Chapter Text
Even if Lampert had only experienced the seasons of the outside world a couple times each, he still felt fairly confident that autumn was his favorite.
Something about it just felt so peaceful. The seasonal snacks and drinks, the weather finally getting cooler, and especially the way the leaves changed color. Things didn’t change much in Rokea aside from the occasional new piece of furniture or plush toy, but outside, it felt like the entire world was changing for the better as bright green shifted into a warm orange and yellow, all as part of a much larger cycle of endings and beginnings. He felt like he was finally able to shed the hectic hustle and bustle of summer, and step forward into the peaceful days ahead.
Well, mostly peaceful.
While he was focused on picking out new sweaters and trying every pumpkin spiced treat he could get his hands on, it seemed like everyone around him only had their attention turned to a single thing: Halloween.
Lampert didn’t understand Halloween.
Like, at all.
He’d done some reading about the origins and meaning of Halloween; according to some, it was once known as “All Hallows’ Eve”, and was a night where the spirits of the dead were able to roam the earth once more, with mortals donning masks and leaving out carved pumpkins and candles to protect themselves from harm. But as time passed and traditions changed, the original meaning slowly gave way to “hey, let’s all buy the ugliest, tackiest costumes we can find and get absolutely fucking PLASTERED”.
And now, he was standing outside of a once abandoned shopping center, listening as his best friend tried to convince him that the tacky orange banner draped across the top marked some kind of life-changing occasion.
He didn’t get it.
He really, really didn’t get it.
“Soooo, what do you think?” Kasper asked. “Let me guess, it’s the greatest thing you’ve seen in your entire life.”
“...Kasper.” Lampert deadpanned. “It’s September. It’s not even… close to Halloween yet.”
“Eh… yeah, that’s fair.” Kasper laughed, readjusting his bangs as part of his hair’s never-ending battle with the autumn winds. “They set up the stores in September so people have more time to prepare for everything. And the earlier you go in the season the better, since you don’t wanna get here late when all the stuff’s already sold out.”
“Why would you need an entire month to get ready for one night?”
“Lampert, buddy. Listen to me.” Kasper put his hand on Lampert’s shoulder, the ability to touch him a privilege that was exclusive to Kasper, and only Kasper. “Lampert. My man. This Halloween shit gets serious.”
“...I’ll… take your word for it…?”
As much as Lampert didn’t understand the appeal of Halloween and everything surrounding it, and as much as he made a fuss about things, he was more than happy to tag along with Kasper on whatever spooky escapades he had planned.
After all, it was the first holiday they were going to spend together with Kasper back to his normal self.
If the infection had taught Lampert anything, it was that their friendship meant more to him than he could have ever imagined. Without Kasper, it felt like a part of him wasn’t just missing, but had been forcefully, painfully ripped away. Everything felt pointless, even the time that they had spent together before Kasper got sick felt like it didn’t matter anymore. He was gone, so why bother reminiscing? He was nothing more than a small blip in Lampert’s life, and he had to move on.
He tried to, he really did. He tried to convince himself that they were better off apart, that he would be happier without him, but the wound where Kasper used to be in his heart only grew more painful with time. He tried to go back to his old routine, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t stay idle in Rokea when he knew there was an entire world waiting for him outside, no matter how badly he just wanted to stop thinking and become, for all intents and purposes, completely inanimate.
Kasper’s advice sounded so nice at the time, the idea of “feeling alive”. He didn’t realize at the time that being “alive” would expose him to a kind of agony he could have never imagined otherwise.
But despite everything, he managed to fight the urge to disappear from the world completely, and he stuck his neck out once more for the mere chance of getting his best friend back.
He owed Melanie and Dr. Retro more than he could ever give, really. (And Pest too, he supposed.) He didn’t want to imagine a world where they never gave him the courage he needed to fight for not just his happiness, but Kasper’s as well.
He understood now. Happiness was worth fighting for.
Everything they’d been through had made this, the two of them standing beneath a banner of an evil skeleton plastered onto what was probably a mattress store at some point, possible.
Lampert wasn’t going to take their happiness for granted. He refused to make the same mistake again.
