Archive of Our Own

Liam hated the way the others were staring at him. Well, no, more specifically, he hated how his so-called friends were staring at him. All he was trying to do was get the perfect picture of his (quite frankly) disgusting vegan mac-and-cheese the school was serving, and they couldn’t even let him do that. They all whispered in a way that made his ears twitch, because try as he might to listen to what they were saying, he couldn’t pick up a single word. Not that he wanted to know, of course not, he didn’t give two shits on what people thought of them.

But…knowing would be nice. On why they were obviously talking about him, literally behind his back.

“You know Polly, just because you’re a ghost doesn’t mean you don’t cast a shadow.” At some point she ended up a few feet away, instead of a table or two away like the others.

“Uh, Li, I’m pretty sure being a ghost means literally that.”

“Then how are you blocking my lighting?”

“Am I? Huh, maybe that’s another ghost thing. You know how we ghosts are! Always unable to keep track if we’re translucent, corporeal, casting shadows and whatnot. Anyhoo!” She slid into the seat across from him. She perched her elbows up on the table, resting her head in her hand. “Do you have anything planned for Halloween?”

He gave an aggravated sigh. So this was what they were whispering about. “No Polina. As usual, I will stay at home for the night.”

“Aw, c’mon! Why not? It’s the great Hallow’s Eve, let’s go out for once, together!”

“No thank you. As much as I am one to not practice habits and love to destroy all sense traditions and rituals, this one I think I’ll keep up.”

“But there’s gonna be a huge Halloween party! We’ll put on some loud music, drink until we get sick, use every type of drug there is and more, and have crazy sex. Probably even end the night with orgy.”

“And that’s different from every other party, how exactly?”

“Costumes, duh. Like, extremely sexy costumes.” She pointed over behind Liam. “Also Damien’s hosting.”

Her smile faltered a bit, turning into a confused look. Liam turned around to see what was happening, and was met with Damien sitting on the table, making quick cut motions across his neck. Liam stared at him with the most deadpan stare he could muster, as he was not impressed with either of their antics. At least Vera nearby knew to stay out of his own business, why couldn’t Polly and Damien by the same?

When he made eye contact with Damien, the demon slowly stopped the motion, and hopped down to only sit back up again, but now at Liam’s table. Liam wished for the bell to just ring already.

“It’s not at my place, stop telling lies,” he hissed. Polly responded by sticking her tongue out at him. “It’s gonna be in that one human city nearby,” he continued, as Polly’s invisible jabs went ignored, “and me and Scott were gonna go. Wanna come with?”

“I thought Polly was going to go?” Why had she even brought it up in the first place if she wasn’t going?”

“Sorry boo, but a different party is calling my name! Maybe I’ll see you guys later in the night though.”

“Hm. Either way, I’m not going.”

“Aw, come on dude! Just once will you leave and party with us? We don't even have to go to a party, we can go to one of those shitty hipster restaurants that you like so much. Or! Or, we could go see a dumb movie–your choice! I'm pretty sure there's some out playing in theaters tonight, we can go and you can make fun of it and all of its clichés all night long, while I get to enjoy the gore. And Scott can eat all of our snacks."

"I'd prefer to watch something in the privacy of my own home. And pirate it. Because then at least the movie makers won't get any money out of it and will regret the day they decided to hire an actor based on their name and not their ability."

"Okay, fine, Jesus, no movie."

"Oh, how about a concert?" Polly suggested. "I'm sure there are a ton of bands playing tonight. Just go sneak into one of those!"

"Why can't I just be left alone?" Liam asked with a sigh. "Honestly, what is up with you two? You've always left me alone to my own devices, so why today of all days? Why this year?"

"Because it's Halloween!" Polly said, as if that explained everything and made him want to go out, "and you deserve to go out and have fun! Seriously, all you ever do is brood. And like, why not go out and enjoy yourself?"

"And besides, it's Hallow-fucking-een! The one night where we can trick the dumb humans that we're just them in paint and costumes. You can get all the free blood ya want without any consequence!"

"Damien, I can get free blood on any day of the year. It really isn't that hard to trick a human, especially with sex."

"Yeah, but it's more fun! We just want you to have some fucking fun, asshole!"

"Well, my type of fun is staying at home, and 'brooding', as Polly so exquisitely put it." God, what was he doing? Why was he even bothering with this in the first place? Why did they care so much? Halloween was just like any other day, there was no reason to celebrate. It was a human-made holiday created out of pure greed and the need for money, and the need to capitalize off of everything until it inevitably loses its meaning. It was just a normal day to Liam, nothing more. What even was the passage of time to an immortal being such as him?

