A/N: Hello Readers! Emily here, I just wrote a new one-shot for the Halloween season lol, anyway this story is based on an episode of The Office called "The Costume Contest", I really hope you enjoy it and please leave some feedback, thank you!
"Okay Maggie yeah, we'll be there"
Rick could hear his wife's voice halfway between sleep and consciousness. He began to open his eyes to see her sitting up on the bed braiding their daughter Judith's hair while the bright morning sun shined through the window. Michonne looked down and smiled at him.
"Oh good you're up," she said putting the phone on speaker so that she no longer had to hold it between her ear and her shoulder. "Okay Maggie go on, you're on speaker now"
"Oh umm.. I was just gonna say…-"
"Maggie it's fine Rick knows,"
"Rick knows what?" He finally said in his deep grumpy morning voice.
Michonne rolled her eyes at both Rick and Maggie even though only one of them could see her.
"Ezekiel is gonna be at Glenn and Maggie's Halloween party and everyone is having a cow because we went on a couple of dates before you and I even started dating, and now all of a sudden we are long lost loves," Michonne said dramatically.
"Okay, okay Michonne," Maggie said.
"Just be here at six and don't forget your costumes!" she practically sang.
"Okay Maggie, see you then," Michonne said ending her call.
"Wait, this is a costume party? I thought this was just a Halloween party" Rick said sounding even less enthusiastic about going.
"Yes daddy, we're gonna be Wizard of Oz! I get to be Dorothy!" exclaimed little Judith as she twirled the new braids her mother just finished.
"Oh god Michonne, I'm too scared to even ask who I'm supposed to dress up as, the wizard?" She shook her head "no" with a little smirk on her face.
"The tin man?"
She shook her head again.
"The-"
"The Cowardly Lion," She finally revealed failing to hold back the giant smile on her face.
"God," Rick said covering his face. "That's exactly what I was afraid of,"
After getting ready Michonne stood in the kitchen packing snacks for Judith and Andre just in case they got hungry in the car.
"Okay, I got the Tin Man and Scarecrow in their costumes. Are we ready to go?" Rick said walking down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Yeah lemme just check I got everything," she said standing at the counter. Rick admired her in her Glinda the good witch costume. He walked up behind her wrapping his arms around her waist. "I'm a little surprised at how much I'm loving this giant pink dress, or maybe it's just you in it," he said beginning to bury his nose in the crook of her neck. "Yeah well, I just wish you had worn your costume," she said disappointedly.
The costume that Michonne had picked out for Rick was literally a onesie with an attachable hood with two ears and fur. Rick loved that his wife would dress as a big pink cloud just to make their children smile, but he wasn't quite sure he wanted to wear such a silly thing just to get a laugh out of Judith and Andre and then have them forget immediately afterward. Plus he was sure that it was more fun for Judith to see her mommy dressed as a princess then watching her father make a fool of himself in front of his friends and co-workers.
"What are you talking about I am wearing it," Rick said pointing to the only parts of his costume he was actually wearing, his ears and tail. Michonne only smiled and rolled her eyes, somehow he had still managed to wear his basic old black jeans and blue button up shirt and get away with it.
"So.," Rick said changing the subject. "Remind me of this story with you and Ezekiel."
Rick and Michonne had no secrets between each other so he had already heard this story before but needed some help remembering the details. He knew of the dates that happened with the man who worked at the same company as them and was known for his good looks and charm, and that it all happened during a time when he and Michonne were merely best friends and he happen to be dating someone else to distract him from his growing feelings for her.
Now years later, everything worked out and they had three children together, Carl age nine and the five-year-old twins Andre and Judith.
But, Rick knew this tiny new nugget of gossip would be blown way out of proportion by their friends and acquaintances so he wanted to be somewhat prepared.
Michonne once again rolled her eyes and looked back at him.
"Rick I already told you," she began.
"It was before you and I were ever together and we were still just friends, we went on two dates and then it just... fizzled out,"
"Fizzled out?... Well, who started the fizzle?" Rick asked
She gave him another exasperated look before saying, " I liked him but he didn't ever call me back," she shrugged.
Rick gave her a look like she had just revealed something huge,
"Oh come on don't you start too, you know I have three kids with you right?" said Michonne
"Yeah whatever," Rick said waving his hand before they both shared a laugh.
