Happy Halloween!

"Bye mum!" Vic yelled, waving to his mother and running into his classroom, adjusting his mask as he stepped into the room. All the other eight year olds were dressed in an abundance of different costumes, but Vic was looking for two people in particular.
"Vic!" Vic spun around to see Jaime and Tony, both also dressed in green costumes, with red and purple masks covering their faces. Jaime had a huge grin on his face, leaping up and down as his friend approached, while Tony attempted to smile, but frowned again when Vic reached them.
"Hi!" Jaime yelled again, and Vic grinned happily.
"What's wrong with you, Tony?" Vic put a hand on his friend's shoulder in concern.
"I wanted to be a Storm Trooper." He said glumly. "But Jaime made me be Raphael."
"But you like Raphael." Jaime insisted petulantly, wrapping an arm around Tony's shoulders and squeezing.
"Vic!"
Vic spun around to see a small boy (although taller than him) running towards him with a black cape flying behind him and his fangs bared in a snarl.
"Hi, Kellin!" Vic wrapped his arms around his best friend, his dark hair tickling his nose. Kellin hugged Vic back just as tightly, burying his face into Vic's neck. And then Vic felt two sharp things digging into his skin.
"Ow!" Vic yelled, pulling away and rubbing at the small welts. His eyes watered slightly as he stared at Kellin accusingly. "Why did you do that?" He demanded.
"I'm Dracula. He's a vampire, and so he bites people." Kellin explained calmly.
"But it hurt." Vic frowned, hand still clamped to his neck. Jaime and Tony had wandered off, sitting on the carpet in front of Mrs. Lee while she got out their English books for the start of the lesson.
"Vampire bites always hurt." Kellin said simply, but when Vic's bottom lip began to tremble, he walked forward, pulling away Vic's hand and pushed his face towards the 'bite' again.
"Are you going to bite me again?" Vic whimpered.
"Uh uh." Kellin shook his head and pressed his lips to the area instead. "There you are." He pulled away and grinned. "All better."
Vic nodded and smiled, even though it still stung a bit, and took Kellin's hand as the vampire led him to the carpet.
~~~~
At break, it was the third graders who got the chance to play on the soccer field, because it was a Thursday.
However, they were all arguing, as usual.
"Stop cheating, Pete!" Oli yelled, brandishing his fake razor at the pirate.
"I'm not." Pete said hotly.
"Yes you are! No one even said you could be a captain. You don't get to pick first!"
"I just want Patrick!" Pete shouted, taking the blonde's hand and tugging him towards him, making him cry out but follow anyway.
"Patrick's on my team!" He yelled happily.
"Fine. I pick Josh." Oli declared, and a short boy in a tweed jacket and bowtie stepped forward.
"Andy!" Pete shouted, adjusting his hat and then eyepatch carefully.
"Ashley has to be my team too," Andy said seriously from behind his mask. "Because Batman and Robin always have to be together."
"Okay." Pete agreed. "Ashley too."
"Pete, you're cheating again!" Oli screamed, stamping his foot angrily.
"But Batman and Robin have to be together."
"Ryan and me will be on Pete's team." Brendon announced, dragging the tall boy wearing a white sheet over his head to Pete's side of the soccer field.
"Ryan and I." Ryan mumbled, but Brendon was too fussed in making sure that his wig stayed in place to notice.
"I want Vic and Kellin and Jaime and Alex and Jack!" Oli shouted, and three of the boys surged forward, but Vic put a hand on Kellin's shoulder to stop him.
"Do you wanna go look for bugs with me?" Vic offered, and Kellin nodded happily.
"I wanna find a caterpillar." He took hold of Vic's hand and skipped towards the bushes next to the soccer pitch, going around into the small garden area.
"Where are you two going?" Oli screamed at the two of them.
"We're looking for bugs!" Kellin yelled back, falling with a small thump onto the grass and sticking his face into the bush.
Vic sat next to him and began to sift through the small leaves in hope of finding something interesting.
Instead, Kellin got a splinter.
"Ow!" Kellin looked down at his finger, eyes watering and bottom lip sticking out.
"Let me see." Kellin offered Vic his hand, and he looked down at the dark brown line in the flesh. Vic furrowed his eyebrows, pushed up his mask so he could see better, and squeezed Kellin's finger.
"Ow! It hurts." Kellin whimpered again, as Vic squeezed the splinter out.
"There." Vic said softly, flicking the splinter away. "All better."
"What are you guys doing?" Pete stepped into the garden, pulling Patrick up behind him. The shorter, slightly tubbier boy was wearing a white coat like a scientist, and had a fake moustache on.
