Halloween Spirit

     “Hey, would you look at me for a second?”

     A voice broke through the night, the first spoken words in a while. It was quiet, considering how muted any sound got with the October wind keeping them company. It did its diligent duty to chase the rain clouds away and ensure a perfect night to be out Trick-or-Treating.

     Jack Frost looked away from the window he’d been looking through. On the other end was a television playing some sort of children’s movie about spooks and frights– it had been easy to spot themed movies playing on the neighborhood houses for the past couple of weeks, but there was no night better than Halloween for people to be watching Halloween movies. It was just a matter of finding someone playing a good film, choosing a comfortable spot on a nearby tree, and two Guardians could enjoy a movie with humans being none the wiser.

     “What’s up?” Jack asked, turning to face his companion. There she was, Everett Twilight Willows, the Spirit of Halloween– the woman of the hour, straight in the middle of her patroned holiday, “Do you want to find another movie?”

     The girl shook her head, flashing Jack a strange expression. She was grinning, lips pursed in the way of hiding a bigger smile– it wasn’t hard to tell that she was stifling some laughter.

     “Do me a favor?” She asked.

     “Anything, gorgeous.”

     “Stick your tongue out.”

     Strange request, but he did so with a wink. Eve stared, looking for something, then finally gave in to her laughter.

     “Your tongue!” She managed to wheeze out, pointing at the candy Jack had been snacking on for the past couple of minutes: a single blue lollipop. He could guess by her reaction that the color had transferred to his mouth.

     “Good look on me?” He asked with a smile, a contagious sentiment from her laughter, “Or should I have been eating something green?”

     “It’s very silly!” She kept saying, her giggles dying down.

     Jack stuck his tongue out even more, making a silly face and once again having her doubling with laughter. Silly or not, it felt nice to see her carefree, and so openly happy.

     She was laughing, mouth open in utter glee, sticking her tongue out to mimic Jack. It was a cherry red, also painted by a traitorous lollipop. Jack decided to keep that little fact to himself.

     Because Eve’s smile just looked so lovely.

     It wasn’t something that happened very often, despite Jack’s best efforts to make her smile. As October had been nearing its end, the Halloween spirit had been stressing over her holiday. Pumpkin preparations this, frights staging that, to the point where she hadn’t been relaxing as she should. Jack had tried, of course, to keep her company and encourage some breaks, but Eve had politely refused a good chunk of them.

     ‘I’ll relax once Halloween’s well on its way’, Eve had told him just a couple of days back.

     Well, Halloween was well on its way now, and Jack had intended from the very start to uphold her to that promise.

     The holiday’s roots had taken presence in most corners of the world, however, Jack had a spot in mind from the beginning: a suburban neighborhood, small town, very cozy living, but very excited about the prospect of Halloween. In his mind, it was an obvious choice to spend the Holiday in.  Up on that tree where the couple sat, they had a complete view over the town’s valley and the small clusters of culdesacs that made up its geography. This year they had really gone through with the decorations, and Jack had spent the better part of two days just going through each house and deeming what his favorite of the season would be. They were stepping up their game from years past, and it showed.

     Eve had noticed it too. As the two had been paroling the town to make their window movie selection, she had commented on every single decoration they’d passed by. She looked to be proud, of both the town, the children, and the Halloween Spirit overall.

     But of course, Jack was prouder of her than anything else. The entire town, as far as the eye could see, was sparkling with orange and purple lights, dancing to the tune of spooks and laughter. An amazing as a melody, an amazing holiday.

      An amazing Guardian behind it, working hard to make sure everyone had fun.

     “Glad I can make you laugh,” Jack said, looking at her fondly. He stuck his tongue out once more for good measure, then returned his gaze towards the movie. It seemed like it was almost over, but they hadn’t missed much.

     “Finish that lollipop, dummy,” Eve replied as her laughter turned to giggles and slowly fizzled out.

     They sat there for a second, comfortable in their silence.

     “You know,” she said, and when Jack looked at her again, she was packing up her candy bucket, and with it all her loot, “It’s been really fun, but I should head back now, I have things to do.”

     Jack stood, all lingering attention on the movie vanishing in an instant, “Woah, why? What’s the big deal?”

     “I have a yearly report to go through, Jack. Trends change, and there’s a line between spooky and genuinely dreadful that I need to be watching constantly. It’s all in my reports, to make sure all kids are having fun.”

