Archive of Our Own ^beta

The frat house was aglow with hazy orange lights and smoke as Casey navigated the crowd of drunken college students toward the kitchen. She passed by a bro dressed as a nun, a scary clown, and a plethora of sexy bunnies and nurses. Casey’s roommate had convinced her to go to the party, determined to get her out of the dorm.

“Casey, it’s the one night a year where girls are allowed to dress slutty. And no one can say shit about it,” Abigail had said the week before while they were downtown at a pop-up costume shop. “We’re both hot and single, we can’t miss this opportunity.”

“Did you just quote Mean Girls at me?” Casey distractedly said, looking over a generic hippie chick outfit.

“Duh, it’s the defining movie of our generation. Ew, no, don’t be a hippie. So overdone. Come on, let’s look over here,” Abigail dragged her to a different section of the store.

“Isn't sexy cop also a tad overdone?” Casey raised an eyebrow at the black latex suit in front of her. It didn’t look comfortable.

“This isn’t a sexy cop,” Abigail rolled her eyes. “It’s Catwoman! She’s superior to all others. It’s the Anne Hathaway version too. Try it on,” she bossed her into the makeshift fitting room. A few minutes later she squealed with delight when Casey drew the curtain to the side. “Oh my god, you look amazing.”

“I can’t relax my posture,” Casey said, shifting. She did look incredible, though how on earth she would be able to endure a whole night dressed like that would be a mystery. Her mind flittered to Derek and how he would possibly react to seeing her dressed like his favorite part of the movie besides the showdown with Bane and suddenly her mind was made up.

Under the Halloween shop’s fluorescent lights she burned with curiosity to see his face when his eyes landed on her, clouding her judgment.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that she was at the party, getting several looks, well. Casey was having some doubts. Abigail was nowhere to be seen, having gotten pulled over to a competitive game of beer pong by some of her friends from class. She herself had picked a sexy knock-off of Cinderella’s blue gown.

Casey found where all the drinks were, grabbing a bottle of the disgustingly cheap beer that was on offer for the partygoers. Her eyes searched for someone she knew in the crowd, anyone. None of her friends could be seen, though she knew based on the group chat they were all somewhere around. A guy dressed as a cheap knockoff version of Iron Man inched closer to her. Derek was supposed to have met her at the party, but a quick glance at her phone in order to avoid Iron Man’s leery gaze showed he’d left on her read. She rolled her eyes. Typical Derek.

SOS kitchen! She texted the group chat, hoping someone would look at it and grab her. Where are you Der? She texted him too, secretly hoping he’d be the one to get there first. She could handle unwanted attention. But Derek jumping in for her never failed to get her heart racing - even if she never told him. He didn’t need the additional ego boost.

Casey looked up from her phone, accidentally looking right into Iron Man’s eyes. In the ten seconds it took to text, he had managed to get right into her personal space.

“Me-ow,” he said, blatantly looking her over through his mask. It wasn’t a full-face one, cutting off under his nose to reveal his mouth. Casey shifted her stance, edging herself away from him. “Hey babe, what’s your name?”

“Catwoman,” she replied, looking over his shoulder. She had no intention of telling him her name. The last thing she wanted was for him to find her on Facebook. A few people swept into the kitchen, but no one she knew. Where the hell was Derek? Abigail? Kaitlin, Jane, Joelle? Even annoying Kristen Peterson from her English Literature of the Middle Ages course would be a godsend! Iron Man didn’t get the hint, instead sending her a flirtatious smirk.

“We superheroes should stick together,” he leaned into her personal space. Casey mentally rolled her eyes. “I saw the Joker out there. We gotta be on our A-game with him around.”

“Catwoman isn’t a superhero, she’s an anti-hero,” she took a step away, annoyed when Iron Man took a step too. He grinned. Dammit, she thought. She engaged in conversation. Shit. Was that Aimee Collins in the other room?

Her classmate didn’t notice the somewhat frantic wave Casey sent over, her attention focused on her date for the night. Casey stepped away from Iron Man towards the doorway, hoping to lose him in the crowd.

“I think an argument could be made for her being a superhero. After all, she’s in the same cohort as Batman, and we view him as a superhero. Isn’t he pretty gritty?” He blocked her path. “What did you say your name was again by the way?”

