Chapter Text
Every year was the same in Halloween Town when the 31st of October came around. Monsters readied themselves to release fear into the night, ghouls prepared their mischievous trickery, witches brewed their potions and spells, vampires their blood-thirsty fangs, banshee their screams, even the undead rising to the occasion. The one glorious night a year they were free to roam, enjoying themselves bringing terror into the world.
And Shouto was tired of it all. He found no joy in the fright or screams or even occasional treats. Perhaps it was due to his family—the demon family who ran the show for as long as time had run. The best in the everything horrifying and scary. Yet Shouto...wasn’t.
“Shouto!” Shouto heard his father yelling from within their manor from their dreary garden. “Don’t you dare to even think about disregarding this family meeting! Shouto! Shouto!”
Shouto only continued ignoring his father. He refused to sit through another family gathering for the damn holiday, instead making his way to a bare eerie tree. Shouto effortlessly climbed it as he’d done numerous times before and hopped the dark stone fence. Just like that, he was free to roam the town. Sadly, there was still no way to avoid the Halloween excitement.
“Seven days until Halloween! Seven days until Halloween!” the town mayor called out as he made his way through the busy streets. Shouto’s mood soured more at this as he pulled the hood of his cloak further down, covering most of his face. He kept his head down as the mayor and others passed, not wanting to be recognized by the locals.
“Damn holiday…” Shouto cursed under his breath when he was farther away from the main streets and town center. He didn’t understand the appeal of striking fear deep into the souls of unsuspecting strangers. Though, it could be because he’d never successfully done so before…
“It shouldn’t be that hard if everyone can scare…” Shouto grumbled to himself once away from the crowd. He was a demon for crying out loud. Like his eldest brother and damn father. They barely need any effort to make grown men shriek.
‘Start small,’ Shouto recalled his eldest brother trying to teach him. ‘Build fear from your gut and let it out.’
“What does that even mean?” Shouto asked to the tombstones in the graveyard he wandered into. Biting his lip, he paused his steps. He glanced around, confirming the vacancy of the cemetery. With that, Shouto took in a breath before attempting to let out a devilish cackle like the ones he’d heard from him eldest brother countless times before.
And it sounded wrong.
Terribly terribly wrong.
“Why?” Shouto indignantly groused, feeling his cheeks burn and not from his hell fires. He was alone at least.
Sadly, everything in Shouto’s life seemed to make him want a hole in the graveyard to open up and swallow him whole.
“Pffft—!” muffled laughter resonated through the silent air.
Shouto jumped at the sudden laughter with another, more fearful, scream, instantly turning to where he suspected it came from: a lone tombstone “Who’s there?”
The laughter instantly stopped.
Eyes narrowing, Shouto cautiously crept over to the tombstone. He avoided dried leaves and dead branches on the ground to prevent being heard. When he reached the peculiar tombstone, Shouto didn’t jump at the chance to catch his perpetrator. Instead, he picked up a large stone, hurling it over to the front gates of the graveyard. The stone successfully hit the metal bars, forcing it to creak open as if Shouto had pushed it open to leave himself. He then hid, crouched behind the same tombstone.
After a moment, Shouto heard a sigh of relief. Whoever was behind the tombstone fell for his deception. Another moment later, the source of the laughter poked their head out: a little blonde boy with rosy cheeks and pointed ears dressed in strange garb Shouto’d never seen before.
The odd boy crawled out of hiding. However, after scanning the area once more, he and Shouto finally met face to face.
“You—!”
“Jiggles!”
And the next thing Shouto knew, he was on his back on the ground, holding his throbbing nose.
“Holy gumdrops! What the jingles is wrong with you!?” the odd boy angrily hissed.
“Me? You’re the one who punched me!” Shouto spat back as he picked himself up, just as crossed.
“It’s your own jolly fault!”
Shouto stared back at the odd boy, confused, as his thoughts began to run. Jiggles? Gumdrops? Jolly? “What?”
Something seemed to click in the other boy’s mind as well, the little thing stepping back, eyes widening with newly realized worry.
Shouto lost his prior anger. “Hey, what’s… wrong?” He offered his hand only for the boy to swap it away.
“Don’t,” the other boy lowly growled. He turned away for a moment, hissing a quiet ‘gumdrops…’ under his breath again before turning to Shouto one last time. “You didn’t see anything, capisce?”
Shouto grew confused again. “What?” Sadly, the odd boy didn’t say anymore, already turning his back to hastily flee.
“Oi! Wait!” Shouto found himself calling out, following the boy. His curiosity got the best of him, what with the odd appearance of the odd boy, his speech, his coming, and then his sudden need to get away.
