Gregory Horror Show Halloween Extravaganza!

Day one prompt: Pumpkin Carving.

Submitted by: Anonymous

So I guess this takes place on a day in October when Gregory was younger and got along with his mother much better than he did in the series. I guess we could just assume that he's in his early 20s and is already pretty henpecked by his Mama.

I assume that the anon who suggested this was harmoniabeats, although I'm probaly wrong. I didn't set a specific order to do these prompts in, I'll just do them in whatever order is easiest to write.

Also I wrote my Gregory's Family headcanons into this ehe.

Halloween was always a big time in Gregory House. Not just for the guests, but to Gregory it meant something special. When he was younger, he would always carve a pumpkin with his mother, and it was probably the only time that they would ever get along. They never argued, physically fought, or stressed each other out when carving pumpkins. It was such a serene experience for the two of them, it was more than likely the only reason that Gregory was still on speaking terms with his mama.

Every single Halloween, Gregory decorated the dining room in cheap dollar-store "spooky" decorations and covered the long table in wax paper so Chef wouldn't throw a hissy fit about not being able to bake the pumpkin seeds and use the orange stringy stuff in the pumpkin for some sort of tea-like drink. He put up small pumpkin lampshades over the candles in the dining room, set fuzzy fake spiders out on the backs of chairs to startle Angel Dog and Catherine, and put down newspaper on the floor to catch Mummy Papa and Mummy Dog's blood from stainint the carpet. It was always a sight to behold, although once Bonsai Kabuki brought out the booze, things got freaky fast.

' Oh, pumpkins are always so heavy and slippery. But, it's worth it for mama! Her smile is rather nice, although she isn't nearly as pretty as she thinks she is...' Gregory thought, repeatedly lugging pumpkin after pumpkin into the dining room, setting one down at each seat. After spending nearly two hours decorating and dragging pumpkin after pumkin to the table, it was ready.

Gregory trotted over to the eastern wall, and rang a bell that resonated throughout Gregory House. As the bell tolled, he could hear both hurried and sluggish footsteps hurrying down or up the stairs. It always took them all a minute to get down there on Pumpkin Carving Night.

The dining room doors were flung open with a tremendous crash, the few old photos of Gregory, Hell's Chef, and Judgement Boy Gold's tropical vacation wobbling on the wall.

" The pumpkins are ready!"

" Carve theeeem!"

" I bet I'll get a headache or food poisoning from this."

" CARVE-A-MENT!"

The various denziens of Gregory House burst through the doorway, James, Roulette Boy, Mummy Papa, and Judgement Boy Gold spouting those respective exclamations. All the residents filed in, choosing pumpkins and knives whilst pausing to gossip and chatter amongst themselves. Gregory's mama had just came and sat down with him and his large, slightly deformed pumpkin when someone said something that made the entire room go dead silent.

" I love Halloween."

Every tenant of Gregory House turned and stared at Hell's Chef, being so quiet you could hear a pin drop from a mile away.

" What? You just assume that I hate everything?" Chef asked, narrowing his demonic red eyes and making nearly everyone flinch with the impending anger in his voice.

" Halloween spirit and all...after all, it is one of the few things I can remember from my mortal life..." he murmured, his voice dropping an octave.

Gregory kept watching Chef until he noticed Mono Eye Wizard scooch closer to Chef and quietly talk to him after all the amiable chatter and natter had resumed. Gregory turned to his Mama, his eyes lighting up.

" So Mama, I was thinking, and I was wondering if we could try to carve a pattern of Dad?" Gregory asked, his voice filling with hope at the prospect of being able to remember his dear departed daddy.

"I suppose so. Alphonse was always a gentleman, always calling me his beautiful Angela... I've got a photo in my dress pocket, so we can try as hard as you're willing to." Gregory Mama said, pulling a small photo out of her pocket.

The photo was a clearly professionally done portrait depicting a stunning (for her day anyway) Gregory Mama, holding an adorable baby rat wrapped in a blanket that Gregory could only assume was him. There was a tall rat standing next to her, with smoulderingly blue eyes and a jet black and slicked back hairstyle. Alphonse Pompadour, Gregory's father. Gregory had always regretted not being able to meet his father and keep his last name, but he supposed that having the last name pompadour was a punishment worse than what the lost souls got when Mama consumed them.

"Let's get to it, Mama!" Gregory exclaimed rather quietly, plucking up a knife off of the table and getting to work.

After three hours of tedious pumpkin carving, Sarah and Judgement Boy kissing sloppily and getting covered in pumpkin insides, and Chef getting completely hammered and falling to the floor spouting gibberish about someone named 'Gordon Ramsay', Gregory's pumpkin carving of his father was finished.

He could never do the handsomeness of his father justice, but he damn well tried.

There were over 20 pumpkins all sitting on the dining table, some more artistic than others. For example, Jugdgement Boy and Sarah's pumpkin was magnificently carved, and depicted a black cat standing near a broomstick, while Cactus Gunman's was just a stereotypical Jack O Lantern with a triangular face and a toothy grin.

Everyone was filtering out of the dining room, so Gregory and his Mama left the room with the others.

As they all stood in the lobby, there was a crash and creak from upstairs, and Poor Conductor came crashing down the stairs, his momentum propelling him across the floor and out the door.

"Yay! It worked!" James exclaimed, running down the stairs and sprinting back into the dining room.

Gregory assumed it wasn't anything to worry about at the time, so he and his Mama stayed out there and exchanged pleasentries with all the other guests until the rest had left the lobby/gone to bed.

"Hey James, what'cha watching in there?" Gregory assumed that James was just watching Chef stumble around the area/kitchen.

"Smashing Pumpkins!"

'Ah, good for him. I suppose I should-

Gregory stopped moving completely. It had just dawned on him. There wasn't a TV in the dining room, and he remembered that Chef had gone to the bathroom.

Oh no.

"I have a long night ahead of me..." Gregory mumbled, before running back into the dining room to stop James.