#hope everyone had a great night tonight whether you celebrate Halloween or not!!

[waywardstation]

Happy Halloween! She’s not a pokemon, but Bobbin would like to offer you some candy

Aaa Happy Halloween!!! Bobbin is adorable!! I will take the candy but I have to give them some in return, their Halloween bowtie is so cute!!🍬🍫🍭

[amomentsescape]

Slashers Spend Halloween with Reader

A/N: HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I'm honestly pretty bummed that Halloween season is officially over after tonight, but I hope you all had a great time! Thank you all for your requests and support on my writings this month. Stay spooky, everyone!

Freddy Krueger

Bar Hopping!

Are we surprised?

Freddy loves to have a good time, especially if it involves drinking and dancing with his hot partner

LOVES if your costume is a bit showy

Loves it even more if you both are matching

If he doesn't like the music that's playing, he changes it with the flick of a finger

If there's someone that's getting a little too close to you, he'll make them disappear for the night (and deals with them later)

And what's even better is that all of your food and drinks are free when Freddy is around

With the quirk of his brow, people are at his command, and no one will treat you any less differently either

Is constantly complimented on his costume because of how "real" it looks

But the moment your social battery runs out, he'll whisk you away into dreamland and cozy up next to you

But if you're ready to be out all night like he is, you can expect one killer hangover the next morning

Michael Myers

Horror Movie Binge!

Michael is clearly not one to go out

As much as he likes Halloween, a bunch of screaming kids or equally drunk adults isn't his forte

But he does like horror and gore

So just say the word, cook the popcorn, and grab a blanket because Michael won't refuse

He even lets you cuddle into him if you want since it's a "special" night

Will share some snacks with you

Probably won't use the blanket, but he's fine if you put it on him

Literally doesn't even blink during the scariest parts of the films

Just don't expect him to binge movies with you all night

Michael can get stir crazy easily

And since it's Halloween night, you can expect him to want to go kill even more

There are too many lives that need to be disposed of in his eyes

But he does secretly cherish that time with you beforehand

He promises to watch more films with you later if you're still awake

Just another reason to come home to you

Jason Voorhees

Walking Through the Woods!

Jason knows you still want to celebrate Halloween, even if it's not with a party or some public event

So what's better than a stroll through the woods?

You have to wait until it's dark, of course, and the moon is bright in the sky

He insists on taking his machete too, just incase

But he happily takes your hand and lets you lead wherever your heart wants

Loves to hear you ramble on about any current interests or hyper fixations

Especially loves when you bump into him or give his hand an extra squeeze

Will stop every once in a while to hold you close, trying to keep you warm from the cold night air

Also likes to watch you pick up random items you see on the ground or around the trees as you walk

Your constant curiosity for things makes Jason incredibly happy

If you guys manage to find a stump, he'll have you rest on it while he sits on the ground beside you

As you lean yourself against him, you share stories of what you did for Halloween as a child

Jason just listens in, content

Thomas Hewitt

Game Night!

It's actually his idea to find some spooky games to play for Halloween night!

It's up to you whether you play together or with his family

He kinda likes those traditional board games that change their theme just for Halloween

But he's also happy to try something new with you!

Will snack on random candies and chips you brought along for the night

Also likes to hear you talk about whatever comes to mind

He's honestly pretty good at the games and is able to beat you from time to time

Will play a scary movie in the background

You both don't really pay attention to it, but the sound is nice to have

If you lose, he always reaches over and squeezes your hand as an apology

But as long as you're having fun, that's all he cares about!

If you win, he claps happily and relishes in your laughs

You end the night playing a simple card game, giving you a chance to talk more and share what you love about Halloween

Bubba Sawyer

Carving Pumpkins!

Well, this only makes sense

Bubba and his family have all the perfect tools for carving pumpkins

And he finds the idea of jack-o'-lanterns keeping away spirits interesting

You have a bowl of candy and a couple drinks besides you both as you get to work

He definitely confuses the candy bowl with the pumpkin guts bowl a few different times

But he's honestly super quick with carving

It's all the practice with sharp instruments

He opted for more of a silly face while yours is a little more creepy

You decide to save the seeds later to bake for a snack as well!

Bubba turns on some fun Halloween cartoons while you both work

He even leans over to show you better ways to hold the knives and how to cut more evenly

Helps you light the candles to go inside the pumpkins once you're done carving

They both end up on the patio, lighting up the area with a fun glow

Brahms Heelshire

Reading Scary Stories!

His parents weren't big on such fantasy tales when he was younger, so he never got to read much fiction

But when you showed him some scary story books you still have from being a kid, he was intrigued

He doesn't really like reading, but he loves when you read to him

You both make a whole night out of it

You get some popcorn ready, turn out the lights, and even make a little fort in the living room out of chairs

You managed to find a flashlight to use when reading as well

He lays with his head in your lap, listening to you read the stories

You even managed to jump and grab him a couple of times, causing him to yelp

He actually ends up getting a little paranoid later into the night, making you read some lighthearted stories instead

Once he feels more relaxed, he ends up falling asleep to your reading

You smile as you get up to grab some blankets and pillows, deciding to sleep in the fort for the night

Norman Bates

Spooky Baking!

Norman has always been quite talented in the kitchen

You'd be happy only eating his cooking for the rest of your life if you had to

And since there wasn't much else to do in the middle of nowhere, you were happy to help Norman with his ideas

You start the night off with making some simple cookies

He made the dough and baked them while you got to decorate

You ended up creating little "spider" chocolate chips with a toothpick!

He then wanted your help making cupcakes

These took a bit longer, but neither of you minded

Norman had a record playing in the background, and it was easy to just converse back and forth with one another

While the cakes were in the oven, he took you by the hand and danced around the kitchen with you

Also plants plenty of kisses on your forehead throughout the night

You both took turns icing the cupcakes once they were cooled

Each treat ended up turning out a little different since you both wanted to create unique patterns and colors

And the best part of the night? Eating your creations together while watching an old Halloween film!

Billy Loomis

Halloween Party!

You thought it would be a horror movie binge, didn't you?

Well, lucky for you, Billy was down to try something different this year

Especially since the whole month comprised of watching every scary film known to man

He is obsessed with your costume, unable to keep his hands off of you

He isn't HUGE on parties to be honest, but if he gets to show you off looking like this, then he's happy to come along

He shares a few drinks with you once you're there

He doesn't like getting drunk, especially since he wants to keep an eye on you

But he enjoys holding onto the red solo cup with his arm around your waist

Occasionally whispers dirty things in your ears and plants warm kisses along your neck

He enjoys seeing how much he can push your buttons out in public like this

Will dance with you if you beg

But it's hard for him to say no to you either way

The night is cut short when he gets into a fist fight with a random guy for flirting with you

Don't worry; he plans on paying the man a visit later

Stu Macher

Trick or Treating!

You think you're too old for trick or treating? Think again

Stu finds you both costumes that make you unrecognizable

You don't think this is going to work out though since Stu is so freaking tall

But somehow, the adults don't question it too much

It's easier to not ask questions, it seems

He grabs your hand and drags you from house to house, laughing with you about random things

And once you both have your fair share of candy, he convinces you to play ding-dong-ditch with him

He may have stolen a pumpkin from someone's yard as well for being "cool-looking"

Asks to trade some of his candy for yours

Occasionally pulls you into people's backyards and makes out with you in the dark

And once most of the kids are back at home, he takes you to his place so you can binge on the candy

The night ends with a horror film too, of course!

Eric Draven

People Watching!

Although this may sound boring at first, anything with Eric somehow turns out to be fun

He sets up a little fort on the roof of one of the tallest buildings in the city, the view being in the dead center of everything

He makes sure you're bundled up in plenty of blankets

The candy bowl is full, and he even has some snacks and drinks to share

You both look over the edge and just watch all the people walk by

You take turns pointing out random people and try to come up with stories on who they are, what their costume is, where they're going, etc.

Always ends in shared smiles and laughs

He strums a couple of tunes on his guitar based on your request

Plenty of cuddles and cold kisses as well

You end up staying out a good majority of the night, only going back home when the streets become empty

Your safety will always be his number one priority

So although you didn't do anything super exciting for Halloween, Eric still made the night very enjoyable for you

And at least this way, he knew he could protect you

[ask-sibverse]

T1D Reader- Halloween Party (Bad Sanses X Reader)

I was hoping to get this out yesterday but shit happens. Halloween costume probably looks like this. Honestly while doing Killer and Horror is so much fun, this time it's Dust's turn.

Note to self: never underestimate Killer's persistence. When that skeleton wants something he can be incredibly stubborn about it.

And what he wanted was for everyone to get a "day off" to celebrate Halloween. Why? You weren't sure at first until you noticed all the sexy costumes pulled up on his computer.

Note to self: never underestimate Killer's persistence. When that skeleton wants something he can be incredibly stubborn about it.

And what he wanted was for everyone to get a "day off" to celebrate Halloween. Why? You weren't sure at first until you noticed all the sexy costumes pulled up on his computer.

But you agreed to come along, if only to keep Killer out of trouble. Cross seemed to agree for a similar reason, although you weren't sure why Dust came along. Horror was staying home, which made sense. A party would probably be hell on his sensory issues.

Killer somehow managed to talk you into a fairly revealing "witch costume." You were just hoping it wouldn't be too cold in the AU you were going to, although Killer probably wouldn't register it was too cold for you.

Lazy ass usual, Dust was just using his knife as a "serial killer" costume. Killer used one of those axe headbands and (probably, hopefully) fake blood to be a "murder victim." Killer, asshole that he is, picked out a cow costume for Cross that was *immediately* denied, and the former royal guard ended up wearing a soldier costume instead that Killer complained was "so boring."

You all went to a surface AU, obviously, because monsters underground did not know about or celebrate Halloween (honestly you wondered if some monsters found the holiday insensitive.) A neutral AU, one with some tension between monsters and humans, but nothing so bad a couple monsters couldn't attend a Halloween party.

Once arriving you remembered one reason you never went to parties- alcohol. You never drank, couldn't figure out how to manage it and your diabetes. You'd heard how you behaved low was how you would act while drunk, but different sources said to bolus for it or not bolus. Some said you'd spike, others said you'd drop, it was just too unpredictable for your tastes and not worth the risks. Killer respected that, sort of, after telling him "no" several times. You... Really couldn't tell if Killer was *actually* drink or just liked acting drunk. Dust seemed to have a beer or two himself while Cross was with you in the "100% sober" category.

At least the food was good. The host had fun making "spooky" snacks that were still recognizable enough for you to dose correctly. At least it was human food, monster food still needed a whole other layer of guesstimating.

Somewhere later into the night you grabbed Dust and dragged him into a dance. Maybe the atmosphere, maybe your outfit, but something had you tired of being a wallflower and wanting to *do* something. You weren't an amazing dancer but you were at least coordinated enough to avoid tripping over yourself or Dust. It wasn't a Dancetale so your skills weren't that important anyways.

It wasn't long before Dust's face was flushed, whether from exertion or something else you weren't sure. The skeleton often kept to distance attacks in fights and teleported everywhere, so you weren't sure.

Even still, seeing him blushing made you feel... Something. You were *definitely* feeling bold tonight because before you knew it, you leaned in and kissed him.

You've kissed other humans before, but kissing a skeleton was such an incredibly different experience. Despite your lips being pressed directly to teeth, it wasn't uncomfortable at all. Honestly, it felt amazing, even more so when Dust's mouth opened slightly and oh stars okay ecto tongues felt *great.*

You both ended up off the dance floor for a rather steamy and handsy makeout session that had both of you flushed and panting afterwards. Dust grinned at you. "Wanna continue this back in my room?" You nodded eagerly.

Dust got Cross to tear a portal home for you both, although he was staying behind to make sure Killer got home eventually.

The two of you barely made it to Dust's room before he was making out with you again, tearing at your clothes with a passion and energy you hadn't seen in the lazy skeleton before. Honestly, sex with him was incredible.

And totally worth the look you got from Nightmare the next day. And the teasing from Killer.

(I know you guys probably want the sexy times, but honestly diabetes + sex is something I had planned for it's own one shot, so pls be patient. If you have any prompts or ideas for T1D, shoot me an ask!)

[hela-avenger]

To the Stars Who Listen- 9a

Author: hela-avenger

Word Count: 2177

Summary: When Loki desires to never fall in love, he casts a spell to prevent such a thing from happening. Except, well, in the matters of love and magic, you never know the result it may have in the end. Loki x Reader

A/N: Ok so I started to write this and then had to go back to edit it and then I added more and then it was all just angst and it was just getting so long and I couldn’t fix it. ANYWHO, the Halloween special will now be two parts. I’m really hoping it won’t be three but we shall have to wait and see. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! Please be safe out there! 

Tags are open! (Send me an ask/message/response.)

TTSWL Masterlist

Loki refrained from groaning as he stepped into the jet that would take them back to the Tower. Sam and Bucky were fighting over the pilot seat while Wanda was chattering loudly about the costume she had managed to find for herself and Vision. Loki catches your eye and he can tell you wish to speak to him. He doesn’t allow you the chance as he storms out of the seating area in preference of the solitude found in the back. 

The quinjet finally sets out of the compound and Loki manages to survive the short ride without being pulled into whatever conversation you wish to have with him. You most likely wanted to know the truth behind what you had revealed previously. An answer he would refuse to give you. 

Loki is almost cornered by you in the arrival at the tower but by sheer luck, you are called away by the AI allowing Loki to peacefully make his way down to his residential floor. The peace he had in mind at the return of his familiar abode is disrupted at the sight of Thor waiting for him there. 

Loki’s annoyance grows at the sight of his brother regaled in his Asgardian armor swinging Mjolnir with ease. 

“Welcome back, brother.” 

Loki just grunts in response as he tries to maneuver around the big oaf. 

“I went ahead and prepared your armor for the party tonight,” Thor continues with a smile. “It should be a merry night full of drinking and dancing. We should thoroughly enjoy it.” 

“I’m not going to that party.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because I refuse to partake in Midgardian celebrations.” 

“I would think you would enjoy this one, Loki. It’s all about mischief and magic.” 

Loki rubs his eyes tiredly. 

“I am quite tired, brother. I am in no mood for festivities.”

“You never are,” Thor states, forcing Loki to stop right outside his bedroom door. “You always hide out here and avoid having any fun. You’ve been here for months, Loki, and you have failed to participate in any way or form to enjoy humanity.”

“I hate this place,” Loki responds. “Why would I try to find some silver lining?” 

“If that is the case then perhaps I should report to father that you have made no progress and have you sent back home.”

That definitely deepens the foul mood Loki was already in.  

“If I go to this party will you refrain from reporting to father?” 

Thor thinks for a few seconds before relenting.

“Yes, I would.” 

“Great, good,” Loki mutters as he slips into the darkness of his room. “I’m not wearing my armor though.” 

“Then what will you wear?” 

Loki doesn’t respond promptly slamming the door closed to Thor’s face. 

The lab was as pristine and proper as the day before you had come in and destroyed it. The wall had been repaired and the equipment that had been easily thrown before was now bolted to the ground. You let out a sigh as you try to forget that dark moment of your life when you had turned against your friends for no reason. 

You still couldn’t remember what happened but it still shook you to the very core. The truth was something everyone valued and yet you had overlooked the darkness it could truly hold. Lying didn’t seem so bad now and you miss having the simple ability. 

Shaking yourself from that thought, you scanned the rest of the room looking for the man of the hour. 

The moment the jet landed at the tower you were promptly told by FRIDAY that Tony requested your presence in the lab. 

You tried to make a quick stop towards the Asgardian floor but the AI had overlooked your floor request in preference of following its creator’s demand. 

The lab remained silent after you came in. FRIDAY had announced your presence but Tony was nowhere to be seen. You felt yourself being watched but could find no one. You were starting to grow paranoid which didn’t help when a loud bang resonated nearby.

Your head snaps towards the source of the crash and you relax when you realize it’s just Dum-E hitting against the nearby desk.

“Oh Dum-E, I thought I was…���

“BOO!” 

You jump at the sudden shout behind you. Out of pure instinct, you throw your hands in front of you causing your gauntlets to shoot out two straight lines of energy. The beams scorch two black spots on the recently repaired wall.

“Well that’s new.” 

You turn around and glare at Tony. 

“What the hell, Tony!” you shout at him. “I could have killed you.” 

Tony chuckles in response and is quick to apologize. 

“Sorry, kid,” he answers. “Didn’t realize you were Iron Man 2.0.” 

You roll your eyes at him and laugh sarcastically at him. 

“Ha, ha, ha, very funny,” you joke. “These things are the only reason I have some semblance of control.” 

“Let me see them.” 

You raise your hands and show him the golden gauntlets. 

“Interesting design,” he mutters as he grabs a hold of them, turning them around back and forth. “I’m assuming the stones are important by their placement. I wonder what they’re made of. Carbon-based, maybe? Rare space jewel? I would have to run some tests…”

“Yeah, not possible,” you comment. “I can’t take these off. Things could go very wrong.” 

Tony scowls as he lets your hands go. 

“Can’t risk it for a few minutes?” Tony asks. “I’m sure I could improve them for a nicer aesthetic and easier mobility.” 

“Tony…”

“Come on,” he nudges. “You don’t see me wearing my blasters because they’re comfortable. It’ll only be a few minutes. Five tops.” 

You hesitate and Tony pesters on.  

“Let me do this for you. It’s the least I can do if you have to wear those atrocities for the rest of your life.” 

You chew on the inside of your cheek before relenting. 

“Just be careful with the stones and be quick, please,” you plead at him. “I don’t wish to have a repeat of my last mishaps.” 

Tony snorts as he helps you slide the gauntlets off your hands. 

“Heard about that,” he snickers. “A little birdie told me and by birdie, I obviously mean Sam.” 

You laugh and shake your head at him watching as he steps towards his desk and pulls out an array of files into the screen. He flips through them quickly before stopping at one. 

Pepper Gift Ideas. 

“Um, Tony?” 

He ignores you as he opens the file up and scatters out the multiple designs he’s sketched out. You’re shocked at the multiple documents in the file but don’t have the chance to inspect them closely as Tony finds the one he was looking for. 

“Here it is,” he states as he picks the design and throws it onto the screen next to his equipment. “What do you think, kid?” 

“Oh, wow,” you whisper as you look at the design on display. “That’s beautiful.” 

“Was tinkering for a while about making Pepper her own jewelry,” Tony responds beside you. “But she never wears what I get her.” 

“I’m sure she would wear this,” you tell him. “Are you sure you want to use this design on me?” 

Tony is quick to nod. 

“You’ve been dealt a shitty hand with this power,” Tony answers honestly. “I just want to make things better for you in any way I can.” 

“Thanks, Tony,” you tell him, heartfelt at his generosity. “Really, thank you.” 

Tony clears his throat from the rising emotion and looks away. He picks up your gauntlet and begins to disassemble them. 

“Now go away,” he mutters. “Let me work in peace.” 

“You told me it would only be five minutes.” 

“Well I lied. I’m surprised you didn’t notice.” 

You roll your eyes at him and Tony simply smirks. 

“I’ll have them done soon, I promise, so why don’t you go ahead and find your partner in crime, Natasha. She’s got your costume in her room.” 

You hesitate but you’ve already done your daily exercises to tire your powers out. Nothing could go wrong. Or at least that’s what you hoped for. 

You wince at the sharp tug of your hair. You glare at Natasha through the mirror but she simply smirks in response. You had no choice when it came to getting ready for this impromptu Halloween party. Natasha dragged you into her room the moment you showed up at her door. 

You didn’t mind her help for the party. In fact, you were glad to have it as the redhead went above and beyond to have everything ready for you. From the costume to the hair and makeup, Natasha had arranged it all. All you had to do was sit there and allow her to make her vision into a reality. 

Though you would use this time to catch up with your close friend, your mind was far away at the moment. 

Ever since your last lesson, Loki had avoided you like the plague. Any attempt of trying to apologize to him was somehow thwarted by Loki himself or some outside force. It didn’t help that Tony’s impromptu invitation and the jet that followed severed any chance of forcing him to see you. 

You felt guilty.

You had crossed a line by revealing something he wasn’t ready to when all he had done was help you. You needed to apologize and you needed to do it soon. 

“Ok, spill it.” 

You look up at Natasha’s pointed stare and sigh. 

“I can’t hide anything, can I?” you mutter tiredly. Nat tugs on your hair again and you hiss at the action. “I’m fine, Nat. Just trying to settle my mind.”

“Of what?” 

You take a deep breath debating whether it was a good idea to tell her of your past week with Loki. 

Nat despised him with every fiber of her being, but you… you didn’t. 

“Loki’s been a great teacher considering I’m a ticking time bomb...”  

“But?” Nat interrupts. 

“But,” you repeat with a huff. “I keep ruining everything with this stupid power.”

“You?” Nat asks, confused. “You ruined everything? Not him?”

“Nat…” 

“I’m sorry,” she sarcastically laughs. “That doesn’t make sense. You’ve done nothing wrong.” 

“You don’t understand,” you sigh. “If you just let me explain…”

“Then explain.” 

You take a deep breath and turn away from the mirror to look at Natasha directly. 

“I have invaded everyone’s privacy. I’ve learned things I have no right knowing and revealed things without permission. You already know how guilty I felt because of it,” you explain. “Yet, Loki wasn’t one of them. He’s immune to my power as I am to his but I recently crossed a line and uncovered something I wasn’t supposed to.”

“What was it?” 

“You know I can’t tell you.” 

 Natasha huffs in response but shrugs her curiosity off. 

“So?” she asks. “What’s wrong then?” 

“I feel really bad about it, Nat, and he’s avoiding me and I just want to apologize to him because I invaded his privacy but he won’t even let me get close to him to do it.”

“He doesn’t need an apology,” Nat scoffs. “He’s a grown man. He can lick up his wounds and move on.” 

You’re starting to regret confiding in her about your situation but Loki has yet to teach you how to evade telling the truth without necessarily resorting to lying.

