A Brief Summary: Never having trick-or-treated before, Melvin's a little out of the loop on what to do when he goes with George and Harold. Continuing the kindness they started, the two are more than willing to teach him. (The trick-or-treating/friendship scene we all deserved.)

While I loved the ending of the Hack-a-Ween special (because of course I did, I'm a Melvin fan), I do feel like it ended right before the best part of all my boys hanging out and being friends. So I'm attempting to rectify that with this added "epilogue" of sorts to the special.

Also, a note on continuity, in case anyone cares: since Halloween was restored at the end of the special, I figured they'd end up going Trick-or-Treating rather than Sneak-or-Snacking. Also, you know, Melvin Trick-or-Treating for the first time was too good of an opportunity to pass by.

"That's not how you do it"

"Yeah, Melvin" added Harold, in a more gentle tone than George had used, "You don't have to ring the bell if they just left a bowl out. You just...take the candy".

Ignoring the bowl, and walking down the steps of the house empty-handed, Melvin retorted defensively, "Well how was I supposed to know that? Why wouldn't I ring the doorbell? That's how trick-or-treating works" he added under his breath, not wanting to admit that he had little to no idea what he was doing, "At least, that's how it's worked at every other house. This is my first time trick-or-treating, after all".

George and Harold were surprised at the admission, "Wait" asked George hoping he had just misunderstood what Melvin meant (which happened often enough), "You mean that you've never been trick-or-treating at all?"

"We just thought that you've never gone with anyone" added Harold worriedly, "You've never gone even by yourself?"

"Well, no" replied Melvin embarrassedly. He had always assumed that everyone knew that and were intentionally not inviting him, that's why he was so angry at Halloween. Trick-or-treating alone as an activity was never the point. "If I can't eat the candy, and have no one to go with, why would I bother?"

"I don't know," suggested Harold uncertainly, "For the experience? Or something like that?"

"But" persisted George, scratching his head at how Melvin was already almost 10 and had somehow never tried trick-or-treating, "Wouldn't your parents take you? We saw your mom, she said she really liked Halloween".

Melvin just shrugged at the question and turned away from the conversation, determinedly walking towards another house. George and Harold shared a look at his sudden quiet and decided it would just be better to drop it.

"Well, that's alright" said George, catching up with Melvin and moving in front of him to face him, "We can just show you! I mean, trick-or-treating's not that hard".

As they continued towards the next house, George gestured at the door, suggesting eagerly, "Why don't you lead at the next house? Just ring the doorbell, and when they answer it say 'trick-or-treat'. And, boom, free candy".

"Yes I understand the basic concept", snarked Melvin, rolling his eyes but with no real anger in his tone, "I have been paying attention while we've been doing this".

"Alright then!" cheered George, giving him a shove towards the doorstep, "Go get 'em!"

Fiddling with the edges of his borrowed cape, he stumbled towards the door, suddenly irrationally nervous. What if I do something wrong? He started to worry, What if I accidentally actually eat the candy and make myself sick again? What if I do do something wrong, and George and Harold don't want to go trick-or-treating with me anymore?

Taking a steadying breath, he reached up and rang the doorbell. A simple concept he reminded himself, ring the bell, say trick-or-treat, adult puts candy in the bucket. It is literally elementary.

The door opened, and an adult dressed as an astronaut stood in the doorway holding a bowl of candy and looking at him expectantly.

"Trick-or-treat…?" he tried to say in a strong voice, but his nerves got the better of him and the sentence tapered off. Looking back, he saw George giving him an encouraging thumbs-up. Harold held his treat bag out from himself exaggeratedly, and Melvin realized that he was supposed to do the same. Belatedly he turned back towards the adult and offered his hastily-bought pumpkin bucket.

Behind their cheap plastic helmet, the astronaut gave an amused smile (which was hopefully a good thing?), "Well, a scientist super-hero. That's not something you see every Halloween. Here ya go" Melvin kept his mouth shut while the grown-up put a handful of candy in his bucket, even though he wanted to say that the scientist part wasn't really a costume. But he knew that insulting the people giving out free things was not how one trick-or-treated.

Instead he just said thank you and stepped down onto the pathway, the adult behind him calling out "Happy Halloween!"

