"I dare ya."
"No way!"
"Oh, come on, Cye! It'd be fun."
"I said no, Rowen! Being dressed as Julia Child tonight is bad enough! Even if I said yes, I wouldn't do it down this one! There's too many people!"
Ryo the Pirate paused and turned about to glare at the arguing pair. He shoved away the black cape that Sage was wearing as it got stuck on his little plastic sword and wrapped around him before questioning them. "What are you two doing?"
"Rowen is being a pervert again," Cye calmly informed him.
"Am not. I just dared you to strip and run down the street NEKKID!" The blue-haired Peter Pan promptly collapsed to the ground and giggled himself silly, throwing in the occasional snort along the way.
"Does he have any candy left in his bag?" Sage the French Nobleman from the Renaissance (author's note: ~purrrrr~ how yummy can ya get?!) asked in wonderment. They'd only been out a couple of hours and all of them had a very decent haul so far.
Kento, son of Morg and Klingon warrior, checked Rowen Pan's bag. He whistled at the amount of empty and crumpled wrappers then said, "Wow. Over half his stash is gone."
"Oh dear," Cye clucked, looking down on his friend that clutched tightly at his sides and rolled back and forth on the sidewalk, his laughter having gone into silent convulsions that HAD to be painful. "That means he's going to be like this for the rest of the night."
"And probably straight on through most of the morning," Ryo added, flipping up his eyepatch. "Man, I wouldn't want to be him when the sugar-high wears off."
Sage grimaced at the thought. Then, glancing at 'Julia,' he said, "He dared you to streak down through here?" He gestured toward the crowded side street. His pale eyes sparkled dangerously.
Not noticing this, Cye nodded and said, "Yes."
A slow grin enveloping his face, Sage turned to Ryo. "I double dare you to do it."
"Uh-uh! No!"
"Kento?" Sage looked at the Klingon in askance.
"I would, but it took too long to get this costume on to ruin it now."
Prodding Rowen with a foot, Sage said, "What about you? Will you do it?"
Wheezing, Rowen gazed up at the blond, his dark blue eyes shining, and said, "Okay!! But only if YOU do it with me!"
"Only if I do it too?" Sage stroked his chin in thought. "I tell ya what, if you give me whatever candy you have left and anything else you get tonight, I'll do it. Otherwise, you're doing it alone."
Rowen's smiling face went serious as he considered his options. "Do it alone... or give up my candy and have you go with me... Urg! This is a hard choice. Thank you for making me think in the middle of a sugar rush."
Suddenly, Kento had a flash of genius. He leaned forward and whispered something into Rowen's eager ear. Rowen began to cackle gleefully and nodded so viciously he flipped his little green hat from his head. Then, he grinned up at Sage, holding out his collection bag. "You're on."
"End of the block and back?" Sage asked, wanting to clarify that detail before moving ahead.
Giddy and giggling, Rowen nodded, stood and moved into the bushes to strip.
With a sigh and a tiny smile, Sage handed his bag and Rowen's to Cye. (He could trust him not to dig into his loot.) Hearing a small "eep!" from Rowen, he laughed and moved into the bushes himself.
Ryo stood looking at Sage and Rowen, their heads the only parts of their bodies poking out of the bushes. Cye and Kento were off to the side, snickering and eyes sparkling. "Ready?" Ryo asked.
"As I'll ever be," Sage told him.
Rowen just nodded, grinning like a homicidal maniac from some horror movie.
Ryo raised his arm and said, "One... two... STREAK!" He dropped his arm on the last count and jumped back as two pale figures zipped past him, whooping and howling at the tops of their lungs.
"Oh... my... god!! I can't believe they actually did it!" Cye gasped as his legs gave out. "HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
Kento was wiping away tears as he watched the two white bodies slipping through the shocked crowd. He couldn't remember the last time something this insane had happened, and damn if he wasn't going to laugh his ass off because of it.
Ryo simply stood there, a smile stretching from ear to ear. Oh, what he wouldn't do for a video camera right now. This would make a great blackmail tape a some future point. It was probably a good thing Mia had taken Yuli out candy-begging instead of shluffing him off on them. Having Yuli see this wouldn't have been anything big, but having Yuli blurt it out to Mia... not a good idea.
The shrieking of outraged mothers and the overjoyed cries of adolescent, teeny-bopper girls filled the night air.
____
They sat comfortably in the living room at Mia's, digging contentedly through their candy-filled sacks. All except Rowen, that was. Sage sat smug in the knowledge that he owned all of Rowen's take. He watched Kento carefully separate his candy into two piles. What was he doing?
"Here ya go, Ro," Kento said, shoving one of the piles toward the too-happy blue-haired boy.
"Hey!" Sage cried. "I don't think so! He gave up all rights to Halloween candy!"
"No, he didn't," Kento patiently explained, "I told Rowen that if he went along with your demands and gave up his stash to you, I'd give him half my bag when we got back."
"You bribed him just to see me go streaking?!" Sage hooted, not quite outraged.
"What did you do, Sage?" Mia's voice asked inquisitively from the front door. Obviously she'd just made it home with Yuli.
"Nothing!"
"He and Rowen went streaking!" Cye yelled to inform her, a cheeky grin on his face as Sage turned bright red. The infallible Sage Date was blushing in embarrassment? Rowen laughed hysterically around a mouthful of mini candy bars.
"They WHAT??"
END
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A question: Why do I so love writing Rowen as a total sugar addict? *grin* -Ebon