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Stephen studied the jack o'lanterns on either side of the door like they were the most interesting things in the world. The one on the left was a classic- a squat and round pumpkin with candle light flickering throught two triangle eyes and a grinning mouth. He could see a wrinkled and discoloured patch under its chin, silently mouthing to him it had been out there for days already. The other was stretched and tall, carved like a clown's face, though the flame placed at the base didn't quite reach the top of its eyes. Its round mouth drooped downwards. Under his face mask, he mimicked it without thinking.
He scrunched up his nose to push his sunglasses back into place.
Behind him, Stephen heard Rester let out a long sigh, muffled and robotic-sounding through his latex mask. "Why. Why are we doing this."
He could practically hear Lidner rolling her eyes. "You heard Near. Team building exercise." Her laugh was clipped.
"Oh sure, team building." Stephen exhaled sharply, "That's the reason he has us dressed up like this collecting candy for him. No other reason."
"He'd admit to it if we asked him. But he knows that we know that he mostly just wants halloween candy. So I don't think there's much point mentioning." Rester offered. Stephen nodded.
Near, as a matter of principle, couldn't leave the headquarters. The day, time, or event wasn't important- his face shouldn't be seen, and therefore, he didn't go out. Stephen rarely saw him even leaving the office. He had to be staying in one of the living spaces on the lower floors like himself, but he had no idea where that was. Most of the time he just slept on his desk chair, though, he knew, with his legs crossed and his arms folded under his head on the desk. He'd walked in early in the morning to see him like that more times than he could count.
But he wasn't asleep right now, he was sure. When they left, he had just started carving another pumpkin with the flimsy orange plastic tools from the set Rester had bought for him. He liked holidays, Stephen had come to gather.
His glasses were slipping down again.
The costumes were a matter of disguise, Near had ensured them. To make sure their faces weren't exposed. They were the kind of cheap plastic ones from packs that smelled like rubber, and Stephen was glad he had first pick.
Rester's was the least elaborate: his usual shirt and trousers, just plus a latex frankenstein mask that he'd had to fight against to actually pull all the way on. Lidner got a clown costume; no mask, but the cakey white facepaint was so thick that her features were difficult to distinguish even before the nose and eye makeup were painted on. The baggy half-red, half-white onesie still had the creases from the packet it had been in until an hour ago.
Stephen felt like he had gotten away with the lightest sentence of the three. He was a bat- which meant he was dressed in all black, with a black surgical mask, sunglasses, and a hairband with bat wings on either side. His punishment for that was having to hold the candy bucket. And, therefore, apparently, be the door knocker.
He glanced back at the others. They inclined their heads expectantly, and so- he tentatively rapped his knuckles in the centre of the door.
Within a moment, he heard shuffling from the other side. He breathed deeply. I could probably get us inside faster than this.
The door swung open, and Stephen saw the exact moment the woman's smile froze as she realised they were not, in fact, children. He supposed he should probably say something.
"…Trick or treat!"
He held the bucket up. The lady pulled her bowl of candy closer into her.
She eyed each of them suspiciously. "Oh. Aren't you all… a bit big to be doing trick or treating?"
They were. Rester was six foot four.
"Oh it's- not for us." Lidner interjected, after a moment, "It's for… our brother."
"Mhm," Stephen nodded, "our little brother. He's really sick, but we still want him to get his candy."
Rester mumbled agreement from the background.
The woman still didn't look like she believed them. Stephen's hands were starting to feel sweaty and he was half worried the bucket would slip out of his grasp. He'd never been able to trick or treat as a kid, but he assumed this wasn't exactly how it was supposed to go.
She hummed, voice harsh as she asked, "What's he got?"
"We don't know," Stephen blurted immediately.
Rester continued quickly, "Something chronic, though. It's just flared up today really badly."
Technically that wasn't all a lie. He had noticed fairly quickly that Near rarely stood unsupported, and he'd been very matter of fact about it when he enquired. His chronic illness just wasn't a subject of discussion.
He was certain that the woman still didn't believe them at all, but she begrudgingly reached a hand into the bowl and dropped a few pieces in there. "Alright." She said, and then shut the door quickly.
"She was nice." He deadpanned. The other two hummed in agreement.
As they turned and walked back down the path, he heard the pieces of candy rattling about against the plastic bucket. Looking down at them made his stomach flip. My first trick or treat candy. How absurd.
Stephen looked up at Lidner and Rester. Lidner turned her head and beckoned him to hurry up.
"We have to hit all the houses in this neighbourhood, he said." She sighed. "Ready to do that over again all night?"
He chuckled shortly, his breath hanging in the cold air.
He wouldn't mind that, to be honest. He kind of liked trick or treating.
His sunglasses were slipping down his nose again.