Part 6

Coming out of the theater, we were stopped by one of Terry’s friends, Ethan Brown. Naturally, he looked me over before he actually told us what he was there to tell us, focusing mostly on The Boobs(™). I figured it was the combination of being forcibly turned into a girl, Eve’s voice in my head telling me to let him squeeze me and the pheromones I was probably still giving off that caused me to get very annoyed by the fact that he was staring at The Boobs(™).

Okay, for the most part, it was just the fact that Eve was telling me to let him squeeze me. I hadn’t been a girl long enough to have adequately worked into the habit of telling boys that my eyes were higher up than they were looking.

I sighed and just turned so that he wouldn’t be staring at my cleavage.

“What’s goin’ on?” Terry asked, stepping between me and Ethan. Never have I been more grateful to him.

“Uh, yeah.” Ethan looked like he had snapped out of confusion and shook his head, then focused on what he’d shown up for. “You here for the competition?”

“What?”

“The cosplay convention. It’s going on in the auditorium in the east wing of the mall.”

Terry looked surprised, and I was just as surprised. Terry loved cosplaying, and he usually kept up on conventions and the like. He even sewed his own costumes sometimes. He usually dragged me along, meaning I generally had to have a costume, too. That was typically annoying, but I don’t ever recall having a bad time.

Oh, shit, now I’d have to wear something hot.

“Was that today?” Terry asked.

“Yeah. The best costume competition is still a couple hours from now, so you’ve got plenty of time to get back to your house and grab one.” And with that (and yet another pervy look), Ethan was gone, off to the east wing, where he was probably gonna be checking out all the girls at the competition. If I was lucky, most of the “girls” he would be checking out were really guys in Wonder Woman and Slave Leia costumes. There were some people who took cosplaying a little too far.

I shivered a little. “Did he have to stare at my boobs?”

“Is there a reason not to?” Terry smiled as he asked that. If not for the fact that Eve’s voice in my head was telling me to fuck him, I’d punch him in the face. Okay, it wasn’t just Eve’s voice in my head, he was kinda the only friend I had that knew about me, but still. There are plenty of reasons not to stare at my tits.

“Are you wanting to go to that competition?”

He rubbed at the back of his neck. “I don’t have anything new. I’d either havta go with an old costume or buy something new.”

“Whaddya have that you haven’t used yet?”

He scratched his chin in thought. “Hmmm… I might just have something.”

I knew he would. “And whaddya got for me?”

He looked surprised. “What? You wanna go? There’s gonna be a lot of guys staring at you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Like you weren’t gonna expect me to come anyway. Name one convention you’ve gone to without me.”

He smiled, but it wasn’t his usual jerkass smirk. He was actually glad I was coming along, like he really hadn’t expected it. Had he actually been concerned about asking me to cosplay as a girl?

“But if I’m gonna go with what I’m thinking of, we need to get you some new clothes.”

I pointed at my ripped shirt. “I can’t just go as the near-rape victim I actually am?”

He shook his head. “Not gonna work.”

“Are you gonna pay for the clothes?”

Now it was the usual jerkass smirk. “Hey, you made me pay for the movie, I think you should pay for your clothes. But don’t worry, I pick out stuff that’s pretty cheap.”

I sighed. I shoulda known that was gonna happen.

Eve laughed. I knew I’d get you to try on clothes today.

***

“I don’t think you quite understand how difficult it is for me to get my ass in these shorts,” I said as I did my damnedest to get my ass in the shorts. How did girls do this on a daily basis?! After finally getting them on and pulling the for-whatever-reason attached suspenders up over my shoulders, I sighed. Getting short shorts on was going to have to be something I got used to. Kind of like the voice in my head continually telling me to let Terry into the changing room so I could give him a handjob.

I stepped out of the changing room and Terry stood there, looking me over with a critical - and somehow not perverted - eye, as if he was appraising me. Granted, that could still mean he was checking me out. He seemed to be accepting of what he saw, and nodded his head. “Good. Now you need a new shirt.”

I pointed at the torn front of my shirt. “This isn’t good enough?”

He ruffled my hair. “No.” He then poked at my hair for a minute. “Oh, yeah, we’re gonna havta do something about your hair.”

Wow, he is the pushiest boyfriend I’ve ever had, Eve said. I could hear annoyance in her voice.

A: He’s not your boyfriend. B: He’s not my boyfriend. C: Stop that. And D: He’s not my boyfriend.

You know you said that he’s not your boyfriend twice, right?

I am aware of this, yes.

Why?

Because it would be like you to call him my boyfriend.

By technicality, he is.

That is not at all the point.

Well, he’s a boy and he’s your friend. He’s kinda the only one who knows your situation, and you have at least some attraction to him. I’m not gonna lie, if he ends up the guy you start getting emotionally attracted to, I wouldn’t be surprised or offended.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were falling in love with him.

