(A/N): Here's a little short for Halloween!
Rating: K-T
Characters: Alfred F. Jones, Matthew Williams, Arthur Kirkland
Summary: Alfred, Matthew, and Arthur go trick-or-treating
(My summaries still suck!)
"Aw yeah, dude. I look killer." Alfred posed in front of his mirror. "Now no one can say I'm not a hero. Well, at least for tonight." The teen turned to his friend Matt, showing off his Captain America costume. His friend poked at the padding in the chest of the costume that was supposed to resemble muscle and choked back a laugh. He thought his friend looked ridiculous.
"Come on, let's go. We have to meet Arthur at his house in twenty minutes." Matthew pulled Al away from the mirror and grabbed their pillow cases from the table in the hall. They prayed that those pillow cases would be filled with candy by the end of the night.
As they walked down the sidewalk, younger children scurried by and hopped up porch steps to ring doorbells. It was October 31st, Halloween. The sun was finally set, leaving only a slight orange glow in the sky. The youngest of the children were heading home to bed and it was now time for the older kids to ransack the neighborhood for any remaining candy. Being seventeen, Matthew and Alfred would most likely be considered too old to trick-or-treat by most. But of course, to Matt and Al, you were never too old for free candy. The two rounded the block, passing by a few kids who were babbling loudly.
"Yeah, that house on the corner is giving out full-sized candy bars! Look, I got a Snickers!" one of them cried.
"They give me a Twix!" another replied, pulling the treat from his plastic pumpkin.
"No way! Ugh, I can't believe I missed that house!" moaned yet another child.
"Dude…we have to hit that house," Alfred murmured. "Arthur can wait five extra minutes." Al grabbed his friend and began towing him down the sidewalk until they reached the large, three-story house on the corner of the block. There were quite a few kids lined up waiting to receive their candy and Matthew had to restrain his friend to keep him from running to the front of the line. As it inched forward, Alfred clutched his pillow case giddily. He loved it when houses actually understood what kids really wanted on Halloween. Not apples or toothbrushes- they wanted full-sized candy bars. When they reached the front door, the two teens cried the traditional "Trick-or-Treat!" at the top of their lungs. But then they noticed who was at the door.
Oh crap, Alfred thought. He instinctively hid behind Matthew who tossed a glare over his shoulder at Al that screamed, you little traitor.
"Alfred," the man growled. Matt held up his hands defensively and shook his head rapidly, sending his blonde hair into his face.
"N-no Carlos, you've got it all wrong—" Matthew sputter frantically at the tall Cuban man in the doorway. The man had always mistaken Matt for Alfred. Of course, Alfred used this to his advantage and had avoided being punched, shoved into the mud, and being rammed inside of lockers.
"Whatever, Jones. What are you supposed to be, anyway?" Carlos gestured to Matthew's lack of costume while he tucked his bowl of candy bars into the crook of his arm.
"Ah, um, about that. I'm not dressed up. I'm just walking around with my friend Alfred, who is actually dressed up and—" Matt attempted to sidestep and reveal his friend, but Al moved sideways with him and all that was shown was the ever-growing line of anxious kids.
"Yeah, sure, okay," Carlos said, annoyed. "But kids who aren't dressed up don't get candy. Now get off my porch." The Cuban slammed the door in Matt's face and he sighed before turning and slumping down the steps.
"Dang it, why did it have to be Carlos?" Alfred whined as a few kids dressed as vampires ran up the steps to ring the bell. "You should have just grabbed a couple candy bars and sprinted. That would have been awesome."
"Yeah, awesome because I'd be the one that would get shoved down the stairs on Monday," Matt growled. "Now let's get to Arthur's. We're ten minutes late." The two began trotting across the road to the next block. After crossing another road, they came to their friend's house. The front lights were off, signifying that there was no candy there and that no kids should even attempt to knock on the door. The teens walked up and slammed the brass door-knocker against the wood.
"There's no candy here!" called an angry voice that was thick with a British accent.
"Dude, it's us. Let us in." The door swung open immediately and in the entryway stood a younger boy dressed as a bunny.
"Arthur, Arthur! It's Matthew and Alfred!" the boy cried and scurried away. A moment later, he returned with a small plastic pumpkin and was towing a teenager behind him who hid around the corner, refusing to reveal himself except for his hand.
"C'mon, Artie," Alfred cackled. "Lemme see if you actually carried out your end of the deal." Matthew cocked an eyebrow at his friend, who just continued to laugh to himself. The younger boy yanked on his older brother's hand persistently.
"Peter, let go of me!" Arthur ordered. The boy still refused to let go.
