Lamb skewers were obviously impossible.

Lucien failed to locate a metal rod large enough to stab through himself convincingly, so after an hour of scrolling through Halloween ideas and aggressively overthinking everything, he settled on the safest option available.

Vampire.

Classic.

Reliable.

Impossible to mess up.

It was his first Halloween abroad, and the excitement got to him immediately. He ordered far too many costume accessories online, including fake fangs, dramatic eyeliner, red contact lenses he absolutely failed to put in, and an unnecessarily expensive black-and-red cape that looked much cooler in the product photos.

The city had already transformed days before the holiday even started. Houses along the street glowed beneath orange string lights, fake skeletons hung from porches, and carved pumpkins sat outside apartment buildings like tiny glowing guardians watching pedestrians pass below.

Lucien and his roommate finished their pumpkin decorations too. They even attempted homemade pumpkin pastries afterward, though half of them came out shaped like tragic orange rocks.

Lucien wrapped several pieces carefully anyway.

Some for Jamie.

And maybe some for Leon.

Leon had invited him to dinner on Halloween night.

Not a party.

Not a group thing.

Just dinner.

The realization kept returning at random moments throughout the day and making Lucien weirdly restless.

Would a high-end restaurant even allow a vampire inside?

By late afternoon, Lucien started getting ready.

Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea how makeup worked.

Ten disastrous minutes later, he somehow managed to smear eyeliner onto his eyebrow and nearly blinded himself with setting spray.

His roommate finally grabbed him by the shoulders and physically dragged him toward the bathroom mirror.

"Move," he said. "You're committing crimes against cosmetics."

Lucien sat obediently while his roommate fixed the damage with the exhausted patience of somebody rescuing a doomed art project.

"You have ridiculous skin," his roommate muttered while brushing powder lightly across Lucien's face. "Honestly makes me want to kiss you a little."

Lucien stared at him in horror.

His roommate burst out laughing.

"I'm joking."

"Not funny," Lucien muttered immediately.

The eyeliner ended up darker and sharper than Lucien expected. His naturally round eyes looked bigger afterward, glossy and black beneath the dim dorm lighting. The only other thing his roommate added was deep red lip tint that made Lucien look exactly like somebody who had recently bitten into a human throat.

"There," his roommate announced proudly. "If you walked up to strangers like this and asked for blood, they'd probably volunteer."

Lucien looked at himself in the mirror and immediately felt dramatic.

The cape looked much less intimidating than he imagined, though.

On Leon, something like this would probably look dangerous.

On Lucien, it mostly looked expensive and slightly theatrical.

Maybe the problem was his size.

He glanced down at his wrist.

Too thin.

Leon could probably snap it without effort.

The thought arrived so suddenly and vividly that Lucien immediately jerked his gaze away from himself in the mirror.

Whatever.

He didn't need to look intimidating anyway.

He wasn't trying to conquer kingdoms.

By the time he finished getting dressed, the sky outside had already darkened into deep blue.

Leon originally wanted to pick him up, but Lucien refused immediately.

It wasn't a date.

Why did people need to be picked up for regular dinners?

So instead he checked the subway route himself and headed out alone.

At first he worried his costume might look ridiculous on public transportation.

Then he entered the station and realized he had severely underestimated Halloween in America.

The subway looked less like public transit and more like an active supernatural outbreak.

Bodies packed shoulder to shoulder beneath flashing station lights while costumes collided in every direction. Somebody dressed as a blood-covered nurse nearly hit him with a foam axe. A skeleton turned suddenly beside him and scared years off his lifespan. One clown smiled at him with fake gore running down his face while a zombie businessman argued loudly with Darth Vader near the subway doors.

Lucien stood trapped in the middle clutching the railing like prey abandoned in monster territory.

He should've let Leon pick him up.

Absolutely should've.

A hand brushed suddenly against his waist.

Lucien startled hard and turned instinctively, but before he could react, an arm wrapped firmly around him and pulled him backward against a solid chest.

Then a familiar voice drifted low beside his ear.

"Surprise."

Warm breath touched the side of his neck.

"Look what I found," Leon murmured. "A little vampire."

Lucien's eyes widened immediately.

Leon.

He twisted around inside Leon's hold, only to freeze all over again.

Because Leon was also dressed as a vampire.

Disaster.

Actual disaster.

They matched.

Lucien swallowed hard.

Leon's costume looked nothing like Lucien's cheap internet version. His cape fell nearly to the floor, black fabric lined with deep crimson that shifted darkly beneath the subway lights. Red contacts transformed his gray-blue eyes into something colder and far more dangerous, while his blond hair had been pushed neatly back away from his face, exposing sharp cheekbones and the hard line of his jaw.

He didn't look like somebody attending Halloween.

He looked like the kind of ancient vampire king other monsters feared instinctively.

Lucien suddenly understood how peasants in medieval villages probably felt before getting eaten.

"How are you here?" he asked weakly.

Leon smiled slightly.

"There's only one subway line from your dorm to the restaurant."

Lucien opened his mouth.

Closed it again.

What he actually wanted to ask was why Leon had chosen to ride the subway at all when he obviously could've driven.

Why come all the way here just to stand packed into a train beside him?

But he never asked.

Instead he muttered, "Why are you dressed as a vampire too?"

Leon adjusted one cuff calmly.

"Guess we had the same idea."

Lucien became deeply aware of the height difference between them.

Matching costumes were dangerous enough already.

