Rise or Fall

"Are you coming tonight?"

He could hear the hope in the other's voice, "Miguel. You know I don't like parties, there's always too many people around and it gets stuffy and-” ``''I know, D." Dimitri quietly sighed, thankful the other stopped him before he started rambling. And that usually led to an anxiety attack after.

"But it is being held by the school, and I think a few teachers said that the more people you invite, the more extra credit you get." Dimitri perked up at that, "one of your teachers?" Miguel nodded from his place on the bed, behind Dimitri who was sitting at his desk and working on school work.

"Ms. Fergueson, the Art director, she's in charge of the Halloween party. And since she's in charge, she's making her classes set up the party and each person we invite that's not in any of her classes gets us extra credit." The eldest of the two finally turned around to face the youngest of the family, "I don't suppose you mean to tell me that you're 'failing' art class?"

Miguel snorted and giggled, "no no no no. I am not failing art class, but she said that we can put the points to other classes like science and history since they're also doing Halloween themed assignments as well." Now that made sense, Miguel always had trouble with math and science. It's understandable that he'd do what he can to help those grades, especially with how bad he flunked the first month of school.

Dimitri sighed and leaned back into his swivel chair, "and what does this have to do with me? I'm certain you've already invited all of your friends and our siblings, which should give you plenty of points as it is." Everyone in the house knew this to be true, given the youngest extroverted nature to create friends. Out of all four of the boys, the orange haired brother was always the most friendly and outgoing. Lincoln would be second in that department, however.

Miguel glanced around the room, as if checking to make sure no one was listening in. He then leaned as close as he could to the brainiac of the household, "I want mom and dad to have a night to themselves. Halloweeen is this Saturday and the party's on Friday. We don't really go trick-or-treating anymore and they deserve at least one night." 

Amber red eyes widened at that, surprised that Miguel would even think of doing something so nice. "You want to get all the kids out of the house so mother and father could have a night to themselves?"

Orange hair lightly bounced as the younger nodded, "yeah. They deserve it, don't you think?" 

Dimitri lightly nodded, understanding where the youngest was coming from. Their parents haven‘t really had a night to themselves in a while, and they deserved it with how bad the school year had been. Three parent-teacher meetings, seven PTA meetings and a whole mess of after school activities.  He could see what Miguel was aiming at, and why he wanted to drag his antisocial brother out as well. 

Dimitri sighed and turned back to his homework, “fine. Are we doing matching outfits this time or random?” Miguel perked up at that and started to lightly bounce on the bed in excitement, “random. Mizu said that she's gonna dress up as the Pink Power Ranger, Lincoln is going as SuperMan and I've decided on BatMan. Ricardo is still deciding on his but he wants your help with his costume for some reason.

“Who do you want to go as?” Dimitri perked up at that, “depends. How far can I go?” Miguel perked up at that and could tell what Dimi was thinking. He smirked, “well. It’s best not to go too far but I’m sure they wouldn’t notice.”

Dimitri smirked back, “any ideas then?”  The orange haired boy put a finger to his chin and looked up in thought, “let’s see. We’re all doing super heroes, and almost all of us have chosen a DC character. Why not a Marvel character, like Spider Man or the Hulk.” The brainiac looked up for a second, then grabbed one of the many spiral notebooks littering the desk. 

He placed it down and started to flip through it, until he reached a certain page. He picked it up and showed Miguel, “what do you think? Over the top, or not enough?” Baby blue eyes looked over the two pages, eyes widening at the drawing he was seeing. He carefully took the notebook and snagged a pencil off the desk, placing the book on his knees and started adding to the drawings.

Dimitri sat back and waited, knowing that he got Miguel started and it’s best to wait for him to finish putting his ideas down. Once the youngest was done, he handed back the notebook and put the pencil back in the cup. Dimitri took the book back and looked over the added drawings. He lightly smiled, “perfect. Let me finish my homework and I’ll start on the costume.”

He looked over at his baby brother, “do you want me to help make yours?” The way baby blue eyes sparkled and widened was a good indication of what the answer would be.

