Disclaimers: They belong to L.J. Smith. Matt's siblings belong to his parents, though he's beginning to think they may be be demon changelings.

Notes: Written for the LJS100 'Halloween' challenge on LiveJournal. Set in the same universe as 'How Not To Cook'.

-=-

The first Halloween that Stefan had spent in Fell's Church had been a disaster. The death of a teacher had led to Stefan being the prime suspect, and he'd only escaped a lynch mob with the help of his best friend, Matt. Then there was the fact that he'd been stuck in a Dracula costume that had been uncomfortable as hell, and made him feel both exposed and like an idiot at the same time. This year he'd resolutely dressed in pair of simple and stylish black jeans and one of his favourite dark sweaters. He'd refused to even wear the devil horns Elena had tried to inflict on him, stuffing them in his pocket as soon as he was out of eyeshot.

Really, a vampire wearing a costume on Halloween was just asking for trouble in his opinion.

While he'd managed to escape the whole costume hell of the night, his plans for hiding out for the entire event in the attic of Mrs Flowers' boarding house had been well and truly scuppered by Matt. He wasn't quite sure how his friend had convinced him, but somehow Stefan had found himself agreeing to keep Matt company while he took his siblings trick or treating.

Standing in the hallway of the Honeycutt residence, Stefan was beginning to wonder if this year was going to be any better than the previous Halloween. They hadn't even left the house yet, and already Stefan was feeling tired. Anna had gotten herself dressed in her pirate outfit without any trouble. Corey, on the other hand, had been a pain in the ass, refusing to wear his costume because he decided he'd look like a dork. From what Stefan could work out Corey had told his classmates he was going as Anna's parrot, and they'd teased him about it. The end result was Corey bawling his eyes out when they'd tried to push the parrot issue, and then a frantic thirty minutes of putting together a devil costume. At least Elena's horns had come in handy.

Corey was staring at Stefan with a perplexed expression on his face as the vampire tied the boy's shoelaces. "What are you going as? You have to have costumes!"

"We're in costumes kiddo," Stefan informed him solemnly. "We're gonna pretend to be... grown ups!"

Matt snorted from over by the coat rack as he pulled his jacket on. "That's going to take some real imagination. Are you sure you can pull it off?"

"I'm sure I can use some of my extensive life experience to make a passable adult," Stefan said, smiling wryly.

"Heh, yeah." Matt scooped up his keys along with Anna and Corey's candy buckets. "Mom, we're heading out now!" he yelled.

"Okay, honey," his mother called back from the kitchen, "Be careful, keep your eye on the kids!"

"Will do!"

"Oh, and Stefan?" Matt's mother poked her head into the hallway.

"Yes, Mrs Honeycutt?"

"Matt isn't allowed to take charge of the candy under any circumstances."

Stefan frowned in confusion, but nodded in agreement anyway as Mrs Honeycutt disappeared again. "Oo-kay, why aren't you allowed to be in charge of the candy?"

Matt opened his mouth to respond, but Anna got in there first. She levelled her one-eyed gaze at Stefan and sighed pityingly. "You've never seen Matt on a sugar high, have you?" Stefan shook his head. "Year before last, when he took us trick or treating, he ate more than half of our candy stash, and was bouncing around for hours before he crashed out upside down on the couch. He was stuck in the bathroom the whole of the next day, and we couldn't use it for weeks afterwards because of the smell!"

"Don't listen to the spawn of Satan! All her words are lies!" Matt protested, a mortified expression on his face. "The bathroom did not reek for that long, and I can control myself on sugar just fine!"

Stefan eyed his friend warily, his brain trying to process the thought of Matt being hyperactive. Given that they were heading to Bonnie's after trick or treating for a night of cheesy horror movies, Stefan wasn't sure that Matt on a sugar high would be wise. Especially if Bonnie sparked off of him, given how she managed to be a bit manic even without sugar. He held out his hand out for the pumpkin buckets that Matt was holding. "How about I take charge of the candy, huh?"

Matt handed over the buckets reluctantly and pouted sulkily at his friend he ushered the kids out the house. Stefan shook his head and followed after.

Halloween, he decided, did strange things to humans.

Fin.