AN: After some research, I decided that I would just wing it. There are so MANY videos and panels, there's so much that I'd never get through it. Real life and all, you know? I'll get some of it right and much more that I'll get wrong. This is not how all of the Marvel panels went down, do not expect a play-by-play. Also, I made a couple of mistakes in this fic, I'll tell you about it at the bottom. Thanks and enjoy!

Incognito

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"We should've saved these costumes for today only," Edward whispered, surrounded by other like-minded people. Marvel fans that hadn't had a chance to take a look at their costumes before were taking the chance to ask for pictures as they all waited in line for the Marvel panels.

"Maybe." Bella smiled as a man much taller than her leaned in close to take a photo with his phone. The sun was in her eyes, but her smile seemed slightly forced, then Edward noticed her go rigid. A sharp jab of her elbow to the man's gut made him spit out an apology and high tail it out of there.

Edward headed after him, but a firm hand on his faux metal arm cautioned him to stop. He was seething—he'd seen too late that the asshole had grabbed a handful of Bella's ass while he was busy with another cosplayer.

"It's fine." Bella cocked an eyebrow, reminding him about their discussions between rounds of sex the previous evening. He couldn't save her every time some asshole took liberties and she could take care of herself, if needed. She tilted her head toward someone huge dressed as Thanos—the comic book version—and security stopped the asshole from joining his friends. She leaned up to whisper their mutual friend and protector, that it was Jake in the Thanos costume. "Let them handle it."

A few other bystanders in line had seen the whole exchange. A couple of other women stepped forward to say the Iron Man cosplayer had done the same to them. Three guards had to stronghold the individual away from the long line waiting to enter Hall H.

After the incident, Edward wrapped his arms around Bella from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder as she looked through all the latest news surrounding the Marvel panels. Lots of speculation indicated that they may get previews for Infinity Wars and the highly anticipated Black Panther.

They found out when they arrived that DarkMonster had to lock his Twitter account after his mentions got out of control, as people were angry that he had lied to them. He had lost thousands of followers in a matter of hours. Hopefully, it would be the last they'd ever see of him for a while, but they'd remain cautious, since it was likely that James was dressed up and hiding behind a mask among the crowds.

Bella decided to wear the headpiece she had made for her Loki costume, her staff a perfect replica of Loki's in the original Avengers. Several enthusiastic fans asked if she'd consider using her staff like a sword to "knight" them for Loki's army. It was weird, but Bella seemed to handle the request with ease, her acting ability was damn good, surprising Edward.

"It's time!" Someone closer to the front of the line shouted, eliciting several hoots and sounds of excitement punctuated the air. The crowd was already twitchy with anticipation, it increased ten-fold as the line moved slowly, inch by inch. It was hot as fuck, the sun blazing and baking them, yet everyone was ready for whatever Marvel had in store for them.

Bella bounced on her feet, smiling at Edward. Her hand curled around his gloved fingers and pressed a kiss to his matching grin. Being famous had some perks, like there was no such thing as lines for him, but if he had come as himself, he wouldn't be able to experience it from an audience perspective. The anticipation made it all worth it in the end. The ease of walking among people who loved all things comic book and superhero-related was something he'd never regret. He understood why fans were willing to wait in line for hours for a glimpse of their favorite actors and a preview of what was to come.

Moving toward the front once they entered the hall, Edward and Bella didn't bother to sit, as many others were on their feet, craning their necks to see behind a curtained area, where the stars were likely waiting. The tables set up for the panel spanned the entire length of the stage, and several indistinct names were on cards in front of each seat.

"Chris Hemsworth is the closest to us." Bella had stars in her eyes.

Edward only felt a twinge of jealousy. He knew both Chris and Bella well enough to know that they'd never cross the line and betray him. "I haven't seen him in months." They had met at an after party, but neither of them had stayed very long; just enough time to get some photos to appease their agents. "Tom is, too." He knew she had a thing for Loki, so it stood to reason that she'd love a chance to meet Tom Hiddleston, too.

She whimpered.

His hand may have squeezed her hip a bit too hard.

She stuck out her tongue at him. "I can't help it." Her attention was still on the panel, the voices in the room increased as movement came from behind one of the curtains.

A giant screen was set up behind the panel, many hoping that they'd get some footage from one of their upcoming films. As usual, any news went viral and that year's panels would be no different.

They might as well get their geek on whenever possible.

Another fifteen minutes passed, allowing for everyone to be seated. Photographers for various media outlets were positioned at prime photo advantage, their cameras flashing to photograph the enthusiastic audience.

The crowd clapped and shouted as the host took on the stage, waving and nodding along with the loud audience. It meant that it wouldn't be long now. He got the crowd going, dropping a few names and pausing for dramatic effect often. He soon announced Kevin Feige of Marvel, everyone standing on their feet to welcome him. His smile was huge as he mentioned that the entire audience was getting the new Black Panther and Thor Ragnarok posters, both showing up on the screen. The cheers increased at the mere mention of freebies.

Suddenly, what Edward thought was a loud crowd turned to one that was deafening as Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Chadwick Boseman, and Mark Ruffalo walked onto the stage. Bella was screaming along with the rest and Edward couldn't help but smile, joining in the energy that encompassed the entire room.

They waved and said a few words, Bella's hand fisted on the back of Edward's jacket when Chris pulled up the sleeves of his blue jacket, a Miami Vice vibe to his attire. It was hard not to tease her, making her blush and laugh out loud when he did. Tom's accent nearly brought his girlfriend to her knees, but he let that go, though he filed away the information for later. His British accent was damn good; maybe she'd enjoy it from him, too.

Bella hadn't expected Edward to be the jealous type, but maybe he never had a reason to feel like that? She wasn't sure, but she refused to let it ruin her fun. It wasn't like she was drooling, but Tom was certainly not making it easy on her. The man had a voice that made her melt. He could read a phone book and she wouldn't be bored.

