(Costumes)
Seto liked when time passed without melodrama; that meant he could focus more on the things he needed to get done and less on everyone else's problems (including his own). And that was exactly how the months between July and October passed: uneventful. Mokuba started his final year in high school, worked, saw Yuugi, and babbled about how happy he would be when he could finally change his bellybutton ring. Life was calm until around mid-October, when Otogi got the idea to throw a Halloween party, fashioning it with costumes in the manner of the stateside celebration. Seto assumed it was just an excuse to throw another party, but apparently it was the most exciting thing Mokuba had going for him, because it was all Seto heard about for nearly three weeks. The most disturbing thing he'd had the misfortune of hearing was what his brother planned to dress-up as.
Mokuba intended to go as a Domino High schoolgirl.
Seto had tried his damnedest to convince Mokuba that it was a bad idea, but Mokuba was determined. After about three days, Seto was resigned to the fact that his brother actually wanted to wear a skirt and he actually found it amusing… once he got past the abject horror of the announcement.
It was a week before the 31st when Mokuba came bounding into Seto's home office, grinning so wide that Seto was sure his face was going to split in half. "Seto!" he cried happily, sitting on the corner of Seto's desk. "Guess what?"
Seto teased, "You've decided to preserve the honor of the Kaiba family and not go out in public wearing a skirt?"
"Better. Jou and I were betting on the outcome of a game, and he lost!"
Seto scoffed, "As though losing is something new to him. What was the wager?"
"Halloween costumes. I'm going to make him dress up like a black lab."
Seto nearly spit out his coffee onto his monitor when he heard those words. "Black lab as in the dog black lab?" Mokuba nodded enthusiastically, and Seto laughed. "That's terrific. I want pictures."
Mokuba grinned. "I thought blackmail was bad, the 'scourge of honest business'?"
Seto shrugged. "We can make an exception for Jounouchi." He looked at Mokuba skeptically. "That's unusual; you usually yell at me for calling him a mutt. Why the sudden change of heart?"
"No change of heart," Mokuba said. "He didn't have a costume, and I placed the bet. He took it knowing full and well what the outcome would be if he lost."
"If he had won, would you still be going as a schoolgirl?"
"No."
Seto shook his head. "A tough decision… my little brother NOT wearing a skirt, or Jounouchi dressed up like the dog he is…"
Mokuba swatted at his brother half-heartedly, catching Seto behind the head. "Shut up. You still shouldn't call Jou a dog." With a smile he added, "And I'm gonna be hot, so stop bitching."
"If you say so." Seto was amused by Mokuba's sense of his own beauty, and enjoyed teasing his brother; they didn't seem to have enough of these candid moments where they just had fun. Fun had never been one of Seto's strong suits.
"Oh, admit it!" Mokuba chided jokingly. "If you weren't my brother, you would totally fuck me. I'm just too hot to resist."
Seto stiffened in his seat and glared. That was one way to kill a good mood. If only Mokuba had known that at one point... "How many times have I yelled at you for your language?"
Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Isn't it a little late in my life for that? Besides, you're changing the subject."
Seto's glare didn't change. "I AM your brother, so the question is irrelevant. Now, don't you have somewhere to be? I need to work."
"Aw, you're no fun," Mokuba pouted.
"What happened to my cute little brother who blushed and covered his ears when I tried to give him the talk about the birds and the bees?" Seto smiled at the memory. Mokuba had been fourteen, and when Seto had given him "the talk," he had turned beet red and put a pillow over his head, saying he didn't need to hear any talk, that he could figure it out as he went along. What Mokuba didn't realize at the time was that Seto was no more eager to give that speech than Mokuba was to hear it. How strange it had felt that he would ever be in that situation…
"He was a façade. He was actually just trying to hide the fact that he lost his innocence when he got his fir-"
"What?" Seto demanded, feigning shock and disapproval very well; in another life, he might have made a marvelous actor.
Mokuba flushed. "What?" he said innocently.
"Any sentence that includes the words 'lost his innocence' and makes allusions to ages before eighteen..." Seto was actually just toying with Mokuba. He already knew that Mokuba was having sex... he just never let Mokuba know that. It was fun to watch Mokuba get flustered.
"That's not EXACTLY what I meant! Besides, you were, what, fifteen, sixteen when you and Ya-" Mokuba's eyes widened and he covered his mouth, a trait he had retained from his childhood. The whole atmosphere seemed to change. Seto stared at his computer, pretending not to have heard what Mokuba was going to say. Any mirth he may have been feeling seemed to be sucked from him in that instant. Mokuba cleared his throat. "Anyway, I hadn't had sex before then, I just... wasn't entirely dormant, either."
"You just used past tense. Are you telling me that you are having sex now? My little brother really is a whore," Seto said, trying his best to cheer himself up, to pretend Mokuba hadn't nearly mentioned his ex-lover.
"Hey! That's not right. I've only had one boyfriend, and I've kept him for four years now. That's far from whore in my book, Seto."
Seto smiled at his brother, inwardly amused that Mokuba had completely ignored the question about his sexual activity. "Good. I'm glad. Now I have to work."
