Hyung, let's buy a pumpkin."

  "..."

  "C'mon Hyung, let's buy a pumpkin."

  "...What?"

  "...Hyung, stop staring at that picture of Kyungsoo Hyung, it's freaky."

  That snapped Jongin out of Kyungsooland. "What about Kyungsoo?"

  Sehun just shot him a judging look, refusing to answer him. Jongin sighed, clicking the 'lock' button of his phone to give Sehun his full, undivided attention.

  "There. Now what was it about Kyungsoo?"

  Sehun couldn't take it anymore, he just shamelessly rolled his eyes at Jongin.

  "While you were too busy eye- Kyungsoo Hyung, I was trying to get you to buy a pumpkin. So now that you've pushed Kyungsoo Hyung to second place in your mind, can we buy one?"

  Jongin frowned at Sehun. "I do not eye Kyungsoo Hyung. And why didn't you tell me sooner about the pumpkin? I love Jack-O-Lanterns!"

  "Oh really? Cause I blatantly saw you undressing Kyungsoo Hyung with your eyes. And I tried, but why do you think I didn't succeed?"

  Jongin just decided to ignore Sehun. Arguing against the Maknae who was just three months younger than him (unfair much?) never resulted in his favour. Instead, he looked into the shop selling pumpkins. Eyeing the various pumpkins on display, Jongin's fingers itched. He had always loved carving faces and various shapes into the hollow shells of pumpkins, and relished in the satisfaction of completing his carved pumpkins.

  He had burnt most of his childhood dancing away to become an idol. As a result, he and Sehun still tended to feel young. In fact, the only thing he remotedly even remembered about his childhood was carving Jack-O-Lanterns. Glancing back at the pumpkins, he was washed with a strong sense of reminiscence. Making a decision, he grabbed Sehun's arm, ignoring Sehun's yelp of surprise and protest, and went into the pumpkin shop.

  Later, they each emerged with a vibrant orange pumpkin in their arms.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

  "You guys bought pumpkins back?"

  Jongin nodded dumbly, while staring into the wide eyes of Do Kyungsoo.

  Kyungsoo eyed the pumpkins that Jongin and Sehun were carrying.

  "And what are you guys gonna do with them?"

  Jongin broke into a wide-toothed grin. "We're gonna carve Jack-O-Lanterns!"

  "That's great, but what are you gonna do about the pulp?"

  Jongin looked to Sehun blankly, who bit his lip.

  "Uh...we don't exactly know?"

  Kyungsoo sighed. "Bring them into the kitchen. I'll remove the pulp and clean the insides so that you guys can go carve your lanterns."

  Sehun blinked. "What're you gonna do about the pulp?"

  Their hyung gave a small smile. "I can make it into pumpkin soup. So that's what we're gonna be having for dinner the next few nights, if that's all right with you guys."

  Jongin and Sehun glanced at each other, the former in excitement, the latter in his normal blank face.

  Nearly forgetting about the pumpkin in his arms, Jongin crushed Kyungsoo into a hug. "You're the best, Hyung!"

  Sehun rolled his eyes again at the scene. Those two should really get it on, the was obvious.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

  Sitting on the floor of their shared room, Jongin glanced at the pumpkin, now gutted and cleaned, courtesy of Kyungsoo.

  He wondered what he should carve into it: Sehun was carving a deer into his to show to Lu Han over webcam. Jongin thinks that the two of them should just be locked together into a room and only be let outonce they had confessed to each other. They flirted endlessly with each other, but never admitting their feelings once to the other.

  A while later, Jongin is still sitting on the floor with an empty pumpkin at his feet, while the aroma of pumpkin drifted throughout the dorm. He wished that he could be more creative and artistic, or at least oozing mature charisma. Didn't Kyungsoo Hyung say that he liked those kind of guys?

  Jongin groaned in frustration. At the rate he was going, he was still going to be a bachelor at the age of sixty. He would wake up every morning to take care of his dogs and babysit Sehun and Lu Han's children, and-

  "Guys! Dinner's ready in ten!"

  -Crap.

  Jongin could have cried. Dinner was in ten minutes and his pumpkin was still scratchless.

  He considered tossing the pumpkin away and just getting something else for Kyungsoo. But a part of him told him that a carved pumpkin would make a great gift for Kyungsoo.

