It's been a while since I've written anything, I know! I've had complete block for my old fic 'Matching Wounds' so I decided that I would start again with something different. But similarly to my old fic, this one also starts with Halloween! And don't worry, I promise on my own grave that I will complete this one. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own New Girl in any way shape or form. I wish.
Chapter 1- Halloween: A Familiar Duo
"Nick! Hurry up in there would you? I still have to buy cobweb wall stickers and hanging bats; the stores close in a half hour!" Jess had been impatiently tapping her foot outside of the costume shop changing room for a good ten minutes. The weeks of constant begging and eyelash fluttering had finally paid off. Not only had Nick agreed to dress up for Halloween, he also had begrudgingly accepted to the idea of wearing a couple's costume. Unfortunately for Nick, she had already selected a suitable costume for them both. Hearing a lot of shuffling and grunting, Jess could only assume that he was having a little difficulty with the costume in question.
"But Jess, I look like a potato!"
"That's the point Nick, you're dressing as Mr. Potato Head. So if you say you look like a potato, I'd say the costume is doing its job. Now take it off so we can go and pay." Hearing the sound of the changing room curtain swiftly being pulled back, Jess looked up to find Nick sporting what could only be described as the most unflattering piece of clothing a human being could put on their body along with a severe and slightly aggressive Turtle face. She loved it.
"Wow Nick..." Fighting back a snort, Jess put her hand over her mouth, "You look really uhhh what's the word...sexy?"
"I'm not wearing a potato costume Jess. You can forget it." Nick spoke struggling to even move his mouth since the face hole was a tad too small, making his cheeks bunch up like there were two invisible old Aunts either side of him pinching each one whilst exclaiming how adorable he is. Removing her hand from her mouth, Jess sighed and took a step towards Nick, bossily placing her hands on her hips.
"You have to. I bought my Mrs. Potato Head costume weeks ago. If you hadn't been so stubborn about this whole costume thing, we could have agreed on something together. But no, of course you're too embarrassed to dress up and have a little innocent Halloween fun. It's a once a year thing, Nick. And it's not even like we're leaving the loft since the party is at ours. There's nothing to feel embarrassed about."
"Yeah but isn't Halloween all about living out your fantasies? Being someone you've always wanted to be!"
"This coming from the Guy who dressed as Bea Arthur last year?"
"She was my favorite Golden Girl!" There was no way Jess was falling for Nick's cheesy speech of reinvention and living the life you've always wanted. If that were the case, he would have dressed as a Sloth last year. A Beer drinking, disgruntled Sloth.
"Nick..."
"Okay just hear me out." Nick interrupted Jess clearly desperate to be let off the hook. "You can't honestly tell me that the one thing you want me to dress up as is Mr. Potato Head. Out of all the possible fantasies you could muster up, that is the one you settle for?" Glancing at the clock at the far end of the store and seeing that her time left to buy the rest of the decorations was abruptly coming to an end, Jess had neither the time or the patience to be nice or encouraging about the situation. It was time to play the game.
"Believe me Nick, it is not a fantasy for me to see you dressed as a character from Toy Story."
"Okay good! So tell me what is!" Nick beamed, relieved that he had finally changed her mind. At least so he thought.
"Do you honestly wanna know?"
"Please. Lay it on me." Softly biting the corner of her lip, she took several more steps towards Nick swaying her hips slightly as she moved. Squinting her eyes (a modelling trick she had learned from Cece) and wrapping her finger slowly around her hair, she lowered her voice and softly spoke.
"Ummm...well I dunno perhaps a uhhh, 21st century smokin' hot Bartender? Maybe with stubble and a hint of flannel? You think you could pull something like that off?" All of a sudden, Nick's face softened and Jess could see his eyes deepening and burning into her own. Moving his head towards her, he glanced briefly at her parted lips and back up to her intense stare. With a growling exhale, Nick moved even further towards her, their faces almost touching. For a moment, Jess forgot that she was just fooling with Nick to get him to do as she says. Truth be told, she was extremely turned on by him right now, potato costume aside. But just as she began to think she had him, his impassioned expression shifted and was replaced with a patronizing grin.
