Jinyoung stomped his feet childishly as he followed his mother around the house. It was Halloween and she was getting Jinyoungs younger brothers ready to go trick or treating around the neighborhood. "Why do I have to pass out candy this year? Why can't Yugyeom do it?" He whined but his mother only shrugged, unfazed by her eldest sons behavior. "He does it every year hun. Just once can't you stay home and let him go out?" She sighed as she bent down to fix the babies jacket. "Besides, BamBam is already on his way! I know you want to hang out with those weird friends of yours but I think Yugyeom deserves a night out." 
 

Jinyoung opened his mouth to complain some more but a knock at the door had him closing it. "BamBam!" Yugyeom screamed as the door opened to reveal his Thai friend dressed in a Mario costume. Well, at least now Jinyoung knew why his younger brother decided to dress up as Luigi this year. Yugyeom ran past him and into BamBam's arms, both of them squeezing each other like they haven't seen each other in months. "Alrighty then dear we'll be back soon. We can't keep the baby out for too long anyways. Love you and stay safe." 
 

Jinyoung's mother kissed his cheek leaving a dark red lip print that he not to subtly wiped off. She rolled her eyes but didn't say anything as she waved goodbye and strolled out of the house with his two brothers, BamBam, and his father in tow. He stood and stared at the door for a couple of seconds before turning around and walking to the kitchen. If he was gonna be stuck there all night passing out candy he might as well make sure there's enough. On the counter sat three large bowls already filled to the brim with candy, next to it laid two extra bags of different candies just in case he did happen to empty all three bowls before the night ended.

Jinyoung grabbed one for now and wandered back towards the living room when the first knocks of the night interrupted his path. He took a deep breath before pulling the door open, revealing two little girls standing there in matching pirate outfits. He couldn't help but smile as they gaped up at him with large, toothless grins. "Trick or treat!" They giggled and Jinyoung squatted down so they could look at him comfortably. "Pirates? Oh no are you going to make me walk the plank?" He looked at the two girls worriedly, holding the bowl of candy close to his chest. "Only if you don't give us candy." One of them said as she pointed a foam sword at the bowl. Jinyoung pretended to think about it for a bit before he smiled again and held the bowl out to them. "You can pick out any two or three you like." The girls cheered and did just that, quickly picking out their respective candies before bowing at Jinyoung. "Thank you mister! You're free now."

They giggled again when he wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead. "So I don't have to walk the plank into the ocean full of sharks?" He asked just to be sure and they nodded happily. "Nope!" Jinyoung thanked them, rising to his feet as they turned to walk away with their parents. "Bye you two! Thanks for letting me live!" He bowed and they have him a thumbs up before they got into the large crowd of busy trick-or-treaters. 
 

When he turned to walk back inside he felt a small hand tug at his hoodie so he turned back around to see a cute little boy standing there in a dinosaur costume. "Trick or treat." He whispered shyly. Jinyoung sent him the friendliest smile he could muster as he squatted down carefully. The boy backed away into his fathers legs but his mother pushed him forward gently, encouraging him to talk to Jinyoung. "Woah a dinosaur? That's so cool! You look awesome!" Jinyoung gasped in feigned excitement. He examined the boys costume and could easily tell that it was hand-made, most likely by him if the glued on spikes gave anything away, but honestly it made the outfit so much cooler in Jinyoung's eyes. 

"Really? B-but my brother said it looks stupid." The boy admitted and Jinyoung frowned. He gently lifted the boys head up and smiled when their eyes met in hopes of making him feel more comfortable. "What's your brothers name?" 
 

"Jaebum." 

"How old is he?"

"Uhm... 19." 
 

"Ahh.." Jinyoung sighed, glancing knowingly at the boys parents before facing the little boy again. "Well you tell Jaebum that it doesn't matter what he thinks because you look cool and if he doesn't want to admit it that's his problem." He leaned closer to the boy and whispered, "he's probably mad that he'll never look as cool as you," before pulling away. That made the boy laugh for the first time since they started walking around - according to his parents. Jinyoung laughed too, happy that he could make the little boy feel better. "Well then, kids are usually only able to pick out 3 pieces but since you look so awesome you can have 4. But you can't tell anyone, promise?" He held his pinkie out to the boy and he immediately latched his smaller one onto Jinyoung. The bowl was held out in front of him and he carefully picked out his candies, making his parents laugh at his choosiness.

"Thank you for making him feel better.." His mother trailed off and held her hand out to Jinyoung.

"Ah, my name's Jinyoung ma'am." He quickly caught on and gently grabbed her hand, giving it a firm shake.

"Jinyoung. I'll remember that." She winked and with that the family happily walked away, the boy leaving with a hopefully permanent smile on his face. Jinyoung walked back into his house, grinning like he just won a gold medal. He really was glad he could make the kid feel better. Although other people his age annoy him to no end kids hold a special place in his heart. So for the next hour and a half whenever kids would knock Jinyoung made sure to interact with them, making them smile and laugh even if he looked like a fool while doing so. The parents seemed to appreciate him for it since teens on candy duty would just toss the kids a piece of candy and shut the door right after. If Jinyoung could get smiling kids and happy parents out of it then he didn't see the problem.

He even took the time to talk to the groups of middle school girls that would show up at his doorstep every once in awhile, teasing them about school crushes and boyfriends. They all pretty much had the same reaction to it; blushing and giggling shyly as they denied having crushes or boyfriends while in Jinyoung's presence. He understood why though. He's a good looking guy and he's always a gentleman so it wasn't uncommon for girls younger than him to develop a little crush. It's not like he swings that way anyways so it honestly doesn't faze him at all. Even when the girls would practically walk backwards just to wave at him for a bit longer he'd stand there and wave back until they eventually had to look forward so they wouldn't crash into anybody. He found it cute in an brotherly way.  
 