“I apologized to you and everyone after my first outburst,” you remind her. “You didn’t need me to but I’m sure it helped.”

Natasha lets out a breath but she knew you had a point. 

“Loki doesn’t deserve your kindness.” 

She’s being honest with her opinion but you don’t feel the same way. 

“I think differently,” you answer. “I think it’s been a long time since Loki’s been treated with some kindness.” 

Natasha's eyes narrow down at you. 

“Do you…” she hesitates. “What exactly is your relationship with him?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Are you acquaintances? Friends? Or is it more?” 

You’re surprised at the question. 

“I guess we’re friends?” you answer unsurely. “Mentor and student seems weird so yeah… friends.” 

Natasha seems unconvinced but she doesn’t speak up on it. Instead, she motions you to face forward again so she could finish up with your hair.

“So do you think I’ll have time to slip out to apologize or am I going to have to wait until the party?” 

Nat can’t avoid the snort from escaping her promptly earning her a confused look from you. 

“Loki doesn’t go to the parties,” she tells you. “Not since I could remember.” 

“Then why did he come with us in the jet?” 

“Maybe because he has to monitor you and we have to monitor him?” 

Nat’s right but you can only hope that Loki might prove her wrong. 

“If he’s there… apologize to him,” Nat tells you hoping to ease the scowl that was settling on your face. “Just don’t expect him to forgive you. He’s not apologetic, far less forgiving.”

TTSWL Tag: @catsladen @is-it-madness @manyfandoms-marvel @mejusttryintogetby @illogicalfangirl @ariel-snow-tmnt @islinglivesinshire @musicconversedance @missmadwoman @smaranshakthi @adaydreamingdragon @poetic-fiasco @like-a-wildfire @jasminecalia @ha-tep @charbokbok @setsuna-meiou31 @ms-blvck @country-cowgirl-101 @bepo-is-sorry @hufflautia @waitforthehurricanrose @fictionalhoomanofnowhere @sanniegirl1214 @telenari @anonymouscastiel12 @ddaeing​

Loki Tag: @unicorniorosacomefrutillas @thesilentbluesparrow @oddly-drawn-muse @josiehosiedaninja @hp-hogwartsexpress @sadwaywardkid @wolf-lover74 @sizzlingbarbarianglitter @sigyn-nightshade @aoirohi @horsesandwolvesaremyanimals @just-a-donut-who-reads @day-dreaming-fox @heykathchuu​

All Works Tag: @jmb959 @astudyoftimeywimeystuff @hellocookiecutter @steve-rogers-personal-hell @buckybarnesyard @not-zari-tak @strangersstranger @thefridgeismybestie @ariel-snow-tmnt @badhollandfluff @what-a-flammable-heart

[bungou-stray-dingus]

The Season Of The Witch

Flufftober Day 15 

Pairing : Mori x Reader

A/N : Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you all enjoy your day/afternoon/evening/night in safe, healthy ways. Whether you’re masking up and going out trick or treating, partying, or staying indoors and having your own mini party with family, friends, or just yourself, I hope you all have a great Halloween! ALSO! Ending note, if you’re drinking, please do not drink and drive! That goes without saying but it’s better to say it than to not. Anyway. HAPPY HALLOWEEN LESSSS GOOOOOO! 

🎃 “Black cats and goblins and broomsticks and ghosts, covens of witches with all of their hosts. You may think they scare me, you’re probably right. Black cats and goblins on Halloween night!” Elise chanted the rhyme throughout Moris office the entire day as he worked. He wasn’t mad or irritated with her, you knew it was physically impossible for him to get that way with her, but you could see that it was hard for him to pay attention with her running around like that. 

🎃 “Elise, how about we go watch some movies together while he finishes up his work. We’ll be able to go trick or treating a lot sooner if we let him concentrate.” You said, looking up at Mori to see the smile on his face. It was a look of appreciation, and he nodded to you as you held Elise’s hand and walked out of the office. 

🎃 Elise had in a way become like your own child, especially when Mori wasn’t around. You had been the one to take her costume shopping, and you usually kept her busy with movies, tv shows, or different toys whenever you could. 

🎃 The two of you sat down on one of the couches in the small break room that had been set up for her and you. “So, what would you like to watch?” You asked, turning on the television and grabbing the remote. “Hmm... oh! Hocus Pocus! That’s my favorite!” She said as you flopped down on the couch next to her. “A perfect choice. That’s my favorite too!” You said, finding the movie in the lineup and starting it up. 

🎃 Mori walked in a couple hours later. You were watching Halloweentown at that point and Elise was completely focused on the movie, not even noticing his entrance. “Looks like the two of you had a great Halloween movie marathon.” He commented, kissing the top of yours and Elise’s head as he walked past, eyeing the snack stack on the coffee table. 

🎃 “We did! Can I get dressed up now, Rintaro?” She asked, looking up at him. The sun had begun setting over the city, children had begun filing out into the streets already, beginning their yearly mission of collecting as much candy as they could. “Of course you can! Let one of us know if you need help with-” She had already scooted off the couch and ran out of the room before Mori could finish his sentence. 

🎃 “You sure you don’t want to go out with the rest of them? I’m sure it’ll be more fun.” Mori said, wrapping his arm around your shoulder and pulling you close to him. You laughed, shaking your head. “I’d rather not babysit Chuuya all night to make sure he doesn’t get black out drunk.” You kissed his cheek before pushing yourself up off the couch. “Plus, it’s a lot more fun spending the night with you, and it’ll make Elise happy if I’m there.” 

🎃 She ran back in the room, completely dressed in her witches costume. “You look absolutely splendid, dearest!” Mori said, his eyes lighting up when he saw her. You walked over to help straighten the witches hat on her head and took a step back. “Definitely the prettiest little witch.” You added. A wide smile spread over her face as she ate up all the compliments that you and Mori were feeding her. 

🎃 “Can we go now? The other kids are going to get all the good candy!” She grabbed your hand, pulling you to the door. Mori would never tell her to wait, so he grabbed his doctors coat, swapping out his usual Mafia attire so he could go out. 

🎃 You held Mori’s hand as you walked down the busy sidewalks, the two of you keeping a close eye on Elise as she ran ahead. “She seems to be enjoying herself.” You commented, smiling as you watched her run up to someones door, patiently waiting for her turn to receive her treat. “This is the first time she’s done this. I never really thought of celebrating Halloween until you came into my life.” He said, he sounded ashamed of himself. “Although, seeing her now, I feel quite bad for not letting her experience this kind of joy.” 

🎃 “Y/N! Rintaro! Come with me!” You heard her voice call out through the sea of children and parents. It didn’t take long for Mori to find her though, standing in front of a intricately decorated house. It had creepy statues and motion activated animatronics, the kind that would jump out as soon as you walked by. “Are you scared, dear?” Mori asked, looking up at the man sitting on the porch, a bowl of candy on his lap. 

🎃 “No! I just... didn’t want to go up by myself.” She said shyly, and it made you remember when you were younger, needing someone to walk with you through the spookiest yard on the block. “It’s alright to be scared, Elise. We’ll go with you.” You said, grabbing one of her hands and Mori grabbed the other. 

🎃 Did Mori jump when one of the statues jumped out at him? Yes. Yes he did. He was the only one out of the three of you to get scared, and it made Elise feel a lot better as she made it to the man on the stairs. “Trick or Treat!” She said proudly, holding her bag out. 

🎃 Once her candy bag got filled to the point that Mori had to hold it, you both knew that it was time to end the night. “That was so fun! I can’t wait until next year!” She exclaimed, skipping all the way back to HQ. By the time the three of you made it to the building she was exhausted. She went to her room and quickly fell asleep after changing into her pajamas. 

🎃 “So, that was fun.” You said, curling up next to Mori on the couch in the break room, flipping through channels until landing on a Halloween movie marathon. “It was great, thank you for tonight, Y/N.” Mori said, pulling you closer so he could kiss your cheek. 

🎃 You ended falling asleep not much later, your head resting on his shoulder as you breathed quietly. He couldn’t seem to fall asleep though, he was too excited from the activities of the night, so full of happiness after spending the evening with you and seeing his darling Elise so happy. It was the Season of the Witch, and he couldn’t wait to spend next October with you.  

[piracytheorist]

A Kiss for Good Luck (9/15)

Summary: So this is the story of one born lucky, and one born unlucky. Fate will keep making them cross paths, but is it to bring them together, or to test them? Captain Swan AU.

Rating: T (make sure you’re okay with the warnings on AO3)

Word count for this chapter: 3.1k (48k in total) AO3

Read from the beginning: Tumblr | AO3

~

Chapter 9: Emma Swan, October 19th 2015 – May 19th 2016

The kiss doesn't get deep, but Emma's insides are melting; damn it, it feels so good and he feels so sweet. She breaks the kiss, fearing she's already gone too red and hoping the cold lights around them won't show it.

He's looking at her, and she feels she'll have to run or she'll turn into a pool of goo right at his feet.

Thankfully, his eye catches something and he turns his head to the side. Emma turns as well, only to see a woman a few yards away, about their age, looking at him with a scorned expression.

Killian just shrugs at her, and the woman seems to scoff and turn her back at them.

He turns back to Emma. “Don't worry,” he says. "Wanna add me on Facebook? It's Killian Jones, if, if you're interested... we can share favourite songs."

Emma snorts. "Like we're in high school?"

He laughs, a bit awkwardly so. "I won't stalk you if you don't add me, just saying."

Emma smirks at him, then reaches into her belt bag and takes out her phone, which immediately slips from her fingers.

"Shit," she says, picking it up and gasping when she sees that the screen cracked a little. "Shit!"

"Oh." Killian bites his lip. "I feel as if I've caused that."

Emma shakes her head. "It's replaceable. Don't worry. Killian Jones, you said?"

He looks to be debating himself. But Emma quickly opens the app, finds him and adds him. "Friend request sent," she says. "So we can chat about hot, new releases," she says, only half joking.

"Hey," Ingrid calls at her. Emma turns to see Ingrid's eyes go from her to Killian.

"Coming," Emma says. "So, we'll keep in touch," she tells him, pointing at him with her phone.

For the first time in so long she finds herself hoping that this near stranger will actually respond.

“Who was that?” Ingrid says as they start walking to their rented car.

“He's Killian,” Emma says with an innocent smile.

“You know him?”

“No, actually. We just met.”

Ingrid's brows shoot up. “You were just kissing a guy you just met?”

Her tone isn't accusative, just curious. So Emma's smile widens and she says, “Yeah. Yeah, I-”

She's cut off by her own gasp when her ankle bends unexpectedly and she falls down. For one long second she feels cold sweat at the back of her neck; first her broken phone screen, now tripping on flat ground?

“Emma?” Ingrid is kneeling next to her, face full of worry.

“I'm okay,” Emma says, collecting herself.

“Sweetheart, did he give you something?”

Emma laughs, trying to break the tension despite that small but insistent piece of her mind that's still worried. “If you're referring to butterflies in my stomach, yes.”

“I'm serious.”

“I'm alright. I just... didn't step right. And I'm a bit tired, to be honest.”

Ingrid's face relaxes a bit. “You did dance a lot tonight. Are you sure you're okay?”

“Yes, Ingrid. We were just talking and then... kissing felt right.”

“In any case, perhaps you should let me drive.”

Emma's jeans got a bit dirty and she scraped her palm after falling, but they're too small to rival the amazing birthday night she just had.

She wakes up with a bit of a headache, ringing ears, and a sore throat. But that day it's the goodbye to Ingrid that takes priority.

Ingrid promises to do her best to come to Boston for Christmas. Emma holds back her tears, hugs Ingrid, then waves her goodbye as Ingrid boards her plane.

Emma sits back. And waits. And waits.

Her flight was supposed to have left only twenty minutes after Ingrid's – she had considered herself very lucky to have found two cheap flights so close to each other – but now it's been delayed for more than two hours, the waiting chairs full of exasperated passengers and too many tired toddlers.

The food isn't great, the air conditioning hits her a bit too much and she doesn't get much rest. The lines at passport control are long, and she's happy she decided to take just a cabin trolley and not have to wait at the baggage carousel. She's already too tired, her body stiff, and she regrets not asking Ruby to come pick her up as she waits for a taxi while it's raining and a little too cold outside.

The next morning she scrolls through the line of notifications from Ruby asking her again and again to wake up and tell her everything, and it's only then she sees that Killian has accepted her friend request.

And he's active now. She checks the time – it's afternoon there and a Sunday.

She gives herself ten minutes. Her hair is not cooperating and she smudges the eye pencil on her lower eyelid.

She just shakes her head. Maybe the connection will be bad enough that he won't be able to see that much detail.

She settles herself on her bed and takes five deep breaths before calling Killian on video.

It takes a bit too long for him to answer. Maybe she should have asked first?

Eventually, his face fills her screen, and her stomach is all in happy knots again.

“Good morning,” he says. “Or afternoon? Have you gone back yet?”

“Yeah,” Emma says, noticing her wide grin on her preview, “I arrived last night.”

“How was your trip?”

“A bit more tiring than I'm used to. But safe.”

“Than you're used to? You do it often?”

Maybe she's not ready to go fully into her history with Ingrid, but he seems to catch up with what little she shares. They talk more than just their favourite music. For now, it's food, and how they'll spend their Sunday, then Halloween and Christmas...

She doesn't realize a whole hour went by until Killian, seeming a bit conflicted, says he has to go eat. He's staying with his family, and his parents are 'already experiencing retirement by eating early'.

Emma laughs, swallowing her own bitterness. She keeps it at bay until the call ends, then she sighs, looking at her cracked, black phone screen.

He's with family. He doesn't have to move countries and choose whether to celebrate holidays with them or with friends.

“Ugh,” she tells herself. She doesn't actually know much. For all she knows, he's had it as bad as her.

Work isn't going well. There are enough cases to go by, but they wear her out every day. Ruby is busy with work and her new girlfriend, and David's mother has gotten sick and the Nolans don't have the time to invite Emma every Sunday anymore.

At least, she manages to talk to Killian twice a week. She knows she'd like to talk more often to him, but she's still a bit insecure. Not just about whether she's annoying him, but because she feels like an old pessimist again, and caring for this will only end up breaking her heart.

She can't help it, however, especially when half the time it's him calling her, staying up late because it's already evening when she finishes work, then they spend the next at least two hours equally listening and talking.

She still gets to see Ruby and the Nolans occasionally, and she still gets enough to go by. But her one constant these days is Killian.

Ingrid tells Emma that she can't issue a visa in time and she won't be there for Christmas. Emma knows her bank balance isn't enough to afford a last-time trip to Norway; the Nolans will spend the holiday with David's mother in a small town in Maine, and Ruby is taking Mulan to New York City. Bless their hearts, though, they offered. It was only the white lie that she found super cheap tickets to Norway that convince both Ruby and the Nolans to not cancel their plans.

She gets a gift from Ingrid – a hand-sewn sweater that apparently got coffee spilled on it during shipping and she has to wash it. It shrinks and the coffee stain hasn't left. She doesn't dare use the word 'luckily' to describe the fact that her other gifts weren't ruined. Killian sends her a collection of seashells, with a note telling her that he gathered them himself.

She spends the little money she kept aside on a grand meal and many boxes of pop-tarts for Christmas. She calls Killian as she eats one of them, teasing him about eating her favourite “sugar-coated sugar,” as he called them once.

It's still late for Killian, but he talks to her even longer this time.

“What about your family?” she asks.

“It's four in the morning, Swan. If anyone's awake they're probably sneaking around the kitchen for a 'very-late-night' snack.”

She's the one falling asleep to him talking to her that night.

Just five years ago, Emma would watch the ads on TV and everywhere else talk about “family time”, or a “time to share the love”, and they would wash over her like everything else did in her life. She was the one everyone else counted on to not take the days off during holidays. But since reconnecting with Ingrid and making new friends in Ruby and the Nolans, Emma got slowly used to being part of something. A family, a company, where she learned to appreciate that time again. A time when she would go shopping for someone other than herself, when it wouldn't be a given that she would work on a holiday, when she would expect it just for the extra time and coziness she would live with someone else.

Now the commercials hit as hard as they did when she was seventeen and homeless; eighteen and in prison; nineteen and alone.

Being loved and thought of has really spoiled her, hasn't it?

She barely has the heart to call Ingrid when it's the latter's time to change the year. They wish each other a happy new year, and she feels glad that there's a lot of celebration going on where Ingrid is, so Ingrid doesn't get the time to truly see how difficult it is for Emma, to see what she's missing and all for a stupid lack of money.

At eleven in her own time, Emma breaks down crying in her bed.

She feels so alone. The past few years of reconnection with Ingrid and having new friends seem to weigh nothing over the emptiness she feels now. She didn't even have the heart to decorate her house this year.

She lies curled up in bed, hoping she can fall asleep before she surely hears the neighbors start the countdown, but, of course, no such luck.

Instead, four minutes before midnight, she gets an sms from Killian. An sms?

Turn wifi on, he tells her.

Breathing shakily, her throat thick with sobs, she turns it on but is still surprised to immediately receive a video call from him.

She checks the time, and tiredly tries to do the math. It's four minutes to five in the morning there. What is he doing?

She accepts the call, and her first glimpse of Killian is his tired but smug face. As he gets a good look at her, though, his face falls.

“Oh, Swan...”

She bursts into sobs again. He doesn't speak, but from the few glances she gets of him until she calms down, she knows he's waiting patiently.

She wishes she could reach her arms into the screen. She knows that his would hold her back.

She knows.

She gets her breathing under control and she looks at him, wiping away her tears.

“Thank you,” she says, and he smiles softly.

Damn it, that smile. She almost starts crying again, but he takes pity on her and looks somewhere away.

“It's thirty seconds now. Do you want me to count with you?”

“Yes, please.”

He smiles again, still softly but a bit more cheerfully now.

The connection lags two seconds, according to her neighbors' countdown. But the two seconds between the cheers across the wall and Killian popping a confetti cannon in front of the camera are theirs and theirs alone.

“Happy New Year!” he says.

His smile is so bright. Her tear-stained face in the preview looks so out of place, it feels wrong.

“You stayed up,” she says, voice harsh from crying.

“I... woke up. I mean, I went to sleep a bit early, and even I would say two is early for New Year's, so I snuck in a few hours of sleep before the alarm went off.”

He did it for her.

How wrong is it to wish she could kiss him now?

Her words will have to do.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“I wouldn't forgive myself if I let you change the year alone. Especially after you told me what you didn't tell your friends. Losing a bit of sleep is nothing.”

Her friends. He says it as if he's not one of them.

Well, he's not in that group of friends, but he belongs in that category.

Only that, though? Just a friend?

Once again, he stays up with her. He's properly prepared – snacks and music and lights and, well, soda, considering how late it is there – and she just feels stupid all she has is the sugar-coated sugar.

“Perhaps I chose the wrong flavor,” he says. “If I visit Boston one day you'll get me your favorites and I'll taste them all.”

Her heart flutters at the idea of him visiting. She's tempted to correct his 'if' with a 'when'. Because she wants him there. She wants it to be certain.

But she decides to keep it low for tonight. He already gave her the best surprise she could have had.

Perhaps she loves him.

But she's known better than to hang onto hope.

The last thing she remembers seeing is the view from his window, at the tiny show of the sky getting brighter.

The last thing she remembers hearing is him singing Auld Lang Syne.

None of them ask, and none of them organizes anything more, but their video calls become daily. Depending on Killian's schedule, of course, they talk from ten minutes to three hours at a time. Even on very busy days, they manage to sneak in at least five minutes of talking, even if it's just voice chat.

Gerda is having health issues, forcing Ingrid to not visit at all nor call often, and Emma's work is still hectic. She manages to meet Ruby for drinks or the Nolans for dinner, but it's not on a constant basis like it used to be.

The only constant in her life is coming back tired from work and talk to Killian, who will stay up and chat no matter how late it is for him.

And he once told her he's an early bird.

It feels silly, but Emma can't help thinking of it as a compromise he's making to himself for her sake.

Killian tells her about his childhood; about his mother dying, his father leaving, and then nearly losing himself after losing his brother as well. How getting adopted saved him.

Emma tells him about Ingrid saving her. How she took a disillusioned kid with no family and gave her love and a home.

She tells him about being alone at seventeen and leaning on the wrong person. But her admitting that she has done time comes differently.

He tells her about losing his first love and resorting to things he is not proud of, including getting himself into a relationship that he knew would hurt him.

“I've done some stupid things myself,” she tells him.

“Well,” he replies, “I have a criminal record.”

She shrugs. “So do I.”

He actually raises his eyebrow. “Well, you can say we're equal in that.”

“Mm. I've done time.”

“Oh. Okay. You win.” He seems super casual about it.

“You don't mind? That I've been in jail?”

“Well, did you kill or otherwise harm someone innocent?”

“No.”

“Then, if you've moved on, who am I to judge?”

“What did you do?”

“Hacking, breaking and entering...”

She was a thief herself, but she didn't expect to find such a kindred spirit in him in that way – as well. “What? What for?”

His brows furrow. “Nothing too dangerous, and I was too stupid to think rationally, and it was a very difficult time.” He pauses for a while, then looks at her seriously. “I was an alcoholic. I've been totally clean for about six months now. It had only lead me to make more stupid decisions.”

“Well, you're working through it, right?”

He smiles at her, that smile that always threatens to rip her to pieces. “Aye. I never believed it at first, but it gets easier.”

It's always easier when one is not soul-crushingly alone, she thinks.

She had underestimated him and how much he understood what being alone can do to someone. Conversation flows easier the more they talk, and in early May, he surprises her by telling her he's thinking about visiting her.

Emma immediately offers to let him stay with her.

She fakes a broken connection to recover from the smile he gives her. Jesus. How will she handle it when they're face-to-face?

They come to a mutual understanding; neither thought light of their first kiss, but both knowing of each other's pasts, they decide to take things especially slow.

She hasn't been so excited to count the days for something good since the first time Ingrid visited.

