Vignettes: Halloween Costumes

Miles entered Costume Plaza with awe. He'd never seen so many costumes in his life! He didn't know where to begin looking. He was eventually drawn to a rack near the entrance labelled "LAST MINUTE COSTUMES!". He swept through the rack, until he discovered a bag filled with army wear, labelled "Demolition Hawk". The name sounded somewhat familiar to him. Curious,  he brought the bag into the changing room to jog his memory. He pulled on a long pair of camouflage pants, slipped on the large, heavy boots, and stuck the helmet on his head. However, it seemed like an incomplete costume. Where was the shirt?

His question was answered when he felt a sudden pressure inside his body. He felt himself lurch up to the ceiling, almost doubling in height. Then his body burst outwards with pounds of muscle. His chest comically inflated like balloons into perfect slabs of luscious meat, while his stomach pulsated until a beautiful pair of abs emerged from within. His arms and legs swelled up in quick succession, growing to almost unrealistic proportions. Dark tattoos pierced through his skin, elaborately decorating his right arm and torso. His jawline reshaped itself into a squared off visage, finished off with a perfectly manicured beard.

Astonished, Miles ran a hand across his meaty body, feeling his plump pecs. He traced a finger across the tattoos that adorned his bicep, involuntarily flexing his arm in the process. He looked familiar somehow. He stroked his chin partially in thought, and partially to scratch his facial hair. Suddenly, he remembered. Demolition Hawk! From that gritty 90s army cartoon! He used to watch it with his dad all the time before he started school. He had always admired Demo, always wanted to be like him when he grew up. "Guess I got my wish" he said in a low, rumbling voice, flexing his arm with a grin. Hopefully the Halloween event didn't have too strict of a dress code.

"Out of the thousands, maybe millions of costumes they have in this place, you decided to go with that?"
"Fuck yeah bro! Don't I look awesome? I got muscles and everything!"
"Don't you think you look a little, well, old now? We're only trying to gatecrash a frat party. There'll be a bunch of dumb jocks living it up while you look like you're heading to a truck stop"
"That's because I'm a fuckin' trucker bro! 'sides, it's just a costume. They'll all be wearing 'em for Halloween, they won't notice shit"
"They won't notice you're clearly at least a decade too old to be partying at college?"
"You ever been to a party? I could be fuckin' Gandhi and they'd be too drunk to even care. Why does it matter so much anyway? Am I ruining your Legend of Zelda cosplay that'll toooootally make you blend in with the frat boys?"
"You know he's called Link and it's not cosplay, I went with the budget costume so..."
"Whatever. Fucking nerd..."
"Can you stop acting like an asshole for one second! You're only dressed like a trucker, no need to act like one too"
"Here's a thought, why don't you suck my cock? Yeah check that out, so thick and juicy! I bet your elf cock is like non-existent"
"I can't deal with this... Make your own way to the party, trucker boy!"
"Fuck, no, wait, you can't abandon me here bro! I was only kidding! Wait!"

I can't believe mom grounded me on Halloween Night! And that she still went to supervise the community center's Halloween event! Well lucky for me, Costume Plaza has free same day delivery for the big night. I only really needed a mask, something that covers the face so my mom won't recognise me if I get caught. I opened up my package and pulled out a shiny, black mask with blue lightning and stars stitched on. A tag attached to it said "Lucha Libre - Maduro" in stylised letters. I don't know any Spanish, but I do know it's the sort of mask that Mexican wrestlers wear. A perfect disguise! After making sure nobody was home, I pulled the mask over my head, adjusting it slightly to make sure it sat well. It was a little loose, but certainly worth the price for quality alone. Now I needed to find something to wear with it. I yanked on the top of the mask to take it off, yet it stayed put. I tried to lift it from the sides, yet it still wouldn't budge. I grew concerned, did I fall victim to some awful prank where they coated the inside with glue? I couldn't go to the hospital, my mom would kill me!

It wasn't until I felt a tightness across my chest that I realised something else was wrong. There was a loud rip as my shirt split in half. I stared down in horror, watching as my torso grew thick and brawny, dark hairs bursting out of the skin. I couldn't believe it, I thought those reviews were kidding when they said the costumes were magic! The rest of my body followed suit, my arms swelling to sizes that shredded my sleeves to pieces. My legs tripled in thickness until I had to spread them to keep myself standing. As the powerful display came to an end, I pulled the rags off of my body, mourning the loss of my favourite T-shirt. Then I darted upstairs, noticing how heavy I felt and how my thighs rubbed together as i moved.

