"Are you ready yet?" Yugi called up the stairs, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Alright, alright. Keep your hair on" Yami grumbled, rushing down the stairs and nearly tripping over the cat.
"Well, what do you think?" He asked, standing proudly in front of his hikari.
He had been planning his costume for weeks and, due to his hard work and dedication, it looked exactly how he'd wanted. He had been very excited when Yugi explained the concept of Halloween to him. It was an excellent chance to remind everyone how important he was. Something he loved to do at every available opportunity.
"Wow. You look just like a real Egyptian pharaoh!" Yugi exclaimed, staring appreciatively at the gold jewellery and fine cloth.
"I AM a real Egyptian pharaoh!" Yami hissed, his fists clenching in annoyance.
"Uh…I know, I just meant you're clothes looked like something from ancient Egypt" Yugi quickly corrected, sighing in relief as Yami nodded and turned to walk out the door.
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"They're not going to show up, are they?" Malik asked nervously, glancing up the road to see if there was any sign of his Yami.
"They will…if they know what's good for them" Ryou replied calmly, swatting an ear out of his face.
"Remind me again why you're wearing a rabbit costume?" Malik said, raising one eyebrow questioningly.
"It's Halloween" Ryou frowned.
"Yes, thank you, I know it's Halloween. I meant why are you dressed as a rabbit? I mean, it's hardly scary is it?" Malik giggled.
"Well I wouldn't call your costume particularly scary either!" Ryou huffed.
"Plenty of people are scared of clowns" Malik said smugly, "Admit it, you forgot to get a costume and that was the only one left in the shop when you got there."
Pouting slightly, Ryou turned away, only to come face to face with Marik.
"Gyaaah, don't do that!" he cried, clutching his heart.
Marik grinned evilly and glided past Ryou.
"Who are you supposed to be, Dracula or something?" Malik laughed, eyeing Marik's costume which was, as far as he could see, just a cape wrapped securely around his person.
"No. I am the scariest thing you will ever see" Marik answered cryptically.
"I don't understand" Malik frowned.
His grin widening to an almost impossible size, Marik opened his cape.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH" Malik screamed as it became painfully apparent that the cape was Marik's entire costume, "My eyes!!!"
"Dear lord!" Ryou squeaked, turning away and shuddering violently.
"Mwuhaha" Marik cackled evilly, snapping the cape back around himself.
Both Ryou and Malik were still in a state of shock when Bakura turned up.
"What's going on?" he asked curiously.
"I showed them my costume" Marik explained.
"It must be bad if you did that to them" Bakura chuckled, pointing at the two hikari's. Looks of utter terror still frozen on their faces.
"Want to see?" Marik asked.
"NO!" Ryou and Malik both shouted, snapping back to reality at the threat of further trauma.
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"Hurry up big brother!" Serenity called excitedly, rearranging her armoured bra.
"Be right there sis, I'm just stickin' on da last of da fur" Joey called back, chuckling quietly to himself at his sisters eagerness.
Pulling on his fur covered hood he walked into the front room where Serenity was waiting "Right, i'm done, shall we go th...what da hell are you wearin'!?!" he yelped, catching sight of his sisters costume.
"What?" She asked innocently, looking down at her costume.
She was wearing the armoured bra and leather miniskirt of Xena, warrior princess. True the costume was a bit...skimpy, but all her unmentionables were covered so she couldn't see the problem. She was, of course, oblivious to the attention she would undoubtedly get from members of the opposite gender if she ventured outside in her current attire.
"You are NOT goin' out dressed like dat!" Joey growled.
"I'll go out dressed however I like, thank you very much" Serenity said huffily, "Now come on, the others will be waiting."
Muttering darkly to himself, Joey reluctantly followed his little sister out the front door, trying to prepare his best try-it-and-you-die look for Tristan and Duke as he did.
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"This is going to be so much fun!" Mokuba exclaimed as he skipped happily down the street.
"Hn" Seto grunted as he followed, more sedately, behind his hyper active brother. He still wasn't sure how he'd been roped into spending a whole evening with Yugi the wonder gnome and his band of merry misfits. Sighing, he thanked Satan that Mokuba hadn't been able to convince him to dress up in a stupid costume at least.
Mokuba himself, however, had gone all out this year. He was wearing a very accurate sailor mars costume, complete with a miniature flamethrower hidden in his glove.
"Come on Seto, smile!" Mokuba laughed, showing his brother his own borderline crazy grin.
Seto just narrowed his eyes and sped up to overtake Mokuba so he didn't have to look at him.
