ADifferentKindOfCosplay

Lucy
Felthouse

Zachary has a dilemma. His girlfriend, Reese, has a special
birthday coming up soon and he has absolutely no clue what to get for her. It
doesn’t help that Zach does not share or really understand Reese’s biggest
hobby—comic books, superheroes and everything that goes with them. Zach raids
Reese’s DVD collection for inspiration and what he finds there gives him an idea…possibly
the best one he’s ever had.

Sure, Reese has fantasized about her favorite superheroes.
All those muscles and rakish smiles are to die for. She didn’t think Zach would
ever really understand, though. But he proves her wrong in the best way
possible.

A
Romantica®
contemporary
erotic romance
from Ellora’s Cave

Zachary sighed at the calendar entry in his phone, which was
reminding him for the third time about Reese’s upcoming birthday. And it wasn’t
just any birthday—she was going to be thirty.

There were perks to dating a doctor—the uniform was pretty
hot, for example—but when that doctor had no particular fondness for jewelry,
flowers or chocolates, buying her presents was nigh-on impossible. And because
of her work schedule, a surprise weekend away was out of the question. He’d
long since learned to
always
keep the receipts.

Most people get their partners something to do with their
hobbies or interests. However, Reese was even awkward in that regard. Her main
hobby was so complex that Zach didn’t have the first idea what to get her to do
with it—Reese was an uber-geek. Films, graphic novels, collectibles, all that
jazz.

Obviously he could just ask what she wanted, then go out and
get it, but then it wouldn’t be a surprise. And it was too easy—he wanted her
to know he’d really made the effort.

Snoozing the calendar reminder once more, Zach threw the
phone onto the sofa, then walked over and started rooting through their
combined film collection for something to watch after dinner, which was almost
ready. Reese was on-shift at the hospital until silly o’clock, so he had the
house to himself and could watch whatever he liked. An action movie it was,
then.

Running his fingers along the spines of the DVDs and
Blu-rays, he suddenly paused.
Avengers Assemble
leaped out at him, for
some reason. He’d seen snippets of it before, as Reese watched it pretty
frequently. The parts he’d seen hadn’t looked too bad, actually. It was
essentially an action film, he decided, but with superheroes in it.

He pulled the case off the shelf, an idea beginning to form.
Maybe if he watched it beginning to end, he’d seen what drew Reese into that
world so much, why she was so fascinated by the films, the graphic novels and
so on. Even if he didn’t get it, though, maybe it would still give him some
inspiration for a gift. He had nothing better to do that evening, in any case,
so it was certainly worth a try.

After putting the disc in the player, he headed into the
kitchen to see how his dinner was coming along. A meal in front of the
television was the order of the day, it seemed.

A few minutes later, he settled onto the sofa with his
lasagna and garlic bread, a bottle of beer on the table next to him. Time for
some Avengers action.

Within half an hour, he’d ascertained that the film wasn’t
just for geeks. In fact it was easy to see why it had such a wide appeal—the
cast was supremely attractive, whatever gender you were into, the plot was
interesting and the dialogue seriously witty. He’d already developed quite the
crush on the Black Widow, and Nick Fury’s right-hand woman had a lovely pert
backside.

Trying to put himself in Reese’s shoes, Zach looked at the
male characters. Okay, when it came to this film, straight women clearly had
more eye candy than they knew what to do with. He vaguely remembered a bunch of
crazy stuff going around on the internet about Loki—even the villain of the
piece had sex appeal, for heaven’s sake! So much so that it had spilled over
into even Zach’s limited social media presence. He barely used Facebook, and
he’d never gotten the hang of Twitter. And yet he knew about the rabid
fangirls. That was another score for
Avengers Assemble,
then—truly
mass-market appeal. If only there were mass-market gift-buying options.

Sighing, he tried to empty his mind and concentrate on the
film. The more he tried to force an idea to present itself, the less likely it
would be to happen. He’d just enjoy the entertainment and keep his fingers
crossed that his subconscious provided something useful.

Once he’d made the decision, it wasn’t difficult to get
sucked back into the narrative. It was engaging, easy-going and fun. Zach
surprised himself by thoroughly enjoying the entire thing. Reese would be
pleased when the next film came out at the cinema and he offered to go along
with her.

He’d keep his newfound admiration quiet for now, though. He
didn’t want to arouse her suspicions, although she was bound to know he was
planning something for her milestone birthday.

The question remained—what the hell could he do or buy to
blow her away?

