Hush, Little Penguin

🎃Treats for Treats🧧

*Happy Halloween, people! I hope you got my holidays announcement, from Halloween through New years eve! For the record, I might do a chapter similar to this one, so be open minded. Give in any Halloween requests!

Barnacles held Peso's soft, tiny flipper tightly. It was the holiday season, and the last thing he wanted to do was lose Peso in a place like THIS!

It was Halloween, and there were stores everywhere. In each direction the captain looked, there was one scare after another. And from the way Peso held onto him, it was clear all this was new.

Peso glanced around frightfully. Innocent peek-a-boo teddies lowered their paws to reveal horrifying faces. Walls of masks stared menacingly down at him. And statues towered over him, ready to trigger nightmares.

Peso had never had a Halloween. During the holiday, his father usually kept him inside to do chores. Sometimes Koni used it as a punishment. When Peso was twelve, he sent the poor boy out in a pretty pink princess dress and diaper to beg for candy. When Peso was younger, he locked the poor boy outside for the night with all those monsters. Barnacles tightened his grip on Peso's flipper thinking about it.

Peso was his child now. His CHILD. It seemed only fitting he had a proper Halloween. The biggest step was teaching him there was nothing to be afraid of.

"My classmates used to torture me." Peso mumbled. It was still hard for him to talk about, but the Octonauts encouraged him to do so. Talking about it would help him feel better.

"They thought it was funny." Peso continued, his tone bitter and full of sadness. Barnacles understood what Peso was trying to say. His classmates had thought it was a great pastime to torture Peso with the spookiness of Halloween. They thought it was funny to see him so terrified. Like a baby.

"GET BACK!" Wild laughter roared from the robotic girl beside them. Peso jumped back, screaming. Some older children nearby laughed, and their parents scolded them.

The girl was holding a fake hatchet that had just nearly hit Peso. Barnacles frowned protectively, and pulled the trembling penguin away. 

Peso's diaper peeked out from under the skirt of his orange Halloween dress, stained yellow. Oh well. The diaper was thick enough to hold more. It could wait.

"It's not real Peso." Barnacles assured him.

"i know." Peso's voice was barely above the quietest of wheezes. Barnacles felt worry stir up in his gut. He smiled at his son. "You know, if someone does scare you, it's a Halloween tradition to scare them back. At least, that's how it was where I grew up." He guided Peso through a wall of props. Bloodied weapons, Halloween decorations and broken toys dangled from hooks on the wall. Peso's eyes widened upon seeing the toys, and filled with tears. Barnacles hurried him along.

"it's not real, Peso. There's nothing to be afraid of." He brought Peso to a much calmer aisle, full of baby costumes, in his size. "Let's find you a nice costume. Wait until you see how much fun it is to dress up!" He nudged Peso along. "Go on. Pick something out." Peso inched his way along the aisle, as if he were expecting one of his old classmates to jump out and scare him again. Or worse.

Barnacles watched him with a sigh. He wanted Peso to see how much fun Halloween could be. AN he knew that Peso knew he would protect him from any monsters. But Peso was afraid of something even scarier than monsters--people.

Getting over hi Halloween trauma would be a big step in his recovery, and in regaining his childhood. Barnacles was determined to see him through it.

'Barnacles sat in the HQ, busily talking with Pogo on the screen. The older penguin wasn't much help.

"he knows you'd never let anything hurt him." Pogo assured the bear. "But that's not going to stop him from being scared or sad."