Who: Claire, Dillon, Ash & Raff What: Three friends & a vampire get together for a night of podcasting, things get spooky Where: Ash's place in Santa Cruz, CA When: Forward dated to Saturday evening, October 31st, 2020 Warnings: Way more tricks than treats Status: Incomplete
Honestly, Ash was pretty relieved that he had an excuse to stay in doors tonight. He'd never been that big on going out on Halloween night in general, and after Willow? Forget about it. That witch had worse luck with the holiday than anybody else Ash knew. He sure as hell wasn't going to tempt fate by putting on a costume and going out to party - not when he might end up actually becoming whatever the hell he was dressed as.
... Though, on second thought, if he knew for sure that was going to happen he'd be tempted to dress up as Batman. Or Robin, Robin was cool too. Naturally, Ash had a soft spot for the sidekicks.
At least for tonight he'd stick to the worn in Camp Crystal Lake t-shirt and jeans with holes in them that he'd put on to be festive (hopefully that wouldn't somehow turn him into a camp counselor marked for sudden and gruesome death). No costumes, no trips to 'haunted houses' that might actually try and kill you for real thanks to some creepy miniature sized fear demon. Ash had enough excitement in his life, thank you very much. He had school, he had a really kick ass podcast with his friend Dillon, and he had Willow. Ash still hadn't progressed very far on the magic front, sure, but the learning process was still kind of fun. Also? He'd only blown the power out for the entire block once this week, instead of the usual three. That's what he liked to call progress.
He'd gotten the idea to have Dillon over to record their Halloween episode in person because even though he was hellbent on staying in tonight, staying home alone on Halloween wasn't just a little pathetic, it was also kind of scary. Not that he'd cop to that if anyone asked him. Ash wasn't a chicken. Most of the time. Whatever, hanging out with Dillon for the night seemed like a way better option than hanging out by himself. They'd never met in person before, a fact that made Ash inexplicably filled with nerves, but their friend Claire was coming over too so all in all it was already shaping up to be a pretty cool, hijinx free night. (Knock on wood.)
Ash had turned his living room into a small podcasting studio with three microphones set up around the couch area and other things they'd need, he'd gotten some snacks and drinks set up, a Nightmare on Elm Street marathon was playing on TV in the background. Claire was already here, chattering excitedly about some vampire movie while Ash poured more candy into the bowl he'd left outside for trick or treaters. Either there were a lot of kids in the area, or some high school jerks had taken an entire bowl's worth of candy in the last hour. Ash had a sneaking suspicion it was the latter.
When the doorbell rang, Ash skidded in his socks from the kitchen to the front entryway, very nearly dropping the entire bowl of candy in his hands and only barely managing to save it as he also almost collided head first into the door before opening it unceremoniously, face flushed from the near collision. "Happy Hallow- ... oh hey," Ash stopped cold in the middle of an unintentional Giles impression, realizing at once that it wasn't trick or treaters and immediately felt stupid. "Dillon?"
It took Dillon a second to blink off his surprise enough to confirm that yes, hello, it was him at the door and not some super lame version of a trick or treater. Not that he was saying his Pennywise shirt wasn't awesome — new Pennywise, not old, and it definitely was and he'd definitely fuck that clown — but... yeah, that didn't make a costume. Not that he hadn't thought about dressing up like General Hux because that was basically the perfect choice for a red-headed nerdy guy. He just hadn't been sure if Ash or Claire would dress up and if they didn't then he'd be the only one in a costume.
Since Ash had on a Friday the 13 shirt, he was pretty sure he'd made the right call.
The problem that Dillon was having right then was that holy shit Ash was hot in person. Like, he'd seen pics on the boards, but that totally didn't prepare him for the real thing. Dillon's hair was messy and there was a fading bruise peeking out from underneath one of his t-shirt sleeves; his jeans were loose enough that they bagged a little on his hips and he was pretty sure he had a zit or two going somewhere. It hadn't seemed like that big a deal. It was just Ash. His friend. Except his friend was ridiculously hot and yes, as far as he knew straight, but...
"Yes. Dillon. Is me." Oh god help. He should never have agreed to this filming an episode in person thing because he was going to be a complete idiot the entire night if he had to sit close to Ash. Maybe they could put Claire between them. That was what straight guys did so everything was 'no homo', right? "Unless Dillon doesn't get candy, because then I'm not Dillon."
In past Halloweens, Claire had maybe been guilty of overdoing it just a little. College kids loved parties and they especially loved Halloween parties, so things were always bound to get a little out of control. Add to that the weirdness that sometimes came with being a reincarnate, and there were just way too many variables in any given situation that involved drinking, drugs, and costumes. Anything could happen. After all, it wasn't that long ago that Claire had dragged her brother Léon to a masquerade ball on Halloween night where he'd ended up actually getting turned into a vampire.
