joshua never thought vernon could make an assignment go so wrong.
 

It was peculiar to say the least, and Joshua Hong, top meister of his class at the Death Weapon Meister Academy, could confidently say that he had never ever seen a talking, living, breathing pumpkin before in his entire life - until that damn scythe of his screwed up. Again. There was always a first time for everything he guessed, and although basically everything else had happened before, the sentient pumpkin that ended up being a part of it had not.

The whole situation honestly just started rather innocently; trying to attain another assignment to earn themselves an extra Kishin egg from some good for nothing, so Joshua could help his weapon become a death scythe. Just like everyone else. However, like always, his useless best friend, weapon, ‘partner for life’ (or so the other boy claims), an unruly brunet by the unfortunate name of Vernon Chwe, just couldn’t do anything right, and accidentally - “accidentally” - chose the wrong assignment. He had ended up selecting an assignment for a very angry, very strong Kishin from the cork board hanging outside the classrooms, instead of that simple one in the corner that the oldest of the two had been eyeing since first period.

Joshua thinks that Vernon was maybe just trying to feed his own overinflated ego. Although Joshua was the top student academically, he was no hardcore fighter, unlike their classmates Minghao and Junhui (who had an almost terrifying street record together), and no way were Joshua and Vernon both strong enough to even try to defeat that thing.

To make matters worse, the assignment wasn’t even that specific, and that fact alone irked Joshua. Did it pay well? Oh yeah. Was it extremely powerful? You bet. However, that and the information about its whereabouts and its name, was all that was printed on the piece of scrappy paper. Not even a detailed description or picture. The fact that his partner had chosen that one out of all the others probably annoyed him the most, along with the no returns policy. He was definitely not happy.

That’s probably how Joshua ended up cornering Vernon against the yellowish tinted wall of their dorm room that night, paper with assignment details shoved into the younger boy’s face. Joshua ran his fingers through his short orange hair, letting out a frustrated huff before speaking up, eyebrows quirked as Vernon continued to spoon some sort of oddly flavoured yogurt (pumpkin spice?) into his mouth nonchalantly, eyeing Joshua with mock curiosity.

“Why did you even get this?” Joshua grumbled, trying to sound as intimidating as he possibly could while dressed in an oversized baby pink coloured pyjama set, scrunching his nose because of that god awful yogurt. He pulled the assignment paper back, waiting for Vernon to answer, yet he only seemed to get a lazy shrug as an answer.

“You said to get that cheap assignment in the corner, so I did. This one was in the corner.”

“This is isn’t the one I was talking about, Vernon. You know that.” Joshua groaned, trying his absolute best to keep himself calm and not strangle the boy because if he was going to fix this mess (god forbid Vernon making this any worse), he needed his partner to actually be alive. Unfortunately. “This one is for a stronger Kishin. Way above our level. We can’t do this.” He emphasised his point by ing the paper into Vernon’s face aggressively.

“Why couldn’t you just get it yourself if you’re so upset? I mean, it’s not like you had anything extracurricular on today.” The brunet continued to eat as he leaned against the wall. He seemed relaxed even when Joshua was right in his face, and the older boy didn’t really like how comfortable he was with this situation.

“I was helping Jeonghan with something.” Was the orange haired boy’s response, narrowing his eyes at Vernon when the other scoffed, turning his head away.

“Yeah, right. Him.” The younger boy’s shoulders went slack, eyes growing sharp and he glared daggers at Joshua, who rolled his eyes at the boy’s annoyed expression. “Doesn’t he have his meister to help him? You’re always helping him but Seungcheol is less busy than you are.”

“He also has a part time job, and Jeonghan asked me.” Joshua defended, and waved his hand to dismiss the topic. He didn’t really want to talk about that right now. “Honestly, how do you expect us to defeat this thing? It’s a top level Kishin, and you’re not a top level scythe.”

Vernon just blinked and tilted his head, a stupid smile spreading across his face and distracting blob of god knows what (probably that yogurt) on his otherwise pristine white shirt (how it got there in the first place, Joshua didn’t know). “Says who? You’re the top meister in our class. I’m sure you can pull it off.” The brunet spooned another heap of yogurt into his mouth and Joshua wanted to smack it out of his hands. “Besides, this one probably pays better.”

