What Happens at Con Stays at Con (ch1)
I blame this on Zarla and her infecting me with Glyde/Teisel and her AU gayness. You don't really have to be an expert in them or the RP that spawned the AU in order to get this fic.
Because I reference many things I'm just going to put the links up here:
A clip of Teisel and Glyde with canon homosexual overtones
DUN DUNNNNNN
Doofus vs Ramune
Lucky Star opening as you've never seen it before
Felicia's wiki because I can't find pictures of the Texan cosplayer who does her perfectly
PAY ATTENTION TO THE REQUIRED READING THERE WILL BE A TEST
Title: What Happens at Con Stays at Con
Chapter: 1/2
Rating: PG-11ish
Warnings: copious amounts of gay and anime convention
Fandom: AU Teisel and Glyde (Megaman)
Summery: Todd is drug to con by his flirtatious best friend.
This is such a bad idea.
Todd repeated it over and over in his head even as he pulled down the old dusty duffle from the back of his closet. He mumbled it as he decided which jeans and which t-shirts to pack. He chanted the words like a mantra as he transferred his shampoo and body wash into travel bottles.
No matter how much he said it the phrase never seemed to stick. He was still packing, he was still going, he was still going to walk into this blatant trap and he was going to do it willingly.
That settles it, he thought as he zipped up the travel bag, I'm crazy and I'm a masochist. Why else would I be going along with this?
'This' being a weekend long anime convention two states over.
Two nights in a hotel room.
With Gavin.
Alone.
How could this end well?
Okay, so there were two queen sized beds waiting for them, which was more than Todd expected. He was so sure that his friend would say that there weren't any more rooms and oh I guess we'll have to make do, but the heir actually got two beds.
That doesn't mean much, Todd reminded himself. He's still going to be groping me all weekend.
But then the gray-haired man would remember that Keiji Inafune, creator of Megaman, was going to be there, and five of the voice actors who worked on the English dub. That little tidbit had Todd at the tipping point, and then Gavin showed him The Costume, claiming that one of his bodyguards was going to get shoved in it but that guy was saved and thank god Todd's the same size!
It was all total BS and Todd knew it. But since The Costume was of his favorite character and was beyond kickass, made of real metal and detailed perfectly, he didn't bother to care... even though Gavin apparently had taken his measurements at some point because the armor fit perfectly.
He decided that he could deal with his friend for one little weekend given the incentive. He'd just stay away from the alcohol that Gavin would undoubtedly bring, and then he would be able to fight off the smaller man's advances. Unlike last time when they spent a full twenty minutes making out on the floor before Todd came to his senses. Right.
Todd only slept by virtue of the medication he was still on thanks to his breakdown. He was jumpy and tense when he went out to stand on the curb with his duffel and an energy drink. He tried not to imagine what kind of tricks Gavin would be using on this weekend, then felt bad about being distrustful, then he'd remember who he was thinking about and start the whole cycle again. At some point he was able to shift his mind into a fanboy loop over the Megaman panel and that held him for a while.
Gavin pulled up at 5:17. Todd didn't recognize him at first because the heir was in a beat up old Jeep with peeling paint and a missing window. It was only after Gavin called his name that Todd recognized the car; it belonged to one of the mansion groundskeepers.
Then there were the smaller man's clothes. The usual was a sleeveless shirt to show off his tattoo and jeans so tight they were practically a part of his skin. Today he was wearing dark pinstripe pants (still painted on), suspenders, a poofy shirt, pinstripe vest, and tall black leather boots. There were a pair of battered aviator goggles parched on top of the raggy army cap he was wearing, and Gavin never wore hats.
"What is that?" Todd asked without meaning too, still standing out on the curb.
Gavin just rolled his eyes. "Steampunk. You coming or not?"
Todd climbed into the Jeep and wondered if he'd stepped into the Twilight Zone or something. After taking careful note of where their two costumes were sitting he stowed away his duffel and then turned back to the ginger-haired man, who was looking at him over the top of his cheap sunglasses.
"Okay, here's the thing," Gavin said slowly, as if he was picking his words carefully. "I'm not the intended heir of the occasionally crazy corporate giant Loa, okay?"
"What?"
"For this weekend," his friend quickly amended. "We're just a couple of guys out to be Megaman geeks. Right?"
Todd could see where Gavin was coming from. He knew he was looking forward to the break from the store (even though be felt guilty about feeling that way), and he was sure that his friend had similar thoughts on all the responsibilities he faced.
"Yeah. Just a couple of guys. Right."
