Tight Fit (TG)

By ThatGuy



This wasn’t Lochan’s first day at a convention, let alone his first time in cosplay. He’d had some pretty spectacular appearances over the years, if he said so himself. He was very proud of his take on Spawn: it nearly went viral.



Wedging himself in and out of that thing had taken all day, but he was a rookie back then. He was a lot smarter about things like sizes. Now, all he had to worry about was style.



It could still be uncomfortable sometimes, but to him it was the best feeling in the world. He was usually a timid sort of guy, but when he put on a costume it was like letting out his inner rockstar. And he though he made a damn good rockstar. And this time, after being his favorite characters again and again, he was trying his first hand at something he had designed himself. Ambitious or not, he was shooting for no less than stardom.



He went for what he called an “urban vampire hunter” look: he donned a scaled shirt, topped it with a slick leather jacket and pant set, added a fake revolver, slicked back hair and some shades. Sure, the leather pants were a little bit of a squeeze, and he never did get around to finding a way to keep his shirt from itching like crazy, but it was still worth it.



Or would have been, if it didn’t still feel like something was missing! And he wanted this to be perfect more than anything!



And that's why he was wandering around looking for a booth with halfway decent accessories instead of showing off on the main floor. Unfortunately everything on display was trash! Nothing but cheap movie merchandise and cookie cutter tourist bait as far as he could see! Lochan was a connoisseur, he couldn't use these.



“Where’s the real stuff?” He grumbled to himself. This felt like a waste of time. He had to get out there!



But then, someone calling took his attention. “Young man, over here!”



It was an old man with his own booth. The sign said Tiresias Costume and Photograph, and in front of him was a spread of costume pieces and accessories.



Lochan darted over, peering at what he had on display. There were embossed golden rings, jeweled gauntlets, ornate scepters, and all of it looked meticulously made. No store-bought trinkets or plastic replicas here.



Lochan gaped at the perfection. Now this is what he was talking about! “These are fantastic!”



“It’s the magic of a real artisan, if you believe in that sort of thing.” The vendor laughed. There was an odd twinkle in his eye, but Lochan was drooling too hard to care. “And if you’ll let me say so, that’s an impressive ensemble. Very eighties.” He chuckled, gesturing to Lochan’s leather trousers. “Though I think that will be uncomfortable later.”



Lochan didn’t get the eighties reference (probably for the best) but he shrugged at the warning. “I’m not a newbie any more. I think I can get myself out of some cramped slacks.”



“I wouldn’t be so sure.” The man shrugged. His eye was still twinkling. “But more importantly, what are you looking for?”



“Just something to make this really shine,” Lochan said, proudly showing off his outfit. “It’s okay now, but it has to pull everyone's eyes!”



The vendor nodded. “Then I have just the thing.” He reached behind the counter and pulled out a charm pendant attached to a chain. Lochan’s eyes followed it as if in a trance, as it glinted in the light. “A roguish chain to complete the effect,” the old man said, handing it over.



Lochan took the charm and turned it over in his hands. It was heavier than it looked. As far as he could tell the symbol was either colored steel or silver, with a small purple jewel in the center. “I don’t know. It’s nice, but doesn’t it look kind of that symbol that means ‘girl?’”



“You mean Venus?” The vendor appeared to be surprised. He eyed at the symbol himself, then shrugged again. “I guess if you squint, but it’s actually an old alchemical rune. Very authentic. A steal at twenty dollars.” He smirked. “And, might I add, pure silver. Mostly.”



“Whoa!” The words "twenty dollars" made Lochan forget any objections, and he snatched the chain back. “Then I’ll take it!” He tossed his money down and threw the chain around his neck. “This is so cool!”



The vendor only smiled, like he was aware of something Lochan wasn't.



As soon as he got his change, Lochan bolted for the main hall, springing his steps in excitement. “Sorry, I can’t stay!” He called back. “But thank you!”



