You win this round, Alex. You win this round.
“Okay,” Cat admitted, grabbing hold of her brother’s arm to wiggle her shoe back on. The decoupage certainly didn’t make them fit any more comfortably, that was for sure. “You’re right.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Alex said, with way too much innocence.
“Shut up.” Cat rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
“I just said I didn’t say anything—”
“You know what I mean,” she said, dropping his arm before giving it a little punch. Alex rubbed it even though she’d barely touched him. Now who was being dramatic?
“Do you still have the Hall M—?”
“Yes. Okay, look.” Cat made a big show of putting her phone into her bag and doing up the zipper. “No more phone. No more Quest. But just for the next half hour.” Cat caught her stomach grumbling and covered her mouth with one of her hands. “I guess we do need to eat, anyway.”
Alex gave his sister a grateful smile. “Cool. It’s been a long day. And…” He drew the sentence out to create maximum tension.
“… Aaaaand?” Cat repeated, trying to drag it out of him. She hated when he made her guess things, which happened pretty much every single day all the time.
Pausing just one more moment for effect (seriously, dramatic maximum!), Alex whipped open the top of his messenger bag. “I had Mom pack us sandwiches.”
Cat laughed. Only Alex would get that stoked on sandwiches. “Nice one.”
The twins looked both ways before crossing the busy aisle in front of them and headed up an escalator. They found a little outdoor area by one of the food vendors and settled down on the closest bit of vacant concrete they could find. Cat settled her cape around her like a blanket as Alex pulled out his fabled sandwiches.
“Peanut butter and cucumber?” Cat made a face. So nasty.
“Only for me,” Alex said, clutching that one close to his chest. “I’d never let you eat my amazing lunch, anyway. You get boring ham.”
“Sweet, safe ham,” Cat sang, snatching the sandwich from his hand. “Hey, pass me one of those mustards, nerd,” she demanded, sticking out her hand.
Alex slapped a tiny condiment packet into it, one of a bunch they’d scooped up at the vendor along with some napkins. (Cat had a costume to protect here!) Cat squirted mustard onto her ham sandwich and smooshed it back together. She wiggled her butt on the floor and closed her eyes when she bit down. She really was hungry. They’d been running around all day, and she hadn’t even realized it!
Cat and her brother sat in comfortable silence while they ate. It was one of Cat’s favorite things about time with Alex. They talked a lot—okay, she talked a lot, mostly—and they were always chatting (and sometimes arguing) about whichever new book or comic or TV show or movie they were super into at the moment. Don’t even get Cat started on her ships and OTPs. There were too many to name. But Cat also really dug that she and Alex could just sit together and eat sandwiches or watch shows without it being weird or awkward. Sometimes if you tried to just have quiet time around other people they totally made it weird and awkward. But not Alex. The two of them knew each other so well they could just sort of hang out and be. Even if he did drive Cat up the wall sometimes.
Cat took the opportunity to do some people-watching as she munched away on her delicious and mustardy sandwich. (Seriously, who even invented mustard? Genius level, Cat decided.) There was literally no other place in the world like GeekiCon. Sure, other conventions were cool and the people were really nice, but there was something about this con that really made people bring their A game. Maybe it was that it was the biggest convention in the world, or maybe it was that they just knew this is where everyone else would be doing the most and it made everyone want to step it up. Like some epic feedback loop of nerdiness. Either way, Cat was astounded by every single cosplayer who walked by her. She stared at Dark Spiders, snapped a sandwich selfie, complimented an entire group dressed up as the Heroes of Justice, and even asked to take a picture of a passing imitation Normageddon. Seeing all the hard work and talent that went into these costumes made Cat want to step up her costuming game, too. Maybe this was the year she asked her parents to get her a heat gun for molding Worbla. They would totally go for that, right?
Totally.
“Ta-da!” Alex said suddenly, surprising Cat out of her GeekiCon dreamland. He was staring at Cat expectantly.
“Huh?” she responded elegantly. She grabbed a napkin and wiped at her mustardy hands before they could stain her cape.
“Get out your camera,” Alex said excitedly. “Time’s up!”
Time! Cat whipped her phone out of her purse and checked the clock. Sure enough, exactly a half hour had passed. She looked up and past her brother, trying to see what he was so proud of that it merited a photo.
“Oh my Igor. Alex!” Cat yelled. “Shut up!” Quiet time was over. In the space of the last half hour, while Cat had zoned out to the ham and cosplayers, Alex had been hard at work. There on the concrete beside him was a full ketchup, mustard, mayo, and relish portrait of …
“Wait, who is that?” Cat couldn’t place the face, even though Alex was plenty talented at art (even with condiments).
Alex jerked his head to the left. “Whoever that is.”
Cat looked over in the direction of Alex’s gesture. Just inside the glass doors across from them was a big signing hall. At the smallest table closest to them, a guy sat alone at a table with a couple of books propped up. A little AUTHOR SIGNING NOW! board was propped up next to him. There was no line and he looked very, very bored.
But there was no doubt that Alex’s portrait was bang on. And if the guy had a table, he definitely counted toward Quest item twenty-seven: “Create a portrait of your favorite convention guest out of the medium of your choice, and give it to them. Traditional art materials disallowed.” Forty points!
Cat gave Alex a questioning look, and he gave her a small nod back. She threw her arms around his neck and gave him a huge hug, careful not t