HALLOWEEN IS HERE!!! I'm so excited! Sal burst into my room at 5:00am and forcefully woke me up, only to beg me to let him choose what I wore, using yesterday's fabulous braids as leverage against me. That being said, I reluctantly agreed and got ready while he rummaged around through my bedroom storage. I washed up as fast as possible and put on black eyeliner, in addition to [insert whatever makeup you want]. ()

As soon as I finished cleaning up the edges of my eyeliner, Sal softly knocked on the bathroom door. I pulled my towel a little tighter around myself so it wouldn't fall and opened the door a bit to tell Sal to get the hell out and leave my clothes on my bed (respectfully, of course).

"Heyyy... I uh- got your um... Your clothes," he stuttered, ears tinted pink, so I knew he was blushing.

"My eyes are up here, Sally Face," I raised a brow and smiled.

"Um- right, sorry," he closed his eyes and held out the clothes he picked up.

"Thank you. Now, can you move so I can get to my room, please?"

He nodded and stepped aside, eyes still closed and ears even redder. I tried to muffle a giggle, but failed miserably. I could practically hear my boyfriend's heart about to leap from his chest any moment now. I closed the door behind me and set the pile of clothes down on my bed.

I looked at his selection and nearly choked. HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO GO THROUGH A HAUNTED HOUSE AND GASP WHEN SOMEONE JUMP SCARES ME IF I WEAR A CORSET? I sighed and put it on anyway. I also grabbed a pair of thick tights that match my skin tone almost perfectly to go under the other tights so I wouldn't freeze to death. I'd gotten almost everything on until I realized that my mom was out candy shopping, and I couldn't lace up the back of my own corset if my life depended on it. Great, another humiliating struggle.

"Sal! I can't lace up my own corset tight enough for the life of me, can you please do it?" I called out, holding the two string ends so the thick fabric wouldn't fall.

"I don't know how to do that," he called back.

"That's fine, I'll tell you what to do. Please?"

"Uhh... okay," he said finally. "I'm coming in now."

The door clicked open and I turned around so he could tighten the corset for me. He gingerly took the laces from me and I talked him through it. I already put the string through the holes, so the hard part was done. Once he had finally gotten it tight enough (which took a while, due to the boy not wanting to cut off my circulation or hurt me), I briefly explained how to tie it.

"Awesome! Thank you!" I beamed as I pulled on the black jacket.

"Are you sure it's not too tight? You can breathe, right?" He looked at me with concern.

"Yes, I'm sure. I usually wear them a bit tighter than this, actually," I reassured him.

"Do you hold your breath the whole day?" Sal laughed.

"If that's what you wanna believe, then sure," I joked.

"Alright then, heh. I love your eyeliner, if I haven't said that already. You know you're beautiful/cute/handsome without makeup too, right?" He lifted my chin and looked me in the eye.

I pulled away by instinct, but he held my chin in place. "Sure, and thank you," I said, face red as ever. He smiled, but still refused to let me go.

"What do you say?"

"Uhh... Thank you?"

He continued to look at me through his mask, expectantly now.

"I love you!" I said finally.

"Good boy/girl/(other)," he smiled again and released my face.

"I- child-"

"Yeah?" Sal was already just past my bedroom door, about to grab his thick leather jacket. He looked back at me as if nothing happened.

"Nevermind," I shook my head, and looked down to hide my reddened face.

He chuckled and resumed getting ready to leave. I grabbed a black leather mini backpack, which I shoved my phone, some money, and a few other essentials in. My boyfriend held the door open for me as we left my apartment and the building. The car ride was about 30 minutes, but that was nothing some metal and snacks couldn't handle. Sal and I were headbanging so hard that I was almost shocked we hadn't gotten into an accident on the way to Erebus.

But when we did arrive safely, our group was already there to greet us with smiles and excited chatter. Everyone was able to make it, including Travis! I'm really glad that I was able to bring some people together. They look so happy.

"Are you okay?" Sally Face wrapped an arm around my waist and looked down at me with genuine concern, eyes scanning my face for some sort of hint.

"Yep. I'm really excited, just thinking about the theme for this year," I grinned and placed my hand over his.

"Awesome," he lifted his mask a bit with the hand previously resting on my side to kiss my forehead.

I blushed at the unprovoked affection and moved a little closer to his body for warmth. We already knew the line to get in on Halloween day would be hours long- even with fast passes, so Larry brought some weed to make things go by a little faster. To my surprise, Sal actually took a hit, but I could tell he hated it as soon as it touched his lips. He didn't cough, but definitely made a face before passing it back to me. I patted his back and asked if he was okay.

"I don't know how you guys can smoke that," he cringed.

"Well, it's not really made to smell or taste good," I chuckled and hugged his arm as I passed the blunt to Maple after taking a hit.

Larry blew smoke in my face and laughed when I flicked his forehead and coughed. I saw that when he glanced at Sal he stopped laughing and cleared his throat, so I looked up at Sal to see him avoiding meeting my gaze. Is he mad? I tugged on his sleeve to get his attention.

"Is everything okay?" I whispered discreetly behind the ambient tittering of our party.

"Yes," he replied flatly.

"Are you suuuuure?" I pressed.

Yeah, I just don't exactly appreciate Larry exhaling smoke on my partner/boyfriend/girlfriend or passing them a blunt," he said, not really bothering to be quiet, but also not being loud enough to attract attention.

"Oh."

I shrugged it off, since there's no use dwelling on it, but Sal still seemed a bit agitated. Time went by rather quickly, and we were soon at the entrance with numb noses, rosy cheeks, and stinging hands. We gave them our tickets and the line moved onward.

