Marisson Family (One Shot-Collection)

Halloween

"Eli, no biting!" Alain said in an exasperated tone, having to pull his fingers back from his son's snapping teeth.

"Rwar!" Eli roared happily. "I'm a dinosaur!"

Alain let out a small sigh, zipping up the back of the child's Tyrunt costume, which was a challenge with Eli twisting and snarling, his feet stomping against the ground. He stepped back once he finally securely got it on the boy, smiling down at Eli.

"There," He said. "You're all set, kiddo."

"Am I scary, Daddy?" Eli asked, tilting his head.

"Very," He replied, causing the boy to grin.

"Kade, I'm going to eat you!" Eli cried, turning and charging down the hall towards the Flareon that was sitting there. The fire type let out a yip, turning and bolting into Varya's arms.

She ran a soothing hand down the Flareon's back, shooting her younger brother a disapproving look. Like her brother she was dressed up like a Pokemon, slipping golden bracelets around her arms to complete her Hoopa outfit. She put Kade on her shoulder, eyes glowing as she levitated the last of her plastic bracelets onto her wrists.

"Can we go now?" Faith groaned, tugging at the sleeves of her mage costume. In her arms her Fennekin was mimicking her, the fire type letting out a long sigh.

"When your cousins get here," Mairin replied from the kitchen, filling up a bowl with candy. They had to do this several times throughout the month– as their family had a habit of stealing candy from the Halloween bowl. "They should've been here by now, actually."

Alain glanced at his watch. "Justin's late– what a surprise."

"Alain, be nice," Mairin chided, waving a hand at her kids. "Alright line up, I want a picture of all of you before you go out trick-or-treating!"

It took several minutes to convince Eli to smile for the camera, who kept insisting on growling and snapping his teeth. It wasn't until Alain threatened to not let him go dressed up as a Tyrunt he finally paused and smiled for one picture– but before Mairin could snap another the doorbell rang and their children scattered.

"Chance!" Eli cried as the door was open, barreling into his pink-haired cousin. "I'm a dinosaur!"

The young boy stumbled back, but grinned after a moment. "Cool! I'm a ghost!"

Chance smiled proudly as he showed off his Phantump costume, only for that smile to fade as a small snort came from a blue-haired girl next to him. His twin hurried past him, stepping into the middle of the hallway to proudly show off her costume instead.

"Everyone dresses up as Pokemon," Charity said haughty. "You should've gone like me and done a character instead! I'm Mulan!"

A small argument broke out among the five year olds– Eli insisting that Pokemon were a good costume choice for Halloween while Charity was adamant that there was no better choice than the heroic Mulan. Chance stood off to the side uncertainly, glancing between his sister and cousin, but had yet to take a side. Alain let the bickering slide for once, since all their focus would be on candy in a few minutes anyways, and turned his focus towards the door.

Mairin's brother, Justin, and his wife, Grace, were standing in the doorway along with two of their children. Grace had an apologetic smile on her face, explaining that they had gotten held up picking up Mercy's twins as Mairin invited them in. She hugged Justin and Grace, before turning her focus straight to her nephews. Justin briefly made eye contact with Alain, the two males staring at each other for a moment before looking away.

Of all his in-laws, the only one Alain remotely liked was Grace. She was the embodiment of her name– graceful and kind, with dark skin and curling midnight black hair falling over her shoulders. She had never failed to treat Mairin as family should, and was someone he felt was worthy of being called Mairin's sister.