She drives her Bug to pick him up from the airport, but it breaks down midway there. A long string of curses and many calls to a service center later, she manages to send Killian a text letting him know she'll be late.

After a tow truck takes her car away for service, she takes a cab for the rest of the way to the airport, only to find that her message to Killian hasn't been received, and that his flight has just landed, nearly an hour late.

However, he looks fresh and cheerful when he exits arrivals. Even from afar, she can already feel his smile turning her knees into jelly. She steels herself to at least walk normally to him.

They embrace and it's as if a weight is lifted off her shoulders. And if she judged by his face, it looks the same for him.

His eyes trail to her lips, and she gives him a quick peck.

[hobeymakar]

Unapologetically | C. Makar Part 1

Chapter word count: 3,526

A/N: Title from the song Unapologetically by Kelsea Ballerini. This is my first chaptered fic in a long time and my first written on here, so please be kind. This fic is based off a set of very vivid reoccurring dreams I’ve had over the last couple of months that involve Cale and like the true psycho I am, I wrote the big things that happened in those dreams down. Then I decided recently to just turn it to a fic, so this is pretty self-indulgent. Is it possibly narcissistic of me to write a fic about me? Maybe, but I’m gonna write it anyway. This first chapter is gonna be a lil boring and weird because it has a lot of time skips but Chapter 2 will be much more exciting and way better

Shoutouts: @pizzasloot and @hockey-and-wine for being my biggest cheerleaders for writing for this fic in the gc and also shoutout to @grenawitka​ for always keeping the gc lit. I love you girls!

Warnings: explicit language, alcohol use

-

Tatyana “Taty” Marie Ventura or “Ace” as she is now being known as, never thought that when she started a podcast in the comfort of her Rhode Island home, that she would kind of blow up. Taty started the Ace of Hockey podcast because she wanted a career in hockey media and wanted to do it her way, being unapologetically herself. She started the podcast and started messaging hockey players and other athletes in hopes that they would come onto the podcast to talk about diversity and inclusion in the sport.

That’s how she finds herself on an early October evening receiving a message from Cale Makar on how he’s a fan of the podcast. She internally screams because she never thought an actual hockey player would listen to the podcast. She assumed only hockey fans would listen to the podcast and that it would never reach the notoriety of other hockey podcasts.

From: calemakar_

Hey, just wanted to say that I’m a big fan of your podcast. Buddy of mine showed it to me and I think it’s fantastic. It’s helping me learn how to be a better ally

To: calemakar_

Thank you so much, that means a lot honestly!

From: calemakar_

You’re welcome. I’ve been showing it to the team and they think it’s great for them to learn how to be better allies

To: calemakar_

Wow, that means so much! I just want people to know that hockey is great but it would be so much better if it became inclusive to everyone regardless of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, etc. I just want hockey to really be for everyone

From: calemakar_

That's what we all want. We don't want anyone to feel like they can't play or enjoy hockey because of who they are

She doesn't know how to keep the conversation because she's awkward and just lets the dm sit there. She turns her attention to the latest hockey news and figuring out who's gonna be her next guest for the podcast.

A few hours later, she sees a follow request on her personal IG account and not the podcast account. She sees it's from Cale and is confused on why he would want to follow her personal account. She barely posts stuff about the podcast on there and uses it more to keep up with family with the occasional posts promoting the podcast and the guests. She accepts the request and doesn't think anything of it.

A few days later, she notices that he's been liking her posts and viewing her stories. He's been seeing her interact with family and friends and she still doesn't understand why he cares enough to keep up with her personal account. It starts becoming weird when he adds her on snapchat.

She sends him a dm on instagram to make sure it's actually him and not someone pretending to be him.

To: calemakar_

This might sound totally weird but did you just add me on snapchat?

From: calemakar_

Yeah I'm sorry. Josty thought it would be funny to hijack my phone and add you

To: calemakar_

No need to apologize, I just wanted to make sure it was actually you and not someone trying to be you to catfish girls

From: calemakar_

Yeah no, definitely my account

She accepts him as a friend on Snapchat and sends him a message.

To: Cale Makar

Hope it's okay I added you back

From: Cale Makar

Yeah, that's cool. You didn't have to tho. Don't want you to feel like you had to

To: Cale Makar

Trust me I added you back because I wanted to. I don't just accept anybody

She hits send before she can even think twice about it but then she reads it back and wants the ground to swallow her whole. She panics as she watches the delivered turn into a read and the little bubbles show up saying he's typing. It feels like forever before Cale sends a response back.

From: Cale Makar

Well I'm glad you didn't add me back out of pity

She doesn't know how to respond to that right away so she opens up other messages and posts updates on her work on her story. She goes back to the messages and starts typing a response, not wanting to leave him on read forever.

To: Cale Makar

Why would anybody do that?

She exits out of it and hopes that her attempts at extending a conversation aren't met with disappointment.

From: Cale Makar

I admit you got me there

To: Cale Makar

I get people to say that a lot

From: Cale Makar

Never picked you as the type to brag

To: Cale Makar

There's a lot of layers to me and a lot of things you don't know about me

From: Cale Makar

Well I hope I get to know more about you

She blinks multiple times not knowing if the message was actually real. After blinking several times, she realizes the message was real and she lets out a squeal. Is he actually flirting with her? She pinches herself because she must be dreaming. There's no way her favorite hockey player and crush is flirting with her. Shit like that doesn't happen to her! She has zero game and has been on a grand total of zero dates in her life. She has had zero boyfriends and girlfriends in her life, so this is something brand new for her.

Maybe she's reading it wrong? Maybe he's just being polite and isn't actually flirting. She decides it's better not to stress it and just go with the flow. 

That's how she approaches the next couple of weeks with her pumping out content for her podcast, working her actual day job, and working on her social media game for the podcast. She also dms tons of people she sees as potential guests on the podcast. 

Her conversations with Cale become more frequent as she eventually finds herself sending him snaps daily. He actually feels comfortable enough to comment on her posts on her personal IG page now and she honestly doesn't know how this is all even real.

Like before she's not stressing it and is going with the flow. However, on the day of Cale's 22nd birthday, she gets hit with a message that causes her to freak out a little.

From: Cale Makar

Hey, is it cool if I got your number? It's much easier if I can just text you. I like you and want to keep getting to know you more

She hyperventilates because she has never had another human being shoe this much interest in her, her whole life. She pinches herself to make sure it's real and it really is real. Cale Makar actually asked for her number. She doesn't know if she should be jumping for joy or preparing for something to go wrong. This is completely uncharted waters for her and she doesn't know if she should go with her heart or her mind. Her mind is telling her not to do it, but her heart is telling her to do it. After a minute, she decides to go with her heart.

To: Cale Makar

Yeah, that's totally cool! (xxx-xxx-xxxx)

She sees a text from an unknown number a minute later pop up on her phone

From: xxx-xxx-xxxx

Hey, it's Cale

She saves the number under the name "Cale 🥰" and types out a response

To: Cale 🥰

Hey, happy birthday btw! Hope you're having fun!

From: Cale 🥰

Thank you I'm in Calgary rn with my family

To: Cale 🥰

Glad you're having fun with them

From: Cale 🥰

Thank you it's good to be back home

To: Cale 🥰

I can imagine! I'll let you get back to your family

She focuses on getting ready for Halloween, which also happens to be her sister's birthday. Her sister is turning 21 this year and she wants to make the most of it, even in the midst of a pandemic. They plan on going to Salem, Massachusetts with family and throwing a little party at a cousin's house in Brookline, Massachusetts. She sees Cale post pictures and videos on his Snapchat story of him and his family celebrating his birthday. She sees all his teammates wishing him a happy birthday on Instagram and Twitter.

As she’s getting ready to go to bed that night, she gets a video call from Cale.

“Hello?” she asks, not knowing why he would be calling her.

“Ace!” he shouts, causing her to cringe slightly.

“How’s your birthday going?” she asks.

“Great! I’m with my brother and some buddies from back home! We got a bonfire going on right now!” he explains, showing off the fire and his brother and friends.

She wants the ground to swallow her whole because she looks absolutely disgusting with her hair tied up in a bun, and old URI sweatpants and an URI sweatshirt on. She has no makeup on and she’s pretty sure she has some acne on her face.

“Hey Ace! I’m Taylor, Cale’s brother!” Taylor shouts in excitement.

She can clearly tell that he’s buzzed, as well as Cale.

“Hey Taylor,” she smiles, waving at him politely.

His buddies also introduce themselves and she can tell that they’re also slightly buzzed. A part of her hopes that they aren’t driving and are gonna make it back home safely whether tonight or the following day.

“You should come!” one of his friends suggests.

“I’d love to but I live in America and the border is still closed,” she replies, feeling slightly awkward.

“It’s a shame! I know Cale really misses his girl right now!” another friend chimes in, causing her to almost choke on her wine.

“I’m not his-”

“He won’t stop talking about you! He’s got it bad for you!” another friend adds, causing her to blush even more.

If the ground would swallow her up right now, that would be amazing because she can't believe the shit that she’s hearing right now. She doesn’t know if it’s the alcohol that has his friends saying that but a part of her wishes it’s true. God, a part of her wants him to want her because she definitely likes him. She likes everything about him but she’s too much of a loser to put herself out there more. So she just lets him do all the talking and flirting because once again, she has no game.

“Shut up Taylor!” Cale cries out, shoving his brother lightly.

“Well you seem to be having a fun time with your friends,” she says, not wanting to bring up anything that was said about his feelings for her. 

“It would be better if you were here,” he adds, his voice dropping slightly in volume.

“Yeah, well maybe we’ll meet one day,” she adds, not wanting to sound desperate to meet him or anything.

“When I get back to the States, I’ll make that a reality,” he replies, sounding sincere for being slightly intoxicated.

She’s reminded of the saying that drunken words are sober thoughts and gets a warm feeling in her stomach.

“Well I’ll let you keep having fun, birthday boy. I’ll talk to you later,” she smiles.

“Bye Ace,” he smiles back, before ending the call.

She immediately refills her glass of wine because she’s definitely too sober to be thinking about all the feelings Cale manages to give her every time they talk. She eventually falls asleep and if she dreamed about being in Calgary with Cale, she’ll blame it on the alcohol fucking with her dreams.

The next day is a busy one for Taty as she celebrates her sister’s 21st birthday in the best way she can while in the middle of a pandemic. They go to Salem, Massachusetts and have a blast doing many Halloween-related activities and then once it gets late, they head down to their cousin’s place in Brookline, Massachusetts to watch Halloween movies and to have a good time. Her sister decides to get drunk and Taty posts all their adventures on her Snapchat and her Instagram. She also sees that Cale has been posting his Halloween adventures on Snapchat, which aren’t as exciting this year because there’s no Avs Halloween party this year due to it still being the offseason and not everyone on the team is in Denver at the moment.

The next few weeks go by for Taty and it eventually gets to the point that she’s video chatting with Cale every day. They sometimes will stay up until late at night just talking and getting to know each other. Every day she’s becoming more comfortable and it’s on the first day of training camp, where she decides she’s finally gonna grow a pair and let him know how she feels.

He calls her after a long day at training camp and she actually has the time to talk to him as she isn’t working on anything for the podcast or her day job. 

“How was camp?” she asks him, as she locks herself in her room.

The last thing she needs is for her nosy ass sisters to eavesdrop on her conversations with Cale.

“It was tiring but fun. It was great to be out there with the guys again, even though everything is so weird with the virus going on,” he explains.

“Oh I bet, I can’t imagine all the testing and the extra precautions you guys have to take. The whole season is gonna be super weird huh,” she replies.

“Yeah, weird is a bit of an understatement,” he chuckles lightly.

“I really like you,” she blurts out, then immediately wishes the ground would swallow her whole.

She buries her face in her hands and contemplates ending the call to save herself from further embarrassment.

“Oh thank god! I was starting to think you didn’t really feel the same,” he admits, biting his lip.

“No I definitely like you. It’s just I’m new to this. I’ve never dated before or anything. I’m kind of a giant loser if you haven’t already caught on,” she admits, almost rambling at the end.

“Yeah no, you’re not a loser! You’re the coolest, most fun girl I’ve ever talked to and I just want to keep getting to know you because I really like you,” he assures her.

"So are we putting a label on this? Are we dating?" she asks.

"I guess you can say we're long distance dating," he chuckles lightly.

"I did know our video chats were considered dates," she teases.

"I was seeing them as dates and I want our future ones to be considered dates," he confesses.

"Alright so set up our next date," you tease.

"I know you're recording for the podcast tomorrow so what about Wednesday?" he asks.

"I'm off work Wednesday so that would be perfect. What time works for you?" she asks him.

"8pm my time," he answers.

"Yeah that works for me," she smiles.

"So it's a date?" he asks.

"Yeah it's a date," she smiles, getting a warm feeling in her stomach.

She tells him about some funny stories involving her family and he tells her some funny stories from training camp. They chat for hours and before she knows it, it's past midnight and she has to go to work in the morning. 

“I need to go to bed. I have work in the morning. Goodnight Cale,” she yawns, waving at him

“Goodnight love,” he waves back, ending the call. 

If she cheeses a little at the fact he called her love, no one is around to see it. 

December goes by pretty quickly and she feels bad that her calls with Cale become less frequent. December is the busiest month at work because everyone is doing Christmas shopping (being a store manager is hard work) and she finds herself working double the amount of hours she worked before the holiday season. Add doing the podcast three times a week and she’s absolutely gassed. Luckily, Cale doesn’t hold it against her because he starts getting more busy with preseason starting and his parents coming down for the holidays. Taylor is currently in the middle of his final season in the AJHL so he can’t make the trip down to Denver for the holidays. They text each other every day throughout the month however, and she manages to call him on Christmas and on New Year’s Eve, asking him if he’s excited for the new season to start on the 2nd.

2021 starts off worse than 2020 started because of the pandemic but Taty manages to make the best of it. She watches the Winter Classic while on video call with Cale. Luckily, the Avalanche start their season off at home again this year. The following day, she finds herself rushing home from work to be able to catch the Avs first game of the season against the Wild. She makes it home and takes a quick shower before changing into her Cale jersey and joggers. She quickly eats dinner before going into her room. She puts the game on and makes it just in time for the players to come out to the ice. She watches the game and manages to text Cale throughout the game knowing that he won’t see the string of texts until after the game. He finishes the game with one assist and 2 hits, as the Avs win 4-2 to start off the new season on a high note.

As she’s getting ready for bed, she gets a call from Cale.

“Hey, great game,” she smiles, trying not to show how tired she is.

“Oh shit, I just realized how late it is over there,” he sighs, not wanting to keep her up.

“It’s okay. I always stay up past my bedtime to talk to you,” she teases.

“How was work?” he asks.

“Annoying. We’re winding down from the holiday season but we still got a lot of people shopping and returning stuff,” she explains.

“I don’t know how you do it honestly, being so young and running a store, I mean,” he explains.

“Yeah well luckily I’m only an assistant manager,” she replies.

“Still pretty incredible what you do,” he assures her.

“Says the NHL superstar,” she scoffs.

“Hey, I’m not a superstar at all! I’m just another player like everybody else trying to be the best at my position,” he explains.

“Why do you have to be so humble all the time?” she teases.

“It’s just who I am,” he shrugs.

“And I love you for it but like just admit you’re a superstar,” she replies.

“Fine, I’m a superstar. Happy now?” he teases.

“The happiest. When are your parents going back to Calgary?” she asks, switching the subject.

“Tomorrow,” he answers.

“I’m glad you got to have them with you for the holidays, though,” she adds.

“Yeah, it was great seeing them again. I just wish Taylor could’ve been here,” he replies.

“Yeah well you’ll see him once his season ends and on the bright side, he’ll be at UMass next season,” she adds.

“Yeah I just miss him. I always go home for Christmas and this year I couldn’t,” he explains.

“Yeah I can’t imagine what that’s like but it will get better,” she assures him.

“Yeah I know it will,” he nods.

“I wish I could be there to make you feel better,” she sighs.

“Yeah, well we’ll see each other next month,” he smiles, a hopeful tone in his voice.

“February 5th can’t come fast enough. I’m gonna blow you away with the best interview you’ve ever done,” she teases, referring to her interviewing him for the podcast.

“I guess we’ll have to see about that,” he teases back.

“You wound me, Makar!” she fake gasps.

“I’ll make it up to you with a killer real first date,” he smiles.

“I’ll hold you to that. I expect to be really wooed,” she teases.

“It’s gonna be the best date you’ve ever been on,” he almost guarantees.

“It’s gonna be the first date I’ve ever been on,” she informs him.

“I know. That’s why it’s gonna be the best you’ve ever been on,” he jokes, causing her to roll her eyes.

“You’re so funny, Makar,” she deadpans.

“Stop acting like I don’t make you laugh all the time, Ventura,” he teases.

“What happened to humble Cale? I like him better than this smug one I got here,” she teases back.

“Stop acting like you don’t like it,” he replies.

“Yeah, I like every side to you,” she admits.

“Well that’s good because I like every side of you,” he smiles.

She feels her cheeks heat up and that warm fuzzy feeling return to her stomach. Is this what falling in love feels like? She’s never felt this way before and god, she hopes the feeling never fades because it’s amazing. No wonder people love falling in love so much, it’s magical and she hopes she doesn’t fuck it up. She just counts down the days until February 5th praying to god that nothing goes wrong once they finally meet.

[lumosinlove]

Sweater Weather

(A/N: Thanks for being patient guys!)

part vii

“Can I have everyone’s attention for a second?”

The entire room looked at James who was sweaty post-practice like the rest of them and making his way to the center of the locker room with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“What the fuck, what did you do?” Kasey said, beginning to look around himself warily, as if something was going to spring out at him and it was all James’ fault.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Cap, what did you and Pots do this time?” Logan asked.

Sirius, however, shrugged. “I don’t know anything. Honest.”

Even Sirius laughed about how dishonest that sounded.

“I swear on my goal streak,” Sirius said, and Logan raised his eyebrows.

“Heavy stuff,” Logan said.

“Excuse me, hello, hi,” James waved his hands. “This isn’t a prank,” he heaved a breath. “Although it might sound like one…I have an announcement.”

Remus had been very carefully avoiding looking at Sirius all day, but he did now. He wanted to see his face. Right then, he had stopped fiddling with the laces on his skate and looked up, brows lowered. No doubt he was wondering what James could possibly have to say that he didn’t already know.

“Well?” Kasey said. “We’re all looking at you, Pots.”

“Right.” James was staring at Sirius and nervously cracking his knuckles one by one.

Remus couldn’t help but smile a little bit. Even if James was telling the entire team, this message was for Sirius.

“Yep, okay,” James cleared his throat and spread his hands. “Lily is pregnant.”

There was a beat of silence in the room. Someone made a high noise, someone else laughed, and someone else gasped. Remus couldn’t stop watching Sirius’ face.

It remained completely still for a few moments, like his brain hadn’t quite caught up to what he’d heard. Then his eyebrows raised. Then a smile, slowly, spread across his face and he stood, dumbstruck.

“Holy shit,” Sirius said, then laughed, breaking the silence. “Holy shit.”

Then he was striding forward and gathering James in a tight hug—James who definitely looked like he was going to cry a little bit.

Sirius snapped the rest of the room out of it and they practically hollered. The team swarmed them, yelling about champagne and congratulations and a baby Potter.

“Let’s hope he or she doesn’t get your hair, eh?” Pascal grinned, looping an arm around James’ shoulders. “Félicitations, mon ami.”

James laughed, a little wetly. “Thanks, Dumo. Any advice?”

Dumo smiled. “Try not to spoil them. It’s impossible.”

Kaner nodded solemnly from James’ other side. “It’s true. When Justin was born I thought it was bad, but wait until you have two. They’re the cutest fucking things I’ve ever seen and I can’t say no.”

Kasey snorted. “Spoil them as much as you’d like, I’m still going to be their favorite uncle.”

“Please,” Logan scoffed. “we all know Sirius is going to be the favorite uncle.”

Sirius laughed, arms crossed over his chest and looking at James fondly. “I think any one of us will be guilty of being wrapped around the kid’s finger.”

“How far along is she?” Leo asked.

“Almost five months. We’ll be able to tell the gender when Lily goes to the doctor’s next.”

“You kept this a secret from everyone for five months?” Kasey said. “James!”

“Well, it was Lily’s call! And…” James smiled, “not everyone.”

Sirius spluttered a little. “Who knew?”

Remus felt his neck heat a little even before all the eyes in the room followed James’ to him.

“Loops?” Kasey laughed, “Lupin! You traitor!”

“Remus knew?” Sirius said faintly, and then Remus couldn’t help but look at him.

Since this morning, he had been practically religious about sticking to his work, about keeping to himself. Last night, when he had finally gotten home after the party, he had laid in bed mulling over what Sirius had said—what he had said.

It’d be worth it.

Too hard.

And Sirius—Sirius wanted him. He’d wanted him for a long time. Remus couldn’t look at Sirius, not knowing that. Not knowing that every time he’d looked at Sirius, Sirius had been looking back. Sirius wanted him.

Remus had imagined that confession a million times over, but never once had it been like that. He’d never thought that it would hurt.

The worst part was, he wasn’t even mad at Sirius. Maybe he should be. If anything, Sirius had led him on, at least a little. But Remus understood. He understood that Sirius was lost, and all he could do now was hope he’d given Sirius enough information to help him figure out what he wanted to do. Remus wanted to help, but he had to protect himself, too.

He wouldn’t be strung along. He wouldn’t be an experiment. He wouldn’t be an embarrassed late night call.

Sirius knew how he felt. Now, he just had to figure out how he himself felt.

And Remus would wait, but not for the wrong reasons, and not forever.

They had a day off tomorrow and it couldn’t have been timed more perfectly. It wasn’t often that Remus wanted to get away from hockey entirely but, right now, all he wanted to do was curl up on his couch and sleep, or catch up on the book he was reading. Hell, he wanted to watch endless hours of television. He was tired, bone tired. It turned out that mutual confessions of feelings that lead to nowhere was even more exhausting that dismissals.

