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Hope is putting up the last of her Halloween decorations when a sudden "Boo!" is whispered to her ear and a pair of hands grab her waist from behind. She jumps with a yelp, the little plastic bat decoration falling out of her hand.
Alarmed, she quickly turns around and scowls when she sees Landon's green grey eyes looking down at her baby blue ones,a big grin plastered across his face. "Hey, babe." Landon bends down to pick up the plastic bat and offers it to Hope, looking smug.
Rolling her eyes, Hope grabs the plastic bat and chucks it at Landon's head. Even though Landon is standing directly in front of her, it misses his head completely. It hits her boyfriend in the chest instead, eliciting an indignant, "Hey!" from him.
Despite the fact that it doesn't hit its initially aimed location, Hope is still satisfied with the result. She reaches down and retrieves the plastic bat. "I told you to stop doing that."
Landon wraps his arms around Hope's waist and kisses the top of her head.
"Sorry," He says, not sounding very apologetic at all. "I can't help it; you just look so adorable when you're scared." He presses another kiss onto Hope's head. "Are you actually mad at me? Because you're also adorable when you're angry."
Hope rolls her eyes and attempts to shoot Landon a menacing glare, only to fail. "Go hang this on the shelf. It's your fault I didn't get to do it in the first place." She says, pressing the decoration into Landon's hand.
Landon grins, knowing that Hope isn't actually mad at him. He presses a kiss to Hope's cheek and curtsies. "As you wish, my love."
Hope slides onto the kitchen countertop, watching Landon as he tries to hang the plastic bat on a shelf. He does it quickly, his long limbs making his task easy.
The curly haired boy returns and begins picking at a bowl of candy.
"So, have you picked out a good Halloween costume yet?" Landon asks, taking a bite from a candy bar.
"NO" Hope yells, sending the green eyed boy an unimpressed look, Hope reaches over and plucks the candy bar out of his hands. "The candy isn't for you."
Landon grabs the candy bar back and walks towards her until He is standing against the counter and there's literally no space between them. He leans in until his nose is gently brushing Hope's. "Don't punish me for speaking the truth."
Hope rolls her eyes, not bothering to reply. They remain in this position for a moment. Out of the blue, she asks quietly, "Is josie going to the party?"
Landon shakes his head, sighing. "Honestly, I don't think so. She's been crushed ever since her and Jade broke up."
Hope is well aware of the messy break up that had left their friend in tears. "How's she taking it?"
Landon purses his lips, looking grim. "I don't know but I hope she's okay."
"She will be. She's a strong girl." Hope says.
They stare at each other for a moment before Hope stand on her tip toes to give Landon a kiss. Just as she's about to close the distance between them, Landon yanks his head back abruptly. "Oh my god, I have an excellent idea!" He exclaims, his eyes wide.
Hope narrows her eyes in bemusement, partially worried because Landon never stops a kiss from happening.
"Let's trash her ex's house!"
"What?"
"Let's trash her house!" Landon flails his arms around enthusiastically, almost knocking over a stack of plates. "Destroy property! Throw eggs! Toilet paper! Slash car tires! Kick over garden gnomes!"
Quickly grabbing the bowl of candy beside them, Hope digs through it, desperate to find the brand of candy that had essentially caused Landon brain damage.
"What the hell was in the candy bar you ate?" She demands.
"Hope, it's an amazing idea!"
Hope raises an eyebrow. "Landon, in what sort of condition do you have to be in to think that this is a good idea?"
"C'mon, babe, josie's our friend! This is the least we could do for her. supersquad never leaves a member behind, remember?"
"I seriously doubt that has anything to do with the supersquad vows." Hope says drily. "Besides, we have a Halloween party to attend."
"Come on, let's just skip the party and avenge our friend!" Landon places his hands firmly on Hope's shoulders and looks at her straight in the eye.
"Which sounds better, avenging our best friend or going to a party that's gonna be swarmed with half-naked drunk teens that we barely know? Tell me the truth."
"The truth is that I'd rather stay at home and watch a movie. It's much safer and pleasant compared to the other two options." Hope says.
Landon rolls his eyes. "Hope" and gives Hope the best innocent look he can.
Hope sighs and raises her hands up in surrender. "Ugh, fine. I'm only doing this because Josie actually does seem really upset."
Landon pumps his fist in the air in triumph. He grabs his coat and heads for the door. "Okay, go change into your Halloween costume. I'll go get some stuff and then we can go seek revenge after I get back."
"If we get in trouble, I will kill you." Hope says warningly to her boyfriend's retreating figure.
Landon doesn't bother turning her way when he replies, "Babe, we both know that you love me too much to do that."
Hope doesn't bother to retort; they both know that Landon's statement is true.
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"I'm back," Landon calls out, shutting the door. He turns around and raises an eyebrow when he sees Hope sitting on the sofa in a superhero costume.
"wonder woman?" Landon questions with a small smile.
"Yep." Hope pauses for a moment and takes in Landon's appearance, furrowing her brows as she tries to figure out Landon's outfit.
"And what are you dressed as? A very depressed Tony Stark?"
