Alternatively titled: it is 2 days to Thanksgiving, why is this so damn late? Special thanks to Mommaslovehand for beta reading.
"What the fuck is Halloween?" Karkat asks as you tape the "Happy Halloween!" sign to the front door of your apartment.
"You don't know what Halloween is? How do you not know about one of the greatest holidays, only beat by Christmas and April Fools?" You raise your eyebrow at him, which only deepens his frown.
"Trolls don't have as many stupid pointless holidays as humans. Forgive me for not knowing every pathetic bit of your culture. The game didn't exactly give me a 'So You're Going to Live with Humans' manual."
You snort and close the door as soon as you're sure the sign is secured and won't fall off. You've chosen to dress as a skeleton this year. You changed into your skeletal print hoodie and jeans, leaving the face paint until it gets late enough for trick-or-treaters to come by. Karkat is wearing his usual attire, jeans and a hoodie that is too big for his small frame. His fingers barely stick out from beneath the sleeves. His clawed feet are bare despite the cold air in the apartment. You tried to convince him to put on a costume but he refused.
"Halloween is the day when spirits can enter the living realm to visit loved ones still living and cause mischief."
"That's bullshit."
"It's true! People used to put candy out on their doorsteps for the spirits so they would leave peacefully. Of course now it's a day to get drunk, go trick-or-treating and eat your weight in candy."
"Candy?"
You can't ignore the way his pointed ears perk at that. Trolls love sweets, as you learned the first time Jane had baked a cake after the reset. Karkat had practically gone into a sugar coma by the time you dragged him home. Ever since then you've had to be careful about having sweets around him. He'd eat too many and make himself sick every time. Tonight you intend to hand out most of the candy and pick through the rest while watching scary movies bundled up on the couch. There should be enough left to satisfy his sweet tooth without making him puke or curl up on the bed whining about an upset stomach.
"It's for the trick-or-treaters. I'll smack your hand if I see you getting too close." you warn.
He crosses his arms and pouts. "I'm not going to get sick this time."
"You say that every time. You can help me pour it all into the bowl though."
He stubbornly follows you into the kitchen where you've been hiding the bags of candy in the back of the pantry. His eyes widen at the massive Walmart bag you plop down in the middle of the table. You didn't buy that much really but the candy bags themselves are pretty big. You pull out the largest plastic bowl you have (a mixing bowl that used to belong to your dad) and start dumping the candy into it. Karkat tears into another bag and helps while eying the candy hungrily. You wonder if giving him one piece now would be a good idea. Probably not. Odds are he'd start begging for more and you'd have to lock him in the bedroom. You make him go to the bathroom with you to do your face paint. You don't trust him alone with the candy. He sits on the closed toilet seat behind you, watching as you cake the white paint onto your face.
"You look like Gamzee." He comments while leaning forward, his hands on the seat between splayed legs.
"Yea but I look way cooler than him. Definitely hotter."
He rolls his eyes, only noticeable by his reflection in the mirror, and don't miss that light turn of the lips into a smile. You've just finished applying your makeup and are washing off your hands when there's a knock at the door. You practically skip to the kitchen to retrieve the bowl of candy. Karkat is trailing you the whole way to see exactly what this holiday is supposed to be about. You open the door and five small children accompanied by an adult shout "trick or treat!" in unison. You drop a piece of candy into each pumpkin bucket and close the door after they run away down the hall.
"So they just shout this demand at you and give them candy for it?" He asks, staring at the door where the costumed children had stood.
"Pretty much."
"What happens if you don't?"
"They trick you. We used to egg houses or soap their windows. My dad always had a stockpile of both."
"I don't understand this Halloween ritual."
"There's not a lot to understand. It's just fun. You get to dress up as anything you want and watch scary movies."
"Does everyone dress up?" He glances down at his day-to-day clothing with furrowed eyebrows.
The doorbell rings again and you quickly hand out candy before turning back to your confused friend. "Not everyone. Some parents ban their children from celebrating Halloween teaching them it's a satanic holiday. It all dates back to the great immigration when the flood of Irish immigrants introduced the holiday to America. It was anti-Irish and anti-Catholic propaganda."
"Humans are weird. I don't understand how you are divided when you all have the same blood color."
"With humans it's about skin color, religion, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, politics and nationality. Probably other things as well."
He looks baffled and shrugs. "I'll never fully understand the way your kind works." He pauses and looks at the door, his ears twitching. "I think there's more children at the door."
He's right. You hadn't heard the faint knocking at first. It always amazes you how much more he can hear with his super troll hearing. You stop mid turn and hold the bowl out to him. "Do you want to try?"
"You mean you're going to trust me with the candy?"
You grin. "Just this once."
He practically snatches the bowl away from you and opens the door to the new group of children. They hold out their bags and pumpkins and he drops a piece into each. The children thank him and dash away. You didn't miss the look the parents had given him. Some people are still iffy about trolls. You expected everyone to just accept them since they were there at the beginning of the restart but not everyone is accepting. Really you don't know why you thought it would be any different. He hands the bowl back to you and crosses the room to slump on the couch.