A few days later, Reese herself provided him with
inspiration. They were at the kitchen table, sharing a rare breakfast together.
It was Reese’s day off, but Zach was due in to work soon, to sell houses to
wealthy Londoners.

“What are your plans for today then, babe?” he asked between
mouthfuls of cereal.

Chewing and swallowing her own mouthful, she said, without
any kind of malice, “Oh, nothing you’d be interested in.”

“No?” he prompted.

“I doubt it.” She smirked. “I’m off to Forbidden Planet to
stock up on some graphic novels. I know I could buy them cheaper online, but I
like that shop. The atmosphere is great—even though as a lone woman, I get some
odd stares—and I just like to go every now and again to check out the latest
stuff.” She spooned more cereal into her mouth, consumed it, then continued,
“Actually, Mum asked me to let her know what I wanted for my birthday, so it’s
a good excuse to go and get some inspiration. I can make a list, if you like.
Then you can pick something off it.”

“No, no,” he said quickly, waving his spoon at her and
sending a droplet of milk flying, which landed in the middle of the table,
“I’ve got it all under control, thank you.” He smiled, the grin growing wider
at Reese’s look of surprise. A second later, he wanted to kick himself.
What
the fuck did you say that for, you idiot? She practically handed you the
perfect gift idea on a silver platter, and you turned it down. Moron!

“You know,” he continued, still grinning, “that’s one of the
things I love about you. Many women would go to Oxford Street and Regent Street
on their day off, shoe and clothes shopping. But you’re heading off to wherever
it is to go to a geeky shop. You’re a quirky individual, sweetheart, and I love
that.”

Reese raised a brow. “Wow. Where did all that come from?”

“What?”

“The compliments, the declarations of love. Or are you being
sarcastic and massively mocking my geek status?”

“No!” His spoon clanged into his bowl. “Fuck’s sake, no. I
was being genuine—I meant every word. Just take it as it was intended, okay?”

“Okay,” she replied, still sounding unsure. “Thank you, then.
I love you too.”

Grabbing his empty bowl, the spoon and his mug, Zach drained
the rest of the tea and put the stuff in the dishwasher. Stepping over to
Reese, he kissed her.

“See you later, babe. Have a fun time at Forbidden Planet.”

“I will, thanks. It’s in the West End, by the way.
Shaftesbury Avenue.”

“Huh?” he said, frowning, pretending he had no idea what she
was talking about, and especially not that he’d said “wherever” in the hope
she’d mention the store’s location.

“The shop. It’s on Shaftesbury Avenue. The Covent Garden
end. I can go to Candy Cakes too, if you like. Buy a couple of those gorgeous
cupcakes. We can have them after dinner.”

“That, my darling, is a fabulous idea. You know I’m a sucker
for a cupcake. Especially from that place.”

“I do. Have a good day. Love you.”

“Love you.” Grabbing his bag and heading for the door, Zach
finally had some sort of a plan taking shape. He just hoped it would come to
something. Reese’s birthday was creeping steadily closer.

Taking a deep breath, Zach headed into the shop, berating
himself for being so nervous about it. It was a shop, not a private club, for
heaven’s sake—he wasn’t about to get thrown out for not being a member. He
didn’t have a sign hanging over his head, proclaiming that he wasn’t a geek and
didn’t know what the hell half of this stuff was all about.

Stepping farther into the shop, he quickly realized it
wouldn’t matter if he did have that sign. The place was full of people, mostly
men, who probably wouldn’t have noticed if he’d walked in totally naked. They
were absorbed, it seemed, in what they were doing—looking at and buying geeky
stuff.

If Reese had been with him, he was sure he’d have got more
attention. Or more accurately she would. She’d mentioned that she got a lot of
looks in the shop, and it was entirely possible that this was because most of
the clientele had never seen a real woman close-up. Much less a smoking-hot one
like Reese.

Okay, it was time to stop looking at everyone else and
concentrate on why
he
was there. Reese was safely tucked away at work on
the other side of town, and he wasn’t going to leave this geek-haven until he
knew what he was getting her for her birthday.

Straightening, he wound his way through the other browsers,
looking for the Avengers. He passed glass cabinets containing incredibly
expensive items, from busts of characters he didn’t recognize, to action
figures and even replica wands from the Harry Potter films. In the regular
aisles was the more reasonably priced stuff, and he soon found the section he
was looking for. There were plush figures, stationery, notebooks, LEGO figures,
masks and even Oyster Card and passport covers. All kinds of things emblazoned
with the names and logos of the various characters and groups from the various
universes. Zach wasn’t even going to try to understand it all—there was just
too much going on. And besides, he didn’t need to “get” it, he just needed to
find something Reese would like. That was all that was important—finding a gift
she would treasure.

