Prompt: Imagine your OTP carving pumpkins of each other.
Rating: PG
Couldn't stop the angst train again, but still mostly fluffy pre-slash.
Not part of the 1k challenge
I wanted to finish this *on* Halloween…but I didn't start 'till this morning cuz I'm a procrastinator like that! In my defense, I did finish the first draft at like 11:52pm :P It's a lil rushed, but meh, yay Halloween!
I wasn't sure how old Kae is in the comic (She's draw in what looks like a range of 5-12?) I got a few diff answers, so I'm leaving in ambiguous :) Doesn't make much of a difference yet.
"Why are we doing this again?" Peter picked at the goopy insides of his pumpkin.
Sam rolled his eyes. He leaned over to whisper loud enough for Peter to hear. "Because, Kae asked us to."
In front of them, Kaelynn was cheerfully carving away at her pumpkin. Sam, being the good big brother he is, cleaned hers out before beginning on his, which was cleaned out as well. And… Peter had yet to finish his first one.
Sam refrained from rolling his eyes. "Dude, you need help?"
Peter sent a glare his way. "No. I can do this on my own."
Sam had a sinking feeling it had been a long time since Peter carved a pumpkin. He always shunned Aunt May's holiday spirit - regardless of the holiday. There was always a lack of enthusiasm from Peter, and he would put forth enough effort to appease his aunt, but no more. Maybe inviting him to Arizona for the weekend was a mistake. From the hunched posture of his friend, Sam could tell Peter wasn't enjoying himself.
Deciding to ignore his grumpy friend for the moment, Sam turned his attention back to his sister. "What are you carving on yours?"
Kae wrapped her arms around hers, "It's a secret!"
Sam put his hands up, grinning at his sister. "Okay. I won't peek!" He had finished cleaning out the inside of his pumpkin was staring at it, willing it to spontaneously give him inspiration.
Next to him, Peter grumbled about the mess. "Couldn't we have just painted them instead?"
"Dude." Sam didn't have the energy to argue. Again. It seemed that was all Peter wanted to do during their trip, and he was beginning to seriously wonder why Peter even agreed to come. It was a spur of the moment decision to even ask him. Aunt May was on another one of her adventure outings and it had seemed like a waste to let Peter spend Halloween alone.
A cold blob of orange pumpkin guts landed on his forehead. He snapped his head up to Peter, who was focused back on his pumpkin, a slight grin on his face. Sam didn't have the heart to yell, it was the first Peter had smiled- really smiled - the whole day. Some normal, playful behavior was a welcome change- even if he was the target. Sam wiped the pumpkin from his face. He picked a seed from his pile and flicked it at Peter.
"Hey!"
"You started it."
Peter pick up another handful of pumpkin. Sam eyed him, daring him to escalate their pumpkin war.
"Boys. Stop being children." Kae was frowning at them, hands on her hips. "Don't waste the seeds either! I wanna eat them later!"
Peter and Sam eyed each other, silently reaching a truce.
"Okay, you win Kaelynn."
Peter wrinkled his nose. "Eat these? Yuck."
"I'll bake them later. They're good, trust me."
Peter made a skeptical sound before turning back to his pumpkin. "Well, I think I'm done?"
Sam leaned over to inspect inside his pumpkin. "Looks good. Now you need to carve it."
"How about you do it?"
Kaelynn dropped the child-proof carving tool she was using. "No! You carve your own. Then we put them out tonight!"
"But-"
She stuck her lip out, "Please? It's tradition!"
Peter faltered. He glanced to Sam for support, but Sam only shrugged. "Okay, I'll give it a try."
Satisfied, Kaelynn went back to happily carving her pumpkin. Sam knew Peter had a soft spot for his little sister. He had been worried Peter would take the same callus, aloof, tone with her and his mom he seemed to always have until he got to know someone. But he was warm towards his family and only put up a token argument about the pumpkin carving. It was tradition, one Sam missed the previous year due to his heroing in New York.
Sam was pulled from his thoughts by Peter slowly leaning over to whisper, "I guess I should keep it PG rated?"
Sam smirked. "Please."
"What should I carve?"
