Because I absolutely could not resist...
I hope you all enjoy! And have a lovely Halloween!
At Gate's Edge - Halloween Special
"EEEEEE!"
Roy didn't even look up as he heard the now familiar shriek of a squeal that kept passing by him every minute or so. Edward had been darting around the entire house for nearly seven minutes vocalizing his delight. So instead of glowering at the ghost and imploring him to be just a bit quieter, he could only smile and shake his head as the noise faded for the next forty seconds or so.
After all, he was the one who had agreed to take Edward out for Halloween tonight.
"Roy!"
Roy didn't even blink as Edward popped up through the bathroom floor right next to him. "I believe the next vowel you're looking for is, 'I'."
"I want you to hurry up! Its dusk out already, I checked." Edward was practically bouncing in midair in his excitement.
Roy laughed as he watched the ghost through the mirror even as he continued to apply the white face paint to himself. It wasn't much of a change from his usual complexion, but it was enough of a change to merit putting it on. "Well you need to wait just a few more minutes. I'm nearly done. Promise."
Edward flopped onto the toilet with a pout. "Oh."
Roy chuckled again, glancing sideways at the ghost briefly. "You're supposed to be eighteen."
"So?" Edward grinned mischievously. "I've never been able to celebrate Halloween before, remember? My hometown was too rural, and they never celebrated it in the office." And his grin only grew, "besides, I talked you into it, and you're twenty seven."
"Bring my age into it why don't you." But Roy was grinning as he said it. To be honest, he was actually rather pleased and amused with the whole situation. He was happy to see Edward happy about something as silly as this, and amused at the irony of it. He was actually taking a real ghost out to wander around the city on Halloween evening.
For some reason that, to him, took all the potential childishness out of the scenario – for the both of them.
Edward grinned back as he propped his chin on the heel of his hand while watching Roy. "So can I talk you into trying to get candy, just so I can have a laugh?"
"Definitely not." Roy rolled his eyes. "It'd be like me trying to talk you into not scaring anyone with your ghostly powers tonight."
Edward made a face, "that'd take all the fun out of it. This is the one time of the year I don't mind making a few people think that ghosts might exist. There's absolutely no risk of repercussions on Halloween."
"Well my asking for candy would be rather emasculating." Roy smiled as he switched face paint colors and began to paint the droplets of blood that would go from his fake pointed vampire teeth – once he put them in – down his chin and even a little bit along his neck.
"So why a vampire?" Edward asked as he watched Roy concentrate.
Roy dabbed a bit more paint onto the slender-tipped brush he was using. "Because it's easy. And according to Maes when we were in high school together, I look like the vampire type."
Edward could only smile. He supposed Maes had a point… Roy was starting to look like a very good vampire. He had thought the blood would look horrid, yet Roy was actually doing quite a good job. It almost looked real. "Well hurry up… I'm about ready to start on the 'O's."
Roy laughed quietly to himself as Edward was suddenly gone, having let himself drop down through the toilet and the floor beneath in the matter of a second. "No one but me will be able to hear your haunting wails… and I'm not exactly minding." He gave another short laugh. "But my ribs might after tonight."
He had a feeling he was going to be laughing a great deal.
Edward was downstairs playing with Hazel using a large red ball that was nearly as big as the squirrel when Roy finally descended to find him. The squirrel was rather like a cat in its pursuit of the ball, leaping for it and grabbing on with all four limbs to subdue the object. And like a dog, Hazel would grab it and bring it back to where he sensed the ghost.
"Hey, you ready to go?" Roy asked as he fiddled with the collar of the heavy cape he wore.
Edward immediately forgot all about Hazel as he gleefully shot up from the floor and into the air. "Took you long enough!" He exclaimed as he pelted for the door.