He could still hear some of the guys celebrating and talking loudly about James and Lily from where he was in his the kitchen. He was making himself a warm tea for the road when there was a cough from behind him. He turned to look over his shoulder, then turned back around. He cleared his throat, too, and carefully lifted his tea bag out of his cup and into the garbage.

“Hi,” he said to Sirius, back turned.

“Hi,” Sirius said, and then he came to stand next to Remus at the counter. Remus could see him out of the corner of his eye. He was turned towards him completely.

“Please look at me,” Sirius said, voice dropped quiet. “You haven’t looked at me all day.”

Remus raised his eyebrows, staring down at his tea as he tried to muster the right response. He sighed, finally, and turned to face Sirius, too, leaning his hip against the counter and crossing his arms.

“I don’t exist to look at you, Sirius. If that’s what you’re missing, then you can move along and we can forget about our Halloween conversation entirely.”

Sirius’ eyes widened and he all but tripped over himself to speak.

“No,” He said, a little loudly, and he looked around and dropped his voice again to match Remus’. “Fuck, Remus, that’s not what I meant at all.” He leaned back a little. “That’s what you think of me? That I’m some jacked up jock looking for an ego boost?”

“You fucking held me all night long and then told me you’ve liked me for you don’t even know how long but were never planning on acting on it!”

Remus felt his expression morph into one of surprise. He hadn’t even really know he wanted to say that until he did. He didn’t even know he was this angry about it all. He hadn’t thought he was angry to begin with. Sirius’ expression matched his own.

Remus turned back to the counter, taking a long breath. “How do you want me to feel, Sirius? I can’t just be buddy-buddy with you until you decide whether you can risk wanting me or not.”

“It isn’t just about me,” Sirius began but Remus cut him off.

“I know that,” he snapped, then pressed his hands over his face, groaning. “Fuck, I don’t mean to yell at you about this.” He dropped his hands and looked at Sirius again. “I told you I understand and I do, I just—this is…God, Sirius, you’re standing right in front of me and I want you, too.”

Sirius made a soft noise and his hand curled around Remus’ wrist. “Re.”

Remus shook him off, swallowing hard and picking up his cup. “Go be with your best friend. He’s having a baby.”

~

The Lions crowd was littered with signs wishing Sirius a happy birthday. The rink guards had even let a few little kids and their signs come down to the glass for warmups and press them where Sirius could see them.

Remus was watching Sirius smile happily as he tossed pucks over the glass for them to catch. He knew he probably had a wistful expression on his face, and there was a sure weight in his chest when Pascal skated over to the bench, stopping hard and leaning his forearms on the boards.

“Hi, Dumo,” Remus said.

Pascal only looked at him, head tilted. Then, he spit out his mouth guard into his hand and nodded at Remus. “You should come over for dinner tomorrow night, Remus. Me and the family—and Logan, of course—are throwing Sirius a little dinner party, just us French Canadians, for old time sake.”

Remus raised his eyebrows. “I’m not French Canadian.”

“You basically are. Besides, I’m inviting you. Me, Logan, Sirius, Celeste, and the kids. Very casual. I know James is having him over tonight—the little shit took his actual birthday—but Sirius used to practically live at my house.”

Remus laughed a little. “You complain about billet housing, and yet you seem to have an awfully hard time letting your kids go.”

Pascal shoved his arm. “He is all alone in that great big house of his. It’s true, I’d shove him back in my basement with Logan if I could.” Pascal smiled, “But don’t tell him that.”

Remus looked back to Sirius, who seemed to be communicating with a very young fan through waves and taps on the glass.

“He’ll want you there,” Pascal sing-songed.

“I don’t know,” Remus sighed.

Pascal placed a glove on Remus’ shoulder, pulling his attention back to him. His eyes were serious, but soft.

“I do,” Pascal said, then shoved his mouthguard back in with a wink and skated away to start the game against the Hufflepuff Badgers.

~

That was how Remus found himself knocking on the Dumais’ door at 7:00 o’clock sharp the next evening.

The door swung open to reveal Pascal with Katie on his hip.

“Remus!” he grinned, “Right on time, as usual.”

Remus smiled, stepping inside and shaking some snow off of his collar. It was early, but his weather forecast had told him there was going to be a severe storm tonight. He hung up his coat and slid out of his shoes at Pascal’s direction.

“Hi, Dumo.” he smiled, waving at Katie. “I hope you guys have candles. Apparently there’s going to be a huge blizzard tonight.”

“Really?” Pascal said absentmindedly, already turning back towards the warm kitchen. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Blizzard!” Katie said, clapping her hands, “Kasey!”

“Parfait, ma chou.” Dumo kissed her cheek exaggeratedly, making her laugh. “Exactement.”

They walked into the kitchen and Remus shivered as the warmth hit him.

“Remus,” Pascal’s wife, Celeste, greeted him with a kiss on each cheek and then pressed a glass of wine into his hand which Remus took happily. Celeste smiled, “We are so happy you could come.”

“I am, too, thank you so much for—”

“Remus?”

Remus turned around, lowering his wine from where he had been about to take a sip.

Sirius and Logan were standing there, at the top of the basement stairs. Sirius had stopped dead in the doorway and Logan was behind him, peaking beneath Sirius’ arm. Sirius’ eyes were wide.

His chest squeezed and he smiled. “Hi, Sirius. Tremzy.”

Logan waved, and when Sirius still didn’t move, he rolled his eyes and shoved him, making him stumble a bit into the kitchen.

“Welcome to French court, Fruit-loop,” Logan grinned, punching him lightly in the shoulder. He stepped around him and pressed a short kiss to Celeste’s cheek. “Where the food is the best. And there’s little monsters to chase.” Logan growled playfully at Marc and Katie, who shrieked and laughed, running away from him as he chased them around the kitchen island. Pascal’s two slightly older children, Adele and Louis, looked like they were trying very hard to look unimpressed and like they were trying not to smile at the same time. The kids and Logan’s socks were slipping on the floor, whatever was simmering on the stove smelled incredible, and Remus was filled with an unmistakable sense of home.

He smiled briefly at Sirius again, who was still staring like he’d never seen Remus before, and turned back to the room.

“I can see why you can’t get rid of Logan.” He nodded at Celeste. “Dinner does smell incredible.”

“Are you here for dinner?” Sirius had finally torn himself away from the stairs and had come to stand next to Celeste.

Celeste clucked her tongue, hitting Sirius’ lightly in the chest with her dishtowel. “Sirius. Où sont tes manières?”

“No, I…” Sirius closed his mouth, flush. “I just didn’t know you were coming.”

“Oh?” Remus looked over at Pascal, who was very busy with stirring a pot on the stove. “I thought…”

“I think dinner is ready,” Pascal clapped his hands and grinned. “Adele, set the table, Louis help your mother bring the food out.”

“Katie and Marc could do it for once,” Adele grumbled, but hopped off her stool dutifully.

Remus looked back to Sirius when there was a rustle of bringing everything to the table. He had poured himself a glass of wine of his own and fell into stride with Remus as the followed the others to the dining room.

��I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I thought Pascal would have told you, that’s all.” Remus took a sip of his drink, carefully not looking at Sirius. “I was as surprised as you to be invited.”

“Remus.”

Remus stopped and turned at Sirius’ hand on his arm. He looked up at him and tried his best to keep his face passive. A crease appeared between Sirius eyebrows that Remus badly wanted to smooth out.

“I was surprised to see you,” Sirius said. “Not unhappy to see you.”

Remus swallowed. “Oh. Well, good.”

Remus ended up between Sirius and Katie at dinner, and sitting across from a very smiley Pascal who kept shooting him looks like he knew something Remus didn’t. Once or twice Remus tried to subtly ask him what the hell was up with his eyes, but Pascal always looked away with a soft laugh. The kids and Logan kept most of the conversation going, and Sirius laughed and played along, but Remus could feel it every time Sirius’ eyes fell his way. He was sure Sirius could feel the same whenever Remus looked at him.

There was a tug on his shirt from his left, and Remus looked down at Katie’s large blue eyes.

“Joues-tu au hockey?” she asked in her soft voice. “Like my papa?”

Remus smiled, but shook his head. “I wish. I’m not as cool as your papa.”

“Finally! The praise I deserve.” Pascal said, and Celeste rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

“I used to, though,” Remus said to Katie.

“Did you?” Pascal tilted his head. “I didn’t know that.”

Remus shrugged. “It’s…you know. I miss it, so I don’t talk about it much.”

“Jesus f—fudge,” Logan sent an apologetic smile to Celeste, then looked back to Remus. “You’ve got to play with us, bud. How did we not know this?”

“He’s already promised,” Sirius said, raising his glass to his lips. “All we have to do is win a Cup.”

All three players knocked on the wood of the table at the same time. Remus rolled his eyes at the superstition.

As soon as they knocked, the lights flickered out, making Adele squeak and throwing the table into semi-darkness. The moonlight reflected off the snow falling heavily outside and the wind practically howled.

“Whoa,” Logan said.

“Oh, a storm!” Pascal said, sounding far too delighted. He threw his napkin down. “I’ll get the candles, you were right, Lupin, you were right.” On his way out, he bent to drop a kiss to Celeste’s head.

“Well. The weatherman was right, really.” Remus stuttered.

Celeste scooted her chair back. “Pascal will never know where the candles are, I’ll be right back.” She hesitated then nodded to herself. “Why don’t we all go to the living room. We’re all almost done anyway and it’ll be more comfortable there. I’ll light the stove and bring coffee, too, non? And dessert.”

The kids scrambled at the mention of desert in the dark, giggling and begging Logan for a piggy back ride as they filed out of the dining room. He ended up groaning and laughing under the weight of the two smallest clinging to his arms and neck.

“I didn’t realize it was going to storm like this,” Sirius said as he and Remus followed the others.

“Me neither,” Remus glanced out the windows as they passed them. “I was mostly joking when I asked Dumo about the candles.”

“Guess the x-box isn’t working, then.”

Remus couldn’t help but laugh a little. “No, I guess not.”

“What,” Sirius said, bumping their shoulders lightly. “You don’t like x-box?”

Remus stopped just in the door, out of view of the dimly lit living room. “You aren’t allowed to do that right now.”

For a moment, Remus was worried he was going to have to explain himself from the look on Sirius’ face, but then Sirius stepped back. “Sorry, I…I’m sorry.”

Remus sighed, “You keep saying that.”

“I know.”

“Boys, go sit down!” Celeste yelled from the dark kitchen, and they dutifully went.

“Can I drive you home tonight? And we can talk?” Sirius murmured as they sat on the couch. He kept his eyes on Remus even as Katie wiggled her way into his lap.

Remus opened his mouth, but then there was a flickering light from the corner of his eye. When he looked, Dumo was there holding a chocolate, beautifully homemade cake. Celeste clapped her hands and Katie started the rather off-key version of happy birthday, only made better by Adele’s pretty voice.

Sirius had to tear his eyes away from Remus then and a smile broke out over his face despite himself. It was Remus’ favorite smile, with dimples and completely unselfconscious. Gorgeous. He wondered if Sirius had ever been treated like this at his real home. The thought brought an ache to his chest.

“Guys,” Sirius said, rubbing a hand over his cheek, which Remus noticed was more stubbly than usual. “Merci…thanks.”

“Le gateau!” Katie said delightedly.

“Oui,” Sirius said in his lovely, drawn out way. “Will you help me blow out the candles?”

“What are you going to wish for?” Adele said from where she was leaning forward in her chair.

Remus smiled a little. She absolutely had a crush on Sirius. Don’t we all, Remus wanted to say.

“Well, I can’t tell you.” Sirius hesitated. “It won’t come true. And…I think I need this one to come true.”

Sirius glanced at Remus again, then blew out the cake with Katie.

They were eating and drinking coffee when everyone’s phones started lighting up with severe storm warnings.

“Oh, would you look at that,” Pascal said, holding his phone close to his face. “Dangerous roads.”

Celeste hummed thoughtfully and went to the window. “Oh,” she said, pushing the curtain further aside. “God, we can barely see. I didn’t know it was going to be this bad.” She turned back to them. “Well…I don’t know if I want you boys driving in the dark like this. Especially after all the wine, the food…”

Remus looked down at his wine glass. He had been drinking freely because he had thought he was going to take a cab back. He wasn’t sure the cab services would be running now.

“You both should stay here,” Celeste said, coming back to the table and picking up her cake again. “Just to be safe. The snow plows will come in the morning. The worst that could happen is practice being delayed a little. We have a guest room, if you don’t mind sharing.”

Remus felt Sirius look at him, and was a little grateful. Sirius was giving him the opportunity to turn it down. But the roads looked bad. He would never forgive himself if he made Sirius drive in this weather and he got hurt somehow.

“That would be wonderful.” Remus sent Celeste a small smile. “And I don’t mind if Sirius doesn’t.”

“No,” Sirius said quickly, then cleared his throat. “I mean no, I don’t mind. At all. It’s fine.”

“Are we having a sleepover?” Katie said, relaxing back into Sirius’ chest and tapping his wrist for a bite of his cake.

“Cap and Loops are having a sleepover, mon cher,” Logan said, then stretched out his foot to nudge her feet until she laughed. “You and me can have a sleepover, how’s that?” He looked at Remus and raised a shoulder, “I’m just saying because she really will climb into your bed if you say yes.”

“Tremzy.” Katie sighed happily.

Celeste laughed, “She really will. I speak from experience. Anyway, finish you cake and coffee and I’ll make up the bed for you.”

“We can do that,” Remus took a bite of cake.

“Speak for yourself, Fruit-loop,” Pascal laughed. “I’ve never met a hockey player below 25 who can make up a bed for himself.”

“I can make a bed!” Sirius protested.

“We’ll see, won’t we?” Pascal raised his eyebrows and took a large, final bite of cake, grinning through it obnoxiously and making his kids laugh.

Celeste rolled her eyes fondly. “Stop teasing the boy, Pascal.” She waved towards there food. “Eat up, or I’ll have children begging for left over cake for the next week.”

Remus didn’t know how the Dumais’ had so many extra toothbrushes laying around, but he was glad for them and for Logan throwing extra t-shirts at them both to sleep in.

“You’ll have to suffer through two day underwear,” he had laughed. “As if you’ve never done that before.”

It was busy with the warm sounds of the kids getting ready for bed and yelling for Celeste, needing this or that. Remus felt relaxed by the lull of it, the presence of so many others in the house. He wondered if Sirius felt the same, if he also felt like he had too much room to know what to do with at home.

He was relaxed until Sirius closed the door behind them after wishing the family goodnight (Pascal giving them both exaggerated and smacking kisses to the cheeks) and they were alone and quiet.

Remus rubbed his hands nervously on his jeans before deciding to go over and pick up the shirt Logan had lent him. It was too big but it would be comfortable to sleep in. It had Logan’s name and number on the back and the Lions’ logo on the front. Remus looked at the Tremblay that spread between the shoulders and suddenly pictured a different name there. A different number. Black. 12.

“Ah, do you want the bathroom first?” Sirius’ voice cut into his thoughts and Remus turned abruptly.

“Oh.” He held the shirt against his chest, as if Sirius could see the evidence of his thoughts on it. “No. Go ahead.”

Sirius nodded and retreated to brush his teeth. Remus expected him to close the door but instead, he came wandering back out a second later, toothbrush in his mouth. He held it between his teeth by the bed, and Remus watched with raised eyebrows as he struggled to take his shirt off around it. When he succeeded and pulled a plain gray t-shirt over his head with minimal dripping from the toothpaste, he noticed Remus’ gaze.

“Quoi?” Sirius asked.

Remus kept his eyes firmly towards Sirius’ face and shook his head. “Nothing. Just—a funny order of operations you’ve got going there.”

Sirius looked down at his shirt, then at Remus, and shrugged, going back to brushing.

Remus tugged off his own shirt to change.

Sirius made a noise that was sort of a high pitched hum and Remus looked at him again.

“What?” he asked.

Whatever Sirius responded with was garbled by toothpaste and he disappeared into the bathroom. The back of his neck looked a little pink.

Remus let out a breath. He wasn’t going to survive the night. He figured he could brush his teeth, too, if Sirius wasn’t closing the door, and he picked up Logan’s shirt and tugged it over his head as he walked. He blinked against the bright light of the bathroom and stopped at the left sink. Sirius was running water over his face, and when he reached for the washcloth, he missed by a few inches. Remus pressed it into his hand and Sirius blinked water out of his eyes.

“Thanks,” Sirius said.

Remus nodded, putting toothpaste on his toothbrush. “Yeah.”

Sirius straightened. “Logan gave you that shirt?”

Remus looked at him in the mirror. Sirius question sounded like he was almost appalled by the notion. It made something in Remus’ chest squeeze.

“Yeah. He probably just picked two up from his floor.” Remus leant down and spit, running the water. “I’d guess we’re wearing week old laundry right now.” Then, he couldn’t help adding, “why?”

He watched in the mirror as Sirius’ eyes ran over his back, over Logan’s name and number. Sirius’ nostrils flared a little as he took a large breath.

“I don’t know,” Sirius finally said, then turned and went back into the bedroom.

Sirius was already in bed—on the right side—when Remus came. Sirius had drawn the covers back and was on his phone, one knee bent and raised out of the sheets. Remus collapsed on the left and doodled around on his own phone for a while. It was…nice. Sitting beside someone. Even if they were completely quiet, Remus liked the company, the weight in the bed. It felt like something he wouldn’t mind getting used to.

The wind howled outside, and they both jumped when they heard what sounded like tree branches brush against the window.

“Jesus,” Remus said. “Wonder what the world’s going to look like tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Sirius clicked his phone off. Remus was going to remind him to silence it before they slept. “That sounds pretty rough. Mind if I…?”

When he trailed off, Remus looked to see his hand hovering by the light.

“Oh, yeah. Go ahead.” Remus turned his phone off, too. He was doing fine on battery, but he would need to borrow a charger over breakfast. The light flicked off and they were left with the wind and the dark. They’d closed the shades and Remus could barely see his own hands.

Remus listened to Sirius breathing for a moment, wondering if he was just going to fall asleep. That would be fine, probably better, really, but a small part of Remus had hoped that, maybe—

“James asked me to be the godfather,” Sirius said suddenly into the dark.

Remus couldn’t help but turn to look at him, even if they couldn’t see each other. “Sirius. That’s amazing.”

Sirius made a soft noise of acknowledgement, then fell silent for a few moments again. Remus let him think.

“How does he know?” Sirius whispered.

“Know what?”

Sirius let out a breath. “Nothing. Sorry, nothing, I just had to tell someone. I’ve been—God, I’ve just been thinking about it since he asked and…I’m so happy, I am, I just…”

“It’s a daunting thought for anyone,” Remus said softly.

“Right. Yeah. It is.”

“I,” Remus swallowed. “I get why it would be, especially so for you. But being scared by it doesn’t mean you’re the wrong choice. It means you’re the right choice.”

Sirius laughed softly. “You always know what to say to me, don’t you?”

Remus let out a laugh of his own. “No. No, I really don’t.”

They fell into silence again, staring up into the dark. Remus tried to close his eyes, but all that turned into was listening to Sirius’ breathing and remembering that morning when he had woken up in Sirius’ arms. Sirius’ hand in his hair and his breath against his neck. Now that he knew that, even then, Sirius had wanted him, it made it all hurt even more.

“Were you pretending to be asleep?” Remus asked quietly.

“Now?”

“No,” Remus sunk back against his pillow. “The day you slept in my hotel room. After we lost to the Rangers. We woke up and we were—together.”

“Oh,” Sirius said. Remus heard him take a breath. “Well. I…I didn’t think I’d get the chance again. I’m sorry if that’s weird.”

Remus closed his eyes. “No. I just…I don’t know, I shouldn’t have asked.” Remus kept his eyes closed, took a breath, and said, “I was pretending, too.”

Sirius groaned a little, “Remus.”

There was a rustling as Sirius turned on his side. Remus turned towards him and he could just make out Sirius’ features as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Sirius was shadows and silver outlines, fuzzy with the quiet in the room.

Remus mirrored Sirius’ position. Their hands were tucked between them and Remus inched his head closer to Sirius’ on his pillow.

“This is probably the last thing you want to be doing right now,” Sirius breathed. “I’m sorry.”

Remus shook his head. “It’s more like the last thing I should be doing. But it couldn’t be closer to what I want.” Remus paused at Sirius’ sharp intake of breath. “I already told you that.”

Sirius’ eyes moved down to their hands and they rested on Remus’ open palm, soft on the mattress between them.

“I wished for something when Dumo brought the cake out,” Sirius looked back at Remus. “I’ve wished for the same thing almost every year of my life, but this year it was different.”

Remus could feel his heart in his fingertips. “Oh?”

“I used to wish that—that I could be different. Or maybe that I would stop being different, I guess.”

Remus raised his head off of his pillow a little, heart pulling. “Sirius…”

Sirius shook his head and pressed his cheek farther into his pillow. “I wished every chance that I had that I could just stop—wanting. Stop wanting what everyone around me was implying that I couldn’t have. Stop wanting what I knew I couldn’t want.”

Remus let out a breath. It made sense now. How cold Sirius had been in the beginning. He’d been beaten down. He’d beaten himself down, and he’d been beating himself down for his entire life.

“I didn’t wish for that tonight,” Sirius whispered. When he looked at Remus again, his eyes were shining in the dimness. He reached forward and pressed his palm over Remus’, slowly sliding their fingers together. “Remus, I didn’t wish for that tonight. I couldn’t. I was wrong.”

Remus squeezed his hand, pulling it against his chest. He couldn’t help it. He needed Sirius to know he was there. He hoped Sirius could feel how hard his heart was beating in his chest.

“Wrong?” Remus asked.

Sirius blinked, eyes steady. He looked crumbled but beautiful, like a ruined cathedral that was now open to the sky. “I don’t want it to stop. I know the risks but—God, Remus, when I look at you how could I wish for anything else?”

