"We should go trick-or-treating," Alexy proposed one day to his twin as they played Call of Duty together.
Armin furrowed his eyebrows at the randomness of the words, as they had, just moments before, been "trash talking" one another. Still, he dared not move his eyes away from the screen, not wanting his player to be defeated by his brother's. "And why exactly should we do that?"
"Because of all the candy, of course!" said Alexy happily, still pressing away on his controller and effortlessly managing to stay out of Armin's sight. "Free candy, might I add?"
Armin's player attempted to shoot Alexy's, but he had managed to throw a flash gernade in time, rendering his attempt useless. Groaning under his breath, he asked, "What even brought this thought up, Alexy?"
His twin brother shrugged his shoulders as his player on screen attempted to sneak up on Armin's player. "Just randomly, really. I think it could be fun; we get to dress up as something cool and we get free candy. What d'you say?"
Armin sighed heavily. "Fine, fine." And then he groaned as Alexy's player killed his own. "You distracted me!"
Alexy grinned, patting his brother's shoulder. "There, there. Maybe next time, dear brother."
Laughing, his twin shrugged the hand off his shoulder and gripped his controller tightly. "Not next time; now."
"As you wish," Alexy said, beginning yet another round, and they were off.
To be honest, Armin wasn't a big fan of the outdoors, but this was not something that many people were shocked to find out after having befriended the teen. He liked video games and his computer, so naturally he enjoyed staying inside as opposed to outside.
And, sure, though he went shopping with his brother at times, he was fine with it until it started bordering hours. It was then when he grew weary of being outside (though technically inside a mall) and just wished to go home already and be with his beloved internet connection.
So it's not all that surprising that, an hour into trick-or-treating, he grew tired with all the candy-collecting.
"Can't we just go home now, Alexy?" he all but whined to his brother as they walked through the darkened streets amidst other trick-or-treaters. "We've got enough candy."
Alexy's eyes widened in shock as he turned to regard his brother as if he were a lunatic. "There will never be enough candy, Armin!" he said, his tone as a matter of fact.
"Well, it's enough candy to last me years," Armin muttered.
The blue-haired twin sighed heavily, shaking his head in disappointment. "Sometimes I wonder how we are even related."
"Oh, I don't know, by our identical faces?" came the brunette twin's dry reply.
Alexy chortled at this. "Touché, my dear brother," he said, before walking up to another house and ringing the doorbell. Armin sighed heavily, his sore feet cursing him at this point, and readied his bag for the onslaught of candy.
The door opened eventually, and both brothers said, "Trick or treat!" However, when they saw just who it was who opened the door, their eyes widened and mouths dropped open.
"Charlene!" Alexy shouted. "What are you doing here?!"
"Geez, what's with the full name? You know I hate my full name!" whined Charlie, frowning at the blue-haired twin. "And what? No teary welcome from either of you? What great friends you guys turned out to be."
Before she could even think of saying anything more, both teen boys drew her into a group hug.
"Hey! Guys! Just because I wanted a warmer hello didn't mean I wanted you guys to attempt to smother me with your testosterone!" she crowed, attempting to get away from them to no avail.
"Why did you ignore our calls, Charlie? Do you know how hurt we were?" Alexy asked over-dramatically, ignoring her words from before completely.
Charlie rolled her eyes but couldn't stop herself from grinning, glad to be with her best friends again. "Because I wanted to surprise you guys next Monday when I came to Sweet Amoris, duh! It'd make it more, as you always say, heart-felt. Plus I felt like it, because I'm cool like that."
"And your dad actually was okay with moving here?" Armin questioned, speaking up for the first time. It was a huge shock to see Charlie again, after about three days of no contact ever since they moved.
Oh, and he had almost forgotten how pretty she was, despite the fact that many people labelled her as a tomboy considering the fact that she didn't seem to have any feminine features to her apart from...well, you know.
And, yes, if it wasn't obvious enough yet, Armin had a crush on Charlie. One that nobody knew about. Except for his twin brother, Alexy, of course. Armin couldn't hide anything from him, not even if he tried.
"Well, my aunt lived here, so he allowed me to move as long as I visited him at least twice a year, and he said he'll swing by every now and then to check up on me. But he said if I don't get above eighty grades then I'll have to move back," Charlie explained, wincing a bit at her deal with her father. She wasn't quite sure if she would be able to get such great grades, but if it meant being able to hang out with her best friends for as long as she wanted, then she would try her hardest.
