(no subject)
I’m going to create a quick key for the names of the characters since this is AU, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are not official and if I don’t it might be a touch confusing for everyone. Plus I’m sure not everyone knows the official names of all the countries. (I know I didn’t.) It seemed like a waste of oppurtinity NOT to include a bunch of the other characters.
England remains as little Arthur Kirkland.
Wales is Dylan Kirkland.
Ireland is Niall Kirkland
Scotland is Angus Kirkland
Mr Vargas is Ancient Rome.
Doctor Lao is China.
Ludwig is Germany.
Kiku is Japan.
Lovino is North Italy.
Romano is South Italy.
Gilbert is Prussia.
Antonio is Spain.
Francis is France.
Elizabeta is Hungary
Roderich is Austria.
Mr Beilschmidt is actually Germania.
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Tagging along:
“I’m not going.” Angus says quickly, earning a grim and irritated expression from his unidentical twin brother, as he sets about poking with the grill with a level of confidence he should by no rights have.. “I can’t stand all that stupid nonsense.”
“You promised Mum you would.” Niall barks back, his dark curly hair bobbing as he whips his head sideways in open annoyance. “And I’m not taking him by myself.”
“Dylan will help you.” Angus reminds him, though he’s certain that Dylan is as far-gone in this Halloween thing as their diminutive little brother who seems more taken with Autumn than any other time of year.
“You promised.” Niall repeats as Arthur slides into the room.
“I can’t find my wand.” He says, sounding very serious and looking huffy, like he might suspect his older brothers of stealing it. “I can’t be a wizard without it.”
“Well, go keep looking for it then.” Angus says, leaning on the table and scoffing at his little brothers get up. A bright blue robe with stars and moons sewn into it in reflective material and a pointy hat with the same stars and moons theme. “Otherwise you can go as a princess.”
Arthur scurries out of the room and charges up the stairs, sounding, despite his small size, like a herd of elephants trying to tip toe over creaky floorboards. It allows Angus to refocus on his brother who continues to turn the knobs of the grill before peeking over his shoulder and frowning.
“If you don’t come then I’ll tell mum and dad.” Niall says finally though Angus glares at him like he’s acting like a total traitor, which is a bit rich he feels, considering who would be stuck babysitting.
“You’re an arse.” Angus grumbles.
“It’s only for one bloody night.”
Their conversation is interrupted, however, by Dylan wandering past with his head hung slightly low with his long wavy brown hair falling over his eyes. He throws open the door to the backyard with something of an irritated growl before padding out into the yard
When he reappears and walks past them with a stick clutched in his hands and a complexion that’s been made slightly pale by the cold breeze, The fact he seems not to be wearing any socks or shoes probably doesn’t help matters, his elder brothers glance to one another in confusion.
“What are you doing?” Niall asks before Dylan can slink silently back up the stairs.
“It’s a wand.” Dylan responds softly, raising the stick and waving it with a flourish. “We can’t find the one Mother made for him.”
Something in their younger brothers tone gives the pair a fleeting suspicion that Dylan, though he’s normally not one for being malicious, has hidden the item but he’s gone too quickly for them to call him out on it.
“I still don’t see why I have to go.” Angus says with a small lick of his lips.
“Because if I’m suffering then I’m taking you down with me.” Niall says before sliding towards the freezer and pulling out a sparsely stocked shelf. “What should we have to eat tonight anyway?”
“I thought we were pilfering a whole bunch of chocolate and crap from the neighbours?”
“We’ll hardly get much of anything considering we’re not dressing up.” Niall says before he turns and holds up a packet. “Don’t suppose you’re in the mood for super noodles? I can put on some of these potato waffles on with them”
“Again? We had noodles yesterday!”
“No, those were curry ones. We had beef last night.” Niall says rather half heartedly, fingers prying the box open to study it‘s contents. “And we had toast with them.”
“Well that’s okay then.”
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Arthur blinks up at his older brother with a sceptical look on his little face. “That’s not a wand, that’s a stick.”
“Well It’s the best I can do.” Dylan says. “Besides real wands look like sticks anyway. Haven’t you seen Harry Potter?”
Arthur takes the stick and bobs it up and down with the highest level of scrutiny Dylan has ever seen in a five year old. He turns his big green eyes up to meet Dylan’s brown ones with a haughty expression plastered over his face.
“Harry Potter isn’t real. You’re dumb.”
“You can take it or leave it, but I’m not looking around for your old one anymore.” Dylan says, his eyes flitting around the bedroom the two share, there’s clothing scattered everywhere, toys strewn haphazardly from where they normally reside in a plastic chest and their bedding is even less made than it was this morning. He leans down quickly to lift his soft toy dragon from the floor. “And I keep telling you not to touch this.”
Arthur watches as Dylan gets to work setting his bedding a little straighter and placing his toy dragon lovingly upon his pillow. “I thought he might be sitting on it.” Arthur defends quickly.
“I wouldn’t leave Dewi on top of your wand.” Dylan says watching as Arthur attempts to straighten out his own bed covers.
Dylans better judgement coaxes him into helpfully tugging the edge of the rabbit themed blanket into place.
“I can do it!” Arthur scolds as he sets his pillows down and attempts to adjust them.
Dylan sighs and plops backwards onto his own bed. He rather misses the days of Arthur forming a line down the middle of the bedroom using Lego bricks. It cut him off from the door but at least it kept Arthur away from his things.
He feels the afore mentioned youngster scrabble onto the bed beside him, tussling his red covers all out of place again.
“How come you like that stupid dragon so much anyhow?” The younger of them asks, lifting the soft toy and studying it’s face and wings. “it’s ugly.”
“Because dad gave it to me when I was a baby!” Dylan snaps. Plucking his toy from Arthur’s grasp and holding it aloft. “Now leave Dewi alone and maybe I’ll put some face paints on you.”
“What kind of face paints?”
“I don’t know, a star or something.”
Arthur looks appeased by this and rolls onto his side. “I think Niall and Angus are trying to make dinner.” he says after a small pause.
“What makes you say that?”
“I smell burning.”
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There’s a level of concentration to drawing a star on somebody’s face that Dylan hadn’t quite realised. He’s definitely not as good at this as Feliks or Francis who run the costume and makeup design in their music and drama club.
He wonders for a moment if he’ll see anyone from the club as he trick or treats, and more importantly, if they’ll remember him as anything more than the kid who operates the lights and learns the scripts regardless of how unlikely it is he’ll ever get another part in any school play.
“I think that’s okay.” He says finally, tilting his head to analyse his handiwork. It looks a little more like a depressed starfish than a magical symbol but close enough as long as nobody stares at it too hard.
“Can I see?” Arthur asks as Dylan packs up his face paints and gets to work storing them in the box with his other drama gear, the script for the last musical he was involved with still lurks there, entitled ‘the lament of the dragons’ A musical written by Roderich for Elizabeta to showcase her wonderful singing talents.
By some fluke Dylan had gotten the chance to star along side her as the red dragon to her white dragon.
His eyes wander to the red fabric of the modified jacket Francis made for him and he sighs slightly as he pushes the rest of his clothing aside and smiles faintly over the wings and horns sewn onto it and the way the eyes on the hood still retain their vivid colour.
Arthur looks up from the little mirror and his new yellow decoration that makes his cheek feel slightly dry and itchy. “Are you gonna wear that?” He asks, face brightening at the sight of the costume. “Then we can both be dressed up!”
