Halloween Extrazaganza

 When Alan had opened the door a few days prior to let Carmelo in he had not really intended to be talked into a party, of any sort. He did not particularly care for the loud music, or the suffocating crowds, or the sometimes dubious punch. So of course when Carmelo had busted through the doorway with; "Alan, where's Diyan? I wanted to talk to you both about a party, it's Halloween in a few days after all you know." Than Alan had shortly informed him that he would be doing no such thing and would not be convinced otherwise. Or well, rather, he would have had his excitable roommate not bounced into the room with a smile already plastered across his face.

 Even after the two of them had planned and schemed and generally discussed things without him Alan was quite set on that he was not going. No matter how much Diyan and Carmelo begged him. He was going to stay inside wrapped in a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate and a good book. However when Alan's brother, Joey showed up rather unexpectedly and got in on the idea then Alan had slowly began to resign himself to the fact that he was going to have to go to this party whether or not he liked it. Typically Alan was not the type to pout but he'd admit that he did a little bit of that at the realization. Why couldn't they just go without him and leave him to his quiet night at home?

 Well he found out why.

 When Diyan was fussing over Alan's costume so that it sat just right and Joey and Carmelo were out in the living room, Alan had began to have a sneaking suspicion that he'd missed something. He glanced down at where Diyan was kneeling to look at the ends of the kimono Alan was wearing, gold marked fingers adjusting the hemline.

 "Diyan, when does the party start again?" He asked scratching absentmindedly at the scaly patch on his neck.

 The other glanced over at the clock and then gave Alan's leg a quick pat. "Not for a few hours still. There's plenty of time so don't stress yourself out okay?" Alan nodded but he was already not doing too hot with the whole, 'not stressing' thing.

 And Alan had really not intended on hosting aforementioned Halloween party, so when his worries were confirmed by people swarming through the front door of his rather modest sized apartment he had tried rather hard to retreat to his bedroom. But of course the others knew him too well to let him get away with that and he was forced to join the crowd of people in his now quite over stuffed home.Joey pressed a drink into his hand which he assumed was probably fine but couldn't actually bring himself to drink as he skirted the corners of the party. He caught a glimpse of ghostly pale colors and headed towards it hoping it was who he thought it was.

 Tal waved at him as he approached and he gave a small wave back. He wasn't entirely sure how their soft spoken neighbor had been pulled into this, though neither was he totally sure how he'd gotten to this point either so he just gave a nod at Tal's costume. "You're costume is nice."

 Tal glanced down and the flowy sleeves of his ghostly robe. "Thank you. I thought something traditional would be nice. Your's is nice too."

 Alan spent the majority of the night in the corner with Tal where it felt less like he was at a party. He watched Diyan dance and have fun with Joey and Carmelo. And he laughed a bit to himself as he watched Carmelo get flustered and silly when Diyan would cling close during a song or to speak over the music. And when the party ended long after Tal seemed ready for bed, Diyan had surely had too much candy, and Alan's punch had gotten warm, Alan found himself thinking, as people trickled out, that he'd had an okay time.