The Mercury Palace

Halloween Special

A/N

This is kind of late, I know, but I really wanted to do one lol. This chapter will have some of Aiden's friends that have not been introduced yet, just a warning so you're not confused. Consider this as sort of an introduction chapter for them. 

-Aiden-⚕️

     I focused on not falling on my face as Nilly pulled me down the sidewalk. 

     "Hey! Could you maybe slow down a little?!" 

     "We're going to be late!"

      We skidded to a stop in front of a smallish well-maintained house. Nilly bounded up the stairs and rang the doorbell. I walked up next to her, trying to catch my breath. I'd forgotten how fast she could run. 

     We could hear a muffled voice on the other side. "No! Brian get away from the door, I know you're just going to run the second it's opened!"

      A tall guy with white-blond hair finally opened the door, a fairly big golden retriever wearing Pikachu ears sitting next to his feet. "Hey, you made it! Nice costumes!"

     "Thanks," I responded, still slightly out of breath. "You're going as Hobo Heart again this year, Jay?"

     "Yep," he grinned, ushering us inside. "It goes with my hair and I still had the clothes from last year. And to be honest, why mess with a good costume?" 

     "You got a point there," I laughed.

     "Hey, Jayden!" Nilly chirped. 

     "Hey, Nilly. Emma's in the living room if you want to talk to her."

      "Thanks!" 

      Jay started pulling me away. "Come on, the guys have been waiting for you."

     As we walked through the house I was struck with a sense of wonder, as always, at how spotless his house was. It was almost hard to believe that anyone lived here, let alone a twenty-year-old guy and his eighteen-year-old sister. It made sense though. If Alexander still came over as much as he used to he was probably using it as an excuse to stress clean someone else's home.

     Reaching the door to Jayden's room he pushed us both against the wall so we weren't in front of the door. He reached out and opened the door, it swinging in almost silently. We were immediately met with the sound of foam bullets hitting the wall opposite us. 

      With a nod to Jay, I bolted into the room, managing to avoid the line of fire. The fair-haired male let out a squeak as I tackled him to the ground, wrestling the Nerf gun out of his hands and holding him at gunpoint.

     "Okay mate, you got me!" He laughed and held his hands up in surrender. 

     "I told him not to." A brunette looked up from where he had been lying in a corner on Jay's bed reading. 

     "Oh come on Alex! Lighten up a little!"

     "Kenneth, do yourself a favor and shut up," Alex deadpanned. 

     Alex gave me a  quick once-over. "Going as a vamp this year, huh?"

     "Yeah, Nilly's suggestion. I was completely out of ideas."

      "It looks good."

      "Thanks." I quickly scanned the other two's costumes. Kenneth was dressed up as Ash Ketchem from Pokemon. Not a surprise. I grinned as I inspected Alex's costume. 

      "Alex, did you go as yourself?"

     "See!" Alex said accusatorily. "He knows!"

     "Hey mate, no need to act like that. It's not our fault we don't know who you dressed as." Kenneth's British accent somehow made the sentence sound a lot more sarcastic than it needed to be. 

     Alex sighed. "Alex, from Marble Hornets?"

    "Oooooooooh, him!" Jay exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "Yeah, I have no idea who that is." 

     Luckily Emma and Nilly showed up with Brian at their heels to keep the argument from escalating. Dressed as the Genshin character Lisa, Emma had the most intricate costume out of any of us. 

     "Come on," Nilly urged, adjusting the black cat ears in her hair. "We're not going to get any candy if we wait any longer." 

     "It's not like we're going to get much anyways, who is going to want to give candy to a group of guys in their early twenties," Alex deadpanned. 

     "If you're just going to be pessimistic why did you come?" I raised an eyebrow. "Come on, don't be such a killjoy!" 

     He sighed and put his book down on Jay's desk. "Alright fine, let's go."

. . .

      As it turned out, Alex was mostly right about no one wanting to give us anything. But even after the first few rejections the mood hadn't dropped a bit.

     "Maybe this house!" Kenneth grinned as he ran up the stairs to the small house. I ran after him and knocked on the door. 

      "Trick or treat!" Kenneth sang as an old lady opened the door. 

      "Hello, children!" She smiled that caring, carefree smile that seemed only older ladies could smile.

     The rest of the group had caught up to us standing behind us on the porch. 

     "Mrs. Nakamura!" Jay greeted the lady.

     "Oh! Jayden, dear, it's nice to see you again. But aren't you a little too old to go trick-or-treating?"

      "Yes, Mrs. Nakamura, but it will probably be the last time we can go around here, and we haven't seen each other in forever. Most of us will be starting college later this year, so we figured we may as well do it one last time, you know?" 

      "How nice!" Mrs. Nakamura smiled again. "Just a second." She shuffled back inside and returned with six full-sized chocolate bars. You can bet your life that more than one of us had our mouths hanging open from the shock.

      A chorus of thank-you's filled the air as she headed them out and waved us along. 

     "Go on now children, have fun!" 

     None of the other houses were nearly as generous. Brian kept running ahead and back, happy to be outside. By the time we quit, we had over half-full bags, a pretty good haul for us. Granted, most of the candy we got was from the 'take one' bowls that people had left out, but still. We mostly got the mini candies and every so often a small box of something like milk duds. 

     Well, except for that one person who gave us toothbrushes. I was pretty sure that person wasn't going to make it out alive. 

     When they finally got back to Jay's house around 2 a.m. Nilly and Emma immediately crashed onto the couch and curled up with Brian, falling asleep instantly. 

      Kenneth chased Alex around the house when he realized that Alex got one more package of M&M's than he did. Jay and I sat on his bed playing a not-so-quiet game of Uno, yelling whenever the other put down a +4 or reverse card and sharing our candy. 

     I looked down at my cards and sighed quietly. It had been a while since I had felt like this. Calm, content, not stressed or worried over every little thing, happy. 

     I glanced over to where Alex had climbed on top of a bookshelf to keep his candy safe.

     I've missed these guys.