Boxers or Briefs?

Setsu rubbed the business card between her fingers as she leaned into her brother's side. His silk jacket was oddly soft beneath her touch; she was used to leather, hard edges and buckles and zippers. He looked so good in it, the way the fabric melded to his skin, giving off not-so-delicate hints of corded muscles. Tonight had been a good night. Konoe has almost passed out giving his acceptance speech for winning the Sutherland Trophy for most innovative first feature, beckoning Cain up on stage to receive it with him. The actress buried inside her was about to explode with joy at the memory of her brother ascending the stairs, his eyes steely but a tiny flicker of a smile playing across his lips. She felt a strange pink-hued lightness tinting her vision and making her lightheaded from the sheer weight of excited happiness bottled up in her hidden persona. Setsu's tongue flicked out, wetting her lips. She burrowed farther into her nii-san's side.

Tomorrow they headed home. Cain's hand stroked her hair, carefully not disturbing the intricate braids Earl Mandy's stylist had woven to match the cords twining around her torso, obscuring the glimpses of her skin just visible beneath the dark, shimmering black lace. She leaned back awkwardly to catch his eye, unspoken triumph passing between them at the contact.

"I want to do it," he said softly, his eyes shifting to the street ahead of them.

Setsu swallowed hard. "...it?" Her cheeks flushed pink. She bit her lip, looking at the cabbie.

Cain's hand drifted down to play with her earlobe, tugging slightly as his stare grew more pensive. "The audition."

She let her breath out in a whoosh, relief and disappointment warring within her.

"It's time," he said. The words were simple, but she knew him like she knew her soul and she could hear the past echoing up through his determination. He broke his gaze away from the street, looking down at her, brow furrowed. "This trip… we've been hiding the entire time." Her eyes shifted to the cabbie again.

"Brother-"

"I know who I am," he said, his voice like velvet. "And thanks to you, I can accept him again. I'm done with hiding."

Her breath hitched. She sat up, turning in her seat to face him, the seat belt digging into her waist. "You mean-"

He nodded. A dark smile played across his features, his eyes shimmering with excitement. "It's time for a funeral."

The trip home flew by. Literally. Figuratively. All the -lys. Kyoko bounced as she walked down the long hallway after customs, Kuon trailing one step behind her, his presence a wellspring of nervous energy. They were home - and it was time. In the movies, when you came home from a transformative trip there was always a welcome party. She tipped up on her toes, flitting down the hallway, eyes wide and striving to be the first to take in the sight of the space beyond the exit doors.

A high-pitched squeal started down in the depths of her soul, boiling up out of her gut, through her lungs, roaring into her heart and forcing its way out of her throat with a blast of unadulterated joy as the doors swept open and there- in front of her- it was real- holding ohmygodohmygod- holding POSTERS- Moko and Chiori, hot pink emblems of true love! Kyoko's form wavered, rendered insubstantial for a moment by the force of her ebullience, then snapped into laser focus with a rocket-powered launch at her friends.

"MO," A leap-

"KO," A twirl-

"SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" A lunge and she slammed into her bestest friend in the whole wide world's outstretched palm, thrown up as a fleshy shield against the perilous attack.

Kanae huffed. "Don't you think it's about time you drop the san?" She muttered into Kyoko's shoulder, allowing a hug. Kyoko mumbled incoherently. Chiori tapped her shoulder, arms wide, waiting patiently for her turn. A spin, eyes full of flowers, and Kyoko fell into her arms, squeezing her innards out as she tried to process Kanae's words.

Chiori scowled at her. "Yes, you did just get permission to drop honorifics but hello there's another friend here, pay attention to me too."

Kyoko stepped back, clasping Chiori's hands in hers. "Amamiya-san," she began, but the look on the other girl's face made her restart. "Chiori-chan!" Chiori raised an eyebrow. She looked at the tall brown-haired man leaning against her suitcase, watching the girls with eyes full of mirth.

"Is he still Tsuruga-san?" She jutted her chin out at him.

Kyoko blushed, shaking her head. The words fell out in a quiet mumble. "You know he's… Not…"

Chiori pursed her lips, arms on hips. "Then I'm not Chiori-chan."

Kyoko couldn't stand it. Her eyeballs started to leak, her mouth twisting into a smile too full of emotion to actually be called a smile. Chiori relented and drew her friend into a pink-swathed hug. She nodded at Ren over Kyoko's shoulder. "Can we steal her?"

He threw a pout, then raised his hands in surrender before Kanae could bite his head off with a smart retort. Kanae nodded her head in tacit acceptance; Chiori bared her teeth with delight; Kyoko… fluttered. It was the best possible description for the sweetness raging through her. She felt far too tiny to be of such notice. People were fighting over her at the airport arrivals gate. Not people - friends. She felt like swooning. Maybe if she timed it right, she could swoon right into Moko's-

"Don't you dare," Kanae grumbled at her, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the airport into their waiting taxi. Ren hollered out a farewell, waving his beautiful long arm at her and watching the trio with a wistful look in his eyes. She grabbed her phone and sent him a short message.

-I love you.

His eyes widened as he checked his mail, darting back up to catch hers just before Kanae pulled her through the doors. She couldn't hear his answering commitment as he strained to be louder than the crowds, but she knew the words by heart anyways. I love you too.