"You promised Mum that you'd take me trick-or-treating!" Peter whined. He whacked his brother with his pumpkin and pouted.
"I am not going out in this," Arthur argued.
"Then you aren't getting your sixty bucks," Alfred proclaimed. His crossed his arms over his overly-padded chest while Matt continued to watch in bewilderment.
"…Fine," Arthur muttered, cursing under his breath. He then stepped around the corner, a look of embarrassment painted on his face. Alfred laughed himself to tears while Matt tried his best not to show his amusement at the pink monstrosity that was Arthur's pegasus costume.
"Oh my God, you actually did it! Oh my God!" Alfred was still bent over, rubbing tears from his eyes.
"Now give me my money, you frog," Arthur spat.
"I can't give you anything until you actually go around town. That was the deal, remember?" Alfred dangled a handful of bills in front of Arthur who just stared at them in disgust.
"Let's just get this over with," Arthur grumbled. "Come on, Peter."
"Yaaay!" Peter cried in his shrill voice as his skipped out the door ahead of the boys. As the three teens followed, Arthur glanced at Matthew, an eyebrow raised.
"No costume this year?" he asked.
"Nope. I couldn't really find anything to suit me. Alfred tried to blackmail me into dressing as a sexy nurse but…" Matthew glared at his friend. "No amount of money can make me embarrass myself like that." Alfred let out a witch-like cackle as he grabbed little Peter and steered him up the walkway to a house with its light on. Arthur and Matthew followed and lent their voices in the obnoxiously loud trick-or-treat chant. The door swung open and a very cheerful older lady dropped a large handful of candy into each boy's bag or bucket. There was a loud chorus of thank-yous before the door shut and the party of boys continued on their way.
"Well, that was a good first stop," Matthew commented, glancing into his pillow case.
"I'm surprised you're even getting candy when you're not dressed up," Arthur commented. He glanced over at his friend before stopping, reaching behind him, and taking off the wings off of his costume. He grabbed Matthew and forced them onto his back.
"Hey! Hey, what are you doing?" Matthew cried.
"Stay still, you're going to crumple them," Arthur said as he attached the wings. He then reached into the pocket of his pink jumpsuit and pulled out a tube of glitter. He dumped it on top of Matthew's head as he yelped and tried to run away. Alfred watched in amusement and Peter continued on down the sidewalk, searching for a new house.
"What do you think you're doing?" Matthew huffed as he broke away from Arthur and stared down at his glittery clothes.
"You are now a fairy and I am no longer a pegasus- I am a unicorn. Is this still fitting into the deal, Alfred?" Al nodded and approached Matt.
"Glitter suits you," the teen commented with a smirk. Matthew pouted and stomped off down the sidewalk, his pillowcase over his shoulder.
"Dude, you are amazing," Alfred whispered to Arthur.
"Does that mean I get seventy dollars?" Arthur asked hopefully as he stuffed the empty glitter tube into his pocket.
"Nope!" Alfred took off down the sidewalk to catch up with Matt and Peter as they rang the doorbell of another house.
"Arthur! I'm tired!" Peter whined. His little plastic pumpkin was filled with candy and it was far past the time when all of the kids his age had gone home. There were still a few lingering teens, but most of the porch lights had gone off. Arthur sighed, staring down into his brown paper sack that was half full. There was still a block and a half left to go and the majority of the lights along the sidewalk were still on. If they went back to his house to drop of Peter, the lights would be off by the time they came back, even if they sprinted.
"It is late…" Matthew commented. Matt didn't care about the rest of the houses. He was sick of people from his school, including teachers, seeing his sparkly costume and snickering. Also, it seemed that people laughed more at Matthew's costume than by Arthur's insane unicorn outfit. He just wanted the night to be over with, even if his pillow case wasn't full yet.
As for Alfred, he completely ignored Peter's complaints and paraded down the sidewalk, his pillowcase swinging. He would get to these last houses even if it killed him. The other boys had no choice but to follow after the teen, their feet aching.
"Trick or treat!" Alfred sang. By now, he was the only one saying this. The others were tired and found it confusing that Alfred was still so enthusiastic. The group waited for the door to open, but nothing happened.
"I said, trick or treat!" Alfred repeated, banging on the door. Somewhere deep inside the house, there was disturbing laugh and the boys glanced at one another. Suddenly, from above, the laugh was loud and clear.
"Kesesese! TRICK!" Down came a shower of colorful water balloons that burst as they hit the sidewalk, sending water spraying onto the boys. Peter shrieked and it was evident that he was near tears. Anger rose in Arthur's face while Alfred stared down at his soaked costume. As for Matthew, he had managed to dodge the onslaught of water balloons because he had taken off in fright when he had heard the laugh from above. He had always been jumpy on Halloween.
