Title: Halloween Fun

Author: badly-knitted

Characters: Dee, Ryo, Others

Rating: PG

Setting: After Like Like Love.

Summary: It's almost Halloween and Dee's just had a brilliant idea – Party!

Word Count: 1752

Written For: Jae's Monthly Drabble Challenge 140 - creature, freak, horror, terrified, witch.

Disclaimer: I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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"We should throw a Halloween party," Dee said, leaning on the breakfast bar one morning, drinking one last cup of coffee before leaving for work. He and Ryo had only been living together for a few months and this would be their first Halloween without Bikky, who was away at college. It was the perfect opportunity to go a bit wild and crazy.

"A party?" Ryo looked up from the morning paper, which he'd been skimming through.

"Yeah, fancy dress. Everyone could come as a character from a horror movie, and we could show some of the old Creature Features on the big screen." It had been Dee's idea to use some of the money they saved by living together to get a really massive TV. "C'mon, it'll be fun! We never got a housewarming party in the end, and we've got this coming Sunday and the start of next week off. Whaddaya say? You could try some of those Halloween recipes you found online; I know you've been wantin' an excuse to do some baking."

Ryo thought it over; it was true that he hadn't had much of a chance yet to try out the new oven beyond just cooking dinner, and the Halloween recipes had looked like fun, he wished he'd discovered them when Bikky was a kid. But maybe it wasn't necessary to have a kid to make them for, and why shouldn't they have a party? They could invite their friends from work, and maybe some of their neighbours too.

"Okay, sure, that sounds like a great idea."

"Yay!" Dee jumped up, punching the air. It was a good thing he'd finished his coffee, otherwise it would have gone everywhere.

"You're an even bigger kid than Bikky sometimes," Ryo chuckled. "Come on, we'd best get going or we'll be late for work. Maybe we can stop on the way home and pick up some decorations for the party. If we're going to do this we should do it right."

In the car on the way to work, Dee drove and they discussed what they'd need to get, with Ryo making a list; balloons, streamers, spooky paper plates and cups to save on the washing up, Halloween lights…

"You can get these pressure pad things to go under the doormat so every time someone steps on it there's screams and creepy laughter. Scare the life out of everyone before they even get through the door. Oh, and we'll need to get invitations too, so we can hand them out at work tomorrow. Won't be much of a party if there aren't any guests," Dee said with a grin.

Ryo scribbled quickly in his notepad. "Anything else?"

"Well, booze, and whatever ingredients you need to make the food. We should get hot dogs, put them in buns with plenty of ketchup and call them severed fingers."

"That's so gross!" Ryo laughed.

"And don't forget some grapes for eyeballs. We can have them starin' out of cups of green jello."

"I'll have to get some food colouring," Ryo muttered to himself.

The workday flew past because whenever they weren't focusing on one of their cases, they were making party plans. Even tracking down possible suspects was less of a chore as the argued good-naturedly over costumes.

They were worn out by the time they finally got home after work and the shopping trip, but they had plenty of decorations and everything Ryo needed to make a good selection of suitably creepy foods. Considering Dee had only suggested the party that morning, they were already well on the way to being organised.

The next morning they handed out ghost-shaped invitations to their friends, and they spent the next few evening after work putting up all the decorations, including festooning walls and furniture with fake cobwebs covered in equally fake spiders. They gave Ryo the creeps every time he caught sight of them from the corner of his eye, convinced the spiders were moving, and he flatly refused to have any in the bedroom. Naturally Dee thought it was hilarious.

Sunday and Monday Ryo devoted to baking, filling tins with meringue ghosts, eyeball cakes, freaky monsters, biscuits decorated with spider webs and pumpkins, and a whole bunch of other ghoulish treats. Dee helped by measuring out ingredients, and proved pretty good at icing the biscuits so Ryo left him to get on with it. He had more than enough other things to do.

By the morning of the thirty-first, all that was left was to prepare the finger sandwiches, hotdogs, and jello cups, and of course get into their costumes. Dee had said he was going with a traditional vampire outfit, because he planned to snack on Ryo's neck later, so Ryo figured he'd keep with the theme and be a bat. While Dee got changed in his and Ryo's bedroom, Ryo slipped into what would be Bikky's room when he was home. He was ready first and busied himself with laying out the rest of the food.

"What d'you think?" Dee asked from behind him. Ryo looked over his shoulder and almost screamed at the sight of the monstrous spider confronting him. The spider immediately burst out laughing. "You should've seen your face! You looked terrified!"