“Dude, as soon as I have, like, either a house or just a bigger apartment, I wanna get one of those fucked up skeleton animatronics…” Kasper put his hands out in front of him, as if he were a film director explaining his grand vision. “And I’m gonna stick it in my living room. It’s not gonna be a seasonal thing either, it’s gonna be there all year-round. It’s gotta be one of the button-activated ones, though. If I get one of the motion-activated ones, Poptart’s gonna be setting it off constantly, and I’m never gonna sleep again.”
“Maybe it’s for the best that you live in a studio apartment, if that’s your idea of home decor,” Lampert teased.
“Well if you’re gonna be such an ass about it, how about you get in there and see the skeletons for yourself, huh? Bet that’ll change your mind. Bet you’ll be so amazed that you grab one for yourself by the time we’re done here.”
“Hm… I doubt it,” Lampert laughed.
As they made their way into the store, Lampert was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer chaos of the place. The middle of the store was filled with not just animatronics, but what appeared to be miniature crypts, carnival booths, and other bizarre structures. Animatronic clowns cackled wildly, robotic slashers swung their weapons out in front of them, and a glowing pumpkin nearly scared Lampert half to death by screaming at him as he walked by.
“Kasper, this place is a shitshow,” Lampert said once he recuperated from his near-death experience.
“It’s great, isn’t it?” Kasper remained unphased, pulling out his phone to take a selfie with a statue of a brown haired man in a white mask and blue jumpsuit.
“...That’s Jason, right?” Lampert pointed to the figure, to which Kasper responded by laughing at him.
“No-, Lampert, that’s Michael Myers.”
“Wasn’t Michael Myers the guy in that one horror movie you showed me? The one with the cat and the box of purple sludge?”
“I mean, I’d say The Cat in the Hat is more of an experimental, surrealist masterpiece than a ‘horror movie’, but, no. Different Mike Myers.”
“There’s more than one…?”
As the two continued perusing the sea of cheaply made props and even cheaper made costumes, Lampert began to notice a strange trend with the women’s costumes.
“Uh… Kas? What’s with the…” Lampert asked as he gestured towards a bag labelled with a picture of a scantily clad woman, a red crop top and pair of spandex overalls just barely covering her unmentionables. “...the that?”
“Hm-? Oh, pfft-, oh boy. Those.” Kasper grabbed the bag, looking it over. “Yeah, companies make these really dumb ‘sexy’ versions of their normal costumes for women or whatever.”
“People find that attractive?”
“Some people, I guess…” Kasper put the bag back on its hanger, and took a look around what seemed to be the “sexy versions of the most random things imaginable” section. “Uh… I-I’m not one of them, by the way. Not usually. To me, it’d be hotter if a girl fully committed to dressing up as Mario, ‘statche and all.”
“Hm. Gross,” Lampert sighed.
“Eh… I guess that makes sense.”
“What makes sense?”
“You not being into any of that kind of stuff.” Kasper shrugged. “You always struck me as-, I dunno. Deeply asexual.”
“I mean… yeah, probably.” Lampert took another look at the bag, still unable to see the appeal.
He’d never really thought about it, frankly. The idea of attraction, whether it be romantic or physical, was just another thing he figured he would never understand or participate in. Whenever he would walk past the Victoria’s Secret at the mall, he would never feel anything towards the women in the photos beyond “wow, she’s gonna get sand in her bra if she keeps laying on her stomach like that, and that’s gonna be uncomfortable later”. It wasn’t just women either, whenever an actor in a movie took his shirt off so the camera could oogle at his abs, he would just roll his eyes. If people were into that kind of thing, good for them, but he wasn’t one of them.
Other people could have their romantic walks on the beach and oiled up bikini babes, and he would be satisfied with wasting all of his pocket change on rigged boardwalk games with his friends.
“Hey man, that’s fine.” Kasper smiled at him. “Poob’s the same way, y’know. Everyone’s different.”
“Hah… thanks.”
“...That said, could you imagine me in one of these?” Kasper grabbed another costume off the rack, this time a “sexy nun” costume. “They don’t make these in sizes that fit people built like me, I’d look like a bag full of rocks and wet cement.”
