"It's a silly tradition."

Licking the spoon clean, Éponine adds a dusting of icing sugar to the last of the toffee apples.

"Well you're a silly man, but we can't have everything."

Enjolras frowns at her from behind his newspaper, spectacles balanced daintily upon the bridge of his nose.

"I just don't see why October 31st means we have to buy sweets for every kid in the neighbourhood and dress up like buffoons."

"'Buffoons'?!"

The door bell rings and Éponine squeals in excitement, straightening her pointed hat and dashing for the door, ignoring the roll of her boyfriend's eyes above the Daily Gazette.

The kitchen is suddenly filled with excited voices as she returns with Cosette and Marius, who, to Marius' dismay and Enjolras's utter delight, have arrived dressed in matching cat outfits.

"We left it a bit late to buy our costumes."

"Nice tail." Enjolras smirks at his red-faced friend, wincing as Éponine swishes past him with a sharp pinch at his elbow.

"Be nice."

"Oh, we know what he's like," Cosette titters. "That mask on the door is scary by the way..."

"Enjolras likes to frighten the trick-or-treaters," Éponine sighs. "He loves the whole thing really, just indirectly so."

"I don't love it, Éponine. The mask is there as a deterrent to them, nothing more."

"Well what's the point of having all these candies if-"

They all start as a chorus of high-pitched squeals sound in the night, followed by the patter of little running feet in the driveway.

"And I don't see why you have to have the damn thing rigged to light up when they reach the porch."

Lowering his newspaper, Enjolras opens his mouth to argue, when the kitchen door swings open and he is interrupted by the arrival of zombie-Jehan and Joly, who is white as a ghost beside him.

"That mask nearly gave us a heart attack! We would've lost Joly with all those kids if I hadn't grabbed him back-"

Jehan dumps a packet of Hallowe'en snacks on the table and plops down in the seat next to Marius, who has begun to chew on the end of his tail.

Éponine gushes over his choice of costume, but her face falters as she turns her attention to Joly in his plain white coat. "And yours is...yours is great too. Um, what are you supposed to be again?"

"A witch doctor!" Joly perks up in his seat and stares around happily at all of their blank faces, pulling a glittering wooden stick from the pocket of his white overalls and brandishing it excitedly.

"Get it? A witch...doctor. For Hallowe'en. Because I'm a doctor. Which is also a witch. As in witch doctor. Would've been better if I had had my stethoscope too, of course, but I never thought of it at the time."

The awkward silence is broken as the door bell rings once more, and three more of their friends enter the tiny kitchen behind a beaming Éponine; Combeferre (the vampire), Courfeyrac (Napoleon) and Grantaire (in an oddly familiar red jacket and black necktie.)

"Guess who I am?!"

Grantaire pulls a sombre face and sticks his nose in the air with a pompous flourish, and the room erupts in laughter.

"Hey, why aren't you dressed up, Chief?"

"He is dressed up, he came as a bad mood."

Enjolras glowers at Éponine, and turns to Grantaire, who is now stuffing his face with chocolate peanuts.

"Some of us have better things to do than rifle through our friends' wardrobes, 'Taire. The jacket and tie better be all you've taken."

"That's enough." Éponine reprimands. "Now who wants a toffee apple? I think they're ready-"

"Oh, me!"

In his haste, Joly knocks the tray flying from Éponine's hands, and they all gasp as toffee apples soar through the air in all directions.

Cosette shrieks indignantly as one of the sugared treats gets caught in her hair, and everyone watches in shocked amusement as Marius whips round to help her, tail flying out and catching Courfeyrac square in the eye.

"OW!"

Shoving a cackling Grantaire to the side, Jehan lunges for some ice from the freezer, and Éponine, hat askew, grabs a pair of scissors and rushes to help a wailing Cosette, whilst Combeferre slaps a hand to his face in the uproar.

The front porch suddenly lights up once more and a deafening chorus of screams sound outside, stunning the group out of their hysteria.

"Oh for god's sake, that bloody mask!" Éponine groans, reaching out to pat Cosette's shoulder, whose own howls have dwindled to a shaky silence.

Enjolras glances in amusement at each of his jittery friends in turn, before reaching languidly for the last remaining toffee apple and taking up his newspaper again.

"You know," he smirks, "I'm starting to quite like Hallowe'en."