A.N- Happy Halloween, guys! It's been a while since I've uploaded anything, but I'm sort of back. This is my first time writing anything for The Raven Cycle, so hopefully you guys will enjoy it. As usual, I own nothing, including the movies mentioned in this fic, they all belong to their respective owners.

31st October, Monmouth Manufacturing

Monmouth had never been as full of dreams as it was that evening. They'd left Ronan in charge of decorating the place, which he'd apparently taken to mean, lie in bed all day, dream up all the decorations and then set them up. Not that Adam minded- all the less stress for everyone else.

When he arrived- Gansey insisted they all come- he had to admit he was impressed. Black candles hung from the ceiling, and Adam suspected that even if a gale-force wind suddenly burst through the room, the flames wouldn't go out. Chainsaw had a new black cage, one which probably wouldn't get much use, and an intricately carved pumpkin lantern sat on the table. Even Gansey's model of Henrietta had an almost haunted air.

It occurred to him as he looked around that he hadn't managed to get a costume or anything. Perhaps he wouldn't need one. Just then, he heard someone clear their throat. Turning around, he saw Ronan leaning against the door frame. There wasn't really anything unusual about him- he was dressed all in black with Chainsaw perched on his shoulder- but somehow, in Adam's mind at least, he looked almost magical. Maybe it was the lighting.

"Hey," he said, as casually as he could manage.

"Hey, Parrish," Ronan replied. "Where's your costume?"

"I forgot to get one." This time, Ronan didn't say anything. Instead, he produced a black, pointed hat seemingly out of nowhere and placed it on Adam's head.

"There you go," he said, and Adam became aware in that moment of how close together they were standing. "Problem solved." There shouldn't be anything here, he knew that. This should just feel like a nice gesture from a friend. And yet there was definitely something more here, crackling in the air between them. Adam took a step back, breaking the spell.

"Why a witch's hat?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Why not?" Ronan shrugged. "I thought it was kinda fitting." Adam smiled, then took another look at him.

"What about you?" he asked. "Where's your costume?"

"This is my costume. I'm a homicidal maniac, they look just like everyone else."

"Why am I not surprised?" Ronan raised an eyebrow.

"You don't get the reference?" Adam frowned.

"There's a reference?"

"Jesus, Parrish. Are you trying to tell me you've never seen The Addams Family?" Adam rolled his eyes.

"When would I have had the chance to watch The Addams Family?"

"Alright. We're going to have to do something about that. Not now, because Gansey and Sargent will be here any minute, but definitely soon." Adam knew that he probably wasn't getting out of that, but for some reason he didn't mind. Maybe he would take the opportunity to slip his hand into Ronan's, cross the line that they were both skating along. Maybe… he stepped closer again. Was he closer than he'd been earlier? He didn't know. He reached out his hand to rest on Ronan's arm, and he might have closed the gap that remained between them, but then the door opened. Quickly, he stepped back again.

"Hey, guys," Blue said. She'd been in a conversation with Gansey when she first came in, and didn't see the room. Then she looked around. "Wow, what happened in here?" She looked at Ronan. "Lynch, did you do this?"

"You sound surprised. Didn't Gansey say I was doing the decorating?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't expecting all this." She gestured around the room. "I mean, it's great, but it just wasn't what I was expecting."

"I have some rotting corpses in the cupboard, if that's what you'd prefer." He was joking, of course, and they all knew it.

"Nah, that would just ruin the atmosphere." She smiled. "Seriously, though, this is great. It's like a haunted house or something."

"Speaking of which," Gansey said, "has anyone seen Noah today?" They all shook their heads. "Oh well. Maybe he'll turn up." He set down the bags he'd been carrying, which were full of snacks and drinks for the night.

Nobody said anything about the hat, in the end. Blue had come dressed as a vampire, complete with fake blood and a black dress with a raggedy skirt, which looked at least a hundred years old. Gansey was dressed in black too, only with more feathers and a crown perched on his head.

"What are you meant to be?" Ronan asked after a few minutes.

"The raven king," he said like it was obvious. Ronan shrugged.

"Makes sense."

"What about you?" he asked, filling plastic cups with soda, labelled Witches Brew.

