Chapter Text
Abbacchio counted himself grateful that his home was far from the main roads that led into town.
For one, it made keeping the fact that he shared his residence quite easy. No one other than an older woman who lived several miles down the road ever passed by the end of his long driveway, allowing him to enjoy the peace and quiet his solitude provided. That is, when the kids aren’t around…
Speaking of kids, that brings Abbacchio to the second reason the location of his cottage was near and dear to his heart: no trick-or-treaters.
The Americanized holiday has grown in popularity over the years and every Halloween he had to deal with a bunch of brats throwing eggs at his front window for not leaving out enough candy for them. It wasn’t his fault that the first few trouble makers to grace his porch couldn’t read the very clear note stating that they should only take one piece each! Unlike some people, Abbacchio actually had better things to do than sit around for ungrateful children to show up at his door demanding confectionery sweets.
Abbacchio nodded to himself as he sat down, book in one hand and coffee in the other. “Finally, a Halloween where I can relax-”
“What’s Halloween?”
The man jumped in his chair as he turned to Narancia, who was leaning over the arm of the chair, inches away from the man’s face. “Jesus Christ, kid! Where the hell did you come from?”
“Papa said I’m too young to know.” The little moth brat replied as innocent as they could muster. “So, what is Halloween? Is it a human thing?”
Abbacchio lightly shoved the kid away from his face, “Yes. Now go away.”
“But, I wanna know what it is! Tell me!”
“No.”
“Please!”
“No.”
“I’ll tell Bruno about what happened when you watched over Giorno last week.”
He tosses his book aside, “You're a pain in my ass, you know that?” His comment was meant with a spiteful smirk on Narancia’s face. “Fine. Halloween is a holiday that focuses on all the weird and spooky things in the world, like you. Kids dress up and bother adults by going door to door for free candy-”
Horror struck Abbacchio as he tried to stop the last word from leaving his lips. But the wide astonished smile on Narancia’s face was all the proof needed to know that it was too late.
“FREE CANDY!?”
There was no point in denying it. “Yes, free candy. Now go bother someone else, scram!” He shooed at the moth kid who gleefully scuttled out of room, most likely to tell the other children about his new found discovery. The ex-cop sighs as he sinks deeper into his chair with a hand over his forehead. This was a disaster waiting to happen. He just knew it.
Narancia ran out onto the porch, excitedly looking for his siblings. A quick turn of the head and he easily spotted Fugo and Mista, playing some kind of board game with little Giorno who seemed to spend more time chewing on the pieces than actually moving them around on the board.
“Mista, you owe me two-hundred euros.”
“What for?”
“You landed on my property, now pay up.”
“That’s stupid.”
“It is in the rules.”
“Then the rules can suck my- oh, hey Narancia!” The older moth finally acknowledged Narancia’s presence and waved him over, oblivious to Fugo reaching over the board and swiping pieces of colored paper from Mista’s messy pile by his feet.
“Guys! I just found out about the best thing to ever exist in the history of everything!”
The two older siblings exchange confused glances.
“If it beats this old game Fugo stole from Abbacchio’s closet.” Mista shrugged, much to Fugo’s dismay.
“It turns out, one night a year, humans give out free candy to any child who demands it! Not only is it tonight, but we’re children!”
“Excellent deduction, Narancia. Why would we want anything to do with that fantasy of yours?” Fugo asked as he tried to pull what looked like a metal shoe out of Giorno’s mouth. The kid may have grown a bit over the last year, but his teething tendencies only worsened alongside it.
“DId you not hear me? Free. Candy! All we have to do is dress up and blend in with the crowd.”
“Nara’s not lying Fugo, I saw the kids doing something like that last year. Although, Papa said not to get involved.”
“But Papa’s not here right now.”
“All the more reason for you to not get involved.” Fugo retorted, immediately falling backwards when Giorno finally let go of the board game piece. “Besides, why bother dressing up? You’re already a monster headache.”
“You really think we could go like this!?”
“That is not what I meant and you know it.”
Narancia hopped over one of the porch chairs and picked up Giorno in his arms, lightly swinging the toddler back and forth, “See? Giorno wants to go get candy? Isn’t that right buddy? All the honey sticks you could ask for.” the orange and black moth hums as he boops Giorno on the nose.
“If you're going, I’ll tag along. Anything better than playing the same game all night!”
Mista and Giorno were on Narancia’s side, all that was left was to convince Fugo.