“I dunno Arthur.” Dylan says with a sigh. “It’s kind of-”
“Please Dylan? It’ll be fun!” He prompts. “Then I can slay you!”
While the idea of being slain by his little brother is certainly not a very pleasant one, Dylan is too soft in spirit to argue with his big green eyes and slowly nods.
“Fine, but you’re sharing your sweets with me when we get back.” Dylan says before he pulls the jumper on and admires it in the mirror. “Now get your shoes on so we can get going.”
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Darkness engulfs the street, a flickering lamp overhead helping to set their nerves on edge while the faint light of carved pumpkins and decorations of various Halloween horrors causes Arthur to grip Dylan’s hand with a sweaty palm. The only comfort to be sought comes from the fact they an see several other children already out and about.
“I guess we should get started then.” Angus says. Urging his brothers forward in a bid that they get home in time for him to get a decent rest and maybe watch a scary film. Besides which, he knows several of the other students in his class who live on the same row as them and the possibility of running into them is a heartening one.
“So, which house should we go to first?” Niall asks quickly, his eyes flitting around each of his brothers quickly.
“This one.” Arthur proclaims, motioning to a garden that’s entombed by a low wall.
“But this house belongs to Mr Vargas.” Dylan points out. “I don’t think he’ll--”
“Don’t be a chicken, Dylan.” Angus says, pushing the gate open and peering down the short yard, he can see a scattering of decorations around the door and a skeleton hanging in the window. “Come on.”
Arthur’s grip slips away from Dylan, who quickly ducks behind the low gate and peers after the two cautiously.
“What’s the matter?” Niall asks with a smile that seems barely reassuring because of how the flickering light catches his pale face and makes it seem almost skeletal.
“Mr Vargas is really-”
“Hurry up!” Arthur calls after his two lagging brothers causing Niall to start wandering away from his timid younger brother and towards the door of their neighbour.
A cold winds kicks up, sending Dylan’s long hair into his face and howling distantly. His feet are moving instantly and he clutches Niall’s arm a little more tightly than he should.
“Would you stop being a baby?” Niall coaxes, though he makes a small effort to pull his arm free in time to hear little Arthur give the doorbell a good firm ring. The chime seems almost ominous as the brothers gather together behind their baby brother.
Nothing happens for a moment except that the wind rises and falls in it’s wailing ferocity.
“Looks like he’s out.” Angus says after a moment, to break the atmosphere that starts to thicken like porridge around them.
Arthur pouts at him in annoyance, folding his arms stubbornly and screwing up his face like he’s just been fed some extremely sour type of sweet.
“But Angus!” Arthur snorts, he looks rather adorable to their eyes though there’s a collective dipping of brows in annoyance at his stubborn attitude. “Mr Vargas still has his lights on.”
“Well he’s not home.” Niall scolds. “We can try next door.”
It flutters across Niall’s mind that their parents will be home on Saturday, that Arthur will complain bitterly if he’s hard done by and likely he’ll be the one getting the blame. Regardless of how selfish he feels their parents have been to suddenly need to visit family on the Isle of Man.
“He’s probably taking Antonio and his little brothers out to trick or treat too.” Dylan offers as he turns and starts to diligently walk away, followed slowly by his older brothers, though Arthur is reluctant to listen to reason he takes the first few steps away from the door.
The chorus of a high, shrill creak and a pool of light framing his tiny body stops him in his tracks.
The looming shadow of an armed man at the door doesn’t bode well either. It takes all his courage to slowly tilt his head and gaze up, greeted by the sight of a large man, decked in armour and brandishing a sword.
Arthur lets out a high squeak and flails his arms about causing his brothers to whirl in surprise and stare wide eyed at the man before they each manage to relax slightly.
Mr Vargas stands before them in full roman attire with a bemused expression on his face that turns to a toothy smile.
“Happy Halloween!” He greets them with a wide flourish of his arms.
Arthur’s eyes dim slightly as he almost loses his grip on the little plastic bucket he’d been given to store his acquired treats.
“Trick or treat.” The youngster says in a fairly small voice that’s caused partly by his racing heart.
“Are you dressed as a Witch, Arthur?” The man says, leaning down slightly and smiling patiently.
This of course causes Arthur to straighten up and frown very pointedly. “I’m a wizard.”
Mr Vargas double checks the outfit before nodding diligently and lifting a little tub of chocolate bars from behind the doorframe and popping a few into Arthur’s plastic cauldron, his eyes slowly wander to the three elder children, though his smile falters.
“Thank you.” Arthur says, beaming widely.
“So, are you supposed to be a lizard?” Mr Vargas says as he locks eyes with Dylan.
“He’s a dragon.” Arthur corrects before Dylan can speak up for himself.
The large man nods before glancing towards his door and running his hands through his unkempt brown hair. It occurs to Niall and Angus that he’s possibly still sore at them for managing to kick their football through his window.
Several times.
In the past month.
“Well, I should be getting back to my party.” Mr Vargas says quickly. Turning on his heel. “Say hello to your parents for me.”
“We will do, sir.” Dylan says quickly. His eyes wander to the window, which has apparently been fixed since his brothers little mishap. “Goodnight.”
Then Mr Vargas closes his door and the pool of light turns to fickle darkness once again, tainted only by the soft glow coming from behind closed blinds and twinkling in the eyes of a set of pumpkins left on the doorstep.
One of the pumpkins has what appears to be a tomato carved into it while another has a massively gleeful face that borders on cartoonishness.
“Well, that was lame.” Angus says. “Let’s get going.” He says as he pinches one of the chocolate bars from Arthur’s bucket and saunters off.
“Hey! That’s mine!”
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Doctor Lao gives the youngster a questioning look, before piecing together the reason for the visit. Too much work and note taking rendering him oblivious to the coming and going of the children knocking his door.
“Trick or treat!” Arthur chirps with a wide toothy grin that shows off that there’s a small gap, the first of his baby teeth to go. “Happy Halloween!”
“Is it that day already?” The man asks looking puzzled.
“Afraid so.” Niall assures him.
“I don’t really have much to give to you, aru.” Doctor Lao says, though he cups his chin with his fingers and peers over his shoulder. “But I might have a snack left over.” He says, holding up his hand in a bid that the boys stay where they are. Then he’s gone, leaving the brothers to look to each other curiously and shrug limply.
“I guess he forgot.” Angus says as he stuffs his hands into his pockets. “Not a surprise.”
“Maybe we should leave him alone.” Dylan offers.
“But he said he’d get us something.” Arthur argues. There’s no arging with the fact that just running off would be rude.
“I don’t have anything sweet in my larder.” Doctor Lao says, reappearing at the door with a plate. “But I did make these steamed buns a little earlier.” He says, leaning down and holding the plate out with a thin smile. “I made them from ingredients I got in Chinatown.”
“Oh, those look yummy!” Arthur says, plucking one of the buns up and marvelling at it’s shiny white texture and it’s round pretty shape. “And it looks just like a ghost.”
“Would the rest of you like one?” Doctor Lao asks, holding the plate out towards the three who eye the buns rather suspiciously. “They’re filled with pork.”
They each take one and look a little more suspicious.
“Pork?” Arthur asks. “That’s a weird thing to put in a bun.”
“I really must get back to work, boys.” Doctor Lao says. “Don’t stay out too late, Aru.”
“We won’t.” Niall says as they wander away from the door with small chirps of thanks and a wave.
It’s only when they’re back out on the street that Angus looks to his bun with a degree of curiosity and proceeds to take a large bite out of it.
“You’re actually eating that thing?” Dylan asks, holding his own out at a distance.
