Humble

Given a lifelong limit to accessible cash Cam had never been as flamboyant about halloween as the rest of the town. Still, as much as he was still in his regular uniform of a tank top and jeans, he'd splattered a little fake blood across his chest for the occasion. Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon, done. What he was more concerned about was the skull he was face to face with in one of the many offshoots of the Addams mansion. "You think that's real? I heard October tell someone she was gonna turn them into a wind chime once..."

"Probably, but it could be from anything, right? I'd believe it. I have great respect for witchcraft. I gotta say." Dev handed Cam one of the drinks he had gone to get for them. "But I guess it means they probably didn't have to decorate as much as other people would for Halloween, must've saved a bundle," he joked. "It's a little hot in here though, right? Or maybe this fur is just heating up my neck."

Gerald could feel his shorts riding up throughout the night, to which he was constantly tugging back down. How the likes of Paul Mescal lived like this he had no clue. As he rounded a tight corner of the Addams house he got caught on some of their furniture, awkwardly stumbling back to ensure he didn't accidentally pants himself. "Oh shit sorry," he apologized as he bumped into someone, "Dark house."

"Yeah I kind of feel like they should have given us night vision goggles." Dev smiled as he reached out his hands to make sure Gerald was steady. "Wow, those shorts are," Dev cut himself off as he looked Gerald over. "Happy Halloween, you look great. Not even Rupaul looked that good."

"Excuse me, excuse- now on what planet do cargo shorts have anything to do with mermaids unless your narrative is that it's your first time on land? Anyway... Excuse me, excuse me, I'm trying to get to my friend–" Lip, being Lip, had shimmied his way through the crowd at the bar just to attach himself to the nearest person to the bartender. "This round's on me," he smiled his sweetest smile, showing zero remorse for the trail of irritation he'd left in his wake.

"I mean I won't argue with that. Make it a double." Dev was having a great time and having someone buy him drinks never felt like a bad thing. "Plus I think if I'm going to protect you from the angry mob, the least you can do is help me get drunk," Dev added with a smirk, swaying along with the music. "I'm sticking with vodka sodas because there is no way I'm messing around with the witch's brew. I don't drink from witches I don't know, you know?"

"Hey! I did," he greeted Dev with a relieved smile, glad he didn't have to wander on his own too long before they found each other. Gerald worried he might've made an impression he couldn't keep up, of some much cooler guy who read and wrote a lot- and of course, he did read and write, he just wasn't very good at either. He'd buy some books though. "Not at all. They look good, just from what I'm seeing over here." Following him to the pastries, he grabbed some chocolatey flakey thing he didn't know the name of. "Have you read all of these?," he asked, tearing off a bite of pastry. "Or any, I guess. I'll take recommendations."

"Most of them. Some of them I skimmed," he said in a lower voice so no one overheard him. "A few were just very dry and I had to force myself to just get to the end. But I definitely have recommendations. Are you more of a realistic fiction of fantasy and sci fi, guy? There are some great coming of age ones that will absolutely rip your heart out but there's also one of my favorites where the world building is so beautiful and seamless I almost had to read it twice. Almost," Dev added with a laugh. He spent a lot of his time these days reading through the work that came through the small publishing company. But not all of it was actually good. "Or do you like romance? Because those always hit. Well unless they're badly written."

"Way, way better, yeah, thank you. Again. Yeah, I guess... No, men do a lot of yearning, don't they? Maybe too much. Probably too much." That was coming from personal experience too, so he could speak on just how embarrassing that was. "I'd love for it to snow soon. I don't want to be in it, but looking at it, that's nice. Oh, eh-" He shrugged as he glanced down at his notebook, his hand just happening to cover most of the gibberish he'd put down. "In that I've been putting pen to paper, yes, but otherwise, I don't know. Are you a writer?"