“Oh, that’s alright. I’m sure you’ll be back to thank me in person soon enough, in a manner of speaking.” The vendor said quietly, laughing under his breath. He glanced at the camera he kept behind the booth. “And don’t forget my warning about the pants!” He called out before Lochan was out of earshot.



“Thanks, but I’ll be fine!”



The cosplayer didn’t really care about the warning, but he knew that with this finishing touch he was going to rock out there! This kind of find was worth humoring a concerned old-timer’s nagging.



“Perhaps you will.” The vendor said, but Lochan's could no longer hear him. He pulled out a notepad and put Lochan’s name on a list. “But not in the way you think…”



——



Lochan really did rock once he hit the floor, at least enough to satisfy him.



There were more people wearing the exact same thing than he thought there would be, so even he had to admit his wasn't the most original first try. Still, he had enough charm to make a splash anyway. And he even had a little fun, getting autographs and attending panels.



He was there all day, and while be got his fair share of compliments at first it really picked up after a couple of hours. Now everybody seemed to want to take a picture with him!



It was a blast, even if he was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Maybe the old guy had a point about his clothes, just a tiny one.



“Are you alright?”



He looked up at the woman he had been posing with. She was a demon in a whole group of fantasy characters, with a helmet with huge plaster horns and homemade wooden armor. She even painted her whole body in red stripes. Lochan didn’t thought paint was too much hassle but he couldn’t deny it looked gorgeous.



Obviously, the two of them had to take a picture. Demon spawn and a demon hunter in action poses. It just made sense.



“What to you mean?” Lochan asked. Getting out of their pose made him wince. His pants were starting to chafe.



“You look kinda pained, and you walk like you’ve got a stick up your ass. Did you sprain something?”



This time his wince had nothing to do with pain. Maybe it hurt more than just a little, but he didn’t think it was actually showing on his face. “I’m fine,” he assured her. “Just a pinch.”



She nodded sagely. “You gotta be careful with that store-bought stuff. You wanna look like David Bowie, fine, but unless you get custom made you’re just gonna cut off your-“



Lochan cut her off, frowning. “I made it myself. It fits fine…” Instinctively, he pulled his jacket up with pride… but were the seams coming apart already? It was sliding too far down his back!



His discomfort seemed determined to ruin his moment. His whole body was shuddering this time - what was this?



“Though on the other hand…” He couldn’t deny it now. His pants did feel tighter. He was even starting to feel pain just standing there, now that he actually thought about it. Had he been walking funny without realizing?



“If you say so,” the demon shrugged. “Can’t deny you’re workin’ that look either way, sister. Thanks for the pic!”



She left Lochan's side, and her motley crew walked off together. They were already gone by the time Lochan caught what was wrong with her goodbye. “Wait, sister? What… oww!” He shuddered again. Now his hips here definitely starting to ache, and badly.



He was off balance. Maybe the pain was giving him vertigo. Everything felt like it was a little bit lower than usual.



“What is going on?” He said to himself. It was like his pants were shrinking, cutting off his circulation! Which was, he realized in irritation, exactly what the old guy said. ”Why are these so… yow!”



He yanked at the trouser legs, but they wouldn’t budge an inch. All he did was made his hips sting more. Meanwhile his jacket kept falling off his shoulders, despite it and his trousers both being made by him to fit him. Maybe he hadn’t done such a good job after all.



But that wasn’t important right now. He literally had more pressing issues to worry about. His body suddenly shuddered again, and the tightness became even more unbearable. It was like being a grape in a wine press, pushing in all over his hips, his legs, his groin…



He had to bite his lip to stop from crying out in the middle of the crowd! That was it, he needed to find a bathroom. Now!



Lochan shimmy-ran across the hall as fast as he could without drawing too much attention. Which didn't work that well, but he at least went without anyone else asking for a photo. Though he get a few strange, low gazes that made him uncomfortable.



