#(Pogue like ''Why wasn't I invited to this?!'' xD)

[in--somnium]

Pogue was trying to keep up a relaxed vibe. His voice was doing a good job of exactly that- no tell tale signs of distress or discomfort. Keeping his posture doing the same was much harder. He felt tense, his muscles rigid as if afraid. His parents were good people, overall. He shouldn't be so worried about talking about them. But he also knew that there were things about them that were… less great. Like the way his father hit him when he was pissed off. Or the times he'd called his son a "fag" for even the smallest things. Keeping his hair long had been his one, major, defiance and while his father threatened to cut it off in his sleep, his mother stood by him on it ("It's the trend now. Besides, his hair frames his face nicely." His mother had said. Only for his father to reply with a rant about emasculation and "effeminate" men like the way other people chose to live their lives was a blight on his otherwise perfect little world). 

But they didn't need to know any of that. Even Jayn didn't need to know any of that. It was just how his parents were. He could live with it. He had for this long, after all.

"It was nice talking to the both of you, too," Pogue replied politely. He had a feeling the conversation had gone well. That was good- he wanted them to like him.

Soon, the goodbyes were said and he felt a weight lift off of his shoulders. He'd survived it and he'd only had to give the most basic of information about his parents. Good.

Pogue chuckled when Jayn pressed her face to his stomach and screamed. She must have been holding that in for a while. "Your parents sound great. I'd love to get to meet them some day," He said honestly. A real conversation, maybe dinner. The only thing that worried him was, again, the topic of his family. But he was particularly good at steering conversation away from himself by now. It was always easier to do in person, too.

Though Jayn seemed to have realized something was wrong because, while Pogue had thought the worst of it was over, his girlfriend asked a question that hit him so hard he felt like he'd been punched in the stomach.

Again, he tensed up a bit, though he tried to let it slip from him quick enough that hopefully she wouldn't notice.

"It's nothing, baby," He assured her, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. "They're just boring and my dad works a lot." Both of which were true, but neither of which were the truth she was seeking.

Luckily for Pogue, before anything more could be asked of him, Tyler and Aaron were coming their way. Haunted House over. Judging by the laughter and their need to catch their breath, either they'd had fun or they'd snuck off and had sex. He assumed the prior was correct, though the latter was far more amusing.

The last leg of the haunted house had included portraits with moving eyes and, eventually, “ghosts” (holographic projections of some sort) that had swooped down at them, cackling and disorienting against the dark backdrop of the room. The Devil himself had appeared in the final moments to welcome them into the hellish “fires” (accompanied by an uncomfortable heat) that danced against the wall, a gaping door into the unknown and then… they were free. Tyler thought it fitting considering how much of a hell the actual world could be anyway, but he wasn’t here to try to analyze a haunted house on Halloween. He was just glad he was back in the light. Or, as much light as there was considering the evening had started to settle in.

"Welcome back to the world of the living. We could hear your screaming all the way out here, ya big babies," Pogue teased good naturedly, and Tyler reached out to playfully punch him in the shoulder. 

"It was pretty great," Ty answered. He wrapped an arm around Aaron and leaned into his boyfriend a bit. "Not as good as the one Junior year of high school, though. I swear I almost pissed myself when that guy lunged out at us that year. Remember that? If he'd been any closer, I think Reid would have actually punched him," He recalled, laughing at the memory. 

Gore didn't bother Cassia much. Neither did the scarier parts of the haunted house- people jumping out at them or grabbing for them. Low lights. Cracks of thunder. Loud noises. Cass was able to keep a level head about it all, remember it was all in good fun, nothing to actually be scared of. Each scream or shout of fear from her was quickly replaced with a small bout of laughter at her own reactions. She was having fun, without a doubt. And by the time they reached the narrow hallway, she was overcome with a sense of thrill that led her to be prepared to take the lead even before Caleb had offered it to her.

The dim lighting and the adrenaline had both been doing a good job of keeping her mind occupied enough that she hadn't yet noticed just how anxious Caleb was. It wasn't until he spoke that she caught on to that edge in his voice, that slight breathlessness.

She wasn’t sure what was wrong, but he was clearly feeling uneasy. Had something scared him? Well, it was a haunted house and the point was to be scared of course, but… had something actually, truly, unnerved him?

She wanted to ask, to make sure he was okay, but she also didn't want to question it or say anything that might make him more uncomfortable. Clearly he was trying to keep his discomfort hidden. So she kept the realization to herself for now and, instead, made a mental note to keep the lead so she could assure he wasn't getting the brunt of whatever was to come.

She also may have… used the smallest bit of her powers on him in the moment before they slipped through the narrow passage. She kissed his cheek and used the moment to offer him a bit of silent reassurance with her powers to soothe his anxieties. Not enough that he'd suddenly feel fine, but hopefully enough to take the edge off. Her father had, for a long time, told her that it wasn't okay to manipulate emotions with her powers- just because she could didn't mean she should. But small things like this couldn't cause any harm, right? And the contact of her lips to his skin was the perfect catalyst for it. Usually she was subtle enough that people didn’t even question why they suddenly felt just a bit less unsteady. She assumed it would be the same with Caleb. After all, emotions come and go. They settle down or rise back up. It wouldn’t be a far stretch to think that the little kiss of reassurance that she’d given him was enough to put him a bit more at ease.

