Day 7 of Taiora Week 2021. The theme is of course Halloween

This little short is inspired on a drawing I did a while back of Sora and baby Dawn dressed up for Halloween. I forgot to mention all the stories I did for Taiora Week are set in the same timeline as my Digimon 2.5 story, so I thought it was only right Dawn had to appear somewhere in one of the entries.

Thank you to everyone who has read, faved, liked etc all my entries for Taiora Week, including the drawings on deviantart. I really had a lot of fun working on each one :)

Trick or Treat?

"You're going to have to try a lot harder than that if you want to scare me."

Sora was already regretting saying those words. It was Halloween, and she knew after basically giving her husband a free pass to accept her ill-worded challenge she was going to be in for a day of distractions and having to keep her wits about her at all times. Not ideal when she had a whole morning of baking to do.

The tricks had started earlier that morning when she had gone to take a shower. When the bathroom had filled with steam from the hot water Tai, the night before Sora had presumed, wrote a message on the mirror with soap that was invisible until the glass had fogged and Sora had been greeted with the message 'I'm watching you' upon stepping out of the shower. Sora had berated his feeble attempt, criticizing its lack of scare factor and the fact he hadn't been imaginative enough to disguise his hand writing.

Tai had claimed he was just warming up, and after she had unfortunately told him he would need to try harder, she had seen a sparkle in his eyes and knew full well he was going to try and enjoy himself today. She partly couldn't blame him though as last year she had been nine months pregnant with their daughter, so they'd had to celebrate Halloween a little differently then. So now Tai had two Halloweens worth of mischief to get out of his system…

Their daughter Dawn would be turning one next month, so this was her first Halloween; another reason Sora suspected Tai would be in an even more playful and mischievous mood... She was too young to enjoy some of the festivities and events that were being held throughout the city; those would have to wait until she was a little older. Instead, they had decided to mark the occasion by hosting a little Halloween party that afternoon inviting their families.

The living room had already been decorated a week ago in black and orange, and the three recently carved pumpkins they had chosen on a visit to a nearby pumpkin patch two weeks ago were proudly displayed glowing softly by the balcony windows.

Tai was currently taking a shower, so Sora was taking the opportunity to get a start on her baking before the distractions began. She had three pumpkins worth of pulp to put to good use so she had looked up some recipes to make some Halloween treats for the party. As she got some ingredients from the cupboard, she could still hear the running water, which gave her the relief to know he was still in the bathroom for at least a few more minutes. As well as the mirror prank, he had also tried other attempts earlier; such as fake bugs in their bed and trying to jump out and scare her at least a couple of times.

As Sora prepared the ingredients, she suddenly flinched as she felt something touch her ankle… She looked down to see her daughter Dawn sat by her feet, smiling up at her. The little girl was already dressed in her adorable pumpkin outfit Sora had bought last month. The hat had been a tad too big though and kept slipping down over her eyes. Sora, who was also already dressed in her witch's outfit, smiled and bent down lifting her daughter up into her arms. "You scared me there pumpkin," she said. "-Which is more than what your Daddy's managed to do. I think he needs to learn a thing or two from you."

Only just last week Dawn had started to walk a couple of steps unaided, as well as stand whilst holding onto something; such as the side of the sofa. Now that she was getting more mobile, it warranted extra observation as she was turning into a curious child who would crawl into any space she could. Sora should have known with an energetic eleven month old and a mischievous husband in the apartment, baking some treats for the party was going to be easier said than done…

"Did you open the gate to your playpen again?" Sora asked, sitting her daughter down safely on top of the kitchen counter, to which she received a playful giggle in response. Sora glanced through into the living room to see Agumon, who had supposed to have been keeping watch, was napping on the sofa. "I think we've dressed you in the wrong costume. You're turning into a right little devil."

Her daughter babbled, now taking notice of all the different things that were surrounding her on the kitchen counter; particularly the bowl full of pumpkin pulp. She tried to reach for it, but her mother pushed it just out of reach.

