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“Taako, darling, I know you love Halloween but don’t you think you’re going a little overboard?” Kravitz asks, watching Taako color code a decorating scheme. He peers over Taako’s shoulder and sees a note that just says “Astral Sea?” in cramped handwriting.
Taako glances up at Kravitz and casually slides his arm over the paper. “Krav, listen, I’m only going overboard because Lup decided to declare war and commit treason!”
“By saying she didn’t want to do a matching costume this year?”
“You already said no to us being Gomez and Morticia so I’m down two costume partners.”
“I already had something in mind, I’m sorry!”
“Well, I still believe you would have made the loveliest Morticia. All tall, hot, and gothy? I can see it now,” Taako says with a grin.
“There’s always next year. Have you decided on a costume yet?”
“I have and it’s going to blow everyone away and Lup is going to feel so fucking dumb for not wanting to be the twins from The Shining.”
“Can I know what it is?” Kravitz leans down and rests his chin on Taako’s shoulder.
Taako presses a quick kiss to Kravitz’s lips before shaking his head. “Sorry babe, this is top secret stuff. Can’t risk having something slip to the boneheads before the party.”
“Well, let me know how I can help with party prep. And before you ask, no, we can’t do a little necromancy as a treat. I don’t care how cool you think it would be, if you want Barry, Lup, and I to actually be at the party, we’re not going to make anymore work for us, okay?”
“Ugh, you’re no fun,” Taako pouts and melodramatically rolls his eyes. He quickly scribbles something off his intricate to-do list.
Kravitz lets out a little laugh and kisses Taako on the forehead. “You’ll be able to get this place in shape without any death crimes, I think.”
“Yeah, just won’t be as sick.”
–
“So you’re telling me that none of you are bothered by all the super generic witch decorations you see this time of year?” Kravitz asks, inspecting a yard sign with a cartoon witch on it. The sign has “WITCH CROSSING” on the bottom, spelled in a drippy looking font.
“Well, first of all, I’m a wizard, not a witch.” Taako says, tossing several bags of fake spiderwebs into the shopping cart.
“And second of all, I think it’s kinda fun. I went as a witch for like two years in a row,” Lup adds, riding the cart down the aisle, nearly clipping Barry in the process. Barry stands in front of a shelf of skeletal animals, looking deep in thought.
“Well, I gotta say some of these grim reaper things are just plain silly,” Kravitz wanders over to the display Barry’s looking at. He squints and picks up a decorative skeletal spider. “And this is just a mockery of basic anatomy.”
“Yeah, most decorative skeletons are just fundamentally wrong or just kinda lame looking,” Barry muses, turning a skeletal moth over in his hands.
“Well, Krav could just sit by the punchbowl all night and be our own super-accurate decorative skeleton,” Taako says, walking by and poking Kravitz in the side.
“You just don’t want me to have a better costume than you, that’s why you wanna make me décor,” Kravitz wraps an arm around Taako’s shoulders and squeezes him close.
“Nah, I just like looking atcha, Bones.”
–
“Angus, so help me, you better not give yourself a stomachache tonight, I don’t think you want Merle trying to do any healing after a few glasses of this punch,” Taako says as he slides a large container of murky looking punch into the fridge.
“I’m thirteen, Taako, I’m not going to give myself a stomachache. I’m a big boy!” Angus protests from his spot on the counter. He’s been helping Taako put finishing touches on some of the snacks for the party (and sampling them too. It’s a vital step). Currently he’s wrapping hot dogs in crescent dough to make mummy dogs.
“I know you are, pumpkin. I just still can’t believe you’re hanging up the old Caleb Cleveland costume!” Taako fills a rubber glove with water, ties it closed, and tosses it in the freezer.
“I’ve been Caleb Cleveland for like five years! I just thought it was time to branch out.”
“Well, I do respect that. Don’t know that I really respect a Jeff Angel costume in this household but that’s neither here nor there.”
Angus lets out a laugh and sticks his tongue out at Taako. “You’ll be eating your words in a few hours!”
“Yeah, whatever you say, kiddo,” Taako says, patting Angus’s head before wandering off to find his checklist.
–
“Babe. Please tell me that isn’t an actual dead guy’s suit,” Lup says, leaning her head out of the bathroom, her hair half in curlers. “Because I’d appreciate the dedication, but I would not appreciate the smell.”
“I promise all the dirt and distressing has been done by yours truly! I mean, I’d be real concerned if someone was actually buried in this suit. Mind if I scoot in there with you? I wanna make sure this open sore doesn’t look too gruesome,” Barry says after he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror over their dresser.
“Knock yourself out but let me just say, it’s kind of a horror show in here. And if you get dirt on my dress, we’ll be using your corpse as décor.” Lup runs her hand through Barry’s admittedly already messy hair and smiles sweetly at him.
“I’d expect nothing less.”
–
Kravitz knocks on the bathroom door as he picks a piece of lint off his suit. “Taako, you okay in there? I know you said to not disturb the process or anything but you’ve been in there for a bit and you’re strangely quiet.”
Silence greets him.
“Babe?”
“Okay, so if I hypothetically stained the shit out of the bathtub, how mad would you be?” Taako asks meekly from behind the door.
“Why do I feel like this isn’t a hypothetical?”
“Because you’re so smart and handsome.”
–
“Kravitz, are you just dressed as the grim reaper? Because that feels kinda lame,” Angus says, adjusting his wristbands, bumping Kravitz with his wings in the process.
“Absolutely not! Now, don’t you disrespect me, little man,” Kravitz says, tipping his feathered top hat at Angus, his face a creepy half-skull.
Angus knits his brows together in confusion. “Okay?”
