Best Halloween Party Ever!

[Nicholas Ward]

Dated for October 31st


It was hard for Nick to contain his enthusiasm as he bustled about the apartment, long red cape trailing after him, and a Corgi puppy chasing after that.  He, Trevor, and Taylor had spent the morning cleaning the apartment and setting up for the party before Taylor had left to go back home and get his own costume together. Though it was initially supposed to be small, Nick couldn't help himself in telling everyone he worked with or came across about it. He was sure Trevor had invited staff from Hamnel, too. It could quickly turn into a bigger party, but he was more than okay with that.  

Nick had tried hard to get everyone into a Marvel/Avengers theme with him.  Personally, he thought his Thor costume was spectacular, and that Tesla's mini Loki costume was bitching.  But nooo.  Trevor hadn't wanted to go along with it, and then Taylor had bailed on him.  His own brother.  

Still, he was in too good a mood for it to really bring him down.  Over the sound system he had his iPod playing every spooky Halloween-esque song he could get his hands on.  Pizza and snacks were on the counter in the kitchen (Tesla's favorite spot when he wasn't cape-chasing or chewing on his Loki horns), and the TV had the starter screen for one of his Karaoke Revolution games if anyone felt the need.  Alcohol was mostly in the fridge, including both beer and coolers.  Thor himself had already downed several hard lemonades in the process of getting ready.  Now they just had to wait for everyone to arrive.

 

[Dr. Taylor Ward]

Nick and Trevor's party was actually something Taylor had been looking forward to. Despite knowing full well that Nick was going to act like an idiot, he still liked spending time with them. If he had to knock some sense into his twin, so be it. ... He'd just ask Trevor to do it, because Nick seemed to listen to him better than anyone. Besides, asking Nick to settle the hell down often devolved into wrestling, and Taylor had a snowball's chance in hell of actually winning against Nick.

Helping to get things ready had gone as well as could be expected, at least until Nick had changed into his costume early and started making demands as he'd seen Thor do in movies. This had quickly led to a headache, and Taylor had disappeared back to his own place to get ready, leaving Thor to Trevor's capable hands.

He hadn't wanted to go along with the Marvel theme mostly to spite Nick after he'd told him he could be Black Widow. But he also had a costume ready to go that he'd used the past two years at the University parties. It was still viable, and he planned to get what use out of it he could.

So when he returned to Nick's apartment, he looked less like his boring self, and much more like The Labyrinth's Goblin King. Complete with the somewhat over-the-top spiked up hair (so what if it was a wig?) and eyeliner, he'd even brought with him a small glass ball to play with. Even if he played the wallflower for most of the night, or hung around with Trevor, at least he was at a party instead of sitting home alone. Ignoring Nick's antics and removing Tesla's horns from his mouth for the twentieth time today, he headed over to the fridge for a cooler. With just the two of them, he hoped more people would turn up soon. Give Nick a distraction from messing around.

[Sophie Tillman]

When it came to Halloween, Sophie's best friends were Google and her frequent bouts of insomnia. Coming up with a unique and creative costume wasn't her strong suit, which was where Google came in. Throwing the whole thing together once she'd "borrowed" someone else's idea was how she used those sleepless hours. This year Sophie managed to settle on a costume that was actually pretty easy - or her half of it was, anyway. This was a dog-friendly party, and that meant Sandy was getting jazzed up, too.

No, false alarm. Turned out the matching dog costume could be easily found online and ordered ahead of time. With that out of the way, that left only one thing to do the Friday night before the party: Prepare the Goodies.

Now, baking for a party? That was one of Sophie's strong suits. Cakes made for attention-grabbing centerpieces, but they were better suited to birthdays or showers when it was easy to wrangle all the partygoers to a table. Halloween parties were a different animal altogether, calling for large quantities of bite-sized treats; easier to grab and nibble as the night when on than slices of cake were. The tiny oreo fudge brownies were easy enough to get away with just a little frosting drizzle rather than full-blown Pinterest-mom decorations. The real treat, though, was the Bailey's they'd been soaking in.

At anyone else's party, Sophie knew how to be fashionably late, but this was Nick's shindig. Showing up on the dot (translation: before everybody else) meant she could help with last minute setup and catch a decent parking spot. So, with a leash around one wrist and her tray of brownies balanced on the opposite arm, Sophie knocked on the apartment door and waited. Her own costume was somewhat understated, with its ponytail, heavy boots, and pink shirt/khaki shorts combo. Hopefully Sandy's triceratops outfit gave away the joke.

[Dr. Taylor Ward]

"Tesla, no." Taylor reached down to pull the Corgi's horns out of his mouth again. Why Nick had insisted on dressing the active little dog up was beyond him. He'd be lucky if Tesla didn't actually eat part of his costume by the end of the night, and he really didn't feel like dealing with a foreign body case. Maybe he ought to just take the soft helmet and hide the damn thing. Well, if he started to see pieces that were small enough to swallow hanging off, he'd do it. Nick could fuss all he wanted, but with the party going on he really didn't think he'd notice.

