The Costume

“A minor infection or where pigs live? Three letters.”

Kevin looked up from his phone, “Sty. How long have you been working on that damn thing?”

Ben ignored him and scribbled the letters on the folded paper. The two of them sat in a pair of cheap rocking chairs of a type often seen discounted outside of department stores. Kevin rocked back and forth erratically while Ben rested back, one leg propped up on the other. On the nearby stoop, John leaned against one of the porch’s four pillars. He flicked his cigarette into a nearby flower pot. “What’re we waiting on?”

Kevin held up his phone. “I want Amanda to text me back and make sure we’re invited. I don’t want to spend fifty bucks on a costume and then not get to go to the fucking party.”

John nodded. “And if we’re not going?”

“We’ll just buy a bunch of booze and head back here, I guess,” Kevin said sullenly and resumed his rocking.

Ben tapped his pencil against the paper. “We should go out instead. Maybe even in costume. Plenty of girls will be out wearing sexy witch outfits and getting wasted. I mean, I’m sure Amanda’s party would be fun, but there are other fish in the sea.”

Kevin furrowed his brow and looked away from the others. The air was crisp and campus was quiet. The large parking lot near their fraternity house was almost empty as the last few Friday classes let out. The stream of students going to and from class had dwindled to a small trickle. The other houses along fraternity row looked similar to their own, quiet with perhaps a few young men lounging around their front doors, all enjoying the calm before the storm. The last five days had been nothing but warnings and safety announcements and threats from administration. Everyone knew it was mostly bluster to cover their own asses in case something happened. Roadblocks would be set up to quarantine the campus, and the nearby bar district from the residential areas of the city. The rules were not said out loud, but they were still clear. Stay in your area, you can do what you like, and we’ll help look after you. Wander from that area and face the consequences of a righteous society. Kevin liked the simplicity of it. He liked being locked in with the madmen. “You know, I think you’re right, actually.”

Ben looked up in surprise. “Well that’s a fucking first.”

John pulled out another cigarette and clicked his lighter several times. “So we’re not going to Amanda’s? Are we still getting costumes?”

Kevin nodded. “Sure, why the fuck not.” He clicked open his phone and quickly texted the girl he’d been pining after for several weeks. He explain in curt terms he no longer needed an invitation. With no hesitation he sent the text and promptly deleted her number. He resumed his anxious rocking. “You know, I get the whole ‘hard to get’ bullshit. I do. You want someone to want you, and that’s fine. But I think it should be the lure not the constant chase.”

“What do you mean?” Ben said as he scribbled another answer on his crossword.

“I mean, I don’t think girls who are interested in me should walk up and say, ‘here’s my pussy want to fuck.’”

John chuckled. “That would be refreshingly straightforward.”

“But they aren’t wired that way,” Kevin rambled on. “Men are wired for one thing. Getting our dick wet. From back when we were running around in loin cloths and fighting bears in the woods and shit. We wanted to live long enough to get some strange, make a kid, and then die. Women need something else. They have to stay alive to take care of the offspring. They like community and safety and all that. But we aren’t fighting the wilderness anymore. I should be able to tell a girl that I like her, find her attractive, and, if she’s amiable to the idea, would like to dance the bed sheet tango with her.”

Ben chewed the end of his pencil. “Have you actually tried that? Did you text Amanda about the ‘bed sheet tango’ or your totally not offensive stance on instinct driven sexuality?”

“No, because we live in a society.”

“Correct, and in that society you have to play a little cat and mouse. If a girl walked up to you and said the thing about her pussy, wouldn’t you be suspicious?”

John coughed. “I’d get out of there like a bat out of hell.”

Ben nodded, “Because we’re conditioned, too. If we don’t earn it, we don’t trust it. Our brains are too goddamn smart for us.”

Kevin stood up and stretched. “Text the rest of the guys. Tell them we’re going out, and they can meet us at the Globe if they want. Tell them to dress up.”

John took out his phone and started a flurry of typing, “Seems like a bit of a one eighty for you.”

“Just need a few holiday spirits in me.”

“How do they make money with these things?” Ben asked as they all climbed out of John’s SUV. They had come to a mostly abandoned shopping mall on the edge of town. It was only used for seasonal shopping, Christmas tree lots in the winter, fireworks stands around the fourth of July, and as mega stores for Halloween.

“Low overhead, high demand,” John answered. “Kev, you coming?”

