~Ross MacDonald Oneshot~

You and your group of friends had loved Halloween since being kids and every year you went above and beyond with your costumes. When you needed a duo costume Ross was always the one you'd go to and over the years you'd become closer and closer. And that means that feelings get stronger and stronger. But would you be in for a trick or a treat?

~*~*~*~*~*~

Halloween traditions had taken place between you and your friends for years. It was something you always loved to do.

Seeing how big the 'holiday' was in America made you wish you were over there to celebrate. Most people around your parts didn't really care so it wasn't a big deal to dress up.

Most of your other friends saw it as an excuse to have a piss up at someone's house, which was fine, but Halloween to you was about being scary or putting actual effort into your costume. Bunny ears and devil horns paired with a slutty dress really wasn't your style.

So you were glad you had actual friends who had the same mentality as you. Not that your lad friends would have condemned you for dressing slutty but they knew you liked to go all out for Halloween. So that's what you'd always done.

Growing up on the outskirts of Manchester meant that you could always quickly and easily go into town to find yourself something. Whether that be clothes for normal days or shopping for your favourite night of the year.

You mainly had guy friends so it was quite easy to go as something fun or scary for Halloween. And you were thankful that they were as into it as you because each year you set a budget of how much you wanted to spend on a costume.

The five of you had been friends since primary school but you'd somehow always been together for Halloween. Whether as kids that were staying at one of their houses and watching scary films after you'd been trick or treating, or eventually going out to parties... It was always the five of you.

~*~*~*~ 2003 ~*~*~*~

"What are we doing for Halloween this year?" You ask, sitting yourself down next to Matty on his settee.

"Don't know" Matty sighs, "We need to go out and have a good around"

You look around at the other three boys who surrounded you. George already looked bored of the conversation, or perhaps he wasn't paying attention at all.

Adam looked half interested, but you could tell that he was as useless as Matty for ideas. Ross looked interested in the topic of conversation but again seemed to be no help because he was just sitting waiting for someone else to come up with something.

"I don't mind doing face paints?" You offer, knowing you'd be decent at it. You were Fourteen and could do your makeup surprisingly well when you put your mind to it. "I think I'll be able to do it"

"Yeah that's good. Let's see what costumes we can find and then you can see what face paint you can do" Ross smiles and the rest of the lads nod in agreement.

Hours later you found yourself in Manchester in the Arndale browsing the shops in search for the perfect costume. You didn't necessarily all want to go as something scary but if you weren't doing anything scary, you wanted to do something you needed to put some sort of effort into.

But maybe it wasn't the year for that and you'd have to do something like that when you were all older. You were half sure you each had a £20 note and maybe at a push one of you had an extra £5.

You were only 14 years old afterall, there weren't many ways you could get more money without begging your parents for it. And none of you were like that.

So you were all in one of the pop up shops browsing the abundance of costumes that the shop had to offer when you and Ross saw exactly what you could go as. You both paused, looked at each other and when the grin broke out on both of your faces, you had to shout the others over.

"Guys" You shout, and when they turn around to look at you, you wave them over. "I've got an idea"

That year you ended up going as a green ghost and the lads went as the ghostbusters. It was really fun and the pictures that you all took were all hilarious.

You'd attended one of your friends house parties and it was such a fun night. That was one of the first nights you'd got properly drunk and there was a photo of Ross almost having to pick you up and put you over his shoulder because you'd passed out and needed to get home.

You didn't remember getting home, but apparently he and George helped you back. Something which you were grateful to them for, but didn't remember.

All you could picture from the night before was having a great time with your mates and to you that meant that you wouldn't change anything about it.

~*~*~*~ 2006 ~*~*~*~

This year, Halloween was going to be a little more difficult. You desperately wanted to go as characters from your favourite Halloween film, The Nightmare Before Christmas, but you needed one of the boys to be your Jack Skellington.

Last year you all went as the Power Rangers and you painted the masks onto each of your faces. You were the pink one, George was blue, Matty was red, Ross was black, and Adam was green.

The year before that you'd been tasked with putting your creativity to the test and you'd made really gruesome facial wounds with makeup and a wax that would stay on all your faces. You'd been really proud of it because all five of you got compliments all night and all the boys said it was your handy work.

However, you knew that this year was going to be different. You obviously wanted your Jack Skellington, but you didn't think you were going to find yourself one.

Unfortunately at the age of 17 you hadn't yet found yourself a boyfriend. You weren't the only one so you weren't that fussed, but that just meant it would be harder for you to persuade one of your friends to be the other half of your 'couple' costume.

And you knew how stubborn these boys were. You knew that this year Matty and George wanted to go as Shaggy and Scooby.

Adam and his girlfriend wanted to go as Gomez and Moticia, so Adam was out of the question. So that meant that you only had one option left.

So you'd gone round to Ross' house under the pretence of a movie night with him, to ask him if he would dress up with you. But you when you did you were half way through your second film and he was having none of it.

"Ross please" You beg him, getting onto your knees on his bed so you were blocking the TV from his view.

