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Lance tapped his foot impatiently. Could this line go any slower? Then again, Lance himself had worked in the food industry back when he was in high school, so he could feel sympathy towards the harried-looking teens working the small sandwich shop as they faced the onslaught of hundreds of hungry people attending this anime convention. His sympathy didn’t make him any less hungry, but it did make him rethink voicing his impatience aloud.
He reached up and pushed the tip of his nail against his eyebrow, trying to scratch the itch there without smudging the makeup.
“Stop poking at it.” Keith told him, taking his hand and intertwining their fingers. “You’re just going to mess it up, and then you’ll be grumpy and make us go back to the room so you can fix it. It looks fine.”
“My eyebrows itch.” Lance said, but he knew Keith was right. If the makeup got messed up, he wouldn’t be happy until he had fixed it, and who knows how long that would take? It already took him enough time to get ready the morning of the con.
“No one forced you to put glue on your eyebrows.” Keith pointed out.
“Kagami did.” Lance frowned. “If his eyebrows weren’t so weird, I wouldn’t have had to glue them down.” To achieve the look, Lance had put four layers of glue on his eyebrows, and after they had all dried, put foundation over them before drawing on the odd V-shaped brows with an eyebrow pencil. Lance had grown up with three sisters and had been cosplaying since he was in high school, so he knew his way around a makeup kit. Keith, on the other hand, didn’t bother with cosplay makeup unless Lance put it on him, but luckily his Kuroko cosplay didn’t call for any special makeup. Lance had tried to get him to do something about his dark eyebrows, since they clashed with the light blue wig, but Keith’s only response to that had been to tug his wig a little lower on his forehead so that the bangs hid his eyebrows. At that point, Lance had given up; he simply couldn’t force his boyfriend to do anything he didn’t want to do. Might as well just let him go makeup-less and enjoy the convention.
The line inched forward, and Lance craned his neck to see the front of it. They were getting closer, maybe about seven people away from ordering. Well, maybe six orders, because it looked like those two people holding hands up there would likely order together. Both of the people were wearing skin-tight suits, the man in faux-leather and a blonde wig with black cat ears perched on top, and the smaller woman in red spandex with black spots all over and a dark blue wig. Lance’s gaze was drawn downwards. “Damn, that’s a nice ass,”
Keith looked up, interested. “Where?”
Lance nodded in the direction of the couple with his chin. “The couple in the black and red, both of them.”
Keith spotted them and nodded in agreement. “Very nice.”
Lance gave Keith’s hand a squeeze and lightly swung their joined hands. “You should wear a leather suit like that sometime.”
“I don’t really do tight clothes.” Keith said.
“What are your skinny jeans, then?”
“They aren’t that tight,” Keith said. “Besides, what would I even cosplay as? A superhero OC named Leather Lad?”
Lance paused to consider it. “Black Widow?”
“That’s more your thing than mine.” Keith snorted.
“Fine, I’ll do it then,” Lance said. “You can be Hawkeye.”
“Bet your flat ass can’t pull off that look as good as that guy can.”
“Ex cuse you, you love my ass.”
“Doesn’t stop it from being flat.” Keith peered at the couple ahead of them. They were placing their order now. “I wonder what they’re cosplaying?”
“No idea.” Lance shrugged. “Cat-man and… Captain America with chicken pox?”
“That’s not a thing.” Keith chuckled.
The couple finished ordering and stepped off to the side to wait for their food. As they did, the man turned to look over his shoulder, eyes scanning the crowded food court for any open tables, and Lance felt a jolt go through his chest as he recognized that face. Even if the painted-on black mask covered his signature scar over his nose and his black and white hair was tucked up under that wig, the sharp jawline was unmistakable. “Shit!” Lance ducked his head quickly. Keith gave his boyfriend an odd look, wondering what on earth he was doing. Lance tried to subtly point at the couple. “That’s Shiro! And I think… yeah, that’s Pidge!”
“What?! The math teacher and computer teacher from our school?” Keith peered around Lance, his eyes widening once he saw them for himself. “What are they doing here?”
“Cosplaying, apparently.” Lance said. “I can’t believe I just oggled my coworker’s ass!”
“Knowing you, I’m not surprised.” Keith chuckled. “You oggle everyone’s ass.”
