Author's Note: Welcome to my little Halloween fic. This was actually supposed to include FFVII and FFVIII, but I soon realized that I couldn't think of costumes for everybody, so I just stuck to FFX. Maybe I'll come up with something for them next year? shrugs Anyway, this fic is definitely AU (you have been warned!); I hope no one minds. Oh, and if you have a low threshold for disturbing images (such as seeing Paine from FFX-2 in the Thief dressphere -snicker-, or Auron dressed as something similar to a pimp), I advise you leave RIGHT NOW. Hehe.

Disclaimer: I don't own jack, ya hear? If I did, Auron wouldn't have died at the end of the game; Lulu and Wakka would've named their kid Chappu; and Brother wouldn't be so...incestuous -shudders.-

How Spira Does Halloween
by Judanim

Auron stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He couldn't believe he was doing this. Mere hours before, he was adamant about not doing it, but Jecht, Braska, and Tidus had threatened to set him up on a blind date if he didn't. The last time they'd done that, the results had been disastrous. So, he picked the lesser alternative.

"Come on, Auron! Open the door! We all know you're dressed!" Tidus yelled through the door after a minute.

The raven-haired man glared at the door. After taking in a breath, he slowly opened it and tried to look at anything but the three people standing in front of him.

Braska had to grin. "You look great, Auron. You'll be the life of the party."

"Or the laughingstock," Tidus muttered.

Jecht quickly elbowed his son, and then gave a confident smile to his normally scarlet-clad friend. "Don't worry about it. Hey, you may even score a few numbers with that costume."

Auron just stared blankly at the wall. He was well aware of how ridiculous he looked, and nothing his friends said could possibly make him change his mind. Even if it attracted a few women, it was only a small consolation to the overwhelming embarrassment he felt wearing it. Though, it was still better than going on a blind date with one of Jecht's associates. The thought made him shudder. Then again...so did the costume.

"All right! Let's go get changed so we can pick up the girls," Tidus said, heading off down the hall. Auron could tell that he was holding in a laugh. Sure enough, when the bedroom door closed, Tidus' unmistakable laugh was heard behind it.

Braska gave Auron a small smile. "It really won't be that bad. Halloween is a time for everyone to dress up and act like idiots." He rested a hand on Auron's shoulder. "It's time you joined the fun."

Jecht laughed. He didn't mean to, but Braska's comment had caught him by surprise. It wasn't often that Braska teased anyone, whether playfully or seriously, so full advantage and recognition had to be taken of the moment.

Suddenly, the front door opened and someone came up the stairs. Everyone turned to see Wakka, frozen at the top of the stairs and staring at Auron.

Auron raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You're a pimp!" Wakka exclaimed.

Without another thought, the raven-haired man turned right around and shut himself up in the bathroom. He was not staying in this costume.

Braska and Jecht turned to Wakka.

"Thanks," Jecht said. "We just got him out of the bathroom."

Wakka smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, ya? It just surprised me." He grinned. "So, what'd you do to get him to wear it in the first place?"

"Threatened him with a blind date with one of Jecht's female friends," Braska replied, grinning as well. "He even paid for it."

Jecht pulled out his cell phone and punched in a certain speed dial. After a couple of rings, someone answered. He paused, and then in a loud voice said, "Hey Cindy. Hi, it's Jecht. Listen, I've got this friend…"

Instantly the bathroom door flew open to reveal Auron, glaring straight at Jecht. With an air of serious indignation, he stalked across the hall and down the stairs. The three men stared at his back. Within moments, they were all laughing.

It was at this moment that Tidus walked out of his bedroom, all dressed up in his costume. Everyone turned, staring a bit. "Who are you supposed to be?" Jecht asked.

Tidus sighed dramatically. "Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII! Duh! I swear, Dad, you need to keep up with the times."

Jecht exchanged a glance with Braska, who merely shrugged.

Everyone else then changed into their respective costumes (Wakka hadn't thought to do that at his house). When they got downstairs, they saw Auron sitting on the couch, staring defiantly at the wall, arms folded across his chest. It was obvious that he wasn't happy about this.

"Come on, Auron, let's go over to Cid's. We have to pick up the girls, remember?" Braska said. He was wearing a pirate costume, not too dissimilar from the one Johnny Depp wore in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Auron was silent.