     “You can do that tomorrow,” Jack argued, “You have a whole year to prepare for the next season, there’s still so many things to do! Don’t you want to keep having fun?”

     “Well,” Eve sighed, avoiding his gaze to look at the sky. Jack followed her eyes, and there was the moon. It watched over them, quiet, comforting, “I do, but–”

     With a couple of steps forward, Jack leaned and tapped his staff against the tree branch, trying to get Eve to look at him again. It worked, and he smiled,

     “Look, there’s plenty of things to keep doing, that are much more relevant to tonight.”

     She crossed her arms, “Like?”

     “Well, candy, for starters!” Jack raised his candy bucket, a plastic Jack-o-Lanter that had earlier been filled to the brim. Now, it was mostly empty, “Aren’t we supposed to be Trick-or-Treating till the streets are empty?”

     Eve opened her mouth, surely to explain the multiple reasons why invisible Spirits would have no shot at getting candy from houses. Instead, a small smile broke on her lips, and she said, “You want to go trick or treating without a costume?”

     “Hey, I have my cane!” He held it up for emphasis, resting it behind his head and over his shoulders, “If you squint it’s something like your broom, right?”

     Eve let out a giggle, “You know that a costume is so much more than that.”

     Wait. That was it!

     Jack’s eyes lit up with an idea, leaning forward so his face was ghosting over Eve’s. A perfect last hurrah to make sure she’d enjoy her night, a last task before going back to her responsibilities. Jack was aware of how much Eve stuck to her work, wanting everything to be perfect, all the time. He would never deny her that passion, that strong dedication to her craft. But he could indulge her with a proper Halloween experience. There was no containing his excitement,
     
     “Please, then,” he said with a thousand-watt smile, “Show me what a Halloween Costume is supposed to look like!”

───  ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅  ───

     Turned out that, for being in the middle of the holiday, Halloween stores were completely deserted. Closed, of course. Employees had gone home early to enjoy the festivity and would be back just as early the next day, clearance sales and all. That next morning, costumes would be flying off the racks until the store felt lonely without them.

     But that same night, the entire store was their personal closet. Jack and Eve were excited to play dress up.

     “For someone so specific about costumes, I don’t see you change your very often,” Jack pointed out, hands buried in a clothing rack. He kept browsing through the costumes, pulling one of them out only when it caught his eye, “It’s usually always witch Eve– or I guess bat Eve, but that shouldn’t count.”

     The girl stuck her tongue out with a smile. She too was engrossed in looking through outfits just a rack beyond Jack’s, “Come on, I change costumes plenty. This one is just comfortable, that’s all.”

     “Fashion isn’t supposed to be comfortable,” Jack said, his voice in the mocking tone of a nagging adult, “It’s supposed to be extravagant, and stiff, and have lots of feathers for … uh, well, I guess no reason.”

     Eve let out a laugh, “Have you ever dressed up for anything, Jack?”

     “I mean, kind of?” He shrugged, “Not Halloween though. Back before the Moon helped me out, it was Hallow’s Eve and not really a thing. More like eating sweets and talking about monsters, so they don’t getcha!”

     “Guess we need to find you a perfect one, then. Here,” Eve walked towards him, handing Jack a plastic bag with some fabric inside of it, “If you want your cane as a broom, try a wizard costume. It has a fake beard and all!”

     “We can get more creative than that!” He said but took the costume anyway. The image on the packaging was an amusing one, a poor teenage model sporting his best impression of an old man's face, “You know, if we get a pumpkin mask and a flashing that’s the ‘Oh-Lantern. Perfect for a Jack, if you ask me.”

     “That’s way too simple,” Eve rolled her eyes, “But clever, I guess. Gotta give you that.”

     “How about you?” Jack pointed at yet another rack on the farther side of the store, “There’s stuff you don’t wear often. Firefighters, doctors, princesses from those animated movies? There’s this one with ice powers that you could dress up as.”

     “Yeah, right,” the witch let out a snort, “Because I’m the one that would suit that costume the best.”

     They kept pushing and pulling for a while, pitching ideas and sticking to only the ones that seemed the most interesting, or the most fun. Jack made it his mission to propose crazier and crazier costumes, including those of people they knew. The conversation kept escalating until it wasn’t about the costume anymore and the couple kept thinking about who would pull off what. Their conclusions had been vague, something about Tooth Fairy being a mermaid and Bunny being a clown, (more for his reaction than anything else, Jack had stated, all giggles).

