Seungcheol was lighting more candles. His entire house smelled of sugar and pumpkin spice. Music throughout the living room was Halloween-themed, but mellow rather than spooky. The mood was almost romantic. If only somebody more romanceable than Joshua was present he could work his charm…

It wasn’t like Seungcheol to follow a younger boy’s orders but for one night a year he was willing to indulge his friend. Joshua was – to state it bluntly - a for Halloween. Portraying the ideal Christian gentleman all year long, Joshua Hong had dyed his hair pumpkin-orange for the 31^st of October.

Seungcheol looked heart wrenchingly adorable with his rabbit ears and he knew it. Joshua on the other hand had picked the red devil horns from the pile of instant-costume-head-bands. It was certainly an odd choice but Seungcheol considered it quite fitting for the moment.

“That’s all the candles I have. Anything more I need to do? Or anything else I need to light on fire?”

“Nope,” Joshua said without looking up from his phone. “Just getting ready to start the ritual. Memorizing some Latin.”

While the older boy looked with mild disinterest upon the weird findings Joshua kept making on Tumblr, he knew that it was futile to talk the boy out of scrolling through the website every free minute of his day – and night. He hadn’t really expected his two-men-Halloween party to run its course Tumblr-free, but Joshua could have made an effort to keep it to a minimum. After all, it was one of the younger boy’s favorite occasions, allegedly.

But no, worse yet, Joshua had found this “really cool summoning ritual” they had to try. Honestly, this boy was so lame sometimes. Not that Seungcheol had anything better prepared, but playing games and waiting for snotty kids to knock on his door would certainly have been more relaxing than hunting ingredients for some dumb Tumblr-post all around his house. Ugh.

As Joshua finally put his phone down, the snarky remarks queued up on Seungcheol’s tongue. No pentagrams? Do I spill the goat blood already? What would Jesus think? What if we wake up Cthulhu instead?

He swallowed his sarcasm down easily. One look into the warm, gently glistening eyes of his friend was enough to remind him how much genuine enthusiasm Joshua could put into his lame ideas. He couldn’t help but smile right back.

“Alright, Joshie. I’m sure the spooky magic expert of… what was the URL again? Never mind, I can’t keep up with you kids’ anime references.”

“Hey now!“

“So this ceremony is going to find the perfect boyfriend?”

Joshua scooted over to make room on the sofa. “That’s what it said. We’ll see how it happens. Will he just appear in the room with thunder and lightning? Who knows?”

Seungcheol couldn’t keep a chuckle down. “Thunder and lightning probably not. The sky’s gonna be clear the whole night if the weather report is to be trusted.”

The boy on his sofa seemed so honestly excited, it was difficult not to get drawn into the enthusiasm.

Right between them, there was a mountain of candy on the table.

Most of it was chocolate and it was meant for any children trick-or-treating, but Joshua had claimed all of it the minute he had come over. Seungcheol had already put the Twix aside for him, but greedy Josh didn’t seem to think that was enough. They would see how hard his resolution stood once tiny costumed creatures begged for sugary food.

The currently rabbit eared boy dropped onto the sofa and leaned back, listening to Joshua’s chanting. Not speaking any Latin left Seungcheol in the dark. Words like “amor”, “eros” and “invito” meant nothing to him. Maybe they weren’t even real words. Since when was Tumblr a trustworthy source?

The quietly incantating boy finished his magic spell and took a deep breath. He looked to the side to meet Seungcheol’s eyes. What did Josh expect? Had he really thought a little Halloween joke would summon the perfect boyfriend instantaneously?

Seungcheol jumped at the sound of… thunder and lightning? No, it was merely his doorbell. Still, his heart had skipped a beat.

He got up and noticed Joshua’s gaze following him. The devil horned boy had his eyes wide open like when he was taking one of his terrible selfies. What was he anticipating?

Seungcheol opened the door forcefully, determined to put an end to this weird magic stuff. They would spend the rest of the night playing video games and eating candy. He had indulged his orange haired friend long enough.

On the stairs was a row of odd beings, barely a meter and a half tall each. “Trick or treat!”

“Oh my,” Seungcheol exclaimed, playing the part of a good Halloween-spirited adult. “What a scary ghost you are. And a super spooky skeleton, and a pirate and a… table?”

“I’m a severed head on a table.”

“Right… Well, let me just grab the candy bowl. Get your bags ready for-“

Joshua joined him in the door frame, holding a bowl full of tubes of-

“Toothpaste? Josh, where did you-?”

“This is much better for kids. Here, have some waxed floss, too.”

The little ghost seemed skeptical and looked into his bag where Joshua had dropped the dental hygiene supplies. “Um, Mister? Do you have any chocolate, maybe?”

“Sorry, fresh out. Brush two times a day.”

“Joshua, no!” Seungcheol struggled to push the boy back into the house. “What are you doing? You can buy your own candy whenever you want. Just give these kids their- …Stop pouting right now.”

“But… chocolate.”

“Ugh, fine. Keep the chocolate, but give the rest. Candy corn and bubblegum and whatever that stuff is. I bought these with my own money, you know. Because I assumed there’d be children who would get some of it. You know? As is custom? On Halloween? Which you’re an expert on?”

“I bought the toothpaste with my own money, too.”

“That’s it. I’m giving the Twix away. Ouch… Let go of my arm!”

Successfully wrestling spooky-themed confection from his friend’s grip, Seungcheol dragged his candy and both of them back to the doorframe. A fifth character had joined the others waiting for the confection.

“Oh, aren’t you most adorable,” said Seungcheol to the newcomer while distributing the gleefully received chocolate. “A great Minion costume. You’re so sweet, you tiny little bug.”

“I’m a grown man,” said the Minion with murder in his eyes. He had strawberry pink colored hair that didn’t fit the costume and was probably how he kept his hair normally. “I’m the adult supervision for these rascals.”

Feeling the heat of blush rising into his face, Seungcheol wished Joshua would save him from this embarrassment, rather than hide behind the door to muffle his chuckles.

“Sorry. Very sorry. Oh, well, you’re still adorab- I mean, that’s still a nice costume and-“

“It’s a yellow shirt.”

“B-but that round eye mask is-“

“Those are my real glasses. I need those to see.”

Seungcheol swallowed hard, his hand still hovering in front of the grown man’s face, holding several bars of anything but Twix. He realized that the adult supervisor didn’t have a bag of his own and slowly lowered his arm, feeling a bit stupid and very threatened. Who knew someone so childlike could have an aura so nefandous? Had they summoned a dreadful creature of the night after all?

His rabbit ears wiggled in the rhythm of the shiver running down his spine.

It didn’t take long for the pink haired boy to drag his child companions along to the next house. The duo was left alone and with just a single look silently agreed to never mention this incident again.