Chapter 2: Chapter 2: A Shy Smile

Junie blinked, unsure what to say. He was looking at her as if he knew her, but not in the way that one of her viewers might.

Once she recovered from the surprise of being approached, her eyes swept over the guy in front of her. She had to crane her neck a bit to look up into his face. He wasn't extremely tall but looked like he was at least pushing six feet. His high, sculpted cheekbones accentuated his almond-shaped eyes which were the color of dark chocolate. She swallowed and blushed, realizing that she was studying the unique brown color for just a second too long.

"Hi," she said hesitantly.

Then, he bowed, lowering his head before looking up at her, into her face. She felt her face grow warm and she tilted her head so her helmet hid her eyes.

"Forgive me," he said, his voice soft. "It's just that I happened to be nearby when that giant attacked you. I'm sorry that I couldn't offer my assistance before he ran off like a coward."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Oh, I wouldn't say he really attacked me," she said, her confusion growing. Why was this guy talking so weird? "I wasn't really paying attention since I was streaming on my phone."

"Streaming?" the guy repeated flatly. "Like on a river? And what, pray tell, is a phone? Some kind of weapon used in sorcery?"

"Oh!" Junie's eyes widened as she finally understood what was happening. Of course, this guy, who was probably just a couple of years older than her, knew what streaming and a phone was. It should have been immediately obvious what was happening. They were at a comic convention after all.

She knew she had to play along. She straightened, shifting her staff so that it wasn't leaning against the cement pillar. "I hope you'll forgive me. I'm afraid that I'm a bit wary from my fight with the giant." She didn't miss the way the guy's eyes lit up, pleased that she was playing along.

He recovered quickly, his smirk disappearing and his eyes darkening to a more serious shade. "I hope that you haven't been hurt."

She smiled. They were basically doing make-believe, but he actually sounded sincere. She made a show of looking down at herself. "Nothing that a simple spell wouldn't cure, a few scrapes and bruises. I was lucky that the giant ran off. I don't know how much more fight I had in me."

"You're powerful, I can tell," the guy said, his eyes impossibly bright against the dark wig he was wearing. "That giant didn't stand a chance."

For a moment, Junie really felt like she had done something brave and worthwhile, despite the fact that she just slammed into some guy in a costume. She looked down shyly, wishing that she was better at this.

Role-playing was a huge part of the cosplay community. Despite having been a cosplayer for a few years at this point, Junie had only role-played a handful of times. Each time, she had been excited, but also extremely nervous and awkward. A few of the cosplay events she had been to had special times for role-playing and she tended to avoid them, preferring to just go to costuming workshops and meet and greets where everyone takes pictures with each other.

This was the first time that the role-playing scene felt natural like she didn't have to struggle to think of some clever response. Maybe it was because they were interacting one-on-one, or because they weren't at some organized event where they were being watched by several other people.

Junie snapped out of her thoughts and realized that she should probably respond. "I'm still training," she said modestly. She tried not to let it show on her face how pleased she was by her in-character response. Her original character (OC) Mavelyn was sweet and modest, but also a fierce warrior.

The guy nodded. "You're already a strong warrior from what I can tell," he said. Then his eyebrows furrowed with concern. "Your shoulder…" he held his hand out to gesture at her shoulder pad.

She looked at the shoulder pad he indicated and groaned. It was completely smashed up, a couple of the spikes were hanging off by slivers of dry paint. She grabbed them so they wouldn't get lost, stuffing them in her pocket. The styrofoam pad that curved over her slim shoulder now had a slit in it. How did that even happen? She must have fallen on her side.

"Come," the guy said, grabbing her gently by the arm and leading her down the hall. Junie's eyes widened, but she allowed herself to be led.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"There's an infirmary not too far away," he said. "I'll be more than happy to escort you there."

"Infirmary," she repeated flatly. "But I'm not really hurt. It's just my costume."

The guy didn't stop, but he did look back at her over his shoulder and gave her the same light-eyed look from earlier.

Oh, he was still role-playing with her.

