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The kids had been rounded up and were having their very own scary sleepover over in the pool house: Joey thought guiltily for a second about the sheer volume of candy they’d managed to trick or treat out of the assembled adults and sent sympathetic thoughts towards the babysitters Lance had arranged. But then again - he tongued his drink’s straw into his mouth and drank deep - thanks be to Lance and his incredibly well organised parties.Not that he’d seen much of the official hosts : both JC (house) and Lance (organisation) had left everything in the capable hands of the hired in crew, trusting the freakishly Christopher Lee-esque Dracula MC to marshal events and the happy mix of guests to keep the drinking and chatting going. So far it was working out pretty well. The whole ground floor had been decorated in keeping with the horror monsters theme: lots of cheesy props, dry ice and sound effects. There were projection screens in each room showing silent clips, the bar was tricked out like a mad scientist’s lab and an old-fashioned reel-to-reel camera spun slowly in the corner of the main room.Kelly announced her return by winding her arm round Joey’s waist, and he leaned down to kiss her carefully, mindful of their makeup. His lift boots made him an awkward three inches taller, which, even with her heels, made kissing feel ever so slightly off. Chris had rolled his eyes and glared when he’d come over to hug Joey hello, as though Joey had chosen his costume on purpose.“You know Anthony’s here?” Joey nodded. “He’s looking for Lance – you have any idea when they’re planning on making their big entrance?” Joey shook his head, and Kelly rolled her eyes.“They’re going to be another age or two, aren’t they? I should know this by now.”“Probably.” Joey had to smile. “Where is he, anyway – it’s been ages since we crossed paths.”“Over by the screening room. Being tormented by Chris.”“And you’re making your escape?”Kelly reached up to poke him on the tip of his nose. “Spot on. No one should let Chris drink something that colour, let alone anything that *smokes*. Someone’s going to dump him in the pool before the end of the night.”“Five bucks says you’re right, but it can’t be you?”“Sucker’s bet, hon.” She smiled back, and then before he could speak, “And no, the fact that he’s being drunk in character is not an excuse, and if I find out for sure that it was you who suggested it was, bad things will happen.”Joey sloshed his still smoking glass at her. “Smoking drinks! Not responsible for anything I might say or do!” He also slid one hand down her back to squeeze her really quite beautiful behind, just to be sure. She twisted under his arm, until she could return the favour, sharp fingertips that made him straighten and smile.“Yeah. You keep thinking that. Monster.”“Hey now – like you weren’t made for me.” Joey fluttered his mascara-d eyelashes, and grinned as his Bride calmly lifted his drink whilst squeezing his butt again. She slipped back into the crowd with a smile, her complicated black and white wig distinctive as she worked her way across the room.Joey slowly wandered in the other direction, making for the bar, the screening room, and if the volume levels were to be trusted, Chris. Who was, to be fair, being even louder and more manic than usual. Joey blamed it on Nick’s continued absence: apparently he’d said something about it sucking that no one in Europe did Halloween properly and that Chris was to have a drink or ten for him. At least that’s what Chris had told him an hour or two ago, and the evidence would suggest that he was following instructions this time. He’d lost his dinner jacket somewhere and his turban was distinctly skew-wiff already, but he was still the right side of the ‘holding court’ vs ‘pissing everyone the hell off’ line, as best as Joey could tell.“Hey man!”Joey was pulled into a rough embrace, and it wasn’t until they were pulling back that Joey recognised Andy under the dapper top hat. He clapped his hand against Dracula’s shoulder.“Dude! How’s it going?”“Pretty good, pretty damn good. You were right, married life’s fucking great”They allowed the ebb and flow of costumed party goers to push them gently towards the full length windows as they caught up, Joey snagging another oversize cocktail from a passing waitress on the way. The garden was well lit with honest-to-god flaming torches, and some of the guests had spilled out on the terrace: Joey was idly fingering one of his neck-bolts, half focussing on what Anthony was saying, half watching the party swirl.It was a fact universally acknowledged that one of the reasons JC hosted parties was that he loved to make an entrance. He and Lance seemed determined to out do themselves, year on year, for their costumes, and apparently a good number of the guests had been keeping an eye out for them, because when Joey realised the volume of the room had suddenly dropped, and angled himself so he could peer in through the doors, JC and Lance were still proceeding down the stairs with regal slowness.Regal, and possibly also practical because – Joey realised from the way he was swaying slightly – JC was wearing deadly looking heels, with long straps winding up his calves. Bronze, to match the heavy over-dress that went above and the flaming gold headdress that topped the whole thing off. Lance was lounging an appropriate two steps behind her, scanning the room with a half-hidden smirk. His hair was back-combed and sprayed a couple of shades darker, and he’d been heavy-handed with the bronzing powder all over the expanse of bared chest shown off by the open shirt of his empire-building uniform, although he hadn’t gone as far as to grow in chest-hair for the part. Joey nodded in admiration.