Thanks for the support, everyone! I'm hoping to live up to the expectations - which means, I'll need to go back to research if I want to keep this going.

So far, these chapters won't be all that long as compared to, say, Gunmetal, but I guess things are decided better by inspiration. Who knows: maybe I might get longer chapters later, maybe not.

I'll keep my fingers crossed...!

One hour. That was how long I had been persuaded to stay when I was first invited – or suckered in – to participate in this thing called "cosplay"; I just needed to hang with them for one hour, and if I did not like it, I could call it a day.

I checked my watch now and found I had been walking with our small pack for at least two or three hours. Funny… I didn't even notice the time pass me by like that.

In those hours, my newest acquaintance had yet to reveal their name, and probably got a kick out of leaving me guessing in their presence. To be fair, they had not asked for my name either, preferring what we had settled for since first meeting – I was still "Cloud"; he or she was still "Leon". And while it was pretty obvious that our mutual friend knew our individual names, "Sephiroth" deserved some credit for not slipping up even once.

"Hey, Cloud."

Huh?

"… Cloud…?"

A hand was in my line of vision, and I blinked. Before me, my older colleague seemed amused.

"What is it?"

"I said: you want anything from the Dealers' Room?" he repeated patiently.

I wasn't exactly sure what a Dealers' Room was – my own fault for not researching beforehand – so I could only shake my head. Maybe if I was lucky, I could find it and explore on my own later. As they left, the group's Axel pointed out an unoccupied bench to the side, and the lot of us promptly parked upon it. Through the buzz of the crowd, I thought I heard someone call my name. Before I could figure if it was, indeed, me that was being hollered at, I found myself jumped upon – this time, thankfully, by someone I knew and could forgive.

"Yuffie, there you are!"

"Hi, Roxy!" she chirped from my lap in response, waving enthusiastically at the girl that was to our immediate left. Then she went right back to me. "Lookit you – if only I knew you were going all out as Advent Children's Cloud for your first time, I'd have smuggled in a shuriken!"

"Gee," I replied, "thanks, I guess."

"I've got pictures!" Axel sang out proudly. In an instant she had her attention upon him, despite remaining conveniently planted on my lap. The digital camera traded hands, and after a few soft beeps, she predictably squealed… right into my ear.

"Aw-w-w-w-w-w-w!" she cooed loudly – too loudly, I decided – "You found a Leon!" then, at closer inspection, "…a hot Leon!"

"Easy, girl…" Before I could say anything else, she proceeded to tackle me in a fierce hug.

"I'm so proud of you! My sweet ever-lovin' Sissy is making all my Cleon fantasies come true…!"

"Don't be ridiculous," I chided, just about ready to stand up and drop her to the floor.

"C'mon, think about it: you'll fall in love with him, he'll fall in love with you, and POOF! You're living happily ever after, surrounded by brand new little Soras gumming your ankles."

"Kid, I've seen way too much of Sora to last me until the next game," I retorted, having shudder-worthy flashbacks to the very wide variety of Soras that passed me by earlier. "And I really don't appreciate you pairing me with a stranger just because of our costumes."

"Hey, it could happen!" she insisted merrily. I sighed.

"I don't even know him," then, as I remained with a tinge of regret, "… I don't even know if it is a 'him'…"

"… Seriously…?" And she was staring more intently down at the camera's small screen, studying the image with scrutiny. "… Yeah, I think I see your point. That's either a really convincing drag, or one blessed pretty boy."

"I know, right? I'm starting to think it amazing how I still can't figure it out." That piqued her curiosity, and the ninja-for-a-day got off me at last to sit by my side.

"Did you ask?"

"… Sort of," I half-lied. "Leon just told me to assume whichever makes me more 'comfortable'."

Then I realized… perhaps that was it. Apart from our individual cosplay and all the history that went with the characters, we actually knew so very little about each other. If this was Leon's way of being friendly, I wasn't too sure how I felt about it – it wasn't entirely bad, but I would've appreciated being able to refer to my new friend as either one gender or the other, specifically.

Come to think of it… were we really even friends yet? What if this shared affinity lasted just as long as the convention and disappeared the next day like a strange dream?

My inner monologue was short-lived, as the pair returned with a few bags. Said bags were quickly emptied out and their contents distributed, revealing things such as manga, DVDs, tidbits, collectibles and strange souvenirs that the others promised would be rare outside of conventions.

Leon broke the seal on a box, and held it opening-first toward me in offering. "Pocky?"

The yaoi fan-ninja beside me decided that was funny, giggling as I rolled my eyes at her. Regardless, I reached in and pulled out a stick of… something completely unexpected.

"… This is Pocky?" I carefully asked, unable to take my eyes off the uniquely colored biscuit I pinched between two fingers.

"Black sesame flavor," Leon explained, pulling one out to study as well. "Our overly glorified mama's boy wanted to sample every new one he came across… never mind if this thing looks kinda like Cruella De Vil's cigarette holder with the ash still on it."

"Uh… huh…" And, unable to quite bring myself to taste this strange thing just yet, I probed further, "so what else did he get?"

"Everything except earwax and stuff on the ground," Leon deadpanned. "Those were out of stock."

Beside me, our Yuffie was laughing. I smirked and finally bit off the tip of the Pocky stick. The taste hit me, and my smirk disappeared.

"… I… guess this tastes okay," I slowly concluded. Already halfway through their stick, Leon was holding out the box again.

"Want another one?"

"No, thanks," I replied too quickly.

"Me neither," they replied empathetically, passing the rest of them along to anyone else with the right amount of curiosity. The casual tidbit-related conversation only lasted that long before my sister demonstrated her inner Yuffie and leaned forward.

"So Leon… are you a boy or a girl?"

There was a definite pause, Leon silently studying the honest face before them. They tilted their head to the side, feigning deep thought, before giving the answer I knew they would:

"Wanna guess?"

The pair continued a friendly banter – one that I knew would not yield any real answer. I found myself returning to where I had left off with my thoughts, wondering…

This stranger dressed as Leon, who wouldn't share their name or even their gender… Outside of the costumes and pretenses, would we be friends?

Did we want to be friends?

I'd have the rest of the convention to find out…

Sorry, but for now, Leon's gender shall remain my secret.

But out of curiosity, what gender do you think they are? (Let's see just how predictable I am...!)