Leaving the house, Melvin looked thoughtfully at the bucket of candy he couldn't eat. For once this actually was a happy Halloween for him, and because of George and Harold, no less. He was actually out here being the trick-or-treater instead of the candy giver, and he had acquaintances (not friends, he couldn't get ahead of himself) to go trick-or-treating with. It was a vast improvement from the years past spent practically alone in his house watching everyone else be happy.

"Hey! You did great!" greeted Harold when he rejoined the group.

George tipped the edge of the bucket, peeking inside, "Let's see what you got! Hmm Crunch bars, not bad, not bad. And Kitkats, a classic".

"If you say so" Melvin replied, obviously not having any context to confirm or deny George's assessment of his candy acquisition. George and Harold got to comparing their stashes, and debating on which candies were the best, and he suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotion. Happiness, being one of them, and something he was very unused to on this particular day. And guilt being the other one. How could he have tried to destroy this? Now that he was actually having fun, he could see how Halloween mattered so much to people. He quickly said, before he could stop to think about it, "I really am sorry. About all of the monsters and trying to destroy Halloween".

George and Harold stopped short in their debate, and George waved it off, "It's ok. We kinda get it. Doesn't make it less of a jerk move, but we get it".

"And for what it's worth" added Harold looking strangely guilty as well, "we're sorry too. We didn't exactly make Halloween fun for you the last few years."

"Yeah" followed George, seeing what Harold was saying, even though he had never thought about it before himself, "I guess I can kinda see how a Halloween that's all trick and no treat might kinda suck". Shrugging, he added casually, "Oh, well. Water under the fence now, right?"

"That's not-" he started to criticize but then decided that it wouldn't be worth it. He didn't want to ruin this new rapport (not a friendship, he cautiously warned himself) so quickly. It was a miracle that he didn't understand that they had invited him trick-or-treating (eh, sneak-or-snaking but that was a mere technicality) in the first place, and now even more of a miracle that they were apologizing. "Thank you" he blurted out instead, unsure of what to say.

"Sure! This can be another fresh start for us" encouraged Harold.

*Fresh Start!*

"Enough sappy stuff!" cried George, slamming a fist into his open palm, "Let's go get free food! Charge!" he shouted, running in the direction of another house.

"George, wait up!" yelped Harold, jogging after him. Melvin just shook his head at the both of them and walked after the two. He certainly wasn't going to be running when he was supposed to be having fun. His superhero name may have been Melvinhaler, but that didn't mean that he wanted to have to use his inhaler. And for once, he found he actually trusted George and Harold to not ditch him. He couldn't say why, since all previous evidence suggested that they would leave as soon as he was no longer standing right next to them, but he did. Maybe this was a fresh start for real this time.

His feeling was validated when he made it to another house, and George and Harold were standing on the street in front instead of rushing ahead, clearly waiting for him.

"Finally" groaned George in (hopefully) mock exasperation, "You took like forever to get here"

"I took approximately fifteen seconds longer," he retorted.

"I really think it was longer than that. But, whatever, let's go!" George and Harold shot up the porch steps and, once again, Melvin followed behind them. He was having a good time, but still wasn't 100% confidant in his trick-or-treating abilities. Better to let George and Harold, with their limitless energy and years of expertise take the lead.

At least, that was his plan, but the two of them apparently were not content to let him take a backseat during his first time trick-or-treating, and quickly pulled him to stand right between them while Harold rang the house's doorbell.

They did a similar thing at the next houses, making sure that they all faced the door together while ringing bells or knocking on doors. As the night went on, they even slowed their pace to match his, walking beside him from house to house, carrying on conversations about George and Harold things. The topics never interested him, mainly, but every now and again it drifted into territories where he could contribute something. (Evidently neither of them had known he had a fondness for Star Wars. The moment he mentioned the series both George and Harold's eyes lit up.

"So you can like normal kid things!" Harold exclaimed. He tried to not let himself be offended by that, and instead attempted to build off of this new-found common ground.)

The night passed by, and soon the last of the porchlights and jack-o-lanterns had gone dark. While Harold stood laughing in the middle of the street at the costume the adult at the last house had been wearing, and George dramatically joked about its potential backstory, Melvin awkwardly looked around and wondered what happened next. The trick-or-treating was clearly coming to an end, but he wasn't certain if that meant it was time for him to return home. But he could think of nothing else he could do here, so taking off the cape he handed it back to Harold, saying, "Thank you, again, for all of this. I suppose I'll be going home now".

