It hadn’t been bad for a Halloween night, and a rainy Halloween night at that. No teenagers had egged his door this year. No one had smashed the Charlie Brown of a lopsided pumpkin he’d carved a half-assed face into just minutes before he’d shoved it outside with a candle crammed down its throat. Er, mouth. And hey, he still had candy left, which meant he’d done something right this year. All Hallows wasn’t too bad, once you divorced it from the neo-pagan rituals of your roots and let it exist in its purely commercial birthright. Especially when it meant a night off from classes, since no college student in their right mind would pass up one last chance at trick or treating.

So Adrian sat by himself, folding laundry and enjoying the benefits of what had been a deserted laundry room for a change. Until his doorbell rang.

And someone deposited what looked like, for all intents and purposes, a demon prince on his doorstep.

Adrian stared at the demon--er, man--that stood just outside his door, taking in the dark hair, the dark clothing, even the dark leathery wings seemed to spring from the guy’s shoulders. Someone had obviously done his research, or at least checked out every Monster Manual that Wizards of the Coast ever put out. Damn his parents, and the fact that they considered gaming manuals proper reading material for bedtime stories. And of course the guy had to be kinda hot. Or very hot. Especially for someone who looked like a demon prince. “Look, just because it’s been awhile since… well, y’know…”

The demon prince stared at him blankly. Adrian, noticing that the demon’s eyes seemed bright yellow in the porch light, shook his head and tried again. “They shouldn’t have put you up to this. I mean, the costume’s fantastic, but…”

The blank look was now uncertain. He had to admit that costume was one of the best he’d ever seen, and this was coming from someone whose parents were die-hard Rennies and whose sister had done enough prosthetic work both in and out of Hollywood to outfit an entire army of hobbits and elves. Even though it was a dark and stormy night, none of the demon’s makeup had run and his prosthetics, even the black horns affixed to his forehead, were still immaculately in place.

“Look, d’you wanna at least come in out of the rain? I still have some candy, and I can fix you a cup of cider or something.” Adrian gently took the demon by the arm, all but dragging him into his apartment. There was no resistance, which surprised him. Either the rain had shocked the poor guy more than he thought, or the guy was a damned good actor. If Holly sent him, since she knew half of gay Hollywood anyway, it was probably the acting bit. If not…