Angus only nods and takes another large bite from he plump white treat, followed by Arthur and Niall taking bites from theirs as well.
“This is yummy.” Arthur says, only to have Dylan’s bun shoved into his grasp.
“You can have mine then. I don’t really like pork.” He says, screwing his face up. “Especially not inside a cake.”
Arthur gets to work eating the bun before he pauses to look down the garden of another of their neighbours. “Isn’t that Francis‘ house?” He asks cautiously.
The sign mounted in the middle of the lawn declares to them that there’s a haunted house on the go, though whoever wrote their sign did so rather lazily.
“Yeah.” Dylan says before his eyes catch movement coming down the pavement in their direction.
Four figures pause in front of them, quickly studying the sign before turning their attention towards the set of brothers curiously.
“What’s going on?” The one who appears to be dressed in green shorts and a spiffy little hat and suspenders asks, his voice is thick and stern and his blue eyes rather cutting.
“I dunno.” Arthur says. “What are you supposed to be Ludwig?” He asks after another moment.
“I’m Pinocchio.” The blonde replies, drawing attention to the red circles on his cheeks.
“Oh.” Arthur replies with deflated enthusiasm before his eyes move towards the other three, one seems to be dressed as a tomato, the other as a bizarre looking giraffe and the one at the end has some cute little fox ears and what looks like a dress on.
“I’m a pizza!” One of the brunettes says, twirling joyously in his yellow and red costume with the brown dots. “With extra pepperoni! And my brother Romano is a tomato!”
“I thought he was a scab.” Angus grumbles under his breath causing Romano to scowl at him and fold his red trussed arms.
“It was my bastard big brothers stupid idea.” He grumbles. “He said it’d be cute. What are you clowns supposed to be, a princess and her frog?”
“Frog?” Niall asks. Then his eyes wander towards Dylan, who’s coat does have a vaguely frog like quality in this dim light thanks to it’s embroidered yellow eyes.
“I’m a wizard, and Dylan is a dragon.” Arthur groans. “Niall and Angus didn’t even bother.”
“What are you dressed up as Kiku?” Dylan asks as he leans down slightly to the slightly younger dark haired boy who regards him with dull unexpressive eyes.
“I’m a kitsune.” He says.
Dylan isn’t sure what that is.
“Are you lot going into this haunted house thing of Francis’”
“It looks scary.” The one in yellow, states as he hides behinds Ludwig. “I don’t want to.”
“It’s only his garage, Lovino.” Ludwig points out with a dull look of disinterest. “What do you think Kiku?”
“I will think about it.”
“We don’t have time for Francis’ stupid pranks anyway.” Romano says with a dismissive tilt of his head and a flaring of his nostrils. “We should get going.”
“We are on a tight schedule.” Ludwig says with passing agreement “We’ll see you later.”
With that the groups part ways, leaving Arthur’s older brothers to consider sending Arthur off to trick or treat with them next year so they can all stay home and not bother.
“Let’s get going then.” Angus says, marching over Francis’ tidy lawn in his usual manner of leading the way.
“Do we have to? I don’t want to stick my hand into a bowl of spaghetti again.” Niall says, casually following after anyway leaving Dylan and Arthur behind to look reluctantly at each other.
“But Francis is annoying.” Arthur points out matter-of-factly. “Can’t we go somewhere else?”
“It’ll only be for a minute.” Dylan reassures, though he’s not entirely sure he trusts Angus to leave Francis’ side once he gets there. “Besides, it’s a haunted house, it’ll be fun.”
“Well, okay I guess.” Arthur says before clutching his older brothers hand and allowing himself to be led along.
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What was once a plain old garage (if anything Francis owns can actually remain plain) has transformed itself into a dark and eerie room, a faint green light bouncing off old fashioned tables and chairs, a wardrobe with it’s door half open and a table covered in a tablecloth that’s frayed at the edges and caught on some unfelt breeze.
Arthur presses himself against Dylan’s side, feeling his older brother start to shiver unreassuringly as Niall and Angus call out a few times for Francis to show himself before poking at the various plates of unappetising looking food that lies about the table.
“This is really weird.” Dylan says finally. His small voice gets suddenly blocked out by the blustering winds outside and something unseen comes crashing to the ground. “Let’s get out of here.”
“It’s just a bunch of old furniture and some cheap lights.” Niall points out, leaning down to study the spooky green glow that illuminates the underside of his face. “I’m pretty sure Francis has done bette-”
Niall is cut off by a long droning whine that sends him backwards towards Angus with a paranoid shuffle
“Would you three grow up. This is just some stupid trick.” Angus is quick to point out.
“I’m not scared.” Niall defends with words that are churned from deep in his chest to make them seem bigger and braver than they really are. “But this is stupid. We should just get going.”
“I think Niall is right. “ Dylan says, draping his arm around Arthur’s shoulders in some show of reassurance. “We have a lot of houses to visit and this is just a big waste of tim-” He pauses as something cold and moist seems to slither down the back of his neck. “That’s it, I’m leaving. This isn’t funny.”
“Dylan, you’re gripping my arm way too tight.” Arthur complains, glaring up at his brother, eyes luminous and wide in the diluted green glow.
“I’m not gripping your-”
The doors of the wardrobe suddenly burst open from behind them, a pair of gnarled grey hands gripping their faces, a sinister flaking laugh setting teeth on edge.
“Would you stop standing on my foot, Niall.” Angus grumbles, pausing when he notices his brother isn’t remotely close enough to do so and when he glances down he seems a decomposing set of fingers grasp around his ankle.
The cacophony of startled yelps (and little Arthur’s instinctive scream) causes Niall to whips his head to see what the problem is, but his field of vision is filled with a wrinkled sagging face that seems to lack eyes. It’s hair all tussled and grimy/
At that point Dylan and Arthur break away from the icy grip and tumble over as the wardrobe bursts open, a figure erupting from the wooden doors, old fashioned clothing and wailing voice, but no head that they can see.
All Angus see’s is a fanged creature pop it’s head out from under the cloth of the table..
“Join us!” The creatures all sing in harmony.
The four brothers let out a loud, terrified cry despite themselves, before making a hasty retreat towards a door that slams shut in their wake, and the monsters creep steadily towards them.
Angus tries to open the door, though it’s knob is slimy and refuses to turn under his slick fingers and Niall shields his two youngest brothers from harm.
“Oh man, that was totally AWESOME!” The creature with no head says. “You guys were scared shitless!”
“Gilbert?” Niall asks cautiously, watching as the three ‘monsters’ start to fall about themselves with laughter. “That wasn’t funny, you clowns scared us half to death!”
“I wasn’t scared.” Angus says with a haughty expression. “I was surprised.”
“You were scared.” The fanged creature says as it flicks the light on and gets to work peeling it’s mask off, a bundle of luscious golden hair falling about the shoulders of a regal looking princely costume. “I didn’t think you’d fall for something so juvenile.”
“It is the simple things that work best, ci?”
“Antonio?” Niall grumbles, glaring at the brunette, who’s face has been so well painted that he barely looks like himself. “You’re part of this too?”
“Sorry.” Antonio says, waving his arms lazily. “I was hoping to scare my little brothers, but you barged in instead.”
“Don’t worry Arthur, it was all just a silly joke.” Dylan says, his voice shuddering with left over fear and embarrassment. “It’s just that awful trio of troublemakers again.“ He reassures, though it doesn’t coax Arthur into untangling himself from Dylan’s grasp.