“That’s not true,” Lampert said. “There’s probably plenty of ‘sexy’ costumes for plus-sized people.”
“Psh-, ‘plus-sized’,” Kasper laughed, but it felt forced and unnatural. “You can just say I’m fat, Lampert.”
“...Well, uh-” Lampert tried to change the subject. “...I mean, if it means anything, I think you’d look really nice in that.”
Lampert expected Kasper to laugh again in response, but instead, his eyes went wide for a split-second, the bright pink of his left pupil just barely peeking through his bangs, and the faintest blush spreading across his cheeks.
“Kas-?”
“Eh, maybe one day.” Kasper put the costume back on the rack, laughing it off like nothing happened. “Y’know, as a joke.”
Kasper left to go look at a shelf full of cheaply made mugs, but Lampert stayed behind, picking up the costume that Kasper had just been holding.
It was even more revealing than the Mario costume, with garterbelts holding up fishnet stockings that dug into the woman’s thighs, and a large cutout in the black latex exposing the upper half of her chest. Lampert groaned, wishing he could take back what he’d said.
It was only then that the thought really did occur to him.
“What would Kasper look like if he wore this?”
“...”
“Well, Kasper’s… so it’s not like I don’t…”
“...What if he…?”
“...”
“...He would probably look really… really…”
Lampert quickly put the outfit back on the rack, wanting to get it out of his hands and out of his sight as fast as possible.
Absolutely not. Absolutely fucking not.
The very thought repulsed him, it made him feel sick to his stomach. He didn’t want to think about his best friend in that way, it was disgusting.
Lampert had been trying to get better at handling his intrusive thoughts, so he did his best to stop that train of thought dead in its tracks.
That was all it was. A weird, impulsive thought that didn’t mean anything. His mind was just playing tricks on him again, poking and prodding at the things it knew would upset him.
He steadied himself, took a deep breath, and followed Kasper to look at a bunch of tacky mugs molded to look like the heads of horror movie icons. They fell right back into their usual banter, with Kasper asking Lampert if he knew the names of each character, and teasing him over how he apparently thought every horror movie character was “Jason”.
It was as if nothing had ever happened.
=
To say that Lampert was the light of Kasper’s life would be an understatement.
Before their paths crossed, he felt completely aimless. Being a high school dropout meant that he lacked any possible future at an ordinary job, so he had to rely on the money that his dad gave him every month to support himself, along with the occasional winnings from any local gaming tournaments that had a prize pool of real money. After he turned 26, it truly started setting in that he was doing nothing with his life. He felt trapped, suffocated, and like he had nowhere to go besides sinking deeper into the hole he’d dug for himself.
As his hopelessness grew, his ability to enjoy the things that used to make him happy began to wither away. It was becoming progressively harder to make time to spend with his friends, as Split’s job became more and more demanding, and Poob developed a habit of disappearing off the face of the earth for days on end doing god knows what. He could have gone out on his own, sure, but certain things just felt empty without anyone there with him.
He started to feel like a zombie, his days consisting of nothing but gaming, sleeping, and going for elevator rides in hopes of finding something new, something that could finally turn his life into one worth living.
Lampert was that something.
No matter how much damage was done to his brain, he would never forget the night they met each other. It only took a few hours to feel like he had known Lampert for his entire life, something about them just clicked in a way that Kasper had never experienced with another person. He took an interest in the way Lampert lived, it felt like a more extreme version of the day-to-day monotony he himself was trapped in, and he wanted to help him break out of it. He seemed like a nice guy, and it would have been a waste for him to spend his entire life in that store, mopping the floors during the daytime, and hiding in fear for as long as the lights were off.
Kasper wasn’t sure exactly when he fell in love with Lampert.
It was very much possible that he’d fallen in love the moment he laid eyes on him, and he didn’t realize what had happened until they’d already been friends for a few months.
But he did remember one thing: the moment that he realized he was in love with Lampert.
It was one of the most painful things he had ever experienced.
They were at the local fair together, eating deep fried cookies after a long night of getting scammed by claw machines and exclusively riding baby rides since Lampert was afraid of riding anything that had something resembling an incline.