Then, a mischievous grin appeared on his face as he turned back to Fugo, “They could be giving out those, whatchamacallits you like so much… You know, those weird imported chocolate bars! Come on! You know you want to!”
“You mean kit-kats?”
“Yes! Those!”
“Well…”
Mista makes an ‘X’ with his arms, “Wait a sec, if Fugo comes with us, that means there will be four of us. That’s bad luck dude.”
“Nuh uh, Me, You and Fugo are three children plus one toddler! Basic math.”
“That still equals-” Narancia shoved his finger over Fugo’s lips.
“Hush. Now, let’s head into town before Abbacchio catches wind of what we’re doing. I bet we’ll have a solid two hour before Papa comes to drag us back home! Operation: Get Some Candy is a go!” Narancia whispered as he trodden down the porch’s steps, “Last one there has to give me half of their haul!”
Giorno didn’t really understand what was going on when they got close to the human town. It was a lot more crowded than the last time he went, when Papa brought him along to what the human called a supermarket. His older siblings had been arguing amongst themselves most of the way there, only stopping when they reached the edge of a long street, littered without houses and children walking about. The faint smell of sugar filled the air, beckoning Giorno to run off in search for what was causing that pleasant aroma.
Wrapping his arms deep within his sweater, the little moth bolts away from the group, following his nose as he attempted to pinpoint the smell of… sweetness. It was familiar, like honey but with a touch of salt to it as he unknowingly drifted away from the three kids he came to town with. They always caught up with him anyway, so it wouldn’t be too big of a deal if he parted ways for a couple of seconds, right?
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Giorno saw it. Shiny, sickeningly sweet covered apples on a stick being handed out to nearby children out of one of the human houses. He’d never had such a strange and tempting combination of sweets before, but that was about to end.
With all the determination Giorno could muster, the small moth scooted over towards the front door of the house, keeping to the edge of the group of kids already present as the older human woman passed out the treats that allured him.
When it was finally his turn, Giorno hesitantly held out his little claws for the delicious treat as the women placed the stick in his hand.
“Oh my. What an adorable costume you have! And what are you supposed to be?”
Giorno gave an annoyed beep, roughly translating to, “I am a moth, can you not see my antennae?” Before hopping off the porch back to the others, only to find that none of his siblings were in view.
Where did they go? He hadn’t even been gone for more then a few minutes… how did they get separated that easily?
He whipped his head back and forth, desperately trying to locate any of the three moths he spent all of his time with. Unfortunately, their bright colors that would have normally stuck out any other time of the year now blended in with the crowd of costumed people, dressed up in equally bright and mixed pigments that only made the search that much harder.
Giorno started nibbling on his special apple, holding back any fears he had in favor of enjoying the small treat that caused this little dilemma. It was a suitable distraction, for only a moment, as he realized how much trouble he was going to be in if he couldn’t locate Mista, Fugo or Narancia soon…
Then, a voice rose above the crowd, causing Giorno’s antennae to perk up. “Come on kids, we’re going to head back to the meeting area. Don’t let anyone get left behind, ok?” It was some human girl with a pink mass of hair on her head.
She must have caught him staring, because the next thing Giorno knew, the girl was walking right over to him. “Hey buddy, something wrong?”
He doesn’t respond.
“Not much of a talker are you? Do you know where your parents are?”
Giorno simply shakes his head. Parents? Papa and that human he likes weren’t anywhere near here.
“That’s ok. How about we go look for them then? I have to bring the rest of these little monsters back to the community center,” She pointeds her thumb over at a small swarm of human children that had started gathering by a very tall lamp. “If we don’t find them by then, we can probably call someone else to help with the search. Sound good?” She offers her hand for Giorno to take, but he just gives her a small nod instead, keeping his free hand tucked in his sleeve with the other firmly grasped onto the stick of the apple treat.
He didn’t say no, but he had no interest in being touched by anyone that wasn’t family.
“Ok then,” She claps her hands together and gently nudges him over to the other children, “Let’s not waste anymore daylight ok?” The group began walking down the street, occasionally stopping at another house to acquire more goodies or waiting for some of the smallest kids to catch up. Giorno kept his distance, but despite still not being able to locate a familiar face, he wasn’t having a bad time.
Immediately after Giorno got a tad too close to one of the kids, the group began looking him up and down like they’d never seen a moth before. One of the little girls pokes on his neck fluff, much to his disdain.