It’s when the tiny blond lets out a loud sob that Angus and Niall’s faces screw up into ugly scowls.
“You made our little brother cry you lousy assholes.”
“That’s our job!”
It’s as much as Francis can do to raise his hands and look deeply apologetic, as Gilbert unbuttons his costume, his headless appearance little more than an optical illusion created by a clever use of a football and some sponge padding.
“We thought you’d see though our silly little joke.” Francis says, casually wiping off Angus’ shoulders and pursing his lips with careful calculation.
Angus starts to crumble at the cute expression Francis pulls and soon folds his arms and glances away, his cheeks tinged with bright red. “I guess it was kind of funny.”
“Pfffht, it was completely awesome.” Gilbert says.
“Do not worry, Arthur, we are not monsters.” Antonio says, crouching to talk comfortingly to the youngster who still encases himself firmly in Dylan’s arms and cries a little heavier when he catches sight of the over compelling face paints.
“We’re going to go finish up our trick or treating.” Dylan grumbles, leaning to lift his baby brother up and walk away from the whole scene in a bid that he calm down.
“Oh, hang on a moment!” Francis says, scuttling away and diving under the table, pulling out several large packets of Halloween themed packets. “Take one of these with you! My papa put me in charge of giving out the candy this year.”
“Great.” Niall says. “You have fun with that I guess.” He says as Dylan exits the room.
“It was sort of funny.” Angus says idly. “But if you make my little brother cry ever again I’ll hit you so hard you won’t need the fancy makeup to look all beaten up.”
“We’ll keep it in mind.” Gilbert says as the pair go to follow their little brothers out. “By the way, if you see my little brother and his friends. don’t tell them what we’re up to.”
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“I hate those guys.” Arthur grumbles, his head still hung low despite Niall’s peace offering of Haribo. “Next year we should do something to scare them.”
“That’s a good idea.” Niall says. “I’d love to deliver a healthy dose of payback.” He says, though he’s aware that they’ll likely have forgotten about the whole thing within a day or two it seems to cheer Arthur up regardless, mainly because he’s a big fan of people getting their comeuppance.
“Why don’t we just hit a few more houses and go home.” Dylan mutters his eyes rising to study the sky. “It looks like it’s going to rain any second.”
“And I want to get back for the horror movie marathon.” Angus adds. “Besides, mom and dad told us not to stay out late.”
Such a warning comes off as relatively flat considering Angus is normally breaking more rules than his parents can even impose upon him, with the exception being (for now) that he try and be nice to his little brothers, because his father will give him a decent sized hammering if they start telling tales of cruelty and violence.
“Why don’t we just hit the Beilschmidt house and head back?” Niall asks, huddling his hands into his hoody pouch and shivering. “It’s starting to get cold.”
“But we barely did anything tonight!” Arthur whimpers. His pout is infuriatingly and both Angus and Niall almost raise their hands to smack it off his face. Though they hold back on doing so.
It’s partly because Arthur does have a point and he really doesn’t deserve to be mistreated, they try and reserve such a punishment for when he’s being completely unbearable, because at least they can claim for insanity and justified bodily harm to their parents.
“How about we just get a bunch of stuff from the shop on the way home instead?” Niall proposes carefully. “We still have a little of our allowance left.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Dylan says. “I really want to get some hot chocolate.”
“I want hot chocollate.” Arthur coos merrily. “With marshmallows and a piece of cheese.”
“Cheese?” Angus says, raising his hand but allowing it to drop to his side. “Fine, whatever, I don’t even care. We’ll drop by Mr Beilschmidt’s house and we’ll go to the store. THEN we can finally go home.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” Niall says through chattering teeth that is interrupted by a sudden splatter of cold water hitting his face. “And we best hurry up about it. Looks like it’s going to piss down.”
Their paces hasten as a roll of thunder crashes in the distance.
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His whole body still shivers and shakes despite the fresh layer of warm fabric coating his skin, his tartan pyjamas had been a welcome refuge from the clothing he’d been wearing, soaked through by the rain so badly that they’d almost flooded the kitchen floor simply by stepping inside and as Niall continues to work at mopping up Angus makes it his business to boil milk and measure out several scoops of brown chocolaty powder into the four mugs.
A packet of orange pumpkin shaped marshmallows lie to his side while their bag of snacks waits patiently in the living room.
“You think Mum will notice the weird brown smears we left on the floor?” Niall’s asks, casting his eyes downwards with a hint of worry edging his lilting voice.
“Who even cares, we can tidy up tomorrow.” Angus points out. He pours the milk into the mugs carefully and dumps the empty pan into the sink, filling it with cold water to steep.
Niall looks pensive about it for a moment but sets the mop aside anyway before drawing his golden dressing gown tight over his green and white pyjamas. “I think that storms getting worse.” He says as another rumble of thunder seems to crash directly over the house. “We’re lucky we decided to come back when we did.”
“It’ll pass soon.” Angus says, though he flinches slightly when another, louder boom of thunder tears the sky apart and a flurry of lightening seems to light up the outside world as if it were daytime for a brief second. “Hopefully. Now stop acting like a chicken and help me carry these.” He says, gripping the pack of marshmallows in his mouth and marching off with two of the mugs to the living room where he can hear Dylan and Arthur talking to one another in muted slightly frightened tones.
He hands them each a mug and admires the way they’ve brought down a blanket to cuddle under as he tosses the bag of orange marshmallows onto Dylan’s lap.
“So what are we going to watch?” Niall asks as he wanders into the room, handing Angus his blue and white mug of hot chocolate as soon as he’s done climbing under the union jack themed blanket beside Arthur who gets to work plopping several of the orange mallows into his drink while trying not to spill any of it on his white and red onesy.
“I thought we were watching the horror marathon.” Arthur chirps as he runs his finger through the melted orange glop and idly licks it off his finger.
“I don’t really mind.” Dylan says. He scoots over as his older brother curls up beside him with the bag of chocolate and treats on his lap.
“Horror movie marathon it is then!” Angus says with a gleeful grin as he presses down on the television remote and switches to the correct channel, disregarding the crackle of thunder that rattles somewhere in the distance as he and his brothers curl up under the covers to enjoy the rest of their night together.
============================================================================
Authors notes:
1. There was actually a lot more I wanted to do with this, but I didn’t want to run it on too long or bog it down too much. If it seems like I have no idea what Halloween is like, it’s because we don’t celebrate it that much in Northern Ireland. XD;;
2. We don’t use the word candy here in the UK, we use the word ‘sweets’ and ‘sweeties’ where I come from. Haribo is a brand of mixed sweets, I’m not sure if they sell them in America and elsewhere but just a heads up cause kids and grown ups love it so.
3. There’s a small touch of history included here for your enjoyment. The Lego brick barrier mentioned to run down Dylan and Arthur’s bedroom is a reference to the Offa dam, built to separate Wales and England. If any Welshmen got caught on the English side, lets just say it wasn’t very nice. Dewi the toy dragon is also a reference to the red dragon of Wales.
4. Poland actually did the makeup and costumes for the haunted house prank. But he was too busy dressing as a fairy and dragging little Lithuania about to join in I assume.
5. Why is China a Doctor? Well why not!
6. Thanks to Cattiechaos for helping to run the board, and for checking the early content of my writing and helping get it on track. I only hope it’s good enough. <3 Your input was important to me.
7 And another thanks to Sirvalkyrie for running the board and keeping things on track.
8. A major thank you to Vikingconqueror for the request, I hope you enjoyed it though if you didn’t I’m more than willing to have another go.
