Work Text:
You had started off strong, Vantas. Even when he offered you half of what he would collect, you had turned him down, but you had started getting second thoughts once he had added in all Kit-Kat bars. So now here you are, following him and a group of dressed kids who happened to fall in together in some bundle. You're not saying that it's a bad thing. The little shitpuppets actually came in handy once you and Dave started moving into the neighborhoods. They make it seem as if you are babysitting them from the sidewalk, while they and Dave actually ring the doorbells and ask for their treats. You bet the kids don't even fucking question Dave as much as you do. Especially with whatever it is he seems to have chosen for his costume. You think he's some sort of bird humanoid thing? An angel maybe? Then again, what kind of angel has a broken wing, a stab wound and is fucking bright ass orange? It could be a character from like an anime or a comic you don't know about so you decided to just drop it before you start getting psychological about a dumb Halloween costume.
After God knows how many damn blocks with the same assfucking fake spiderwebs and failed jump-scare props, you two are finally making your way back home. Dave would probably still be out here, dragging you along if it weren't for the dwindling number of kids in your group, turned off lights in homes, and the fast appearing “out of candy” signs. That plus you are as fucking done with walking for the rest of the year as you are with pumpkin spice everything. The two of you don't share a word until you are in your room, flopped over your bed, groaning and kicking off shoes. Dave's ripping off his dumb costume and you know that damn orange body paint will be all over the place but oh well. Now that you finally get to claim your part of the bounty, you decide you can forgive your Cheeto friend.
"Alright strider, candy out where I can see it.” He does just as you command and dumps his pillowcase onto your bed and boy did he do well filling that thing up. You haven't seen this much candy since you were like 4 you think, that's the only time you actually went trick-or-treating. Just wow, okay, what's yours and what is his? You try and get the large candy pile split into two smaller piles and once that is done the real fun can begin. Time to negotiate and trade.
"Hmmm give me all the Kit-Kats and we can start trading around.”
“What do I get for the Kit-Kats?” He asks you. You roll your eyes.
“You get nothing. It was a part of the deal, ‘half plus all the Kit-Kat bars’. That’s what you fucking said Strider.”
“Ugh, fine. Here,” He paws through his pile of candy for the Kit-Kats. “Kit-Kats for the Kit Kat.” He tosses them your way.
“Shut up.” You say, dragging them over to you. You are actually rather pleased that he gave them all up. You would’ve thought he’d be a prick about it and try and keep a few to himself.
“A’ight now let’s barter.” Dave says. You nod in agreement and dig around in your pile for shit you don’t want.
“Alright, what can I get for this large Almond Joy Bar?” You hold the nasty ass candy up to him.
“Why the fuck is it even called a ‘bar’ when it’s two goddamn pieces anyway?” You ask no one as you squeeze the gap between the pieces lightly between your fingers.
“I usually just take those since John would go trick-or-treating with me.” Dave says, shrugging slightly. You hum and wiggle the bar, still offering it up because there is no way on God’s green earth that you are taking this fucking piece of shit.
“Anything in particular you’d like from the pile for it?” He asks. You scoot closer so that you can examine what he actually has in his pile. There are quite a few candies in there that you do like; you hope you can barter for them soon too.
“I’ll trade it for the Skittles you got.” You decide.
“The sour or normal ones?” He asks, digging them out of his pile and holding them up.
“Whichever is fine, I just don’t want this shit.” You place the dumb coconut/almond/chocolate bar on his pile. He tosses you the sour ones, and you half expect him to make some sort of snide remark about your disposition and how it’s similar to them. But he doesn’t. You wait patiently for him to figure out what he wants from you.
“You got candy corn?” Dave asks, trying to look over at your pile for them.
“Just a few here and there.” You tell him, gathering up the pieces.
“Trade you for some M&Ms.”
“Sure.” You dump the small handful you’ve collected into his hand as he passes you over a few little bags of M&Ms. It’s a decent trade you suppose, you get more M&Ms than he does candy corn but he doesn’t seem to mind. He actually looks genuinely pleased for the stale sugar bits. He even puts them in their own little pile away from his major one.
“Tootsie Rolls for Starbursts?” You offer, pulling those from your pile.
“Deal.” He says, counting up your Starbursts and handing you the same amount in chocolate tubes. Dave hums and looks over your pile again. You start organizing the candy by types to make this go over quicker. He pulls a few things out of his pile and makes a face at them. It takes you a couple of seconds to recognize them; it’s Saladitos and a Vero Mango lollipop. You wonder what he’s making that fucking face for.
“Cry baby for whatever the fuck these are.” He says. You snatch them out of his hand and you throw the damned sour Satan asshole at him. Dave snickers, and you give him a soft glare.
“What?” You demand.
“Either you really hate these,” He says, jiggling the toxic candy byproduct. “Or you really like those.” He’s right on both accounts. You can tolerate sour to a point, but candy that is sour for the sake of being sour and ruining many people’s tongues and tear ducts is not worth your time and effort to consume.