“But I work with him!”
“You work with me !” Keith reminded him. Lance taught Spanish and Keith taught English at a high school a couple of hours away from this convention center, the same high school where Shiro taught math and Pidge taught computer science. Parents generally weren’t too pleased to hear that the people in charge of educating their children spent their weekends dressing up as characters from anime and video games, so Lance and Keith tended to keep their cosplay lives on the down-low. It wasn’t anything bad, just something one didn’t bring up at office parties. Because they didn’t talk about it at school, they had no idea that any of their fellow teachers might be cosplayers as well.
“Should we say something?” Keith wondered aloud as the line moved forward.
“I don’t know,” Lance said. “Do we really want to go up and greet them dressed as basketball anime boys?” Would they think that was weird?
“They’re both in bodysuits, I think they would probably be fine with it.” Keith pointed out.
“That is true.” Lance nodded.
The two of them placed their order and moved off to the side when they were finished. Shiro spotted them over Pidge’s shoulder and waved. Pidge turned around to see who he was waving at as they approached them.
“Fancy running into you two here.” Shiro smiled.
“Likewise.” Keith said. “I had no idea you guys went to cons.”
“We’ve been going for years.” Pidge said. “Must never have crossed paths with you.”
“What are you cosplaying, anyway?” Lance asked.
Shiro opened his mouth to respond, but a shriek cut him off.
“It’s Ladybug! And Chat Noir!” A little girl, probably no older than six or seven, and dressed as the world’s tiniest Mikasa came running over, her Scouting Regiment cape flying behind her. Pidge smiled and waved, taking a spotted yo-yo from where it sat on her hip. The girl’s eyes widened and fixed on the yo-yo. “Woah! You’re really just like Ladybug!”
The girl’s mother, dressed as a titan, came over. “Can she took a picture with you two? She’s a big fan of the show.”
“Of course!” Pidge and Shiro crouched down to be on the same level as the little girl. Shiro lifted his gloved hands like they were claws about to scratch someone, and Pidge drew her arm back like she was about to throw her yo-yo. Between them, the little girl grinned widely, showing off a small gap where she had lost a tooth. The girl’s mother snapped a picture on her phone, then thanked them.
“Bye bye, Ladybug! Bye bye, Chat Noir!” The girl waved enthusiastically as her mother guided her away by the hand.
“Bye!” Shiro and Pidge waved before turning back to Lance and Keith.
“We’re cosplaying Ladybug and Chat Noir, from the show Miraculous Ladybug .” Pidge explained, gesturing between the two of them. “It’s a French cartoon.”
“Seems pretty popular,” Keith mused, nodding in the direction of the little girl and her mother.
“I’m actually surprised at how many people have recognized us.” Shiro said, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s a pretty new show, at least in the US.”
“How about you guys? What are you cosplaying?” Pidge asked.
“Kagami and Kuroko from the anime Kuroko no Basuke .” Lance said.
“Oh, I think I’ve heard of that. The basketball one, right?” Pidge said. “I haven’t seen it, though. I mostly watch mecha anime.”
“I think I’ve seen a little bit of it.” Shiro said. Just then, their order was called, and they waved to Lance and Keith. “You guys are welcome to eat with us, if you’d like.”
“Sure!” Lance smiled. They only had to wait a few more minutes before their number was called and they got their food. They found Pidge and Shiro at what must have been the only available table; Lance was surprised they managed to find four chairs, what with how crowded the food court was.
While they ate their lunches, the four of them talked and got to know each other a little better. Lance had to admit, he hadn’t given the math teacher and computer science teacher much thought outside of working hours. He had known they were together, but that was about it. He hadn’t known that Shiro used to stay up late as a kid and sneak downstairs to watch anime on adult swim when he was supposed to be sleeping, or that Pidge was a die-hard Star Trek fan, or that all four of them had the same love for cheesy, terrible 80s anime.
After all their sandwiches had been eaten and they realized they should probably leave so that another group could use their table, they parted ways. Pidge said something about needing to get to the artist alley before it closed to buy a birthday present for her brother, and there was a panel on crafting cosplay props and weapons that Keith wanted to see, so they said goodbye to each other outside the food court. Lance had a feeling they would probably run into them again, though, and this time they would recognize them.