He'd also met his soulmate, which was definitely a mark in the plus column, but still. When it came to Halloween, maybe it was a better idea for Claire to sit it out. Or in this case, stay in with friends to record a spooky podcast and hopefully eat way too much candy. The trick or treaters couldn't have all of the fun, right?
She wasn't dressed in a costume either, but she was wearing a very loud, orange sweater with the face of a jack o lantern stitched into it. She and Ash had been having fun stuffing their faces with chips and watching some of the Elm Street marathon that was on television while she talked his ear off about how amazing the TV show From Dusk Till Dawn was when they heard the doorbell.
"Is Dillon here?" Claire set down the bowl of chips and hurried to join Ash, who for whatever reason was still standing in the doorway looking like a deer in headlights. "Dillon!" Claire flashed the red haired boy an eager smile and before either of them could react, she was pulling Dillon by the hand into the house and proceeding to drag him into the living room. "You finally made it! I was worried you might not get here before Ash ate all the chips."
Oh thank god, Claire was just as good at making things not awkward as Dillon had sort of expected her to be. And she hadn't heard him fumble like an idiot at the front door so that meant that as long as Ash didn't mention it then maybe it could all be forgotten and things would be sort of normal. Ish. As normal as things could possibly be for three reincarnates hanging out together on Halloween which, hey, might not have been the world's best idea in retrospect because they were kind of magnets for weird but. Too late. They were here.
The fact that he'd had to brush way too close to Ash when she was dragging him in was kind of a problem, but Dillon managed to not actually jump out of his skin or jump Ash's bones so he was doing pretty good, he thought.
"Ash, how could you not save me some?" Never mind that Dillon was pretty sure Ash was getting the blame very unfairly here. "I thought we were friends."
This was good. Normal. Easy. As long as he didn't look back and remember that Ash was unfairly gorgeous. He couldn't even go to the bathroom and text Claire an 'S.O.S. he's hot' like he might have if he'd been anywhere else and it'd been anyone else. He knew Claire. That would be such a bad idea.
"Oh, hey, I didn't know Nightmare was gonna be on!"
Ash was still blinking stupidly at the empty space in the doorway where Dillon used to be standing before Claire had yanked him into the house, finally snapping out of it a good three seconds later and closing the door behind them. He didn't know what the hell his problem was, or why he'd been so shell shocked when he'd opened the door to come face to face with Dillon for the first time since they'd become internet friends.
It's not like he hadn't already kind of known what Dillon looked like from pictures on the forums, he just looked... Before Ash could finish following that line of thinking it was abruptly interrupted by Claire and Dillon both shouting at him about potato chips and Ash shook his head with a sheepish grin, inwardly relieved for the convenient save from his own confusing thoughts as he followed them back into the living room.
"Yeah, they're doing a marathon tonight. Could be a fun drinking game later." Ash scratched at the back of his head self-consciously before getting over himself and using one hand braced against the back of the couch to vault over the side, narrowly missing one of the mics set up to record. "... Whoops." Real smooth, Ash.
Recovering from the near accident, he flopped back onto the cushion and made himself comfortable. "You know, like, take a shot every time someone falls asleep, take a shot every time Freddy licks someone through the phone... Disturbingly it's happened more than once."
Dillon gave him a slow clap for that awesome move and for a second it was just like talking to him over the boards or on Discord. Nice and normal. No weird tension that was probably only on Dillon's side. God, he had a boyfriend, he should not be getting tongue tied over cute straight boys he was doing podcasts with.
Right. The podcast. That was the best reason not to do anything stupid; if he made things so awkward that Ash never wanted to talk to him again by developing a big ugly crush on him, it wouldn't just be a friendship that'd get fucked over because of it. He'd lose one of the only things that was something that he did because he enjoyed it. Him. For himself. And that would suck. Ash was way more important as a friend than he was as a hot guy and Dillon could hopefully talk his hormones into believing that too.
"Are you trying to get us completely wasted? Because that's going to get us completely wasted." Drinking wasn't exactly something that Dillon was good at; no one believed he was old enough to buy his own, he didn't have any friends who'd invite him to cool parties where there was drinking going on, and Neil... sometimes he offered him a glass of wine with dinner, but if he didn't offer then Dillon didn't ask. Seriously, why would he ask his boyfriend to do something that wasn't technically legal? He knew what kind of consequences that could have for Neil if he got caught supplying alcohol for a minor.
