Work Text:
“Say cheese!”
With a quick camera shutter, Barbara Ann waited for the Polaroid to snap the last out of several photos she had taken. For a mother, it was necessary to have some sort of memento that showed your child when they were dolled up for an event. It was enough for her to forget about asking her children where they managed to get the money to buy her such an expensive vintage camera. Her phone went off to remind her that she needed to go.
“Are you sure your date will be picking you up,” Barbara Ann set the camera down nearby as she scrambled to get her work bag. Even as she was scrambling to get to work, she used the time to fix Dragona's hair while she ran around grabbing what she needed for her upcoming shift. “I've never met this guy and he's taking my child to senior prom of all places!”
“Mom,” Dragona gently put their mother's hand down just as Barbara Ann reached for their flower crown to readjust the petals. “I'll be fine! I sent a text to my date a while ago and he's probably driving here by now. Now, you go off to work! I don't want you to be late just because of me.”
“I wish I could have taken the whole day off,” Barbara Ann placed a hand on Dragona’s cheek, caressing it. “I would have been able to see you to prom. My baby… all grown up… doesn't Dragona look lovely, Jodio?”
“Yeah,” Jodio didn't even look up from his phone as he leaned against the wall texting someone. He had been silent the whole time that neither mom nor sibling remembered he was there; Barbara Ann couldn't take photos on her iPhone at all and Jodio had to step in to take a snapshot. To both her and Dragona, Jodio’s voice made it sound like he was uninterested and possibly more interested in sending obscure memes to his Discord servers than enjoying the current moment with his family; then again, he has seen Dragona in the dress constantly, and doing trial makeup looks for the past few months. It didn't matter much to Dragona though, knowing how their brother tends to be. “I hope the corsage he will tie on your wrist matches your dress,” Barbara Ann mused. “Do take a photo of him putting it on you. I wish I could get to witness that moment myself.”
Staring at themselves in the mirror, Dragona couldn't help but smile as they admired their prom outfit while their mother talked. Barbara Ann bid her children goodbye as she rushed out the front door. “Let me know when you're home,” she called out. “Jodio, keep the door locked until Dragona comes back! Dinner's in the fridge!”
Dragona looked at their phone again, noticing their last message to their date was left on read. That was rather bizarre, given that the two had been texting frequently and her date would never leave them on read for that long unless they were sleeping. They hummed but tried to reassure themselves that it was nothing off. Their date has constantly mentioned how Dragona often jumped to conclusions and teased them about it before today.
Although Dragona didn't realize it, their face was an open book. Jodio was suspicious about this date from the start but never mentioned it to prevent their sibling from feeling awful. Yet, seeing Dragona’s face slightly drop confirmed his assumptions. “Yo,” he called out to them while still looking at his phone to pretend he didn’t care. “When's that loser date of yours coming? Isn’t he late or something?”
“Soon,” Dragona tried to pretend it didn't bother her. “And he’s not late! He’s probably just experiencing traffic right now! Lots of people are going to prom right now.”
“Whatever,” Jodio’s voice was deafened by Dragona’s mind.
Dragona kept reassuring themselves that it was traffic that was holding their date up. However, that reassurance slowly became denial of what the reality was. By now, an hour had passed and Dragona was getting anxious. The whole time, they were able to pass time by doomscrolling TikTok and listening to Dua Lipa, but no word from their date came since. They went back and forth by themselves debating on whether to text him back or not during that full hour, opening and closing their messaging app every time. Trying to calm their nerves further, Dragona’s fingers glided to Instagram. For some reason, they didn’t think about going onto the app; something in their gut was telling them to not open it and Dragona quickly realized why. A quick swipe through their feed was enough to make Dragona’s heart sink.
The prom venue by now was full of people arriving and her date was visible in the background of one photo. However, he was seen with another girl in his arms as if he didn’t even remember who he was supposed to be at the venue in the first place. Another picture from one of Dragona’s followers confirmed their worst fear: they had been stood up— no— they were a ploy used by their supposed date to get into prom without paying.
Dragona wasn't one to get jealous but the girl was conventionally beautiful and the boy that was holding her hand was supposed to be Dragona's date. The girl herself wasn’t someone who was mean or bullied them but was obviously someone society would deem more worthy of dating another person society finds acceptable. Comments poured in about how the couple looked lovely, but also a few mentioned something about a prank and getting free prom tickets.
At McKinley, there was a small contest where a couple with the best “prom-posal” would get their tickets vouched for the event and the ability to run as prom king and queen. Each year had people attempting to make their submissions more elaborate and possibly go viral. Dragona remembered how her now-ex date came into school with bouquets, planned dance choreography, and an entourage of people filming the entire event. Even worse, the same boy had spent months before the prom-posal sending secret love letters before professing how they loved Dragona no matter who they were, escorting them between classes, and taking them on dates during the weekend. Dragona held hands with this boy, watched him stand up for them, and confessed their love— and it was all to get free prom tickets.
