A/N: Here's another Tori Short Story! Hope you all liked the last one! There will be more coming soon so be prepared!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Enjoy!
"Come on Jason. It'll be fun!" Tori said into her cell phone as she paced around her new single dorm room. She and Stephanie had been sharing up until midterms rolled around. The lack of sleep deeply affected the little sleep they did get, in result they decided to each get singles. Tori had been unloading all her things in the new room all afternoon and it had been after dinner when Jenna told her about a halloween party being thrown at one of the penthouse apartments near campus. Apparently everyone was invited and you could bring guests.
Tori had almost finished decorating the walls of her room with photos and nicknacks from her old room in the Crowne penthouse as well as some new things she collected from her stay at Wayne Manor. She had also moved the bed up into the corner near the window that looked out into the city and made it with her sheets and comforter. Her teddy bear that's been with her since Max gave it to her two year-old self was still in one of the few boxes left to be unpacked. She hoped she would find it before she decided to go to sleep. She had decided to call Jason and tell him about the party while she did so, to make the time pass, which led to the conversation they were having presently,
"Why do you want to go to a Halloween party?" Jason asked, "You spend half of your days dressed as someone else,"
"Not really," Tori argued, "I'm dressing up as an alternate of myself in that instance. In the instance of a Halloween party, I'm dressing up as a vampire or a witch or Humphrey-dumpty, or something. Things and people that aren't me. Plus there will be food, candy, booze and fun couple costumes," Tori opened a box of clothes and started folding them on her newly made bed,
"So that's the reason you want me to come? So you and I can dress up as some duo themed costume?"
"Yup," Tori said brightly. There was silence on the other end, making Tori halt in her clothes folding, "Please Jason? I promise the costumes won't be stupid, I did mention there would be booze right?"
"Are you trying to bribe me through alcohol?" Jason asked incredulously, though there was a laugh in his voice,
"Well since you love it soooo much, I thought why not?" Tori said, rolling her eyes and shrugging,
"Do you think I'm an alcoholic?" Jason asked so seriously she had to stop what she was doing and adjust the phone to assure him she was just joking,
"No, I don't…why do you think you are?"
"Well…no. I mean I drank a lot after I came back from being dead and before you came back…I've cut back a lot since,"
"Then why would you ask that?"
"Well you were trying to bribe me through consumption," Tori rolled her eyes and shook her head,
"So, will you come? I'll include you in the costume decision. We have a few days before the party so we can make everything perfect,"
"Fine. I get veto power though. I'm not going as a Ken Barbie doll dude thing," he growled into the phone,
"Great! Love you Babe!" Tori said, smiling widely, "Bye!" with that she hung up and jumped off her bed. She had three hours before most of the shops would be closed, and even that's pushing it. She had to come up with the perfect costumes for her and Jason.
"Okay, I have three options for costumes," Tori told Jason, who sat in the chair for her desk. He was trying to peek around Tori at the costumes she had laid out on her bed. It was the night of the party and they really had to pick the costume soon,
"What are they,"
"Well, first I kind of want to explain my thought process," Tori said,
"You really don't need to do that. I'm just going to spend time with you, I couldn't care less what the costumes were,"
"Aw! That's sweet," Tori said, "I know you're just going for the candy too, but I still love you," she added with a smile. She gave him a quick peck before standing again,
"At first I was going to do a Bonnie and Clyde costume, but then I thought it would be too cliche and most couples would do that," Tori said, "I bought the costumes anyway though," she pointed at the covered pile of clothes on the far left,
"These are returnable right?" Jason asked,
"Well we can keep them for next year," Tori said waving her hand absentmindedly at costumes,
"You say that like we'll dress up every year," Jason said, leaning his head back and thunking it on the desk,
"I thought you said you couldn't care less what we wear!" Tori said,
"I do don't care. I'm doing this for you,"
"You know what. We don't have to go if you don't want to. We can just stay here, eat Steph's candy stash that I managed to steal when we moved rooms and watch some good horror movies," Jason looked up at her before shaking his head,
"No. We're going to the party. You put a lot of thought into these costumes and I don't want to ruin your fun," Tori smiled at him, though she still felt a little bad because she was forcing him to go to the party with her. She continued her explanation nonetheless,
"My second idea was Alice and the Mad Hatter…but then I decided no because Gotham already has a Mad Hatter and dressing up as Alice would be a really bad idea. So then I thought why not Alice and the White Rabbit…but then realized you would not want to wear a giant bunny suit with a clock hanging around your neck so I trashed that idea. The real second idea is Aphrodite and Ares. Goddess of love and god of war. Doesn't that sound good? They were together in myths and they worked well together, they were powerful together. They caused empires and kingdoms to rise and fall; unite and conquer,"
"Love and war go hand in hand. Men and women go to war for their loved ones not just their country, and as the saying goes, 'All's fair in love and war,'" Jason said nodding in agreement, "But I'm not wearing a toga," Tori rolled her eyes before looking at him seriously,
"I'd be wearing a dressy toga too," Jason looked like he was going to reconsider for a split second before shaking his head,
"I'm not wearing a toga," he said firmly, causing Tori to laugh again,
"Not worth it? Are you sure?," she had to ask, Jason just mini-glared her, "Okay fine! The third idea I had was…Red Riding Hood and the Wolf!" Tori said, revealing the far right costume,
"Didn't the Wolf eat her grandmother?"