"Well, if you promise to be good you can watch me bake for a little while." Sora said as she got the eggs from the refrigerator. "And that includes not kicking up a fuss later when it's time for your nap." She added.

At the mention of a nap, a word she understood yet couldn't say quite yet, the little girl's expression changed. Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout, and she frowned disapprovingly.

Sora couldn't help but laugh. She had seen that look all too many times before from her husband; and now her daughter had got his frown nailed down perfectly, which looked twice as adorable in her pumpkin costume. "Don't give me that look. It doesn't work for your father so it's not going to work for you."

"Da!" Dawn's expression suddenly changed, and she giggled pointing.

Firstly, Sora had assumed her daughter was merely trying to say dada after she had referred to him. But her pointing had told Sora otherwise. She smiled somewhat to herself before turning around, and as expected saw Tai had attempted to sneak up on her only to be caught out at the last second.

Tai sighed, his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Thanks a lot kiddo…" he moaned, to which the little girl smiled widely. He responded by playfully pulling her hat down over her eyes.

"Did you really think you could sneak up on me when our daughter is right there?" Sora said with an amused grin. She picked up her spatula and began to mix some of the ingredients together in a bowl.

"It was worth a try," Tai grumbled. He then stepped closer wrapping his arms around his wife's waist from behind, pulling her gently closer to him in an embrace. "You look cute in that outfit." He said.

Sora smiled. "And where's your costume?"

"The party isn't until this afternoon, I'll change later." Tai replied. He watched her for a moment, resting his cheek on the top of her head. "What are you baking anyway?"

"Well I have to make use of all the pulp we have left over. I thought I'd make some muffins and a pumpkin pie for this afternoon."

"Sounds good."

Sora continued mixing, until a realisation suddenly hit her. She stopped, turning whilst pushing her husband away breaking the embrace. "Don't even think about substituting the sugar for salt or anything whilst my back is turned." She warned, pointing her spatula at him.

"Hey, you know I love your baking Sor'. There's no way I'd sabotage that." Tai held his hands up in defence. "Besides, why would I sabotage something I'm going to enjoy later?"

Sora gave it to him he had made a fair point. Some of his pranks may have been childish but he wasn't daft enough to let them backfire on him. "Well, whilst you're here you can make yourself useful. I need baking powder for the muffins, could you go to the store and get some for me?"

"I thought we already have some in the cupboard?"

"That's soda. I need powder." Sora corrected.

"Are you sure? I'm positive it's powder."

Sora dropped her spatula into the bowl, crossing to the other side of the kitchen where they kept the herbs, spices and other cooking agents. "Be prepared to be proven wrong Tai because you'll find its-" as she opened the cupboard door, she suddenly took a sharp intake of breath as something black fell from the top, dangling in front of her and taking her a little by surprise; a fake spider hanging from a piece of thin thread. Even though she had her back to her husband, she could tell he was grinning proudly of his little trick. "Nice try." She frowned. Although she actually had to admit to herself it had been a rather good attempt as it had almost fooled her for a second; but she wasn't going to tell him that out loud…

"Okay, I'll go now I've had my fun." Tai said. "So, baking soda?"

"Powder."

Tai smirked at the snappy response he had received from his wife. He knew some of the traditional Halloween pranks wouldn't get by Sora. After all the Halloweens they had spent growing up together she was too smart for that now. But he knew he could just be as mischievous by bugging and testing her patience.

After Sora was confident he had left for the store, she turned her attention back to her baking. But in the midst of her husband's latest trick, Dawn had somehow gotten hold of the bowl with the muffin batter. She was sticking her hand in and eating it from her little fingers, getting most of it all over her face. Once she saw her mother had noticed, she stopped before giggling innocently. "You're going to grow up just like your father aren't you?" Sora commented with a raised eyebrow, to which her daughter simply grinned back cheekily. "C'mon, Mommy needs to bake." She said, picking the eleventh month old up off the counter top. "And whilst Daddy is out I need to get as much done as I can."

