“Can you help me for a sec?”

“Sure,” Minseok answered Luhan, and leaned over to fasten Luhan’s sheath around his tattered green shirt. His fingers fumbled around the buckles before he stepped back. “Good?”

“Yeah, thanks. How do I look?” Luhan turned to face him, placing a green feather cap over his wispy auburn hair.

“Great,” Minseok answered him honestly, admiring his costume with revere. “You’re the cutest Peter Pan I’ve ever seen.”

“Peter Han,” Luhan said with a giggle, and then turned back to the mirror to adjust the sheath again over his slender hips.

“I really like those pants,” Minseok said innocently, while blatantly staring at Luhan’s in his green tights.

“Shut up, Captain Seok,” Luhan admonished cheerfully, and turned to give him a peck on the forehead. He drew back, long lashes fluttering over pink cheeks, and Minseok felt his chest tighten in adoration.

“Shall we?” Minseok asked, and then held out his left hand with a mischevious grin.

Luhan looked at his outstretched “hand”, which was secured inside a fake prop hook, and rolled his eyes. “Fix your hat, Baozi, it’s falling into your eyes.” With that he gingerly wrapped two fingers around Minseok’s hook and pulled opened the door. “Let’s go throw a kickass costume party.”

-

Kyungsoo knocked on Luhan’s apartment door only to find that it was already open. He pushed it cautiously inward and then stepped inside, relieved to find that it wasn’t half as crowded as Kris’s had been. There had been a fair bit of screaming over who’s house they should be at, but it was Luhan that said his parents would be away, ultimately winning the rest of them over. Kyungsoo observed the partygoers with wide eyes, realizing hotly that he was a little underdressed. The committee had organized a Halloween costume contest/ excuse for a party as a fundraising attempt, and the guests had definitely pulled through. He searched the room for a familiar face and was drawn, naturally, to Jongin.

Wow, he’s a God, he thought for what must’ve been the hundredth time that semester, but this time he meant it. Jongin had a sheet wrapped expertly around his chiseled body, leaving one shoulder and the majority of his tan legs bare. A crown of olive leaves sat in his hair, a thick leather belt held the flimsy sheet in place, and he wore a pair of strappy sandals that no one else in the room would be able to pull off. Save the red cup in his hand, he looked like the spitting image of Zeus walking among mere mortals. For a moment Kyungsoo could not help but stare, until Jongin turned his head in his direction.

Kyungsoo tore his eyes away, blushing even redder, and searched for someone else, quickly setting eyes on Baekhyun and Chanyeol, who were decked out to the nines in zombie makeup and were sneaking around attempting to scare people with their gory faces. To their right were Yixing and Jongdae, dressed respectfully as Sherlock and Watson, Yixing with his hair fluffed into a perm and Jongdae holding a monocle over his right eye. A spot-on Harley Quinn, an Iron Man and a Lady Gaga were standing talking with them, all in full-body costumes. All around, people milled about in equally elaborate outfits.

Briefly, Kyungsoo thought of going home and changing, but then gave a reluctant sigh and closed Luhan’s door behind him, stepping forward so he could be truly immersed into the party scene. He turned towards where his friends were standing, but was interrupted by a “Hey Kyungsoo!” in a sweet, clear voice. Luhan thusly appeared from the kitchen with Minseok in tow.

“Peter Pan and Hook,” Kyungsoo greeted them with a smile. “Cute.”

“Thanks,” Minseok grinned. “You look pretty good too.”

Kyungsoo looked down at his baggy panda onesie and immediately turned scarlet. “Yeah…sorry. I didn’t realize that you guys were so serious about the costume thing.”

“It’s ok,” Luhan said with a trilling laugh. “Look at Zitao and Kris.” Kyungsoo turned to the corner where Luhan had pointed, squinting his eyes to see in the dim lights. Zitao looked quite normal for Zitao, wearing leather leggings and a flashing silver shirt made of thin chain. The only things that really stood out as costume were a generous dusting of silver highlighter across his cheekbones and a pair of matching silver antennae on his head (when Kyungsoo inquired later, Zitao told him he was an alien). Kris had tried even less, in cutoffs, a floral print shirt and sunglasses, he told questioning people he was a surfer.