Leaning against the kitchen counter, Taylor pinched a few Oreos from the package and watched Nick flit around like an idiot. His brother was high maintenance sometimes, but at least he knew how to be fun. Taylor felt like between his pre-med degree and med school itself, he'd spent the last nine years with little to no fun. Yes, he was where he wanted to be in terms of career, but... he didn't know how to socialize really well anymore. Well, hopefully some of Nick's new friends were going to help with that.

At the knock, Taylor turned his attention to the door. Trevor was busy, and Nick was chasing Tesla around. At the second knock, Nick finally looked up and then stared straight at Taylor. "WE HAVE A GUEST! GET THE DOOR GOBLIN PEASANT."

... Okay, Nick was taking this Thor thing way too far. Which was part of the reason Taylor hadn't wanted to go along with the superheroes theme in the first place. Nick bossed him around enough without costumes. Shaking his head, he rolled his eyes, but (as usual), did as he was told and went to the door to open it.

... There was a dog. ... A triceratops. ... There was a cute dog at the door. As usual, Taylor couldn't help but grin and address the dog first. "Hey buddy! Who's a cute dinosaur?" Aaaaand then he remembered that there was likely someone attached to the dino-dog. Looking up from the dog to the owner, he was momentarily rendered mute. There was a pretty girl attached to the dog. ... No, pretty woman.

Brain, work.

Taking a moment to regain his senses, he straightened and offered a smile to her. Maybe this was Sophie. Nick talked a lot about his nurse friend, but he didn't think he'd met her. Shifting so that she had more space to enter, he gestured with his hand. "Hi. Uh. Come on in.  Can I take something?"

Nope, he didn't remember how to socialize to save his life. Ugh.

[Nicholas Ward]

After yelling at Taylor to get the door and feeling reasonably pleased with himself when his brother actually did what he was told, he stopped chasing Tesla long enough to actually look at see who it was.

And to see Taylor make a royal ass of himself. Still, seeing his friend made him forget about that. With a loud whoop he scooped up Tesla in his arms and all but bolted to the door to greet Sophie and Sandy.

"THOR AND LOKI OF ASGARD WELCOMES YOU TO HIS KINGDOM." No, he was not going to stop with the Thor thing as long as he was in costume.

Until he saw Sandy in the dinosaur costume. Grinning like an idiot, he set his Corgi down. Tesla quickly went into full body wag mode, bouncing around and bopping at Sandy with his short front legs. "Oh my God you guys are all... like... Jurassic Park! AWESOME. AND YOU BROUGHT BROWNIES."

Clearly he could be distracted. Especially with food.

Sweeping backwards to let them in, he realized belatedly that Taylor was still standing awkwardly by the door. Right. Introductions. "Sophs, this is my brother. You can call him Wiley. Everyone does. Wiley, this is Sophie." No, he didn't feel like using Taylor's real name, because what were brothers for? Taylor, on the other hand, just gave him a look before smiling and nodding at Sophie in a sort-of greeting.

[Sophie Tillman]

Sophie fully expected to be greeted by Thor, king of Asgard (or whatever his title was, she wasn't up on all those superhero movies), or maybe Trevor in or out of costume. So when the Goblin King opened the door instead, at first she wondered whether Trevor had changed his mind about going along with the Marvel theme. Then the Goblin King addressed Sandy and Sophie realized that no, that wasn't Trevor underneath the wig and heavy makeup, so who...?

Whoever he was, Sophie couldn't help grinning while he doted on Sandy, who did in fact make a very cute dinosaur. Sandy wagged both his real tail and the cloth tail, enjoying the attention. When the Goblin King straightened up and offered to carry something, he seemed a little bashful - but frankly, as first impressions go, cooing at her dog scored a lot of points.

"Oh, would you mind?" Carefully bracing the tray of brownies, Sophie held out her opposite hand, from which dangled Sandy's leash. Riding in the car he hadn't been a problem, but if he jerked just a little too hard the brownies might go flying. "I just need to set these down."

Suddenly, from further within the apartment, came a whoop, followed by the booming voice she'd been expecting. Thor!Nick appeared, Tesla in tow, as Sophie stepped inside so they could shut the door. Sandy's tail-wagging intensified as Tesla bopped around him; the labrador tried to get a few good sniffs of the corgi's costume, but Tesla was bouncing a little too much for it.

"Hey, Nick!" Sophie would have waved, were it not for the armload of brownies. More importantly, though, who was this stranger with excellent taste in both dogs and David Bowie films? And Nick, good old Nick, came through - Wiley was certainly an interesting name, she thought.

