Playing Coy

It was just after noon when Brian arrived back in AnimeCon’s main lobby for the Hero Hero Haruki cosplay group meetup. Despite the months of time he’d invested in making his Darkmask costume, however, Brian couldn’t stop thinking about Stephanie, and even Kelly. It was pretty common to get separated from your group in the chaos of an anime convention, but both of them knew where he was supposed to be at twelve o’clock. Although he’d gotten a little sidetracked leaving his phone information at the lost and found desk, he was now actively searching the lobby crowds for Steph’s familiar pink-and-red dress and glancing around for the dark, graceful decadence of Kelly’s gothic lolita dress.

Losing his phone was annoying and dismaying—but not really a huge deal. It was two or three models outdated by now, and unlike with his previous phone, there was little to grow attached to. Chloe’d made a habit of regularly policing the device, and although he’d intended to be fully transparent with her so that he could somehow earn back her trust… after a while, it felt less like his phone, and more like one that just happened to have his number on it. It was altogether too similar to how he’d felt back when he was trapped living with his parents, and it grated at his subconscious in the same irritating way.

Oh, well. Least it didn’t happen when Emmie was here, I’d never hear the end of it. Even if half the time she’s asking me to call her phone just so she can find it.

To his surprise, what he saw grouping up in the lobby was mostly a large pack of gathered Darkmasks. Some of the other heroes and heroines and at least one supervillain were represented, but the majority seemed to have all jumped on the same idea as him. Brian was a bit crestfallen, but quickly realized all but one of the others wore those officially licensed ones you could buy online, the entirely-fabric suits he’d passed up on as not good enough.

From what he’d read on the forums in the weeks leading up to the con, they had a big photoshoot planned at a ‘special location.’ That locale was secret, with one of the organizers hinting that while they probably wouldn’t get in trouble for shooting pictures there... it also wasn’t the best idea to openly plan it on a public forum. Since the setting of Hero Hero Haruki was urban cityscapes and industrial areas, there were any number of places downtown near the convention center Brian imagined would be perfect for them.

He was just headed over to introduce himself when a figure stepped out of the crowd from the side to intercept him.

“Oh, hey,” Brian slipped his helmet off and gave Kelly a small wave as she approached. “Kelly. Have you seen Ste—”

“Brian,” She grabbed his hands and stepped in close so she could speak to him a low voice. “What happened to your phone?”

“It’s gone,” Brian said, furrowing his brow in confusion. “Missing or stolen… probably stolen. Why, have you seen it?”

“Someone sent Steph a mean text from your phone. She thought it was from you,” Kelly said, watching him closely. He knew that look—she was trying to gauge whether or not he was telling the truth. “She’s been bawling her eyes out, Brian. And… something else happened.”

“What?!” Brian’s voice rose and he stepped closer to her. “What happened, where is she?”

“Brian, how much do you trust me?” Kelly asked.

“Kelly…” Brian regarded her for a long moment, visibly struggling with what to say. “I haven’t known you for that long. But, yeah—I trust you. Is Stephanie okay?”

“Stephanie’s not okay,” Kelly shook her head distractedly... as if she was watching someone else out of the corner of her eye. “She needs you, right now. Do you trust me?”

“Where is she?” Brian asked impatiently. “I trust you.”

“It’s not going to make sense, but I’m going to need you to do exactly what I say for a couple minutes,” Kelly warned. “Without asking why. Can you do that?”

“Does this have to do with taking things further with Steph?” Brian asked. “Because if this is some—”

“No, Brian,” Kelly insisted, backing up a step. “Trust me. Please.”

“Okay,” Brian said, realizing how serious she was. “What do you want me to do?”

“Put your helmet on, and follow me back a few steps,” Kelly instructed.

Popping the skull helm back on, he stepped after her as she backed up several more paces, until they were standing practically in the middle of the dozens of other Darkmasks fooling around before the meetup. She brought his hands up to her shoulders, and then rested her hands on his shoulders.