“There’s drinks in the kitchen,” Luhan told him from behind, and then was swept away to welcome more guests.

-

“Wow,” Baekhyun remarked when Junmyeon stepped into Luhan’s apartment. “Wow.”

“Hey guys,” Junmyeon greeted them cheerfully after squeezing his costume through the doorway, and then waddled up awkwardly. He had been transformed into a DIY ketchup bottle, giant pieces of cardboard cut so they created a bottle shape around his body and then painted red. It was so large that his arms couldn’t rest against his sides and instead hovered outside of the stiff contraption. His legs could barely move beneath, and were reduced to shuffling forward in tiny steps. To top it all off, Junmyeon had painstakingly covered every spot of open skin with red bodypaint, including his face. When he smiled the whites of his teeth glowed against his red skin with a queer sort of monstrous quality.

“Wow,” Baekhyun repeated.

-

Kyungsoo forced his way out onto the balcony and then slipped the panda hood off his face, in the cool air with relief. His hair had gone sweaty and sticky against his forehead from the fluffy hot onesie, and he sank back against the wall, tired.

“Hey,” came a familiar voice from beside him, and Kyungsoo jumped. Sehun stood to his right, surrounded by three girls in costumes that left very little to the imagination. Sehun himself sported a royal blue jacket with a high collar and long coattails, worn over tight pants and knee-high black riding boots. Thick gold chord crisscrossed over the hooks on his jacket like laces on figure skates. With the matching gold crown that sat atop his newly dyed velvet black hair, Kyungsoo thought he resembled a dangerously handsome vampire prince.

“Hey,” he answered him awkwardly, and then shuffled to the other side of the tiny balcony to give Sehun and his posse as much room as possible.

They stood like that for a while, the three girls chatting Sehun up while Kyungsoo desperately tried to ignore it, too hot to go back inside. Finally, the girls gave some simpering smiles and slipped back into the house, and Sehun sidled over to stand with Kyungsoo. “Having fun?” he asked in a distracted voice.

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo lied, and then scuffed his foot against the ground. “I wish I had a better costume.”

“It’s fine, you look adorable,” Sehun told him, still sounding slightly absent. “Sorry, I think I’m gonna go back inside. I might have a chance with one of those chicks.” He turned to open the door, and then looked back at the last moment. “Don’t move.”

“What?” Kyungsoo called after him, but he was already gone.

-

Sehun sidled up to where Jongin stood chatting with Sulli and said casually, “He’s outside.”

“I-sorry, what?” Jongin turned to him, breaking off mid-sentence.

“Kyungsoo,” Sehun answered him easily, grabbed his cup to take a sip, put it back in his hand with a disgusted grimace of, “Really? Ginger ale?” and then disappeared back into the crowd. Jongin looked after him for a moment, confused, and then turned apologetically back to Sulli.

“Give me a minute,” he told her, and she nodded with a bright smile, already turning to someone else.

Jongin found Kyungsoo alone with his back against the balcony, eyes closed.

“Hi,” he shyly greeted him, and Kyungsoo’s eyes snapped open.

“Oh-Jongin-hi!” Kyungsoo answered him in one breath, and then smiled hesitantly. “Hi.”

“I like your costume.”

“Thanks. I like yours too.”

“Thanks.”

For a moment Jongin was blank for words, unsure why he was out here in the first place, and in the awkward silence, found himself talking. “I just wanted to tell you- you’re really cool, and I’m sorry about what happened at Kris’s…you’re really great, like really so great, and I don’t want you to think I do things like that all the time, because I really don’t, I swear, I was just drunk and stupid and I’m sorry- I’m not even drinking tonight, see?” He took a breath, realizing that he was holding out his cup with a shaking hand, trying to show Kyungsoo that the liquid substance inside was mere ginger ale instead of beer. He pulled the cup back in, feeling immediately stupid, and his eyes darted down to his shoes.

Kyungsoo stood quietly in front of him, the sleeves of his onesie falling past his fingers and making him look even more adorable then he normally did. For a moment Jongin realized he was too terrified to even try to meet his wide eyes.

“You’re pretty great too, Jongin.”

For a moment Jongin doesn’t dare lift his head, afraid that he had merely imagined Kyungsoo saying the soft words, but when he finally does he sees that he is smiling affectionately at him, his eyes lit with amusement. “Y- you think so?”

