“You can’t be serious.” Chanwoo’s eyes were threatening to bulge out of their sockets. He had removed the helmet of his costume so he could properly stare at their friend in disdain. As if sweating profusely from inside his ghillie suit wasn’t problematic enough already, his stupid friend felt compelled to add to his stress.

“What? I don’t walk around looking like this every day, so it counts.”

“Wearing your Jiu-Jitsu uniform straight from practice is definitely not a proper Halloween costume,” Donghyuk chimed in, scanning their friend from head to toe. He too had his judgmental face on, and even with the Harley Quinn-inspired makeup and costume, Donghyuk could still look menacing if he wanted to.

“Look, I don’t have anything else. If you don’t want me to go to the party looking like this, then I’m just not going.”

Junhoe didn’t mind, really. If he had been consulted about their social calendar for the night (which he wasn’t), he would’ve suggested a night in at his house to binge-watch crappy horror movies on Netflix over popcorn and pizza. Depending on how the night progressed, he could’ve been compelled to bring out a bottle or two of whisky from his secret stash for the three of them to enjoy. It would’ve been the best Halloween ever.

But his two stupid friends had other ideas. He expected this of Donghyuk somehow, ever the social butterfly, who was already getting invites to multiple Halloween parties as early as September. Plus he loved any excuse to dress up, and when he lost a bet to his dance crew buddies and had to swear to put on the most outlandish Halloween costume they picked out for him, Junhoe knew Donghyuk wasn’t going to miss out on partying at Halloween.

Chanwoo, however, was a different story. Junhoe wasn’t sure when or how or why it happened, but somehow, his friend who had once been by all accounts an oversized baby, happy to be holed up in his room playing video games all weekend, started to slowly come out of his shell, wanting to make friends and be at parties. Maybe it was all the vlogging he’s been doing.

“No way are you ditching, you are definitely coming with us. We RSVP-ed for three people, and we are showing up as three people.”

“It’s a high school party, Chanwoo! No one freaking RSVPs!” Junhoe exclaimed. Nearly the same in height, the two engaged in a glaring contest.

“Alright, let’s settle this. Junhoe, can you at least change into a clean uniform? Wouldn’t hurt you to take a shower too while you’re at it. We’ll wait. Then we make an appearance at the party.” Donghyuk gave Chanwoo a stern look and Junhoe a little nudge towards the direction of his room.

*****

By the time they arrived, Jinhwan and Yunhyeong’s joint Halloween party was already in full swing. They were mostly among juniors and seniors and only a few fellow sophomores, and while Junhoe would never admit it, he did feel a little cooler, partying with the older kids.

Well, partying was a bit of a reach. As soon as they arrived the three of them planned to disperse. “Whatever happens, meet at midnight at the cul de sac? I have to make curfew,” Chanwoo told them before he got dragged off by his newfound vlogger friends. In a flash and a ball change, Donghyuk was also off with his dance crew, leaving Junhoe behind.  

He managed to find a few of his Jiu-Jitsu buddies and hung around with them a bit by the pool, but when that got boring, he just aimlessly walked around the house. Somehow he found himself next to the speakers and the phone where the music that was being blasted throughout the party was being played from.

“This is awful,” he muttered to himself, scrolling through the playlist of generic Top 40 hits. No one seemed to be paying attention to the music anyway, and he thought some solid jams would really save this party (and at least give him something to do), so he made his own.

The iconic bass and beats of Another One Bites the Dust started blasting through the speakers. The crowd barely reacted, but Junhoe didn’t care. It always took a while for kids his age to get an appreciation for actual good music, having been bombarded by junk since they were born.

He filled the playlist with what he thought were impeccably curated Halloween party tracks, if he may say so himself: Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones, Howl by Florence and the Machine, and of course Thriller by Michael Jackson, among many others. For the first time that night, he was genuinely having a good time, jamming to some really good songs, but it turned out he was the only one.