Or… so she hoped.

Hoping that he felt just a bit better now, she took the lead as he’d suggested. Careful footsteps, glancing back from time to time to try to see him despite the knowledge that it was too dark to catch a glimpse at him. And then she stepped out into more dim lighting, an eerie, moonlit glow settled over the “greenhouse” they were now in.

It took Cassia only a few seconds to realize what was going on in this room- Zombies.

Of course the realization came when the dead body on the ground suddenly grabbed for her ankle and she screamed, reeled back, and bumped right into Caleb. Zombies didn’t freak her out, actually, but that guy had been made to look like he was literally cut in half! She hadn’t expected him to suddenly come alive! That had actually, sincerely, scared the hell out of her. Even so, she found that small bit of laughter bubbling up again, especially now that she had her back pressed to Caleb and could feel the warmth and safety of him right there against her.

“C’mon! This way!” She told him, pointing towards the obvious exit on the other side of the room. It took them a minute to maneuver past the zombified actors, growling and snarling and making their way in a slow, ominous, gait towards them. But they finally made it, Caleb’s hand securely back in her own, and they passed into the next room.

An art gallery.

Admittedly, Cassia was super impressed. The paintings and sculptures were really well done. The art department for this haunted house had really gone all out! She wished she could have taken pictures to show to Jayn- she thought the other girl would have appreciated how lovely these works were, even if they were meant to look sort of faded and cobwebbed and… was the guy in that painting looking directly at her? And, oh shit! Did that statue just move?!

A (fake) sword was brought down close to Caleb and Cassia was quick to tug him out of the way (even though, realistically, the actor was going to miss on purpose, anyway). Then the ghosts began to flicker out of the artwork, swooping at them as they moaned or cackled or even screamed.

How freaking cool was that?! She’d been to her share of haunted houses, but the effects they were using in this one were killer!

Finally, they slipped from the art gallery into a dark room with a warm, reddish, glow and an exit that looked like you were walking straight through fire. The Devil greeted them and Cass stopped walking entirely. She had a feeling this was the end of the haunted house, the scariest parts done but a final message, of sorts, being offered. The “Devil”’s fully black eyes and that pointy-toothed grin were, quite honestly, unsettling. Something about it didn’t sit right with her, but she couldn’t explain it. She tucked herself against Caleb’s side and, gently coaxing him in a wide berth around the actor, then they walked through the “flames” into a dark void that, soon, led them right outside.

She blinked against the brighter light of being back outdoors, and felt that discomfort of the last few moments finally dissipate. She looked to Caleb, smiled wide, then finally leaned up to steal a kiss. “We’re definitely doing that again next year!” The unintentional implication that they’d still be together this time next year. They hadn’t been together for long yet, but, even so, she really did hope that they’d still be together next year. Maybe longer, even. But she didn’t have time to find a way to take it back or apologize or anything before she heard a shout of Caleb’s name.

“Caleb! Cass! Over here!” She looked towards the voice and caught Pogue waving them over with a big smile on his face.

“We shouldn’t keep them waiting,” She said, then, just because she still felt a bit buzzed from the adrenaline, she kissed Caleb once more before leading him towards the others.

Now it was just a matter of waiting for Reid to show up before they could move on.

So far, so good. Jayn was, for the moment, a nervous wreck. She was listening to Pogue, obviously, but she was also weighing each sentence against what she knew her parents were each thinking. As his girlfriend, she hoped to all the gods who were out there that her parents were fine with his reply. As his friend, she was curious to see what he said, just because he hadn't really talked about his parents around her before. She doubted that they were racist because he'd dated Kate for as long as he had...but that was all she knew.

Okay...a stay-at-home mom who liked interior design, and a dad who owned a profitable construction company...that didn't sound bad. Jayn didn't think her parents would have a problem with any of that. Then why was she getting weird vibes? She racked her brain, wondering what terrible secrets his parents could be hiding. Obviously, there was the witch thing, but that wasn't really "bad"--plus, she and her parents already knew about that. Jayn wondered and wondered until she was nudged out of her thoughts by the little kiss Pogue sat on top of her head. It was basically a reflex, the way she leaned into it and then into his side.

"Well, it sounds like they both like what they do. That's important, especially when you get to our age," Jayn's mom said, and the smile she had was perfectly audible. Her kid breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "Alright, I know my daughter's probably wondering when we'll let you go since she loves Halloween so much...it was nice to talk to you, Pogue."

"Use a webcam next time! I want to see who my little girl's running around with," Mr. Hardy added, though he was clearly in a good mood, too. Jayn was unamused. "Alright, goodnight."