Excitement erupted from every direction Bella realized, even Edward. His eyes before the lights were dimmed glowed with infectious happiness, and it was beautiful to witness and be part of the reason why it was there in the first place. At that moment, he was just a normal comic book lover, letting his geek out.

His fingers slipped around her hand, as if by instinct. Bending low enough to whisper in her ear, "I'm so happy we're doing this together."

As Kevin made to leave, some of the audience was confused. They expected much more than posters. Tom grabbed a microphone, saying, "Wait a minute, just wait a minute. We didn't come all this way just to see that."

Bella nodded and screamed out Tom's name, Edward laughing beside her.

Mark had a hand on his chest, agreeing with Tom. Chadwick's deep voice came loud and clear, too. "No, no, no."

Kevin pretended that he'd given the audience enough. "He needs to work on his acting skills," Edward said, earning a giggle from Bella.

Tom wasn't listening to what Kevin had to say, pointing to the others on stage with him. "I'm standing here with three Avengers." The audience screamed, Bella jumped up and down, using Edward's arm for stability.

He was laughing at her, but she didn't care at all.

Tom smiled at everyone, pointing down. "I should know because I tried to fight them once."

Chris made a face and said something to Tom that Edward couldn't pick up over the screaming.

Tom was quick to add. "I didn't win."

Chris turned to Kevin. "There's one small thing we haven't seen, Kevin."

Kevin shook his head. "I didn't bring it."

The dismay on Mark's face looked all too real. "But Kevin," he said, gesturing toward the audience. "Let's ask the people, do you want to see?"

All of them riled up the crowd, asking for more noise. All smiles. The energy Edward recognized earlier seemed to quadruple. Someone else joined them on stage—the director—and the actors looked to him for confirmation that they had footage to show.

"There's no way we're not going to show you footage." The audience was on their feet, the noise is deafening. It was amazing. "Ladies and gentleman, we give you…" he gestured to the giant screen behind him, "Infinity Wars."

Chris Hemsworth did a mike drop as the room darkened.

The hush that came over the room was sudden, everyone's eyes on the screen. The montage of comic strips from Marvel comics came on, a few shouts punctuated the air. It was time.

.

.

.

The rest of the panels were fantastic. The Black Panther panel, complete with Lupita Nyongo and Michael B. Jordan joining Chadwick, was energetic and fun. The Thor Ragnarok was amazing. Bella and Edward were both enamored with Tessa Thompson, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum. At least Bella's starry eyes were for everyone and not just the hot male actors.

"That was amazing!" Edward didn't care if he turned heads as he threw his hands in the air. "Let the speculation begin." They exited Hall H, a loud hum of conversations surrounded them, as people were already speculating what was going to happen in Infinity Wars. Captain Marvel was also garnering a lot of attention, leaving many people wondering if the character would make an appearance in the next two Avengers films.

They were so distracted that Edward hadn't realized his prosthetic chin had fallen off sometime in the last couple of hours. He had to remove his goggles since they were considerably dark and in a darkened room would be useless.

"I knew it!"

Bella's eyes went wide as she looked up at Edward, his own matching soon after; they'd recognized the voice in an instant. A camera flashed in their faces, Edward didn't have time to knock it back before Jake pushed James out of the way. No wonder they hadn't recognized James much earlier— he wasn't dressed up. At all.

"Go!"

"Is that Edward Cullen?"

"Is that who I think it is?"

"Oh my God, it's Edward Cullen!"

Edward shrugged as people started toward them. He apologized to Bella before tossing her on his shoulder and running behind Jake and who he assumed with Seth in a Dr. Strange costume.

"What are you doing?" Bella screamed, trying to look up despite her position. She spotted the crowd running after them. "They know it's you now, and some cosplayers know who I am too, oh shit!"

Edward knew she was right. She passed out cards for her business all weekend long. Most cosplayer enthusiasts knew about her work in the industry and even had gotten a few pieces done by her company. It would be easy to put a name to the mystery brunette he'd been with for the last few days. There was also a picture of her kissing The Winter Soldier, posted by her followers. At the time, they had no idea who he was, it wouldn't take long before his fans would put two and two together.

"I don't give a fuck," Edward said, slightly out of breath. He placed a possessive hand on her thigh, just under her ass, hopefully marking her as his girlfriend. Might as well make it obvious that she was more than a friend.

Edward recognized his friend, Garrett, behind the wheel of his rental. "I owe you big, man. Thanks."

They clasped hands for a moment. Garrett brushed back his dark hair and grinned. "A date with your sister, Kate, would be good."

Edward glared at him and helped a slightly pissed off and dizzy Bella into the car. "Over my dead body."

"That can be arranged," Bella said from the passenger seat. "I know a guy."

Jake thumped on the hood of the car when his tactic of security holding up the mob of female fans following them only worked for so long. "Get going now!"

Garrett stopped Edward one more time. "Is she worth it?"

Edward looked at Bella. "She's worth everything."

AN: (hangs head in shame) Okay, I messed up as I mentioned above. I hadn't realized it until someone pointed out that Alice was Edward's baby sister in this, so how could she be married to Jasper. I thought I named his sister as Kate. Oops. So, I changed any instances of Alice being his sister to Kate. Sorry for the mix-up, I had it all in my notes as Kate, idk why as I wrote it I changed to Alice. Habit maybe? lol

I also meant to use 2016 Comic-Con stuff in this but decided, in the end, to use 2017 Comic-Con as a reference. A lot more happened and it was awesome, though I only know this due to videos on YouTube.

Almost done with this fic! Thanks to Kyla713 for helping me out and to Myherion for sticking with this birthday fic.