"I still can't believe I let you talk me into this." Nicholas glared at his reflection in the mirror, looking at himself dressed as Dracula.
"You look good," Sören said, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. "Very appropriately spooky for Spooky Christmas." Sören was in the habit of calling Halloween "Spooky Christmas".
Nicholas rolled his eyes, though with more teasing affection than annoyance. "You know nothing, Jon Snow."
Nicholas wore a simple dark cape over a black tunic and trousers, and a set of artificial fangs. Sören's costume was by contrast much more elaborate - a faux-fur cloak with a breastplate over a tunic and breeches, his hair up in a "man bun". The sword strapped to Sören's side was real - and he knew how to use it - but anyone who came by the house would probably assume it was a replica, albeit a very nice one, not a plastic dollar store sword. Nicholas privately thought Sören looked very sexy, though Nicholas thought Sören looked lovely in just about anything... but since Sören had insisted he dress up like Dracula, Nicholas had insisted Sören become the King in the North for the evening, and he considered that one of the better decisions he'd ever made.
Everyone had good costumes. Yeyette was dressed as Black Widow from the Avengers, in a leather catsuit, her red curls worn loose. DeKalb was dressed as a knight, with real chainmail armor. Victor was wearing a reproduction of a French Revolution outfit. Dara, who kept insisting he was not Irish, was dressed as an ancient Gaelic warrior in an authentic-looking garb, "none of that paint-your-face blue shite," he'd said.
Ryu was dressed as an actual cinnamon roll, after the nickname Sören had given him. Hiro the dog wore a chef hat and a box that said "Sausage Shoppe", though he would be giving away Tootsie Rolls and Laffy Taffy instead of sausages.
Maglor and Palcë weren't wearing costumes, but trick-or-treaters would assume they were. Maglor was unglamoured, the full true length of his raven-black hair falling to his thighs, some of his hair tucked behind his ears to reveal the pointy tips. His eyes were of an unnatural silver with gold and blue flash, like they were made of labradorite; people would think they were really good contacts and not know that it was real. He had some outfits from thousands of years ago that were still well-preserved thanks to Elven magic and not wearing them often, and he looked like a king in his ocean blue robe trimmed with embroidery of iridescent silver knotwork on the sleeves and collar and hem, over a deeper blue tunic with more elaborate silver embroidery, a pattern of silver roses, and silken dark blue breeches. He had small teardrop-shaped blue jewels dangling from his ears and a circlet of silver metal - Nicholas guessed it was mithril - set with seven of the same blue stones. Palcë's outfit was just as ancient but less flashy: dark leather armor and a cloak and a scowl more fearsome than his sword. His silvery-white hair hung to the middle of his back, some pulled into a tail. He resisted Sören's offer of an orange scrunchie with black bats on it; Nicholas wondered how Sören had even gotten that sort of thing, it didn't look like something Yeyette would wear in her hair.
Anthony came out from the bathroom and Nicholas gave him a disapproving look - Anthony was just wearing a dark blue button-down shirt and faded jeans.
"Cornelius, where is your costume?" Nicholas narrowed his eyes. Anthony certainly looked handsome, but he stuck out like a sore thumb.
"This is my costume." Anthony casually sipped the tea that was waiting for him. "I'm a serial killer. They look like everyone else."
"I love how you said 'they', like you don't have a body count." Sören snickered.
"Killing demons doesn't really count, does it?" Anthony cocked his head to one side.
"Or Peeps." Sören bit the head off of a Peep ghost.
"Sören, stop eating those horrid things." Nicholas made a face. He loved Sören dearly, but some of his tastes were... questionable.
"Shan't." Sören put the rest of it in his mouth and reached for another.
"Sören, you do need to stop for a minute." Yeyette put a hand on her hip. "Your costume isn't complete yet."
"Oh god." Sören facepalmed and snorted, shaking with silent laughter. "Do I have to?"
"Yes, you have to. A bet is a bet."
Sören followed Yeyette upstairs, and when they came down, Sören's Jon Snow costume had one new feature. A codpiece.
A pineapple codpiece.
"Er," Nicholas said.
"Sören Sigurðsson, why are you wearing a pineapple codpiece?" Anthony asked, raising an eyebrow.
Yeyette smirked. Sören tried to act casual, sipping on a ginger ale.
"Wow, that's the scariest thing in the whole room," Dara teased.
"I'm pretty sure I never saw Jon Snow wearing a codpiece on Game of Thrones," DeKalb said. "What's up with the pineapple?"
Sören and Yeyette looked at each other. "He started learning French from a children's show with a pineapple puppet," Yeyette said. "He's been teasing me about it for years, his pet name for me is Ananas. We took a bet to see who could finish the Spanish course on Duolingo first. If he finished first, I had to wear a pineapple dress for Halloween. If I finished first, he had to wear that."
"What's a pineapple?" Palcë asked.
"Something under the sea," Sören quipped.
Yeyette gave him a playful whack. "It's a type of fruit," Yeyette explained.