I rushed to the mirror in the bathroom, taking in my new beefy appearance with a smile. I looked so awesome with the hairy body and the brawny build. Yet there was something off with how I looked. My skin looked rough and calloused when i was expecting something more youthful. I brushed a hand against my chin, shuddering at the sandpaper texture of my steel grey stubble. I recalled the label on the mask. Maduro... Mature... Carefully, I dug my fingers underneath the mask and held my breath as I peeled it away from my head. I was greeted to a vision of myself in three decades time. I had a rough, grizzled visage that made me look like a gangster thug. The grey stubble appeared to coat the rest of my lower face, with only a few pinpricks of brown to break up the pattern. My hair had considerably shortened to half an inch, a similar pattern of salt and pepper spread throughout. At least it hadn't started to fall out... But all in all, I think I looked pretty good. There was no way my mom would be able to recognise me at the party now, even without the mask! I have to keep it on of course, otherwise I might miss my window to change back and it would be difficult to explain how I ended up a decade older than my parents...

My costume finally arrived in the mail, and just in time for the office party tonight! I did a lot of research and found Costume Plaza was the perfect place for authentic costumes. I'm not exactly a remarkable guy, or a confident one. So I was hoping this costume would help me. I stripped down and climbed into the leopard print singlet, stepped into the leather boots and tied the gauntlets around my arms before checking myself out in the mirror. I looked like a goof, everything was oversized. And I was showing off more skin than I felt comfortable with. Yet I persisted, hoping the reviews really were true. After a minute, I sighed and tried to undo my belt. That was when I felt the spark.

I felt myself inflate like a balloon, my whole body swelling up with pounds upon pounds of muscle and fat, filling my stick-thin self until I had the strapping, mighty look of a power-lifter. Curly hairs fluffed into existence, itching their way across most of my hulking form with a mix of ginger and grey. I felt a tickle under my nose as a huge red beard sprung out from my face, surrounding my mouth in a beautiful goatee. Finally, I was further dusted with hair as it abandoned the top of my head, leaving behind the horseshoe shadow of what remained.

Believing it to be the end, I rested my hands on my waist and took in my full reflection with a smile. I looked just like an old-timey muscle man, the kind you would see at a Victorian carnival. It's incredible what technology can do nowadays! I posed a few times in the mirror, feeling my confidence grow with every posture. I was going to be the hit of the office, that's for sure!

Max looked at the pile of clothing his dad chucked into his lap with curiosity. "What's that?" he asked.

His dad chuckled. "It's your halloween costume of course"

Max prodded the heap with a sigh. "But I wanted to be Kylo Ren this year..."

"Tough nuts" his dad replied. "I thought it would be cool this year if I dressed up like a child and you dressed as if you were my dad. Come on, it'll be fun!"

Max sighed as his dad left to get into his own costume and dug through the clothes. They all looked way too big for him, and he'd never seen his dad wear any of them before. He didn't want to try them on, yet something compelled him to. After slipping into the multiple layers, Max waddled over to the mirror, holding up his massive jeans, and snorted at his reflection. There was no denying they were too big for him. The more he looked, the harder he laughed until there were tears streaming down his cheeks. However, his childish chuckles soon turned into a room-shaking, deep laugh that made him stop. "What was that..." he pondered aloud, immediately grasping his throat as he heard the rich bass that escaped him.

Looking back at his reflection, Max was further stunned to see he had experienced an unexpected, unparalleled growth spurt, and was now towering over the top of the mirror. It was as the costume had made him grow to size, as it now fit him like a glove. Frightened, he took a long step back and ducked down to see his face. He let out a loud shriek, muttering "I... I'm... I'd bald!". He brought a large, calloused, hairy hand up and fumbled with his head, feeling the smooth skin and short stubble that was left of the curly, shaggy hair that used to adorn his scalp. The costume had actually made him grow older, sending him straight into middle age. And with his receding hairline and prickly beard, he could almost be the spitting image of his own father.

Max was lost in his own disbelief at what had happened, until a squeaky voice jumped him back into reality. "Great, you put your costume on too!". Max turned around to see a young boy close to his former age dressed in a Kylo Ren costume and holding a plastic bucket. He lifted up the mask with a toothy grin.

"Dad...?" he asked, recognising him from some old family photos.

The boy shook his head. "Call me Greg. Tonight, you get to be the dad and I'm your son. Now let's get going before all the candy is gone!".

Greg ran out of his bedroom with a cheer, and Max looked back to his reflection. So his dad... Greg's costume idea was to literally swap their ages so they could be father and son? It sucked that his own father took his costume idea, and the chance for him to trick-or-treat that evening, but this was a much more interesting development. "Dad..." he muttered under his breath, scratching at his furry chin. He liked the sound of that, and he was beginning to grow attached to his balding, bearded face. He felt powerful and dominant in ways he'd never felt before. His eyes crinkled as a small smirk crossed his face. Maybe there was a way he could make it last longer than the evening...