DISCLAIMER: I'm not sure who owns them, but it sure isn't me. I do like playing with them, though, and promise not to make any money at it.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Trick or Treat
By sailor80
It was their first year at college, and Halloween fell on Saturday, and Blair was certain Jo would want to go out to at least one of the parties she'd been invited to.
And Jo, again, proved her wrong. After being out late Friday, she was the first one up Saturday. She had a long list of things to do before darkness fell.
The house and the shop were decorated, but Jo wanted to do more. It was the first year since being sent to Eastland that she had an opportunity to set the scene for trick-or-treaters, and Jo was excited.
She grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl in the kitchen and went out into the garage to gather the things she'd collected during the past month. By mid-morning, everything was well in hand, and by mid-afternoon, Jo was finished.
Everyone else had plans for the evening, and that was fine with Jo, too. She went in and fixed a sandwich for her late lunch, then went upstairs to get ready. First, she changed into black pants and a black turtleneck, then grabbed the bag of theatrical makeup and went to the bathroom to fix her face. Satisfied at what she saw in the mirror, Jo opened the bathroom door.
Blair screeched and jumped back, and Jo laughed while Blair berated her. Scaring Blair made her night, and it wasn't even dark yet. Jo was still chuckling to herself when she went downstairs to light the jack-o-lanterns and smaller candles that lined the sidewalk.
The others left while she was handing out candy. In between trick-or-treaters, Jo replenished the dry ice to keep the fog rolling and replaced burned out candles.
She was sprawled on the steps when Blair came home early and surprised her by sitting in a chair on the porch, seemingly unconcerned about her expensive Tinkerbelle costume.
"Lover boy didn't show up?" Jo teased.
"He was drunk," Blair said with disgust.
"Aren't they all?"
"I thought he was a nice guy," Blair sighed.
Jo ignored her in favor of the pack of small children turning onto their walk. The littlest one got two candy bars for marching right up to her, and another for glaring at Blair and saying definitively, "You're not Tinkerbelle." It took all of Jo's self-control to refrain from laughing at Blair, but ghouls didn't laugh.
Instead, Jo scared the kids off with a blood-curdling scream, and they scurried down the walk to the knot of mothers waiting, and looked anxiously over their shoulders as they moved to the next house.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Blair asked.
"Yeah. Go inside. You're ruinin' my scary mojo with your nice little costume."
"I need sympathy."
It was too easy. "It's in the dictionary between shit and syphilis."
Blair pushed herself up with a huff, and slammed the door when she went in the house, and Jo's laughter exploded. She heard another door slam, and knew she'd have to apologize later, but it was so much fun to push Blair's buttons.
A little after 9 p.m., Jo turned off the porch lights and went inside. She would clean up the mess in the morning.
Blair, fortunately, was still in her costume, sulking on her bed. "Hey," Jo called from the doorway.
"I'm not talking to you."
"Ok, but I'm still askin' if you want to go to a party. Since we're all dressed up and everything."
Blair looked at Jo. "Where?" She knew Jo's idea of a party, and it was nothing like Blair's, although she usually had more fun with Jo.
"Do you wanna go or not?" Jo was losing her patience.
"Sure."
"Can we take your car? I don't think you'll be warm enough on my bike."
"Certainly."
"C'mon, then. You're holding up progress."
Jo drove them out of Peekskill into the surrounding countryside. When Jo turned onto a dirt lane, Blair held her breath, knowing the convertible's low clearance made it vulnerable to damage.
"Don't worry," Jo reassured her. "We cleared the lane to make sure everything was ok."
She parked the car where others were, and when they got out, Blair smelled wood smoke and heard music. She looked in that direction and saw a bonfire, and people moving around it.
"Outside?"
"Yeah." Jo locked and closed the passenger door and put the keys in her pocket, since Blair had nowhere to put them. She took Blair's hand. "C'mon. It'll be fun," she coaxed to get Blair moving.
To Blair's surprise, it was fun. Jo stayed with her until Blair was comfortable, and introduced her to her friends, and kept Blair supplied with unspiked cider. She watched Jo bob for apples and horse around with her friends, and check regularly that Blair was warm enough and not too bored.