“I’m not some superhuman, Vernon, and maybe I could get the job done, but not with you as my weapon.” The older boy grunted and smacked the other lightly on the head, grabbing a napkin to wipe that gross mark off of his shirt.

The brunet looked down as Joshua cleaned up his mess (like he usually did) and frowned, knitting his brows together in thought. “Well, maybe we could just try defeating it?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Joshua groaned in frustration, so tempted to scrunch the assignment paper and throw it in Vernon’s annoying little face, or maybe just shove it down his throat. He couldn’t afford anyone knowing about it though, so he had to settle with sliding the paper onto the kitchen countertop, throwing away the dirtied napkin and letting Vernon finish his yogurt. He really needed to clean their fridge out.

Joshua plopped down into his favourite chair, letting his head fall back, his body totally slack because he was just so done, but Vernon spoke up, and god forbid, actually sounded a little guilty. “Hey, I’m sorry, but we are running late with the rent.” He threw his empty container into the trashcan with a loud clutter and sat next to Joshua, spoon hanging out the side of his mouth. “I can go sort it out if you want me to. I don’t mind.”

The orange haired boy shook his head, sitting up straighter so he could glare at Vernon from his seat. “I think you’ve done enough already, thanks. I’ll sort it out tomorrow. By myself.” He stood up, brushing off imaginary dust from his pyjamas, and stalking off to the bedroom.

“Josh, I’m sorry.” The older boy turned around, looking back out into the kitchen when he heard Vernon speak up. He frowned, shoulders slumping before he turned back around and continued heading to bed.

“Just make sure not to sleep too late tonight. Look after yourself.” Joshua grumbled, voice softening before closing the door. Vernon smiled gently, placed his spoon into the sink and ran the hot water, letting it run over his fingers and onto the dirty dishes below.

“Okay.”

Joshua woke up to a very loud and very unpleasant noise, and for a moment, he was about to whine loudly and throw something over at Vernon’s bed to tell him to shut up before he realised it was his ringtone. Then came the question of why someone was calling him at god knows what hour, but whatever it was, it was definitely late because outside was still dark and the moon was still snoring. The orange haired boy groaned and reached over to pull his phone off the charger, checking the caller ID, and was more than surprised at the name displayed on the screen.

“Vernon, it’s like, midnight. Why aren’t you in bed?” Joshua whined into the receiver when he answered, voice bogged down with so much sleepiness and exhaustion that he didn’t even know if the brunet on the other end of the line could hear him properly or not. Honestly, he didn’t really care if he did or didn’t.

“I know Josh, but I need you right now.” The voice was hushed and oddly panicked, if it hadn’t been, Joshua might’ve mistaken the words to be something else (and that thought horrified him). Joshua didn’t know what to make of the panic in his partner’s voice though, because it was midnight and why was his damn scythe calling him at this time anyway?

“You what? Excuse me? Where are you?” Joshua sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes with his free hand and covering his mouth as he yawned. He would seriously fall asleep again if he continued laying down and he was way too curious about why Vernon wasn’t sleeping in his own bed like he should’ve.

There was a cough and a loud screeching sound over the phone and Joshua pulled it away from his ear with a hiss, placing it back when he heard the younger boy speak again. “I’m with the Kishin, and I really need your help Josh.”

It took a moment for the orange haired boy to register what exactly had been said, but if he wasn’t mistaken, his scythe had just told him that he was with the Kishin. “What did you say?”

“I’m with the Kishin.” Vernon repeated almost matter-of-factly, if not for the pure desperation in his voice and the other odd noises that prompted Joshua to groan and drag himself out of bed. This was a disaster. “Look Josh, I’m useless by myself and I really need some help here so if you don’t mind.”

“Yeah alright, I know, I’m coming.” The older boy ran a hand through his hair in a failed attempt to neaten it, stumbling to the front door to slip on his shoes and head out to find his good for nothing partner, pink flannel pyjamas and all. “Just tell me exactly how to find you.”

The scythe whined in protest but managed to rattle off some pretty decent directions anyway before hanging up, and Joshua found himself running through the (almost, if not for the stray cats) deserted streets as per Vernon’s instruction, and ended up finding himself standing on the edge of the forest just outside town. His chest was heaving, trying to regain the air he’d lost running there, and he’d hoped he’d memorised all the twists and turns or else he’d be in more trouble than they were both in already. If it didn’t feel like a bad feeling at first, it definitely looked like one now.

