Chapter Text
“Bought you some snacks for the evening,” Ted commented over his shoulder when he heard Peter enter the kitchen. He was halfway through packing food for his own outing to Paul’s, mostly nachos and other things to go with the beer.
“Actually, um, I’m still going out. I wouldn’t miss Halloween.”
Ted paused at that, turning around to look at his brother. He was smiling slightly, in spite of the awkward aura that hung over them both.
Here’s the thing about Peter – he’s never been popular, and unlike Ted, he seemed to actively want to avoid it, leaving him with very few instances of people he’d actually call friends.
Things got better after their mother got him into that tap dancing class and he met the Flemings’ girl, and soon after that Paul introduced him to his nephew, Richie. The three of them have stuck together since then, not having anywhere else to go.
Like three odd spare parts left in a baggie after you’ve finished assembling an IKEA cabinet… that metaphor made no sense.
And Halloween became something extremely important. Richie was one of those kids who’d spend every dollar of his allowance on wigs and costumes of whatever show or game he was at the time passionate about, and if he was one thing, it was persistent. He dragged Ruth and Peter into yearly dress ups. It’d be something they’d start planning a month in advance – what show, which characters, where to get the necessary materials at a decent price, they’d even make elaborate maps of their routes to optimise candy collection while also avoiding Jägerman.
Pete had an entire photo wall of those outings, his goofy pubescent face grinning at the camera as the three dorks try to take a good quality selfie.
… The funerals were three months ago, give or take.
He wouldn’t have gone himself. Not because he didn’t like the kids, they were alright in his eyes, it’s just… he never liked the permeating silence that always accompanied the entire ceremony. Like the world faded away and he was alone in it.
He didn’t like it when his grandparents died, and he didn’t enjoy it either when Richie and later Ruth were carried to the graveyard. He couldn’t leave Pete alone to watch it. So he stood by his side, arm over his younger’s shoulder, a pack of tissues in his pocket for when he ran out.
The image of two coffins moving further and further away, ships sailing away, did not leave them after.
He had to help Pete take down that photo wall in the aftermath of the murders.
So seeing his brother manage to smile about the prospect of continuing that tradition without his usual companions…
“Well,” Ted cleared his throat, trying not to make a big deal of this. “If you go out for anything, lock the door. We don’t need the repeat of two years back.”
Peter rolled his eyes. He forgot to lock the house once while he was in a hurry to go trick-or-treating and Ted came back to the hallways being covered with trash. Presumably some kids decided it’d be funny or something. Well, Pete didn’t find it funny, especially not after the earnful he got for leaving everything ‘right there for the taking’.
“You’re going with…?”
“Steph.”
Ted raised an eyebrow.
“Lauter.”
Ah, right, the previous Mayor’s kid.
“You’ve been a thing since what? May? You ought to introduce her sometime. Let me see the big catch my younger brother reeled in with his charm.” Ted playing with his moustache while wearing that signature expression of his reminded Peter once again why he hasn’t introduced Steph to him and why he won’t for a while, or at least until Ted learns to be normal about it.
The ring of the doorbell interrupted the brothers.
“That’s for me.” Peter was already on his way to the door. The slight raising of the corners of his eyes in a smile did not elude Ted.
He leaned out of the kitchen to see Peter wrap his arms around Steph and hug her. She was about half a head shorter than him, plump, wearing ripped jeans and a patch-covered jacket around her waist.
The girl was pretty, that was just a fact. Ted felt an immense urge to whistle purely to embarrass Pete, but he held it in, instead finishing his packing, grabbing a jacket and casually making his way to the exit. Peter noticed immediately what he’s planning, and gave him a quiet look of protest. “Don’t make a scene.”
“Stephanie, right?” Ted asked, walking over to the pair. He held his hand out to her. “Nice to finally meet Pete’s girlfriend.”
“The famous Ted Spankoffski.” She returned the handshake with a smirk.
“My fame precedes me~.”
“The mentions alone of your ‘science fair project’ leave most teachers shuddering. You even got imitators.”