Holding the cape, Harold looked at Melvin with a disappointed frown, "You're leaving?"

"Well, yes. We have finished trick-or-treating."

"But you're going to miss one of the best parts!" exclaimed George, taking the cape from Harold and giving it back to him. Sharing a look with Harold, and Harold nodding as if answering a question that only the two of them could hear, George added cryptically, "Follow us. There's one more house for you to visit".

"Okay?"

As he followed behind George and Harold, a small part of him started to fear that this was going to be one of their tricks after all. They had been nice so far this night, but he couldn't help but feel paranoid as they lead him blindly to parts unknown. The fact that they were sharing excited grins didn't help his anxiety.

That fear dissolved a little as he started to recognize the area they were walking through. This looked like George and Harold's street. The three of them turning towards two houses that stood side by side, the edges of a treehouse visible behind the roof of the house, he realized that this WAS their street.

"You're inviting me over to your house?" he couldn't help but gasp. Trick-or-treating was one thing, but being invited over was so much more personal. It was like an actual friend thing.

"Sure, why not? We've been to your place often enough" replied George, clearly not understanding the weight his offer held for Melvin, who had never been to anyone's house except for his own.

"Every Halloween, after we finish trick-or-treating, George and I dump out all of our candy in the treehouse, watch some scary movies, and, uh, you know" he decided not to mention that one of their evening activities was organizing a yearly trick on Melvin. If they learned anything from this crazy day it was that it was probably time they broke that tradition. "So that's what we're gonna do. Can't let you have an incomplete first trick-or-treating experience".

He was stunned to silence as they walked up the path to George's house. First being invited along for trick-or-treating, and now George wanting him over at his house? When did the two of them start to care so much, he wondered.

Cutting, through George's house, George shouted out as they entered, "Mom we're back! Me, Harold, and my buddy Melvin are going to the treehouse"

A voice responded from another room, "Ok sweetie. Just be in bed by 9, ok?"

"Mooom" groaned George, "It's Halloween, come on!"

Mrs Beard chuckled, then conceded, "9:30 then. Have fun"

As they approached the treehouse, Melvin looked up at the ladder with some trepidation. George and Harold shot up it effortlessly, even while holding heavy bags of candy. For them the act was muscle memory by now. Melvin struggled up the ladder after them, taking lengthy pauses between laboriously pulling himself up a wrung. Normally he wouldn't bother to put himself through such torture, but being allowed - invited, even- into the headquaters of Treehouse Comix inc was exceptional enough an occasion for him to make an effort for it. Finally pulling himself inside the treehouse, he looked around the space. The walls were covered in posters, the room strewn with very...George and Harold knicknacks, and the two friends were laid down on the floor amongst gigantic piles of candy. He looked between the two of them and and stiffly sat crosslegged across from them, his bucket at his side.

"Go ahead and dump that sucker" grinned George enthusiastically, looking up at him from where he was sorting piles of treats.

"Excuse me?"

"The bucket. It's waaaayy easier to sort through everything if you dump it out. Trust us" explained Harold.

"Alright" he agreed as he tenitavely up-ended his candy bucket, at this point too outside of his familiar territory to distrust Harold's word. "You two do, admittedly, understand this better than I do". But even as he said that, internally he cringed at the chaotic mess he had made.

"Ok" Harold added informatively, his finger pointed authoritatively in the air, "Now that you have it out you can-" he was about to explain about the intricacies of proper candy sorting, but looking at Melvin he realized that he was already doing just that; setting bars into neat stacks, organizing the packages into specific piles, and setting aside the rare treat that wasn't candy.

"Never mind" he said instead, amused and a bit proud of their "student", "You've got it".

"I do?" responded Melvin in surprise, but immediately covering up his doubtful reply by saying, with an attempt at confidence, "Well, of course I do. Organization is one of my strong suits".

Shaking his head at the remark, Harold went back to sorting through his own pile, placing them in stacks that ranged from "favorite" to "ok" to "garbage candy".

"Ew, carrot sticks?!" he exclaimed when he found a small package of what he had thought was candy corn buried in the pile, "What kind of sick adult would give out carrot sticks?!"

