Two women sat cuddled together in their bed enjoying each other’s warmth on a cold winter morning. Huddled together they were content to simply enjoy each other’s company and there was no need for words. The first woman, Aubrey was around average height, with a round face and dark black hair that seemed to darken the light in the room just a little. In contrast with this was the second woman who was leaning on the first’s arms, she had a radiant smile and cherry blonde hair. While it was hard to tell lying down, she was actually quite a bit taller than her counterpart, and it was strange that she was the one cuddle into Aubrey. They both had a pair of matching blue eyes that seemed to so perfectly mirror the others some had assumed they were sisters. Those people were wrong.

Aubrey’s eye’s seemed to go distant as they stared at her lover, a thing Quinn picked up immediately “Aubrey what are you thinking about?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it” replied Aubrey

“Don’t you take that tone with me. I’ve seen that face many a time before, spill” said Quinn

“I was just thinking about how we met, and what a crazy ride that was” said Aubrey

Quinn tried to bury herself into Aubrey’s neck to hide her rapidly heating face “Don’t remind me, it’s so embarrassing to think back on it. Ten years and I still can’t get over it. I almost made the biggest mistake of my life”

“Oh, and how do you think I feel? I nearly had the love run out on me because of a stupid misunderstanding. If it wasn’t for that random old man I’d have been heartbroken” said Aubrey with a pout towards the woman now buried in her neck.

Quinn faced off against Aubrey “What random old man? My Grandfather you mean!”

“Hey, I didn’t know he was your Grandfather at the time. Could have been anyone” said Aubrey innocently

“That old man gave me shit for months Aubrey months I tell you. I was heartbroken for weeks. He was one of my main supporting voices when I came out, and the stuff he said really hurt” said Quinn

“Hey you didn’t tell me about that, what do you mean?” said Aubrey looking at Quinn with concern.

“I mean, looking back on it now I was the idiot. He clearly said those things in jest, but I just… I… hearing some of those things from him of all people hurt.” Said Quinn

“You’ve never mentioned it before, do you want to tell me about it” said Aubrey

“No, I’d just look stupid.” Turning to face Aubrey, Quinn got a big grin on her face. “Actually, I don’t think you ever told me your perspective on the day we met”

“You were there” replied Aubrey in shock.

“Well, maybe I just want to hear it anyway” said Quinn

“Fine, so it was Saturday morning…

 

##

It was 3:00am on Saturday morning. The day of the convention and it was supposed to be scorching hot. A terrible day for a vampire, and an even worse day to cosplay as one, at least the bloodsuckers could die quickly, but Aubrey would be stuck in the damned outfit for the whole day hoping the buckets of sweat wasn’t going to ruin her makeup.

And yet it was much too late to give up now, Aubrey had been planning a Kristopher Hacan cosplay for months. Convincing her mother to sew the outfit had been one of the easier tasks. Then there was finding the right shade of red, a wig for the hair, because her own wasn’t long enough. Heck Aubrey even went the extra mile and bought an old pair of stilts so she could loom menacingly over people. Her one regret was she never did figure out what to do about the swords but considering the rest of the costume and the fact Kristopher didn’t wear them so obviously on his outfit she wasn’t too upset about it.

The makeup as well was sure to be a pain. Aubrey was fairly pale already, but she wasn’t vampire pale, and as such copious amounts of makeup was going to be applied to her face. At least mum was going to help with that, and the plan was to seal it with setting spray so that it didn’t go to waste as soon as Aubrey stepped into the sun. The part of the makeup was a bit of putty to help angle her chin a bit more because despite Aubrey’s thinner build she had kept her more rounded face.

In the end it took a little over an hour and a half to get in costume. Thankful she’d gotten up so early Aubrey was ready and in the car. An hour later and Aubrey was hopping out of the car ready to face the convention's first challenge. The opening day lines. “Are you sure you have everything? We didn’t manage to hide much in the pockets for that jacket. You’ve got your tickets, right?” said mum.

“Yeah, I’ve got my tickets, thanks for coming to town and driving me to the convention” replied Aubrey

“No problem, I know you're busy with classes, and taking public transport is a nightmare in an outfit like that. It’s only a four hour drive to have an excuse to see my daughter so it’s not so bad.”

“Thank you really, for the help with the outfit and making the trip” said Aubrey

 

Her mother just gave her a dismissive wave as Aubrey as she stepped away into the crowd glancing back once to ensure that her mother had actually left. Aubrey appreciated her mother’s concern, she really did, but at the same time it was a bit much when she was in a hurry.

The line was as expected. Despite getting to the convention over an hour before it opened the line was already a mile long. The sun had already peaked above the horizon and Aubrey could feel the heat building.  Around an hour of waiting later Aubrey was approached by an employee with a badge and uniform who said “Excuse me sir, could you come this way for me?”