“Wow! You're so pretty! The colors are really cute.”
Pretty? Cute? Giorno didn’t really understand her need to compliment him, but-
“What kind of costume is that supposed to be?” One of the boys asked as he made a grab for one of Giorno’s wings, just barely brushing his hand against them as Giorno spun around in the nick of time. “What are you? Some kind of bug?”
Giorno gave out a harsh chirp in protest!
A bug? He was a moth, a pretty moth at that!
“What kind of noise was that?” Another kid sneered.
“Don’t be mean, Sil!”
“Don’t tell me what to do, Fran!”
All the noise was too much for Giorno’s ears. He let out a soft whimper, dropping his apple and covering his ears with his hands to try to block out any sound as he retreated from the group.
Unfortunately, one of the kids tried to stop him.
A sharp pain went through his head as one of the boys grabbed onto his right antennae using his sticky fingers, refusing to let go. Even as he let out a screech of pain, the kid wouldn’t stop pulling, even as another child tried to push them away. It hurt so much-
“Ow!” Trish tureds around back at the group of kids she was responsible for looking over, shocked to find that Silvio was clutching onto his hand in pain.
She rushed to his side, “Sil, are you ok?”
“That- that monster bit me!” The little boy cried out. Trish managed to wrangle Silvio’s hand out and get a look at the wound. Thankfully, the bite mark was only surface level, no blood was drawn.
“Monster?”
“The little bug boy!” Francesca, another one of the kids she was babysitting clarified for her.
Trish looked around the crowd, trying to pick out the gold and pink colors of the kid’s costume. The strange little boy from earlier had run off.
“And why did he feel the need to bite Silvio?”
“Because he was pulling on the kid’s head-thingy.”
Trish sighed, “Silvio, we’ve talked about keeping hand to yourself.” She contemplated for a moment on what to do next. Something didn’t sit right with the idea of just leaving without the quiet kid she picked up earlier but she couldn’t exactly leave the rest of the group alone either. Damn, she just wanted a simple night without any problems going her way? Was that so much to ask?
She gave the area one more look around to be safe, ready to move on when she noticed, tucking within one of the crawling structures on the playground across the street, pink and white color popped out from the dark greens and blues.
Found you!
Trish quickly scrambled to find a place for the other kids to wait, opting to send them to the house across the street while she ran to retrieve the missing kid. “Alright you little gremlins, why don’t you go see if Miss. Zucca has any candy left? I’ll catch up in a moment!” Even Silvio smiled at the prospect of more goods and went along with her suggestion, giving her a handful of minutes to sort the rest of this situation out.
Her uncle said this would be an easy babysitting job.
Her uncle was a liar!
Maybe her dad was right and she should just avoid people in general...
Careful not to make any startling sounds, Trish snuck her way closer to the playground, tip-toeing up the steps in order to peek inside the plastic crawl space the little boy had been hiding in. The poor thing had practically curled himself up into a ball, shivering in the cold.
“Hey kiddo, are you ok?” She whispered, trying not to scare the kid off again.
The little boy stopped moving, turning his head slightly so that one eye could see where she was. The faint glow of the sun was hindered by the plastic tube he was hiding in, yet what little light trickled in was reflected in his big round eyes.
“I’m sorry those kids were mean to you… do you wanna try coming out?” Trish once again offered her hand, but the kid shifted further away from her. Small little beeping noises were heard coming from his direction. Not completely out of the ordinary...
“Come on kid, you're gonna get a cold if you stay out here all night.” An idea came to mind as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small chocolate bar. “If you come out… I’ll give you this!” The teen placed the small wrapped candy at the edge of the tunnel, hoping to lure the kid out into the open.
The small bug child maintained eye contact with her as he hesitantly reached out for the piece of candy, making a quick swipe for it as Trish did the same, both reaching their targets at the detest of the little boy. Despite his struggling, she managed to balance the kid in her lap and she pulled him into a hug.
“It’s ok, I got you. You’re gonna be safe. I promise.” She cooed as unwrapped the piece of chocolate for the kid, not wanting to be made a liar. The small child kept struggling in her arms, but eventually calmed down once the chocolate was firmly in his mouth.
Now that she had a good chance to look at him, she realized that the kid’s costume didn’t seem to be much of a costume at all. The wings didn’t feel like any fabric Trish had worked with and the antennae seemed to run tight into his… head.
Oh no.
Was this kid… a real monster?
