[mp] hallow's eve in hogsmeade

“Of course we’d know. You fall for like… a few minutes or something, right?” Freya frowned, half because she was imagining falling from a great height (to her death) and half because she didn’t like that she really didn’t know anything about what she was talking about. Ari would know, she thought distantly. Freya spent so little time in the muggle world, and honestly didn’t have much interest in learning, which probably made her a bad person, or something.

“Maybe I’ll take your room, and you can have the guest bedroom,” Freya offered, raising her eyebrows and nodding like it was a good idea. If she lived with the boys, would she have to get used to living in a messy house? Freya’s room would be her sanctuary, she thought distantly, finding it not just easy, but fun to get carried away with the idea. The memory of the last time she’d taken his room, though, popped into her head just then, and she wished she had another drink so she could look busy instead of reacting to her thoughts. “Uh yeah,” she said instead, “chips are good.” She feigned looking at the menu when he starte talking about nacho nights and neighbours.

She rolled her eyes at the mention of Greg, bumping Danny lightly with her shoulder as a response. Things with Greg were… Fine, she supposed. A bit weird, maybe? Since he’d asked her out and they’d gotten a drink and she’d basically told him that there was only a friend-vibe on her side of things? “And another drink,” she said, urging him off to get snacks, while hitting him with her best pretty-please eyes.

"No but I mean you're falling right but for most of it you're like 'wow look I'm flying!!' and 'don't run into that bird' and stuff--" he said overexaggerating with his face before continuing. "--and you probably wouldn't be thinking about dying right until the parachute thingy doesn't work but at that point aren't you like almost too close to think about it for too long?" Clearly, he didn't really know much about the activity and yet he still wanted to try it. He waved off her concerns with a flippant hand. "I'm pretty sure you already agreed, Tricky, so no backing out now. I won't let you die," he promised even though he had no business claiming such a thing. He'd probably be too busy trying (and failing) to do a flip while falling through the air to be any good to anyone.

At her suggestion, he was immediately shaking his head. "Nononono. If anything, you can share my room. I am not sleeping in the guest bedroom," he said emphatically. The idea of Freya sharing his room was intriguing and he had quite a few visuals to go along with it... not that that thought made him able to focus on the conversation. Just friends he had to remind himself.

At her agreement to the chips, he lifted a hand and signaled one of the waitresses who saw him after a moment and nodded, indicating she would be over soon. It was a busy night and he was hungry, but he could also be patient. For cheese-smothered chips, he could be patient. He grinned wider as she bumped his shoulder at the mention of Greg. He wasn't sure why he had been so happy that it hadn't gone anywhere with Greg. He had even been extra nice to his roommate in the days following her little let down and made sure not to eat any of his food and cleaned up after himself. Of course, Greg had looked at him suspiciously for days, waiting for a big prank to happen but Danny let it slide.

Danny rolled his eyes at her doe-eyed look and gave a heavy sigh as if it were such a burden to get another round of drinks despite the fact that he had 'forgotten' his muggle money for pretty much every trivia night ever. "Fineeeee," he dragged out with a sigh. "But I'm getting us shots!" he said with a grin.

“Yeah!” Freya said, raising a hand in a why not! type of gesture. The last time she’d done shots with Danny was the night they’d ended up nearly having sex in his room! So that was, like, fun for her brain to bring up now. Thank god things were more relaxed these days though, she thought.

When she and Greg had gone out for that singular drink, Freya was still in a weird space with Danny that she couldn’t quite describe, and it was right before she’d started seeing Indy. Dan had been dating too – everything had been happening at once. Now, though, things were basically back to normal; she and Danny were both painfully single, as per usual, and all the weird feelings were gone. Still close! But not with quite so much… imagination.

Jeremy, on the other hand, had somehow come out of the summer with a proper girlfriend? Freya sighed.

“Shots,” she declared, clapping her hands together once in excitement. Freya reached out two grabby hands as he returned, opening and closing her fingers impatiently. "To what?" she urged, ready to toast again.

Freya was fun, always down for anything, and he knew they had that in common. He was glad she put up with him and Jere because he couldn't quite imagine being in Hogsmeade during Halloween dressed as a pizza with anyone else. He ordered a couple of extra shots just because he was feeling so in the moment. Well that and the two drinks were already starting to effect his decision making skills, but she seemed up for the shots just as much as he was so why not?

