Halloween Fic!

I don't usually give Brook much of a chance to speak in my other stories, so I thought this would be a great opportunity for some study. This would be set between Thriller Bark and Sabaody.

One Piece is not mine!

The Strawhat musician sat on a wooden bench and unscrewed the cap to his thermos. Sanji had been kind enough to steep some tea for him before everyone split up to survey the city for the evening. A few, like Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper, had gone off in groups while the rest preferred to head off alone.

Brook found the experience to be exceptionally novel. Usually when they docked on an island he would either stand guard on the ship or stay with one of his crewmates when visiting a town. His appearance tended to shock, to say the least, and it was always more convenient to have someone with him to make matters easier to explain. Even so, there were quite a few… incidents that left his new crew furious. It had been quite touching the first couple times, but he hated being the cause of their stress.

The cause of his unusual freedom was due to the holiday being celebrated that evening.

He poured his tea in the stainless steel cup and took a deep, appreciative breath of the steam wafting up. Once again, he marveled at the change his day-to-day life had taken since being found by the Strawhat pirates. If he had skin, he would have had a huge grin plastered across his face. He took a long sip.

"Hey, man! Cool costume!"

Brook looked up at a small group of teenagers passing his bench. The one to have spoken was a young man dressed in what looked to be a zombie costume. Brook repressed a shudder and inclined his head. "Thank you, yours as well! Yohohoho!"

They gave him odd looks and laughed at his strange laugh, then waved and continued on their way.

Yes, this holiday was indeed a blessing. No undue staring or trouble, it felt nice to just be able to leisurely stroll around and relax. He took another sip and looked around at the houses and people walking from house to house collecting sweets. Many houses were lit with carved pumpkins that had candles placed in their hollow centers, along with many other decorations of ghosts and bats. It was entirely mesmerizing.

Chopper had been absolutely ecstatic when Robin had explained the custom to him and the crew. Many of them had been completely unaware of the practice until a couple days ago and had readily agreed to participate. Usopp, Nami, Robin, Franky, and, surprisingly, Sanji were roped into making everyone's costumes and, needless to say, Usopp and Franky came up with some very intricate designs. Brook chuckled at the memory.

Ah, Yorki-san, what would you say…

He finished his cup and stood to continue his walk. Perhaps he'd take up Sanji's suggestion and go somewhere a bit more crowded to admire the female attire-

"B-Brook?"

He had barely turned towards the trembling voice when something small and fuzzy collided with his ribcage, sending him sprawling back onto the old bench. Through the shock he only registered that his thermos had fallen and rolled away somewhere. He coughed and automatically pulled his arms around the warm mass to support it into a more confortable position. "Chopper-san?"

The young doctor looked up at him with watery eyes and bawled. "I'm so happy to see you!" Then broke into fresh tears.

Brook awkwardly patted his back and attempted to shush him with comforting words. But, honestly, he was at a loss. When distraught, Chopper usually turned to Robin or even Zoro, for some odd reason. "What's wrong, Chopper-san? Weren't you with Luffy-san and Usopp-san?" He looked up and down the street, half-expecting and hoping to see one or both. "Where are they?"

"I don't know!" He hiccupped. "We were chased away from a house 'cuz Luffy kept ringing the doorbell over and over even though their lights were off and we got separated in the crowd! I couldn't find them so I…" He trailed off and started crying again, silently.

Brook's heart broke for the little reindeer. If he- NO! This was not the time! He offered him his handkerchief which was quickly drenched, but served the purpose and calmed him down somewhat. "What happened?"

"Well, I- I decided to go around to the other houses by myself. I thought it would be so cool if I got a whole bunch of candy on my own, more than anyone else, and shared it with everyone. Some of the others are too embarrassed to go get candy so I thought a little extra would be nice to have…"

Brook briefly wondered if he was talking about his fellow swordsman before he was struck with how truly kind Chopper's intentions were. "That sounds like an excellent idea." However, Chopper began sniffling again. "Did something…?" He suddenly noticed that Chopper was not carrying a bag and the front of his pumpkin-themed costume was slightly dirty. Sudden dread began to build in his stomach. If he had a-

"IT'S ALL GONE!" He wailed. "I was running over one of the canals to get to the next block when I…" He didn't finish. He didn't have to.

Brook held Chopper tighter and let him cry for a bit more, until the worst of it was over. "You were alone?" The doctor nodded jerkily against his ribs. "Well…What a relief! We're lucky it was just the candy that fell in the water!" Chopper looked up at the skeleton blankly, surprised. "We would rather have you safe over a hundred bags of sweets. Or a thousand!" Chopper's eyes widened slightly and he looked down, blushing.

