This is the third Halloween fic I believe. Woop for me! I didn't bother putting it in a Selection Of Ficlets, 'cus y'know it's Halloween so it's special.
Tried hard to get the banter right, so comments on that please.
Enjoy x
Halloween Magic
"Oh c'mon Howard. You gotta get out there more! Meet knew people, socialize, make a name for yourself!"
"I think you do enough of that for the both of us, thanks."
"But it's Halloween! It's the best Holiday, out of the ones you don't get presents on!"
"Halloween isn't a holiday, Vince."
"Course it is Howard! If it's not a Holiday, then how come Naboo said I didn't have to work today?"
"He didn't though Vince, did he? You just didn't show up because you had to buy the perfect Halloween costume. Didn't you think it was odd that all the shops were open?"
"Oh. I sorta assumed they had opened just for me. TopShop did on my birthday, y'know, it was genius. Flirtini's on tap."
"Yeah, that wasn't them opening just for you, though was it Vince? That was you and Leroy breaking in after it had shut after you got drunk, on your last birthday."
"Hmm. If it wasn't open just for me then it was probably a bit out of order, clubbing that teenage girl round the 'ead with a stiletto... Aw but she was 'eading right for the last cape and it was so perfect."
"So you have sunk to inflicting grievous bodily harm in the name of fashion once again then."
"She didn't mind. I apologised, all repentant and big eyed and soft touches to the arm, I left with 'er phone number."
"One day Vince, one day your charmed existence will take a dark turn, and you something will happen that you can't flirt your way out of. I hope you are prepared for that day."
"As if! There ain't nothing I can't flirt my out of, it even works on you!"
"I beg your pardon Sir! Howard Moon is not so easily swayed by big eyes and soft touches to the arm."
"Aren't you."
"No indeed! I stick by my principles and apply them fairly to all. I cannot be swayed by flattery, or pretty smiles, I remain rigid. They call me Rigid Moon."
"Rigid Moon! As if they do. You're about as rigid as Poundland hairspray! Anyone says a kind word to you, you go as placid as jellyfish listening to Michael Bublé."
Howard said nothing.
"...you think I've got a pretty smile?"
Howard blushed and cleared his throat.
"Shouldn't you be getting ready?"
Vince laughed.
"Yeah, yeah I should. I got you a costume to." He placed a plastic bag next to Howard. "Please at least try it on?"
"Vince Halloween is for small children, I shall never ever dress up in whatever ridiculous creation you have supplied me with."
Vince moved a step closer to Howard so that he was officially in this personal space and looked down at the floor shyly.
"Please Howard," he said softly, still looking at the ground, but placing his hand lightly on Howard's arm, "it took me ages to find," Vince walked his fingers slowly, gently and seemingly absent-mindedly downwards towards Howard's elbow, and looked up at him from under his eyelashes, eyes wide and very very blue. "It would really mean a lot to me." They stayed like that for a second, Howard's mind completely blank except for Wow as he just looked at Vince.
"Okay."
Vince's face split into a dazzling smile and he laughed delightedly, then he was gone, bounding up the stairs from the shop to the flat. Howard stood very still for a moment looking at where Vince had just been standing until;
"Shit."
XxXxXxXxX
As it turned out, it wasn't that bad. Compared to what he had been expecting it was... quite reasonable really. It wasn't too gaudy or too bright. It didn't have wings or anything glittery. It looked like Vince really had put a lot of effort into getting it right. The outfit lay on Howard Moons bed, and he was seriously considering wearing it. It was a pinstripe suit, grey with metallic dark green stripes, a sort of old fashioned frilly shirt and one of those complicated cravat thing that he wasn't quite sure what to do with in the same green. There was also a gold tipped cane and a battered (but in a deliberate, stylish way that if Howard had been aware of such things, he would have called distressed) top hat that was really quite beautiful. Maybe he could just try it on. Just for fun.
Ten minutes later Howard was studying his reflection. It looked... well it looked pretty damn good actually. He wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to be, but he quite liked it. Liked it enough to want to show it off. Liked it enough to go to Leroy's Halloween party. Howard walked down the hall, swinging his cane jauntily as he went, until he reached Vince's room.
