An Eye For An Eye

Soixante-Dix

Deucalion seemed different. He was quieter than usual and it worried me. It didn’t seem to matter how much or how often I tried to comfort him or reminded him that he had done as well as he could, it didn’t seem to be enough. I had even contemplated calling Ms. Morell to see if she could ease his mind.

“Deuc, I’m going to buy some Halloween decorations,” I said. The few that I had were a bit pathetic looking now but I had salvaged what I could from the tangled mess of fake spider webbing. “Do you want to come with me?” Hesitantly, he nodded.

The drive to the supermarket didn’t take too long, the roads were relatively quiet. As we walked around, hand in hand, I suddenly wished I had something to put everything in.
“Deuc, there’s vampire fangs,” I said, looking at the plastic fangs. “I should get them.”
“You’re a werewolf,” he whispered. “Why are you going to be a vampire?”
“Why not? Maybe you can be a werewolf but I can’t shift and control that,” I said as I picked them up. He just laughed and shook his head a little. “Oh come on, it’s fun for me and you don’t even have to look at me being stupid in a costume.”

He chuckled as I put them back.
“If you want to because it’s fun, then do it,” he said.
“Really?”
Deuc nodded. “Sure. Why not do it if it’s fun?”
I smiled. “Well, I could always consider being a sexy vampire,” I said and he shook his head again.
“I’m not going to complain if you do,” he said as I held onto the fangs.

“I don’t think you would,” I said, laughing a little as we walked along the aisle. Even if he couldn’t see the costume, he wouldn’t need to. “But… what do you think of some skeleton decorations?”
“I’ll trust your judgement, I’ve never been one for decorating for Halloween,” he said.
“Well, I think this skeleton will look wonderful in the front yard,” I said as I tucked it under my arm.

“Your enthusiasm is infectious, I think,” he muttered and I laughed.
“Good. Now do we get spiders? I’m not getting the web, they are far too annoying for me to deal with,” I said. That spider webbing had irritated me so much I was not willing to go through it again.
“Spiders?” he asked.
“Yeah, spiders. I could stick one on the front door,” I said, grinning as I thought of the idea.
“Sure, why not?” he said and I smiled. My Halloween spirit did seem to make him a little less grumpy about it.

Once we had paid, I insisted on paying for at least half since the decorations were my idea even though Deuc said he didn’t mind paying for them. We drove back home and I was glad to sit down on the sofa.

“You’re not going to decorate the house with those decorations?” he asked, eyebrows raised as he sat down next to me.
“I will,” I said. “In like, half an hour or so.”
He chuckled. “I’ll have to try and see the results.”
“You’re going to shift just to see the spooky decorations?” I asked, a grin spreading across his face.
“It’s not going to hurt anything.”

I hummed. “True. It's just that I’ll have to put a bit more effort in than I was planning to.”
“How much effort were you planning on putting in?”
“Eh,” I said with a shrug. I wasn’t sure myself.

After putting up the Halloween decorations, I walked with Deuc, showing my very proud set up of a posed skeleton looking scared at a fake spider. He laughed.
“You know, this just proves that you’re adorable.”
“Adorable?” I repeated, raising my eyebrows. “I wouldn’t call it that… but okay.”
“What would you call it?” he asked, looking at me and waiting for my answer.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Me having nothing better to do?” He chuckled and kissed my cheek.
“I feel like that proves my point.”
“No, I don’t think it does,” I said, shaking my head.

“When are you going to be a vampire then?”
“Not today, it’s not Halloween yet,” I said. “You’ll have to wait until Thursday.”
“What day is it today?” he asked.
“Tuesday?” How did he not know what day it was?
“I can’t exactly look at a calendar, can I?” he said drily and I nodded, he had a point.

“Well, I’m dressing up Thursday, it’s not Halloween yet,” I said. “And if you need to know what day it is and you don’t know, you can ask.”
“Thank you.” He smiled and I gave him a quick kiss.
“I’m tired, I might go to be early,” I said. I wasn’t sure why I was so tired.
“Sleep well then.”
“And you, whenever you decide to join me.”