#AMERICA WHY IS THERE CARAMEL IN YOUR MILKY WAY BARS WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU

[innytoes]

For the nice anon who had a bad week and wanted some more Caleb/Ray/Reggie ABO AU. This snippet has been floating in my brain for weeks so I’m using this as an excuse to write it. Hope your weekend is better!

(Trigger warning for some internalised fatphobia and unhealthy thoughts.)

Halloween was Reggie’s absolute favourite holiday. It always had been. It was about dressing up and candy and running around with your friends, not being forced into a tie or pretending to be the perfect family or your parents shouting because everything costs money. An old sheet and a pair of scissors for two eye-holes and you were ready to go.

When Ray and Caleb learned Halloween was his favourite holiday, they went all out. Ray dragged out all his Halloween decor even though it was still summer, so they could go over what he had and what they could add to it. Caleb made sure to schedule his big show for the afternoon, so he could slip out during the after party for their clients and be home with Ray and Reggie in the evening.

And okay, they did talk Reggie down from going Full Spooky as soon as October 1 came around. Instead, he added a little bit every day. A wreath on the door. Some pumpkins on the table. A spooky lawn flamingo in the yard. Some cute ghost-shaped lights on the mantle. An autumn leaf garland on the banister. 

And if Ray maybe came home one day to find his entire porch railing covered in tiny plastic pumpkins, all evenly spaced out (with exactly enough room for Pockets to sit between them, because she loved to sit on the porch railing and judge passers-by), all he did was laugh and press a kiss to Reggie’s cheek and ask him if he had a productive day.

They didn’t just indulge him in the decor. Caleb surprised them both with a visit to a real life pumpkin patch, and they spent a day picking out Real Pumpkins (Reggie) taking a million pictures (Ray) and drinking apple cider (Caleb). They watched all the scary (and not so scary) Halloween movies Reggie wanted to, since he was usually vetoed at the shelter. And okay, sometimes even Reggie had to hide his face in Ray’s sweater, but hearing Caleb mutter under his breath about what bad choices the characters on screen were making made the whole thing a lot less scary and a lot more fun.

Caleb had also impressed upon him that Reggie was in charge of the candy. He did that a lot, making something sound like it was a job or a favour when it was really something fun. Still, with the extra encouragement, he kind of went all out. Full. Sized. Candy. Bars. Baby! As well as a separate bowl with cool stuff like erasers, fake moustaches, light-up bouncy balls, fake spiders, fidget spinners, and other cool stuff, for the kids with allergies.

And if maybe he grabbed a bunch of bags of the tiny little fun-sized candy bars for them to snack on, well, Caleb said he was in charge of candy.

Except he’d made one big mistake. Since he’d never really done Halloween as an adult before, he hadn’t realised how tempting all that candy in the house would be. Not the stuff for the kids, of course. Reggie was fully committed to not touching those, so they had enough to hand out to ever single kid that came over.

But those bags with the tiny little bite-sized candy bars? They were calling him, okay? So, on October 29th, he may or may not have gotten out a bag. Just to grab a few of his favourites while he was finishing up decorating. So he grabbed a bunch after he finished putting up the fake spiderwebs outside. And he grabbed some when he added the spooky fake candles on the tables. And after he was completely done for the day, with both decorating and laundry and the dishes and prepping for dinner, well, he deserved to sit down and have a treat, okay? And then Pockets came to sit on his lap, so it wasn’t like he could go anywhere or do anything but eat candy, right?

By the time he heard the front door, Caleb chuckling at the skulls he’d added to the wreath, he’d pretty much finished the bag. And there was no way to hide the evidence before Caleb reached the family room. Tiny wrappers were all over the salon table, and gathering them all up together kind of just made it look worse.

“Well now,” Caleb said, surveying the scene. God, there were candy wrappers on the floor as well.

“Um, hi.” He tried to smile as Caleb pressed a kiss to his temple.

“Hello, pet,” Caleb said. “Did you... did you eat almost that entire bag by yourself?” He sounded kind of incredulous.

Reggie flushed. Of course Caleb was shocked. “I’ll run a few extra miles tomorrow,” he defended, shrinking in on himself a little.

Maybe Reggie did let himself get carried away. Paul had always said he ate more than his fair share, that he was greedy, and here Reggie was proving him right.

The shelter had always warned that they should do their best to look good, so they’d be picked sooner. They’d always grimaced a little when they said it in front of Reggie, because no amount of deep conditioner and squats was going to hide the massive scar on his face. But still, Reggie knew that Caleb and Ray had picked him, at least in part, because of how he looked. They both took really good care of themselves, and here Reggie was, eating an entire bag of candy in one go.

Caleb looked at him, surprised and a little upset. “Kitten, I’m not concerned about your waistline, I’m concerned about you getting a stomach ache,” he soothed.

Oh.

“And a little bit about you throwing up chocolate on my priceless antique rug,” he said, nodding at the floor. Reggie giggled.

“I promise I won’t get sick on your rug,” he said, leaning into a hug when Caleb offered, tucking his head under Caleb’s chin.

“You know that you’re allowed to eat whatever you want, right?” Caleb asked, rubbing his back gently. Reggie nodded. He did know that. Of course he did. It was just that sometimes the stuff Paul said, or worse, the stuff they drilled into all the Omegas at the shelter, got the better of him. “And that we love you no matter what?”

Reggie took a breath. That one was still a little hard to remember sometimes, on his bad days, or when panic set in. Still, he didn’t want to make Caleb sad, so he nodded again.

Caleb hummed, and they sat there for a moment, just curled up together. Then, Caleb pulled away. “Are there any tootsie rolls left in that bag?”