“No fucking way,” Dragona spoke under their breath and realized they were shaking as they continued to scroll through their phone. Another photo of the boy showed up kissing his new date full on, a video showed the bullies that the date used to openly speak up against now buddying up, and there was much more. Dragona didn't realize it but they were doom scrolling through their feed to see everyone else at prom having fun, dancing with their loved ones, and enjoying the night they deserved— everyone except for them. Prom has already gone in full swing; it was no wonder why the boy made up some lie last night telling Dragona to expect a late pickup on the day.
“He only wanted me for a free prom ticket,” they whispered to themselves, concluding what many of the comments of each post were implying. “What are these comments saying? Someone like me got proposed to by some boy for what? I can’t believe that fucker fell for it? There’s no… It can’t be…”
For someone like Dragona, genuine love was difficult to find. They’ve learned quickly to never fall so hard for people, oftentimes resulting in them being some sort of ploy, but there was the rare occasion where they thought they could finally find love. The prom date was that rare instance in which Dragona thought they could finally experience actual love, but it quickly fell apart on the one day they hoped wouldn’t happen. It was strange for them to think that things would have been better if the date broke things off the day after prom rather than the day of. But, even Dragona wondered if there could be a chance for them to be loved for themselves. Every heartbreak, every act of manipulation— it was too much for someone so young to handle simply because of who they were.
Dragona didn't know what to do anymore. Their supposed date had their ticket and no other tickets could be purchased at the event— so they couldn't go to prom on their own if they wanted to. Barbara Ann was already off to work and Dragona didn't want Jodio to get involved; he wasn't the type who is good at comforting others anyway.
Dragona began pacing, their heels clicking on the floor as they wondered what to do, and their intrusive thoughts started to sink in. “This was all worthless,” their mind wandered. “Everything is all worthless.”
Barbara Ann and them spent the morning at the salon and taking photos, Meryl Mei designed and created the beautiful dress Dragona was currently wearing. Dragona knew they had to stop doing this, but their mind began to fill up with thoughts about why this was happening. Thank God for waterproof eye makeup as Dragona felt tears well up in their eyes. All the times they told their close friends about how they had a date to prom and how they found someone who actually loved them as is. Hell, they even gushed about their date to Paco and Usagi to the point of annoying both of them— Paco’s words in verbatim. Dragona felt the dress becoming too tight, not aware that they were hyperventilating, and they had to catch themselves against the nearest wall to avoid making any noise.
Meryl Mei was out to do some serious criminal work and using the prom as a guise, so there was no way of reaching her. The few friends they did have chose to not go to prom for a convention Dragona used to go to with them but decided to attend prom instead. Everything felt hopeless; it felt like the world was closing in on Dragona and there was no escape. They didn’t know what to do or who to ask for help. Their thoughts became louder and louder, and Dragona felt themselves trying to cover their ears in vain. “You’re worthless,” Dragona couldn’t help but think of this for themselves. “Why would you think anyone would like you? Why would anyone want to go to prom with trash like you? Are you that stupid?”
A knock on the door managed to distract them from their growing negative thoughts. Dragona began to wonder who could be visiting their home at this time and initially assumed a telemarketer or missionary to be greeting them once the door opened. Trying to retain whatever dignity they had left, they gently patted their tears away and took a deep breath; even with prom night ruined, the makeup they wore was too expensive to simply ruin. Their eyes were still red, so they could excuse it for being high or allergies, but a quick sniffle made sure nothing implied they were crying.
The first thing they were greeted with was a young man in a suit they initially didn’t recognize. A flawless corsage made from various wildflowers initially thought to be picked from the road and some shiny ribbons were in a plastic container. Although Dragona didn’t initially notice, the ribbons and flowers perfectly matched their dress and initially seemed eclectic but it was still beautiful to look at. A matching boutonniere was pinned on the young man’s chest and the only giveaway of who he was was the hat he wore on his head. Even in such formal wear, he still had to wear that silly beret. At least the colors worked with his outfit.
“Usagi,” seeing their gang-mate took Dragona aback. “What are you doing here?”
“Dragona Joestar,” Usagi readjusted his tie with his free hand, showing he was trying his best to calm his nerves seeing how beautiful they looked. “Would you,” he was lost for words, “uh… Are you able—fuck! I mean… How would you like to…” Seeing him in anything other than his bright green scuba suit was a surreal experience; it was enough to stop the tears from coming out anymore. Usagi was still covered up to his neck but his brown hair was tied up with his usual ponytail and his same beret sat on his head to contrast the navy blue tuxedo he was wearing. Dragona could only speculate he asked someone to wish for a suit that he could wear on short notice. Usagi kept stumbling with his words and they had to quickly compose themselves before interjecting to minimize the awkwardness.
“How did you know I was still home,” they asked.
