AN: Started this awhile ago- now that it's October, I finally get to post it. Hah. Pairings are Squall/Irvine, Zell/Seifer- that means yaoi- so be forewarned. More chapters to come.

Squall furrowed his brow, scanning the room. God, he hated parties. If it wasn't mandatory for him to be in the ballroom at that moment, he definitely wouldn't be. And to make things worse, this was no ordinary party. This was a Halloween costume party, organized, of course, by Selphie. It seemed as if everyone in Garden was there, all dressed up in silly outfits. Squall refused to dress up, however, so he merely donned his usual leather/belt ensemble.

Taking another long sip of the apple cider he held in his hand, he looked for any familiar faces among the crowd. Raijin, dressed as a lumberjack, was at the far end of the room, chatting with a pirate Fujin. Squall couldn't hear what they were saying, but Raijin must have said something wrong, for Fujin gave him a swift kick in his shin and sauntered off. Xu, a French maid, was handing out glasses of punch and pumpkin cookies to the hungry guests at the refreshment table. A mummified Nida took a glass from Xu's hand, his eyes pausing a little too long on Xu's exposed cleavage. Squall rolled his eyes.

All of a sudden, Squall felt something sharp on his neck. He let out a cry of surprise, before he turned his head around and realized it was just Irvine behind him, dressed as a vampire. His outfit was complete with a pair of plastic fangs, which he obviously thought would be funny planted into Squall's collarbone.

"What are you doing?" Squall hissed.

Irvine grinned and wrapped his arms around Squall's waist, planting his chin on Squall's shoulder. "I vant to suck your blood..."

"Cut that out!" Squall said, swatting at him.

Irvine detached from the smaller boy, noticing that his cheeks were flushed a bright red. He chuckled. "Oh come on, Squall. No one's even looking at us. Besides, I'm a vampire. It's what I'm supposed to do."

Squall smirked at him, crossing his arms. "I don't see what the point of this is. In about an hour we're going to have to change and fly to Winhill, anyway. You know Laguna summoned us there for a mission tonight."

Irvine shrugged. "You gotta learn to have some fun, Squall. Well, in public, anyway." He winked at him, before seeing Selphie out of the corner of his eye. "Selphie!" he yelled, running after her. "I vant to suck your blood!"

Squall shook his head.

"No costume, huh?" a voice asked him. Squall turned his head, and nearly jumped out of his skin. There was Headmaster Cid, dressed as a sad clown.

Cid chortled. "Startled you?"

Squall looked at him through narrowed eyes. "No..."

"The Ragnarok is all ready in the hangar for you, Squall. When you need to leave for Winhill, it'll be all ready."

"Thanks."

Squall watched as Edea approached them. She was wearing a long, flowing Medieval gown in a brilliant shade of blue. Her long, raven-colored hair was in a thick braid. "Hello, Squall," she nodded, regarding him.

"Hello, Matron."

"I think Rinoa was looking for you," Cid offered. "Anyways, we're going to be making the rounds. See you later, Squall." Cid and Edea walked off, leaving Squall to contemplate just how much he hated the Headmaster. Of course, he didn't have much time to think about that, because it registered that Rinoa was looking for him, meaning he most likely wouldn't have any peace for the rest of the night.

And sure enough, a good ten seconds after Cid and Edea left, Squall heard his name being called in a cheerful female voice. Rinoa bounded up to him, donning an overly puffy pink gown, gossamer wings, and a silver tiara. She held a star-topped wand between her thin fingers, waving it madly through the air.

"Awww," she said, pouting. "No costume?"

"I don't wear costumes," Squall said simply, raising his cider glass to his lips.

Rinoa laughed her trademark giggle. "I didn't think Seifer or Quistis would either, and just look at them." She pointed over to a table where Quistis was sitting, dressed as a turquoise harem dancer. She was surrounded by six or seven Trepies, all ogling her. Quistis looked a bit peeved, but Squall knew she secretly liked the attention. If not, she wouldn't have worn... that.

"Seifer's dressed up?" Squall asked, curious, taking another sip.

"Yeah. He's dressed as a police officer. And he's bullying poor Zell again, who's unfortunately dressed as a bandit... Seifer's been chasing him around with a pair of handcuffs all night."

Squall nearly spit up his drink, coughing into the glass. They didn't.

"You okay?" Rinoa asked him, trying to pat him on the back.

"I'm fine," Squall replied, regaining his composure. "Will you excuse me for a moment?"

Rinoa opened her mouth to protest, but Squall was already gone.

"Fujin! I vant to suck your bloo-ahh!" Squall grabbed Irvine by the back of his cape collar, which was actually rather fortunate, considering Fujin probably would have kicked him anyway.

"Squall, what's up?" Irvine asked as Squall dragged him to the nearby exit.

"We have to find Zell and Seifer... now."

"Eh?"

The couple walked out into the hall, looking for the two blondes. A few seconds later, there came loud squeals from one end of the hall, as Zell ran by, clad in black and white stripes. A few steps behind him ran Seifer in a blue uniform, brandishing a nightstick in one hand and twirling handcuffs around his pointer finger of his other hand. "You've been a bad boy, Dincht," he was menacing through a thick grin.

Irvine blinked. "I think I need a shower. A cold shower. A shower so cold the water becomes icicles and they pierce my eyeballs and go into my brain to erase this mental picture that now torments my existence."

Zell was still running in circles at his point, giggling madly with Seifer on his tail. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed Squall and Irvine standing there- Seifer nearly running into him.

"Oh, uh, hi guys!" Zell chirped abashedly.

"What the hell are you DOING?" Squall asked incredulously.

Zell fidgeted. "Having... a happy... Halloween?"

Squall crossed his arms. "And what if someone gets suspicious? You want everyone to know about you guys?"

"No..." Zell said.

"Then stop chasing each other around like moombas in heat!" Irvine scolded.

Zell and Seifer looked at their shoes. "Sorry."

Squall sighed. "Well, it's almost time to head for Winhill, anyway."

"Let's all head back to the party, eh?" Irvine suggested. "I have a feeling Selph is going to throw a fit if she notices we snuck out."

"Beware the wrath of Selphie..." Zell mumbled under his breath as he trudged back into the ballroom with the other three boys in tow.

"There you are!" Selphie said, running up to the boys. She was wearing a pink poodle skirt, and a large white sweater with a large "S" embroidered on it. On her feet were black and white saddle shoes, and around her neck was a pink chiffon scarf. She smiled warmly. "Thought you boys ran away."

"Course not, Selph," Irvine said, putting an arm around her, to Squall's noticeable discontent. "You know that you and the Garden Festival committee throw the best parties."

Selphie grinned and shoved him off. "Yeah, yeah." She looked to Squall. "How much longer 'til we get to go meet Sir Laguna?"

Squall shook his head, smiling faintly. He still found it odd that Selphie referred to his bumbling oaf of a father as "Sir". Then again, it was Selphie, and he was used to her crazy antics.

"Less than an hour. You people should get changed soon." He crossed his arms.

"Why does Laguna want us in Winhill anyway?" Zell asked.

Squall shrugged. "He just said he wants the entire orphanage gang to meet him there tonight. Rinoa was invited too. Something about a case... mission... whatever."

Selphie giggled. "Sir Laguna's so silly!"

"Whatever," Squall mused.