Well, Sam was having the same problem. He was staring at his blank pumpkin. "Well, Kae asked for nothing too scary…"
"Carve each other," Came Kaelynn's quiet suggestion. "Or do heroes!"
Peter smirked. "Yea, having a Nova pumpkin would totally scare away the trick-or-treaters."
"Not as much as Spider-Man would!"
His concept decided, Sam took a pen and began to carefully outline his design. Peter wasn't as versed in the art of pumpkin carving- or any art for that matter. He dove straight in with a knife, hacking away at the hard shell of his pumpkin.
They worked in silence for a while, until Peter declared he was done.
"Let me see." Sam began to reach for the pumpkin.
"No!" Kaelynn shouted. "They need to stay secret, remember?"
Sam didn't remember agreeing to those terms, but shrugged anyway. "Sure…"
She stood, picking up her pumpkin. "We'll light them together! And remember," she pointed her finger at Sam, "no scary stuff"
Sam looked down at his almost finished Spider-Man face. "Right," he muttered. She didn't say nothing personally scary. Because he doubted she would find Spider-Man scary. But, for Sam, he walked a line everyday. And he had to go and invite Peter halfway across the country. He wasn't sure what he felt for Peter, but it was something more than than friendship. One wrong word, one lingering glance, and his whole secret could be out. At least they were friends. Well, almost-friends? He wasn't sure where they stood on that. It was more than they had been at first, and almost-friends didn't let friends stay home alone on Halloween. Even if that almost-friend was a complete asshole the whole time they were on vacation.
Peter left the kitchen as well, carrying his pumpkin with him. Sam carefully carved his pumpkin, paying attention to every detail.
"Hey, Sam?" He glanced up. Peter was leaning on the door.
"Yea?"
"Kae wants to light the pumpkins."
Sam glanced at the clock, not realizing how much time he'd spent carving. He looked down, it was done enough. "I'll be right out."
Kae made a show of hiding the carved side of her pumpkin against her shirt, and making Peter do the same. So, when Sam waltzed out with his, she stomped her foot. "Sam, you're s'posed to cover it!"
"Sorry Kae…" He sat his down on the porch. "Guess mine was first then?"
She nodded. "You can put it next to my one from last week."
Sam ignored the fact she had already carved a pumpkin. It hurt. It was their tradition- but he had missed it so many times… she probably felt he was going to ditch her again. He sat his down next to a wilting pumpkin with what appeared to be a unicorn carved into it.
Kaelynn's anger quickly dissipated as she inspected his Spider-Man pumpkin. "No fair," she said in an awed voice, "you're always so good at this!"
Peter met his eyes. "Dude."
Sam looked away, trying to hide the growing flush rising up his neck. With a shrug he said, "It's not my best work." In a slightly teasing tone he added, "And I didn't have time to carve the fangs or snake tongue, so…"
"Pete's turn!"
Peter hugged his pumpkin closer. "Uh, how 'bout not?"
Kaelynn smiled up sweetly. "Please?"
Peter sighed and sat his pumpkin on the porch as well. Sam inspected it, ignoring Peter's groan and embarrassed, "I'm not an artist."
It was him. Nova. It was crude, the edges were jagged. But it was him. Peter carved him.
"Yay! My two favorite heroes!" She put hers between theirs. "I made a happy one to match my unicorn!"
Between Peter's Nova and Sam's Spider-Man was a smaller pumpkin with hearts of varying sizes carved into it. Heat rose up his neck again. If Kaelynn was any older, he would have suspected foul play. "Guess we should light them up, huh Kae?"
He looked over to Peter and Kae, only to find Peter was halfway back inside the house. Okay… He followed him inside, ignoring Kae's protests. "Pete?"
Sam followed him into his room. Peter was perched on the edge of the inflatable mattress. "Pete?"
"I just need a moment." His voice was strained, his head hidden in his hands.
Sam hesitated, debated for half a second about giving Peter some space, before he shook his head and joined Peter on the edge of the makeshift bed. "Are you alright? You've been… well, not you since we left."
Peter growled out, "I'm fine."
"So it's me then? Dude, you didn't have to take my invitation. You didn't have to fly out to Arizona. You could have stayed home. If you hate being here I'll take you back right now."
