Fancy Dress

It was a horrifying and sadly familiar sight.

"You're covered in moogles."

"I know! Isn't it awesome?"

"You look—"

"Just how you did when you were running around Yusnaan!"

Lightning collapsed down on the couch, very aware of Snow sprawled on the other cushion, failing to suppress his smirk.

"How did you even—"

"You were the Savior, sis! Lots of people knew who you were, including this one fashion designer sitting at a café in Yusnaan. With you running in and out of the city all the time, he started sketching your different outfits, and now he has his own boutique and an entire line inspired by you! And one of them was this!" Serah twirled, sending the moogle hugging her head bobbing. "I know it's one of your more unique outfits, but it's Halloween and it reminds me of Mog! It's perfect! Sis? What's wrong?"

Serah stopped her pirouettes and focused on Lightning, whose face was now buried in her hands. Snow chuckled and patted the distraught woman on the head. "C'mon, Sis, it's not so bad. I don't think he saw the full extent of your collection."

"Not helping, Snow."

"Though he definitely saw that cat outfit of yours."

"The miqo'te outfit?" Lightning groaned. "This just gets better and better."

"And Serah may or may not have bought said outfit for you to wear to the party she's throwing on Saturday."

Lightning froze, dropped her hands from her face, and turned narrowed eyes on her sister. "What?" she asked, a dangerous edge in her voice.

"Oh, relax," Serah said, sticking out her leg and examining the printed leggings. "You don't have to wear it if you don't want to. But they had it on sale, in your size! So I just had to pick it up. It's so cute, and perfect for the holiday, and you would look so amazing in it!"

"No."

"Awww, c'mon, Sis!" Snow cajoled, his smile still too big. "It's just for one night! And you know Hope would love it."

"No." Lightning glared at her brother-in-law, but he just grinned, completely unfazed. "You just want to see me make a fool of myself."

"I do not. You really think that lowly of me?" Lightning's scowl was enough of an answer. "C'mon, you know you want to wear it."

"She doesn't have to if she doesn't want to, Snow," Serah reprimanded, still craning her head to examine her entire outfit. "Though," she said to Lightning, "I think you would have more fun in it than you realize. You should at least consider it. Now, what was I thinking when I bought this outfit? I have no shoes to match."

"Just wear your black boots, baby," Snow suggested. "They'd look fine."

"But they're not fancy enough!"

"They'll look fine. Go get them and you'll see."

Serah huffed and darted out of the room. Lightning still sat on the couch, staring at the area her sister had just vacated. Snow chuckled and rubbed his hands together. "Sis," he said, "I just don't get you. There is nothing in this entire world that I think truly fazes you. You can take on just about anything. But the moment Serah even suggests you wear a slightly more revealing outfit than normal, you panic."

"I am not panicking—"

"So answer me this. You were willing to run all over Yusnaan in that outfit because it gave you an edge in battle. You didn't give a damn about what anyone thought of it and you because you knew that the powers it gave you outweighed the cost of wearing the thing.

"It was the same with that evening gown, and the weird shorts with the skirt thing, and hell, even Serah's moogle outfit. But now that that edge doesn't exist, you wouldn't dream of wearing any of them. Why not?"

"You've answered your own question. Why wear something like that when I don't have too?"

"Why not?"

Lightning huffed and glared over at her brother-in-law. "Are we really having this conversation?"

Snow just looked back at her. "I think it's interesting. You had this devil-may-care attitude about wearing the clothes and it was pretty badass. I'm just wondering where that Lightning went." He sighed and slapped his hands on his knees, propelling him up to standing. "I guess I'm going to have to tell Sazh that I lost our bet. He said you wouldn't be caught dead in the miqo'te outfit. I bet that you're secure enough in your own skin to wear it to Serah's little party. But if you're too afraid, I guess I'll just have to kiss that money goodbye. No worries, though, Sis. I understand."

He walked away calling for Serah, mussing her hair as he left. Usually such an act would lead to immediate retaliation, but Lightning was a little stunned as she mulled over his words.

She was afraid? Of clothing? Of revealing clothing?

Oh hell no. No way. Snow was full of it, as usual. Her old uniform consisted of a mini-skirt, for crying out loud. But... the miqo'te outfit was on it's own level. Wearing that just screamed that she wanted attention. It would draw people's eyes, and then they'd want to talk to her, and she really didn't want that, did she? She didn't want people to notice her just because of her attire. Especially men.

Or did she?

Maybe for one night, it could be kind of fun?

It's not like she hadn't worn it before, after all.

And it might be nice to see a certain someone's reaction...

Was she actually considering this?

Oh, Snow was going to pay.

She stood up from the couch and strode out of the room. "Serah!" she yelled.

Hope checked his watch as he hurried up the front steps of Snow and Serah's home and winced. He'd been held up at the office and then it took forever to drive home so he could change. But he was here now and that had to count for something. He just had to hope Serah wouldn't be too mad.

He let himself in and blinked in surprise. Snow and Serah threw parties on a pretty regular basis, and he'd been to a few, but they were usually small and informal. This... This reminded him of the few times he got dragged to frat parties back in college on Cocoon.

