A Pink Halloween (EgoBang)

Halloween Under an Umbrella

This is probably hours overdue, but here it is! My first published fic, also on Tumblr and ao3 (because I'm an asshat). Enjoy!

Danny paused the Halloween movie and peeked out the window.

Poor kids, he thought.

Luckily he was there to save the day. He ran to the towel closet and grabbed two armfuls of brightly colored umbrellas. Danny hurried outside, remembering to lock his door this time.

Exactly two years ago, Halloween had reciprocated the same weather of this Halloween, so Danny had to—voluntarily—hand out umbrellas to the unfortunate trick-or-treaters. The day went well, except for the part where he forgot to lock his door. Someone had gotten in and taken all his candy, but nothing else had been tampered with or stolen so he assumed they were just kids wanting candy.

This led to his cautious nature of making sure the door gets locked, especially on Halloween.

Danny struggled to open his car door. He dropped a few umbrellas but was able to get in and pick them back up nonetheless.

The car didn't need to travel far before the first group, and the second, and the third. Everyone had praised Danny, and it made him feel warm inside.

He turned a corner and pulled up next to a boy sitting on the curb. The boy had his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Danny stepped out of his car, opened an umbrella, and sat beside him.

"Hey," he said. "I'm Danny." The boy didn't respond. "It's a shame. About the weather, I mean. Your costume still looks good."

"Thanks, man, but it's totally ruined."

Danny held the umbrella over the boy and they sat in silence for a moment.

"I'm Arin, by the way. What are you doing out here?"

"Handing out umbrellas."

Arin looked at Danny. "Sweet."

Another moment of silence passed by.

"Hey, I bet this block still has trick-or-treaters in need of an umbrella."

"You better get going then."

Danny stood up, still holding the umbrella over Arin. "Wanna come with?"

"How do you know I'm not a real murderer?"

"I've got nothing to lose."

Arin followed suit with the help of Danny's outstretched hand. "Actually, Dan, I shouldn't. I don't want my ass to wet your seats."

"We'll walk around then," said Danny, handing Arin a few umbrellas from the car.

"What about your car?"

"I can pick it up later." He locked his car and they walked around the block.

They were mostly quiet, with the exception of a few conversations here and there.

"So you like pink, huh?" said Danny when he caught Arin swapping his umbrella with a pink one.

His Grim Reaper costume was mostly pink, along with the streak in his hair. Arin nodded.

"That's cool, man. Pink is a great color. So, why were you sitting there all alone anyway?"

"My friends think they're too old for Halloween."

"You're never too old for Halloween."

"Why aren't you trick-or-treating then?"

Danny laughed. "I'm not one to ignore weather warnings."

The two boys walked on, stopping to give away their umbrellas and high five kids. "Awesome costumes, guys!" they'd coo. The rain started to clear up, so Arin gave his umbrella, i.e. the last umbrella, to a little girl in a princess costume.

A little farther down the road, Danny ran ahead of Arin. He started singing the lyrics to Thriller.

Arin's body flushed at the sound of the stranger's perfect voice, but he laughed regardless. Danny took Arin's hand and spun him around. Arin joined in and sang.

They stopped spinning and laughed after a few verses, Arin having to find Danny's shoulder for support. Danny wiped back tears as the other's phone buzzed. Arin answered it, said 'okay' a few times, and hung up.

"Ah, shit, man. I have to be home soon."

"I'll walk you." Danny smiled and tucked Arin's hair behind his ear. "Are those pink contact lenses?" asked Danny.

Arin blushed and walked on, Danny running to catch up. The two boys quietly hummed along to Thriller until Arin stopped walking.

"This is my stop, I guess."

His neighbor was blaring music from the 80s, and Danny bowed, holding his hand out. "Care to dance?"

Arin refrained from going any closer.

"What's wrong?" said Danny, looking up.

"There are people around," he whispered.

"Okay, well, you owe me a dance now. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Arin nodded. "Oh! Wait here a sec." He ran into his house and came back out with a strip of paper.

"What's this?" asked Danny.

"Something to lose."

He took the sloppily ripped paper and read the number on it. They wrapped their arms around each other, Arin not minding Danny's big hair in his face.

It smelled nice, he thought.

Despite Danny being lanky, he hugged better than Arin's parents, and Arin didn't want to let go. Danny sneakily kissed Arin's cheek before letting go.

"Bye, Arin."

"Bye, Dan," stuttered Arin.

Acting casual was a challenge, but Danny still waited for the mousy Grim Reaper to enter his home so he could silently squeal while heading back to his car.