October 28
"Seto!" Mokuba hissed, nudging his brother in the arm. "What happened to your fangs?"
"They're in the trash."
"The trash?!" Mokuba sighed and face-palmed as they walked through the 'haunted' Domino High School carnival. "That was an integral part of your costume. How can you be 'Count Kaiba' without your vampire fangs?"
Seto crossed his arms over his chest. "The same way you think you can be a 'wolfman' without actual fur?"
Noah snickered at his two brothers and pat Mokuba's shoulder reassuringly. "Hey, look on the bright side, Mokie. At least he actually followed through and put the costume on."
"Yeah...like...half of it." Mokuba gave his brother the stink eye. The costume kit that he picked out for his older brother included a white shirt, velvety vest, a tie, long cape, and fangs. What Seto actually decided to wear from it all was the vest and cape. The white costume shirt got swapped for one of Seto's own black office shirts. "Party pooper. Like wearing a vampire costume for one evening will really kill you."
"Hmph." Seto shrugged. "You two guilt-tripped me into coming to this lame event in the first place. I never agreed to wear everything out of that package. Now, are you going to pout over a stupid technicality in your own plans or will you actually go have some fun?"
"We will if you do, Seto!" Noah cheered, grabbing Mokuba's hand and running off through the crowd with his step-brother.
"What should we do first?" Mokuba asked.
"Hmm." Noah rubbed his chin, careful not to smudge the face paint. "Lets find the booth so we can sign up for the costume contest!"
"I wonder how many people will enter. There's a lot of cool costumes here." Mokuba said, looking around.
"Yeah, but it looks like I'm the only one dressed like a Frankenstein monster. So I've got an edge!" Noah smirked.
Mokuba frowned. "But I'm not the only wolf-man. it looks like I've got some competition!" He pointed to the costume sign-up board where another wolfman was adding his name.
"Woah...he's... kinda scary." Noah blinked. "he's probably got you beat!"
Mokuba huffed. "Gee. Thanks for the confidence." He strode over to the sign-up board and waited for his turn to add his name.
There was another man standing beside the wolf man dressed like a cowboy. He nudged the wolf's shoulders. "Hey, dude. Check it out! It's your 'mini-me'!"
"Nyeh?" He turned around to see who his friend was pointing to. Standing before him was a much smaller wolf and Frankenstein's creature. Even through all of the make-up on the second boy's face, the green hair cut gave away the boy's identity, and that of his companion.
Mokuba blinked. "J-Joey?"
"Eh? That you, Mokuba?"
There was a few seconds of silence between the two before they both shouted at eachother: "YOU STOLE MY COSTUME!"
Noah rubbed his chin. "Well well...this makes things interesting, doesn't it." he glanced up. "Hey Tristan. Nice costume, though I think the robot monkey look suited you better." He gave a sly grin.
Tristan's eye twitched. "Why you little punk..."
"Hey, don't get upset, I'm just telling it as it is!" Noah's eyes gleamed. "Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it."
By the time Seto made it through the crowds and found his two little brothers, he sighed and rolled his eyes. One of them was in a glaring contest with another similarly-dressed wolf-man, the other was trapped in a noogie-enduced headlock with a pointy-haired cowboy. No question. These were two members of Yugi's friendship brigade.
He strolled up to his brothers and cleared his throat. "I can't leave you two alone for five minutes."
"Seto!" Noah gulped. "Help!"
"Hmph." Seto crossed his arms. "I have a feeling, whatever led you into that position, you probably deserved it."
"SETO!" Noah whined.
"Kaiba?" Joey broke off his glaring at Mokuba to glance up at his big brother. "Woah...even you're in a costume."
Mokuba snickered."That's 'Count Kaiba' to you..."
"Nyeh! You're a vampire?"
"Huh. Gotta admit, that's pretty classy." Tristan nodded, letting go of Noah. The boy quickly scampered over to his older step-brother.
"We were signing up for the costume contest, Seto! Do you want to, also?" Mokuba asked.
"Ha. No thanks." Seto sniggered, and turned to Joey with a foul smirk on his face. "So, is this what halloween does to you, Wheeler? Turning a second-rate mutt into a rabid wolf? I have to say, it's quite fitting."
"Grrr...watch it, Rich Boy."
Seto started to walk away, but stopped to look to Tristan. "I'd keep an eye on your friend there. If he starts foaming at the mouth, don't hesitate to put him down."
Joey's jaw dropped. "Woah...that was low." He glared back at his rival.
"Eh." Mokuba shrugged. "His bark is worse than his bite. Especially since he didn't put his fangs in."
"Oh, is that so?" Joey narrowed his eyes. "Well then you're really one to talk about costumes then, ya prick. Where's da rest of yours?"
"I'm not participating in any contests, unlike the rest of you. I'm more than happy to stand back and watch you all make complete fools of yourselves." He turned and walked off.
"What's got his undies in a bunch?" Joey asked.
"We guilted him into wearing that costume and coming. He's in a pretty lousy mood. It's alright." Noah shrugged. "Mokuba and I are really the ones who wanted to come."
"So, is Yugi here too?"
"Tristan nodded. "Yeah, he and Tea went to explore the 'haunted halls'."
Noah and Mokuba looked at each other, wide-eyed. "They turned the high school into a haunted house?"
