Incognito—Chapter Twenty-Two
"Normally, I'd say relax and be yourself, but in this case," she said, pulling back and plastering a fake smile on her face. "Be someone else."
"Do you know him personally?" Edward knew that DarkMonster was, in essence, a professional stalker of the stars. He somehow knew where his favorites wined and dined, and usually before the paparazzi even found out.
Bella nodded. "He is the fan club president of several actors and actresses, as you well know. And he's been a fan of my work for a long time."
The way she said the word "fan" suggested DarkMonster was either a hater or obsessed asshole to her.
"Please tell me you're joking." Edward nearly groaned, but kept a somewhat neutral expression. He had to or else James aka Darkmonster would know it was him under all the makeup and hair cap.
James once told Edward he had one of the most recognizable smiles he'd ever seen.
"Nope, relax. Let me handle this. Don't keep too quiet if he asks questions, because that will instantly put him on alert."
"He's checking out your ass," Edward hissed, his hand settling on the small of her back. "How does he manage to take hundreds of photos with various stars and always have the same exact smile?"
Bella looked up at him, all wide-eyed and bursting with the need to laugh. "Right! I thought the same thing!"
He pressed his forehead against hers, brushing his lips against her cheek. "Shh, he's almost here."
She hummed, practically snuggling against his chest. Edward wanted desperately to hold onto her tightly, but he wasn't sure why James felt the need to talk to Bella.
James made a point of checking her out from head to toe, lingering on her bare thighs. "Hello, Isabella. Overcharge anyone else lately?"
Bella huffed and looked over at James, smirking. "Hey, James, stalk anyone lately?"
James rolled his eyes, shrugged and nodded at the same time. "It pays the bills, something I'm sure you're well aware of."
"You mean Daddy pays the bill. How is the dear senator these days?"
James didn't even deny Bella's statement. Edward knew it was true, anyway. It wasn't a secret, and James practically advertised his father had all the connections. "Getting ready for reelection in 2018."
"Good luck with that," Edward said under his breath, catching the man's interest.
"Who is this tall drink of water?" James licked his lips and smacked them twice. "Your latest fuckboy, I assume."
Bella seemed quite collected as she coolly replied. "I see you're still bitter that I didn't give the scoop on Pitt all those years ago."
James appeared equally calm. "Or that you cheated at Dragon Con Cosplay event three years ago, of course not."
Edward finally understood why there seemed to be some bad blood between Bella and his supposed biggest fan. James used to cosplay and competed a lot back in the day; he'd often come as his character at old conventions.
"I won fair and square," Bella said, waving her hand as if to shoo James away. If only it were that easy.
"I heard Sebastian Stan is not coming this year," James said, ignoring Bella and turning his full attention to Edward.
Edward did what he could to appear as natural as possible but stand a little differently from the way he usually would. Even his facial expressions changed slightly under James' scrutiny. He tried hard not to freeze under his attention.
He hadn't thought that someone might consider him to be another star. It wouldn't help in keeping the fans away if they thought he was Sebastian Stan, who actually played the Winter Soldier. Considering he was wearing that costume the following day, it wouldn't be a good thing if that was the case.
Bella continued with the small talk as if everything was perfectly fine. "Yeah, I heard, though the reason why is up for debate."
James smirked, one of those cocky, "I know a secret and you don't" kind that begged to be to slapped off.
"Anyway, since Bella has failed to introduce us, I'm James Spencer. And you are?" He held out his hand.
"This is my friend, Alec Winters."
Edward realized Bella worked well under pressure, she used his friend's name, the same one he used at the front desk of the hotel. He was one of the few friends he had that the media had no clue he had a connection to, ever. Edward had met him in college, at some random party, but they hadn't even been from the same school. They had remained friends ever since.
"Nice to meet you," Edward said, with a simple nod and stiff smile, still playing the part of Vision. He kept his handshake firm and quick, shaking off the need to wipe his hand on his pants. "My girlfriend was telling me that you also dabble with cosplay."
