Author's Note: Wow, this turned out extremely different than I first imagined it. To any of you who are reading my ongoing fanfiction Dreams of Dark Chocolate and Stale Cigarettes, this can either be read as a sort of prequel or as a completely different story. I haven't decided yet, but I may eventually make a reference to this in 'Dreams.' As always, reviews are welcome and much appreciated. Please enjoy and Happy Halloween!

Halloween Chocolate

Mello looked across the desk at Roger in disbelief. "What do you mean I can't go trick or treating?"

"Or go to the Halloween party," Roger added, his expression stern.

"But it was just a joke, just a harmless prank." Mello's voice was almost pleading.

"It certainly was not 'harmless.' You put fifteen toads in my bed, and I sat on one of them. Do you have any idea how hard it is to wash toad guts out of sheets?" Mello succeeded in stifling his laughter, but a small smile still came to his lips. "You think that's funny, do you? Keep it up and I'll start adding to your punishment. You're getting off easy. Now go up to your room, and I don't want to see you sneaking down to the party later." Mello left Roger's office, refraining from slamming the door behind him. He climbed the stairs to the second floor and entered his room.

Matt, his best friend and roommate, was lying on the bottom bunk bed playing his Game Boy Color; he looked up when he heard the door slam. Mello's face housed an angry expression. "What's wrong?" Matt asked, going back to his game. Being used to Mello's dramatics, he showed little interest.

"I can't go to the party tonight or go trick or treating." Matt paused his game and sat up, suddenly attentive.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, because Roger hates me." Mello climbed the ladder to the upper bunk and flopped down so violently that Matt worried the bed above him might come crashing down.

"What did you do this time?"

"Nothing. I just gave him a gift."

"Oh, and I'm sure he enjoyed that," Matt said sarcastically.

"How was I supposed to know he wouldn't want pet toads?" Mello's voice was innocent. "And then he sat on one of them! Obviously he does not appreciate my gifts."

"How did he sit on one? He may be old, but he's not blind."

"Well, I put them in his bed," Mello said nonchalantly.

"His bed? What were you thinking?"

"Jeez, it was just a joke." Sometimes Mello thought Matt didn't understand him at all. "It doesn't matter anyway; Roger can't stop me from going to the party if he doesn't recognize me. We're supposed to wear a costume anyway, right?"

"But everyone already knows you were going to go as a vampire, including Roger. As soon as he sees your costume, he'll know it's you."

"So I'll go as something else. Do you know if there are any more costumes in the storage room?" A few years ago when Watari had come to visit, someone had came up with the brilliant idea that they should put on a play. After the play was over, all the costumes and props had been shoved into the storage room.

"No idea."

"I'm going to go look. Come on." Mello climbed down the ladder and took Matt's Game Boy Color from him.

"What are you doing?" Matt demanded as he followed his blond friend, trying to get his precious game back.

"If I didn't take it from you, you would never have came with me."

"Well at least let me pause it. You are probably killing me right now."

"Whatever," Mello said as he tossed the Game Boy over his shoulder.

"What were you thinking?" Matt screeched, panic in his voice. "What if I wouldn't have caught it?"

"Then you would have had an excuse to get one of those new ones you have been talking about." Mello started down the stairs.

"How would I get a Game Boy Advance? I don't have any money."

"So ask for it for Christmas. L always sends each of us a gift."

"Then all I would have would be the game system; I wouldn't actually have any games for it. It would be completely useless."

"Then don't ask for it. I don't care." They had come to the storage room. Mello entered and started to look around for a costume. "Where are all of them? We had a ton before."

"Everyone else probably already took them." Matt started to rummage around through the props. "Um, Mello?"

"What?" He looked up; Matt was holding a pink princess dress.

"No, absolutely not. Keep looking," Mello scowled, returning to his search. Matt sat the dress down, secretly thinking it would be hilarious if that was the only costume they could find.