The brunette just shakes his head at you, "Y/N/N I don't really want to"

You put your hands on his shoulders so he'd stop trying to look around you, "Please"

"Y/N/N" Ross sighs, before picking up the remote to pause Scream 2.

"Ross, come on" You beg him, and you're pleading with your eyes when you say, "I never ask you for anything and none of the other lads will do it with me"

"What so I'm your last resort?" Ross asks you with his eyebrows raised.

"No, you're the first person I've asked" You tell him honestly, "But I know that they definitely won't do it with me"

Ross shakes his head and gestures to his bedroom door, as if his mates were there, "Well go ask them"

"Ross please" You're just fully begging now, "I'll do anything"

A smirk makes its way onto the brunette's face then. He also raises his eyebrows suggestively when he asks, "Anything?"

"Almost anything" You roll your eyes.

You and Ross had been weirdly flirting with each other now and again over the past few months. You think he started doing it more when he complimented you on how you looked and when you went all shy and flustered on him, he enjoyed it.

So here you were now months down the line, probably a lot closer friends because of it too, and he was flirting with you whilst you both sat on his bed.

Ross' smirk gets impossibly bigger and you can hear the suggestive tone when he grins, "You know you want to Y/N/N"

You scoff a little, "Ross MacDonald the only way you'll get me into bed is if you somehow make me stop thinking of you as my friend"

"Kiss me then and see if it changes your mind" Ross tells you confidently, moving a little closer to you, but not so much that he made you want to retreat.

"I'm not kissing you" You shake your head, your jaw a little agape until you can control yourself a little better.

You weren't expecting him to say that of all things today. This was the most overt he'd been in his flirting with you.

Ross usually liked to do it when the other guys were around, so you would get all flustered. You thought it was in hopes that one of your other friends would notice and call you out on it and ask you why.

But there had also been lingering touches too. For example, when you hugged him he would hold you for the slightest bit longer, and other times he would find a way to innocently get his hands on you, but the subtle acts of affection would have your heart rate double in speed.

"Kiss me and I'll go as Jack Skellington with you next week" Ross tries to bargain dropping the cocky act, just hoping that you would actually kiss him.

He can tell just by the way you're looking at him that you were flustered and didn't know what to do. You more than likely didn't believe him either but he really wanted to try his luck.

Ross could also practically see the cogs whirring around in your head trying to think of a way out or an alternative to the ultimatum he just gave you. But he could see how desperate you were just a few minutes earlier.

"Don't try and think of a way around it, I just won't do it. I'll go as Jack Sparrow like I was meant to" Ross tells you and you know he's serious.

You think about it for a few seconds and you know he's not going to change his mind. So you give in, "Fine" and offer his hand to shake, as if it was a real business transaction.

Ross takes your hand and shakes it and you can tell he is about to smirk at you. You could practically see it rising to his lips, so to stop that you remove your hand from his after you'd completed the shake and you hold your index finger up at him.

"But you get your kiss on Halloween" You tell him.

And his entire face falls, "That wasn't the deal"

You're a little proud of yourself for making him drop his cocky act, so you tell him with a smirk, "You didn't specify when you wanted the kiss... And you already shook on it, you have to live up to your end of the deal now and be my Jack Skellington"

"Then shake my hand again to promise me that I'll get my kiss on Halloween" Ross says, holding his hand out to you.

You hold back your smirk as you take his hand and shake it.

Before either of you knew it October 31st was upon you and Ross had just walked into your bedroom. You already had all your face and body paint out ready to get started, so you were eager that your friend had finally arrived.

"Sit down, sit down" You usher him in and to sit on your desk chair.

You prep him on everything you were going to do and Ross seemed fine with everything. He was just glad that it was finally Halloween and he would get his kiss from you today.

"Am I okay to gel your hair back?" You ask him, sitting opposite him on your bed.

Ross shuffled himself towards you because he knew you'd want him closer than he was on your chair in the middle of your room now. He smiles at you and says, "I mean, you're going to do it anyway even if I say no"

"You're right" You grin and get yourself to work.

You'd been working on his face for half an hour now and you had the base of his face down and outlines drawn, you just needed to add all the darker stuff before you add in your detail.

"Do you enjoy doing this?" Ross asked you over the music that you'd both put on.

You'd just been in a little trance as you worked on the area just under his eyes and he couldn't help but admire you as you worked. He knew that you'd do an excellent job as you always did with your Halloween stuff.

You'd always made them all look good.

"Yeah" You grin, looking away from the lines you are drawing and into his brown eyes, "You know how much I love Halloween"

"I mean doing makeup on people" Ross corrects himself, smiling at you a little seeing your Y/E/C eyes wander from his brown ones back to whatever art you were creating on his skin.

He was genuinely interested. Half the time he thought you were going to abandon your career ambitions of being a music producer to become a makeup artist. Sometimes when you walked into the room he'd be floored by how beautiful you looked with your makeup on.

He had the exact same reaction to when he saw you with your makeup off though.

