Mingyu doesn’t really celebrate Halloween. He doesn’t get trick-or-treaters since his apartment isn’t on the main street and while he did go out when he was a kid. They never trick-or-treated in his neighborhood. His parents would always take him and his friends to the richer areas on the other side of town; the Riverside side of town. As the years passed, Mingyu would trade his parents candy for time on his Xbox as he got older. In high school, he’d just buy his own candy and hang out at a friend’s house. College wasn’t much different other than the excess amount of alcohol and shortage of clothing, but now as a full-fledged adult and professional physical therapist, he doesn’t have much reason to treat Halloween as different from any other day of the year.

          So, he’s surprised when he comes into work Monday morning to see Joshua’s desk decorated with little pumpkins and fake spiderwebs. The customer service desk is littered with plastic spiders and chains of alternating black and orange construction paper and above it all is a sparkly, dollar-store banner reading ‘Have A Spoopy Halloween’. He’s not sure what to make of it. Joshua didn’t come off as the type to celebrate, much less decorate.

          When the cat-eyed manager looks over at him, staring with his eyebrows knitted and questioning, he simply answers, “It was already like this when I got here.” Maybe one of the people from imaging decided to get active about their Pinterest DIYs and execute them on Joshua’s workstation. It doesn’t look like Joshua has the heart to take down the decorations prematurely since Halloween is tomorrow, but it doesn’t look like he’s excited about digging for pens amongst pocket-sized plastic skeletons and bat rings hanging from the polyester spiderwebs, “And I’m not complaining because they left a giant bowl of chocolate behind the counter.”

          Mingyu’s over in a second.

          While he doesn’t really have a sweet-tooth and doesn’t really like hard candy like Jolly Ranchers or Tootsie Pops, he’s a er for a good ol’ Kit-Kat. Reese’s come in a close second, followed by Twix and Snickers. It looks like Joshua might be hoarding all the Milky Ways over by the phone, he can see the silver and purple wrappers poking out behind the chord, but whatever. Milky Ways are second tier chocolates anyway.

          A hand whaps onto his shoulder as he feels an arm weigh behind his neck, “Chocolate for breakfast?” Wonwoo sounds delighted. He’s been wearing some ‘special’ ties for the last few days, maybe a week. Joshua and Mingyu don’t have the heart to tell him that they’re hideous and garish especially against his neutral-colored wardrobe. Wonwoo is usually all pastels, taupe, and khaki. These saturated black, orange, purple, and green ties are just the worst. Jeonghan—who Mingyu is convinced has a heart the size of eight dimes stacked—has taken note of Wonwoo’s horrible tie selection and has commented on how those ties make him want to burn his eyes out.

          But the ties aren’t Wonwoo’s, they’re Soonyoung’s.

          Wonwoo doesn’t even wear ties normally, but Soonyoung loves Halloween and buys a stupid amount of Halloween themed ties every year when they go on sale the day after. He seriously buys two of every unique print just so he and Wonwoo and match when they go to work. And, no, Soonyoung doesn’t wear his ties like a normal human being does around the neck because that would be too vanilla of him. He wears them as belts or wrapped around his wrist, maybe tucked into a back pocket or something. Wonwoo’s mentioned that he sometimes goes to work with them tied on like a headband; like a sober drunk. Jeonghan started to think it was cute, but by the time Wonwoo got to the part where they both wore the same tie to work, he wanted to vomit. Mingyu as well. His friend is just so grossly whipped that it’s both endearing and disgusting in the sweetest way.

          “We’re adults, we can eat candy for breakfast.”

          He doesn’t want to say he was inspired by the imaging department’s Halloween décor, but he stops by Safeway to buy a pumpkin on his way back from work. This late into the month, he’s not able to find anything amazing or beautifully round, so he settles for a kind of lumpy thing with a couple nicks and scratches. It doesn’t matter, it’s not for a competition or anything. It’s just for Minghao. If he was going to be festive, then Minghao would have to be forced into the festivities too.

          The dancer isn’t thrilled when he shows up at Mingyu’s apartment with chakalaka and pap. Mingyu seriously doesn’t understand how he’s able to find these hidden ethnic gems, but when he looks at their names, he’s sure he’s seen them in passing around town. Maybe he just never went out of his way to sit down and try them while Minghao probably has to dig around to find ones that Mingyu’s never had. 

          Apparently, Soonyoung is a festive child at the studio.

          It’s not a surprise given that he’s been making Wonwoo wear his spooky ties to work, “He dyed his hair orange. I’m pretty sure it’s so that he could look like an actual pumpkin.” Minghao takes out his phone to show Mingyu a picture of Soonyoung posing with a cute inflatable ghost that’s taking up most of the lobby. Vernon’s smile in the background says ‘help me’. Soonyoung’s hair is indeed orange, but not like a real pumpkin, more like a clipart pumpkin. It’s seriously highlighter-sunset orange.

          “Why.” It’s more a comment than it is a question, but it makes Minghao laugh and shake his head.

          “He just really loves Halloween. Did Wonwoo tell you about the tie thing?” Mingyu nods as he takes the takeout containers from Minghao and plops them onto the counter, “Soon told me that the first year they started dating, he and Wonwoo wore matching costumes, but a different costume to every party they had to go to.”

          “That’s,” Mingyu looks up from unpacking the food, “really extra and kinda gross.”

          “It’s absolutely atrocious, but look where they are now. So precious.” He puts his hand over his heart and shakes his head. The sarcasm is so heavy in his voice that Mingyu doesn’t notice the corners of his mouth lifting upwards, “So why the pumpkin? I didn’t take you for the Halloween-y type.”

