Archive of Our Own

Goro stared into the mirror fidgeting slightly with the worn edges of his costume. Even if they weren’t going out (they hadn’t really gone out in a long time), he wanted his costume to be perfect; for Ren, for the other thieves, for himself. He smiled, thinking back to the first time he ever went trick-or-treating with the Phantom Thieves.

“Gorooooooooo!” Futaba yelled from the other side of the bathroom door, knocking furiously, “come on! We’re gonna be late!”

“Coming!” he yelled back, doing one more check of himself in the mirror. It wasn’t his first Halloween (obviously, he was already nine years old!) but it’d be his first Halloween with all of them together, and he was practically shaking with excitement.

Not to mention his costume.

It wasn’t as if they never dressed up for Halloween, but costumes were expensive and just weren’t something they could ever really spend money on. However, this year was different. This year they’d scraped and saved whoever they could and finally were able to afford a proper costume!

Goro critically looked up and down the black, gold, and white design of his Black Condor feather suit. Maybe it was a little on the simpler side, and more like a onesie than an actual costume, but it was definitely recognizable as Black. And best of all, was the mask—a relatively simple Black Condor mask that they’d won months earlier during one of the many summer festivals held around Tokyo.

Goro, Ren, and Futaba had found a booth that had all of the masks that they liked, and, without much money to spend, had strategically tried to organize it so that they would at least win one mask by having only Ren and Goro try out the game. Goro lost, but Ren somehow managed to win, and, of course, picked a mask of his favorite character, Black Condor. When he saw how frustrated Goro was at having lost, though, he gave it to Goro as a present.

“I don’t want your stupid mask,” Goro had said.

“But I want my bestest friend to have a mask!” Ren had protested, handing it over insistently, and Goro found it hard to say no to that.

Goro adjusted the mask in the mirror, trying to get the best angle for it to tilt at. Since it was a festival mask instead of a real mask, that meant Goro wouldn’t be able to see through it like the real Black Condor. But, no matter what, he was still proud of his costume. He was sure no one else was gonna think of this!

“Hurry up!”

“Fine!” He shouted back, taking a moment to fix his hair a little bit before hurrying over to open the door. When he swung it open, he was met face to face with Futaba, who was frowning at the door (now him) like it had offended her. It looked comical in her outfit, an overly large spare lab coat that Isshiki-san let her borrow, and a scruffy white wig with wisps of hair flying in every direction that didn’t quite fit her head. Apparently, she was supposed to be dressed as some mad scientist named Frankenstein, and had very thoroughly explained to Goro that, no, she did not mean the monster, she meant the actual scientist.

“What took you so long?” she exclaimed, annoyance rapidly fading in favor of impatience as she grabbed his hand, tugging him towards the door, “we’re gonna be late!”

“No, Ren said it didn’t start until six,” Goro insisted.

Futaba rolled her eyes, “yeah, but that’s the actual trick-or-treating part! If we wanna get the good stuff then we gotta get there early!”

“Well,” Goro froze, trying to wrack his brain for a good excuse that didn’t start or end with the phrase ‘I want my costume to be perfect because Ren’s going to be there.’ “it got stuck while I was putting it on, so it’s not my fault.”

“Riiiiiight,” Futaba snickered, shaking her head disbelievingly, even as she continued to insistently drag him towards the door, using all her weight as leverage, “it’s totally not because you wanna impress Ren-Ren.”

He blushed furiously, stuttering out of embarrassment at having been called out so quickly. “O-of course not!”

“Sure, well c’mon,” she insisted, finally pushing him out the door and towards the stairs. Normally the elevator would be more convenient, but by this point neither of them wanted to waste more time, especially when they both knew their moms were waiting downstairs for them in the lobby. Goro didn’t live near Futaba and Isshiki-san, but they hung out so often that neither of their moms seemed surprised when they demanded to get ready together for Halloween.

