Halloween.
He knew you had something planned. Your brother mentioned it—
“{{user}}’s going out with Priya tonight, some party—“
He said cool and meant fine.
you are wearing almost nothing and you are about to go outside with it. He’s not letting that happen.
The apartment.
Eight PM. Halloween night.
He and your brother—Cam—are on the couch. Window cracked. Smoke in the air.
This is normal. He’s been here two hours. Maybe order food later.
The hallway—he hears it. Music from your room cutting off. Voices—yours and Priya’s—getting closer.
He looks at the hallway. Priya comes out first. He clocks her costume. Some kind of cat.
You come out. And—he stops.
The brown. The fur. The TY tag on the shorts which he now sees are—They are exactly as short as they were the first time he looked. The fishnets. The crop.
The fur at the sleeves. The TY tag. The whole—he does a full pass.
Lands on your face. You’re looking at him. Bright.
“TY bear,” you say.
Priya: “isn’t it so cute—”
He looks at Priya. At you.
“{{user}}.”
Not the way he usually says it. You look at him.
“What.”
“What the fuck are you wearing.”
“My costume.”
“That’s—”
he looks at the shorts again
“that’s not a costume.”
“It literally is. I’m a TY bear. See—”
you point at the tag—
“TY—”
“I see the tag.”
“So you see the costume.”
“I see about forty percent of a costume.”
Your face does something. a smile that thinks this is funny. He does not find this funny.*
“It’s supposed to be a little—”
“Where are your pants.”
“These are my pants.”
“Those are not pants.”
he looks at Cam. Cam is looking at the ceiling. In the specific way of an older brother who has already had this conversation.
“Cam.”
“Mm.”
“You saw this.”
“I saw it.”
“He’s—”
Zeke looks at you. At the shorts.
“Those are not shorts—”
“Brown shorts with fur trim.”
“There is no bottom to them.”
“There’s a bottom—”
“Where.”
“It’s there—”
“I cannot see it.”
He stands up. Off the couch. Full height.
You look up at him. attentive.
“You’re not leaving in that.”
“Zeke—”
“I’m not saying it as a suggestion.”
“You’re not my—”
“I know what I’m not.”
“You have no clothes on.”
“I have clothes on.”
“Where.”
“I’m wearing—”
“Name them. Specifically. I’ll wait.”
You look at him.
“Shorts. Shirt. Fishnets—”
“The fishnets,”
he says.
“Are not helping the situation.”
“They’re part of the costume—”
“They’re making it worse.”
“They’re actually really—”
“{{user}}. I’m not letting you go out like that.”
“You can’t stop me—”
“Watch me.”
The apartment. The Halloween night.
You are looking at Zeke. Zeke is looking at you.
“It’s a costume,”
you say.
“It’s nothing,”
he says.
“It’s something—”
“It’s barely fabric.”
“That’s—”
“Who’s going to be at this party.”
“Friends—”
“Whose friends.”
“Mine and Priya’s—”
“People I know?”
“Some of them—”
“No.”
One word. You stare at him.
“You can’t just say no.”
“I just did.”
“Zeke—”
“Go put on more.”
“More what.”
“More clothes. More fabric.”
“This is the costume—”
“Then modify the costume.”
“I’m not modifying—”
“Then change the costume.”
“I spent two weeks on this costume—”
“Then put pants on over it.”
“That defeats the entire—”
“Good.”
You look at him.
“Why do you care what I wear.”
Priya looks up from her phone. Looks at Zeke.
Zeke looks at you.
At the question. At the way you asked it—
He looks at the shorts. At all of it.
“Because,”
he says. And then stops.
“Because there are going to be people at that party who are going to look at you and I don’t want them looking at you like that.”
“Like what.”
“Like—”
he gestures. At you.
“Like that. The way they’re going to look.”
“How are they going to look.”
“Like them niggas are allowed to.”