- IF YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT EREBUS IS LIKE, YOU GOTTA EXPERIENCE IT FOR YOURSELF, SO HERE'S A TIMESKIP -

We exited the enormous building, a few of us now traumatized. Larry looked utterly disheveled and his eye bags were worse than usual. Chug chickened out halfway through () and Maple decided to go with him. Todd came out looking bored, and Travis had his usual pissed-off look, but he was screaming rather... feminine whenever there was a jump scare.

On the other hand, Sal was utterly unaffected, and the only thing he reacted to was whenever I dug my fingers into his arm. Yet even then, he would only kiss my forehead or something else to comfort me. Regardless, he would definitely have marks to show for it.

"Larry, you look like you're going to have flashbacks from Vietnam," I laughed as we began walking around to the entrance to search for Maple and Chug.

"Listen, dude. I could have definitely gone without that whole 'human meat' thing. I've seen some shit..." he ran a hand through his brown locks.

"Does that mean we can go next year since that was only this year's theme?" I was already counting down the 364 days.

"Nope. No way," he blinked and shook his head.

"Aw. How about you two?" I looked over at Travis and Todd.

"No thank you, it was an interesting experience, but I find my thoughts being rushed by adrenaline to be rather... distasteful," Todd declared.

"An intriguing take, thank you for your feedback. How about you, T number two?" I looked back at Travis again.

He only shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets, but I knew it was only to hide the fact that they were probably shaking. I giggled and then looked at Sal expectantly, awaiting his response.

"If you wanna go next year, then sure," he smiled down at me from behind his prosthetic.

I beamed and finally let go of his arm to intertwine our fingers. The five of us stayed close together as we pushed through the crowds to make our way around the building decorated with gargoyles. We soon saw Maple towering over everyone else in her platform boots with Chug trailing behind. I waved my free hand to attract their attention.

"Hey, how was it?" she asked once we were close enough to hear each other over the chaotic rabble.

"Awesome!" I grinned from ear to ear.

"Heh, yeah, 'cause you're crazy," Larry added.

"There's nothing wrong with being an adrenaline junkie! You should be more worried about Todd and Sal. They were practically half asleep the whole time," I argued.

"True," he nodded, now smiling casually.

"Anyway, how's Chug?" I asked.

"They had to add to the number of people who threw up on the scoreboard," Maple shuddered.

"Yikes."

We talked for a while longer, until Chug announced he was hungry. We all unanimously agreed to walk to a Coney that I knew was right around the corner. This was one of those places where they don't give you a menu, because all they have is soft drinks, Coney dogs, hotdogs, fries, chili cheese fries, and chocolate and vanilla milkshakes. The atmosphere in the small building was pleasant, however busy.

We sat down at two tables pushed together in front of a booth seat in the corner and gave our orders to the waiter. We talked about video games and global warming until an expo gave us our food, which they carried on multiple trays in one trip. If you work in a Coney, you've gotta learn to carry a lot of food and be quick about it, but even then, this person was a pretty skilled worker. They better be getting more than minimum wage.

I munched/sipped on my food/drink and zoned out for a while, only to be shaken back to Earth. I blinked the nothingness from my head a few times and realized that it was Travis who was shaking my shoulder aggressively- not Sal.

"Are you still high or something?" he rolled his eyes.

"Hm? Oh- no, I'm just tired after all the excitement," I smiled weakly.

"Yeah, right."

I turned when I felt Sal put a hand on my thigh from the other side of me.

"Do you want me to take you home?" he asked softly, searching my eyes for an answer.

"We can go if you want, I don't mind."

"Well, I'm asking you."

"Um- honestly, I just wanna get out of here, it's kinda overwhelming. But I don't wanna go home yet, if that's okay," I answered truthfully.

"Okay, I know something we can do," my boyfriend smiled and adjusted his grip on my thigh. I smiled back, genuine this time, and looked back to the group.

"Hey, we're gonna head out. It was fun seeing you guys!" I turned back to the group and slid a twenty across the table to pay for what Sal and I ordered, plus a little extra.

"Alright, catch ya later dudes/dude and dudette," Larry grinned. Everyone else just said 'bye' or waved before Sal and I stepped out of the small building with windows fogged up from condensation.

As soon as the door shut behind us, I let out a sigh of relief. Sal held my hand and we walked for about six minutes to his car. As soon as we sat down, he started the engine and backed out so the vehicle would warm up as fast as possible. I looked out the window and let my mind wander while Sally Face hummed absentmindedly.

"We're here," he said suddenly, snapping me back to reality.

"Where are we, though? This parking lot is huge," I chuckled and unbuckled my seatbelt.

"The Detroit Public Library," he held my waist and pulled me impossibly close to himself.

"Interesting choice," I nodded.

"I'm not really here for books or silence, if that's what you're thinking," the blue-haired boy assured me.

"It was," I admitted with a chuckle and temporarily freed myself from his grasp to open the door.

"Wait, close your eyes before you walk in," Sally Face stepped behind me and put his hands on my hips so he could guide me.

"Umm okay then..." I obliged and let him guide me through the library with a soft smile.

The sound of my boots hitting the floor quietly echoed in addition to Sal's deep voice as he whispered to be careful. Not 45 seconds later, his grip suddenly tightened and he pressed my body close to his own, but before I could say anything, he shushed me softly in my ear. I felt my face turn red as his breath hit the back of my neck, sending shivers down my spine.