He was already tearing at his pants as he burst through the bathroom door, fumbling wildly with the zipper. By this point his legs were actually starting to shake in discomfort, and his hips felt like they were actually on fire. He had to get them off!



Miraculously there was nobody already inside, otherwise the sight of him wrestling with his own slacks would’ve been very awkward. He had almost gotten them off of his hips when he tripped had to catch himself against the sink. He looked up, and finally got a good look at himself in the mirror. Then he got an even bigger shock.



“W-what happened to my face?” He gasped. It was no wonder the demoness confused him for a girl. His features were all softer, rounder. He had smaller, puffier lips, his hair was way longer than it should have been, and his brows her thinner and less pronounced.



He looked down at his body, and saw that it didn't stop there! Lochan had always been on the thin side of muscular, but this was ridiculous. He hadn’t lost any muscle, but seemed more slender. Something about it was all wrong. Was his center of balance literally changing? He looked like he could be his own sister!



Just thinking about it made him curious, but before his eyes could drift to his chest the pressure built again again and he yelped in pain. He had almost forgotten why he was here in the first place. He was smaller everywhere except one key place, apparently.



With a tight sucking sound, he finally yanked the leather pants free of his hips and threw them across the room. Freedom at last! Everything ached, and his butt felt like it had been shot from a cannon into a vat of ice cream. He gave the whole area a putdown, to make sure everything was still there.



He meant that as a joke, but he should be so lucky. The pressure he felt on his junk clearly hadn’t just been from the pants. Everything was not still there.



There was nothing down his boxers. No, that wasn't true. There was something there, something smooth, but not what was supposed to be. He didn’t just look like a girl. He... she... had actually become one.



He wanted to scream, but he knew that would just draw attention. This was one thing he didn’t want on he internet.



He looked the girl staring back at him though the mirror up and down. Now that he really looked, she was quite pretty: curvy but not exaggerated, with prominent hips he’d already gotten well acquainted with. Her shirt was noticeably tented out, but she wasn’t particularly busty. He felt up this shirt just to confirm it, and surpassed a gasp. It was all real under there.



She looked like an average, normal girl minus the lack of pants. But she just happened to be him, and that was all kinds of wrong. Those were his boxers stretched out across her hips. His shock written all over her reflected face.



How did this happen? Lochan was pretty sure people didn’t just change gender out of nowhere. And what if anyone saw him?



That thought suddenly took over his brain. Someone could come in to go to the bathroom any second. Maybe he hadn’t fully registered the enormity of what just happened to him, but now that the pain of lost circulation was over the fear of embarrassment felt more important than anything.



If the staff saw a girl walking around without any pants, they would throw her out! Or worse, arrest her! And pictures of her bare bottom would probably get a million views by morning!



But wait, surely she meant his bare bum of course. Not her. Didn't she?



She decided it didn't matter right now. She would sort out pronoun trouble later. She had to get out!



Luckily the demon hunter jacket was very long even before it became extra baggy on her. Maybe if she closed it people would only see her exposed legs and think she was wearing a skirt or shorts or underneath.



She hugged it close to her, then winced again as she realized for the first time that her undershirt had either slipped or ripped off during the change. That left just her bare… she wasn't ready to call them “boobs” yet… and the scaled shirt, and while it wasn't too tight or anything her chest felt like it was rubbing against sandpaper.



But she had no choice. At least it wasn't near as bad as the trousers. And if they caught her… him… whoever she was topless, who knows what they would do?



The very thought made her shudder again, hoping it wasn't the same shudder as before. She wasn't sure if she could take it if she was changing further.



Willing the jacket to be enough, she hurried out the bathroom and almost sprinted to the nearest exit. She kept glancing at everyone, afraid that someone would try to talk to her, or worse that someone would take too close a look at what she was wearing. To think that she, the consummate showgirl, was afraid of attention!



She didn’t miss the irony, but her bare legs were getting enough lecherous looks as it was so she didn't care.