"I mean yeah men do yearn but not the way they used to. It's not nearly as poetic it just comes off as bitter sometimes. Or maybe that's my own bias," he admitted. He smiled more at the way Gerald covered the paper which meant he must have actually been a writer. "Sometimes, mostly poems but I'm much more of a reader and a fan. A writer's groupie even," he teased before holding out his hand for him to shake. "I'm Devonte."

"I have enough space," Cam shrugged. In his mind he didn't need space, but realistically it was a side effect of living his life trying to take up as little space as possible. He had his three drawers worth of clothes, his desk, and a spot for his toothbrush in the bathroom. What more space did he need? "Oh, you mean the goat's not gonna live in the walls like a poltergeist? If anything I just want a place where I can take a shit without him watching me. That's the kind of space a man needs." Dev was probably the worst person to have made a comment about moving to. Or perhaps the best. He had that twinkle of hope in his eye that never went out and now that he had the idea in his head Cam didn't imagine he'd be letting it go. Give it a week and they'd probably be poring over listings trying to pick places to check out. It was moments like that where Cam realised how stuck his stubbornness could make him while his head was down and he was just trying to survive. "Gotta be careful. If the yard's too big Trevor's gonna get a horse as a housewarming gift to himself."

"If you say so, I respect it." Dev supported his friend's relationship but he also wanted to look out for both of them and make sure they were taking care of themselves as individuals too. But he respected Cam's ability to know what was and was not too much for him. At least he tried to. "As much as I'm sure he'd love to haunt us, I think this new space has to be about us actually getting sleep and him chilling the fuck out." Still, Dev was willing to work with whatever. They had lived a good portion of their lives in this apartment and he truly believed it was time to move on. "Shit, you're not wrong there. We just have to throw him off and get him something else. Like a fish or a one of those VR sets. That'll keep him occupied for at least six hours if we're strategic," he teased. "Could be pretty sweet to have a garden though. We could basically grow our own food."

"The lengths they'll go to to fuck with people," he murmured, reading the letter a second time just to be sure. It wasn't like they were innocent– even though Miguel was technically Trevor's, they were forever a unit. The goat had chewed his way through the apartment, which was probably enough to get them all booted, even if the entire building wasn't exactly five stars to begin with. So, for their own sake, they had to get ahead of the curve. "Probably mad women don't like him either," he scoffed of the guy from 2B, whom he didn't have any joy toward either. "Might be worth considering... Would only need three bedrooms now that me and Greg are sharing. Could be cool to have somewhere to like, have visitors." Not that he had many visitors outside of the people he lived with, but it felt nice to allow himself room to think about more than just the base level of survival.

"A guest room," Dev replied with a laugh as he thought about it. "Would definitely be nice. You sure you don't want your own space though? I mean I'm sure it's nice sharing a bed with Greg and his cold feet but what about you know..Cam's space? Or are we gonna have to build a small house for you in the back like Miguel?" Just the idea of having more space made Dev excited and he honestly hadn't thought about living by himself or with people who weren't the three people he already lived with. "Sounds like we need to go house hunting dude. Find the cheapest they got which means we'd probably have to fix some shit up ourselves but we're totally capable. We could be throwing dinner parties and shit in no time," he joked. "I know that sowood shit drove all the prices up everywhere but I'm sure there's some little hole in the wall they forgot about. Maybe we can have Miguel certified as an emotional support pet."

"Wait really?" He looked over his shoulder at the counter, rotating back as he set his drink in front of him. That was humiliating but he laughed it off, trying to remind himself that everyone else was too self-involved to give the oblivious guy at the coffee shop a second thought. "Shit, well, thanks," he chuckled, picking up his drink. "It's good right, and yeah I don't mind." Or maybe he did mind, he wasn't sure, but the chill nonchalant guy he wanted to be definitely wouldn't mind. "This is a masala chai, what's that? You're fine, my ears probably need a break anyway."

