(A/N) Hello, everyone! In honor of Halloween, I've decided to post a Ylissean Halloween :P This is my first time writing for Fire Emblem (though I've had Awakening for a while), so hopefully all the characters are in character and such! There are quite a few implied pairings, but it's Fire Emblem, so come on. Pretty much anything goes.
I hope to write more Fire Emblem soon, but until then, please enjoy this one!
"Papa, I can't really move in this…"
"You're not supposed to. Now hold still, cupcake."
Gaius tried not to curse as he dressed his son in his Halloween costume. To tell the truth, he couldn't really move either: the matching costumes he'd chosen for him and Morgan were really bulky and impossible to be nimble in. Ah well, it was for an important cause.
They were going trick-or-treating for the first time. Morgan was finally old enough to participate in the holiday tradition, though how much of the candy would actually go to the younger of the orange-heads was yet to determined. The thief licked his lips as he imagined all the candy circulating around the Ylissean camp: toffee, various chocolates, hard candies, Starburst, and, Gaius's favorite, lollipops…
Sometimes Gaius's sweet tooth really got the better of him.
By the time "Papa" finally got the stubborn zipper into place on his son's costume, it was starting to get dark outside. Excitement coursed through Gaius's veins as he took Morgan's hand and led him to the front of their tent. Digging around in the pile of clothes in the corner, Gaius found the special rucksacks that he had made for their excursion: they were made out of the same material that he kept his ultra-secret stash in, but these ones had bats, pumpkins, other Halloween related stuff, and candy painted all over them (courtesy of Libra; Gaius had convinced him to do the job only after promising he would never again try to sacrifice his five-year old to the gods so that it would rain donuts). Just as he was about to pull them out from under the heavy weight of the pile, however, Gaius's costume caused him to lose his balance and tumble into the mound.
As Morgan cried out and tried to help his father, his pudgy arms barely reaching outside his costume, Robin looked up from where he'd been studying his strategies book. As Gaius poked his head out of the top of the heap, the rucksacks balanced messily on his head, and made eye contact with his lover, Robin broke into a grin. It wasn't long before he was all out laughing, bending over the table he was seated at and slamming his fist repeatedly into it.
"I've seen a lot of things, but this one takes the cake," Robin joked as he finally calmed enough to speak. "Just what do you think you're doing, Gaius?"
"What does it look like?" Gaius scoffed as he finally pulled himself out of the pile, rucksacks in hand. "I'm taking Morgan trick-or-treating."
"In matching M&M costumes?" Chrom's tactician snorted in laughter again as he took in the sight of his lover and son standing as the yellow and red M&Ms, respectively. "You're not fooling anyone; you just want the candy for yourself."
"Well of course I do. I'm not going to pass up the chance for free candy." The thief trudged over to Robin, leaning down to kiss him awkwardly (the M&M costume was getting in the way again). "I might even let Morgan have some if he's well behaved."
"Papa! That's not fair!" The little red M&M pouted and waddled over to his parents. "If I collect it, it's mine!"
"Sometimes I think he's actually just a younger you," Robin teased Gaius before picking up his son and giving him a kiss on his forehead. "Have fun, Morgan. I'll see you when you get back. If you collect more candy than Papa, I'll give you his secret stash of sweets."
"Hey!" Gaius complained, but he didn't get to retaliate as he was dragged out of the tent by his excited five-year old. Robin only laughed as the entire tent was nearly knocked over by the M&Ms, almost too big to fit through the flap.
Chrom pushed up the flap of his tent and walked outside. When he saw what he awaited him, he suddenly felt extremely old and that he needed to sit down.
"Trick-or-treat!" The high-pitched voice was normal enough, but the deeper, mature voice definitely was not.
The Ylissean exalt sighed. "Gaius, you've been here three times already."
"Yeah, and this time I expect to actually get something out of it." Gaius's face twisted up into a sneer, his lollipop sticking out from his mouth a bit farther than usual. "Come on, Blue – hand over the candy."
"I told you already, I don't have any candy—"
"I don't believe that!" Gaius cried, before suddenly lifting his young son in his arms and shoving him into Chrom's face. "Do you not see this cute little cupcake? Look at him! Don't you think he deserves some sweets?"