     They’d keep those conclusions to themselves, just another inside joke to be teased for in the coming future.

     Eventually, they settled with a small selection and went off to the changing rooms to prepare for a small fashion show. Jack went first, excited for his stupid outfits. The Pirate Captain was too on the nose, the skeleton was too plain, and the ice princess didn’t have a costume of his size. He settled for a oonsie of an animal he could not recognize. It didn’t matter, Eve complimented his looks, and it felt like the hug of a blanket. Maybe fashion was supposed to be comfortable, after all.

     When it was Eve’s turn, Jack sat down in the hall of the changing room and assigned himself the role of hype man: whenever she opened the curtain to reveal a new attire, he’d cheer her on, compliment the outfit, and do his best to raise her confidence. Pirate suited her too, though the hat was too big for her head and kept falling. Another version of a witch outfit, with translucent fabric that kept shining when light hit it just right. Princess, from a movie Jack hadn’t seen before, which complimented her orange hair quite nicely. There was a flower crown framing Eve’s face, and he couldn’t believe how beautiful she looked.

     At the end of the night, she had changed into a onesie, too. Jack had been insistent in trying out the softness of it, and the two ended up laying on the floor of the store as if they truly were wrapped under a blanket, staring up at the ceiling.

“Next year we’ll choose a real costume,” Jack hummed, knowing they would have to change out of their outfits soon. There was an unspoken rule as spirits– especially as guardians– about taking things from the human realm without a form of payment, “Maybe I can ask North to make us something in his workshop?”

     “Oh, he’d be super excited to hear that,” Eve laughed, “He loves making gifts for people, and you know it.”

     Once again, a comfortable silence. It was too late to go out trick or treating because they could see strings of golden sand travel the streets from outside the window. The small town was asleep now, while Jack and Eve lay away and spent Halloween together. Maybe they had spent too much time choosing costumes, but they could always go get candy the upcoming year. For what was worth, Jack was having a great time, and for him, it was all that mattered.

     “Thank you, Jack,” Eve murmured, surprising the boy.

     “For the costumes, or…?”

     She shook her head and smiled. Jack smiled back, knowing what she was going to say before she did so,

     “Thank you for spending time with me. It was fun, it was,” Would you look at that? Guess it was all that mattered to her, too.

     “I’m glad you had fun,” he whispered back, blue eyes tender with care, “I’m glad I’m fun to you.”

     “Always.”

     Moving a little bit closer, Jack sat up, if just to adjust his position. His hand brushed a strand of hair over Eve’s forehead, then Jack kissed it. Again, tender, and with care: affectionate.

     Any good night had to end, whether they liked it or not. When they felt ready to stand, they packed up the costumes in their bags and put the store into as neat of a state as they had found it. There would be no evidence of their adventures, the morning after. It was a moment reserved just for them.

     “I’m off, for real this time,” Eve said, twirling her broom in her hand. She sounded way more relaxed than she had been just a couple of hours earlier, those responsibilities seemingly put to bed. Jack was happy to confirm this when she added, “I can start that report in a couple of days. Maybe I’ll take it easy for a while.”

     “You deserve it,” he said, chest puffed up with pride. She deserved that, and so much more.

     Eve turned around to leave, cheeks flushed and seemingly not knowing how to respond to that. Jack followed her trail with his eyes, reminiscing of the night they had just shared, and hoping they would be sharing another one just as fun as–

     “Oh, wait!”

     With a jump, the wind was pushing him up and forwards, towards the flying little witch. It didn’t take him long to catch up with her.

     “Oh, forgot something?” Eve asked, surprised.

     Jack nodded, dug through the pocket of his hoodie, and took out a single piece of decor: the flower crown from the Princess costume, the perfect compliment to Eve’s hair.

     “Jack!” She squealed, but took the gift into her hands with care, “You’re not supposed to take that!”

     “Don’t worry about it,” he winked, thinking back on the couple of dollar bills he had placed on the register counter, “It’s Halloween! We had sweets earlier, right? I am allowed a couple of Tricks or two.”

     Eve laughed loudly and threw herself into Jack’s arms. They shared a kiss, lips soft against the other’s, basking in each other’s touch. It ended just as quickly as it started, but Jack knew the sensation on his lips would linger for the rest of the night. It was pleasant.

     “Don’t steal stuff again!” She pleaded, but there was no real request in her words.

     Jack shrugged, dramatic. He could not wipe out the smile on his face, “For you? No promises.”