Roy stood in the hallway for a moment, blinking after the ghost. "What… no admiring of my costume?" He gave a disgruntled huff, he'd spent quite a good deal of time on his alchemic transmutations to make the costume itself perfect. And all he got was 'took you long enough'? Ghosts…
Just because they already had the perfect costume didn't mean he shouldn't get accolades for trying.
But he grabbed his wallet and keys which he slipped into the black leather pants he'd donned – they had been sitting in the back of his closet until now, and he was glad for a chance to finally wear them – and headed out the door to figure out just where Edward had zoomed off to.
Edward hadn't wandered far from the house, only just across the road to where a group of children were walking together jubilantly with plastic buckets rattling with candies. There were five of them; a pumpkin, a knight, a witch, a dragon, and a zombie.
It took him all of two seconds to decide that the pumpkin was holding their bucket too loosely, and that the witch hat was quite jaunty.
Diving forward Edward snatched the bucket of candy away from the child dressed as a pumpkin, made a sharp left turn to swipe the witch's hat off the girl's head, and throw himself backwards through the air. As the children shrieked, bumping into each other, he placed the hat on his own head at a jaunty angle before doing a quick pirouette while swinging the bucket about.
The children screamed at that point. Several buckets were dropped to the sidewalk, the candy contents spilling from them.
Edward watched them, laughing, as he continuously bounced around in the air while rifling through the contents of the bucket he'd swiped. Some pieces were lobbed absently at the children who were now clutching at each other, still shrieking, seemingly paralyzed in their fear at seeing a witch hat bobbing around the air on its own while an invisible being sorted through the contents of the candy bucket.
"Don't adults know they're supposed to give out unhealthy stuff?" He muttered to himself as he pulled out a package of fig cookies, shrugged, and tossed it at the adult in a nearby house who'd come out to see what the disturbance was all about.
The adult ducked just in time with his own yelp.
Edward snickered and looked back towards the children, only to quickly jerk his head more towards the right where he saw a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye. A wide grin split his face as he saw Roy standing at the gate to the house, trying not to laugh at him. "Finally!" He suddenly dove at the children, causing them to scream and scatter.
The witch hat was carelessly dropped back onto the witch's head despite the girl's attempt to escape him while shrieking at the top of her lungs. The bucket of candy was dropped at the feet of the child dressed as the pumpkin, causing the young boy to jump backwards into the zombie wherein both children tumbled to the ground padded by their costumes.
Edward barely saw, he was racing over to join Roy.
Roy, who had been quite fine up until the point Edward had dove at the children, was clutching the fence of his yard as he laughed helplessly. And as the ghost came to an abrupt halt before him he shook his head at Edward, still laughing. "None of those children would believe me if I told them you were actually nice." He said, thankful for the growing darkness that veiled the appearance that he was talking to himself.
Edward beamed at him brightly. "They'll get over it. I'm only really worried about that guy I threw those cookies at." And he looked over his shoulder to see said adult over by the children to presumably see if they were okay.
Roy looked as well, and then back to the ghost with a smile. "Seems he'll be fine." He started off in the opposite direction with another hearty chuckle and a snap of his cape. "Come on, let's go find you some more innocent people to scare into soiling themselves."
Edward dropped down to walk beside Roy, the bounce in his step matching the one in Roy's. "Think I could scare you that bad?" He asked cheerfully, looking up at the man.
Roy smiled, a rich chuckle remaining caught in his throat. "Unlike them, Ed, I can see and hear you."
"Technicalities." Edward waved a flippant hand.
"Well," Roy compromised, "you're welcome to try anyway. However you can only use methods that you'd use on children as well."
Edward smirked, "very well then."
Roy cracked a grin in anticipation. It seemed they'd see just how good a ghost Edward was tonight. In a way he rather hoped Edward would scare him... but he wouldn't make it easy. He planned to keep close tabs on his companion.
It was not long before the pair rounded the corner of a street where more children were wandering about unaware of what potentially lurked to frighten them. And it was not long before Edward was suddenly in the air again and pelting towards an unsuspecting group of children.
