Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Hello?" Peter's voice called out from the other side of the door. "Mike, are you in there?"
"Yeah, I'm here," Mike said, standing with a sigh. "What is it?"
"We're gonna be going out to dinner soon," Peter explained. "You've been in there all day."
"I've been resting," Mike shrugged. That was a lie, but a necessary one.
"Oh, okay," Peter said. "Well, you need to get dressed. And then the rest of us need to come in here, too."
"Yes, sir," Mike said under his breath, going towards the closet. Peter had only said it was dinner but never where or what type of dinner it would be. Black tie event or not? While the others weren't normally fancy, they tried to be occasionally. And since it was Davy's birthday too, his year to pick where to eat, it was really a draw of whether it was a formal evening or a casual one.
He looked through his portion of the closet, flipping through, trying to find the perfect outfit. And then he saw it. It was a nice cream-colored suit that had a checkered apple jack hat that went with it. Mike remembered the suit well. He hadn't worn it in at least 20 years but even today, it was still one of his favorites.
He had to smile as he pulled it out, looking at it closer. It should still fit fine, why wouldn't it. He grabbed a white collared shirt and a vest as he began to put on the suit.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Hey, Mike?" It was now Davy calling him. "Can you open the door, please? Some of us need to change."
"Yeah, well I'm changing too!" Mike snapped back as he buttoned up his vest. Quickly, he tied a tie around his neck, so used to doing it, he didn't even have to look. As he went to grab the jacket, laying on his bed, he happened to catch a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He turned to it, standing upright as he put on the hat. And for the first time in a long time, he looked at himself and smiled.
He grabbed the jacket and threw it over his shoulder as he headed downstairs. The first sound he heard as he did, was laughter coming from the couch.
"Oh, Mike!" Micky said through laughs and Mike felt a wave of embarrassment come over him. "What are you wearing?"
Mike frowned and straightened a little bit.
"Clothes," he said dryly. "I was told we were going out for dinner."
"Yeah, but it's dinner, not a ball," Micky said grinning and wiping his face. "Oh, man, Mike. I love you."
"Do you need to change?" Mike asked, going to Peter who shook his head.
"I went ahead and changed down here. You look nice, Mike," Peter said with a smile. "I didn't even know you had that."
Mike looked down, putting on his jacket.
"I've had it for a while..." he said with a shrug. "But I haven't really had much of a chance to wear it a lot so I thought, you know, why not?"
"It looks nice," Peter smiled. "Is that your birthday suit?"
This only caused Micky to laugh harder. Peter frowned and looked back up at Mike.
"What'd I say?"
"Nothing," Mike sighed. "It's just that 'birthday suit' means something very different."
"Oh," Peter said nodding. "Sorry. You look good."
"Thanks," Mike smiled slightly.
"Now I wish I could go and find my suit." He continued.
"Davy's up there now," Mike said, turning to look at Micky, who was only in a t-shirt and jeans. "Are you gonna change?"
Micky laughed.
"Who do you think I am?" He challenged and Mike sighed.
"This is what people wear when they go out, Mike," Micky said with a jokingly condescending tone. "Welcome to 1966, nobody wears that type of stuff anymore."
Mike frowned and began to worry of what might've been a very close call when Davy stepped down the stairs, in his tuxedo.
"Ha!" Mike grinned, pointing at Micky. "See? You're in the minority now."
Micky frowned and pointed at Peter.
"But Peter's not in a suit."
"But Peter's still dressed up nicer than normal," Mike explained. "You are the only one who's not dressed up."
"Are you calling me not fancy?" Micky asked sadly. Mike snorted. Davy's eyes widened as he approached Mike, amazed.
"Where'd you find this?" He asked, examining his friend closely.
"I've had it for a while," Mike said with a shrug. "I wanted to look nice so I dressed up."
"Wow," Davy said with a slight nod. "I'm impressed."
And that was saying something. Davy had a definite style and he was not easily impressed when it came to fashion. Mike smiled slightly, relieved.
"Thanks," he said and Davy nodded.
"Of course," Davy said. "Happy birthday."
"To you too," Mike said, looking at the others. "You ready to drink and do things?"
Davy leaned his head back as he laughed. Micky let out a "whoop! whoop!". Peter blushed, embarrassed by his original statement not coming out the way he had intended it to. But still, he smiled and nodded as the group went out.
Mike got stares as he walked, even catching a few people. It took him a minute to detach himself from the past. Most of the people were watching him, amazed by his fashion choices, but there were a few glances that felt familiar to him. The look that they knew something and seemed to look down on him because they knew. Before he even had much of a chance to do anything about his worries, they arrived at the restaurant. Mike sighed as he followed the others farther behind into the restaurant. He couldn't say a word about it to anyone though, no, no, he couldn't. He pushed the feeling of fear down and tried to enjoy the rest of the night and got a few compliments from strangers on his outfit, something that hadn't ever happened before.
But nothing could quite make him feel any better. There was still an uneasiness in Mike's heart, a feeling he knew all too well.