Gavin grinned and put the Jeep into gear. They passed the 'you are now leaving' sign around the time the sun came up, Red Bull and loud music in hand to get them awake. The smaller man was surprisingly non-flirtatious for the drive. Instead of constantly trying to make Todd question his sexuality Gavin mostly talked about the various panels and events that interested him. Todd had to admit that their interests matched up pretty well; Gavin was a huge Megaman fan thanks to him and they both liked Metal Gear Solid and Phoenix Wright, so they mostly wanted to go to the same events anyway.
There were only two things Todd was iffy about: this 'YaoiFest' thing that sounded hazardous and then the rave. It wasn't that Todd had anything against dancing to techno, it's just that Gavin would be there. Dancing. In something tight and revealing and why did that sound so tempting? So yeah. Rave was out.
What really shocked Todd was that Gavin didn't argue. In the case of YaoiFest it looked like Gavin knew the answer would be NO but he kind of pouted about the whole not going to rave thing. After a few seconds of making Todd uncomfortable-it looked like Gavin really wanted to go to that with his friend-the ginger-haired man sprang back to life and turned the discussion over to the obscure corners of the Megaman universe.
In spite of himself Todd started to relax. It looked like the heir might've just wanted a friend for this convention. Sure he'd still flirt because for Gavin that was like breathing, but all out seduction might not be on the menu.
Maybe I've finally gotten through to him, Todd thought as they turned the last corner. Maybe he's finally figured out that we're just friends. Well, not just friends; he's the only friend I have. And while he has his social circle I'm pretty sure I'm the only one he lets his guard down around. So yeah, maybe he figured out that we're best friends with no romance anywhere. Maybe.
Once they got to the hotel there wasn't too much time to dwell on the issue. First there was getting all their bags and carefully packaged costumes while someone dressed as Death Note's L kept staring at them in a very in character way. Then Gavin had to go park the car in a garage two blocks over while Todd guarded their things. He entertained himself by trying to guess whether the L cosplayer was male or female and ended up calling it a draw 20 minutes later when Gavin got back. His long sleeves were rolled up as far as they could go and the smaller man was still sweating and huffing from the uphill climb.
Gavin took one look at their pile of luggage and called over a bellhop to help load everything onto a cart. Once that was done Gavin went off to the front desk with the bellhop in tow while Todd went to go get their badges.
The line in front of the pre-registration table was longer than Dragonball Z. It snaked in a wide squished zig-zag guided by masking tape on the carpet. Todd spent the first thirty minutes on the phone with his mother; five minutes was telling her they got there okay and the other twenty-five was reassuring her that it wasn't a den of moral depravity. It was a good thing that he hung up before he saw the girl wearing a white fur bikini, a few lines of fur glued to her stomach, cat ears, and a blue wig. He would have never been able to stammer his way through that conversation convincingly with that image in his head.
Then he stared at the ceiling until the embarrassment wore off. After that he kept his eyes glued to the head of hair standing in front of him for fear of seeing an overweight guy in a cat costume like that. He was concentrating on not looking at the rest of the room that it took him a while to figure out that the head of very nice long brown hair belonged to a very tall girl. She came up to his chin-which was incredible¬-but what really got Todd's attention was when she put her hair up in a bun and the back of her shirt was revealed.
This girl must be here to see Mr. Inafune too! he thought as he took in the apparently homemade shirt with a picture of Gutsman's ass on the back, along with "DUN DUNNN" in huge letters. The guy standing in front of her was wearing the same shirt, and when he turned around to say something to her Todd could see that the front said "Alien Androids" and the name of the convention.
They must be from one of those costuming groups Gavin was talking about, Todd thought as he tugged on his own shirt. It had the caption "rock beats scissors" and an image of Rockman chasing Cutman. He started to wonder if he should strike up conversation but the idea was immediately squashed under the usual crushing shyness and fear of how they'd look at him once they discovered who he was...
Suddenly Todd realized that he was seven hours away from home. No one at the convention knew about his breakdown. No one knew about his stay in the insane asylum. He wouldn't have to punch anyone who made snide comments about his brother's mental state. People were looking at him but it was because he was so tall and had insanely long gray hair, not because they knew about any of that stuff.
Before Todd even knew what he was doing he nervously asked, "Gutman's ass, huh? I guess you're h-here for the Megaman thing?"
By the time the girl turned around he was already kicking himself for stammering and sounding like an idiot. They don't know about the troubles back home but they'll still be able to figure out that I'm boring pretty quick. Stupid stupid stupid!
