The search for the perfect costume had taken far too long, in Ryan's opinion. But what his little girl wanted, she got. In the end, she had decided to be a witch.
Her pre-school had had a Halloween party, and there had been a little parade of all the costumes present. Parents were allowed to attend, and Kyla's costume had been the best one there.
Of course, he may have been a tiny bit biased. But that wasn't the point here.
Right now, he and Eric were trying to get Kyla ready to go trick-or-treating. It was her first time, and they weren't sure if she'd be scared to go out where there would be much scarier costumes. They had decided that Eric would be the one to take her around the block, and Ryan would hand out candy. Eric seemed to be just as excited to go out, and even put together something for himself to wear. Ryan had rolled his eyes, shaken his head, but accepted it.
It was an hour till sunset, and Ryan was trying to get the makeup on Kyla done, which was hard when said girl was wriggling like mad on the toilet seat.
"Kyla, if you don't sit still, your makeup is going to get messed up. I'm almost done sweetie, and then you can go. Look, even Daddy's dressing up." Ryan grinned when his daughter giggled at Eric, who decided to go out as an alien. He finished painting Kyla's face green, making sure to add the wart on the end of her nose and proclaimed her done. His heart melted when she smiled up at him, her blue eyes bright as she hopped off the seat and took off towards the door.
"Don't you look good." Ryan sauntered over to his husband, giving him a soft kiss. "You should go though, she's getting impatient. Get lots of candy, yeah?" Eric nodded, grinning, and headed over to where their daughter hopped up and down.
"And don't let her eat too much candy, or she won't sleep!" He called out before the door closed.
Two and a half hours later, Kyla lay asleep in Ryan's arms, after passing out from a sugar high. Her face still had traces of green, from where she had hastily wiped it off. HIs arm was asleep, and Kyla's bag of candy sat at his feet, an almost inordinate amount of candy and sweets inside.
"She did good for her first run, didn't she?" asked Eric, coming over to pick up the little girl to place her in bed.
"That she did. Thanks. I'm going to hide the candy, or she's going to wake us up in the morning bouncing off the walls." Eric nodded, disppearing down the hall. Ryan hid the candy in a high up cupboard that Kyla couldn't reach just yet, but snuck a couple pieces out, knowing they'd never be missed. Tonight had been good, too many kids, but all the candy they had bought was gone, and Kyla had fun, and was already anticipating next year.
He stopped in front of Kyla's bedroom door, and watched as Eric tucked the child in, placing her stuffed animal in her arms. He smiled softly when she let out a content sigh, reaching out for Eric's hand. They closed her door silently, and stepped into their room across the hall, suddenly tired.
Ryan curled up next to Eric, burrowed under the blanket, their hands still entwined.
"Good night, Alien Eric. Happy Halloween." He closed his eyes, falling asleep in minutes.
"Love you, Ryan. Happy Halloween."