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It was Halloween, the nights were longer, it was getting colder, rain poured down from the heavens and the castle was fully decorated. The whole place already looked spooky but that didn't stop the Murder Time Trio from putting up fake spiders' webs and weird witchy things that made noises when you walk past. Jack-O-lanterns were placed around the castle as well, with battery operated candles since Nightmare couldn't trust them with real fire. Plastic bats hung from the ceiling; there was a themed wreath on every door and banners and paper chains on the walls. Nightmare couldn't go anywhere without seeing something Halloween. Even the cushions in the common room and library were replaced with Halloween ones and cutlery, plates and cups were replaced too.
It had been like this every year since the boys joined. At first Nightmare had been mad about it but as time went on he stopped caring as much. If it kept them quiet and out of his way then so be it, plus it did keep to his aesthetics. Things had been slightly different for the past few years though. As soon as Miracle was old enough to do arts and crafts and understood more about what Halloween was, little decorations made by the child were added to the 'bought' ones. Mostly it was drawings or paper cut outs but there were some things Miracle had made out of food packaging that Horror had saved for him. Spiders, pumpkins, witches' hats, etc. Nightmare couldn't help but be happy about that; his little prince was so talented.
Miracle loved Halloween. That wasn't really surprising with who he was raised by. The six year old was so excited about it that he'd come running into his parents' room on the first of October to shout about it and beg to start decorating.
Halloween day and night weren't what they used to be. Gone were the days where the Murder Time Trio played drinking games, watched 18+ horror movies and played 18+ horror games. Replacing that was child friendly games and cartoons. There was still the same amount of sweets and cakes but everything was made suitable for the child.
Another thing Miracle loved doing was dressing up. As much as Nightmare liked seeing his son happy, he always dreaded Halloween evenings. At least it wasn't something they did all day and kept it for after dinner but still! Nightmare cringed at the thought of the previous year where Miracle had wanted him to dress as an octopus with him and cried when Nightmare said no. Nightmare had tried to put his foot down on it but the crying wouldn't stop and the Murder Time Trio were already in their shark costumes… Even though Nightmare had told Killer no pictures he was sure that there were some… He just hoped they weren't shared; that would be so embarrassing! He had the reputation of a tyrant to keep!
He just knew he'd be roped into another costume this year as well. They'd just had dinner and Killer had taken Miracle to his room to get changed. Nightmare was always kept in the dark about what it was because Killer knew he'd try to say no. He was just waiting for it and dreading it as he read a horror novel by the fire in the library. He knew Miracle would come running in at any moment now...
"Daddy! Daddy! Look! Look!"
...And there goes his peaceful reading time. Nightmare slipped a bookmark into his novel, put it aside and turned to face his son. A small smile spread onto his face at his little witch costume. He had on his normal black shorts but had a dark brown long sleeved tunic with a thick lighter brown belt holding it closed. He had a different red cape from his normal one with stars all over it and a matching witch's hat with his crown put on over the hat. He was even carrying a little broomstick.
Miracle ran right up to Nightmare and jumped up onto his lap, his hat almost falling off in the process but he managed to catch it. Nightmare managed a little laugh; this wasn't so bad. It was normally matching costumes Miracle insisted they do and a witch's covenant was at least made of three witches. While a witch wasn't the first thing Nightmare would choose to dress as this wasn't nearly as bad as an octopus.
"Hello, Little Prince," Nightmare said as he made sure he had a good hold of the excited child. "Or should I say Little Witch?"
Miracle giggled and grabbed the end of his cape so he could hold it up to show it to his father. "Mama got me a really cool costume! Look, it has pretty stars on it!"
"I can see that, very cool," Nightmare said as he looked around for Killer. "Speaking of your mother; where is he?"
"Oh, I left him behind. He's still changing."
Nightmare sighed and playfully pulled his son's hat over his eyes making him giggle again. "Well, maybe we should go find him. I take it he's a witch as well?"
"Nuh uh," Miracle said, shaking his head as he fixed his hat. That caused a sinking feeling in Nightmare's metaphorical stomach. If Killer wasn't part of a witch's covenant, then what was he?
"Here I am!" Killer called happily as he teleported in. "And here's your costume, Moonlight!"
The black cat onesie was tossed in Nightmare's face as Killer stood in front of them with his hands on his hips and wearing the same onesie.
"Oh hell no!" Nightmare called as he looked at it. "I'm not dressing as a cat!"
