Happy Halloween, Baby

SUMMARY:

Best selling author, Chan doesn't shame Mer-Felix for his "disturbing" feeding habits. Cuter than it sounds.

31 Days of Halloween (Stray Kids): October 2023

Story Thirteen:

Happy Halloween, Baby

So, how does it feel to be a best-selling author," an interviewer asked.
Chan hadn't done a Book Signing in nearly two years. He liked his fans, but not such interview questions. It felt so... uninterested, all for the sake of a story. He smiled. "I think it feels about the same as not being one. It is a nice title though. I didn't aim for it, so it doesn't really affect anything or make it... seem different?" He shrugged.
She wrote it down. Uninterested.
He ignored it and looked around. A few Ghouls (his fanbase) were dressed as characters from his book series: Mer-Murder Husbands Series (One husband is Mer, obviously, with sharp teeth, and the other, a serial killing human.).
He'd been asked where he'd come up with the idea. Well...

Felix broke the surface of the lake behind their yard. His Mer tail sparkled metallic green and orange under the high sun. They owned the land so he was safe here as he dried it with an extra-extra-large, floofy towel. A little yawn left him and he closed his eyes, tipping his head towards the sun.
The towel lost the secure wrap as his tail became legs. Chan would be home in a few hours and he wanted to cook him supper. The net he'd used to catch fish had been tied to a rock as he'd dried.
He pulled it up and grinned a mouth full of sharp teeth at the sight of them. Ten, this time. "Cook some," he said in his gremlin voice. "Hunt and eat some."

Chan parked the truck and locked it. Their cabin had been built by, mostly his own two hands. Felix had contributed things like driftwood for decorations or pearls for money towards the build.
He smelled seared fish and instead of going through the front door, he went around back. Their deck was built over a self-sustaining pool. Four pieces of fish had been cooked and another was suspended above the grill. "Are you trying to dry it out?"
Felix popped his head out of the pool. He was most likely . They usually bathed in the pool, so nothing new there. "I considered nothing new there. "I considered putting them in the tank and..."
He grinned. "Hunting them?"
"Yeah. Then I realized the tank needs to be cleaned and I just didn't feel like it."
"I'll clean it soon. The guys are coming over in a week. We'll do it then. It'll be easier with more people."
"Okay. Thank you, Chris." He grinned his sharp teethed grin.
"You are not kissing me with those."
He pouted and retracted them.
"Show me."
He showed him his normal human teeth, which were still pretty sharp - but passed as human. So that was a plus. "Now you get kissies."
Felix pulled himself, tail and all, out of the pool like it was nothing. The force slapped water towards the stove just a little. It sizzled as droplets hit the coals. "Oops."

"So, how was the Book Signing," Felix asked. They'd eaten and he was in the pool, floating on his back.
"A little different. More reporters wanting their next story."
He floated upright and only his head was out. "Afraid they'll learn we're murder husbands?"
"We're not-"
"I literally slash fish for fun."
"You... okay, slash them, but you also eat them. They're not people."
"You think it's hot."
"I think you're hot and I'm not going to shame you for enjoying hunting your food."
He gave a gremlin laugh. "Do you know how many friends I've lost and... not made because of that?"
Chan got on his belly and said, "I don't care. ."
Felix laughed. "I love you." He pulled himself up and kissed him.

"Am I doing this right?" Heongin turned his pumpkin around. "I've never used one of the carving kits. I usually just use a knife, but this actually has a blueprint."
"A crappy blueprint," Seungmin said. "Mine disintegrated."
"There's more than one."
"I don't care. It's not worth my time. I'll just wing it."
Chan snorted. He was on the inside of the gigantic tank. It'd taken longer than he'd planned. Like months longer. The whole book tour thing had taken it out of him. So many places, so many people. He was giving the whole self-publishing route some serious thought.

Felix had gone on a weekend swim while Chan had some writing time. He was "onto a new idea". They'd had a discussion about whether he was getting bored with the Mer-Murder Husband series. Apparently, he wasn't and had some hot, steamy one-shot ideas. He felt tingles at the memory of the conversation.
He surfaced at night. A full moon lit the camp. In the past, he'd have just sat on the edge of an embankment and listened to the nightlife. Chan had taught him to enjoy a good campfire though, so he'd set up the bare minimum: A little fire, pop-up tent, sleeping bag, food, water, and tea kettle for tea. The kettle was collapsible, so it counted.
Oh, and he couldn't forget the hammock, the one with the mosquito net made in.
One of the good things about sleeping on land was the fact that he didn't float away- and in a hammock... he got to be suspended off the ground from any potential danger. He may have set the hammock up "in" two trees.

Chan hated airports. Felix greeted him at the end of the terminal with a grin and a hug.
"The guys finished the Halloween decorations," he said, handing him a pumpkin latte. "Try it. It's supposed to be yummy."
"You haven't tried it yet?"
"Ew, no."
He laughed. "You didn't try it, but you want me to?"
"But Channie I want to know what it tastes like first."
He taste-tested it. "Not bad. Tastes like pumpkin, kind of cinnaminnie. Yeah. Not bad." He held the cup towards him.
"Gross. Doesn't really seem like my taste. I'm good."
"Why you little-"

His home office had been decorated for Halloween. Nothing spooky. Just Autumn Vibes with a few Ghostie figurines, and a witches broom over the door (that didn't smell like candy cinnamon, but cooking cinnamon. It made Chan hungry.
"I can't believe all you can think about is food while we're making out," Felix said. He was currently under him on the couch, with his legs around his waist.
"I didn't eat much after the flight." He kissed him again. "How about I go get some food and we can eat in the guest house?"
Felix pouted. "My tank isn't clean yet, remember? You ran out of cleaner and I don't know how to order it. And the guys have been busy, so they couldn't help even if I could."
"I know. I'm sorry. I did get you a surprise though." He'd left the room and called out to be heard.
Felix went to the guesthouse, dragging his feet. When Chan got there he had a bag that you held cold things in. As soon as he opened it the scent of live fish permeated the room. "Channie?"
"Guess?"
Did you-"
"I did. The tank's been clean. I've been waiting to get home. Waiting for Halloween."
He let his teeth lengthen. "You want to record it?"
"Yeah, I can add it to the slash chapter." He kept a visual journal that he used to become inspired to write and the slash chapter was chapter thirteen.
"I love you so much."
Chan recorded Felix's teeth and claws coming out, his tail moving in the water, and the water going bloody as he slashed and ate fresh fish in his clean tank.
After, Felix popped just his head out of the giant bloody tank and said, "Happy Halloween, Baby."