“I didn’t,” Casey replied, taking another step away, this time to the side. He kept in pace with her, a cocky smile peeking out from beneath his cheap mask. She looked around again. “I’m waiting for my boyfriend, so if you would excuse me.”

“I didn’t see you enter the party with a guy,” Iron Man began to say, but then a Halloween miracle occurred. A familiar figure dressed in a ratty hockey jersey and a Jason mask entered the kitchen. She breathed a sigh of relief, not realizing until that moment just how on the brink she felt. Jason caught her eye as she beelined over to him.

“Oomf, Spacey,” he complained, catching her as she threw her arms around him tightly.

“Play along please,” she whispered in his ear, hoping he would without questions. The miracle continued because he instantly shifted his hold on her so that his arms were securely wrapped around her waist in a possessive manner. “What took you so long babe? I thought we said to meet in the kitchen,” she said louder, Iron Man’s attention fully on them.

“Sorry, didn’t you see my text? Had to stop by Devin’s before heading over.” Derek’s hand rubbed her hip reassuringly before lifting up his mask and placing a kiss dangerously close to her lips. Shit, that was so bold. The swooping of her stomach caught her by surprise, but she tried to play it cool. “Hey, is that Fitzpatrick under that Iron Man mask?”

Iron Man nodded, lifting his own mask to reveal himself as one of the university baseball players. “Hey man, how are you? Didn’t realize the hockey team was going to make it.” He darted a nervous look toward Casey as though he anticipated a punch to the face for hitting on the star player’s girlfriend, but Derek merely nodded.

“Are you kidding? We never miss the Halloween bash. It’s legendary.”

Fitzpatrick nodded. “Well hey, I need to go find my own girl, but uh, it was nice to see you Venturi.” He grabbed a random beer out of the cooler before rushing out of the kitchen.

Casey waited until he was out of hearing range to untangle herself from Derek’s hold. “What a scumbag,” she burst out. “He was completely not taking the hint. And he has a girlfriend?! Ugh.”

Derek took her drink, helping himself. “I can grab him real quick if you want, give him a black eye.”

She shook her head, stealing back her drink. “Don’t you dare. The last thing you need is another sports feud.”

Derek raised his empty hands in defense. “Hey, it’s not my fault the soccer team can’t take a hint.”

Casey rolled her eyes. “Thanks for reminding me that you ruined my date with Cameron, he refused to call me and blacklisted my friends because of you -”

“Cameron Howard is an asshole, I did you a favor,” Derek interjected.

“But I was actually talking about the time you and your neanderthal teammates got into it with the basketball team…”

“Danny Evers has a reputation. He wasn’t worth it, trust me.”

“- and then there was the golf team, that time at O’Riley’s -”

“Troy Goris has a punchable face,” Derek shrugged, taking the drink again from Casey when he realized she wasn’t drinking it. She pretended for a second to care, but really, when it came to Derek she always had bent the rules. She leaned against the cluttered kitchen counter as he drank, watching his Adam's apple bob up and down. God, was she weird that she was so fixated on it?

“That doesn’t mean it’s an invitation to punch it!” She exclaimed, forcing her eyes back up at Derek’s handsome face. He had missed her staring, thank god.

“It is when he hits on you,” Derek grumbled, downing the rest of the beer. He slammed it onto the nearby counter. He ignored the narrowing of Casey’s blue eyes behind her mask, instead turning to one of the coolers scattered around to grab another beer and, after some digging around towards the bottom of it, grabbed a fruity alcoholic beverage he knew she'd like.

“Derek,” she began to say, pausing briefly to accept the drink. He grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the kitchen and back to the main part of the frat house where the party was in full swing. Loud music pulsed around them, drowning out whatever it was she had on the tip of her tongue.

Abigail appeared out of the crowd, breathless and laughing with one of Derek’s teammates, who was dressed as Fred Flintstone. She realized it was William Bell when they got closer, a good friend of Derek’s and the sometimes boyfriend of Abigail. Apparently, they were back on, judging by the lack of space between them.

“Casey! I was coming to rescue you with backup,” Abigail said as Will grinned. “But I see we’re too late.” She winked, then laughed as Casey’s cheeks turned pink.

“We were going to check the haunted house out back,” Will mentioned. “It’s clown-themed this year. They hired the drama department to run it and it looks cool.”