“Vernon?” Joshua called out into the dark, voice trembling with nerves. His question was met only with faint rustling before an arm s around his waist. His eyes grew wide, and before he could call for help, he was being attacked from behind, hand covering his mouth as he was dragged into the bushes. He tried to scream, yell or something but whoever it was just held their hand over his mouth tighter and oh god, he couldn’t breathe. As a last hope and last line of defence, he just hoped and prayed that it had balls, and elbowed the figure in the crotch. Hard.

The orange haired meister scrambled away from his attacker when he was let go, wheezing and coughing and in a blind panic because he’d basically been kidnapped and suffocated but there was something familiar about the other now that he wasn’t being dragged behind a bush, and if the other boy hadn’t screamed so loudly, Joshua probably wouldn’t have figured out that it was Vernon so quickly. Maybe after a few more minutes of blind fumbling and almost suffocating to death would’ve been helpful.

“Josh that hurt, are you trying to kill me or something?” The brunet wailed, all attempts at being quiet slashed since he’d yelled so loudly before, and Joshua felt a little guilty for putting the poor guy through that. No man should feel that pain. Unless they were suffocating someone, in which case they kind of had it coming.

“Hey,” Joshua pointed, sitting up straight, still trying to more oxygen into his lungs, “in my defence, I couldn’t breathe.”

“Did you have to elbow me in the balls though?” The question came out almost like a sob, and Joshua couldn’t help but snort out a breathy burst of laughter. He could only imagine the pout on Vernon’s face. “You try getting elbowed in the crotch Josh, see how you feel!”

“No thanks,” Joshua huffed, took in a deep breath and sighed, putting his arms behind him and leaning back, looking up at the stars while Vernon nursed himself. “You called me out here because you were being chased? So this Kishin…”

There was a sudden bright light, and for a moment, Joshua panicked again, but it was only Vernon turning on a flashlight he seemed to have had with him the whole time. Damn thing could’ve been helpful. “Yeah, what about it?” Came the inquiring voice, and Joshua looked around their now somewhat illuminated surroundings.

“Where is it?”

“Oh.” Vernon looked up, the light shining at an extremely unflattering angle which made him look like he was about to recite a ghost story or something. The whole trees swaying and crickets chirping and moon snoring and twigs snapping in the dark forest wasn’t helping ease the atmosphere either, and Joshua was definitely on edge to say the least. Enter in a Kishin that Vernon was supposedly hiding from and he found himself in somewhat of a pickle. “I have no idea. I hid and waited for you to show up.”

Joshua rolled his eyes at the brunet, groaning loudly as he buried his head in his hands. “How did you even get us into this mess, Vernon? It was just supposed to be a simple assignment. I was going to hand it off to Minghao and Junhui in the morning. They can handle this.”

“It was an accident, I swear! And why are they stronger than us? Junhui’s just a pair of nunchucks and I’m a scythe. 'Death Scythe' has a better ring to it than 'Death Nunchucks'. Plus, I really wanted to fix this for you.” Vernon scoffed, reaching out to hit Joshua’s arm. “Besides, I’m only seventeen, I only got a few dollars. This job pays well.”

Joshua pouted, rubbing his arm although the hit didn’t really hurt anyway. “Their soul wavelengths are more in sync than ours, and if we die we don’t get the mo-” Joshua probably would’ve finished if he hadn’t heard something in the distance; it wasn’t trees or twigs or wind or leaves, and it wasn’t the moon snoring either. Vernon visibly stiffened, hunched over and basically curled into a ball, pulling the older boy with him. Joshua was confused to say the least, but he obliged, hunching over and almost getting a face full of ants and dirt.

“I can see where you are, Lero.” A shrill voice broke through the otherwise quiet (okay, it wasn’t really that quiet) night, and it sent chills down Joshua’s spine. There was something about the voice that made him uneasy. It was high pitched and sounded almost comical, but it was menacing. It was terrifying. What the hell did this Kishin want? After some thought though, he concluded that it probably wanted Vernon, since the idiot had come out looking for it himself. Joshua contemplated throwing the younger boy out into the open and letting him fend for himself since he was the one who started this.