“I do,” Kyungsoo answered him simply, cheeks flushed pink, and Jongin smiled goofily back at him.

“So…we’re good then?”

“We are.”

Jongin let out a breath of relief, and then nodded back towards the doors. “C’mon. I think the costume parade is about to start.”

-

“GUYS! LINE UP!” Jongdae screamed into the megaphone. Luhan slapped his hands over his ears while squeaking in pain, and quickly snatched the device from Jongdae.

“If you want to enter the contest, please line up,” Luhan corrected hastily, and then gave Jongdae a glare.

“I didn’t realize it was so loud,” he shrugged sheepishly.

“It’s a megaphone, ,” Kris said from behind him, and promptly stole it from Luhan to wolf call into it at the crowd.

“Ok, that’s enough with that,” Minseok said with a cringe, and gently lifted the megaphone from Kris’s hands to stash it away somewhere safe.

Junmyeon waddled slowly down the line of people, holding out a box for them to each pay the contest entrance fee of five dollars. The majority of the crowd gladly forked it over, the prize for winning the contest being a free ticket to grad. The whole set-up had been Kyungsoo’s genius idea, but the other boys and quickly managed to turn it into an excuse for throwing a Halloween party. They had marked out a crude catwalk with masking tape that went in a small circle around Luhan’s apartment for the parade. After Junmyeon had finished his painfully slow collection of money, the partygoers crowded to one side of the cramped living room and Kris proceeded to turn on some wailing music over the speakers.

“OK, ONE BY ONE NOW!” Jongdae screeched over the music, and everyone collectively winced. “WE ARE THE JUDGES, SO YOU BETTER IMPRESS US WITH YOUR STRUT! LEAVE IT ALL OUT THERE, MOTHEREEERS!!”

Slowly but surely, people began to dance down the catwalk, one by one or in partners. At first they were self-consciously hesitant, but Kris cranked the music up even louder and the guests loosened up.

“Oh, I think he's gonna win,” Jongin laughed to Kyungsoo after a boy in a horse mask went neighing down the runway at a full sprint, and Kyungsoo laughed back, the two grinning from the balcony doors where they had unconsciously looped fingers.

Zitao stood with Sehun and Jongdae to the side, the three of them scrutinizing every costumed person that strutted down the walk. Girls in cat costumes, guys with superhero capes and built-in muscles, and small groups dressed in matching  themed outfits all skipped down the runway, happily drunk and laughing.

“C’mon guys, let’s go down too!” Baekhyun yelled at them, and then the committee members slowly made their way over to the line-up so they could take their chance at the catwalk as well. He and Chanyeol went first, zombieing their way down interspersed with questionable dance moves. Next were Luhan and Minseok, who scampered down with smiles on their faces, clearly happy to have thrown a successful party. Kris, Zitao and Sehun walked down with minimal interest, all of them with their hands shoved in their pockets like gang members. Yixing and Jongdae danced their way, Yixing very impressively and Jongdae decidedly less so. Kyungsoo and Jongin strolled down swinging their conjoined hands, laughing as they did so. Last was Junmyeon, who bumbled down the catwalk with his red hands sticking out to keep his balance, attempting to strut but unable to in the bulky bottle, and instead managing to look even more cumbersome than he already did.

Parade complete, the prize was forgotten as people opted to instead continue dancing, spreading over the small apartment while pumping their fists. This would continue in a similar fashion into the early hours of the morning, and the committee would forget all about the prize until a week later when a group of sophomore girls stopped Junmyeon in the hallway, demanding to know the winner. Flustered, Junmyeon would quickly write down an IOU on a scrap of paper, hand it to one of the angry girls, and scurry away before she could protest. 

A/N: Hello hello! Look at me, bringing this back. You may have noticed (but probably not), I changed the chapter titles so now they're actually related to the content instead of just "Chapter 1, Chapter 2" etc. Also, I'm sorry that this is becoming so Kaisoo oriented...clearly I have an OTP. If there's another pairing in this au you'd like be feautured more, just let me know. And as I said on the last chapter, please please please send in prompts! I need some more inspiration. But as always thanks for reading and I hope you're having a great day <3