As Kasper struggled to eat his food without dousing himself in powdered sugar and melted chocolate, he looked over to Lampert to see how he was doing. Lampert didn’t look back at him, he was too distracted looking up at the ferris wheel, undoubtedly wondering how it would feel to ride it himself.
Something about the way the sunset hit him, the way it glowed through his lampshade, basking him in its warm light. Something about the way he smiled so softly, as if for a brief moment, all of the stress that plagued his daily life had vanished as the two of them sat together. Something about the small fleck of powdered sugar stuck to his bottom “lip” that he had yet to notice.
It made Kasper’s heart swell.
And then, it made his heart shatter into a billion pieces.
Because he knew.
He knew that what he wanted was something that Lampert could never give him.
Kasper would rather die than risk ruining his and Lampert’s friendship. Lampert was his other half that he never knew he was missing, and the thought of ruining what they had due to his own impulsive desires made him feel sick to his stomach.
So, he stayed quiet. He pretended like what he felt for Lampert was purely platonic, and every now and then, he would start to believe it. But then Lampert would do something like put a bag of chips on his head in an attempt to be funny, giggling to himself like it was the pinnacle of comedy, and he would have to swallow his heart back down into his chest and act like it wasn’t so full of love that it threatened to burst out of him like an alien parasite.
(The fact that he’d always had a bit of a thing for robots definitely didn’t help matters. Kids’ shows had no business having characters like Blackarachnia in them, man.)
If he couldn’t tell Lampert how he really felt back then, he definitely couldn’t tell him now.
Not after everything he’d put him through.
“Kasper?”
Hearing his name snapped Kasper out of his reminiscence, and reminded him where he was.
Right, he was in the waiting room at his therapist’s office.
The therapist that he had to go see because his brain accidentally had a bunch of holes poked in it by a cult trying to sacrifice his friend.
“You can come in now, honey,” his therapist said.
Dr. Stalgia (or, as she preferred to be called, “Mrs. Stalgia”, as she thought “doctor” was a bit too formal) was a nice lady; a big, stuffed cat with buttons for eyes that always smelled slightly of cinnamon. He’d been referred to her by Dr. Retro as part of his recovery, and even if he still hated talking about his feelings upfront, her comforting presence made it at least a little bit tolerable.
“Right,” Kasper said, readjusting his bangs to better cover the scarred side of his face. “Coming.”
-
“I’m always happy to hear that you’re going out and doing things with your friends.” Mrs. Stalgia smiled as she wrote something down in her comically oversized notebook with her comically oversized pen, undoubtedly built to accommodate for her massive paws. “Do you have any plans for Halloween?”
“Uh… nothin’ crazy,” Kasper answered as he fiddled with a rubik’s cube, a common habit of his during therapy to keep himself from tensing up. “There’s the Wonderhorror event at the Pegasus Center, Split said she’s gonna try and see if she can use her connections to get us tickets.”
“Do you know who else might be going?” Mrs. Stalgia asked.
“I think it’s just… me, Split, and Poob. Split might bring her girlfriend, but who knows if she’d actually agree to something like that.” Kasper shrugged. “Melanie doesn’t like spooky stuff, Lampert probably doesn’t like spooky stuff, and Pest doesn’t hang out with us in general outside of… y’know, all that.”
Mrs. Stalgia nodded, only vaguely familiar with what “all that” was due to her connections to Dr. Retro. “I think it’s still worth asking them, just in case,” she said.
“Maybe, I just-, I’m trying to be less pushy, y’know?”
“Hm… I can see why you would think that, but I think it’s good for people to have friends that can bring them out of their comfort zone.” Mrs. Stalgia smiled. “You’re that friend for a lot of people, Kasper. I think it’s an admirable trait to have.”
“...Maybe.”
“But, like I said, honey,” Mrs. Stalgia continued. “I think it’s worth reaching out and seeing if they’re interested. If they say yes, then that’s great, but there’s no harm in them politely declining either. Besides, I’m sure they’ll appreciate that you thought of them regardless.”
“Yeah… yeah, you’re right. I’ll ask them.” Kasper put down his rubik’s cube, and pulled out his phone.