Matching costumes while Leon towered over him like an actual immortal predator made Lucien feel less like a vampire and more like decorative emotional support prey.

Leon watched every expression move across Lucien's face and almost lost control laughing.

"What?" he asked innocently. "You hate matching with me?"

"No."

Too quick.

Too defensive.

Leon's smile deepened immediately.

Lucien glared up at him, only to get shoved forward suddenly when another passenger pushed through the crowd behind him.

Before he could catch himself, his face slammed directly into Leon's chest.

And unfortunately, Leon had chosen tonight of all nights to wear a black shirt unbuttoned obscenely low beneath the cape.

Lucien's mouth landed directly against bare skin.

Specifically, directly against Leon's chest.

Perfectly centered.

A horrifying level of accuracy.

Lucien's entire soul left his body.

He lifted his head slowly.

Leon looked down at him with unmistakable amusement burning behind those red contacts.

"I wasn't—"

Lucien stopped.

Because there was now a visible lipstick stain pressed directly against Leon's chest.

His roommate's lip tint was apparently industrial strength.

Panic exploded instantly.

"I'm sorry," Lucien blurted, reaching up automatically. "I'll fix it—"

He started wiping frantically.

Unfortunately, rubbing it only made things worse.

His fingers dragged repeatedly across Leon's chest while the stain smeared slowly beneath his touch.

Leon went very still.

Lucien continued rubbing at his skin with increasing desperation.

Then Leon caught his wrist.

"Enough."

His voice sounded rougher now.

Lucien blinked up at him nervously.

"Are you mad?"

Leon exhaled slowly.

"No."

Because if Lucien kept touching him like that for another thirty seconds, there was going to be a very visible problem inside Leon's pants.

Lucien lowered his gaze accidentally toward the place he'd been rubbing.

Even through the shirt, Leon's chest still looked unfairly solid beneath his hand.

Different from arm muscles somehow.

Hard, but not stiff.

Warm.

Lucien stared a second too long.

Leon noticed immediately.

So he likes this part the most.

Interesting.

If Lucien had a little more courage, Leon would gladly let him bite there too.

The subway ride became the longest experience of Lucien's entire life.

By the time they escaped onto the street, he looked emotionally exhausted.

The restaurant still sat several blocks away, but the Halloween parade passed through the main square nearby, so Lucien insisted on walking.

Leon agreed instantly.

The streets looked completely insane.

Ghosts, monsters, witches, angels, demons, and drunken college students flooded the sidewalks beneath glowing lights while music thundered from somewhere deeper inside the city.

And somehow, despite all that chaos, people still stared at them.

Because Leon looked terrifyingly beautiful and Lucien looked like the world's most kidnappable vampire.

Someone nearby lifted a phone for photos.

"Oh my God," a girl whispered loudly to her friend. "They look so good together."

Lucien nearly combusted immediately.

Together where?

Together how?

They were not together.

Absolutely not.

Leon glanced sideways at him.

"You're distracted."

Before Lucien could answer, Leon caught his wrist gently.

"If I don't hold onto you," he said, "you're gonna walk straight into a tree."

"I would not."

Leon ignored him completely.

His grip shifted lower until their fingers slid together naturally, large hand wrapping fully around Lucien's smaller one.

Lucien's brain stopped functioning.

They were holding hands now.

Somehow Leon made everything feel effortless, like this had always been normal.

Lucien tried calming himself immediately.

Americans were just affectionate.

That was all.

People kissed casually here.

Holding hands probably meant absolutely nothing.

Unfortunately, that logic became impossible to maintain while Leon's rough palm stayed warm around his own.

Every tiny movement dragged calluses lightly against Lucien's skin.

His entire body became hyperaware of it.

By the time they reached the crowded square, Lucien barely remembered how walking worked anymore.

A massive parade float rolled slowly through the street carrying performers dressed as ghost brides while candy rained down into the crowd.

Lucien's attention shifted instantly.

He dragged Leon toward the edge of the street with obvious excitement.

Several candies flew directly toward Lucien's face.

Leon caught them easily before they hit him.

Then, instead of handing them over, he tilted his head slightly and asked,

"Trick or treat?"

Lucien pressed his lips together.

Then suddenly bared his teeth at Leon dramatically.

A tiny fake vampire threat.

Leon went completely silent.

Lucien's face looked soft even while pretending to act fierce. Dark eyes bright beneath the city lights, red mouth parted slightly around fake fangs, cheeks pale beneath his makeup.

Leon suddenly understood why vampires in stories lost control around blood.

Because Lucien kept looking at him like temptation wrapped in silk and bad decisions.

Why does he always look kissable?

Lucien started feeling awkward when Leon didn't react immediately.

Just as he prepared to laugh it off, Leon reached forward and caught his chin gently between his fingers.

Lucien froze.

Leon tilted his face upward slightly while studying him beneath the flashing lights.

Those red contacts made his gaze feel genuinely dangerous now.

"A vampire without fangs," Leon murmured softly. "How exactly are you planning to drink blood?"

His thumb brushed lightly against Lucien's lower lip.

Lucien's breath caught immediately.

Leon's eyes lowered briefly toward his mouth.

The fake fangs looked harmless.

Lucien probably couldn't even bite hard enough to break skin.

Leon imagined sliding two fingers into that pretty mouth just to watch Lucien panic.

The thought hit hard enough that he almost smiled.

"It's okay," he said.

Then he leaned closer.

"You can bite me."