Halloween

Darwin woke with a startle, the high pitched giggle of Anais heard throughout the house as she prances around in her costume, already. He gives a little sigh, bubbles rising to the surface of his water bed. That's right, it was yet again that time of the year his family loved oh-so-much; Halloween. Personally he'd never been very fond of it, mostly because he found the idea behind the creation of this holiday eerily creepy; little kids dressing up to go house to house to beg for stranger's candy? When he'd been younger he'd never thought of it as that; more the fact it was a night activity freaked him out. Sighing, Darwin stood and slipped out of his tank, quick to wipe himself down with a towel as not to get the carpet wet.

He wasn't looking forward to today at all, so he was reluctant to take out the costume Nicole and Gumball had convinced him to get; a pirate. Gumball insisted it would be top level irony that a merman turned human were to wear an outfit like so. Considering all the tales of how pirates fell in love with mermaids, it wasn't all that shocking and somewhat confused Darwin, but he'd gone along with it for the sole purpose of wearing awesome boots and a headband. He set that on Gumball's bed, and heads downstairs to get something in his stomach.

Anais met him with a wide, buck-toothed grin, she asked what Darwin thought and he complimented her Athena, the Greek goddess costume she wore. He was always more comfortable with her choice of outfits, they weren't too off chart or terrifying. They had a sense of fashion and were cute. Satisfied with his answer she skipped off to cling onto her mother and talk her head off. Nicole, who would be staying at home to hand out candy to children, wore a simple costume of a nurse, while Richard lazed on the couch, dressed as a doctor.

Darwin rolls his eyes and heads into the kitchen, pouring himself a bowl of cereal to sit at the table to munch on. Gumball popped in at that time, grinning toothily at Darwin as he circles behind him, looping his arms over the tanner boy's shoulders and nuzzles into the nape of his neck. Gumball always had these random bursts of affection; though they were usually apparent when he wanted something from someone.

"Yes?" Darwin pipes up after swallowing a bite of his breakfast.

"You're going to wear the outfit today, right?" Gumball asks, lips brushing against Darwin's freckled skin teasingly, causing the hair's on his arms and the back of his neck to rise a bit.

"Unfortunately, yes. It would be pointless to not wear it, and a waste of money." He responds, shaking his head a bit.

Gumball hums, looking at Darwin from the corner of his eye. "Did you know that the pirate costume is actually mine?" He continues.

Darwin pauses, glancing over at him, "what? Then what am I supposed to wear?" He frowns a bit, his fins tipping downwards as he sets the spoon back into his cereal.

"I planned this all out ahead of time. You can shift back into mer-form right?" Gumball wiggles his eyebrows at Darwin suggestively, "I can carry you around as a mermaid. Mom got you some like, golden rings and stuff to bling you up to make you look like some sort of meroyalty. Hah. See what I did there?"

"…" Darwin shifts, looking away from him as he tries to piece together what Gumball had in mind. Then it clicks and his eyes widen a bit, "OH! That's why you were hinting at the mermaid and pirate thing. We're going to be matching?" He asks, eyes lighting up.

Gumball shrugs, "yup, I figured that'd be a cutesy thing to do. Mom's gonna do some scales make-up on your face to make it look like we put more effort into your costume but…still. Pretty cool huh? Betcha people will dig that type of stuff and we'll end up with the most candy on the block."

Darwin smiles, pressing a kiss to his cheek, "thanks Gumball…that sounds great." He says honestly.

"Good! And at seven there's a party Carrie's hosting at her place. Not an undead ghost party though. Just a highschool one since this is our last year, after all." He says, smiling and pulling away from Darwin only to pick up his spoon and take a bite of his cereal. Brat.

"You promise?" Darwin asks cautiously, taking the spoon back once Gumball had set it down.

"I swear." He replies, sitting in another chair, fingers lacing on top of the table in front of him.

Darwin nods, now turning his focus onto eating his breakfast without interruption of costumes, parties, and Gumball in general.

~ 5:00 PM ~

Gumball got dressed quickly, and had to have Nicole help apply eye liner that he wasn't allergic to, to make him have that darker look that he relates to Pirates alone. Anais also receives help with makeup, sitting patiently on the couch with her stuffed owl to accompany her Athena get-up. Lastly, comes Darwin, who's hanging out in his tank, looking down over his golden scales. Gumball pops in with a grin, arms full of golden jewelry that he helps apply to Darwin's arm's and tail. Towards the end, Gumball gently sets a golden headpiece to top it all off.

Nicole comes into the bedroom afterwards to start adding the makeup scales on Darwin's cheeks and forehead; his shoulders and back were already equipped with real scales the way it was.

"Are you going to be able to breathe for that long out of the water?" Nicole pipes up after a bit, worry evident in her tone and eyes as she looks her adopted son over.

Darwin nods, "of course, I walk around and can breathe alright. It's just that my scales start to get dry and itchy if I'm out too long. And…water is way more preferred. But I'll live. It's only for a little while anyways, right Gumball?"