Thankfully nobody was stopping her, with one exception. Lochan was so busy looking at everyone else, that - WHAM! - she crashed right into something very solid.



She fell on her already sore behind, and looked up to see a young man about her age dressed as a crusader. His armor actually looked real, but it was huge enough that she figured it probably wasn’t. A normal person wouldn’t be able to walk around in actual metal that size, which meant most of that wall she crashed into was his own physique. That made her blush, for some reason.



He reached down to help her up. “I-I’m sorry, ma’am. Wasn’t watching where I was going.”



Lochan didn’t respond, but instead tried to slip past him without answering and get to the exit. The guy didn't stop her, but looked a bit disappointed. he was still staring.



“You look awesome!” He blurted out before she made it away. "Who are you going as?”



She stopped instinctively, cursing her natural showmanship. “I-it’s original.” She stammered without making eye contact. “I’m supposed to be a d-demon hunter.”



“Knight Templar! Exaggerated, a little.” He laughed, tapping his excessively large platemail. “Hey, we kind of line up. Sort of. Want to share a pic?” He glanced down at her legs, and she saw him realize what she hoped no one would. “Though, then again...”



Lochan gasped and hugged her jacket closer to her chest. “No! S-sorry, have to go. Bye!”



She hurried away before he could respond, leaving the knight behind stammering apologies and looking confused.



Now she was missing out on photo opportunities! But he had been eyeing her, she just knew it! She was only a girl for five minutes, and guys were already giving her wrong kind of attention.



Yet for some reason, she was tempted to turn around and join him anyway. She could’ve given him a hell a photo, that was for certain. It would almost be worth it to go out half-naked, just to see the look on his face.



In fact she was sure she could whip up something at home that would show off her stuff even better, and impress him and everyone else far more.



But she shouldn't be thinking that now! This wasn’t the time for preening!



She shrugged it off, taking her itchy bust and aching hips out of the conventional hall before something else happened. She could figure out her skewed priorities and weird thoughts once, and the unsettling fact that she’d at some point started thinking of herself as a “she,” when she got home.



She badly needed to sleep. Everything felt jumbled...



——



The next day that same knight wandered the convention hall, ignoring the people oohing and aahing at his costume. He had just gotten out of a panel, but his mind wasn’t on action packed superhero trailers right now. All he could think about was the girl from yesterday.



An Indian demon hunter with no pants. It wasn't something you saw every day, even at a comic convention. She had left in such a hurry, but there something about her he just couldn’t shake.



Something embarrassing must have had happened during the con, possibly related to said pantslessness. And whatever it was, he figured that she probably wouldn’t be back. He wished he had gotten her name, or if he was lucky her number, because it was unlikely he would ever see her again.



Especially not in the middle of a crowd, blocking traffic and surrounded by other cosplayers clamoring to take pictures. Yet on the other hand…



He didn’t recognize her at first. Instead of the baggy leather longcoat he saw her running around in the day before, she had squeezed herself into a skintight and very flattering lycra outfit. It was black with multicolored stripes, in what seemed to be an original design for a superhero. And though he had always considered himself as honorable as his costume would suggest, he couldn’t help admiring the way the stripes wrapped snug around her.



She really was like something out of a comic book. And where yesterday she was running away, today she was smiling and posing for the cameras. Her hips were popping out, her stance was confident and her face was playful and excited. Everyone was eating it up. One guy was even sketching her.



She soon noticed him standing there. For a moment, she looked embarrassed to see him. But a moment later, he saw her laughing to herself.



When she was done filled her newest “friends’” photo albums, she slipped into the crowd and reappeared at his side. “I think you dropped your jaw on the floor somewhere around here.”



“Er… sorry. Force of habit.”



“Don’t be. You’re a guy. Trust me, I know how that is,” she teased. “And I am pretty surprising. Out with Diablo, in with the Avengers, huh?” She said, making a muscle with one arm.



