Chapter Text
A late-night moonlight was peeking through the curtains of the room, dimly litting up the surface of the hard-wooden floor. On a chair, a redhead with way too much make up on his face was sitting in his chair, bent over in front of the mirror ahead of him, wiping off lipstick with one of the little swabs made for such works. He had just finished recording the music video for his band's newest song - "Au Revoir".
Yep, he and his rival/friend made a band together since they both were into playing guitar, and were way too fed up with people telling them that the idea was pointless and the entire thing was meaningless. Luckily enough, Stan and Kenny, their best friends, turned out to also be into the idea, with Stan playing on bass and Kenny having a surprisingly soothing singing voice. They lacked a drummer, firstly dragging Clyde into the role, but after they recorded their first song, they decided to switch him out for Butters. That's how "Malice Mizer" was born!
Why the name? After a night of brainstorming (talking in circles about pointless stuff) Kenny asked, in a half-asleep state "What even is human?". The response - malice and misery. Thus - Malice Mizer. And why was Kyle wearing layers of make up he never saw a girl his age wear? That was Cartman's idea.
~~
"Come on, guys! How else are we supposed to attract attention?" Eric popped his chin on his fist, toying with a pen, messily scribbling onto a blank paper.
"Then what's your idea, huh?" Kyle crossed his arms over his chest, leaning his head back against his pillow.
"Okay, so, what we're gonna do is- You know how in Japan they have all those flashy bands with dudes in drag?" he gestured with his hands as he spoke, looking over Kyle, Stan, Clyde and Kenny who instantly liked the idea by the look in his eyes.
"What? No way! Can't we be like those goth ass metal/rock bands that have sick ass hair?" Stan argued.
"That's almost drag!"
"Maybe something more pop-like? Or disco??" Kenny butted in.
"How about a compromise, then?" Kyle finally said after a minute of staring off at the ceiling.
~~
So - Kyle took up the nickname Közi. He was playing guitar. Eric took up the nickname Mana-Sama, also on guitar. He decided that he'll be the 'lady' of the group, dressing only in dresses and wearing nothing but wigs. Stan decided to go by Yu~Ki, on bass, Kenny stood up as the vocalist Gackt, and Clyde (Although in the band for just a few weeks) went by Gaz on the drums.
Shortly after their first demo was recorded, Clyde left. He didn't really like the make up, so they instead took Butters in, who by a miracle both knew Japanese (They all did because of a bet made in primary school - it's a long story, but now they're all fluent) AND how to play drums well, AND was more than happy to dress up fancy. So he came up with the nickname Kami.
Over the course of 2 years, they grew. Everyone in South Park knew them as 'that one American band that for some reason makes songs only in Japanese'. They weren't known outside their country, not yet, but they had released a full album, and even went on tour once.
3 years pass, and they're known in America, Europe and Asia. "Merveilles", their newest album was a hit! Everyone loved Kenny's vocals, Butters' drum skills, Stan's bass and Kyle and Eric's guitar skills.
So, back to the beginning... As Kyle was wiping off make up from his face, the doors opened, letting inside a blonde-haired maiden in a heel-long white dress with lots of fake flowers attatched, ranging in the tints of blue.
"What do you want, Cartman." Kyle set down the swab without even bothering to look back at the other.
"Noothinggg..." He draagged on...
"I'm not changing the lyrics, the song's already finished." Kyle shot straight.
Cartman huffed, but went to sit on Kyle's bed anyway, one leg over the other.
"I don't care about that! The lyrics are good. I was just thinking about a rebrand!" he gestured with his hands, a grin appearing on his face.
"Why? We're doing fine." Kyle spoke first, before adding "We're not making another sex song." Eric chuckled, his grin only widening.
"Nice to know what's on your mind so much, Jew." Eric added, voice slipping onto that familiar, snarky tone he always used to mess with Kyle. The blonde-haired maiden rested his chin proudly on his right hand's open palm, staring right through the ginger.
"And besides, I looked fucking amazing." he added, smug grin turning into one of uzndoubted confidence, catching Kyle's eye on the mirror and making the redhead look away.
"Shut up, you know what I meant." pushing himself away with the chair from the make-up desk, Kyle's expression was rather unreadable. For Eric, at least. The brunette always had a keen eye in those little microexpressions of Kyle's, but this time he had no clue what the other was feeling or thinking.
"You're just jealous Kenny got to wrap his pervy ass around me on stage." he added in a desperate attempt to garner more of the other's attention, still sitting on his bed, but now the smug expression was exchanged for one of rather mixed feelings.
Kyle froze for half a second, face buzzing with a faint flush, before he turned to glare at Eric.
"Jealous? You wish I were jealous!" he was jealous.
Even though he wrote the choreography, was a co-writter of the song AND was the one arranging the costumes.
He was jealous both of Kenny and Eric.
"Yeahhh, you wish you could put your dirty, jewish hands under my dre-" "SHUT UP!" Kyle cut him off before things got too overwhelming for his already flushed brain. He put one of his hands over his face just for a few moments to catch up on reality, before taking off the three silver rings he had on for the shooting of the music video.
But he didn't deny anything, because he knew denying would just push Eric to tease him further more than if he just stayed quiet.
"And go get changed, we're going out tomorrow, remember?" it was already pretty late, outside was dark and crickets were setting up to sing through the whole night.
"Maaaannn, we're seriously going with Butters' idea? Who even goes bowling on mondays! Who even LIKES bowling!?" a loud and definitely necessary groan left the brunette's mouth as he lay back on - not his - bed.
Kyle finished taking off his semi-transparent red jacket, and only then did he finally turn to Eric. "If you don't want to go, you don't have to, but remember that we have pool after." Eric grimaced. Now he was forced to live through three hours of throwing weighed plastic balls to see his hot bandmates (and Butters...) in swimsuits.
Kyle laughed audibly, his face finally dropping the mask of annoyance that Eric for some reason couldn't see through, and just the sight of Kyle's natural smile somehow made him feel better about wasting three hours on bowling.
"Pft- you're so eager to get in water with us, huh?" this time Kyle teased - a small retaliation for before, and Eric's face turned red.
"Yeah, I'd pay to see Stan and Kenny shirtless." but he owned it.
And now Kyle was definitely jealous. His face scrunched up, and rolling his eyes, he reached for a bottle of water sitting peacefully on his bedside table. He decided to stay quiet on this one too.
"You're jealous! I see it in your faggy eyes, Kaaahll~" he sung, looking up at the redhead from his bed.
Of course Eric wasn't thirsting JUST after Kenny and Stan, of course not, and if Kyle just asked, the brunette had nothing to hide! He'd scream his attraction from rooftops if he felt like it.
But if there's an opportunity to tease Kyle, he'd take it always.
"Man, you're no fun today." he began... "Just sitting silent while I call you a fag." prepping his head up on his hand, Eric was trying to get into Kyle's personal space as much as he could, but Kyle only gave him a glare, before putting down the now half-empty bottle of water.
"That's because what you're saying is stupid." the answer was fine for a few silent seconds, before the redhead raised a finger into the air and followed up "Correction - annoying." Eric chuckled out a laugh at that, sitting up in Kyle's bed.
"Anyway," Kyle spoke before Eric could reply. "I'm gonna go take a shower. See you later." and just like that, he left the room and Eric alone.
Well, at least Eric has something to look forward to tomorrow.