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“Hey, Vig, you doing anything for Halloween tomorrow?” Chris asks as the rest of the team packs up.
“Tomorrow’s Saturday.” Adrian says, and Chris thinks he must mean it as a question.
“Yeah.” He confirms. “Are you busy?”
“Then no.” Adrian shakes his head.
“You’re not doing anything tomorrow?”
“No I am.”
“You just said you weren’t doing anything for Halloween tomorrow!”
“I’m not!”
“But you are busy?”
“Yeah! But it’s not ‘for Halloween’. That’s not until Monday.” Adrian says the last part slowly, like Chris is a child.
Chris watches Economos shake his head at them both, and bites back his responding fuck off in favor of asking Adrian, “Mind if I tag along to whatever it is you’re doing tomorrow? Harcourt’s got plans she won’t tell me about.”
Harcourt silently flips him off.
“Sure! Hell yeah!” Adrian nods. Then his face falls in worry. “Wait, are you chill with dressing up?”
Chris shrugs. He doesn’t tell Adrian that dressing up means this is definitely a Halloween thing. “Yeah. I’ll stop by the store and pick up some costume.”
“No, that’s okay. It’s kind of a specific theme—I’ll pick something up for you.”
“Okay. Sweet.” Chris says a bit apprehensively. Whatever costume Adrian has planned will probably be fucking weird.
“This is going to be so fun!” Adrian promises, and then he rushes out the door.
#
“Is this some sort of fucking. . . BDSM event?” Chris asks after seeing the costume Adrian put together for him.
It’s just underwear. Which wouldn’t be too weird except there’s also a cape, corset-vest-thing, fishnets, and. . . heels. All of it in black and most of it glittering. And Adrian, three hours before this “event” is supposed to start, showed up to the trailer in his normal clothes and gold sneakers.
Adrian laughs. “What? Dude, no, it’s a movie! Rocky Horror!”
And then Chris utters a sentence that makes him sound like he’s trying for the world’s most accurate Adrian impression: “What does a BDSM outfit have to do with a boxing movie?”
Adrian looks at him like he’s grown a second head for a moment. “Rocky Horror. Picture Show.”
Okay, that sounds vaguely familiar. Chris thinks he’s heard some guy talking about the strange movie-going experience he had one Halloween when his girlfriend took him to some sort of drag show where the audience was half naked and they threw things at the screen. He’d said it was some queer show, and the way he’d said it made Chris shrink away and regurgitate some homophobic shit. Thinking about it now, the memory of his tone, makes Chris immediately apprehensive about tonight.
“Can’t I just wear something normal? You’re wearing something normal!” Chris drops the heel he’d been holding and folds his arms.
Adrian glances down at himself and shakes his head. “Oh, I’m not wearing this to the show.”
“You’re not?”
He shakes his head once more, bites his lip, and eventually tilts his head and asks, “would you feel better if you saw my costume?”
“Yeah man!” Chris shouts.
Without another word, or warning, Adrian shucks off his shirt and then his pants. Chris swallows dryly and tries to remain focused, but then Adrian is standing in front of him in nothing but his shoes and a pair of tiny gold shorts. Chris takes a deep breath and shakes away all the thoughts that immediately enter his brain.
“You’re—” he has to clear his throat and try again. “You’re going in just that?”
“Yeah! And don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of people in your costume, too. He’s, like, the main character!” Adrian appeases.
Chris looks over the outfit one more time before he squares his shoulders. “Fuck. Alright. I’ll try it on at least.”
Chris goes into his bathroom to change and it’s. . . fine. It’s easier to get into than his uniform, which is a plus, and it’s comfortable enough. But then he looks at himself in the mirror and. . .
“Oh.”
“Oh good? Or oh bad?” Adrian asks from the other side of the door.
Chris doesn’t answer him. He just stares. He looks. . . Good. And he feels good wearing it. Sexy. Confident. Masculine in a feminine way he wasn’t expecting.
“Come on! I wanna see it!” Adrian pouts.
It’s easy to open the bathroom door and stand dressed like this in front of Adrian. Chris knows this isn’t some sort of sick prank. Adrian won’t laugh at him or take pictures to show and laugh at with others.
Adrian wolf whistles at him when he steps out, laying on the bed with his feet up and his chin in his hands, pretending he wasn’t just pressed to the door moments ago.
“Well, I think you look great!” He says.
“I kind of do, too.” Chris admits.
Adrian hops up, all smiles. “Do you wanna try the heels?”