This was different, though. This was hanging out with actual friends. He'd already told Neil that he wouldn't be coming over that night. He wasn't sure why he'd let him think it was because his mom wanted him to help hand out candy at home instead of telling him the truth about it, but... whatever. It wasn't like he was doing anything wrong, and it was easier to lie than handle the fight that would happen if he told the truth about what he was doing.
Right. Shots. "I'm not saying I'm not in, just that you'd better be prepared for my lightweight ass to be completely embarrassing."
"As long as neither of you throw up, because I am not holding anyone's hair back," Claire announced with a small laugh in between bites of chips. Okay, so maybe she'd been the one to eat most of them. Details.
And she was kind of a lightweight too, but that wouldn't stop her from joining right in. She envied Caroline's tolerance, but that was the thing about being a vampire. Stuff like alcohol didn't really do it for you anymore when you were dead.
Passing the bowl of chips to Dillon, Claire got comfortable on the other end of the couch and tucked both feet under her, fully prepared to get into the night's festivities. Maybe it was dorky but she was really excited just to hang out with them tonight, ever since she'd become a reincarnate it had felt really awkward, hanging out with her friends at school. Like every word out of her mouth now was a lie to them even if she wasn't lying on purpose. She hated it, but you couldn't exactly tell everyone you know that you're the reincarnate of a vampire and not expect at least some of them to freak out. Sure, she had Léon and the band made up of reincarnates that her brother managed... but this? Dillon and Ash? It actually felt like hers.
"I'm totally in." Of course, Ash was already leaning forward to pour three shots from the bottle of tequila that'd been sitting on the coffee table in front of them. What could go wrong, right?
And Dillon had fucked up. He'd fucked up bad. He should have gotten onto the couch first and claimed an end so that there would've have been at least a tiny chance that Claire would take the middle and he'd be safe, but now? Now Claire and Ash had the ends of the couch while he'd stood there like a giant dingus and he didn't have any choice but to take the middle. Okay, he could have done something even more awkward like sat on the floor or literally anywhere else, but nothing screamed 'hey I like your face' like refusing to sit too close to someone.
At least he had the chips to keep his hands busy. Dillon lowered himself carefully between them, chips firmly settled into his lap. Shots were definitely going to make this whole thing worse, but again, nothing that he could actually do that wouldn't make everything even more awkward. He was pretty used to being the most awkward person in the room at any given time, but this was going to be a whole new level.
"I can't make any promises," he told Claire. "You may think I'm the cool kind of guy who gets invited out drinking a lot and knows exactly what his limits are to stop the whole Exorcist spewing act, but I am not."
Ah, nothing like talking about projectile vomiting to make it even less likely that someone would be cool with the fact that you thought he was hot. Dillon probably should have just stayed home or something, but then they wouldn't be filming a special Halloween podcast episode and that would have sucked. He was just going to have to man up and grab his shot of tequila like he was halfway decent at being a normal person.
"Just don't puke on me and we can still be friends," Ash replied somewhat distractedly, his focus mostly on pouring the shots of tequila and being careful not to spill any on the coffee table in front of them. He didn't have the steadiest of hands, the tip of his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth in deep concentration. "Okay."
Setting the bottle back down on the table, Ash gingerly picked up each shot glass and carefully handed one to Claire and one to Dillon before taking his own to hold it up in a brief salute towards his two friends. "Here's to the spookiest night of the year? And the best podcast in the history of podcasts. Yeah, just going with that. Cheers."
He tilted his head back and the shot of tequila followed, no sooner did the liquid manage to slide its way past his lips that it almost immediately began to burn its way down his throat. It was a minor miracle that Ash didn't dissolve into a huge, embarrassing coughing fit, but for some weird reason, he really didn't want to do that in front of Dillon. He wanted to seem just a little bit cooler than that.
On the other end of the couch he could hear Claire gagging a little though which made him feel slightly better about himself, if he wasn't the only person on this couch who couldn't throw back a shot of tequila without at least wincing. Giving his head a brief shake and sucking in air through his teeth, Ash set down his empty shot glass and busied himself readjusting the microphones so they were all pointing towards the couch while everyone else was recovering, before nearly jumping out of his skin when there was a sudden noise at the door that sounded suspiciously like more knocking.
What the hell?
Ash looked between Claire and Dillon, brow furrowed in confusion like he didn't know who that could possibly be since the whole two people in the world who bothered to associate with him were already here. Fortunately, Claire was quick to solve the mystery with a sheepish clearing of her throat. "Oh, um, I hope you guys don't mind but I sort of invited my friend Raff. I don't think he had any real plans tonight and plus, he'd be a shoe-in for your podcast. He's the newest member of Overbite!"