Despite himself, Kevin spent the drive over to the costume store with his thoughts lingering on Amanda. He watched his phone carefully, expecting to see her number pop up with a confused message attached, but nothing came. “Yeah,” he stumbled after them. They stepped past several large displays of yard decoration and into the warehouse-like shop.

The whole store was in a massive disarray. Dozens of people moved quickly from aisle to aisle, some carrying costumes or bags of candy, all moving through the chaos of the store’s final hours. By the end of the next day, the whole store would be packed up and whisked away to some storage facility to await the next year. Ben and John picked up various items and showed them to one another. Plastic skulls, strands of lights with pumpkin bulbs, different masks, and kits for face paint. Occasionally, a pack of kids would rush by them, usually carrying some variation of superhero outfit. Kevin lurked along behind them, occasionally glancing at the clumsily stocked shelves. They went further into the store and the crowd thinned and grew older. The families with their children were busy in the front while college aged and slightly older men and women perused the shelves at the back.

They finally paused on an aisle with racks of full length adult sized costumes. “Have any idea what you want to go as?” Ben asked to no one in particular.

Someone stepped out of a nearby rack causing Ben and John to jump. Kevin looked up from his phone to see why his friends were startled. Before them stood a tall, slender woman with a gaunt face and deep set eyes. Her attire seemed better suited to the Victorian period, but it was difficult to place as something out of time, or as something hipster-esque, or as a plain old Halloween costume. She smiled, lips painted with black lipstick peeling back to reveal bright white teeth. “Do you need any help choosing a costume?” she asked in a lilting, musical voice.

Ben backed away slightly. He knew something wasn’t right. He had looked at where the woman emerged from only seconds before, and she had not been there. It was as if she had stepped out of thin air. “Do you work here?”

Her eyes flicked to him for a moment, but when she answered, her gaze went back to Kevin. “Yes. I’ve worked here for many years. I love Halloween, don’t you? It gives us the chance to explore what we could be. We wear masks to show who we really are, to liberate us from what society has wanted us to be. Now then, you three gentlemen must have plans for the evening? A private party or a night on the town?”

John answered, “We’re going out. Thought we’d dress up.”

The woman smiled again. “Costumes have several basic options. Scary, of course, is the one people think of. Lots of matted hair or gory makeup. That’s probably more suited for haunted houses and the like. Come this way.”

Ben and John hesitated to follow the woman further into the racks, but Kevin pushed past them. “Come on, we could spend hours looking through all this stuff. At least she might be able to find something that fits us.”

The woman stopped two aisles over, reached into a rack, and pulled out a very, very long colorful scarf. She rolled it between her arms and held it out to Ben. “Another avenue is famous characters. These are good for meeting people by proudly displaying a common interest. If a pretty young thing shares that interest, you are more likely to develop a relationship. Think of it as direct advertising.” Ben took the scarf, and she handed him a few other items including a long trench coat and a broad rimmed hat. “Dressing room is down that aisle and to the right. Try it on.” Ben nodded, an excited smile creeping over his face. He loaded his arms up with the costume and wandered off in search of the dressing room. The woman turned her attention to John, “The clever costume is something effervescent. It can be a timeless pun with a modern spin or a trite pop culture reference turned on its head. Above all, the goal is to demonstrate a quick wit and a cutting sense of humor, sometimes even macabre. Follow.”

She wound her way through the racks for a much longer walk this time. Kevin started to wonder how large the store could be when she came to a stop. She picked up what Kevin could only place as a biker outfit, except with a tutu and a wand. John’s eyes went wide, “Holy shit, that’s perfect!” He snatched it from her, and she politely pointed toward the changing rooms.

“And last, not least, a costume for the man looking to find a certain kind of love.” She did not move, but reached to the other side of the aisle and pulled out a witch costume. It was a long dress with a tattered hem and low cut neckline. With it was a tall, pointed hat, and a pair of black, flat shoes. “Have you ever seen a shirtless young man out on Halloween night. It is clear what he wants, and some women would enjoy that, but there is little subtlety to his tactic. There is nothing to draw them in, nothing to make them desire or trust other than pure physicality. Sex, the actual act of it, is much more intricate than that. The costume can come off and a body is what it is, but the person is there as well. A woman makes love to the person, not to the body. So we take a more circuitous approach. We show humility and vulnerability while still displaying the body. We draw them in by removing the threat of the unknown, and we keep them with the charm of what’s familiar.” She held out the costume.