“By the way, unrelated to what we were talking about, but…” he opened an app on his phone, and turned it around to show Mrs. Stalgia. “I’ve been clean for over a month now. That’s pretty epic.”
“Oh, honey, that’s wonderful!” Mrs. Stalgia’s ears perked up with excitement. “How does it feel?”
“Feels… pretty great, honestly.” Kasper took his phone back, smiling at the tracker app on his screen. Originally, he didn’t see a point in trying to stop hurting himself. Even if he did manage to stop and find healthier ways of dealing with distress, it’s not like he’d magically be able to start wearing short sleeves again. The scars across his eye and neck that the infection left behind already drew enough unwanted attention from people nowadays, he didn’t want people to know just how beaten up he really was underneath his cool jackets and baggy pants. He didn’t want their sympathy.
But, unwanted pity from strangers was one thing. The fact that the most important people in his life worried for his safety was an entirely different beast. He’d already caused them so much pain by getting sick, pain that he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to stop being crushed by guilt over.
Sometimes, he thought back to the first time Lampert saw his scars. They were at their favorite bowling alley, and he’d absentmindedly pushed up one of his sleeves in the heat of the moment. When Lampert asked what happened, he took advantage of his naivety and lied right to his face, saying that they were the result of Poptart getting too rough with him while they played. He found no joy in the fact that Lampert believed him.
At some point between then and him getting sick, Lampert must have learned what it really meant when a person’s wrists were covered in clusters of cuts in various states of healing. During one of their first hangouts post-infection, his sleeve must have slipped up again, and Lampert took notice of the fact that his arm was noticeably more beat up than the last time he saw it. (He was struggling to come to terms with the fact that he’d lost nearly a year of his life and memories to a parasitic infection, and that even with it “cured”, parts of his biology had been permanently mutated as a result. It was bound to happen.)
He took notice of Lampert’s stares, and asked what was up. He really wished he hadn’t, as Lampert’s response still haunted him.
“Kasper, I…” He had paused, struggling to find the best way to say it. “I… I know now. About that. You don’t have to lie to me anymore, it’s okay.”
That single interaction was the push he needed to try and purge his habit. He couldn’t afford to let Lampert worry about him more than he already did, the guilt he felt over his sickness was already suffocating.
“This is gonna sound lame, but…” Kasper smiled. “I guess I feel like… like I’m getting back control over my life. Feels good. I kinda feel like a person again.”
“That’s what we want, Kasper. For you to feel in control again.” Mrs. Stalgia’s smile didn’t fade as she continued taking notes. “I couldn’t be happier to hear that.”
-
As Kasper stepped out of the office building that Mrs. Stalgia operated out of, he took a moment to appreciate the world of orange and red around him. The trees were starting to reach that perfect part of their life cycle where their colors were shifting, but they hadn’t yet degraded into chunks of naked twigs and piles of dead leaves. Lampert had once remarked that autumn felt like a sign of “new beginnings”, and he was starting to see where he was coming from. The fact that he was coming out of the rare therapy session that didn’t have to pause so he could stop himself from breaking down under the pressure of… everything definitely added to the sense of relief.
As he began the walk back to his apartment complex, he took the chance to send a message to the group chat that he, Lampert, Melanie, and Pest shared, partially as a hub for them to share any new finding related to MR’s cult, but primarily as a place for them to make plans to hang out somewhere or send funny images.
By the time he got back, he’d already gotten responses from both Pest and Melanie. Pest had responded with a simple “not interested” (back when they first met, he’d usually only bother with a simple “no”. Kasper considered that progress.), and Melanie explained that as much as she’d like to, she was still extremely averse to most horror related things after her encounter with Folly. Lampert hadn’t responded yet, but he just assumed he was either busy with cleaning the store, or forgot to charge his phone again.
He took the opportunity to visit the mail room while he had the chance, and was met with the usual spam letters and advertisements. However, atop the small pile, was a small, pink envelope sealed with golden wax, with the name “Mozelle” written where the return address should have been.
He tried to open it delicately enough as to not completely destroy the envelope, failed miserably, and read the letter within.