“Can’t let anyone interrupt us for a bit,” Kelly explained. “How long have you been working on this costume?”

“The Darkmask?” He asked through the helmet. “About half a year—why?”

“You’re gonna need to ditch the meet-up here and go find Stephanie,” Kelly said, giving him an apologetic look. “Sorry.”

“No, that’s fine. Steph’s more important. Just—Kelly, c’mon, where is she?” Here in the middle of the crowd it was getting hard to hear her, and an anxious knot was forming in the pit of his stomach.

“Not yet. We’re waiting for her to turn around,” Kelly had that distracted look again. Her eyes were on him, but she was actually watching someone in her peripheral. Brian fought the urge to turn and look in that direction. “She got asked once already, so it shouldn’t be too much longer.”

“For who to turn around—Stephanie? Asked what?” Brian asked, getting annoyed despite himself.

“Listen to me,” Kelly said in a serious voice. “When I say go, I need you to give me your little shopping bag and get the fuck out of here, fast. Can you do that?”

“Yeah, okay,” Brian gave her a small nod. “But, where am I going?”

“To the upper level. You remember where Steph got her picture taken with that kid? I told her to wait there, where she can see us.” Kelly grabbed the side of his skull mask and kept him from turning his head. “Don’t look yet. When I say go, you seriously need to like, book it out of here. Get ready to give me the bag.”

“Can I ask what’s going on?” Brian sighed. “I’m guessing you and Steph are... testing me somehow?”

“No,” Kelly said, with that far-off look still in her eyes. “Just, trust me, okay? Fuck, if anything, I’m the one being tested. Why didn’t you tell me this gothic lolita outfit was worth so much?”

Brian, you fucking ingrate! Chloe was simmering with anger as she watched Brian talking with yet another random convention whore. ANOTHER one? Don’t you think you’re already pushing your luck?

Earlier, there had been that ditsy hipster in pink, and now, there was actually a girl in gothic lolita, of all things, clinging all over him. This one appeared to be an elegant, dark-haired beauty, but the way she crammed herself into ill-fitting burando simply screamed nouveau rich to Chloe.

That’s one of the Noblesse Oblique line that I had my eye on, too, Chloe fumed. She’s here to show off her thousand-dollar burando, when she can’t even measure her own fucking sizes correctly. Look at you, pawing at someone else’s boyfriend for attention like a needy dog. Sorry, shithead—you’re not going to impress Brian with that getup. He’s a total simpleton; he wouldn’t know real burando from a fucking Valuemart Halloween dress.

“Excuse me, Himari? Can I get your picture?”

“Of course!” Chloe composing her face into a sweet smile and turning to see yet another photographer.

He was in his mid-thirties and had an artsy look, with thick-rimmed glasses and flat cap. More importantly, the camera rig he was wielding was an enormous, expensive looking thing—clearly, this was another professional, and probably one who operated one of those big pages online. Chloe momentarily turned away from the pair of people across the lobby she’d been spying on and performed the traditional heroic Himari pose.

“Alright, go, go! Upper level!” Kelly snatched the plastic shopping bag with the special Komari-mart logo printed on it and gave Brian a healthy shove. As fast as she could, she slipped between several of the people gathered for the Hero Hero Haruki meetup and found her target; the one other Darkmask cosplayer with an actual molded plastic helmet.

“Hi!” She quickly butted into the chat he’d been having with the farmer Darkmask. “My friend forgot his condoms for the meetup, can you hold his bag for him?”

“His… what,” The guy managed, but Kelly was already forcing the bag’s handle loops around the wrist of his Darkmask gauntlet.

“It’s complicated,” Kelly gave him an indulgent smile, pulled both of the guy’s hands up onto her shoulders, then ambled over back the way she’d come with the guy in tow. Like formal dance partners who’d lost track of themselves, they bumped into and sent several caped heroes and a salaryman Darkmask with a tie and briefcase scattering.

“Uhhhh,” her own borrowed Darkmask minion began.

