As Batman and Robin made their way across campus, the superhero sidekick felt eyes on him once again. He turned suddenly.
Was that a flash from a camera? Although, since the campus was filled with dressed-up students, people taking pictures wasn't really out of the ordinary.
"Are you coming, Robby?" Tyler asked, noticing that his boyfriend was trailing behind.
"Yeah, I just thought I saw something." He stared into the blackness around the corner where the flash had come from.
Tyler made his way to Robin and let a hand flip through his boyfriend's hair. "Is that lemonade getting to you already, cutie?" he asked.
Maybe that was it. It was just the bubbly drink swirling through his veins, messing with his mind. It sounded like a plausible solution. "I'm sure it was nothing," he surmised. "Let's continue." He stole a quick kiss from Tyler's citrus-flavored lips, while hidden in the shadow between streetlights.
A few minutes later, Robin entered his first college party.
The residence hall was filled with blinking pumpkins, laughing witches, and swaying ghosts. Music pumped loudly and chatter was in the air. The onslaught of impressions overwhelmed Robin, who had, after all, never been to a party before. Discreetly, to not call unwanted attention upon themselves, he put his hand on Tyler's to let the warm tingles fill his body with courage.
"We can leave whenever you want," Tyler whispered, nudging a crutch against Robin's ankle.
"Let's at least try it out first," Robin said, fighting the urge to run back to his room. His confidence from the bubbly lemonade appeared to have washed away.
The next moment, he was attacked by a mysterious furry creature. "Robin! You made it!" Des enveloped her friend in a hug. A long stripey tail wagged behind her and pointy ears stuck out of her red hair. Judging by the patchwork nature of the costume, she'd made it herself.
"Are you a raccoon?" Robin asked, freeing himself from the fluffy embrace.
"I'm a lemur, dummy," she replied with a crinkled nose. "They have much longer tails than raccoons." To display how long her tail was she hung it around her neck like a scarf.
Robin really should have studied up on the differences between lemurs and raccoons before attending his first-ever party. It was obviously crucial knowledge for such events.
Soon Des had gone into a tangent about lemurs, telling him everything about their habits when it came to eating, sleeping, and mating. So at least he didn't have to study those things.
"So... what are you supposed to be?" she asked, looking down at Robin's green-clad stature.
"I'm Robin," he answered.
"I know your name..." Des sighed and twirled her tail in her hand.
"And I'm Batman," Tyler growled. His impression of the disguised defender of Gotham was quite good.
"Oh, of course," Des chuckled. "I get it now."
"Tyler Caster!" a high-pitched voice cried out behind them. "I haven't seen you since-" As Robin turned around to figure out who the voice belonged to, he saw the Batman to his Robin disappear into a sea of costumed people. Spirited away by a blast from his past.
"A couple's costume?" Des didn't even seem to have noticed Tyler's disappearance. "You two are getting serious."
Robin shrugged, but inside he danced. Because he'd never been as serious about anything in his life as this relationship. Not even Jeopardy or Quiz Bowl. And the fact that Tyler had procured their matching costumes perhaps indicated that he felt the same.
But where was he? The mere seconds apart made Robin miss Tyler. He no longer felt whole without an exuberant blonde boy beside him.
How on earth would he be able to get through two whole weeks apart?
"Robby! Come here!" Ty yelled from a spider web-covered couch.
Robin made an excusing gesture toward Des--who looked insulted that her fascinating lemur facts were interrupted--and ducked through the crowd to reach his boyfriend. No obstacle was too daunting in that quest. Not even a sea of people. The scariest beast of them all.
Soon Robin was pulled into the orbit of planet Tyler once again. A planet with a radiant atmosphere that illuminated even the deepest corners of space. A planet with the exact rare conditions that made it habitable for Robin-kind. "Sit here, Robby." Tyler patted the couch's armrest. Robin did as commanded without a word. He felt very awkward in this unknown environment so far away from his home galaxy, despite Tyler's comforting company.
"Hi, I'm Sarah." The girl next to Ty reached her hand toward Robin. Her dark curly hair was stuffed into a fur hat and she was dressed in a fluffy onesie. Perhaps she was supposed to be a sheep.
"My friend from high school," Tyler explained.
"I'd say we were more than friends, Tyler," Sarah countered, a sharp sting in her voice.
Oh, that Sarah. The one Tyler had told Robin about a few days ago.
"Perhaps," Tyler mumbled, looking down at a very interesting string on his Batman costume.
"I'm Robin." Robin took the girl's hand in an attempt to diffuse the situation. "Tyler's... friend."