“You left your torch on, Lero.” The voice came again, and the orange haired boy grunted, eyeing the flashlight that was left abandoned on the ground, yet it was still on, and therefore shining directly at them. He glared at Vernon, hitting the back of his head softly in annoyance. “Idiot. It can see us.” Vernon rubbed the back of his head, frowning at Joshua.

“Can’t we just fight it?” He quirked an eyebrow and pushed Joshua’s shoulder. “I mean, that’s what we’re at the DWMA for. If we win, we get a Kishin egg for my goal - our goal - and money for the rent. It’s a win win.”

The older boy stared incredulously at Vernon for a good couple seconds because was this guy serious? But he realised the Kishin was closing in on them, and they really didn’t have any time to run away. “Fine, fine okay. Just transform into a weapon already.”

Vernon smiled triumphantly, grabbed Joshua’s hand, and a very anticlimactic flash or two later, Vernon was in his weapon form. He had a rose gold coloured blade - long and sleek, decorative gold chains dangling from the top and a slim handle wrapped with black leather. Joshua always thought that it was an odd combination, but somehow it worked. It was completely different to Vernon’s previous attire of a black hoodie over a white shirt and jeans.

He stood up, getting into position and looking around at what the light was shining on - the things he could see. He narrowed his eyes, trying to spot the Kishin. Was it big? What sort of power did it possess? Joshua probably would’ve overlooked it if not for the bright orange of its skin and the weird purple umbrella it was on top, but his eyes focused on it, and he needed to squint a little more because what? That couldn’t possibly be it. Joshua hesitated, frozen in place because what was that thing? It had carved out eyes, its mouth twisted into some sort of jack-o’lantern styled smile, and was currently flying towards Joshua at record speed.

“Do you want to fight, Lero?” The thing shrieked, and Joshua jumped out of the way just in time, stumbling and tripping on a stick on the ground, and subsequently taking a less than graceful tumble resulting in a painfully grazed knee. Joshua winced and swore under his breath. He blamed the low lighting and the fact that Vernon had even made him go there in the first place. He put out a hand and got up, using Vernon as leverage, anchoring the bottom of his handle into the soil below their feet.

“Why does that pumpkin look like it’s about to murder us?” Joshua asked, very loudly and very annoyed, and if Vernon could, he probably would’ve shrugged.

“I think the pumpkin’s name is Lero.”

“Lero!” The pumpkin exclaimed. It seemed to agree with whatever Vernon had said, and Joshua noticed that he said its name basically after every sentence. It was honestly starting to get annoying, but the name nagged somewhere at the back of his mind, couldn’t put his finger on it, but he was soon brought back to reality when the pumpkin shot towards them again, nearly pegging Joshua square in the head, which was less than ideal.

“Thats nice Vernon, but it doesn’t answer my question.” The older boy huffed, skidding to a halt next to a large tree, the branches swaying and leaves rustling up above. He didn’t want to dodge this goddamn pumpkin all night and he really wanted to go back home and sleep in his own bed instead of on a bed of leaves and dirt.

“That’s the Kishin.” Came Vernon’s voice, and the older boy nearly had to do a double take because this is what Vernon was freaking out about? A sentient pumpkin attached to a flying purple umbrella, and he got him out of bed for this? This was the Kishin Joshua thought they couldn’t defeat? No wonder the name sounded familiar, it was a detail on the assignment sheet. Joshua could smack himself right now if not for a particular pumpkin ready and willing to do it for him.

“It’s a pumpkin.” Joshua said incredulously, still trying to wrap his head around it, because this is definitely not something you see every day. Even at the DWMA. Vernon hummed in agreement, and if he wasn’t in weapon form, he’d probably be zoned out and nodding his head.

“Apparently. It’s kind of ugly too, like a badly carved jack-o'lantern.” The pumpkin seemed to narrow its eyes at Joshua because of Vernon’s remark, and the meister scrambled away behind a tree, trying to stall for more time to find out exactly what he was supposed to do with it and how to make it less hostile because his partner was not helping.