“So you do remember me!” He said, a little too brightly. He didn’t want to seem like a creep. “I have to admit, this isn't as funny as the way you ran out yesterday. But…" He glanced down at her costume, and ended up somewhere around her legs before catching himself. "It’s definitely better.”



“You noticed my bare ass, huh? Perv.” He rushed to insist he hadn't been staring, but she rolled her eyes. “And here I thought I was being discreet.”



She looked him up and down with a smirk. He suddenly felt awkward. “Nice costume. I didn’t say so before. Very buff.” She put her hand on his shoulder guards and bumped her hip into his side, smirking teasingly.



“Thanks.” He said, puffing his chest out. She hid a grin as he went on. “Yours too. The stripes are a nice touch! They really accentuate your natural… er…” He stopped when he noticed her staring at him. Great, he had a cute girl in front of him and he was boring her with creepy tailor talk. “So what’s your name?” he asked abruptly. “I-If you don’t mind me asking?”



“Lorien,” she said, still laughing with her eyes. She slurred over the word for a moment, as if part of her was unsure. “Yours?”



“Gallagher.”



“Like the comedian?”



He groaned. “…yes.”



“Well, funny guy,” she nudged him in the side, and he realized just how close she was. “Glad to find someone who actually appreciates my work. Half the guys here were probably just staring at my butt.” She playfully popped her hips to the side. “And the other half at these!” She said, gesturing to her breasts.



Gallagher was hit with an insane urge to look again just because she mentioned it. “More than half, I’d say.”



She laughed. It was like music to him. He was hooked! “You really are funny!”



“Sir Laughsalot, that’s me.”



There comes a time in every crusader’s life where he must take the brave but risky venture. This was that time. “Hey, do you want to hit the food court or something?”



“Are y-you asking me out?” She gasped. For a second she looked confused, and that made him confused. She looked unsure, but she didn't stop. “Is it smart to go out with a gal you just met? And vice versa.”



He grinned this time, feeling more confident. “It’s just a lunch. Nothing crazy.”



She tapped her hand across his breastplate. He tried very hard not to reciprocate. “A warrior and a gentleman, huh? Then I’d have to say…” She suddenly leaned in very close, making eyes at him. He bowed to take her hand, and his heart leapt... just as all of a sudden, her entire mood changed.



Lorien leapt back as if she had been burned. Anyone looking might have seen her switch from playful and excited to scared and confused in a split second. But she tried to force the smile back onto her face. “I-I mean… heh… I have to go!” She stammered, backing away quickly.



Gallagher’s leaping heart fell. Did he read this wrong? “Wait, whatever I did I’m sorry! I just-”



“No!” She shouted, already too far away. “It’s me who’s sorry, I want to but… no! This is just too much!”



Without explaining any further she ran away again, leaving the knight alone for the second time in two days. He sighed, and walked back into the crowd…



Across the hall, Lorien slipped into an unused hallway and pulled a hand mirror out of her… well, she would rather not say. She checked herself over, much like she had the day before, hoping that nobody would come by and see her in such a strange mood.



What was wrong with her? Why was she acting this way? Showing off for the crowds was one thing. Weird situation or not, she always was a natural showman… or showgirl, as the case may be. Even like this, she could just let her instincts take over.



But then she had practically fallen for the knight! She was pressed up to Gallagher like a mink coat. Even now, the thought made her shiver, but why?



Why did she come back in the first place? She hadn’t even tried to figure out what happened to her after going home! She panicked at first, but then the idea of figuring out a new cosplay popped into her head and she just... forgot, as if being thrown into a whole new gender was no big deal!



Then she must’ve stayed up all night stitching half her fabric and her old Spawn cosplay together into this number. Sure it was a really hot look, but that wasn’t any excuse!



She pinched at the skintight spandex around her hips, wondering how else she might have been acting weird since yesterday. A million small examples flashed through her head before she decided she didn’t like thinking about it. But now that she mentioned it, when and how had she started calling herself Lorien?