Kravitz visibly deflates. “Don’t you recognize my costume?”
“Sorry, no.”
“You’re an actual child, you of all people should!”
Angus stares blankly at Kravitz. “Still nothing.”
Kravitz lets out a massive sigh. “I’m Dr. Facilier? From Princess and the Frog?”
“Oh! Okay, yeah I see it now! Gotta say, I didn’t take you for a Fantasy Disney adult.”
“Hey now, that movie is art, Angus.”
Angus snorts and rolls his eyes, inching a little too close to being a capital T Teenager for Kravitz’s taste. “Whatever you say, Kravitz.”
–
“Uh Taako, you know you’ve got blood like…everywhere, right?”
Taako pauses his dashing around the kitchen, pulling readied snacks out of the fridge, oven, and cabinets. He looks at Barry as though he’s grown another head.
“That is the entire point of the costume, Barry.” Taako takes a minute to readjust his tiara that has slipped momentarily. “I mean, you’ve seen Carrie, yeah?”
Barry’s eyes widen for a split second. “I have, it just took me a minute to connect the dots.”
“Well, you look like you crawled out of a grave and I’m not here insulting you about it.”
Barry looks down at his costume. “I-I’m Beetlejuice. You know, the ghost with the most?”
Taako snaps his fingers and points at Barry. “That’s it! Okay, I dig it. Now, will you do me a big favor and finish setting up the food? You can wrangle Kravitz and Angus into it too, I just wanna get a peek at Lup’s costume before the party.”
“Yeah, that’s no problem. It’s a killer, just a warning.”
“Pfft, I’d like to see her in something as genius as this.”
–
“Fuck you, go change.”
“Uh no? You go change!”
“I specifically didn’t want us to match this year.”
“And look where your hubris got you, we’re matching any fucking way!”
“Okay but I should get dibs, she sets the goddamn high school on fire, she doesn’t transmute it.”
“Too late, Lulu, looks like we’re doing things my way.”
“I hate you sometimes.”
Taako drags a finger down his hair and taps Lup’s nose, smearing fake blood on her in the process. She flips him off which only makes him grin wider.
–
“Magnus.”
“Hey, Kravitz, I love your costume! From Princess and the Frog, right?”
“Yeah, that’s not the important part here. Are you dressed as the grim fucking reaper?”
Magnus tries to hide his scythe behind his back. “No?”
Kravitz cranes his neck to look at the scythe Magnus is doing a piss-poor job of hiding. “Wait, how’d you –“ He lets out a sigh. “Lup?”
Magnus nods and lowers his hood. “I promise I’m not going to open up any portals though!”
“You better not, Burnsides. You set foot in the Astral Plane again and that’s it, my man.”
“Understood.”
–
Taako opens the door to see Lucretia dressed literally how she dresses every single day. He crosses his arms and shakes his head. “Nope. Luce, I told you, no costume no entry.”
She grins and shows off two sharp fangs. “I’m a vampire, Taako.”
“Normally I’d chastise you for going with something so low effort but this is a pretty cool look. Now, can we address the nerdy elephant in the room?” Taako jabs his thumb over his shoulder to the small crowd of people that have accumulated in the living room. In the corner, talking animatedly to Barry, is one Lucas Miller, wearing a dumb hat and draped in a ridiculously long, hideous scarf.
“Okay, that was a group effort from me and Angus.”
“Last thing I really wanted at my party is your weird step-son –“
“I don’t know that I’d call him –“
Taako steamrolls over her protest. “–dressed as fucking fantasy Doctor Who.”
She looks at him with a meek smile. “I promise I won’t invite him to Candlenights?”
Taako sighs and rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I guess that’s an even deal. Punch is on the table. It’s good, go get some.”
She nods and makes her way over, giving a small wave to Davenport (who, appropriately enough, dressed as a pirate) on her way.
–
“Merle, who in the flying fuck are you?” Lup asks, tugging at one of his braids. He waves her hand away, more for show than anything.
“You kids really disappoint me.”
“No, I’m drawing a blank, too,” Davenport offers, removing his hat for a moment.
“The braids? The bandana? Nothing?”
They both shake their heads mutely at him. Merle frowns.
“I’m Willie Nelson!”
“Yeah, I would not have gotten that. See, I went for someone iconic,” Lup says, gesturing to her blood-soaked ensemble.
Merle tilts his head and narrows his eyes at her. He darts his eyes across the room to Taako and smacks his head with the palm of his hand. “Oh! Are you one of the twins from the Shining?”
“I’m in hell,” Lup groans.
–
“Bluejeans, Bluejeans, Bluejeans,” Lup murmurs into Barry’s ear as she stands behind him and wraps her arms around him. He laughs and presses a kiss to her cheek.
“You having fun, scary Carrie?”
“I’m having a blast! How about you, Bones?” Lup asks Kravitz, who’s gently pulling Taako by the hand over to stand by the nearly empty punch bowl.
“You know, I’m not as into Halloween as the rest of you, but I’d say this has been a pretty good time.” He says, winding an arm around Taako’s torso. Taako leans his head onto Kravitz’s shoulder and smiles.
“Next year’ll be even better, considering we’re going to have the best costumes.” He says, fiddling with the feather on Kravitz’s hat.
“I wouldn’t be so certain about that, T. I’m not going to be bested again.” Lup says, resting her head on Barry’s shoulder.
“I mean, good luck coming up with something as sick as Gomez and Morticia.” Taako leans over and snags a piece of candy from the table.
Lup groans and leans her head into Barry’s neck. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Barry and Kravitz both let out laughs as the twins start bickering about who gets dibs on the costume for next year.