"It's my favorite fruit... next to strawberries." Sören gave Nicholas and Anthony a pointed look; Nicholas's face burned, thinking of how he and Anthony had enjoyed eating strawberries from Sören's naked body several times.
It annoyed him that even in that ridiculous codpiece, Sören still looked sexy.
I love you too, Ñolo, Sören spoke into his mind.
"Are we ready to do this?" Ryu gave a nervous glance towards the door. "IF anyone even comes, with our wards..."
"Since I would hope not everyone in town is evil, I imagine some people might be able to get past the wards," Sören said, walking towards the window and looking at the setting sun. He folded his arms, a pensive look on his face as if he were seeing beyond the sunset, some sort of hidden danger.
"Did we decide who's on first for passing out candy?" Ryu looked around the room.
"I think we were going to draw straws for it," DeKalb said, and Victor nodded.
Straws were drawn, and Maglor was first. He could choose who relieved him - they were taking shifts - and he chose Palcë as his replacement.
Maglor sat by the door, waiting, occasionally looking out into the living room where the group were watching a scary movie marathon, starting with Horror of Dracula. Nicholas glanced over and gave Maglor a sympathetic look - he too was an introvert and not looking forward to being on "candy duty" for any trick-or-treaters, but these were rough times and the family had decided to spread a little cheer. Their eyes held before Maglor turned back to look out the window, watching the sunset fade to twilight over the garden.
At last the first set of trick-or-treaters showed up, a woman dressed like Princess Peach accompanied by adult men dressed as Mario and Luigi, with children dressed as Yoshi, Princess Daisy, and Toad. Maglor smiled in spite of himself.
"Trick or treat," the kids called out in unison.
Maglor passed out candy from a crystal vase. "Ooh, an Elf!" Princess Daisy called out. "Look, Mommy!"
Maglor's smile became a grin. "Hello, princess."
"That's such a great costume," said Princess Peach. "You should have been in Lord of the Rings!"
Nicholas choked back a guffaw. Maglor, completely deadpan, gave a little bow as the family went away, waving and thanking him for the candy.
"Well I mean, she's not wrong," Sören said when they'd gone.
"The Silmarillion was tragic enough." Maglor scowled. "Let Lord of the Rings be a story of hope."
Sören scowled back. "Ohhhhh, Kanafinwë. So serious. Don't make me put this on you." Sören pointed to his pineapple codpiece. Then Sören stroked his chin thoughtfully. "How would this look with Silmarils in it?"
"Ada, please." Maglor buried his face in his hands and shook his head, laughing, and was still laughing hard by the time the next trick-or-treaters came around, teenagers all dressed like various slasher film killers - Jason, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers.
"Wow, those ears look almost real," Freddy said.
Maglor gave them a tight smile as he passed out candy.
There was a long break with no trick-or-treaters and Nicholas was starting to wonder if any more were coming. Then, a couple minutes after the "changing of the guard" where Palcë sat by the door, another group showed up, more teenagers, dressed up as creepy clowns.
"Oh shit, it's juggalos," Sören said as he watched them coming.
"Jugga..." Nicholas had no idea what Sören was on about.
"I'll explain later," Sören said.
Nicholas wasn't sure he wanted that explained. He'd lived for seventy years without knowing what a juggalo was.
"WHOOP WHOOP!" yelled one of the clowns as they came to the door. "Yo, sup?" The clown held out his bag expectantly.
"You... are supposed to say 'trick or treat' if I understand this business correctly," Palcë said.
"Yo, get a load of this guy," the clown said to his friends. He turned back to Palcë. "Trick or treat, biatch."
Palcë raised an eyebrow. The one girl with them said, "He's not a bitch... he's the Witcher. Right?"
"No," Palcë said. "There is your candy, be on your way."
The clowns seemed to think this was funny and laughed as they moved along. Palcë glared after them. Then he turned to the group in the living room. "What is the Witcher? This is the second time now someone has said I look like it."
"It's a show based on a video game and set of books about a guy who says 'fuck' a lot," Sören said.
"That's oversimplifying it," Anthony said.
"Not really." Sören grinned as he shoved more candy in his mouth.
"Well, we all know you aren't the Witcher. Saying 'fuck' a lot implies... talking a lot," Yeyette teased.
Palcë managed the barest hint of a smile. "I believe I have surpassed my thirty word a day limit."
"That calls for some kind of award." Sören tossed him a wrapped popcorn ball.
"I did not accost you for this," Palcë said. "Let us try this again." He threw the popcorn ball back. "Trick or treat... biatch."
"Did you... just make a funny?" Sören gave him a quizzical look as he tossed the popcorn ball again.
"I tried."
"See, it's not so bad, is it?" DeKalb said. "This is a holiday about having fun."
"I suppose it could be worse," Palcë said, nodding.
Nicholas shivered despite the warmth of the fireplace. Palcë had indeed seen worse; Nicholas's heart still raged at the conditions they'd found Palcë and Maglor in. Their blood. His blood. Their enemies would pay for that. Dearly.
But tonight was a night to laugh at the darkness, what fancied itself frightening and really wasn't when exposed. Someday, hopefully soon, they would laugh at Sauron himself.