“I didn’t,” it was a lie but Usagi was too nervous to come up with a good explanation to go with it. “I just… happened to be in the neighborhood and… was wondering if I could… t-take you out… for dinner…Right! Dinner! Becaaause… that’s where people who look nice go to— I mean, you look nice! No, wait. You look terrific! … Dragona?”
Dragona was deep in thought when hearing what Usagi proposed and their thoughts were interrupted when a familiar honk was heard.
Dragona took their eyes off Usagi and saw a pickup truck right behind the latter. Despite it looking old and beaten up, it appeared to have been polished last minute and the driver of the truck hastily got out to wave at the two of them.
“Hey, Usagi,” Paco yelled from the driver’s side while waving one of his arms. “Could you hurry the fuck up? Gas is expensive these days and you’re gonna miss the reservation!”
“C’mon,” Usagi whined as he turned around to respond to Paco. “You ruined the moment! I didn’t even ask Dragona out yet! How are they going to say yes now?”
“Skill issue,” Paco was impatient and rolled his eyes. He got himself back to the truck and decided to wait inside of it. Dragona could barely see it in the distance but they noticed Paco was smiling softly to himself while he looked at his phone.
Dragona wondered if this was all planned. It seemed absurd for both Paco and Usagi to just drop by out of nowhere with the latter in extremely fancy clothing and a reservation planned; Dragona wasn’t complaining anyway. If anything, this was an excuse for them to stay dolled up despite not being able to attend prom.
Not only that, Usagi would have been a nice person to go to prom with had the school not been strict on who could attend the event. As a person in a lower grade and Dragona’s policy in trying to keep work and romance separate, they rarely had the opportunity to fall in love with Usagi or realize the butterflies in their stomach were actually towards him instead of their ex-date. All those side glances Usagi gave every time Dragona brought their ex-date around or that small sad smile he gave whenever Dragona talked about him started to make sense. The opportunity to date him now, however, was enticing at this very moment. They didn’t realize how much they were blushing the whole time Usagi was standing at the door. Paco yelled out once again to tell the other teenager to speed up his conversation.
Usagi turned back around and took out the corsage from the container. “I know I don’t have a ticket to prom,” he mentioned. “But, I was thinking we can have our own little prom. Just you and me… and Paco, but he’s more a chauffeur for the evening.” Without a word, he gently took Dragona’s left hand and tied the bundle of flowers on their wrists. “I’m not like the date you were expecting,” Usagi comments, “but I hope you can see I am someone you can love and be loved by. And, I know I say this way too many times but… I want to love you. I want to be with you… and hopefully I can show you a bit of that tonight.” He gently tightened the pink bow and readjusted the accessory so the flowers were facing up.
Dragona had been eying some corsages with their ex-date earlier that week and resigned to a simple one made of very fake and tacky-looking flowers after some back and forth. Corsages were usually made with roses or carnations, and Dragona recalled their ex-date planning on giving one made of purple and red florals that matched their flower crown. They realized they should have taken their date’s suspicious reluctance as a sign that prom was not going to be the night they want to remember, but they were too enamored to think about that. Dragona didn’t expect Usagi to bring one nor have a fake one ready to wear on their wrist.
Yet, Usagi came with a freshly made one. Instead of bright fabric roses, he chose newly plucked pink puas instead. Dragona couldn’t help but feel special about having a corsage made of real flowers. Even if it was made last-minute, there was clearly some craftsmanship and thought put into them. Dragona noticed the corsage was made, in addition to the puas, ti leaves, kika, and jasmine blossoms. While some might wonder why Usagi couldn’t have simply asked Paco or Jodio to wish for a corsage for Dragona to wear, he went out of his way to make the corsage himself instead. He was surprisingly good at making it and there was clear thought put into the arrangement done.
“I remember you said you really like the puas the auntie next door planted,” he watched them admire his handiwork. “She had other flowers too and taught me how to make one of these for you. She picked those flowers herself!” The floral scents filled Dragona’s nose lovingly. As Dragona continued to look at the corsage, Usagi glanced behind them to see the window next to the door. Barely behind the curtains, Jodio peeked with his phone in one hand and gestured with his other hand to ask if everything was alright. Usagi reassured Jodio with a peace sign before anyone else noticed.
Dragona would eventually learn that this was all their younger brother’s machination; he had this planned just in case that ex-date flaked out and knew both Usagi and Paco would be on board. Using the last drug deal money he got, Jodio was able to secure one of the most expensive restaurants coveted for the evening and it was easy to convince the one person who had been pining for their sibling to be on board with this plan. Paco was fine with just being paid money for gas to offer his services; he put his foot down to wear nicer clothes but it didn’t matter in the end. All that mattered to Jodio was that Dragona’s night was no longer ruined. He could only speculate that Dragona had forgotten about the so-called date’s actions already and had another memory to make with someone who actually liked them instead.
“So,” Usagi playfully bowed and then extended his arm out to be linked, “do you still want to go to dinner, my dear?”
“I would love to,” they reach their arm to Usagi’s.