"Back so soon?" Shiro asked as Keith and Lance entered the apartment. Shiro was enjoying a night with Pidge and Hunk on Halloween night, watching a scary moving while curled up under a blanket.

They were college students, and Shiro was Keith's and Lance's roommate. Pidge and Hunk just liked to come over a lot and hang out, as best friends do.

Shiro narrowed his eyes once he realized that Keith was apparently supporting Lance's body with a steady arm around Lance's waist. "Whoa, does this call for an ER visit or something? Do I need to call an ambulance?" he said with a small chuckle, only slightly joking.

"Yeah, guys. What happened?" Hunk asked, his attention turned away from the TV.

"Well," Keith began, "Lance here had a fight with a ten-year-old."

Lance was wincing as they took small steps through the living room. Shiro noticed Lance wasn't putting much weight on his left foot. He wondered how he could possibly have gotten hurt trick-or-treating. It wasn't like it was a dangerous sport, but leave it to Lance to make it one.

"What? Explain," Shiro said. Pidge then turned down the TV so they could hear the details. The group scooted over to make room on the couch and Pidge moved to sit on the floor.

Keith helped place Lance onto the couch and took a seat next to him. Lance began to untie his left shoe and slip it off, but not without a hiss of pain leaving his lips. Next, he slipped off his sock and Keith peered down at his foot. It was a little red and slightly bruised.

"They got in a fight about candy," Keith said.

"It's not like that. The kid was a jerk," Lance said.

"So, what happened?" Pidge asked, eager for the full story.

"So, we were walking down the street after having knocked on maybe ten houses. We each had our bags filled about halfway with candy and we came to this one house," Keith explained.

All eyes were on him, engaged in the story as Keith recalled the details.

The house was elaborately decorated, with orange and purple lights on the roof. Keith and Lance made their way up the sidewalk and rang the doorbell.

"Trick or treat!" they said, and an elderly lady opened the door, holding a large bowl. She gave them two pieces of candy each. "Oh, dear. You boys got the last pieces of candy."

After thanking her, the lady shut the door and turned off her porch light. As they turned to leave, a young boy glared up at them in anger. "You took the last candy!"

"Hey, sorry, man," Lance said. "Just got lucky I guess!"

The boy's face became even angrier and he stomped hard on Lance's foot, and then swiped Lance's candy bag and ran away.

"Hey!" Lance cried, and then limped after him, but it was futile. The boy was already long gone.

"Come on, Lance. Just forget about it. He's just a stupid kid," Keith said, urging him forward.

They walked a few paces, but Lance's foot was really hurting. The kid may have been small, but he had stomped him pretty good with some heavy boots.

"Ow," Lance complained, limping. "My foot hurts. Can we just go home now?"

"Yeah, but we're still like half a mile from home."

Lance sighed.

"Hurts that bad?" Keith asked.

"Don't start, Keith," Lance said. He knew getting beaten up by a kid was stupid, but he couldn't help the fact that the top of his foot was actually throbbing, and he didn't need Keith making fun of him.

"Hey, I'm not laughing." He put his arm around Lance's waist and helped hold him up as they walked together down the dark street.

"But you're smiling. Same thing."

Ok, Keith had to admit it was a little funny, the whole situation. They trudged slowly along, barely speaking and just kept their sight on home. A clap of thunder was heard and before long, it was sprinkling.

"We're almost there," Keith said as the rain was becoming really uncomfortable since it was already cold out. "Think you can you go any faster?"

Thunder sounded again, and Lance picked up the pace, wincing as his foot touched the pavement. The rain started coming down a little harder now. When they finally got to their apartment, they were wet and exhausted.

"So, now we're cold, wet, and I don't even have any candy to show for it," Lance said.

Keith swung over his candy and sat the bag down on Lance's lap. "Dig in, babe. Have some of mine." Lance grinned widely and dug through the chocolates, skittles, mini candy bars, and smarties.

"Sounds like that kid could learn some manners," Shiro said after hearing his story.

"And where were his parents?" Pidge asked. "My parents never let us trick or treat alone."

"I don't know," Lance said. He and Keith unwrapped some chocolates and indulged.

A timer in the kitchen sounded, and that's when Hunk jumped up. "Ooh, that's the cider!"

He stirred the homemade cider, which had mushy apples in it that had been boiling for hours and began straining it through a cheesecloth. Pidge went in to help. When they were done, Hunk said, "Come on, guys. Get yourself a mug of homemade apple cider."

Everyone jumped from their seats to rush to the kitchen, even Lance, who took a step and then paused when he felt the pain. He had been enjoying the warmth of the apartment and the candy that he had forgotten about his hurt foot. "Ow," he said, and mentally weighed out the decision of getting a hot cup of cider or staying free from pain.

As if reading his thoughts, Keith made the decision for him. "You stay. I'll get you some."

With no reason to complain, Lance obeyed and nestled himself back in the couch and pulled up the covers. Keith brought him back a steaming hot cup of cider as well as an ice pack.

"Let me see," Keith said, and studied his foot. "I see more bruises." There was a large bruise in the middle of his foot at the base of his toes, and several smaller ones near his pinky. Keith put the bag of ice of his foot.

"That's cold," Lance complained.

"That's kinda the point," Keith countered with a cheeky smile. Keith put his arm around him and blew in his mug before taking a sip. "This is really good, Hunk."

"Thanks. It was my mom's recipe," Hunk said.

"So, what are we watching?" Keith said, motioning at the TV.

"A scary movie. Something we found on Netflix." Hunk pressed play and turned up the volume.

Keith huddled closer to Lance. "You okay?" he whispered.

"Yeah, I'm fine." His foot was feeling a little better since he stopped walking on it. Lance leaned into Keith's body and relaxed, ready to enjoy the movie.