“Well, you kids have fun with whatever happens, just don’t get cops called on you.”
Steph and Peter exchanged a look and cringe at the comment, but Ted was too busy leaving to notice.
Once he was out though, he waved to get Peter’s attention while Steph’s back was turned. He pumped his arm in the air, cheering his brother onwards because that was one hell of a bad bitch he got himself.
Pete promptly wished the earth would swallow him whole, right before Steph poked him for his zoning out.
“Huh? Sorry, what did you say?”
“I brought the make-up kit you asked for, alongside some other stuff.”
“Right, I left my stuff in my room, come on.”
They made their way down the hallway and to the right, entering a small, recently cleaned room. The bed was neatly made, the desk cleared of clutter, with textbooks and finished homework resting right next to a laptop. To the side was a sliding door to a wall-embedded wardrobe.
“About what I expected,” Steph smiled, throwing her backpack at the foot of the bed before flopping onto it, her arms behind her head. “You know you don’t have to clean just for me, right? My own room’s a mess, and gramps won’t shut up about it.”
After Mayor Lauter’s death, Stephanie’s grandparents took her in, at least until she finished school and could find a job to sustain herself. They weren’t… close, of what Pete has gathered.
“Force of habit, my parents always badgered Ted and I to clean the house for special occasions.”
“Smooth.”
He chuckled.
“You have that wig you mentioned?”
“Yep, right in here.” She pulled out the plastic bag containing a black wig with a white stripe running down its course. Frankenstein’s lady monster.
“I haven’t done this since I was in primary… I used to love it.”
“Why’d you stop?”
“I didn’t have much of anyone to go with. That and all the other people in my circles entering middle school and deciding it was lame and for kids.”
“Well, you’re part of the losers club now, so throw all those standards out the window.”
There was something wonderful about indulging like this… no worries of judgement from the people in her life who mattered.
“Not gonna lie,” she commented while pulling out the dress she’d be wearing from a bag. “After everything we went through, I don’t think any costume can actually look frightening to me anymore.”
“Yeah… Who would’ve thought Cthulhu and his buddies would dress like fashion show power rangers, huh?”
He joked, yet he was unable to stop himself from nervously looking around. That goat-like outer god in yellow still haunted his dreams from time to time.
“Alright, but enough stalling.” He should actually get dressed before it’s too late in the night to go out. “The bathroom’s on the other side of the corridor if you want to use it.”
Steph simply shrugged. She didn’t mind doing it there, and neither did Pete. The two of them changed quickly, helping each other with adjustments and any zippers they might not be able to reach on their own.
“I’m glad I picked black polish, it’ll match.” Steph said while looking at herself and feeling great about this.
“Mind passing me the tie? Should be in the closet.”
“One sec.” She raised the rim of the dress and walked over to the sliding door.
“It gets stuck easily, you gotta push it.”
She opened the wardrobe to see exactly what she expected – an array of neat shirts, a drawer of bowties and suspenders he still wore from time to time, out of habit rather than need, a hoodie or two for days when he did not need to care about how he presented.
While searching the drawers, though, she stumbled upon an envelope, left unsealed with photos inside it sticking out. Curious, Steph took them out and held it up to get a closer look. The top of the deck was dated Halloween of 2023. Ruth, Richie, and Peter were posing with the camera pointed at them from above, all dressed as characters she didn’t recognise.
“Steph?” Peter walked over to notice what she’s looking at and flinched.
“Wow… there’s like a dozen photos here. You mentioned you three had a tradition, but I didn’t realise it went that far back.”
Part of Pete wants to take the photos and stuff them back in the closet… but time has also passed, and he’s had time to grieve, even if only partially. He sits himself down, and Steph passes him the photos.
“I forgot just how many of these I had.”
“What’s this one?” She pointed to one of the pictures.
“2021. We decided to go into superheroes that year cause we couldn’t agree on anything otherwise. We had to really try to find a mask that’d fit on Ruth’s face without getting stuck on her braces.”
“She looks good as Cat Woman though.”