Dawn immediately whined, fidgeting in her mother's arms and pointing to the bowl.

"What?" Sora asked, but her daughter continued to complain. "You can't eat that. If you're hungry I'll give you a snack." She said, placing Dawn in her highchair that was at the end of the breakfast bar.

The little girl's face soon lit up when she was presented with a couple of blueberry wafers from her mother, which she excitedly accepted and began to eat.

Satisfied her daughter was occupied for at least a couple of minutes with one of her favourite snacks, Sora resumed her baking. Unable to continue with the muffins until Tai returned with the baking powder, she decided to turn her attention to the pumpkin pie; starting with the pastry. She managed to get quite a bit done in the short amount of time she had. As the convenience store was only at the corner of the street, it wasn't long before Tai returned just as she had finished rolling out the freshly made pastry.

"I'm back!" Tai announced. He soon reappeared, placing a shopping bag on the breakfast bar. "I also got a few more things for this afternoon. They had a whole display of Halloween themed foods."

"Did you at least get the baking powder?" Sora asked. She usually told him off when he would return from the store with extra snacks, but she was willing to forgive him on this occasion if he had brought back the one and only thing she asked. She watched him as he rummaged through the bag before pulling out a small box… a box that looked all too familiar to the one that was already in their cupboard… "Tai, do you ever listen to me? I said I wanted baking powder, not soda. I told you we already have soda. I ask you to get one simple thing and-" she stopped mid-sentence when she noticed her husband was grinning at her. "What?"

"Gotcha," he simply said, pulling out a box of baking powder from his jacket pocket and tossing it across to her.

Sora caught it easily, frowning disapprovingly at her husband. "Was that supposed to scare me?" she questioned. "I think you're losing your touch if that's the best you can come up with."

"Hey, Halloween's not just about being scary. It's all about tricks and playing jokes too."

"Well if you keep up with tricks like these you'll be getting no treats from me tonight," Sora threatened.

"Ah c'mon Sora… you can't begrudge a guy for trying,"

Sora folded her arms, leaning against the kitchen counter. "What do you think pumpkin?" she said to their daughter who was trying to chew one of the green leaves on her costume that was around the neckline. "Do you think we should let Daddy have a treat tonight?"

Dawn giggled, whilst also blowing a raspberry. "Boo!"

"My thoughts exactly." Sora grinned, earning a frown from her husband. "Still… you have tried this morning I'll give you that. Here," she picked up a small bowl of chocolate truffles. "I made these yesterday for the party. You can have one now if you like."

Never saying no to chocolate, and especially Sora's homemade chocolates, Tai happily accepted her offer without a second thought.

Sora watched him with anticipation as he went to eat it. She was disappointed at first to see he hadn't popped it straight in his mouth and eaten it in one go like he usually did with chocolates, instead opting to take half a bite out of it. But she couldn't contain her grin and satisfaction when he did; as straight away his expression changed in a flash and it was spat back out.

"Sor'! What did you put in them? These are-" about to criticize saying they tasted disgusting, Tai looked down at the half eaten truffle to see in the centre it was green and not chocolate. "-sprouts?!" he exclaimed in disbelief, looking across to his wife who was smiling triumphantly at him. It then dawned on him that she had pulled a trick on him. He had let his guard down for a second and she had got him. But that was one of the things Tai loved about Sora that she was just as sneaky and mischievous as he was at times.

Sora's grin turned into a snigger. "Sorry honey, but you weren't the only one trying to make up for last year."

Tai smiled somewhat retiring, before playfully pulling her closer to him in another embrace. "Fine. You can have this Halloween witchy, but just wait until next year." He warned.

Sora smiled, leaning up on her tip toes, kissing his lips. "I'll look forward to it."