Thank you to everyone who reads this and I hope you all have a Happy Halloween!
England remains as little Arthur Kirkland.
Wales is Dylan Kirkland.
Ireland is Niall Kirkland
Scotland is Angus Kirkland
Mr Vargas is Ancient Rome.
Doctor Lao is China.
Ludwig is Germany.
Kiku is Japan.
Lovino is North Italy.
Romano is South Italy.
Gilbert is Prussia.
Antonio is Spain.
Francis is France.
Elizabeta is Hungary
Roderich is Austria.
Mr Beilschmidt is actually Germania.
============================================================================
Tagging along:
“I’m not going.” Angus says quickly, earning a grim and irritated expression from his unidentical twin brother, as he sets about poking with the grill with a level of confidence he should by no rights have.. “I can’t stand all that stupid nonsense.”
“You promised Mum you would.” Niall barks back, his dark curly hair bobbing as he whips his head sideways in open annoyance. “And I’m not taking him by myself.”
“Dylan will help you.” Angus reminds him, though he’s certain that Dylan is as far-gone in this Halloween thing as their diminutive little brother who seems more taken with Autumn than any other time of year.
“You promised.” Niall repeats as Arthur slides into the room.
“I can’t find my wand.” He says, sounding very serious and looking huffy, like he might suspect his older brothers of stealing it. “I can’t be a wizard without it.”
“Well, go keep looking for it then.” Angus says, leaning on the table and scoffing at his little brothers get up. A bright blue robe with stars and moons sewn into it in reflective material and a pointy hat with the same stars and moons theme. “Otherwise you can go as a princess.”
Arthur scurries out of the room and charges up the stairs, sounding, despite his small size, like a herd of elephants trying to tip toe over creaky floorboards. It allows Angus to refocus on his brother who continues to turn the knobs of the grill before peeking over his shoulder and frowning.
“If you don’t come then I’ll tell mum and dad.” Niall says finally though Angus glares at him like he’s acting like a total traitor, which is a bit rich he feels, considering who would be stuck babysitting.
“You’re an arse.” Angus grumbles.
“It’s only for one bloody night.”
Their conversation is interrupted, however, by Dylan wandering past with his head hung slightly low with his long wavy brown hair falling over his eyes. He throws open the door to the backyard with something of an irritated growl before padding out into the yard
When he reappears and walks past them with a stick clutched in his hands and a complexion that’s been made slightly pale by the cold breeze, The fact he seems not to be wearing any socks or shoes probably doesn’t help matters, his elder brothers glance to one another in confusion.
“What are you doing?” Niall asks before Dylan can slink silently back up the stairs.
“It’s a wand.” Dylan responds softly, raising the stick and waving it with a flourish. “We can’t find the one Mother made for him.”
Something in their younger brothers tone gives the pair a fleeting suspicion that Dylan, though he’s normally not one for being malicious, has hidden the item but he’s gone too quickly for them to call him out on it.
“I still don’t see why I have to go.” Angus says with a small lick of his lips.
“Because if I’m suffering then I’m taking you down with me.” Niall says before sliding towards the freezer and pulling out a sparsely stocked shelf. “What should we have to eat tonight anyway?”
“I thought we were pilfering a whole bunch of chocolate and crap from the neighbours?”
“We’ll hardly get much of anything considering we’re not dressing up.” Niall says before he turns and holds up a packet. “Don’t suppose you’re in the mood for super noodles? I can put on some of these potato waffles on with them”
“Again? We had noodles yesterday!”
“No, those were curry ones. We had beef last night.” Niall says rather half heartedly, fingers prying the box open to study it‘s contents. “And we had toast with them.”
“Well that’s okay then.”
============================================================================
Arthur blinks up at his older brother with a sceptical look on his little face. “That’s not a wand, that’s a stick.”
“Well It’s the best I can do.” Dylan says. “Besides real wands look like sticks anyway. Haven’t you seen Harry Potter?”
Arthur takes the stick and bobs it up and down with the highest level of scrutiny Dylan has ever seen in a five year old. He turns his big green eyes up to meet Dylan’s brown ones with a haughty expression plastered over his face.
“Harry Potter isn’t real. You’re dumb.”
“You can take it or leave it, but I’m not looking around for your old one anymore.” Dylan says, his eyes flitting around the bedroom the two share, there’s clothing scattered everywhere, toys strewn haphazardly from where they normally reside in a plastic chest and their bedding is even less made than it was this morning. He leans down quickly to lift his soft toy dragon from the floor. “And I keep telling you not to touch this.”
Arthur watches as Dylan gets to work setting his bedding a little straighter and placing his toy dragon lovingly upon his pillow. “I thought he might be sitting on it.” Arthur defends quickly.
“I wouldn’t leave Dewi on top of your wand.” Dylan says watching as Arthur attempts to straighten out his own bed covers.
Dylans better judgement coaxes him into helpfully tugging the edge of the rabbit themed blanket into place.
“I can do it!” Arthur scolds as he sets his pillows down and attempts to adjust them.
Dylan sighs and plops backwards onto his own bed. He rather misses the days of Arthur forming a line down the middle of the bedroom using Lego bricks. It cut him off from the door but at least it kept Arthur away from his things.
He feels the afore mentioned youngster scrabble onto the bed beside him, tussling his red covers all out of place again.
“How come you like that stupid dragon so much anyhow?” The younger of them asks, lifting the soft toy and studying it’s face and wings. “it’s ugly.”
“Because dad gave it to me when I was a baby!” Dylan snaps. Plucking his toy from Arthur’s grasp and holding it aloft. “Now leave Dewi alone and maybe I’ll put some face paints on you.”
“What kind of face paints?”
“I don’t know, a star or something.”
Arthur looks appeased by this and rolls onto his side. “I think Niall and Angus are trying to make dinner.” he says after a small pause.
“What makes you say that?”
“I smell burning.”
============================================================================
There’s a level of concentration to drawing a star on somebody’s face that Dylan hadn’t quite realised. He’s definitely not as good at this as Feliks or Francis who run the costume and makeup design in their music and drama club.
He wonders for a moment if he’ll see anyone from the club as he trick or treats, and more importantly, if they’ll remember him as anything more than the kid who operates the lights and learns the scripts regardless of how unlikely it is he’ll ever get another part in any school play.
“I think that’s okay.” He says finally, tilting his head to analyse his handiwork. It looks a little more like a depressed starfish than a magical symbol but close enough as long as nobody stares at it too hard.
“Can I see?” Arthur asks as Dylan packs up his face paints and gets to work storing them in the box with his other drama gear, the script for the last musical he was involved with still lurks there, entitled ‘the lament of the dragons’ A musical written by Roderich for Elizabeta to showcase her wonderful singing talents.
By some fluke Dylan had gotten the chance to star along side her as the red dragon to her white dragon.
His eyes wander to the red fabric of the modified jacket Francis made for him and he sighs slightly as he pushes the rest of his clothing aside and smiles faintly over the wings and horns sewn onto it and the way the eyes on the hood still retain their vivid colour.
Arthur looks up from the little mirror and his new yellow decoration that makes his cheek feel slightly dry and itchy. “Are you gonna wear that?” He asks, face brightening at the sight of the costume. “Then we can both be dressed up!”
“I dunno Arthur.” Dylan says with a sigh. “It’s kind of-”
“Please Dylan? It’ll be fun!” He prompts. “Then I can slay you!”