"Don't think that makes me happy, you bastard!" He muttered and hid his grin in the handkerchief while he blew his nose. Then he stepped off Brook and sat beside him on the bench. "I guess you're right. It could have gone much worse…" He still looked very sad, though.

"There's still time to gather some more. I believe we have another hour or two."

Chopper grunted but made no move, just looked down at his hooves. He seemed to notice the state of his costume and attempted to wipe away some of the dirt. Realizing it was useless; he sighed and looked up at the decorated houses. "This is nice, too."

"Oh?" Brook interlaced his fingers and hooked one elbow over the back of the bench to face his crewmate.

"It's nice to walk around on my own without getting weird looks. Usually I'm with one of the others and I don't mind, but…" He waved vaguely at the people walking along the street.

Brook contemplated the young man beside him who had unconsciously voiced his same thoughts. He realized that Chopper would undoubtedly have his same dilemma when going about in public; even when in Heavy Point he looked far from a normal human. "Yes, I guess it would be."

He suddenly seemed to think he sounded ungrateful, though. "I wouldn't rather be anywhere else, though! Luffy was the first person to accept me besides the Doctor and Doctorine, and he did it because I look like this! He didn't even know I was a doctor." He seemed rather proud of that.

"Yohohoho! Well, we seem to have that in common, Chopper-san!" Brook chuckled fondly.

Chopper grinned and suppressed his laughter unsuccessfully by covering his mouth with his hooves. A group of girls walked up to them then and started cooing over Chopper and his costume that was 'just adorable' and 'huggable', but turned violent as soon as Brook opened his mouth. Brook rubbed his sore head after they left in a huff, Chopper chuckling by his side. "It seems like there's always another interesting experience every day, since I left my island."

"Really? What was it like?"

"I come from a winter island, Drum Kingdom! It snows every day and, before I left, me and Doctorine lived in a castle on top of one of the mountains."

"Is Doctorine your teacher?"

"Yeah, she trained me since I was very small. She's a great doctor! But she can be very scary and strict." He finished seriously; despite his ending statement it was clear he burned with respect for her.

Brook smiled to himself. "Did the person you called 'Doctor' also train you?" But regretted the question immediately when Chopper's smile evaporated.

"No…" The reindeer seemed to shrink in on himself and fiddled with the hem of his costume. "He- Doctor was like a father to me. He was the first one to accept me when everyone else thought I was a monster. He took me in and taught me the enthusiasm to be a doctor." He looked up with a small, watery smile. "So in that way, I guess he was my teacher, too. But he wasn't a real doctor. Doctorine used to say he was a 'quack', but he would go around trying to help people anyway. He was friends with Doctorine, that's how I met her." He lapsed into silence; Brook didn't ask about the doctor's fate, that too was obvious. Chopper tugged his costume's hood off to reveal his pink hat underneath. "He gave this to me, you know. …and he gave me my name."

Brook really felt like he might cry too at this point, but kept his voice steady. "Arguably the best gift of all."

Chopper's soft whimper sounded like an affirmation.

"I'm sure he's very proud of you and what you've accomplished. You've turned into an excellent doctor yourself!" Brook's praise was entirely honest, even at Thriller Bark he had been shocked to hear that the doctor who had overseen all of their injuries was only fifteen years old! Just extraordinary.

Chopper scrubbed at his eyes. "I know. Or, I mean, I hope so. He said I would be. And he always said that going out to sea would make me realize how small my problems really were. He was right."

"He was right about everything." Brook corrected and was rewarded with a bright smile from his crewmate.

He swung his little legs enthusiastically over the bench's edge then jumped up abruptly. "Let's see I can be an excellent candy-collector, too! Let's go!" It was clear he had tried to imitate their captain, but the effect was somewhat dampened when he faltered shyly. "If you want to?"

Brook laughed exuberantly. "But of course! We can't let the others go without candy! We'll get enough to last us until next year!" He jumped up and picked up his thermos which had rolled beneath the next bench over.

Chopper's eyes sparkled as he ran over to him. "REALLY?!"

"Of course! But we have to hurry!" And he took off down the street to the closest lit house, Chopper close behind and squealing with delight.

When they returned to the Sunny, hours later, they were laughing, exhausted, and carried several bags, as well as their hats, bursting with candy.

Wow, I was abruptly overcome with the desire to write a holiday fic on the holiday. I was in a crazy hurry to publish this and look! Two minutes to spare! Sweet!

At the beginning I meant to incorporate Franky, too, and make it a post-timeskip piece about unwanted attention, but then I realized that Brook spent a lot of time in public during those two years so he wouldn't feel the way I wanted him to feel. So it became this and I just about chocked on the fluff! I like it. I realize Brook might not want to be alone... but he's not, really. And I figured people watching on his own would be something he's likely to do.

If you enjoyed this, perhaps you'd like to check out my other fics? ;)