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@m-to-the-6th-power requested Cake + “I swear I’m wearing this Batman costume on a dare.”

Apparently I have been away from this business so long I can’t remember how to stick to a prompt. (The word count thing was never going to be adhered to, let’s be honest now.)

“Trick-or-treating is a nice, normal thing for nice, normal kids to do on Halloween,” Marco said, shouldering some kid in a cardboard-box-creation so that they didn’t collide chest-on. “And, besides, this way we can be totally undercover to spy on known… you knows. Without any pesky two-hour… er… curfew.”

“I’d take back that spy book you bought if that’s the best code-speaking you managed to get out of it,” Jake muttered sullenly beside him, rolling his eyes as they picked their way through the throng of costumed, shrieking children.

He had been against the whole business from the start; their time could be better spent being on proper patrol for any Yeerk activity in the crowded streets at a time when Hork-Bajir and the like barely needed any sort of disguise. Holidays were always dangerous times when it came to silent, organised criminal activities, Jake knew. Especially holidays that had a lot of scary things running around in the dark. Or, if that was being too ambitious, then at least taking the night off to catch up on some sleep. Hell knew they all needed it; Jake hadn’t had to add much charcoal underneath his eyes to give him the dead, haunted look the pictures in the comic book he’d used for reference had.

Of course, despite everybody always going on about how he was the leader, Jake had very little say in most decisions. Despite his firm logic, and the fact that he was sure his desperate plea to finally be able to crawl onto his bed and just sleep for a solid amount of time for once was cracking through his voice like the warning sign of oncoming tears, the Animorphs – Tobias and Ax included – were all out on the streets that evening, costumed and hunting not for alien invaders but candy.

Just because he’d dressed up at the very, very last minute and had come out did not mean he was happy about it. He saw Marco giving him some careful sideways looks, but didn’t bother hiding the scowl from his face. Marco didn’t reply verbally or through body-language but instead took the lead at the next house they knocked at, inferring that Jake’s dark mood was all part of playing the part of his costume. Just after the couple closed their door again, Jake felt a bit of his mulishness begin to fade. He sighed, went to rub his face, got stopped by Marco’s hand.

“You’ll ruin the look, dude.” Marco patted him on the shoulder, the touch saying sorry and you’re forgiven and this is good for you in equal measure. “Okay, so strategise with me. Do we hit up the – Wha-? Holy Cassie, Batman.”

Jake stopped walking as soon as he saw what had rendered Marco a little speechless, blinking to make sure his tired eyes weren’t misinterpreting what he was seeing. A few paces in front of him was a very good store-rented Batman costume with some extra home-gathered accessories for added authenticity. The mask was off and clutched in one hand. A hand belonging to Cassie.

“Hey, guys,” she called to them, trying – and failing – to look like she wasn’t blushing.

Marco fell to his knees dramatically, holding out his arms to Cassie like she was some kind of deity. “I don’t even know what to say. I knew you were special. I knew there was something about you that was just angelic. I said to myself, ‘Marco, this Cassie girl –’”

“I swear I’m wearing this Batman costume on a dare,” Cassie interrupted, her eyes on Jake. “I… I didn’t have anything… and none of the costumes for girls in the shop…” She was turning more and more embarrassed, twisting the Batman mask in her hands almost miserably. “And then Rachel… she dared me to and it’s pretty comfortable and the mask helps and I also just thought it was really funny and all and…”

“Funny?” Marco said, smoothly interrupting her nervous, rattling tirade. “Why would you being Batman be funny?”

“Cassie as a bat,” Jake said, and there was a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Cassie as a bat that saves the world. I get it.”

Her lips took longer to twitch into a smile, but the look was no more genuine. Marco looked between the two of them and made a slight noise before rolling his eyes and getting to his feet. “Wow. You know things are bad when somebody has the same humour as Jake. This is just sad. Let’s go find Xena so she can smack some sense into the situation.” He took another look at Cassie’s Batman costume and shook his head, muttering something under his breath.

“And you’re supposed to be… a… zombie?” Cassie asked as she fell in beside Jake, the two of them weaving along after Marco in search of their friends.

“A walking, talking dead man,” Jake said without thinking. She gave him a sharp, reproachful look and remorse flooded through him enough to make his gaze drop. “It seemed… more fitting when I was annoyed about having to come out.”

Cassie nudged against him very gently, like a wolf nuzzling a member of its pack. “Tonight is needed too, Jake,” she said, quiet enough that her voice nearly got swallowed in the noise. “Don’t forget about this side of life, too.”

He didn’t reply, but when the throngs got wilder he reached to grab her hand under the pretence of making sure they didn’t get separated. She wove her gloved fingers through his and neither of them looked at each other, feeling as though there was electricity forming where they were tethered to each other, even through the fabric of her gloves. She let go once they reached Rachel, Tobias and Ax and Jake tried to stop swallowing so obviously; tried to hide the disappointment curling in his gut that he’d made a mistake about it – about them – that he’d thought something he shouldn’t, and despite what had happened on the Iskoort homeworld they were not what he’d hoped they would be.

They began walking again to some place further from the crowds so a candy-manic Ax wouldn’t cause too much public scrutiny. And as they took the first few steps the feeling of a bare palm against his made Jake jump a little. Cassie had removed her glove. Jake couldn’t help but grin – full-faced and giddy – as they moved off, the electricity sparking and warm and the night suddenly looking a whole lot brighter and a whole lot less like a waste of time.

“Marco’s good at getting people to give extra candy,” he blurted, suddenly. “I’ll, uh, probably need some… help… eating it all. If you’d… like to… meet to… do that.”

He risked a glance at Cassie. There was a smile on her face that made her dimples show. “Um… sure. Yes. Thank you. That would be…”

She didn’t finish the sentence, but didn’t need to. They didn’t let go of each other’s hands once the whole night.