"You're such a bastard!" Ryo swatted his lover with the pack of paper plates he had in his hand. "You know I don't like spiders! Anyway, I thought you were going to be a vampire!"

"I was, but then I saw this and I couldn't resist it. I knew it would freak you out." He grinned unrepentantly as he eyed Ryo up and down. "Gotta say you make a very sexy bat." He moved in to kiss Ryo, who pushed him away with a frown.

"You don't deserve a kiss after that. Make yourself useful and get the jello monsters out of the fridge, they should be set by now and our guests will start arriving any minute."

Dee did as he was told, setting out the plastic cups of lime yellow with their staring eyeballs among the plates of sandwiches, cakes, and biscuits. Just before eight, he turned out the overhead lights, leaving the apartment lit only by strings of Halloween lights, the illuminated ghosts, skulls, and pumpkins dotted around on any convenient surface, and the TV, where an old black and white vampire movie was providing some additional atmosphere.

The guests started arriving a few minutes later; skeletons, vampires, demons, a creepy clown, two witches, a zombie, a mummy, a blood-spattered axe murderer complete with rubber axe, a mad scientist, Frankenstein's monster, a wolf-man, a cat, and a brightly colored wizard. That was JJ of course.

The party was soon in full swing and the spooky food was a great success. Dee had made sure there was a well-stocked bar to keep everyone well lubricated and that helped keep the festivities going into the early hours. It was well after two in the morning before the last of the guests finally trailed away to seek their beds.

Wearily Ryo started clearing up, putting what little was left of the food away and dumping paper plates, cups, and napkins into a trash bag along with any leftover that wouldn't keep. There was one meringue ghost left, so he ate it, hoping the sugar would give him the energy he needed. Dee turned the overhead lights back on, making Ryo blink owlishly in the sudden, much brighter light, and went around turning the Halloween lights off. He was a bit drunk and kept tripping on his spider legs, but somehow managed to staty on his feet.

"C'mon, that's enough," he said at last. "I'm beat; let's just turn in. We've done the important stuff; the rest can wait until mornin'."

Pushing a hand through his hair, Ryo looked over at his lover, torn between exhaustion and his usual reluctance to leave a mess. "Mm, I guess it can. It was a good party though." Ryo tied the top of the trash bag, carried it across the apartment and put it by the door before making sure everywhere was locked up for the night.

"Good? Are you crazy? It was awesome, and there were some great costumes! Jim cheated a bit, dressin' up as a mad scientist, that's pretty much what he wears for work anyway, and Drake kept comin' unravelled, but everyone got into the spirit of things." Walking towards Ryo, Dee stumbled over his extra legs again.

"Looks like a lot of the spirit got into you," Ryo teased. "You'll feel like hell in the morning."

"I didn't drink that much," Dee protested. "A few beers and a couple shots of tequila is all. I'm only tripping on my legs because people kept steppin' on 'em. I think they got a bit stretched."

Ryo laughed. "Just keep telling yourself that. Did you unplug all the lights?"

Dee nodded. "Every last set. I counted."

"Good. Bed then." Ryo started towards their bedroom. "I'll be glad to get out of this outfit; it looks good, but the wings get in the way. Every time I went to get something to eat, I kept nearly knocking things off the table."

Dee followed his lover, pausing in the doorway to take in the sight of Ryo in his costume. "Let me undress you?"

Looking back over his shoulder, Ryo watched Dee stalk towards him, the effect rendered a little ludicrous by his waving spider legs.

"I thought you said you were tired."

"I'm never too tired for some lovin'."

That was the truth; Dee could be dead on his feet but still ready, willing, and able if he could get Ryo in the mood. Still, Ryo wasn't about to give in that easily.

"It's a bit late for that, isn't it?"

"Not like we have to get up early," Dee said with a shrug that set his extra legs wiggling comically. They had one more day off. "Besides," he added, stopping just in front of his lover and giving Ryo his cheesiest grin, "bet you've never been seduced by a spider before!"

Ryo burst out laughing. "No I haven't, and I can honestly say I've never wanted to." He smiled at Dee, cupping his partner's jaw with one hand and running his thumb lightly over Dee's lips before kissing him softly. "But I'll make an exception for you."

Together, wrapped in each other's arms, they sank onto the bed to end the day in the best way they knew.

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The End