"He probably gets mores sweets than any other kid in camp with that father of his," Chrom thought before saying out loud, "We really don't have any."
"You really don't, Uncle Chrom?" Morgan said sadly, his lower lip coming out in a pout as he looked up at Chrom with his best doggy eyes. Gaius felt a surge of pride for his son; that face could get anyone to cave.
"Nope, no treats!" A young, high-pitched female voice answered from inside the tent. Before anyone could react, Chrom's youngest daughter, Cynthia, ran outside with a fire tome in her small hands. "Which means I get to trick ya!"
"Wait, Cynthia—!" Chrom tried to stop her, but he was too late.
A blast of fire exploded from the small girl's hand; Gaius only had enough time to turn himself around, blocking his son from the heat but completely exposing his back. The fire quickly melted a small hole in his costume and even licked his skin before Chrom was able to wrestle the tome from his daughter. Gaius winced in pain, even as he assured Morgan that he was okay.
Geez, he was already starting to regret this plan.
"Yeesh, those are bad burn marks! Are you sure you're alright?" Lissa fussed as she healed Gaius's back with her staff. The thief was briefly out of his costume (to his relief) as Cherche mended it and he got himself healed. Morgan was sitting in his lap, a bag of Lissa's candies shared between them. As much as Gaius joked around, he always shared his sweets with his son.
"Hm… I might be if I get another bag of these goodies," Gaius replied, smirking at the healer.
Lissa pouted. "Well, you don't get any! That was the last one!"
"The last one?!" Gaius's mirth quickly faded. "First Chrom, now you; how do neither of you have any candy?! It's Halloween!"
"Someone took all of it already!" Lissa snapped back, handing Gaius his shirt stubbornly. "There, you're all healed."
Baffled, Gaius took the shirt and led his son outside to where the Wyvern rider had his repaired costume.
"Hey, thanks Cherche. Do I get any candy with it?"
Cherche laughed. "Sorry, Gaius, but I don't have any. Someone's already hit me up."
The thief paused in the middle of putting on his costume, looking up at the pink-haired woman sharply. "What do you mean?! Crivens, who's taken all of it already?!"
"Sorry, I was sworn to secrecy," Cherche smiled sweetly before walking towards where she'd left little Gerome with Minerva. Gaius could only sneer after her as the wyvern and her family flew away.
Who the hell was taking all of his candy?!
If Lon'qu had a door, Gaius was pretty sure he would've slammed it in their faces. In fact, he was probably sad he didn't have a door as he glared maliciously from behind the tent flap. Even Morgan got the hint not to say anything and instead hid shyly behind his father's leg (not that it really helped, with his huge costume). Eventually, however, Libra gently pushed past the swordsman and made his way outside.
Immediately Morgan brightened and he piped up cutely, "Trick-or-treat!"
"Aren't you adorable," Libra smiled at the toddler before looking up at Gaius with a knowing look. "And I see you're getting a good use out of the bags."
"Of course." Gaius then shoved the aforementioned bag in Libra's face. "Now hand over all your sweets, Padre."
"Pwease?" Morgan lifted his empty Halloween bag as high as he could go and gave the same puppy dog face he'd given Chrom. Gaius felt another flash of pride for his son.
Libra sighed regrettably. "I'm sorry; I really would give you some if I could, but I gave the last one away already. Here, I have an apple though; it's natural sugar."
Morgan fell for it and took the apple, but Gaius just stalked angrily away. Someone was out there ruining his son's first trick-or-treating expedition, and stealing all of the thief's free candy! That was supposed to be his job, dammit!
Oh when he found out who it was taking the candy, they would never escape his wrath!
"Trick-or-treat!"
Stahl blinked as he walked outside of his tent before smiling and squatting down to Morgan's level. "Wow, I might just have to eat you up!"
The red M&M squealed as Stahl tickled him through the costume, causing Gaius to smile around his lollipop stick. The cavalier was a close friend of both Robin's and Gaius's ever since Gaius had first joined the Ylissean army, and so he was also very close to Morgan. In turn, Stahl's son, Yarne, was Morgan's best friend. That wasn't the only reason Gaius had come to Stahl's tent, however – he knew he had to have candy.