He was back in a flash with the shots and the waitress dropped the chips a minute later with terrific timing and he almost couldn't decide between which to do first - shots or snacks? Freya's grabby hands made him grin and he gave in to her, like usual and chose shots first. He pushed a shot into her hand, his fingers brushing hers, as he waggled his brows. "We are going to run out of things to toast at this rate," he said with a laugh, squeezing one eye shut as he tried to come up with something.

It was very obvious when the idea came to him and his hazel eyes lit up, his smile bright. "To not dying while trying muggle high risk activities?" he asked as he lifted his shot glass.

He passed her her shot, their fingers touching briefly. “You can do it Dan,” she said, waving a hand dismissively.

Freya grinned after he spoke. “Ah! knew you could!” she declared, before following him and throwing her shot back with enthusiasm. The blonde wrinkled her nose, shaking her head quickly as the taste made her want to shrivel up. “What was that?” she asked, immediately going for the chips to clear the taste. She dipped her first one in the tomato sauce that had come with the food, popping it into her mouth quickly, even though it was almost hot enough she had to spit it out again.

She waved a hand at her mouth, sticking her tongue out for a moment before reaching for another chip, laughing all the while. “Is that one mine too,” She asked, pointing at the remaining shots. There were a couple of clubs that had halloween-themed nights that Freya had had her eye on for a while, but the real fun in those places didn’t start until later, so they could always end up somewhere like that after this. At this rate, though, Freya wasn’t sure she’d make it to a club.

“Okay, last one,” she said, swaying a little, either to the music in the background or just the alcohol in her system that had started kicking in. Maybe she should have eaten before drinking.

Danny smiled even wider at her praise, batting his eyes dramatically at her, before throwing back the shot with her, grimacing at the glass as he swallowed and shaking her head just like her before letting out a loud and sudden "wooo!" He was pretty sure the young girl dressed as a pixie at the table next to them jumped in surprise at his outburst but he just gave her an apologetic wave of his hand and threw a grin at Freya. "I don't know," he admitted. "I just asked for the deadliest shot they had," Danny said playing in to the Halloween theme. He probably wasn't pulling off the spooky vibes in his pizza costume, he would have to remember that for next year.

He nudged the plate of chips toward her so that it was in the middle of the table and dug in, shoving a few into his mouth. Not as good as nachos but it worked in the moment. And knowing Freya, she needed some food in her if she was going to be drinking on his speed. "These are so good," he mumbled around a mouth full of food before glancing at the remaining shots.

"One of them is," he said with a nod, clarifying that he wanted one as well, gripping the rim of the glasses to separate them and push one towards her. He glanced dubiously down at the liquid, debating whether the would survive another one of whatever these deadly things were, but deciding to go for it anyway. His decision process was never really complex in any situation.

He lifted his glass and nudged hers with his and grinned at her as she swayed in her chair. "Your turn for a toast, Trick."

“Deadly is right,” Freya said, thinking that the bartender must have taken his request literally; even the cocktails they’d already had didn’t dull the toe-curling alcoholic sting of the shot she’d had. The chips as a chaser were doing their job, though. Oily, salty hot chips, covered in tomato sauce – at least they had these on their side, against the little cups of gasoline they were drinking.

“Better do it before we run out of chips,” she commented with a cheeky smile, reaching for her drink. She held the little glass between her thumb and forefinger, pausing for a moment as she thought of something to toast to. What had they done already? To Halloween, to not dying, to being the best pizza or something... “Umm… To us, Dan,” she said, holding up a hand as if it were the most obvious thing that they’d both missed until now. “To us being friends since forever.” She rested her elbow on the table, waiting for their little glasses to clink together before she drank her shot.

She screwed up her face again, dropping the little glass unceremoniously on the table before she went straight back for the chips. After a few mouthfuls of chips, the awful taste started to fade a little, and instead she just felt very warm and pleasant. The blonde tied her hair up in a high ponytail again, fanning herself with her hands. Freya sighed, “Okay, I can feel it now,” she said with a laugh, pausing for a second to touch her cheek lightly. “How ‘bout you?” she asked, unable to stop smiling.