“I’m right here, Lero. Don’t insult me, Lero.” The pumpkin shrieked, pointing its head towards Joshua’s face - since he’d made the wonderful decision to sneak a peek - a ball of light forming quickly at the top and he ducked back behind the tree just as it fired its laser beam (or whatever it was, Joshua was still not really too sure about anything at this point). The older boy grunted in discomfort when he felt something wet drip down his arm, and on closer inspection, found out that it was in fact his blood. The beam that had shot from the pumpkin’s head (he still can’t believe it) had grazed the side of his arm, leaving a long, deep gash. It was probably best to face it head on if he was going to get injured anyway just by dodging pumpkin lasers and hiding behind trees.

He peered out from his place again, spotting the pumpkin flying around, listening as it sang some odd song to itself. Something about a Lord Millennium searching for a heart. Creepy. Joshua gripped Vernon’s handle tightly with both hands, bringing the scythe up over his shoulder, blade glistening in the faint light of the moon. He readied himself, dug the balls of his feet into the ground, and pushed off, running towards the pumpkin as fast as he could, swinging at it and he felt the blade hit. He growled, looking up at the smug carved face of the pumpkin. It was smiling, giggling to itself as it blocked Joshua’s attack with its handle.

“You’re going to have to try harder, Lero!” The pumpkin squawked, flying away from Vernon’s blade and around to Joshua’s back, firing a quick shot off which Joshua barely dodged. This time, it grazed his head, wisps of orange hair fluttering onto the ground, blood dripping onto his neck. The older boy hissed, bending his knees and readying his stance again. He wasn’t going to give up easily, that’s for sure.

“No way could Minghao take this guy on with his stupid nunchucks.” Vernon chimed in, bursting out into a fit of laughter before Joshua hit him against a tree. The meister rolled his eyes. There was only so much he could take at a time like this.

“This is not the time, Vernon.” He growled, swinging the scythe behind him like he’d done before to get leverage, readying himself again before pushing off the ground, skidding to a halt before swinging the scythe at the pumpkin again. He missed; but it was only barely, the tip of Vernon’s blade nicking the side of the pumpkin.

The Kishin flew up, swooping down to hit Joshua on the head with its handle. It seemed pretty angry, and the stench of Joshua’s own blood was starting to overwhelm him. It was metallic, dripping down his neck and arm and leg, and it was far from a pleasant experience.

“You’ll regret that, Lero!” The pumpkin was enraged, the small cut that had been made starting to ooze some nasty looking orange substance.

“How did you think provoking this thing would help?” Joshua accused Vernon, voiced laced with complete and utter frustration as he dodged another laser pumpkin attack. “What did you even do?”

“I already messed up, so I wanted to fix it.” The brunet whimpered, the sound of his voice sounding metallic in his weapon form, almost like he was talking through one of those tin can phones. “You always have to fix my screw ups, so I wanted to take care of this one myself. I might’ve punched it. A couple times.”

Joshua sighed, running his fingers through his orange locks like he always did as he ducked behind another tree, hefting Vernon up and over his shoulder instead of holding him up straight. He peeked out, eyeing the pumpkin which was flying around aimlessly, singing its song to itself with the occasional exclamation of “Lero!” every couple of words. If he was going to make a move, it had to be now.

He took a deep, steady breath, moving ever so slightly, waiting until the pumpkin turned away. The flashlight still laid on the ground, casting ominous shadows on the ground, and Joshua felt the chills again. It was not a nice feeling. The pumpkin twirled a few times and finally turned away from them, and he was off, sprinting out of the forest and onto the streets, trying to remember exactly where the town center was. If he could remember Vernon’s instructions, he could get there.

“Josh?” Vernon yelled from his place over Joshua’s shoulder, and the older boy had almost forgotten he was there. “What are you doing? Are we running away?”

“No.” Joshua yelled back, still sprinting and zig zagging through the streets, trying to find his way, and he could hear the pumpkin screaming its name behind him, getting closer and closer. “We’re drawing it out to a better lit space, I can barely see in that forest. A space we’re familiar with. It’ll give us the upper hand.”

Joshua kept sprinting through the streets, slowing down as his breaths became more laboured and legs started to burn. Just a little bit more, Joshua, you can do this. He groaned, panted, turned another corner and saw what he was looking for. The town center. The fountain that was in the middle of it was catching the moonlight in the droplets of water, and it would’ve been serene just sitting there, watching the water flow - if not for the pumpkin chasing them.