They spent about half an hour looking though the storage room, but the only other costume they could find was a one of a sheep. Matt held up the two costumes in front of him. "Well, you can either be a princess or a sheep, Mello. You choose." Mello gave him a look of disgust and stepped forward to choose. He yanked the princess dress out of Matt's right hand and stormed off in the direction of the door. "Really?" Matt turned around and followed Mello out of the storage room, obviously quite excited.

"Shut up! At least no one will guess that it's me." Mello made his way back up to his room, Matt following close behind. But when he reached the door, Mello quickly shut it behind himself before Matt could get in.

"What are you doing?" Mello heard his friend call from the other side.

"I need to get ready. The party starts in an hour."

"Yeah, so do I, and it's my room too."

"Just give me twenty minutes; then you can come get ready."

"Fine." Matt started walking towards the library where he was hoping no one would bother him while he played his game when he thought of something that would make Mello's costume even more ridiculous if he could get him to agree. Of course there was also the possibility that it might make Mello punch him in the face, but he decided to take his chances.

Matt turned around and started towards the girls' dorms. He found an empty, unlocked room and started searching immediately, not knowing when whoever resided in this room would be returning. He found what he was looking for and quickly left.

About twenty minutes later, Matt returned to his room and knocked on the door. "Who is it?" Mello grumbled from the other side of the door.

"Who do you think it is? Can I come in now?"

"I guess…" Matt opened the door and found Mello sitting on the bottom bunk in the pink dress.

"Well don't you look pretty," Matt said, trying not to laugh.

"Shut up!" Mello threw a pillow at him, but Matt closed the door in time to block it. He opened the door slightly and looked in.

"Okay, so I have a suggestion, but you have to promise not to kill me."

"What?" he practically growled.

"Well, you want to make sure Roger doesn't recognize you, right?"

"Yeah. Get on with it."

"Well, I stole some make-up from one of the girls' rooms and-"

"No, absolutely not," Mello interrupted.

"But no one would think that you would agree to wear make-up, so no one will think that it's you."

"I don't care. I am not going to wear make-up."

"How is it any different than wearing costume make-up?"

"The difference is my self-respect." Mello scowled in Matt's general direction.

"But no one will ever know that it's you, so it shouldn't matter. Actually, the costume will be more believable if you wear make-up with it," Matt smiled coyly. Mello considered it for a moment.

"Fine, I'll put it on," Mello grumbled. He got up and yanked the bag of make-up out of Matt's hand.

"Where are you going?"

"The bathroom. I need a mirror."

"The girls' or the boys' bathroom?"

"You keep it up, and I'm going to punch you in the face." Mello disappeared around the corner. He was worried that someone would see him and wasn't sure what he would say if someone did, but fortunately, he didn't encounter anyone in the halls and no one was in the bathroom.

He looked down at the small make-up bag, not quite sure what to do. He did alright with the lip gloss and eye shadow, but after poking himself in the eye with the mascara brush twice, he decided it wasn't worth it. He looked in the mirror and had to admit that he did look very much like a girl.

Mello walked to the door and slowly opened it, praying that no one would be on the other side. Luckily, no one was there. However, as he turned the corner, one of the older kids passed him. The boy barely even noticed him, but regardless, Mello worried he might be recognized.

He quickly continued to his room, finding Matt finishing his Link costume by putting on the elf ears. He turned to look at Mello when he heard the door open and started laughing. Mello blushed, an event so uncommon that it made Matt laugh harder. "You really do look like a girl," he said after he had regained his composure.

"I'm not the one wearing tights," he responded defensively.

"Says that guy wearing a dress."

"Look, I didn't have an option. You could have picked something that didn't require wearing tights."

"At least people can still tell that I'm a guy." Mello silently agreed that he was in the more embarrassing costume.

"Whatever. The party's going to start in a few minutes, hurry up."

"I'm ready when you are." Mello tossed the make-up bag to the desk, and they left.