Her words are rewarded with an exasperated sigh. "I'm the iron man, Hope."
"You look nothing like him."
"Yes I do!" Landon defends. "Look, I even have the Infinity Gauntlet with the infinity stones handmade!" Landon lifts up his gloved hand and wiggles his fingers for Hope to see.
Hope isn't impressed. She gives her boyfriend a sceptical look. "Your glove isn't even the right colour."
Landon frowns and knits his eyebrows together, huffing petulantly, "What are you talking about? Of course it is."
"Landon, Infinity Gauntlet is supposed to be gold. Yours is mimosa ."
"what color is mimosa? this is clearly gold."
"It's mimosa, Landon."
Landon waves her off. "Whatever, it's obviously gold but that doesn't matter. Anyway, I got the necessities." He sets down his plastic bag and begins taking out its contents. Landon lays out two cans of neon spray paint, half a dozen rolls of toilet paper, two cartons of eggs, and a bag of candy corn onto the table in a neat row.
Hope eyes Landon carefully. "What are these for?"
"These items are essential for the destruction we are going to cause tonight." Landon says this like it is obvious. "How else do you think we are going to trash someone's house?"
Hope sighs and shakes her head disapprovingly. "Just so you know, you are putting a lot of good money and food to waste."
"Relax," Landon assures her, "Half of these were on discount and if anything, I'm doing the world a favour because candy corn isn't good food."
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They travel to their friend's ex's house on foot. It isn't a particularly long journey but that doesn't spare Hope's feet from aching. Once they've reached their destination, Hope throws herself onto the ground to put an end to the painful throbbing in her feet.
"Why did I think walking would be a good idea?" Hope groans, kicking off her shoes to rub her sore feet.
Landon pulls down the head of his costume and Hope thinks it's incredibly unfair that Landon looks as though he hadn't exerted a single bit of energy at all. In comparison to Hope, Landon looks like he had merely went for a walk in the park.
Landon raises an eyebrow, seemingly amused by the auburn haired girl. "It was just a twenty minute walk, Hope."
"An exhausting one!"
"If I recall correctly, I carried you for about five minutes of the walk." Landon says with a cheeky grin. Hope puts her shoes back on and pretends to not hear him. "You wouldn't be so winded if your toes weren't so small " Landon teases.
Hope snorts, "did u just make fun of me being small? cause you know i can easily kick your ass"
Offering his hand, Landon pulls Hope off the ground. "Quit whining, it's time for our plan to commence." He says, tossing Hope a can of spray paint.
Hope turns to Landon with the can of spray paint in her hands, unsure what to do. "So, what do we do now?"
Landon gives Hope a scornful look. "We start wrecking the house, obviously."
Hope scoffs. "Oh, forgive me for my lack of knowledge about criminal activity."
"Shh, no more sarcasm." Landon shushes her and attempts to open up a carton of eggs with much difficulty, his fingers clumsy and uncooperative inside the plastic glove.
After some fumbling, he eventually manages to open the carton. He grins in triumph and reaches to grab an egg only to let it slip and fall onto the ground with a crack.
He lunges downwards instinctively which causes more eggs to fall, creating a mess. Miraculously, one egg yolk remains it's symmetrical shape despite the impact.
Pieces of eggshell are scattered across the ground around the yolk and Hope thinks that it oddly resembles the stars and moon hanging in the sky.
"Fuck!" Landon hisses, eyes widening as he stares at the eggy porch. he yanks off his glove. "What's the point of wearing gloves if you can't hold things while wearing them?!" he throws them over his shoulder.
"You probably should've thought about that before you make them." Hope remarks as she peels off the plastic covering the spray paint can. She uncaps it and gives it a shake, squinting in attempt to look through the darkness. "Lan, do you have a flashlight? I can't tell which way to spray."
"No, sorry, babe. I left my phone at home. Just feel for the hole." Hope rolls her eyes when she hears Landon snicker softly at the unintentional innuendo.
"Real mature, Landon- FUCK!"
Hope sees a bright flash of pink and immediately slams her eyelids shut and put her hands over her face. Her fingers had received most of the paint but it doesn't prevent the color from going into her eyes.
She drops the spray paint from her hand and spits out another obscene curse. Her eyes are stinging slightly and she can feel them begin to water.
She's almost too distracted by the pain in her eyes to feel Landon grabbing her frantically, demanding, "Hope! What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, no- kind of." She gently rubs her irritated eyes and opens them gingerly. She can see Landon standing over her, worry etched upon his face.
Maybe Landon is a literal sight for sore eyes because the pain in Hope's eyes are already starting to subside.
"It's okay. None of the paint went into my eye; I think it's just the fumes."
Landon releases a breath of relief. "Thank god." Landon presses a kiss onto Hope's nose and pulls her into a tight hug. He pulls away and gives the auburn girl a heavy look.
His voice is tinged with remorse. "This is kinda dangerous. Maybe we shouldn't be doing this."
"It's too late to back down now," Hope gestures around them. "We've already made a mess. Might as well just continue." She picks up the neon pink spray paint and starts spraying the wall of the house, being extra careful to ensure it is directed away from her face.
