Work Text:
Junes would use any excuse to sell more merchandise, even promoting foreign holidays. Halloween, with its candy, costumes, decorations, and pumpkins, was no different, and Yosuke found himself hanging up fake spider webs and arranging pumpkins around one of their spare rooms in preparation for a staff party. Despite his low expectations for the event, once everything got started it wasn't as bad as he'd imagined. Lot of little kids running around, sure, and their parents were going to be pissed once they were sick tomorrow (Yosuke knew the bowls of candy sitting out had been a bad idea), but the music was alright, if not exactly to his tastes, and the employees had been able to invite family and friends so he saw a lot of familiar faces, most of them dressed up. Chie, unsurprisingly, was a kung-fu master and kept nearly knocking things over as she worked to assure everyone the costume wasn't just for show, Yukiko was a businesswoman (although she'd gotten those weird glasses from somewhere and kept putting them on), Kanji was a cat (ears, tail, and Yosuke had to turn away before he said something that got him punched), Naoto was…Naoto (without her hat, he was sure that meant something), and Souji—
"Dammit, partner, what the hell are you wearing?"
"My Culture Festival outfit," Souji said as if showing up in a wig and skirt wasn't worth getting excited over. "I'm surprised you don't recognize it."
"It was a rhetorical question. I meant, why are you wearing it?"
"That's not what you said," Souji pointed out, resting his shinai against the wall and taking a seat next to him, "but Nanako wasn't able to see me at the Festival so I decided this would be the perfect way to show it off. Plus, it takes care of buying a costume." He waved to Nanako across the room, who was dressed as something that involved a pink dress covered in sparkles with wings attached to the back.
"What…?"
"A fairy princess," Souji explained. "And Dojima's a detective."
Dojima looked the same as always, though maybe a little more relaxed than Yosuke was used to seeing him.
"But he is a detective," Yosuke said.
"Exactly." Souji crossed his legs and smoothed his skirt out.
Yosuke had no idea what that meant, but decided it was the least important issue at hand. "I can't believe you're not worried about what people will say when they see you in this. Didn't Dojima-san have a problem with this?"
Souji shrugged and kicked out one leg. Yosuke caught a flash of dark stockings covering his ankles. "I doubt they'll say anything worse than what they said the other day, and Dojima thought it was funny. Anyway, everyone's pretty interested in Kou and Daisuke right now."
The two were dressed as zombies and trying, and failing, to do a dance routine that involved a lot of shuffling.
"Funny," Yosuke said, "I pegged Daisuke as a werewolf and Kou as…well, a giant basketball, I guess."
"He loves them balls," Souji said. He was still kicking his leg out and making the edge of his skirt flutter. It was really distracting, actually, and Yosuke stared until he saw Souji was watching him and giving him that tiny smile he sometimes did when he was teasing him. Yosuke felt his cheeks go hot and stared stubbornly at the crowd, trying to find other classmates. "Why aren't you dressed up?"
Yosuke shrugged. "Couldn't find anything and since I'm forced to be here because of Dad, I figured I might as well be comfortable. I'll probably have to stay after everything is done and clean up anyway and that wouldn't be practical in a costume."
Souji made a disappointed little noise. "We could have matched, you know."
"Matched…? Oh, hell no. I threw that outfit in the trash the moment I got home." When Souji just stared at him, he admitted, "Okay, so it's in my closet but that's only because I haven't given it back to Chie yet. There's no way I'd wear it, though."
"Too bad." Souji pulled his skirt above his knees and rubbed his calf like he was working at a cramp. "But you can be a Junes employee, that'll work too."
Yosuke only stared because he'd never seen a guy in stockings before. "It'd be the lamest costume in the world. Hey, how high up do those things go?"
"About here." Souji marked a spot still hidden under his skirt before straightening it out again, hiding his legs. "Oh, look, Chie kicked Daisuke."
"What?" Sure enough, Daisuke was holding his jaw but he was laughing instead of looking angry so Yosuke didn't go over to find out what was happening. "They better not get into a fight, I'm trying to relax."
"She's showing Nanako how to beat up zombies." Even as he spoke, Nanako was getting into position and sending a hesitant kick at Kou's shins.
"She's a natural."
"She should use her wand, that thing hurts. I smacked Dojima with it on accident and he cursed for like two minutes. He didn't appreciate it when I laughed at him."
"Ha, playing with Nanako-chan's toys, partner?"
"Yeah, it lights up." Souji pushed a loose strand of hair behind his ear and stood up, giving Yosuke that little smile again. "I think I'm going to go to the bathroom and readjust these stockings."
"Oh." Yosuke tried not to imagine Souji with his skirt hiked around his hips but it was impossible. "Okay, I'll wait for you to get back."
Actually, he waited ten seconds after Souji disappeared before going after him. Souji was washing his hands and when he caught sight of Yosuke in the mirror, he smiled. Yosuke tried to look casual but caught sight of his own blushing reflection and knew that he wasn't managing it. "Thought you might need some help."
"That's nice of you." Souji dried his hands and threw Yosuke a glance over his shoulder as he made his way towards a stall. "Are all Junes employees this helpful towards their customers?"
"We try to be," Yosuke said, following slowly. "You know the jingle, right?"
Souji lounged in the doorway. "Well, I'd appreciate it if you helped me make sure my garter belt is on straight."
"Your what?" When he reached the stall, Souji was already holding up the front of his skirt and revealing the garters holding his stockings up.
They were black and they matched his panties.
Later, Yosuke had to pay Chie back when he claimed to have lost his Culture Festival outfit, but Souji looked so good in it that he didn't care.