Vivian was settling in surprisingly well within Oakhaven High and the drama club. It had been almost a month since he started school and Halloween was just around the corner. Halloween turned out to contain a major annual event within the community of Oakhaven. On top of allowing students to wear their costumes to school on the day, Oakhaven High held a halloween themed open house followed by a masquerade dance each year. It served to show off different club and class projects along with the first parent-teacher conferences of the year, and give the students a reason to stay so the community can keep the kids safe and out of trouble. The open house even had a costume contest with different categories, and the drama club would open up their costume storage to rent out costumes and accessories.

Theodore had obviously gotten excited when Vivian had given him the flyer of the events the school was holding. Vivian also thought he caught something else briefly from his stepfather’s eyes. Theodore seemed to portray a sad nostalgia for a split second. Vivian shrugged it off as a trick of the eye and didn’t question Theodore.

It was the week of the open house and excitement was in the air everywhere Vivian went. Everyone was discussing what costumes to wear (Philip obviously choosing a prince, but not knowing which type), how to decorate club rooms (Mr. Aristotle quickly shot down Philip’s suggestion to make the music room look like a palace) and who to invite to the dance portion of the event. (Vivian had no comment on the subject of dancing…)

Vivian had been arriving at the club meetings early all week and had decided to already start on hand sewing the costumes that would be needed for the play in December, along with patching the costumes they already had. Mr. Lawson had quickly agreed, and had left out a stack of costumes and materials for Vivian to work with.

One of the first things Vivian was taught by the backstage crew in his old drama club was how to sew by hand. It was a useful skill to know when working on a budget, or just needing to adjust a costume for a different play or actor. It was also an easy way for Vivian to just zone out or unwind.

He was working on a new prince costume for Philip when a tall teenage boy that he didn’t recognize walked into the club room. Vivian was grateful for his ever present hoodie to sink into out of habit. As he continued to work on the prince costume he peeked at the teenager from underneath his hood.

The teenager had long dirty blonde hair that was loosely pulled back into a low ponytail. He wore a dark green button-up shirt with the top buttons undone, and a loose plaid tie. His pale green eyes were accented by a small beauty mark under his left eye. The more Vivian watched the boy as his came in and sat in a chair like he owned the place, the more Vivian thought that he should recognize the teenager. He couldn’t think of any possibility of who he was though.

Before he could say anything the teenager spoke up. “You are working on yet another prince outfit for Princey? You shouldn’t pamper him so much Vivian.”

Vivian put up some more defense at hearing his name from this stranger. “How do you know who I am?”

“Oh yeah. You haven’t officially met me yet. I’m Loralai’s twin brother Azazel Soledad. I’m technically a ghost around here.” So there was a ghost member of the drama club? Azazel sighed. “Since my sister and I are in a special class and course, you wouldn’t have even see me around school either. It’s so tiring to always have to introduce myself to everyone. I know my sister doesn’t like talking about me, but it saves so much time.” Azazel leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.

Before Vivian could say anything in response to Azazel’s introduction and complaints, a flash of red ran in and clung to Vivian. “Snowy~! Help me decide what I should be for Halloween!” Philip pleaded with Vivian, not noticing Azazel.

“Aren’t you going as a Prince, Princey?” Azazel opened one eye and made himself known.

“Azzy! It’s rare that you are the one to show up. Is Loralai pouting about something again?”

“I ate bacon.”

Philip nodded knowingly and said nothing more, but Vivian was still confused and out of the loop. He couldn’t say anything though because Philip turned back to him and continued with the previous conversation. “Snow, what prince should I go as this year? I need to know who’s personality I should channel.”

“What about the miller’s son from Puss in Boots at the end of their story...Charm?” Vivian took a quick awkward glance at Azazel before using Philip’s nickname. He had finally gotten used to calling Philip that in private, but he was still shy calling him “Charming” in public.

“Ooh! Or the Norwegian version ‘Lord Peter’! And you can be my Kitty Cat!” Philip started going on a tangent about how to put together Vivian’s masquerade outfit, without even waiting for Vivian’s confirmation. Vivian had gotten used to Philip taking the lead most of the time by now, but Azazel just shook his head and went back to relaxing until the meeting began.

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Azazel couldn’t help himself when he cooked up the whole package of bacon inside of his cousin’s fridge. He hated the vegetarian diet his sister had forced them on recently. She was free to take on any diets she wanted to, but he refused to be constrained. She quickly found out like always though. Now she was yelling at him like every time he didn’t line up with her ideal image of him. Any time he acted as himself.

“You know it’s pointless if only Loralai follows the diet! You monster! Loralai hates you!” Azazel wished he could comfort her, but it was impossible. As usual she was the emotional one, and he was the one whose face barely shifted from a blank look. “Loralai’s not going to school until you admit your mistake! You can take care of everything in Loralai’s stead!” Azazel sighed and knew he would have to wait until she calmed down before he could reason with her.

As Loralai pouted Azazel went and plopped down on the couch in the living room. Soon his cousin-in-law Fintan Branson came in and sat down next to him.

“How are you holding up? You want me to get you anything, or maybe just be someone to talk to? Bottling up your feelings doesn’t help anyone.”

