Title: In That Dress (songfic)
Author: DaystarsMom
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: ConYoz
Disclaimer: Not mine. "In That Dress" by Tri-Destiny, also Not Mine. Find it on their "Dragon Wine" CD.
Thanks: To SayokoBizen for the beta. Any mistakes, misspellings, extra commas, and OOC-ness are my fault, not hers.

In That Dress

When your lifetime is measured in decades rather than years and the only place you can really call your own is a Spartan pair of rooms in someone else's castle, you can't afford to hang on to mementos of every small or medium-sized event in your life. And even if you limit yourself to major events, you'll still be swamped in clutter if you don't clean things out every thirty years or so. It had been at least that long since Conrad's last clear-out, and Yuri was safely back in Japan for the time being, so Conrad had decided to spend one of his rare free afternoons doing spring cleaning.

The rubber duckie stayed, of course, but there were plenty of other things, large and small, whose significance had been worn away by time. Conrad had already accumulated quite a pile of discards when he ran across the ornamental hair pin. Tiny blue beads glued to a piece of faded silk formed a small flower at one end. Conrad smiled and began to hum, remembering.

8-8-8-8-8

'94

Oh, our hair was blonde
Our dreams were wild
We were trying for something more
Than a no-name band.
Oh, the way we played.
The way you sang.
We were tryin' to take a stand

The war was over and the uneasy truce had held for five years, thanks in large part to the hard work of Gwendal and Gunter's spy network, but tensions still ran high. The smallest spark could easily set the conflagration going once more.

Conrad was in the field, on maneuvers with the army, when Gwendal's message reached him. Big Cimarron has learned that we have a spy in the human villages along the border. They're sending troops and houjyutsu users. Get in and get Yozak out of there before they catch him. Conrad didn't have to guess why Gwendal had chosen him for the mission – like Yozak, he looked human, and he'd had plenty of experience passing as one from his travels with his father so long ago. He turned his unit over to his second-in-command, and left immediately.

Finding Yozak, however, proved easier said than done. Conrad hadn't properly appreciated his friend's talent for staying under cover before. He'd struck out at the first two villages, and reached the third barely an hour ahead of the Cimarron searchers. He'd seen no sign of Yozak...until he was yanked into an alley and a familiar voice commented in his ear, "So what brings you out to this part of the world, Captain?"

"Looking for you," Conrad replied. He turned and found Yozak leaning casually against a wall. He was wearing his usual brown tunic and arm guards, and looked for all the world as if this were a back street near Covenant Castle instead of enemy territory.

Yozak grinned at him. "Why, Captain, I'm flattered. But shouldn't you be on duty?"

"I am on duty. Gwendal sent me to warn you. There are Cimarron troops closing in, and they know we have a spy here. In less than an hour, they'll be arresting everyone who doesn't belong in this village."

"That's unfortunate," Yozak said, frowning. "I'm covered, but what do we do about you?"

"You're – What are you talking about?"

"You're not from this village, and if they catch the second son of Shin Makoku's Maoh poking around human territory, it'll be a much bigger disaster than if they just caught me," Yozak pointed out. "Not that they would catch me. Really, you and Gwendal ought to leave this sort of problem for those of us who are sneaky enough to solve it."

"We have to leave, now."

"You said the Cimarron troops are less than an hour away. If we try to leave now, we'll be caught for sure." Yozak sighed. "I'll just have to cash in a favor. This way, Captain; there's not much time. By the way, do you still remember how to play the guitar?"

Conrad nodded, feeling seriously uneasy, and followed Yozak through the narrow, winding streets. His misgivings deepened when they came out at one end of the village green. A group of brightly dressed humans were milling around a platform, arguing about backdrops and setup and someone's drum kit. Traveling performers? Yozak dragged him toward a portly man smoking a pipe. "Yo, Drake! I need a favor."

"I'm already doing you a favor, Gurrier," the man said. "You're singing lead. Don't push your luck."

"Singing lead is a favor I'm doing you," Yozak said. "I want Conrad here to play backup for me, and you still owe me for that time in Caloria. Pay up."

"Uh, Yozak – " Conrad started.

Drake rolled his eyes. "Why me?" he asked the sky. "Why is it always me? All right, all right, your friend can play. But he'd better be good. And if anything goes wrong..."

"It'll be fine," Yozak said. He grabbed Conrad's arm and hauled him across the grass to the group near the stage. "This is Conrad," he announced. "Somebody loan him a guitar; he's going to play backup."

"Without even rehearsing?" someone said.

"It'll be fine," Yozak repeated breezily. "Take care of him, will you? I have to get changed." And he was gone, leaving Conrad and a group of strangers staring at each other.