"Now, if you excuse me, I have to get going. I have classes to get to and art made by students that needs to be judged ruthlessly." He left the cafeteria, with Polly’s groans and Damien’s pounding of the fist to the table going through one ear and out the other. He didn’t want to deal with any of this. He just wanted the day to be over already, with everything forgotten.

~~~

Later in the day, he finally got home. Finally, Liam was able to relax alone, in his own space. He could finally just put everything behind him, and move on like normal. As he reached to unlock the door, a hand caught his arm. The red hand squeezed his arm tight, and was quick to pull him away.

“Gh–Damien! Where the hell are you taking me?” He wasn’t even able to put his keys away. Damien’s grip was strong and never tired as he led Liam down the apartment stairs and out onto the sidewalk. “Let go of me!”

“No way dude! You and I, we’re going out in the city tonight, whether you like it or not.” Liam could hear that damned smirk that the demon undoubtedly wore. Liam tightened his fist, the grooves of his keys stabbing into his skin. He continued though, keeping up with Damien’s pace.

Surprisingly, Damien didn’t say much. He hoped that the man could feel the daggers that he was glaring, but knowing Damien, he didn’t care. “Where are we even going?” He had a sneaking suspicion though, that Damien himself didn’t know.

“I don’t know.” Aaaaand there it was. “But, what I do know is that we’re going to have some fucking fun, got it.”

“Oh, forced fun. How lovely. Because surely being dragged around like a sad mutt by my friend will make me smile and just make my day. Maybe next you can drag me to a birthday party where we’ll eat cake and open presents and sing happy birthday. And force feed me some O negative type blood, because that will surely be delicious.” He hoped the venom stung, but he knew it wouldn’t. Damien was always thick-skinned. But all Damien did was tightened his grip even more so, and continued to walk.

They ended up at some sort of dive-in bar. It probably just caught Damien’s eye, and he wanted to go somewhere. He very much doubted that this was their actual end destination, but Liam also knew that Damien had no plan whatsoever.

The night consisted of Liam refusing to drink any of their blood that they had (while kind of them that they had that in stock, it was the most disgusting shit he had ever tasted, and he was pretty sure all blood was supposed to taste relatively the same), and him stewing quietly in his thoughts. Damien himself was either talking it up with the bartender, trying to strike up conversations with Liam (who would shoot him down at every chance), and checking his phone every three minutes. Not uncommon, Liam supposed, but something about it felt…off.

Liam pushed his drink away, towards the bartender. “Are we done here?” he asked. “Because I want to go.” Why couldn’t he just go home? He had a canvas and unopened paints calling his name, and spending the night with a demon who was clearly preoccupied was not how he wanted to spend it.

“What? No! Wait, just-” Damien pulled out his phone, quick to unlock it. “Don’t you wanna do something else? Anything that’s, say…thirty minutes long?”

“Damien.”

“Okay, twenty-five!”

“Damien.” God fucking dammit, Liam was tired. He just wanted to go home. “I’ll forgive you for this whole night if you let me go now.”

“But-”

“Have a nice night.” Liam got up, and once again left Damien behind. A large yell could be heard from inside of the establishment, but Liam continued as the bells rang when the door closed. Damien then caught up with him. Great.

“Jesus fuck, fine! Just–slow walk, yeah? Let’s enjoy the starry night sky?”

“Damien, we literally can’t see shit because of the light pollution.”

“Yeah but like, we can still appreciate the one or two stars, yeah?” Liam didn’t answer. Instead, he continued to walk the empty street, with Damien following suit, until the demon spoke up again. “Okay yeah, star watching is boring as shit.”

Liam kept in a chuckle. “Yes, well, I’m sure it’s a lot more beautiful when you escape the city.”

Damien gave a hum. “Scott and Polly are gonna go road tripping this summer. Maybe we should go with them.”

“Maybe.” It wouldn’t be bad, he supposed, but definitely after having a few weeks to himself. Scott and Polly weren’t the worst, not by a long shot, but they, especially together, could be a lot. Though, he could say that for just about all of his friends. Didn’t mean they weren’t bad, just…a lot to deal with. Like earlier that day, with Polly and Damien, and Liam being left annoyed by the two. They cared, which warmed his undead heart a bit, but…they were just a handful.

By the time they arrived back at Liam’s apartment, he had cooled down just a bit from his anger towards Damien. Still pissed, just a bit, but nothing more than that. Why Damien was still hanging out behind him as he reached into his pocket for his keys though, Liam wasn’t sure.

“Something you need?” he asked. Damien didn’t answer, and Liam unlocked the door.

“Wait, uh-” Liam paused. Just seconds away from escaping this hell and so close to sweet freedom and isolation.

“Yes, Damien?”

“I know you were being sarcastic and shit when you were talking about the birthday party and stuff but uh, how would you feel if we did throw you one? Not that we are or anything! But like…how would you feel if we did?”

