Depending on our whims, sometimes my big brother and I would sleep in his bed, sometimes in my bed. If one of us went to bed before the other, we would use the bedroom of the one who went to sleep first. But regardless of whose bed we had shared during the night, it was always thrilling to awaken in the morning in my forbidden lover's presence – typically, in his protective arms.
This was especially true one particular Saturday morning. We had gone to bed together well after midnight, after watching all three
Sailor Moon
films consecutively. That night, having drifted to sleep in my big brother's arms, my dream had been full of images of us dressed as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen, as we had been once at an anime convention a few years earlier. But in the dream, we were high atop a Tokyo skyscraper, looking out across the neon night at Tokyo Tower in the distance as he stood behind me, fondling me with exponentially-growing lust as I braced myself against the tall fence at the edge of the roof...
Awakening in the morning, I found myself once again in my big brother's protective arms, my naked body pressed snugly against him underneath his Escher-style bedspread. The remnants of my dream not having truly been dispelled by full consciousness, I felt as if I was being kissed on the forehead by Tuxedo Kamen himself, even though part of my mind realized that it was my real lover's real kiss upon my real forehead that was stirring such real warmth in my real belly.
It was in those awkward, disorienting, hazy moments, caught in that fuzzy mist between dream and consciousness, that I decided that we should again dress as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen for Halloween.
*****
Fortunately, we had decided to keep the Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen costumes after the anime convention, and our parents found them in the attic and shipped them to us. I was studying in my bedroom late one afternoon when my big brother returned to the apartment with an announcement: "They've arrived!"
I abandoned my homework in my bedroom and found my big brother standing at the table in the living room, about to delve into the box with a pocketknife. Moments later, he pulled out my Sailor Moon costume from nearly two years earlier, and a sense of pride filled my chest, for I had made the costume almost entirely by hand.
I knew that some alterations would be needed for both costumes. I had actually grown an inch in height and filled out a little more around the chest and hips in those two years, and he had grown nearly two inches in both height and waist. Clearly, I would have some work to do on the costumes, but I was actually looking forward to the task.
While I worked on the alterations to the costumes, my big brother took it upon himself to scour our collection of anime music for a good mix of
Sailor Moon
music he could burn onto a CD so it would play on constant loop during the three hours the neighborhood kids would be in the building for the typical Halloween trick-or-treating. It was so good to hear the music again – songs from the series and the films, background music, karaoke versions of my favorite songs, and even some one-liners from both the Japanese and English versions of the series and films that he had stored on his laptop. But he still was not done, for once he had selected the music and one-liners and sound effects for the CD, he then spent several hours on a Sunday afternoon essentially blending them all together into a nonstop aural
Sailor Moon
orgy.
*****
At last, Sunday October 30 was upon us. Halloween itself had arrived.
The anime posters on the walls had been rearranged so that the
Sailor Moon
posters were easily visible from the doorway. The special CD my big brother had spent so much time creating was playing, loud enough to be heard from the doorway yet quiet enough to not intrude in any conversations. Although the volume was off, one of my favorite
Sailor Moon
episodes – the one where Usagi and Ami meet Rei – was playing on the TV screen via continual-repeat VideoCD playback on the DVD player. A recently-purchased life-size plushy Luna toy was perched upon a sofa arm, also in easy sight of the doorway. Thanks to eBay, two new, unused decks of
Sailor Moon
playing cards waited atop the small bookcase by the door. And I was already dressed as Sailor Moon, standing at the kitchen counter, pouring bags of Tootsie Rolls into a large bowl and trying to maintain my willpower (so unlike Usagi!) so that I would not devour the candies before the neighborhood children arrived.
He finally stepped into the tiny kitchen. The Tootsie Rolls bags now empty, I simply gazed upon him fondly for a few moments as I felt his eyes tracking all over my body. My Tuxedo Kamen looked wonderful, even better than the animated version I knew so well. I only hoped that I portrayed Sailor Moon with equal effectiveness and allure.
Then my big brother stepped forward, took me in his arms, and kissed my lips with the same tender, heartfelt affection with which Tuxedo Kamen kisses Sailor Moon, with a gentleness that heralded love and respect yet with an awesome power that vacuumed the breath from my lungs.
We stood together in the kitchen for several minutes, kissing and hugging and caressing each other. I could feel the hardening within his slacks, and I was certain that he could feel the hardening points upon my chest. Yet, we kept our actions clean.