Chapter Eighteen
Rus hopped out of the shower and used Kaiden’s blow dryer to air out his curls. Normally, he didn’t care about such things. But he wanted to enjoy every second of the day in his costume, which meant he needed to dry off quickly to get dressed.
Thankfully, Kaiden didn’t mind bringing a few things over to Rus’ apartment.
Not that he ever took Rus up on the offer to leave whatever oddities there that pleased him.
Kaiden believed in boundaries and somehow thought that, by letting his stuff pile up at Rus’, he’d be overstepping them.
Rus would have to work on that, get Kaiden to see that was what folks in relationships did.
However, that would have to come after celebrating Halloween.
First came the red contacts, then the fangs, and finally he clipped on his little elf ears. They blended with his perfectly. He’d have to thank Kaiden for that, since he picked them out, claiming the pair Rus wanted didn’t match his complexion enough.
Next, he grabbed his outfit, a perfectly tailored dress shirt, pants, and boots to embody Rus’ favorite murder happy vampire twink.
After getting dressed, he added his belt and a realistic fake dagger, then finished off the ensemble with an expensive white wig.
Courtesy of his mother, who loved cosplay almost as much as she loved her children.
Rus stuffed his laptop into his satchel and headed out the door to classes.
The first year on campus, Rus considered himself too cool at eighteen to dress up for the holiday.
Did it matter that Halloween was his absolute favorite day of the year?
No, not when his very sophisticated adult ego was at stake.
It ended up being his biggest regret. It also ended up being how he met Daysha, who dressed all out as some fairytale princess who carried a giant mallet with spray paint on the front saying ‘Not Your Damsel,’ and she proceeded to bop the ground between her and any guy who got too close.
Close to half the campus dressed up, from those showing off the assets they planned on bringing to whatever party they attended, to others who hid behind masks while causing chaos in the form of mischief and silly pranks.
“Aren’t you a little too old to be dressing up?” Landon asked with sass in his voice and swagger in his hips.
“Aren’t you a little too fruity to be dressing with that aesthetic?” Rus eyed Landon’s outfit up and down, always perplexed at how hard he tried to flex as some type of frat guy fuck boy.
Personally, Rus didn’t give a fuck what anyone wore. Someone’s aesthetic could fall wherever they felt most comfortable, but Landon had gradually, quite literally, straightened up his wardrobe since Rus had the misfortune of meeting him their freshman year.
Landon’s face turned sour, and he craned his neck to really revel in the height difference he had on Rus.
A truly transparent jab that brought a smirk to Rus’ face.
He knew full well he was a tiny tyrant who fumed with fury at any little injustice that crossed his path, but Rus never worried himself over being short.
Over the years, he never bothered defending himself to those who made their jokes on something he couldn’t control, allowing their insults to go over his head, so to speak.
With a smile on his face and a pep in his step, Rus swaggered away. He definitely added a bit more flair to his step, trying to emulate his favorite character. After all, if he was going to be a sexy vampire twink, he had to do the part justice. That meant more than dressing for the role.
“Don’t you look fabulous,” Daysha said as they met after classes for a late lunch.
“Of course I do, darling,” Rus said, poorly imitating the British accent of his character.
“Oh, you sweet thing, at least you got the outfit right,” Daysha replied with a perfectly posh accent.
Speaking of outfits, she’d shown up in a stunning white and gold dress that’d been ripped to shreds and covered in blood and dirt.
“Pretty fancy zombie.”
“Zombie prom queen,” Daysha clarified. “My mother took it upon herself to buy me this dress in case I wanted to look nice.”
“Nice for the right guy, I’m guessing.” Rus snorted, making his way through the café line.
“Or the right girl.” Daysha shrugged. “At this point, she’s so desperate I don’t end up alone, she doesn’t have time to be homophobic.”
“I mean, it’s still homophobic. Acephobic? Just plain ole queerphobia.”
“Meh, it’s whatever.” Daysha grabbed a sweet treat to add to her tray. “I posted a video this morning on how to turn designer into decay, and I’m still waiting for her response.”
“She might be stunned speechless.”
“My mother? Never.”
“So, any big plans for Halloween, or was shredding mommy’s money the main agenda?” Rus asked as he led the way to a free booth.
“Himbos with a few folks from Pride. I think they’re hosting a costume contest if you’re interested.”
“Maybe, I will be downtown.” Rus shrugged. “Kaiden’s taking us to some fancy gala, and we’re going to wander a bit. It should be fun.”
“Us?” Daysha pursed her lips. “So that means the whole boyfriends plural thing is working out?”