Chris looks at them doubtfully, but he’s already come this far, might as well go all the way. So he nods and slips them on, using Adrian’s shoulders to keep himself steady. But the heels, while immediately uncomfortable and destabilizing, provide a substantial difference in their heights. Suddenly overcome with the urge to kiss Adrian, Chris lets his whims take him and leans down to capture his lips.
He’s been trying to do that more—not hold himself back when it comes to him and Adrian.
It’s nothing heated. Just spur of the moment impulse. And afterward Adrian smiles and says, “I have to do your makeup still.”
Which leads them to the floor, because neither of them want to stand for as long as this will take. Adrian sits in the v of Chris’s outstretched fishnet clad legs, up close and personal. This part is more comfortable for Chris, because even though he’s never worn makeup himself, he’s used to painted white faces and lipstick. It makes him feel like a member of some of his favorite bands. Adrian slips a wig on him and completes whatever look this is supposed to be, and Adrian tells him he looks perfect.
It isn’t until they get to the door that Chris feels a stabbing in his gut. A feeling telling him he can’t leave his trailer dressed like this, even if the cape covers most of the costume when held closed and he can wait till they get to the theater to put on the heels. Even though Chris knows he and Adrian could beat up whatever motherfucker looked at them wrong, the fear is still there. Haunting.
“Why aren’t we going?” Adrian asks when he hasn’t opened the door.
“I don’t know if I can go looking like this.”
Adrian doesn’t frown or pout like Chris expects, he just nods. “Don’t worry, I have a backup.”
He grabs something green from the bags he’d brought in earlier and hands it to Chris. It’s some sort of hospital gown and would completely cover his current outfit. If he took off the wig and heels he’d just look like some sort of escaped patient, perfect for Halloween.
“I got it in case you hated the other one. You can wear it the whole time or just until we’re in the theater, it’s up to you, dude.” Adrian kisses him on the cheek (tilting up on his toes to do so), and then helps him shrug it on.
Chris feels better about the whole thing after that. No pressure, he can take it off if or when he wants. But he still takes Adrian’s hand in an act of bravery and walks out to the car with him.
#
There’s a huge crowd of people outside the theater, which is a little place kind of out of the way in downtown Evergreen. Everyone there is dressed up, either like him or Adrian, or something else. Most people there are half-clothed but everyone there looks excited (if a little cold). Seeing them all out there, Chris realizes a crowd like this will hide him. He’ll blend in with the rest of them. He shakes himself and puts the wig and heels back on. Adrian happily helps him take the hospital gown off.
Chris tells himself not to bolt as he walks with Adrian to the line forming.
“This is going to be so fun! I think you’ll really like the show!” Adrian says. “Can we take a picture?”
Chris blinks. Almost instinctually says no. But then he pushes down is panic and shrugs, trying to seem cool and collected even though he’s freaking the fuck out right now. Adrian holds up his phone to snap the picture, and then a voice from behind them makes his stomach drop.
“Chris? Adrian?” It’s Harcourt.
“Hey guys!” Adrian turns around immediately, voice as bright as ever. “I didn’t know you were coming to this!”
At this point it would be too awkward to remain standing with his back to them, so Chris turns. He finds Adebayo in a black dress with a ripped-up-to-be-that-low neckline, her already curly hair teased a bit to make it look wild; and Harcourt in rainbow stripped black shorts, a glittery silver corset, and a bright red tomboy cut wig.
“Ads dragged me here. She said everyone should see this at least once in their lives.” Harcourt shrugs.
“And once was enough for Keeya. She doesn’t really like it, so I’m left on my own or dragging friends along. If I’d known you guys would be here I would have let Harcourt stay at home all broody!” Leota says.
“I don’t brood.” Harcourt argues.
“I come to this every year!” Adrian tells Adebayo. “I had to get an extra ticket for Chris when he said he wanted to tag along yesterday.”
“You got another ticke to this that last minute?” Adebayo gapes at him.
“I know a guy.” Adrian waves it off.
“Uh. . . hi.” They all turn to Economos, dressed in a simple suit (just the vest, no button down underneath) and a scraggly blond wig.
“Well jesus, if we were all coming we could have made a day of it.” Harcourt sighs.
And the rest of the conversation is quickly shut down as one of the theater workers comes up to their group asking who’s a virgin, which Chris thinks must be highly inappropriate, but neither Ads or anyone else says anything about it. She just points at Harcourt as Adrian points to him.
