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"Babe!" I hear a whisper-shout through the fogginess, my mind slowly waking up.
"Mm?" I return, hopefully loud enough to be heard.
"It's Halloween!" He says.
I smile and turn from where I'm laying on my back, putting my arm around Brendan's waist. He immediately gets closer to me, legs intertwining with mine. Our skin is warm and it still feels electric to touch him after all this time.
"Happy Halloween," I say, slowly opening my eyes.
Brendan's face is lit up with a smile, stark white skin literally buzzing.
Maybe that's why I feel a shock when I touch him.
"Can you turn that off, by chance?" My voice is still groggy.
He seems surprised. "Oh, I didn't realize. I can try, but I'm really excited." A smile takes over the shock on his face again, making me smile in return.
We all knew he was excited.
-
When summer started to wind down, Brendan had asked us over dinner; "How about a trick-or-treating event?"
A few had looked around at each other confusedly. I quickly jumped to his defense. "I'll make any costumes if we can get by with the materials. Alia?" I looked over to where she was sitting beside Adam. She had nodded.
Juliette raised her hands. "Wait, I'm confused. What's Halloween?"
Brendan looked close to crying. I squeezed his hand, and he shot me a smile. "I'll explain for you and Warner, I'm guessing," Warner's face remained unchanged. "Halloween is an event where mostly children dress up as monsters and characters and the like and go house to house to collect candy. There also might be activities at fairs and stuff, like apple bobbing. It's fun, trust me."
Juliette looked at Warner, who shrugged, and then she scanned the room, undoubtedly for the ones in charge. "I'd have to ask Nouria, but if you want to do this, you would have to work overtime to get the resources." There was a glint in her eyes and a smile on her face that suggested she really wanted to do it too.
Brendan stood from his chair. "I'm willing to do that."
I joined him, sighing. "Me too."
"And me," Kenji said, standing from his seat in-between Juliette and Nazeera.
Surprisingly, his girlfriend joined him. "Me too. We never celebrated, but I've read about it. I call gargoyle."
"No one was going to fight you for that," Kenji stated, smiling at her. She smiled back.
"I like to be prepared."
I rolled my eyes with a smile and watched as Alia, Ian, Lily, and Adam stood and joined Brendan's cause, each muttering their alliance.
"Okay, what's going on here?" Nouria's authoritative voice boomed from behind me.
I was sure she was bearing a hole in the back of my head.
Brendan turned around and so did I. "Nouria!" He said confidently. "We're just making plans for Halloween."
Sam and Castle were at her side. Nouria raised her eyebrow. "We don't have the resources for that. We're busy with literally everything else."
"We'll work harder to make it possible," Juliette chimed in from behind me and I heard the sound of her chair scraping.
Nouria looked at Sam, who shrugged with a smile. She turned back to us. "Alright. As long as you promise it won't interfere with our daily trade."
"I promise!" Brendan and Juliette said at the same time.
-
I smile and lean in to kiss Brendan softly. His tongue swipes mine with a jolt, making me flinch. He pulls back.
"Oh, god, I'm sorry Winston!" He covers his mouth.
Smiling ear to ear, I wrap my arm around him and hug him close to me. "It's okay. I love you, Brendan."
He relaxes against me, hugging me back. "I love you too."
We still had our responsibilities for the day, and I was on the duty of repairing a warehouse.
-
After the hard labor, I'm exhausted but excited and I rush back to our shared tent and step in the shower, quickly trying to finish.
I hear the sound of the bathroom door opening and closing. "Can I join you?" Brendan asks.
I blush and turn around to look through the glass door, seeing Brendan already undressing. I quickly look away and he laughs.
"You know we're dating, right?"
Turning back to the water stream, I scrub my hair. "I do! But frankly, you make it hard to be normal around you."
The door slides open, then closed. Brendan hugs me from behind, arms sliding around my waist. I blush harder, the water seeming hotter on my skin.
"Why is that?" He asks, chin on my shoulder.
I smile, resting my head back on his. "You're too damn cute."
Brendan laughs and buries his face in my neck. One of his hands travels down my stomach and I tense up. "Brendan, we have to go."
He kisses my neck. "We have time."
I sigh. "Fine."
After 'showering', we help each other put on our costumes. Brendan is dressed in a skeleton jumpsuit he sewed himself, and I'm in a frilled shirt, pinstripe pants and a cut-off cloak.