Gumball nods, "yeah, we're going to go to Carrie's party and he'll change back then. I'm gonna bring a separate pair of clothes for him."

Nicole nods, "alright, good. Keep your cellphone on you, and keep an eye on your sister." She says as she finishes up Darwin's makeup, standing and brushing her nurse outfit off.

"Will do, mom." Gumball says, reaching out to help Darwin from the tank bed, keeping him held against his chest in bridle style.

Darwin wraps his arms around Gumball's neck, and shoulders both, giving Nicole a smile and a kiss to her cheek, Gumball following shortly before he bounds downstairs. The two gather Anais up, and head out the door to join the other kids of Elmore to start their trick or treating trip. Gumball had been right; everyone loved their costumes and set up. Gumball was utterly confident as he held Darwin and strolled through the town, even when the sun began to fully hide and to let the moon take over lighting the streets with a dim, barely helpful glow.

The hour and a half of trick or treating had paid off as expected, and Gumball walked Anais back home. After that, they headed to the party; not without a stop in the park, where Gumball let Darwin slip into the lake. His arms were aching, and he'd surprisingly kept complaints to himself. Darwin swam around for a bit as Gumball chowed down on candy, sitting on a bench near the water.

After their fifteen minute break, Gumball gathered Darwin in his arms again, and headed towards Carrie's home. It was painfully obvious as to which house she lived in; lights were flashing and music was booming. The only reason she could get away with being this loud without the police getting involved would be the combination of Tobias and Masami's money to shoo off those who complain. Being rich sure must be nice. Gumball grin's widely as he walks up the steps with Darwin still in his arms, having him open and close the door. Teenagers were everywhere dancing to the upbeat music, and the lights caused Gumball's vision to spin at first.

Carrie popped out of nowhere in front of them, "eyyyy there, losers, who invited you here?" She jokes, punching Gumball's shoulder. "Nice get-up."

"You too, Carrie!" Darwin chirps back happily, reaching up to take Gumball's hat, to instead wear it.

Carrie had simply gone with creativity and had painted her face like that of a skeleton's, while her torso supported a painted ribcage and…everything. She only wore a tube top, which had been painted over as well to match the skeleton design. Which faded into her ghostly tail; looking much like that of a fish's skeleton.

She shrugged, "eh, Penny wanted me to dress up." Carrie says, causing the two to 'ahhh' in understanding. THAT explained why she was dressed up, when she usually wasn't.

Penny came bounding around the corner, wings fluttering in excitement when she saw the two, quick to pull them into a hug, kissing Gumball's and Darwin's cheeks. "Hi guys! You look great." She says cheerily, stepping back to take Carrie's hand into her own.

Penny was dressed as an Indian girl of some sort, a feather poked out of her hair behind an orange deer-like ear, and her hair spilt over her shoulder in a loose braid. Gumball nods at her, smiling, "you look good too." He replies, glancing down to Darwin.

"Can we go to the bathroom so I can change?" Darwin asks at the knowing look, and Gumball nodded, dismissing the two of them so he could scoot through the crowd of grinding bodies to find the bathroom.

Once there he set Darwin on the ground for him to begin changing back to his humanoid, legged-form, holding out his clothing. It wasn't anything that quite matched the outfit he'd had going, but that didn't matter. The party wasn't about outfits, it was about having fun. Darwin finished with a bit of struggling, and pulled the clothing on, thanking Gumball with a peck to the lips as he starts to tug his boyfriend back into the party.

"Let the dancing commence." Gumball says goofily, pulling Darwin closer to start that. He kept from doing anything like the grinding, simply because he knew they'd have to be home by midnight otherwise they'd have a furious mother on their tails.

"Let's" Darwin agrees, deciding to take the lead for this particular dance.

The boy's had a blast at Carrie's party, and it was even better when Tobias had slipped up and fell onto the table of snacks, drenching himself in fruit punch. Gumball, mostly, had gotten a laugh out of that. On the way home the two talked about how fun the party had been, and collapsed together once home after changing into pajama's, in the bed. Gumball turns to cuddle up to Darwin, tucking his head under the other's chin as he yawns, stretching out a moment, and then he curls and tangles their legs together.

"Love you, Darwin…" Gumball whispers quietly, kissing the finned boy as a soft purr starts buzzing in his chest.

Darwin sighs happily, pulling back out of the kiss just enough to murmur a 'love you, too' in response.

Super short, and super cheesy, I know...sorry! I may go back over this soon to update it, and add more interactions between Gumball and Darwin. I just figured this would be a fun little project to start! Both, to keep my followers busy when waiting for Gumwin (Re-Write) to update, and for anyone who's interested in little one-shots. This will turn into a series of those, and HOPEFULLY I can get to all the basis holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's, etcetera. All focusing on these two, and posted on said holiday. If i really like this project, there might be little voting things I'll bring up for those who watch this story to do for Carrie/Penny fics as well! We'll see...

Anyways, let me know what you all think, and Happy Halloween!

- KhaoticVex