A few hours later the family of five, dressed as the characters from the Wizard of Oz, arrived at the Rhee household. Rick and Michonne held hands as they walked through the door seeking out their friends. Maggie ran up to them dressed as what Michonne figured was a hippie. She gave them hugs before snatching up Judith and peppering her chubby cheeks in kisses.
"Oh my god! You guys look so adorable!" Maggie exclaimed.
"We have little Dorthy here," she said referring to Judith. "And Carl is the tin man, and Andre is the scarecrow!" she said ruffling both the boy's hair.
"Oh, and Glinda the good witch!" Maggie said clapping her hands, feeling excited that people were actually having fun with her costume party idea.
"Who are you supposed to be Rick?"
"I'm the cowardly lion," he said as if it was obvious.
"Dad didn't want to wear his costume because he said it made him look stu-" Carl began before being interrupted by his mother tapping him on the head.
Before Maggie could give Rick a hard time, Glenn showed up behind her wearing a Bubba Gump hat and a short sleeve plaid blue button-up shirt.
"Oh, I get it now! Forrest Gump and Jenny, That's so cute!" Michonne said excitedly.
Maggie looked at her husband and smiled while he put his arm around her shoulder.
"Yeah our costume only makes sense if we're together." said Glenn
"Well I think it's just adorable," Michonne said giving her husband a side eye.
Michonne and Maggie began walking away and starting their own conversation while the kids went off to play, so Glenn took the opportunity to pull his friend aside to talk.
"Hey man, so I know that Michonne and Ezekiel use to date so if you want me to kick him out that's fine, me and Daryl are with you, whatever you need. Man if it were me, and some guy Maggie use to date was here I would definitely be kicking his ass right now."
"Dude, it's not that big a deal," Rick tried to explain before being interrupted by their other friends Abe, Shane and Daryl.
"That asshole Ezekiel better be careful," Shane said forcing himself into the conversion.
"He's the guy that slept with 'Chonne" he continued, misinforming Daryl.
"What?! No, he didn't." Rick replied, he couldn't understand why his friends were overreacting to this much so much, so he chuckled and rolled his eyes leaving his friends to talk about their conspiracy theories.
But upon walking into the kitchen he ran into none other than Ezekiel himself, also wearing no costume.
"Oh! Richard hello, how have you been?" the man said to him shaking his hand.
"Hi Ezekiel, I'm good," Rick responded"I haven't seen you in quite a while, is it true that you and Michonne got married?"
"Yes, it is," Rick said proudly nodding his head. "Oh, here she is now," he watched as his wife tried to make her way through the crowd of people holding on to the puffiness of her dress. She smiled brightly when she and her husband's eyes met. Rick grabbed her hand to help her the rest of the way while unpurposefully pushing people with the hoop of her skirt before placing his hand on her waist.
"Hi, Ezekiel! How are you?" she said shaking his hand
"I'm very good, thank you," he said politely.
Meanwhile in the living room
"If you had to pick, who would you choose, Rick or Ezekiel?" Shelly Neudermeyer asked Oliva
"Umm… I think I would definitely pick Rick, but their both handsome" Olivia responded.
"I wonder who Michonne is going to pick,"
"Well obviously she's going to pick Ezekiel," another nosey woman named Jadis butted in "she loved him first,"
"Well I think she'll pick Ezekiel, even though I personally would pick Rick," said Jessie Anderson
"Well of course you would, ugh but don't worry those two treat this company like their own personal speed dating event, you'll get your shot with Rick," Jadis said, then rolling her eyes at Jessie's shocked look, and making all the women laugh.
"Honestly, I'm really glad that we can laugh about it now, considering our history," said Ezekiel.
"What history?" Michonne laughed "It was only a couple of dates"
"Exactly," said Ezekiel chuckling
"Was there some big painful break-up, I don't know about?" Rick jokes
Michonne nearly scoffed and said, "No, it was only like two dates"
"Was it two? I thought it was three?"
"Well, we had plans for a third, but you never called me back," Michonne said with a far less genuine laugh.
"Really? That doesn't sound like me"
"It was though, that's what happened," Michonne said quickly with a smile plastered on her face that her husband could tell wasn't real. Rick did a double take in his wife's direction trying to figure out how the mood turned awkward so quickly.