Roy carefully hung back an unsuspicious distance. Though the quiet laughter that was already beginning to form would have been a dead giveaway to anyone close enough to hear that he knew something was about to happen.
Within seconds of reaching the group, Edward had swiped the staff of the young boy dressed as a sorcerer. However, as this group was a bit older, it took the sorcerer a moment to stop thinking one of his friends had done it, and to realize that his staff was currently being twirled and thrown like a baton about eight feet from the ground.
Edward had been waiting for that moment of realization, the moment of mindless confusion that preceded any other reaction. And the reaction he wanted was fear. The staff was leveled like a lance, and Edward charged the group.
It was then the screaming started.
The princess fell over the superhero who had by all appearances fainted face first to the ground. The sorcerer had jumped aside only to encounter the fence of a yard and topple over it sideways with a yell. Buckets of candy were dropped, their contents scattered across the sidewalk.
But Edward was not done. The commotion had attracted the attention of another group of children who were now coming closer in uncertain curiosity.
He grabbed the cape of the fainted superhero out from under the princess who gave a maidenly shriek, and tossed it about himself before charging the other group of children.
These children, seeing a disembodied cape whipping in the wind and very large stick heading their way at mach two, did the sensible thing. Paused to gawk for a minute with jaws hanging stupidly, before turning tail and running for it with terrified yells.
The route of their escape was marked with breadcrumbs of candy.
Roy was munching on a piece of dropped candy of the first group that had rolled his way when Edward finally made it back to him – having already given back his borrowed props to the children who had run screaming as soon as they'd gotten untangled from each other and the cape he'd dropped over them.
Edward was laughing quietly as he came to a stop before Roy who was laughing in between trying to eat a chocolate bar. "Now this is what being a ghost is all about."
Roy grinned at him, "are you addicted? Is this your candy?"
Edward's smile was entirely carefree. "Of a sort." And he motioned to the chocolate bar, "is that candy yours?"
"It is now." Roy replied, stuffing the last of it in his mouth and incinerating the wrapper with a snap of his fingers. "Found your favorite yet?" He asked as they started walking again.
Edward smiled, dropping down to walk in the street near to him. "My favorite wouldn't be given out on Halloween. At least, I doubt it." His hands went behind his back to clasp there as he strolled contentedly with Roy. "Can we find a haunted house next? There's only so much I can do with their costumes."
"So you're wanting to hijack other peoples displays?" Roy arched an eyebrow at the ghost.
"In a way." Edward agreed. "Besides, a haunted house is not haunted unless there is an actual ghost present." And he unclasped his hands to wave one at himself. "Which I happen to be."
Roy smiled a fanged smile, having put them back in after eating the chocolate bar. "And what a wonderful ghost you are."
Edward smiled back at him, head tilting to the side. "You look good you know. Maes was right."
Roy felt a flare of satisfaction well up inside him, and something else that made the grin he turned on the ghost have a certain vampiric gleam. "You know, vampires are sometimes romanticized. Stories that make the bloodlust sexual."
Edward's look was entirely deadpan. "I was wondering how long it would take you to try some cheesy line like that."
"It wasn't a line!" Roy protested.
"You still look good." Edward chuckled quietly, letting his eyes flick over the outfit once again. Roy had dressed entirely in tight-fitting black materials, black boots, the usual gloves, and then the cape. And he did actually look good as a vampire with the finishing touches he'd done on his face.
"Thanks." Roy replied with a pleased smile. Dressing up had been worth it for Edward's approval. Which was something he'd never admit to were he confronted about it.
Thirteen terrified children later, and two more chocolate bars taken from what had spilled to the sidewalk, the two finally happened across a haunted house set-up that had been placed in someone's front yard.
Said someone was dressed as a scarecrow ushering in children and their parents in staggered groups.
"And how do you presume I get in to watch without being emasculated in a different way?" Roy asked as they paused halfway there to scope out the area.
