Mei

The young girl jumped at the sudden appearance of another human beings, stumbling backwards as she tripped. She almost fell but Toby caught her, his hand firmly grasping her upper arm as he held her steady while she got her balance back.

She tried to avert her eyes, her face showing a dusting of rose as she blushed at the close proximity. As Toby saw this, he also noticed the way she'd arranged her brunette hair into a loose ball behind her with a wooden chopstick holding it in place as well as a pair of glasses that had slid down her nose when she'd jumped. As she reached up to fix them, Toby also notice she was wearing a pair of blue mittens. They reached part way up her arms giving the impression they wear actually gloves.

Realizing who she looked like, Toby gave a soft chuckle as his eyes swept over her entire appearance.

She was wearing what appeared to be an ice blue coat with a furry hood that was resting on her shoulders as well as a pair of dark blue leggings that he could only assume were under a skirt that was hidden by the coat, with a large pair of boots with a fur-lined collar finishing the look.

Toby was never happier he'd learned basic conversational Chinese, for a pen-pal when he was younger, than he was right now.

"Ni hao, Mei Ling ni hao ma?" Toby was actually slightly disappointed when she looked at him in confusion, only reacting at the recognition of her name. Deciding to switch tactics, Toby reverted to basic English.

"Hello, how are you Mei Ling?" This time the girl reacted as a softer blush spread over her cheeks, causing Toby's heart to catch for a second.

"I'm good, although my name is Madison. But at least someone recognizes who I'm dressed as. I don't actually speak Chinese, which I think was what you were speaking," Madison said quietly as she brushed past him. The soft scent of her hair as she walked by making his heart jump again.

"Good morning Madison, so nice to see you again," Ms. Aubrey said as she looked up from her book once again, "How are you?"

"I'm good Ms. Aubrey. I brought back your books, and was wondering if you had any copies of 'Venus and Adonis'? Ms. Littlewood was wanting the Drama Club to do a couple of practice plays before we got started on preparing for the end-of-year play. She thought Venus and Adonis would be good practice for more romantic language, and help us get better accustomed to appearing to be 'in love', or something like that," Madison said before blushing heavily as she realized she'd just blurted everything out at once in front of a total stranger.

Said total stranger was still feeling like he'd missed something, Ms. Aubrey was acting like she knew who Madison was, but Toby was pretty sure he'd never seen her before in his entire time at the school. It could be that he'd simply not seen her, not sharing any classes with the girl, but he was pretty sure he'd recognize a girl that came to school dressed as a video game character.

Furthermore, since when was Ms. Littlewood in charge of a Drama Club, for that matter, since when did Eastlake have a Drama Club?

"Yes, I do believe I have some copies, although you may have to share since I don't think I have many," Ms. Aubrey said, starting to put her book down, before raising it to her face to hide her smirk, "But I'm kinda busy right now, so how about Toby shows you where they are? He knows his way around this place."

Both students looked at her in surprise. Well Toby did. Madison's look was more in trepidation. Glancing at the girl who looked scared at the prospect of following the boy into the stacks, Toby sighed.

"Yeah, I can show you where they are, if you'd like, or if that makes you uncomfortable I'm sure I can cover for Ms. Aubrey while she shows you the way," he offered, sending a hard glare at Ms. Aubrey, who refused to meet his gaze.

"No no, I think you'd better do it Toby," Ms. Aubrey quickly cut in, "My arthritis is starting to act up and I need to warm my joints."

Madison looked at Toby for a moment before nodding.

"No it's fine, I trust you won't get us lost," she said, giving a shy smile. Toby returned the smile, placing his books down on the counter as the pair headed into the dark forest of library stacks.

I don't remember the library being this big, Toby thought after they'd been wandering down an aisle for nearly ten minutes. He was pretty sure the classics, or dusty old plays as some called them, were within a hundred feet of the counter, hence why he'd offered to lead the wary young girl to them. Now he wondered if they'd ever escape the labyrinthine bookshelves.

"So, Mei huh? It suits you." Toby said, attempting to make small talk to pass the time as they reached the end of yet another row of books, and looking around, the back wall was still a distance away.

"Oh, you really think so? I'm Eurasian, so I guess it highlights the Asian features I guess. But you don't think it's weird to be dressed up as an imaginary character?" Madison asked, as Toby turned to glance at her over his shoulder. She was facing off to the side, not meeting his gaze.