Mokuba returned the smile. "Okay, big brother." It was Seto's turn to blush. Mokuba had rarely called him "big brother" after he turned fifteen. He watched Mokuba leave, smiling after his little brother.
It was a shame he couldn't focus on work. There was Yami in his mind's eye, holding him. He sighed. He would probably never love like that again, nor would he be loved quite the same way.
Ugh. How ridiculous; he was acting like a woman again. It couldn't be that hard to cheer up and get on with work. Hey, the thought of Jounouchi dressed up a dog - a testament to what he was - was a little uplifting.
He always did like to see the blond humiliated.
October 31st was hectic for the very moment Mokuba walked into the dining room for breakfast. Usually he looked like a zombie, still dressed in pajamas with his hair askew, not uttering a coherent sentence until he had finished about half a cup of coffee. That was one thing that Seto and Mokuba did together every morning: they drank their coffee to get going. That particular morning though, he was yammering on and on about how his outfit would look, and said something about "dirty." Seto was still half-asleep and therefore missed half of what Mokuba said. It wasn't until he was standing to go take a shower that he caught what Mokuba said too clearly for his own comfort.
"You should come tonight, Seto," Mokuba advised. "I could find you a date."
Seto stopped in his tracks. He didn't want to date. Dating denoted moving on. Seto may have changed his bed, his couch, and his rivalries… but that didn't mean he was willing to move on. Moving on was the final step in acknowledging that it was all over. "I don't date, Mokuba."
Mokuba took a sip of his second cup of coffee. Seto was almost scared as we watched Mokuba down that liquid caffeine. "You should. You've got plenty going for you."
"Oh I do?" Seto asked, raising an eyebrow.
Mokuba had a devious twinkle in his eyes. "Yea! You're young, good-looking, you have manners, money … and a great ass."
Seto answered, "Well, I've got better things to do than deal with the formalities and bullshit that comes with dating… and don't look my ass. You're depraved."
Mokuba was smirking. "You can't ask a boy not to notice… But come on! It'll be fun: music, food, alcohol, and costumes."
"All the things I don't care for." Seto then added seriously, "And if I find out you've been drinking…"
"I know, I know," Mokuba responded dutifully. "But you could. Hell, you could even wear a costume, hook up with some random stranger, and have yourself a good night."
"I don't like drinking or anonymous sex, so you're failing to arouse my interest."
"Anonymous sex is better than a bottle of lotion and porn. You're as bad as Jou."
Seto's eyes widened in horror. "What is THAT supposed to mean?"
"I'm a big boy, Seto, I know what men sometimes have to do to relieve their sexual urges," Mokuba said, pitching his voice, making the words "sexual urges" sound scandalous. Seto was, to say the least, mortified.
"That was disturbing. I don't even want to know HOW you know about that idiot's … porn habits." The thought of Jounouchi and porn was enough to make Seto shudder… with horror, he was sure. "I'm going to go take a shower, and then I'm going to go do something productive. And I'm not going to the party. Do I make myself clear?"
Mokuba sighed with resignation, but he didn't look the least bit disheartened. "Perfectly clear."
4 PM was marked by Mokuba's usual music blaring from the door, and even though Seto was completely disinterested in the party itself, he had to admit that he wanted to see how Mokuba turned out once he was all dolled up. So at 4:30 he gave up on his work and went to the open bathroom door, watching Mokuba trying to brush out his unruly tresses out.
"Having fun?" Seto asked, not masking his amusement.
Mokuba answered without looking away from his reflection the mirror. "Actually I am."
Seto looked at the bathroom counter; there was a curling iron plugged in and there were various tubes and canisters of make-up and other feminine products that Seto couldn't have identified if his life depended on it. He wondered where the hell it had all come from, considering he had never seen any of it before "Do you know how to use all that?"
"Not a clue. Anzu should be here any minute to help me out. She's the one letting me borrow her old school uniform."
"Remind me to run her over first chance I get."
"Seto!"
Seto responded, "I was kidding."
"Hey!" the distinctly feminine voice of Anzu rang through the hall.
"Speak of the devil," Seto murmured. He motioned for her to walk towards them, and she did so.
"The guy are the door told me to come here," she explained, peeking in the door to address Mokuba. She turned to Seto. "Hello, Kaiba," she said politely, and Seto was amused by the formality because he knew she didn't like him. She stood there, looking ridiculously nervous with a duffle bag hanging down in front of her. "So, are you coming to the party tonight?"
"He's not," Mokuba answered before Seto could speak, "but I keep telling him that he should."
"What a shame." The comment wasn't entirely sincere. Seto didn't bother with idle talk and instead watched Mokuba get increasingly frustrated as he tried to get his hair back into a ponytail. Finally, he pouted, "Anzu, this is impossible."
"No it's not." Anzu moved past Seto, dropping her bag onto the bathroom floor and going to stand behind Mokuba, taking the brush from him. Seto was amazed as she managed to get his hair back into a high ponytail - with the aid of what had to be every hair-manipulation product on earth - and leaving a few strands loose to frame his face. "See? If the curling iron is ready, we can curl these now," she said, gesturing to one of the locks that brushed along Mokuba's temples.