“Dearest Kasper,
I hope the changing seasons in your world are treating you well! Though your Halloween festivities pale in comparison to the celebrations in Hell, they still seem enjoyable in their own way.
I am writing to you today to humbly invite you to my All Hallows’ Eve Gala, the most extravagant celebration of the season, which shall be held on October 31st. A celebration where we shall gather in my castle’s largest ballroom in our Hallows’ Eve attire, dance the night away, and eat more sweets than any one soul would know what to do with!
I am truly grateful for everything you have done for my dear lady in waiting, so sending you an invitation is the least I could do to show my appreciation. After all, any friend of Melanie is a friend of mine!
Please note that while you are encouraged to come in costume, your costume MUST be high quality and formal in nature, as despite the festive theme, this is still a regal event. If you do not own a high quality costume, I would be more than happy to assist you, as I’ve been yearning for a chance to put my sewing ability to good use. (Unfortunately, knowing the difference between a running stitch and a back stitch doesn’t serve much of a purpose in political negotiations with the Banlands.)
RSVP if you are interested, I would appreciate if you did so in a timely matter so I can make the proper arrangements. I would truly be honored to have you join us.
Yours truly, Princess Mozelle.”
=
Lampert dangled his legs off the edge of his base as he read the letter, with Melanie waiting in anticipation next to him.
“Y-you don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” she said. “Mozzy just thought it was right to invite you after everything we’ve been through together.”
“Are you going?” Lampert asked. “I know you’re not really a party person.”
“I am, yeah.” Melanie smiled. “I don’t usually like parties, b-but… I like Mozelle’s parties. They’re more elegant than hectic, and I can trust that she… won’t let anything happen to me while I’m there.”
“Interesting.” Lampert folded up the letter and put it in his pocket. “I’ll… think about it, I guess.”
“Mozzy sent out a lot of invites to our friends… I think this is just her way of showing her appreciation.”
“Makes sense, but…” Lampert shrugged. “I dunno. I’ve never been to a gala before. Sounds kinda uppity and boring.”
“Darn… and here I thought you liked boring things.”
“Wow. Rude,” Lampert huffed playfully, to which Melanie just giggled in response.
“S-still, I think you would have fun. There’s good food, good music, the whole castle has air conditioning so it’s habitable to non-demons when needed… p-plus, Mozelle’s mom is really good about keeping the entire place clean, s-so you won’t even have to worry about germs!”
“...Is Kasper coming?”
“Huh-...?” Melanie’s ear twitched. “Um, I don’t know yet… y-you’d have to ask him yourself. Why?”
“I dunno. I just don’t like going to parties if he isn’t also there. Feels weird.”
“Ah… I get that,” Melanie carefully got up from her seat on the edge of the fort, and dusted herself off. “Just, l-let me know when you decide, alright? Like I said, you don’t have to.”
Lampert nodded. “I’ll text you.”
Once they said their goodbyes, Melanie made her way back down to the elevator, and Lampert was left alone with the letter.
He had no idea what to do.
His gut reaction was always to be averse to any kind of excessive social interaction, so it would have been easy to immediately turn down the invitation and spend Halloween engaging in one of his favorite pass times: doing absolutely nothing while standing in a corner for several hours straight.
But with Kasper by his side again, he felt his desire to take risks and try new things that scared him flickering back to life. Not only that, but he had more than one friend now. He didn’t have to rely on Kasper to be his guide to the outside world anymore. There was a whole universe full of opportunities waiting to be taken, and he didn’t want to waste them again.
He checked his phone, and saw that Kasper had sent a new message to their group chat.
anyone else here going to the wonderhorror thing at the pegasus center?? splits trying to use her connections to get us in for free so i know her and poob are gonna be there at least
Melanie and Pest had already declined with varying levels of politeness between the two of them, which left only Lampert to respond.
I don’t know what that is.
its this big halloween event at this exhibit place near where split lives
its mostly an art gallery museum type of situation but theres this huge field behind it where they hold festivals n stuff
wonderhorror is kind of like a fair if it was halloween themed so they have all the normal rides and stuff but also haunted houses and pumpkins
yes they have the deep fried oreos btw
Lampert wasn’t particularly proud of how much that single detail encouraged him to go.