The lights were off, replaced by a throbbing strobe light and glowing black lights set on the walls. Serah had decorated, spreading cobwebs, spiders, and plastic jack-o-lanterns up and down the front staircase. Loud music blasted from the living room. But most of all, the rooms were packed with people. He'd had an idea of the number from all the cars parked out front, but in his immediate vision, there wasn't one person he recognized.

When had they made so many friends?

He made his way back into the living room and heard his name being called. He turned to see Serah elbowing her way through a group of laughing girls; she flung herself at him for a hug. "Hope!" she cried. "You're here!"

"Yeah," he said, steadying her as she pulled back. "Sorry I'm late."

"No worries; we're just glad you made it! Nice costume!" She reached up and flicked the pompom on the top of his beanie. "I feel like I should probably recognize it, but I don't."

"It's from a kid's book they have in this world. I looked up men's costumes and this was the first easy thing that popped up; just needed a striped shirt. You look great, by the way."

She laughed and spun around, stuffed animals swinging in all directions. "Everyone thinks I'm crazy, but I love it! And it's Halloween, so why not?"

"Indeed."

"Well, it's nice to see you, Hope. Lightning's in the kitchen; she'll probably want to see you too. Make sure you get some food; I made tons and Snow got a keg, so there's plenty of everything for everyone."

He nodded. "Thanks, Serah."

She grinned and skipped back to her friends. He shook his head at the sight. He knew that costume, but Lightning just didn't quite ham it up the same way. Ah, well.

He cut through the living room. Snow waved from where he was sitting on the couch with some other guys, including Noel, and Hope waved back but didn't stop to talk. He walked right into the kitchen and stopped up short.

The kitchen was just as crowded as the rest of the house. Not surprising, as that's where all the food was. What was surprising was the number of men, all packed around the island. All around her. Around her while was she was dressed like that.

His fingers twitched.

He'd seen the outfit before, a couple of times, but back then he hadn't been able to appreciate it the same way he could now.

She looked incredible. The way the skirt flipped out to highlight her figure, the slightly erotic flash of her thigh, and the long expanse of her tummy out for display... He'd seen skin from her, but this was different. She looked inviting or tempting or coy or some adjective that his mind just couldn't supply at the moment. She was leaning against the counter with her elbows back to brace her body and one long stocking-clad leg tucked behind the other.

Did she have any idea what she could do to people? To him?

No wonder all these guys were staring.

She didn't seem to be talking to any of them though, which was a relief.

He took a few more steps into the kitchen and she turned her head and saw him. The way her face lit up was gratifying, as was the way she immediately pushed herself away from the counter and made her way over to him, oblivious to the stares from the men around her. "You're late," she said.

"Yeah, I know, sorry. Got held up at work, as always."

She crossed her arms and looked him up and down. "I don't recognize your costume."

He laughed. "I don't blame you. It's from a kid's book and it was easy to put together, that's all. The better question right now is how many people recognize what you're dressed as."

She rolled her eyes. "Everyone just thinks I'm a cat. I don't even know why I let Serah make me wear the stupid thing; I look ridiculous." She started picking at the sleeves.

Hope reached out to still her hands. "I think you're wrong," he told her, as softly as he could without being drowned out by the music. "I stand by what I said back then. You look great in it."

She looked up at him, and his mind blanked for a second as her one hand slipped up to toy with her hair, and a look, stuck between pleased and startled, crossed her face. She looked so incredibly beautiful, and slightly vulnerable, and he frantically tried to commit her exact image to his memory.

The fleeting moment passed when Noel came up to them, clapping Hope on the back. He blinked, and by the time he recovered, Lightning's face was once more impassive. Taking a second to curse his friend, he turned to Noel. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hey, Hope, you look good! I like the glasses. You and Lightning kind of match; you've both got the red and white going on!"

Hope chuckled, realizing that he did have a point. "Maybe," he allowed, pulling his sleeves up to his elbows. He felt a bit overheated. "Where's Yeul?"

"Meeting some of Serah's friends from work. I don't know how much longer we're gonna stay though; being around this many people makes her a bit antsy, you know?"

Hope nodded. "I'm sure. It's a little weird for me too. Who are all these people?" He addressed the question to Lightning.

She shrugged, her arms once again crossed in front of her. She looked a little annoyed. "Ask Snow. I don't really know any of them either."

Noel shook his head. "It's crazy. Everyone seems nice; there's just a lot of them. Anyway, Hope, did you get my email? I sent you one last night."

"No, I didn't." Hope scratched the back of his neck. "I just barely got off work, and I haven't checked my personal account today. What was it about?"

"I sent you the plans for Yeul's car. I wanted you to check that everything was in order before we start getting it built. No rush or anything, I just wanted to make sure it got sent okay."

"I'm sure it did; I'll try to get it—"

"You can do it now," Lightning interrupted. Both men turned to look at her and she shrugged at their stares. "Might as well. Hope can pull it up on my computer. That way you'll both know it's done."

"It can wait until later," Hope told her, his eyebrows furrowed. "It's not a big deal."