          “I’m not usually, but I thought we could use it for weightlifting or something.” He keeps an eye on the food that’s reheating and one eye on Minghao who walks over to the sizeable pumpkin and picks it up, not with ease, but not with a struggle either. He rolls it around with both arms, but it’s size and shape make it a little difficult to maneuver.

          “Am I supposed to squat this or?” Mingyu shrugs, “You can’t shrug, you’re the PT.”

          “I didn’t think you’d actually humor me.” He separates the food into two bowls and two plates. Okay, more dishes than normal, but whatever.

          Minghao comes over when he smells the food, “Have you had it before?” Mingyu shakes his head. It looks really appetizing, though, “Me neither, but it had good reviews. It’s only been open a couple months.”

          Praise Yelp, this food is amazing and Mingyu doesn’t even know what it is.

          By this time, Mingyu realizes that their arrangement is a little silly. Okay, a lot silly. For the money that Minghao spends on gas and food, he could probably afford more than one session a week back at the clinic. Equally silly is that Minghao can do everything he’s doing at Mingyu’s place in the comfort of his own home. Mingyu should have told him to go back to the clinic where they have some actual equipment instead of all these homebrew exercises, but Mingyu will never bring it up. He knows he’ll never tell Minghao to do the smarter and cheaper thing because having him over for an hour or two a night has been surprisingly enjoyable so far.  

          “Hey, I won’t be coming over tomorrow,” Mingyu sets his spoon down. He has half a mind to ask Minghao why, but he also doesn’t think he’s in a position to pry. Minghao’s an adult and doesn’t need to explain himself, so the following clarification is just courtesy, “Soonyoung convinced Yixing to throw this Halloween party for the students, so us instructors have to chaperone. It’s nothing big, but a lot of the kids are showing up since their parents think the studio is safer than them going out at night.”

          “That’s fine. No strenuous stuff though, okay?”

          “I’ll be putting up decorations and guarding a punch bowl, I think it’ll be okay.” Doting on Minghao like a mother is unnecessary, but he doesn’t know if Minghao’s one of those chaotic patients.

          Every once in a while, they’ll have a Chaotic Patient.

          It’s the clinic equivalent of someone who is a Chaotic Good or Chaotic Neutral. It’s a patient who does incredibly well for an extended period of time, but on some days they just say ‘ it’ and do something in lieu of their old habits for the sake of a good time. It usually results in them backtracking a week or two in progress although they often mention that it was well worth it for whatever they could do with that one day of leniency. Minghao may very well be the type given that he essentially did that during their first month of sessions.

          “Sure, sure, that’s what you’re telling me, but knowing you, you’ll probably want to throw down on the dancefloor with Soonyoung or something.” Minghao raises an eyebrow at him and chuckles into his next bite of food.

          “Don’t need to worry about that.” He swirls his food around, “I’d rather the night pass without Jun and Soon breathing down my neck.”

          “Are they keeping you off your feet?”

          “Oh, my god.” He sounds exasperated, putting his hand to his forehead and then gesturing towards the ceiling with a grunt before folding his arms again and picking up his spoon, “Out of habit- okay? Out of habit, today, I got up to demonstrate. You know, like instructors do because that’s what I’m paid for. Soonyoung was in the hallway and caught me in his peripheral. He seriously dropped what he was doing and came into my practice room and swept me off my feet. Then he told my students to report me to him if I danced again! It’s ridiculous.” He thinks he sees Minghao pout as he rubs his temple before jabbing his fingers at him, “Thanks a lot, Mingyu.” The heavy coyness both satisfies and pricks at Mingyu. 

          “Did anyone actually report you?”

          “Yes!” Minghao drops his spoon in mock anger. He’s probably more frustrated than anything else, but part of him also finds humor in it. Mingyu can tell by the way he staggers laughs into the next sentence, “I had three students report me. Those kids are ing snitches.” He laughs normally after the last quip. He doesn’t mean it. Mingyu understands that Minghao’s one of those teachers that loves their students and job more than most things.

          Their session goes rather smoothly and it’s kind of funny to see Minghao lug a pumpkin around the flat instead of the normal weights. He complains more than usual today, but it’s nothing malicious, most of it is just little things like how ugly the pumpkin is or how he’s disappointed that Mingyu bought a pumpkin but forewent the only good part about Halloween; the candy. Mingyu has an equal amount of faux complaints to add to the banter, like how Minghao’s form is terrible from holding the grip-less pumpkin and how he could work on his footwork a little more. Menial things. Things that they both know Minghao has no control over.

          Overall, it’s a good night and Minghao leaves a little after Mingyu has the thought of carving the pumpkin. They don’t. That’d be a little too forward for whatever place their relationship is at now. He’s not sure if they’re on completely good terms yet or if they can be considered friends yet, but he likes that they’re no longer choking on tension. It’s breathable; whatever space they’ve made for themselves. It’s bearable and may be comfortable.

          The last thing he asks is something menial like what Minghao is going to dress up as for the party. To which he plainly says, “Nothing.”

          “You can’t not dress up, especially if there are kids.”

          “Do you think I could get away with wearing a plumbob and saying I’m a Sim?”

          “No.”

          Minghao tells Mingyu that he’ll think of something, but that he doubts that there’s enough time to scrounge together an adequate costume. Minghao’s never really dressed up for All Hallows Eve, not even when he was a kid, so this would be a first. Offhandedly, he mentions that his roommate or Jun might have a costume he could borrow. When questioned about Halloween-aficionado, Soonyoung, Minghao fervently stops his thoughts, stating something about not knowing where Soon’s costumes go or what he does with them in the off-season. Mingyu wants to offer as well, but then he remembers that all his old costumes have probably been donated years ago. His mother is good like that. So, in the end, Minghao leaves empty-handed.