  ~~

The five carefully exited the van, each getting ten dollars for snacks and drinks. Their mother reminded them to text when it was time to come pick them up and then, the adults left. They had arrived thirty minutes early to help finish setting up the decorations, per Miguel’s request. 

Mizuno was first, dressed as the Pink Turbo Power Ranger, then Lincoln as SuperMan, Ricardo as Green Arrow, Miguel as BatMan and Dimitri as SpiderMan. However, many of their accessories were Dimi-fied, as his siblings like to call it. Dimitri basically created life-like replicas of the weapons but without the ability to cause harm to anyone. Yes, he wanted them to look cool, but he didn’t want a lawsuit at this age.

 It was clear that the five were the best dressed out of those there, but no one said anything about it. Miguel nearly skipped up to Ms. Ferguson, “we’re here and ready to help.” She smiled at the hyper boy and looked over her clipboard, “great. We just need to put up the streamers, set up the DJ booth, and the snack tables.” She looked over the group, “you can split up into two’s and work like that?”

Lincoln glanced at Dimitri, “well. Dimitri could help set up the DJ booth, he’s good at messing with electronics.” With that, he lightly pushed his SpiderMan costumed brother forward towards the teacher. Dimitri glared at his eldest brother but didn’t move back, instead he lightly bowed but stayed silent. The art teacher blinked, slightly confused about the bow but only slightly nodded and looked towards one corner of the gym. “Nicoli, can you take Dimitri with you and show him what needs to be done?”

Out of the group walked a teen dressed as Venom, causing Miguel to lightly snort at the chances. Dimitri lightly rolled his eyes at his brother’s antics but walked up to Nicoli, “hi. I’m Dimitri, but most people just call me D.” He slipped off his mask to show the other who he was, which prompted Nicoli to take off his mask, showing a teen just barely taller than Dimitri with bright blue eyes and a dark peach complexion. Nicoli was the head of the football team, top ten in class and every girls (and some boys) high school crush.

To Dimitri, however, Nicoli was a new person. New people, small talk and big crowds were a bad mix for Dimitri, who could already tell was going to end in either a panic attack or being locked in the restroom as a ‘harmless prank’. And the small, hopeful smile Nick gave didn’t help him feel any better. The other carefully held out his hand, “come on. I’ll show you what needs to be done.” Dimitri hesitated, physical contact was always an iffy, before he gave Nicoli his hand and allowed himself to be pulled away from the safety of his family. 

More students started to show after the party’s designated start time and soon, the whole gym was full of students dressed as heroes, villains, monsters, ghouls and everything in between. Music blared from the speakers as teens were scattered around the area, either sitting and talking at the tables or dancing in the other half of the gymnasium. Every Marvel, DC, or well known character had a number on their left shoulder, each being listed for the ‘best dressed’ competition of each character. 

Each of the Hamuro siblings were split around the building, Miguel helping at the DJ station, Lincoln was helping at the snack table, Ricardo was a ‘bodyguard’ of sorts to make sure the boys didn’t start any fights while Mizuno did the same except she made sure the girls wouldn’t fight because of similar outfits. Dimitri, however, just tried to stay calm being surrounded by a bunch of unknown students and only able to spot two of his siblings from the crowd.

In SpiderMan fashion, Dimitri had found a corner and climbed up it, just barely high enough that no one could reach him. From where he was, he overlooked the whole area of teens dancing and eating, talking and laughing. He knew better than to try and join in, he never would fit. Like a puzzle, he was a piece that didn’t fit right. So, he just sat there for an hour or two, a bag of M&Ms on one leg and a drink in his hand. In his other hand, he was texting on his phone with the brightness on low.

He was texting a rare friend of his, a pen pal of sorts. The two met on a website for geeks and nerds alike, comic book nerds, historical geeks, sy-fy sororities, and everything in between. Dimitri had found a group full of other scientists and engineers like him, namely one person called megamind69. Dimitri found it funny because his username was mega-metrocity, both having to do with the same movie. They hit it off instantly and though he knew the other was a student at his school, he didn’t know who. 

The music died down and Ms. Fergeson’s voice was heard through the speakers, “alright everyone. Time for the ‘Best Dressed’ competition, I need all the contestants on the floor and grouped by character.” Dimitri sighed but hopped down, threw away his trash and slipped his phone into his pocket, heading over to the group of SpiderMen. 