“Sirius,” Remus breathed. “God, Sirius—”

Sirius pushed himself up then, just enough to bend over Remus in the dark, their hands still locked between them, resting on Remus’ chest. Remus wound his fingers in Sirius’ hair and pulled him down, their noses brushing.

Sirius groaned. “Please don’t let me trap you. Please, Remus, you have to be sure. I can’t—I can’t offer you anything except behind closed doors. Not right now, at least. Not yet.”

“I know,” Remus hushed, fingers stroking the nape of his neck. “I told you, I already told you, and you have to listen to me, okay? Listen.” Remus released Sirius’ hand and cupped his jaw, thumb stroking over his bottom lip, and then his temple, his cheek. “You are worth it, Sirius. You’re kind and good, and I want to be with you even if it’s only when we’re alone. I’ll know. For the entire day when we can’t do anything more than glance and smile at each other, I’ll know what each look means.”

Sirius dropped their foreheads together, his lips pressing just beside Remus’ mouth with a soft sound. Remus closed his eyes, entire body feeling coiled with tension, waiting. Wanting.

“I don’t know how many times you’ve heard that you aren’t good enough,” Remus whispered against Sirius’ skin. “But I’m going to make you forget each one.”

Sirius shuttered. Remus felt it as Sirius let his chest rest against his, pressing them together.

“Re,” Sirius had barely breathed out, and then Remus pulled their mouths together and kissed him.

Sirius groaned into it and Remus heard himself do the same as Sirius’ fingers found his hip and cheek, keeping him steady while Sirius angled his head to deepen the kiss, running his tongue along Remus’ lip. Remus pressed up and against him, hands smoothing from his neck to his waist, rather shameless about feeling each rise and fall of his body along the way. Each stroke seemed to make Sirius kiss him harder, more frantically, like he was making up for lost time.

“Fuck,” Sirius murmured as he kissed down Remus’ jaw, pausing at the place where it met his neck. Sirius slotted his thigh between Remus’ and Remus gasped. Sirius was a hard, hot line against his hip and he was relentless in the presser he was applying in warm rolls against Remus’ quickly filling dick.

Remus let out a sigh at the feeling, pressing his arms to Sirius’ upper back and feeling the muscles move beneath his skin as Sirius worked himself against Remus’ body.

“Oh God,” Remus panted. “Oh God, we can’t have sex in Dumo’s guest room.”

“We can if we’re quiet.” Sirius kissed Remus again. “Je vais garder ta bouche occupée.”

Remus groaned. “I can’t fucking translate French right now.”

Sirius laughed softly. “I can keep your mouth busy.” Then he kept kissing him, slow and dirty. Remus couldn’t help but mirror his smile and tucked his fingers back into Sirius’ dark hair. He pushed up into Sirius’ mouth, then broke to kiss across his cheek slowly, savoring the scratch of his stubble against his lips.

Sirius hummed happily and settled back down against Remus’ chest, nose against Remus’ neck. He was too tall for their current position, and Remus lifted his head a little to see his bare feet dangling a little off of the end of the bed. He laughed, but simply wrapped his arms around Sirius’ broader shoulders and pressed his nose into the hair that curled out above Sirius’ ear.

“You’re not a lion, your a cub, an oversized cub. Somehow I always knew.”

Sirius mumbled something and smacked Remus’ hip lightly before pressing a kiss to his neck.

“Okay,” Sirius said with another kiss, then pushed himself up onto his forearms. He looked down at Remus.

Remus tilted his head, fingers still threading gently through Sirius’ hair. “Okay?”

A small, disbelieving smile appeared on Sirius’ face and he leaned down for a much softer, shorter kiss. “We can’t have sex in Dumo’s guest room. You’re right. But I can hold you without pretending to be asleep now, oui?”

Remus nodded. He thought there might be nothing left in his chest but his heart now.

“Oui,” he replied softly.

Sirius rolled away, pulling Remus with him until he was tucked beneath Sirius’ chin, ankles hooked around each other.

Remus wouldn’t have thought he’d be able to sleep, but when he closed his eyes, and with Sirius’ heart beneath his ear, he found that he’d never felt more calm.

“Je suis content,” Sirius whispered with a kiss to Remus’ forehead.

Remus smiled, and tilting his chin up for a kiss felt like the most natural and practiced thing in the world.

“I’m happy, too.”

[blurry-fics]

Skeleton Shindig

Kae & Sav’s Spooky Special | Masterlist

Warnings: Alcohol use, drunken shenanigans, one really bad pun, a brief confrontation

Word Count: 7173

Authors’ Note: This chapter is pretty long, I know, but there were a lot of little details we wanted to include. Regardless, we hope you enjoy the chapter! :) (picture credit)

Tyler’s POV

I finished emptying a bag of chips into a brightly colored bowl and set it in the middle of the counter among the rest of the snacks. My entire morning had been spent making spooky DIY snacks from recipes that Y/N, Josh, and I had collected off of Pinterest. Overall, I was pretty pleased with how everything had turned out, although what everyone else would think had yet to be determined.

My phone buzzed against the counter while I was throwing the chip bag into the trash. I hummed quietly as I wandered over to it and picked it up, scrolling through what messages I had missed. Similar to the morning before, Josh and Y/N had already started some conversation between themselves.

Y/N: what costumes are you dudes wearing tonight? i can’t decide :/

Josh: i haven’t decided on anything yet. i was thinking we could do a trio costume or something.

Y/N: a trio costume! that’s a great idea :)

By the time I was caught up with their messages, a plan had already formulated in my head. If I played my cards right, I could get Josh and Y/N into a couple’s costume without them even knowing. While it may not get them to admit their feelings, it definitely had the potential to give them a shove in the right direction.

Tyler: hey! what if we do the skeleton onesies from a couple years ago? comfortable, easy, and it doesn’t require buying anything new

Unbeknownst to them, I already had my own costume ready to go, completely separate from the old skeleton onesie. I tapped my foot impatiently against the wood floors, waiting for their replies. If one of them wasn’t totally on board with the idea, then I would have to do some serious convincing to make sure they ended up following through.

Y/N: ooh, why didn’t i think of that? that’s perfect! you in, josh?

Josh: yeah, i’m in!

I smiled, giving my fist a little shake of success. Now all I had to worry about was getting them to my house without either of them changing their minds or figuring out my master plan. Thankfully, that was a problem for later. Right now, my top priority was finishing all the decorations for the party.

That, and figuring out the next step of my plan.

*      *      *

A door towards the back of the house creaked as I was hanging some fake cobwebs over the fireplace. I immediately stopped what I was doing and listened, waiting to see if the noise would repeat itself. My doors were always locked at all hours of the day and as far as I knew, there shouldn’t be anyone at my house today until the party started. Deciding that it had probably been a sound effect from the music I had playing, I brushed it off and went back to decorating.

There was another sound a short time later, although this time it sounded more like my floors creaking than it did a door opening. Now a bit more paranoid than I was before, I set my decorations down on the mantle and walked into the kitchen where my phone was sitting. While there was still a chance it could be the music playing over the speaker system, something about the proximity of the sound gave me a feeling that it wasn’t. Once the music was off, I slowly crept towards the hall closet where I kept a baseball bat for situations like this.

With the bat in my hands, and my nerves somewhat calmed now that I had something to protect myself, I started to creep towards the source of the noise. I wanted to believe that I had worked myself up over nothing because of it being the day before Halloween and all, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone, or something, was in my house.

Just as I was about to round the corner in the hallway, someone jumped out from behind the wall and scared me. I registered the bright red hair just in time to stop the bat mid-swing and avoid knocking Josh out cold.

“What the hell?” I said, bringing a hand to my chest. “How did you get in here?”

“I used my spare key to get in the back door and scare you,” Josh grinned. “Did it work?”

“Work? Josh, I nearly knocked you out cold.”

“I’ll take that as a yes, then.”

He gave me a pat on the shoulder as he walked down the hall. I took another moment to compose myself before joining him.

“Where should I put my bag? The guest room?” he called from the kitchen.

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

After some discussion, we decided that Y/N and Josh should spend the night at my place so that we could get an early start on our ghost hunting trip tomorrow. It was the grand finale of what Y/N had deemed our “Spooky Extravaganza” in order to celebrate Halloween this year. This was also the reason I had been talked into throwing a Halloween party.

While Josh put his things away, I wandered back into the living room to finish putting up decorations. There were only a few final touches and some food that needed to be laid out before the house was ready for tonight.

“Where’s your costume?” Josh asked as he wandered back into the living room.

My eyes went wide, but thankfully my back was to Josh so he wasn’t able to see my surprise. I quickly thought of a lie that I hoped would be believable.

“I haven’t put it on yet. I, uh, didn’t want it to get sweaty while I was decorating.”

“You’ve been hard at work, huh?” he laughed, a sign he had bought the lie.

“Yeah. Decorating is tough.”

“Do you need any help?”

I stepped down from the fireplace and glanced around the room, looking for anything that seemed out of place or under-decorated. If I was being honest, I was pretty impressed with the job that I had done on my own.

“I think I just have to get some more food ready, if you want to come help with that.”

“Sure.”

“How have you been since we last saw each other?” I asked as I began to grab food from the fridge.

“I’ve been ok. Mostly just sleeping, you know?”

“You mean you didn’t stay up until three talking to Y/N again?”

“No, not last night. They were tired and I wanted to let them sleep,” he said, barely containing a shy smile.

“Shocking.”

“Hey, not all of us fell asleep ten minutes into the movie last night.”

“I was exhausted! Being around two people who are clearly in love with one another but won’t admit it all day is tiring.”

“Shut up. We are not in love with one another.”

“Sure, Josh.”

“Although…” he trailed off.

I looked up from the platter that I was working on and raised my eyebrows at him. “Although?”

He reached up and rubbed at his neck, “Well, last night, when we were watching the movie… I got scared at one point and Y/N kind of… grabbed my hand, I guess? And held it for the rest of the movie.”

I took the dish towel that I had thrown over my shoulder and dramatically tossed it down on to the counter before resting my hands against its edge.

“Tell me again why you don’t think they feel the same?” I said.

“It didn’t mean anything,” he shrugged. “I don’t even know why I brought it up. They were just trying to comfort me because they know I don’t like scary movies. Y/N is way out of my league, anyway. It’s not going to happen.”

“Josh. Did you hear what you said to me? About them holding your hand?”

“Yes, and I told you that they were just being comforting.”

I sighed and pushed a hand through my hair. Though I was trying to hide my exasperation, I could tell that Josh knew I was frustrated with him.

“Listen, we have the party tonight and ghost hunting tomorrow. There’s going to be plenty of opportunities for you to hint at your feelings for Y/N. I’m not saying you have to admit anything, but can you at least try to be a little flirty?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know how.”

“It’s easy! Look, just watch me do it.”

Josh watched in confusion as I wandered over to the freezer. Inside were a number of rubber gloves that I filled with water the night before and left in there to freeze so that I could use them in punch at the party. I grabbed one of them and carried it back over to Josh.

“See, right here we have Y/N’s hand,” I said, gesturing to the glove. “Now, stay with me, Josh, say you two are walking, ok?”

Josh answered with a hesitant, “Ok.”

I started to mimic walking, making sure to swing the glove back and forth for added effect. “Ok, so you’re at the party or looking out for ghosts. All you need to do is turn your body a little and let your fingers gently brush against theirs.” I demonstrated. “Now this is the important part. If they turn their hand to catch yours when it swings back, then you know you’re in. If they don’t, then you pretend it was an accident and move on.”

“And how do you know this is going to work?”

I sighed as I started to peel the glove away so I could properly add it to the punch, “I don’t, but you’re never going to know if you don’t take a chance. Whether you think Y/N shares your feelings or not, you can’t deny that the two of you have a deep bond. I don’t want to see you pass that up because you’re scared, alright?”

Josh rubbed at the side of his face. “You’re right. I’m trying to make a move, I really am. I just get so nervous around them. Like, when they smile? And the whole room just lights up? It gives me butterflies every time and then I forget what I was trying to say because everything else fades out and I can’t do anything but smile like an idiot.”

“And that’s exactly why you need to pursue this. I’ve never seen you this in love with somebody. Y/N is special, Josh. Don’t lose that.”

“I know,” he said, snapping himself out of his lovesick daze. “Trust me, I know. Speaking of Y/N, when are they getting here?”

I checked the time on the stove. “Anytime now, although they did text and say traffic was worse than usual.”

“More time for me to amp myself up, I guess.”

“Exactly,” I grinned.

*      *      *

Your POV

You admired Tyler’s skeleton pumpkin as you walked up to his front door. Despite the mishap with Tyler cutting his finger, he still managed to end up with a decent looking pumpkin, It looked nice among the other decorations that he had taken the time to hang up outside his house, most of which were other skeletons.

You adjusted your backpack a little before knocking on the door. Josh opened it almost immediately, a bright smile on his face. You returned it as you stepped inside the house and kicked your shoes off by the door.

“Hey,” Josh smiled.

“Hi, how’s it going?”

“Great. I like your costume, by the way.”

“Thanks, I like yours too,” you giggled.

“You two wasted no time getting friendly,” Tyler said, arms crossed as he slowly wandered in your direction.

“I’d get friendly with you too if you actually had your costume on,” you retorted.

“I didn’t want to get it sweaty while I was decorating! I’ll put it on when people start getting here.”

“It looks amazing in here, by the way.” You took a moment to look around at all the decorations. “You really outdid yourself.”

“Thanks. I know you were really excited about this Halloween party, so I wanted to make sure it lived up to your spooky standards.”

“You definitely met them.”

“When is everyone else getting here?” Josh asked.

“Fifteen minutes or so. At least, that’s when they’re supposed to show up.”

“Are you going to get changed, Ty?” you chimed in.

“I will! I will.”

“We need to all match!”

You could have sworn you saw a smirk pass over Tyler’s face, but you decided to brush it off. He probably just had some crazy plan to scare everyone at the party later which, while concerning, was not something that you needed to immediately deal with.

“Also, where should I put my stuff?” you asked.

“The guest room is fine.”

“Ok.”

While the boys wandered off to the kitchen, you went down the hall to drop your belongings in the guest bedroom. You had always liked Tyler’s house; something about it being near the woods on the outskirts of Columbus had always comforted you and made it feel like a second home to you. Maybe it was the fact that the boys were always around when you were at Tyler’s too.

The boys were whispering hurriedly when you walked into the kitchen, but quickly stopped once they took notice of your presence. You simply smiled and took a seat in one of the stools next to Josh.

“This food looks really cool, Ty. You nailed the DIYs,” you said, admiring some oreo spiders he had made.

“Thanks. You should have seen me when I was working this morning,” he laughed. “The kitchen was a complete disaster of half-finished projects for a while.”

“I can only imagine.”

“Oh, I should probably go get dressed before people start showing up. Feel free to play darts or something while you wait. Just make sure not to get covered in paint.”

Tyler grinned at the two of you before disappearing down the hall. Josh was quiet for a moment before he turned to you. “Darts?”

“Sure.”

You got up and followed Josh into the dining room where Tyler had set up a game of what he and Josh had deemed “Spooky Darts”. A selection of water balloons were currently pinned to the wall, each full of red paint. Behind them was white paper, so that when the balloons popped, it would end up looking like blood splatter. You still remembered the proud look on the boys’ faces when they came up with it.

“You want to throw first?” Josh asked, holding a dart out to you.

“You know I’m not good at darts,” you laughed. “But I can try.”

“I can always help you, if you need it.”

You swallowed hard, unsure if you should take Josh up on the offer. Maybe you could really mess up this throw so you had an excuse to ask him for help the next time around. Yeah, that was definitely an idea you could get behind.

You tossed the dart at the makeshift dartboard, but ended up missing and nearly hitting the wall beside it. Your hand flew to your mouth to cover a gasp, but it quickly turned to laughter as you turned and saw the look on Josh’s face. He was smiling widely as he twirled his own dart in his fingers.

“This doesn’t even feel fair,” he laughed.

“I tried!”

“Here, let the professional show you how it’s done.”

You watched with crossed arms as Josh lined up a shot and tossed a dart at the wall, easily hitting one of the balloons and popping it. He turned to you with a proud smirk, making you shake your head.

“Alright, Mr. Professional, why don’t you help me out then?”

“Gladly.”

Josh wasted no time in stepping closer to you and wrapping his hand over yours, helping you hold the dart in what he insisted was the “correct” position. You tried to pay more attention than you had when he was explaining backflips yesterday, although a game of darts definitely had a lot less risk involved. Before you knew it, he was helping you toss a dart directly into a balloon at the other end of the room.

“See? That easy.”

“I guess you just teach me something new every day,” you smiled.

Josh bit down on his lip and turned away from you, probably in some attempt to hide the blush on his cheeks. You wanted to tease him about it, but decided that was a bad idea when there was a good chance you looked just as flustered as him. Instead, you wandered towards the balloons to pick up your darts. Unfortunately for you, Josh had other plans.

Just as you had collected your second dart, a balloon popped near your head and splattered paint in your direction. You had just enough time to register what was happening and jump back to avoid getting paint over the majority of your clothes, but you still felt a few splatters cover your cheeks.

“Josh!” you squealed, but it quickly turned to laughter. “What were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t!” he joined your laughter. “I’m so sorry, Y/N.”

“You’re going to pay for that!”

Without a moment of hesitation, you swiped your finger through a particularly large glob of paint and started to run after Josh. He tried his best to dodge you, but, not wanting to ruin Tyler’s carefully placed decorations, ended up backed into a corner. With a satisfied smile, you reached up and drew a line of red paint right down Josh’s nose.

“Ok, I think that’s deserved,” he laughed.

You hadn’t initially realized you were pressed up against him until he started to laugh and you felt the movement of his chest against your own. Every point of contact was immediately on fire and you quickly took a step back, not wanting to make things uncomfortable. Before either of you had a chance to say anything, Tyler finally emerged from his bedroom, wearing something that definitely wasn’t the skeleton onesie the three of you had agreed on.

“What do you think of my costume?” he… well, you weren’t entirely sure what expression he was making. He currently had a sheet thrown over his head, complete with uneven cut out eye holes and drawn on fangs. Around his neck was a classic vampire cape that flowed out behind him.

“Are you a… vampire ghost?” you asked.

“Exactly. I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to be, so I figured why not both?”

“Isn’t that, you know, not possible?” Josh added. “Since they’re both undead?”

Tyler sighed dramatically, “Because every other Halloween costume is so realistic.”

“Besides, what happened to our trio costume?” you frowned.

“Yeah, now it just looks like Y/N and I did a couple’s costume.”

A lightbulb immediately went off in your head. There had never been a trio costume in the first place.

“I wanted to stand out because I’m the host! Not to mention that the two of you make such a cute couple, I didn’t want to intrude on that.” You didn’t have to see Tyler’s face to know that there was a huge smirk plastered on it. “Also what did I say about you two getting dirty? You both have red paint all over your faces.”

“Yeah, I’m going to go get cleaned up,” you sighed.

You brushed past Tyler, making sure to give his shoulder a little bump, as you made your way to the bathroom. As soon as the door was shut behind you, you leaned against it and took a deep breath. Everything was fine, it was just a matching costume, not a confession of your feelings. Tyler had put you and Josh into far more awkward situations before and it had never been an issue.

Maybe it was holding Josh’s hand yesterday that was adding a whole new layer to the energy between you and Josh today.

With a sigh, you pushed the thoughts from your mind and bent down over the sink to carefully scrub the red paint away. Your focus tonight was going to be on the party, that was it. Between tour and your generally busy schedule, it wasn’t often that you got to have nights like tonight where everyone was together and you definitely weren’t about to let Tyler put a damper on that.

Josh had already cleaned up by the time that you finally emerged from the bathroom. The boys were once again in the kitchen, standing around the snacks but doing their best not to eat any before the rest of the guests arrived.

“Do you think it would be too cheesy to play some of our music at the party?” Tyler asked.

“Maybe a little, although I did see that Heathens got added to some Halloween playlists,” Josh answered.

“I think you could get away with two of your own songs, but not much more than that.”

“Fair enough.”

Your conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door. The three of you turned in its direction, hoping to catch a glimpse of who the first to arrive was, until Tyler finally skipped off to answer it. A few moments later, Mark and Brad were standing in the entryway, proudly displaying their costumes. Or at least, Mark was.

“Mario and Luigi, I like it,” Josh laughed.

“No, no, no, you’re mistaken,” Mark grinned. “I’m Markio.”

“Do you have a clever pun for your name, Brad?” you asked once you finally caught your breath after laughing.

“No,” he deadpanned.

“Alright,” you nodded.

“We tried Bradigi, but it didn’t have quite the ring to it that we were going for.”

“You were going for.”

“Alright, let’s get this party started,” Tyler grinned.

*      *      *

The party was in full swing now. Tyler’s living room was full of your friends in a variety of spooky costumes, most of whom were also tipsy. You were currently on the couch, nursing your own drink and watching the partygoers try to hold conversations with their drunk friends as they munched on Tyler’s creative snacks.

Josh collapsed down onto the couch next to you without warning, nearly making you spill your drink down the front of your onesie. You held back an insult, knowing he didn’t do it on purpose, and instead braced yourself to listen to whatever message he had brought you this time.

“Some people are playing Uno, if you want to join,” he said, letting a silly smile grace his lips. “It’s a drinking game, but you can drink whatever you want. Doesn’t have to have alcohol in it.”

“Are you going to play?”

“Mmmhmm. And I want you to come sit next to me.” He leaned into you slightly as he spoke, making heat rise to your cheeks.

“Ok, I’ll play a round of Uno.”

You stood up and helped Josh follow after you. He grabbed two more drinks for the two of you as you passed through the kitchen, and even went so far as to grab an entire handful of spider Oreos. You had to hold back a giggle when he dramatically winked as he did so, as if he had somehow pulled off the greatest heist of the century.

“Come on, Josh.”