“My name is… Lorien,” she said to herself. She didn't say it. She didn’t even think it. She knew her real name, but it hadn’t occurred to her to use it. This was more than just her instincts taking over.



She nervously traced her bangs out of her face, and in doing so her hand bumped the charm she bought yesterday. Suddenly it hit her. She pulled the charm up to her face. The gem in the center was no longer purple. Instead, it was glowing bright pink. Had it been doing that the whole time?



It had to be the cause, and it was probably still affecting her! Which was scary, but it hopefully meant she had a way back to normal.



That is if she really wanted it to stop. She was getting all the attention in the world now. Maybe even more than ever before. Why would she want to mess this up, just because of some superstitious nonsense?



All these daydreams about changing genders were messing up her priorities. Sure, being a cocksure guy was a fun thing to think about, but to actually become someone other than her own vivacious self? Who cared if she might have been that way at first, it was still crazy talk. What she needed to do was get out here, stop being a loon and get her act together. Maybe even track down Gallagher…



"…no!" She forced her mind to stop wandering. She had seriously just thought of her own life as a daydream, and who knew what was next? Before she could have second thoughts again Lorien… no, Lochan tore the amulet off of her chest and threw it across the hall.



The effects started immediately, coming on even faster than before. Her whole body tensed, and on the inside it felt like goldfish were swimming around her guts. She didn't remember feeling this yesterday, but it was possible she had been too distracted by the pain to notice. In the mirror, her hair was already shortening again, and her face was moving around like clay.



She was well on her way to being a guy again! And happier about it without the charm messing with her head. She wondered if after this was over she could actually get some use after all out of that demon hunter cosplay. If she hadn’t ditched the pants, that is.



Suddenly she froze, as she remembered why she ditched the pants in the first place and realized that she may have overlooked something very important…



Growing feminine hips while wearing leather and managing a bustline in a scaly undershirt was one thing. It was bad, but at least she became smaller and the rest of her outfit was manageable. Now she was about to get her fit male frame back. While wearing full body, form-fitting spandex.



This was going to suck!



She desperately tried to tear her costume off before the big changes started, but it was too late. Her body shuddered just as it had yesterday, and suddenly she was on fire…



A few minutes later, the entire hall was audience to a frantic young man in a badly fitting superhero outfit rushing into the crowd, half-limping and shrieking “the chafing! Ye gods, the chafing!” before falling flat on his face.



People gathered around and laughed as he writhed and spasmed on the floor. Bloggers and fellow cosplayers snapped photos and videos with their phones.



It eventually took three members of the staff to cut him out of the suit, after which he was thrown into an ambulance despite his protests and carted off to the emergency room as a precaution. The whole thing went viral as after all as an infamous “idiot nerd” anecdote. It would be weeks before his body stopped aching, but it would take Lochan much longer than that before he finally lived this down.



Since he was distracted, neither he nor anyone else noticed a familiar old vendor watching the scene from the distance. The accessories from the day before were gone. Instead, his shelves were stocked full of official convention calendars. Each page featured a different young woman posing in a cute or sexy cosplay. The ones from cons of previous years were selling well, but nobody seemed to be lining up to volunteer to be in this year’s edition.



“Ah, damn. I had just the spot for that one.” The old man grunted in disappointment. He pulled out the paper from before and despondently struck “Lochan” from his checklist. “Next time, I use something a little stronger. The charm obviously didn’t do the job fast enough.”



This misfortune left him out one model for this year’s calendar, in a year where he barely got any takers as is. Only an hour or two, maybe less, and Lorien would have been far enough into her new persona to gladly do a few poses for for posterity. And now it was probably too late to go searching for a new pin-up.



He might have to (the horror!) pay to hire one!