Edward tapped a finger against his chin. "Just act like you're part of one of the other groups. Don't worry, no one will really give it a second thought until it's too late. And by then I'm causing chaos."
"Point taken." It was true, there was always Edward to provide a distraction if he needed one. Things weren't so complicated now that he no longer tried to do everything alone. "Shall we then?"
Edward grinned at the impending fun. "Absolutely. Be prepared to be scared yourself, Roy Mustang."
"You're on." Roy agreed, and together they started off.
When they reached the haunted house set-up, which was little more than a very large tent erected in a front yard. Inside various wails, mechanized screams, real screams, howls, and other sounds could be heard. The dark plastic that formed much of the walls did little to muffle the noise, or block the random flashes of light that were happening inside.
Roy easily slipped in at the back of one group, smiling as Edward huffed beside him. He was sure the ghost wanted to go in right away and cause some ghostly chaos, but was stuck waiting with him. Oh well, some patience did the apparition good.
"I hope you brought a change of pants." Was the only thing Edward said until they entered the haunted house.
Which they managed to do without mishap, the group Roy had leeched onto didn't notice his presence. And he effectively separated from them once inside. Falling back just enough, he turned to Edward who was surprisingly still at his side. "Happy haunting."
Edward winked at him before darting off to go find a prop to "possess".
Roy could only wait for the real screaming to begin. And with a relaxed smile on his face he caught his thumbs on the waistband of his pants and slowly made his way forward while looking around every so often at the decorations of plastic bats hanging from the rafters, a fog machine, and various plastic props of tombstones, werewolves, and white blob-like ghosts.
He doubted any of the people running the haunted house would believe him if he said ghosts looked nothing like a white blob with two black teardrop shaped eyes.
Edward meanwhile had found himself an outlet for his fun by grabbing a plastic bloodied axe and donning a fake battle helm before chasing after the children who began to shriek and run in every direction. The parents were gradually becoming less sure that this "ghost of a dead axe murderer" was actually controlled by a puppeteer. Especially considering that the movements were far too sharp and controlled.
But by that time Edward had found the controls for the fog machines, and had cranked every single one up to full power causing the cloaking mist to begin rising steadily towards the heads of the children.
Next was the lighting, what spooky lighting there was… somewhere Edward found the electrical outlet that was keeping it running. And then there were no lights at all as the entire haunted house was plunged into darkness.
Roy wasn't too concerned as he leaned laughingly against one of the support poles of the tent structure. While he couldn't exactly see, he could see better than anyone else. At least he could tell where Edward was thanks to the faint glow the ghost emitted. And thanks to that glow he could tell the fog machines were really going to create a problem.
Not even a minute later one of the people running the haunted house ran in with a flashlight to see what the hell was going on.
Which Edward immediately took control of as he swooped in to grab the flashlight away and whirl about the air doing somersaults and other aerial gymnastics causing the light to bounce around on the fog, props, and people who were freaking out.
Roy wasn't sure what Edward ended up doing with the flashlight as suddenly everything went dark again. So he stepped away from the pole, still laughing, to go see what Edward had disappeared around. The whole way navigating props he couldn't see and children and adults who were still frazzled by what had happened.
Edward meanwhile had darted out the side of the tent and around to the entrance again. He'd needed to grab a handful of the popper fireworks that they'd been setting off near the exit. And as soon as he had, he darted back in from behind Roy with a mischievous grin on his face.
Roy wasn't exactly sure of what came out of his mouth as out of nowhere dozens of little sparking explosions spattered directly behind him, or quite how high he jumped into the air, all he knew was that the next thing he heard was all too familiar laughter.
"Edward!"
Edward was tumbling in circles through the air clutching at his sides and laughing. "You screamed like a little girl!" He crowed gaily, stabilizing only enough to point and laugh with one hand.
Roy had whirled around, one hand over his pounding heart. "I did not!"