Tyler, Mark, Brad, and a couple other people were already sitting around the floor, preparing their own drinks for the start of the game. You sat in the empty space next to Tyler and Josh wasted no time in plopping down next to you and sitting close enough that his knee was practically on top of yours. Tyler shot you a look because of this, but you simply shook your head and picked up the cards that were being dealt to you.

“What are the rules?” Mark asked.

Tyler went over the rules of Uno: The Drinking Game - another of his and Josh’s creations - while everyone sorted through their cards. You were trying to pay attention, but Josh kept leaning over and bumping your arm. When you would ask him what he wanted, he would just respond by saying he didn’t want you to forget that he was sitting next to you; something about him being tough competition.

“How many Red Bulls have you had tonight?” you asked as you noticed Tyler taking a long sip out of a familiar blue and silver can. The “ghost” part of his outfit had long since been discarded - he said it had been too difficult to eat with it on - for the cape and a pair of plastic vampire teeth instead. This also, naturally, included Tyler doing his best vampire hisses at people when they passed.

“Four. Wait, no, five? I’ve lost track.”

“Are you going to be able to sleep tonight?”

“Do I ever sleep?” he laughed.

“Fair enough.”

You rearranged the cards in your hand so that it would be easier for you to play the game. Just as it was about to start, Josh nudged your arm yet again, although this time he had a gift.

“For good luck,” he whispered with a dorky grin as he tried, and failed, to slyly pass you an Oreo.

“Thanks,” you said, pressing your lips together to avoid laughing too loudly. When you didn’t immediately eat the Oreo, he raised his eyebrows and pressed your hand closer to your mouth.

“Alright, Brad, you start.”

The game ended up going pretty well, although Josh was now considerably more drunk than he had been at the start, if that was even possible. He was now leaning on you completely shamelessly and reminding you how cool you were at every opportunity. You would be lying if you said you weren’t enjoying it.

“Where are you going?” Josh whined as you started to stand up. The game had long since ended, but your group had decided to stay sitting and swap stories over drinks.

“I was just going to get some water.”

“I’ll go with you.”

This, of course, required you to help Josh stand back up. As soon as he was on his feet, he wrapped an arm around you - insisting that it was to help him balance - and walked with you into the kitchen. Even when you reached up to grab a cup, he kept one arm firmly around your waist.

“Wait, no way!” A familiar voice cut through the noise just to your right. “I had no idea you guys were dating.”

You sighed and turned to face the figure, playing nervously with the cup in your hands. “We’re not.”

Her eyebrows furrowed, “You’re not? So… that’s not a couple’s costume?”

“It’s not,” you said, forcing a smile and making a mental note to chew Tyler out later. “And the only reason he’s hanging on to me is because he’s drunk. He has a habit of hanging onto people when he’s drunk.”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“Yeah.”

You were glad when she finally walked off, and also when Josh decided to keep his mouth shut. Once you had taken a second to calm your breathing back down, you refilled your water and walked back into the other room. Tyler helped Josh sit back down on the ground, though he did have a mind of his own when it came to where he was sitting. Rather than sitting next to Tyler, which had been Tyler’s intention, Josh ended up cross legged across from you.

“Hi, Josh,” you smiled.

“Hi, Y/N,” he said, giving you one of his famous crinkly-eyed smiles. His nose scrunched a little too, making you nearly melt on the spot.

“How are you feeling?”

“Wonderful. In fact, I feel almost as good as you look.”

You ignored the stares of everyone else sitting in your makeshift circle and kept your eyes on Josh. Sure, he could be a bit of a flirt when he got tipsy, but you had never experienced anything quite like this.

“Thank you.”

“Mmmhmm.” He paused for a moment and then craned his neck so he could look at Tyler. “Hey, Tyler.”

“Hey, Josh.”

“Hey, hey, did you know that your voice is really nice? I like when you sing.”

A shy smile passed over Tyler’s face and he mumbled a quiet thanks. Josh, obviously pleased with this reaction, then turned back to you.

“I don’t have a nice voice,” he shook his head while maintaining very serious eye contact with you. “I just play the drums and then I get calluses all over my hands. Look at this.”

He held a hand right up to your face. You gently grabbed his wrist and pushed it away from you so that you could actually see what he was trying to show you. His eyebrows knit together in confusion for a moment before relaxing again.

“You don’t have that many calluses, Josh. Your hands are very nice.”

“You think my hands are nice?”

You held back a laugh, afraid it might upset him. “Yes, very nice.”

“But look at your hands.”

He somehow managed to wriggle his one hand away from your grip and grabbed yours. You ignored Tyler’s stares as Josh very delicately picked up your hands and rested them on top of his fingers so that he could look at them. His thumbs ran gently over the backs of your palms, just barely ghosting against your skin.

“See? You don’t have any calluses. And your hands are so much smaller than mine. Look.”

Once again, your hands were being pulled in all different directions by Josh, this time to press your hands together so that he could see how much bigger his hands were. He very carefully lined up the bottoms of your palms for the most accurate depiction.

“My fingers are so much longer than yours!” he grinned, obviously pleased with himself. “Can you feel all the calluses on my hand?”

“Yes, I can.”

“What about now?”

You tried not to jump as Josh slid his fingers between yours and closed his hand. Slowly, yours did the same until you were essentially showing off your hand holding to the entire group. Josh, of course, didn’t mind, but you could practically feel every set of eyes that was watching you.

“I still feel them.”

Josh sighed dramatically and let your hands fall, though he kept your fingers interlaced. “That’s not fair. I don’t want you to feel my calluses when we hold hands, that’s embarrassing!”

“It’s not a big deal, Josh.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Hey, you know who has really small hands?” he smiled, changing the subject in an instant. He answered his own question before you had a chance to. “Tyler.”

“Hmm?” Tyler asked.

“Bro, let me see your hands.”

Tyler reluctantly held his hands out and Josh finally scooted away from you to investigate. He did the same thing he had with you where he delicately held Tyler’s hands in front of his face, but you took notice of the fact that he wasn’t gently running his thumbs over the back of Tyler’s palm. That made you smile.

“Your hands are so small and soft,” Josh said. “I wish my hands were small and soft.”

“Thanks, I think?”

The room went quiet as the song that had been playing came to an end. You immediately recognized the beginning of the next one that played, considering you had heard it at countless concerts. Tyler was already looking at you when you went to shoot him a look.

“You really did it,” you laughed.

He shrugged, “Just the one. I couldn’t resist.”

“Tyler!” Josh gasped, squeezing his friend’s hands a little tighter as he looked up to meet his eyes. “This is our song!”

Josh dropped Tyler’s hands in an instant and began to air drum in time with the song, much to the amusement of everyone around him. You sighed and took a long sip of what was left of your drink.

It was going to be a long night.

*      *      *

People finally started to leave around one in the morning. Josh was still drunk and following you around like a lost puppy, though he had sobered up somewhat. You were just glad that he hadn’t ended up puking in the middle of the living room, which had been a concern at one point.

“Ok, I think it’s time for us to head out,” Mark said, clapping his hands together. “Brad, you ready?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Wait!” Josh called, pulling his head up from where it had previously been resting on your shoulder. “I have to say goodbye.”

“We all do,” you laughed.

You watched as Josh walked up to Mark and firmly placed his hands on either side of his face.

“Mark, I love you so much,” he said. “Thank you so much for taking awesome pic- videos of our concerts.”

“It’s no problem, bud,” Mark smiled, giving Josh a firm clap on the shoulder.

“And Brad!” Josh continued, doing the same to him as he had done to Mark. “Wow, your beard is so nice. I love you, man.”

Brad nodded, his lips firmly pressed together. “Sounds about right.”

Once they were out the door, it was finally just you, Tyler, and Josh left. You were exhausted, but the house was a mess and you didn’t want to leave Tyler to clean up everything by himself, especially since you knew Josh wouldn’t be any help.

“Where do you want to start?” you asked, turning to Tyler.

“I say we start in the living room and work from there.”

“Good plan.”

*      *      *

Josh’s POV

“Y/N!” I called.

“What?” they answered from the other room.

“Will you come sit on the couch with me?”

I listened as their footsteps grew steadily closer. When they appeared around the corner, my face immediately grew into a smile.

“I’ll come sit with you once Tyler and I are done cleaning. If you want it to go faster, then you can help.”

“I am helping! By eating these chips,” I grinned, holding up the bag for added effect.

Y/N shot me a look before they turned and walked back into the other room. I could hear them and Tyler quietly talking, but I couldn’t make out anything they were saying. The crunching of chips echoing in my head was doing nothing to help that, either.

The bag of chips was nearly gone by the time Y/N finally joined me on the couch. I immediately laid down and rested my head in their lap, eager to be close to them. Normally I would be too scared to even graze their hand on accident, but something about the alcohol in my system was giving me all the confidence I needed.

“Is this ok?” I mumbled.

“Yeah, you’re fine.”

“Good, because I didn’t want to move.”

Y/N laughed and rested a hand on my head. They slowly started to brush their hands through my hair, nearly lulling me into a sleep. When Tyler started to talk too, I knew there was no way that I would be staying awake for more than a few more minutes.

I floated in and out of sleep until Tyler finally shook me awake for good and told me I should move to the guest room. When I started to protest, he shot me a look and nodded in the direction of the hallway.

“Are you going to be ok getting dressed?” Tyler asked. He was leaned in the doorway while I stumbled my way towards the bed.

“I’ll be fine,” I mumbled. “Where’s Y/N?”

“Josh, I know you…” he turned and looked over his shoulder, “...love them, but you don’t need to be with them at every waking moment.”

“Yes, I do!”

“I’ll be right back. You get into pajamas.”

Tyler shut the door and walked off before I had a chance to say anything else. While I waited for him to return, I slowly shuffled around the room to grab my pajamas and get changed into them. I felt a lot more comfortable once I was in sweatpants and a t-shirt instead of my skeleton onesie.

I was about to call out for Tyler when I heard him talking to Y/N just outside the door. Letting my curiosity get the best of me, I slowly crept towards the door and put my ear up against it.

“Where did you want to sleep tonight? I can take the couch, if you want me to. Tomorrow is going to be a long night and I know you already don’t sleep well away from home,” Tyler said.

“Are you sure? I really don’t mind taking the-”

I suddenly pulled the door open, making both Tyler and Y/N jump. They watched me with raised eyebrows while I took a moment to process what I had just done.

“They can sleep in here with me.”

“Josh,” Tyler sighed.

“I need them to protect me! Tomorrow is Halloween which means there will be scary creatures out.”

Tyler looked to Y/N, who simply shrugged. “I mean, it eliminates the problem of who has to sleep on the couch.”

“If you’re cool with it, then I won’t stop you.”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Y/N smiled.

“Alright, I’ll see you in the morning then.”

“Goodnight, Ty.”

“Goodnight!” I chimed in.

“Good luck with him,” Tyler laughed.

“Thanks, I’ll need it.”

I smiled as Y/N walked into the room with me and Tyler walked off down the hall. While Y/N dug around in their bag for pajamas, I collapsed back down onto the bed. It creaked a little from the sudden weight.

“Damn,” Y/N muttered.

“What?”

“I’ll be right back.”

I watched as Y/N quickly opened the door and disappeared from the room, hopefully not to tell Tyler that they wanted to sleep on the couch, after all. The mere thought of it was upsetting.

When Y/N returned, they were wearing an oversized t-shirt over a pair of sweatpants, much like me, although I was sure that it wasn’t their shirt. They tossed their skeleton onesie down onto their stuff and started to scroll through their phone.

“Whose shirt is that?” I asked.

“Tyler’s?” they said, looking up at me. “Why?”

“Why are you wearing Tyler’s shirt?”

“Because I forgot pajamas and didn’t want to sleep in the onesie.”

“Why don’t you wear my shirt?” I frowned.

They finally turned off their phone and slipped it into the pocket of their sweatpants. “Because you don’t have any extras here and Tyler does. Is somebody jealous?”

“No,” I huffed, crossing my arms tightly over my chest. “I just think you would look better in my shirt.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. Here, take it.”

Y/N tried to stop me, but it was too late. My shirt was off and sitting in a small heap next to the bed. When they raised their eyebrows at me, I simply gave them my sweetest smile.

“Now you can wear it.”

“I’m not going to wear your shirt, Josh.”

“Why not?” I whined. “I took it off just for you.”

I could have sworn that I saw a hint of a smile cross Y/N’s face, but they were too far and my vision wasn’t quite clear enough for me to be able to tell.

“I’m already in Tyler’s shirt and I’m not going to take it off just to put yours on.”

“Do you like him better or something?”

“No, I-”

“Are you in love with Tyler?”

“I’m not in love with Tyler,” they sighed. “He’s my best friend and nothing more.”

Y/N slowly wandered over and took a seat next to where I was laying on the bed. They were close enough that I could feel the body heat radiating from them, but not close enough that I could move to touch them without making my intentions obvious.

“I’m in love with someone.”

“Who?” they asked softly.

“I can’t tell you. It’s a secret.”

“You’re such a tease,” Y/N laughed, shoving at my leg. “I really thought you were drunk enough to tell me your secrets.”

“I’ll never tell you my secrets,” I grinned.

“I’ll get them out of you someday. Now, are you ready to go to bed?”

I stuck my bottom lip out, “I want to talk to you more.”

“We can talk tomorrow.”

“Please, Y/N?”

“I’m really tired after tonight. Can you please not make this difficult?”

“Ok.”

I got under the covers while Y/N got up and flipped the overhead light off. There was still a lamp sitting on the bedside table, casting weird shadows onto the walls, especially when Y/N walked around the bed.

“Are you comfortable, Josh?”

“Yep.”

“You don’t feel like you’re going to puke, do you?”

“Nope.”

“Ok, then I’m going to turn the light off.”

The room looked different in the dark, and my drunk state wasn’t doing anything to help the weird patterns that were dancing on the walls. I pulled the blanket up a little closer to my neck, hoping it would help me feel a little more secure. Just as I was about to shut my eyes, an idea popped into my head.

“Y/N?” I whispered.

“What?”

“I’m cold.”

“That’s probably because you threw your shirt on the ground. I’m the perfect temperature.”

I sighed. This wasn’t going as planned.

“Will you cuddle with me?”

“Josh, I’m not going to cuddle with you. Just put your shirt back on.”

“I don’t want to. I like sleeping shirtless.”

“Then get another blanket and stop complaining.”

“No, Y/N,” I whined.

“Joshua Dun, drunk or not, it is not my job to baby you.”

“Please, I just want to cuddle with you. It’s cold and I don’t like the dark.”

“Well if you would actually close your eyes and stop talking, you might fall asleep so you don’t have to deal with it anymore.”

“I’m not going to be able to fall asleep, I’m too paranoid.”

Y/N was quiet for a moment. At first I thought they had finally given up and decided to ignore me, but then they shifted closer to me, bringing their pillow along with them.

“Where do you want me?”

“Could you just like… wrap around me, maybe?”

Y/N hesitantly slid one of their arms across my chest. Their hand went up to rest on my shoulder, sending familiar tingles down the length of my arm. I used one of my arms to wrap around them and rest on their hip, holding them close to me. They laid their head just above my collarbone, making it so that I could feel the steadiness of their breath against my skin. I was suddenly very glad I had decided to take my shirt off earlier, even if it had been for a dumb reason.

“Is this helping?” they asked.

“Yeah. Are you comfortable?”

“Mmmhmm. Are you?”

“I’ve never been more comfortable in my life.”

“Me too.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight, Josh.”

I was asleep within minutes.

*      *     *      *     *

Taglist

@topownsmyheart​ @tylersheavydirtysoul​ @wearebxnditos​ @gaiatheroyalrabbit​

[pinkandgreenarepurpleandyellow]

OH THOSE HALLOWEEN PROMPTS ARE GOOD!! I LOVE HALLOWEEN TOO. Okay sorry, how about “Look, I dressed up as you.” with shin shin kai nonsense? Honestly all of them would be great shin shin kai nonsense prompts.

Yeeeess!!!! If you couldn’t tell already, I’m one of those people who LOVES best friend squads, so Shinshinkai nonsense is the best thing to write.

Pre-writing note: this is a universe where Halloween is celebrated in Japan, just go along with it

Warnings for: slight references to past fights/violence, swearing, vulgarity/rudeness, and teens acting like teens/20-somehting year olds acting like 20-something year olds

———–

10 years ago

———-

“Hey Katou, do you wanna go trick-or-treating?” Katsumi had just managed to make Katou freeze with this question.

“Wha?”

“Dad’s busy, and he said that I can only go if someone takes me, and I know you like candy, and there’s a street with a ton of returned-from-America-and-loved-Halloween people who have some of the biggest KitKats you’ve ever seen.” Katsumi can see the gears turning in Katou’s head, the fifteen year-old’s love of candy and junk food outweighing whatever it is that makes him hesitate on the opportunity of a night of free candy of mischief….

“Can you get Suedo in on this?” ….And that’s what Katsumi’s been waiting for.

“Yeah, no problem!” he practically shouts as he runs off to find Suedo.

Katou huffs a small laugh out. Here he was, hoping to work a double shift that day and there was good old Katsumi messing up all his plans. He moves the shifts around in his head, figuring out how to work this. If he works double on the weekend, he’ll make up what he’s gonna miss on Friday, as long as he calls in missing on time. Might as well do it today rather than be a dick and just not show up in three days. This probably also means he needs a costume.

-3 days later- 

It’s 6 pm, right on the dot, and Katou’s waiting for Suedo and Katsumi to meet him at the corner like they said they would. He even dressed up for today, impersonating a mad scientist with a lab coat, goggles, neon yellow gloves, and beaker full of food-coloring and Sprite. Katou gets his phone out to check the time again, and then scrolls through the news.

“Oi, dumbass!” snaps him out of his thoughts, and Suedo jogs up to him, a slightly out-of-breath Katsumi jogging up behind him, and-

“What the hell are you wearing?”  Suedo glances down and then strikes a pose.

“What, you don’t like my costume? Look, I dressed up as you. Sweet costume by the way.”

“Thanks, and you’re wearing a skeleton costume??”

“Yes.”

“Is this your way of saying i’m a dead man, or that you think I need to eat more?”

“Katou, we have been friends since we were old enough to remember, we live next door to one another, trust me when i say that I know how often you do and do not eat, and you already know my personal opinions on that, but moving on, check out Katusmi’s costume!”

“….Frankenstein?”

Katsumi finally jumps into the conversation, nodding enthusiastically as he spins around to show off his costume.

“Thoughts?”

“’Ts nice, man. Now let’s go, I gotta go back before it’s too late, we’re celebrating Día de Muertos from tonight to the 2nd.”

“Okay, okay, come on!” And off the three go, passing by bright Halloween decorations that light up the streets in almost-dark.

They all manage to score full bags of candy that night, and it’s totally worth every minute. They all agree that this is the best part of the ‘treat’ in ‘trick-or-treat’.

———–

Present day

———–

“Hey guys, wanna do something stupid for Halloween?” Katsumi asks as Suedo and Katou walk in. They look at each other, nod, and then face him.

“Yeah, whatcha got?” Suedo is the first to ask, he’s always been a little more willing to do this type of stupid shit than Katou.

“So, you know how we joke about dressing up like each other?”

“…Yeah?”

“So, hear me out, what we do is..” Katsumi whispers the plan to the 25 year-olds in front of him, and both of them grin wide at hearing it.

“That’s fuckign hilarious!”

“Hell yeah, I’m in!”

“Suedo, you’re gonna help me and Katou with convincing them, aight?”

“Aight!” “Aight!”

-The next day-

Doppo enters the dojo with Retsu, and notices two things.

The first is the amount of Halloween costumes and decorations.

The second is that each and every single student is looking at the two of them and snickering, whether muffled or not.

What’s going on? is a questing that both he and Retsu ask themselves silently before they walk inside……………and see the class being taught by a tall, bald, muscular man with an eyepatch.

“Alright, now you try it,” and his voice sounds like a fairly good imitation of Doppo Orochi’s.

“Who are you?” Retsu asks the man as the he walks up to him.

“He’s Doppo Orochi, God of War, founder of the Shinshinkai, Retsu, can’t you tell?” The unexpected reply comes from Suedo, who, by the look on his face, is in on the joke, and also trying hard to not laugh, along with everyone else. The ‘look-alike’ continues teaching as though Doppo and Retsu are not there.

“Alright, so half of you practice this move, and half of you go with Retsu in the other room to learn the block.”

And sure enough, peeking into the other room shows someone pretty tall and with a long braid teaching the students how to fight bare-handed against someone with a staff or sword. Retsu sneaks up behind the guy, or tries to. The imposter does a flip over him with the aid of the staff, lands on his feet in front of Retsu, and it’s now obviously Katou, wearing an outfit similar to Retsu’s everyday clothes, with his hair in a braid, his scar covered up by makeup, and his eyebrows drawn bigger to ridiculous proportions.

“Before you say anything, I want it on record I was dragged into this by the other two,” and wow, his voice is actually an almost perfect imitation of Retsu’s.

Retsu face palms and asks, “Who are the other two?” knowing the answer before it comes out of katou’s mouth.

“Katsumi and Suedo.”

Retsu runs back into the first room, grabs the fake “God of War” and drags him in front of the real deal

And then Doppo sees the grin in his eyes, the almost rectangular eyebrows, and recognizes his son in the costume.

“Katsumi?”

“Yes?”

Doppo turns on his heel and motions for Retsu to follow. They walk into the office, followed by the snickers and outright laughter of some of the other students.

But Katou, Katusmi, and Suedo all look at each other with the slightest nervousness. Did they go too far this time?

Their question is answered almost an hour later, when the doors of the office open again, and everyone pauses the drill and breaks into laughter as they see Doppo walk in with a ridiculous wig and a sticker in the shape of an eye stuck onto where his eyepatch would normally be. The laughter swells again when everyone sees Retsu sporting a hoodie, sweatpants, hair out of it’s braid for the first time in known history, and a fake scar made of who-knows-what criss-crossing his face. The two walk up to where Katsumi is standing, and both bow.

