Because it's Halloween
It was the evening of Halloween and the citizens of Verona enjoyed themselves at the ball. Montagues and Capulets entertained themselves as characters they thought either funny or scary. Though the Montagues mostly kept to one side of the ballroom and the Capulets to the other, the heavy amount of guards and the presence of the prince was already enough to guarantee that no one would start a fight with another.
Though the dress of Lady Montague was as blue as any of her daily clothes, Lady Capulet was almost impossible to recognize and made use of her disguise to dance with as many Montague men as possible. Count Paris was there, dressed as a bee, just because he could, and drank a whole pint of beer after each round he had danced. Lord Capulet had dressed himself up as a donut.
Don't ask.
Romeo was dressed as a poet, but Benvolio kept calling him a prince despite the annoyed looks the other threw him. "I'm a poet," he angrily explained, "for the last time. I do rhymes and such. It's all in iambic pentameter."
"That wasn't." Benvolio, dressed as a dog, pointed out. Later on, when the evening had progressed, Benvolio would remove his dog mask, ears and tail and walk around in just his leather trousers with a leash round his neck. But by that time even Romeo would be too drunk to complain about it.
Juliet had joined the feast and though her mother had insisted she would wear the dress of a princess – which would have matched Romeo's simple suit- she had put on some daring red stockings and a mini-skirt with lots of ruffles, pretending to be Red Riding Hood without the little in front of it. Her big bad wolf was her nephew, who, on her request, had dressed up as a cat. Something like Rum Tum Tugger he looked like, which he accepted to wear because it was his cousin asking him. How could he say no?
So Tybalt wasn't really a big bad wolf, but with his grumpy stare and his menacing pose it made him look like one. Just like the Nurse, who behaved like Juliet's protector despite the fact that Juliet insisted she didn't need one. Fittingly, Nurse had dressed up as a chaperon, imitating perfectly the famous nanny in her white dress with an umbrella – an object she used to hit every male who dared to come close to Juliet except Tybalt and Romeo, of course.
The prince looked pleased at the crowd. His Hercules outfit catching the eye of many a maiden. The Greek look did suit him.
And there was Mercutio, popping out of the crowd, laughing madly and waving his hands about. And whenever he found he crossed ways with Tybalt he would make quite a show, dropping dead after doing a silly little wobbling walk, and laying in front of Tybalt's feet with his arms spread and more than often with his tongue out.
It was quite fitting, he thought, that he'd dressed up as a mouse. And despite Tybalt's grumbles and many facepalms he wouldn't cease dropping dead in front of him.
"Why a mouse, Mercutio? You could have been a true prince for once, or a pharaoh, or a dead one. Actually," Tybalt said, frowning, "I would have preferred the last one. With you dressed as a mummy it'd safe me looking at your face."
Mercutio laughed and happily piped at him. "I already knew you'd come as a cat. I thought I'd dress up as your dinner."
"How very thoughtful." Tybalt mused, stepping closer to his prey. "Then I'd suggest you run. Because I think I'd like to set my teeth in you once I lay my hands on you."
An excited sound escaped Mercutio's lips and with a slight jump he was gone, pushing himself through the crowd while laughing wildly.
Tybalt caught him after a while. And by the time Benvolio had donned his mask, ears and tail, Romeo was drunk and Lady Capulet was making out with the only Hercules in the room, a cat was found on top of a mouse.
But I don't think he had him for dinner.