“The what now?” Anthony leaned in to whisper. Joey clicked his fingers as he fished around in his sodden brain for the requisite detail –“It’s She – the princess and whats-his-face. Richardson’s character. Leo. Leo and Ayesha.”Anthony looked at him blankly.“One of the sixties Hammers – she’s this Indian princess … “ Joey started to explain as the buzz of conversation around them rose again. He hadn’t gotten much further when he was interrupted by an almighty great crash. Joey ducked automatically, and then slowly looked round. It said something that he wasn’t entirely surprised to see Chris at the centre of the destruction: and destruction was clearly the word.Where there had been a massive tiered construction seeping a circle of creeping mist and cooling drinks at the end of the bar there was now a small lake of smoking green water and broken glass with a furious looking Chris sat in the middle of it all, swearing imaginatively at the surrounding people. Joey was shouldering his way back inside before he’d even made a decision, and he registered Anthony at his elbow, grateful for the support.“Chris – what the hell?” The liquid and ice underfoot made for treacherous conditions, and Joey flailed his arms when he hit the edge of it, fighting to keep his balance. At least a couple of people laughed, but Joey was happy to let that go.Chris just shook his head in answer. Joey reached down for Chris’s hand, biting his lip at the trickles of red that were already blooming down Chris’s sodden shirt sleeve. He didn’t feel drunk any more. He grabbed Chris’s wrist and pulled, trying to make sure he didn’t join Chris on the floor after all. “Come on, let’s get you up.”Anthony was there a second later and together they got Chris to his feet, and patted him down for damage. Both his hands were bleeding freely, but a bottle of water from the bar rinsed the cuts clean and didn’t reveal any glass in them.“Man, what were you doing?” Anthony asked, while Joey held Chris’s hands still.“I just slipped!” Chris protested.“While you were ….” Joey prodded.“Trying to hypnotize Carl into bringing me more drinks? Shut up!”Anthony snorted, and Chris stuck his tongue out at him. Joey squeezed Chris a little by way of apology for his own chuckles.The bar staff were doing a fantastic job of making the wreckage vanish, and by the time Lance and JC managed to work their way down the length of the room, most people had returned to their conversations, or had listened to the MC’s invitation to pay attention to one of the performance artists currently folding herself inside a freak show specimen bottle.“Is everything … Chris!” Lance started, only to be interrupted with a pre-emptive, “I slipped.”“Are you ok?” JC asked, and Joey looked up from his careful focus on applying cross-cross layers of band-aids across the ball of Chris’s thumb to say ‘Just about.” Chris brandished his other, already bandaged, hand at Lance.“Your drinks-swamp tried to kill me, but I survived the vicious attack, for no one can defeat the mighty Zoltan!”JC leaned in and whispered something in Lance’s ear which made him smirk.“What!” Chris demanded.“Nothing,” Lance and JC chorused. Joey wanted to roll his eyes at them. Instead he released Chris, who shoved between them, striking an exaggerated boxing referee’s pose.“Nope. No fair. No couple-y cuteness when I can’t join in.”“Man, what’s your average age when you’re with Nick? Six? Are you sure you shouldn’t be out in the pool house with the other kids?”Chris recoiled from Lance in mock horror, leaving behind smudges on Lance’s chest from his wet sleeves. JC and Lance exchanged a glance over his head, and then JC carefully drew long - manicured and painted, Joey noticed – fingers over Chris’s cheek.“Why, honey,” he drawled, in character. “Whoever told you you couldn’t join in?”Chris blinked, and JC leant in to leave a perfect lipstick-kiss on Chris’s cheek.“Eww!” Chris exploded, scrubbing at his face, but the smile was back, and when JC and Lance slung their arms around his shoulders and drew him back into the crowd with them, he was laughing.Joey slotted the remaining band-aids back into the first aid box, and looked up at Anthony, who was leaning on the bar.“Aren’t you glad you work for sane people now?”“Yeah, but there’s a reason I came to you guys’s party.”Joey smiled back at him. “That’s good to know, man.”*****Joey and Kelly found each other again on the terrace, danced for a few measures of the Monster Mash before finding themselves laughing too much to continue, and then simply stood for a while at the edge of the crowd, arms around each other, watching the people and being comfortable. When the distant but distinct sound of someone crashing into the pool washed over to them, they didn’t even have to look at each other before they both started chuckling.*****