That’s ridiculous! Absolutely nonsense! Right?
A small hand, well, more like a claw, reached out in front of her face, doing a grasping motion while his other pointed towards his mouth.
“You want… more candy?”
The moth child did a quick excited nod.
“Yeah, sure. Here, you can have… this lollipop. Should last you a couple minutes-” To her horror, after unwrapping the candy and giving it to the little boy, he immediately chomped down and ate the hard candy in one solid bite. If he didn’t have such a cute face she may have very well screamed.
The continued for a few minutes, the kid growing relaxed in her arms as he nibbled on whatever candy she had left. Things seemed to have calmed down a bit, which meant at least one of her problems were sorted out. Coincidently, the matter of finding the kid’s parents, originally thought to be that much harder due to the kid being some kind of moth cryptid, wasn’t going to be a problem much longer as an unexpected gust of wind shook the playground structure from behind her. Turning around, at the bottom of the slide, a very large, very angry looking moth… man was staring at her.
“Hand over my baby,” he demanded, no, growled. “Now.”
Trish looked back and forth between the two, the little one’s pinks and yellows didn’t even come close to the stark black and white coloration of the parental moth in front of her. But who was she to judge moth people genetics?
“Yeah, sure,” she stuttered out, preparing to slide the kid down to the mothman. But for some reason, the kid had latched onto her tight and refused to let go. “Kiddo, your… parent is here. I think they were looking for you.”
As she was struggling with the kid, another person, this time human, ran over to them. “Oh good. You found Giorno. I don’t understand how the brats keep losing him like this.” It was the weird goth man who lived out in the woods.
“Yes. I managed to track him down, Leone. Honestly, what were you thinking tell our kids about Halloween!”
“I only told Narancia! It’s not my fault he shared it with the rest of them.”
“Not to interrupt your lover’s quarrel, but...” Trish decided to just take the risk and slide down with the kid in tow, meeting the two adults on ground level. “He’s exhausted and he might have fallen asleep in my arms.”
“Honey, come to papa.” The mothman got the kid, er, Giorno out of her hands and nestled the child in his arms, completely distracted by the toddler as he ignored Trish’s presence entirely.
“So…” ‘Leone’ awkwardly began, “Thanks for watching over him. I know the little brat can be a handful.”
“Yeah well, next time you need a babysitter, I expect to be paid for it,” Trish half-jokingly chided. “Maybe next time, you don’t let him wander off on his own.”
“I didn’t- You try telling that to his siblings! I’m the one who usually handles watching over him just crashed from a sugar high in the back of my car.” The man lamented.
Siblings? There’s more of them?
“Speaking of the rest of the kids, we should get going. I don’t think the child locks on that mobile contraption of yours are going to hold them in much longer.” The taller moth walked over to her, “Sorry for being aggressive earlier. Thank you so much for looking after him. It truly means the world to me that he’s safe.”
“You’re welcome.”
The goth man spoke up, “Oh and kid-”
“Trish. My name is Trish.”
“ Trish , don’t go telling anyone what you saw here today, ok?”
“You know, this kind of explains all the lamp purchases you’ve been making.”
“That’s it, we are leaving.” Leone grabs the adult moth’s hand and starts dragging him away, surprisingly without any resistance. It was kinda funny watching the two bicker back and forth. Almost heartwarming to know that the odd goth man in the woods didn’t live all alone.
Later that evening, Trish sat half awake at the dinner table, exhausted from the night she had.
Her uncle, Doppio, sat across from her while her dad was nowhere to be seen. As usual.
“Trish, you barely touched your food. Are you feeling ok or did you eat too much candy before dinner?” He asked.
“No, it’s not that. I’m just tired, that’s all,” she admitted as she continued to play around with her food, not having the energy or drive to finish her meal.
“We’re those kids that much of a hassle?”
“No, not particularly. Except the one, nevermind. It’s not that important,” she tried to change the subject, “So… how is your research coming along?”
“Oh! It’s going wonderful! I have another hiking trip planned for next weekend, the offer to join me is still on the table!”
“Camping in the woods looking at butterflies, I’ll pass.”
“Fine. Must be that teenage rebellion phase I’ve heard so much about,” Doppio playfully rolled his eyes. “I’m gonna check on your dad and then head to bed. Night, Bubblegum.” He ruffled her hair as he opened the basement door.
Trish called out after him, “Night, Uncle Doppio.”