Kevin took it with hesitation. “This is a dress. I’d look ridiculous in this.”

“I promise it will fit you perfectly, but looking a bit foolish is part of the gambit.”

“How do you know all this stuff,” Kevin asked, suddenly very curious about the woman herself.

“I told you. I love Halloween.”

“Come on out!” Ben yelled.

Reluctantly, Kevin stepped out into the hallway of the fraternity dorm. He held the hat in his hand, but otherwise, he was fully dressed in the witch outfit. He glared at his two friends, daring them to laugh. “I can’t believe I bought this fucking thing.”

John, wearing his own bizarre outfit, shrugged. “I mean, for a dude in a dress, you look fine. I mean, you’re clearly a dude in a dress, but it’s Halloween right, so fuck it.”

“The hell are you even supposed to be? Some kind of biker ballerina?”

“If you don’t understand it, that’s a good sign it’s working.”

“Fuck off. Ben what are you doing? I’m head butting the first motherfucker to take a picture of me before I’m drunk.” When trying on the dress, he’d felt something click. Everything the store attendant had told him suddenly made sense when he looked at himself in the mirror. He could see the whole night unfolding. A pretty girl would walk up to him and giggle about his feminine costume. They’d hit it off, have drinks, and wind up back at his dorm room. Once he dressed at the house, he no longer felt that connection to the idea. Instead, he felt like a guy in a dress.

While Kevin looked over himself, Ben had wandered back to his own room. He returned carrying three red plastic cups. “I’m solving the ‘before I’m drunk’ problem.” He handed over the cups, each half full with a strong smelling clear liquid. “That’s about three shots worth so pace yours—”

Kevin turned the whole glass up and gulped down the burning liquid. He pulled the cup away with a coughing splutter and watering eyes. “Drink up pussies, it’s gonna get weird tonight.” The other two choked down their own glasses in a few painful swallows. “Alright, let’s go.”

Their cab arrived after they’d choked down another, more moderate, drink. The driver paid no mind to their costumes and drove them to the bar district with little conversation. Kevin sat between the other two, his dress riding up on him and making him uncomfortable. The hat stayed stuffed in his lap, and he spent the trip worrying about what people would think as the alcohol sloshed in his gut. By the time the cab jerked to a halt, the world had begun to swirl lightly as the alcohol entered his bloodstream. As they exited the cab, relief flooded through not just Kevin, but all three. All along the sidewalk, other college students wandered around in full costume. Most of the young men had opted for simple costumes or masks, while the women either went with over sized frumpy choices or borderline lingerie. While John paid the cab driver, a pair of coeds walked by, their breasts barely covered while wearing what looked like child sized red t-shirts that read, “red” and “hot.”

The Globe was their normal haunt. The bars were slightly territorial for the different fraternities, even on Halloween when the whole area was treated like a trick or treat strip for adults. As the three entered, they were not surprised to find a cadre of their friends already staking out tables for a long night. Whatever anxiety Kevin had about his outfit vanished immediately when several of his female friends complimented him, and the rest of the group seemed to follow their lead. In better spirits, he headed to the bar and ordered his first drink. As he did, he stood beside a guy he recognized from one of his classes. He didn’t remember the guy’s name, but they exchanged the usual nod of recognition. The guy looked away to watch the bartender, but Kevin found himself lingering on the guy’s forearms. Being quite fit himself, it was not unusual for him to notice other men’s physique, but this was different. Kevin looked at the curve of the guy’s forearm and desired it. He quickly shook his head and thanked the bartender as the whiskey was placed in front of him.

“What’s the matter with you? It’s early for the thousand yard stare,” Ben asked as Kevin sat down beside him.

“Nothing, maybe I shouldn’t have drank as much before we left is all.”

“Well, pace yourself buddy, we’re in for a long night.”

More people arrived. Kevin rose each time and shook hands or hugged. More people complimented him on his outfit, and he believed them. He really did look good. As the night progress, the clothes became more natural. He even started sitting more properly, keeping his legs together rather than splaying out underneath the table. The talk turned to old stories of when they were drunk before. The growing group told about their favorite costumes from when they were kids, and Kevin got a few playful jibes about going as a princess a few years. It didn’t bother him, instead he kept an eye out for a girl. He saw a few and talked to them, but they all seemed so boring after a few minutes. Inevitably he wound back up at his table with Ben and the others. After an hour, the conversation dulled in the din of the crowded bar. Instead, the patrons started to take photos and show each other things on social media. Kevin excused himself to the bathroom.