“Lero Lero Lero!”

“Josh what the hell is your plan?” Joshua shrugged at Vernon’s panicked voice, chest still heaving, and he swore that he wouldn’t have to work out all week because of all the running he’d done just that night. Vernon was concerned though, and it was usually the other way around, but Joshua totally had this sorted. No way was he losing this battle to a pumpkin.

Grabbing Vernon’s handle with both hands and lifting him up, he bent his knees, spread his legs for support, and as the umbrella pumpkin came flying around the corner, he swung with everything he had, but it was only blocked by the handle again, and with one swift movement, the pumpkin had thrown Joshua into a nearby fruit cart, filled with… pumpkins?

The older boy lost his grip on the weapon, and Vernon clattered onto the floor. Joshua was still. He was completely and utterly knocked out, and the pumpkin was looming overhead, cackling. Vernon really needed to do something right for once, and he had no idea what.

“Oh, .” The scythe muttered to himself as he laid on the ground, basically useless. He couldn’t do anything without his meister, but his meister was currently knocked out in a fruit cart full of pumpkins. He couldn’t let it end like this.

Vernon transformed back into his normal state with a small flash of light, stumbling a little as he regained his balance. He narrowed his eyes at the pumpkin, who was smugly swirling around on the other side of the town centre, dancing around the fountain. He sighed, taking his black hoodie off his body and draping it over the limp body in the cart.

“Don’t worry Josh,” he whispered, ruffling the orange hair atop the other boy’s head, “I’ll fix everything just like I said I would.”

He looked up at the pumpkin, still doing its thing. Vernon could tell it was keeping an eye on him, making sure he didn’t do anything. It seemed too nonchalant, but he knew better. The brunet looked around, trying to find something, anything to defend himself, and ended up picking a large piece of metal pipe that was lying on the floor. It wasn’t going to defeat any Kishin, but it would at least buy him some time.

“Are you ready to fight, Lero?” The Kishin called, circling around the fountain once more before it came barrelling towards Vernon, laughing maniacally. Vernon panicked. It usually wasn’t him on the battlefield wielding a weapon and suddenly, he had no idea what to do. There he was, messed up hair, dirt smeared body and fainted meister in a goddamn cart of pumpkins, and all he had was a metal pipe he found on the ground. Usually he was the weapon.

The brunet found himself frozen as the pumpkin came towards him at a rapid speed, and he did the only defensive technique he knew how to do. Put his hands in front of his face, close his eyes and hope for the best. So that’s what he did, hands outstretched, eyes squeezed shut and mind mentally screaming for help because god Joshua was right he couldn’t do anything right.

Suddenly, there was a sharp metallic noise, like metal against metal, and a dull ache in Vernon’s forearms, and for a moment, he thought he’d been impaled through the arms or something. He opened his eyes, blinking to adjust to the light, and when he saw it, he nearly screamed.

“Lero!” Wailed the pumpkin, wriggling around on the blades that had emerged from Vernon’s arms. Vernon wasn’t the one being impaled, it was the goddamn pumpkin.

“I’m sorry?” He squeaked, stunned and confused and all sorts of horrified because he’s pretty sure he’s never been able to do this before in his life. Only more talented weapons could change part of their body and this was happening right now? Maybe it was the panic, maybe it was the fact that he finally lost it and now he’s living some sort of weird livid nightmare, but as the umbrella pumpkin wailed, it started to dissolve, particles flying away into the night sky, and the Kishin’s soul was left on one of the blades on Vernon’s arm, red and fiery. The brunet blinked. He’d definitely lost it.

“Josh? Hey Josh. Joshua Hong?”

The orange haired boy groaned, a splitting headache was throbbing in his head and his whole body felt like he’d just been through a 10 day boot camp retreat. In other words, extremely sore. There was also an odd squishy wet feeling all over his back, and a few crusty blood spots on his head, arm and knee. He wracked his brain for a good 5 seconds before he gave up on trying to remember anything just yet. The only thing he knew was that Vernon was there, and that already explained a lot.