"Halloween is boring." He says.
"This is only the first half. It'll be more fun later. I promise."
"That's doubtful."
You roll your eyes but can't stop the smile that spreads across your face. There's a reason you fell for him, even with his grumpy mood swings. He's usually pretty easy to calm down or cheer up. When you'd first gotten together you weren't quite sure which quadrant he was putting you in. Some days it felt like pity others it felt like hate. It finally became apparent that there wasn't any one person he hated more than himself, and he finally cleared up that he pitied you most of the time. You still think it's a bit weird but if pity is their version of love, why not? Kissing him had also been scary at first; you thought for sure those pointy teeth would do some damage, but somehow you managed to avoid physical harm.
An hour and a half later most of the candy is gone and the children have stopped coming. You lock the door, shut off the lights and plop down next to Karkat. He's been watching Halloween Town and it's just ended. Perfect time to show him a true Halloween classic. You see him spot the candy bowl when you set it down on the table and reach for the remote.
"Are you done?" He asks, keeping his eyes on the sweets.
"Yep. We're going to spend the rest of the night watching Halloween films."
"What are you going to do with the candy?"
"Who knows? Maybe I'll let you eat some." You tease. Of course you're going to give him at least half of the remaining candy. It would be too cruel to deny him now after he'd been so patient all night.
You switch on one of your personal favorites, Hocus Pocus, and throw the blanket over the two of you as it starts, pulling him close to your side. He slumps against you, his head on your chest and his arm draped around your middle. You were surprised to find out that Karkat really likes to cuddle. It's hell during the summer when you're too hot to sleep and he's clinging to your side, but it's otherwise nice. You run your fingers through his hair and he starts up that super weird but super cute purring sound. It rumbles deep in his chest and you can feel it vibrating against your side. You know he's half watching the movie, half glancing at the candy. You lean forward and snag the bowl. He immediately sits up a bit and turns to you.
"You want it?" You ask with a teasing grin, wiggling a mini snickers in front of his nose.
"Asshole." He grumbles and snatches the chocolate away, wasting no time ripping it open and popping it into his mouth. His purring grows a bit louder as he curls up against your side and reaches into the bowl for more.
The two of you fall into a comfortable and familiar silence as you watch the film and snack on the remaining candy. You let him have a bit more than half since you don't really like sweets all that much. Besides, it makes him happy and a little easier to deal with. When the bowl is empty, he sets it on the end of the couch not currently occupied and wiggles into your lap. You glance down at him as he snuggles as close as physically possible and rests his head against you. It's impossible to stop the smile that stretches your cheeks and puts your bucked teeth on display.
"If you don't stop staring at me, I'm going to retrieve the big fork from the kitchen and skewer your eyes on the tines." He grumbles, fidgeting under your gaze.
You chuckle and wrap your arms around him, leaning forward so you can kiss his nose. His frown deepens at the action as he rubs at the spot. "I'll stop staring when you stop being so damn adorable."
That earns you an elbow in the ribs as he tries to pull out of your grip. You can just barely see the flush on his cheeks from this angle. Realizing his efforts to escape are futile, he settles with his back to you. "Shut your fucking mouth, Egbert."
You press your lips to the back of his neck, your ever present smile still set in place, and trail small kisses up to the shell of his ear. His elbow finds your ribs again. "Stop that." He snaps. You chuckle again, turning him until you can reach his lips. He doesn't object when you press your lips to his, or when you slide your hand behind his back, lifting him so you can remove your legs from under him and lie him down on the couch. You hover over him, admiring the red tint peeking through grey skin. The next time your lips meet, he opens up to your tongue, tangling it with his own. He tastes like chocolate, though you imagine you do as well. He lets out a needy noise when you part, bringing the uncontrollable smile back to your face. You can't ignore the smudges of white paint left on his lips, chin, nose and cheeks from where it had rubbed off of your own.
"So, what do you think of Halloween?" You ask, a little breathless.
"I'm ok with the candy part at least. I still think it's weird and pointless though."
"Maybe next year we can wear matching costumes. They make some really sexy Ghost Busters outfits. They're technically for girls, but I'm sure you could pull one off just fine." You squeeze his ass, making him jump and narrow his eyes into a glare.
"You're only concerned with how easily you can pull it off at the end of the night." He shoots back. You howl in laughter, pressing your forehead to his shoulder. "Maybe I'll wear a costume next time, but I'm picking it out."
"Fair enough." You kiss him one last time before snuggling next to him, pulling him against your chest. You watch the rest of the movie in piece, eventually drifting to sleep with Karkat still in your arms. You wake the next morning to Karkat griping over the white makeup smears on the couch cushion and parts of his hoodie, reprimanding you for forgetting to wash it off.