Aubrey took a second to examine the reactions of people nearby and to further look at the badge she was wearing. No one seemed to find this person strange and the badge certainly matched the convention. Shrugging slightly Aubrey followed the employee.

Aubrey was led around the side of the convention towards a fire exit. As they were walking the employee asked “Just for my curiosity why didn’t you come to the cosplayers’ entrance yourself. You should have been informed about it in your itinerary and if I hadn’t found you I’m sure you’d be late for your first appearance.

Aubrey was about to look around nervously but then remembered that she wasn’t Aubrey she was Kristopher the vampire, and much taller than the employee, so instead she loomed over the woman with a staff badge and said in her deepest voice “I was never employed here. I am simply visiting to sate my curiosity”

The employee panicked and looked around for another staff member to help her. The man guarding the door looked away pointedly indicating she’d get no sympathy from him. After a few more moments of panic the woman pulled out a phone and seemed to be checking a list. Aubrey could sort of read it over the top considering the height difference but the words themselves were a bit hard to make out. They seemed to be a list of names and characters they’d be coming dressed as.

“Hmmm, um” muttered the employee “hmmm, ah, let me call someone. We are supposed to have a Kristopher cosplayer who hasn’t shown up yet.”

The employee walked away slightly and got on the phone. A short conversation established that, yes an Kristopher cosplayer should have been here, and yes they did need one. After some more talking back and forth with the employee describing the detail that Aubrey had gone into to produce her version the employee was satisfied and hung up.

“So, look, we have a bit of an opening for someone in a Kristopher costume, would you be willing to an event or two. Nothing major” said the employee with an innocent smile.

Aubrey the fool agreed…

###

Eight hours later Aubrey collapsed into one of the chairs at the popup café. ‘Nothing Major my ass’ thought woman ‘That bitch had me working for eight hours straight. How am I supposed to enjoy the convention when I’m attending stupid events and meet and greets for someone who ISN’T EVEN ME’ exhausted and lost in thought Aubrey didn’t notice that she’d taken a seat at an already occupied table.

“Eh hem” said a woman in a casual shirt and jeans. Her hair was strawberry blonde and dazzled the eyes as it reflected the lights above. The shirt was just a plane white thing with an old logo on it, and the jeans were loose around her legs. She was tall, not quite as tall as Aubrey on stilts, but much taller than your average woman. “Do you mind, I’m trying to eat here”

“Donminema” mumbled the exhausted woman.

“Ah, are you alright?” said the woman in a much lighter tone that she had previously.

“Not professional. Forced into events. Mistaken for some other guy. Eight hours. So tired” said Aubrey.

“Um, here” said the woman, pushing over her cup of coffee she’d just ordered “I haven’t had any yet and you look like you could use it more than me.

Aubrey downed it in a single swig. Normally she hated coffee and the taste was still terrible. But she’d come to this convention to have a good time and by Kristopher, she was going to have it. Grimacing and coughing as the coffee went down Aubrey struggled to voice a thanks, rasping from the scolding coffee “Thanks”

“So, tell me the full story now that I’ve shared my coffee with you, my names Quinn by the way, and I just have to hear how this all happened”

 

###

“And that's how we mettheend” said Quinn.

“Now now, you wanted the whole thing, from my perspective,” said Aubrey, chiding her lover that was trying desperately to dig into the pillows.

“Please, don’t remind me” said Quinn

Aubrey paused and sat up “If you really don’t want to I can stop. Normally I know when your teasing me but this one, I’m really not sure”

Quinn sighed. “No, please continue, I guess I should hear the whole thing”

“So where was I… right, so we’d been talking not even 10 minutes when I started to feel this instant connection with you…

###

Aubrey and Quinn talked nonstop for over an hour. The conversation never stopped. There was an energy in the air, a liveliness to the conversation that Aubrey had never experienced before. A warm feeling was blossoming in her chest, and she knew that if she let this feeling, this woman get away from her, she’d regret it for the rest of her life.

The conversation continued as Aubrey tried to work up the courage to say something, but every time she was close Quinn would mention something else that resonated with her, and the worry would wash over her again. This moment felt perfect and doing anything to compromise that sent jolts of fear through her body.

Another hour passed, fear mounting, both the fear of losing Quinn and the fear of messing everything up. Aubrey was so close to giving up when she noticed the clock in the corner of her eyes. It was already 5:30, only another 30 minutes before the con shut its doors. Soon they’d have to start moving to leave and she couldn’t risk it, couldn’t take that chance.