He grinned at her over the chips and shot glasses, her cheeks slightly flushed, curly tendrils of her hair escaping from her ponytail to frame her face, that smile on her face that made him automatically smile. He had to wonder how he had gotten so lucky. And not lucky like that (although he had had a hard time getting that night out of his brain at one point) but lucky in the sense that she not only put up with his nonsense, but also that she seemed to be on the same wavelength. Maybe it was the drinks, but as she suggested the toast to the two of them, Danny got a sudden wave of something he couldn't quite explain. "Yeah to us," he said happily, putting emphasis on the us, and clinking his glass to hers. Sure he was probably doomed to just be the 'friend' forever but he had to think being friends at all with Freya was worth its weight in gold.

He almost laughed at himself at his train of thoughts. "Maybe I should go as a poet or tortured artist or something for next Halloween," he blurted out, laughing at the depth of his own thoughts while dressed as a pizza. Didn't quite fit.

Danny dived into more of the chips just like her, making little mmmm sounds to fully express his satisfaction. He had always been a vocal eater, it was a habit his mum couldn't break him of. "These are so good," he said around a mouthful of food, chewing slower as she smiled at him and nodding happily back. "Oh I'm in right form," he grinned and reached out to poke her cheek with one finger for no reason. "Best Halloween ever," he said, even though he said that about everything. Whatever moment he was in was the best ever usually.

“A poet?” She asked, totally blank-facing him. Freya clearly wasn’t a mindreader; she had no idea what he was talking about. She laughed anyway, trying to imagine Danny as some kind of tortured artist (a Prosper type, maybe? The blonde didn’t know that many artists), and coming up blank. “Yeah, and I’ll go as like… A scientist,” she added playfully, unsure if she was teasing herself or him or both of them.

Freya laughed again when he poked her cheek, pulling away and smacking at his hand playfully. “I’ve definitely had worse,” she told him, pointing a chip at him, then snatching it away as he went for it like a seagull. “Nuh-uh,” she said, popping it straight into her mouth before he could get it. Her mouth felt refreshed now – full of a nice, salty flavour instead of the gross gasoline-y one she’d had earlier. She fished in one of the empty cocktail glasses for a block of ice to chew on, and crunched on it absentmindedly.

“You wanna drink more? ‘Cause I’m pretty good. For now. Maybe we walk?” The sentences came out on top of each other a little, like she had too many thoughts to get out at once. Or maybe it was just loud in here. She smiled at the end anyway.

"Yeah because I'm so deep," he explained in not such a great way, but laughed at himself anyway. All he'd need to do is write down a sappy line or two for a poem about his feelings and he'd be good to go. Those drinks were hitting him harder than he had realized but as always, he went with the flow. He waggled his brows at her suggestion, saying, "A sexy scientist right?"

He grinned wider as she smacked his hand away and he reached over as if he was going to tickle her side but his costume got in his way so he gave that up before he even started. She dangled a chip in front of him so he went with his first instinct trying to bite at it but she snatched it away so he gave her a pout. "What a tease," he said jokingly as he finished off the last few chips in the basket and the last sip of his drink too.

"Yeah, let's walk!" he said, his eyes lighting up at the idea. He didn't like to stay in one place for too long and was already feeling the need to get up out of this seat. He left a few coins on the table as a tip and then gestured for Tricky to go ahead of his before shuffling out sideways through the doorway, the cool night air feeling fresh against his cheeks as he took in a deep breath. "I heard there was a corn maze at the end of the road," he brought up glancing down at her, the alcohol buzzing through his veins. "Wanna see how quick we can get lost in there before we have to ask for help?" Danny asked, grinning.

Deep! Freya laughed again. It wasn’t the first word she’d pick for either of them – or most of their friends, honestly. She smacked his arm again at his suggestion, but it was all playful, especially as the shots were kicking in. “Only if you go as a sexy poet,” she said, giving him a look that showed that she meant it.

Still crunching ice, Freya got to her feet. She wiped her lips clumsily with the back of her hand, but accidentally smeared her lipstick instead of just the water. “Oh,” she said, staring at the back of her hand for a moment. She made sure to grab a napkin on the way out so she could try to clean up. She dabbed at her lips as they walked, laughing and nodding at his suggestion.