“There you are!” Mom exclaimed once they ran into the lobby, panting and out of breath but grinning so wide that his face hurt, “you’re looking very heroic.”

“Of course I am,” he nodded sagely, “I’m a Phoenix Ranger, so I gotta be heroic.” To prove it, he pulled out his Proof of Justice blaster from his pillowcase, holding it very carefully (like a real weapon) and looking around for any suspicious people. Unfortunately, the lobby was relatively empty except for the four of them, so he didn’t get a chance to show off his fighting skills. “I’ve gotta be ready to take down any bad guys we see!”

“Well we’ll be counting on you to keep all of your friends safe, then,” she laughed, ruffling his hair as he swatted her hand away in annoyance. “Of course I will! I am the oldest.” “No, Makoto’s a month older than you!” Futaba called out from where Isshiki-san was helping her fix her wig. “It’s not that much of a difference,” he muttered, a little petulantly, “besides, I act way older than her, don’t I?” “It’s not a competition,” Mom scolded, but her expression never faltered from its light, joyous smile. “Are you two ready?”

“Yeah!” They both cheered, taking the chance to scramble away from their parents’ doting and out the door in a flurry of movement.

“Be careful!” he heard Isshiki-san call. “And be polite to the Amamiyas!”

“We will!” they called back in unison even as they made eye contact and simultaneously rolled their eyes. Even though it was a kids-only event they apparently still needed chaperons. Goro thought that was kind of stupid since Ren’s neighborhood, at the very least, was totally safe. At least Amamiya-san wouldn’t hover over them the way Ryuji said his dad would every year (which, as nice as it was to have a parent care so much, Goro could understand was annoying).

The ‘night’ was still young and bright, the flames of the sun barely bordering the very cusp of evening as they took their familiar walk to Shibuya station. The air almost appeared to shimmer in their wake, parting and gliding like a bubble that made the whole city sparkle with lights.

“I’m so excited you’re coming!” Futaba whisper-yelled as they arrived at the station, just in time to see a train pull in as they clambered aboard, jumping to get the first seats they could by one of the doors.

“I am too,” Goro whispered back, trying to shush her a little because it was impolite to yell like that. She did so, for about a second before her volume returned, giggling high and loud with a pure excitement Goro shared. Their stop was in Yoyogi which was only a few minutes away, and he could barely contain himself as he stared at the orange text scrolling above the door in front of them.

He’s known Futaba for what felt like forever in the best way possible. Their moms had become friends not long after they were both born through a support group for single parents, and they’ve been close ever since. With how things were, Goro knew Futaba was just as much his sister as he was to her, and it was a pleasant, bubbly feeling to know he had people who cared as much as they did. The others were slightly different, with him having met Ren only a few years ago (gosh, years? It didn’t feel like years). From there, he slowly wormed his way into Ren’s expansive circle of friends at the insistence of the stubborn raven. As far as he knew, there’d only be one person at the party that he hadn’t met previously, but she was a close friend of Futaba (probably because they were the same age) so Goro was excited nonetheless.

“What do you think we’re gonna get?” Futaba asked, staring just as intensely at the screen as he was.

“Candy, duh.”

“I know that,” Futaba huffed, “I meant what kinda candy.”

“Oh, hmmm,” Goro hummed, scrunching his nose in thought, “probably something matcha flavored. No matter what, I hope they give us the big stuff though.”

“Mhm!” Futaba nodded, making a funny face as she thought too, “most houses don’t though so we’ll have to be extra careful to make sure we scope out the houses that do.”

“We can be like the actual Featherman!”

“Yeah!”

The announcement came as no surprise barely a second later, and they were off again, running out through the double doors and then, more politely, speed-walking through the turnstyle to waste no time on their way to Ren’s house.

Once they were outside the station, Futaba turned to him, already running as she shouted, “I’ll race you to Ren-Ren’s!” Goro felt himself smile despite Futaba’s obvious cheating, breaking into a sprint after her because there was no way he was gonna lose to his little sister.