"Yikes" Rick muttered under his breath.
As the party continued Rick tried chatting with some colleagues and his friends but couldn't stop thinking about the odd conversation earlier with Ezekiel and his wife.
Rick wandered into a hallway to find Ezekiel having a conversation with the office asshole Negan dressed as a baseball player, Rick could no longer hold back the question still on his mind.
"Hey man, can I ask you something?" he said to Ezekiel.
"Of course, Rick"
"Uh… so why didn't you ever call Michonne back?"
"Rick… seriously? you wanna know why I didn't take your wife on a third date?"
"Hey, Grimes! You looking for someone to bang your wife?!" Negan butted in.
"Nope," Rick said no longer acknowledging Negan's existence and turning his attention back to Ezekiel.
"Okay Rick you wanna know the real reason I didn't call her back?" said Ezekiel
"Yes, I do"
"Okay fine, the truth is she talked about you the entire time, she was clearly in love with you, man"
"Ugh man this just sucks so much, I really feel bad for Rick." Said Glenn
"I know man me too, now we have to pick sides and stuff and Ezekiel always has a really cool New Years party that we can't go to now," said Shane
"But we need to stick by Rick, I won't forget what that Ezekiel did to Michonne. He broke her sweet innocent heart." Abraham said shaking his head causing the other men to do the same.
"Wait which one is Ezekiel, again?" questioned Daryl feeling left out since he wasn't much of a gossiper.
"He's that one," said Glenn pointing him out.
"Nah, man that's a male model or something, he doesn't work with us,"
"No man that's him alright"
After washing his hands and giving himself a once-over in the mirror Ezekiel almost jumped at seeing both Rick and Michonne Grimes waiting for him as he stepped outside of the bathroom.
"Zeke, I would've remembered talking about Rick, that didn't happen, so just tell me, what's the real reason?"
Ezekiel looked at Michonne then back at Rick seeing that he had no way out of this.
"Come on man," Rick said, "just tell her, she had a nice time."
"Yes please just tell me, otherwise it'll just keep gnawing at me like 'Why didn't he call? Was it me? Was it him? Was it something else? I don't know-" Michonne said beginning to ramble before being cut off.
"Okay fine! You wanna know?... I just thought she seemed… kinda... dorky," Ezekiel finally said making Michonne go silent.
"Hey man-" Rick began immediately feeling defensive
"No, Rick it's fine, it's fine. I wanted to know and he was honest. He thought I was a little dorky, that's fine," Michonne shrugged.
Rick wanted so much to tell this guy off.
"Well alrighty then, I'm just gonna go check on the kid's real quick," she said beginning to walk backward out of the room and throwing up a peace symbol to the two men.
Rick watched from across the coffee table as his wife had a conversation with her best friend about the new recipe her and Glenn tried out for dinner last week, while Michonne held their oldest son Carl underneath her arm. Carl always had a sense for when his mother was feeling a little off, even if it was for the smallest thing, he didn't need to know why he went to her like a magnet.
His attention was redirected when he saw Michonne look past Maggie, making awkward eye contact with Ezekiel, causing her to look down with an embarrassed expression on her face. That was it, he had had enough of this Rick thought getting up out of his chair and exiting the room.
Michonne laughed at something her friend had said when something behind Maggie's head caught her attention and made her heart flutter.
"Rick! Oh my goodness!" she jumped up at the sight of her husband entering the room in his Cowardly Lion costume while holding a little Dorothy and Scarecrow.
"Oh my god, Mom, your husband looks like a giant toddler!" Carl laughing while Rick gave him a warning look.
Michonne giggled and squeezed Carl's shoulder.
"Oh, Rick please do the thing! Please!"
Rick cleared his throat
"If I were king of the FORE-E-E-EST!" he sang loudly, he was about to sing more but Michonne stopped him from embarrassing himself further by grabbing his face with her hands and kissing him deeply on the lips, while Andre, Judith, and Carl laughed hysterically.
Rick couldn't be more embarrassed but as he looked down at his wife's face he couldn't help but feel like the luckiest man in the world. He truly pitied Ezekiel, obviously, not everyone is supposed to fall in love but, who wouldn't call a dork like this back?