Oh, Liam did not like where this was going. “Well, considering how often I have made it clear that my birthday is not something I want celebrated, I would be very very pissed off. But luckily that is something I don’t have to worry about, because my good friends all know how to respect my decisions and boundaries. Right?”

“Yeah. Right.” With a turn of the knob, Liam walked into his apartment, his sweet home, and was met with many people inside. All who were doing a poor job of hiding.

“Wait, fuck-”

“Ah shit-”

“Oh, surprise!” Scott was the first to shout it, with a chorus following him. Liam whipped over to face Damien.

“You did this,” he hissed, pointing an accusing finger at him. Damien raised his hands up, as if to show that he was guilt-free.

“Hey, don’t blame me! I was just hired to get you out of this apartment. And Scott was gonna join us originally, which would’ve been a lot better, but then they needed his help with decorations and presents, so then it was just me to make sure you didn’t come back early. Which didn’t work out in the end anyway.” He shrugged. “So really, I’m not to blame. If you wanna blame someone, blame Polly.”

“Hey!”

“You’re the one who came up with the stupid idea in the first place! I told you Liam wouldn’t like having a party. And this is the most half-assed party I’ve ever seen!”

“Well sorry, Mr. I-throw-literal-galas-for-my-birthday! You only gave us an hour and a half to prep, decorate the place, bake the cake, and wrap all the presents!”

“That was plenty of fucking time!”

“Are you two really arguing over this?” Liam asked indecorously. “First you ruin my day even more, and now you try and throw blame around when all of you did this?” 

Suddenly, a hand placed itself on top of his. He looked down at Miranda, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. 

“Now now, Liam; how about we look at the cake! Polly and Lester baked it themselves, and I helped by getting my serfs to decorate it! Surely that will brighten your mood.” Liam wanted to argue that it honestly wouldn’t, that she didn’t understand, but she gently guided him across the apartment to the kitchenette.

“Oh yeah, the cake! Turns out baking is like, all chemistry and science and shit, which I’m really good at. Who knew!”

“Miranda,” Liam started, as she led him across the whole living space, “why is my couch covered in glass and blood stains?”

She giggled politely, hand up to cover her mouth. “Oh, that? I asked my serfs to make a lovely decoration of a pyramid made out of glasses filled with blood! But then an incident happened, Scott knocked into it, and it sadly fell.” She sighed. “Disappointing, really. My serfs should’ve known better really, to give it a better structure down at the base. But my cleaning serfs should be here soon, and your couch will be as good as new! Oh, the cake!” She picked up the plate for the cake. A simple drip cake, with a simple layer of purple frosting, with a simple drip of black over the sides. All-in-all, a very simple cake. He tried his best not to hate it.

On the top was icing that spelled out “Happy Birthday Liam!” with lots of curls and hearts around it. A very sweet message, one that Liam might’ve smiled at if he didn’t hate it so.

“So? What do you think?” Oh, Miranda was looking up at him with such an expectant look. So were Polly, Damien, and the others, Liam was sure. 

“It’s…thoughtful. Thank you, all of you.”

“Wait, we still got presents!” Suddenly, a present, wrapped in Halloween themed wrapping paper (who knew that was even a thing?), was shoved into his hands. Polly had a bright smile. “C’mon, open it up, open it up!”

He sighed, but did so. He cut through the tape with his nails, unwrapping it in a strategic movement. Inside was a book–more specifically, a copy of Frankenstein. 

“I sorta bought this for me, but then I thought, ‘hey! Liam might really like this book!’ so I decided to buy another copy. We could read it together, and start, like, a book club but for cool people. It’ll be awesome.” Liam decided against telling her that he had already read it, time and time again, back when it first came out. 

“...Thank you. Now, while I do appreciate this, I really think-”

“Ooh, do mine next!” Scott, from the other side of the apartment, scampered to get his present. Liam watched, a mixture of astonishment and bewilderment and happiness and exasperation and sadness and other emotions he didn’t even know how to describe going through his cold heart. It almost felt too much. The stinging in his eyes said so too, even though he’d never let them tell.

“Happy birthday, dude!” Scott said happily, shoving his own messily wrapped present into his arms. “Vera and Zoe should be back soon–they’re filling up the balloons right now at the Balloon Store–and then you can open their presents!”

“Hey, don’t forget mine,” Damien added. He shot Liam a manic grin. “Mine’s fucking awesome. Though I kinda had to leave it in Hell, since I’m pretty sure it would burn down this whole place the second it gets in here. But trust me, it’s fucking metal as all hell, you’ll love it.”

Liam hated his birthday. Why were the others trying so hard to make him enjoy it? Why were his friends so determined to do this for him? He clutched onto the present a bit tighter, until he decided to open it before Scott exploded from anticipation.

Huh. His friends really did care, didn’t they?