While the idea of being slain by his little brother is certainly not a very pleasant one, Dylan is too soft in spirit to argue with his big green eyes and slowly nods.
“Fine, but you’re sharing your sweets with me when we get back.” Dylan says before he pulls the jumper on and admires it in the mirror. “Now get your shoes on so we can get going.”
============================================================================
Darkness engulfs the street, a flickering lamp overhead helping to set their nerves on edge while the faint light of carved pumpkins and decorations of various Halloween horrors causes Arthur to grip Dylan’s hand with a sweaty palm. The only comfort to be sought comes from the fact they an see several other children already out and about.
“I guess we should get started then.” Angus says. Urging his brothers forward in a bid that they get home in time for him to get a decent rest and maybe watch a scary film. Besides which, he knows several of the other students in his class who live on the same row as them and the possibility of running into them is a heartening one.
“So, which house should we go to first?” Niall asks quickly, his eyes flitting around each of his brothers quickly.
“This one.” Arthur proclaims, motioning to a garden that’s entombed by a low wall.
“But this house belongs to Mr Vargas.” Dylan points out. “I don’t think he’ll--”
“Don’t be a chicken, Dylan.” Angus says, pushing the gate open and peering down the short yard, he can see a scattering of decorations around the door and a skeleton hanging in the window. “Come on.”
Arthur’s grip slips away from Dylan, who quickly ducks behind the low gate and peers after the two cautiously.
“What’s the matter?” Niall asks with a smile that seems barely reassuring because of how the flickering light catches his pale face and makes it seem almost skeletal.
“Mr Vargas is really-”
“Hurry up!” Arthur calls after his two lagging brothers causing Niall to start wandering away from his timid younger brother and towards the door of their neighbour.
A cold winds kicks up, sending Dylan’s long hair into his face and howling distantly. His feet are moving instantly and he clutches Niall’s arm a little more tightly than he should.
“Would you stop being a baby?” Niall coaxes, though he makes a small effort to pull his arm free in time to hear little Arthur give the doorbell a good firm ring. The chime seems almost ominous as the brothers gather together behind their baby brother.
Nothing happens for a moment except that the wind rises and falls in it’s wailing ferocity.
“Looks like he’s out.” Angus says after a moment, to break the atmosphere that starts to thicken like porridge around them.
Arthur pouts at him in annoyance, folding his arms stubbornly and screwing up his face like he’s just been fed some extremely sour type of sweet.
“But Angus!” Arthur snorts, he looks rather adorable to their eyes though there’s a collective dipping of brows in annoyance at his stubborn attitude. “Mr Vargas still has his lights on.”
“Well he’s not home.” Niall scolds. “We can try next door.”
It flutters across Niall’s mind that their parents will be home on Saturday, that Arthur will complain bitterly if he’s hard done by and likely he’ll be the one getting the blame. Regardless of how selfish he feels their parents have been to suddenly need to visit family on the Isle of Man.
“He’s probably taking Antonio and his little brothers out to trick or treat too.” Dylan offers as he turns and starts to diligently walk away, followed slowly by his older brothers, though Arthur is reluctant to listen to reason he takes the first few steps away from the door.
The chorus of a high, shrill creak and a pool of light framing his tiny body stops him in his tracks.
The looming shadow of an armed man at the door doesn’t bode well either. It takes all his courage to slowly tilt his head and gaze up, greeted by the sight of a large man, decked in armour and brandishing a sword.
Arthur lets out a high squeak and flails his arms about causing his brothers to whirl in surprise and stare wide eyed at the man before they each manage to relax slightly.
Mr Vargas stands before them in full roman attire with a bemused expression on his face that turns to a toothy smile.
“Happy Halloween!” He greets them with a wide flourish of his arms.
Arthur’s eyes dim slightly as he almost loses his grip on the little plastic bucket he’d been given to store his acquired treats.
“Trick or treat.” The youngster says in a fairly small voice that’s caused partly by his racing heart.
“Are you dressed as a Witch, Arthur?” The man says, leaning down slightly and smiling patiently.
This of course causes Arthur to straighten up and frown very pointedly. “I’m a wizard.”
Mr Vargas double checks the outfit before nodding diligently and lifting a little tub of chocolate bars from behind the doorframe and popping a few into Arthur’s plastic cauldron, his eyes slowly wander to the three elder children, though his smile falters.
“Thank you.” Arthur says, beaming widely.
“So, are you supposed to be a lizard?” Mr Vargas says as he locks eyes with Dylan.
“He’s a dragon.” Arthur corrects before Dylan can speak up for himself.
The large man nods before glancing towards his door and running his hands through his unkempt brown hair. It occurs to Niall and Angus that he’s possibly still sore at them for managing to kick their football through his window.
Several times.
In the past month.
“Well, I should be getting back to my party.” Mr Vargas says quickly. Turning on his heel. “Say hello to your parents for me.”
“We will do, sir.” Dylan says quickly. His eyes wander to the window, which has apparently been fixed since his brothers little mishap. “Goodnight.”
Then Mr Vargas closes his door and the pool of light turns to fickle darkness once again, tainted only by the soft glow coming from behind closed blinds and twinkling in the eyes of a set of pumpkins left on the doorstep.
One of the pumpkins has what appears to be a tomato carved into it while another has a massively gleeful face that borders on cartoonishness.
“Well, that was lame.” Angus says. “Let’s get going.” He says as he pinches one of the chocolate bars from Arthur’s bucket and saunters off.
“Hey! That’s mine!”
============================================================================
Doctor Lao gives the youngster a questioning look, before piecing together the reason for the visit. Too much work and note taking rendering him oblivious to the coming and going of the children knocking his door.
“Trick or treat!” Arthur chirps with a wide toothy grin that shows off that there’s a small gap, the first of his baby teeth to go. “Happy Halloween!”
“Is it that day already?” The man asks looking puzzled.
“Afraid so.” Niall assures him.
“I don’t really have much to give to you, aru.” Doctor Lao says, though he cups his chin with his fingers and peers over his shoulder. “But I might have a snack left over.” He says, holding up his hand in a bid that the boys stay where they are. Then he’s gone, leaving the brothers to look to each other curiously and shrug limply.
“I guess he forgot.” Angus says as he stuffs his hands into his pockets. “Not a surprise.”
“Maybe we should leave him alone.” Dylan offers.
“But he said he’d get us something.” Arthur argues. There’s no arging with the fact that just running off would be rude.
“I don’t have anything sweet in my larder.” Doctor Lao says, reappearing at the door with a plate. “But I did make these steamed buns a little earlier.” He says, leaning down and holding the plate out with a thin smile. “I made them from ingredients I got in Chinatown.”
“Oh, those look yummy!” Arthur says, plucking one of the buns up and marvelling at it’s shiny white texture and it’s round pretty shape. “And it looks just like a ghost.”
“Would the rest of you like one?” Doctor Lao asks, holding the plate out towards the three who eye the buns rather suspiciously. “They’re filled with pork.”
They each take one and look a little more suspicious.
“Pork?” Arthur asks. “That’s a weird thing to put in a bun.”
“I really must get back to work, boys.” Doctor Lao says. “Don’t stay out too late, Aru.”
“We won’t.” Niall says as they wander away from the door with small chirps of thanks and a wave.
It’s only when they’re back out on the street that Angus looks to his bun with a degree of curiosity and proceeds to take a large bite out of it.
“You’re actually eating that thing?” Dylan asks, holding his own out at a distance.
Angus only nods and takes another large bite from he plump white treat, followed by Arthur and Niall taking bites from theirs as well.