Tidus smirked. "Now you're just acting like me, except that I wouldn't wear that outfit."

At that statement, Auron was forced to swallow his pride (what little of it there was left) and go with the guys. He was not going to be put on the maturity level as Tidus.

Wakka had to laugh. He put on his mask (which was part of his Frankenstein's monster costume) and headed for the door. "Then, let's go!"

Rikku had to grin as she admired her go-go dancer costume in the full-length mirror in her bedroom. She definitely looked killer in it. She looked up when the door open to reveal her cousin Yuna. A look of surprise crossed the Al Bhed's face. "Yunie, what are you wearing?"

Yuna grinned mischievously. "What?" She looked down at her costume. "Is there something wrong with it?"

"All I'm saying is, Tidus is going to freak!" Rikku exclaimed, but she also had to grin. "That's the point though, isn't it?"

"I just my hope my father doesn't make me turn around and change as soon as he sees me," Yuna lamented, sitting down on her cousin's bed. She glanced at her back to make sure the little bushy, cotton tail wasn't mussed.

"I wouldn't worry about it," the Al Bhed girl replied, giving her cousin a smile. "Besides, it's Tidus' dad you have to worry about. He might just forbid Tidus to date you anymore when he sees you dressed like that."

"I doubt Jecht would be that drastic," Lulu said from the doorway. "If nothing else he would have a good laugh over it. However, that's not to say that he wouldn't be surprised to see you dressed as the Playboy bunny, Yuna."

Yuna shrugged. "It's Halloween. Isn't everyone supposed to do strange and unexpected things?" She looked at Lulu. "Speaking of which, didn't you wear that outfit last week?"

Rikku noticed it too. "Yeah! Lulu, you can't be yourself for Halloween!" She paused. "Can you?" A look of curiosity crossed her face.

"I'm not being myself," Lulu replied. "I'm a vampire. It was the easiest thing to be on short notice, since I didn't have to buy the actual costume. All I had to get were the fangs." As if on cue, she then bared said fangs.

Rikku giggled. "Ooh, I bet Wakka would have fun with that."

Lulu blushed, the red on her cheeks almost matching her eyes. She was still a little uncomfortable with people openly talking about her and Wakka as a couple. "Stop that."

Before the other two girls could fall into a fit of giggles, there was a knock at the door downstairs. They heard a door open and Cid's booming, almost Southern drawl welcome some people. Rikku leaped up. "That must be the guys!"

The three walked downstairs to see the five men, plus Cid and Brother, standing in the front hallway talking. Auron looked very uncomfortable, but didn't seem to be making any kind of deal out of it.

"I wonder what they bribed him with," Rikku whispered to Lulu.

Lulu could only grin.

Yuna brought up the rear of the group. She stuck close behind her cousin and friend as they walked down the stairs. She wanted her costume to be a total surprise. After Lulu and Rikku went up to the group, she stayed at the bottom of the stairs and cleared her throat, calling everyone's attention to her.

Tidus' eyes went wide. He wasn't sure whether he should jump her or just stare. He took the second option due to the fact that there were people around.

Braska was frozen in place. The only thought that ran through his mind was the question of what had driven his daughter to wear hardly anything except a leotard, fishnet stockings, and bunny ears! If it were Tidus, he would either kill the boy or get Jecht to do it.

Jecht could only laugh at Braska's expression. He was surprised at Yuna's costume, certainly, but he didn't have any objections. Kids would do what kids were good at: weird stuff.

Auron's mood brightened. Suddenly, he didn't feel so embarrassed.

"Hey, let's get to that party, ya? Don't wanna miss out on all the fun!" Wakka exclaimed. Personally, he didn't care either way about what Yuna was wearing. All he could stare at was Lulu. She looked beyond the definition of sexy in her vampire costume.

"Wait a minute," Cid said. "There's no way my niece is going out in that!"

"I couldn't agree more," Braska answered, looking right at his daughter.

Yuna gave her father the puppy-dog eyes. "Vydran…bmayca?"

Braska sighed. He absolutely hated it when Yuna used Al Bhed, mostly because when she used it, there was no way that he could say no. "Veha."

She flung her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "Thank you so much!" With that, she headed out to the car, Tidus not too far behind her.