Lightning shrugged again. "It'll give me a chance to check the upstairs. I don't trust all these people Snow invited. I don't want any of them in my room."

Hope looked over at Noel who just quirked his eyebrows. "Alright," he said. "If you don't mind. It won't take long."

Lightning nodded and whirled around to walk out of the kitchen, her skirt flipping around her legs as she did so. Hope had to take a second to recover after that little move, eyes stuck on her swaying hips. Noel must have noticed just where he was staring, as the man laughed and shot him a knowing look. "Good luck," he said, punching Hope's shoulder. "You're going to need it with her dressed like that."

Hope had to agree. He followed Lightning back through the hallways and up the front staircase. The strip of fabric partially encasing her thighs glowed in reaction to the black lights, drawing Hope's attention right to the sliver of skin above her stockings. His fingers twitched again and he had to fight down the urge to reach forward and touch her. Did she even know she was driving him crazy? She had to know.

She didn't look back as she led him down the hall. She glanced in each room they passed, but luckily, there were no couples to scold, not that Hope expected any. Her room was the furthest down the hall. Hope followed her in and shut the door behind him. The bright light from her lamp was a bit startling after the dim downstairs and he had to blink several times to help his eyes adjust.

Once the door clicked shut, Lightning whirled around and glared at him. "You know," she said, her voice full of irritation. "I was expecting a little better of a reaction from you."

Startled and still a little disoriented, Hope took a step back. "Light, what are you—"

She didn't let him finish. "I knew this whole idea was stupid." She set her hands on her hips and glared down at her outfit. "I can't believe I let Snow talk me into this. I couldn't back down after he told me about his stupid bet, but then he told me how you would love to see me in it, and I thought maybe he was right, and so I let Serah put it all together, but a fat lot of good that did me because you—"

"Wait, you wore that for me?" Hope gaped, stunned by that revelation.

She threw up her hands. "Of course I wore it for you! Who else would I be wearing it for?"

Hope didn't bother to answer that. The moment the confession was out of her mouth, he finally let his body do what it had wanted to do the second he saw her. He closed the space between them, slid one hand into her hair, wrapped the other around her back, and hauled her against him to kiss her.

Lightning gasped at the sudden onslaught and Hope took advantage of her parted lips, pressing deep into her mouth and letting her know just how much he enjoyed seeing her in this outfit. His hands let her know too, exploring every inch of available skin on her back and stomach. She gasped again as his fingers tickled her ribs, and Hope crushed her to him, one hand reaching up to brace the back of her head, allowing him to kiss her even harder, hard enough to border on painful. He released her mouth when she moaned and started working on her neck, running kisses all the way down to her collarbone.

"Hope," she whispered, out of breath. He tugged her hair a little, tilting her head back so he could suck right where her neck met her chin. Her fingers dug into his arms as she groaned, and he wrapped his arms more securely around her waist to steady her.

"Do you have any idea," he murmured against her throat, "how amazing you look right now?" He punctuated his statement with another kiss. "Lightning, you don't even know. Every man at this party had his eyes all over you. The moment I saw you, I wanted to shove you up against the counter and let you know just how good you look. Light, you just have no idea, absolutely no idea, how beautiful you are."

"You're just saying that."

He started himself by almost growling in response. She was the only one who could make him lose control like this; something about her just brought out an almost feral reaction. He grabbed her, pulling her even closer, and ran the back of his fingers along the back of her thigh before setting his palm against the skin that had been tempting him all evening. She shivered and he dropped one more kiss on her neck. "Do you really think I am just saying that?" he asked, voice low.

She hummed softly and pulled his head up so she could kiss him properly. "I guess not," she murmured against his lips.

"Good," he said, and settled back into kissing her. With her initiating this time, the intensity softened. Even his hands gentled, softly stoking instead of grabbing at her, and his soothing touches were rewarded by Lightning arching into his body. "You are so beautiful," he told her again, once she broke away to catch her breath.

She laughed quietly and smiled at him, looking adorable with her cat ears slightly askew. "So you've said."

He shook his head and released her waist in favor of grabbing her hand. "So what do you say to getting out of here? Snow and Serah have enough people here to keep them occupied. I don't think they'll miss us very much."

She smirked. "And where do you want to go? Back to your place?"

"Maybe." He reached out and fixed her ears. "After all, then you'll be free to purr as loudly as you want."

She took that in, and then burst out laughing and shoved him away from her. "What the hell, Hope?"

"Well, you're in a cat outfit! What did you expect me to say?"

"Oh, I don't know, something slightly less stupid?" Still laughing, she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the door. "Alright, let's go. Let me leave a note for Serah though."

He followed her out the door, still grinning. This was not what he had been expecting from this party, but he was not complaining. Except for the fact that he was going to owe Snow for the rest of eternity.

Now if he could just talk her into trying on the Amazon garb...

Notes

Needed some silly fluff after a very difficult week, so I wrote some! And yes it's way out of season, but oh well. Ideas hit when they hit! And yes, Hope is Waldo from Where's Waldo. Once I imagined him in the outfit, I couldn't picture him as anything else. You've got to admit, he'd look cute.

Hope you enjoyed and please don't forget to review!

SJ