“This is yummy.” Arthur says, only to have Dylan’s bun shoved into his grasp.
“You can have mine then. I don’t really like pork.” He says, screwing his face up. “Especially not inside a cake.”
Arthur gets to work eating the bun before he pauses to look down the garden of another of their neighbours. “Isn’t that Francis‘ house?” He asks cautiously.
The sign mounted in the middle of the lawn declares to them that there’s a haunted house on the go, though whoever wrote their sign did so rather lazily.
“Yeah.” Dylan says before his eyes catch movement coming down the pavement in their direction.
Four figures pause in front of them, quickly studying the sign before turning their attention towards the set of brothers curiously.
“What’s going on?” The one who appears to be dressed in green shorts and a spiffy little hat and suspenders asks, his voice is thick and stern and his blue eyes rather cutting.
“I dunno.” Arthur says. “What are you supposed to be Ludwig?” He asks after another moment.
“I’m Pinocchio.” The blonde replies, drawing attention to the red circles on his cheeks.
“Oh.” Arthur replies with deflated enthusiasm before his eyes move towards the other three, one seems to be dressed as a tomato, the other as a bizarre looking giraffe and the one at the end has some cute little fox ears and what looks like a dress on.
“I’m a pizza!” One of the brunettes says, twirling joyously in his yellow and red costume with the brown dots. “With extra pepperoni! And my brother Romano is a tomato!”
“I thought he was a scab.” Angus grumbles under his breath causing Romano to scowl at him and fold his red trussed arms.
“It was my bastard big brothers stupid idea.” He grumbles. “He said it’d be cute. What are you clowns supposed to be, a princess and her frog?”
“Frog?” Niall asks. Then his eyes wander towards Dylan, who’s coat does have a vaguely frog like quality in this dim light thanks to it’s embroidered yellow eyes.
“I’m a wizard, and Dylan is a dragon.” Arthur groans. “Niall and Angus didn’t even bother.”
“What are you dressed up as Kiku?” Dylan asks as he leans down slightly to the slightly younger dark haired boy who regards him with dull unexpressive eyes.
“I’m a kitsune.” He says.
Dylan isn’t sure what that is.
“Are you lot going into this haunted house thing of Francis’”
“It looks scary.” The one in yellow, states as he hides behinds Ludwig. “I don’t want to.”
“It’s only his garage, Lovino.” Ludwig points out with a dull look of disinterest. “What do you think Kiku?”
“I will think about it.”
“We don’t have time for Francis’ stupid pranks anyway.” Romano says with a dismissive tilt of his head and a flaring of his nostrils. “We should get going.”
“We are on a tight schedule.” Ludwig says with passing agreement “We’ll see you later.”
With that the groups part ways, leaving Arthur’s older brothers to consider sending Arthur off to trick or treat with them next year so they can all stay home and not bother.
“Let’s get going then.” Angus says, marching over Francis’ tidy lawn in his usual manner of leading the way.
“Do we have to? I don’t want to stick my hand into a bowl of spaghetti again.” Niall says, casually following after anyway leaving Dylan and Arthur behind to look reluctantly at each other.
“But Francis is annoying.” Arthur points out matter-of-factly. “Can’t we go somewhere else?”
“It’ll only be for a minute.” Dylan reassures, though he’s not entirely sure he trusts Angus to leave Francis’ side once he gets there. “Besides, it’s a haunted house, it’ll be fun.”
“Well, okay I guess.” Arthur says before clutching his older brothers hand and allowing himself to be led along.
============================================================================
What was once a plain old garage (if anything Francis owns can actually remain plain) has transformed itself into a dark and eerie room, a faint green light bouncing off old fashioned tables and chairs, a wardrobe with it’s door half open and a table covered in a tablecloth that’s frayed at the edges and caught on some unfelt breeze.
Arthur presses himself against Dylan’s side, feeling his older brother start to shiver unreassuringly as Niall and Angus call out a few times for Francis to show himself before poking at the various plates of unappetising looking food that lies about the table.
“This is really weird.” Dylan says finally. His small voice gets suddenly blocked out by the blustering winds outside and something unseen comes crashing to the ground. “Let’s get out of here.”
“It’s just a bunch of old furniture and some cheap lights.” Niall points out, leaning down to study the spooky green glow that illuminates the underside of his face. “I’m pretty sure Francis has done bette-”
Niall is cut off by a long droning whine that sends him backwards towards Angus with a paranoid shuffle
“Would you three grow up. This is just some stupid trick.” Angus is quick to point out.
“I’m not scared.” Niall defends with words that are churned from deep in his chest to make them seem bigger and braver than they really are. “But this is stupid. We should just get going.”
“I think Niall is right. “ Dylan says, draping his arm around Arthur’s shoulders in some show of reassurance. “We have a lot of houses to visit and this is just a big waste of tim-” He pauses as something cold and moist seems to slither down the back of his neck. “That’s it, I’m leaving. This isn’t funny.”
“Dylan, you’re gripping my arm way too tight.” Arthur complains, glaring up at his brother, eyes luminous and wide in the diluted green glow.
“I’m not gripping your-”
The doors of the wardrobe suddenly burst open from behind them, a pair of gnarled grey hands gripping their faces, a sinister flaking laugh setting teeth on edge.
“Would you stop standing on my foot, Niall.” Angus grumbles, pausing when he notices his brother isn’t remotely close enough to do so and when he glances down he seems a decomposing set of fingers grasp around his ankle.
The cacophony of startled yelps (and little Arthur’s instinctive scream) causes Niall to whips his head to see what the problem is, but his field of vision is filled with a wrinkled sagging face that seems to lack eyes. It’s hair all tussled and grimy/
At that point Dylan and Arthur break away from the icy grip and tumble over as the wardrobe bursts open, a figure erupting from the wooden doors, old fashioned clothing and wailing voice, but no head that they can see.
All Angus see’s is a fanged creature pop it’s head out from under the cloth of the table..
“Join us!” The creatures all sing in harmony.
The four brothers let out a loud, terrified cry despite themselves, before making a hasty retreat towards a door that slams shut in their wake, and the monsters creep steadily towards them.
Angus tries to open the door, though it’s knob is slimy and refuses to turn under his slick fingers and Niall shields his two youngest brothers from harm.
“Oh man, that was totally AWESOME!” The creature with no head says. “You guys were scared shitless!”
“Gilbert?” Niall asks cautiously, watching as the three ‘monsters’ start to fall about themselves with laughter. “That wasn’t funny, you clowns scared us half to death!”
“I wasn’t scared.” Angus says with a haughty expression. “I was surprised.”
“You were scared.” The fanged creature says as it flicks the light on and gets to work peeling it’s mask off, a bundle of luscious golden hair falling about the shoulders of a regal looking princely costume. “I didn’t think you’d fall for something so juvenile.”
“It is the simple things that work best, ci?”
“Antonio?” Niall grumbles, glaring at the brunette, who’s face has been so well painted that he barely looks like himself. “You’re part of this too?”
“Sorry.” Antonio says, waving his arms lazily. “I was hoping to scare my little brothers, but you barged in instead.”
“Don’t worry Arthur, it was all just a silly joke.” Dylan says, his voice shuddering with left over fear and embarrassment. “It’s just that awful trio of troublemakers again.“ He reassures, though it doesn’t coax Arthur into untangling himself from Dylan’s grasp.
It’s when the tiny blond lets out a loud sob that Angus and Niall’s faces screw up into ugly scowls.