“Yeah, it’s been nice,” Rus answered. “The real test will be the next few weeks. Lots of holidays and I’m gonna have to go home quite a bit.”
“Worried they’ll be happy without you?”
Rus paused. It genuinely wasn’t something he feared. Though the idea didn’t thrill him, he didn’t want Kaiden and Dylan to put a stop to things every time Rus had to leave town.
“More worried I won’t be happy without them.”
“Awww.” Daysha took a big bite of her burger. “You’re disgusting.”
Rus ended up taking a second shower early that evening before Kaiden and Dylan arrived.
It turned out his costume was not as light and breezy as one might think, and the weather hadn’t exactly gotten the memo that Fall had rolled in.
Nope. It was hot and muggy most of the day, but thankfully, as the sun set, the lightest of breezes kicked in.
As someone knocked on the door, Rus fumbled to throw together the last touches of his costume before answering.
“Well, well, well, don’t you look lovely,” Kaiden said, tipping his bright pink cowboy hat.
While Kaiden stayed true to his heart, wearing a corset vest, he’d picked a costume that worked well with it. His hat and boots were bright pink, while the rest of his western getup was white with dark brown. Almost. The lace lining of his vest matched in a similar pink.
“Darling,” Rus said in his poor accent. “You look delicious.”
“Always do.” Kaiden’s cheeks burned bright red at his own bravado, but Rus really enjoyed it when inadvertent confidence slipped from Kaiden.
He stepped inside, making room for Dylan’s grand entrance. Only Dylan slinked up wearing a plain black shirt and some ripped jeans.
“Seriously?” Rus quirked a brow.
Ignoring Rus’ question, Dylan revealed two single black roses.
“For you, my lovelies.” Dylan handed Rus and Kaiden each a rose. “Careful, they still have their thorns.”
“You didn’t consider getting some without thorns?”
“On Halloween?” Dylan pressed a hand to his chest, feigning shock.
Rus chuckled in response, awaiting Dylan’s outlandish reasoning.
“Perish the thought,” Dylan said. “Tonight’s a night when sweet, lovely things should be a little scary, and very dangerous.”
His grin almost charmed the irritation right out of Rus. Heck, he almost outright swooned, but Rus sniffed the beautiful black rose and gently set it on his desk with Kaiden’s rose. Then he turned back to Dylan and frowned.
“And what lovely thing are you supposed to be tonight?”
“A superhero.” Dylan shrugged.
“Where’s your costume?”
Dylan huffed. “You’re as bad as Kaiden.”
“He’s the worst when it comes to dressing up,” Kaiden explained. “Outright refuses. I’m surprised he even spun this story of being a superhero.”
“Because neither of you would stop badgering me if I didn’t pick something.”
“You didn’t pick anything,” Rus said. “You can’t just say you’re a superhero and not show up in a costume.”
“Personally, I think it’s an affront when you could be rocking sexy spandex,” Kaiden added. “You realize this is like one of my last free nights for the foreseeable future?”
“Huh?” Rus turned his attention to Kaiden.
“I landed a retail gig. It’s only part-time, but it’s over the holidays, so I might as well just blow my brains out now.”
“Damn, and you’re still working at the gallery?”
“Uh-huh, full-time. Hence why a hammer to the head would probably make the next two months easier.”
Dylan folded his arms and pouted. “You could skip the whole sixty hours a week of work and—”
“Sixty-five to seventy, if I’m unfortunate enough to be that lucky,” Kaiden interrupted. “But I need it if I’m going to save up to get away from my family.”
“And when they find out you’re working a second job?” Dylan asked. “What’s to stop them from magically increasing your rent?”
“They wouldn’t do that,” Rus stated, genuinely stunned by the prospect. “Would they?”
“They won’t have time because I’ll be out of there soon enough.”
“Because you have a plan to move out,” Dylan said with a surprisingly surly expression.
“The very secret plan you won’t tell us anything about?”
“Why are you ganging up on me?” Kaiden turned his attention to Rus, who wanted to pry a bit more for answers. “We should be ganging up on him for no costume.”
Kaiden gestured to Dylan, who sighed. Rus rocked his head back and forth, conceding to challenge Kaiden and return to hassling Dylan.
“You two are the worst.” Dylan dragged himself over to Rus’ desk. He grabbed a marker and a sheet of printer paper, scribbling on it. After he’d finished, he took a piece of tape and stuck the page to his chest.
“Not all heroes wear capes,” Dylan read off his little message. “Or spandex, I guess.”
Rus wanted to smile at that, at the added extra effort to placate him and Kaiden.
“Come on, we have a party to get to,” Kaiden declared.