“At least I got a laugh out of it.” He sighed, chuckling under his breath. “I did warn him about those tight clothes…”



A young man in a suit of armor wandered up to the booth, interrupting his thoughts. He stared despondently at a trinket in his hand.



“This is a weird question,” the knight said timidly. “But you didn’t happen to get a picture of a girl who was in here earlier, did you? She has one of those superhero catsuits on. I wanted to talk to her, but I think I screwed it up. She ran off, but she dropped this. I think its yours.” He held out the trinket, and the old man almost grinned. “I didn’t want her to lose it because of me, so I was hoping…”



It was indeed the same charm he sold Lochan, still glowing pink! What luck! The old man studied the boy’s face. He didn’t know what he looked like before, but the features did already seem ever so slightly softer and more slender than one would expect. “I think I do remember her,” he said. “Nice girl. Ran out the con yesterday without any pants, right?” The boy nodded, looking more excited now. He didn’t think to ask how the vendor knew that.



The old man put a hand on the knight's shoulder and pulled him in close. “I’ve got a tip! If you really want to get her attention, maybe you should wear it! That way if she sees you with it, she’s bound to recognize you! Come back tomorrow, even. Maybe she’ll still be here!”



The poor knight fell for it, oblivious to what he was really about to get into. “You really think so?”



The old man smiled wickedly. “I know so, my boy. Just let me help you pin it to your armor…”



—--



A month later, Lochan finally got the nerve up to post his story online. He found a site that seemed decent, but he was unsure. It was all about strange transformations, though he doubted anyone was really serious. But if he couldn't trust random people on the internet for answers about whatever the heck happened he didn’t know who else to turn to.



It took less time than he thought to get a reply. A half hour later, he refreshed the page to find a brand new post right below it. He was expecting a troll or a gag. What he got was a bit surprising:



“You think that’s bad? At least you only had to deal with it once! Let’s just say things get wild with me at least once a month, and my fairer half has a thing for corsets! Count yourself lucky!”



Lochan stared at it for a long time, then closed the window never to return. On second thought, he didn’t want to know. At least he could pretend it never happened.



Instead, he picked up the package that just came to his door. They obviously didn’t believe his story, but the convention still sent him a copy of one of their official calendars as a “don’t sue us” gift. It was a little lewd, with a set of photos of cosplaying girls posing and having a good time, but he didn’t mind it.



Though the company that made it, Tiresias Publishing, seemed vaguely familiar…



He flipped through, glancing at each of the pin-ups without really paying attention, until September caught his eye.



It was a girl, obviously. She was dressed as a knight, wearing a breastplate and chainmail that was sturdy, not skimpy, but still accentuated her figure. She was leaning on a fake sword like a cane, hips bent every so lightly, flashing the peace sign with her other hand and smiling broadly. It was silly, but still kind of alluring. She had an attractive figure, but it was her face that really caught him. It looked kind of familiar. Like someone he met once…



If he weren’t so focused on forgetting his ordeal, he might have recognized the charm pinned to her chest and figured it out. Instead, he was drawn to the writing on the bottom of the page. Somehow this girl had gotten to his personal copy and managed to leave a private message, just for him:



“HOPE I’M STILL FUNNY! CALL ME! GRANIA: XXX-XXX-XXXX”



He didn’t want to know how. Maybe she was a stalker? Maybe she worked for the publishing company? Who knew?



Lochan decided he didn't care. She was pretty, and something about her seemed… inviting. If all he got out of this was a cute girl’s phone number, then it wasn’t a total loss. Though it seemed strange, asking out a girl on a date just based on a phone number in a book. So maybe just a lunch. Nothing crazy about a lunch.



He jotted down her number and tossed the book into a corner. It was time to start working again. After what he went through, he wanted to swear off even the word cosplay. But seeing that girl got him thinking. Medieval was a good look, very buff. Maybe if they hit it off, next year he could make something that matched up with hers. Though it would have to be much more spacious for once.



And who knows, maybe next year they could both be in the calendar together...