When is it?
uhhhh it opens on oct 3rd and closes on nov 1st
splits gonna try and get us in on the first week so we’re probably gonna go between the 3rd and 7th??? after that shes gonna be busy with splitsville halloween special prep so we gotta go while we have the chance
u interested??
Lampert hesitated, still unsure if he wanted to commit to anything. If Split went out of her way to get him a ticket, it would have been rude to back out later.
But he couldn’t live in fear anymore. His will to explore was finally returning, and he wouldn’t let it go to waste.
Yes.
Please let me know when you get the date figured out.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS ᕕ(⌐■_■)ᕗ ♪♬
get hyped man its gonna be so awesomesauce you have no idea
I’m moderately hyped. I’ll try to reach maximum hype before it’s time to go.
LMAOOOOOOOO
BTW, one more thing.
Lampert pulled Mozelle’s letter out of his pocket, giving it another look over. Going to a local fair with his friends was one thing, but committing to attending an entire gala was another, especially now that his Halloween activity quota (a quota that he had just invented) was now met.
Did you get Mozelle’s invitation?
yeah lol
Are you going to that too?
yayaya prob
ive never been to a fancy party like that before but it sounds fun >:)
Sounds like you’re gonna have a busy month.
ehhh ig?? i mean aside from wonderhorror and the gala the only other thing ive got planned is a fighting game thing so not rlly
thats probably a lot for you tho so i get it
Kasper was right. To Lampert, someone who barely went to any parties or big events in general, planning to go to three events in the same month was a lot. It was just something that differentiated the two of them; Kasper liked going out and being in large groups of people, while Lampert preferred staying close to his small friend groups in places he was familiar with.
I think your social battery is just a dozen times more durable than mine.
i mean uve only been going outside for like 2 years atp so that tracks lmao
maybe youll build a better tolerance for stuff w time. idk though some ppl are just introverts. nothin wrong w that
Do you really think so?
think what so
That I’ll get more used to going out and doing things with time.
It was at least partially true; during their first trip to the bowling alley, Lampert spent most of the night feeling anxious and deeply uncomfortable. But he kept following Kasper, he kept trying new things, and soon enough, it felt like second nature to him. He just had to keep trying.
And he wanted to keep trying, because he wanted to get the most out of his time with Kasper as possible. After everything they’d been through, and with how uncertain the future was now that they were diving deeper into dangerous territory, there was a very real chance that he could lose it all again.
He didn’t want to be burdened with the feeling that he could’ve done more, but was now unable to, ever again.
i think so yea
youre a lot stronger than you think you are lampert
i believe in u \^o^/
Lampert reread what Kasper had sent.
“You’re a lot stronger than you think you are, Lampert.”
Something about those words, something about how much faith Kasper had in him despite everything proving that he wasn’t worth of it.
He wanted to be the person that Kasper had that much faith in.
He wanted to be someone that Kasper could finally be proud of.
I think I’m gonna go to the gala.
fr??
dont force yourself to do anything u dont wanna man
But I want to do this. It seems exciting.
It seems scary now, but I think I’ll have a good time when I get there.
Especially if you’re there with me.
It took an extra minute or two for Kasper to respond.
o7
@Melanie LAMPERTS GOING TO THE GALA
Lampert watched as Melanie joined the chat and started gushing about how excited she was with Kasper for a few minutes, and then shut his phone. He’d been distracted by Melanie coming into the store unannounced, and he needed to get back to his cleaning duties.
As he made his way down to the ground level, he took notice of a small, plastic pumpkin sitting atop one of the shelving units. For the longest time, the presence of the occasional festive decoration was all Halloween was to him. There were no parties, festivals, costumes, trick-or-treating, not even a single piece of candy. And if it weren’t for Kasper and his friends, he would have never known that Halloween could mean so much more.
He may not have understood the point of Halloween, but he understood one thing: it made people happy.
And after everything he’d been through, he knew better than to pretend like happiness wasn’t something he yearned for.
Autumn was a season of new beginnings, and this year, he was going to make the most of it.