[mp] hallow's eve in hogsmeade

“Yeah, do it,” Freya said, laughing again. She could send it all to Shelby and see if her cousin had anything more definitive with the extra information. She waved a hand when he mentioned the yoga stuff. “Maybe next weekend or something,” she said vaguely.

Never know until you try, Tricky.

Freya processed what he said belatedly, and intentionally stopped a frown from forming. What? He wasn’t allowed to say that, she thought; it wasn’t consistent with all of the other stuff that had happened a couple of months ago. Did she hear right? Was she overthinking? She was a little drunk now, and high from the laughing and the bouncing, and feeling close and happy, but there was something there for a moment that took her by surprise, and not necessarily in a good way.

The moment passed quickly though; of course Danny was joking about everything not a fraction of a second later. “For me?” she said, teasing as she poked his costume again affectionately. He didn’t have to clarify, though; she knew. “Huh?” She didn’t catch the race thing when he declared it, but when he started running, she started running too.

He got a decent headstart, and his legs were longer, but aside from being a little less aerodynamic because of the material trailing behind her, Freya was unhindered by her costume; she caught up to him in no time at all. Unfortunately for her, this meant when he tripped (over his untied shoelaces?) Freya stumbled right over him, tumbling in a flurry of limbs and a red cape and hay. She landed on her back, tangled up in her cloak, with something sticking into her side uncomfortably.

She was quiet for a moment, feeling dizzy. “Nice one,” she said breathlessly, laughing as she reached down to make sure her dress covered everything that mattered.

"Sure, sure," Danny agreed easily, wondering if he'd even remember to owl his mum. "Wonder if she'll even remember when I was born.." he mused aloud, thinking of how many Willbond siblings there were. Surely, that was not something that was that important to remember for a mum with so many kids around the same age, right? Living on his own somehow, taking care of Jere because Merlin knew he was the more responsible one (read: he wasn't), but he had to give props to his parents for trying.

But then he was running, and laughing, and whooping it up like the drunk hooligan he was, his costume bouncing on shoulders. He tried to look back and raz her for being so slow when he realized that she had caught up so quick and that's when he tripped. "Oooff!" he exclaimed as he fell, one arm trapped under him, his face in the dirt as he tumbled and brought Tricky down with him.

The world spun for a moment as the drinks sloshed inside and the stars careened wildly above. He put a hand to his head but then glanced over at Tricky, concern for her spiking before abating just as quick as she started laughing. "That was your fault, you were just trying to stop me from breaking the record of fastest slice in all of Hogsmeade," he joked as he sat up gingerly. "You alright, Trick?"

“I dunno if you have much competition for that, Dan,” Freya said with another laugh. She hadn’t seen any other pieces of pizza walking around Hogsmeade, anyway. Most of the costumes she’d noticed were more magical. Freya pulled her wand out from where it was poking her, then lay it down beside her leg. She took a deep breath and sighed. It wasn’t all that uncomfortable on the floor, she thought. It wasn’t even spinning that much.

It’d be dumb to risk ruining it, too. Wouldn’t it. There was a question in there, she was sure, though she hadn’t inflected it quite like a question should be. And he’d sort of answered, too, but in a way that had taken her off guard. She really needed to get back into the habit of taking ninety-five-percent of what he said as a joke and not overthinking it all; things had been simpler when that had been the default.

“I’m good,” she said, still not moving. It should be colder, but her cloak was magically warm. And maybe it should be less comfortable, but Freya was a little drunk, and lying in the hay looking up at the sky wasn’t so bad. "You good?"

I dunno if you have much competition for that, Dan. he looked at her dumbly, not understanding for a moment before it finally clicked. "True, true," he said in his double talk speech pattern that appeared more when he was in his cups. But lying there beside her on the ground in the middle of the corn maze felt a little dumb too, but she seemed content to lay there so he didn't mind either.

"I'm good," he said easily. When was he not though. Well except when he was freaking out about almost having sex with her and showing up on her doorstep in the middle of the night. Wait. Why was he still thinking of that. He tried not to focus on how close they were, how their legs were all tangled together. Instead, he sat up gingerly as he glanced at her and nodded. "Can we just go back the way we came and say we found our way out?" he asked with a grin before he brought his legs up under him and stood up. Well, wobbled up, trying to grab on to a few cornstalks that were a poor choice for stability as they weaved and bent under his grasp before he finally regained his balance.

He glanced at her with a triumphant smile like 'look I can stand all by myself' and then extended her a hand. "C'mon Tricky, you owe me a dessert," he decided on a whim.

He was good, cool. “Okay,” she said with a small, happy sigh, but she was only half listening to him. Freya stayed on the ground, even as Danny got up. It was nice on the ground, she thought. She wasn’t cold; her cloak was magically warm, so, there wasn’t really any reason to stand. The sky was up there above her, and that was kinda nice. Her friend was already on his feet, though, and she wondered distantly why he didn’t want to stay down here with her. She gave him a faint smile.

Dessert? She felt a bit too spinny for more dessert food, but she wasn’t one to turn down something sweet. Freya took his hand and let him pull her up, swaying a bit once she was vertical again. She didn’t let go once they were up, enjoying the sensation of his warm hand in hers… Even if he was dressed like a piece of pizza right now. “Okay,” she said again, her word dragging a little, the alcohol making her words a touch slurred at the edges. “Lemme lead,” she said, with a bright smile. She gave his hand a squeeze, then started walking, still holding on.

/end

He gazed down at her, a drunk, stupid smile on his face as he saw her small smile as she looked up at him. Why was he thinking thoughts like he could stay here forever in this corn maze doing nothing with Tricky and he probably wouldn't ever get bored. Thoughts were weird though anyway and he couldn't hold on to any of them as she took his hand, hers felt warm in his.

"Alright," he agreed easily as she took the lead. It was a better view from behind anyway. Wait a second, was he supposed to think that with a friend who he sometimes made out with. Shoot, he was going into dangerous territory again and he was bound to say something dumb any second. It was a good thing Frey was used to him saying dumb things. Just another night for them, really.

/end