“Ossu!” “Ossu!”

—

End

—

Post-Script: For the rest of the day the four trade roles. Shockingly enough Katou and Katsumi are excellent teachers, and both Doppo and Retsu appreciate the few hours off. On the other side, the trio all exchange high-fives. This is the kind of stuff that Halloween is supposed to be about to them, this was the good version of the ‘trick’ in ‘trick-or-treat’.

[jumphq]

Matt’s Spotify Holiday Playlist

I love holiday music. Specifically Christmas music, even though I know it’s not politically correct to say. But by saying this I’m not trying to be exclusive; I didn’t grow up in a religious environment. To me, Halloween is about dressing up, Thanksgiving is about food, and December is about Christmas songs. I think that most of my piano training came from learning carols on my upright piano in our dining room. Everyone is allowed to sing Christmas carols, whether they celebrate the holiday or not. It’s the sense of community that’s the important part, the hope that people are thinking about you as you think of them, and the hope that things can be peaceful and happy and calm and wonderful. For the past four years straight in Chicago I’ve been a part of a caroling group that randomly shows up at parties and theater lobbies and sings for fun. It’s one of my favorite nights of the year. Jump, Little Children only recorded one Christmas track, during the Buzz era of our careers, and it was a really fun time. I wrote lyrics especially for our cover of “You’re All I Want for Christmas”…they were about wanting to make out, of course.

Spotify won’t let us share that single with you, but I can list some of my (and Evan’s, and Johnny’s) favorite songs of the holiday. We tried to pick some that you might not know. We hope you like! 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6bKQGQ3CQWhUL9SD9wtBfW

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Annie Lennox: this entire album, “A Christmas Cornucopia”, has been my favorite Xmas album for the past few years. Annie sings the living hell out of every song, super intensely, and sometimes in French.

Ho Ho Ho by Sia: this came out last year. I love Sia. I love her melodies and her lyrics and her absolutely amazing ability to be a musical businessperson. There are lots of great songs on this album, this is one of my favorites, but there is also one called “Puppies are Forever” so she wins. Her voice is SO WEIRD on this album. I love it.

Father Christmas by the Kinks: I sang this last year with my friends Erik and Jessie in Chicago. It’s kind of hard to sing. I was stunned to find that members of the band I was singing with didn’t know it, so I’m including it here in case you haven’t heard it.

Jingle Bells/Il Eat Ne Le by the Swingle Singers: our dad loved the Swingle Singers, a group started in the 60s that kind of scats classical music and other songs. This drives some people nuts but I adore it. 

Little Drummer Boy by the Dandy Warhols: Little known fact: The Dandies are one of my favorite bands. I can’t explain why. I even loved the movie that made them look like assholes. When this song kicks in I become high.

Winter Weather by Squirrel Nut Zippers: Evan chose this one. It’s from one of his favorite holiday albums. 

Thank God it’s Christmas by Queen: Every member of JLC loves Queen. We disagree about a lot of bands, but not Queen. 

Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming by John Fahey: this one is from Jonathan. It’s his family’s holiday background music soundtrack…I started this track and he said: “that sounds like Christmas, to me!”. I had never heard of John Fahey, but “Lo How a Rose” is one of my favorite carols. 

Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight) by the Ramones: it’s the Ramones. They started American punk music. They sang a Christmas song. It’s great.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing by Bad Religion: it’s a punk rock twofer! Bad Religion is amazing by being both melodic and punk at the same time. It’s a fine line. 

Christmas in Hollis by Run D.M.C.: my deaf wife can rap along with this entire song, and she loves to do so, even in the middle of summer. I’m normally very anti-Christmas music outside of December, but shit, man…what kind of miserable asshole tells a deaf person to stop singing?

Rock’n’Roll Santa by Jan Terri: this one is difficult to explain. Treat yourself and Google “Jan Terri” right now and enter the rabbit hole; we’ll see you in a few hours.

Chorale from the Christmas Oratorio by J. S. Bach: another Bivins Brothers holiday necessity from Dad. Dad loved bebop, Irish music, baroque music, and Jump, Little Children (luckily). 

Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis by Tom Waits: from Johnny, naturally. It was Tom’s birthday last week, and he’s 69. He’s finally growing into the age that he’s been living for decades. 

White Christmas by Esquivel: for your Space Age Bachelor Pad Christmas Party.

Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End) by The Darkness: friends like Ward Williams keeps his glam metal close to him at all times, and especially at Christmas. 

We Wish You a Merry Christmas by Weezer: because we do. And Happy Hannukah, or Kwanzaa, or National Cookie, Brownie, or Bacon Days. We’re thinking about you!

[ofcloudsandstars]

✧ *.🎃Samhain Solitary Rituals🎃*✧

As the air grows cooler and the winds begin to howl and rip the dead leaves from trees, we know the veil is thin and Samhain is near! After the equinox, which was equal parts night and day, Samhain marks the time of the wheel that we descend into the darker half of the year. It's this time of the year that communication and connection to the spirit world is a lot easier and we've grown accustomed to making wards to protect the home from malevolent energy in the form of jack o lanterns and lights. On a positive note it is a time to leave out treats and foods for passed away loved ones and to remember them. It's the final harvest full of well spiced comfort autumn foods as well as a 'New Year' since it's a sabbat that honors the natural cycle of death and sees it as a form of transformation.

A lot of us witches practice alone and have our own solitary rituals for each sabbat that we observe (or the ones we’ve created just for ourselves that we observe alone!) Like any solitary eclectic witch I do things my own different way but some of these things might line up with others practices. I do refer to some of the equinoxes/solstices/crossquarters by their celtic sabbat names but I celebrate them in a secular animist way and treat the wheel of the year I celebrate as more of an argrarian cycle and celebrating nature. I use sabbat names as a point of reference and also people that do celebrate these witches sabbats more traditionally might find value in my personal practice!  Here is my personal correspondences post and my personal samhain tag!

When I am alone and casting spells a lot of it is visualization/intent so my solitary rituals are more like activities I like to do then specifically casting a spell. If I am doing a spell with an activity based on it a lot would be listening to music to get in the mood and focusing on a candle while visualizing for a period of time! Eves are also important to my celebration as I like to stay up until midnight and cast a spell then!

Hallow's Eve

Tuesday October 31st 2017

Dressing up in your most witchiest Ok every year I'm a witch, whether it's just a lazy witch in my black clothing or an over the top kitschy witch with colorful hair and electric colored make up, but I just like to have these looks casually on Halloween day cause its amazing and a chance for me to be myself!

Pumpkin Carving! If you haven't already tonight is definitely the night for pumpkin carving! Write sigils inside your pumpkin for protective magic. I love this DIY for a pumpkin indoor lantern cause it shows how to rub spices like cinnamon and nutmeg inside to achieve that sent of pumpkin pie in the home. Use electric candles instead of flame if you want it to last the night since the flame's heat will cook the pumpkin.

Mini Pumpkin Tea lights Also an easier alternative to carving if you don't have much time. Even gutting the mini pumpkins takes a lot of time for me but doing so and filling them with a black tea light will make an excellent centerpiece either for your altar or feast table!

Making Candy Apples I associate candy coated sweet red apples with halloween (and caramel/maple sugar on granny smith for mabon) and I love how you can make the candy various colors like a poisonous black or vibrant blood red!

Setting sweets aside for spirits So everyone has spirits that chill with them and it would be great to show appreciation for the positive spirits that surround you. Set some sweets on a dish and make a tiny altar for them in your space.

Enjoying sweets while doing crafts! Enjoy some of that halloween candy for yourself! My favorite treats on this night are chocolate coated donuts, reeses cups, cider sugar donuts, red licorice and apple cider.

Watching a spooky or Halloween themed movie Or halloween themed film. My favorite will always be the 80s halloween special The Worst Witch with Tim curry. I watch it religiously.

Spirit Contact I wouldn't suggest using an Ouija board or doing any communication with spirits if you have never had experience. They can be rude and harass you, YET if you are experienced and know how to guard yourself, then this is a great night to play with an ouija board! (PS I think Ouija Girl has a great informative blog about working with ouija boards. Here is her FAQ page. But still, it's always better to do work with a medium or someone with experience than trying to figure it out alone). A safer experience for someone with no spirit communication experience is attending a seance! In NYC there are a few mediums that hold seances monthly. I love the one at Catland in Brooklyn, the mediums that host the event there are fantastic. It might be hard to attend an authentic one on Halloween night since a lot of people will want to just try to cash in on creating a 'spooky' experience, but if you really want, try to get in contact with mediums and ask if they host any seance events. Important to know: usually the spirits that chill around you are guides and family and they might have more info to give you then you might be ready for. My first seance I really don't know what to do with the info given to me but I really hope I make the best of it and don't mess anything up.

Witches Flight This is like an extension of the previous point where if you have never done this before just completely disregard this suggestion cause flying is dangerous. For many years witches have flown on Halloween night to other realms using flying ointments.

Protective Magic: Finally, protect yourself from the high spirit activity with crystals like black tourmaline, obsidian and spirit quartz. Do protective spells for any cats you see or live with especially black cats since they tend to be targets.   

Midnight Spell:

This sabbat honors the natural cycle of death and transformation. Focus on what you want to transform in your life. Magic on this night is very powerful so think about it before hand and make sure it is what you want for if you ask to transform something, you might find a lot of endings that suddenly occur in your life to lead to the transformations that you want. (There was a conversation on here I can no longer find but it was put  really nicely that death is not just some simple 'transformative' process it can be very drastic, often very uncomfortable and if you are not ready though you ask for something to change, you might not be ready for the new obstacles that will be thrown at you. Just know that you will be ready for what you ask for.)

Some spell activities can be shuffling the deck visualizing what you want to change and then finding the death card and seeing the card that follows will be your answer to seek how you can further bring that transformation closer.

I'm a mixologist and enjoy working with liquor for rituals. I find fire to be a great transformer yet instead of burning something I prefer blessing a shot of whiskey or absinthe with my intent then taking it like liquid fire to transform me within. If you do not like alcohol or can not drink it for whatever reason you can perform this with hot apple cider instead!

Samhain Day

Wednesday, November 1st 2017

Upon the day I like to dress in complete black. My makeup is very dark and I wear long black dresses and veils. Depending on how you want to honor the dead, dress how you wish.

Gravesweeping Visit your loved ones on this day and leave flowers and gifts on their grave! If you want you can also visit any cemetery, yet make sure to practice good graveyard etiquette. Leave a penny by the gate, do not sit or lean on any tomb stones, of course don't take anything from a grave. Be respectful of those whom are resting.

Close Your Garden This is a time to close the garden for the winter to come. Harvest the last fruits and herbs and bring in any delicate potted plants within the home.

Shadow Work Especially if you are looking to transform some aspect of your life this is a great time to do shadow work and look within if you are creating any obstacles for yourself. Get to know your shadow self, get to solve problems together. This is also an excellent day for divination and scrying.

Meditation and Energy Work by the base of a tree I love to do energy work on the days of the sabbats yet as the earth grows colder, the roots dig deeper and the world goes into hibernation. Sit at the base of a tree preferably with thick roots and feel it's connection to the cold earth beneath you. Dig into yourself and see what needs to rest and what needs to be healed.

Evening Celebratory Feast

So in many practices people like to host a dumb supper but instead I like to have a lively feast where everyone will share a story about someone they loved that passed away or a story of an ancestor in their family. At the end of each tale we toast our glasses to them! (And pour a little bit of drink to them or set aside a snack if they are not into alcohol.)

Hold a feast of rich comfort foods that are spiced and sweet like sweet potato mash, candied brown beans, pumpkin bread, smokey bourbon pulled pork or maple glazed beef brisket, roasted carrots and beets and (I personally love to make baked mac and cheese but its a fall comfort soul food for me). My Samhain feast is abundant with fall soul foods and sweet roots and spices. (here is a fantasy feast post and my personal feast post from last year)

If you are alone (as this is a solitary post), make a few fall dishes you deeply enjoy or cook the favorites of loved relatives that have passed away, eat some sweets and set out some offerings to passed away loved ones.

[killmonger-queen]

Costume Party(KaitlynXMC)

The bass was bumping from the speakers, sending vibrations through the floors all the way up to your bedroom. Not only did the floors vibrate, but the furniture did too. This was your third time trying to fix your winged eyeliner. If this damn vanity didn't stop shaking you were gonna lose your fucking mind. You were excited about this party, you had been so busy with school work and the newspaper with James that you hadn't had any time to let loose, you were almost certain you were gonna wake up with a crazy hangover, especially with your party animal girlfriend encouraging you. You weren't much of a drinker but Kaitlyn had a way of bringing that wild side out of you, whether it be on the dance floor, the bar, or the bedroom. Once you were satisfied with the way your makeup looked you added some jewelry, including these cute hoop earrings. You were so happy with your costume this year. You were going as Amy Winehouse. It took you forever to get your hair big enough, almost two whole cans of hairspray were harmed in the making of this costume. But you looked great, sexy even. You stared at yourself in the mirror as you hummed the lyrics to Rehab. You and Kaitlyn agreed to keep your costumes a secret from each other. It was killing you cause you knew Kaitlyn would get a huge kick out of this costume. You wondered what or who she'd be. She was quite unpredictable so you didn't know what to expect. You smoothed out your all-black mini- dress and strapped up your heels and got ready to face the crowd of friends waiting for you downstairs. You walked to the beginning of the staircase and as you walked down heads turned, watching you. You immediately looked out for Kaitlyn, your eyes locked finally and you broke out into a smile. Micheal Jackson! You couldn't help the giggle that came out as you covered your mouth. She was dressed in black leather, metal buckles jingling all the way down to her boots as she walked over to you, she was mimicking the classic Bad look. And boy did she pull it off. Yes, Micheal Jackson was super played out when it came to Halloween costumes, but you couldn't help but smile as you looked Kaitlyn up and down. "You like?" She said, spinning around to give you a full 360 view. "I love." you say in response. You pull her in for a kiss and hug. "You look amazing, I didn't know you were an Amy Winehouse fan!" she says over the loud music. You nod and flip your hair. "Of course I am, I keep Back to Black on repeat." She grins and takes your hand. "I always find something new about you each day." You smile and guild her over to the food table. You look at all the decorations a little shocked at how quickly things were put into place. "I swear Becca's a pain in the ass but she is a killer party planner." Kaitlyn agrees and grabs some chips from the bowl. "I know, look at all these people, I'm almost a little nervous to perform tonight." Kaitlyn's looking around at the faces, some familiar and some new. You squeeze her hand lightly. "It'll be fine, I heard you guys in rehearsal yesterday, It was phenomenal, stop it." She wraps you in her arms and kisses your forehead. "Thanks, I kinda needed to hear that." She says before releasing you. You smile and shrug. "That's what I'm here for."

You make your rounds to everyone, checking out their costumes and chatting about future plans for the weekend. You were surprised to see all the creative costumes everyone came up with. The night carried on smoothly and soon it was time for Kaitlyn's band to perform, everyone made their way out to the backyard where Zack had built a stage for Kaitlyn. She looked great but you could sense her nervousness. You smiled at her, hoping to calm her down slightly. She smiled back, it was small but you could see her shoulders starting to relax. You knew she was going to be okay. Once she got into the performance Kaitlyn was completely in her element. You could see how much she enjoyed being up there and the crowd enjoyed it too, people were jumping up and down to the beat and chanting the chorus along with her. Once she was done she thanked everyone and stepped off the stage. She was all teeth as she came to you. You could tell she was in one of her moods. "Let's get a drink, I'm so thirsty!" She said as she pulled you over to the drinks. Kaitlyn was a heavy drinker but she eased up due to her incident on her birthday. Even in the October air, it was hot due to the packed bodies around you and you found yourself a little parched, so you happily obliged, not like you had a choice anyway. You wondered how much Kaitlyn had to drink already but decided to ease up on her, this was a party after all, and everyone deserved to have a good time. You smiled as she handed you a shot. "Happy Halloween," she said with a wicked grin before tossing her head back and downing the alcohol. You do the same, the strong vodka gliding down your throat quickly. "That's more like it." She says and makes her way to the center of the living room where everyone has begun to crowd up again. Music is blaring from the speakers again and bodies are moving to the rhythm, soon Kaitlyn joins them. She points one finger to you, beckoning you to join her. You laugh and squeeze in next to her, you wrap your arms around her neck and pull her close to you. "Having fun?" You ask her. She gives you a nod before spins around, dancing to the music. You can tell that shot wasn't the first drink she's had tonight. She's tipsy. She starts swaying her hips to the music, and you can't help but watch her. Her tight leather pants molding to her body perfectly and suddenly you're not in the mood to dance anymore. She sees your expression and grins. "Upstairs?" You take her hand without answering and weave your way around people before sprinting up the stairs to your room. The minute your door is closed, your lips are on hers. Kaitlyn's lips are soft and warm and you can taste the shot of vodka on her tongue. You moan against her lips and trail your hands up her shirt to her bra, swiftly unclipping it. She steps back and removes her shirt before letting her loose bra drop next. Halfway naked she gets on the bed and you follow her. She grabs your waist and gets on top of you, sliding your dress up over your head. You fling it before yanking on the zipper of her pants and pulling them down. It takes some time to get her out of her pants due to how tight they are but once her ass is free you give it a smack and she moans in pleasure. You get the rest of her pants off and now she's in nothing but a burgundy thong. Your eyes widen. This is the first time you've ever seen her in one. She runs her finger through her hair a bites her lip as you gawk at her. "Someone feeling bad aren't they."  You say. She giggles at your cheesy joke before leaning down to kiss you. Her lips travel down your neck and across your breast, all the way down to your navel. Her tongue teases you as she moves it up and down the side of your thighs. "Kaitlyn..." You groan in frustration. You can feel her smile against your skin. Finally, she slides your panties down and suddenly you feel her tongue slip in between you. Your hands instantly grab hold of her hair as you sink your head back into your pillow, eyes shut tight. She takes her time at first teasing your folds with her tongue before working her tongue in circles around your core. "Fuck... Kait." You muster out in a whisper. She begins to moves her tongue faster around you and you arch your back up in pleasure, curling your toes before you finally hit your climax.  The ceiling is spinning as your eyes open up and it takes a minute for you to gather your wits again. Kaitlyn crawls to your side and lays her head on your chest.

Once your heart rate is at its normal speed you and Kaitlyn throw on your costumes again. Your hair is a complete and utter mess but you do your best magic with your comb and hairspray to get it back to looking good again. You grab Kaitlyn's hand as you guys hurry down the steps to join the party.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope everyone that celebrates enjoyed their Halloween!!!

Don’t forget to follow me on Wattpad @ singingwings for more The freshman and The Sophmore fanfic!

[wordplayblog]

The Good Witch

Once upon a time, in a small cottage at the end of a long dirt road, on the far edge of town, lived a witch. She was a good witch. She was kind to all creatures, whether they were large or tiny, cuddly or slimy. She was full of love.

But, because she was a witch, no one in town wanted anything to do with her. She never had any visitors and was not welcome in town. The witch was lonely, but because she was a good witch, she kept to herself and kept out of trouble.

She kept to her cottage with Midnight, her cat. She spent her time baking and tidying. She swept and dusted regularly but always left the cobwebs. As a witch, she was a great friend to spiders.

She shoveled her walk in the winter, planted flowers in the spring, and tended her garden all through summer. The good witch worked hard to make her cottage welcoming and ready in case any visitors stopped by. The smell of pies and cookies spread from her cottage throughout the valley, all the way to town, but because she was a witch, no one ever came.

The good witch understood why no one came, but it made her sad. She sat on her porch with Midnight and watched the days grow shorter and the leaves change from green to bright reds and yellows and oranges and eventually fall to the grown. She happily raked them up, and carefully gathered the fallen branches and sticks.

“The yard must be tidy and safe in case we get any trick-or-treaters,” she said to Midnight as she dropped an armful of sticks into a pile.

But there were no trick-or-treaters. No children visited. She sat on her porch with Midnight as the day turned into evening, listening to the sound of the children’s joy float in from town on the chilly October breeze. She was sad. Midnight curled into her lap and she rubbed his ears. Despite being named Midnight, and being a cat, he hated the dark, but he stayed on the porch with her while she waited, until the laughter of the trick-or-treaters began to fade.

Now, she was a good witch so she usually kept to herself, but not that night. The witch grabbed her broomstick and the candy and took off towards town. All she wanted to do was help spread holiday fun, so if no one was coming to her door, she would go to them.

She flew up and down every street, gleefully cackling and singing out “Happy Halloween!” in her soft, friendly voice. She tossed the candy down to all the boys and girls who cheered and smiled and thanked the good witch.

At the end of the night her heart was as full as their bellies.

But it didn’t last.

No visitors came for Christmas. There were no carolers, no sweet packages for neighbors, just her and Midnight sipping hot chocolate and waiting for Santa as the fire died.

She waited through winter, and when spring came and there were still no visitors at her door, she decided to go back into town. She picked up her broomstick and was about to take off… but at the last minute she stopped. She knew she wouldn’t be welcome. She was a witch. There was a reason no one came down this road. If there ever were any travelers, they were lost, and they ran off when the good witch tried to help them with directions.

She put her broomstick down and went back to her tea and her chair, and Midnight snuggled up into her lap.

The only thing that made the good witch happy was remembering the children’s smiles from Halloween as she passed out the candy. She decided she would do it again, and eagerly counted down the days until the next Halloween.

She counted down through the spring as she cleaned out her attic.

She counted down all through summer as she cared for her garden.

When the leaves began to change, and the sun shone lower in the afternoon sky she knew it was almost time for Halloween.

When they day finally came, she swept off her porch, raked all the leaves, and gathered all the sticks from the yard. The good witch planned to visit the children again, but she was hopeful maybe they’d remember her and come trick-or-treating.

No one came.

She waited patiently, knowing her house was the farthest house from town. The good witch sat on the porch with Midnight as the sun set, listening to the children’s laughs blow in from town. She decided it was time to go celebrate and share her favorite holiday.