He is a damn nice thing to look at, okay?!

I mentally shoved Eve aside. “Okay, so a new shirt and a different hairstyle. What else?”

He scratched at his chin. “There is one other thing we could do, but I won’t consider it until you’re all ready.”

I was worried about that.

***

I looked stupid with my hair in a knot on the side of my head, wearing a yellow tank top and short shorts with suspenders, but I was finally getting what Terry was doing. Why he wanted to go as Ash and Misty from Pokemon, I didn’t know, but at least he picked somebody who wasn’t dressed like a sex object.

Then again, Misty had an awful lot of DeviantArt porn…

“So, wait, why do you have an Ash Ketchum costume at home?” I asked, tugging my top down to try and cover more of my belly than the shirt was meant to cover. “Were you planning on asking me to go as Misty at some point?”

Terry shook his head. “I had a Brock costume for you, I was gonna ask Mindy if she would go as Misty, but then she left so I figured it’d just be us as Ash and Brock, and we just wouldn’t have a Misty.” He looked me over from head to toe. “So I didn’t put any work into the Misty costume since nobody was gonna wear it.”

I played with the suspenders for a second. “I guess it’s a good thing Misty’s outfit can pretty much be bought at any store.”

“No kiddin’,” he said, smiling. “And you look nice dressed like her.”

I don’t know who this Ash person is, but I hope he’s wearing a loincloth, Eve said.

Do you not watch anime?

I do, but… Y’know… I mostly go for the yaoi.

Why am I not surprised about that?

Because we’re getting to be very good roommates and you have an intimate knowledge of everything I like. Which is mostly cocks.

Why do I put up with you?

Because we’re getting to be pretty good roommates and you care about me and would like to start getting into some of my interests once in awhile. Which is -

So help me, if you say ‘mostly cocks’, I’ll beat the shit out of you.

“Mike?” Terry was giving me a funny look. “You okay?”

I sighed. “Let’s just get back to your house, get your Ash costume and get back here.”

***

“I will kill you for what you’ve done,” I said, glaring at Terry.

“What?”

I pointed to the outrageous bulge in his pants. “You picked the tightest jeans possible for that costume, didn’t you?”

“It’s not my fault they fucking shrank in the wash!”

I groaned. It really wasn’t his fault, but I needed somebody to blame, and it was him. Because now any time he had a hard on, I’d be forced to see it because of fucking Eve. Of course, she was happy his pants were so tight, but I just wanted to avoid looking at his junk. And it was very difficult not to look at his junk.

Aside from the tight jeans, his Ash costume was pretty damn good. Very accurate, more so than the plain clothes I was wearing that just happened to be the exact things Misty wears. Terry was really good with his costumes, after all. I remembered really good Sauron costume he made once, real metal and everything. It was cumbersome as fuck to walk around in, but I managed it. He’d gone as the Gondor king that Sauron had killed.

I turned away from him and said, “Let’s just get to the convention hall. I wanna see how many other people decided to go as Ash and Misty. And how many actually have a girl as Misty.” Words could not describe the amount of fat guys I’ve seen in Misty costumes.

He grabbed me by the wrist and turned me back around. “I just… Y’know, before we go…”

Oh, please don’t tell me you wanna kiss me, I thought.

Oh, please tell me you wanna blowjob, Eve thought.

“Can you… Um… There’s a con in a couple weeks, do you mind going as Quiet from Metal Gear Solid?”

Thank God he wasn’t asking what I didn’t want him to ask. “I am not gonna wear a bikini and fishnet stockings.”

He groaned. “C’mon, you’d look insanely hot in dressed like Quiet.”

“You’re aware I’m only a girl because a succubus stole my body in an attempt to stop having sex, right? I don’t want to wear stuff like that!”

“Yes, Mike, I’m very aware of your situation, but denying how hot you are isn’t good for your psyche.”

I rolled my eyes. He was obviously trying to make me feel at ease about the convention, but it wasn’t working. “Just stop, okay? I’m relaxed, just stop trying to lighten the mood. The mood’s light enough.”

He sighed. “Fine. I was just hoping that appealing to Eve would make you loosen up a little.”

He’s trying to loosen the wrong thing, Eve said.

Can I make a bet with you? The rest of the day without sexual innuendos, and I’ll let him fondle me.

I don’t… I… THAT’S NOT FAIR!

“Are you still here?” Terry asked.

“Just making a bet with Eve. Everything you say gets her speaking in innuendo.”

“Does that have anything to do with me wanting you to dress sexy?”

“Partially. She’s encouraging it.”

“What’s she get if she stops making innuendos?”

“You’ll find out.”