The men’s bathroom in the Globe was never in good shape, but it seemed the staff put in some effort to fix it up for the holiday. The lock actually worked rather than having to stand with legs apart to keep one foot against the door. Kevin ran the cold water and splashed some on his face. He looked at himself in the mirror. Something was wrong. He pulled off the witch hat and leaned closer to the mirror. His face looked different. He hadn’t shaved, but the skin was smooth to the touch. His jaw was less pronounced as well. “Christ, how drunk am I?” He hiked up the dress and pulled down his boxers. He groaned with relief as he emptied his bladder, but again curiosity seized him. His dick felt smaller in his hand. Moving back to the mirror, he stood on his tip toes to look at himself. “Maybe this mirror is curved or something.” Indeed, his whole body looked less broad, except for his hips, and he didn’t recall them looking so wide before. As he turned, the dress fell down from his waist. The smooth fabric felt nice rubbing against his cock, and he fixated on a particularly fiendish thought. The dress fit well enough to hide anything underneath it. He let the boxers fall to his ankles. Picking them up, he shoved them into the trash while pulling down the dress. One smoothed out, it was impossible to tell he was naked underneath. Satisfied with his appearance, he put the hat back on and returned to the party.

A thrill went through him as he made his way back through the bar, though not because of his new secret. A few people looked at him as he sat back beside Ben, but most people remained embroiled in shouting conversation back and forth at one another. Kevin listened and even joined in. Someone brought him a drink. Time seemed to warp randomly from incredibly slow to very fast. Through it all, he could only concentrate on one thing, a growing knot in his stomach. Something pulled, like a wench, drawing the sensation to the center of his body. The feeling grew and grew until finally, he felt something pop. Bewildered, his legs parted slightly, and he felt something completely foreign. His eyes darted from one person to the next at the table, watching them to see if they’d noticed anything. He could feel it, between his legs, or rather the absence of it. His cock was gone. He knew if he reached under his dress and touched between his legs, he’d find the swollen lips of a brand new pussy.

His heart thumped loudly in his chest. He tried to remain calm and was thankful for the loud music and distraction of the bar. Without a word, he calmly stood up, but Ben noticed. “You going to piss again?”

“Well, broke the seal you know,” Kevin replied, his voice cracking. His cheeks turned a bright red, and he walked away quickly. As he did, he became very aware of his ass. It seemed bigger than before, filling out the dress to an almost obscene degree. The heavy globes wobbled back and forth as he darted to the restroom.

With the door locked and double checked, he turned to look in the mirror once again. He gasped. Looking back from the mirror was a woman who could have been Kevin’s sister. The eyes were the same and much of the features, but it was certainly not Kevin. His attention went to a new feeling. The back of the dress tightened across his back. Looking down, Kevin saw new flesh pushing the top of the dress out. The fabric raked across his skin as breasts grew. “Holy shit! What the fuck is happening?” he hissed. He didn’t know what to do, but wanted to see for himself. He hiked up the dress over his knees, hesitated a moment after he revealed smooth, soft thighs, and then pulled up the rest of the way. The cool air rushed over his skin, and he stared down at the smooth, puffy lips of a pussy. The sight of it clouded his mind. Everything he didn’t understand jockeyed to dominate his thoughts, but a new strain of insidious thinking wormed its way in. I’m horny. The realization drove out all the other thoughts and a new ache started to develop deep inside of him.

Looking in the mirror, Kevin pulled down the top of his dress to look at his new, full tits. The pale white flesh dropped into view, topped with rosy pink nipples. The person in the mirror smiled, “Kevin….Kev…Kelly.”

A loud knock came from the door. “Kevin? You alright in there?” It was Ben. The vision of him passed through her mind. She’d seen him naked before and knew what waited behind his humble contemplative persona. Without hesitation, she opened the door. “Holy — oh geez, I’m sorry lady I —” Kelly grabbed his arm and pulled him with surprising force into the bathroom. She slammed the door behind him and locked it. Ben’s eyes were wide as he looked up and down at the half naked woman standing between him and the door. Her huge tits drooped over the turned down dress while her naked ass wiggled invitingly. He noticed the hat and his confusion doubled. “Was Kevin…?”

