A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

-==-

Chapter 27 -- Rings

I didn't care if they were for girls, I was buying myself a pair of ballet shoes when we got home, I'd decided. And I was never questioning Aunt Cici's shoe recommendations again.

It being Saturday meant the convention was in full swing, the throngs of people packed at least twice as tightly as they had been the day before. Normally, that would mean nothing but stress for me as I tried to navigate between booths and panels, due to my size.

Not so this time.

No, this time, I had a Brian with me: a Brian with armor, and a mace, and a matching wedding band to the one I now wore.

When I'd popped off the comment about a wedding band the night before, I'd been less than half serious about it. After all, what difference could a little piece of metal make? As it turned out, the answer was 'a lot,' especially when combined with Brian's insistence that he play the part. Despite the heat from the press of bodies around us, he was always touching me, with his hand on my shoulders or his arm across them, or even just holding my hand, with none of the hesitation in reaching for it he'd shown at Bog Bottom.

I could have, perhaps should have, made a fuss about it and asked him not to, but....

I was enjoying the escape from all the annoyances I usually had at cons. No guys hitting me up or getting handsy in lines. No getting bumped around by the people who didn't notice me at all. No getting talked down to by vendors because I couldn't possibly know anything about what they had or because I wouldn't let them up-sell me on something I didn't want.

No going at it alone.

Brian was busy trying to talk a vendor down on the price for a mech model, so I took the opportunity to study the ring on my hand again. It was truly beautiful, and not one band of gold but two, tightly braided together with a single, small stone embedded in the top. The braids were fine but just a little rustic, like they were done by hand, and though I doubted the stone was a diamond, it certainly sparkled like one. There was a small indent in the bottom side of the band where Aunt Cici assured me the engagement ring would normally snug around it, but when I asked about that ring, she told me she was holding on to it until I actually got engaged.

I'd considered complaining about the idea that I'd be the one getting the engagement ring but thought better of it considering what I was already wearing.

I glanced over at Brian's hand, the one holding most of our swag bags and vendor purchases. His ring was much like mine, only the band was wider, with a small sapphire in place of my diamond. I'd have thought that an emerald or other green stone would fit his character better, but it hadn't taken me long to pick up on how the glint of the sapphire had a lot of the same blues as his eyes.

Eyes that were glinting themselves as he turned back to me, smiling triumphantly.

"Get yer discount?"

"Yep! Market value plus ten bucks. I don't think he was expecting anyone here to know the price since the model only released two days ago."

"Con geeks not knowing market value on a model?" I asked incredulously as we walked away.

"I know, right?" Brian chuckled, shifting bags around so he once more had a free hand to reach out and take my own, his fingertips playing with the band on my ring finger as we walked. "Though if I'm being honest, I'da settled for twenty over. They're already selling out at all the retailers online, and it's -- what?"

"Nothing," I said, fighting back the laughter that wanted to bubble out. "I just forget how much you get into the mech models sometimes."

"Well, you won't be able to forget again once we start sharing a room."

"Sharing a room?"

"Well, we're married now," he said like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Means we gotta go get a queen-sized bed and make room in my closet for your clothes."

"It does not!"

"Yep! And it means every morning you'll wake up to the glory of my model shelf at the foot of the bed, the Model Z from Mecha Symphonia Metallicum greeting you with its laser sword held high."

"We're not actually married!" I whisper-yelled at him, afraid to say it louder lest it break whatever magic the bands were working on the crowds around us.

Brian just laughed at that and lifted my hand, kissing the gem on my ring and following that up by winking at me.

I shook my head and laughed too, which got my hand another squeeze.

We were quiet for a while, Brian leading the way between con-goers and stalls and me content to be guided, just taking in the sights and sounds and not worrying about where we were headed.

I'd promised myself to let things that were supposed to be fun, be fun. What could be more fun than spending time at a con with your best friend?

Even if we were pretending to be married.

Even if pretending to be married hadn't actually been part of my idea with the rings.

Even if....

"What's up?" I asked Brian, noticing that we'd moved into an out-of-the-way alcove.

Brian just stood there, looking down at me with those intense eyes of his.

When had he taken both my hands in his?

"Leigh...." He breathed a heavy sigh, closing his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again and smiling at me, a softer smile than his typical smarmy one.

"Brian," I began, but he lifted my hands and kissed the ring again, silencing me.

"Listen, I know it's... I know you don't...." he trailed off, his smile flickering for a moment before returning. "No, sorry. I think it's time we talked about...."

"Hmm?"

"This."

"This?" I asked, almost imperceptibly lifting our linked hands.

Brian nodded. "This. Us." He let go of my right hand but lifted my left higher. Without thinking about it, I let him lead me through the twirl, our free hands naturally catching one another again at the end. "What do we call this? It's not just being best friends, is it?"

I shook my head, feeling the heat rising in my cheeks as the seriousness of what he was asking sank in.

"So, what is it? Am I your boyfriend?" He asked me the question making my stomach twist in an unexpectedly pleasant way.

I gulped. "If -- if -- you were... and I'm not saying you are," I emphasized, his eyes twinkling when I did so. "But just supposing... what would that make me?" I asked him, almost whispering it. Was I excited to hear his answer... or terrified?

Both, I decided.

Brian's smile grew. "You're--"

"HEY!"

