Chapter Text
“Jiujiu, let’s go!” Jin Ling yelled, tugging at Jiang Cheng’s hand. “We gotta get all the candy!”
“All right, all right,” Jiang Cheng grumbled, letting himself be pulled away from the mirror. Jin Ling had insisted that they go as Spider-Men, including a spider-dog outfit for Fairy. Jin Ling looked adorable in his little Spider-Man outfit, hilariously like Miles Morales in Into the Spider-Verse when he didn’t quite have a real costume yet.
Jiang Cheng supposed that made him Peter B. Parker, but the outfit that he’d bought was awfully tight. He reached for his jacket on the way out.
“No, Jiujiu! It’ll ruin the costume!” Jin Ling Insisted. “It’s not that cold out! Come on!”
“I can be a Spider-Man that’s not cold!” Jiang Cheng countered. “Remember, Peter B. Parker wears a coat for a lot of the first movie!”
The disdain was clear in Jin Ling’s voice. “But he was a loser, and you’re not a loser, Jiujiu! Besides, that’s the wrong jacket, anyway.”
Heaving a sigh, Jiang Cheng nodded. “Okay, A-Ling. Let’s hurry before it gets really cold out, okay?”
“Mn! Come on, Fairy!” Jin Ling said, leading the way down the sidewalk.
The two of them hit all the houses on their street and the next. Jin Ling’s bag was nearly full of candy, and Jiang Cheng thought his spandex outfit might be trying to migrate permanently into his butt crack.
“Okay, A-Ling, it’s time to go home,” Jiang Cheng said, pulling off his spandex mask and running his hands through his hair. The sun was set and their breath was starting to puff in the air, visible in the street light. He could only hope that the pattern on the spandex hid his nipples. He was too afraid to look down at his own chest, but considering how cold it was…
“But Jiujiu! Just one more house?” Jin Ling begged. Fairy sat at his feet and whined, looking up at Jiang Cheng with big, round eyes identical to the ones visible behind Jin Ling’s mask.
“All right, one more house. Then let’s go actually eat some candy and watch a spooky movie, okay? We’ll get all warm under the blankets.”
“Yes!” Jin Ling said, pumping his fist. He turned to look down the last street.
Which house do they go to?
The house with the perfect garden and two perfectly carved traditional Jack-o-Lanterns.
The house with a big yard display of corpses crawling out of graves.
The house with a big plastic skeleton holding a giant knife.
The house with cheerful Jack-o-Lanterns and cartoony black cat cutouts in the windows.
The house with a pumpkin on the porch. Uncarved.
The house with a “puking” Jack-o-Lantern on the steps, vomiting up its pumpkin guts.
The house with chains and a (probably) cardboard iron maiden.
The house with fake flames being blown by fans and lots of red light.