A/N: With Tokotober coming to a close, I decided to end off with a short, halloween themed oneshot for everyone's favorite Dark Chicken. Please enjoy, and thanks to TraditionalTwist for coming up with this whole contest. This entire thing has been an absolute blast, and I love seeing everyone's creativity unleash around such a well beloved character. This fandom rocks!
A Halloween Birthday
Tokoyami let out a heavy sigh as he walked back to the dorms. His back muscles ached, and his arms felt soar. It'd been a long day at his internship. Due to a series of complications, Hawks had no choice but to make Tokoyami stay longer than expected. Fumikage approached the entrance but paused when he reached the door. For some reason, all the lights were off inside. Tokoyami put a hand underneath his beak.
"That's odd," he thought internally, "Was there a power outage?"
Tokoyami opened the door and walked inside. Dark Shadow's unruly behavior rose as the darkness ensconced them, but Tokoyami kept him under control. He called out,
"Hello? Any souls present?"
No answer. Tokoyami let out a small humph and made his way through to the common room. Before he got there, he heard a loud crash, and someone shout in the distance,
"OW!"
Tokoyami halted in his tracks and let Dark Shadow emerge. His alert systems died down, however, when he heard roars of shushing, followed by suppressed dialogue,
"Kirishima, move your ass already!" Bakugou roared, "This is my spot!"
"Oh c'mon! We can both fit!"
"You idiots!" Iida hissed, keeping his voice low, "Keep your voices down! You'll ruin it!"
There was some more grumbling, followed by silence. It occurred to Tokoyami what was going on. He smiled and let Dark Shadow retract.
"Oh yeah!" the spirit cackled from within, "It's your birthday today, isn't it?"
"They must have planned a surprise party."
"Well, we better act surprised then, huh?"
Tokoyami chuckled and nodded. He made his way down the entry corridor to the common room. He arrived and flipped on the lights.
"SURPRISE!"
Students jumped out from behind couches and furniture, while a few bursts of orange and black confetti fired off. The room was shamelessly decorated with all sorts of Halloween styled trinkets and knickknacks. Most of the students were Halloween costumes. Tokoyami smiled with wide eyes, trying his best to seem pleasantly bewildered.
"What's all this?" he asked with a bright voice.
Iida approached him. The boy was wearing his hero costume, including the helmet. He held a cake in the shape of a jack-o-lantern. There were 17 candles on top.
"Happy Birthday Tokoyami!" he said with a polite, formal voice.
"I'm surprised you guys knew," he said, "Who told-?
Tokoyami then remembered and looked to see where Shouji was. He spotted the teen, dressed in what looked like some sort of alien costume that fit perfectly with his quirk. The student gave him a silent nod and thumbs up.
"We decided to wear costumes," Tsuyu said. She wore what looked like a scuba diving outfit, "You know, considering it's Halloween and everything, ribbit."
"It would only be proper," Tokoyami examined them all and chuckled at the various creative decisions, "You all look spectacular."
"Indeed, it was all my idea!" Iida laughed and rubbed the back of his head, letting it drop a little, "Although…I may have gotten a bit caught up in the planning process and forgot to make one for myself, so I was forced to settle on my hero costume."
"That is fine," Tokoyami waved his hand.
"Yeah, your costume looks awesome!" Midoriya said. The greenhead had dressed up, unsurprisingly, as All Might himself.
Tokoyami could almost see Iida blush underneath his mask as the teen laughed even harder.
"Y-You think so!?" he stuttered, "I mean, it's really nothing! I modeled it after my-
"Oh my freaking gosh," Bakugou growled and then shouted, "Nobody gives a damn! Let's just start the party already!"
There were incessant cheers, and Tokoyami struck a small smile.
The celebrations commenced and carried on throughout the rest of the evening. There were tons of Halloween themed brownies, cookies, candies, and other sweets and desserts Tokoyami did not hesitate to feat upon, feeling famished from eating nothing throughout the rest of the day. Fumikage, drained from his internship work, spent most of his time on the couch speaking with Asui and Shoji. Dark Shadow emerged at one point and start playing around with Shoji. The multi-armed hero amused the shadow with his quirk, like an owner amusing their cat with a string. Tokoyami found himself feeling relieved and satisfied. At some point, Iida approached him and asked,
"Tokoyami, may I speak to you in private?"
"Of course," Dark Shadow retracted while Tokoyami stood.
Iida led him outside the room, the sounds of laughter and atmospheric Halloween styled soundtracks echoing from behind. He lifted off his helmet and wiped his sweaty brow.
"Perhaps dedicating the part to my costume has taken its toll," he laughed as he rubbed his shiny black hair, "I can barely breath after a while."
"Don't you have an AC unit installed on the inside?"
"Of course, but I won't use that for a party!" Iida smiled and did a chopping motion with his left arm, "It's enough that I get to wear my costume at all for nonheroic activities. I won't waste precious energy for my own comfort!"
"I see," Tokoyami nodded in respect, "Now, what was it you wished to speak about?"
Iida's smile vanished, and he pushed his glasses up.
"I wanted to apologize," he explained, "It is my fault that you stayed at your internship for so long."
Fumikage flinched at this.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Well, you see, while making preparations for your party, I spoke to Aizawa sensei about getting me in touch with Hawks," Iida explained, "And then I talked to him about my plan, asking if he could…well, keep you busy while we organized the party. If he put you through excess discomfort, I just wanted to make sure you knew why."
Tokoyami blinked a few times and let out a small laugh.
"Well, that explains why we ran into so many bizarre inconveniences," he said, "I'm surprised he didn't say anything."
"I hope you will forgive me," Iida bowed his head, holding his helmet under one arm.
"Hey, hey, there's no reason for that," Tokoyami shook his head and hand, "A little extra work never killed anyone. Besides, if this was the reason for it, well…" Tokoyami beamed and closed his eyes, "I'd say it was well worth it!"
"Oh, I'm glad you think so!" Iida straightened up and offered his hand, "Thank you for understanding!"
"Sure," Fumikage shook his hand awkwardly. Iida put his helmet back on.
"Now, let's go enjoy ourselves, shall we?" he spoke with a muffled voice.
"Right behind you."
The party proceeded into the night, and the class ordered pizza for their horror movie marathon. In the middle of the third movie, Tokoyami felt his eyes grow heavy. Tsuyu rolled up in a ball on his lap while Shouji wrapped an arm around Tokoyami's neck, both fast asleep along with half of the class. Fumikage tried his best to stay awake for as long as possible, but by the beginning of the fourth film, he decided to give in. With a contended grin, Fumikage leaned against Shoji's figure. He closed his eyes and let the darkness envelop his consciousness.