“Jangle off!” the odd boy hissed back in a whisper-shout. He refused to give Shouto the chance to catch up to him. Despite his size, he was quick and agile.
Shouto ignored the boy’s demands, doing his best to keep up. The swift boy was hard to keep sight of, even with his colorful clothing standing out among the dark monochromes of the graveyard. However, Shouto wouldn’t give in, calling out for answers, “Why have you come here?”
No response.
“What are you?”
Still none.
“Are you a mutated goblin?”
“Frost you!” the boy called out, inadvertently signaling Shouto to his location. Shouto quickly headed for the voice.
“If you’re not a goblin, then what are you?” Shouto asked once more. He slowed his pace. There was no sight of the boy, however Shouto had a feeling he was still there. “You came for a reason, didn’t you? Maybe… I could help?”
Still no answer.
However, the crinkling of dead leaves and twigs made Shouto turn. It was the boy, crawling out from behind another tombstone. He looked hesitant, but still carefully revealed himself.
“You…” Shouto started, growing unsure himself. “You don’t look like you’re from around here.”
“I’m not,” the boy responded, voice colder than autumn air on a foggy midnight. Before Shouto could say anything else, the small boy cut in. “No more questions. You said you’d… make yourself useful, then do so.”
Shouto raised a brow. The little thing sure had an attitude, a given with how he’d punched him before and the harsh tone, really. Even so, Shouto didn’t hesitate to ask the unasked-for questions. “Okay… And what is it you’re here for?”
The boy glare grew colder. “Something got loose and wandered into this world—”
This world?
“—and I need to get it back before anything happens to it.”
“O…kay,” Shouto repeated, starting to regret offering his help. “And what is this thing you lost?”
“I didn’t lose it!” the boy yelled, though quickly covered his mouth at the volume. He glanced around a bit cautiously before taking a breath. “I didn’t lose anything. It’s a baby reindeer that got out of her pen.”
It was clear on Shouto’s face how confused he was. “Reindeer?”
The boy let out a frustrated groan. “Like a horse with horns, but softer features and instead of the horns being sharp, they’re stubby.”
Shouto grew even more lost, making the small boy that much angrier. The boy suddenly cleared a spot on a patch of dirt, grabbing a spare stick. “Here,” he started, drawing on the ground whatever this ‘reindeer’ thing was. Shouto would’ve commended the quick doodle if he’d actually had an idea of what the drawing was supposed to look like. “Reindeer,” the boy repeated as he threw the stick aside.
“Huh… alright then,” Shouto responded.
“You seen one around here or not?” the boy grumbled.
“No,” Shouto bluntly answered, irritating the boy further. He then quickly added, “But now that I have an idea on what it looks like, I can help look.”
The boy closed his eyes and took another deep breath, trying to calm down.
“Where have you looked?” Shouto asked.
The boy opened one eye. With another breath, he answered, “Around this graveyard, the woods on that side of town,” he pointed to said wooded area, “along the outskirts of that part of town, and some of the alleys there.”
“Did this reindeer go deeper into town?”
“Like heavens do I know, but I really hope she didn’t wander in. Who knows what might happen…” An anxious look loomed over the small boy’s face. It made Shouto grow worried as well. An unfamiliar creature wandering the streets of Halloween Town? As the boy had said, who knew what may happen.
“We’ll both look then.”
The boy turned and gave Shouto an incredulous look. “Are you frosting kidding me? I can’t just walk into jangling town!”
“Just wear this,” Shouto said, removing his cloak. He may end up being recognized, but better him spotted than the odd boy. However…
Shouto turned back and forth from his cloak held out and the small boy who definitely couldn’t wear the long vestment. “Uh…”
The boy rolled his eyes. “Move,” he said, shooing Shouto away as he stepped aside himself. Once he got space, the boy suddenly jumped into a standing backflip. He landed somehow crouched, but when he stood back up, his height had grown. He was now just about an inch or so shorter than Shouto.
“What the hell are you?” Shouto asked, baffled.
“An elf,” the no-longer-small boy answered, snatching Shouto’s cloak.
“A what?” Shouto questioned again as the boy wrapped himself up. He let out another annoyed groan.
“Just drop it,” he said, pulling the hood over his blonde hair. “Well?” The cloak successfully hid his odd clothing and light hair, but his face…
“Hang on,” Shouto started, picking up a handful of dried leaves with his left hand. Without warning, he ignited a flame in his hand, successfully startling the other boy for once.
“Hellfire,” the elf said aloud more to himself. “You’re a demon?”