“I think we were standing right... about... here,” Kelly said, daring a quick look over. The Magical Doll Himari was just thanking the photographer and turning back to look in their direction. “Perfect.”

“Do I… know… you?” the Darkmask cosplayer asked.

“I’m Kelly,” She flashed a brilliant, mischievous smile at him. “What’s your name? No wait—leave the helmet on, I like the mystery.”

As Chloe set her sights back across the lobby, she was dismayed to see that Brian was still standing like the dumb oaf he was in the arms of that gothic lolita hussy. In a couple of minutes they should all be moving out for the photoshoot—wherever that ended up being, and Chloe needed to tail them. More importantly, she now had to put in even more work getting rid of the slutty burando broad.

What a pity. Disappointed that she couldn’t think of any way to steal the outfit directly—it was Noblesse Oblique, after all—Chloe decided she would simply have to ruin it for good.

Off to the side of the concession stands right over there, I think there’s those little bins full of condiment packets at the station… A discreet squirt of ketchup on the ignorant girl’s horrifyingly expensive lace as she passed by would never wash out afterwards. She might not notice it right away, though, and that’s no fun. Mustard? Mayonnaise? That’s probably more humiliating. Think I’ll go with mustard, unless they have packets for something else gross that REALLY smells...

Humming the Magical Doll Himari theme music to herself, Chloe merrily walked over towards the lines of the concessions area, glancing over every now and then to keep an eye on her two targets. There was no way they were going to escape her.

“Stephanie!” Brian took the stairs up between the escalators two at a time, his helmet tucked under one arm. It felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest when he saw her waiting for him, but a moment later his chest tightened at seeing that she’d been crying. For a moment, she seemed to freeze up with fear at his approach—then, without saying a word, she closed the distance to meet him, latching tightly onto him in a fierce hug.

“Steph—what happened?”

“I…” She tried, not wanting to pull her face away from his chest. “Kelly said it— um, that it couldn’t have been from you. Do you… um. Are we… okay?”

While he knew what she was trying to articulate, for a moment he didn’t know how to respond. The practical decisions and responsible distance he’d been trying to keep to this weekend briefly battled with his immediate protective instincts—but, it was a one-sided slaughter; because Stephanie’s eyes were still wet with tears.

“Okay?” he murmured, stroking her shoulders in a comforting way. “It was like the whole weekend dropped out from under me when I couldn’t find you. Someone grabbed my phone, I think. We’re… uh. I was really worried. Are you okay?”

“Yeah?” She looked up at him with bright, searching eyes. It was as though a flame of hope had been kindled in her again, as though she was confirming something that this slim pink-haired girl hadn’t even dared to dream. “You were… worried?”

It was strange—they’d only been separated for a short while, but her sudden absence had hit him a lot harder than he’d thought. The sheer physical attraction for the lovely girl still stirred his blood, but that wasn’t why he couldn’t keep his hands off of her. He just needed her, even if it was just to appreciate her thoughtful expression or see her smile at him. Not even attempting to restrain himself now, Brian lowered his head to kiss her.

“W-wait! Um, wait,” Stephanie blushed, seeming to remember something in a fluster. “I was told to, um, we’re supposed to go hide, now!”

“Hide? From who?” Brian gave her an uncertain laugh. “What’s going on, Steph?”

“Cloak and dagger… things? She said?” Stephanie said with a weak laugh. “I promised, th-that no matter what, I’d take you off away somewhere. Sh-she said we need to lay low, while she takes care of everything.”

“Kelly said that?” Brian asked. Lay low from what, exactly?

“Y-yes,” Stephanie nodded, then planted her face against his chest again in embarrassment and hugged him close again. “I have Kelly’s number in my phone, now. That is… if you want to, we can go somewhere together…?”

“Of course,” Brian said. “Anywhere you want to go.”

“How about, um, if you’re interested, w-we could go sit in the voice actor’s panel?” Stephanie suggested, looking towards one of the nearby rooms just off of the veranda of the upper level.