"I- Sam…"
"Thank you for not letting your dislike for me carry over to my family. You've been pretty nice to them- so thank you." He stood, about to reach for his helmet.
"Sam- no!"
A warm hand gripped his wrist. Not for the first time, Sam was reminded of just how weak he was without his helmet.
"Sam- I - it's not you. Why would you think I dislike you?"
Sam rolled his eyes. "Oh, I don't know! Maybe because I'm the only one you've snapped at? The only one who has to deal with your grumpy ass?"
Peter stared at him wide-eyed, his grip on Sam's wrist still firm. "I don't…" He sighed. "I'm sorry." He looked away, dropping Sam's wrist. "Holidays are hard for me, okay?"
Sam felt his chest deflate. Of course. He wanted to bang his head on the wall- curse his stupid temper. Why did he always jump to conclusions? Damn. Damn. Damn. Of course Peter would be off during holidays. He'd seen it first hand even when Aunt May was home. The lack of effort, the lack of enthusiasm… And he hid it all. He hid it so well.
Except, he didn't hide it from Sam.
"I- I'm so sorry Peter." He fell back next to Peter. "I shouldn't have… shit."
"It's okay dude. I've been pretty grumpy with you."
"Be as grumpy as you want." Sam bumped his shoulder against Peter's. "It means a lot that you don't hide it from me."
Peter bumped back, with more force. "I didn't mean too. But you-" he cut himself off. "Uncle Ben and I used to carve pumpkins together. Aunt May was always the crafty one, but she let us carve the pumpkins. It was the one holiday she let us decorate. When he– she still doesn't. She decorates. But she doesn't carve her own pumpkins."
Sam ignored the wetness in the corner of his eyes. "Peter, you didn't have to… you could have said something."
Peter turned him him, a sad smile on his lips. "Kae asked. How could I say no? Besides, maybe I need to start a new tradition. I can't keep not doing things because they remind me of Uncle Ben."
Sam remained quiet for a moment before asking, "Do you want to help Kae light the candles in the pumpkins?"
Peter smiled over to him. "Yea. And, thanks Sam… really. I don't know what I'd be doing now if I wasn't here." He reached up to Sam's hair. "You still have some pumpkin guts…"
"I was saving it for later." He let Peter pick out the bits out of his hair.
On their way back down the hallway Eva stopped them. "Janice called out again, so I'm going in to cover her shift. Would you mind taking you sister trick-or-treating?"
Sam shrugged. "Sure."
"And clean up the mess in the kitchen. It looks like a crime scene in there."
Sam sighed. "Yes, Mom."
She gave him a kiss on the cheek, gave Peter a hug, and was out the door in a flash.
Sam led Peter back outside where Kae was still waiting. "Ready, Kae?"
Kaelynn nodded. "It's about time." She eyed them. "Were you two kissing?"
Sam jumped and Peter made a strangled sound next to him. "K- Kaelynn. No. We were not kissing. Why would you say something like that?"
She eyed them like they were hiding something. "Nothing. Will you let me light one?"
Sam handed her the lighter. "Don't burn yourself." He kept half an eye on her, but most of his focus was on Peter. His cheeks were dusted red, and Sam had to stop himself from reaching out to feel if they were as warm as they looked. "Pete, Kae is weird. Always saying stuff she's too young to understand… she likes to repeat stuff too."
"So glad I don't have any siblings. They're embarrassing."
Kaelynn giggled. "Sam is the embarrassing one."
"Watch it!"
Peter burst out in a fit of laughter. Maybe it was the sudden lack of tension in the air, or just the sound of Peter's laugh, but Sam found himself doubled over as well. He grabbed Peter's arm for support as he tried to even out his breathing.
"Mom said you have to clean the kitchen."
Well, that sobered him right up.
He glanced up at the pumpkins. All three were lit, glowing in the twilight. He ignored the hearts in the middle, focusing on Peter's pumpkin, the first pumpkin he'd carved in years.
"They look nice." Peter had a soft smile.
Sam suddenly realized he was still gripping Peter's arm but couldn't bring himself to let go. "Yea. Maybe this can be your new tradition? Carving pumpkins with me and Kae?"
Peter nodded. "I'd like that."
Thank you for reading!
