Concerning Pumpkin Spice, part 2

What Jack found this time was terrible. The worst idea that someone could come up with, except for pumpkin spice nacho cheese. Damian was fairly certain that whoever had thought that up had also done the pumpkin spice pickles, since they were both so laughably incompatible with the flavor, and it was truly amazing to him that they still had a job. They really should have been fired, honestly, unless they were trying to specifically cater towards Jack and pregnant women with strange cravings. If that was the goal, they were doing great.

Whatever the reason, pumpkin spice spray simply should not have been something that existed. It gave Jack far too much power. Anything at all could now be turned into a pumpkin spice abomination with nothing but the sound of an aerosol can releasing its pastel orange contents. In the first day alone, it was used on his toast, pizza, chinese takeout, candy corn, popcorn, and god-knows-what-else that he had probably snacked on while Damian wasn't around. He was fairly certain he saw him spray it in Puppy's dog food.

One would think, with this new discovery, that Jack would have calmed down with his other pumpkin spice purchases, but no. There were the usual coffees, cereals, toothpastes, and new, awful ones he somehow ate, like nacho cheese. Complete with pumpkin spice-sprayed tortilla chips because Jack was never did anything halfway.

He was eating it when Damian caved and made his first comment of the season. "Jack, you both fascinate and disgust me sometimes, you know that?"

Jack just grinned at him. "You say, eating your pumpkin muffin," he said and popped a pumpkin shade of orange cheese-loaded tortilla chip into his mouth.

"That you bought."

"For you. Those things are too boring."

"They're the only pumpkin spice thing in this house that's decent."

He gasped. "Honestly, Damian. That's just hurtful. And here I had gotten something else for you."

That put his apprehension levels up to 11 out of 10. "Oh, no."

"Oh, yes."

"No."

"Yep."

"No, no, no. I don't know what you did, but I am not trying it."

Jack rolled his eyes. "You don't even know what it is yet."

"Don't care."

"Don't you want to know?"

"Not really."

"You drink it…"

"Now I definitely don't want to know."

Jack, not at all caring, pulled a box out of the half-emptied grocery bag on the floor and put it in front of him. "Ta-da!"

He stared at it in a numb state of horror. "Tea," he said blankly. "You bought me pumpkin spice tea."

Jack looked incredibly pleased with himself for the situation. "Yes I did. I know you don't like coffee, so I thought this would be more your speed."

Damian took a deep breath and rested his face in his hands. "I… appreciate the thought, but I'm not so sure that you quite understand what I mean by 'normal pumpkin spice.' That just sounds awful."

"It does?" Jack asked, and Damian could hear the disappointment in his voice. "I mean, I thought it sounded gross, but I don't like tea, so I thought that you would like it. I can just throw it out, if you want."

He looked up to find Jack carrying it towards the garbage, looking like a kicked puppy. He let out a heavy sigh. "Bring it back here."

The way Jack's face lit up in an instant was as telltale sign that he was getting played like a fiddle. "Aw, Damian, you do care."

"This has nothing to do with you. You know how I am about wasting money."

The smirk he got in response gave him all he needed to know about how much Jack bought that excuse. Still, he resignedly went through with brewing a cup of it. Boil water, let it steep, pour some, let it cool. The good news was it smelled more like cinnamon and nutmeg than pumpkin. Eventually, he couldn't put off trying it any more. Jack was practically vibrating when he took a cautious sip.

And was instantly overwhelmed with the previously-mentioned spices. He set the mug down.

Jack frowned. "You don't like it, do you?"

"Let me try one thing first." He poured a considerable amount of milk into it and tried again. With the diluted flavor, it was at least palatable. "Look, I'll drink it, but just because you bought it already. Got it?"

Jack smiled sheepishly and Damian got the sinking feeling he was going to be drinking a lot of pumpkin spice tea regardless of what he said. "Now probably wouldn't be the best time to tell you that I bought three boxes, would it?"

Hi!

I needed a quick de-stressor to just lighten the mood this weekend, and this was the result. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and have a good day. Back to preparing for exams with me!