“Sure,” Brian readily agreed, letting his hands slide down to the small of her back. She smiled up at him again, looking reluctant to pull away from him so they could walk. “Whatever you want.”

At noon, the nearby voice actor’s panel was just beginning and almost every single seat among the rows in the softly lit room appeared to have already be taken. Another dozen or so attendees and anime fans alike loitered at the back of the room, either unable to sit because of their costumes, or undecided as to whether they would stay for the entirety of the panel. The voice actors themselves, a man in a suit jacket and a woman in a dressy blouse, were already seated at the long table in the front of the room. They hadn’t turned on their microphones just yet to begin the panel, and seemed to be simply chatting and laughing with a few of the fans in the front row.

“I think I see a spot for us,” Brian told Stephanie, guiding her partway down the aisle. All the way against the wall was a single empty seat, just beside a heavy-set brunette girl wearing a fantasy cloak.

“Excuse us,” Brian apologized, turning sideways so he could squeeze past the legs of those already seated in the row. He pulled Stephanie along after him, each of them awkwardly sidling past everyone’s knees.

“Um, uh—Brian, there’s only one seat...” Stephanie noticed, wondering if he’d somehow seen it wrong.

“It’s fine. Sorry, excuse us,” Brian stepped past the heavy-set young woman in the cloak, tucked his Darkmask gauntlets inside his skull helmet and slid it under the free seat. Then he sat down, patting his lap for Stephanie to indicate she should sit down as well.

“Uh. I…” Stephanie’s cheeks went red and her hesitant smile was frozen into place. However, not wanting to inconvenience the brunette with the cloak whose personal space she was now standing in, the pink-haired girl continued forward and gingerly—ever so carefully, lowered herself down to delicately place her bottom on Brian’s offered thighs.

“I-I’m not too heavy, am I?” Stephanie blushed furiously, appearing unsure of where to put her hands.

“Of course not,” Brian assured her, and he naturally let his arms fall into place at her sides. “You feel nice.”

“O-oh,” Stephanie managed.

Nice is such an understatement. Having the plush, perfect curves of her bottom pressed down into him felt amazing. Her butt filled his entire lap with just enough left over to fill his hands on either side, and the weight of her actually sitting on him allowed him to really feel the cushion of this incredibly cute girl’s rear. Realizing he was practically grabbing the sides of her ass, Brian abashedly let his hands travel up her sides to steady her slim waist. What am I doing?

“Good morning, everyone! It’s really great to see all of you out here today! I’m Vic Magnolia, and here with me today is the lovely Colleen Clissenberg!”

“Hello! Good morning. Er—afternoon. Is it really afternoon already?”

As the voice acting guests introduced themselves, Brian felt like Vic was once again trying too hard to seem animated and energetic for the Magnolia Militia—his small legion of rabid fangirls. On the other hand, Brian recognized the sound of Colleen’s voice right away, but couldn’t quite place it. It was distinctive, however, and she had a certain authority to her tone that made him want to listen carefully to her words.

Stephanie shifted uneasily against him, immediately and completely distracting him from whatever it was the voice actors had said next. Leaning in slightly, he put his lips beside her neck so that he could whisper to her and still be heard.

“Are you comfortable?”

“I, I’m, um, fine. I’m not uncomfortable,” she answered with a meek smile, turning to look at him. With her sitting on top of him, the slightly shorter-statured girl was now at an even eye-level with him, and both of them seemed to freeze when they realized how close each other’s face was. Brian’s hands unconsciously tightened on her waist, and her breath quickened.

“Are… are you uncomfortable?” She whispered back to him.

Feeling his blood rush towards the strained tightness of the jock-strap-like dancer’s belt he wore with his costume, he wasn’t sure how he should answer for a moment. It was all he could do to stop himself from kissing her, from letting his hands roam freely across her body.

“I wouldn’t say that, exactly. I might… um. Shift you a little bit, though,” Brian said into her ear, “if that’s okay?”

“O-of course,” Stephanie assured him, both of her gloved hands fidgeting with the front hem of her skirt. Over her shoulder, he could see that both of her knees were pressed together, her legs nestled between his own.

