Work Text:
“Come on,” Awsten is pleading, looking up at Maxx with big round eyes. “Just this once. It’s a costume party! They’ll never know!” He clings to Maxx’s sleeve and butts his face against Maxx’s arm like a giant cat. God, he’s so fucking adorable.
And, yeah, Maxx knows he probably lost this argument the moment Awsten saw the invitation. Still...
“It’s not a good idea,” Maxx says, trying to sound like he actually means it. Damn it, he needs to be the responsible one here. Most of the time, it’s fun and easy to just tumble into shenanigans together, but there’s a bit more on the line here. It’s not a good idea for too many people to know Maxx is dating a mothman. And marching straight into a party full of strangers seems like it’s just asking for someone to figure it out.
“I wanna meet all your human friends,” Awsten begs, biting at Maxx’s sleeve. “Please, I promise I won’t drink alcohol.”
“You don’t drink anyway,” Maxx says. That would definitely be a terrible combination, a drunk mothman. “And you’ve met my friends.” He’s met Cody and Zack and Dan, all of whom are now pretty chill with hanging out with an actual cryptid.
“Come on, I wanna hang out with humans,” Awsten says, hugging Maxx even tighter. His fuzzy antennae bump against Maxx’s face. “I took you to a cryptid Halloween party; let’s go to a human Halloween party.”
Maxx groans. “Awsten…”
“Please? I’ll be good.” Awsten looks up at Maxx with a tiny hopeful smile on his face. Maxx’s heart melts.
“Okay,” he says, already knowing he’s going to regret this.
Awsten bounces away, his big wings fluttering excitedly behind him. “Fuck yeah! I’ve got the perfect costume idea for us too!”
~~~~~
Awsten’s perfect costume for Maxx turns out to be a butterfly costume, which is admittedly pretty brilliant. The fake butterfly wings don’t look nearly as good as Awsten’s real moth wings, but side by side, they look really cool. However, the wings aren’t exactly the thing that’s going to draw the most attention.
Awsten had ordered (with Maxx’s credit card) a Sexy Butterfly costume for Maxx, complete with a frilly skirt, a headband with shiny ribbons, and a corset. And to match, he had gotten himself a Sexy French Maid costume. Both costumes came with tights and garters, but Maxx replaced his with boots.
Awsten however, seems to have committed to his costume choice.
“It’s the only thing that would work with my wings,” Awsten explains as they’re getting ready for the Halloween party. Maxx looks at the two of them in the mirror and… yeah Awsten looks really hot in the costume, and Maxx looks killer too but it just feels like the cherry on top of a bad idea.
Awsten leans over and kisses Maxx on the cheek. “You look hot,” he says. He then puts the butterfly antennae headband on Maxx’s head. Maxx sighs and kisses him back.
“You too,” he says.
They drive over to the house where the party is being held, and before they even see the place, they can hear it. Awsten leans forward as the house comes into view, his antennae twitching and his eyes growing wide at the sight of all the silly Halloween decorations and lights.
Of course the place is full of lights. Maxx grimaces and looks over to see Awsten’s eyes flash red. Unconsciously, Maxx knows, but it’s still not great. He’s going to have to keep Awsten close by his side all night.
As soon as they park and get out of Maxx’s car, he puts his arm around Awsten’s waist to keep his wings from moving around too much. Awsten cuddles closer to him, probably thinking it’s just Maxx being affectionate.
Jeez, it’s going to be a long night.
Maxx steers Awsten past all the bright lights and decorations outside. It takes quite a bit of effort to keep the moth-brained idiot from smashing his face directly onto the giant inflatable light-up crystal ball, but he manages. He hears a few people yell “nice costumes, butterflies!” as they pass, which would be nicer if they at least caught Awsten’s attention. But no good.
Inside is slightly better. It’s dark and full of people and fake fog and small strings of lights that don’t usually interest Awsten. Except there’s a fucking rainbow disco ball lamp right on the coffee table. Awsten breaks away from Maxx to run over and grab it.
“Oh my god, Awsten,” Maxx says, hurrying to follow him. He tries without success to pull the lamp out of Awsten’s hands. Awsten is staring at it with a dazed smile on his face. His eyes definitely don’t look human anymore, but hopefully nobody can tell since it’s so dim in here.
“That can’t possibly be Maxx,” says a nearby voice. Maxx flinches slightly and turns to see the host of the party, a guy from high school named Dylan. Maxx honestly hadn’t been close or had even spoken with him much, and after graduation wouldn’t have even remembered him if it weren’t for Cody and Dan constantly sharing invitations to Dylan’s parties. One of which Awsten had seen.
For a moment, Maxx feels a bit self-conscious in his costume, but he catches sight of a guy just wearing a Superman T-shirt under an unbuttoned white shirt on top of khakis. Fuck that, he and Awsten both look amazing. Maxx stands up a bit more confidently.
“Surprise, it’s me.”
“Wow,” Dylan says, nodding slowly. “Haven’t seen you in forever, man. You look,” he trails off and sweeps his gaze down Maxx’s body, then slowly back up. “Really good,” he finishes.
All of a sudden, Awsten seems to have lost interest in the lamp and he’s back to being glued to Maxx’s side. “Who’s this?” he says, winding his arms around Maxx. Maxx instantly puts his hand against Awsten’s wings to keep the damn things down.
Dylan looks at Awsten and Maxx doesn’t like the hungry look in his eyes. “This your… friend, Maxx?”
Maxx coughs. “Uh, Dylan, this is my boyfriend, Awsten. Awsten, Dylan’s a…” fuck, Dylan really isn’t a friend, but Maxx feels kind of shitty saying that directly to his face. At his party, no less. “I knew him back in high school.” Sort of. Dylan knew Cody and Dan, and therefore Maxx had sort of known him.
Dylan walks closer. He’s dressed in some Victorian-looking costume, complete with a cloak and cane. “And I’ve barely seen you since,” he says with a note of hurt in his voice. “Look at you now. Got a boyfriend, and did you start working out? You look great.”
Maxx has been working out, but getting that compliment from Dylan doesn’t feel as nice as getting it from Awsten while he’s perched on top of the cabinet in the basement while Maxx is using his exercise equipment.
“Thanks,” he says anyway. “Sorry, about not keeping in touch. Things get busy, you know.”
“But you still made your way here,” Dylan says.
“It’s a date we’re on,” Awsten says.
Dylan nods slowly. “Mind if someone joins you two on that date?”
Oh, god, that was pretty ballsy. Maxx barely gets a chance to reel at the bluntness of Dylan’s proposal for a… threesome? when Awsten lets go of him and steps forward to get in Dylan’s face.
“Actually,” Awsten says. “I would mind. I want Maxx to myself. I’m sure you’d like him too, but too bad. He’s mine.”
Awsten smiles sweetly at Dylan and tugs Maxx away. “I don’t think I like your other human friends, Maxx,” he says as they leave Dylan standing there, stunned. “But this was fun. What else is there to do at a human party?”
Maxx groans and rubs at his forehead. “You do realize we’re probably not getting invited to another one of these?”
Awsten shrugs. “There’s always cryptid parties. They can’t ban me.”
Maxx just shakes his head. Barely ten minutes in, and Awsten has already made this night memorable in a way he will probably treasure later, but is regretting right now.