The angel grabbed the offered tube intuitively, before even realizing what he had received. “Thanks, I guess?”

Seungcheol kicked his brain back into gears. “Um, I mean you can have chocolate too, just come in.”

“No, I’m really just here to look for- Oh!”

“Yes, parrot,” the house owner said dumbly, pointing behind him as he couldn’t bring himself to take his eyes off his new guest.

Blinking heavily, Seungcheol got his act together for the moment. “Just come on in. We treated him well, I promise.”

“As far as I remember he’s actually a girl. I forgot her name, though. Well, I’ll just grab it and be on my way.”

Jeonghan entered. As he walked through the door, Seungcheol caught a whiff of his shampoo – or was it perfume? The smell was hard to put into words but he needed to smell it more. Not immediately, not when his eyes were still busy taking in all the angel’s grace, but sometime, he would really like to take a closer sniff. Was that weird? Yeah okay, but was it too weird?

And more to the point was it likely?

“Hello, I’m Jeonghan.”

Joshua, finally looking up, said “Hey, I’m Joshuglrgn. Hi. Hello. I’m uh, Joshua.”

Seungcheol could tell right away that Joshua was smitten. The wide eyed look, the words stuck in his throat, the heavy swallow, the frozen posture, the thoughts running in circles… They usually didn’t crush on the same boys. This was bad.

Maybe they shouldn’t have summoned boyfriend material for two in one ritual? No, what was he thinking, this had nothing to do with magic. This was a spooky yet delightful coincidence.

After pushing the candy corn bags aside, Jeonghan snatched the fake bird from its position, visibly a bit unsure if he should just be on his way out or make polite conversation.

Joshua’s eyes glistened in the candle light, their warm, alluring charm amplified by the romantic atmosphere. “Aren’t you a little old to go trick-or-treating? But never mind, just grab a Twi- Oh, maybe not a Twix, they’re… um, reserved. How about candy corn?”

“I’m just here for this,” Jeonghan said, holding up the successfully collected stuffed animal.

“Aren’t you a little old for that, too?”

They both chuckled at that, while Seungcheol still stood at the door, unable to close it since he didn’t want to make Jeonghan think he was getting trapped, but also unable to step away since an open door at night is a relatively bad idea.

“So,” said Joshua nonchalantly, “Too old for chocolate? I hope not?”

“Thanks but the other guy already offered me some toothpaste.”

“Ha, yeah, can you believe that? Seungcheol does the silliest things.”

The door holder was quietly seething. They were having a laugh at his expanse and if he corrected Joshua he would look like a jealous jerk. Calling your friend a liar makes for a terrible first impression.

Meanwhile Joshua turned his charms up to eleven. “Alright. Jeonghan, was it? Time for a quick duel? You pick the track.”

“I guess…”

“The pirate kid will survive without a feathery visual aid. Maybe even lose it again. Come on.”

Damn, Josh was unexpectedly smooth. This was a side of him, Seungcheol hadn’t known existed. If he wanted to break them apart he had to enter strong.

What was he thinking? Drive a wedge between his friend and his crush? This was going to end badly. But… the angel looked so… how to describe it? Tempting? Appetizing? Edible??? Seungcheol wanted to play some with his hair.

He shut the door quietly and exchanged his headdress at the pile.

With devil horns framing his skull, he plopped down on the sofa, just on the other side of his guest. “Look, Jeonghan, we’re matching costume! By the way, this is my house so if you need anything, ask me.”

Perfect. If Joshua mentioned that this costume had been his just an hour ago he’d look like the jerk this time. Additionally house ownership established a certain kind of dominance. This was going well.

All three boys held a controller each and sat on the edge of their seats, Jeonghan flanked by the boys who sat as close to him as possible without coming off as creepy.

The doorbell rang, voices of little children outside.

“Seungcheol, aren’t you gonna get that?”

“No, it’s your turn again. I opened for our heavenly guest.”

Even more perfect. And he had flat out worked in a veiled complement.

Joshua was out of the way and since starting a game without him was a clear jerk-move Jeonghan would have no other choice but to engage in a minute of conversation. Seungcheol wanted nothing more than to be the first one to make him laugh out loud.

“Do you live in the neighborhood, Jeonghan?”

“A few blocks down. My friend Jihoon has been taking the kids from the block around all night long.”

“He must really love Halloween.”

“Not really.”

“Working with children, then?”

“Nope.”

“Then why does he do it?”

Jeonghan leaned in, conspiratorially. Seungcheol took the opportunity to breathe a little more deeply, hoping it wasn’t notable.

The angel said “He waits until people recognize his makeshift Minion costume and then tells them it’s just normal clothes to make them feel like idiots.”

Seungcheol’s face contorted in pain. That… that evil, malicious, cruel-

The sound of Jeonghan’s laughter took him by surprise. Was that a fake laugh? It sounded so oddly monotonous. A success regardless! His embarrassed visage had accomplished the goal. He would ram that little punk Jihoon into the ground next time he saw him, though.

Joshua returned with slightly less candy and exactly as much toothpaste as before. Much earlier than Seungcheol would have liked.

By the looks of it, Joshua had heard the angel’s laughter since he “accidentally” kicked Seungcheol’s shins as he walked back to his seat, sitting down slightly closer to the new guest than good etiquette allowed.

Jeonghan messaged his nephew about the location of his stuffed toy and the games begun. Seungcheol picked Diddy Kong, Josh picked Toad and the newcomer in the house chose Princess Peach.

They all failed miserably against the AI, owing to their constant, playful shuffling on the sofa. Both boys on the outside tried to get as many “coincidental” touches as possible, hitting their leg against Jeonghan’s, brushing their arms together, and even patting his shoulders. If the blond boy noticed the ongoing rivalry he didn’t let them know.

Seungcheol wanted to see Joshua happy. He really wanted to. And he felt terrible for trying to outdo his friend. But truthfully… he wanted to see himself happy, too.

At long last the game came to an end with all of them making up the bottom ranks. But it had been a laugh.

“So,” said Seungcheol, his eyes fixed onto the fuzzy guest’s halo. “Did it hurt when you f-“

“Lame!” Jeonghan whipped his head around, looking expectantly at Joshua. So he had noticed the rivalry. And he was enjoying himself. What a player.

Josh, who had lost his headdress by now, barely missed a beat. “Um, I brought my guitar. I was going to practice maybe, but I can play us a ditty.”

Dang, he was good. What could be more romantic? …Right!

“You do that,” Seungcheol said, getting back some of the angel's attention. “And while you unpack your instrument, I’ll put the cookie dough in the oven. Totally forgot I had that. Its pumpkin flavored. Can I enlist your help, Jeonghan? You don’t mind, right?”

With a mean grin on his lips, the host led his guest into the kitchen, leaving Joshua in the dust. He felt bad for knocking his long time bestie to the ground like that, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do when a guitar player is stealing his crush.