“Where am I?” The older boy inquired as he hissed in pain, sitting himself up and rubbing his eyes with the back of his arm. He looked down to see why whatever he was on was so uncomfortable and found that he’d been lying down on the ground (no wonder), and when he looked over to his side, a certain brunette was grinning wickedly at him.

“Hey there sleeping beauty, that’s probably the most cliche thing you could’ve said.” The younger boy laughed, throwing his head back comically. Joshua wondered if he’d been hit in the head too or something. “You’re in the town center, believe it or not. You were unconscious for about an hour. How much do you remember?”

Joshua blinked a few more times and ended up burying his face in his palms with a groan. Too many questions so soon after waking up had him nauseous, but things were starting to come back to him, and none of it pleasant. “You called me in the middle of the night. It was the Kishin. I ran to you? In the forest? And it was a pumpkin. I only remember bits and pieces after I fell over and grazed my knee.”

Vernon’s lips formed an ‘O’ as he nodded, moving over to take his hoodie that was covering Joshua’s legs and that was now subsequently decorated in bits of pumpkin. After the night they just had though, Vernon wasn’t surprised.

“You don’t remember anything else?” The brunet inquired, and Joshua only shook his head softly, as to not enrage the pain demon running amuck inside his head.

“Where is the Kishin anyway. What happened to it? Why are we in the town center and why am I covered in pumpkin? Is it the Kishin? Gross.” Joshua rambled more to himself than Vernon, and the youngest of the two couldn’t help but snort at the questions that his meister was asking.

“Well,” he started as he got up, brushing himself and his hoodie off as he leaned against the nearest wall with his elbow. The sun was starting to rise and people were starting to wake up. “You lured the Kishin here so you could see better or something. You got a few good hits in too. Then uh, you got him, Josh. You got the Kishin but he flung you into a cart full of pumpkins, so the pumpkin bits are not from demonic sentient beings.” Vernon laughed heartily, throwing his head back again - probably an attempt to lighten the mood since he still seemed somewhat sane - and reached out a hand to help Joshua up.

“We defeated him?” Joshua asked, and Vernon nodded, patting the older boy on the back and brushing pumpkin off his clothes.

“Yeah, we probably would’ve died if you didn’t get it on time.”

“Wow,” The older boy breathed, sighing in relief, “I’m glad I was the one who passed out though. A meister is pretty useless without his weapon, you know?”

The brunet shrugged, slipping an arm under Joshua’s to help him stand up and walk, laughing lightly at the way the older boy grumbled and limped. “Yeah, but you got him before you went down, so it wasn’t a big deal.” The orange haired boy gave him a look, his eyes narrowed and brows quirked up but Vernon just grinned. “I’m pretty useless without you too, Josh.”

“I know that. You’re just useless in general.” Joshua scoffed, leaning on Vernon a little more and grunting as he started to move his legs. “Home, right?”

“Yeah. Home.” Vernon agreed, hauling Joshua down the street and away from the utter destruction of the town center. They’d have to explain it away later, but neither of them was willing to stick around for that. It would be dawn soon and they both really just wanted to sleep. “By the way,” Vernon teased, smirking as Joshua tilted his head, prompting him to continue, “nice pyjamas.”

“Shut up,” Joshua mumbled under his breath, and even though it was still dark outside, Vernon could totally see how the older boy’s face turned red. “I didn’t have time to change.”

“So, Spirit, what do you think their punishment should be for civilian property damage, hmm?” Lord Death loomed over Joshua and Vernon, his death scythe, Spirit, standing by his side as always. Lord Death wasn’t necessarily scary, but his high pitched voice was unsettlingly cheerful considering the fact that Joshua and Vernon had just been given a hell of a talking to about the whole mess in that exact same tone.

“I think cleaning up the classroom halls for a week would be sufficient enough, don’t you think?” Suggested Spirit, and Lord Death seemed to think for a moment.

“Ah, but you just want to get out of cleaning yourself! Very well then, a week of cleaning the halls for you two then. Don’t slack off or we’ll have to give you another two weeks, and we wouldn’t want that happening! You’ll start tomorrow! See-ya kids!”

Vernon groaned but Joshua stood firm, bowed, and said a quick thank you and apologised for the both of them. They’d really made a mess in the town center the night before and destroyed a lot of good pumpkins (and bad pumpkins - although both of them didn’t want to see another pumpkin again for the rest of their lives). Joshua wasn’t one to get into much trouble at the DWMA, nor did he ever want to.

