Jon was in the bathroom, adding a bit more paint to his cheeks, so it really stood out. His costume was simple enough, a set of ears, a tail, and a yellow shirt made for a quick and simple Pikachu. It wasn't his costume of choice but it wasn't really up to him.
When they went over it, the invitation he got was strange. It had the place and time, a list of activities, the standard message that he was sure everyone got sent, but then there was a part that Sarah had personalized. It had his name, but it probably had been directed at Reagan and his literal copy of the invitation had copied some extra requirements that Sarah had included. Jon didn't know if he was under the same restrictions as his excitable inviter, but this party was important enough that he didn't want to risk it.
Reading between the lines, it sort of sounded like Sarah doubted the existence of Reagan's boyfriend, and was using the party to challenge his availability and devotion. There were just three extra requirements that seemed simple enough. First, while the generic invitation said “costumes encouraged”, the extra rule said “costumes mandatory”. Second, they had to be there right at six, when the doors opened, And finally, on top of all that, they had to be a pair. Not twins, but a matched set of some kind. Otherwise, and Sarah's instructions were very clear about this, they would get thrown out.
As that was the worst thing that Jon could possibly think of, and Karyn wasn't willing to give Sarah the satisfaction, a couples costume of some kind was required. And while Jon had a pretty awesome Darth maul costume that he had been building up the last couple of years, Karyn did not. They talked over their options, and decided that the best bet was for Karyn to go as a Pokemon trainer, and for Jon to paint his cheeks red and whip together a quick homemade pikachu.
His phone buzzed with a picture from Karyn. A selfie, taken from her car, indicating she was on the way over. Ash Ketchum had never looked so fetching, and the look was not harmed at all by the fact that the shirt and vest that Karyn was using didn't seem to have adjusted to her new physique.
Jon grinned and took his own selfie, so that he could respond to her message with a shocked Pikachu face. He washed the brush and cleaned up after his extremely rudimentary face painting and headed for the door.
He didn't get to the door. A formidable creature of the night intercepted him. Zoe, as it could probably be guessed, loved Halloween. And she went all out. It's hard to describe exactly how what she was wearing in preparation for the party she was planning to attend was different from the black dresses that she wore any time that she could get away with, but there was a difference. Even without the makeup and fangs, Zoe looked like she was dressed as a vampire. There was just something about the attire that made it a little bit extra. The black velvet, the silver chain adornments, the lace and the stockings, it was quite a lot of outfit. And if it wasn't being worn by his younger sister, Jon may have spent a little bit longer looking it over. But it was, and as Karyn was on the way, he didn't have time and tried to get past.
“You're going out, dressed like that?” Zoe said, amusement and mockery in her voice. Her eyes flicked to the four elements of Jon's costume, all of which were homemade and had been made in the last hour. She didn't even need to judge him for him to be found wanting, that's how lame his costume was. And being able to echo mom's disapproving tone was an added bonus.
“Yeah, had to make something last minute. We have to be dressed as a matched set and this was the only thing.” he explained, sheepishly. It sounded lame, even to him.
Zoe just shook her head. “Jon, Jon. If you want to impress people you need to have a costume that impresses people. You know, like this one.”
Jon bit back a sigh as the magic began. He had spent several hours yesterday in girl's clothes. Luckily, nobody but Karyn had triggered the “school spirit” thing that Sarah had added. It had gone away as soon as he changed, but from lunch until after school was still longer than he had wanted to wear a skirt. And sure, he probably could have asked the right question and gotten guy clothes back, but it was a little bit too risky for him to do it alone. All of Karyn's focus had been turned with a vengeance to the party. To be fair, his excitement for the party also made it hard to think on other things.
“Here, have a copy of mine.” Zoe inevitably said, and like what happened with Sarah, she somehow grabbed a copy of her outfit, platform boots and all, and pasted it over Jon's “costume”.
“Thanks Zoe," he said sarcastically, looking down. It was hard to get an idea of what his outfit looked like. Well, other than looking at what Zoe was wearing. It didn’t feel the same, though.
She rolled her eyes at him. “Whatever. Your outfit looks fine, but the face paint is stupid. I don't even know what you're trying. Now, if you excuse me…” She stepped past him into the bathroom, the door locking with a click a moment after. She was probably finishing up her own costume, with makeup and all of that, but the facepaint thing gave Jon pause.
A selfie to Karyn illustrated it perfectly. Jon, in the vampire dress, still with his Pikachu red cheeks. It looked really stupid. Somehow, stupider than the Pikachu had looked by itself.
With the kids bathroom occupied, he ducked into his parents room. His phone rang on the way, and he answered it, putting it on speaker phone.
“I don't know what we're going to do.” Jon said, wiping at his cheek. It hadn't dried completely, so it was coming off better than he had hoped. “I don't have any other costumes ready to go, much less one that matches.”
“We don't have time.” Came Karyn's voice from the phone. “I don't even know if you can get out of that dress without us being late.”
There was a moment of silence, and Jon read the instructions on the packet of makeup remover wipes before pulling one out.
“Okay.” Karyn said slowly. “I have an idea. It's not a great idea, but we don't have time for one of those. I'm two blocks away. Get ready as the vampire as best you can, and bring the wishing stone. We can lock it in the car or just wish it home or something, so we don't have to worry about it at the party. But I think I have a solution.”