“Half,” Shouto answered, grinding the remains of the leaves into ash as the embers died down. He then scooped the ash with the fingers of his other hand, holding it up to the elf’s face.
The other boy quickly pulled back to avoid Shouto’s hand. “What the jingles are you doing?”
“Hiding your face better,” Shouto answered, going in again with the ash. “Close your eyes.”
The elf gave one last glare before hesitantly doing as told. He felt Shouto’s hand brush over one eye, and then the other. Shouto then brushed under his nose (and he needed to keep himself from sneezing at that). Finally, he felt him brush the corners of his mouth and against his cheek.
Once he was finished, Shouto took a step back to get a better look at his handiwork. “You’re fair enough to pass as a skeleton, but…”
The elf cracked one eye open, unsure if he could or not without Shouto’s saying so. “But what?”
“Your cheeks are… pink.”
The elf opened both eyes to roll them again. “Whatever. This better work or you’ll regret putting jiggling dirt on my face.”
“It’s not dirt,” Shouto retorted, heading over to a relatively glossy tombstone. He touched his right hand on its surface. For a second time, he’d startled the elf again when the tombstone shimmered with a thin sheet of frost. It was enough to create a makeshift mirror. “Take a look.”
The elf headed over to the tombstone, eyes widening a bit at his reflection. He turned his face from one side to the other, surveying the other’s handiwork. “Not awful,” the elf said, not noticing Shouto’s own eye roll directed at him. He was busy running his fingers over the frosty surface after looking at his disguise. “Ice. So the other half’s yuki-onna?”
“Y—yeah… My mom,” Shouto answered.
The elf smirked. “Guess that makes you a yukinko?”
“Don’t we need to look for that rain-horse of yours or something?” Shouto grumbled back, already heading off. The elf followed behind him, so doubt snickering.
Shouto guided the elf deeper into Halloween Town than the other had gone before. They still did everything to lay low and avoid the townsfolk, but it was no simple task.
“Not in this alley either?” Shouto asked the other boy in a whisper.
“If she was, would we still be here?” the elf spat back.
“Well, how have you been looking before?”
The elf paused. “Just… listening for noises…”
Now it was Shouto’s turn to give an incredulous look.
“Going in blind is better than blind and deaf!” the elf whisper shouted.
“What kinda random noise did you fol—”
Crash!
A loud clatter cut into Shouto’s remark. The two turned to the noise. They gave one last glance to each other before both rushing for the noise. Then another. And another.
Crash!
Bang!
Clu-clunk!
“This way,” Shouto said, rounding a corner, only to make his own crash.
“Crap—” Shouto fumbled with his footing—even bumping into the elf behind him—before straightening up to check on the person he ran into. “Sorry—” Shouto cut himself off halfway when realizing it was their town’s mad doctor. “Chisaki-sensei…”
“Well, if it isn’t the littlest Todoroki,” Chisaki said, brushing off any dirt that may have made its way onto him from his collision with Shouto. “Running through alleys?”
“Just. Taking a shortcut,” Shouto muttered, shrinking under the plague doctor’s intense gaze. He began reaching back behind his back, finding the elf’s wrist. “Sorry again for running into you.”
Chisaki’s eyes began to narrow, but before he could say anything, Shouto quickly retreated.
“Excuse us.”
Shouto hurried to leave Chisaki, pulling the elf behind him. He didn’t want the plague doctor questioning him or the elf’s presence. However, he didn’t realize the elf had glanced back.
The elf met eyes with the plague doctor for only a brief moment. However, that moment was enough. The elf quickly turned away, pulling his hood further down with his free hand, as one of the plague doctor’s narrowed eyes quirked upward with his brow.
“Alright,” Shouto started with a heavy breath. “We should be good here.” He had led the elf to a less-frequented square.
“What was that all about?” the elf asked, somewhat out of breath himself. He yanked back his wrist.
“He’s just… someone we really shouldn’t run into,” Shouto answered. “Judging by how you’ve been so secretive looking for your pet and how you’re not from here, I’m guessing you’re not supposed to be here for whatever reason, and if so, then he’s one of the last people we want to run into.”
The elf clenched his jaw at Shouto’s words. He let out a frustrated breath, muttering under his breath, “Jingles…”
“Yeah…”
The elf took another breath to calm down. “Okay, well what now, Todoroki? We were heading the other direction before, weren’t we?”
“We’ll just have to find another rou—” Shouto paused. “Wait, what?”
“What? Ain’t that what the plague doc said your name was? Or you go by something else, half-n-half?”
Shouto’s face went blank. “You can just call me Shouto. My actual name.”