"You did too!" Edward laughed, and suddenly shrieked and pelted for the entrance of the structure.
"Get back here!" Roy hollered after him, stumbling only a few times as he raced out after the ghost. Thoughts of the chaos they were leaving behind didn't phase him, it was chaos that was cloaking his flight.
Edward shrieked in laughter again, looked over his shoulder as he floated quickly along the sidewalk, and gave a small "eep" before hurrying faster.
Roy raced after the apparition, determined to catch the little demon. That little sneak had come up from behind! Sure, he probably shouldn't have expected Edward to be up front in an attempt to scare him, but still. Yet any ideas that he might have been angry were washed aside in his laughter.
Which only served to make him more winded when he finally gave up near the park.
Hands on his knees he bowed forward trying to catch his breath, laughter still shaking his body.
Edward took a circuit around a few maple trees before floating back over to Roy grinning smugly. "You sound like an obscene phone call, panting like that."
Roy only laughed more, raising his head to see the ghost land on the ground before him. "I'm sure you've gotten a lot of those."
"More than my fair share." Edward grinned and tilted his head. "You okay?"
Roy straightened with a groan and a chuckle. "Yeah. Good job. Though did you really have to make me run a marathon afterwards?"
Edward laughed, "I'm touched you ran after me."
Roy smiled, and unfastened his cape with a sigh. "Hard to run with that thing flapping behind me, else I would have caught you."
"Of course." Edward nodded magnanimously, and as Roy offered it to him he took it with a delighted grin and fastened it about himself before striking a pose. "How do I look?"
Roy couldn't seem to stop smiling, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. "Perfect. Though it'd fit you better if you were a bit taller."
Edward stuck out his tongue. "Just admit it looks better on me."
Roy merely continued smiling and turned to head back the way they'd come. "Let's go have some more fun."
"Roy," Edward darted through the air after him, and at Roy's answering grunt, continued, "what if someone sees…?"
"After all the other crazy stuff you've done tonight, Ed," Roy chuckled softly, "no one will think twice. Wear my cape as long as you like."
In answer, Edward fastened it a bit tighter. "So which street next?"
In total, sixteen streets were thoroughly terrorized, Roy picked up and eaten countless amounts of candy from the sidewalk that had been spilled from buckets, and nearly three hours had passed. And it was around that time that they finally headed home – Edward still wearing Roy's cape.
"You know," Edward frowned as he trotted ahead to vanish through the front door and open it from the inside, "you shouldn't have eaten that last chocolate bar. You're looking greener than you do when you come home drunk."
"Perhaps not." Roy admitted droopily. "Though had I not run after you… perhaps not."
Edward smiled as he waited for Roy to get inside before closing the door. "I'll get you some water while you change if you like." He offered as he drew off the cape and handed it into Roy's beckoning hand.
"You sure?" Roy frowned as he rubbed tiredly at his eyes, smearing the face paint just a bit onto the fingers of his glove.
"Upstairs." Edward smiled, and he watched to make sure Roy made it up the stairs before making his nightly trip to the kitchen to get some water, and something else. Roy wasn't looking so good after eating all that chocolate.
Roy had changed into his pajamas and washed all the face paint off and climbed into bed as usual before Edward showed. But it was not with what he expected. Sure, there was the glass of water… but that wasn't all. Edward had a bowl?
"What is this?" He asked as Edward set the water onto the bedside table and offered him the bowl.
Edward settled down onto the side of the bed. "I didn't think hot chocolate would do you good this time. You need something substantial, but light. So eat." He nodded down at the bowl.
Roy took hold of the spoon, giving it a stir as he looked at the contents. "What exactly is it?" He asked, taking up a spoonful and blowing on the steaming liquid.
"Ghost soup." Edward said with a bit of a smile as he watched Roy take a bite. "Rather fitting… don't you think?"
Roy could only smile and eat more as he began to quietly chuckle, laughter that was softly echoed by Edward. Yes, fitting it was.