Happy Halloween, everyone! Just a short in-between chapter for today. Pure unapologetic fluff. Thanks to Donna and Tomorrow_Begins for the inspiration on this one.
With Halloween just around the corner, it was time for the annual pumpkin carving. The BigGuy had gotten them a good couple of them a day before, having stored them in the mainlab.
The team got together for the event itself, meeting in the lab for the fun part. Niko had gone along as well, knowing he had to be careful with the knives and not getting in the way too much. He settled one the table and between the pumpkins, looking around. This looked like fun, actually.
He watched the others empty the vegetables, excited for some reason. Once the first ones were done, he jumped into it, stepping around for a while until he was somewhat satisfied and comfortable in it.
Kate noticed as she just wanted to start carving that one and she just crossed her arms, grinning. She left him in there, going to the next one to work on instead. She started cutting out the eyes, Niko peeking over the edge of his pumpkin to watch her. She smiled over him but didn't stop with what she was doing.
While he had never done anything like that before himself, he observed carefully, excited before he got back into his pumpkin and attempting to do the same he had just seen from the inside, clawing at the orange flesh.
Kate stopped, deciding to watch him for a bit and she chuckled softly at his tries to make everything out of this. She went back to her own piece of work a couple of minutes later.
Helen just finished with her, an average carved one, nothing special about it yet but she'd do more later on. She went searching for Niko, not having seen him ever since they had started emptying the pumpkins. She smiled amused when she found him with Kate. The young woman beamed at her, handing her a small carved piece of pumpkin and the older one chuckled, nodding as she understood what she should do with it.
Niko looked up at her when he noticed the new presence, meowing contently. She scratched his head softly before placing the previously handed item on his head. His eyes widened and he cocked his head aside, meowing again. The pumpkin hat didn't fall off but it shifted further down onto his face. Kate beamed broadly at the picture, was he looking really adorable like that.
The boys came over when they heard the chuckles, Henry awing while Will was simply amused beyond reason.
The kitten was half pouting, half excited, just sitting in his pumpkin with his little hat.
"We should get him a cape or something." Henry mused.
"Make him sparkle? I've got something somewhere from last year." Will threw in and Niko meowed, offended.
"No sparkles, it seems. You know what..I'll get that cape." Kate grinned, running off to do just that.
Niko meowed after her, shaking his head until the hat fell off and he scratched himself behind his ear. Helen picked him up and put him next to the pumpkin he had been occupying to finish the carving he had started properly.
Deciding not to wait until it would be safe to be back in his, he hopped into Kate's, poking through the eyes of the pumpkin with his paw. Henry played with him like that for a while, Niko half rolling onto his back in the vegetables as he tried to catch Henry's finger. The young man chuckled while Will went back to work. How Tesla managed to be this cute was beyond him. Just as he was about to actually pass the pumpkin and the kitten in it, Niko put a little too much pressure on the inside of it and so it rolled over him, trapping him under it. He meowed, lost and Will put the pumpkin back the way it should be, Niko hopping back inside and before he knew what was going on, Will had put the head of the vegetable back onto the rest of it, closing it. Niko was as amused as he was lost about it, poking whatever he could. When Henry left, he changed the angle of the top so it wouldn't close off the entire thing.
By the time Kate was back, a couple of more pumpkins had been carved with the strangest and funniest things and Niko was all but hiding in hers. He was looking through the carved out eyes of the vegetable when Kate stopped in front of it. He sat up again then, the top on top of his head and meowing up at her.
"Geez! What are you doing in there? Eh, doesn't matter."
She picked him up, taking the new hat off of him and scratching through his fur before she put the piece of tissue she had gotten on his back, tying it loosely. It looked like a cape, just like she had said she'd get him.
"Heh. Now look at you. All ready for Halloween, Tesla." She grinned proudly.
He meowed at her, half purring before he started fighting with the cape until he gave up on it and hopped back into his pumpkin instead. He hid there and rolled himself into a small ball, the cape working as a blanket and he actually fell asleep soon after, his spot warm and soft.
Kate and the others who had watched the scene shook their heads and went back to carving the view pumpkins that were left to do. They were done some time later and swarmed out to place them throughout the Sanctuary, leaving Niko's standing where it was. It was just too cute to disturb him and for once he hadn't actually made any troubles.