"Dude, what the heck is wrong with you?" Alfred yelped. He looked upwards to see a silver-haired boy hanging out of the second-story window. "Look what you did to my costume!" The boy was too busy doubling over in laughter to notice Alfred complaints.
"You bloody—" Arthur said, restraining himself due to Peter's young ears. "You made my brother cry!" Peter was, in fact, sitting on the ground bawling as he squeezed water out of his rabbit ears. His pumpkin was tipped over on the ground and Matthew was kneeling on the ground collecting the spilled candy and putting it back in the bucket.
"That wasn't nice of Gilbert at all, was it?" Matthew whispered to Peter who simply sniffled in reply. There was a loud bang and Matthew jumped, causing some of the candy in his hands to go flying. He glanced of his shoulder to see a bag of candy lying on the pavement in front of Alfred.
"And there's your treat," Gilbert cackled. "We had an extra bag and you were the last trick-or-treaters for the night. Happy Halloween!" The window then slammed shut and the curtains were drawn. The boys stared down at the bag of candy, eyes wide. Alfred reached down and picked it up like it was a fragile piece of glass that was worth millions.
"We hit the jackpot, dudes," Alfred said. He dropped the bag into his pillowcase and took off. "C'mon, let's get back to Arthur's so we can get our shares!" Arthur, Peter, and Matthew glanced at each other once before jumping up and running after their friend without another word.
After about an hour of fighting over who got what amount of candy, the goods were evenly distributed and everyone was happy. Arthur got his sixty dollars and happily dumped his costume in the garbage, Alfred was proclaimed the hero of the night for forcing the other boys to continue on to Gilbert's house, Peter got his candy, and Matthew finally got to rip off his wings and brush off as much glitter as he could. Each pillowcase was now near-full and all were satisfied. But there was still one act that was yet to be performed.
"Alfred…I'm not so sure about this…" Matthew whispered uncertainly. In his hands he had six eggs and in front of him was Carlos's house.
"Dude, he didn't give us any candy. That is not in the Halloween spirit. He deserves every egg he has to scrub off of his siding."
"You only say that because—"
"Yeah, I know, but I'd do it even if he didn't mistake you for me." Alfred cocked back one of his hands and sent an egg flying. It hit Carlos's house and cracked open and was quickly followed by another egg and then another and another. Soon, all of Al's eggs were gone and he was now reaching into his backpack for a roll of toilet paper. "Matt, if you're not going to throw the eggs, at least fork the lawn or something." The teen threw the toilet paper into the nearest tree and continued to do so until it was completely unraveled and the branches were covered in the white tissue. Matthew continued to stand on the sidewalk, though, frozen with the eggs in his hands. Al sighed and approached his friend before grabbing one of the eggs and chucking it. It hit the window with a crack and the yellow yolk dripped down the glass.
"Al, this isn't cool," Matt choked out. "We could get arrested."
"I know, but as I said before, Carlos deserves it. Now I'm going to fork the lawn. Just throw another egg or two and you can book it if you want to." Alfred took a bunch of forks from the pocket of Matthew's pack and began to stick them in various places on the Cuban's lawn. Matt still stood on the sidewalk. Slowly, he brought his arm back and chucked one of the eggs. It fell short and hit the concrete porch. Matthew gulped and he took another egg and threw it. It hit the door dead-on. He threw another egg and it fell short again, landing in the grass. Suddenly, there was a loud crash from within the house. Matt dropped his eggs, grabbed his candy and his bag, and ran away, leaving Alfred to his fate.
On Monday, Matthew found Alfred slumped in his seat in the back of their first period History class. He did not look pleased in the slightest.
"Um, Al…you look really—" Matt began.
"Pissed? Yeah, I am. You ditched me, bro!" Alfred cried.
"You told me I could run after I threw a few eggs, so I did!" Matthew replied angrily. He plopped down in his seat next to Al and crossed his arms.
"Well I thought you'd at least back me up." The teen pouted and slumped even lower in his seat. Matt sighed and reached into his bag.
"Well, did you get caught?"
"No. Carlos ran outside but I basically took off when I saw you running away. But still, my mom was pissed when she found all of the eggs and toilet paper missing."
"I'm sorry," Matt said. He pulled a handful of candy out of his bag and handed it to Alfred. "But you're still the hero of Halloween." Al's face lit up and he jumped up on his desk.
"Yes, I am the hero!" he yelled, and began laughing loudly. Matt smiled, content now that his friend was his usual, over-enthusiastic self.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!
A/N: I hoped you all liked it! Reviews are awesome!
Note: A pegasus is a legendary flying unicorn.