Seeing how awkward the conversation already was, it was probably better to go with just "friend".
That's when Robin felt a hand on his thigh, grabbing his hand and interlacing their fingers. "Boyfriend," Tyler clarified. "Robby is my boyfriend."
Sarah just stared at them for what seemed like light-years but was probably mere seconds. Her eyes darted between the two boys and their interlaced hands while her mind seemed to try to process the information.
"That..." she finally started. "That explains a lot, actually."
"I'm sorry about... you know," Tyler mumbled, nervously fiddling his fingers across Robin's. "I struggled a lot back then with myself and who I wanted to be with. But I should have treated you better and I understand if you hate me for what I did. Your brother probably hates me as well."
Sarah shook her head. "Neither of us hates you. I got over you and I focused on school for my senior year. Sure, Hernan wanted to kick your ass for a while but he got over it. He started working on the family farm after graduation. Then we heard about your accident. We figured you would be in touch eventually when you were back home. But no one from school heard anything from you."
"I didn't want people to pity me," Tyler mumbled and looked down at the gap where a leg used to be.
"We didn't want to pity you, Tyler." Sarah gently put her hand on Tyler's shoulder and nudge his chin to make him look up. "We wanted to be your friends. Just like before."
A nod. A glance upward. A squeeze of his boyfriend's hand. "I'd like that," Tyler said and smiled at Sarah. "So do you go to uni here too?"
She nodded and smiled as well. A wide warm smile. "I just started my first year in the nursing program. I received a full-ride scholarship."
That's when the lemur pounced once again. "Oh my god!" Des exclaimed and grabbed Sarah's fluffy arm. "Are you supposed to be an alpaca? I love alpacas!"
"I am!" Sarah replied. "Alpacas are the cutest! And you're a..." Her gaze traveled across Des' grey onesie, striped tail, and pointy ears. "You're a lemur!"
Instantly, Des had made a best friend through shared animal worship. Soon the two girls blathered away about cute animals, non-cute animals, and all their various fascinating habits. Did you for example know that wombats have square poop? Now both Tyler and Robin were informed of this remarkable fact.
To handle the onslaught of animal trivia, Tyler took a sip out of a red cup in his hand. "What's that?" Robin asked.
"Punch," Tyler replied and took another stip. "Sarah fetched it for me."
"Can I have some?" Robin asked and looked with intrigue at the cup. He could feel the sticky sweet smell from where he sat. The whole room seemed to smell of it. Oranges, Sprite, and bad decisions.
"It's strong," Tyler said and put the cup toward Robin's lips. "Be careful, Robby. I can't carry you home..."
Robin took a sip. It was sweet and fruity, just like the hard lemonade, but with a much stronger underlying bitterness. He coughed as the sting bit him.
"Are you alright?" Tyler put his chin against Robin's shoulder. He took the cup from Robin's hand before the liquid spilled out.
Robin nodded, while a burning sensation traveled down to his belly. It wasn't unpleasant.
Around them, costumed people danced among skeletons and pumpkin lanterns. There was chatter, laughter, and stray excited screams. So this was what a party was like. It wasn't as scary as Robin had thought. Although perhaps that was the punch talking, because suddenly nothing seemed scary. Not even his mother.
"Let's dance!" Tyler suggested and reached for his crutches. "I want to dance!"
"You're..." Robin started, but he realized there was no use in pointing out Tyler's disability. His boyfriend would find a way to dance.
He followed Tyler through the crowd. Like Moses parting the Red Sea, everyone moved out of their way as the boy on crutches approached. When they reached a calm corner of the room--colored warm orange by strings of pumpkin lights--the boys stopped.
"Come here, Robby," Tyler said and leaned his crutches against a bookshelf. "You might have to hold me a bit."
Not sure what was appropriate in this public space, as he didn't know who was watching, Robin hesitated. But Tyler decisively grabbed his boyfriend's hands and put them on his hips. "No one's watching," he whispered. Robin looked around quickly. It appeared Ty was right. Everyone was wrapped up in their own magical Halloween world. Even the lemur and the alpaca.
In tune with the music they moved. They swayed, they jumped, they kissed. The whole world glowed in magic orange pumpkin light, it beat to the tune of k-pop, and it tasted sweet like fruit punch.
In the middle of their euphoria, a flash fired off once again. This time, Robin ignored it altogether, tipsy on love and liquor. He ignored his gut feeling that something was wrong. He ignored the insisting voice in the back of his head that told him his mother was watching them.