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“Outside your door or chilling in here with you.”
“No.” He shakes his head profusely. “No.”
“Xander—”
“Look, I’m doing this, and just so you know…” He stares around the room, his breath heavy like he’s running even though he’s standing in place. “I plan to hang around my sister a ton more, so you better get used to this.”
Is this good for him or bad for him? I can’t tell.
“Your decision,” I say, just as comms sound in my ear. I miss Quinn’s update for me, and I click my mic. “What was that?”
“Your girlfriend is ready,” Quinn repeats.
I reach for my mic on my collar, about to correct him.Not my girlfriend.We’re in the “no labels” zone. A zone I had already punt-kicked with Luna before her amnesia. Woulda been her boyfriend easily by now, but things are different. I’m in a hazy relationship land that Farrow would neverstep foot in, and despite me setting some boundaries, it’s still murky.
I don’t get the chance to respond to Quinn.
“Incoming,” Frog says on comms, just as a knock sounds on the door.
“It’s Luna!” Luna calls to her brother.
“Come in,” Xander says, slipping me a very gentle look not to tell her shit about our conversation. He wants her to believe he’s aBeneath a Strong Sentimentstan so she’s unaware of his true intentions here. It’s a bit devious for a Hufflepuff like him, but I have to roll with it.
“Heidi ho,” Luna greets, springing forth in a bright orange wig that I’ve seen her wear when she cosplayed as Leeloo from theFifth Element. With a baggie sweatshirt and glitter under her eyes, she looks cute—beautiful, really—and disguised enough. Being in her vicinity, my heart double-thumps, if that’s a thing hearts can do.
Frog and Quinn enter the room but stay near the door. At least O’Malley is way back in Philly or New York. For once, I’m loving the West Coast.
Luna displays a blue chromed mask to Xander. “Tah-dah.” She wiggles it. “For you.”
He takes it. “A Riven mask?” He must’ve binged Bass before the Con if he recognizes the mask from the show.
“Everyone’s wearing them,” Luna says.
“Probably because they’re dope as fuck,” I chime in.
“And people always like the villains more,” Luna adds.
“True that.” Rivens, the chromed-mask wearers from Bass, are the antagonists. I nod to Xander. “Now you’ll blend.”
He releases more of his anxiety. And he puts on the mask. “What do you think?”
“Never seen him before,” I tell Luna.
“Nope. He’s not one of us,” she says.
“Great. Let’s go before I change my mind,” Xander says.
Luna and I share a grin, and I make arock ongesture to my bodyguard comrades. Let’s do the thing.
* * *
The vendor hall.A congested hellscape I wasn’t sure Xanderwould ever brave. His costume is coming through, though. No one has spotted him, and I’m barely blinking while I survey the crowds around the merch booths. This isn’t the sort of place I can really talk with Luna.
Making sure they’re safe is all that’s on the brain right now.
Xander is more interested in the hand-carved dice than any of the Bass paraphernalia, but he tears himself away and trails close to his sister.
I maneuver around him as they stop and browse. Frog and Quinn are doing the same and pretending to be Luna’s besties on either side of her. We scan for potential threats. We watch our clients. No one seems to recognize us, as far as I can tell. More so, I’m worried they’ll spot Quinn first. The Young Stud Casanova of SFO is a fan favorite on WAC forums.