Alexy grinned. "That's great!" he said ecstatically. "Well, not the whole 'moving back' thing, obviously, but the whole 'moving here' thing. Anyway, would you like to join us in trick-or-treating?"
Charlie rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "My aunt doesn't want me going out to do that. She says that I don't know the neighbourhood yet, plus she can't exactly come with me 'cause she gets tired quickly, so...yeah. Sorry, guys. Maybe we could catch up tomorrow, on Monday?"
Alexy frowned at this, deflating considerably and pouting sadly to himself.
Armin, however, saw this as his opportunity for his aching feet to finally get what they've wanted for so long. Not only that but spend more time with his best friend and crush. "You know, I think we're done trick-or-treating. Do you think your aunt will allow us to stay over for a bit?" His twin perked up at this, nodding his head hastily in accordance to his idea.
Charlie's sorry, sheepish look turned into one of excitement. "I think so!" she said happily. "Lemme go check with her! Just wait right here!" She left the door open and dashed inside, disappearing for a few moments.
"I really hope her aunt let's us," groaned Armin. "I don't think my feet can take any more walking."
The blue-haired teen scoffed at this. "Please! More like you don't think you'll be able to survive today without spending more time with your darling-poo." He elbowed his brother teasingly, a sly grin on his face.
Armin immediately made a face. "'Darling-poo'? Never again, Alexy," he told his brother, yet he couldn't stop himself from being flustered. Hopefully Charlie hadn't heard Alexy say that! Then again, she had gone to ask her aunt if they could stay over, so she most likely hadn't. And Alexy hadn't been overly loud, either...
"Alright, you guys!" Charlie said, managing to suddenly pop up and startle the twins. "You can stay over!" She grinned happily and hugged Alexy before hugging Armin. The brunette really wanted to imagine that she had hugged him for longer but obviously he couldn't know for sure.
Charlie moved over so they could walk in, and when they were all situated inside, she closed the door behind them and directed them over to the living room.
"You guys can sit here," she informed them. "Now, would you like anything to eat?"
Alexy grinned, holding up his bag filled with candy. "Already got something to eat, my dear Charlene~"
Charlie narrowed her eyes at him for using her full name while scowling, but didn't say anything and instead turned over to Armin. "Armin? Would you like anything?"
He shook his head. "I'm fine. I'm finally getting the rest I wanted."
She giggled. "Still like the indoors more, huh?"
He shrugged his shoulder. "Yup. And why d'you say 'still'? You wanted me to completely change during the span of just three days?"
The teen shook her head. "No," she confessed. "I'm glad you're still the same, not that I expected you to change just because you moved somewhere else. But still, y'know?"
He nodded in understanding, and the two shared a smile.
Alexy watched with knowing eyes and a sly grin. "C'mon, you love birds, let's watch a scary move in the tradition of Halloween!" he crowed.
The two immediately broke eye contact to stare in shock at the blue-haired teen. He, however, ignored them and waddled over to the movies lined underneath the TV in the room, oohing and ahhing.
Charlie rolled her eyes, laughing. "Alexy is such a loser," she said to Armin, "calling us love birds and all. As if!"
Armin honestly felt a bit hurt by that, but tried to act nonchalant by only raising an eyebrow. "Why? You don't think I'd make a good boyfriend or something?" He tried to keep his tone light, but it was extremely difficult to do so.
Charlie shook her head at this. "No, it's not like that," she ensured him, smiling softly, "You'll make a wonderful boyfriend. It's just that we're friends, and I'm not exactly girlfriend material." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly at that.
"What do you mean 'not girlfriend material'?" Armin frowned. "You'll be a great girlfriend, I'm sure of it!" He felt a pang of sadness, knowing that, most likely, he wouldn't be her boyfriend. No matter how much he hoped it would be him. He wasn't brave enough to tell Charlie his feelings, and she didn't seem to be interested in him that way.
She was always a friendly girl, and she got along with Alexy very well. They had been friends first, Alexy being so warm and interpersonal. From there, Alexy had introduced Charlie to his twin. So, in all honestly, Armin could see Alexy and Charlie ending up in a relationship; the two were so alike and were warm, kind-hearted people who constantly were surrounded by a group of friends who adored them.
And Armin? He typically kept to himself, though he did latch on to Alexy and at times Charlie, and had his computer and video games as some of his closest friends rather than actual people. Alexy and Charlie knew a lot about him, but apart from that, not that many people were close to him. And nobody really cared to know more about him, more than content to simply grow closer to his twin.
