'm not that deep into cosplaying that I want that changed when I cosplay a girl."

"Okay. That's fine." I take his arm.

"I keep using male pronouns too, no matter how I'm dressed." Jason smiles.

"Female for me." I get a tenseness in my chest for a moment, but Elliot looks at me like he hadn't even considered anything else. Which, I guess, is good?

"Also female for me." Mya laughs, hooking her arm through my other arm.

"Now. Let's go get that bubble tea. And I want you to tell me how much you know about Destruction of Elysium and Deimos."

Elliot is tense in my arm for a moment, but then he relaxes and smiles much more relaxed than I've seen him yet.

So, that's what he looks like when he's not worrying. Maybe I should have asked sooner? I never know when to ask like name and pronoun preferences. I know that I personally don't mind if people guess for a while, especially when I still didn't look as feminine as I do now. But I guess that Elliot is much more of a worrier. He's apparently not as comfortable crossdressing or crossplaying yet. That's okay. I don't want to make him uncomfortable, I think he's pretty cute, no matter how he dresses, he just has that kind of face.

He's cute. I admit it to myself. And while I like that, I also know that this probably won't go any further than just hanging out and doing some photoshoots together. Because if there's one thing for certain it's that I'm gonna try to get Elliot to agree to a photoshoot with Justin this weekend.

Someone to cosplay a magical girl with, I don't get that opportunity often. So I've gotta make use of this moment.

***

Outside the convention building it's a little more quiet and there is a light breeze. We all sit down at one of the picnic tables. I drape the dress under and around me because the metal benches are kinda hot, and then slide my feet out of the heels, pulling them up. Freedom! I don't mind wearing heels, I wear shoes with heels basically all the time, but if I don't have to wear anything on my feet for a while, I like that even better.

Elliot and I both got a strawberry bubble tea and Mya and Jasper got iced coffee. They made the drinks fresh while we were waiting. This is like... so different from what you can buy at the store.

I collect a couple of the bubbles from the bubble tea into my straw at the same time and then suck them up, popping each one in my mouth individualy. These bubbles are quite different from the instant ones from instant bubble tea, but they're still really nice, and really fun too. And they're cold, so that's an extra plus.

Then I realise Jason and Mya are staring at Elliot and me. I look at Elliot too, and just see him pop a few bubbles in his mouth too. Then Jason looks at me and grins, winking.

Okay, so maybe I've found someone who drinks their bubble tea the same way I do. "See? It's not that strange."

Jason takes a breath, and then shakes his head a little. "No. Now I just know two people who drink their bubble tea the same way. Doesn't mean everyone drinks it like that."

"What?" Elliot looks up too, a little distracted. "I was drinking. What is it about drinking bubble tea a certain way?"

"Nothing." Jason grins. "Just drink it."

"Right." Elliot raises his eyebrow at me and I pull up my shoulders.

"No idea." I smile. "Good stuff though."

"I know. This is really nice." Elliot nods. "Do you have any place you want to go see later?"

I think for a moment. "There is a stand with The Ancient Magus' Bride fan stuff, I want to go there. And... I don't know. Usually I don't get to 'do' a whole lot, with people trying to get my photo taken and everything."

"Yeah. Right." Elliot nods, he probably gets that a lot too. Then he looks at Mya. "You want to go anywhere?"

"There is a panel on fanfic in like..." She checks her phone. "Two hours."

"Oh. Oh." Jason holds up his hand, grabbing his own phone. "There's a cosplay panel in like... thirty minutes. You wanted to go there, right?" He looks at me.

"Oh. Yes." I always love learning more about making costumes. I study design at college, but that's mostly pretty normal type of design. I love learning stuff at cons because they often have to recreate things that aren't supposed to work in this world, like the skirt I'm wearing right now. "We should probably try to get to the room then, they're gonna stop us a lot on our way there." I eye Elliot. "You coming too?"

Before Elliot can answer, there are loud voices behind us. "Izzy! Jay!" Ruby and Kevin come our way, also carrying drinks. They're followed by Evelyn and Mark, two more of our 'gang'. "Look who we—" Ruby's mouth falls open, staring at Elliot. "Whoa! Where did you pick up that cutie?"

"Ruby, everyone, this is Elliot. Elliot, these are friends of ours, Ruby, Kevin, Evelyn and Mark. Don't worry, they're not actually dangerous."

"Hey, talk for yourself." Kevin grins.

"Yeah, yeah." I roll my eyes at him. "Oh, and that's Mya." I point at the girl on the other side of the table, maybe I can distract them for a bit.

"Hi!" Ruby waves at her, then he sits down on my other side. "So, anyone done anything fun yet? Bought something cool?" He takes a sip from his green bubble tea. "It's so busy inside that it's hard to see if I actually want something."

"I bought a plushie of Deimos." Elliot's voice is a little soft.

"Really?" Kevin steps a little closer. "Can I see? You should know that Izzy is addicted to that game, though I don't know about the anime." His eyes shine.

"Addicted?" Elliot eyes me as he pulls a really cute version of Deimos out of a bag. "I got the last one. Emma didn't have any more."

"Ah, you got it from Emma, that makes sense." Kevin sits down on Elliot's other side. "Her things are awesome."

Elliot looks from Kevin to the plushie and then to me. "Yeah. I'd seen it online once, but I never knew where I could get one."

I shrug. "Yeah, Emma isn't that active online, she likes to keep a low profile. But you said something about cosplaying Deimos before?"

Elliot nods. "Last year at the con."

Last year... I try to think back. "Both days or just one day?"

"Both days, but I was in the competition too. We went as a group, me and two friends, we went as Deimos, Athena and Phobos."

"Oh. Yes." I now remember him. "You got second place for the group cosplay. You looked really cool. I wished I'd gotten a picture with you, but it was just too crazy." I shake my head.

"You got a pic this time." Elliot's eyes sparkle a little and I laugh.

"That, I did. We should totally get more, though. But maybe later." I shrug.

"Sounds good." He seems open to the idea.

"Hey, you two would probably look totally cool in Destruction of Elysium cosplay. Elliot in Deimos cosplay, and you as FrIzzyBang." Evelyn leans over.

"FrIzzyBang?" Elliot frowns a little.

"My Destruction of Elysium character in the game. I cosplayed her a while back. Though, I'd have to create a totally new cosplay. My gear has been upgraded and I don't look like that anymore." That, and... Ehhh... Yeah... my body has changed some, so I'm not even sure if all the parts of the cosplay would still fit that comfortably. But I don't have to share that with others, that's just... my body.

That's just one of those things that happens when your body is starting to shape more like the body you want and wished you were born with. Things like bigger bra sizes when you've not gained any significant weight on other parts of your body. And if you have to wear tight clothes for a cosplay, just one bra size up means that you'll have to remake it or feel uncomfortable... Remaking is usually the better idea.

But none of those specific details are important in the first fifteen minutes of getting to know someone, especially since they can get graphic when nobody stops me...