Jecht looked at Cid. "You were saying?"

Cid only muttered something in Al Bhed and started to walk away. Brother began to follow Yuna out the door, but Cid grabbed him by his hair and pulled him towards the kitchen. Everyone could hear his loud, obnoxious whine even from the foyer.

With laughs on their lips, the group left and headed out to the party.

The party was filled with people in costumes. Slowly, Auron was getting over his original indignation. Most of them looked dumber than he felt. It was a start, at least.

Immediately, Jecht headed over to the refreshments table and picked himself up some soda. He had been chosen as the designated driver weeks beforehand to try and encourage him to stay away from drinking. So far, it'd been working.

Braska looked around for his wife, hoping he could catch her before she saw Yuna. She definitely would've had a fit if she saw Yuna dressed like the Playboy bunny.

Wakka and Lulu found an empty spot to sit and talk, even though Wakka really wanted to dance. He would rather have a happy girlfriend, though, so he went with her wishes.

Yuna and Tidus went out onto the dance floor. Both were getting comments on their costumes left and right, so they wanted to remain the center of attention for as long as possible.

Rikku followed Jecht to the refreshment table, grabbed some punch, and then went over to Auron, who was leaning against a wall all by himself. "You should cheer up, you know. Your costume isn't all that bad."

"Comparatively speaking, it's probably not," Auron replied. "But it's definitely not my first choice for a costume."

The Al Bhed girl nodded. "It could be worse, though. You could be something that no one has any idea what you are. At least people know what a pimp is."

Auron was quick to glare at her. She shied away and went off to find a cute guy to dance with. The raven-haired man rolled his eyes and scanned the crowd. No one had noticed him yet, but he still couldn't help feeling that this night was never going to end.

After a couple of hours, Yuna and Tidus were no longer the center of attention. So, they went outside for a breath of fresh air.

Tidus wrapped an arm around Yuna's waist. "You look great."

"Thanks," Yuna replied, blushing a bit. "I wore it for you."

"Really? Wow, uh, thanks." Tidus shifted uncomfortably. The fake sword on his back was getting kind of annoying, even if it looked cool. "You know, it would have been better if we had coordinated this. Then you could've gone as Tifa."

Yuna laughed and stared him. "There's no way I could be Tifa! Maybe Lulu could, but definitely not me. I just…couldn't carry it off."

Tidus nodded, laughing a little as well. "You have a point. Then, what about Aeris?"

"I could do that." Yuna settled into his embrace, smiling. "Just as long as you keep anyone in a Sephiroth costume away, that is."

"Trust me, they wouldn't get within ten feet of you." Tidus softly kissed her hair. "So, what about next year? What are we going to be?"

"Shuyin and Lenne from FFX-2?" Yuna suggested.

"I like the sound of that."

Auron looked around the room to find all of his friends having fun. Jecht was still at the refreshments table, downing sodas like they were beers and howling like an idiot (to go along with his werewolf get-up). It seemedthat caffeine and alcohol had more or less the same effect on him. Braska was currently at a table, talking with his wife, who had been thoroughly impressed with his Jack Sparrow costume. Lulu and Wakka were slow dancing, looking much the odd pair. Rikku had found some blond guy to dance with; he was also in a pirate costume, and the only thing that seemed to fit was the eye patch. He didn't know where to Yuna and Tidus had gone off.

He sighed, wishing someone wanted to go home as much as he did. He was about to walk out to the car, when a voice stopped him.

"Well, hello handsome. What's your name?"

Auron turned to see a short, stocky woman in a bug costume. He panicked. "Um, Auron," was his only reply.

The woman grinned. "Really? Hmm, that's kind of sexy. I'm Cindy. Can I get you a drink?" She practically undressed him with her eyes.

Oh crap, Auron thought. His first thought was to answer no, but he realized that she could probably kill him just by sitting on him. "Uh, sure."

Cindy grinned and walked over to the refreshments table. She talked to Jecht for a moment. They seemed to know each other. Then, Jecht glanced between Cindy and Auron and grinned devilishly before turning back to his soda.

Auron glared at his friend's back. He hated Halloween.

THE END

This story holds my official record for Shortest Time Written: less than 24 hours! Ha! Happy Halloween everybody! -parties-