Aubrey gathered her courage and stopped talking. Quinn noticed something was up but didn’t say anything. After almost a minute of silence Aubrey spoke “Look, um, I’ve, um, it’s just…” Aubrey took a deep breath “Ok, this conversation has been amazing, speaking with you look this has been what might be the strangest and most comfortable moments of my life. This is extremely forward of me, but would you be willing to go out with me”

Quinn’s eyes flicked from the table to Aubrey and back rapidly. Aubrey waited for a response. Each moment seemed to stretch into infinity, Quinn’s eye movements seemed to take hours to Aubrey as she waited with bated breath to hear anything from Quinn’s mouth.

Finally, after agonizing moment after agonizing moment Quinn said “I’m sorry, but it wouldn’t work out” and took off sprinting into the crowd. Aubrey stood there shocked. She felt her heart crack and her arms turn to lead as she sunk into the chair. Staring off into the sea of people she’d already lost everything. That special moment, that special person, all gone. Tears started to well up in her eyes when she felt a hard hand press down on her shoulders.

“Well, are you going to chase after her?”

Aubrey turned slowly, agonizingly slowly as she found herself face to face with an old man dressed as Vivus, a mentor character from the same show as Kristopher. Perhaps if he wasn’t so old, and yet the makeup, if that was in fact what it was, was done so well that it simply couldn’t be true. The hair, the beard, the glasses, all perfectly matching. The scar looked a bit wrong but that only added to the idea that this wasn’t makeup.

Aubrey stuttered and tried to get out some words but she couldn’t. Whatever she needed to say, it didn’t matter any longer. “Now don’t look at me like that” said Vivus(?) “Go straight down that hall, third door on your right, up six flights of stairs and then you will be there. Go on, get”

Vivus(?) shoved Aubrey up off the chair and for a moment she just kept numbly walking. However as what the man said dawned on her, Aubrey’s steps got faster and faster. Striding forward with renewed purpose. purpose. She didn’t know who that was, or if he was right, but she’d be damned if that stopped her taking this chance. Anything was worth the risk if it meant seeing Quinn again and finding out why she ran.

 

Aubrey followed the old man’s direction and slammed open the last door to find herself on the roof. Gazing around she saw Quinn staring into the sunset and leaning against the railing

“Hey, are you alright?” asked Aubrey.

Quinn turned slowly around to face her. Some tear marks stained her face but they’d already dried. “Yeah, I’m fine. I shouldn’t have ran like that, but I panicked. I’ve had, quite a few experiences in the past the ended poorly and I overreacted”

“Can you tell me why? We seemed to have such a connection but to see you run like that maybe I was wrong” said Aubrey staring into Quinn’s eyes. This was the first time all day she wished she wasn’t wearing stilts.

Quinn turned back to the sky for a moment before taking a deep breath then returning her gaze to Aubrey “I’m gay. I like women” waiting for some form of comment from the shocked Aubrey who stared at each other for a while, each waiting for the other to continue. “I uh hope we can still be friends?”

“Wait, how is this a problem?” asked Aubrey confused.

A scowl overtook Quinn’s features instantly “Oh, guess I was wrong then, you’re one of those sick fucks that think a good bit of dick can cure me”

“Wait wait wait” said Aubrey holding up her hands and starting to undo her outfit. Taking of the hat and coat, putty and failing to wipe of the makeup she returned her eyes to Quinn “My name is Aubrey, this is just an outfit, I’m a girl as well”

Quinn started cackling. Laughing and taking a few steps forward Quinn collapsed in her arms. Aubrey was shocked.

“What the hell am I supposed to do now? Take her home?” a quick search revealed no phone on Quinn. ‘Shit, fine, I hope mum doesn’t mind, I picked up a stray’ thought Aubrey as she headed down the stairs. In her slightly panicked state she didn’t notice the sly grin on the ‘sleeping’ woman’s face.

Returning home, Aubrey laid Quinn on her bed and went for a shower. She’d already checked Quinn as ok, on the ride home and there was nothing she could do for her. The costume had been hastily reassembled as she left the venue and it was really hot. Stripping down Aubrey had a quick shower.

Walking out with a towel around her Aubrey was shocked to find herself face to face with a now very much awake Quinn.

###

“And then you pounced on me like a ravenous tiger. Soiling this pure innocent maiden” said Aubrey with her hand on her forehead pretending to swoon

“Innocent maiden? Where” said Quinn turning her head to scan the room.

“Hey, rude, she’s right next to you” said Aubrey

“Oh, I believe I distinctly recall you saying something along the lines of ‘Again’ and ‘don’t stop I need this’” said Quinn with an evil glint.

“You were massaging my thighs! After walking in stilts all day my legs hurt”

“Ooh, what about how I ravaged the innocent maiden then?” asked Quinn

“Some exaggeration might have taken place” mumbled Aubrey

“How about a fix that” whispered Quinn tickling the side of Aubrey’s ears with her breath.