“I know. It is just a bit hard to be suddenly moving around so much. It was always just Loralai, Mom and I in that house. Now being bounced around from the Grandparents to your house is a bit jarring. Not that we don’t appreciate you guys taking us in even though you guys are newlyweds.” Azazel made sure to show his appreciation to his new cousin-in-law.

“Well then, no more moving around, I promise.” Finny gives him a bright smile. “You guys are staying here until you two get sick of us. We love having you here. As much as I adore my Honey Bear, it was weird being just the two of us after I spent most of my life with a big family around. If either of you need anything you just have to ask… Even if it’s not a need, feel free to ask. Afterall, you’re family now.”

“Will you convince Loralai to stop her weird diets when she shows up later?” Azazel asked sarcastically.

“.... I learned a long time ago not to meddle in the convictions of powerful girls. I can talk to her if you want, but the last time I had a heart-to-heart with a woman about changing her ways…. Let’s just say there’s someone who terrifies me more than your cousin and I’d rather slit my own throat than piss her off a second time.” He shutters at the memory.

Azazel let out a rare small laugh. “That’s true. I’ll leave you alone and go study. Apparently I now have to be the one studying for both of us twins.” Azazel rolled his eyes as he left to go to his room and study.

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Philip shook Azzy awake after the drama club meeting was over. “Azzy, do you want to join Vivian and I as we pick out Halloween costumes? Mr. Lawson gave Viv a key to the storage room, so he has free rein to come and go. We have to pick out the good costumes and accessories before someone else lays claim.” Vivian stood behind Philip and just nodded slightly. Already verbally agreeing to go through costumes while Azzy was still conked out. “I’m sure Loralai will forgive you if you can get your hands on a cute costume for her.”

“Ugh. Fine, let’s go. I can make sure you don’t go overboard with Vivian and your costumes. Not like the storage room is far anyways.” Azzy rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed at Philip for waking him up. Philip didn’t pay it any mind though, since he was too excited to finally have a justified reason to be a prince. Not that he needed an excuse.

“Are we going then? Don’t forget that I have to pick Theodore up from work.” Vivian interjected.

“Of course!” Philip jumped back to cuddling Vivian. He had only recently started to get away with this new pastime. The reluctant Vivian could only give a slightly annoyed look, making Philip the only one who wasn’t currently annoyed.

They waited as Azzy picked up his dark green messenger bag, then headed over to the storage room next door. As Vivian unlocked the door, Philip internally planned out exactly which props Vivian was going to need.

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Vivian opened the door to reveal a humongus room packed to the brim with props and costumes. There were at least ten large racks of costumes, and multiple shelving units with drawers for the accessories just on the left side of the room. The right side had various background props against the wall, and stacks of boxes labeled as different types of props. Vivian’s first thought was awe from how large the room was, then he noticed and appreciated that it was at least nicely organized.

It was a lot of props and costumes, so Vivian wondered why they still needed more built and made. As they went in to search through the clothes, he got his answer. A lot of the costumes were made with specific plays in mind, and specific sizes. Instead of reworking costumes, they kept making new ones so as not to ruin the old costumes. Vivian’s mind started working on how he could rework the costumes now that he was in charge.

Vivian turned towards Philip who had immediately got caught up looking at the rack marked “Prince(y)” upon entering. Philip had mentioned that Mr. Lawson only allowed him to enter the storage room once a week to borrow his prince outfits, but he didn’t mention to Vivian that he had a whole rack dedicated to him. Vivian just rolled his eyes.

“Don’t forget you are supposed to be helping me find a cat outfit Charming.” Vivian secretly gave Philip an amused look before turning to Azazel. “So what kind of costume will appease your sister, Azazel?”

“Pink, frilly, anything girly really. She loves to show off how different she is from me. We hate being compared to each other, but since we have the same body and look to us, it’s impossible not to compare us.” Azazel sighed, but still went to the rack of dresses to find the frilliest dress the club owned.

Vivian could see that although he complained, Azazel still cared about his sister a lot. Vivian wished he had a sibling he could share that kind of bond with. Maybe then his mother wouldn’t have done half the stuff she did. Vivian’s mind started to wander and remind him of his past with his mother. Philip unknowingly came to the rescue as usual.

“Vivian, I found some cute cat ears and tail for you!” Philip hurried over with a thin headband that had fluffy black cat ears attached, and a soft cat tail that had a safety pin to attach it to the costume it would be paired with. "Then we can pair it with one of the prince costumes and we can match!” Philip smiled brightly at Vivian, and all of the inner voices were pacified.

After a moment to compose himself, Vivian quietly agreed, doing his best not to sound overly excited at the idea. “Sure, I guess we can go with that.” Philip nodded, already knowing Vivian would agree to his ideas, then went back to his personal rack to find a prince outfit that resembled the cat in Puss in Boots.

Vivian looked between the two other teenage boys and thought of the rest of the club that he had been slowly getting to know over his first month in this new school. When Theodore had suggested the idea to move Vivian had been afraid that the emotions and inner thoughts he had faced up until that point were going to only get worse in a new environment. He was terrified that he would become permanently paralyzed from everything. Instead he had slowly been recovering and been able to form bonds with more people. If he had stayed in Eastedge it would have been impossible to get out from underneath the thumb of his mother. Here in Oakhaven though, here he was accepted.