Downstairs, the party had already started. Mello prayed that no one would recognize him as he moved through the crowded commons area. To his dismay, a girl he and Matt knew came over to them. She was also dressed a princess. "Hi Matt! Who's this?" she said pointing to Mello.

"Mel- linda. This is Melinda. She's, um, new here."

"Hi, I really like your dress!" she said enthusiastically. Mello wasn't entirely sure how to respond.

"Thanks?"

"Well, I'll see you later," she said, going to join a group of girls.

"Melinda, Matt, really?" Mello glared at Matt.

"Be happy I didn't accidently say Mello," he said. "Let's go get something to drink." They walked over to the table which held the drinks. Unfortunately for Mello, Near was there. He was wearing a white lab coat and a fake white moustache; his white hair was significantly more disheveled than normal.

"What the heck are you dressed as?" Mello said mockingly when he saw Near.

"Einstein," Near replied coolly. "I could ask the same of you, Mello. I wouldn't think that you would dress in a costume that was quite obviously made for a girl." Mello gaped at Near.

"How did you know?"

"Well, although you do look very much like a girl, you are with Matt whom everyone knows is your best friend. Even if I had not realized this, you neglected to disguise your voice in any way. Plus, you are the only one who would bother to openly mock me."

"He has a point," Matt agreed. "You should at least change your voice some."

"Whose side are you on?" Mello said accusatorily.

"I'm not taking sides. Uhh… we should go to the haunted house." Matt decided it was best to get Mello away from Near, and if that meant forgetting about getting a glass of fruit punch and dragging Mello to the haunted house, he would do it.

"Sure, whatever," Mello grumbled as he was lead toward the entrance.

Mello was not expecting the haunted house to be scary, and at least near the beginning, he was correct. After about half way though, Matt grabbed Mello's hand.

"Something touched me," he said, starting to get frightened.

"What are you doing? Don't hold my hand!" Matt reluctantly let go.

"Sorry," he said weakly. All of the sudden, something ran across the path up ahead. Both Matt and Mello stopped abruptly. Mello could feel his pulse quicken. "What was that?" Matt whispered.

"It's…nothing. Let's just go." Mello suddenly wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. After walking a few paces forward, the something jumped out next to Mello. He grabbed Matt's arm and started running. Soon they had reached the end, and Mello was glad to be out. They took a minute to catch their breath.

"Um, can I have my arm back?" Mello had not realized that he was still firmly attached to Matt's arm.

"Yeah, sure," Mello said, embarrassed. He let go and looked away.

The rest of the night was relatively uneventful until they were about to leave to go trick or treating. Roger came out and announced that if Mello was not back in his room in ten minutes, then no one was going to go trick or treating. Complaints arose from the crowd of children. "There is no way that I am going to miss going trick or treating," Mello said to Matt.

"But if you don't stay here, none of us get to go. Please just go to your room," Matt pleaded.

"Fine," Mello sighed, something in Matt's sad expression convincing him to comply with Roger's demand.

"Thank you." A smile stretched across Matt's face.

"Yeah, whatever." Mello started to sneak out of the crowd and up to his room. When he got there, he quickly changed out of the costume and washed the make-up off. Approximately ten minutes latter, Roger came up to his room.

"Good choice. Now stay here, I don't want to see you sneaking out latter." Roger closed the door without another word. Mello lay down on his bed. He wished he was out with everyone else, collecting candy.

• • •

A couple hours later, everyone was starting to return. Mello sat up as Matt opened the door. "I'm back."

"Yeah, I can see that," Mello said, eyeing Matt's pillowcase full of candy.

"I brought something back for you."

"Really?" Mello was honestly surprised.

"Yeah." Matt dumped the contents of the pillowcase out on the floor. He picked out three chocolate bars, one of which was a Hershey's Special Dark. Matt handed them to Mello.

"You're sure I can have these?"

"Sure. Just because you didn't go doesn't mean you shouldn't get anything." Mello took the chocolate bars graciously and gave Matt a small hug, thankful to have such a great best friend.