"Good to meet you, Wiley," she told him warmly. "Great costume."

[Trevor Cunningham]

Trevor had also been asked by Nick to join in the Marvel Theme, but had declined as well. Not that he didn't enjoy superheros. But there was no way he was wearing spandex or a cape. Instead he was wearing one of his favorite flannel shirts, old jeans, boots, and a wool cap. The costume didn't really look like much until he picked up his ax. He had told Taylor he was going to pick up a fake one, but had forgotten to do so. Hopefully Nick wouldn't hurt himself with it somehow.

He heard all of the yelling downstairs and figured he'd better get a move on it. He had been running late and had waiting until the last possible moment to take a shower and get ready for the party. Hopefully Taylor and Nick wouldn't tear into each other before he could get down to them.

He came down the stairs, greeting by Tesla/Loki at the bottom. He scooped up the pup with one hand, still holding his ax over his shoulder with the other and walked into where everyone else was.

"What's all the yelling about?" he asked grinning. It was then that he got a good look at Taylor...and almost died laughing. "You are such a nerd," he added, quoting his fiance.

"You brought brownies!" he yelled out. There was nothing that turned Trevor into a five year old faster than brownies. He juggled Tesla and his ax into one arm so he could reach out with the other to grab one and shove it in his mouth. "Good," he mumbled around the chocolate. "So good."

[Dr. Taylor Ward]

Grinning girls weren’t fair. Especially not pretty, grinning girls with dogs. But that was what Taylor was now faced with, and he had to deal with that. Somehow.

At least the dog seemed happy with him, if the tail wagging had anything to say about it. Dogs were generally easy to please, though. People, not so much. Yet when he straightened up, she seemed less offended and… wow, she really had a pretty, pretty smile.

He watched as she shifted the brownies, which he had expected to be given, and instead gave him the leash. Taylor blinked before clutching the leash safely in his hand and gently pulling the dog towards him. “Sure. I can watch him for a minute.” He hadn’t expected to be trusted with her dog, but now here he was. With a dog. … Dinosaur.

He had to smile as Tesla started dancing around Sandy. Clearly the dogs were friends, and he just let the labrador’s leash loose to allow the dogs to socialize. He just had to try to ignore Nick’s yelling.

…. And his terrible introduction. He wanted to roll his eyes, even more so when Trevor came around the corner and called him a nerd. Did everyone have to dump on him like that?

… No, not everyone. Sophie got his attention, regardless of the stupid nickname courtesy of Nick, and a grin actually appeared. His brother and best friend could rag on him all they wanted. If she liked it, he would play it up. Bowing slightly, he addressed her. “Jareth the Goblin King, at your service m’lady.”

He just had to ignore Nick’s explosion of laughter behind him. But ignoring wasn’t going to work so well. Scowling, he twisted to look at Nick. “Hey. At least I’m not yelling about being the King of Asgard.” Which seemed to at least temporarily shut him up.

[Nicholas Ward]

Nick grinned at the sight of the brownies, and wished that he’d thought of asking Sophie if he could take something. He would have just let her keep Sandy and he’d have grabbed the brownies. Okay, so they wouldn’t have survived very much intact, but he’d have been happy with himself.

He was even happier when Trevor finally showed his face. Nick turned to beam at his fiancé. He had to admit, despite being miffed about him not wanting to go with the Marvel theme, Trevor pulled off a pretty damn hot… whatever the heck he was supposed to be. Lumberjack? Was that it?

And he had an axe. The blond’s eyes lit up at the sight of it. “Soph’s here and Sandy’s here and BROWNIES ARE HERE.” All of the above called for yelling, clearly. “Oh and Wilely’s back but BROWNIES, TREV.”

There was absolutely no reason to be quiet over brownies. And with Taylor being all weird, it was up to him and Trevor to liven things up. And maybe get a drink or two into Tayor to get him to stop being such a weirdo.

That thought was derailed as Trevor swiped a brownie. “Hey hey HEY TREV. NOT FAIR. YOU GOTTA WAIT UNTIL THEY’RE ON THE TABLE. RIGHT SOPHS?” That was always the rule. And Trevor wasn’t allowed to break it, no matter how much he loved him.

[Sophie Tillman]

Sophie knew better than to entrust the tray of brownies to anybody right away. If they were to have any hope of lasting until the party really kicked off, they would need their own bodyguard detail; think unsupervised cats with an open can of tuna. Sandy, at least, she would probably get back at the end of the night. Wiley was technically a stranger - a stranger in tight pants who apparently liked dogs and was cheesy enough to say "m'lady" but a stranger nonetheless - but would Nick really let his twin brother steal her beloved labrador right out from under their noses? Doubtful.

