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“No, I can already feel my teeth rotting,” she expressed with a laugh. Instead Melanie ordered herself a vodka club with double lime, turning in Niko’s arm to face him with hands moving to rest flat against his chest. She propped herself up with the bar as she looked up at him, same smile still plastered on her lips. “So, you never did tell me what you think of your costume.”

Their drinks ordered --- but the bar packed --- Niko knew it would be some time before they got their order out, so with Melanie propped against the bar, both of his hands rested comfortably against her back with a smile before pressing those same lips to her forehead. “I think, “ he started, “That things could have been much worse, but you made a good choice,I know exactly why you did it and you .... “ He rested comfortably against her, “Pull off the criminal look dangerously well. “

“Is that what you think?” Melanie hmps softly as she looks away from him, finding an open space at the bar to squeeze into. She catches the bartender’s attention and peeks back at Niko over her shoulder, the hand holding his pulling it to wrap around her waist. “What are you having, Clyde?”

“ Absolutely --- “  he laughs to express he is simply teasing while they weave their way to the bar. At her direction his arm wraps around her waist, ordering himself a “ Bourbon, neat, “ before turning to Melanie, “Are you going to have one of those ridiculous shots again?”

“One of us has to be.” Melanie raised her brows as she looks at him, meaning no malice with her words. She knows the value she places on sentimental things isn’t in Niko’s nature but he puts up with it and perhaps even enjoys it despite not being something he’d do on his own. Life was precious and all it took was a single moment for it to disappear, and with the life he led for work… All Melanie knew was she wanted to capture as many moments as possible. “I do,” she says with a coy smile — the same she wears whenever she utters those two words now that his mother’s ring sits on her finger. Melanie took his hand and laced her fingers through his to walk back towards the bar with him, dodging a drunken man dressed as Eleven from Stranger Things. “I know you said no to tights but aren’t you happy I didn’t ask you to wear a dress and a wig?”

“This is true.” he agrees with the laziness that has always been unbecoming of him, though he coats even his own words with a smile. He says nothing as he guides her away towards the bar again, the words spoken playing in the back of his head over, and over again. Oh how he wanted to give her something proper, but the idea that ... well , their own complications seemed to brush past everything else - hearing her say something has simple as i do, well, it made him soft --- and in a good way, for certain. As they dodged the drunken Eleven, Niko let out a laugh at her words, “I think sometimes you say things just to get a reaction out of me, it’s like when Lily throws her stuffed lion that rawrs just to hear it make a sound. I love you for it, but you’re not fooling me.”

A smile formed on Melanie’s lips as Niko tugged her closer, eyes closing with an expression of pure joy as he kissed the side of her head. She turned to look at the small screen beside the camera showing their photos and nodded with approval, letting the photographer know he could print them. “Thank you for the memories,” Melanie said as she turned back to Niko to plant a quick kiss on his lips. “That wasn’t so painful, right?”

“ --- You, viata mea, are a sap for memories, aren’t you? “ he knows this, he loves her more for this, and the sprawl of photos that now decorated the home they owned together expressed this even more. If not for her they wouldn’t have these things. After all, he was a man that ran from most things, his memories being the biggest  of them all so when she sent to have his things from the storage unit brought to the new house, they were flooded once again. “I think, i could have been worse. “ he staggered slightly, prepared to give another shot a try. “Do you want something else from the bar?”

“Good because I prepared to take you hostage if you said no,” Melanie warned with a coy smile. “No ornaments but I do see props,” she told him as they made their way through the crowd to where the photo booth was set up. Melanie greeted the attendant before making her way in front of the camera with him. “Alright, so character pose first.” She took her gun and held it up the air by her head, giving the camera a more serious expression as the photographer counted down.

Niko ---- as it showed in everything he did, truly allowed his love for Melanie to shine in moments like this. Fake plastic guns held up, he posed alongside of her, doing everything in his power to not laugh out loud and ruin the photo ( in order to avoid having to do another one ) as the photographer snapped away, When it was time for a more serious photo, his arm wrapped around her waist, tugging her closely to his side before pressing a kiss to her temple. 

“Please, that is the worst Halloween game ever invented,” Melanie told him. She lifted her plastic gun and pressed the tip against his chest, head tilting towards the photo booth set up in the back of the restaurant. “Come on, it’s tradition.”