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Sighing in impatience, Marik glided up to his hikari, "How much longer do we have to wait?" he demanded.
"'Till the others turn up" Malik snapped "Now stop pestering."
Pouting like a five year old Marik glided back over to Bakura.
"I wonder what those two are plotting" Ryou said suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at the two yamis who now had their heads together and were whispering to each other, glancing occasionally at the hikaris.
"Dunno, we'll probably find out later though" Malik shrugged.
"That's what i'm worried about" Ryou sighed.
"Hey! Here comes Yugi and Yami" Malik cried happily, running up to Yami like an obedient dog.
Stopping before he actually ran him over, he looked the pharaoh's costume up and down.
"Wow, that must've taken ages to make!" he gasped, staring at the gold crown in awe.
Smiling smugly, Yami stalked regally past the practically drooling tomb keeper.
"Aww, cute!" Malik cried, spotting Yugi, who had chosen to dress as a little devil.
Looking down at his costume, which consisted of a red leotard, red tights, a red tail, a red cape and little red horns, Yugi giggled.
"I couldn't think of anything else" he shrugged.
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"Hey guys" Tea chirped, skipping up the road, the halo on her angel costume bobbing up and down.
"Go away!" Bakura snapped, throwing a stick at her.
Growling protectively, Yami walked up behind him and kicked him in the balls.
Stepping over Bakura, who was now curled up in the foetal position on the floor groaning in agony, he looked Tea up and down appreciatively.
"I love your outfit, it really suits you" he said, blushing slightly.
"Thanks" Tea purred, batting her eyelashes and twirling around.
"Yo, da Wheelers are in da house!" Joey said, grinning at his friends.
"So what are you supposed to be then? A werewolf rap artist?" Malik sniggered, nudging Ryou. Ryou, though, didn't notice. He was too busy staring at Serenity's armoured boobs.
"Put ya eyes back in ya head bunny boy" Joey said dangerously, clenching his fur covered fists.
Blushing, Ryou quickly looked at the floor.
"I'm going to KILL you!" Bakura snarled, finally getting up off the floor and rolling his sleeves up as he stalked towards Yami.
"Hello!" Mokuba cried happily, running up to the group, barging past Bakura and practically jumping up and down.
"Please tell me ya left ya misery of a brudder behind" Joey said hopefully.
Blinking, Mokuba shook his head, "Seto said that he didn't trust you guys to look after me."
"I wouldn't trust them to look after a house plant, let alone you" Seto said nastily, finally catching up with his brother.
"Shut up Kaiba" Joey said automatically.
"Right, I think that's everyone" Yugi said cheerfully.
"What about Tristan and Duke?" Tea asked.
"Oh, Tristan's appendix burst last night and Duke's on holiday" Yugi said.
"Come on, come on, lets go, lets go" Mokuba said excitedly.
Laughing at his eagerness, they all set off.
"So, how exactly does this 'trick or treating' work?" Yami asked, his legs, as usual, working double time to keep up with the others.
"Well, basically, you knock on someone's door, say 'trick or treat' and then they either give you sweets or tell you to bugger off" Mokuba replied, earning himself a clout round the ear from Seto for swearing.
"And if they do tell you to bugger off, you egg the front of their house" Bakura added, holding up a carrier bag full of rotten eggs, "I've been saving them since last Halloween."
Giving him a scathing look, Ryou grabbed the bag and dropped it in a bin.
"HEY" Bakura yelled, digging in the bin to get them back.
"Right, let's start here" Tea said, trying to ignore Bakura and Ryou fighting each other for a bag of rotten eggs and walking up to a big, mock Tudor house.
Ringing the bell once the others had caught up (Seto stayed at the end of the drive by the gate), she stood back to wait.
Slowly, the door creaked open to reveal a woman who must have been at least ninety.
"Trick or treat!" they all yelled, except Bakura, but fortunately the others drowned him out.
"Hello dearies" the old woman said in a croaky voice, holding out the bowl of candy clutched in her bony hands.
"Thank you" Tea said politely, taking a couple of pieces.
"What a lovely costume" the old lady said, pointing to Tea's white dress and halo "what is everybody else dressed as? I don't have my glasses on."
"I'm a devil" Yugi chirped.
"I'm a werewolf" Joey said, swiping the air playfully.
"I'm Sailor Mars" Mokuba said, striking a pose.
"I'm the great Egyptian Pharaoh, Atem" Yami said, his voice full of pride.
"I'm a clown" Malik said, honking his nose for effect.
"I'm a bunny rabbit" Ryou said quietly, unable to keep the shame out of his voice.