"What else would accompany a witch?" Killer asked with a smirk. "We're the familiars!"
"Other witches," Nightmare said as he glared at Killer. From the look on his face it was his idea or he put the idea into Miracle's head. "There are at least three witches in a covenant! And we have a real black cat!"
"Yeah but Horror and Dust are the other witches," Killer said. "And Diamond looks like she's gonna be Horror's familiar since he's carrying around cat treats so she follows him. I think he liked the idea of having a real cat for his familiar."
"It's funny! She keeps trying to steal the yummies in his pocket!" Miracle giggled and grabbed up the onesie. "Please, Daddy. I want to have two familiars!"
Nightmare glared at Killer again. He was a King, the Guardian of Negativity, a deity, he'd killed thousands and made thousands more suffer… And he was being reduced to a six year old's familiar for Halloween.
"Come on, Babe," Killer said as he perched himself on the arm of Nightmare's chair. "It's just for one evening and it'll make Miracle happy, won't it Kiddo?"
"Please~ I'll be extra good! And do extra homework!" Miracle begged looking up at Nightmare with big eyes.
"He'll probably cry for hours again if you say no," Killer whispered, making Nightmare sigh. He really didn't have much choice unless he wanted to listen to his son scream and cry, which he very much didn't.
"Fine, but no photos of me!" Nightmare gave in. He knew there probably would be photos anyway but he would still make sure Killer knew he wasn't happy with that.
"Yay!" Both Killer and Miracle shouted as they hopped off and did a little victory dance before giving each other a high five.
Nightmare rubbed his eye and sighed as he grabbed the onesie and stood up. "Give me a minute to change and I'll be right back…"
There was no point in leaving the library to change so Nightmare simply went into another aisle. He scowled at the onesie as he held it up to look at it. "It's just for a couple of hours," Nightmare muttered to himself, "and it's for Miracle…" He'd never thought that one day he'd be dressing like a cat but if it'd make his Little Prince happy then so be it. Besides, he'd done really well on the last test…
With a sigh Nightmare pulled off his clothes and put on the onesie. It fit perfectly which was annoying; if it didn't fit he'd have an excuse. As it was he'd have to go out there and face his gang dressed like this…
It was best just to go for it so after folding his clothes neatly and putting them in the corner, Nightmare left the aisle and went back to his family.
"Mama! Look!" Miracle called out when he spotted his father coming over. "Daddy's wearing it!"
As much as Nightmare hated the costume, seeing Miracle so excited did make it worth it even though he still glared at Killer when he laughed.
"Looking good~" Killer said with a wink as he met Nightmare half way. "Just one thing…"
"Hey!" Nightmare called as Killer grabbed the hood of the onesie that Nightmare hadn't put up and pulled it up. While making sure to pull further so it covered Nightmare's eye.
"There, now it's purr-fect~" Killer said while actually making a purring sound.
Nightmare sighed again as he fixed the hood so it was on right just as Miracle came running up and giggling.
"Now I have my familiars! Can we go now?" Miracle asked as he bounced a little and looked up at his parents with big starry eyes.
"Of course we can," Killer said as he scooped his son up into his arms while being careful of the broom Miracle was holding. "Come on, Babe. This party will be lots of fun!"
Nightmare sighed. He knew there was no getting out of this so he might as well just go for it. He began to walk off with Killer quickly following behind him while encouraging Miracle to sing "Spooky Scary Skeletons." Nightmare just shook his head but couldn't help but smile; he hated his own costume but Miracle really was cute.
The common room was the most decorated room. Banners were stuck on the wall, balloons filled the room, the table was covered with an orange and black table cloth and filled with cakes, sweets and a cauldron filled with juice that would probably end up spiked when Miracle went to bed. There were Jack-O-Lanterns as well and more fake spider webs plus most of Miracle's decorations. Even the lights were dimmed, ready for the party.
Nightmare opened the door as Miracle stopped singing. He looked inside and spotted Horror and Dust wearing matching witches' costumes but while Miracle's was red; Dust's was purple and Horror's was green. Nightmare turned to Killer with a raised brow making him laugh.
"Found all this in a costume store. The witches' costumes came in different colours for adults but only red for kids. It was too perfect so I got 'em. At first I thought we could be witches but Miracle suggested we be the familiars instead so I swapped the adult costumes for the right sizes for Horror and Dust and got us the cat onesies."
"Of course," Nightmare sighed as he turned back to his friends.