A shrewd smile grew on the elf’s face. “Nah, half-n-half’s really growing on me.”
“Really?” Shouto responded, deadpanned. “How about you then?”
The elf’s smile slowly dropped. Despite it not showing through much, there was hesitance in his eyes. Even so, the elf answered, “Tsukimata.”
Shouto waited a moment. “Tsukimata…?”
“You ain’t getting a first name, Beelzebub,” the elf responded.
Shouto rolled his eyes once more. It was starting to become a normal thing around the elf. “Fine. This way.”
Shouto took the lead once more. Through more alleys, under underpasses, and over some bridges and ledges. All over town, and yet,
“No reindeer,” Shouto voiced his frustration. “And not even any more noise leads either. I don’t know, maybe a townsperson already got to—what are you doing?”
Tsukimata jumped back at Shouto’s voice, previously leaned over a fenced railing overlooking the commotion of the main town square. “Nothing.”
“This is your pet we’re looking for, remember?”
“I am looking!” the elf fumed. “I’m just looking at some other stuff at the same time. This place is just… something.”
“It’s a place of death and horror,” Shouto deadpanned.
“Way different than where I’m from…” Tsukimata muttered to himself. However, Shouto still caught his words.
“Where are you from anyway?”
The elf twitched. “That’s none of your jangling business. And weren’t we in the middle of something,” he fumed even more, stomping off despite not knowing where he was going. “How big is this jolly place anyway?”
Before Shouto could respond, another sound cut in. However, not a clank or bang like before.
“Meow!”
The two boys turned, but saw nothing there.
“What the…” Tsukimata started.
“It’s just a cat,” Shouto explained. “There aren’t any black cats where you’re from?”
“I know what a cat is!” Tsukimata yelled back. He clenched his jaw afterwards, keeping his anger and volume in check. “Just. Come on.”
Shouto was taken aback at Tsukimata’s sudden lead. “What? It’s just a cat though,” he repeated as he followed. There didn’t seem to be much of a choice but to.
Shouto and Tsukimata headed down another alley where the cat meow came from. Hurrying through, they began hearing the same crashing sounds as before.
Crash!
Clank! Clank!
Tsukimata quickened his pace. “Over here!”
The two rounded another corner, this time relieved with what they ran into.
“Eri!” Tsukimata called out.
A creature Shouto had never seen before turned its head. It definitely resembled the drawing Tsukimata drew out for him before, despite this one having only one antler instead of two, but seeing it for himself was something else.
Tsukimata let out a troubled yell. “Get away from the garbage! Bad reindeer!” The elf ran over to the reindeer, surveying for any damage. Shouto followed behind.
“You don’t smell like any corpses,” Tsukimata muttered more to himself, letting out a small laugh when his reindeer nudged against his cheek. “Still, you’re getting a bath when we get home. Well, I guess both of us will,” he added, noticing some of the ash on his face rubbed off onto the reindeer. He went ahead and tried to get the rest off.
The reindeer let out some odd noise as a response.
“Bad girl,” Tsukimata still scolded. “Getting out like that. And then through the jolly door! How!?”
Another odd noise.
Tsukimata sighed, getting up on his feet again from his previous crouched position.
“So,” Shouto started, regaining Tsukimata’s attention, “this is a reindeer? It’s. Small.”
“Like I said, Eri’s still a baby,” Tsukimata responded. “And the runt of the pack. But runt size or not, she’ll still the biggest pain in the butt.”
The reindeer Eri made a delighted sound, not realizing Tsukimata was talking bad of her. She most likely only caught the endearing undertone.
Tsukimata let out another sigh. “Alright, let’s go.”
“Wait,” Shouto cut in. “Just. Like that?”
Tsukimata raised a brow. “Yeah? We’re not supposed to be here, remember?”
“R—right…”
“Yeah… Just take us back to that graveyard we were in earlier. I can find my way back from there.”
Shouto nodded, beginning to lead the way again. However, he didn’t stop talking. Now that the reindeer was back with Tsukimata, Shouto figured now was better for questions. Especially now that it seemed the elf was in a better mood. “But where is ‘back?’ Where did you come from?”
“Drop it, half-n-half,” Tsukimata grumbled. Despite being in a better mood, he still had his hostility.
“I think answering some questions is the least you can do for me helping find Eri here,” Shouto started, petting the reindeer’s head. The odd creature seemed to like it, though Tsukimata clearly didn’t.
“Oi! You volunteered, and volunteers don’t ask for things in return,” Tsukimata refuted, smacking Shouto’s hand away from Eri.