"You look good as a vampire," Brendan says as he's tying my shoes.
I smile. "This is historically inaccurate."
He stands up with a smile and bends over to kiss me. "I don't care."
Laughing, I take his hand, and he pulls me out of the chair I'm sitting in. "Are you ready?"
Brendan looks down at himself, then back up to me. "I am."
We walk to the Q together, running into Juliette and Warner. Juliette is a mermaid and Warner is himself.
"What are you supposed to be?" Brendan asks.
Warner glares at him. "The devil."
I frown and scan over his outfit. He's wearing a turtleneck and slacks. "You really don't look like one. Brendan's good at makeup, he could-"
"No." Warner snaps.
Brendan shakes with laughter he's trying to hold in, and I snicker.
"Sorry about him. I tried to get him to carry around a staff or something," Juliette says, looking apologetic.
Warner sighs, a slight smile on his face. "And I told you that I have my guns, so if a demon ever used a gun, it would be accurate."
All of us except Warner laugh, and Brendan leans against me.
"That's fair," I say, smiling at Warner, who nods.
"Have a good time. And thank you for your efforts these months. I know it means a lot to you." Those words come out of Warner's mouth and I'm left in shock as he and Juliette walk into the tent.
I look at Brendan and he has the same expression as me. "Wow," he says.
Smiling, I tug his arm. "I'm telling everyone about this, so let's go."
He laughs and walks behind me.
It looks very festive in the tent. There's orange, black, and purple chiffon draped on the ceiling, some of the corners hanging down. There's spiders that Nazeera built, food and drink, and many lights strung around.
Brendan smiles excitedly at me, and I return it. It looks amazing.
Samantha walks up to us, dressed as a fairy. "Welcome! Doesn't this look great? It really reminds me of my childhood." She smiles. "Have fun."
Brendan lets go of my hand to hug her, leaving me and Sam surprised. "Thank you for letting us do this," he says, squeezing her.
I smile at Sam and she smiles back as she hugs him. "You're welcome."
Brendan is back at my side and we walk around, looking at the decor and the fun everyone is having. I see Kenji with a group of people and he waves us over.
"Hey, dude! These cookies are great. You should try them." He's smiling, and I examine his outfit.
"What are you?" I inquire.
Kenji looks down at himself. "I'm a werewolf!"
He's wearing a shirt with fur glued onto it, and I snort with laughter. "You look..."
"You look great," Brendan says, shooting me a look.
Kenji grins. "Thanks, Brendan. It was hard getting all this fur, and I wanted to glue it to my skin, but Nazeera said I shouldn't. But this looks totally nerdy."
I laugh out loud then, covering my mouth quickly. "Sorry. Sorry. You do look nerdy, though."
Suddenly, a kid comes running up to us. "Kenji!" I recognize him as Adam and Warner's brother.
"Hey, little guy!" Kenji ruffles his hair.
The kid appears to be dressed as a duck, in yellow clothes and flippers. It's surprisingly cute.
Adam is with them soon after. "Hey, Kenji. He's really excited about this." He looks at Brendan and I. "Thank you guys for this, really. It means a lot."
I smile, and Brendan squeezes my hand. "Thank you, Adam."
"Thank you!" Brendan beams.
All three of them walk away, and I approach the table to grab one of the cookies Kenji was praising. They're sugar cookies in the shape of ghosts and I grin.
"These are so cute," I say as I pick one up.
Brendan looks delighted, turning one over in his hand and looking at me with the cutest smile I've ever seen. I lean in and kiss the corner of his mouth right there in front of everyone. I lean my forehead against his, eyes closed.
"Winston...?" He says my name carefully, like he does whenever I cry.
"I love you," I say on his lips, feeling his breath on mine, too.
"I love you too," Brendan says, tilting his head to kiss me.
I let him. There's not much more I can lose after starting this, anyway.
When we separate, there's eyes on us, but most just go about their day. I start to laugh, and Brendan giggles.
"You're proper mad," he says, still smiling.
"But you still love me," I tease, looking at his lips like I'm about to kiss him again.
"I do." He gives me another quick kiss, then grins at me.
I can't fathom how much I love this man.
He was thoughtful enough to plan this whole thing for hundreds of people. He worked hard for months just to pull this off. He's considering, loving, caring, kind.