“Come with us!” Abigail excitedly clapped.

“Clowns?” Derek looked apprehensive at the idea.

“What’s wrong Der-bear, scared of some scary clowns?” Casey taunted, giggling. She knew full well that clowns were one of the few things he was truly terrified of. They had watched the old school IT in high school one Halloween when stuck babysitting the kids. Derek couldn’t sleep for a few nights after that. Pranking him was far too easy when clowns were involved, something Casey had certainly exploited in the past.

“Clowns? Pfft, they’re not scary.” Derek puffed out his chest, standing taller. “If anything I’m more worried for you, Case. I know how delicate you can be…”

“Only on stage,” Abigail snorted. “No offense Casey.” Her klutzilla reputation had unfortunately followed her to university within her social circles.

“None taken,” Casey rolled her eyes. “Alright then, let’s go,” she took Derek’s hand, leading him out of the house towards the backyard, their friends close behind.

“Wait right now?!” He protested, gripping tightly on her hand.

“Might as well,” she replied. The backyard of the frat house had been decorated with hay bales and pumpkins everywhere. Spooky images projected onto one of the windows, with screams on a loop. A few blow-up balloons were scattered around the yard as well, as black and orange fairy lights hung above their heads. In the center of it all was the haunted house, a truly spectacular thing to behold. It looked like a funhouse, bright pink and green and purple. The entrance was an oversized clown, mouth wide. An actor clown stood near the entrance, honking a little horn at people. They joined the long line.

“I heard they got inspiration from that ‘80s film, Killer Klowns,” Will told them enthusiastically. “Doug Winters' dad has connections, so they hooked them up with the funhouse.”

“Oh you mean Killer Klowns from Outer Space? I love that movie,” Casey lit up. “I made Derek watch it. Remember?”

“How could I forget,” Derek dryly replied. “At least it was more tolerable than IT.”

“You still hid under the blanket when the clowns appeared,” Casey smirked. “You should have seen him -”

“At least I didn’t cry during Nightmare on Elm Street,” Derek shot back darkly. “Or when we watched the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

Casey sniffed. “That was just grotesque. Honestly, what’s the appeal in watching a bloodbath?”

Abigail and Will were quickly forgotten as the duo got caught up with each other, bantering back and forth while getting in each other’s faces. Their friends rolled their eyes, used to the way the tension always got turned up a notch whenever Casey and Derek got into it.

“From a filmmaker’s perspective that’s a landmark movie worth watching,” Derek argued. “Halloween is too, which I know you think is anti-feminist…”

“Of course it is! Only the ‘sexually promiscuous’ females die in that movie. It set off a whole genre of killing empowered females in touch with their sexuality. Having sex is not a reason to die in a horror movie, stupid choices are. Like come on, Jamie Lee’s character dropped the knife next to Michael Meyers before verifying he was dead! She should have died for that. But no, instead her friends die because they’re not virgins,” Casey huffed, her cheeks red and her eyes bright.

She looked gorgeous, Derek thought to himself. Her eyes always got this intensity that shined when she was bickering with him, something he chased from high school to university to see again and again. He made peace with the fact the universe hated him, making her be his step-sister and so, so off limits. But when she passionately argued with him? That was when she truly took his breath away. What did it say about him that one of his biggest turn-ons was his step-sister berating him?

“I concede to that point,” Derek acknowledged, sighing.

“Big word there,” Casey teased, pulling him along by the hand to catch up with Abigail and Will as the line moved. She always liked to pretend that grabbing his hand was no big deal, but he saw through her motives. She craved his touch, just as he craved her attention, and that was why Queens was a safety net and they avoided going home when they could. They could safely hover the firm line between them without uncomfortable eyes on them.

“But it was a groundbreaking movie that set the standard for the horror movie genre. It’s a classic for a reason.”

“A lot of classics are sexist,” Abigail piped up. Casey’s rant had caught her attention. “Also fully agree with your take on Halloween, Jamie Lee definitely deserved to die for her stupid mistakes.”

An actor dressed as a clown chose that moment to appear behind Derek. She blinked innocently as it leaned in close behind him, breathing on his neck.

“Argh!” He jumped, dropping his beer to the ground. Everyone laughed. The clown slunk away to scare others in the line, leaving behind an irate Derek clinging tightly to Casey’s hand.

