Ashley Closet

The doorbell chimed and a gloss-black Ashley went to answer it.

"Ashleeee! My Bro we ar..." Zach stood slack-jawed in the doorway and stared.

"So what do you think?" Queried an expectant Ashley. Though she was pretty amazed at Zach's dark blue face. She mentally noted she should have looked up the other characters.

"That is so hot," whispered Zach. Gone was the usual jolly naïvety. Lust burned in his eyes. "You are without doubt the sexiest thing I've ever beheld."

"Woah, shields up, red alert! U.S.W dead ahead," announced Neckbeard stepping into the apartment. At least Ashley hoped it was Neckbeard though it looked like a pretty convincing werewolf that had eaten far, far too many people.

To confirm her guess a slimmer werewolf, in a hoody, followed him in and after appraising Ashley agreed with the first, "Cool Bean!"

"Hi Chin, Neckbeard... Cool costumes... Umm... U.S.W?" Asked Ashley.

"Gah... Unbelievably Sexy Woman, of course," replied Neckbeard in his most patronising tone. He continued, "Gentlemen, we must be on high alert today to protect Ashley from glomping."

"Cool bean," confirmed Chin.

"We are going to be so busy posing for photos," added Zach. "Gonna be AWESOME! Woo!"

"Ashley, as vouchsafed, a pair of theatrical contacts and vampire's teeth," said Neckbeard handing over a small plastic box.

"Thank you Neckbeard. Zach, can you come to my room, please? I need help with the rest of my costume."

"Sure thing, Babe."

'Babe, not Bro,' thought Ashley, 'It's working!'

"Cool bean," said Chin.

In her room, Ashley picked up the corset and wrapped it around herself.

"I'm going to need help with the laces Zach. Can you help?" She asked.

"Happy to. That is such an amazing outfit. Please tell me you are going to wear it again."

"You'd like that Zach?" Fished Ashley.

"Oh yeah! Today's going to be amazing too. Like this?" The last was as Zach made surprisingly vigorous tugs on the laces of the corset.

"Oh my, yes Zach that's exactly right. But if you want me to dress like this again you need to do a thing for me."

"It's gonna be freaky isn't it? Ashmiester is getting her freak on again."

"It is, but I'll tell you more after the Expo."

Corset, coat, lenses and teeth were duly sorted and the gang piled into Neckbeard's car. Ashley's hopes rose a little further when Zach didn't call shotgun. Instead, he climbed in the back with her and actually rested his hand on her thigh most of the way over.

Once parked they piled out and made their way to the entrance of the exhibition hall. Most of the other attendees were not cosplaying. But enough were, that Ashley did not feel too foolish. Plus she was getting lots of appreciative looks.

Ashley herself was bemused at the array of outfits on display and while she recognised some many were lost on her.

"Neckbeard," asked Ashley, "who is the girl with the long teal hair dressed as?"

"Obviously," came the withering reply, "she is attempting Hatsune Miku, a Vocaloid."

"I see," said a still ignorant Ashley. Though she would be damned before revealing her ignorance or giving in to Neckbeard's patronising sarcasm. "The woman with the green skin and not much on?"

"That is a passable attempt at an Orion slave girl first seen in Start Trek TOS."

Ashley nearly stopped dead, "A what?"

"An Orion slave girl, creatures of extreme sexual appetite who enjoy being taken advantage of. They fetch high prices on the slave markets of the Orion Syndicate."

"People come to this event dressed as slaves?"

"Ashley, the dominant male and the submissive female is a common meme in science fiction. As is the sexualisation of strong female characters such as the one you have dressed as. The most obvious you'll see here today is the Princess Leia Slave Girl. The number of wannabe slaves that dress up as this cliché never ceases to disappoint. I must say I was delighted when you announced you wished to pay homage to this relatively small franchise. "

"Princess. Leia. Slave. Girl." She had never felt dumber. No one could see it, but she felt like there was a white dunces cap on her head and everyone was wearing t-shirts that proclaimed 'I'm with stupid' all with arrows pointed at her.

'I could have been here in a bikini with a collar locked in place and Zach holding the attached chain,' she thought.

"What was that?" Pipped up, Miss Thang.

"Easy girl," replied Ashley, "it didn't happen."

The day turned out to be great fun. Lots of people wanted to pose with the group for photos and everyone was complimentary of Ashley's outfit. But her mind was on the stupid mistake she'd made.

'I could have been a slave in public.'

Then Ashley had another idea.

She turned to Neckbeard, "Confidentially, could you reveal which comics Zach buys the most? I wish to give him a nice surprise."

"Such information is normally never divulged. Even a Ceti eel could not be used to persuade me. However, Ensign Zach is a loyal crew-mate and good fortune in the form of a treat from his mate is serious enough to make me reconsider... You would need to look no further than the creation of Bob Kane and Bill Finger."

"That's really helpful, Neckbeard," the sarcasm was lost on him. "Umm and given the basis of the outfit I'm wearing which character would be an easy cosplay?"

"Easy; Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman."

"Oh, we're talking..."

"...The Dark Knight. Indeed. So now you understand, is this info helpful?"

"I think so, I may need to buy something though."

Back home Ashley sees Chin and Neckbeard off after they'd popped up for a drink. Teeth, make-up and contacts removed, and returned to Neckbeard, Ashley almost skips into the apartment and grabs Zach by the wrist.

"Come on, time to get freaky."

"Cool babe, what we doing?"

Once in the bedroom, Ashley pulls off her boots and turns to face her lover. She pulls the zip of the catsuit down to reveal lots of cleavage.

"A little role play is all. But if you like me dressed this way you better do it right."

"Were acting?"

"No, not acting. Assuming different identities so we can have some fun. Sexy fun."

"Okay, so what do we do?"

"Well I'm going to be Selina Kyle, I've been working with the Joker and I've planted numerous gas bombs around Gotham. You've captured me and you need me to reveal the locations of the Joker's deadly devices. The only way you're going to persuade me to do that is if you strap me down with these leather restraints and tickle torture me."

"Okay, and who am I?"

Ashley handed over the cowl she had bought with Neckbeard's help.

"Oh, I see," realisation dawned on Zach's face. He pulled on the cowl and forcefully pushed Ashley onto her bed. In rapid succession, the cuffs were firmly buckled in place and secured with rope. Looming over the prone woman he picked up the large feather Ashley had left strategically on the bedside table. Ashley squealed in delight as he advanced towards her naked feet.

Zach, in a gravely voice that hinted at way too much practice, delivered the immortal line that sent shivers down Ashley's spine;

"I'm Batman."