When the girl laughed the first thing through his head was that she was particularly perceptive and figured it out already. Just as he was getting ready to turn around or look at the ceiling or something she spoke.
"I can't believe I've never thought of that joke before, or seen it done! That's perfect!"
"What?" Todd stood there confused for several long seconds before he realized she was talking about his shirt. "Oh, right! Um, I guess it's pretty good?"
"It's perfect," she repeated, still smiling. "Where did you buy that? It looks professional but not official so I'm guessing another con?"
"Um..." Stop sounding like a moron! "My friend gave it to me last Christmas, so I'm not really sure. This is actually my, uh, first convention."
"Well you picked a good place to lose your virginity. This convention has lots of really good... you okay?"
On the phrase 'lose you virginity' Todd started coughing and his face went bright red. He tried to splutter out an explanation to no avail, though it seemed this girl could translate crippling awkward.
"I meant your con virginity, hon," she said, grinning and looking apologetic at the same time. "You gonna to make it?"
"... I like your shirt," Todd finally managed to get out. He was ready to crawl under the carpet in embarrassment but the girl just smiled and started talking about the episode that spawned the meme. He hesitantly joined in, and after a couple minutes he started to understand that she really didn't care how awkward he was being. She seemed really into the conversation, and once Todd stopped worrying so much he was as well. It carried them for the two hours it took to get to the pre-registration tables. He didn't even realize he'd been talking with her for so long until he looked at his watch.
Todd claimed the two badges marked T0DDM4N and G-Wing (he couldn't help but roll his eyes at Gavin's choice) and then he stood to the side of the tables not knowing if he should say goodbye to the girl or leave or what. His internal debate lasted until she and the other Alien Android had picked up about ten badges and started off towards the elevators themselves.
"Oh, by the way," she said, pausing by Todd even though her friend seemed to be in a hurry, "I'm BlackBot."
"Um... Toddman."
She reached out and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you Toddman! I'm guessing you'll be here tomorrow?"
Todd managed a nod.
"Great! I'll be with the insanely large group of Megaman cosplayers."
"Oh! My friend and I will be dressed up as Megaman characters, too."
"That's awesome! There's going to be a photoshoot by the fountain downstairs at eleven and it'll last until we all go upstairs for Inafune's panel."
"Okay," Todd replied, amazed at himself for not stammering, "that sounds good."
With that her friend finally managed to drag her off towards the elevators while mumbling something about pizza. Todd started in that direction as well; he'd been in line over three hours and he was sure that Gavin must be getting bored.
When he got up to their room he found the door propped open with a shoe and he could hear the TV playing softly. After confirming that the shoe did in fact belong to Gavin he walked in, fully expecting a pouting heir saying something unnecessarily lewd about what they could have done in the time he was waiting.
What he found was said heir asleep on one of the beds. Gavin was lying on his back and holding one of the pillows to his chest as though it was a teddy bear. Todd couldn't help but stop and smile at the sight; when asleep his friend looked gentle and innocent, not at all the cunning smirking manipulator of the waking hours.
No, that's too harsh, he chided internally, He can't help but be that way; if he wasn't then he wouldn't be able to handle the corporate world once Mr. Loa retires. Though it still gets annoying sometimes.
Todd moved around the room as quietly as he could, but eventually his clumsy streak caught up with him and he knocked over his shampoo bottle. Gavin stirred, mumbled, and then promptly rolled off the bed. The gray-haired man winced in sympathy even as he tried to hide a snicker and the rumpled heir glared at him murderously.
"Morning, Sunshine. Sleep well?" Todd asked with uncharacteristic cheek. He was just in too good of a mood to be brought down by anything. When the gray-haired man wasn't the least bit needlessly apologetic Gavin figured that something was up.
"Okay," Gavin asked accusingly (and with a trademark pout), "who are you and what have you done with Todd?"
"Don't know what you're talking about."
"You keep smiling and it's deeply unsettling. Stop it right now."
The ginger-haired man couldn't quite hide the happy note in his tone, even as he continued to describe exactly how the world was ending. When Todd glanced over he could see the shine in his friend's eyes that said 'please never stop smiling'. The gray-haired man couldn't help but feel warm and fuzzy over this fact.
No matter how annoying he is, or how much he teases me, or how often he tries to grope me, he's still an amazing friend where it really counts.
It wasn't very often that Todd felt lucky, but that was one of those moments.