"Careful, they're spiked," she warned Trevor as he crammed one in his mouth. Not that he couldn't handle a single alcoholic baked good, but sneaky booze generally required a heads up. "Lemme just get these put away so the rule doesn't get broken again." Sophie shot Trevor a quick wink - the "rule" sort of applied to everybody, but mostly it was a Nick thing. For pretty obvious reasons.

Front door shut behind her, Sandy delegated to Wiley the Goblin King, Sophie waded through the cluster of noise and overly masculine costumes to deposit the brownies on the kitchen counter with the rest of the snacks. It was a quick trip; in no time she rejoined the "party," such as it was for now.

"It's still early," Sophie pointed out to her hosts, "Is there anything you guys still need help setting up?"

[Trevor Cunningham]

If Taylor was waiting for the day when his twin and Trevor didn't dump on him, he was going to die waiting. It was how they showed their love for him. He cooked and cared for their dog and they called him a nerd and made fun of him. That made sense...right?

Well at least Sophie was there to act as a buffer...maybe.

"Rules were meant to be broken," Trevor said, cramming another brownie in his mouth after waving it under Nick's nose for a second.

"Spiked?" Trevor asked, cocking his head to one side. "You made pot brownies?" Not that Trevor was an alcoholic, but he didn't tend to think of adding liquor to things as dangerous.

Trevor smiled at Sophie and lead her to the kitchen were she could put down her brownies...or what was left of them. "Speaking of nerds...thanks for keeping my idiot alive when I'm not around to look after him." Though his tone was joking, his eyes held the truth of his thankfulness.

[Nicholas Ward]

”Nuh uh!” Nick swatted at Trevor for teasing him with the brownie. “Sophie make him stoooooop.” If he ever actually bothered to stop and think about it, Sophie probably played mother to the group far more often than she probably should have.

Making faces behind Trevor’s back, he trailed behind Sophie like a duckling, waiting for the brownies to hit the counter before he went after them himself. So what if they didn’t last until the party actually kicked off? It was his party, and if he wanted to inhale the prized brownies.

“Sophs wouldn’t make pot brownies, Trev. Drugs are whack!” He could only hope that spiked meant alcohol, and if the taste was anything to go by, he was totally right. Sweet.

“I think we’re actually pretty good. We worked, like, all day to set up.” And dress up. And chase Tesla around. “Unless you can think of anything else?”

[Dr. Taylor Ward]

Nick was hard to ignore, but Taylor had a lifetime of practice on his side. Rolling his eyes at his twin’s antics, he was glad to have Sandy to distract himself with. The lab was a handsome little guy, and he didn’t even seem to mind his costume. At the very least, he wasn’t chewing it like Tesla was his. Only having to watch out for one dog was a lot better than chasing after two before one of them ate something they shouldn’t have.

He just watched passively as Nick and Trevor bickered over house rules and brownies, stroking Sandy’s neck and ruffling his ears. “They’re all nuts,” he stage-whispered to the dog. Well, maybe not everyone. “… Except your Mom. She’s normal.” And very, very pretty.

Once the brownie argument was settled, Taylor dared to let Sandy off his leash, putting it by the door where it wouldn’t get lost. Nick had said that Sandy had been over lots, so he wasn’t too worried about letting him loose. Standing back up, he wandered slowly behind the rest of the group and leaned on the counter. Nick hadn’t even offered Sophie a drink. How rude was that? Well, whatever. He could do it. “Sophie, can I get you a drink?”

He just ignored the look shot his way from Thor.

[Sophie Tillman]

Once the brownies made their landing - tragically missing a few of their comrades - Sophie helped herself to one.

"It's a team effort, that's for sure," she replied with a wink. Keeping her voice low wasn't hard; with Nick crashing around behind them, he was unlikely to overhear it anyway. "He'd never make it with just one of us." Just like Trevor had been, she was only half-joking. Maybe Nick wouldn't have managed to get herded off a cliff by lemmings or anything so outrageous, but the man was always getting banged up somehow. It was a relief knowing he was looked after, even if she didn't like how Trevor had to do it.

"Everything looks fine from here," Sophie told Nick. Sensing the brownies were not long for this world, she nabbed two more and began to munch. Maybe something would pop up once the party hit full swing - that tended to happen when party planning was so easily derailed by dogs in costume - but with Trevor and Wiley helping, she had a bit more faith.

Sophie was licking the sheen of liquor and crumbs off her thumb when Wiley joined them. Behind him, she heard the pap pap pap of Sandy trailing along, sniffing at his heels.

"Hm? Oh, yes please. These brownies aren't strong at all," she replied. This being Nick's apartment, Sophie knew perfectly well that nobody would mind if she helped herself to a beer from the fridge. Wiley probably didn't know that, though, and she was tickled by the thought that between the two of them he had inherited the good manners.