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Naib raises an eyebrow in disbelief. “So you mean to tell me that for an entire day, you guys all deck yourselves up in stupid costumes and eat your body’s weight in candy and nobody finds that weird?”
“Of course not!” Will crosses his arms, grinning down at Naib. “It’s mostly just for fun, anyways. I don’t think people these days see Halloween as anything other than an excuse to dress up and party, ya know?” “There’s actually quite a bit of tradition and lore to the original festival, you know,” Eli chimes in. “It’s a day meant to honour the dead, and to allow them to visit the places they used to exist in.”
Will shudders visibly. “That’s kind of creepy, dude.”
Aesop coughs. “It’s just part of the customs. You can choose to believe it or not.”
“We have something similar in Nepal, actually, so that’s not too far-fetched of a thing to believe in,” Naib muses, glancing over at Eli, who nods. “So what else do you usually do on this day?”
“Carve pumpkins, take candy from strangers, scare kids, all kinds of stupid shit,” Norton shrugs, which earns him a grin from Naib. “It’s just to have fun, so loosen up, Subedar. It’s not like taking Halloween seriously is gonna make you grow any taller- ow!”
“Alright, break it up, you two,” Eli announces, gently pushing the two away from each other. “Why don’t we all take Naib out on his first Halloween experience? We can take turns showing him different things we usually do to celebrate.”
Before Naib has a chance to protest, Will chimes in animatedly. “We can go to a haunted house together!”
Norton smirks. “Bet he doesn’t have the guts to.”
Naib opens his mouth to retort back, his competitive streak getting the better of him, but Aesop speaks up, pulling his mask further up his face. “I can do your makeup for your costume, once you’ve decided.”
Eli claps his hands. “Great! Then we can go trick-or-treating together afterwards. Sounds good?”
Amidst the chatter of everybody discussing their plans for tonight, Naib can only sit back in his chair and groan loudly. Since when did a plan entirely revolving around him have none of his say in the making?
-
He won’t admit it. Ever. Not even under a lie detector. But as he’s queuing up outside the venue of the haunted house attraction alongside Campbell and Ellis, standing in the crisp autumn wind, Naib can’t shake the nervous feeling inside him that’s threatening to rear its head at the worst possible time.
“I think we’re next!” Will pokes Naib in the back, causing him to involuntarily jump a bit and whirl around to look at him. Unlike himself, the rugby forward isn’t ashamed of being afraid at all, pacing back and forth nervously as if he’s preparing himself for a big game.
“Next in line, or to shit his pants?” Norton’s leaning against the wall, arms crossed in a leisurely pose as he leers down at Naib. “At this point, I’ve no clue who’s gonna lose it first, between the two of you.” “Can it, Campbell,” Naib mutters, as they step forward to present their tickets to the person at the front. “It’ll probably be you if you keep talking shit, asshole.”
He says that, but the moment the door closes behind the trio and they’re engulfed in darkness, Naib can feel his flight or flight response activating at an alarming speed, and his legs propel himself down the hallway on their own accord; as if the whole ordeal would pass by quicker if he speedruns the damn thing.
A firm hand catches him by the arm before he can zip away, and he lets out an incredibly undignified sound, whipping around to see what kind of monstrosity had chosen to terrorise him this time. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), it’s just Norton, as he whispers harshly, “Don’t go running off on your own, you idiot, what if we get separated?”
Despite his earlier demeanour, Naib can tell by the degree of strength of the hand gripping his elbow that the taller isn’t exactly feeling as confident as his words would imply, but to be honest, he’s not entirely ungrateful for the touch that keeps him grounded enough to hiss back, “Then hurry your ass up and let’s get out of here as soon as possible.”
“Wait for me!” Another hand claps onto Naib’s shoulder as Will strides forward to catch up with them, effectively forming a human barrier of pure muscle around him. Somehow, it’s comforting, having two large guys surrounding him in this mutual moment of weakness, and he’s almost ready to move forward when a third hand places itself on the small of Naib’s back, and he rolls his eyes, elbowing Norton on his left.
“Not funny, Campbell. Get your hand away from my ass before I grind you into dust.”
“That’s not me?” Norton raises his other hand for them to see.
“Not me either.” Will does the same, and a horrible, sinking feeling begins to pool in Naib’s stomach. Together, they slowly look up at each other, seemingly perfectly in understanding with an uncanny synchronisation.
“Run.”
-
Hours later, Naib is sitting on the floor of their shared dorm, grouchily tapping away at a mobile game while Aesop sits in front of him to apply layer after layer of makeup to his face. Whilst he isn’t by any means an impatient person, it’s already been almost an hour since he’d agreed to let the other work on his face for his costume; an Egyptian pharaoh-like ensemble, that in theory, wouldn’t have needed a lot of makeup in the first place, but Aesop had wanted to take it one step further and turn him into a decaying mummy version of King Tut. Whatever. It’s not as if he had any other ideas. But having to sit still for what felt like years on end with an easily irritable artist snapping at you every five seconds to stop moving, even though the makeup and special effects goddamn tickled? Maybe he’s finally found his personal hell.
“Hang in there, shorty,” Norton calls from over where he’s sitting on the couch, decked out in a Mexican day of the dead skeleton outfit. He’s helping Will secure his firefighter’s helmet on top of his head; a last-minute costume thrown together at Home Depot on the way back. “I might have pissed Carl off a bit with how difficult my makeup was, haha…”
“Good to know I can blame you for yet another way you make my life hard,” Naib grumbles back, his chin snapping back up to assume its fixed position before Aesop can remind him again.
“Don’t worry, Naib.” Eli runs a soothing hand across his back, gently smoothing out the creases in his costume. He’s wearing a white veiled robe with glimmering jewelled pendants hanging down from its fringe; to be frank, it looks ethereal. “It’s almost done, and it looks pretty good so far.” “Of course it does.” There is none of the usual reclusiveness that the man usually carries himself with when he’s working on his craft; he’s straightforward and demanding in such a perfectionist way that it almost gives Naib whiplash. “Just sit still and it’ll be done soon.”
Soon ends up being an extra half hour later, and it’s already dark when they make their way over to the neighbourhood where the trick-or-treating event is taking place. He’s excited to explore the suburbs; all the houses have incredibly elaborate decorations with hooded corpses and animated skeletons on their lawns that really reminds him of how different things are here compared to his hometown.
They spend the next hour going through each and every house, looting sweets by the bagful, and by the end of it, Naib’s bandages have all but unravelled fully, he’s got blisters on his feet from the stupid sandals he got from the clearance aisle, and he hasn’t had this much fun in a long time. Aesop went back early after complaining about it being too cold, and Norton and Will had gone on ahead, so he’s left walking alongside Eli in the night.
“Did you enjoy yourself?”
Naib turns his head to glance up at him. “Yeah, I did. It was… different, but fun with you guys.”
Eli smiles at him, and gently takes his hand. It’s warm; warmer than he’d expect for such a cold October night, but Naib doesn’t think the warmth beginning to blossom on his cheeks has anything to do with the weather. “I’m glad you had fun, then. It was nice, seeing you look so happy.”
They stay like this, fingers interlocked and shoulders brushing, as the night of Hallow’s Eve approaches its end.