"Vince?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I come in?"
"Umm... give me like, three minutes, you'll wanna get the full effect..."
Howard went and sat on the couch twirling his cane and fiddling with his cravat, which much to his distress, still didn't look quite right. Maybe he was tying it wrong... Half an hour later Vince's door opened and Howard stood up, although why he wasn't entirely sure.
"Ready?" Vince's voice floated out from just out of view.
"Just show me already Vince." Howard replied impatiently.
"Alright cool your boots! Actually... can you turn the lights off?"
"What? No! Why would I do that?"
"Because it's meant to be scary. Obviously stylish and sexy too... there's a lot to think about with a Halloween costume Howard! And for it to be fully effective, it needs to be dark!"
Grumbling, Howard turned off the light, plunging the room into total darkness. He heard footsteps but couldn't see a thing.
"It doesn't say much for your outfit, does it Vince? If it appears to best advantage in total complete darkness... Vince? Vince? This is stupid. Where are yo- Ahhhhhh!"
Howard thought that his heart had actually just stopped. Someone, or something, his brain unhelpfully supplied, was standing close behind him, so their bodies were touching with their hands on his shoulders and two sharp points digging gently into his neck.
"D-don't kill me! I've g-got so much to give!"
"I vant to suck your blood..."
Howard felt breathy laughter ghost over the side of his face, before the lights turned on. Howard could now see that it was, of course, Vince standing behind him in a classic vampire costume, complete with fake, if still rather sharp, fangs.
He looked-
Well he looked-
Wow.
"What d'you think?" he said twirling so his cape flared out. It was long and black with a red lining and a stiff collar (much like the one that Noel Fielding bloke wore on Big Fat Quiz Of The Year 2007.) He wore a sharp black suit jacket and a silk black shirt, and his favourite black skinny jeans. The dark of his outfit contrasted with his skin making him look even paler, white even, and his hair even darker. Said hair was styled much like it was in his Goth days, carefully structured through careful application of Goth Juice™. His eyes were rimmed with heavily smudged black eye-liner, and bright white fangs protruded over ruby red lips.
"I- Erm- You... Wow."
"I'll take that as a compliment shall I?"
"Yes. I mean, yeah I mean-"
"What do you mean?"
"You look very nice. Very, um, effective. Halloween-y."
"Halloween-y. Right. Is that it? I thought you of all people would love this."
"What? Why?"
"Because I've seen you!"
"You've seen me? Doing what?"
"Watching The Vampire Diaries when you say you're gonna watch BBC 4, reading Twilight when you think I think you're reading Jazz Monthly, you're in love with Edmund Cullen like the rest of the world!"
"It's Edward Cul- I mean no! I may enjoy... Dracula perhaps, but that's because it's a classic novel, something no well educated man should be without. But I don't see the attraction of Vampires, no Sir. Howard Moon does not find demons attractive."
"Yeah whatever. As if you don't have a giant Robert Pattinson poster underneath your bed, along with that diary you keep and your collection of poetry..."
"How do you know about Cream and other diary based similes?"
"I know it all! You've got a thing for vampires!"
"No I don't!" Howard really wished Vince would get out of his personal space, he was starting to feel a little hot under the collar. "I can honestly say I do not understand the attraction. What's the big deal about... about perfect pale skin... or smudged eye-liner... or fangs..."
All thoughts of personal space forgotten, Howard became aware that he was moving closer to Vince, very slightly, but moving all the same. Vince was staring up at him, like he was hypnotised, sparkling sapphire orbs fixed on Howard's face. If you moved your head down just slightly, Howard's brain told him, you could be kissing Vince. This information was like a wasp buzzing about his brain, after he noticed it he couldn't think about anything else, but he didn't quite know what to do with it, so he left it, buzzing away.
"I see I chose well for you, you know sometimes I impress myself, you look great. The Mad Hatter was always my favourite character when I was little." Vince spoke softly, as if in fear of breaking the spell.
Don't, under any circumstances, blush, Howard thought fiercely. But he did, of course. Vince's gaze finally strayed from Howard's, and wandered to his badly tied cravat.
