Bit of background: I have a small modern-day AU I've started making up with Izumo & Kotetsu (among others), that I have a few stories written in and started, but haven't yet posted. But I wanted to do something for Halloween and this idea came to me for these guys, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it.
Izumo, before Kotetsu moved to town, had no friends. He was different and knew it, but didn't know how to change that. When Kotetsu shows up, they make friends - Izumo's first. They're roughly 12 and both been through pretty much hell already, at this point. This story takes place a few months after they meet.
"Trick or Treat!"
He laughed, he couldn't help it. Kotetsu looked so funny. Most of it was okay - their uniforms of blue pants and blue turtlenecks, green vests and blue toeless sandals matched - all made by Kotetsu's mom based on an anime they liked to watch on TV. But Kotetsu's headband was on upside down, his hair - spiky as usual - covered half of it and he had a weird strip of cloth over his nose. "Where'd you get that?" Izumo asked, pointing to the cloth.
"Mom had it. I thought it would make me look mysterious," Kotetsu said with a sniff.
Izumo snorted. "Mysterious?"
Kotetsu nodded. "Yes. Mysterious. Uh... handsome. You know... someone that, I dunno, gets noticed?"
Izumo laughed again. "We're supposed to be ninja. Ninja aren't supposed to be noticed, goof!" He shook his head.
Kotetsu rolled his eyes. "So, trick or treat?"
"You don't want to ask me that," Izumo warned.
Kotetsu smirked. "Well, then, I have to."
"Okay, you asked for it. Trick," Izumo said, grinning.
"Hmmmm," Kotetsu said, tapping his chin with one finger. "Okay." And with that, he leaned forward, kissed Izumo smack on the lips then slipped by him and into the house.
Izumo stood there for a solid minute, staring off into space, his mouth hanging wide open in shock.
"You gonna stand there all night?" Kotetsu called from the living room.
Izumo shook his head and closed the door, doing his best to gather his wits. Izumo wondered what Kotetsu would think about a kiss like that if he knew how much Izumo crushed on him. Izumo sighed and pushed it aside. "Well, the strip thing is still goofy. And really," he said, shaking his head and turning to pick up his pillow case. "You don't need something like that to look handsome." He hadn't even realized what he'd said, at first and when it registered, his eyes went wide and he stared at the door. Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.
But apparently, Kotetsu didn't hear. "What's that?" Kotetsu asked.
"Oh, uh, I don't remember. Come on, trick or treat is starting." Izumo threw his pillow case over his shoulder and headed for the door. "And your headband is upside down."
Kotetsu paused, eyeing Izumo from his spot in the living room, but when Izumo raised his eyebrow - causing the bandana on his head to slip down and bangs to fall over his eye - Kotetsu let it go and picked up his own bag. Izumo busied himself straightening his bandana and trying to push the hair out of his eye. It didn't stay - it never did, but he tried, anyway.
He didn't used to try. Before Kotetsu came to town, he kept it over his eye on purpose. It annoyed his mother - which he went out of his way to do. And it helped him hide from others. But then Kotetsu saw him after they'd gone swimming one day and told him he looked better with both eyes. So, now he tried.
They headed down the steps from the front porch and turned to start down their street. "Your headband is still upside down," Izumo pointed out.
"And you didn't forget what you said," Kotetsu countered.
Izumo bit his lip. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Kotetsu shook his head, sent a sidelong glance at his friend, then handed the pillowcase over before untying and turning around his headband. "You're crazy."
"Yeah. I'm your friend, aren't I?" Izumo snickered.
Kotetsu looked at him for another few uncomfortable seconds, then shrugged and snorted. "No crazier, I guess, than I am for being your friend."
Izumo grinned. It still amazed him, some days, that Kotetsu was. But Izumo had started to get used to it, enough to be able to joke like this. "Yeah, you are crazy for that, too. Come on, I want candy," Izumo said and he and Kotetsu took off for the first porch light they could see.