Midnight was thankful to go back inside. He was still scared of the dark and didn’t want to wait on the porch alone. The good witch went to grab her broom, but it was gone!

“Where?” she shrieked in her tiny voice.

She looked in the closet, behind the door, under the bed, in the cellar, on the porch.

It was nowhere to be found!

Without her broomstick she couldn’t fly. She wouldn’t be able to visit the children. Halloween was almost over. She had looked forward to it all year, and now the disappointment was breaking her heart.

She wasn’t the only one disappointed. What the witch didn’t know was that all the children in town were looking forward to seeing her again. They talked about it every day for the past month, on the bus, on the playground, at their tables for lunch. Families discussed it over dinner. All they could talk about was how much fun they had last year and how excited they were to see her again. They thought they were the luckiest kids in the world because their town had a real-life witch! And she was nice! She gave them treats on Halloween!

When the night was almost over the trick-or-treaters all began to wonder.

“Have you seen the witch?”

“No, have you?”

“No.”

It went on and on. No one had seen her. They were sad and worried.

“Let’s go check on her,” one girl said.

“Let’s go to her house,” another boy agreed, and it spread, until all the children and most of the grown ups made their way down the long dirt road on the far edge of town towards the small cottage.

The witch was fretting and looking for her lost broom when she heard a tiny knock on the door.

Her heart skipped.

She went to the door and when she opened it she could not believe what she saw. Hundreds of children and their parents had come to visit her.

“Trick-or-treat!” they all said, and the witch’s heart filled with joy.

“Where were you tonight?” the little girl asked.

“We missed you tonight,” another boy said, and the witch explained all about her lost broom and how upset she was.

“We’ll help you look!” the children said.

“Where did you see it last?” they asked.

The good witch didn’t know. She told them that she looked all through the house.

“I used it just today,” she said. “I swept up for Halloween.”

“Let’s look outside,” the little girl said, and she took the witch’s hand.

“It’s dark out,” one boy said.

“Oh, that’s easy to fix,” the witch said to him, and she pulled a wand out of her sleeve, pointed it up to the sky, and sparks flew out into the night, shining light down on the entire valley.

It was so bright even Midnight came down from the porch to help look for the broom.

They looked everywhere. They looked under rocks and behind the shed. They even looked in the bushes.

It seemed hopeless until one little boy yelled out that he found something!

At the bottom of a pile of sticks on the side of the house there was one that looked different. It was twisted and it was knotted and he pulled and he pulled and he pulled until the witches broom popped out.

“I found it!” he yelled, and the whole town cheered.

He handed the broom to the witch who thanked him and thanked everyone, and she took off into the air to pass out candy to all of her visitors.

The good witch promised them she’d be ready for next year, but the children had so much fun at her house they asked if they could come back.

“Of course!” the good witch said, and they did.

Every year the little cottage at the end of the long dirt road on the far edge of town was the last stop for all trick-or-treaters. And when all of the candy was given out, they all danced and played in the moonlight together.

The End

[dancergurl3000]

My year in review! 12/31/17 (In books, the books that I have read in the year 2017). An essay.

In the year 2017, I have read 23 books in total. I will review some of them that I did like, and others, not so much.

1. Kathy Griffin’s second memoir, “Celebrity Run-Ins, A-Z.” Last year I had bought this specific book as a Christmas present to myself. 2017 has been a totally shitty year for Ms. Griffin. In May, she posted to Facebook.com a picture of a Halloween mask with ketchup smeared all over it, and once it spread, it spread like wildfire. She lost a lot of her coveted jobs: CNN fired her the following week from the New Year’s Eve broadcast that she would do with Anderson Cooper, literally the only thing fun about New Year’s Eve was watching her make Anderson Cooper do weird shit in the freezing cold. It was a bad call, but not one I would say is on the same level with Kramer yelling the “N-word” to an audience member for heckling him at a stand up show. She’s literally on the FBI terror watch list now, lost her sister due to a significant and long battle with cancer, and cut all of her hair off. She’s Janice Ian in Middle School, with Trump being Regina George. It’s ridiculous, but if anyone can come back from a tasteless joke, it’s Kathy. Like Jane Fonda, she’s had (in Kathy’s own words mind you): “ a wall of shit fall in on her, and she’s survived, I dig her!” My sentiments on exactly on how I feel about YOU Ms. Kathy Griffin. What I hope for Ms. Kathy Griffin in 2018 is that she gets her revenge. Whether it’s a revenge body, or a revenge stand up set that knocks it out of the park, I would hope honestly that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of her, and that in 2018 she makes fun of the truly dumb as shit New Year’s Eve broadcast with cross-eyed as fuck Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper tonight. And no I am not watching it.

2. Charles M. Blow’s Memoir “Fire Shut Up in my bones.” The first ten pages of this novel made me want to scream into the heavens: “HOW COULD YOU?!” to his cousin, who he tells in intimate detail mind you of how his cousin raped him when he was a kid, and for most of his life, he tries to figure out why, and how in the world did he let this happen, and what he did to bring this on. In the first 20 pages of the novel, we see him struggle with maybe trying to kill his cousin for his crimes, as his cousin was never charged with sexual abuse. But the main problem I have with that was: his cousin was much much older than Charlie. And it damaged this particular writer for LIFE. I’ve read a lot about sexual abuse, and sexual abuse victims/survivors all say a variation of the same thing: that basically it affected them for life. He then goes on to become the first Black Historical writer for The NY Times, and finds himself struggling to tell people his secret, mainly the women he has sex with. Wouldn’t you?

3. TA- Neishi Coates Memoir “Between the world and Me.” In 2017, I FINALLY was able to read this novel. It’s the love letter of our time. It also proves to me at least, that even with 8 years of a Black President, cops honestly have some work to do with how they treat young black men in this country. And body cams don’t change behaviors. 

4. Trevor Noah’s Memoir “Born a Crime.” This novel I bought in February after nursing a bad heart-ache for someone who had rejected me, and I wanted to honestly dive into Trevor Noah’s world for a while. And while he’s unfortunately no Jon Stewart, what he is is very funny. His stand up sets are exactly like this novel, and his work on the daily show right now is so necessary. We all need to be laughing more and more right now, and I appreciate Trevor to let his audience know: that it’s totally OK to be laughing AT Trevor, and WITH him. Please read this book.

5. “A horse walks into a bar” by David Grossman. I didn’t get this one. I finished   it, but I didn’t really understand it.

6. “Sick in the head” by Judd Apatow. As probably the only man in Hollywood who literally HASN’T* pinched a woman’s ass on set, I appreciated Judd’s candor here, and his ability to basically get in the mind of a comic. He’s like the journalist who followed around rock stars in the 1970′s. Totally reminds me of the dude in “Almost famous” who interviewed rock stars, instead this guy just followed and stalked Jerry Seinfeld before anyone knew who Jerry Seinfeld was. (Side-note: Jerry in the 80′s never had any furniture in his NYC apartment).

7. “Difficult Women” by Roxanne Gay. This was the first novel I read by Gay, and it was awesome, sad, depressing, understandable, & relatable. I read it in March when it was too cold to do anything else but read, and it really took me on a journey of fictional women who have very difficult lives. It’s a modern take on what women go through every single day.

8. “All grown up” by Jami Attenberg, my first E-book! I bought this book for my phone, and devoured it, bit by bit, page, by page. It’s really a great book. It follows the main character in her 30′s: aimless, a bit of an alcoholic, and totally removed from anyone in society or her family. She’s a journalist or a writer in NYC, and her older brother has a child who’s dying. She’s drinking herself to death, and her mother just wants to know where she is at all times, and she’s like meh. No. I really liked it. It shows you what’s going on in someone else’s mind when they are just too caught up in their own problems to do anything about anyone else’s. 

9. “The Refugees” by Viet Than Nguyen, yeah I read this one, but I didn’t love it, I liked it fine, but it didn’t have a rhythm to it at all. Wasn’t really all that much of a page turner, it’s not riveting enough.

10. “Evicted, Poverty, and Profit in the American City”, by Matthew Desmond. Now this book! This book was a page turner, might be one of my favorites of the year! I read it in April-May of 2017 this past year, and it honestly tells the tales of poor people in this country and what they will have to go through to keep a roof over their heads. It’s riveting, depressing, sad, and honestly? A necessary read in Trump’s world.

11. Augusten* Burrough’s “Lust and Wonder.” This book made me LAUGH. I read it in June, June of 2017, and Burroughs is really not known for being funny. He is known for being depressing and sad. My mom has read “Dry” like a zillion times! But this book was both funny, and heartwarming! It warmed my heart! Honestly was confused as to who wrote this one, it honestly could be confused with a David Sedaris novel because it is just so funny. I was laughing out loud literally the whole way through!

12. “La Fayette in the somewhat United States” by Sarah Vowell. I have wanted to read this ever since she came on the daily show, and this year I did! Lay Fayette really had a lot of political aspirations, not only that, but he is the man who truly holds American ideals, and American Idealism in the palm of his hand. I enjoy Vowell’s work. And she wrote this during the 2010 Government shut down, which is impressive, to say the least!

13. “The Princess Diarist” by Carrie Fisher.

14. “A $500 House in Detroit, rebuilding an Abandoned Home and an American City” by Drew Phillip. Good read, depressing though!

15. “Sweet bitter.” By Stephanie Danler, this is a necessary read if you want to make it* as a 20 something bartender in NYC. 

16. Neil Degrasse Tyson “Astrophysics for people in a hurry.” A delight, a true delight! Made me want to be in Astronomy class all over again! Read it in a week in May.

17. “Hunger” by Roxanne Gay. Signed first edition, this was a necessary read. I literally had no idea about Gay’s back story, and I’m sure her parents had no idea either. She was gang raped by a boy she loved at 12, and went on to eat and eat and eat to then later cope with the PTSD and depression that comes after a significant trauma. I encourage everyone to read this book, not for the fact that she gained so much weight, but for the fact that she didn’t think she could tell literally anyone that she was gang raped. 

18. “The blood of Emmet Till” by Timothy Tyson. Ugh. This book. It takes you through the journey of what happened to Emmet Till, and the people’s lives it affected, and the author spends some time with either the real woman who said that Till raped her, or wolf whistled at her, or her grand child. The takeaway for her was this: “yes he whistled at me, or yes I cried rape, but honestly?” “That boy did not deserve what he got for that.”

19. “Letterman, the last Giant of Late Night” by Jason Zinoman. This book was fun, and it showed what those TV wars between Leno and Letterman were actually like. He may be an asshole that David Letterman, but he keeps you laughing, so it’s less dangerous! 

20. “The Daily Show, an Oral History” by Chris Smith. I am so glad I own this book. It’s 407 pages long, but it takes you behind the scenes of the daily show. Watching Jon Stewart’s last show, I own it, but I honestly can’t watch it without sobbing. It just can’t happen. “BULLSHIT!” “Is everywhere!” “Are the kids still here?!” “OK, we’ll deal with that later!” 

END OF READING GOAL. BONUS: Read 5 more books!

21. “Standard Deviation” by Katherine Heiny. SUCKED.

22. Al Franken’s “Giant of the Senate.” Too long haha.

23. “I am the messenger” by Markus Zusack*, (comfort reading, I’ve read this book before).

[samanthasroberts]

The 5 Best Halloween Episodes You Should Watch Tonight

Happy Halloween, everyone! How you choose to celebrate this most blessed of holidays is up to you. Some of you will drink pumpkin beer until you poop jack o’ lanterns, some of you will take your children trick-or-treating, and some of you will sit on the couch and absorb horror films. But if I can make a suggestion for that last group: In between your annual viewings of Halloween 4: The One Where Michael Myers’ Mask Looks Like Total Dogshit and Texas Chainsaw Massacre III: Not That Bad, Actually, consider watching some Halloween-themed TV episodes. Because while movies are great for frights, there are a few TV shows that actually capture the spirit of Halloween. For example …

5

The Office: “Employee Transfer”

The year is 2008. The place is every theater in the known world. The movie is The Dark Knight. And the thought that’s going through four billion heads simultaneously is “I know what I’m going to be for Halloween this year.”

Read Next

How The 'Last Of Us 2' Trailer Ruined A Sure Thing

On October 31, 2008, you couldn’t throw a Batarang without hitting someone dressed in a Heath Ledger Joker outfit. The simple act of going outside was an invitation for swarms of people in purple sweatpants to come up and ask you if you wanted to see a magic trick. Drama kids draped themselves in long wool coats and ventured into the cool autumn night, looking for prey to listen to their story about how they got their scars. Former frat bros lathered on white facepaint and sipped vodka red bulls as they mumbled through half-remembered things about “chaos” and “killing the Batman.” And the one guy dressed as Beetlejuice spent the whole evening correcting people.

It was like magic. Somewhere in Heath Ledger’s wonderful performance, the worst people you knew heard a dog whistle. A dog whistle which screeched “Annoy the fuck out of everyone you know and love.” The Office understood that this was going to happen, and that’s why “Employee Transfer” is so great.

Airing on October 30th, it was like a warning to the general public: Beware, for tomorrow your neighbors will turn on you, your children will betray you, and your roommates will spend six hours attempting to apply cheek prosthetics before giving up and just using a pound of lipstick. Any show that can accurately capture the frustration of existing in the same universe as the mob of Jokers before that day of frustration actually occurs is worth your attention.

“Employee Transfer” features some of Steve Carell’s best acting in the whole series, but it’s also a great parody of the time the Earth cancelled Halloween and replaced it with Jokerfest 2008. I’ll never forgive Christopher Nolan. Never.

4

The Spectacular Spider-Man: “The Uncertainty Principle”

It’s hard for superhero shows to do a good Halloween episode, and I think it’s because superheroes wear masks all the time, and a lot of the comedy from any Halloween episode comes from what the characters decide to dress up as. It’s really hard to properly dress up as anything when your main wardrobe is one bright color with a huge symbol on your chest. That’s why most superhero Halloween specials are just plain adventure stories. In The Batman episode “Grundy’s Night,” Clayface pretends to be unkillable zombie Solomon Grundy to better rob intolerable old rich people. It’s great. You should check it out.

Unsurprisingly, The Spectacular Spider-Man, the best superhero cartoon of all time, broke the mold a little bit and gave us a Halloween episode that’s a little more think-y. However, all this metaphorin’ doesn’t prevent the episode from having a fight between Green Goblin and Spider-Man which takes up the entire third act. That was probably the greatest strength of the show: being able to balance teen drama and deep reflection with radioactive boxing matches that usually lasted about seven glorious minutes.

While most interpretations of the Green Goblin never get past the whole “Curse you, Spider-Maaaaaan” section of their shtick, this Green Goblin is a playful, sadistic dick. He’s constantly asking Spider-Man to consider what “mask” is real — the mask that hides your face or the mask that is your face. This doesn’t just play into the mystery of who the Green Goblin is, but also deals with something that’s lacking in a lot of superhero shows that are made for kids: At what point does your human identity become the facade? The Green Goblin and Peter Parker aren’t opposites; they’re both freaks who only find respite and fulfillment when they wear their masks. Peter Parker is a bespectacled shell of a nerd. It’s only when he’s Spider-Man, quipping and punching with psychopathic consistency, that his actual mask gets taken off.

Anyway, Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) fakes a leg injury and then retreats back to his home. There, he finds his son passed out, breaks his own son’s fucking leg, and puts the Goblin costume on him. Then, when Spider-Man gets there, Norman is all like “We gotta get my son some help. He’s really sick. See, his leg is broken. He’s helpless. WINK.” So yeah, if you want to watch something with all the fun of a Marvel character and all the “Oh my god, no” of comic book child abuse, this is a good one. Jeez. Maybe you should’ve just gone to a costume party or something, y’all.

3

Any Roseanne Halloween Episode

If you grew up in a small town like I did, you know that Halloweens are a gamble. You’ll get to go trick-or-treating, but only if your parents are down to drive you to a more populated place that supports such an activity. Otherwise you’re just trudging in a ditch down a lonely country road, hoping that a passing car doesn’t hit you and ruin your Dollar Store Wolfman mask and spill all of your candy. And when you age out of that, you go to a local haunted maze, which never fails to be out in the middle of nowhere. There, you watch theatrical rednecks rev chainsaws, wave severed prop heads, and ignore copyright infringements. In North Carolina, you don’t legally reach puberty until you’ve held someone’s hand through the Hacker House. It’s the law.

One of the draws of the sitcom Roseanne was that it was about a lower-middle-class family. So many sitcoms were based around how cool it would be to have friends in New York City, or how great it would be if you could shove a dozen family members into the same piece of prime San Francisco real estate. But Roseanne was hunkered down in the suburbs. The main set looked like it had been cobbled together from a thrift store’s going-out-of-business sale, the costumes were from a Fashion Bug clearance rack, and the family was loud and loving, just like mine.

Except on Halloween.

The Halloween episodes of Roseanne are things of sitcom legend. Barely having anything to do with the show itself, the Halloween episodes would go all out and present an alternate Roseanne reality where the family could suddenly afford elaborate costumes and expensive makeup. Halloween was the biggest day of the year (as it should be in all worlds, fictional or otherwise), and the usual relaxed pace of a Roseanne episode was replaced by a frantic joke parade. And for me, it was pure wish fulfillment.

You wanted to have a Roseanne Halloween. A Halloween where you could buy that expensive costume that you saw at the mall and run around and play pranks on everyone. A Halloween where you could go trick-or-treating with your friends, because most houses were less than a quarter of a mile from each other. A Halloween where everyone, adults included, understood how important Halloween was to you.

The Halloweens I experienced as a kid were fucking wonderful. But just once, I wanted a Roseanne Halloween.

2

How I Met Your Mother: “The Slutty Pumpkin Returns”

I moved from North Carolina to NYC, because it’s the true path of an artist to be miserable in a small town and then move to a large town where you’re only mostly miserable. And it’s there that I learned that you will see most of the people you know maybe once every few months. It’s just hard to hang out with people. Sure, a subway system connects the whole city, but deciding to use it is flipping the coin on whether a particular train works that day or not. So you’ll go a long time without seeing someone important to you. “Oh, I remember you! You were at that thing in 1988! New Jersey now, huh?”

The How I Met Your Mother Halloween episode “The Slutty Pumpkin Returns” gets that more than most NYC-based sitcoms. In it, human sweater vest Ted Mosby finally meets up with a girl that he saw at a Halloween party years earlier. She’d been dressed as a pumpkin, and as he did with most things with a pulse, he fell in love with her. But now, upon meeting her and dating her, he finds that they have absolutely no spark. Sitcoms, right? One minute you’re in a zany situation, the next you’re finding out that you’ve spent the last ten years pining after a lie. Laugh track!

Halloween in a big city is weird. On one hand, you want to explore what it has to offer, but it’s easy to get discouraged by the fact that you know that something like “HALLOWEEN PARTY FEATURING DJ QUANTUM. HALF-OFF SHOTS. PEOPLE IN COSTUMES GET A FREE PUMPKIN TEQUILA ENEMA” will attract roughly 30,000 people. So you go to parties, where you make friends you don’t see again for eight years. And so your big-city circle of friends becomes a mix of a core group you hang out with constantly and people you see once a decade. It’s kind of nice, especially in a sea of sitcoms that portray NYC as a place where you apparently can teleport from borough to borough, never having to worry about petty things like time or physics.

1

Walker, Texas Ranger: “The Children Of Halloween”

I don’t blame you if you don’t want to watch Walker, Texas Ranger. Chuck Norris is a pretty cartoonish figure in pop culture, but most episodes of Walker are a slog. Chuck kicks some criminals, administers a moral lesson, and talks down to everyone. Chuck Norris is judge, jury, executioner, God, Jesus, and Shakespeare in Walker, Texas Ranger. Somehow, Chuck Norris made a show about roundhouse kicks into something as boring as a Pat Robertson colonoscopy.

However, if you’re looking for something that is simultaneously a piece of batshit holiday insanity and the Walker-est Texas-est Ranger-est episode of Walker, Texas Ranger ever, watch “The Children Of Halloween.” It opens with Norris scoffing at his black co-worker’s George Washington Carver costume. Walker is a Texas Ranger, but more than that, he’s an awful dickhead.

One scene of men in ape masks shooting machine guns at a convenience store for no reason later, and we get a touching montage of kids practicing martial arts that feels like it lasts two hours. One of those kids is abducted by a satanic cult, and Walker is dropped into a race against time to stop children from being sacrificed. How spooky is all of this? So spooky that the opening credits adopt a Tales From The Crypt font and show us a cemetery with a blue filter over it. Fucking boo.

Sony Pictures Television Distribution

That’s ultimate spooky.

Regardless, Walker has never met a problem he couldn’t quite easily resolve by beating it unconscious. In the nick of time, he literally flies onto the screen with a side-kick, and then breaks a Satan worshiper’s neck in front of a group of stunned children. He proceeds to kick an entire cult into submission and saves the day. Walker finishes the episode by drinking coffee in a bar while ignoring the women who hit on him, because as the theme song says, “That’s what a ranger’s gonna be.” Yep. Murder a bunch of strangers in front of elementary schoolers and never have sex, like, ever. It’s what a ranger’s gonna be. Who am I to argue?

Daniel has a spooky, scary Twitter.

The Simpsons Tree House of Horror Collection is objectively the greatest Halloween TV you’ll ever find on this Earth. Enjoy!

If you loved this article and want more content like this, support our site with a visit to our Contribution Page. Please and thank you.

For more, check out 6 Unnecessarily Horrifying Episodes Of Beloved Kids Shows and 5 Inexplicably Creepy Episodes of Family Friendly TV Shows.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out The Darkest Episode of an 80’s Sitcom Ever, and watch other videos you won’t see on the site!

Also follow us on Facebook. Boo!

Source: http://allofbeer.com/2017/12/06/the-5-best-halloween-episodes-you-should-watch-tonight/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2017/12/06/the-5-best-halloween-episodes-you-should-watch-tonight/