  Sighing, Jongin decided to set aside his pumpkin until after dinner, when inspiration would most probably strike.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

  The pumpkin was now sitting on Jongin's bed, lying unscathed. Jongin himself was ready to toss it out of the window. He never remembered carving pumpkins being that difficult and taxing.

  "Watcha doin'?"

  Jongin nearly jumped out of his skin as Kyungsoo popped up like Isabella from Phineas and Ferb. Once getting over the shock, he pouted up at Kyungsoo, mumbling: "I don't know what to carve."

  "Who're you giving it to?"

  Jongin shook his head vehemently. "It's a secret."

  Kyungsoo eyed Jongin suspiciously, before relaxing a little. "Well then, I think you should carve whatever you want on your pumpkin. It is yours, after all."

  "What would you do, if you were me?"

  "I...I would carve my confession onto the pumpkin, I guess." Kyungsoo mused. "I think that's a really sweet thing to do."

  Jongin's eyes lit up at the sudden reveal. They positively glittered, thinking about what he was going to do to the pumpkin.

  Kyungsoo thankfully, was painfully oblivious to the sudden change in Jongin. "Well, for what it's worth, I hope it helped."

  "Oh, you have no idea Hyung."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

  Jongin tiptoed silently into his and Kyungsoo's shared room, shutting the door behind him.

  Today was Halloween, and he had just returned from shopping with Sehun, which meant buying stuff secretly. With everything now in place, all he had to do was to put his plan into action. He had made Junmyeon and the guys help distract Kyungsoo while he got to work on his surprise. He just hoped that, after all this, Kyungsoo would give him the answer that he wanted.

  Picking up the carving knife and seated in front of the pumpkin, he slowly made his first cut.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

  Kyungsoo was exhausted.

  He had just spent the entire day cooking and cleaning. The floors were swept and mopped, the dishes washed and cleaned, the furniture dusted and wiped. He had ended up taking a nice long shower to try and ease the aches away. Now with his towel hanging around his neck and his hair damp from the shower, Kyungsoo yawned, sure that once his head touched his pillow, he would drift off to Slumberland.

  Feeling sluggish, Kyungsoo glanced at the clock in the living room.

  11.56PM

  Best to turn in early. They all have a busy day ahead of them. And with that, Kyungsoo dragged himself to his and Jongin's shared room.

  What he saw stunned him.

  A pumpkin was sitting on his and Jongin's shared coffee table.

  But not just any old pumpkin.

  The pumpkin was aglow, casting eerie shadows across the room. But what sought out Kyungsoo's attention and captured it were the carvings on the pumpkin.

  On the pumpkin, the words 'I love you' were carved neatly. A lighted candle was placed in the middle of the hollow pumpkin, bringing light to the words. If Kyungsoo decided to dilate his concentration a little, the glowy words of 'I love you' would be the only thing hovering around in the darkness.

  "Like it?" A voice sounded, breath ghosting across his ear. Kyungsoo couldn't help it: he gaped at Jongin in surprise.

  Jongin must have noticed Kyungsoo's shocked face, for he immediately looked down abashedly, and mumbled: "Well, you told me that you liked the idea, so I thought I'd create the whole scene. 'Cept it didn't turn out as well as I envisioned. I wanted to-"

  "I don't like it."

  Jongin's little inpromptu speech stuttered to a halt.

  Oh no.

  Kyungsoo hated it.

  "Look at me Jongin."

  Hesitantly, Jongin looked up into Kyungsoo's aprkly eyes. His breathing hitched when a pair of warn arms encased his waist.

  "I don't like it. I love it."

  Blood instantly rushed to Jongin's ears, making it hard to hear anything else.

  "This is the sweetest thing that anyone has ever done for me. I can't believe you actually carried out what I told you yesterday. Honestly Jongin, after everything, how can I not love it?"

  Jongin exhaled in relief. For a moment he thought he had messed up all his chances with Kyungsoo, creating a possible fire hazard and all.

  He looked down onto Kyungsoo's face, and admired the dancing shadows flickering about on his Hyung's face.

  With that, he slowly leaned down nearer to Kyungsoo's face...

 

  To be continued...