Chapter Text
“I don’t care what day it is, I am not wearing that ridiculous costume.” A scowl crossed Dutch’s lips as he gazed down at the clothing Arthur held out, causing Arthur to pout in response.
His favorite day has finally arrived, leading Arthur to buy halloween costumes for him and his friend. Particularly, a vampire costume and a cowboy costume. He knew Dutch would be difficult, but he didn’t expect Dutch to be this difficult.
Seeing Arthur’s reaction, Dutch let out a sigh - but he still refused to budge on the matter. Arthur laughed softly, patting the raven haired man’s shoulder gently.
“Ha!- But Dutch, don’t you already dress like a vampire?’’ Arthur snorted, wiping away a happy tear from his eye and pointed to the black, red and silky vest he wore – plus the golden jewelry. He loved messing with Dutch.
“No I do not.’’ Dutch snapped back, glaring daggers at Arthur as if daring him to continue.
“C’mon!” Arthur egged on. “Dutch, you already dress in black and red silk fabric! All you need is some vampire teeth!” Arthur chuckled, sighing happily and bringing the vampire teeth to Dutch. A lot of bickering and convincing later, and then Dutch was finally in his Halloween costume-
Arthur had to fight off the laughter as Dutch stood awkwardly stiff in his new outfit.
In reality, Dutch looked great. The outfit suited him and he even wore the costume as if it was something he’d normally wear, not something he was being forced into. But of course, he wouldn’t admit that.
“Dutch! You look amazing! It looks like something you’d normally wear! Let’s take a look in that mirror.” Arthur babbled on, dragging Dutch to the full body mirror. A satisfied smirk grew on Dutch’s face as he caught himself in the mirror. He was right - he looked great in the outfit, even if he didn’t want to admit it to his friend.
‘’Alright, let me get into my cowboy costume and then we can go trick or treating. Grab our pumpkin buckets while I dress up!” Arthur called out as he dressed up.
“I’m not doing any goddamn trick or treating, Arthur.” Dutch grumbled as he crossed his arms, leaning up against the wall and scowling . He may be wearing a vampire costume, but he’s still Dutch, and no amount of begging and bickering from Arthur would convince him to go trick or treating. They were adults, for god's sake.
“Okay, okay fine! No trick or treating, then. We could go to that Halloween party everybody’s talking about! Even Hosea and Charles are talking about it!” Arthur raved on as he put on the cowboy hat his father gave to him when he was just a boy.
Dutch’s expression softened as he heard the mention of Hosea and Charles’ names. Although he wouldn’t admit, that actually sounded like a great idea. But was the party really worth the hassle? A party would mean talking to people, a big no-no.
“C’mon, Dutch! Where’s that charismatic big old Dutch Van Der Linde?” Arthur poked teasingly at Dutch’s side, tickling him in the process. Dutch tried his best to keep a straight face as Arthur poked at his side, trying to hold in a laugh as he failed badly. He began to giggle, unable to resist Arthur’s tickling as he let out a few laughs and cackles.
“Alright, alright, c’mon don’t–” He managed to say between chuckles.
Arthur stopped tickling Dutch, a grin growing on his face. He grabbed his prop gun and put it in its holster along with the fake hunter’s knife.
“Alright, Dutch. Are you ready to see your old girl at the party?” Arthur teased, by ‘old girl’, he meant Dutch’s close friend Hosea.
Hearing the word ‘old girl’ in relation to Hosea caused Dutch’s nose to scrunch together in annoyment. He did not understand why Arthur called his friend that, since they were nothing more than close friends.
“Do not ever call him that again.” He grumbled, rubbing his face as the disappointment spread across it.
“And yes– I’m ready. Let’s just get this party over with, already.” Dutch added.
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After a long walk to the big house where the party was housed, they entered and were greeted by the music of the bass. Thunk, thunk, thunking rhythm and the sound of people having fun and chattering. Hosea came up to the both of them with a big grin on his face.
“You look great, big cat.” Hosea marveled at how Dutch looked in his costume. ‘Big cat’ was a nickname Hosea loved to call and tease Dutch with, also the annoyed face he always seemed to respond with. Dutch’s expression softened as he saw the smile on Hosea’s face. He knew all too well about his nickname for Dutch and how he felt about it.
“Hey, Hosea.” Dutch grunted, giving him a slight nod in response. It was subtle, but it was still a sign that he didn’t mind the nickname that much when it came from him, but it was still embarrassing.
“It’s good to see you. You look great as well, as usual.” He added, his words filled with his own playful and friendly tone. Arthur rolled his eyes, his gaze switching between Hosea and Dutch.
“Hosea, could you show us around? If you even know where rooms and stuff are at.” Arthur talked over the music that was playing, party lights flashing in his face. Hosea smiled, giving Arthur a nod and offered them to follow him to show Dutch and Arthur around. He basically went around and explored the house before Arthur and Dutch arrived at the party.
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After a while of mingling around and talking with a couple of strangers, they settled on the couch that wasn’t occupied by ridiculously dressed drunks.
“Jesus, this house is big.” Arthur exclaimed, sighing before taking a sip on his drink. Hosea chuckled and patted Arthur’s shoulder.
“It sure is..you think there’s some valuables somewhere?” Hosea wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, a sly smirk growing on his face as Dutch and Arthur caught on.
“You’re saying that.. we’re going to rob this place?” Arthur raised his eyebrows in shock. Hosea scooted closer, nodding with that sly smirk of his.
“Yeah, That’s right.” Hosea grinned, poking at Arthurs side with his elbow.
“Well, should we atleast wait until there’s not so much folk around? I don’t want ‘em to see me stuffing valuable stuff into my pockets.” Dutch clarified, taking a sip of his drink before scrunching his nose slightly because of the burn of the alcoholic drink.
“Oh, yeah of course, of course.. We’ll wait until it hits 00:30, And then we’ll split our ways and sneak into the bedrooms to see what we find.” Hosea explained, looking at the other men’s expressions closely, “Got it?” Hosea added, patting his lap and got up from the couch.
“Understood.” The both men chirped and got up from the couch. They were lucky that the music was playing loudly, because otherwise the partygoers would hear their not so legal conversation.
< — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — >
Arthur snuck into one of the bedrooms, rummaging through dressers, drawers and the wardrobe. After a while of searching, he finally found a necklace that was encased nicely in a poppy red box with a creamy white ribbon on it. Arthur smirked, celebrating his little victory with a little dance.
He swiftly closed all of the opened drawers and wardrobe doors. But there was one place he didn’t check. Under the bed. Fuck, why didn’t he think of searching there first? Idiot! Arthur strided towards the bed, and knelt in front of it. He stuck his hand under the bed, and rummaged through to see what junk was underneath. He felt something that felt weird to the touch. Arthur physically cringed and pulled his hand out underneath the bed, wiping the dust off his calloused hand and grimaced. What the fuck was that?! Jesus.. It felt like a hand. Arthur thought to himself, shivering as the unease started to settle in. Arthur decided to leave that thing under the bed, and got up and left the room to search for his friends.
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