“Don’t get mad at me when you lose!”

As expected, Goro won, and, also as expected, Futaba was playfully upset over the ordeal, both panting for breath by the time they finally reached the Amamiya household. Luckily, even though it was the end of October, neither of them felt cold.

“I win!” he crowed, basking in his victory because that was his right as a sibling.

“Not fair!” Futaba whined back, her whole body shaking with each gasping breath, “you’re taller than me so you got an advantage.”

“No, I’m just better,” Goro argued, which was reasonable in his opinion because he actually knew how to run from playing tag with Ryuji, Ann, and Ren in Inokashira when they had the time to hang out together,

“Meanie,” Futaba pouted, sticking out her tongue for emphasis and looking more than a little miffed when Goro laughed at her face. “Come on, knock on the door already.”

Goro paused in his gloating, looking back towards the tall, borderline imposing wooden door that stood between him and the Amamiya household and the bright light and muffled noise that emanated from somewhere behind it. He felt his confidence drain into his shoes the longer he stared. “I—um,” he paused, and then shook his head, embarrassed at his own hesitance to perform such a simple task.

Futaba grinned, the tides switching in her favor again before either of them could blink. “What’s wrong? You talk to Ren-Ren all the time! Are you scared because you like him?”

“No, of course not,” Goro insisted, feeling his cheeks warm. Then, belatedly, added, “and I don’t have a crush on him.”

Futaba looked absolutely done with him, which was her own fault for saying he had a crush. “Then knock already.”

He paused again, but the shame of proving his sister right made him take a step forward, knocking firm and loud before he lost his nerve. The faint chatter quieted for a few moments, before the door suddenly swung open inwards, revealing the messy-haired boy he definitely didn’t have a crush on.

Ren’s eyes lit up like the sky when he realized who had arrived. “Goro!” Ren exclaimed, mouth splitting into a toothy grin that showed the slight gap between his two front teeth, rushing forward to force Goro into a tight, bone-crushing embrace that Goro accepted and sent back tenfold.

Soon (sooner than Goro liked) Ren darted back, eyes moving towards where Futaba was standing next to him. “And Futaba! You guys finally came!”

“It’s Goro’s fault we’re late,” Futaba ratted him out immediately, taking no mercy on his heart as she jabbed an accusatory finger in his direction, “he took forever to get his costume on.”

“I did not!” Goro fought back because this was slander and he wasn’t about to lie down and take it.

“Did too!”

Ren, ever the mediator, put a brave hand between them and waved them away from one another, “you’re not late!” he exclaimed, “we’re still waiting on some of the others.”

“See,” Goro said, more than a little smug Ren took his side.

“He only took your side because he’s biased,” Futaba grumbled, “is Ş̡̰̯͎͇̱͒́́͋͂͊͞ ̤̘̠̘̽̑̀͡u̧̧̘̖̎͑̉͋̃ͅ ͖̗̿͊͡ͅm̡̢̤͇͛̎͘͞ ̨̪̙͓͓́̿̈̓̿͝ͅi̳̹̳̺̔̇̊̚ ̢̞̬̗͔̘̉̈́̀͂̚͡r̫͓̅͗ ̢͍͆̍e͕̯͇̬̣̲͖̞͐͆͑͛͐̈̈͡ here yet?”

“Yep! She just arrived a few minutes ago,” Ren confirmed, and Futaba’s expression instantly lit up, pushing her way past Ren and into the house where, just over Ren’s shoulder, Goro could see her bound over to a girl with bright red hair who looked to be about her same age.

They both watched the interaction with a smile for a moment, before Ren turned back to him, eyes darting to take in his costume as he somehow smiled even wider. “You look so cool! Why are you dressed up as Black Condor though? I thought you liked Red Hawk better.”