Eventually Gavin finished his melodramatic speech and they both headed back down to the lobby. They wandered around Artist Alley for a while and Todd had to admit that there were a lot of really great artists at the convention. There was even one guy selling handmade jewelry who had some small cast bronze Megaman figures he made himself. Todd ended up talking to him about the metal casting process for half an hour while Gavin tried on every ring on display. He finally settled on a simple stainless steel band with a triforce design etched into it. The gray-haired man was never much for jewelry but he had to admit that the ring was pretty cool.
After that Gavin decided it was time for a snack. He drug Todd into the dealers' room and quickly located the food vendor. Before the larger man could even reach for his wallet he was being handed a cold drink and a box of something called Pocky. The drink was called Ramune and it came in a needlessly complicated glass bottle and the Pocky consisted of thin cookie-cracker sticks covered in chocolate.
"Okay..." Todd said slowly as he tried to figure out his Ramune bottle, "Is everything from Japan this crazy?"
"Ohoho!" Gavin laughed back. "Just wait until you see Lucky Star."
Todd tried not to worry too much as he finished his strange snack. Usually he would have failed completely but there were enough distractions in the dealers' room to keep his mind off that sinking feeling that usually accompanied Gavin's presence. Specifically the large display of swords right across from the food booth. That held them for almost an hour, and then browsing through the Megaman manga after that. Then the ginger-haired man spent a lot of time looking at what he said were doujinshi. Todd caught a glimpse at some of the cover art on the comic type things and that was enough to have him at the next booth looking at kimonos.
Well, I should have known that Gavin would be buying gay porn at this thing, he thought as he examined a fish patterned obi. Wait, not gay. Yow-ee. Whatever that even means.
The heir signaled that he was done by surprise-poking Todd in the ribs. The extremely ticklish man then scared everyone in the vicinity with his extremely loud surprised shout. Gavin avoided an imminent pounding by reminding his friend that they hadn't eaten anything of substance all day and that it was already past five. Right on cue Todd's stomach started growling. Thinking back to what the Alien Android guy was mumbling to BlackBot Todd suggested pizza and Gavin quickly agreed.
They spent the wait time in the lobby arguing over who was going to pay for it. When the pizza boy did arrive he had about five orders and it was clear that none of the other people were tipping the guy, so Gavin suggested they compromise and both pay him the full amount. Todd could only smile and agree; even though Gavin never had to worry about money in his life he never forgot that not all people were so lucky, and he even managed to do it without pity. It certainly brightened the pizza boy's day.
They got back up to the hotel room and dug into the extra large pizza with extra cheese, pepperoni, and peppers. After wolfing down a couple slices Gavin got up and did something complicated and likely illegal with the room's TV so that the screen of his computer was being displayed. Todd was then subjected to the Lucky Star that Gavin had mentioned earlier.
The larger man had the perfect 'wtf' expression on his face for the first two episodes; on the third he decided he should probably just go with it if he was going to survive the weekend. When they reached the end of the box set and the pizza Todd decided that it really wasn't too bad, though it would probably be dangerous to someone on drugs. Or could be a replacement for drugs. That second one was more likely.
After they put away the DVDs they flipped through bad hotel TV until they found the Spanish channel. By that point the caffeine had long since worn off and they were both more than a little punchy and so they put it on mute and started dubbing the random show. It was almost midnight when, giggling madly, they finally decided that it was time to go to sleep. Gavin impressed Todd by not parading around in a towel and accidentally dropping it when he went to take his shower. In fact he was acting like a normal person sharing a hotel room with a friend, taking his pajamas into the bathroom with him and everything.
Todd quickly changed into his PJs while Gavin was in the shower and then made an attempt at tidying up the room. Against his better judgment he was starting to relax; after all, his friend had only made three inappropriate or homosexual comments that day, and that was incredibly low. Besides, he reasoned, even if he is just trying to lure me into a false sense of security he's not going to try something until later. Saturday afternoon at the earliest. So I'm okay for now. I think. Plus he's always forward so I probably don't have to worry about underhanded tactics either.
The gray-haired man felt something almost like disappointment when Gavin came out of the bathroom fully, yawned a good-night in his direction, and then promptly fell into bed. Todd then felt something exactly like self-directed irritation.
Geeze! It's not like I secretly want Gavin or anything! At least, not like that. I just got used to all the flirting because it's part of the package deal and it's just weird to be at the end of a day where there was barely any of it at all. Well, wait, I know that the characters we're dressing up as have a yow-ee following because girls are crazy. If Gavin passes up a flirty comment when there's someone egging him on he'd probably die of heart failure, so he's probably just being nice now to make up for tomorrow. Yeah, that must be it.
Feeling that he'd found the reason for Gavin's strange behavior Todd let sleep take him.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Please tip your pizza guys, or any other type of delivery person who brings you food at con. They deserve it and then some for making fifty trips to the hotel a night.
