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Owen was still shaken up from the incident with the giant spiders, but was trying to shake it off and resume being excited for Halloween. ... Key word being trying. He had already been afraid of spiders, and now that he knew there were giant ones out there, waiting for the chance to eat him, it was all he could do not to jump out of his skin at every single noise he heard.

But he had better things to do today than hide in his apartment and hope there weren't any nasties out there waiting to munch on him. He was meeting Bailey to go shopping for Halloween candy. He was too old to trick-or-treat any more (or at least that's what he tried to tell himself; it was time to move on to better things. Like cosplay.), but candy was candy, and some of the best things were available this year.

...Besides, he needed to talk to Bailey about a few things, and this would be as good a time as any.

The candy store he'd asked her to meet him at was pretty busy, and it was easy to see why when he noticed there was a giveaway going on. Expression thoughtful, he snagged two pieces, just in case they ran out before Bailey got here. Free candy wasn't much of a present, but maybe she'd like to share with him anyway?

"Hey Bailey!" Owen greeted, offering a smile that was perhaps a little shakier than he'd like. "No trouble on the way here?" Please no more spiders. Please. "As for busy, I.. guess it's because of the free candy? I grabbed one for both of us, if you wanna try it?" He smiled at her, holding out the brightly-wrapped treat. "I haven't eaten mine yet - I thought... maybe we could try them at the same time?" He hadn't really thought about it until now, but meeting up like this was kind of like a date, wasn't it? It would be even better if Daniel was here, though - oh. Maybe they could bring him by some of the candy they picked up? He definitely needed something to cheer him up, after how sad he'd been lately.

"I.. .think he's got other things that might have him more upset," Owen said, frowning a little as he sighed. "But maybe some candy will help!" He wasn't going to discuss his worries about their mutual friend-and-maybe-more here, not when there were so many people around. He hoped it would, anyway, and snuck another piece off the giveaway tray when no-one was looking.

"... Maybe we should test it out before we try to bring it to him, though. Just in case it's awful." He didn't want to bring Daniel bad candy, after all, that was worse than bringing him none! It really wasn't just because he wanted to try the candy himself and was getting tired of waiting. (Okay... maybe it was, just a little, but a little wasn't enough to mean it meant all of it!)

"Nah, that's... well, what happened there may be a part of it," Owen acknowledged, shivering, "Though less because of the things and more because of what happened to us." Bailey bitten and sick, himself scared half out of his mind - no, that couldn't be helping. "I think it's... more tied to that bad dream we all had. And maybe his family? Not sure, but we need to sit him down together and talk to him sometime."

He shrugged, then popped his own candy in his mouth. Oh. Oh wow, that was really good. He enjoyed it in silence for a long moment, then swallowed it and gave the free tray a considering look. "What brand is that? I may have to buy some to take home for Mom, as good as it is..."

"Maybe," Owen agreed when his own wrapper turned up nothing. "That is kind of weird, though. C'mon, let's look through the shelves - maybe we'll find something interesting to take ho-" He cut his sentence off abruptly as a sharp pain spiked through his mouth, centered in one of his teeth. It hurt, hurt badly enough that he recoiled and slammed a hand to the side of his face with a moan.

It felt like...

Like the time he had a really bad cavity, and had to have a root canal. But - but he'd just been to the dentist less than a month ago and had gotten the all-clear? Why was he - why did it hurt so much. "O-owww...." He looked to Bailey, wondering what he should do. He didn't want to worry her but this hurt!

"It - it feels like a cavity but - my last checkup was fine and it came out of nowhere and - " Owen cut his sentence off with another moan. "I don't know what's going on!" He wasn't going to cry. He wasn't. He was a teenager now and it wasn't mature to cry over a little toothache, no matter how much it hurt. And he'd done enough crying lately anyway, thanks to the giant spiders... Ow, ow ow ow, a toothache just before Halloween was not fair!

"I - maybe," Owen said, biting down another moan of pain. He really just wanted to go home and take something to make it hurt less, but it might be a good idea to look, first... and then Bailey started crying. Oh no. Oh no, not her too! "It - it must be the candy," he said, whimpering and tugging Bailey into a corner of the candy store, holding a hand to his cheek as he gave up on trying not to cry himself. "It - with everything else that's been going on, maybe - maybe it's... it's cursed or something... owwwwww...."

"Y-yeah, I think so," Owen managed to say as another whine escaped him. "The rest of this candy's probably dangerous, too." And he definitely wasn't going to give that extra free piece to Daniel! He had far too much to deal with already, he didn't need a cursed candy giving him a toothache on top of it! "Can - can I come with you? I don't really want to go home; Mom's at work again and our apartment's way too quiet when I'm alone."

...Besides, being in pain was bad enough. Being in pain and having to deal with it all alone? So much worse.