Goro’s had too many excited calls with Ren whenever a new episode came out to not know that, and he felt himself go red again, at the prospect of having to explain himself, “well, yeah, but, Black’s cool too…” he mumbled.

“Goro wanted to be your favorite character,” Futaba called back, somehow having the gall to listen in on their conversation despite her frantic, almost wild gestures in whatever conversation she was having with her friend.

“That’s not true! And why are you even listening to me?”

“Because it’s my job to make fun of you, and yes it is!”

“No, it’s—”

“Did you really?” Ren interrupted, and Goro covered his face to hide his own embarrassment, to avoid looking him in the eye, prepared for Ren to make fun of him for doing something so cheesy. “That’s awesome!”

Goro hesitated for a moment, frozen, peeking out from between his fingers to try and take in Ren’s expression, before meekly asking, “It is?”

“Of course it is! My bestest friend dressed up as my favorite Phoenix Ranger for me! How is that not awesome?”

Goro didn’t stop blushing, but he let his hands fall and a small smile cross his lips. “Yeah…yeah you’re right!”

“Of course I am,” Ren laughed, grabbing his arm to drag him inside without warning or pause, “I’m the expert on best friend things and this is one of the bestest best friend things you can do.”

Goro had to struggle against Ren to be allowed enough time to close the door before he was led into the living room where Futaba and her friend, who was wearing a bright blue princess dress and matching bow in her hair, were talking by the fridge. For a moment, Goro let himself stop and smile. It was nice to see Futaba talking so animatedly, to see her make friends. For the longest time there was no one for either of them but each other, and now they had so many friends it was hard to count them all.

The majority of the chatter he heard from outside, apparently, must have been coming from Ann and Ryuji where they stood next to the couch in the middle of a tense debate. Ann was wearing a bright red outfit with a lot of zippers that didn’t seem to go anywhere and a matching set of cat ears and a tail. Ryuji, on the other hand, was wearing a makeshift pirate costume, eyepatch and all, with a fake stump leg and black leather jacket that Goro was pretty sure belonged to his dad.

“You’re totally gonna look the same as Mona!” Ryuji was insisting.

“I’m not!” Ann exclaimed back, looking like she was about ready to get into a fistfight with Ryuji over the issue, “I’m not a cat, I’m Panther, The Super Villain! It’s totally different!”

“But you look like a cat.” Ryuji tried, and even though he was vocally insistent the way he took a step back said that he was probably more intimidated by Ann than he wanted to give away.

“No I don’t!”

“I think Ann’ll look different,” Ren chimed in helpfully, “Mona’s supposed to be Haru’s witch’s cat while Ann’s supposed to be a Cat Thief, so they’re totally gonna be different.”

“Exactly!” Ann exclaimed, whirling around to greet them and then squealing with excitement when she caught sight of Goro. “Yay, you’re finally here! Oh my gosh, wait, our costumes totally go together!”

She grabbed his arm (which he didn’t like nearly as much as when Ren did) and pulled them side-by side, gesturing down at their costumes enthusiastically. She looked completely undeterred when he shook her hand off, “see! A villain and a hero, it’s perfect!”

“But if I’m the hero then I have to arrest you,” Goro wondered aloud.

“Only if you catch me. And we’re friends, so you’re not allowed to catch me.”

Goro stared at her blankly. “But you're a villain.”

Ann stared back like she didn’t remotely understand his logic. “And Ryuji’s a pirate, are you gonna arrest him too?”

Ryuji looked genuinely offended at the notion, frowning like Ann had just suggested they kick his puppy. “You can’t arrest pirates.”

“Yes you can,” Goro confirmed, trying to remember what he learned about pirates from Wikipedia, “plenty of pirates have been arrested.”

“What? Really? That’s not fair!” Ryuji squawked indignantly, wildly swinging the stick he brought as his prop weapon. “They just go around and find treasure, why would ‘ya arrest them?”

Goro sighed at the prospect of having to explain pirates to the kid who was dressed like one, “because pirates steal things and stealing is wrong, so they should be arrested.”