"Welll, yes he did. But then Red Riding Hood saved her by filling the Wolf's stomach with rocks after cutting him open to get her out. Riding Hood and her grandmother managed to get on a boat and row away. When the Wolf tried to swim after them he sank to the bottom because of the rocks,"
"So…I'd be the Wolf, who Red Riding Hood indirectly kills?" Jason clarified. Tori frowned,
"Well that's just one version of the story, in some other stories of Red Riding Hood and the one that inspired me, it was her father who was the Wolf and he infected her lover. They killed her dad and sunk him in a lake by filling him with rocks so no one would ever find him. Instead of hating her lover or fearing him she ran away with him and they lived happily ever after,"
"I guess they both had cycles of their own they had to deal with," Jason said smirking while Tori blushed and glared at him,
"I was trying to make the story romantic and you ruined it," she said crossing her arms,
"I can see the romantic bit as the two of them running away together but he did kill her father didn't he?"
"Actually it was her. With a silver dagger," Tori said, nodding to her own dagger that was lying on the desk, "she'd rather kill her own father than live without the man that she loved,"
"Love conquers all," Jason said simply, "Even blood,"
"Yes," Tori replied just as simply, "But in the story it's also more than that. Her father changed the man she loved; he would become a wolf every full moon because of her father, yet her feelings for him didn't change. No matter who he was or what he became, she would love him unyieldingly," Jason stood suddenly and pulled her in for a long and hard kiss, leaving her stunned and breathless before she smiled at him as he retook his seat. He looked very pleased with himself and almost like he was actually enjoying this more, "I love all these ideas. But it's really your pick,"
"I think I'd rather go with Red Riding hood," Jason said, moving to pick up the wolf ears he'd have to wear, "because while it's a Grimm Fairy tale, its adaptions made room for love to be a powerful message of the tale. In a messed up way, but still an important one,"
"Love is messed up, but still very important because sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye," Tori said smiling up at Jason, while picking up her white dress and red cloak. She did love cloaks afterall. Quickly stripping and pulling the dress on she turned to Jason, "Help button me up?" she asked.
Many would question why Tori loved Jason as fiercely as she did, they were both young. Too young by many accounts to love each other forever. But they understood each other. They grew up together, not side by side, but on paralleled paths that intertwined despite all odds, two sides of the same coin. Love was passion and dedication which both drove them in life. Some might question Tori's choices by how sudden she made them or Jason's sanity because of what he's done in the past. But to Tori, Jason's past does not define him and her decisions are her's to make. If Tori chose to love Jason, then she would love him for as long as that choice felt right. Tori did not know what Jason felt for her, but she could see the look in his eyes when they locked with hers', their love was something special. Their love would cross even the toughest and most invisible barriers. Nothing stood in their way.
After they were all set, wolf ears, fake fur covered leather vest on and tail in place; cloak fastened tightly and hood up with a red ribbon-ed candy filled basket they walked arm in arm to the Halloween party.
A/N: This short story was surprisingly hard to write. I originally wanted the second option to be characters from Once on This Island, specifically the love goddess and the death god/demon. But when I tried to have Tori explain it, it didn't really work out so I changed it last minute. Hopefully it wasn't too choppy.
I had some quotes in there from Virgil, H. Jackson Brown, Jr. and from Lyly's Euphues.
Next Short Story on Tuesday!
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