“I like a little bit of spice, okay?” You say, wiggling your eyebrows at him. It’s become a horrible habit that you have picked up on from hanging out with Dave so much. Not that you particularly mind, he can be good company when he wants to be.
“Oh really?” He smirks at you. God that dumb fucking smirk. You like his half smiles way more than this stupid shit. Even better are those honest smiles that you can pull from him. The ones where just the slightest bit of his teeth show and his lips look so very nice and – nope not going there tonight Vantas, stay focused. You open the bag of Saladitos and pop one into your mouth. It’s probably saltier than a fucking salt lick, but damn do you prefer this over that sour shit.
“Mhmm.” You hum in response. He fucking winces, weakling, almost looking a bit concerned for you.
“Dude that shit’s salty as fuck. Oh god. You have no fear.” He says rather horrified. You laugh at him and enjoy your candy.
“Fuck you. And hand me that Blow Pop.” You say pointing to the one you can see. He eventually catches back up and picks it up.
“For?” He kind of sounds a bit desperate to get rid of it. You make a mental note to torture him with them later. For now, you dig in your pile for candy you aren’t fond of.
“This?” You offer. You aren’t sure what it is; you haven’t seen this particular candy before. It appears like some sort of hard candy though. He nods.
“A’ight.” Dave says, tossing over the Blow Pop as you hand him the mystery candy. He’s going back through his pile looking at the candies slowly. You roll your eyes and finish of what’s left of the Saladito in your mouth.
“Hugs for Kisses?” He says breaking the silence. You stare at him blankly because that’s definitely not what he said, right?
“Huh?”
“Hugs for Kisses,” He says, drawing out the words. “Give you my Hugs for your Kisses.” Okay so he did say that and you are very aware of how that makes you feel. It’s a dangerous feeling that you still want to pretend doesn’t exist right now. You suppose it’s a fair trade, in theory at least.
“Um sure? I think.” You aren’t actually sure. You don’t know why he’s asking you this sort of thing out of the blue. He stares at you, waiting for a definite answer.
“Would that be just for tonight or…?” You don’t finish the question; giving him some space to make a decision of his own.
“What?” Fuck.
“What?” You question back.
“Why would it be for any other night? I mean yeah, I’d totes trade Hugs for Kisses any day.” He says, sounding a bit confused much like you are slowly becoming.
“Then?” You press.
“I don’t usually get those to trade in the first place.”
“Well if it’s something you’ve been wanting how come you never said anything? Did you have to set up a candy trade to fucking bring it up? How flushed are we talking here exactly anyways?” God damn it you’re word-vomiting on him, get control of yourself. You stare at him and he stares back.
“…What?” He looks so confused and you feel so lost and embarrassed because you are pushing things into an awkward place.
“What?” You parrot back at him. You can practically see the gears turning in his brain, and you try to figure out what the hell is going on.
“…OH!” He says suddenly, making you almost jump back. “Ohhhhh. Oh.” You stare at him hoping for some kind of explanation of what epiphany he just had.
“Oh.” He says again, laughing nervously. You are going to tap him on the shoulder if he says ‘oh’ again without fucking explaining.
“What ‘oh’?” You ask. He gives you this sheepish look.
“I was talking about candy dude.” He says, lifting his hand to show you the small candies in his hand.
“Oh…oh.” Fuck you where you stand.
“Yep.” He clicks his tongue.
“Oh.” You cover your now bright red face.
“Yeah.” He says. You flop onto your side, disrupting your candy pile. OH.
“You must really want to smooch me.”
“Shut the fuck up.” You glare up at him.
“That was one hell of a Freudian slip man.” He says.
“You fucking caught me off guard! Who the fuck names a goddamn candy ‘Hugs”? I don’t even know what the fuck that is.”
“I dunno, it’s something Hershey’s made to go with their Kisses I guess.” He shrugs.
“Un-fucking-believable.” You murmur; hoping that your cheeks aren’t nearly as red as they had been and how they still feel. The two of you sit in silence for a minute.
“…You really want to kiss?” He asks. You do your damnedest to ignore the slight bit of hope in there because you’re fucking hearing things again.
“I didn’t say that.” You try to defend yourself.
“You so did.”
“No I didn’t! I was simply down for a trade.”
“Dude that’s such a slip of the tongue it’s not even funny. You so totally want to make out with me.” You let out an embarrassed groan.
“Just take the damn Kisses if you want already.” You cross your arms and stare at the wall away from him. You can see from the corner of your eye, him setting the candies down and picking yours up to put in his pile. Dave then looks at you, like he’s trying to decide something. You almost ask when he leans forward and presses his lips gently to your cheek. They’re warm and soft and fuck you’re going to remember this for a long time.
“What?” He asks when you stare back at him. You tug him close to you by the front of his shirt and wrap your arms around him. A kiss for a hug, like you agreed. He is momentarily thrown off, before slowly bringing his arms down around you as well.
“Happy Halloween…I guess…” You mumble into his shoulder.
“Yeah…Happy Halloween.”