Ren shot him a proud, mischievous grin that Goro equally adored and despised. “Stealing things isn’t wrong all the time. What about people like Robin Hood? He steals stuff but he’s helping people by stealing, so he shouldn’t get arrested. You told me so yourself”

Goro pouted a little. Of course Ren would use his love of Robin Hood against him. “But pirates don’t do good, they just take all their treasure and keep it to themselves.”

“Well, what if I’m, like, the Robin Hood of pirates?” Ryuji tried, furrowing his brow really hard like it took a lot out of him to come up with that, “and I give my treasure away to help people.”

“Then…I guess I wouldn’t have to arrest you,” Goro frowned back, trying to think of another reason he could arrest Ryuji, if only for how loud he was.

“Well, I’m not gonna be a Robin Hood, I’m a super villain and I’m gonna take over Tokyo!” Ann exclaimed, putting both hands on her hips for dramatic emphasis.

“But then—” Their conversation was interrupted by loud knocking, freezing everyone in place for a second before Ren darted towards the door again. This time, Ryuji followed in tow, apparently having the good sense to escape while he still could. “Haru! Makoto!” came a sudden exclamation from the door, though Goro couldn’t see what was happening from where they were.

The insistent tug of a hand on his sleeve drew him back to the couch, where he was startled to see that Futaba and her friend had snuck up on them and were suddenly sitting down on the couch next to them. “Goro,” she stared, waving between him and her friend, “this is my friend Kasumi. Kasumi, this is my brother Goro.”

“Hi!” Kasumi exclaimed, far too bubbly for Goro’s tastes as she bowed quickly with a bright smile, “it’s nice to finally meet you Goro-senpai!”

“You too,” Goro smiled, a little more subdued as he bowed in turn.

Even though he didn’t have much to say to her (it was a little hard to relate to people who were so much younger than him, with Futaba being a very special exception), Kasumi didn’t let the conversation drop so easily. “Futaba talks about you all the time.”

“What does she say?” Goro leaned a little forward, more than a little curious to hear what she had to say as Futaba’s eyes widened in his peripheral and she started to tug at the red-head’s sleeve.

“She says that you talk over movies all the time.

Futaba paused in her frantic gestures, and then shrugged. “You do,” she offered as an explanation when Goro frowned.

“And?”

“That she’s glad to have you for a brother, that she gets annoyed when you rearrange her figurines,” Kasumi continued, utterly unmoved by Futaba’s frantic signalling to stop, “Oh! And that you have a crush on Ren-senpai!”

“You what?!” Ann exclaimed, so loudly the whole neighborhood probably heard her.

Now it was Goro’s turn to panic. “No, I don’t!” Goro insisted in a hushed yell, still conscious of all the other people (cough, cough, possible witnesses) at the house, “and don’t say that so loud!”

“I can’t believe you wouldn’t tell me this,” Ann pouted, staring at him like she just learned he’d killed her puppy, “how long has this been going on?”

“How long has what been going on?” asked a familiar, boyish voice from behind him and Goro physically jumped in place, whirling around to see that Ren and Ryuji had rejoined their makeshift group along with Haru and Makoto.

“N-nothing!” Goro stammered, quickly shooting a glare to silence the remainder of their little circle who, despite their varying reactions, kept their mouths shut like they were supposed to. There were some blessings, at least.

“Sorry we’re late,” Haru apologized quickly, bowing to the group like the polite person she was, “Mako-chan’s dad was working late and Sae-san was with her friends so my dad had us take a detour to come pick her up on the way here.”

Makoto blushed a little at the nickname but nodded, “yeah, I’m really sorry about that. I got caught up with homework.”

“Ewwww,” Ryuji sighed empathetically, “homework’s the worst.”

“Maybe if you actually did yours—”

“Haru!” Ann exclaimed over them before another argument (however playful it may be) broke out, “your costume’s so pretty!”