“How am I?” she asked, dodging some kids so she could step in front of him so he could look at her makeup for her. She tapped her lips with a finger to make sure he understood. They were just outside the maze, but what if someone took their photo or something? It could happen! And she'd prefer to look at least a little put-together. “The lipstick, Dan,” she added, giggling.

He laughed as she smacked him, feeling playful and light. The look she gave him really made him want to dress up as a sexy poet right now instead of this pizza but that would take effort and work so he let it slide away. "A sexy poet?" he asked, tilting his head a bit as he tried to even imagine what that would be. He couldn't really come up with anything so instead he defaulted to his normal overly self-confidence. "Well I'm already sexy so I'll just recite a few lines of poetry and girls will be swooning at my feet," he said with a warning grin.

Danny was busy trying to straighten his pizza costume out and not trip over some guy's fake hippogriff prop he had brought in with him to notice what Freya had done. All he saw was the red on the back of her hand and his first thought was that it was blood. "You alright?" he asked reaching out a hand to grab hers before blinking and realizing she wasn't hurt. How many drinks had he had again?

He stepped around a few kids pushing their way in and the door swung closed behind him before he stopped short, Freya looking up at him with those big eyes of hers. "What?" he asked dumbly, trying to sort out what she was asking him for. When she clarified, he grinned at her and zeroed in on her lips. It was a bit mussed now that she had mentioned it, not that Freya could look bad in anything really. But still she had asked so he reached one hand up to wipe at the corner of her lip where she had missed a spot, being careful to be gentle with her. Standing this close, his fingers so close to her lips, he could feel her breath on his hand. He had a sudden memory of how soft her lips were and he flicked his gaze quickly to her eyes, feeling exposed as if she would be able to read his thoughts.

"All better now," he said as he reminded himself to lower his hand, tucking his thumb into his fist that was smeared with a bit of her lipstick. Just friends, he reminded himself. "Ready to go in?" he asked with a nod toward the corn maze.

Oh, proximity! She was giggling a little when he touched her face, and she had to make herself still on purpose so he didn’t smudge her makeup more than she already had. She parted her lips just a touch, still smiling, as he wiped at the corner of her lips. How much had she had to drink, again? Freya saw the moment in slow-motion, her eyes fixed on his, watching him watch her lips.

It was over in a flash. “Thanks,” Freya breathed as he pulled away, her lips a little tingly. Freya cleared her throat, looking away and taking a small step back, nodding all the while. “Ready,” she said, smiling.

God, was it going to happen again? Freya loved Danny – as a friend! That was why they were such good… friends. There were reasons they hadn’t started dating last time they’d kissed, or the time before that. But Freya knew herself well enough these days to know that she loved kissing, and when she was drunk she really liked getting touchy with others. And Danny was like, her best friend. One of them, anyway. It was normal to want to kiss friends, right?

He’d gone ahead, so she caught up to him, bumping him with her shoulder before she fixed her cape clasp. “This isn’t gonna be like… A maze with stuff in it, is it?” She asked, thinking back to the tri-wizard tournament and wrinkling her nose.

There was a moment there that seemed tenuous to him, but Freya was smiling happily just like always so he was glad that he hadn't done something to mess things up again like last time...

"Oh," he said shortly as he glanced about as if he would find a sign that would answer the question for him. Then he shrugged and glanced down at her. "No, I don't think so?" he guessed. "I thought it was just your regular run-of-the-mill, looks-fun-at-first-but-then-you-get-hopelessly-lost-and-need-to-send-a-flare-up-to-get-out kind of thing?" At least that's what he was hoping. He was not prepared for anything that required actual effort.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough," he said as he grabbed her smaller hand in his and pulled her in, walking down the first wide aisle that had been cleared before they got to the first choice. "Left, right or straight?" he asked and then glanced at her, letting her make the first decision. 

“What?” Freya said, missing approximately every second little word in the long word he just rapped at her. Her smile turned into a laugh as their eyes met. “Uh-huh,” she said, nodding in agreement, her blonde ponytail bobbing.

Freya laughed more when he grabbed her hand, delighted by the whole thing – the environment, the costumes, the hand-holding. She shouldn’t read into it, she thought distantly; she’d still be holding hands if, say, Jeremy was here. “Um, left,” Freya declared, pointing that way. She kept up with him, giggling as they came to another fork. “Left or right, Dan?” She asked, holding back a smile as she tried to keep a serious face.