Another hour later and he was halfway through the last bowl. The knocks weren't so frequent anymore since it was getting later in the night but occasionally a little kid and their parents  or an older kid with their friends would knock and Jinyoung still interacted with them (unless they were his age then he just said happy halloween, gave them some candy then they left). Since the activity died down he decided to sit back and watch a movie since his parents weren't back yet. He didn't worry about them too much though since their neighborhood was one of the safest yet. 
 

About 25 minutes into The Nightmare Before Christmas three loud bangs had Jinyoung practically flying from his seat. He heard the loud laughing of a bunch of boys and immediately rolled his eyes. Annoyed, he ran to the door and pulled it open just in time to see them scatter away. He was about to yell at them but he felt something at his feet so he paused and looked down just to scream as he made eye contact with a half- guy. "Yo what the hell?!" The male in question was tied up with a handkerchief stuffed into his mouth - Jinyoung guessed it was the work of all the boys that just ran off. Not knowing what to do he grabbed the male and pulled him to his feet, leading him inside and sitting him on the couch. 

Jinyoung couldn't help but stare at the other boy. Not only was his body firm in all the right places, but he in general was just hot. He would've stood and stared for longer but he was brought from his thoughts when he noticed the male trying to untie himself. Jinyoung quickly cleared his throat and moved to help him, untying the ropes then standing back while he took the handkerchief out. "Are you-" 

Jinyoung's breath got caught in his throat when the guy, now untied, stood up and stared him down. "I'm fine. Sorry you had to see me like this. I'm Jaebum. Lim Jaebum." He held out his hand and Jinyoung of course shook it, silently racking his eyes over Jaebum's frame before something clicked in his head. "I'm Jinyoung, Pa - wait Jaebum you said? Do you have a little brother?" The male nodded in confusion and Jinyoung gasped. What're the odds that he meets that little boys bully of a brother in the same night he meets the little boy? "So you're the bully huh? Did you not see how sad your brother was tonight? He must've worked hard on that costume and instead of you saying it looks good you said it looks stupid? What kind of a brother are you!? He probably wanted you to praise his work, tell him it looked amazing! God what's wrong with you! I take back my thoughts of you being hot." 

Jinyoung ranted on and on only confusing Jaebum more. "Okay first of all," he pointed at Jinyoung, "you need to chill. Second why are you talking about my brother? And how did you know I said his costume looked stupid?" Jaebum crosses his arms as he and Jinyoung had a mini staring contest. As much as he wanted to win, Jaebum just had such a natural intimidating face he could help but look away. "He was the second kid to come trick or treating here. I told him his costume was cool, because it was, and he said you said it looked stupid. He was really hurt by it! I told him not to listen to you because you're just mad that you can't look as cool as him and then he laughed and that was it. I can't believe me, a total stranger, made him feel better after his own brother made him upset."

Jaebum listened and watch Jinyoung talk. He would never admit it but the way he used a lot of facial expressions and got really into what he was talking about was- "cute." The room fell silent, the only sound being the music from the movie still playing in the background. "Did - did you just call me.." Jinyoung couldn't even finish his sentence. He was suddenly fully aware of how exposed Jaebum was and how baggy his dads old college merch was on him. "To be fair you called me hot so..." Jaebum coughed, apparently acknowledging the difference too. "Hey uh, this is gonna sound weird since we just met but do you have any clothes I could wear? My friends cut mine and I'd rather not scar any remaining kids on my walk home." 

There was a moment of silence again then both teens found themselves laughing loudly. At what? They didn't know but it didn't matter to them. "You can borrow some of mine I guess. But I like all my clothes so you better give them back." Jinyoung wheezed out inbetween shallow breaths. He grabbed Jaebum's hand and lead him up the stairs to his room where he told him to sit on the bed while he found something for him to wear. Minutes later he was finally fully clothed in a black hoodie and gray sweatpants Jinyoung didn't even know he had. They were heading back down the stairs when Jinyoung spoke up again. "I was being serious though, Jaebum. You hurt your brothers feelings. I know I'm a stranger so you don't have to listen to me but you should be nicer to him. He seems sweet." 

Both males walked the rest of the way down in silence. Even when they got to the door nothing was said until Jaebum stood facing Jinyoung on his front porch. "I'll try. I want to be nicer, I really do. I guess it just took a cute stranger telling me to be nicer for me to realize that I was being mean." Jaebum sent Jinyoung a lopsided grin, making him blush but giggle immediately after. "Oh, and about your clothes... I know where you live now so I'll bring them back tomorrow. I'll wash them, obviously, so don't worry." He took a step towards Jinyoung slowly, leaning in until he was at his ear. 

"I don't know about you but I'd like it if we could be more than strangers. It was fate that decided I should be dumped here by my friends, after all." Jaebum pulled away and Jinyoung couldn't help but grab his arm and pull him back. "I guess it was also fate that decided out of all these years, this year would be the year I stay home." They shared another laugh before Jinyoung let him go and Jaebum began slowly walking away. "You better be awake when I get here tomorrow Jinyoung. It'd be pretty awkward if someone else answered the door." 
 

Jinyoung rose a brow, waiting for the other to continue but he never did. "Wait! What time are you coming over?" He yelled only to recieve a 'peace out' sign from Jaebum." 
 

"Lim Jaebum!"

(Sorry for any mistakes, I finished this pretty late in the night... on a school night. I hope you enjoyed! ^^;)