It was the evening of Friday, the 31st of October, and Benji and his flatmates were in the midst of their Halloween evening preparations, as they planned to go out for dinner together to celebrate. While the holiday wasn't as big of a deal as it was back home in the States, Londoners still knew how to have a good time on Halloween, and it, as with most things, involved a heavy dose of alcohol. Benji trusted his flatmates, though, and they were understanding of his situation, not only with his past suicide attempt, but also with his current situation with taking anti-anxiety medication and the possible drug interactions that could cause. Plus, at this point Benji didn't even feel the need to drink; simply enjoying the company of his friends was enough for him.

"Hold still and stop blinking so much," Soledad chastised, gripping Benji's chin so he would cooperate.

"You keep poking me in the eye!" Benji retorted, blinking back tears.

Soledad sucked at her teeth and rolled her eyes before grumbling under her breath and giving drawing on Benji's face with black liquid eyeliner another go. Benji tried his best not to move, becoming as statuesque as possible.

"I think this is as good as it's gonna get," Soledad sighed as she held up the mirror to Benji's face and gave it to him to hold. "I can kinda see the Jack Skellington resemblance, I guess."

Admiring her handiwork, Benji raised his eyebrows, impressed. "This looks way better than if I were to do it. Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Soledad waved him off. "I might need your help with mine, though."

"Who are you supposed to be again?" Benji asked, checking to make sure his slicked-back hair was staying in place; it didn't budge. He stepped over toward the opened window to spray some white spray-on hair dye to complete the look.

"Um, hello, isn't it obvious? I'm Shuri from Black Panther, duh," Soledad said, shaking her head as she motioned dramatically with her hands. "Don't you remember the scene where she was in her lab with this cute little number on? For shame."

"Honestly, it's been a while since I saw the movie," Benji admitted, adjusting his black pinstripe suit in front of the tiny mirror. "Not a huge Marvel fan."

"Okay, that's fair," Soledad replied, dabbing some concealer on her cheeks. "But also it was way better than all the other boring-ass, derivative Marvel stories."

They continued chatting as Soledad did her makeup, Benji sitting on her bed and trying not to get his own makeup and hair product all over her things, which was difficult considering how small her room was. Their rooms were all barely big enough for one person let alone two.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something that happened a few days ago," Benji said, breaking them from their playful banter for the moment.

"This is about how you and Ish have been weird as fuck lately, right?" Soledad ventured, puckering her lips as she applied some lipstick.

"You noticed?" Benji asked, eyes wide.

"Of course. You were really obviously trying to avoid him for the past few days, and you disappeared from class the other day so I figured these things were related somehow."

"About that..." Benji replied, scratching the back of his head. "Promise you won't judge me?"

"I'm not in a position to judge anyone for anything as long as you didn't murder someone. Like in the beginning of my last year of college, which was luckily after I started hormones so I passed and they couldn't drag me for that , I accidentally dropped my cat off my balcony and a bunch of my classmates saw and I got called 'Soledad the Cat Abuser' for the rest of the year. It kinda hurt my feelings and it's a bit of a mouthful honestly, but I'm over it now. I also contemplated going vegan for a while to make people not think I hate animals. But yeah, I really just did the most when I tried to clear my name and it was super embarrassing," Soledad explained with a soft laugh as she remembered her childhood days.

Raising an eyebrow, Benji glanced at her from the side of his eye. She'd quickly become his closest confidant in London, and the fact that he even had to test if he could trust her made him feel a bit silly. He should have known better than to doubt her.

"So I was kinda... sexting with Victor..." Benji admitted, grinning sheepishly, before quickly finishing, his voice getting quieter with each word, "and I may have accidentally sent one particularly gross photo to him."

"Oh ."

"Yeah... it was bad."

Soledad looked amused but tried to relax her face. She cleared her throat. "I mean, I kinda feel bad for you because that sounds super embarrassing. But also, like... it all makes sense now. I'd do the same thing if one of my sexts got out. Especially if they got out to someone I'm also attracted to."

Benji froze. "Huh?"

"Okay, I know you and Victor are exclusive but you can't pretend like you and Ish aren't constantly making eyes at each other."