The process after that was much more fascinating than the hair change. Mokuba had jumped up on the counter so Anzu wouldn't have to lean down, and she applied make-up, removed make-up, experimented with different colors and shades. It was enough to make Seto dizzy. The process seemed to take forever, but once Anzu was done, even Seto had to admit that she did well. Mokuba looked practically flawless… and he made a pretty girl, much to Seto's discomfort.
"Well, what do you think?" Anzu asked nervously. Mokuba turned and looked in the mirror, and then turned to Seto with a triumphant grin.
"I told you I'd be hot."
Seto nodded, showing his defeat. "You win."
Anzu asked, "Well, are you ready for the outfit, then?"
"Oh! Not yet. I left my bra and panties in my room."
"Your what?" Seto asked. He hadn't expected Mokuba to take it to THAT extreme…
Mokuba was giggling, already acting more like the girl he was transforming into. Seto had to remind himself that it was only for one night, less than twenty-four hours… For a few seconds that was his mantra. "Well, if I'm going to be wearing that short skirt, I'm going to have to dress properly… and look at Anzu! If I didn't have some sort of 'breasts', I'd look ridiculous."
Seto cringed, pointedly NOT looking at Anzu's chest. "God, this isn't going to become a habit, is it?"
"Hell no. If I had to do to this much work just to look good everyday, I'd commit suicide. Besides, I've tried on the panties already, and they're uncomfortable… it's beyond words."
Anzu retorted triumphantly, "Just goes to prove that women really ARE tougher than men."
"Yea," Mokuba conceded, walking out of the bathroom slowly. "It's a shame you're all built with all the wrong parts." With that, he took off for his room, leaving Anzu blushing. She looked at Seto.
"Are you angry about this?" she asked.
"No; it's amusing… so long as it's only one night."
Anzu smiled, and Seto wondered exactly how genuine it was. He didn't bother to try and analyze her or her smiles. "He's really excited about it," Anzu was telling him. "Something about a comment Yami made…"
Seto tuned her out, swallowing the lump in his throat. He couldn't hold it against her for mentioning Yami; she didn't know. Only he, Mokuba, and Yuugi knew about that short tryst four years ago. "Oh," he answered noncommittally. Luckily for him, Mokuba came rushing back at that moment, handing Seto a small plastic packet on his way into the bathroom. Seto examined it carefully. It was a bellybutton ring that actually had a ring shape to it, as opposed to the one that Mokuba had kept in since he had gotten the piercing (which closely resembled a small barbell). Seto was still amazed that he had let Mokuba keep the piercing.
"You can change it now?" Seto asked.
"Yea." Mokuba reached out, motioning for Seto to give it back; Seto tossed it to him, and Mokuba caught it. "Now everyone leave so I can change!" Mokuba ushered Anzu into the hallway and closed the door, locking it behind him. Seto and Anzu waited without speaking, the silence punctuated by a string of profanities and yelps coming from behind the bathroom door. After nearly ten minutes, Mokuba opened the door and his transformation was complete. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, one leg bent, his toe resting on the floor; he was acting coy. White stockings covered his calves, nearly reaching his knees. The blue pleated skirt smoothed down immaculately over his thighs. A white button-down shirt was hidden beneath the pink jacket, and the blue bow was fastened at Mokuba's neck, slightly crooked. Anzu moved forward, straightening it a bit before standing back. "Well?" Mokuba asked.
Anzu exclaimed happily, "You look great! You even shaved your legs."
"Yea, but only because that wax that Mai gave me was… ouch. Women are masochistic."
"Wimp," Anzu teased. Then she continued, "You did a good job. Your boobs even match!"
"Yea, I practiced," Mokuba admitted. Before Seto could comment on that Mokuba added, "And look what I can do now!" He went into the bathroom and knocked a tube of lipstick to the floor, making show of bending over and picking up. Seto didn't look at his brother's ass. "Cool, huh?"
"You would make such a great slut," Seto commented. Anzu looked mortified at the statement, but Mokuba just smiled.
"Yea, 'would' being the operative word there. Oh, Anzu, have you seen Jou yet today?"
Anzu nodded. "He was waiting for the glue on his tail to dry."
Seto couldn't resist a snicker, even in present company. He generally tried not to show too much emotion around Yuugi and his friends. "Mokuba, don't forget your camera."
"Done. Its in my purse."
- author thoughts… -
What, Ashes had a GOOD excuse to stare at Anzu's boobs? *ahem* I was doing research on the schoolgirl outfits… ^_^ [My sister thinks that my preoccupation with Anzu's boobs is odd. Then she amends that we're all odd.]
Hmm, Mokuba is awfully... uhm, fruity? Hehe. I think he was fun to write, but sometimes I wonder if his character is a little over the top. Then again, I guess the kid could turn out a little odd, and he's got it all where it counts, so...
Come to look at it, this part is pretty long too… Hmm, very, very curious…