“You made our little brother cry you lousy assholes.”
“That’s our job!”
It’s as much as Francis can do to raise his hands and look deeply apologetic, as Gilbert unbuttons his costume, his headless appearance little more than an optical illusion created by a clever use of a football and some sponge padding.
“We thought you’d see though our silly little joke.” Francis says, casually wiping off Angus’ shoulders and pursing his lips with careful calculation.
Angus starts to crumble at the cute expression Francis pulls and soon folds his arms and glances away, his cheeks tinged with bright red. “I guess it was kind of funny.”
“Pfffht, it was completely awesome.” Gilbert says.
“Do not worry, Arthur, we are not monsters.” Antonio says, crouching to talk comfortingly to the youngster who still encases himself firmly in Dylan’s arms and cries a little heavier when he catches sight of the over compelling face paints.
“We’re going to go finish up our trick or treating.” Dylan grumbles, leaning to lift his baby brother up and walk away from the whole scene in a bid that he calm down.
“Oh, hang on a moment!” Francis says, scuttling away and diving under the table, pulling out several large packets of Halloween themed packets. “Take one of these with you! My papa put me in charge of giving out the candy this year.”
“Great.” Niall says. “You have fun with that I guess.” He says as Dylan exits the room.
“It was sort of funny.” Angus says idly. “But if you make my little brother cry ever again I’ll hit you so hard you won’t need the fancy makeup to look all beaten up.”
“We’ll keep it in mind.” Gilbert says as the pair go to follow their little brothers out. “By the way, if you see my little brother and his friends. don’t tell them what we’re up to.”
============================================================================
“I hate those guys.” Arthur grumbles, his head still hung low despite Niall’s peace offering of Haribo. “Next year we should do something to scare them.”
“That’s a good idea.” Niall says. “I’d love to deliver a healthy dose of payback.” He says, though he’s aware that they’ll likely have forgotten about the whole thing within a day or two it seems to cheer Arthur up regardless, mainly because he’s a big fan of people getting their comeuppance.
“Why don’t we just hit a few more houses and go home.” Dylan mutters his eyes rising to study the sky. “It looks like it’s going to rain any second.”
“And I want to get back for the horror movie marathon.” Angus adds. “Besides, mom and dad told us not to stay out late.”
Such a warning comes off as relatively flat considering Angus is normally breaking more rules than his parents can even impose upon him, with the exception being (for now) that he try and be nice to his little brothers, because his father will give him a decent sized hammering if they start telling tales of cruelty and violence.
“Why don’t we just hit the Beilschmidt house and head back?” Niall asks, huddling his hands into his hoody pouch and shivering. “It’s starting to get cold.”
“But we barely did anything tonight!” Arthur whimpers. His pout is infuriatingly and both Angus and Niall almost raise their hands to smack it off his face. Though they hold back on doing so.
It’s partly because Arthur does have a point and he really doesn’t deserve to be mistreated, they try and reserve such a punishment for when he’s being completely unbearable, because at least they can claim for insanity and justified bodily harm to their parents.
“How about we just get a bunch of stuff from the shop on the way home instead?” Niall proposes carefully. “We still have a little of our allowance left.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Dylan says. “I really want to get some hot chocolate.”
“I want hot chocollate.” Arthur coos merrily. “With marshmallows and a piece of cheese.”
“Cheese?” Angus says, raising his hand but allowing it to drop to his side. “Fine, whatever, I don’t even care. We’ll drop by Mr Beilschmidt’s house and we’ll go to the store. THEN we can finally go home.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” Niall says through chattering teeth that is interrupted by a sudden splatter of cold water hitting his face. “And we best hurry up about it. Looks like it’s going to piss down.”
Their paces hasten as a roll of thunder crashes in the distance.
============================================================================
His whole body still shivers and shakes despite the fresh layer of warm fabric coating his skin, his tartan pyjamas had been a welcome refuge from the clothing he’d been wearing, soaked through by the rain so badly that they’d almost flooded the kitchen floor simply by stepping inside and as Niall continues to work at mopping up Angus makes it his business to boil milk and measure out several scoops of brown chocolaty powder into the four mugs.
A packet of orange pumpkin shaped marshmallows lie to his side while their bag of snacks waits patiently in the living room.
“You think Mum will notice the weird brown smears we left on the floor?” Niall’s asks, casting his eyes downwards with a hint of worry edging his lilting voice.
“Who even cares, we can tidy up tomorrow.” Angus points out. He pours the milk into the mugs carefully and dumps the empty pan into the sink, filling it with cold water to steep.
Niall looks pensive about it for a moment but sets the mop aside anyway before drawing his golden dressing gown tight over his green and white pyjamas. “I think that storms getting worse.” He says as another rumble of thunder seems to crash directly over the house. “We’re lucky we decided to come back when we did.”
“It’ll pass soon.” Angus says, though he flinches slightly when another, louder boom of thunder tears the sky apart and a flurry of lightening seems to light up the outside world as if it were daytime for a brief second. “Hopefully. Now stop acting like a chicken and help me carry these.” He says, gripping the pack of marshmallows in his mouth and marching off with two of the mugs to the living room where he can hear Dylan and Arthur talking to one another in muted slightly frightened tones.
He hands them each a mug and admires the way they’ve brought down a blanket to cuddle under as he tosses the bag of orange marshmallows onto Dylan’s lap.
“So what are we going to watch?” Niall asks as he wanders into the room, handing Angus his blue and white mug of hot chocolate as soon as he’s done climbing under the union jack themed blanket beside Arthur who gets to work plopping several of the orange mallows into his drink while trying not to spill any of it on his white and red onesy.
“I thought we were watching the horror marathon.” Arthur chirps as he runs his finger through the melted orange glop and idly licks it off his finger.
“I don’t really mind.” Dylan says. He scoots over as his older brother curls up beside him with the bag of chocolate and treats on his lap.
“Horror movie marathon it is then!” Angus says with a gleeful grin as he presses down on the television remote and switches to the correct channel, disregarding the crackle of thunder that rattles somewhere in the distance as he and his brothers curl up under the covers to enjoy the rest of their night together.
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Authors notes:
1. There was actually a lot more I wanted to do with this, but I didn’t want to run it on too long or bog it down too much. If it seems like I have no idea what Halloween is like, it’s because we don’t celebrate it that much in Northern Ireland. XD;;
2. We don’t use the word candy here in the UK, we use the word ‘sweets’ and ‘sweeties’ where I come from. Haribo is a brand of mixed sweets, I’m not sure if they sell them in America and elsewhere but just a heads up cause kids and grown ups love it so.
3. There’s a small touch of history included here for your enjoyment. The Lego brick barrier mentioned to run down Dylan and Arthur’s bedroom is a reference to the Offa dam, built to separate Wales and England. If any Welshmen got caught on the English side, lets just say it wasn’t very nice. Dewi the toy dragon is also a reference to the red dragon of Wales.
4. Poland actually did the makeup and costumes for the haunted house prank. But he was too busy dressing as a fairy and dragging little Lithuania about to join in I assume.
5. Why is China a Doctor? Well why not!
6. Thanks to Cattiechaos for helping to run the board, and for checking the early content of my writing and helping get it on track. I only hope it’s good enough. <3 Your input was important to me.
7 And another thanks to Sirvalkyrie for running the board and keeping things on track.
8. A major thank you to Vikingconqueror for the request, I hope you enjoyed it though if you didn’t I’m more than willing to have another go.
Thank you to everyone who reads this and I hope you all have a Happy Halloween!