"I'm a homicidal maniac," Ronan said, just as he had to Adam. "They look just like everyone else."

"Nice," Gansey said, just as Blue said, "I understood that reference." Adam just rolled his eyes.

The original plan had been that they would all pick a horror movie to watch, but in the end they had to settle on a couple. One was The Shining, and the other was The Babadook. The four of them piled onto Gansey's mattress to watch the movies, and Adam ended up sitting close to Ronan- which he didn't want to do anything about, if he was honest.

At first, the movie wasn't too bad. As it progressed, though, it got increasingly spooky. At some point, Adam rested his hand on top of Ronan's, and neither of them said anything about it- because surely it was okay, they were sitting quite close together, and the movie was a bit spooky. Maybe not scary, but then again it would take a lot to truly scare any of them these days. All the same, by the end of the movie Adam couldn't watch it any more. One of the main characters- the father, Jack- had gone berserk, and was chasing after his wife and son with an axe. Adam hadn't realised this was part of the movie, and he quickly made an excuse and exited the room.

He went all the way outside, even though it was cold and dark. It wasn't until he'd sat down beside the door and tried to lean his head against the door that he remembered he was still wearing the stupid hat. With a sigh, he took it off, though he kept a hold of it.

"You alright?" Adam didn't look up- he didn't have to. He didn't know how long he'd been out here- whether it had been two minutes or twenty, he didn't know either way.

"Is the movie done?" he asked. At first, Ronan didn't reply. He just handed him a sweatshirt that Adam strongly suspected was one of his own. Adam quickly pulled it on, since he'd left without a jacket or anything. "Thanks," he added.

"No problem. And yeah, we switched it off after you left. Gansey feels stupid for putting it on- he forgot about that part at the end, he hasn't seen it in a couple of years." Adam looked up at Ronan, just as he was looking down. For a moment, they just looked at each other, until Ronan continued. "They want to know if you're coming back in or not." Adam thought about it for a moment. He had to go in anyway, to get his jacket. He nodded.

"I'll come in to get my stuff, then I'll see how I feel." Putting the hat back on, he extended a hand, allowing Ronan to pull him to his feet. Only, once he was upright, they stayed holding hands, looking into each other's eyes. For a moment, neither of them moved, then Ronan took a step back and opened the door.

"We'd better go in, then," he muttered, and they stepped into the building. When they got back to the main room, Adam expected it to be awkward. He expected Blue and Gansey to suspect something had happened out there- after all, here he was, wearing Ronan's sweater, and probably one of his dreams. It occurred to him that he should probably take both of those things off, but he didn't.

"Hey, Adam," Gansey said once he noticed them. Blue lifted her hand and waved. "We're maybe going to put the next movie on, if you want to stick around." He paused. "I've seen this one more recently, it should be alright. Or at least, better than the last one." Adam thought about it, then nodded.

"Okay. I'll give it a go." They all settled back onto the mattress, and Gansey started up the second movie. Adam felt Ronan put his hand on top of his again.

"Sorry," he muttered, and was about to pull back when Adam tentatively held onto his hand.

"It's alright," he whispered, and turned to watch the movie.

Later, as Adam was preparing to leave to go back to St. Agnes, he took off the hat and the sweatshirt. When he went to give them both back to Ronan, though, he shook his head.

"No, you keep them. I took the hat for you anyway, and I've got other sweatshirts." Adam smiled a little.

"Alright." He pulled the sweatshirt back on, though he didn't put the hat on. "Thanks," he added with a slightly bigger smile.

"Don't worry about it." Ronan returned the smile, and for a moment Adam stood there with his hand on the door handle. It took all his strength to turn it, and to step outside. "Hey, Parrish," Ronan said, prompting Adam to turn his head.

"Yeah?" Ronan took his free hand, and for a moment Adam thought that he might kiss him. Instead, he just squeezed his hand gently.

"I'll see you tomorrow, alright?" He let go of his hand. "Happy Halloween." With that, he closed the door, ending the conversation. For a moment, Adam just stared at the door, before turning to go home, taking one of Ronan's dreams with him, and feeling as though he was leaving a piece of his own heart at the same time.