"If that isn't just like him," a blonde girl said after a minute, shaking her head. She transferred the look to Conrad. "I hope you're as good as he seems to think you are. Who has the set list? If there's anything on it you don't know, tell us now, please."

The next fifteen minutes were a confused blur, and before he knew it, Conrad was on stage warming up with the players. They were leery of him at first, unsure of his skill. But while Conrad was the rankest of amateurs by Mazoku standards, sixty years of practice was more than enough to put him on a par with the human musicians. By the time they finished their brief jam session, they had each other's measure, and a crowd of villagers had begun collecting.

The blond girl stepped forward and sang the opening song in a sweet, carrying soprano. Over the heads of the audience, Conrad saw six burly men in Cimarron uniforms ride up and dismount. He forced himself to ignore them. It was too late to do anything but hope Yozak's gamble would work.

And the crowd all went wild when we played our best.
And then you walked on stage
In that dress!
Oh, in that dress!

The Cimarron soldiers pushed their way through the crowd, earning looks of both resentment and concern. They eyed the musicians narrowly, and Conrad held his breath. The first song ended, the soldiers stepped forward...and there was a stir at the side of the stage. A moment later, Yozak walked on.

Actually, Conrad thought in stunned amazement, it was more of a bump-and-grind than a mere walk. He'd seen Yozak in drag before, but never quite like this...

A wide choker covered with turquoise bugle beads hid Yozak's Adams' apple. From the choker, blue silk the exact color of his eyes swept down, clinging to surprisingly believable curves. The four-panel skirt was slit thigh-high on both sides, showing off his legs, his garters, his silk stockings, and a pair of strappy blue six-inch stilettos with criss-cross lacing that wound almost to his knees. The thin fabric of the dress swung suggestively with every sway of his hips. Yozak had put his hair up in a feminine style; more beads glinted blue from the hairpins that held each orange curl in place. He hardly needed the lipstick and eye makeup to be a convincing woman, yet to Conrad's eye, he was still and always Yozak.

"You wouldn't want to miss my number, would you, boys?" he said to the soldiers in a smoky alto. Conrad could practically hear the wink that must have accompanied the words, though all he could see was the back of Yozak's head. Then Yozak signaled, and the band hit the opening chord, and the show went on...

Can you blame me now?
With our music loud
Our hearts on fire
And the screaming of the crowd?

...and on, and on. Yozak was the hit of the day, with the soldiers as well as the villagers. The Cimarron commander had a brief talk with Drake and seemed satisfied with the troupe's bona fides, but he had to practically drag his men away from the stage to finish checking the rest of the village. From the look of it, several of the soldiers left most of their pay in the donation cups. When the band took a break at last and Drake counted the early take, he was all smiles.

Conrad wasn't so happy. The Cimarron soldiers had left the performers alone, for now, but he couldn't believe they'd stay away, no matter how pleased they were with the show. He looked at Yozak, impossibly sexy in those waves of blue silk, and frowned. If he knew soldiers, there would be trouble later. He tried to catch Yozak's eye, but the redhead was too busy flirting with everyone else in sight to notice him.

"Second set, coming up," the blonde girl called. "Yoz, how's your voice holding up? Do you need someone to spell you?"

"I'm fine, for now," Yozak assured her, and a few minutes later they were on again.

They played a second set, and a third, though by then Yozak, the blonde girl, and a dark-haired man were trading numbers. The Cimarron soldiers had returned, much to Conrad's dismay, and were watching Yozak like hungry bears studying a beehive in search of the quickest way to the honey. I hope Yozak knows what he's doing, Conrad thought.

The sun was sinking in the west by the time they finished the last set (and several encores). Conrad's fingertips were sore from playing, but not sore enough to distract him from the problem the soldiers presented. Four of them were clustered around the steps at the side of the platform, obviously waiting for the lead singer in the blue gown.

As the other musicians began clearing the stage and breaking down the setup, Yozak swayed over to Conrad. "Noticed the would-be groupies?" he murmured.

"For a while now," Conrad murmured back. "Do you have a plan in mind to deal with them?"

Yozak's eyes sparkled wickedly. "Actually, yes. Play along, Captain." And before Conrad could ask what he meant, Yozak leaned close and kissed him.

We were meant to be
And afterwards you hugged me close
And said, "This is destiny!"
And it hit me like a shotgun in my chest,
You
In my arms
In that dress!

Oh, in that dress!

After a moment of complete stupefaction, Conrad recovered enough to recall that Yozak had told him to play along. So he wrapped his arms around Yozak and kissed back. The electric jolt shorted his brain out again for a considerable period, even without the sensuous feel of the silk beneath his fingers and the warmth of the arms circling his back and...