Not that he really minded. Sure, sometimes it made him depressed, but most of the time he was glad. He wasn't an intrapersonal type of person for absolutely no reason, after all. Plus, he wasn't great at talking to people to begin with, so people would no doubt feel awkward around him and he around them.
"Thanks, Armin," Charlie told him, smiling a tad sadly, "but I don't really think I'm going to have a boyfriend. Unless I go completely girly or something, which I obviously will not be doing any time soon. So I'll just have to be okay with being single for now." She shrugged her shoulders, as if it didn't phase her, but Armin could see by the way she glanced away, frowning deeply to herself, that it did. She hadn't a boyfriend yet, though Alexy had many girlfriends and Armin had one or two himself (though none of them worked out, not with his mind always on Charlie).
Armin couldn't really blame her, to be honest. He too would feel the same way she felt if he noticed that the opposite gender didn't seem to be interested in him at all apart from friendship-wise. If only he could tell her that he wasn't only interested in being friends with her...if only she felt the same about him...
"Alright! I picked Saw, guys!" Alexy said, breaking the silence that had grown. "It was difficult picking it, 'cause I wanted to watch Hostel too, but I did it!"
Charlie's frown instantly morphed into a giant grin. "That's the first scary movie we watched together!" she crowed, and the two high-fived, chuckling no doubt at the fond memories the movie brought. Armin watched this interaction and grinned, though couldn't help but wish he was as close to her as Alexy appeared to be.
"It's also the first scary movie Armin and I watched," Alexy informed her as he sat down beside her.
"No, it wasn't. It was Child's Play," Armin said, rolling his eyes at his twin's forgetfulness. However, he also was rolling his eyes because he noticed that Alexy didn't sit between the two of them. He was, obviously, still in his "matchmaker mode".
Still, he couldn't resist the surge of relief that washed over him. He was glad he was able to continue to sit next to crush for during the entire movie. After all, who wouldn't be?
"Nice costume, by the way," Charlie said to Alexy as she grabbed the TV remote and pressed 'play', the movie about to start.
Alexy grinned, striking the best pose he could while sitting. "I know. I look pretty hot, don't I?"
Charlie laughed, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, 'cause the whole 'soldier' thing is so sexy," she teased him.
Alexy pouted. "What? It is!" he insisted. "Chicks dig soldiers and scars, y'know! Plus, I'm a dead soldier."
"I wish you were," Armin countered before Charlie could even think of a good insult, "that way you wouldn't talk so much and actually let me focus on the movie."
Charlie let out a guffaw, smacking Armin's shoulder as she did so, while the blue-haired teen glared at his grinning twin.
"You really suck, Armin."
"You suck harder." Immediately, the two boys began to chuckle, and Charlie sighed heavily and rolled her eyes.
"Boys and their disgusting jokes," she muttered aloud, shaking her head slowly from side to side. "Sometimes I wonder why I hang out with you two."
"Puh-lease," scoffed Alexy playfully. "You obviously hang out with us because we're so gorgeous!"
"Yeah, no. Or, at least, you aren't," teased Charlie, while Armin couldn't stop himself from blushing at the meaning of her words. She thought he was gorgeous? Sure, she was just teasing Alexy, but it still made his heart beat faster from joy nevertheless.
If only she had meant it, though...
The blue-haired twin pouted. "Fine, be that way," he said over-dramatically. "I always knew you loved him more than me!"
"That's right," Charlie said playfully, sticking out her tongue as she leaned against Armin, having no idea what effect she was having on the poor boy. "But now you do. I can only hope this doesn't ruin our friendship."
Alexy clutched his heart as he drooped his shoulders. "I'll try my hardest to make sure it won't. For you...and for Armin."
Charlie giggled, lying her head on Armin's shoulder, and then both her and Alexy finally began to pay attention to the movie. But Charlie had yet to move her head from his shoulder. Armin blushed at the realization, but was still glad for it.
Slyly, unable to stop himself from doing it, he draped his arm across Charlie's shoulder. She turned her head to look at him, a bit surprised, but smiled and turned back towards the TV. Armin grinned to himself, continuing to watch the movie, and didn't even notice Alexy noticing their silent interaction and smirking to himself.
It wouldn't be long now until they got together. But, for now, this would be enough.
Shaking his head and inwardly chuckling, he turned his attention back to the movie playing himself.
Who knew that Halloween of all days would manage to bring two people closer than before?
A/N: This was written a while back for a contest in Armin's fan club on MCL's website. I finally decided to go ahead and transfer it on here. I hope you guys enjoyed this meagre little Halloween oneshot? :)
Thank you for reading; do comment/favourite/etc. if you'd like!