Dust was laughing as Diamond tried to get into Horror's pocket. Even the cat had a little orange cape on. "Maybe you should just let her have the treats," Dust suggested as Horror dodged a grabbing paw.
"But then she won't follow me! I want a familiar too!"
"Never thought I'd see the day when you would refuse to feed someone."
"She's been fed! She just ate all the food in her bowl like an hour ago!"
"She's a cat," Killer said as he put Miracle down so the child could drop his broom and go running to the cat and gently pick her up. "She smells the food and wants it."
"Oh, hey guys!" Dust said as he quickly stood up and laughed lightly at the sight of his boss in a cat onesie. "You two look great!"
"Shut up, Dust," Nightmare said as he glared at him which only made him laugh more.
"I'm super kawaii!" Killer called out and lifted his arms to pose like an anime cat girl.
"Never say or do that again," Nightmare scolded Killer as he turned to him. "That is the cringiest thing you've done!"
"Aww but don't you think I'm super k-"
"Don't say that again! You sound like a weeb!"
"That's the point!"
"So, Killer's going to be hyper again this year?" Horror said as he watched Killer stick his tongue out at Nightmare.
"Looks like it," Dust agreed, "now he's the one you should be denying food to. He doesn't need a sugar rush on top of this."
Nightmare's and Killer's banter stopped when there was a little meow as Diamond rubbed herself against their legs in a greeting. It seemed she was distracted from the cat treats in Horror's pocket for now. Miracle giggled at the sight and pointed to his parents and the cat. "Kitties!" He called out and ran up to them. "All the kitties together!"
"...I've been reduced to a 'kitty'" Nightmare muttered as he watched Miracle pick up his broomstick again.
"It's just for one night, Moonlight," Killer whispered. "Once we put Miracle to bed you can change."
"I plan on it," Nightmare replied and he summoned his tentacles and slipped one around Killer's waist. "And I plan on taking you-"
"Hey guys, say cheese!" Dust called out suddenly making the three of them turn around.
Miracle giggled and lifted a hand to wave at the Polaroid camera that Dust was holding while Killer made his anime cat girl pose again. Nightmare just stared deadpan at the camera and before he had the chance to tell Dust not to take the picture, it was taken.
"Dust!" Nightmare snapped as he watched him take the print out and put it face down on the table.
"What? The costumes are cool."
"I only agreed to this if pictures weren't taken."
"Oh… Sorry, Boss," Dust said as he put the camera down and backed away from it.
"Don't worry, Babe," Killer said as he walked further into the room and picked up a chocolate eyeball to eat. "No one but us will ever see that picture. I promise."
"Make sure of it," Nightmare said with a sigh as he walked in as well and took a seat on the sofa. He really hoped there would be no more pictures with him in them. If the others wanted to take pictures of themselves that was fine and he knew Killer would want to take lots of pictures of their son.
Miracle looked really happy right now as he came running over to the box of games that had been put in the corner and placed his broom beside it so he could take out a game. Most of the games were normal party games with a Halloween twist. They had bean bag toss but with pumpkin shaped buckets, instead of pin the tail on the donkey Dust had drawn up 'pin the spider on the web,' Killer had set up an 'eyeball hunt' with eyeball bouncy balls and Horror had made a ghost piñata. There were also plenty of Halloween balloons to play games with.
The four adults watched as Miracle pulled out the bean bags and came running back to them. "Play time?" Miracle asked hopefully as he looked up at them.
"Yep," Killer said as he took the bean bag that was handed to him. "There are lots of games and lots of sweets to get through."
"Don't eat too many sweets," Nightmare said to his son as he ran up to him to give him a bean bag as well. "You'll get sick and be too hyper for bed."
"But-" Miracle tried to argue but stopped when Nightmare raised his hand to shush him.
"No buts, the sweets will last; you don't have to eat them all at once."
Miracle pouted but nodded as he looked to the table. "...Can I have the toffee apple now?"
Nightmare glared at the treat, (he really hated having apples in the castle,) but sighed and gave in. "You can, but because it's the biggest treat you can't have as many of the little ones now as well."
"Okay~" Miracle sang as he quickly gave a bean bag to his uncles and grabbed the toffee apple off of the table before he ran off to set up the buckets as he started munching into the apple.
Nightmare watched as the game began, taking his turn quickly and deliberately missing or getting the lower scoring buckets to make sure Miracle was winning and happy. The night was going to be full of joy and laughter but Nightmare didn't mind if it meant his son was having fun. He'd just have to work extra hard tomorrow.