Face heating up beneath his makeup, Benji didn't even know how to respond. He opened his mouth and then closed it again.

"Don't worry, no one else has noticed," Soledad waved her hand. "I'm just sayin', by the way. Do with that information what you will."

Unconvinced, Benji simply nodded. He wanted to move off this topic of conversation.

"I still gotta do my nails," Benji said, holding his hands out in front of him and frowning.

"Oh, I've got some shiny black nail polish that would look really good with that outfit," Soledad said with a huge grin, not minding the change of subject. "That is, if you don't think it'll be too girly. "

Benji chuckled, gently nudging her shoulder in jest. "Thanks. I can't believe I didn't think to buy more when I ran out earlier. Y'got the base and top coats, too? And also drying drops would be nice."

"Okay, okay, someone's fancy," Soledad said, taking a moment's break from her makeup to dig through one of her many makeup bags. She removed two clear nail polish bottles and a bottle of drying drops, and tossed them on the bed, from where Benji gratefully took them.

"Hey, if I have to take all this time to do my nails I want it to last as long as possible," Benji said as-a-matter-of-factly as he set one of his hands on his lap and started painting. He bit his bottom lip as he concentrated, trying not to make too much of a mess on his hands. Soledad's words stuck with him, and he tried to push them out of his mind. When he finished, he held up his fingers to admire his work.

"That looks sick. Well done," Soledad said, applying the final touches to her makeup look before giving herself a once over. She poked at one of the beads in her braided top-knot (her weave from a few weeks ago had definitely come in handy) to ensure it was still in place before rising from her seat.

"Thanks," Benji replied, closing his eyes so the entire socket was black, resembling a skull.

"But how do I look?" Soledad asked, posing with her hand on her hip and that hip jutted out to the side. "Amazing, right?"

"Of course," Benji said, "you're a menace with a makeup brush."

Soledad chuckled as she took him by the hand, making sure to avoid the fresh polish, and walked them down the corridor to the living room.

"You lot were taking ages," Ish said with a grin, eyes crinkling behind a round black frame of glasses, as he flipped his hair out of his face and exposed the little squiggle of a scar he had drawn on his forehead. "I bet you'll never guess who I am."

"You dickhead, you're obviously Harry Potter," Soledad said as she erupted into a fit of giggles.

"Nice costume," Benji said to Ish with a bit of an awkward nod of approval. He was glad he was wearing about a pound of makeup or else his blush would have been embarrassingly obvious.

Despite Benji's mishap earlier in the week, Ish had played it surprisingly cool. Benji tried to act like nothing had happened, too, but his face always gave him away. His complexion was too pale to stave off a blush, unfortunately, and he was hyper-conscious now of being observed, Soledad's words echoing in his mind.

Ish smiled a genuine smile, unbothered, waving a stick he had found in the garden as he said " Expelliarmus! " in that adorable accent of his.

Nikita had decided to throw together a haphazard Ron Weasley costume to go with Ish's theme, which was easy because he already had red hair and red and yellow scarf. He wasn't the type to try very hard for these sorts of things. Rhiannon, on the other hand, was a perfectionist and if she was going to dress up, she had to do it perfectly. She had somehow found the time to construct Villanelle's pink, poofy gown, the resemblance to the character uncanny. It helped that she was into cosplay and had experience making clothes. Being in a flat full of talented creatives was always an interesting time.

They all assembled, making sure they had their things before putting their shoes on and exiting the flat to be greeted by the chilly northern air.

It was a soul food kind of night, they had decided, wandering down the road to the joint where they had put in a reservation. Benji craved a little bit of home, even if it was the Englishman's approximation of what that would look like; he'd take that over nothing.

As they walked, Soledad linked her arms with Benji's and Ish's and they took up the width of the sidewalk, glancing between the two of them knowingly; clearly Soledad didn't care about taking up space, and Benji had seen other people do this more often than not. Normally he would find it annoying, but tonight was not one of those nights. Nikita and Rhiannon walked a bit ahead, looking back occasionally to ensure they were all still together.

They arrived at the restaurant a little after seven, just as people began coming in for the dinner rush. Luckily, Rhiannon had called ahead because, as she said, she didn't trust Londoners to not be twats. Their little table of five got to sit by the window, and Benji internally rejoiced.