“Oh my god your face,” Abigail wheezed, clutching onto Will’s arm. “Speaking of classics.”

“Good reflexes man,” Will chuckled. “It’s alright, they’re not letting alcohol in anyways.” He downed the rest of his drink, tossing it into a nearby trash can. They were a lot closer to the entrance now.

Casey handed Derek the rest of her drink. “I won’t finish it,” she said. He took it gratefully, finishing it off before tossing it the same way Will had. Since they were closer to the entrance, they could hear the screams coming from inside. Creepy circus music played from the speakers. It sent chills down Derek’s spine.

“Should we go in together?” Abigail asked as they got closer. “Or go as couples?” She ignored the glare Casey sent her at that implication. She knew she was going to deeply regret the drunken confession of having a (teeny!tiny!) crush on her step-brother. Abigail smiled widely, batting her eyes innocently.

“Couples,” Derek quickly answered. “If I’m going to scream, I’d rather Casey be the only witness to me losing my dignity.”

“I wouldn’t tell the guys,” Will mockingly gasped. “I’m hurt you don’t trust me, Venturi.”

“Shut it, Bell.”

They reached the front a few minutes later. “Who dares to enter the funhouse?!” The clown asked them in a bellowing voice. “Step right up…”

Abigail and Will went first, the oversized purple and green doors shutting behind them with a dramatic bang. The greeter laughed maniacally, honking its horn in Casey’s face. She fully saw it coming, and still jumped. Her grip on Derek’s hand tightened even more, the other one grabbing onto him in such a way that it forced his free arm to wrap around her waist to keep her steady.

“Step right up. Watch your step, it might be your last,” the actor cackled, letting them inside. The door closed behind them, leaving them in almost total darkness. Neon green and yellow lights hung overhead the small area; it resembled a circus ticket booth area. Another actor stepped out from a hidden corner, startling Casey. They were dressed like a ringmaster, smiling grimly.

“Welcome to the funhouse, play by my rules and you might survive. First, do not touch the clowns and they will not touch you. Phones and other video recordings are not allowed inside the funhouse. Running is not allowed. If you must exit the funhouse early, let one of the actors know and they will escort you to safety.”

A door, previously hidden, suddenly lit up to their left. Circus music began to play as the actor let them go in. They found themselves in a hallway of mirrors, the kind that was wonky when gazed into. Strobe lights flashed overhead, warping their perspective as they made their way through; it didn’t take long for a clown to appear at the end of the hallway, approaching them.

“Funhouse, welcome to the funhouse,” the actor sang in a lunatic voice, grinning. “Madhouse, it’s a madhouse…!”

They passed by, quickening their pace through the entryway leading to another room. This one had walls with purple and green stripes, the floors checkered in a way to deliberately make one feel like they were drunk and seeing everything wobbly. Blow-up clowns were in front of them, rocking back and forth. Derek breathed a sigh of relief as they made it through with no scares. Of course, that was when a fake clown swung down in front of them, hanging upside down.

“Aah,” Derek shouted, his voice deep and husky with fear. Casey laughed, leading them into the next room. It was a traditional funhouse set up, with stairs leading up and flashing lights. They walked over a shaky bridge and through a circle with streamers blowing in their faces before another clown popped out behind them, honking a horn and chasing them through to the next room. It was all neon lights in an otherwise completely darkened room, with jack-in-boxes set up all around. They went off one by one as they passed, a motion-sensor. Creepy laughter followed their every move. The last box had an actor in it, spraying them with silly string.

They took a slide back down to the main level afterward, landing in a neon ball pit. A clown popped up from a separate ball pit - probably so they didn’t get kicked in the face - scaring them both. They fell back together struggling to sit up.

“Der-ek, help me up,” Casey whined, falling once more back into the ball pit as he stood, steady on his feet. Her latex suit was slippery against the plastic of balls and the material bordering the pit. It was so damn funny watching her flail about, but he scooped her up, his hand engulfing her smaller one into his as he pulled her up.

But she wasn’t nicknamed Klutzilla for no reason. She managed to slip again, this time falling with him landing on her, his arms on either side of her shoulders. His body lay parallel on top of her, which meant he could feel each breath she made against his body. Her Catwoman mask was secure on her face, her hair sprawled out behind her in a dark tangle of brunette curls.