“So can you change your height to any size?” Shouto went on with his questions.
Tsukimata gave him a look at the latest question. “Hah?”
“You were puny before—”
“Hah!?”
“—and now you’re normal size. Unless this size is considered tall for you and the puny size was normal—”
“Stop saying puny!”
“So smaller size is normal?”
“Where I’m from!” Tsukimata twitched at his words, realizing too late he fell for Shouto’s jabs. Again.
“And you’re from…?”
“Knock it off!” Tsukimata yelled, not caring anymore now that they reached the graveyard where no one was around. “Look, I told you a thousand times before, I’m not supposed to jingling be here. You’re not supposed to know anything about my existence.”
“And you’re allowed to know about mine?” Shouto continued to press. “Don’t lie; you knew about demons and yuki-onna—even yukinko—so why can you know about my kind, but I can’t know about yours?”
Tsukimata tensed even more, voice somewhat strained when he answered, “Look, let’s just leave it at normal beings shouldn’t know about there being more out there than their own holidays.”
Shouto still wouldn’t listen. “There… are more holidays?”
Tsukimata let out a frustrated groan. “You’re a stubborn, annoying gumdrop, you know that?”
“That’s another thing; why do you talk like that.”
“Trust me, half-n-half, if I could curse you out, I frosting would,” Tsukimata said with a smile so devilishly threatening, Shouto could easily compare it to his demon brother’s. The elf didn’t let it up until Eri let out a sad whine.
Tsukimata glanced down at Eri. Calming himself, he let out one last sigh and picked up the tired baby reindeer. “We’re going. If you ask where one more time, so help me, I will not hesitate to stab you with one of those iron barbs at the front gate. I know you won’t die since you’re already dead, but I know it’ll still hurt like heaven.”
Shouto paused. “Isn’t heaven painless—”
“You know what I frosting mean! Jangle off!”
Tsukimata turned on his heel and went on his way. He hoped that would be the end of everything, but there Shouto was, still on his tail. Though, couldn’t say he was all that surprised. “Really, Beelzebub? I really hate you right now.”
“Oh, so you liked me before?”
“Correction: I hate you 20 times more than I hated you when we first met. How’s that?”
Shouto smirked. “Glad I could help get things right for you.”
Tsukimata rolled his eyes, something he’d still do even if Shouto wouldn’t this time around. “Alright, stop,” he said, halting at the same time.
Shouto stumbled a bit from the sudden stop, finding that they were bordering the eerie woods.
“In all seriousness, don’t follow me. It’s for you own good you don’t know any more than you do from me jangling up—also your fault for making me frost up. This,” Tsukimata gestured between them with one hand, the other still holding the sleeping reindeer, “is taboo. We were never supposed to meet or know each other existed.”
“But you do,” Shouto cut in, tone growing serious as well.
“Yeah…” Tsukimata grumbled, not arguing there. “That’s why I’m saying don’t go looking for trouble. I only came for Eri; that’s it, and now that she’s okay, you’ll never see me again.”
Shouto clenched his jaw. Part of him wanted to argue back—wanted to know if there was more out there than just fright and terror—but the boy in front of him... The serious look in his fiery eyes—Shouto couldn’t keep arguing against it. “Alright,” he sighed.
Tsukimata let out his own breath. “Thank god… and… yeah thanks, too… sorta. I guess.”
The corners of Shouto’s mouth picked up a bit at how flustered the elf was getting. His already rosy cheeks were turning rosier. “Yeah, don’t mention it.”
Tsukimata finally cracked his own smile, eyes meeting with Shouto’s again. “I won’t since this is the last time you’ll be seeing me. Good luck with that laugh of yours.”
Shouto groaned at the memory. “Lucifer, really?”
Tsukimata only laughed as he continued into the woods. It wasn’t until he was far in did he glance back. Shouto was just beginning to leave himself, turning to head back into Halloween Town. The horror-filled world the elf never thought he’d see for himself.
Shifting in his arms brought the elf out of his thoughts. He looked down, seeing his reindeer beginning to wake up a bit. “Sorry, Eri. We’re going home now.”
The elf quickened his pace through the woods until he reached a familiar clearing. A number of trees with doors of different designs circled the clearing, but one in particular was the way home: an evergreen tree decorated with ornaments and a star.
“Katsuki! Katsuki! Where have you been!? You know not to be out this long.”
“I know. Sorry, Dad. Eri just kept wanting to play. Played so hard, she exhausted us both.”
“Oh, alright. Just watch the time next time.”
“Yeah, Dad.”
“…Katsuki, what are you wearing…?”
“…Jingles!”