"What's your costume meant to be, Patrick?" Vic asked interestly.
"I'm Einstein." Patrick said quietly.
"Patrick..." Pete whined. "Come and play with me." Pete gripped Patrick's wrist and pulled him to the opposite corner and glared at Vic and Kellin for a moment before turning to Patrick.
"I thought you were playing soccer." Kellin input.
"Andy decided that he was captain, and Patrick didn't want to play."
"I'd get my lab coat dirty." Patrick muttered.
Kellin nodded and turned away from them, grinning at Vic instead and then pointing to a twig in the bush.
"It's a bumble bee." He grinned and pulled away as the bee flew out of the bush to avoid getting stung.
"What's everyone doing?" Jack. B came into the garden, followed by someone dressed as Mario who Vic guessed was Alex, because they were best friends. Jack was wearing a pinstriped suit, and had a grin painted on his face.
"We're looking for bugs." Vic answered, as even more of the third grade class flooded into the small garden area.
"I like bugs!" Jaime exclaimed.
"I don't." Jack. F said, scowling at the bushes.
"Nobody even invited you. And your costumes stupid." Jaime snapped.
"Abraham Lincoln isn't stupid!" Jack yelled back. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are!"
"No they aren't-"
"Why isn't anyone playing football anymore?" Oli demanded, stomping into the garden with Josh trotting behind him.
"It's called soccer-" Pete shouted at Oli.
"Hey, give me my glasses back!" Matty shouted at Jesse, who was holding the plastic frames over the other ginger boy's head.
"Ron Weasley doesn't have glasses though. Harry Potter does."
"It doesn't matter. I can't see!"
"Give him his glasses back." Austin demanded, plucking the spectacles out of Jesse's hand and handing them back to Matty.
"Shut up-"
"You said a bad word!"
"Mrs. Lee!" Brendon yelped, standing up and waving happily at the woman who approached with a camera and an amused from on her face.
"Alright, boys. Give me a smile." She held her camera up and snapped a picture of the mismatched group, half of them grinning at her, others still shouting at each other, Pete whispering into Patrick's ear and the other boy blushing as he spoke.
"Happy Halloween, boys." Mrs. Lee smiled and tucked away her camera again.
"Happy Halloween!"
~~~~
*Eleven Years Later*
"Oh my God, look at us." Vic laughed at the picture of the group of them from over a decade ago.
"We were... Something else." Kellin agreed, slipping his arms around Vic's waist and pressing a swift kiss to his neck.
"What are you two doing?" Patrick stepped into the corner with them, Pete hot on his heels.
"Just looking at eight year old us."
Patrick peered at the picture, an affectionate smile on his face.
"I was obsessed with you, even then." Pete mumbled, looking at the way he was holding Patrick's wrist possessively.
"I think I might have had a bit of a crush on you too." Kellin whispered, making Vic laugh.
"Are you guys looking at that picture of us from third grade?" Jaime called from the living room.
"God, that's embarrassing." Austin shouted.
"Yeah, I know. That costume was awesome though." Vic said. Today was the first time they'd gone without costumes. Mostly because they were all way too poor to afford to make even a homemade costume.
"It's so weird how we all... You know. Ended up together and stuff." Kellin said, following Vic back into the main room where the rest of the group was sitting.
Alan was curled in Austin's lap, while Jack and Alex squashed in one armchair. Pete was sitting by Patrick's legs with his head in the blonde's lap, and Brendon and Ryan took up one half of the sofa. Vic and Kellin fell into the other half, while Jaime and Tony sat on the floor by the radiator.
"I love you guys." Andy said randomly from another corner of the room, where Ashley simply rolled his eyes and leant back against the wall, closing his eyes.
"And we love you, Andy." Oli responded. Josh pressed a swift kiss to his cheek, only that one spot flushing red while the rest of Oli's face remained pale. How he did that, Vic would never know.
"Hey Kels." Vic said, and Kellin looked up curiously. "Happy Halloween."
Kellin grinned back and him and slipped am arm around his waist. "Happy Halloween, baby."
"Happy Halloween, Patrick!" Pete cried, clambering up so he was in Patrick's lap and pressing his mouth to the smaller man's.
More shouts of 'Happy Halloween!' rang through the small room, followed by the sound of loud kisses and a lot of laughter.
Vic smiled around at his large group of friends, smiling at how close they all were, and how in love they were, and how they'd evolved from those kids in ridiculous Halloween costumes to the adults in university.
But they still really loved Halloween.