“Shut up,” she said, giggling, which sent a feeling through his lower half.

He smirked, brushing a stray piece of hair off her face that was threatening to tickle her eyelashes. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You’re thinking it,” she claimed, sitting up, which meant her face was suddenly a short breath from his. “Help me up please.”

“Only if you don’t send us falling again,” Derek said, his eyes lit up with mirth and something else as they lingered on her face for a moment too long. He grabbed his Jason mask from the bottom of the ball pit where it had fallen. “Come on princess.”

He successfully pulled her up, helping her out of the ball pit and out through a clown-shaped door frame. He kept fingers laced with hers, as the room beyond looked a lot darker and he was afraid he might accidentally hit an actor from the adrenaline rush coursing through his body.

The second to last room was a maze, the kind that was see-through and confused those trying to navigate it. Clowns appeared everywhere in this room. Low, orange floor lights provided the only source of light.

“Fuck this shit,” Derek swore as a clown pressed its face against the glass on the side of the wall when they took their second wrong turn.

“I’ll save you, Der,” Casey laughed, then screamed as a clown appeared next to her. “Come on, I think the exit is this way.” She led him through, accidentally banging against a glass wall. “Shit, oops.”

“Are you okay Spacey?” Derek rubbed her forehead affectionately, momentarily distracted from the sounds of other people screaming in the maze and the obnoxious clown horn that accompanied each scream. “Glass mazes are dangerous for klutzillas, huh? Guess I have to save you from yourself”

“Shut up,” Casey swatted his hand away lazily. “Brave words from the guy on the verge of a heart attack each time the clown horn sounds off. How can you save me when you’re closing your eyes in fear every two seconds?”

“They’re sinister, Case,” Derek moved his hand away from her forehead, wrapping it around her waist as they backtracked the maze corridor and tried a different turn.

It took them a couple of more minutes of bumping into glass walls and shouting from clowns, but eventually, they escaped the maze, finding the very last room of the haunted funhouse. It was a pitch-black room with plastic clowns glowing and illuminating the path out to the exit.

“I’m tempted to say this one isn’t bad,” Casey began to say, just as a clown hopped out and scared them.

“Spoke too soon,” Derek muttered darkly, picking up the pace and leading them mercifully out of the funhouse. He didn’t drop her hand once they were back into the crisp, October air. Instead, he leaned his head on her shoulder, taking a moment to still his heart from the adrenaline rush of the clowns chasing him.

Casey let him, giggling under her breath as she gently rubbed a soothing circle on his back, over and over again until he finally exhaled and lifted his face up, but keeping it just an inch or two above her own. Her Catwoman mask was framing her eyes, a shade of dark blue in the glow of the party and the dark night of the sky. His own mask was resting on top of his head, threatening to slide down at the angle he was looking at her.

“You would kick ass in a horror movie,” he said, his hands casually, so casually it was feather light, trailing the latex jumpsuit down to her hips. “You’re a keener, so whatever plan you came up with would guarantee survival.”

He let his hands pause, testing out to see if she would step out of his light grasp. His lips quirked up when she instead stepped closer into his space, her hands resting on his chest and playing with the coarse material of his costume jersey.

“It's nice to hear you finally acknowledge that I’m actually pretty capable,” Casey said, smiling. “But I think I would need someone to wield a hockey stick in my defense when I inevitably fall running. I guess I would let you in on my plan. Be on my team.”

“Your team?” Derek’s hands tightened on her hips as a few drunk party-goers stumbled out from the haunted house behind them, getting a bit close to them. He guided her backward a few feet to the right, away from the haunted house where an inflatable ghost was gently swaying in the night air. Its white glow illuminated Casey’s costume and caused her eyes to shine.

“Mhmm,” Casey said, still smiling. “I think you’ve proven yourself to be a good addition to my team.” She tapped her fingers against his chest, her thoughts whirling around to each steady tap. “Thanks for rescuing me earlier.”

He blinked, distracted by the feel of her body against his. Everything was pronounced in that tight jumpsuit she was wearing so well, and okay, did she pick this costume on purpose knowing it would torture him? She knew Catwoman had been one of his favorite parts of the last Batman movie. How often had she teased him about it ever since?

