Chapter 35

Nolan

       "Are you still mad at me?" Jerome asked while I was doing his makeup for our Halloween costume. I was very tempted to mess up, but I knew that wouldn't be very husband-like of me.

      It would, however, be very sass-like, which was the main thing I stood for.

       "Yes," I said. "You're always so mean to me."

       "Nolan, I told you a dozen of times that we're not going as otters for Halloween. Where on earth are we going to find an otter costume?"

       "Uh, online? The costume store? Anywhere if we actually looked?"

       "True, but if you told me weeks ago you wanted to go as otters, then we would have been able to order them online. And at least Kingsley is an otter."

       "Who cares if Kingsley is an otter? I want to be an otter."

       "Well, you're not, so get over it."

       "Well, I'm not getting over it, so shut up before I end up messing up your makeup."

       "Well, I'm not going to shut up until you either stop being so sassy or you kiss me. But considering you're never going to stop being sassy, I'll take a kiss please."

       Jerome puckered his lips, so I rolled my eyes and gave him a kiss. He was right about one thing; I would never stop being sassy. 

       I bet I would even be a sassy corpse whenever I died.

       "You do know our makeup is probably going to get messed up tonight, right?" Jerome asked as I went back to doing his makeup.

       "What would make you say that?" I asked.

       Jerome raised an eyebrow, which made me glare at him because I was working at the area around his eyes. He lowered his eyebrow again. "Well, not all of the makeup," he said. "Just the lip area if you know what I mean."

       "I do, and it's not going to happen because once your makeup is finished, I'm not kissing you all night," I said.

       "Well, that's mean," Jerome said. 

       I just shrugged as I finished doing Jerome's makeup. I had to make it absolutely perfect, because the rest of my family was going to the Halloween even in the courtyard of the college and we all in a competition on who would have the better costume.

       I mean, Jerome was already perfect, so I just had to make sure the makeup went along with it.

       I had a feeling they were going to say me and Jerome lost since Kingsley didn't match with us, but I knew Dad would be on our side since Kingsley was an otter.

       Jerome sighed when I finished with his makeup. "I'm in the mood to kiss you, but I can't so I'm really sad," he said.

       "Yeah? And I'm in the mood to be an otter, but I can't so I'm really sad."

       "I should have known you wanted to be an otter."

       "Yeah, you should have, so you should have ordered me a costume a long time ago."

       Jerome stood up from the chair he was sitting on. "Next year, I promise we'll all be otters. In fact, I'll order the costumes when we get home so we'll have it for next year."

       "Good."

       Jerome rolled his eyes and pulled me into a hug. "I love your sass so much. It's annoying, but it's what makes you special."

       "I don't feel special at times."

       "No, don't think little of yourself," Jerome said. "You are special, and you should know you are. I fell in love with you for a reason."

       "Yes, because I was the first guy you were attracted to that was actually gay."

       "Uh... Okay, while part of that is true, if I didn't like your personality, I wouldn't have fallen in love with you. Things worked out for a reason, and I'm really happy that I'm married to you now."

       I smiled silently. "I'm happy I'm married to you too."

       "Now, let's head off to the event and beat your family costume-wise," Jerome said.

       "Definitely," I said.

       Kingsley, thankfully, still knew it was us under the skeleton makeup. I was a bit worried he would have been scared or wouldn't recognize us, but he did, and even laughed at the makeup.

       I placed Kingsley in the stroller and grabbed the diaper bag, putting it in the basket of the stroller before Jerome and I headed out to the college courtyard.

       It didn't take long for us to find my family when we got there, mainly because Tulip started squealing and saying, "My OTP!"

       My family, minus Ryder and Orchid, were all going as a character from Alice in Wonderland. Mom and Dad were the Queen and King of Hearts, Tulip was Alice, Alan was the Mad Hatter, William was the March Hare, and Rose and Lilac were Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

       "Huh, I thought Alan would have been Tweedledum," I said.

       "Why? Because I'm dumb?" Alan asked.

       "You said it, I didn't," I said.

       "Well, I think it's clear that we're the group that won the costume contest," Alan said. "We even beat Ryder and Orchid."

       "What are they?" Jerome asked.

       "Ryder is the Beast, Mae is Belle, Rhys is Chip, and Zayden is Lumiere," Alan said. "Pretty lame."

       "I don't think that's lame," I said. "What about Orchid?"

       "She and Atticus are Romeo and Juliet," Alan said. Fitting. "So, we obviously win. Right, Dad?"

       "Right," Dad said.

       "Okay, that's not fair," Jerome said. "Grayson, you're part of the Alice in Wonderland costumes. Of course you're going to choose that."

       "Yeah," I agreed. "Besides, you haven't even seen Kingsley's costume yet."

       "Fine, I'll look but that doesn't mean..." Dad stopped when he looked at Kingsley. "Yeah, the Prince-Roys win."

       "What?" Tulip asked. "That's unacceptable."

       "Yeah, we're way better," Alan said.

       "Sorry, but nothing tops an otter," Dad said. "Otters are the cutest beings on the planet."

       "Uh, lies," Jerome said. "Kingsley is. Otters are a close second, which is why he wins because nothing beats the top two cutest beings on the planet."

______________

Very true.

It's still the 31st here so HAPPY HALLOWEEN!