"Oh dear. There is nothing like a faulty accessory to let the side down."
Slim, nimble fingers quickly undid Howard's messy work, and retied the cravat neatly. Their faces were almost touching now, Howard watched Vince's work intently, waiting for him to look up again. Vince however, even when done, remained with his hands on Howard's chest, finger splayed and eyes down. The only sound to be heard was their breathing, slightly faster and slightly harder than it would perhaps be normally. It would be so easy, thought Howard, to tilt his head up and kiss him. So terrifyingly easy.
Even as the thought entered his head, Howard's hand was already moving, almost subconsciously, towards Vince's face. He really did look beautiful...
"You guys ready? I'm bringing the carpet round."
Naboo had entered, without pausing to look at them, or the rather compromising position they were in, and the moment was ruined.
It wasn't until Vince had followed Naboo down stairs, and Howard had regained some composure, that he had time to ponder the fact that Vince had known he had a thing for vampires far before he bought the costume.
XxXxXxXxX
The party was everything Howard had expected. Leroy's place was thronging with people in elaborate costumes, from fairy's to David Bowie and even someone who seemed to be dressed as Chris deBourg. Or was it actually Chris deBourg... As soon as they had arrived Naboo and Bollo had gone to start chatting up a couple of girls in catsuits wearing devil horns, and Vince had... evaporated. Howard couldn't think of any better way to describe it. The carpet ride had been saved from awkwardness by Naboo and Vince having an argument on the differences between Naboo's usual outfit and his "Aladdin Costume." But as soon they had arrived Vince had been first swept up by Leroy who wanted to introduce him to this producer and that new artist... Then he had been dancing with Pete Neon, getting a drink with the head of PieFace records, singing with Ultra and Neon. It soon ceased to be Leroy's party. This was all about Vince.
When Howard hadn't seen Vince for over half an hour he began to worry. If it was anyone else, it wouldn't be a problem, there were hundreds of people at the party, but Vince was always the centre of attention and always very easy to spot. Howard slowly made his way around the room searching the crowd for a flash of fangs or the swoosh of the cape until he reached a set of French doors. Out on the patio, staring out across Leroy's garden, was Vince. The garden was bathed in the sickly orange glow of the neighbouring street lights, which were also casting strange shadows across Vince's face, making him appear almost ghostly.
"Hi."
Vince turned around and smiled, if slightly sadly.
"Hi."
"Thought you'd still be in there, lapping up the attention."
Vince smiled strangely again.
"Attention. Bit ironic that."
"What do you mean?"
Vince inhaled deeply, and turned to face the garden again.
"Doesn't matter."
Howard walked onto the patio and stood beside Vince. They both looked out at the garden, in a silence that was both tense and companionable.
"C'mon little man, what d'you mean?"
"Why d'you think I'm dressed as a vampire?"
"...because it suits you?"
"You think it suits me?"
"Wh- yeah! You look... you look amazing Vince, really."
Vince turned to face Howard smiling, properly this time.
"I'm a Vampire because I know you like Vampires."
Oh.
"I spend all this time and effort on my appearance, everyday, and you still never notice me. I got the most attention out of anyone in there, but none of it matters, 'cus it's only ever you I want to impress."
Oh.
"Vince... You impress me everyday. When you've just woken up, and your hair's all mussed up and you're all sleepy, it takes all my self control to not brush it out of your eyes... You impress me every time you look at me, your eyes are the most hypnotic things I've ever seen. And earlier, back at the flat, when you were so close and I just wanted to... I just wanted to..."
Howard found he couldn't speak. Vince was so impossibly close to him, looking scared and elated at the same time and so heartbreakingly beautiful that Howard just... melted. Vince grabbed his hand and linked their fingers together tightly. He tilted his head up until his lips were millimetres from Howard's.
"You wanted to what?" Vince whispered.
And then the Mad Hatter kissed the Vampire.
And it was magic.
Aww. Fluffier than a bunny eating candyfloss sitting on a cloud. Which incidentally is who will come at you like a powerful moss if you don't review. And if you think that doesn't sound scary, you've obviously never been on the wrong end of a candyfloss stick. The wrong end is the stick end. And it's flipping pointy.