bootson | It's the Great Pumpkin, Zachary ;; PG

Title: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Zachary
Pairing: Chris Pine/Zachary Quinto
Summary: Chris has some left over childhood fondness for Halloween.
Rating: PG-ish, there’s some language and suggestion but nothing horrid.
Word Count: 1247
Disclaimer: Don’t know and/or influence these two. I also don’t own any version of Charlie Brown.
AN:

pinto_fic Halloween prompt challenge: Pumpkin.
No beta. Hope it’s as cute as I think it is. ha

“Are you home?” Chris was breathless for some unknown reason when he launched into the question without preamble.

“Uh…yes?” Zach’s eyebrows were furrowed even if no one other than Harold could see him.

“Can I come over? Do you have a carving knife? Nevermind, I’ll bring mine. Give me ten minutes!” He was barely pausing between sentences, cutting off every response Zach attempted.

Sighing, Zach went to unlock the door. “Did I say you could show up? Maybe I’m busy. I could be having hot, kinky sex with Tyler right now.”

“Ass, you better not be,” Chris’ feigned annoyance was distracted at best. “Who answers their phone during sex, anyway? Nothing is that important.”

“There was that one time Kristen called…”

“Blow jobs don’t count. Completely different level,” Chris laughed and Zach heard his car start. “Kristen didn’t speak to either of us for a week. So worth it.”

“Shut up. Where are you?”

“Ten minutes away. Unlock the door and find CBS. Do you have any newspaper?”

When Chris finally rushed in, Zach was just laying yesterday’s newspaper down on the counter as requested. He had no idea what was going on, but Chris was practically skipping. Anyone who had ever seen Chris Pine that excited would know how damn adorable it was. It was also inordinate amounts of hilarious. He was so wrapped up in trying to hide chuckles at Chris’ behavior that he failed to notice the bag Chris was tossing at him until it hit his chest.

Chris pressed a quick kiss to Zach’s lips in greeting before retreating back to the door and nudging Noah out of the way.

Everything started to make sense when Zach pulled a set of stencils, Sharpie, two different sized knives and an unopened cardboard package of utensils from the bag. Chris couldn’t seriously be planning this. The younger man stumbled through the door about that time, juggling two large pumpkins and one tiny one as he tried to navigate through the house.

“We’re making jack-o-lanterns?”

“No. I thought we’d carve designs in your walls and then take bets on how long it takes Noah to demolish a pumpkin.”

Even if he was grumbling about sarcasm, Zach helped Chris get his burden to the paper-covered work area.

“Zach!”

Zach jumped, nearly dropping the smallest pumpkin on his foot. “What!”

“Why is the TV off?” Wide blue eyes focused intently on Zach, looking both shocked and appalled.

“There’s never anything good on?”

“Says the TV actor.” He thrust the black Sharpie into Zach’s hands and pointed before going to fight with the remote controls he always had such trouble with. He looked intent on winning this particular battle with the technology. “Start designing. Make it creepy.”

Half-watching to see what Chris was in such a tizzy about, Zach contemplated his plans. “Can I draw bats?”

“Do whatever. It’s your pumpkin.” A pause was followed by a cheer which Harold showed his disproval of by turning in the chair before curling up again.

“This isn’t…”

“The Great Pumpkin! Yes, it is!”

For the moment, Zach was kind enough to let Chris bask in his weird glow of happiness while he watched Charlie Brown and drew on his pumpkin. Knowing it was always a better idea to let Chris have his way for some small window of time, if only to lull him into a false sense of security, Zach drew more bats and a face. He agonized over how to do the fangs on the mouth until the television’s volume skyrocketed with the commercials.

“Hey, Chris?”

“Hmm?” He was too focused on whatever he was doodling to form a coherent response.

Zach bit his lip, leaning back against the counter to watch the reaction. Oh, this was going to be amusing; he could feel it.

“What’s so special about this movie? It’s old and really kind of boring. Why is this pumpkin so important to you?”

Stilling, Chris frowned severely. When he turned, arms crossed, Zach could tell he was fighting to keep up the irritated façade.

“On Halloween night, Zachary, the Great Pumpkin rises from his pumpkin patch and flies through the air with his bag of toys for all the children.”

Eyes going wide, Zach bit his lip through the entire duration of a Reese’s Cup commercial. “Did you just quote Linus?”

“Yes.” Chris was way too proud of himself, a smile curling his lips and eyes shining. “And Kat can quote Lucy. What of it?” He tried to glare and look menacing, challenging. It was ineffective.

This was about the point Zach dissolved into giggles (manly giggles, honest, not that Chris was one to judge while in the throes of a throwback to his childhood). The whole thing was just too damn cute: Chris’ excitement over the old cartoon, the serious expression Chris couldn’t maintain for more than thirty seconds in one go, carving pumpkins for the first time in decades, and the image of baby Christopher and baby Katherine quoting Lucy and Linus then probably arguing as they were wont to do. It was too much to handle.

Chris threw the Sharpie at him as the movie came back on and Zach reclaimed his place beside Chris. They lapsed into silence, bumping shoulders and grinning when one of them started to look too focused on their work.

Either Chris had more practice with jack-o-lantern carving (which was probable) or Zach was entirely too attentive to detail because Chris was cutting off the top of his pumpkin before Zach finished his fangs. They were tricky when you knew you were cutting them out; don’t judge!

Out of no where, the focus was broken. Something slightly chilled, slick, and slimy hit the side of his face. Spinning, looking all manner of affronted, Zach stared Chris down. For his part, Chris was pretending not to notice as he spooned out the pumpkin onto a pile on the counter. Zach, however, didn’t miss the way Chris glanced at him askance. Zach wiped his face with a dishtowel and bided his time, waiting until Chris was complaining about all the Charlie-Brown-hate and how Lucy was clearly deeply in childish love with him.

When the moment was right, Zach snatched his own handful of pumpkin guts and let it rip. Seeds were going to be in Chris’ hair for days if he didn’t get some help washing it out (not that Zach would mind giving him a hand with that) and his face was priceless. The shock was there, all open-mouthed and wide-eyed, but the smile he couldn’t really get out over the gaping jaw completed the look.

“Oh, it is on, Quinto!”

Before they knew it, the newspaper had become a moot concept, what with pumpkin innards covering most of the tile floor where the men had finally collapsed into a heap. Zach wiped pumpkin off his hair and flung it on Chris’ light blue t-shirt. In retaliation, Chris shoved him into a mess of goo.

“So,” Zach finally stopped laughing enough to speak. “What’s the true meaning of Halloween?”

“You know, what I’ve learned?” Chris countered, leaning back against a stool and stretching to nudge Zach’s hip with his shoe.

“What’s that?”

“There are three things you don’t discuss with people.” The younger man ticked them off on his fingers, his grin growing and eyes crinkling. “Religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin.”

Even when Zach surprised him with a tackle into goop, Chris’ expression was as content as ever.