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It’s October 31st, and Nico’s house is in chaos. Micheal is running around, in his Pikachu onesie, shouting and yelling. Maria is currently attempting to style her hair, refusing help from either of her dads, demanding that she can do it herself. She still hasn’t gotten to putting on her Eevee costume.
The whole family was supposed to be Pokémon this year, last year they were Greek gods, Nico being Apollo and Will being Hades, while Micheal was Hephaestus, Maria was Hestia, and Rue was Artemis.
They were all too adorable in their costumes, so Will decided that they should match again. Thankfully Micheal and Maria still wanted to match, even though they were going to start 6th grade soon, and Maria was bringing a friend with her this year.
Maria was bringing her best friend Polly, they’ve been friends since 3rd grade. After they met, they were inseparable. Polly had become one with the family, she lived in the same neighborhood as them and was over all of the time.
She was such a sweetheart, and she was always helping around the house, or joining them for family game night. She sleeps over weekly, so much that she was practically one of Nico’s children at this point.
Polly agreed to match with the family, she was going as Mimikyu, which Nico would have gone as if there were Mimikyu costumes in his size, but he was happy being Gengar. Will says it fits his ‘ghost aesthetic’ whatever that’s supposed to mean.
Polly is supposed to be over soon and only half of Nico’s family is in their costumes, but that’s what you should expect when you have a whole family with ADHD.
Nico is trying to wrangle Rue into her Charizard onesie, but she’s refusing to listen. Wiggling out of Nico’s grasp and toddling away shouting, ”no!”
Will is still upstairs in their bedroom, he’s supposedly putting on his Jigglypuff costume, but Nico bets he’s gotten distracted by something.
Nico finally catches his daughter, “gotcha, you little monster!” He teases, picking her up and putting her into her costume, Rue laughs the whole time, wiggling around making it almost impossible to zip it up.
Eventually he does, thank the gods, and he sets her free to do whatever babies do. The doorbell rings, Nico groans, Polly has started letting herself in which means Nico has to interact with random strangers asking for candy.
Will, (his savior) comes down the stairs and saves Nico the trouble of attempting to interact with a mortal. (Polly doesn’t count, and he thinks she’s clear-sighted anyway.)
Eventually after three more families come to the door, Polly lets herself in. Nico immediately pulls her into a hug which she reciprocates. “Thank you Mr. Solace,” she says as she pulls away. Nico has told her many times to just call him ‘Nico’ but Polly has yet to listen.
”Polly!” Maria shouts, running from her bedroom. She finally got her costume on and her hair is in two braids, with minimal curls peeking out.
Polly captures her in a hug, she wraps her arms around Maria, burying her head in Maria’s chest. The hug lasts much longer than hers and Nico’s, but nobody comments.
Will claps to get everyone’s attention, “alright, I think it’s time we head out. We can’t stay up too late, especially with Rue.”
Everyone agrees and grabs their buckets, running outside, “wait on the porch for a picture!” Nico shouts, while snatching Rue off of the ground and following the rest of his kids.
~~~~~~
It’s around nine o’clock when the kids start to get cranky. Rue has already fallen asleep, Will has been carrying her one-handed since seven. Rue hangs off of his arm, her Charizard hood pulled up while she drools.
Micheal has started getting antsy, being more loud and impulsive by the second, he’s already tried stopping on someone’s flowers, climbing someone’s giant skeleton, and smashing a pumpkin with the big letters saying “TRUMP 2032” (which Nico thought was valid. Will said it was illegal, but when has Nico ever followed the law?)
Polly’s basically sleeping standing up, hand intertwined with Maria’s, supporting her weight using her best friend’s side.
Nico decides to intervene, “alright, it’s time to head back and go to bed, we have school tomorrow.”
Micheal is the only one awake enough to complain, groaning, “but Papa! I can skip school tomorrow if I need to, please! Just one more street!” His wines are cut off by a yawn, as if it wasn’t obvious he was lying before.
“Micheal don’t argue with your Papa, we’re going home,” Will scolds.
“Fine,” Micheal whines, dragging out the “e” in his dramatics. Wonder where he gets that from.
~~~~~~
The second they get home they crash, falling asleep in their costumes. Will, Nico, and Rue in the master bedroom, and Polly and Maria on the couch, practically on top of each other. Micheal somehow made it to his room, but he fell asleep on his floor, surrounded by his candy.
They decided to take the next day off, except for Polly, who woke up in a rush, missed the bus, and had to be driven by Nico.
Halloween was a success, Nico thinks.