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Sam doesn't remember dozing off, because he’d sworn he wouldn't be that person who falls asleep outside waiting for the hall to open, but it must have happened at some point. He’s flat out sprawled on the sidewalk, and not alone in doing so.
Then he realizes who woke him up- a short blond in a full-on Loki costume. At this ungodly hour, most people in costume, himself included, look half zombified and disheveled, but this guy looks like he’s stepped straight out of a five hour energy commercial. His slicked back hair is immaculate, his costume is in perfect order, and his eyes are bright with concern. “Sorry. I didn't realize you were asleep, I just…” He looks almost sheepish for a minute, as sheepish as a guy cosplaying Loki can look.
Sam scrambles up. “I didn't mean to be asleep, trust me.”
“It’s just…” he gestures to Sam’s face, “you got a little something.”
And okay, maybe Sam’s put way too much time and energy and thought and love, dammit, into this cosplay that wasn't even his idea to begin with, and maybe he freaks out a little. “Do I? Shit.” He remembers that there are others on the sidewalk who are totally okay with sleeping in line and lowers his voice. “Augh, did I rub my face in my sleep?”
Loki ducks his head and grins. “Nah, you’re looking great, actually. I just meant to compliment your cosplay skills.”
This is coming from someone in one of the most accurate, well-fitting, beautiful costumes Sam had ever seen. He’s glad for the face paint, because he feels his face heating up. “Sorry,” he grins apologetically. “I’m still a little out of it, I guess. Totally thought I rubbed my face.”
“Didn't mean to freak you out there. Loki’d?” He bends down suddenly and grabs a piece of paper that he hands to Sam. “This was on your chest, by the way…”
It’s a note from Dean and Charlie; he can tell by Charlie’s handwriting and the fact that she signed it “Star Lord”. While they thank him most sincerely for keeping their place in line, the price he pays for sleeping is that he’s gotta keep the place in line while they go for late night pie.
“I’m down a brother cosplaying a sister and a dork cosplaying a dork,” he mutters.
“You wanna team up with a trickster cosplaying a trickster?” He sticks out a hand. “I’m Gabriel. Burdened with glorious cosplay skills and all that.”
Sam grips his hand earnestly rather than shaking it. “Sam. I was just going to mention… You’re complimenting me when you’re standing there all Norse godly and perfect?”
Gabriel tilts his head in thought and makes no effort to remove his hand from both of Sam’s. “I just… can’t say I've seen a gender-swapped Gamora before. Well done, mind you.”
“About that.” He tugs his hands free to scratch the back of his neck, before remembering- do not touch the body paint do not breathe on the body paint do not even think about the body paint. “My brother’s doing Nebula, and our friend Charlie is taking the Star Lord cosplay way too far, and we look a lot better as a whole group of gender-swapped nerds than just I do. “
A pair of very trickster-like golden eyes lock on his. “I dunno, I think you look absolutely ravishing.” He can feel his knees weakening, along with his will to stand in line instead of take this golden-haired Loki back to his hotel room and de-cosplay together. Except, you know, in bed and with excessive amounts of kissing. He should not do this thing. He should not offer that his hotel room is just a block away.
The golden-haired Loki grins and accepts.
…Dean and Charlie are gonna be pissed about the spot in line, he realizes as he tugs off the last of his costume and lays it almost reverently on Charlie’s bed next to Gabriel’s artwork of a cosplay. No longer Gamora, apart from the still green arms, he turns back to Gabriel’s artwork of a body. “You got a little something,” Gabriel says far too cheekily for someone in nothing but Loki boxer briefs, and swipes a thumb gently over the corner of Sam’s mouth to get the last of the face paint off. Sam doesn’t bother with a reply, because it’s far too easy to guide that hand up into his hair as he leans down for a kiss.
They’re gonna leave body paint on the bedsheets. This is why people think weird shit happens at Comic Con.