Because I reference many things I'm just going to put the links up here:
A clip of Teisel and Glyde with canon homosexual overtones
DUN DUNNNNNN
Doofus vs Ramune
Lucky Star opening as you've never seen it before
Felicia's wiki because I can't find pictures of the Texan cosplayer who does her perfectly
PAY ATTENTION TO THE REQUIRED READING THERE WILL BE A TEST
Title: What Happens at Con Stays at Con
Chapter: 1/2
Rating: PG-11ish
Warnings: copious amounts of gay and anime convention
Fandom: AU Teisel and Glyde (Megaman)
Summery: Todd is drug to con by his flirtatious best friend.
This is such a bad idea.
Todd repeated it over and over in his head even as he pulled down the old dusty duffle from the back of his closet. He mumbled it as he decided which jeans and which t-shirts to pack. He chanted the words like a mantra as he transferred his shampoo and body wash into travel bottles.
No matter how much he said it the phrase never seemed to stick. He was still packing, he was still going, he was still going to walk into this blatant trap and he was going to do it willingly.
That settles it, he thought as he zipped up the travel bag, I'm crazy and I'm a masochist. Why else would I be going along with this?
'This' being a weekend long anime convention two states over.
Two nights in a hotel room.
With Gavin.
Alone.
How could this end well?
Okay, so there were two queen sized beds waiting for them, which was more than Todd expected. He was so sure that his friend would say that there weren't any more rooms and oh I guess we'll have to make do, but the heir actually got two beds.
That doesn't mean much, Todd reminded himself. He's still going to be groping me all weekend.
But then the gray-haired man would remember that Keiji Inafune, creator of Megaman, was going to be there, and five of the voice actors who worked on the English dub. That little tidbit had Todd at the tipping point, and then Gavin showed him The Costume, claiming that one of his bodyguards was going to get shoved in it but that guy was saved and thank god Todd's the same size!
It was all total BS and Todd knew it. But since The Costume was of his favorite character and was beyond kickass, made of real metal and detailed perfectly, he didn't bother to care... even though Gavin apparently had taken his measurements at some point because the armor fit perfectly.
He decided that he could deal with his friend for one little weekend given the incentive. He'd just stay away from the alcohol that Gavin would undoubtedly bring, and then he would be able to fight off the smaller man's advances. Unlike last time when they spent a full twenty minutes making out on the floor before Todd came to his senses. Right.
Todd only slept by virtue of the medication he was still on thanks to his breakdown. He was jumpy and tense when he went out to stand on the curb with his duffel and an energy drink. He tried not to imagine what kind of tricks Gavin would be using on this weekend, then felt bad about being distrustful, then he'd remember who he was thinking about and start the whole cycle again. At some point he was able to shift his mind into a fanboy loop over the Megaman panel and that held him for a while.
Gavin pulled up at 5:17. Todd didn't recognize him at first because the heir was in a beat up old Jeep with peeling paint and a missing window. It was only after Gavin called his name that Todd recognized the car; it belonged to one of the mansion groundskeepers.
Then there were the smaller man's clothes. The usual was a sleeveless shirt to show off his tattoo and jeans so tight they were practically a part of his skin. Today he was wearing dark pinstripe pants (still painted on), suspenders, a poofy shirt, pinstripe vest, and tall black leather boots. There were a pair of battered aviator goggles parched on top of the raggy army cap he was wearing, and Gavin never wore hats.
"What is that?" Todd asked without meaning too, still standing out on the curb.
Gavin just rolled his eyes. "Steampunk. You coming or not?"
Todd climbed into the Jeep and wondered if he'd stepped into the Twilight Zone or something. After taking careful note of where their two costumes were sitting he stowed away his duffel and then turned back to the ginger-haired man, who was looking at him over the top of his cheap sunglasses.
"Okay, here's the thing," Gavin said slowly, as if he was picking his words carefully. "I'm not the intended heir of the occasionally crazy corporate giant Loa, okay?"
"What?"
"For this weekend," his friend quickly amended. "We're just a couple of guys out to be Megaman geeks. Right?"
Todd could see where Gavin was coming from. He knew he was looking forward to the break from the store (even though be felt guilty about feeling that way), and he was sure that his friend had similar thoughts on all the responsibilities he faced.
"Yeah. Just a couple of guys. Right."