“It’s me Ben,” she cooed, moving closer to him. “I don’t know what happened, but I know what I need.” She grabbed his hand and put it between her legs. “Here’s my pussy, want to fuck?” Ben didn’t know how to react, but his body certainly did. Kelly’s hand went to his crotch to find his thick cock already swelling just at the sight of her. Reluctantly, his fingers started to move against her hot flesh until he slid a thick digit into her hot cunt. “That’s it, stud. Let’s get this monster cock out and you’ll feel so much better.”

She worked quickly on his pants, almost ripping them off. “Hang on…what do you mean? You’re not Kevin, you’re a girl. How did you get his costume?”

“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is —” her hand slipped into his boxers and took hold of his thick cock. Her palm slid down the length of his eight inches, admiring it in a way she never thought possible. “All that matters is getting this inside of me.”

The feeling of her small hand on his cock drove any further hesitancy from Ben’s mind. He shrugged down his pants and pulled her close to him. He brought her up to a kiss as his cock slid up between them, pressing against her navel. She couldn’t wait to have that full length inside of her. She considered her options and decided quickly. Pulling him with her, she moved over to the sink, bent over and presented her bald pussy to her friend. Ben took a moment to admire the view, his hands greedily palming her full ass. For a brief moment, his mind tried to grapple with the idea of fucking a female version of his close friend, but the sight of her was too enticing. Her ass wiggled in the air as her tits swung beneath her. The black fabric of the dress glimmered as she arched her back. Ben moved behind her.

Kelly was going mad. Each touch of his hand, each slight brush of his body against hers drove her up a wall. The ache inside of her was going to tear her apart if she didn’t satisfy it soon. She snapped back to reality as she felt him pushing behind her. His thick cock prodded forward, searching out the entrance to her wet slit. Guiding him with her hips, she angled so that he would find his destination sooner. The thick head pushed at her lips and with a pop, he slipped inside of her. Endorphins flooded her body. More and more of his cock pushed into her, spreading her apart and making her feel complete. She bit her lip not to moan or scream in pleasure. The bar grew louder with cheers and music. Ben started to pull out, but she wanted to keep him. She pushed back, stuffing his whole length into her virgin canal. She gurgled in pleasure at the feeling of his cock buried inside of her. Reluctantly, she let him pull out, only to be rewarded with the feeling of him pushing back inside. She could feel each inch of his cock as it slid inside of her. She’d never known what a woman felt and envied every moment she’d been without it.

Ben’s hands grabbed her hips as he started to build up speed. He length plunged into her again and again. For his part, he couldn’t understand what madness had led him to that moment, but the idea of fucking such a hot woman in the men’s bathroom was almost enough to make him cum in his pants, let alone balls deep inside her wet, hot pussy. His arms wrapped around her and she raised up slightly, grinding her ass into his abdomen as she bounced up and down on his cock. He felt the pressure building and knew he should pull out. He tried to push her back so that he could removed himself, but she remained where she was. He started to back away, but she slammed back into him again. “No, cum inside me! I need it!” she said with a maddened fervor. “That’s right, Ben, cum inside my hot little pussy, you know you want to.” It was too much for him.

He groaned as his cock started to spurt cum into her. With no turning back, he grabbed her hips and forced her back and forth along the length of his cock, urging out the torrent of cum. Kelly went rigid, her body in a full spasm of pleasure. Her breath was a ragged syncopation of elated gasps, each triggered by cum splashing inside her. She massaged her tits and pinched her nipples while looking at herself in the mirror. She was beautiful and full of cock, what more could she want. As the rush of cum stopped, she let him slip out of her, but immediately turned around and dropped to her knees to lick his cock clean. She smiled as she looked up at him, letting his half erect cock slap against her cheek. “Let me get dressed, and we can go continue this party somewhere else. If that’s what you want big boy.”

Ben couldn’t answer, but nodded in bewilderment.

Kelly stood up and pulled the costume down over her freshly fucked pussy. She could feel the warm cum sliding down her thighs. She pulled the dress up high enough to cover her tits, but low enough so that anyone who wanted a peek wouldn’t be disappointed. She grabbed the hat and put it on. Kelly had no idea what was happening to her, but she didn’t care. Maybe she would wake up in the morning beside Ben, or some other guy, as a man. Maybe she’d spend the rest of her life as a cock hungry witch as some kind of moral lesson taught by a cursed outfit. She didn’t care either way. Turning to Ben, she gave his cock a hard squeeze before opening the bathroom door. “Come on. I want you to buy me a drink before we go.”