He poked around, picking things up, examining and putting
them down, uninspired. Damn, why couldn’t he just have booked her some time off
work and whisked her away to Paris or something? It would have been much
easier. So would taking her offer of picking something off a list she’d made
herself.

No, he reminded himself. He was here because it was a
special birthday this time, and he really wanted to make the effort to surprise
her, show her how much she meant to him.

Turning the corner, he found yet more Marvel paraphernalia,
including character pajamas, dress-up gear and various accessories—like Thor’s
hammer and some giant green fists that he presumed were meant to belong to the
Hulk.

Seeing nothing that inspired him, he kept moving and
eventually ended up downstairs, on a floor that housed books, comics, graphic
novels, films and much more. He had no intention of getting her anything like
that, as it was impossible to know which ones she owned already. But as he
stood there flicking through a graphic novel, an idea hit him.
Finally.

This wasn’t about a
gift,
a physical possession
.
It
was about a
gesture.
And since that gesture couldn’t involve
international travel, more’s the pity, he could do something else memorable.

Replacing the graphic novel, he headed back upstairs to the
section he’d been perusing before, with the Hulk hands and Thor’s hammer. There
they had a variety of bits and pieces, but not enough to carry out his idea. But
he wasn’t too bothered—the place had helped him to have the idea in the first
place, so he was thankful.

He grabbed a pair of Iron Man—his favorite
character—slippers in his size and took them to the counter, mulling over his
plan. It wasn’t conventional, it wasn’t ordinary. But then, neither was Reese.
In other words, it was perfect. He just hoped she’d feel the same.

Back home, he went straight online. In this instance, Google
was his best friend, his savior. He threw himself upon its mercy.

He’d picked up enough geek phrases in his time at Forbidden
Planet to know what to search for, which made things much easier.

“Okay,” he said to himself, “time to find out more about
cosplay.”

Typing in the relevant phrase, he hit Enter and waited to
see what the search engine would throw up. It was a mixture of sites selling
costumes, YouTube videos, images, articles and lots more. Apparently cosplay
had quite the engaged community. This was a good thing, Zach decided, because
where there was demand, there was supply.

Sure enough, after configuring his search to specify actual
outfits, he found a bunch of online and physical stores that would be able to
sell him what he was looking for.

Clicking on one of the links, he let out a whistle. Christ,
this was going to cost him an arm and a leg. A week in Paris would be cheaper,
never mind a weekend. But it didn’t matter—he worked hard, he had the money and
he couldn’t think of a better way to spend it. It was a very unusual birthday
surprise, one she would love, and, if he was honest, he was going to get
something out of it too.

After all, how many men got to have sex with a smoking-hot
doctor while dressed as the male members of the Avengers? Not all at once, of
course. No, he needed five separate outfits, and given the sexual nature of his
idea, he’d have to buy them rather than rent them. Who knew what kinky fun
they’d get up to when he was dressed as Hawkeye, Thor, Captain America, Iron
Man and the Hulk? He wouldn’t want to be the one renting the outfits after he
and Reese had finished with them, anyway.

Continuing to search the web, he found a local store that
would be able to order in what he wanted—it was better that way, rather than
risking having stuff delivered here, which would be bound to happen when Reese
was around. At least if the shop took care of the delivery, he could go and
collect the stuff when she was at work and get it back home and hide it until
the time was right.

Checking out the outfits in question, Zach quickly dropped
the idea of ordering the Hulk ensemble. If he was going to a fancy dress party,
then yes, he’d dress as a topless green giant. But he wasn’t—he was going to
seduce his girlfriend, and somehow he didn’t think the Hulk was very sexy.
Bruce Banner, on the other hand…yeah he could see the attraction there. Geeky
science dude—the look was easy, and one he could probably achieve with a quick
dash around some charity shops. A pair of slightly high-waisted trousers and
some doctor-like glasses, and his work was done. He already had plenty of shirts.

Grabbing his phone, he input the number of the store, then
pressed Call.

Oh yes, he thought, grinning widely, this was going to be
fun. A different kind of cosplay altogether, and one that would no doubt score
him some serious Brownie points with Reese. And then he’d have ten whole years
to worry about how to top it for her next milestone birthday.