"No problem, it happens. Better than someone taking your drink, right? It's happened to me and there's nothing like that to throw your whole day off. But yeah, it's definitely good. I kind of admire how these young girls are really taking over the song writing/yearning genre, you know? I mean as they should, it's their right." He and Malcolm had many conversations about it. "Oh that sounds delicious. Oh this is just a cappuccino with oat milk. Something to keep me warm, I'm positive the snow is coming soon and I am so not ready for it. Oh, are you a writer?" Dev's interest peaked even more as he glanced at the notebook. "I happen to have a very special place in my heart and mind for writers."

Because of his friends, the dead poets, Gerald acquired quite a few journals over the years, mostly as gifts. He didn't actually write all that much though, and so their pages remained empty, except for when he needed something to busy himself with, like now. Headphones on, he doodled in his notebook, convinced he probably looked quite studious, blissfully unaware of just how loud his music was until someone tapped his shoulder. "Oh- Sorry, I'm-" He brought his headphones down around his neck, quickly hitting pause on his phone and clearing his throat. "I'm about to leave if you want this table?"

"Oh no, sorry, I was just going to tell you they were calling your name for your drink for a little while," Dev told him with a soft laugh as he set the drink down and then took the seat across from him. "But if you don't mind me sitting here for a bit you don't have to leave. I get it though, Olivia really did her thing with that album." Dev took the book that had been in his pocket and set it on the table before finally taking a sip of his drink. "Oh damn, that is delicious. What are you drinking? Sorry, you probably want to go back to your music, nevermind. I can be quiet. Promise."

"Are you serious? I thought this shit was over," Cam sighed, glancing over the letter he'd picked up from his mailbox. He'd assumed since it was addressed to 'The Tenant' that it was garbage, but reading the full letter he realised it was an eviction notice. For Miguel, at least. It seemed like someone in the building had snitched that their 'dog' wasn't exactly one of the canine variety.

"I didn't even realize our landlord ever came around anymore, let alone had a computer to type this shit up on." Dev looked over his shoulder and shook his head. "I bet you it was that dude down in 2B. I think he must have been deeply traumatized by a goat in the past. He's just made Miguel doesn't like him." Dev sat back on the couch and glanced over at Miguel. "I mean..we have lived here a long time. Could be time for a change unless we find a goat daycare."

"I would have honestly thought." Solange joked, laughter spilling from her. "Not your girl. I always say, if your hunch is telling you something, it's for a reason. Sometimes, the most obvious suspect is the suspect." She let her boyfriend know, with a nod of her head before he placed a kiss to it. It was those little moments of intimacy, she just couldn't get enough. She looked up to sneak a good look at him, her stomach fluttering. Yeah, to say she was down for him was a bit of an understatement. "And you know what? We're going to make sure that you have that stress free weekend. Just you watch." Solange let him know, his lips soon meeting hers. "See, that was step one." She murmured against his lips. "Uh... no."

"Oh and have you given a lot of thought to what you'd be like in a horror movie? Cause you sound like you have a great plan." Not that Kas hadn't thought about himself. He had taken an entire class on horror movies in college and though they weren't his top favorite genre, they were pretty up there. "Oh? I will watch, I'll follow your lead actually. Oh and how many steps are there?" He kissed her again, sliding his arm around her waist as he did. "No? Where are we going? Or should I just start driving and you tell me where to turn?"

"You mean to tell me, no one clocked the Addams kid?" Solange let her boyfriend know with a shake of her head as they made their way towards his car. "Like, you know, not to be that girl who assumes... but I'm sorry, his ass would have been assumed by me. Now, Lavender, that was the gag." ( @devonte-vern )

"I mean you would think, right? But I think in these things people overthink it so much they under think it, you know? Not that it's any of my business. Soon as they said turn off the lights you might feel a tap on your back? Yeah fuck that, absolutely not," he said with a laugh as he unlocked the car, his arm around her shoulders pulling her in closer so he could kiss the side of her head. "That was a good twist, yeah. She's always so quiet, I didn't even know she was playing for half of it. All in all, at least it was just some regular fun and nothing too crazy happened, you know? I would like a stress free weekend." He opened the passenger door for her but not without stealing an actual kiss first. "Straight home?"