"How ugly are the costumes?" Hanako asked. "Are we just statues or like...hot statues?"
"These are just dark cloaks with hoods that have black fabric to cover our faces," Jack explained. "You think they're ugly? I thought they were pretty neutral."
He smirked. "Want me to run to the store and go get you a fairy costume instead, Mr. Picky?"
"You'd think most things are neutral when it comes to aesthetics," he sighed dramatically.
Then he grinned, playfully shoving Jack's shoulder. "That wouldn't be a very scary thing to scare the kids with, would it? How long are we going to stand?"
The redhead bristled a little at that. "I mean, it's black. Black is a neutral color, isn't it?"
Casting Hanako an incredulous, half-lidded stare, he answered, "I was being sarcastic."
Then he gestured to the chair between them with the candy bowl on it. "You can sit whenever you like."
"Midnight black...off-black...navy black..." Hanako teased. "Really, Burnett...it could change the whole outfit, really. And I wanted to take the opportunity to boast about my looks in any way I could."
He folloed Jack's gesture with his gaze. "Ahhh..." Staring at the chair, he blinked. "Oh wait, are we doing this now?"
Jack stared at his peer in disbelief.
"What? Black is black! Those other colors are dark blues or grays! Anyway, since when did you become a fashion ex-" He paused, remembering Hanako had become a model since their school days together. "...Nevermind. The point of this is not to boast about your looks. It's about scaring trick-or-treaters."
He looked from the walkway back to his former schoolmate. "...When did you think we were doing it?"
Hanako laughed, amused. "I can multitask~" he assured Jack.
"Uhm...I don't know...maybe after I fix my make-up..." the Japanese boy said. "You do know kids are nasty these days. What if they take revenge and pull these things off of us?" he asked dramatically.
"Yeah. Because a vain, boasting grim reaper or dementor or whatever is sooo scary." The hazel-eyed young man shook his head.
Then he stared at Hanako and laughed at his question. "You are a lunatic. Did you eat too much candy?"
Hanako's laughter echoed Jack's. "Hm..." He chuckled. "Might...be the new coffee place I tried out today on the way back from work. I couldn't resist. The sales guy promoting the place was cute~" the noiret joked, taking one of the cloaks and trying it on.
The redhead put on his own cloak, shaking his head. "Do you even do anything with all those people you think are cute?" he inquired.
"Anything...like what?" Hanako asked. He pulled out his phone, trying to take a photo of Jack once he was done putting on his cloak.
Jack noticed Hanako with the phone and put on his hood as fast as he could to avoid getting a picture of his face taken. "Hey!! What are you trying to do?!" he exclaimed.
"Relax...this is just going to stay in my phone gallery to look back on," he laughed, showing Jack the screen for a moment. "Aw, see? Don't you look cute?"
"...Why do you want a picture of me dressed as some ambiguous, black hooded figure in your phone gallery? You can't even tell it's me."
Hanako put his phone away. "What else except to save it as a wallpaper and kiss it good morning every day?" he chuckled. "Perfect, then~ I'll never need to be jealous when someone looks at my screen. Our little secret; isn't that sweet?" he joked, sitting down on a chair before taking a piece of candy and unwrapping it.
Jack's complexion turned extremely red. He was grateful he was wearing a mask as he moved to mock-strangle Hanako and shake him.
"Gac- psft-" Hanako instinctively just grabbed Jack's sleeve and let Jack shake him. "Jesttt! it was jesttt!" he laughed a bit. "Maybe I was just giving examples of what I do to cute people!"
Jack released Hanako and shoved him away. "Don't tease me like that," he said bitterly, turning back to the candy bowl to refill it with more candy. "Or anyone, for that matter. You never know who might take you seriously."
"Hmm..." Hanako fixed his robes. "Once I start, it's hard to stop. Besides, I don't particularly believe anyone's naïve enough to believe me. Even if they were, I'd just see them once and never again." He shrugged. "So- when do we start acting like real statues instead of talking ones?"
The redhead stiffend and grit his teeth. "Some people aren't that easy to run away from. Besides, it would have been your fault for leading them on. You can't tell someone something and then abandon them for trusting you."
He threw Hanako's hood at him. "Maybe when you put that on and shut up for once."
"Hm...couldn't I...?" He mumbled under his breath, not looking at Jack.
At the hood being thrown at him, he raised his eyebrow. "You can't actually be upset, can you?"
He was silent for a time.