The most notable feature of Chiori's apartment was a giant yaoi poster with the top 50 BL mangas ships and a hot pink laptop surrounded by scribbled-in notebooks. She plopped on the small couch, patting the seats beside her, twisting around to see her friends draw near, too eager to wait without watching.

"So?" The words poured out in a gush.

Kyoko blushed. "I got offered a chance to try out for a new part," she said shyly.

Chiori moved to speak but Kanae cut her off. "A part? Details- who's the director? What's the role?"

"Ah…" Kyoko stumbled over her words, realizing the truth with a gasp. "I don't know! It's- Seiji Shingai is working on casting, and it's a foreign film, his contact sent him to the BFI to get connections-"

"You were at the BFI?!" Both girls gushed, voices tense with wonder.

Kyoko's face was the picture of accidental spilled milk. "I- we- President-"

"WE?!" Chiori squealed. Kanae whacked her on the back of the head.

"Don't tell us if you can't," she said grumpily. "But if you just don't want to…" Her voice trailed off threateningly as she surveyed Kyoko.

Kyoko swiveled, her face anguished. "Don't-tell-okay-I-am-not-supposed-"

A chop of the hand cut her off. "Enough, enough," Kanae chided. "It's okay. Move on, tell us about the audition."

Kyoko wrung her hands, but nodded. "I promise, soon- I have to have permission, it's not my place to reveal. "

"It's Tsuruga-san's, we know," Chiori said sagely. Kyoko jumped, staring at her in shock, but Chiori just rolled her eyes. "Airport. Obvious."

Kanae gestured impatiently. "Audition."

"That's all I have," she said sheepishly, smiling at her friends.

Kanae threw her hands in the air, pulling her phone out and typing rapidly on it. Kyoko fidgeted, certain she'd blown it, she'd wrecked her homecoming party, this was the most beautiful day of her life and she couldn't keep separate what needed to be separate and she'd run it all into the dirt- Kanae's glowing screen interrupted her, flashing a news bulletin in her face.

"Mulan."

Kyoko's brow furrowed. Chiori squeaked and shoved herself up on Kyoko's shoulders to peer around her at Kanae's phone. She read the text aloud eagerly, her voice mimicking a southern newscaster.

"Director Seiji Shingai of Ring-Doh fame asked to coordinate with Niki Caro in the live action remake of the classic film Mulan. Seiji brings more than 10 years of experience on the international film scene, including numerous awards from the Nippon Academy-sho for Excellent in Japanese Film. He will spearhead the talent search and is expected to serve as an advisor to Caro. Holy shit, Kyoko, he wants you to be a FREAKING DISNEY PRINCESS!"

Kyoko's brain short-circuited. It had been reduced to visual only, the word PRINCESS scrawled in golden glitter across her frontal lobe, flashing and twirling and wearing glass slippers.

"P-pr-pr-"

Kanae scrolled down, reading the article intently. "They're filming in L.A.; that's where my film set is located. Kyoko, if you get this part, you can stay with me. It'll save on rent for both of us."

PRINCESS was now overlayed with ROOMMATE. Kyoko felt dizzy.

"St-st-st-"

"Kanae, we broke her," Chiori whispered.

Kanae reached into her purse and pulled out a swan-shaped flask, pulling off the stopper before waving it under Kyoko's nose.

"Swan princess!" Kyoko snapped out of it, her eyes searching hungrily for the perfume vial.

"Welcome home," Kanae said, biting her lip. "I… found this. For you."

"MOKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kyoko wrapped her friend in a bear hug, nuzzling her ferociously. "Do you mean it?"

Kanae huffed. "I don't give things I don't intend people to keep."

"No," Kyoko, said, blushing pink. "Being roommates."

It was Kanae's turn to blush. "Unless you have other plans," she said in a meek voice. It sounded strange coming from her mouth.

"Like a hot live-in boyfriend," Chiori said, wiggling her eyebrows. "Speaking of which…"

Kyoko tried to hide her face unsuccessfully, for Kanae kept shoving her back out of her armpit with a growl. "Yes," she said, her voice as muffled as possible. "He got asked to audition as well."

Kanae wrinkled her nose, suddenly petulant.

"No, not that- though, well done, of course you did Tsuruga-san," Chiori said, her eyes aimed at the ceiling. She wiggled her eyebrows again. "The live-in part. It was just the two of you on this trip, right? So…"

Kyoko blinked at her, not comprehending.

"God, girl, is the man boxers or briefs? Eggplant or mini cucumber? Curly or shorn?"

"GOD, Chidori, keep it in your fanfics!" Kanae roared, covering Kyoko's ears. Kyoko had gone bright red, her hands twisted in her lap.

"Ah," she said, the tiniest sound escaping. "Ah, briefs…"

Chiori and Kanae turned as one unit to stare at her, eyes wide with shock and awe. Inescapable glee slowly drew across Chiori's face like the sun rising over the ocean.

"OH."

"MY."

"GOD."

"DETAILS!"

A/N: I love these girls! I hope we get more time for the three of them to bond and have fun together in the manga. The earlier volume and chapter covers with them on it are beautiful and my inspiration for their relationship! Also... I love making Chiori channel all her vital energy into being an over the top writer. I may have self-inserted.

ALSO MULAN. FAV DISNEY MOVIE EVER. GUILTY PLEASURE BC THAT'S WHAT FANFICS ARE FOR. KYOKO GETS TO BE A PRINCESS MAYBE IF SHE CAN MAKE THE CUT. BEST PRINCESS EVER.