Conventional Shadows

The ghost cat perched on the back of the futon in our living room and stared at me with her tail flicking slightly in agitation. I tried not to glare at her. I had wanted to put the futon down and watch a movie while curled up with Micah. But my hesitation, because there was a ghost cat on the back of it, meant Micah was up and moving, digging for crafts. Our lazy Sunday afternoon suddenly turning to planning.

It was my fault she was in our house. I’d brought her home thinking we’d be a calmer place for her to exist. All ghosts weren’t demons, or bad, though Micah assured me they could shift from yurai to yokai due to negative energy. Would moving her make her agitated? Moving Jet sometimes pissed him off, and he was a living cat. Did being a ghost make her more or less catlike?

“You’re okay with us going to the convention in Shreveport?” Micah asked for the fifth time. “Even if I don’t sexy cosplay.”

“Yep,” I agreed.

“What if I wanted you to sexy cosplay?”

I swallowed, thoughts skipping a beat as they often did when broached with the idea of Micah finding me sexy. “Okay?” I thought about it for a minute. “Is the hotel haunted?” The last thing I wanted was something taking me over while I was stuck in sexy gear, and me landing in the psych ward for an indecent exposure instead of enjoying a weekend off.

“I haven’t heard any stories about the hotel,” Micah offered. “But I think every hotel has people who have died. I’ll make sure we’re not in a haunted room.”

I sighed and reached for Jet, the living cat who stalked our apartment. He was indoors only, and rubbed my leg in approval of my unwillingness to sit down beside Precious, the ghost cat. Jet, however, did not like to be picked up and smooched as I would have liked. He would sit with me, or sleep on the pillow beside my head, but he did not like to be babied. I reached down to pet him, using the action to focus on calming my growing anxiety and study Precious’s movements. Was she agitated? 

“What did you have in mind?” I finally asked Micah. “For this cosplay?”

“I don’t want you to be uncomfortable,” he said, showing me the design sketched out.

I straightened up to take the picture and examine it. It wasn’t really the lack of dress, as the sketch had everything covered that was important to keep covered. I worried that even after several months of eating well and working out; I wasn’t back in fighting form. Not that I fought anymore. Being a retired ex-Army ranger meant I worked in retail now. And battles outside the occasional Karen or Kevin argument were rare. The whole ex-military thing about some glamourous new job in law enforcement or security was an annoying romance trope that didn’t meet reality.

“I’m not sure even I can pull this off,” I said. I would definitely workout more before the convention.

He stepped in close, leaning up for a kiss, which instantly set me on fire. I sighed into his lips, willing to promise him just about anything at that moment. “Can I make it? And if you hate it, we can use the Witcher stuff we’ve done in the past?”

“No fair,” I said. “Tempting me with your hot body.”

He smiled against my lips, one hand firm in my hair, body pressed to mine, making me feel like I could fly. “You can have my body anytime.”

And I couldn’t help but sigh because he was my everything. “Okay,” I agreed. “Will you be coordinating with my costume?”

“Of course.”

“But I’m only mostly naked.”

“Everything’s covered, I promise,” he said. “I saw someone do it on a forum, and want to try it with faux leather instead of cosplay foam.”

“Was that English?” Faux leather? Cosplay foam? “Huh?”

“Vinyl,” Micah said. “A more flexible costume than foam.”

“Foam like bubbles?” All I could think of was the spray foam we used to clean the bathroom.

“It’s a type of fabric, hard to explain. I’ll show you. Cosplay has come a long way since your youth of making everything out of cardboard. I have some, but I want to use something more movable. Means lots of little design pieces to make it look like metal.” He shrugged. “I’m thinking about some epoxy elements instead of the whole thing being cut and painted to look like it.”

“Your creative mind never ceases to amaze me.” I spread out my arms. “Design away.”

He gave me a wicked smile. “I need you naked.”

My brain short-circuited. “Um…”

“For measurements,” he added.

“Okay, sure?” I glanced back at the ghost cat, not really wanting a supernatural audience.

“And fun.” 

“Can we take measurements in the bathroom?”

Micah’s gaze strayed to the back of the futon. I know he didn’t always see her, but he did sometimes. Did he see her now?

“Yes,” he agreed, grabbing his measuring tape. “There’s lube in there, anyway.” Then it took over a week for him to get all the measurements he needed because we kept devolving into play. But me naked seemed to be enough to tempt Micah to do naughty things, and I was more than happy to indulge him.