“Thank you! My mom helped me make it,” Haru chuckled, and Ann was right, her costume was pretty. She had on a big, poofy, black and purple dress that kinda reminded Goro of a pom-pom. Along with it she had a witch’s hat on her head and a rickety broom in one hand. As she twirled to show off the whole costume Goro could see that the sides of her dress actually looked like big black pumpkins.

“Speaking of costumes, what’s yours supposed to be?” Futaba pointed towards Makoto, who flushed with embarrassment once again. Unlike Haru’s intricate costume, she only had large black circles drawn over her eyes and a slightly tilted headband with round black ears, but otherwise she was plainly dressed in a white shirt and black pants.

“Um…it’s supposed to be Buchimaru-kun…” She confessed, growing even redder when Goro laughed at her.

“Buchimaru-kun is for kids,” he pointed out, a little proud to have something to one-up her over.

“Shut up! So is Featherman!”

Before Goro could even start to explain why she was wrong, Futaba gasped loudly. “Did you just say a bad word Makoto?”

Ren, Ryuji, and Ann all gasped simultaneously in mock amazement, the remainder of the group unphased and unaffected by the notion.

“Ah! I’m sorry!”

Ryuji shook his head, slapping her back with far too much force. “Don’t be sorry, Goro was being a total hippopotamus!”

Makoto and Goro stared at him in equal confusion. “A what?”

“Ya know, a hippo-thingy,” Ryuji insisted, “like if Ren-Ren said Ann’s hair is messy he’d be a hippopotamus.”

“Do you mean a hypocrite?” Ren offered helpfully, at the same time Ann exclaimed an offended, “what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Yeah! That thing. A hippocrip.”

“Hypocrite,” Goro corrected this time, thoroughly unamused at the fact that Ryuji would take Makoto’s side when he can’t even say such a simple word right. “Which I’m not.”

“You totally are though! Look at your outfit.”

“There’s nothing wrong with his costume,” Ren immediately stepped up to defend Goro, and Goro felt himself swoon. Just a little. Like he’s not supposed to. Because he absolutely does not have a crush on his best friend.

“‘M not sayin’ anything’s wrong with it, just that he’s a hippacrik for making fun ‘o Makoto’s!”

“Oh, well, that’s fine then.” Ren backed down, and Goro’s swooning immediately stopped as he met the unapologetic eyes of his betrayer.

“It’s hypocrite,” Goro repeated, again, “and it’s not like you’re one to talk, Ren. What are you even supposed to be? An old rich dude?”

They all, collectively, looked down at Ren’s costume. He was wearing a large black cape with a collar that practically dwarfed Ren’s own head and came very close to dragging on the ground. Besides that, though, he looked more like he almost looked like a fancy waiter, with a white button-down shirt and fancy-looking pants.

“Wait, aren’t you supposed to be a vampire Ren-senpai?” Kasumi asked.

“I am, I even have—” Ren stopped suddenly, eyes going wide as he felt around his mouth, “oh shoot I forgot the teeth in my room! I’ll be right back.” He darted up stairs and out of sight before they could say anything else, and any further conversation was interrupted by another ring of the doorbell.

“Someone get it!” Ren’s muffled voice called from upstairs.

“I will,” Goro called back, because he was a good friend like that even if Ren betrayed him, and was joined at his side by Futaba, who looked a little nervous, and Kasumi. When he opened the door, he paused, staring blankly at the bed sheet-covered beanpole in front of him.

“Um…” he said after a moment, “hi?”

“Ah! Am I one of the last to arrive?” a muffled voice, distinctly Yusuke’s, asked from under the sheet.

“Nah, we’re still waiting on Mona,” Futaba answered, and all three titled their heads simultaneously as they stared at…whatever Yusuke was doing.

“What’s that supposed to be? A ghost?”