“He’s a super virgin!” Adrian says.
“I’m what?” Chris glares at him.
“Never seen the show at all, huh?” the worker smirks.
“First time.” Chris says slowly, understanding the joke now.
They reach up and draw what feels like an S and a V on his forehead with red lipstick, matching Harcourt’s V, and then looks around at the rest of the group. They all look questioningly at Economos, but he says nothing and the worker moves on.
“What?” Economos asks when they all continue to stare at him.
“You just don’t strike me as the type who’d come to something like this.” Adrian tells him flatly.
“Yeah, well, some friends in college took me one year and I thought it was fun, okay!” he shakes his head at them, looking annoyed that they’d question him.
Adebayo holds her hands up. “Alright! I think it’s cool that you like this show.”
“Thank you.” he nods at her.
The line starts moving then, and Adebayo holds her arm out to Economos, “shall we, brother?”
This makes him smile, and he loops his arm with hers.
Chris just blinks and follows them all in, holding Adrian’s hand so he doesn’t fall over.
#
They all get seats together, and none of them say anything about Chris’s outfit except that he looks good. He kind of feels better about them all being there, especially because they’re all dressed up, too, which makes him feel less along. It takes a while for the show to start, so Chris takes the opportunity while everyone chats to look around.
So many people in costume matching him and his team, but others just dressed in underwear or some other costume. Plenty of people with letters on their forehead. But what gets him the most are all the people—of a whole range of genders and presentations of genders, but definitively queer—holding hands and kissing openly, and the complete lack of any jeers or glares from the rest of the people here. It’s jarring and wonderful and, like his friends here, helps him relax into everything.
Until a group of people come out in front of the screen, one with a microphone, and tell all the virgins to get their asses up out of the seats, and then Chris feels like he’s on display and he isn’t sure he likes all of the attention right now. They ask all the virgins to come down to the front of the room, and Chris wobbles when he stands, sure that he’s going to stumble to the floor and make an ass of himself, but Harcourt, who looks equally nervous about being called up to the front, offers her hand and helps him stay on his feet all the way down.
They’re instructed to face the screen and bend over, and Chris feels like refusing the whole thing, but he does it anyway—solidarity with the rest of the “virgins”, who bend over, concealing nervous or confused laughs as they do. The person with the microphone instructs the seated crowed to yell “FUCK!” before allowing them to stand back up normally.
“Congrats! You all just got fucked by a whole room of people!” They say with a wink, then tell them all to fuck off back to their seats.
Chris can’t help but laugh a little at it all. He’s starting to figure out what kind of show he’s at.
The rest of the announcements and rules go on, with Adrian and about half the theater shouting out things as they go (“Sixty-Nine!”). Eventually, they get to the main event, and Chris joins in shouting LIPS! LIPS! LIPS! with the rest of the audience until a big pair of red lips show up on screen.
From there, it’s a strange experience for Chris. The audience, most notably Adrian, Adebayo, and even Economos, never stop shouting like hecklers as the movie plays on the screen. Chris can join in with the repetitive jokes (“Asshole! Slut!”) but the rest he’s left to simply laugh at or furrow his brow in confusion.
The movie itself seems older, which is why it’s so surprising when the character he’s dressed as—who he doesn’t catch the name of with everything going on—comes out. Things get quite. . . explicitly queer. This is a movie that didn’t come out in the last ten years like he’d expect for this sort of content, it’s something he could have found way back in his youth. Chris wonders where he’d be today if he’d had this movie back then.
He can’t follow the plot with all the heckles, and he’s trying to pay attention to the jokes and when to use the various props they’d given him when he entered the theater, but he doesn’t really care. It’s all a lot of fun, especially with Adrian next to him reciting things like he came out of the womb watching this movie. At the end of it all, Chris is tired and confused and knows he’ll 100% be coming back next year.
He feels a lot freer as he leaves the theater.
They say their goodbye’s to the rest of the group and then walk back to the car.
“Did you die for me at the end there?” Chris asks, then clarifies, “you’re character.”
“Yeah! It was actually perfect that you wanted to come this year; I’ve been every character a couple times over and this was my year for Rocky again. We got to match!”
“You’ve been every character? Even the girls?” Chris asks, hesitating at the car door.
“Even the girls.” Adrian confirms.
“You got pictures of those years?”
Adrian smirks. “I’ll show you when we get back to your place.”
Chris holds him to that as soon as they’re within the safety of his trailer, and after that they don’t last long in their costumes.