Finally, Yozak broke the clinch. He gave Conrad a wide-eyed look, and for just that instant Conrad saw something surprised and open and vulnerable in those blue depths. Then Yozak took a shaky breath and straightened, and the wicked twinkle was back. "That's it for now, darling," he said in a carrying voice. "I want to go slip into something more...comfortable. See you later." In a softer tone audible only to the two of them, he added, "In the alley behind the carts. Ten minutes."

"Right," Conrad mumbled to himself as Yozak sashayed off. "Ten minutes." He took a deep breath. Ten minutes should be long enough to get himself back together. Absently, he picked up a blue-beaded hairpin from the stage; it must have fallen out of Yozak's hair during the show. Or possibly after, while they were...

Conrad took another deep breath and gave himself a good mental shake. Yozak was chatting easily with the Cimarron soldiers; as Conrad watched, he moved off with a little wave. To Conrad's surprise, the soldiers exchanged looks, glanced at him, and then ambled off toward the center of town. How on earth did Yozak manage that?

Time was passing. Ten minutes. Conrad picked up the guitar he'd been using and returned it to its owner with thanks, then made his way off the stage. Drake caught him as he started toward the alley, babbling something about joining the troupe any time he wanted. Conrad thanked him gravely and promised to discuss it with Yozak, and finally tore himself away.

Yozak was already waiting in the alley, back in his everyday clothes. "What kept you?" he asked.

"Drake," Conrad said. "He wants us to join the show."

"It's a thought," Yozak said. "But I'd get tired of dealing with people like those Cimarron soldiers. Where did you leave your horse?"

"In a paddock at the edge of town," Conrad said. "How did you get rid of those soldiers so easily?"

Yozak looked at him and grinned. "I told them we had an arrangement, but I'd ditch you and meet them later at the bar," he said. "They'll wait for a couple of hours, at least. I said you were pretty persistent."

"And when they finally realize you're not coming, they'll be too drunk to follow us," Conrad said. "Good." So why the kiss? he did not add. Whatever Yozak's intention, Conrad suspected the results had been more than he bargained for. They'd certainly been more than Conrad wanted to try to discuss while attempting to sneak out from under the noses of a troop of Cimarron soldiers. Maybe they'd have time to talk later, when they made camp. Or when they got back to Shin Makoku. Sometime soon, anyway...

"Hey, Captain, quit spacing out," Yozak said. "It's time we left."

"Right; let's go." As they started down the alley, Conrad felt the hairpin in his pocket. He thought about returning it to Yozak at once, but changed his mind. There would be a better opportunity later, he was sure – and if one didn't come along, well, Yozak had plenty of others, and one way or another, Conrad felt that he deserved a souvenir of this little adventure.

8-8-8-8-8

And I remember the close times
And the promises we made.
And I can't forget the hits we wrote
Or the concerts that we played.
But there's one thing that stands out above the rest
And that's the picture
Of you, baby,
In that dress!

The blue beads on the hairpin were dusty. Conrad blew gently at them, afraid of dislodging one. As he frowned at the unsatisfactory result, the door opened.

"Hey, Captain, you finished yet?" Yozak said.

Conrad looked up with a smile. "Not quite, but the rest can wait." He held out the hairpin. "Look what I found."

Yozak bent to look, then let out a surprised whistle. "Whoa, that takes me back! You know, I wasn't sure I was going to make it off the stage, that time. I didn't expect you to be such a good kisser. I was all weak in the knees."

"You could have fooled me," Conrad replied, setting the hairpin carefully down at last. "By the time I offered to give it back to you, I was positive you were going to tell me the whole thing was just an act. I still wonder, now and then."

Yozak shook his head. "And here I thought I'd finally convinced you of my sincerity," he said with mock sadness. "I suppose I'll just have to keep trying."

Some time later, Conrad backed off far enough to say, "Did you come in here for something...else? Because if you don't say so soon, we're not going to get to it."

"Um." Yozak gave him a one-for-the-road kiss and pulled away. "Actually, I was thinking we could ride out to that place by the lake that nobody else visits. It's a nice afternoon, and I have a nifty little outfit you haven't set eyes on yet."

"Is it as good as that blue thing you wore back then?" Conrad asked, glancing at the hairpin.

"You'll have to tell me when you see it," Yozak said, and winked.

"You're on," Conrad said.

Arm in arm, they left the room. Behind them, the blue-beaded hairpin lay on the shelf next to a rubber duck, two things that would mean nothing to anyone else, but that to Conrad were two treasures he would never, ever discard.

Well here we are,
After all these years together.
I never dreamed we'd get this far
In a loser's game.
A small-town girl, a rebel boy
So in love we were insane.
We've changed the way we look now, more or less,
But I will always see you in that dress!

-End