“No, it’s far more complex than that! It’s a rejection of our social constructs of beauty and design. It questions the very fabric of our own mortality. It is everything humanity shall never achieve. It—”

“Yes! It’s a ghost,” a brown-haired woman laughed from behind him, coming over to stand next to him and putting a gentle hand on his shoulder, “unfortunately, I got caught up with my work so it was a little bit of a last-minute decision.”

“No! Can you not see? This is—”

“Yes, yes, dear,” she soothed, patting his shoulder and smiling as if Yusuke wasn’t literally the weirdest person ever, even though this wasn’t even close to topping the list of Yusuke’s odd decisions. Goro still remembered the lobster incident. “Why don’t you go along and play with your friends? Ren-chan’s mom told me they were ordering sushi for all of you.”

That stopped Yusuke’s rant cold, and in an instant Yusuke was at their feet, bowing so low he might have actually been touching the ground. “My apologies! Please allow me to enter your humble abode so that I may partake in your exquisite feast.”

They all continued to stare, until Futaba, somehow unphased, said, “Inari, you can come in. We already invited you.”

“Blessed be the gods!” Yusuke exclaimed as he scrambled inside.

“Why are you guys friends with him again?” Goro asked, just to be sure.

Futaba laughed like she was in on a joke he wasn’t. “Exactly for this reason.”

“I think I’ll have to agree with Goro-senpai on this one,” Kasumi laughed along, looking a little awkward and perhaps a little uncomfortable for a moment before her expression straightened back into something pleasant, and Goro felt a slight trickle of unease shiver down his spine.

“Well, thank you for taking care of him,” the woman chuckled again, looking past the door fondly, “I know my son can be a lot to handle, but I’m glad he has friends like you.”

“No problemo Kitagawa-san!” Futaba exclaimed, her sudden confidence jarring, “have fun working on your painting!”

“Thanks,” she chuckled, bowing lightly and moving to take her leave. Goro was about to shut the door when a loud shout stopped him.

“Wait for me!” Morgana called, barreling down the sidewalk and barely managing to stop in time in front of the door, panting wildly, “I’m here—I’m here—we can start.”

Goro stared at the figure for a second, forcing a small smile as he met the boy’s bright blue eyes. Even if the rest of the group was friends with him (and Goro by proxy), Morgana was one of the few people he didn’t like for some reason. It was an odd kind of dislike, the kind that made him feel a bit off-kilter just looking at him, before it resettled into—

Goro paused, looking down at the sink and shaking his head.

No, that wasn’t how it went.

He closed his eyes and forced himself to remember a little harder, the unease in his chest quickly melting away the longer he lost himself into the memory.

“Mowna!” an awkward-sounding voice (like it was trying to talk with too much candy inside it) exclaimed from behind him, and Goro moved slightly so Ren could brush past him to greet the boy. “Yowe finawy here!” Ren tried to say, but quickly gave up and took the plastic teeth out of his mouth so he could continue, “What took you so long?”

“Boss wanted me to help out with the cafe and I lost track of time,” Mona explained, moving to resettle his black cat-ear headband and check his tail. Goro didn’t know how Mona got his hands on a pair of mittens that looked so much like actual cat paws, but he would bet a lot of money that it had something to do with Haru.

“Just tell Sojiro not to bully you then,” Futaba laughed from where she stood next to Goro.

Goro’s only met Sojiro a couple of times, but he’d have to agree with Mona when he said, “there’s no way I can do that to his face!”

“Pfft, he’s a total noob at parenting, you’ll be fine.”

“Wait, now that you’re here Mona-senpai, we can finally start trick-or-treating!” Kasumi exclaimed excitedly.

“Finally!” Ryuji’s voice yelled over the raucous din inside the house.

Ren looked over them all, and Goro felt his gaze linger on him for a second before a broad grin split his face.

“Alright gang, it’s showtime!”