Looking up from where he had been focused on sorting the candies by type, Melvin gave him a sceptical look, "Well, you two did make it Hack-a-Ween. It only makes sense that they would be a little confused." Placing yet another lolipop he couldn't eat into an ever-growing hoard he added, "And I fail to see what's so wrong with carrots, anyway. At least I would be able to eat them" he grumbled under his breath as he surveyed his pitifully small collection of treats he could actually enjoy. So far it consisted of a bag of pretzels, a popcorn ball, and a rice krispie treat. And that was in questionable territory given the sheer amount of marshmallow in it.

Considering this, and looking between Melvin and the disgusting vegetables, Harold got an idea. A chance to further the trick-or-treating lesson and get rid of the carrots, "Well, would you like to trade?"

Melvin raised a brow at the question but didn't outright say no, so Harold continued, "I'll give em to you for...say...two bags of skittles".

Shrugging, Melvin grabbed the requested candy, and handed it over, agreeing, "Deal." Carrot sticks acquired he couldn't help but want to somehow make this arrangement more formal, "Is that all that's required? No form? Not even a handshake to seal the deal?"

"Trick-or-treat trading is a lot more chill than that. If I say 'ok' and you say 'ok', then it's ok".

"Ew" they heard George complain, holding up a similar-looking bag, "I can't believe some grown up gave me celery sticks." Looking around, he asked desperately, "Anyone want to trade?"

Harold laughed and the question, and Melvin awkwardly joined him. They spent well over an hour sorting and trading, and listening to "spooky" music (Melvin thought most of the songs were childish and uninspired, but George and Harold insisted that they were "traditional"). Frankly Melvin enjoyed this part almost more than the actual trick-or-treating. It was quiet, didn't require physical activity, and was entirely centered around organizing items and negotiating deals. So he surprisingly found himself disappointed as the trio heard Mrs Beard called out, "Five minutes left kids! Better start packing up!"

"It would appear it's once again time for me to go home". Melvin said, gathering his treats and putting them back into his bucket. Through generous trading he managed to get a decently sized pile of non-candy. He wasn't sure what he would do with the things he couldn't eat, but he'd figure it out.

Harold groaned, throwing a hand over his face as he laid dramatically on the ground, "George, your mom seriously can't let us stay up any later?"

"Not likely" replied George, scooping up his own hoard of candy and swiping away the empty wrappers of pieces eaten along the way.

Untying the cape for the second time that night, Melvin once again gave it back to Harold. Sitting up, Harold considered the disguise and pushed it back into Melvin's hands. "Keep it." he said kindly, before immediately getting a bit embarrassed, "Well, er, I mean. I know it's technically just a towel, but, you know, you never know when the world might need the Spinoffs again. And we...wouldn't be able to be the Spinoffs without Melvinhaler, right?"

"Can't be a superhero without a cape" chimed in George matter-of-factly.

"Right" Melvin replied, but it came out more like a question. George and Harold's actions this night had been confusing, but this took the cake. In case they needed the Spinoffs again? As in, George and Harold would actually consider having his company again?

"Welp" said Harold grabbing his candy and giving a quick fake salute, apparently oblivious to the the effect that his generous action had had on Melvin (who was now just staring at the cape in his hand in something resembling shock), "See you guys tomorrow".

"Later" replied George, waving goodbye.

Tearing his eyes away from the now no-longer-just-borrowed cape, instead Melvin watched Harold slide down the ladder as he tied it back around his shoulders. Grabbing his own bucket, he offered George a hesitant wave and started to climb down the ladder as well.

"See you at school tomorrow, Melvinhaler," said George with a smile and returning his wave with a significantly more enthusiastic one.

Melvin paused in his climbing, and gave George a slight smile in return. "And I suppose I'll see you as well."

After he slowly returned to the ground, Melvin hugged his pumpkin-bucket to his chest and found he couldn't stop smiling. Walking back home, he kept smiling; reflecting that this had been a fantastic night despite how the day had started out. He had gotten to trick-or-treat like everyone else for the first time, was invited over to another kid's house, and had actually had fun in George's treehouse.

It was, for once, a Happy Halloween indeed.

Epilogue

Despite the momentousness of the previous night, the next school day went very much like any other. (Except perhaps for the fact that his classmates were avoiding him more, but since they hardly ever talked to him anyway Melvin frankly didn't notice their cold shoulders.) That is, until lunch, anyway.

He was sitting at his usual spot, alone and quiet in the corner, simultaneously working on the homework that was due the next day and looking over the blueprints for his inanimanitator 2000 in the hopes of repairing (and likely improving) it , when his table suddenly became less alone and quiet.