“You’re welcome,” he breathed, her hands working up to wrap loosely around his neck. Had they ever been so openly in an intimate position such as this before? No one paid them any attention as the party continued around them. This is why he liked being at Queens with her, they were just in the background of the crowd when they wanted to be. No one cared how they knew each other. They just existed as Derek the Hockey God and Keener Casey, or so he liked to tease her.

“The kiss was a good touch,” Casey said, lowering her voice just as her eyes stayed on him. “Seemed to make it more believable.”

Oh yeah, that kiss. He had done it without thinking more carefully about what he was doing, but he saw Fitzpatrick leering at Casey and something snapped. She hadn’t needed to ask him to play along. It wasn’t a game anymore for him when it came to Casey. It hadn’t been for a long time.

“I could have made it more believable,” Derek said suggestively, testing out her reaction. Was it possible for blue to go so dark? Her eyes glimmered with a challenge. This was, after all, their thing. “But I didn’t want to risk a Der-ek!,” he mimicked her, smirking, “if I did because then it’d ruin the believable part.”

She bit her lip, trying to hide the pleased look on her face at his words.

“I think you should have risked it,” Casey replied, her voice honey and velvet and a trace of something else that caused his heart to flip. “You might have been surprised. Maybe next time when I need rescue -” she started to tease him, cut off by the feel of his lips working against her own, eager to show her just how he would have made it believable.

She tasted like that fruity alcohol drink from earlier, mixed with chocolate and something explicitly Casey, something that Derek would crave for the rest of his days now that he knew what her lips on his felt like.

The kiss burned hot between them the longer it went on, her hands tangled in his hair and keeping him anchored against her as his Jason mask slipped, forgotten to the ground. Halloween was rapidly replacing Christmas as his favorite holiday, he thought as the smallest moan escaped from her mouth into his. It lasted for a few more tantalizing minutes before Casey pulled away, desperate with a desire to keep going but the need for air winning out.

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she rested her forehead into the curve of Derek’s neck, aware of his arms tight around her.

“That was very believable,” she mumbled into his neck, the words tickling him with her hot breath. “That should have been your rescue strategy this whole time.”

“I’ll keep it in mind for next time,” Derek said, hoping simultaneously there would be a next time to kiss her and that it wouldn’t be because she needed a rescue. They stayed like that for a few moments until Casey shivered as a gust of October wind blew.

“Should we go back in?” Derek asked, not against the idea of a few more drinks in between dancing with Casey to whatever music was currently playing.

She straightened up a bit, a mischievous smirk curving her kissable lips, and wow, Derek was screwed if she knew she had just unlocked a secret weapon. He was willing to do anything when she looked at him like that.

“Actually I’m dying to get out of this costume,” Casey said, and that feeling from earlier went right through him again.

“I can help with that,” he quickly said, his brown eyes sparkling with an intensity that made Casey grind briefly against him as she playfully smacked his arm in protest of his words. Her lips were captured once more before she could say anything. He pulled away first, smirking at the pout on her pretty face. “I have a clean pair of sweatpants and a top for you to change into,” he clarified, liking the way she blushed. “Who has the dirty mind now, Case?”

“Shush,” Casey’s eyes flickered with affection as she took a loose step out of his arms. “Can we get pizza? I wanna watch a movie. Maybe a horror?”

“How about your favorite, Halloween?” Derek took her hand as they started to walk around the house to the street, waving goodbye to people they knew as they did. “I’ll even let you lecture me on feminism if you kiss me each time you do. I think that’s fair.”

“Then we wouldn’t watch the movie at all.”

“I’m not opposed to that,” Derek said, giving her a little smirk that sent shivers down her back that couldn’t be blamed on the windy night they were navigating together.

“Der-ek!” She said, unable to help herself. “Maybe we can watch Scream?”

“That’s not a real horror movie,” Derek countered, already mentally trying to figure out if he still had the DVD or if he had left it at home. “It’s too funny to be a classic horror flick.”

“Yes it is, Sidney is a smart and capable heroine who doesn’t die a stupid death either,” Casey protested, just to bicker with him.

And on and on they would go back and forth, all the way to Derek’s place, where he would locate Scream in his DVD collection while Casey called for pizza before changing out of her costume, impossibly hotter in Derek’s eyes as she wore his oversized Maple Leafs t-shirt and a pair of his sweats, makeup-free.

On and on it would go, one Halloween after another spent together.