He shrugged. “Fine. Let’s go.”

***

The convention hall was pretty much wall to wall people wearing all manner of anime, video game and comic book costumes. I saw Bayonetta, a Gundam, Solid Snake, Totoro, some guy from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Supergirl, Batman, Nightwing, Wolverine, Professor Xavier (complete with wheelchair and shaved head), and even Optimus Prime.

The sheer amount of people was impressive, considering the convention hall at the mall was only a little bit bigger than the auditorium at the high school, which wasn’t too big. I’d been to a few cosplay cons with Terry, and I’d never been to one this full. How had I never known there were this many people in this town who liked to cosplay?

Eve was already trying to say things, but kept managing to stop herself.

As Terry and I made our way to the sign-in tables, where people would make themselves eligible for the eventual contest, a pair of stormtroopers passed us. I whispered to him, “I’m very happy you didn’t want me to come in the Slave Leia outfit.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t think about it, actually.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope. I don’t even have any Star Wars costumes, except that Jabba costume we wore a couple years ago.”

That surprised me. I kinda figured he had all sorts of costumes for Mindy to wear, since Mindy had absolutely no problems wearing just about anything. It occurred to me that she’d probably try to talk me into wearing sexy outfits to school every day, if for no other reason than just so that she had something to look at.

Christ, when did girl-on-girl go from being the hottest thing in the world to me to being something I wanted to avoid?

I told you, I’m straight, so that makes you straight, Eve said.

Yeah, but I still feel the same about everything else, why aren’t I just indifferent to it?

That’s the thing about sexual preferences getting changed. Either everything goes, or nothing goes. You should really look this stuff up on the internet, I know some kinky websites.

Before I had the chance to ask Eve when she had ever used the internet, a voice from the stage at the far end of the convention hall called all the participants for the contest. “You ready?” Terry asked.

I nodded. “Good thing: Nobody knows who Mikaela Cross is. Bad thing: There are a ton of boys here to stare at me.”

He patted me on the back, in probably the friendliest way he’d ever done before or since I became a girl. “Ten minutes. And, who knows? We might win.”

I rolled my eyes. “Please, we’ve never won.”

He smiled. “There’s a first time for everything, ‘Misty’.”

We walked to the crowded spot where the contestants were to wait. Terry handed me the small clip-on number badge with ‘114b’ printed on it. I clipped it to my shirt and waited while the judges walked past each of us. There were about seven judges, most of them I recognized, either teachers from school or just people around town. Even Mom’s usual hairdresser was one of the judges. They each had clipboards and proceeded to walk around us, checking off this or marking down that. I know for a fact that I saw ‘Excess cleavage’ written down under my name. It actually kinda annoyed me.

The judges went back to their table on the stage and traded their papers between one another. Eventually, they started calling people up and would up cards with numbers on them, kinda like gymnastics judges did. Whichever entries got the highest scores would win whatever the fuck the prize was. Terry and I never win, so I didn’t actually pay attention to what it was.

There were cheers all over as each contestant or set of contestants walked up on stage. Just a couple days ago, I would have been impressed with the Sailor Moon cosplayers if not for the fact that my sister was Sailor Moon, effectively. Other people fared a little better, like the Dragonball Z Saiyans that danced around doing that stupid fusion thing, or the Darth Vader and Darth Maul who lightsaber fought one another onto the stage. After about seventeen minutes of the massive amount of contestants being called up to the stage, Terry and I were finally put on the spot light. “Terry Hughes and Mikaela Cross, Ash and Misty from Pokemon,” the announcer said. People were really cheery when we got up there. We didn’t even do anything special, aside from Terry pulling out his fake-looking PokeDex and turning his hat backwards. All I did was that nervous laugh and wave Misty does whenever Ash does something stupid.

The judges held up their cards, one by one. 8.3, 8.9, 9.2, 7.8, 8.7, 8.7 again and finally 9.6. Only one other team had gotten a single 9 in the entire contest, and that was the people cosplaying as the main character and bad guy from the game Dark Sector. (At first I questioned why anybody would go as characters from Dark Sector, but apparently more people than just me and Terry knew what it was.)

When all was said and done, us and three other teams won the grand prize. Everyone else lost by a full 1.5 points from our lowest scores. The grand prize turned out to be vouchers for purchases up to $150 at some media outlet that had sponsored the competition. A grand total of twelve people.

I was still completely shocked that Terry and I had actually won. I almost wanted to cheer, to wrap my arms around him and kiss him right then and there.

And if you do, you can rub your crotch up against his. It’ll be great. Let him stick his Caterpie in your Jigglypuff.

Ha! You made an innuendo, I win the bet!

If Eve had a body of her own, I bet she would have had had a very disappointed look on her face.