“We understand sir, thank you.” Joshua said before turning and heading out Lord Death’s room with Vernon in tow, whining and complaining about the unfair punishment and how other students wouldn’t get half the punishment if they’d made double the mess. Joshua had to agree, but Vernon wasn’t one for having a good reputation and Joshua had practically begged Lord Death for a punishment to teach the boy a lesson.

“Stop whining Vernon, we deserve the punishment that was given to us. Besides, it’s just cleaning the halls, no big deal.” Joshua slowed down, waiting for Vernon to catch up before they walked through the doors outside campus. Vernon seemed to be slower than usual, and Joshua found himself grabbing the boy by his arm and dragging him through the doors and down the vast amount of steps. Joshua didn’t expect a reply, nevertheless an apology after several minutes of dragging, but he seemed to get one anyway once they’d reached the bottom of the stairs.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault.” The boy sighed dejectedly and ran his fingers through his hair - something Joshua always did but Vernon didn’t - and that alone set off some weird alarm bells ringing in Joshua’s head. The only time he’d seen Vernon like his was when he was in a test and didn’t know the answers, or something to that degree. In other words, he was stressed, but Joshua wanted to be honest with him, get him to learn a lesson about taking things for granted.

“You bet it is.”

Vernon frowned at the answer, probably expecting it but hoping it wouldn’t have been the case. “Do you ever regret having me as a weapon?”

Joshua shrugged, letting go of Hansol’s arm since they were at the bottom of the stairs. They weren’t moving. There was no need to hold on. “All the time.”

“Why don’t you just swap with Jeonghan and Seungcheol then?” The question took Joshua by surprise, and he furrowed his brows in confusion. When Vernon didn’t continue, he prompted him to. He needed to hear this.

“Well,” Vernon continued hesitantly, hand coming to scratch the nape of his neck, “I mean your soul wavelength matches up with Jeonghan’s pretty well, and Seungcheol’s soul wavelength and mine go along alright too. Besides, Jeonghan’s a really pretty katana.”

Joshua raised a brow, looking at Vernon like he’d just admitted he had a foot . “I don’t think Seungcheol would would approve. He likes Jeonghan way too much.”

“Okay but, if you could swap me with Jeonghan, would you?” Vernon seemed determined to make a point, and his face was hard, expression completely serious, and Joshua felt a little scared. He shook his head.

“No, I don’t think I would, Vernon.”

“Should I… change then?” Joshua didn’t know where he was coming from or where he was going with this, but the sombre tone in Vernon’s voice was troubling, and he reached out a hand to Vernon’s shoulder, grasping it tightly.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, take extra classes and stuff. I don’t want to hold you back just because I’m incompetent-”

“Stop that. I know what you did, y’know.” The orange haired boy interjected, sighing as he turned away, linking his arm through Vernon’s and started pulling him down the street, head hanging low as he mumbled. “I like you just the way you are.”

Vernon blinked, stunned for a moment, but he smiled as he let Joshua pull him along the road back home, a warm feeling settling in his stomach. Was it acceptance? He didn’t want to think too much about it. They still had two weeks worth of hall cleaning left to do and the younger boy really wanted to catch up on his favourite show before then.

“Hey, Josh?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I pick our next assignment?”

“Not a chance.”

author's notes;

Do you like the layout? I hope so, because I made it HAHA. Let me know if it's easy to read on mobile?

Anyway, hello there everyone, welcome to my first completed fanfic on AFF! This is also my first crack/comedy fic and first oneshot and just, a lot of firsts here, oops. Not my first fanfiction though, because I have too many ones I didn't finish and chaptered fics floating around on my account. Anyway, I hope you liked it? I really wanted to write something for Halloween and this turned out to be it, ableit it being a crossover with anime and a not as popular ship.
I've never written an action/battle/fight sequence before so, if it's a little weird, please let me know. In fact, let me know about anything. Constructive critisism is very much welcome and appreciated! Comment away!

I'm not really sure what else to say, ohmygod, but uh, happy Halloween? Hahaha.
Thank you everyone for reading this mess of a fanfic and I hope to see you soon! c:

- Mareena xoxo