"I'm Xena, warrior princess" Serenity said, unconsciously puffing out her chest.
"And I am the scariest thing you will ever see" Marik grinned evilly.
"And what about you dear?" She asked, eyeing Bakura's blood stained school uniform.
"What do you mean?" Bakura asked impatiently.
"What are you dressed as?" the old woman said, holding the bowl out to each of them in turn.
"I'm not wearing a costume" Bakura frowned, "I didn't have time to change after school because I had detention."
Blinking, the old woman looked at his clothes again.
There was blood and rips all over the shirt and the pants were covered in dirt as though he'd been rolling around on the ground.
Giggling as though she thought he was joking, which she did, the old woman took a step backwards.
"Have a nice evening kids" she said before shutting the door.
"I don't get it, why did she think I was wearing a costume?" Bakura asked his hikari as they walked to the next house, "I'm in my school uniform."
Eyeing the stains and rips, Ryou sighed and didn't bother answering. Bakura was now preoccupied with peeling the bark off a twig anyway so he wouldn't have heard him even if he had answered.
Fifteen minutes and six houses later, Bakura and Marik were starting to get very bored.
"Right, that's it. A few bits of crappy candy aren't good enough to continue with this" Bakura snapped, thrusting his collection bag at Ryou and storming off. Marik quickly followed.
"Oh, tank god for dat" Joey said, watching the two maniacs disappear round the corner.
"So" Yami said, sidling up to Tea while the others were preoccupied with the departures, "what are you wearing under the dress?"
Giggling, Tea leaned down to whisper in his ear, "Nothing."
Turning bright red, Yami quickly looked away. He didn't want to end up with THAT problem in public.
Giggling again, Tea leaned down again and whispered "I'll show you later if you're a good boy."
Gulping, Yami tried to maintain his control.
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"So what do you want to do now?" Marik asked, trailing behind Bakura.
"Dunno…how about that?" Bakura replied, pointing to a supermarket.
"You want to go shopping for groceries?" Marik asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"No you idiot! Look at the sign in the window!" Bakura snapped.
Looking again, Marik spotted the sign advertising buy one get one free on all spirits.
"Ohhhh" Marik nodded, "Now I see."
Exchanging mischievous grins, they set off to load up on booze.
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"Two hours later, everyone was exhausted but happy. They had bags stuffed full of candy and a bag full of loose change to share out.
"Shall we head back?" Tea asked, looking around at the rest of the group.
They all nodded and started to head back in the direction of the park they met up in.
On the way they passed a collection of fast food restaurants. All of which were closed due to the late hour.
That didn't seem to matter to some people however as the window of Burger King was smashed.
"I can't believe dat. Who would break into a fast food place for gods sake?!" Joey laughed.
They all watched as two people approached the broken window to leave.
Clutching a load of bags, Bakura and Marik jumped through the smashed window and casually walked towards their observers.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Ryou cried angrily.
"What? I was hungry" Bakura replied, swaying slightly. He was obviously very drunk.
"Yeah, we were hungry" Marik echoed, munching on a chicken royale burger.
"Mwuhahaha, I got all their diddy donuts" Bakura cackled, holding up a bag stuffed full of tiny donuts.
"Bakura…are you drunk?" Ryou asked with forced patience.
"No! How dare you!" Bakura exclaimed, staggering sideways.
Sighing wearily, Ryou just shook his head and walked away.
"I'm going home, see you all later" he called over his shoulder.
After everyone had finished yelling their goodbyes after him they turned back to Bakura and Marik.
"What are we gonna do wit dem?" Joey asked no one in particular.
"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts…" Bakura started to sing whilst doing some sort of drunken jig.
"I think Ryou had the right idea, just leave them" Malik shrugged.
"Hey, I just noticed that Kaiba isn't here. Where'd he go?" Tea asked.
"He said he had enough. He just couldn't take any more of the, oh what was it he said…ah yes, 'Neanderthal sugar harvesting'" Mokuba chirped.
Grumbling something about being unfriendly, Tea turned her attention back to the drunken Yamis.
"I am the one and only" Bakura half sang, half shouted.
Glancing at each other they all turned as one and walked away.
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Half an hour later they were all saying goodbye to each other.
"So, your place or mine?" Yami asked, eyes on Tea's chest.
"My place is empty" Tea said, batting her eyelashes again.
Giggling, they both ran off towards Tea's apartment.
"I can't remember the last time I got laid" Malik sighed.
"Uh, well, um since Yami's going with Tea, our place is empty" Yugi said shyly.
Malik looked shocked for a second then grinned.
"Lead the way" he said happily.