"Dabble!" James said, high pitched and upset. "I don't just dabble, I'm one of the best. I haven't competed in a while, but it's my comeback year."
"Where you find the time to stalk professionally and be one of the best cosplayers, I guess I'll never understand." Bella sighed deeply. "Oh wait, you don't make them yourself, you pay someone else to do it for you."
"Much like your boyfriend here," James hissed, stepping a bit too close to Bella.
Edward moved between them and looked James in the eyes. "Step away from her now." He felt some satisfaction at the fact that James, dressed to the nines as Bruce Wayne had to look up at him, and even more so when some fear filled his eyes.
"Bella, tell your guard dog I wouldn't touch a gray hair on your pretty little head."
"Gray!" Bella giggled. "You wish. Look, James, I don't have time to deal with your usual bullshit. Run along now while we check out the main floor." She waved, doing her best impression of a hair flip. "Oh, and I guess it's a good thing I'm not competing this year, or you'd be screwed."
"You always compete!" James actually seemed to be upset by the information. It made sense, in a way; the grand prize was always worth more if the competition was fierce.
Edward followed Bella's example, leaving James with a simple shrug and basic smile. He noticed how James' eyes narrowed, but it was obvious he didn't know who was under the makeup.
It was clear Bella was damn fucking good at her job, because if James Spencer had no idea who he was, then they shouldn't have a problem over the next few days. Catching up to Bella, he drew her close and kissed the top of her head. "You were amazing. If you had acted any differently toward him, he would've been suspicious, right?"
"Yeah. Sorry you had to see my bitchy side." She grinned. "Scared yet?"
He played along, shivering and earning a laugh in return. "Come on, I hope you're prepared to do some shopping." They already discussed he would repay her for everything the moment they returned to the beach house.
"Shopping at Comic Con?" Bella cackled and held up covered credit card she had attached to her lanyard. "You bet your gorgeous dimples I'm ready."
Edward cocked an eyebrow, making Bella giggle. It was strange to see Vision do such a thing. "I'm assuming you're talking about the dimples above my ass again."
She cheekily winked, but stopped him with a tug on his hand. Her eyes softened as he questioned if something was wrong. "You called me your girlfriend back there."
He bent down to press a kiss to her soft lips, smiling as she sighed. "Yes, I meant it."
She punched his shoulder. "You could've asked. I almost had a coronary back there."
Edward chuckled. "Will you ever react the way I expect you to?"
"As your girlfriend, it's my duty to keep you are your toes." She smiled at him, tugging him toward the amazing mayhem that was Comic Con.
"Holy shit!" Edward had only taken a peek at what was inside the main room earlier, too busy to take in the scope of how big the event was. In the past, he was usually escorted through a maze of doors and hallways. The panels were under bright lights with lines and rows of people, flashing camera keeping him from focusing on the number of fans attending. The only way he had figured out there was a lot was how loud fans were; their screams were deafening.
Large and small, every character known to man seemed to be in the room. Whether in cosplay form, action figures, comic books, huge gleaming posters, and various other forms. Edward couldn't figure out where to look—there was a lot to take in.
People filled every available space around the booths. It was elbow to elbow room, meaning there simply wasn't much.
"Shall we?" Bella asked, gesturing toward the first both upon entering on the right.
He nodded, letting her lead the way. She had to, since he was too busy looking at everything.
.
.
.
"There are so many tits here." Bella walked beside Edward, eyeballing a female Thor. "As if she'd dress like that in battle."
"Those are the ones that have lines to take photos with, too." Edward shook his head, a woman dressed as Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad made the costume even more revealing.
"You're kind of awesome." Bella bumped his shoulder with hers. "You kept your cool while people took photos with us."
"It wasn't easy." It didn't take long after walking onto the main floor for people to stop them, asking for a picture. It was rather fun with Bella beside him, except for a few over-friendly women and men that thought it was appropriate to rub up against them. It was one of the many things he still wasn't used to as a celebrity.
