Alrighty, I wanted to write this short little one-shot for Halloween. I haven't wrote anything on fanfiction for quite awhile and I really want to publish something. Even though I've never celebrated Halloween, I still wanted to write this, enjoy!
When Phoenix had taken Trucy under his roof, he never expected parenting to be so difficult.
Now don't get the wrong idea; Trucy was a good girl. She never got in trouble at school except for the occasional "your-daughter-showed-a-fellow-classmate-a-wooden- puppet-magic-trick-and-now-that-child-is-crying" type of thing.
However, she was not easy to take care of.
Phoenix had thought that he learned everything from Maya. Maya was not any more mature than Trucy, but she was still easier to take care of, in a way.
In fact Phoenix had figured out a formula to get Maya on his good side: Maya+Burgers=Happy. With Trucy, he was still learning the ropes.
He could tell that Trucy tried her best not to bother him too much, but recently she had been asking for a new magic set; one that was not cheap and Phoenix had been trying his best to keep his money issues under wraps. He told her that maybe Santa would give it to her for Christmas if she was good, but she retorted that her first daddy told her that Santa didn't exist because he didn't want her to believe in "fake magic."
However, if there was one thing that Phoenix was sure he could get right, it was Halloween.
One Saturday morning he brought up the topic while he was trying (keyword: trying) to make blueberry pancakes.
"So Trucy, are you excited for Halloween?" He smiled, expecting an energetic reply. When he received no response, he looked back to find Trucy with her head down, staring hard at the tablecloth. "...Trucy? What's the long face for?" Suddenly, a blueberry exploded from the heat and hit him right below the eye. He cursed under his breath and smeared the blueberry across his face as he tried to wipe it away.
"...I don't know. Daddy and I always used to do something special."
Oh... That's what this is about.
Phoenix flipped the pancake onto a plate and walked over to Trucy. "Hey, we'll have fun together. I promise. Next week I'll take you to the store to buy a costume and then we can go out on Halloween and get you some candy. Doesn't that sound like fun?"
Trucy looked up at him, confused.
Oh no, what did I do now? He questioned himself.
"Daddy and I never went out, we used to stay home. But it was still fun!" She added the last part, hoping to prove to him that it was fun, but he didn't seem convinced.
Really? First Santa, and now this? He never knew that Zak Gramarye was so... boring.
"Well, we can always create new memories, right?"
Trucy nodded and took a bite of her pancake. She chewed thoughtfully, and then swallowed. "Daddy, this pancake isn't really cooked."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It was Halloween, and Phoenix was rushing around trying to get his "magician" costume ready. He was trying to find the Club pin to secure the cape that looked a lot like Zak Gramarye's. It was the same reddish-pink color and top hat; the only difference was the belt had a "P" on it instead of a "Z."
He didn't know why, but dressing up as Zak Gramarye made Phoenix feel rather... uncomfortable. Something about Zak Gramarye just didn't sit right on his conscience.
While he was looking for the pin, he found last year's Halloween costume; a ketchup bottle. Maya forced him to go as Ketchup while she was Burger and Pearl was Mustard. He looked away from it to shake off the nostalgic feeling.
He finally found the pin and was fastening it on when the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" Trucy shouted and ran down the stairs, dressed in the same magician clothes that she wore regularly.
"Trick or treat!" a group of kids shouted and Trucy stared at them, her eyes starting to sparkle at the mention of her favorite word.
"Trick or treat?" Of course you'd want a trick! Would you like to see The Amazing Mr. Hat, or magic panties? Oh, what a dilemma!" She smiled, "I know! I'll show you both!"
The kids stared at her strangely and Phoenix came running down the stairs.
"Trucy! What are you doing?"
Trucy turned toward Phoenix. "They said 'trick or treat' so I decided to show them a trick!"
Phoenix shook his head, "I don't think you understand what 'trick or treat' means." He grabbed kit-kats from the jar behind him and apologized to the kids, dropping one kit-kat into each pail.
"Dude," one of the kid's said to him, "Do you force her to live under a rock or somethin'?"
Phoenix's face flushed red and he shook his head "no." As he was shutting the door, one kid shouted to Trucy, "Boo! Your tricks suck!"
Phoenix shut the door and turned around to find tears welling up in her eyes. "H-He didn't like my trick!" She began to wail, "He didn't like my trick!"
"H-Hey, I'm sure he liked it. He just wanted... some... candy..." He trailed off and Trucy threw herself at him, wailing. Phoenix sighed, "Trucy, listen to me." He bent down on one knee to be at eye-level. "When someone says 'trick or treat,' they mean that they want a 'treat' and the 'trick' part is a threat of sorts saying that they'll like, toilet paper the house or throw eggs at it or something if they don't get a treat. They don't want tricks, OK?"
"B-But, who doesn't want tricks?" Trucy hiccupped
"I'm not saying they never want tricks," Phoenix reassured her. "They just don't want tricks today; they just want candy. Alright?"
Trucy nodded.
"Good. Now are you ready to go?"
"I-I don't want to go anymore..." Trucy sniffed and looked down at the floor.
Phoenix looked up at the clock. He'd taken a lot more time than he expected trying to find that accursed pin, and he didn't want to force Trucy to go trick or treating when she didn't want to.
"...Do you want to watch a movie and have popcorn and candy instead?"
Trucy looked up at him. "What kind of movie?"
Phoenix touched her nose, "Whatever you want."
Trucy's face lit up and she ran off to the living room with Phoenix trailing behind her. This Halloween might've not followed the "appropriate" tradition, but that didn't mean the day was ruined.