Gavin grinned and put the Jeep into gear. They passed the 'you are now leaving' sign around the time the sun came up, Red Bull and loud music in hand to get them awake. The smaller man was surprisingly non-flirtatious for the drive. Instead of constantly trying to make Todd question his sexuality Gavin mostly talked about the various panels and events that interested him. Todd had to admit that their interests matched up pretty well; Gavin was a huge Megaman fan thanks to him and they both liked Metal Gear Solid and Phoenix Wright, so they mostly wanted to go to the same events anyway.
There were only two things Todd was iffy about: this 'YaoiFest' thing that sounded hazardous and then the rave. It wasn't that Todd had anything against dancing to techno, it's just that Gavin would be there. Dancing. In something tight and revealing and why did that sound so tempting? So yeah. Rave was out.
What really shocked Todd was that Gavin didn't argue. In the case of YaoiFest it looked like Gavin knew the answer would be NO but he kind of pouted about the whole not going to rave thing. After a few seconds of making Todd uncomfortable-it looked like Gavin really wanted to go to that with his friend-the ginger-haired man sprang back to life and turned the discussion over to the obscure corners of the Megaman universe.
In spite of himself Todd started to relax. It looked like the heir might've just wanted a friend for this convention. Sure he'd still flirt because for Gavin that was like breathing, but all out seduction might not be on the menu.
Maybe I've finally gotten through to him, Todd thought as they turned the last corner. Maybe he's finally figured out that we're just friends. Well, not just friends; he's the only friend I have. And while he has his social circle I'm pretty sure I'm the only one he lets his guard down around. So yeah, maybe he figured out that we're best friends with no romance anywhere. Maybe.
Once they got to the hotel there wasn't too much time to dwell on the issue. First there was getting all their bags and carefully packaged costumes while someone dressed as Death Note's L kept staring at them in a very in character way. Then Gavin had to go park the car in a garage two blocks over while Todd guarded their things. He entertained himself by trying to guess whether the L cosplayer was male or female and ended up calling it a draw 20 minutes later when Gavin got back. His long sleeves were rolled up as far as they could go and the smaller man was still sweating and huffing from the uphill climb.
Gavin took one look at their pile of luggage and called over a bellhop to help load everything onto a cart. Once that was done Gavin went off to the front desk with the bellhop in tow while Todd went to go get their badges.
The line in front of the pre-registration table was longer than Dragonball Z. It snaked in a wide squished zig-zag guided by masking tape on the carpet. Todd spent the first thirty minutes on the phone with his mother; five minutes was telling her they got there okay and the other twenty-five was reassuring her that it wasn't a den of moral depravity. It was a good thing that he hung up before he saw the girl wearing a white fur bikini, a few lines of fur glued to her stomach, cat ears, and a blue wig. He would have never been able to stammer his way through that conversation convincingly with that image in his head.
Then he stared at the ceiling until the embarrassment wore off. After that he kept his eyes glued to the head of hair standing in front of him for fear of seeing an overweight guy in a cat costume like that. He was concentrating on not looking at the rest of the room that it took him a while to figure out that the head of very nice long brown hair belonged to a very tall girl. She came up to his chin-which was incredible¬-but what really got Todd's attention was when she put her hair up in a bun and the back of her shirt was revealed.
This girl must be here to see Mr. Inafune too! he thought as he took in the apparently homemade shirt with a picture of Gutsman's ass on the back, along with "DUN DUNNN" in huge letters. The guy standing in front of her was wearing the same shirt, and when he turned around to say something to her Todd could see that the front said "Alien Androids" and the name of the convention.
They must be from one of those costuming groups Gavin was talking about, Todd thought as he tugged on his own shirt. It had the caption "rock beats scissors" and an image of Rockman chasing Cutman. He started to wonder if he should strike up conversation but the idea was immediately squashed under the usual crushing shyness and fear of how they'd look at him once they discovered who he was...
Suddenly Todd realized that he was seven hours away from home. No one at the convention knew about his breakdown. No one knew about his stay in the insane asylum. He wouldn't have to punch anyone who made snide comments about his brother's mental state. People were looking at him but it was because he was so tall and had insanely long gray hair, not because they knew about any of that stuff.
Before Todd even knew what he was doing he nervously asked, "Gutman's ass, huh? I guess you're h-here for the Megaman thing?"
By the time the girl turned around he was already kicking himself for stammering and sounding like an idiot. They don't know about the troubles back home but they'll still be able to figure out that I'm boring pretty quick. Stupid stupid stupid!
When the girl laughed the first thing through his head was that she was particularly perceptive and figured it out already. Just as he was getting ready to turn around or look at the ceiling or something she spoke.