"I mean I don't mind it but I don't want to do it unless it's for Halloween" You tell him honestly, trying your best to concentrate on the dark lines you were creating around his eyes. "Like I wouldn't paint kids faces at parties and stuff like that"

Ross nods when you move back to get some more face paint on your brush. He feels the need to assure you, "You're really good at it"

You grin when you turn back towards him, "Thank you"

Another half an hour goes by and you've moved on to around his mouth, trying to get all the teeth painted on his lips and up onto his cheeks. Jack Skellington had a huge toothy smile and you were going to do your best to replicate that on your friend.

You were just glad he didn't have his beard that he so desperately wanted to grow, or this would be nothing but a fantasy. The conversation moves on to this 'holiday' as Halloween was both yours and Ross' favourite day of the year.

"What are we going as next year?" Ross asks you as you get more paint on your brush again.

Ross had to be very aware of when he could speak as he knew you'd murder him if he ruined the art that you were putting onto his body. You'd hate him even more if he did it before you even got to the party.

You try your best to think of different duo Halloween costumes, but you couldn't really think of much. You shrugged before randomly picking, "We could go as Woody and Jessie?"

Ross nodded a little, "That's a fun one"

You both threw a few ideas out but Woody and Jessie seemed to be the preferred choice over them. Or that was the case until you had a brain wave.

"Oh, you know what would be good?" You ask, removing your brush away from his skin so he could get excited the same way you were.

Ross raised his now non existent eyebrows at you, and smiling at you seeing you bounce a little on your bed getting excited at whatever idea you'd just had. Your grinning like a mad woman when you say, "Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable"

Ross' jaw dropped at that great idea. He loved it. "Oh my god, yes! Let's do that"

"Okay sorted" You grin before you finish off his makeup by adding extra details with eyeshadow to create more definition where it was needed.

Another two hours went by and you were all Sally'ied up. And Ross wasn't shy with his compliments of what you'd created too.

All you had left to do was spray the top of Ross' hair white and then put your costumes on. You'd gone all out with the costumes too, Ross had the striped suit and you had the patchy dress.

You loved these characters so much that you'd gone all out on body paint to make your arms blue, like the colour of Sally's skin in the film, and you'd got tights that were blue too. You'd also got a decent wig and you could safely say that you were proud of what you'd created.

And you had to admit to yourself that Ross looked really good, especially in his suit.

When you were both dressed and ready to head downstairs to inevitably take pictures, Ross stopped you by your bedroom door. He was holding your waist when he asked, "So when do I get my kiss Sweetheart?"

"MacDonald you have to be joking" You shake your head at him, "We've been in here five hours, I'm not ruining our makeup just to kiss you"

"So when do I get it?" He was persistent and wanted an answer, and he was certain that you'd be flushed if your skin wasn't painted blue.

"We have all night Ross" You remind him, "And I'm certainly not ruining either of our faces before we get to that party"

Ross lets you slip out of his grasp knowing you were right and it really would be a waste of time if you ruined your hard work before your other friends got a chance to compliment you on it.

When you both headed downstairs you got so many pictures with him it was unreal. It was truly a surprise he didn't want to escape you by the end of the night, because you'd been forced into a bunch more at the party too.

But Ross was still hanging around you, always ready to include you in a conversation that he was roped into, ensuring you were never left out. It had been a nice night and surprisingly uneventful.

All except for Ross' lingering touches and tight holds. You didn't mind per say because you were drinking and if anyone questioned you on it you could just blame it on that.

Because there was no way in hell you'd be telling anyone that you liked the way it felt to have Ross hold you against his side like you were his. He was your friend who found it funny to flirt with you at the end of the day, and nothing more.

You certainly wouldn't be jeopardizing that to find out if it was anything more.

But apparently your dearest friend didn't hold those same worries as you.

When you went around telling everyone that you were going home around 3am because your taxi was about to arrive, Ross followed you outside. Partly making sure you got in the car okay, but also partly for selfish reasons.

"Where's my kiss?" Ross asked you after the door closed behind him, seeing you stood near the end of the driveway.

"Oh Ross" You cooed, walking over to him to cup his cheek. He looked down at you like he was confused and to be fair to him, he had every right to be. "Thought you'd have learnt by now MacDonald..."

"I said I'd kiss you on Halloween" You remind him, and Ross nods understanding that.

"It is Halloween" He says, looking at you like you'd lost the plot.

There was a little bip of a car horn then which made you turn around to signal 1 minute to the driver. When you turn back around to your close friend, you leant up to whisper into his ear.

"I didn't say I'd kiss you this Halloween" You grin, letting your lips brush against his ear as you said it.

When you move out of his grasp though, you send him an evil knowing smirk before you head over to your taxi. And Ross hated that this had been your plan all along.

So you left him there, outside the party with his jaw locked, and a little fuming at you that you'd played him like that. But he couldn't even bring himself to be angry at you for more than the 2 minutes he stood there watching the taxi drive away.

He'd practically spent the full day with you and he'd loved every second.

~*~*~*~*~*~

After that night Ross and you always did Halloween together no matter what. And those nights with each other were some of