"Hey Melvin" greeted Harold, setting down his brown bagged lunch as Melvin stared at him. He continued to stare as George followed right after his friend, sitting down across from the previously lone inventor.

"What's up" asked George casually.

"What are you two doing here?" asked Melvin, trying to make sense of the fact that other people were actually sitting at his table at lunch, and deciding that there had to be some kind of ulterior motive. George and Harold had just been being too nice to him. Surely they wanted something. They were only nice to him when it was convenient for them.

"Just saying 'hi'" replied Harold, taking a bite out of his sandwich which may or may not have been made out of Halloween candy. "Las nigh' waf a lot of fun" he continued to say as he ate his lunch.

"Don't talk with your mouth full. It's disgusting!" criticized Melvin-both disgusted by Harold's behavior and still confused by why they were sitting here and wanting to sidetrack.

Turning to George, he voiced his doubts out loud, "You two are seriously sitting here purely because you wanted to say 'hi' to me?"

"Actually, yeah" replied George, digging into his own-but equally sugary to Harold's- lunch. "Last night we realized that when you aren't being awful you're actually ok to hang out with."

"I take it I'm supposed to consider that a compliment," said Melvin, not sure if he should feel offended at the "awful" comment or touched at the suggestion that George had actually enjoyed his company.

"Oh, wait," exclaimed Harold as he dug in his backpack to look for something, "We actually did have another reason for sitting at your table!" Fishing around a little longer, Harold finally retrieved what looked like a pile of papers, and handed them to Melvin. "This is for you".

Grabbing it, Melvin vaguely looked over the unexpected gift. "One of your comics? Wow, thanks" he replied sarcastically, not understanding what made it so urgent for him to read this when he would have gotten ahold of it later anyway.

"No. It's our comic" clarified Harold, pointing out the details of the cover art, "It's a copy of the special Spinoffs comic we made last night. George and I figured you should have a copy, since you're a part of it and all".

Melvin regarded the comic with a new appreciation. It is nice to have a comic where I'm not the villain for once, he considered. He may have been there when it was written, and to a certain extent lived the events of the comic, but all the same he looked forward to reading it later.

"Well, in that case, thank you " he replied more genuinely, flipping through the pages and fully expecting the two of them to leave now that their business was concluded. To his surprise, George and Harold stayed where they were. Before he could think any further on their strange behavior, George suddenly asked, seemingly to no one in particular, "So, who would win in a fight, General Grievous or Kylo Ren?"

"Kylo Ren is a joke of a villain," argued Melvin immediately, his attention instantly fixed on the subject, making him forget to question why George was here or was asking anything. "Even a dysfunctioning cyborg like Grievous could defeat him".

Melvin was so involved in debating the results of the theoretical battle, that he didn't notice George and Harold's shared grins. Before he could elaborate why he was correct, diving into the important complexities of lore and canon, Harold light-heartedly countered, "But Kylo Ren can, like, freeze lasers with the Force! General Grievous can't even use the force".

Before he even realized what was happening, Melvin ended up spending the rest of lunch conversing with George and Harold instead of doing homework or even working on his invention-even after the topic had turned away from Star Wars.

When the bell finally rang, sending them all back to their classes, George and Harold grabbed their things and left as if this were a completely normal occurrence and nothing remarkable had happened at all, giving him cheery waves as they stood up. He decided he would just have to give up on trying to make sense of why they were deciding to be nice to him all of the sudden.

When he left at his own pace, a moment after his two unexpected lunch mates had gotten up, Melvin tucked his things back into his bag, occasionally glancing in the direction that George and Harold had left and still amazed and confused that that had actually just happened. The comic he packed up last, staring at the cover with a kind of happy pride, before putting it in a pocket of its own with extra care. A part of him hoped that that comic was a signifier of better things to come.

Here, any fellow Melvin fans, hope you liked reading this as much as I liked writing it. R&R, I always enjoy having reviews.

(Side note: can't remember which book it's in, but Melvin liking Star Wars comes from him having a poster of Darth Vader in his room. The way I see it, if book canon isn't directly contradicted by the show, I just apply one to the other. It also seemed like something all three of them could bond over and use as a common ground. At least until Melvin proclaims his strong anti-Disney stance, and then marks George and Harold as low brow heretics for liking the Sequel Trilogy.)