"I can't believe I've never thought of that joke before, or seen it done! That's perfect!"
"What?" Todd stood there confused for several long seconds before he realized she was talking about his shirt. "Oh, right! Um, I guess it's pretty good?"
"It's perfect," she repeated, still smiling. "Where did you buy that? It looks professional but not official so I'm guessing another con?"
"Um..." Stop sounding like a moron! "My friend gave it to me last Christmas, so I'm not really sure. This is actually my, uh, first convention."
"Well you picked a good place to lose your virginity. This convention has lots of really good... you okay?"
On the phrase 'lose you virginity' Todd started coughing and his face went bright red. He tried to splutter out an explanation to no avail, though it seemed this girl could translate crippling awkward.
"I meant your con virginity, hon," she said, grinning and looking apologetic at the same time. "You gonna to make it?"
"... I like your shirt," Todd finally managed to get out. He was ready to crawl under the carpet in embarrassment but the girl just smiled and started talking about the episode that spawned the meme. He hesitantly joined in, and after a couple minutes he started to understand that she really didn't care how awkward he was being. She seemed really into the conversation, and once Todd stopped worrying so much he was as well. It carried them for the two hours it took to get to the pre-registration tables. He didn't even realize he'd been talking with her for so long until he looked at his watch.
Todd claimed the two badges marked T0DDM4N and G-Wing (he couldn't help but roll his eyes at Gavin's choice) and then he stood to the side of the tables not knowing if he should say goodbye to the girl or leave or what. His internal debate lasted until she and the other Alien Android had picked up about ten badges and started off towards the elevators themselves.
"Oh, by the way," she said, pausing by Todd even though her friend seemed to be in a hurry, "I'm BlackBot."
"Um... Toddman."
She reached out and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you Toddman! I'm guessing you'll be here tomorrow?"
Todd managed a nod.
"Great! I'll be with the insanely large group of Megaman cosplayers."
"Oh! My friend and I will be dressed up as Megaman characters, too."
"That's awesome! There's going to be a photoshoot by the fountain downstairs at eleven and it'll last until we all go upstairs for Inafune's panel."
"Okay," Todd replied, amazed at himself for not stammering, "that sounds good."
With that her friend finally managed to drag her off towards the elevators while mumbling something about pizza. Todd started in that direction as well; he'd been in line over three hours and he was sure that Gavin must be getting bored.
When he got up to their room he found the door propped open with a shoe and he could hear the TV playing softly. After confirming that the shoe did in fact belong to Gavin he walked in, fully expecting a pouting heir saying something unnecessarily lewd about what they could have done in the time he was waiting.
What he found was said heir asleep on one of the beds. Gavin was lying on his back and holding one of the pillows to his chest as though it was a teddy bear. Todd couldn't help but stop and smile at the sight; when asleep his friend looked gentle and innocent, not at all the cunning smirking manipulator of the waking hours.
No, that's too harsh, he chided internally, He can't help but be that way; if he wasn't then he wouldn't be able to handle the corporate world once Mr. Loa retires. Though it still gets annoying sometimes.
Todd moved around the room as quietly as he could, but eventually his clumsy streak caught up with him and he knocked over his shampoo bottle. Gavin stirred, mumbled, and then promptly rolled off the bed. The gray-haired man winced in sympathy even as he tried to hide a snicker and the rumpled heir glared at him murderously.
"Morning, Sunshine. Sleep well?" Todd asked with uncharacteristic cheek. He was just in too good of a mood to be brought down by anything. When the gray-haired man wasn't the least bit needlessly apologetic Gavin figured that something was up.
"Okay," Gavin asked accusingly (and with a trademark pout), "who are you and what have you done with Todd?"
"Don't know what you're talking about."
"You keep smiling and it's deeply unsettling. Stop it right now."
The ginger-haired man couldn't quite hide the happy note in his tone, even as he continued to describe exactly how the world was ending. When Todd glanced over he could see the shine in his friend's eyes that said 'please never stop smiling'. The gray-haired man couldn't help but feel warm and fuzzy over this fact.
No matter how annoying he is, or how much he teases me, or how often he tries to grope me, he's still an amazing friend where it really counts.
It wasn't very often that Todd felt lucky, but that was one of those moments.
Eventually Gavin finished his melodramatic speech and they both headed back down to the lobby. They wandered around Artist Alley for a while and Todd had to admit that there were a lot of really great artists at the convention. There was even one guy selling handmade jewelry who had some small cast bronze Megaman figures he made himself. Todd ended up talking to him about the metal casting process for half an hour while Gavin tried on every ring on display. He finally settled on a simple stainless steel band with a triforce design etched into it. The gray-haired man was never much for jewelry but he had to admit that the ring was pretty cool.