At Jinhwan’s orders, Yunhyeong had come up to Junhoe to pry the phone away from him as politely as he could.

“Jinhwan’s into more radio-friendly jams, if you get my drift,” Yunhyeong told him with a wink and his patented heartthrob smile, already scrolling to the Top 40 playlist and pressing play.  

It was only 10PM, and Junhoe was already feeling out of place at this damn party.

Unable to find Chanwoo or Donghyuk, Junhoe was really starting to feel like a loser. I could be penning some serious rhymes right now, he thought in annoyance, and cursed his friends for forcing him to go out tonight.

All of a sudden, the house erupted in screams and cheers. Despacito started blasting through the speakers.

“That’s it, I’m out.” Junhoe made a run for the door, not knowing where he was going, but he didn’t care. There was no way he was partying to that.

*****

The cul de sac where they were supposed to meet was quiet, dimly lit from a single lamp post and a little eerie. Junhoe took a seat by the curb, pulled out his phone and opened Evernote. He had a little over an hour until Donghyuk and Chanwoo arrived, and that was plenty of time to write down some poetry.

He was in the mood to write a dark, Halloween-inspired one, and he knew just the songs to get him in the mood. He scrolled through his Spotify to find the playlist he made, aptly titled “Of Unhealthy Crushes” and hit play on Melting by Kali Uchis. 

You are my church

You are my place of worship

I heard you're the plug, can I be the circuit?

When he first heard this song, Junhoe imagined a plain-looking girl singing it, looking innocent in pigtails and a pink dress, but with crazy eyes and a creepy smile. Like an obsessed, crazed ex-girlfriend. Or that creepy girl in Swimfan.

He got excited as the words started to flow. He was so sure he was going to make a really haunting, Halloween-inspired poem out of this mood.

But just as he finished typing the first two lines, he heard a little girl voice read out loud what he’d written over his shoulder. 

“What the f– “ he jumped in fright and turned around to find a little girl ghost, plastic pumpkin basket in hand filled to the brim with candy, staring at him with curious eyes. Before he could blurt out the myriad of curses he had at the ready, he heard a shout.

“YA! I told you to wait for me before we go to the next house!”

The slightly shrill voice came from a boy about his age wearing what appeared to be a chick onesie and red Vans running towards them.

“You’re too slow, Oppa! You’re no fun to trick or treat with,” Little Girl Ghost whined.

The boy finally reached them, out of breath, but even in his exhaustion, he was ready to nag. “You know the deal: you go trick or treating with me or you don’t go at all. Do you think I’ll let you run around on your own at night and run into creepy weirdos?”

At that point the boy finally decided to spare Junhoe a glance, scanning him from head to toe with intense eyes, much to Junhoe’s annoyance. Was everyone just going to look at him judgingly today?      

“Hey, she was the one being the creepy weirdo here, sneaking up on me like that,” Junhoe defended himself.

“I just wanted to read what you were texting,” Little Girl Ghost claimed with a shrug, nonchalant.

Chicken Boy pulled the little girl closer to him and put his arm around her protectively, but the look on his eyes had softened. “Sorry about that. My baby sister, she likes to snoop around.” He offered Junhoe a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“What were you texting anyway?”

“Huh?”

“What were you texting, that my sister was snooping around about?”

“Oh, that. This.” Junhoe looked at his phone screen. “Nothing, I wasn’t texting. I was writing.”

That seemed to pique Chicken Boy’s interest. “Really? What’s it about?”

“Just…I don’t know, a Halloween poem. Really stupid.” Junhoe didn’t know what possessed him to answer honestly. He had never told anyone about his poetry, not even Chanwoo and Donghyuk.

He expected the boy to laugh at him, but instead he just nodded and gave him that smile again. “Cool.”

“Hanbin Oppa, can we go now? I want more candy,” Little Girl Ghost whined, tugging at the sleeve of her brother’s chick onesie.