Once everyone was separated was her voice heard again, “okay. We’ll go in alphabetical order, you can cast your vote using the school website. Just log in with your lunch number and choose ‘Halloween Hocus Pocus’.” She then gave everyone time to do as such, getting the first group on the stage. She then introduced the group and told the students to pick the one that looked most like the actual character.

This continued through until they reached the last batch, the Venom’s. Once done, Ms. Ferguson ushered them off the stage. “Okay, once all the polls are tallied, each winner will be sent a message through their school email. Keep an eye on it and have fun!”

She got off the stage and the music started back up, the Hocus Pocus song dealing with spells. Dimitri just went back to his corner, unsure what else to do. He spotted his siblings gathered in a different area, conversing. He would guess and say that they were talking about the competition. He honestly didn’t care about it, the chances were against them. Well, mainly him.

But he was okay with that, it’s the reason he stayed away. After the whole Satelite incident, he made sure to give them their space. Dimitri knew better than to try and join in, especially if it’s for something that he wouldn’t care much about. He left them be and they left him alone, an equal balance.

Megamind69: wanna dance?

Megamind69: I was able to bribe the DJ to play Bad Apple, so?

Dimitri nearly forgot about his friend, but the thought of secretly dancing to one of his favorite songs was tempting. Especially since no one would know that it was him, the costume would do its job.

Mega-metrocity: I can get someone to clear the floor?

Megamind69: do it.

He smiled and sent a text to Miguel, who promptly sent a thumbs up in reply. He jumped down from his spot and headed to the small clear area of the floor as the speaker came back on, “clear the dance floor. We got a special treat; Spiderman and Venom doing the Bad Apple Mirror Dance.” The floor cleared quickly as he made it to the center, along with the black suited Spiderman; Nicoli.

Nicoli smiled under his mask, “I thought it was you.” Dimitri lightly shrugged, "oh well. Ready to give them a show?” The other nodded and the two got into position, Nic giving the DJ a thumbs up. Everyone fell silent as the music started. Then the beat dropped.

After a while, some tried to join in but failed, however, they were laughing and chatting, some even recording the dance and posting it online. Once the song finished, another group dance song started and everyone joined in, crowding around Dimitri but he didn’t seem to mind. He was finally having fun and he wanted to hold onto that for as long as possible. Sometime during the dancing, he was pulled out of the crowd by his siblings and Nicoli, all smiling and laughing while trying to either ask how Dimitri knew how to dance or trying to explain why they were laughing.

It was then that phones started to go off with notifications, the polls were tallied and the winners were chosen. Ms.Ferguson went back on the stage and grabbed the microphone, “we’ll do this by franchise. I need the Incredibles.”

Up walked a group of four students; one dressed as Violet, one as Dash, Mr. Incredible and Mrs. Incredible. After those four walked up a student dressed as Syndrome and another as Edna Mode followed. A picture was taken of the group and they dispersed, “now our Power Rangers.” Mizuko perked up and quickly joined the others, a total of eight colors. Red, Pink, Yellow, Green, Blue, Black, White, and Gold. Another group picture and it continued with different movie and tv show franchises.

Dimitri and Nicoli had to pose for the original Spiderman movie series and Marvel franchise, Ricardo, Miguel and Licoln posing for the DC franchise and their own shows as well. When it was time to go home, all five were happy and chatting about different aspects of the party. Their mother couldn’t help but smile and asked what they were all talking about. Miguel was the first to answer, “Dimi danced with Nick and they won best costume for their respective costumes.” Their father perked up at that and glanced at the silent teen, “you danced in front of your school?”

A shy nod, “n-not alone. But, I had fun doing it.” That earned a soft smile in return, “I'm glad to hear that you all had such a good time. Now, let’s head home and get you children ready for bed.”

Mizu looked back at her Spidy brother, “can I show them the video of you dancing?” “You recorded it?” She gave him a hesitant smile, “well.” Dimitri lightly groaned, but he didn’t regret agreeing to go to the Halloween party. Nor getting Nicoli's phone number.