After that Gavin decided it was time for a snack. He drug Todd into the dealers' room and quickly located the food vendor. Before the larger man could even reach for his wallet he was being handed a cold drink and a box of something called Pocky. The drink was called Ramune and it came in a needlessly complicated glass bottle and the Pocky consisted of thin cookie-cracker sticks covered in chocolate.
"Okay..." Todd said slowly as he tried to figure out his Ramune bottle, "Is everything from Japan this crazy?"
"Ohoho!" Gavin laughed back. "Just wait until you see Lucky Star."
Todd tried not to worry too much as he finished his strange snack. Usually he would have failed completely but there were enough distractions in the dealers' room to keep his mind off that sinking feeling that usually accompanied Gavin's presence. Specifically the large display of swords right across from the food booth. That held them for almost an hour, and then browsing through the Megaman manga after that. Then the ginger-haired man spent a lot of time looking at what he said were doujinshi. Todd caught a glimpse at some of the cover art on the comic type things and that was enough to have him at the next booth looking at kimonos.
Well, I should have known that Gavin would be buying gay porn at this thing, he thought as he examined a fish patterned obi. Wait, not gay. Yow-ee. Whatever that even means.
The heir signaled that he was done by surprise-poking Todd in the ribs. The extremely ticklish man then scared everyone in the vicinity with his extremely loud surprised shout. Gavin avoided an imminent pounding by reminding his friend that they hadn't eaten anything of substance all day and that it was already past five. Right on cue Todd's stomach started growling. Thinking back to what the Alien Android guy was mumbling to BlackBot Todd suggested pizza and Gavin quickly agreed.
They spent the wait time in the lobby arguing over who was going to pay for it. When the pizza boy did arrive he had about five orders and it was clear that none of the other people were tipping the guy, so Gavin suggested they compromise and both pay him the full amount. Todd could only smile and agree; even though Gavin never had to worry about money in his life he never forgot that not all people were so lucky, and he even managed to do it without pity. It certainly brightened the pizza boy's day.
They got back up to the hotel room and dug into the extra large pizza with extra cheese, pepperoni, and peppers. After wolfing down a couple slices Gavin got up and did something complicated and likely illegal with the room's TV so that the screen of his computer was being displayed. Todd was then subjected to the Lucky Star that Gavin had mentioned earlier.
The larger man had the perfect 'wtf' expression on his face for the first two episodes; on the third he decided he should probably just go with it if he was going to survive the weekend. When they reached the end of the box set and the pizza Todd decided that it really wasn't too bad, though it would probably be dangerous to someone on drugs. Or could be a replacement for drugs. That second one was more likely.
After they put away the DVDs they flipped through bad hotel TV until they found the Spanish channel. By that point the caffeine had long since worn off and they were both more than a little punchy and so they put it on mute and started dubbing the random show. It was almost midnight when, giggling madly, they finally decided that it was time to go to sleep. Gavin impressed Todd by not parading around in a towel and accidentally dropping it when he went to take his shower. In fact he was acting like a normal person sharing a hotel room with a friend, taking his pajamas into the bathroom with him and everything.
Todd quickly changed into his PJs while Gavin was in the shower and then made an attempt at tidying up the room. Against his better judgment he was starting to relax; after all, his friend had only made three inappropriate or homosexual comments that day, and that was incredibly low. Besides, he reasoned, even if he is just trying to lure me into a false sense of security he's not going to try something until later. Saturday afternoon at the earliest. So I'm okay for now. I think. Plus he's always forward so I probably don't have to worry about underhanded tactics either.
The gray-haired man felt something almost like disappointment when Gavin came out of the bathroom fully, yawned a good-night in his direction, and then promptly fell into bed. Todd then felt something exactly like self-directed irritation.
Geeze! It's not like I secretly want Gavin or anything! At least, not like that. I just got used to all the flirting because it's part of the package deal and it's just weird to be at the end of a day where there was barely any of it at all. Well, wait, I know that the characters we're dressing up as have a yow-ee following because girls are crazy. If Gavin passes up a flirty comment when there's someone egging him on he'd probably die of heart failure, so he's probably just being nice now to make up for tomorrow. Yeah, that must be it.
Feeling that he'd found the reason for Gavin's strange behavior Todd let sleep take him.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Please tip your pizza guys, or any other type of delivery person who brings you food at con. They deserve it and then some for making fifty trips to the hotel a night.