Merlin decides to teach Arthur how to carve pumpkins and Arthur turns it into a contest. :D
"What do you mean you've never carved pumpkins?" Merlin asked with surprise.
"Merlin, think about how I grew up. Do you think my father would have let us near that goopy stuff on the inside? No, he wouldn't. Professional decorators carved our pumpkins—Morgana and I didn't even get a say in how they looked," Arthur replied.
Merlin stared at his flatmate, still incredulous. "It's like a rite of passage for a kid and you missed it. Come on." He grabbed Arthur's hand and began dragging him to the door.
Arthur dug in his heels. "Where are you trying to take me?"
"To the market. We're getting at least one pumpkin so I can show you how to carve them. You're not missing this tradition any longer." Merlin let him go long enough to grab both their jackets so they wouldn't freeze.
Arthur sighed and put on his jacket. He could see he'd just have to concede this one to his eccentric flatmate. He let Merlin drag him to the market, which wasn't far. But then he insisted they get two pumpkins so he could try his hand at it. Besides, the kids coming to their door would be more delighted with two jack o'lanterns rather than one.
Arthur regretted his choice of large pumpkin almost immediately. Merlin just laughed at him lugging the huge thing back to their flat. Then he offered swap and carry Arthur's the rest of the way home without a word. Now Arthur couldn't complain anymore, even though Merlin's wasn't that much smaller than his.
They hauled the things all the way to their kitchen counter and sat them down with sighs. Arthur took their jackets to hang up while Merlin rattled around in the kitchen. When Arthur came back in, he saw Merlin had collected a variety of tools that didn't particularly go together—sharp knives, spoons, bowls and pencils.
"What on earth—?"
"Tools of the trade. Now, where's today's newspaper?"
"Why?"
"We need something to protect the tabletop."
"Ohh."
Arthur found the paper, which Merlin unfolded and spread over the table in a double layer. "Help me with the pumpkins," he directed. Arthur took them one at a time to the table while Merlin brought all the "tools of the trade" over.
"Now what?"
"First you draw the design you want on the pumpkin with the pencil." He picked up a pencil and drew what Arthur thought was a too-friendly face.
"Ha, that's not scary at all."
"They don't have to be scary. They can be funny or cute or even happy."
Arthur rolled his eyes. "Come ooon. I'll bet I can draw something better than yours."
"Oh, you want to challenge the master? You, with no experience? Okay, fine. We'll make this a contest. Loser has to hand out the candy."
"Laaame! But all right. I suppose that'll do."
"Right, you're going down. But you still have to learn, so listen up. Draw your face then I'll show you what to do next."
"Ha, we'll see." Arthur was no artist, but he drew what he thought was a masterwork. A wide, ghoulish grin with more teeth than he could count, an off-center canted nose and lizard-like eyes.
Merlin took one look at it and shook his head. "Interesting. We'll see if it works."
"What d'you mean, 'if'?"
"That, um, smile is too wide. But if you're confident, we'll press on."
"Definitely."
"Okay, now we cut into the top so we have access to the insides. Make a notch so the candle has a vent." Merlin took a chef's knife and cut into the top. When he'd cut out the lid, he notched it with a smaller knife. Then he handed the big knife to Arthur. "Your turn."
Arthur mimicked Merlin's cutting. The rind was thicker than he thought but once he was through it was no problem. He even remembered to notch the lid. "Ha! Not so bad. Now what?"
Merlin brandished a large spoon with a smile. "Now we scoop out the insides." He handed Arthur the spoon and picked up another. He reached inside the pumpkin with it and Arthur heard a scraping noise. Merlin lifted the spoon and it was covered with orange, stringy goop and huge seeds. "Maybe 'scrape' is a better word, since all this has to be scraped from the sides." He grinned again and dumped the goop into the bowl to his right.
Arthur watched more closely this time as Merlin scraped the pumpkin again. "Eeuw," he commented, but stuck his hand inside the pumpkin and scraped. He then dumped the stuff in the bowl on his right. It took him a really long time, it seemed. Merlin finished before him and sat smirking at him.
When Arthur finally finished, he had orange goop all over his arms and shirt. He opened his mouth to gripe but Merlin handed him a warm, wet washcloth. He took it with comment and cleaned himself and the pumpkin the best he could.
"Now, my mum and I usually like to roast the seeds, but we can just throw them away." Arthur nodded tiredly. Merlin moved the bowls off the table. "So now it's time to carve with these smaller knives."
Arthur watched as Merlin dug his knife into the pumpkin along one of the lines he'd previously drawn. Merlin carefully sliced and sawed for a bit then reached inside to push. The eye popped out to reveal a perfect eye-hole. "That doesn't look so hard," Arthur said as he took up his knife.
He started carving at one eye while Merlin started working again. Merlin hummed while he worked; Arthur sweated. He accidentally severed both slits from the eyes but was able to keep them in the sockets somehow. The nose was easy. But the mouth—he regretted drawing so many teeth. It would take all night to carve them at this rate.
Once again Merlin finished before him. He sat back and watched Arthur work. "Hmm," he said.
Arthur turned to him. "What? What is it?"
"Oh nothing. You'll see."
Arthur finished several minutes later. He surveyed his jack o'lantern with pride. Then he looked at Merlin's. Merlin's looked dopey, sure, but his cuts were clean and even, the bottom was perfectly flat for the candle. Arthur's was the opposite, but still managed to look mildly scary. "Okay, now we need judges."
"Do we? I think it's perfectly clear—"
"Nope, we definitely need judges. I'm calling Morgana. She'll bring Gwen who'll bring Lance. Three is perfect. And we won't tell them which one's which."
"Fine." Merlin rolled his eyes.
After quite a bit of explaining on the phone, Arthur managed to convince Morgana. Lance and Gwen were with her and she talked them into coming. While Merlin and Arthur waited, they cleared up the pumpkin mess and washed the "tools" they'd used.
Once Morgana, Gwen and Lance arrived, Arthur escorted them into the kitchen. They asked and he explained how they'd each carved one and the stakes were handing out candy. The girls giggled at that while Lance merely raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Clearly he thought they were nuts and Arthur privately agreed.
"Okay, so pick one or two," Arthur finished. While they were watching, the smile on Arthur's collapsed in on itself.
"Oops, bummer," said Morgana. "Two."
"Two," said Gwen.
"Ah . . . two," said Lance.
Arthur cursed. "But mine is scarier."
"Sure," said Morgana, "scary job you did there."
"Sorry, mate," Lance replied, patting him on the back.
"I'm sure you'll get better, Arthur," Gwen contributed. She gave the still-stunned Arthur a quick hug.
"Thanks guys!" Merlin crowed. He offered them drinks but they all refused and decided to go. Merlin danced around the room a bit, celebrating his victory.
The next night, both jack o'lanterns sat lit outside their door as Arthur submissively gave out candy.
I'm not quite done with Halloween yet! :D Next- M&M reach a compromise.