"No, you look kinda cute," Toby said, and although he could see her face, he still spotted the reddish tinge of a blush peeking around her cheek. She must have used some kind of glitter to simulate the ice crystals because he could see her cheek twinkling as he turned back, "Besides, aren't almost all characters imaginary? It's not like Iron Man is real or Princess Leia," Toby pointed out as he paused, looking up and down the sides of the nearby shelves.

"I could swear the back wall was right at the end of this row." He muttered under his breath.

"But those are real, I mean live action. I'm dressed up as an animated video game character," Madison argued, as if trying to make him admit that she looked like an idiot.

"Live action or not, they're still characters. It's just that someone decided to dress up as comic book characters and star in a movie; you could take almost any movie and the characters aren't real. Just because no one famous has dressed up as them, or they aren't in a live action movie or TV show doesn't mean you can't cosplay as them." Toby said. He turned around, only to discover that the front desk had now vanished as well.

Well, vanished was a loose term. He could still see the front desk, but it was like looking a mountain in the distance, reduced to only vague shapes and colors.

"So you don't think I'm weird for cosplaying?" Madison asked tentatively. Toby glanced at her, only to discover what he'd initial thought was some kind of glitter had been a single tear trailing down her face.

"Hardly," he said with as much conviction as he could manage as she met his eyes for the first time, as if looking away would summon doubt, "Like I said, if anything you look cute. I wish I had either the confidence or the body to do cosplay like that."

"I'm not that confident," Madison replied as if that would change anything at this point.

Toby was quick to shut down her argument, "You seem pretty damn confident to me, going out into a public place, especially one where everyone knows who you are under the costume."

"Maybe, but I think you could be a really good... um..."

Toby turned to look at her, mirth clear on his face as he watched her struggle to think of someone he could cosplay as.

"Don't worry about it, I know I'm not really the kind of guy that poets write ballads about, no need to worry about offending me," Toby said as somehow he managed to face forwards again... only to run into the back wall which had miraculously appeared like a charging bull.

"No, you are very handsome. I'd definitely write a song about you or listen to one," Madison vehemently refuted, only for her words to catch up to her as her blush covered her entire face.

"Really," Toby asked skeptically as he turned to the left towards the small engraved sign that read 'Classics' overhead.

"Oh, this a song about Toby

He was a really swell guy

Although can't really sing

He'll always want to try

His hair is greasy

His arms are weak

When it come to girls

Well, he's up the creek

Oh, this a song about Toby

He's a really swell guy

Although he's nothing special

And he doesn't even like pie."

Toby couldn't help but smile as Madison's giggles echoed behind him, sounding like the tinkling of glass as she tried to stifle them.

"Um, I know who you could be," Madison managed to get out between the giggles, "If you're so worried about how you look, you could just wear a full suit of armor or a mask."

"What, you mean like Iron Man or the Phantom of the Opera?" he asked, returning on his path as the finally reached the Classics and began to look over the numerous covers for the desired ones.

"Yeah, or maybe Reinhardt," She mumbled the last part, realizing the implications.

"Um, I don't know if you've heard this great song, it's called 'A Guy Named Toby', but in it, the guy Toby is really weak. So wearing a suit of armor would be asking for trouble," Toby said, finally finding the books as he pulled out a grand total of... four books.

"I don't think this is enough for you, is it?" he asked, showing Madison his haul.

"Probably not, but I guess if worst comes to worst we can just share them, or try and find copies on our phones," Madison replied as the pair each carried two copies back towards the front.

"So um, I don't know why you'd want to, but if you'd like I can try to come up with some more ideas for you to cosplay, and we could like go to the next town this weekend? Maybe hang out while we cosplay or something," Madison mumbled under her breath, although Toby still heard her as he paused in his tracks.

"Are you saying you'd be fine being seen with an awkward guy like me?" Toby queried, refusing to meet Madison's look for fear of regret.

"Only if you're sure you'd like to be seen with a weird girl like me," Madison answered without missing a beat, also refusing to meet his gaze.

"We'd probably have to coordinate costume if we went out together," Toby said.

"Yep," was all Madison said before the pair heard the bell ringing, marking the end of the period and the beginning of lunch.