"Very funny Jessica. I'm serious. Don't think that your clever little shoulder roll is gonna make me give in. I may not be the Einstein of women's behavior but I know a manipulative flirting technique when I see one. I'm not wearing this costume. I'm not being a potato with you Jess." With a defeated huff, Jess aborted her failed plan. Hurt now clearly showing in her expression, Nick sighed, realizing that this dressing up thing obviously meant more to her than he once thought. Jess picked up her shopping bags with the food and other decorations for the party that she had placed on the floor.
"You know what?" Her sultry voice had now turned shaky and frail. "Maybe you just shouldn't bother being at the party then if you're not gonna get in the spirit." Slinging the mountain of bags around her arms, Nick panicked not wanting her to get the wrong idea. Being a gullible person meant that Jess also took things the wrong way a lot of the time.
"I didn't mean I don't wanna dress up as something with you, I just mean-"
"Just forget it Nick". Turning around, Jess irritably walked out of the store leaving Nick feeling frankly like a complete insensitive ass. Except instead of an ass, he was a potato. But Nick figured that calling someone a potato probably wan't an insult enough.
It was just half an hour before the start of the party and the loft was almost unrecognizable. Jess had always been a creative person and hosting a party was the perfect way to let this side of her out. Usually, her artistic flair was saved for her job. Being a teacher meant that she needed to constantly come up with ways to keep kids interested even if that meant spending half the evening making a three and a half foot tall puppet named Frank who sure had a knack with helping her students learn fractions. It was the first Halloween party that would be hosted at the loft and Jess had insisted on doing everything herself. Not even Schmidt had her permission to interfere.
After hanging up the last glow in the dark decoration, Jess stepped down from the chair she was carefully balancing on, breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at her work. She really had gone full out. Each section of the Loft had its own theme. The Kitchen for instance, was inspired by Alice in Wonderland with the breakfast bar covered with vintage looking teacups and a variety of brightly iced cupcakes and jam tarts with the tags 'Eat Me' attached to each one. The tags of course, being edible paper. There was even a strategically hidden bubble machine in the corner and playing cards stuck to every blank surface. Next up was the Living Room which was known as the 'Creepy Circus' and would be the main dancing area thanks to the copious amount of flashing disco lights and speakers - covered with cobwebs of course. Moving most of the furniture against the wall meant that Jess could make the area look large enough to look like a Circus ring, also known as the dance floor. Jess had even managed to bag an animatronic clown from eBay which she had carefully posed by the TV. "Dammit." Jess knew she had forgotten to tell Nick something while they were shopping earlier. "Better make sure Nick doesn't go near that thing...if he even bothers to make an appearance". During the hours of intense decorating, Jess hadn't even thought about their argument earlier that evening.
Getting lost in her thoughts, Jess grabbed a small handful of popcorn from one of the cauldron bowls she had bought earlier, dawdled towards the Hallway and sadly smiled at her favorite theme for the party - the zombie graveyard. She had made this part especially for Nick. It was the place in the loft that was the most special to the both of them. The space between their two bedroom doors would always be a reminder of some of their most intimate moments and every day Jess would walk down it, glance at Nick's door and instantly feel happier and safer knowing he was behind it. They hadn't gotten to the stage of having one bedroom for the both of them yet, but it was only a matter of time since they had been 'official' since June. Spread out around the floor and on the walls were flashing fairy lights. The lights on the ground were muted slightly by mist from the smoke machine and foam tombstones were peeking out in rows. Jess had been tempted to write out all of their exes names on each one but had decided against it last minute in fear of coming across as slightly psychotic. Winston would have been proud.
As if on cue, Winston emerged from his room dressed in none other than a bloody straight jacket and cardboard muzzle. Scanning around Jess' creation, he nodded with approval.
"Winston, what on earth are you?"
"I'm Hannibal Lecter duh! You never seen that movie? Why are you still wearing normal clothes?"
"No I haven't. But how are you gonna eat or drink in that thing? I needed someone to test my homemade punch!"
"Oh you mean that fluorescent green stuff in the huge top hat bowl in the Kitchen?" he questioned, signalling behind him to the Kitchen.
