It’s a cold, rainy night in Seoul, Halloween is in a few days. Felix had just finished shopping for Halloween just for the fun of it, even though he’s 24. He did have a crush though he hoped to see also decorating, his neighbor, Hyunjin.

Felix adjusted the hood of his oversized hoodie as he walked up the steps of the apartment building, plastic bags in hand filled with fake cobwebs, LED candles, vampire fangs, and one very questionable witch hat. The rain slid down the sides of his face, cold against his warm cheeks, but his heart thudded a little harder when he looked across the hallway.

Hyunjin’s door was cracked open.

And even more shocking: inside, there were orange lights glowing faintly.

Felix’s mouth parted slightly. He’s decorating.

His feet moved on their own, shuffling past his door and instead lingering outside Hyunjin’s. The taller boy was inside, stretching up on his toes to tape a giant paper bat to the corner of his ceiling, strands of dyed black hair tied loosely with a clip as he stood on a small step ladder. His shirt lifted just slightly at the back, revealing a sliver of pale skin and the dip of his spine. Felix’s brain went static.

“Staring’s a little creepy, you know,” Hyunjin said suddenly, voice calm, without even turning around.

Felix nearly jumped out of his skin.

“I—I wasn’t!” he stammered quickly. “I mean, maybe I was, but not in a weird way—well, not too weird—just like… admiration! Neighborly admiration!”

Hyunjin finally turned around, one eyebrow quirked, arms crossed over his chest. He was barefoot, in sweatpants and a black long-sleeve shirt that had tiny jack-o’-lanterns on the cuffs.

“You admire your neighbors?” he asked, smirking.

Felix, red-faced, held up his bags. “I bought a skeleton that glows in the dark. Want to see?”

Hyunjin snorted and stepped off the ladder, waving him in with a lazy hand. “Only if you help me put up this cursed spider web that keeps sticking to my fingers.”

Felix blinked. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah, come in, Lix. Door’s open, and I’ve got pumpkin candy,” Hyunjin said, already turning back toward his living room.

Felix stood frozen for a second, his heartbeat suddenly matching the rain tapping against the window.

Hyunjin never invited him in. Ever. They’d exchanged awkward hellos in the elevator, some small talk over packages and power outages, but never this.

He toed off his shoes quickly and stepped inside.

Hyunjin’s apartment smelled like cinnamon and something sweet, like candles and faint vanilla. The living room was already half-decorated: there was a fuzzy blanket with bats on the couch, a few fake crows perched on the shelf, and in the corner, a crooked little Halloween tree with orange lights wrapped around it.

“You really like Halloween,” Felix said, a little breathlessly.

Hyunjin didn’t look at him as he replied, carefully fluffing the fake webbing. “It’s one of the few times I can decorate without judgment. Theatrics are finally allowed.”

Felix smiled. “I like that.”