Joey nodded. "Yeah. It was pretty neat, though I didn't think it was scary enough." he said, smugly.
Tristan snorted. "What he really means, is that he practically wet himself."
"WHAT'D YA SAY, 'T?" Joey snarled, lunging at his friend.
Mokuba and Noah each took a step back while the two brawled.
"Mokie. Let's go find Seto so we can explore the haunted halls!"
"They call this 'haunted'?" Seto asked in his usual emotionless drawl. "I just see a bunch of tame decorations hanging from every possible surface. I doubt this would scare an infant."
"Seto, don't be such a grump. it's the effort that counts. Besides, this is plenty scary. And it's dark!" Mokuba said, peering carefully around the corner.
"Mokuba, there's no one there."
"How do you know?"
"I can see in the dark."
Noah snorted. "No you can't."
"I can see that if you keep going straight, you'll run right into a wall." Seto replied, smug.
"yeah ri-
SLAM.
"Ow." Noah rubbed his nose.
"Hey guys!" Mokuba grabbed each of their arms and tugged them along. "It's getting darker! And...breezy?"
"It's a fog machine, Mokuba." Seto replied.
"Seto." Noah sighed. "Is it too much for you to... I don't know...pretend to be scared?"
"Hmph."
A few more hall turns later, eerie music began to play, louder and louder. When they opened the doors to the wing that circled back to the gym, the location of the carnival, a huge zombie dropped down from the ceiling on a hangman's noose right in front of them, and loud maniacal laughter echoed throughout the hall.
"AAAAAAAH!" Noah and Mokuba jumped in fright and clung to each other. Seto, on the other hand, burst out laughing, and watched as the hangman started to pulley back up to the ceiling to await the next group of people.
"Now, that was good." He smirked.
There was a fair group of people lined up for the costume contest. Seto stood back with several other parents and spectators. He recognized only a few of the competitors. His brothers, Yugi's two friends, and one or two old classmates of his. There was at least a decent variety of costumes represented. Joey and Mokuba were the only two wolf-men. The judges for the contest, Seto recognized, were theater department staff members, and they were walking up and down the line-up talking to each participant.
"Hey Kaiba."
Seto turned to the side, and gave half a nod to short man beside him. His rival donned a long purple magician's robe with matching hat perched carefully on his spiky head. "Yugi."
"I'll admit, I wasn't expecting to see you here...and...well, festive." he gave Seto's cape a slight tug.
"Mokuba and Noah's doing. Though, I would half expect you to be a dark magician, or some sort of egyptian pharaoh that you keep preaching to be."
Yugi only shrugged and glanced down at his millennium puzzle. "We can't all be predictable. That's what Joey's for." He laughed. I hear you've already made jabs at his costume choice."
"He made it too easy. You know me, I never waste an opportunity."
"True." Yugi smiled and turned to the contest. "I like Mokuba and Noah's costumes."
Seto scoffed. "You should have seen what they tried to come as."
"Yeah?"
"Mokuba tried to be a mummy. He looked like a wad of toilet paper. Noah wanted to be a robot, but couldn't get past looking like a cereal box. Or that pop-tart caricature."
Yugi laughed.
The contest ended soon after. Noah won second place for his Frankenstein costume, and a silver ribbon was pinned to his shirt. As he stepped off the platform, he rushed to Seto to show off his achievement.
"Seto, look! I won!"
"yes, I can see that. Good work." He gave his little brother a congratulatory pat on the shoulder.
Mokuba ran up after congratulating the first place kid dressed as a vampire, and the third place little girl in a sunflower costume. "Noah! There's still more we can do! There's games, and bobbing for apples!"
"Well, I don't want to bob, it'll smear my face paint. But I'll cheer you on!"
"I'll join!" Yugi piped in, and the three of them scampered off, leaving Seto alone.
The CEO pushed up his sleeve and looked at his watch. Is this over yet?
"This was so much fun!" Mokuba cheered from the back seat of the limo. He and Noah sat side by side, and between them both on the seat were two large gift bundles. A pumpkin pail and black cauldron pail filled to the brim with various candies and treats. Prizes for Noah's costume win, and Mokuba's winning door prize raffle ticket.
"Totally!" Noah grinned, and looked across the seat to Seto, who sat arms crossed and looked out the window. "Did you have fun, Seto?"
Seto looked at his stepbrother with a bored gaze. "I would say the venture was a waste of time." He saw his brothers' shoulders slump. "But...you did win some prizes." He let out a defeated sigh. "I suppose if you both enjoyed yourselves, that's what really mattered."
Mokuba and Noah high-fived. Operation 'Get-Seto-to-enjoy-Halloween' was turning into a success. There was only one more trial left. The most sacred of all Halloween rituals.
"I can't wait to tear into all this candy!" Mokuba rubbed his hands together.
"And just think! On Halloween, we can go trick-or-treating for more!" Noah's eyes were wide.
"Yes!"
Mokuba and Noah started pumping their fists, chanting 'Candy, candy candy!' over and over, while Seto buried his face in his hands. At this rate, he'll be lucky to survive the rest of this holiday with some sanity intact. Having one brother on sugar highs was bad enough. Now with two...
Is it all over yet?
Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion on Halloween!