Benji figured he wouldn't really need a menu as he glanced over it quickly, seeing all the staples he expected to find. He decided quickly on some fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, the whole shabang. One thing he had learned was to not have high hopes, though; he kept his expectations somewhere in the middle, because of course no one did Soul Food like the south, and that was just facts.

Once they put in their orders, they didn't wait very long for their food to arrive. As Benji had expected, it was good, but nothing revelatory.

Halfway through the meal, pulling him away from the laughter and banter between friends, Benji's pocket vibrated. Wiping his hands in his napkin, he then withdrew his phone, eyebrows knit together. He excused himself and rose from his seat.

"Hello?" Benji said when he picked up the call, wandering into the bathroom of the restaurant and wondering why Felix was calling him via Facebook Messenger.

"Hey, man," Felix said, his voice quiet and wavering at the end. "Sorry to bother you."

"Is everything okay?" Benji asked, his heart rate suddenly spiking.

"Uh... I don't know how to tell you this but, here goes," Felix sighed, swallowing loudly before he continued. Each second that passed made Benji feel his chest seize tighter. "Victor... was in a car accident. He's in surgery in the ICU but we don't know if he's gonna make it. They haven't told us anything else."

"What?" Benji said, blinking. Time stood in place, as if the cosmos itself had ceased its perpetual revolution in that moment, just for him.

"I said--"

"No, I know what you said," Benji said, his voice hollow and curt. "Goodbye."

Hand shaking, Benji ended the call. He slipped his phone into his pocket, almost dropping it and blinking again, as if time had restarted but was moving in slow motion now. His reflection reacted a second later than him, and Benji gripped the sides of the sink to steady himself. Perhaps if he hadn't taken a triple dose of Xanax a few hours ago, he would have been panicking. But now all he felt was his body battling with itself, his brain telling him to scream but his body not allowing him to.

Splashing some cool water on his face from the tap and messing up some of his makeup, Benji gritted his teeth and retreated back to the table where his friends sat. The journey down the corridor felt like an eternity.

He flagged down a waiter, asking for five shots of tequila. The waiter raised an eyebrow; an unusual request, but he would fulfill it.

Benji slid back to the table as if nothing had happened.

"All good?" Ish asked him, face etched with concern like a Baroque sculpture in marble, the light casting an oppressive shadow.

"Yeah," Benji lied, his voice flat and unyielding. He looked him straight in the eye as the waiter from before scurried over with his requested shots on a little tray.

"Uhh, I don't think that's a good idea, Benji," Soledad warned, her gaze darting from Benji's face to the drinks on the table.

"Don't worry about it," Benji said through gritted teeth, taking each shot in succession without even reacting. It's been too long since he had a taste, and as soon as it hit his tongue, he felt like he had just ingested nectar. His friends looked at him, then at each other, unsure of what to do. "Can ya'll please stop staring at me like that? I said I'm fine."

"You're definitely not fine," Soledad snapped. "If you end up in A&E, I'm gonna resuscitate you just so I can kick your ass. You're acting foolish. Do you have a death wish?"

Staying silent, Benji looked down and picked at his food. He still felt their eyes on him and he wanted so badly to tell them to fuck off but instead, he said nothing. All he could think of was Victor, probably lying mangled on an operating table as surgeons pieced him back together like a puzzle of flesh and bone, as Cronos's children had been after he had devoured each one in turn before being imprisoned in Tartarus for eternity. The image seared the inside of his eyelids as if someone had cauterized it into his pupils.

"Seriously, Benji. Tell us what's going on so we can help you," Ish pleaded, placing a hand gently on his shoulder.

Shrugging him off, Benji continued his silent, obstinate protest. He was so sick of people acting like they cared about him. Why couldn't they just leave him be and respect his space?

As Benji's periphery vision began to close in on him, his field of view getting blurrier with each passing moment, he felt the tears pricking at his eyes again. His head lolled to the side as his breathing slowed. The last thing he could make out, sounding like a far-off echo coming from underwater, was "Somebody call an ambulance!"

And then everything went black.