Landon grabs the other can of spray paint and begins defacing the wall next to Hope. He is biting down on his lower lip in concentration, completely focused on his illustrating. After several more sprays of paint, Landon stands back, grinning gleefully. "Ta-da!"
Hope squints at the beige wall, trying to make out the neon green graffiti. It is familiar to something she's seen all her childhood and teenage days. Then it hits her. Utter horror strikes her when she realises what has been painted onto the wall.
"Is that-"
"A salvatore school neon logo." Landon announces, looking very proud of his artwork.
Hope slaps her own forehead and groans. "Your maturity level is off the charts."
"Hey! she's so damn lucky i didn't draw something else!" Landon defends. "What else could I have drawn?"
"Practically anything." Hope reaches into the plastic bag and produces the bag of candy corn. "What did you get this for, anyway?"
"I thought it would be a good idea to scatter them around the house and then let ants take over."
Landon says, taking and opening up the bag. As he moved forward, he accidentally steps into the raw egg on the porch and slips, causing the bag of candy corn to spill out onto the floor and over herself. "Goddamn it..." Landon groans.
Hope picks out a piece of candy corn from Landon's hair, fighting back a giggle. "You know, I don't think we are very good at this."
Before Landon can open his mouth to retort, they hear a voice from the other side of the street yelling, "HEY! WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
They both whip their heads around to see a man running towards them. Hope's heart drops into her stomach.
"Shit," Landon scoops up their plastic bag of equipment before grabbing Hope's wrist and sprinting into the woods. "Run!"
Still paralysed by shock, Hope fumbles and forces her feet to move. They brush past trees and duck under branches in a desperate attempt to escape from the man chasing after them.
"Oh my god, we're going to be arrested and thrown into prison." Hope flails her arm around frantically. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god-"
She is silenced by Landon's hand over her mouth. "Sh," Landon shushes before yanking her into the bushes to hide.
Hope stumbles, trips over her own feet and falls down. Instead of crashing into the hard ground, she feels her body collide into something soft and warm. It takes a soft curse from Landon for Hope to realise that he had sacrificed himself to cushion Hope's fall.
"Sorry," she breathes against landon's neck.
"It's fine-" Landon stops himself when they hear footsteps coming their way. The shuffling of feet comes closer and closer to their hiding spot before it stops abruptly.
They both hold their breaths as they wait for the man to walk away. Eventually, the man walks away, swearing under his breath. Once they are sure that they are alone, Hope groans, "See, I told you this was a bad idea. Why do I even associate with you?"
"Because you love me."
"You're lucky that's true, Landon Kirby."
They stay in the bushes for a little while longer, just to ensure that they are alone. After checking around their surroundings, they get up and proceed to travel back home, hand in hand.
Back at home, they strip off their costumes and drop them in a pile on the floor before throwing themselves into bed, too exhausted to do anything else but cuddle as they sleep through the night.
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It's ten in the morning when Hope receives an unpleasant shock. She lifts her head up from her phone screenand the article she's been reading to send Landon a glare. "Landon kirby, get your ass over here." Hope snarls.
Bemused, Landon puts his plate of pancakes and walks over to her cautiously. "What's wrong?"
Hope shoves the newspaper into Landon's hand roughly. "Read it." She orders.
Still bewildered, Landon looks down the article and begins to read aloud. "'Police officer nearly gets suffocated by balloons'-"
"Not that!" Hope groans and points at a smaller article in the corner of the page. "This one."
"'Property damaged by gang leaders.'" Landon's eyes widen.
"'Yesterday evening, on Halloween night, a house suffered through great damage. Pictures obtained show that the house had been vandalised severely, with mysterious graphics painted onto the walls of the building. Experts suggest that these illustrations could possibly depict warnings by gangs. Witnesses have stated that two people disguised as what look like an ancient goddess and red-mimosa costume were seen trespassing the property. They are the prime suspects of this case. If anyone has seen these suspects, please contact authorities immediately.'"
A silence hangs in the air between them. Hope's expression remains grave. "I listen to your ridiculous suggestion and we become wanted criminals."
"Are you angry at me? Please don't be. I'm sorry." Landon pouts and kisses the corner of Hope's mouth by way of an apology. "What must I do to be forgiven?"
Hope sighs. "Promise me that from now on, we are staying at home on Halloween nights."
"I promise." Landon gives Hope a quick kiss. "Anything else?"
Hope takes several seconds to contemplate before saying, "Admit that your costume is mimosa and definitely not gold. Come on, even the witness thinks so."
Landon rolls his eyes and sighs in defeat. "Fine, my costume is whatever color u say and definitely not gold," he says with a small smile.
"Good. That wasn't so hard now, was it?" Hope grins. She gives Landon a quick kiss and announces that she's going to take a shower.
As she is making her way to the bathroom, Hope hears Landon say, "You think my costume is gold, too, right Romeo? Hope disagrees but it's okay, I still love her the same even though she can be stubborn sometimes." She hears Landon sigh. "Your mother is weird sometimes."
Hope stops in her tracks and heads back into the living room, prepared to argue with Landon that her costume isn't even partially gold and is a hundred percent fucking mimosa.