A Very Batty Halloween

This is Halloween

Day 1: Trick or Treat
...
I'm sure you'll all recognize the song.
...

"Tt. This is ridiculous." Damian said, crossing his arms and pouting a non-pout, something he unconsciously did when he was acting like a child and didn't want to accept it. He was dressed in a mini Batman suit, complete with fake batarangs.

"Aw, but Dami you look adorable!" Dick insisted, grinning down at his little brother. Dick was dressed similarly, but instead of Batman, he was in a Red Hood costume.

"As much as I loathe to say this," Jason spoke up, walking into the room, looking down at his Nightwing costume with distaste, "I agree with the brat. Can't we just buy a bunch of candy from the stores and watch movies or something?"

Dick shook his head. "It's about the experience." he insisted.

"It's no use guys," Tim said from the couch, "You know how he gets when he's a man on a mission." Tim had decided to go as a modified version of Steph's batgirl suit, with Steph going as Red Robin.

"I like it." Cass said, appearing in the room and causing her brothers to jump in surprise.

"You look awesome, Cass." Tim said, grinning at her Signal outfit.

"Heck yeah." Duke agreed, coming up behind her in a Black Bat costume.

"Glad someone's happy about this." Dick cheered, high-fiving his little sister and brother.

"Am I late? Please tell me I'm not late?!" a familiar blonde asked as she burst into the room in a flurry of red and black.

"Only by 2 minutes," Tim said, grinning at his girlfriend.

"Oh good." Steph said, sighing dramatically in relief and plopping down beside Tim on the couch, kissing his cheek.

"Now we just need Babs and Bruce." Dick said.

"Or was I here the entire time?" a voice said from their phones.

"Babs?" Dick asked, bringing his phone out from his pocket.

"Howdy Pixie Boots. I'm in the cave. Where are you? Are you ready?" Babs answered.

"Uh-" Dick glanced around the room at his dressed siblings, "Yeah. We're on our way out now. We'll snap Bruce along the way."

"Fantastic. Get moving." she said before ending the call.

"Your wife is scary." Jason muttered. Dick grinned.

"Yeah, I know."

They would be going to a costume party at the Watchtower, a few days before Halloween. It would have been on Halloween if the Rogues didn't have an odd fondness for chasing triple the amount of chaos they usually do.

Once they were all in the cave, just waiting on Bruce, Jason grabbed his phone and turned to Dick with a grin.

“Time for the tradition.” Tim said, pulling out his phone and beginning to type.

“Tradition?” Duke asked, glancing around at his family.

“Oh, right.” Jason said. “I forgot that this was your first Halloween with us. Every year, since Dickie came here in the ancient years- (“I’m not that old!”) -He’s been playing this song.”

“Yeah, and if we don’t play it, we get cursed.” Dick spoke up.

“Cursed?” Duke questioned. The family all shivered.

“The one year we didn’t play the song,” Bruce said, coming down the stairs, “We were cursed with bad luck all of Halloween day.”

The teens & young adults turned to look at him and promptly burst into laughter.

“When we said you should go as Robin,” Steph said, cackling, “We didn’t mean the first one!”

"What's wrong with the first Robin?" Dick asked, pouting.

The entire family gave him a look.

"You didn't wear pants, Dick." Tim said.

Bruce sighed, "You did not specify."

Jason grinned. "Well, I mean, you're the one dressed that way. Going to a party. Where your co-workers will be."

Bruce blanched. "I'm going to change."

"You will do no such thing, Master Bruce." Alfred said. "It is much too late for that. Let us continue with the tradition and you will be on your way before you're late."

Bruce made a face quite similar to a pout, and nodded at Tim, causing his 3rd son to press play and a nice beat to fill the room.

"Boys and girls of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?" The music played.

"This is your tradition? Playing 'This is Halloween'?" Duke questioned, his eyes wide with surprise.

"Isn't it great?!" Steph laughed.

"This, our town of Halloween," Jason started to sing, his baritone filling the cave.

The rest of the family joined in.

"This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night
This is Halloween, everybody make a scene
Trick or treat 'til the neighbors gonna die of fright
It's our town, everybody scream
In this town of Halloween."

The song continued on, and eventually, Steph started marching around the cave, quickly followed by Tim, Cass, Jason, and Dick.

"Come on, guys!" Dick exclaimed, waving Duke and Damian over.
Duke grinned and began to march with them, laughing. Damian sighed, shook his head, and half-heartedly stomping around, getting more into it as the song went on.

"In this town
Don't we love it now?
Everyone's waiting for the next surprise
Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back
And scream like a banshee
Make you jump out of your skin."

"Quite a rambunctious group." Alfred commented, giving a small smile as he watched the teens continue to go around the cave.

"You can say that again." Bruce laughed, shaking his head as Damian was thrown onto Barbara's lap and wasn't let go of.

"This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song
Halloween! Halloween!
Halloween! Halloween!
Halloween! Halloween!"

The song ended, and the family gathered around the Zeta Beams, smiling happily.

"Ready?" Bruce asked.

He got a unanimous affirmative in return.

This Halloween would be awesome, and Duke couldn't wait to see what was in store.