Gaze dropping down to the small plastic gun pointed at his chest, NIko let out a small laugh, a defeated sigh pulling from his lungs before he nodded, “Who am I to say no to tradition, no dramatically large ornament though this time, right?” 

“It’s just the amount of sweet,” Melanie argued. “But let me try again.” She leaned up to press a kiss against his lips, making sure to take a taste of the alcohol on his lips. “Actually that tasted way better than before,” she told him with an amused smile before inching back from him. “You know what we need to next right?”

“If you say bobbing for apples , I’m telling you right now I am going to toss you over my shoulder and we are walking out of here --- -” he teased her, a glimmer in his gaze as he closed distance once again to press a kiss to her lips. Pulling back, he perked a brow still, at her statement, “ So why don’t you tell me -- ? “

A little tipsy already, Melanie took the colorful concoction Niko offered and helped herself to a small drink. Her nose scrunched at the sweetness but it wasn’t enough to stop her finishing the shot. “So sweet but it’s delicious, I feel like someone melted a caramel candy apple and served it in a shot glass.”

Niko  let out a laugh at the way her face scrunched at the taste. “ --- It’s too sweet, you don’t think? “ he knows that the only reason she’s numb to it is because of how much she’d had to drink already, but as if an attempt to catch up on her level - he took another shot as well

“You know I’d never attend a party without working the entire room so that little plan of yours is not going to cut it,” Melanie responded as they walked down the aisle with the available adult costumes. “I’m disappointed we haven’t decorated more but with moving into the new house, there was no time really. I’ll make up for it next year and at least for Christmas the house will be completely transformed.” She stopped to glance at a selection of higher-end costumes and turned to look at Niko, a coy smile curling onto her lips. “There will be tights involved, for you not me.”

“-- It could. “ he smiled gently as if there was a plan of his own working in the back of his mind. “ But,you know I could just as easily take my time getting that check to Brody, and you know he loves to talk so I could talk to him for a few and by then, well, by then you’ll have mingled through your drunk coeds and we’ll be ready to go back home and do ... other things.” Nuding her with his hip, he chuckled to himself , “ Christmas will be something, can you believe, it’s going to be the first Christmas, well, lily will have in a house, I believe.” Though there was something else lingering in the back of his mind. “ ---- Melanie Kent, you know, I love you with all of my heart, my soul, whatever else have you, but I do draw the line at tights. “

Melanie watched as Lily made the decision for them, putting back the other two options and keeping the skeleton costume in her hand for Clover. “Is that what you want to be, Lily? A spooky skeleton?” The little girl giggled as she reached up to grab the bounce antennas until something else on the wall distracted her. “Skeletons it is then, come on the children’s costumes are this way,” she said with a nod of her head towards the next aisle. “We need to find costumes for Brody’s party so don’t think you’re leaving here without one.”

“ And to think ---- this whole time I figured we’d get away with just cutting a decent check , having a couple of drinks and ... going about our way.  “ he’s smiling as he says it, following down the next aisle, “ We still have to decorate the house too ---- “ a short reminder as he glanced at spiderwebs nearby, “ What did you have in mind? Should I be afraid? “

Melanie turned to look where he pointed, surprised at his piqued interest but her eyes narrowed in his direction once realizing his intent. “Maybe we can be the Incredibles then, and Clover can be the baby,” she continued on with a hint of a threatening tone. “What do you think about that?”

“ Why do you do this to me? “ he questioned, Lily balancing in his arms as she reached for a headband with two skulls for antennae. “ Remember, we came here to find something for her to wear to that parade thing they are having at her old daycare. “ Amiss her threatening tone, he smiles at Melanie, head shaking as Lily got a hold of the headband, struggling to put it on her head, in which Niko assisted. “ If it pleases you, I’m sure Lily would love to match Clover as two skeletons. “

“Supergirl, a baby shark, or a skeleton. I really can’t decide what costume to get for Clover, she’d look so adorable in all three of them. Is a costume change for a dog on Halloween too much?”

“  ------- i think you missed one. “  he points to the empty rack on the opposite side of the aisle, “ the uh ... nothing that really belongs on a dog for halloween. “

To my darling fiancé, 

You age with the grace of a fine wine, ever more delectable as the years pass. Happy birthday, Niko. Here’s to spending them all together.

Forever yours,