“This was the redemption arc of the 2016 costumes.”
Steph curiously raised an eyebrow.
“... We don’t talk about our Warrior Cats era.”
Steph snorted.
“Do you have photos of it here?”
“Yes, but if you go hunting for them from the pile I will promptly set them on fire.”
“Oh, come on, let me see tiny Peter in his cat onesie.”
“Ted has a lighter somewhere in the house. I’ll do it.”
“Thought your brother told you to keep the house safe.”
“Touche.”
She rummaged through the pile.
“Oh, Richie showed these characters to me on his phone once.”
“That one’s 2020. Richie got into Evangelion that year and would shut up about it.” Peter said with affectionate exasperation. “He convinced Ruth and I to dress as the protags alongside him so he could be Rei.”
“Didn’t know he had long hair back then.”
“Yeah, he cut it not long after. That dye was awful, though. He couldn’t afford a wig so the next best plan was dyeing. We spent like an hour over the sink, it needed more than one wash for the colour to even be visible, and even then it came out so dark you wouldn’t have guessed it was blue. He loved it though. So much he still wears it.”
Peter didn’t realise the slip up, he only lingered, smiling at the photo of three dorky nerds dressed as anime characters.
And only then it hit him
“...Wore it.”
Silence fell. Awful, awful silence he could never stand.
“I miss them.”
“I know.”
“It all just feels like… we could have prevented all of this? If I checked in with them more, or did something different, maybe…”
“Pete…”
“It just… doesn’t feel real sometimes, even still. I know they’re gone, and thank god for it cause if what Max got is the alternative then it’s better, but… I still have their numbers on my phone. Our group chat on my Discord. Photos of them in my drawer.
“Pete.” Steph’s voice became more stern as she squeezed his shoulder. “It’s alright. They deserved nothing of what happened, it is unfair… I’m sorry.”
She didn’t know how to grieve. Her father was never a good man, so when he disappeared… there was suddenly a lot more air to breathe. But there was also an empty space where there was a person.
Peter took his glasses off to wipe his eyes with his sleeve.
“S-sorry…”
“It’s okay.” She pulled his head closer, holding him until he calmed himself down.
After some time, he moved away, standing up to grab a few tissues so he could dry his eyes and his glasses.
“Reddened eyes won’t be a good look, will it?”
“Of what you told me, the doctor barely slept in the book, so honestly, I could see it fitting. That or I’ll cover it up for you.”
“Frankenstein isn’t even a doctor!” he pointed out for levity’s sake, feeling more tears ready to flow, but deciding that’s enough for now.
“Alright, alright, no need for semantics.” She pulled out her make-up kit and a mirror, powdering her cheeks to make them pale and gaunt-looking. “... You know, I can’t speak for them, I only knew them for a few weeks but… I think Ruth and Richie would like that the tradition continues. What’s the expression, carrying the torch?”
“Yeah… yeah…” As much as it pained him, he couldn’t let go of the yearly outing, so he’s glad he can honour them at least this way.
“Dry your cheeks, I’ll finish in a moment and do your make-up.” Steph opened a black lipstick and carefully applied it.
“Roger that, captain.”
* * *
When they finally dressed, and Peter made double sure he locked the door, they walked hand in hand down the route Pete knew by heart. They passed house after house, watching kids badger neighbours for sweets.
Halloween in Hatchetfield was a time of many things, many of them of dark nature that an average citizen would either not know of or would be pointedly ignoring for their own sanity, but it was also a time of benign competition. Neighbours trying to outdo each other in costumes and especially in decorations. Fake gravestones littering the front lawns, skeletons in silly poses, bats hanging from branches alongside sheet ghosts, not to even mention the elaborately carved pumpkins.
They wouldn’t be trick or treating necessarily, they were kind of too old for that, but it was nice to just walk and take in the crisp autumn air… though… Steph couldn’t shake off the feeling of being observed by something. She turned around more than once, expecting a person or worse behind her, only to find a plastic skeleton or a chat monster decoration.
Maybe it was the atmosphere getting to her, despite her claims.