Goro had never had more fun than he did when he went trick-or-treating that day. The process was as chaotic as it was enjoyable, and Ren’s neighborhood turned out to be a goldmine of candy. Not only were they lucky enough to come across multiple houses that gave out the BIG candy bars, but every single house they stopped at had candy to give out.

Although he wasn’t surprised, he was mildly disappointed to see that the others had little to no system of organization. Watching them run up to front doors to nab candy was like one of those big wars Goro learned about in history, except they were the Daimyos competing and fighting with one another for the best candy in each bowl.

However, practice and planning gave the three of them an advantage.

Ren liked super sour or spicy stuff. Futaba liked anything that wasn’t sour and wasn’t super sweet, as well as anything matcha flavored. Goro liked milk chocolates. Because they all liked different candies, they were all able to get the most candy that they did like by grabbing and trading what they knew the other two would like.

“Aaaaand done!” Ren exclaimed, standing tall and proud over the small mountain of milk chocolates he was giving to Goro.

Goro stared at the pile, equally amazed and appalled. “Why do you have so many?!”

“Because I wanted to give them to you!” Ren answered, like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Goro frowned up at Ren. “But why wouldn’t you wanna get the ones you like?”

“I already got the best Halloween treat I could,” Ren insisted, moving to sit down next to Goro and poking his cheek, “my bestest friend!”

Goro blushed and then scowled, swatting Ren’s hand away. “You can’t just say things like that.”

“It’s true though.”

“Guys!” Futaba called over to them, running towards them and nearly tripping on her own coat in the process, “stop making kissy faces and get over here, there’s one more house!”

The embarrassment of her comment was quickly overshadowed by the excitement of knocking on another door, so they both quickly got up to follow her. The house she was talking about was right at the very end of the street, where Goro had sworn they’d already checked, only to be proven wrong when he was met face to face with a small, but lit traditional Japanese house.

“Should we tell the others?” Ren asked as they walked, because he a little stupid like that.

“Of course not,” Goro said, at the same time Futaba gave a resounding, “no!”

“Why not?” Ren frowned.

“‘Cause then they’ll wanna go there too and we’ll get last pick. We can tell them afterwards, I wanna get the good stuff first,” Futaba explained because she, like Goro, was smart that way.

“Oh, but we’ll tell them afterwards, right?”

“Of course, after we get our candy, though,” Goro reminded as they approached the front door. Though the majority of the house was plain and undecorated, the front door had a paper jack-o-lantern with a teal witch’s hat and blue cloak holding a lantern. Something about it seemed familiar, though Goro shrugged it off.

They all made their way up, bags open and at the ready while Ren, having lost rock paper scissors, knocked on the door. A moment or two later, the door swung open to reveal a messy, brown-haired man in a white lab coat and blue button down shirt standing at the door like he’d been waiting there all night for this moment.

“Trick-or-treat!”

He chuckled, moving out of sight for a moment to bring back a tray rather than a bowl, filled with gum, jagariko, lollipops, donuts, and wafers. It was strange, but Goro smiled anyway. “Take as many as you like.”

“Really?” Futaba gasped, wide-eyed and excitable.

“Really.” The man confirmed.

They dug into the pile like wild animals, stuffing as much as they could in their respective pillowcases, and by the time they were done the tray should have been empty three times over, but it looked like they had never even taken a single item from it.

“Kyoushuku desu!” they exclaimed in harmony, bowing and then looking up at him again with bright, lingering smiles.

“No need to thank me,” the man smiled, “just live good, happy lives.”

“We will!” Ren exclaimed as they left, waving back as they skipped off to trade their goodies.

“I know you will.”

Goro used the mirror to glance at where Ren, now his husband, was chatting with his sister, who was, like she always had been as a kid, so excited at the prospect of watching the newest Featherman episode she was shaking.

He was right, Goro considered in retrospect, smiling broadly into the mirror when he caught Ren’s eye, utterly ignorant to the flash of guilt and disgust in Ren’s expression before the raven looked away.

We are happy.