"The Mad Hatter's top hat bowl, yeah."
"Already taken care of." Winston turned around to reveal a drink dispenser backpack securely attached to his back. "Straw's hidden in my mask and I'm about eighty percent sure I'm already drunk."
"Just pace yourself. I don't want you pulling anything weird tonight. It's weird enough when you're sober."
"Yes Ma'am." Feeling unenthusiastic, Jess lolled her head to the side and starting to slowly nibble on the popcorn from her hand. Turning around and seeing Jess' morose form, Winston raised his head with realization and chuckled.
"Alright what happened. It's half an hour before people can see all the work you've put into this place and you couldn't look more miserable!" Jess swallowed the remainder of the popcorn and muttered,
"Nick refused to dress up with me so erm, yeah I'm pretty bummed. I don't even know where he is either. I at least thought he would have followed me home."
"I'm sure he'll turn up eventually. You know Nick, he needs a little bit of time to sulk and then he'll come right back to ya. Don't worry about it. He wouldn't wanna upset you on purpose, he cares about you a Hell of a lot." This was something that Jess could always appreciate about Winston. Behind that cool guy figure who's awful at pranks was a person who just wanted everyone to be happy. Jess warmly smiled at Winston's honest words but resisted leaning in for a hug; having his arms tied around his back would make for a slightly awkward encounter. Instead, Jess refilled his drink dispenser with more of her very alcoholic punch, prayed he wouldn't end up drunkenly killing anyone tonight and skipped off to her room to change.
Just in time for the party to begin, Jess finished off her costume by pinning a large Daisy in the center of the hat section bringing her transformation to completion. Shuffling in a circle, she inspected every angle to make sure she was all done up correctly. Jess was so thankful that the costume only showed off her face. As much as she enjoyed the outcome of spending hours perfecting her hair, the actual work itself was always a drag with all of the curling, re-straightening (because she always messed up), and spraying of weird chemicals. Noticing that her red lipstick had faded slightly from the day's stresses, she waddled over to her nightstand and grabbed her lipstick to touch up. Just as she was about to apply, she heard a soft knocking at her door.
"Hey. It's Nick, can I come in?"
"Are you dressed as Mr. Potato Head?"
"Maybe?...No." Jess shook her head with disbelief that even after she had stormed out of the store, Nick hadn't even seen the error of his ways. "Just one Halloween," she muttered under her breath. "that's all I wanted." Clearing her throat to make sure her voice didn't come out all ragged like it had done earlier, Jess straightened herself up and confidently spoke,
"Then no, you cannot come in."
"I'm dressed up as something else I thought you might like though?" Silence followed with Jess feeling apprehensive to let him in. The only thing she wanted him dressed as was her Mr. Potato Head so what on earth would make him think that she would settle for anything else? On the other side, Nick rested the side of his head against her door with his hands in his pockets like a guilty schoolboy. He knew he had messed up. It was never his intention to leave Jess thinking that he didn't care or that he didn't want to spend Halloween with her. If it hadn't been for the mound of cushiony fabric surrounding him in that changing room, he would have bolted after without a second thought however the thing proved so tricky to maneuver out of, that after fifteen minutes of battling, he had to ask the shop assistant to help him. After his undignified exit from the potato costume, he had also found that he had stupidly forgotten to bring his wallet and so couldn't even make Jess happy by buying it. Rubbing his eyes with frustration, Nick glimpsed at the scene to his side and noticed that some quotes from his unsuccessful novel had been carefully carved into the foam tombstones; 'She had Zombie legs that went on for miles' on one and 'Who let them Zombies out that damn zombie Zoo' on the one next to it. The others were too far away to read but Nick reckoned they would follow through. He figured maybe a change of tone was in order.
"Jess! Seriously let me in cause I think there might be Zombies lurking around out here and you know how slow I run!...I love what you did with our hall." Jess both loved and hated the way Nick used humor to get her to forgive him. He had done it a lot in the past. She remembered that July when they had their first official 'couples' argument; just over something silly like groceries. It had ended with Nick grabbing the Melon they had bought, drawing an uneven yet detailed Turtle face on it and very badly attempting apologizing (because it really had been his fault that first time) using ventriloquy. The mere fact that it had reminded Jess of the night they had first kissed, lead her to forgive him almost immediately and after a lot of make up sex, they had cut the Melon up and enjoyed eating it on the roof. It wasn't until they woke up the next morning cuddled up to each other that they realized that they had spent the entire night up there. Smiling sweetly at the memory, Jess twisted her lipstick back in its case and spun towards the door.