For some reason, Junie's face heated up again and a tiny smile twitched at the corners of her lips as she was dragged away.

The guy turned and smiled at her. "By the way, I'm Kyzen. Nice to meet you."

The "infirmary" that Kyzen was talking about was actually the cosplayer's repair room, which was a small room dedicated to fixing parts of costumes and accessories. The room was fully equipped with anything a professional costume maker might need, from fabric and styrofoam to tools like hot glue guns and scissors.

Junie was still blushing as Kyzen worked on her costume. She was seated on a white countertop, her legs dangling like a child's, making her even more self-conscious. Kyzen had a hot glue gun and was carefully gluing the plastic spikes back onto her shoulder blade. She would have taken the shoulder pad off, but it was attached to her shirt and she wasn't wearing anything underneath. Her face grew even brighter at the thought.

Kyzen paused in his movements for a moment, setting the hot glue gun down as he held the spike onto the pad so that it could dry. He cleared his throat. "This is some high-quality armor."

She looked up in surprise, but then tilted her head away quickly, trying to hide her face as much as possible. She was surprised that they were still role-playing, but she was relieved by it as well. "Thank you. I've worked hard to obtain it."

Kyzen nodded seriously. "I know who you are by the seal you wear on your armor. Your reputation precedes you."

Junie felt her lips tighten with confusion. Was he saying that he knew who she was, that he knew about her online persona? She studied him from beneath her helmet, suddenly wishing that more of her face was concealed. She tried to steady her voice. "I don't believe we've met."

He chuckled then, the light sound causing Junie's heart to constrict slightly. His hand brushed her arm lightly as he lowered it, picking up the glue gun again to work on the slit in the shoulder pad. "No, I've only very recently had the pleasure," he said. "I've known of you for a while. I'm glad we finally ran into each other."

Junie felt her upper teeth go into her lower lip as she processed his words and his tone. He definitely knew that she was a cosplayer. She couldn't help but notice that even though they were speaking as if they were from another world and overly formal, she found that she believed every word Kyzen was saying.

"I'm glad we met too," she said, and she meant it too. "I'm fairly certain that I've heard of you as well."

Kyzen lowered his head a bit to look into her face. She shifted immediately, letting her long snowy hair fall in front of her eyes. "That would surprise me," he said. "I doubt that a name like mine would travel a significant distance." He dropped his hands then, unplugging the glue gun and pushing it aside.

She blushed and glanced at her shoulder pad. He did a good job. The hot glue was

barely visible, even where the foam had split. She was sure Kyzen had used a glue gun hundreds of times before. The sure sign of a longtime cosplayer. She grappled for a way to ask while maintaining their roleplay. She couldn't be the one to step out of character first.

Before Junie could even begin to formulate a question, high-pitched squeals sounded through the room. Both she and Kyzen whipped their heads toward the piercing sounds. A group of girls stood in the entryway of the repair room, all in colorful outfits composed of ruffled skirts and knee-high socks. They were in front of Junie and Kyzen in seconds. Well, more accurately, they were in front of Kyzen.

"Kyzen! Can we please get a picture with you?" one shrieked, pushing her dyed lime-green hair out of her heavily mascara-lined eyes.

Junie grimaced and slipped off of the counter, nursing her side since one girl's elbow had just nearly impaled her. She stood back, just watching as Kyzen was completely surrounded by the young women. She only barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes, ready for Kyzen to react like so many others tended to, with arrogance and entitlement. She felt her eyebrows rise up almost to her hairline when Kyzen didn't beam under all the attention. His cheekbones were dusted a light pink and his eyes were shifting as a shy smile graced his mouth.

Her eyes were wide. She had met quite a few cosplayers over the past couple of years and none of them acted the way Kyzen was currently.

He was acting the way Junie did when faced with her fans.

Something stirred within her then. She felt her lips twitch up in amusement, but her heart rate also began to accelerate, causing her breathing to come out in short gasps. When the tears began to blur her vision, she turned and ran.

She prayed that Kyzen had been too preoccupied with his admirers to notice the way she sprinted out of the room as if she was being chased.

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