The thief and cavalier had bonded, no joke, over food. Though Gaius specified in the sweeter section, he still enjoyed eating just as much as Stahl did. They would often go long into the night, eating and taste-testing new things (someone was always experimenting in the kitchen, though even the foodies avoided the mess hall when Sully was in there).
And, after a long trip around the camp, with no luck, Gaius needed some reassurance from his food buddy.
"Please tell me you have candy." Gaius was practically begging at this point. Morgan nodded enthusiastically at his side and held up his empty bag again.
"Well, I didn't have much to begin with; Yarne can't eat too many sweets. Isn't good for the taguel body, and all that." Stahl shrugged helplessly. "But all I did have was taken already! Sorry, man."
As Gaius glared in baffled disbelief, Stahl held up his hands and continued, "Hey, don't give me that look! I'm bummed too."
It was then that the thief begrudgingly took his son home. They had accumulated no candy outside of Lissa's last bag of treats and Gaius couldn't help but be cranky. He could tell that Morgan was disappointed, which made the Papa feel guilty along with his anger. He had really hoped that Morgan's first trick-or-treating expedition would be a blast, with them running around with stolen candy on their backs. Now all he had to remember the holiday by was a bad trick, next to no treats, and disappointment.
When they slipped into their tent, it at first seemed that Robin had gone to bed already. However, when Gaius lit a candle and got him and Morgan out of their M&Ms, the thief was astounded to realize that what he'd thought was Robin lying on the floor was actually a large pile of candy! As Gaius spun around to look at the rest of the tent, he saw that there was candy lining almost every single wall, piled to the ceiling, and nearly all of the furniture was buried in sugar.
Morgan squealed in delight and ran for a pile. The older orange-head could only stare in disbelief, even as his mouth started to water from the aroma of the sweets.
It was then that Robin came into the tent, another handful of candy in his hands. Gaius whirled around to confront his lover.
"Bubbles, what the hell—?!"
"I believe it's 'trick-or-treat,' right?" Robin smiled snidely as he threw the candy into Gaius's hands. "I enjoy my tricks now and then, but I thought you two could enjoy both."
Gaius stared at him, mouth agape, before looking down at the pile of treats in his hands. They were his favorite non-lollipop sweet: bonbons. "You trying to tell me that you're the whelp running around stealing all the candy?"
The tactician didn't respond, but his mischievous grin confirmed the orange-head's suspicions. At first Gaius was furious as he watched his lover walk over to their son and help him open a chocolate bar. Who in their right mind went out of their way to ruin their child's first trick-or-treating expedition?! It was then, however, that the thief realized that Morgan was incredibly happy; he loved that the whole thing had been a huge prank. Now he couldn't keep the smile off his chubby cheeks as he sat in Robin's lap, gnawing happily on the chocolate.
His lips turning up into a smile, Gaius abandoned his anger and joined his family. He sat behind Robin, pulling the other into his arms and burying his face in the tactician's neck. He had to admit: he'd really been fooled. Robin had probably been watching from afar the entire time, laughing his guts out as they ran around camp with him always one step ahead.
The thief felt a flash of pride for his lover, despite everything: the plan had been pulled off brilliantly. And really, Gaius probably would've done something similar himself. Besides, he got the candy in the end anyway, so did it really matter?
Still. He wasn't going to take that sitting down.
"You're a bad boy, Bubbles," Gaius whispered before moving his head so as to gently bite Robin's ear. "Do you know what they do to bad boys in prison?"
"Oh?" Robin turned to look suggestively at his lover. "What?"
"Do they feed them candy?" Morgan piped up unexpectedly, looking up cutely at his parents. Gaius was so distracted by the completely innocent response from the toddler that he forgot about any suggestive advances he was trying to make.
Robin laughed at him. "Looks like I win!"
"Oh yeah? I'll get you next year!" Gaius countered, leaning in to give a brief kiss to the love of his life.
From then on, the Ylissean camp learned to expect a huge Halloween prank every year, and was only surprised when Morgan was finally old enough to trick everyone himself.