I winced, the pain feeling all too real as Brian's eyes ripped away from mine to focus somewhere over my shoulder. He dropped my hands, and I turned in place to see where he was looking. Approaching us were two people, a short but somewhat stacked girl dressed as an elven ranger, complete with an obviously fake but nicely detailed bow, and....

"Bob?" I asked, then smiled. "Ben," I corrected myself, looking up into the slender man's eyes. "I almost didn't recognize you without the cape."

"Oh, so you two did meet each other yesterday!" The short stack said, giving me a detailed once-over, then tucking herself into Ben's side.

"Told ya!" He said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and bending down to kiss her head, then grinning at me. "Yeah, the cape doesn't go so well with this costume."

I studied his new costume, a black and gray flight suit of some kind, and hazarded a guess. "Some mecha show?"

"He's Aruko Suzumaki from Mecha Symphonia," Brian said, wrapping his own arm around my shoulders much like Ben had around the elf girl's. "Leader of the Dragon Team."

"Ah, a man of taste as well! I knew I liked you," Ben said, giving Brian a thumbs up. "But no. I'm Ichi Suzumaki, his--"

"His evil twin! From episode twenty-"

"Eight, yeah," Ben said, just as excitedly as Brian. "See the maroon pinstripe?"

"Oh, yeah. How'd I miss that?"

I looked at the short stack. She looked back at me. We both rolled our eyes.

"I'm Leigh," I said, holding out my hand to her and ignoring the guys talking over our heads about giant robots and space opera politics.

"I know. I'm Laura," she said, taking my hand and giving it a firm shake.

"Better than short stack," I admitted, blushing when I realized what I'd just said aloud.

Thankfully, Laura laughed. "Not the first time I've heard that! But hey, a handful's enough, right?" She asked, poking me in the side of the boob with the limb of her bow. "It's nice to see you wearing something that shows off your figure, though. You always wear those plain tees and stuff on the show, you almost look like a boy!"

"Hah, I know, right?" I mumbled, not missing the hitch in Brian's conversation as he chuckled.

"Dunno how you've been hiding that, though!" She said, pointing at my belly now. "When I saw it last week I practically choked Benny to death. I knew you two were actually a couple!"

"You did?"

"I mean, yeah!" She said, throwing her hands up like it was obvious and sending a sympathetic wave through other parts of her anatomy. "All the touchy-feely stuff, and the looks."

"Looks?"

"Yeah, you know." She gave me an example, opening her eyes wide and giving Ben a soft, doe-eyes look of pure love before turning it off just as quickly and smiling at me. "Like that."

"Brian never looks at me like -- oh." I felt myself blushing again. Did I really do that?

"But wow! I thought last series had some tension between your characters, but this has been on another level! So, is Lunea and Burg's baby something that was brought in because, you know...."

"Huh? Oh! No," I admitted, realizing I'd wrapped my arms protectively across the baby bump and forcing myself to drop them to my sides. "This is just a prosthetic. I'm not actually pregnant."

"No shit?"

"Umm, no."

"Damnit," She sulked. "Looks like I owe Angie fifty bucks. She's my group's DM and usually watches your streams with me, and we had a bet on... anyway. So you two aren't?"

"Not for lack of trying," Brian said, squeezing my shoulders with his hands.

"WHAT?!" I screeched, loud enough to hurt my own ears as I spun on him. "Brian!"

I glared at him, all the while trying to ignore the raucous laughter from the other members of our party. "We're not... I mean, we haven't...." I trailed off, not really sure what I was trying to say.

Brian reached down to take my hand again, and I almost pulled it away before I saw the look of amusement mixed with apology on his face. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. No, we're still trying to figure out where things are going," he said, lifting my hand to his face and once again kissing the ring on my finger.

"Ohmigod, that ring!" Laura said, standing on her tiptoes to get a better look at my hand. "Is that--"

"It's just a prop, too," I admitted, pulling my hand free of Brian's once again so I could hold it out for her to see. "I was getting some looks yesterday with the belly and everything--"

"I'll bet!"

"--so our costume designer gave us these to wear. She said she had them made for our characters, but...." Once again, I found myself trailing off, looking at the ring.

"Well, they're fantastic! Do you think she'd make a set for us?"

"For you?" I asked, looking at Laura and Ben and pulling my hand back.

"Oh, not identical! But something similar? We've been looking for a nice set."

"I... sure, I guess," I agreed, reaching into my bag and pulling out one of the cards Aunt Cici had given me to pass out. "Here's her card. She works out of Baton Rouge, but she ships all over the place."

"Awesome!" Laura crowed, holding the card up triumphantly. "Hey, hon, let's go back to the room and call her!"

"She might be--"

"Pleeeease?"

Ben looked down at Laura's puppy-dog eyes, then looked further down as she bounced on her heels a bit before looking back up at Brian and shrugging. "It's been nice meeting you two," he said.

"It's been great! We'll be at the show later tonight, front row!"

We shared a few more pleasantries before they wandered off, once again leaving me and Brian tucked back from the action in our little alcove.

"Well," Brian said, breathing a heavy sigh. "That was...."

"Yep."

"And did you see her--"

"Yep."

Pause.

"How about some lunch?" he asked, taking my hand again. "I heard there's a good Japanese place about a block down the street."

"Sounds expensive."

"That's why we're putting it on the company card, right?"

I glared at Brian again, but he just laughed and gave my hand a gentle tug.

I could have fought the pull he had on me.

But I didn't.

-==-

Notes:

Comments and kudos appreciated! I'll do my best to respond.