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It’s Sunday. When noon is approaching, Fitz and Hunter are still in bed, their limbs entangled under the blanket. They’re sharing each other’s body heat while outside, the trees are swaying in the wind and bowing under a strong shower of rain. Neither of them feels like getting up. After years of constant deprivations, unforeseeable threats and not knowing if they will live to see tomorrow, staying in bed a few hours more than usual is freedom.
Somewhere, a clock strikes an unknown hour.
Fitz yawns, stretching his legs like a cat. Reluctantly, he opens one eye and blinks into the gloomy light in the room. The sun is barely able to break through the wall of rain clouds today. He closes his eyes again, listening to Hunter’s even breaths. He finds himself unable to doze off again. Instead, he lets his thoughts wander around lazily. It’s Halloween soon. He has always liked Halloween as a child. It was a sweet time … His mother's famous pumpkin pies and muffins. A month’s worth supply of sweets. The neighbours were generous.
At the academy, with Jemma, he has usually done a scary movie marathon. They’re both jumpy and he remembers how they once didn’t dare to switch the light off or to look into a mirror while brushing their teeth. He smiles at the memory and asks himself, if Hunter is going to want to do anything for Halloween …
Fitz sighs when he can’t ignore his bladder anymore. He gets up and Hunter makes an unwilling noise. His eyes open and he reaches for Fitz, slurring, “Where you’re going, love? Cold.”
“I have to pee,” Fitz says, amused.
“Hurry,” Hunter murmurs and closes his eyes again. “Gonna freeze.”
Fitz rolls his eyes but chuckles and pads to the bathroom, shivering. It really is cold. He senses that it’s the silent announcement of early winter he’s feeling.
He hurries to get back into bed and when he slips under the blanket, Hunter immediately wraps his arms around him and presses Fitz tight against his chest, making a pleased noise in the back of his throat. Fitz is somehow reminded of a koala and he snorts. “You’re making fun of me?” Hunter asks into his neck, his breath tickling Fitz’s skin.
Fitz grins. “No. I just thought you are like a koala.”
“Hmm. Koalas are sweet. You think I’m sweet?”
“Maybe.”
“Aww.” Hunter kisses the spot on his neck, where Fitz knows a small white scar is sitting for some reason. If he went searching, he would find a lot of hidden scars. This life doesn’t leave you unmarked. At least, they have some peace now. And it’s almost … “Halloween,” Fitz murmurs. “It’s almost Halloween.”
“Hmm. You’re right. Do you want to do anything?”
Fitz shrugs. The last years, Halloween wasn’t a big topic. Not when there was a world to safe and a team to protect. He thinks for a moment, while Hunter’s breath is pleasantly warming his throat. It could be nice, to watch some scary movies with Hunter. It would be certainly different than watching them with Jemma. He could press against Hunter’s side as much as he wants to, seeking shelter and kisses, feeling surrounded and protected by love. “What about a scary movie marathon?” He asks.
He can feel Hunter’s smirk. “Why not. But I have to warn you. I’m not good with these scenes where they are playing no music and then suddenly, you know, something appears.”
Fitz laughs. “I’m not good with that either. But … You’re watching horror movies to be scared, right? Scared in a good way.”
“Yeah. Anything else? I mean, we can bath in sweets, if you want. That would be great,” Hunter says, sounding more eager now.
Fitz nods. God, he misses his mother’s pumpkin pies. He misses his mother. A sharp hint of pain rushes through him. “You’re alright?” Hunter asks immediately. He knows me … The pain is joined by a beam of warmth. Yeah. I just remembered … We had a lot of fun on Halloween. My mother and I. We carved pumpkins. And she made pumpkin pie with the guts. I loved that … I miss her.”
Hunter nods and kisses him again. “We could do that too,” he suggests. “Could carve pumpkins and make pie. I mean … I’ve never done pumpkin carving before and I can’t really bake. But you can be my teacher, right?”
Fitz grins and nods, already feeling anticipation, but then he frowns. “Didn’t you celebrate Halloween?”
“No. My father said Halloween is the feast of Satan and that everyone who celebrates it, will land in hell for sure,” Hunter says and snorts. “He told us to pray all night, to keep the wandering demons out of our house.”
“Oh.” Fitz knows Hunter’s father was an arse. It is something that connected them in a special way sometimes. A way, other people can’t really understand because they don’t know. But he didn’t know Hunter had no Halloween at all. He feels the sudden urge to make it as great as possible. They have time, they are safe and together. They are going to have some bloody fun for once.
He turns around to face Hunter, bringing their foreheads together. “We’re going to carve pumpkins. And I make pie. We’re going to have a big bowl of sweets too. And we’re going to watch movies the whole night. Sounds good?”
Hunter grins and looks at Fitz with a overwhelming amount of adoration in his eyes, that makes Fitz’s heart jump happy loops in his chest. “Alright, love. Sounds bloody perfect.”
And once it’s Halloween, it is perfect.
Fitz teaches Hunter how to gut a pumpkin and they have a lot of fun, trying to carve some spectacular faces with shark teeth. Hunter is more skilful than he thinks and soon manages to even carve a monkey into one of the pumpkins. Fitz loves it. The disguised kids, passing by in hope to grab some sweets love it as well.
Fitz makes pumpkin pie and it’s not exactly like his mother’s, but it smells delicious, and Hunter tells him the whole evening, he won’t eat anything else again.
They have their scary movie marathon, clinging to each other and yelling from time to time. Hunter once jumps and knocks over his beer. They laugh and get him a new bottle.
In the early morning hours, they fall asleep on the couch, sharing a fuzzy blanket and their arms wrapped around each other. The pumpkin monkey outside is still doing a shadowy dance, the candle only slowly burning down.
It was perfect for them.