"Okay, we have the first aisle down and we already have about five bags each." Bella did some rearranging, shifting two of her bags to her other hand. "We should try to get as much shopping done today as we can. Tomorrow, with your metal arm, there's no way I can carry all of our stuff."
Edward agreed and decided to go through a few more aisle then head upstairs to unload their belongings. They were both a little hungry, but wanted to get as much done as possible. Halfway through the third aisle, while Bella considered some Games of Thrones figures, a familiar face caught Edward's attention.
"Yondu and Rocket have been following us for a while." Edward kept close, in case it was a couple of creepers.
"That's Jake and Seth."
"Seth joined him?" Edward's voice cracked a little, hoping their trip wouldn't be cut short. He knew Seth worked for Bella and loved Hollywood gossip.
"Relax, baby." Bella's soft voice eased some the tension that took place on his shoulders. "Seth hasn't figured out who are you. Jake told him he was there to keep an eye on me since I had some trouble the last time I came."
"Wait? What kind of trouble?"
Bella blushed and avoided his eyes. "I may have hit some asshole in the balls for putting a hand on my ass during a photo op. Security started to escort me out, but a bunch of people stood up for me." She shrugged. "Jake's being his usual protective self."
"Are you saying that if I wasn't here, he'd still be here?"
"Yes, of course." She went back to look at the action figures.
"Then why did the fucker ask for overtime this week?" Edward scowled toward Yondu, and the blue-skinned asshole laughed as if he read his mind.
"Why would he need over time?" someone asked him, making Bella and Edward freeze.
They turned and came face to face of the young Vision fan they met earlier, Simon, and his parents. Edward replied easily. "Yondu is a Ravager, he's always looking to get paid."
Simon nodded. "You are right. He's going to be in Infinity Wars, right?"
Edward had no idea and from the look on Bella's face, she had no clue either. He chose to go with the standard non-answer he learned since his career took off, but in Vision form.
"I am not at liberty to discuss it."
Simon's mother, a blue eyed, petite woman with rainbow hair, dressed in a fan made Vision and Wanda t-shirt and jeans simply gaped at them. "This is like a dream come true," she practically cried, holding onto her husband for support. "The fact that you're wearing their everyday clothes makes this even better. I've never seen that and we've been to a lot of conventions."
Simon jumped in, fisting both hands in the air. "A lot of conventions. It's so cool."
Krystel nervously cleared her throat. "I know this is a lot to ask, but can we do like a mini photo shoot today?"
"Honey," her husband said, shaking his head but smiling. "You have to forgive my wife. She's a fan."
"I heard from Simon that you write Scarlet/Vision fanfiction." Bella was already in character, accent practically perfect, winking as Simon giggled.
"Oh my God." The woman was a sweetheart, blushing and nodding. "I'm Scarvi on AO3. Can I have a picture please?"
"We were planning on heading back to the room. Why don't we go out to the hall?" Edward suggested—it was time to go. His contacts were starting to burn.
Simon and his parents joined him, chatting away about everything he'd seen that day and holding onto Bella and Edward's hands. They took their time on the way out, stopping at several booths that caught Simon's attention. Bella spoke with his parents, waving her arms around as they discussed the new Marvel movie. They had to find a suitable place to take photos without so many people around, which seemed impossible. Outside the doors, the hallway was filled with other people cosplaying, many of them with lines of fans, waiting to take photos.
When a kid and a group of teenage boys pointed them out, Edward and Bella looked at each other. It was clear it would be a while before they'd have the chance to head up to their hotel room. It was as shame, because they were starving, and not just for food.
AN: I know, I know, this chapter was mostly filler. It sets up upcoming events. Okay, I have a favor to ask, I need things you'd say to them as if they could actually hear you, you never know they might ;) Thanks to kyla713 for clean up duty, I messed with it, so any mistakes are mine. See you all soon.