"...There are people in this city who know how to track you down wherever you go," Jack said seriously after a while. "Bad people. And if they can't catch you somehow, they'll go after your loved ones. My parents didn't die on accident."
Any trace of a grin on Hanako's face faltered. "Are you...telling me what I think...you're telling me?"
"What I'm telling you is a warning. Be careful who you slight. You can't always run from your problems. I would know. I tried and paid the price."
He was glad he didn't have to smile behind his hooded mask as he passed out candy to the first group of trick-or-treaters that showed up at their front door. They were mostly very little children, so he refrained from trying to scare them. Besides, he was too lost in miserable memories to bother.
Hanako wanted the ground to swallow him. Goddamnit, Burnett! Maybe it was a bad idea to drink coffee. Still, he couldn't just sit here without saying anything after that bomb was dropped.
"So...." Hanako was wearing the hood but didn't glance in Jack's direction. "ssssssssooo uh no, what I meant to say is probably tha.." ...this was hard. "Haan...Okay, you know what? I don't know whether or not you said that because you're mad or 'cause you were worried or whatever. I'll hm...I'll - be a little more careful."
"Good. Thanks," Jack answered, sounding slightly relieved. Then he set the candy bowl down between them. "Now hurry up and be quiet. There are some teenagers coming over."
"......." Hanako blinked under the hood, but got into position. However, eventually, when he felt the teenagers taking their sweet time, he whispered, "Is that it? That's all you're gonna say?" He hissed, still pretending to be a statue.
"...Was there something else you wanted me to say?" he muttered under his breath.
"Was 'good, thanks' the only thing you want to tell me?"
Jack made a sudden movement, as if to grab a teenager's wrist when they reached for the candy bowl. They yelped and pulled back their hand only for them and their friends to laugh when they realized Jack was a person in a costume. They then took their candy and left.
Shortly after they had gone, Jack turned around and pulled off his hooded mask to look at Hanako with a red face that could have been flushed because of having been inside a mask - or for other reasons.
"You want to know if I'm mad? I'm not. Not at you, anyway. You don't...know any better." His anger seemed to ebb even as he spoke those words. "But I don't need other people close to me getting hurt because they know me, either. I left this city for six - almost seven years, so the people who had it out for me have probably long since forgotten about me. Or, at the very least, stopped bothering with me enough to want track me down or look me up, much less who I'm close to. Just...don't give them reason to. Okay?"
Hanako totally forgot about what they were there to do and ended up looking like a normal statue. He remained still while Jack talked, seemingly stunned at his answer.
"...If...you had people like that here...in the city...why'd you come back?"
Jack was silent for a time. Then, sighing, he said, "Closure, I guess. I...felt like I was running away when I left even though it wasn't my choice. I was made to stay with someone who could take care of me until I was legal and my godfather was in Wales, so that was where I was sent to go live. Maybe it was a good thing, too, because...with my parents gone..."
He shook his head. "I had nothing grounding me anymore. I was...untethered. Like a mad dog. And I almost definitely would have done something stupid if I had been allowed to stay here."
Looking back at Hanako, he uttered a bitter laugh. "Regretting your roommate choice now?"
Hanako was so glad he was still wearing a mask then.
"Um, weeeelllll," He let out a dry laugh, shrugging. "The experience has been a 9.2 out of 10 so far. I suppose it depends hm..." He hesitated.
"You got something that's grounding you now?"
Jack went quiet again. Then he put his mask back on.
"I dunno. I guess so. Maybe."
"...Hahah...well..." He nodded his head under the costume. "That's good enough for me. You're a lot less of a coward than I am then, at least. Coming back and all." He shrugged, pausing.
"...For the record, I'm glad you're back. 9.2 is a ridiculously high grade I can give to a roommate. I'm pretty picky. How can I regret a roommate that offers ideas to scare teenagers on a Halloween night just because?" Hanako laughed lightly.
"Being a coward was what got my parents killed in the first place," Jack replied. "If I hadn't tried to run away from them, they might still be alive. So...never again."
Then he scoffed in grim amusement. "That's why I have such a high grade?" He shook his head. "You're not even doing any scaring. Get over here. It's Halloween for goodness' sake."
Hanako wished he had never said anything, so he didn't reply to the first of Jack's statements. Instead, he moved on to the roommate part.
"Among other things. Giving away that demonic furball might've helped the rating." He shrugged, trying to hide a breath of relief under his mask. "Fine, fine~"
And with that, they spent the rest of Halloween night scaring away anyone but younger children. Hanako was eternally grateful the mention of parents was not brought up again.
flowykid