And he's mine. God, he's mine.
I don't know how I'm lucky enough to have him.
"Hey," a voice I recognize as Ian's says, snapping me out of my trance.
I step away from Brendan and I kind of resent Ian for it. "Hey, Ian, Lily," I look at both of them to address their presence.
Ian is grinning and I know it can't be for a good reason. "You're putting on quite the show."
I glance at Brendan and he smiles meekly. "Well, he is my boyfriend."
"Yeah, and we're not paying you to watch," I quip, meanly but good-natured.
Ian laughs. "Yeah, okay. I get it."
Lily rolls her eyes. "I think you two are cute."
I look at Brendan again, something I find myself doing quite often. He smiles. "Thank you to Lily and Lily only."
They share a laugh, but I just sneak my hand back into Brendan's. He glances at me with a smile.
"So, how are you enjoying the party?" Brendan asks, carefully watching the both of them.
Uh oh. He's looking for praise from Ian.
"It's great!" Lily says. "It looks really nice in here, it's so fun. You did such a good job. Both of you."
I smile wide. "Thank you."
I'm losing track of how many times I've said that tonight.
"Ooh!" Brendan exclaims, looking at me. "The trick-or-treating! Let's go do that!"
"Do we have to do it with them?" I say jokingly, not-so-secretly glancing at Ian.
Ian sighs, putting his hand on his hips and smiling. "No, you don't have to. We're gonna chill here for a bit."
We smile at each other, and Ian breaks. "Okay, seriously, man, this is awesome. The kids love it. We may start doing this for every holiday, just saying."
Brendan's hand shocks mine as a wave of stress comes over him. I squeeze his hand.
"I mean, that would be a whole bunch of planning that I'm not prepared for-"
"Relax," Lily cuts in with a firm, calming tone. "All of us will help out."
Brendan sighs in relief. "Thank god."
Lily laughs and starts to turn away. "We'll be going now, see you later!"
"Bye!" The two of us say at the same time.
Once they're gone, Brendan mutters, "Man, I thought he'd gone mental," and I laugh.
I throw my arm around his shoulders and kiss his forehead. "Isn't he already mental?"
Brendan chuckles. "Maybe. But, do you really hate him?"
I shake my head and pull away to look at him. "No, I don't. He's just annoying."
"Amen."
-
We grabbed our bags and are now making our way from tent to tent, saying "Trick-or-treat!" and recieving candy.
I remember a time when this happened every year.
Brendan only remembers one Halloween.
But I'm trying to make the best of it, pulling my cloak over my face when we show up at a door and ask to be let in. Brendan enjoys it.
We come back to our tent and I try to pry off my shoes without untying them but I fail. I sigh and sit on our bed, undoing the strings and then falling back onto the sheets.
Brendan laughs. "Are you tired, love? Are you that old?"
I smile. "I feel about 80 right now."
He appears over me, at my side and leaning over. "Do you need help?" He asks innocently, and I suspect he means it.
I shake my head anyway. "Nah, I got it." He steps back and I sit up, flinging the cloak off and pulling the shirt over my head.
"Have you ever played Bloodborne?" Brendan asks randomly, slightly muffled by the material over my ears.
I emerge from the vampiric shirt and throw that, too. "No."
Brendan smiles and picks my clothes up, making a pang of guilt strike my heart. "Well, you looked like you stepped out of it in that costume."
"Is that why you designed it that way?" I ask, grinning despite the tiredness.
He shakes his head and hands me my pajamas. "I didn't really notice. It looks different when you're wearing it, though."
I pull the fresh shirt over my head and slip my pants down my hips. "Stop. I know about your crush on that NPC."
Brendan freezes from where he's taking his jumper off and looks at me seriously. "Don't disparage Alfred."
I laugh and kick off my pants, replacing them with the pajama pants Brendan gave to me. I pick up the rest of my clothes and throw them in the laundry bin, then I slink under the blankets of our soft bed. Brendan turns the lights off and joins me soon after, not even stopping to brush his teeth.
I pull him close to me and rest my head on his chest, listening to his slowing heartbeat. "I love you," I mumble.
"I love you too," I hear Brendan say.
His hand pets my hair and I sigh, feeling my mind being dragged into sleep.
Today was the best day in a long time. And it's all because of my boyfriend that it was possible.