"Night, Dad. Night, Mom. Love you." And then the call was finally over. Jayn put her phone away, pressed her face into her boyfriend's stomach, and let out a weak scream, ever the dramatic. "...thanks for...not thinking they're weird," she muttered, looking up at him. She sort of wanted to ask when she was going to meet his parents, but she worried if it was too soon. There was a difference between him talking to her parents for a few minutes, and her going over to have dinner with the Parrys. And what if his parents didn't like her for some reason? How much did they even know about--

That was how she figured out why the topic of his parents seemed strange. She knew that Reid's mom doted on his two younger sisters, who annoyed him even though he was always making himself available for rom-coms and dating advice. She knew that Ty's family was Jewish and that his dad was the cook while his mom was the baker. She knew a decent amount about Caleb's family because she lived with them. But she didn't know anything about Pogue's parents (besides their careers) because he never brought them up. Jayn bit her lip, worried.

"Pogue? What aren't you telling me about them?" A tiny part of her brain whispered that they were serial killers. Hopefully, that was the dumb part.

Caleb was usually more into mysteries and historical fiction than anything else, especially when the two genres were combined (The Three Musketeers and anything involving Sherlock Holmes were his favorites). Books focusing on romance and intense worldbuilding didn't do it for him. But since he'd found out that his crush, his girlfriend, was the daughter of an urban fantasy author, he decided to try something different. He'd started reading Mr. Keller's novels a couple of weeks after the girls had met him and the others at Nicky's when the book club had been formed. He had only just finished the first book in the series, so he was in no shape to join Cassia, Jayn, Reid, and Ty's meetings...but that didn't mean he couldn't learn a little about the latest addition to the magical story. He was horribly curious that way, wanting to hear as much as he could until there were spoilers.

Thankfully, his curiosity was shushed and nudged to the side when the haunted house became his main focus. He followed Cassia's lead toward the next exit and...ugh. Gore didn't freak him out as much as it disgusted him (there was one of the two reasons why he'd chosen law over medicine). His eyes went straight from the macabre "corpses" that decorated the room, to the walls, so he could look for the exit. Just as he thought he spotted a way out, an actor lunged at him and Cassia, startling him so badly that his doubled portion of the Power reared its ugly head. If he'd been in a room with better lighting, his black sclera would've stood out and scared the shit out of Cass. Thankfully, he reigned in his magic before it could do anything more than make the dim lightbulbs flicker. He managed to tug his girlfriend in the right direction, through some fake cobwebs and past some thunder-and-lightning SFX that poked at his already-shaky skeleton.

Caleb was starting to feel lightheaded. The logical part of his brain, which was buried underneath the worries about that case study he had due in a week, told him that he should probably breathe, as opposed to...well, not breathing. He tried to catch his breath as quietly as possible, not wanting to upset Cassia. After all, she couldn't help him not have anxiety issues. She couldn't erase Chase from his mind any more than she could take the stress out of his brain cells. So he just clenched his jaw and kept going, like he always did, until he realized that the passageway was forcing them into a single-file line. Even if he'd been ten years younger, he wouldn't be able to keep Cass by his side as they moved on to the next room.

"After you," he managed, hoping that she didn't hear how shallowly he was breathing. He would've gone first, but he was busy trying to get himself together. They'd all been having so much fun with the games and conversations...Caleb hadn't even considered how much the haunted house would really affect him. He only ever felt as fragile as he did after he'd had a nightmare, or when his course load was getting to him because he forgot to take his medication.

It was amazing how something as simple as a kiss from his boyfriend could make Aaron feel tough. Then again, he'd stopped having problems with his confidence not long after he had come out. Whatever was going on inside him, Aaron was enjoying his Halloween date with Tyler...even if he kept squealing like a kid every time a fake zombie jumped out from the shadows. And when the actor grabbed his ankle, he let out more than just a squeal.

"SHIIIIT!" he screamed, literally jumping back into Tyler's arms. He blinked, realizing how close Tyler's face was to his, and snogged him properly before he looked for the next exit. "Over here!" He led the way through the creepy greenhouse, and out into some kind of ancient art gallery. There were the paintings you'd see in Scooby Doo, with the eyes that moved if you looked closely, and then there were worn-down statues going all down the hall. At least one was bound to be an actor in cracked grey makeup, so Aaron braced himself as he kept moving forward.

Reid was excited and had a little grin to prove it. Whoever was in charge of the haunted house did a great job, as far as he was concerned. He could see the story behind it all: zombies, or some kind of menacing creature, had rampaged through some rich family's house, and he was the nosy person who decided to check out the crime scene. Cool!

"Reid? Damn, is that you?" He paused, as did the "bloody" guy who was supposed to be scaring him. They looked each other over, then chuckled in recognition.

"Hey, Mar." Marley was Reid (and sometimes Tyler)'s very reliable weed guy, not to mention a former classmate with a penchant for collecting cool seashells and shiny rocks. "Didn't think I'd see you in here..."

"Yeah, well, it's a side gig. Pays kinda nice. Awesome costume, by the way. Wouldn't know it was you besides the blond hair." Reid grinned and bowed dramatically, which made his friend laugh a little. "Alright. Get goin' before I lose my job bein' nice to the customers." The mighty Mothman wished the guy a happy Halloween before he continued on his way. And of course, he was still losing candy as it trickled out of his bag.