“Okay, okay. Five more houses then we head home, alright?” The boy named Hanbin turned to Junhoe with a curt nod and dashed off after his sister.

Well that was random, Junhoe thought.

Just as he was about take a seat at the curb again, he heard a familiar voice shout his name. Chanwoo was running towards him at lightning speed, the green stuff from his ghillie suit falling off like a trail behind him.

“We – need – to – go,” Chanwoo managed to blurt out in between gasps. “Donghyuk – is – being – a - loser.”

“HAPPY FREAKIN’ HALLOWEEN!”

As if on cue, Donghyuk’s voice shattered the silence of the empty street. He was running towards them haphazardly, another boy with him, trying to keep him from falling over.

“Chanwoo, what the hell happened?”

“I didn’t do nothing! His dance crew buddies made him do shots!”

“Who’s that guy with him?” Junhoe had never seen anyone in this town with purple hair before.

“No idea,” he said. “Come on, we need to sober him up before we can go home.”

They ran toward their friend and the stranger.

“Koo Junhoe! Junhoe in your clean Jiu-Jitsu uniform, standing there all alone like a loser. Loser oetori sen cheokhaneun geopjaengi - ” Donghyuk meant to sing more of the song, but he didn’t know any more of the lyrics. So he just straight up mocked his friend.

“Koo Junhoe, all alone, but not lonely. Loves himself too much to care if anyone else does. You just…don’t…give…a .”

“Geez Donghyuk, shut up!” Chanwoo intervened, standing next to him and taking his arm to hold him up in case his legs gave out given how drunk he was. The purple-haired boy was doing the same thing on his other side.  

Looking from his left to his right, Donghyuk's eyes momentarily brightened amidst the haze of the alcohol. “Oh I’m sorry, I’m being so rude! I forgot to introduce you. This is my new friend, The Joker. The Joker, these are my old friends, Loser and Loser.” He started cackling uncontrollably at his own lame joke.

The Joker’s eyes turned into half-moons when he smiled. It wasn’t lost on Junhoe, how his purple hair was loud and his smile was bright. Too loud and too bright for near midnight in a quiet suburban cul de sac. This guy didn’t seem like he was from town.

“I think this belongs to you?” They locked eyes, The Joker holding out Donghyuk’s arm for Junhoe to take so he can be the one to support his friend in the purple haired boy’s place.

“Uh, yeah, thanks.” He awkwardly wrapped Donghyuk’s arm around his shoulder so he could support his drunk friend better.

One thing to know about Koo Junhoe is that he very much values his personal space. So being this close to a very drunk Donghyuk, even if they had been friends for years, was not fun. Junhoe was very much not into this, his annoyance evident in his furrowed brow and pout as he tried to concentrate on supporting the weight of his drunk friend and keeping his balance.  

“Nice uniform. You do Jiu-Jitsu?” The Joker asked him out of the blue.

“Uh, yeah.” Here was another thing Junhoe wasn’t a fan of: random, irrelevant small talk.

“At the studio next to the gym?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“Nice. If you do it in real life, it’s not a costume, though.”

“That’s what we told him!” Chanwoo suddenly exclaimed, eyes bulging out again. Donghyuk snickered in agreement.

Junhoe rolled his eyes. Were they still really arguing about the validity of his Halloween costume?

“Whatever. So thanks for this,” he stared right back at The Joker (he had been very intently staring at Junhoe the whole time, for some reason) and pointed at Donghyuk with his pout. “We’ll get going now.”

The Joker stepped aside to let them pass. “It’s Bobby, by the way. That’s my name,” he said as Junhoe walked past him. He gave the purple haired boy one final glance, getting a view of his smiling eyes and bright hair for the last time before turning his attention to the road ahead.  

Chanwoo and Junhoe supported Donghyuk on either side as they walked away from the cul de sac, leaving the boy with purple hair behind.