Allowing himself to lower his hands once again and cup her bottom beneath her costume skirt—hands pressing ever so slightly into her pleasantly supple butt, Brian lifted and shifted her a few inches to one side. Now, she was straddling his one knee rather than sitting on both, and had one of her vinyl red boots on either side of his gray Darkmask ones. The swell of her cheeks nestled perfectly around his right thigh.

“Ah?!” Stephanie squeaked out a small, unidentifiable noise.

He wasn’t able to move his hands away from her butt afterwards, this time—it was practically impossible to let go. Instead he gripped her there, marvelling at the feel of having this shy cutie sitting like this right here in his lap.

Is this… really okay? He wondered to himself. I mean, she did sit in my lap last night, when I asked her to SHOW me her feelings, but... this is different. She’s not facing me—or I’d already be a goner—and... this isn’t something she initiated. I don’t know how she feels right now. She probably isn’t—

Stephanie shifted against him, in a way it was hard to mistake for her simply adjusting herself. She’d spread her legs slightly, allowing her panties to press rather firmly against him, and his train of thought promptly derailed itself.

“Uh… s-sorry,” She murmured with shame, tensing up.

“...It’s okay,” Brian whispered in her ear. “Can you hear them alright?”

“Hear… who?” Stephanie blurted out in confusion. She twisted to face him, and he realized that the girl’s adorable face was completely flushed red. She winced in embarrassment as it finally dawned on her what he was talking about. “Oh! Oh, um, th-the voice actors. Um, well… I-I honestly haven’t heard a single word they’ve said…”

“Me either,” Brian confided in amusement. Overcome with the urge to tease this girl, he softly blew into her ear before he could stop himself. Her reaction was delicious, an invisible shudder he could feel roll through the lithe body that was pressed against him. She squirmed in his lap, spreading her legs even more so that her weight was settling directly onto him. He could feel her radiating with warmth right there.

This... was a bad idea, after all, wasn’t it. I’m totally losing it.

“Br-Brian…”

But, on the other hand, why was I ever trying to fight this? Brian tried to think. Kelly was right. I need this, WE need, this, this... INTIMACY I’ve been missing out on for so long. Having someone here with me like this, to make me feel whole. As stubbornly set on his convictions as he was, all of his reasons and logic and decision to take things slow seemed to amount to so much hot garbage in the moment he saw Stephanie crying at the top of the escalators. How could I ever hold back, play it slow and safe with her, when she needs me?

Wait, that’s not right, Brian paused, struggling to work through the shades of lust that were permeating his brain. He simply couldn’t take his mind off the way her butt felt pressing into his lap. She needs me, maybe, but not necessarily, like, in THIS kind of—

As if to insist otherwise, Stephanie slowly squeezed Brian’s trapped leg between her own and she shifted again, allowing him to feel her incredibly soft and intimate place pressing against him.

“Ugh—Steph,” Brian whispered in complaint, hiding his face into her tufts of pink hair again.

“Mm?” Guiltily caught in the act, she froze against him as though expecting him to tell her off.

“Steph, if you, uh... If you do that, I’m not gonna be able to hold myself back,” he warned in a low voice, wearing a sheepish grin.

“Sorry!” She whispered back to him, trying to sit perfectly still. Brian let out a slow breath of relief, and he fought to clear his head and regain his senses.

Okay. Okay. Of course she didn’t mean it like—

Once again she teased him, slowly, languidly rocked her hips, grinding herself against him. It was a measured, deliberate motion that spread the desperate heat through her panties and then the thin layer of his costume bodysuit. All the while, her upper body remained rigid and anxious, her gloved hands planted stiffly on one of her own knees. Her face was turned away and he couldn’t see her giddy smile from where he was, but he could almost feel it in her slightly shaking body.

Well, then. Half-hidden from view with his seat beside the wall and mostly behind Stephanie, he caught the nub of her earlobe between his lips and gently pinched.