In short, Blair realized, Jo treated her like she expected her dates to, but rarely did. Except for the part where Blair saw her kissing another girl. Several other girls, actually, and each time, jealousy flared. When did this happen and why didn't she know about it? And why was she jealous?
The last part was easy enough to answer. She thought of Jo as hers, had for at least a year. And while it was fine for Blair to go on date after date with boys she wasn't interested in, whenever Jo had a date, Blair tended to lose it. And now her best friend was kissing girls and she never said a word about it. Oh, they were going to talk about this, and the sooner, the better.
Blair went to Jo, grabbed her arm, and jerked her away from the – ew, spider costumed – female she was involved with.
"Hey!" Jo said irritably, and saw Blair. "What the hell are you doin'?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing."
The other girl slipped away. "I don't bother you when you're suckin' face with the loser of the week," Jo said.
"At least my losers aren't the same gender."
"Are you the last person in the free world to notice I'm gay?"
"Why do I have to notice? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I haven't had to tell anyone else."
"I'm not everyone else," Blair answered icily.
"Great," Jo muttered, and put on as pleasant an expression as she could manage in white makeup with fake blood running down her face. "I have to tell you something important, Blair. I'm gay."
"I noticed."
"See, I didn't have to tell you. Now that's outta the way, you want some cider or something?"
"I want to talk."
"Blair, it's a party. Loosen up a little. Have some fun. I saw Prince Charming over by the DJ. Maybe you can hook up with him."
"I don't want to hook up with anyone."
"Then go pout in the car. I'm not ready to leave yet."
"Pout!"
Jo shrugged. "It's what you're doin'."
"I am not," Blair answered indignantly.
"Ok, fine." Jo held her hands up. "It's a scavenger hunt. I got two more witches and a sci-fi heroine to find."
"Are you going to kiss every girl here?"
Jo grinned cockily. "I'm gonna try."
"What about me?"
"What about you?" The question stymied Jo.
"I'm here."
"So?"
"You're not going to kiss me?"
Jo just stared. Kissing Blair was on her list of things she wanted to do before she died, and she couldn't believe that Blair was asking her to do it.
"Well?"
Blair's prompt brought Jo from her thoughts, and she licked her lips. "You want me to kiss you?" she asked huskily.
"I don't want to be left out."
Jo looked at her, and saw Blair's uncertainty. "I'm savin' the best for last," she said, and leaned in to kiss Blair's cheek.
It was, Jo was relieved to see, the right thing to say. Blair smiled a little. "All right," she said softly.
"Ok," Jo answered.
"Go kiss your sci-fi witches," Blair said, and pushed Jo's shoulder.
Kissing other girls wasn't as much fun now that she was waiting to kiss Blair. It was more than an hour before Jo sidled beside her, holding two paper cups with the last of the unspiked cider.
"Thank you," Blair murmured.
"Welcome." Jo slid her arm around Blair's waist. Blair shivered. "You cold?"
"A little."
"Let me know when you're ready to go."
"Whenever you are."
"C'mon, then, let's get you warmed up."
They talked about the party on the ride home, and were surprised to see the house was dark and quiet. It wasn't that late, but bedroom doors were closed, so they were quiet. Jo went into the bathroom first, to wash off the makeup. It felt good to be rid of it. She changed into her pajamas and went back to their room. Blair was in her pajamas, and went immediately to the bathroom.
Jo was pacing when Blair returned. "I thought you'd be asleep all ready."
"You asked for somethin' earlier, and I don't want you to think I forgot."
"I did, did I?"
"Uh huh," Jo answered while moving closer. She thought it would be awkward, putting her hands on Blair's waist, pulling her closer.
Except that Blair moved toward her and put her arms around Jo's neck, stopping along the way to move some of her hair away from her face.
One tentative kiss became a dozen sure ones after they moved as close as possible. Jo kept her eyes open, waiting for Blair to shove her away, hit her, or yell. She wasn't expecting Blair to rest her head on Jo's shoulder with a sigh of happiness.
And she certainly didn't expect Blair to say, "You're mine. No more kissing anyone else."
"Blair?" Jo was stunned, but not unhappy. There were still things they had to say, though.
"We'll talk about it in the morning." She raised her head to look at Jo, and after a few seconds, brushed her fingers across Jo's cheek and kissed her again. "Good night, Jo," Blair whispered, and let her go.
The End