"Alright, fine. Just-yeah come in." Striding into her bedroom bringing some fog from the Hallway along with him, came a very familiar sight. Nick was wearing his orange and gray flannel, dark jeans, baseball cap and shades. Each item with a generous amount of fake blood added just for the perfect Halloween effect. Jess giggled as the thing that Nick was dressed as hit her.
"Hey Doll, I'm Julius Pepperwood, Zombie Detective. Got any Zombie murder cases you need...uhhh...detecting?" Nick made sure to emphasize his accent.
"Oooh you were so close to getting that perfect."
"Yeah, I should have rehearsed." After waving the fog out of Jess' room, Nick removed his sunglasses, tucked them into his shirt pocket and reached out to Jess taking her hands in his and squeezing them gently.
"Look, the truth is..." Nick took a deep breath and spoke as sincerely as he knew how, "I've never done a couples costume before and the idiot that I am freaked out and for a while I forgot that it wasn't just anyone I was doing this with. It was with you. I'm sorry." Jess' lips curved up and genuinely moved by his apology, she removed her hands from his and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him close.
"Awh Nick, y'know when you put your mind to it, you're not that bad with your words." Drifting towards him, Jess planted a soft kiss on his lips. Nick responded eagerly and Jess could feel him smiling underneath her as he firmly kissed her back. As Nick tried sinking into her, he realized that his arms couldn't settle in their usual position. Pulling away (much to Jess' disappointment), Nick laughed and nudged his forehead playfully into hers.
"Jess, as much as I love that we've made up, it's slightly difficult for me to put my arms around ya when you're wearing a potato costume that's triple your usual size." Jumping out of her giddy trance, Jess widened her eyes and wobbled to her closet sliding the door behind her.
"I have an idea...just wait there, okay? No peeking."
"Wouldn't dream of it." Nick swayed from side to side anxiously awaiting what Jess would be putting on, although he actually had a pretty good idea. He could hear a lot of muffled rustling of fabric and grinned thinking about how flustered she must be in there trying to get her costume off. Then again, she would probably be a whole lot more graceful than he was. A hanger was being taken off the rack and he could just about faintly hear the sound of a zipper going up. He was right, she definitely had gotten it off a lot quicker than he did. And without help which was even more impressive. In a way, he was disappointed that she didn't need his help with it. Eventually Jess started to gradually slide the door to her closet back, revealing her new costume. They now matched perfectly with Jess dressed in her striking blue dress with the Russian dolls covering the skirt. "Hey there Mr. Pepperwood." Jess spoke in her best classic Hollywood voice.
"Ah well if it isn't my trusty Gal, Jessica Night!" Nick responded immediately transitioning back into character. "I think I'm gonna need to put these shades back on. That color is a real blinder, Doll." Nick removed his shades from his pocket, placed them back over his eyes and strutted to Jess placing his arms in the place they had originally intended to go. Jess wrapped her arms which she could now also move more freely around his neck and met his awaiting lips again with a better ease. Squeezing her close to him, he deepened the kiss causing her to rock backwards slightly. However their quickening heat was sadly interrupted by a knocking coming from the front door. Moaning in annoyance, she gave him one last kiss and proceeded to link their arms together.
"Come on Pepperwood, people are starting to arrive so we better make our way through that graveyard if we wanna get to the party in time. And just to let you know, I will be turning the power out at any point during the night in an attempt to scare the crap outta Winston."
"Oh I am so down with that, Night." Arm in arm, they strode out off Jess' room, dramatically weaving in between the tombstones in slow motion, clutching to each other tightly.
"Oh and one more thing, stay away from the clown by the TV."
Reviews/thoughts are welcomed and appreciated! Plus, if there are any less obvious Holiday's or celebrations that you'd like me to include in this fic, suggest away.