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warcats-cat · 2 years ago

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Pumpkin Seeds and Cherry Syrup

A/N: If people can have Christmas in July, then I can have Halloween in March! I had wanted to post this for Halloween but the time got away from me, and then it just felt too short. But I fleshed the idea out a little so, please enjoy some spoopy family fluff featuring a Human, a Gargoyle, and four puffballs of unknown species.

Once again a gift for my beloved @muppenthings, who's adorable AU's and OC's inspire me and comfort me more than words can say. I love these little nuggets so much <3

Also, as always, please let me know if I need to add any tags! Enjoy!!

Read on Ao3.

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"Virgil…" Roman's voice was hesitant, nervous, "What is this?"

The gargoyle in question had the grace to at least look a little sheepish, as he tried unsuccessfully to hide the large knife he was holding behind his back. Instead of answering, the gargoyle's smile grew more nervous as he said, "You're home early."

Roman continued on to look around in stunned confusion, taking in the house around him. There were spider webs in every possible corner and crevice; plastic bats, both cartoon and realistic, hung haphazardly from the ceiling. The kitchen table was (thankfully) covered in plastic tarp, and on the counter was a line of incredibly detailed jack-o'-lanterns, each dedicated to a different classic horror film. The gargoyle's fangs dripped with cherry syrup blood.

"My brother brought some weed to the party and was trying to start something I didn't want to be around for…" Roman replied, looking around the suddenly spookified house. He dropped the backpack he'd been holding with a soft thud.

Chirping sounded from the kitchen table, and Roman moved a bit to see, sure enough, all four of the little muppets on the table. Seemingly painstakingly separating pumpkin seeds from pumpkin pulp.

All of them in little costumes.

Roman felt a little smile breaking out across his face. "You know, if you wanted to decorate, you could have just asked." Removing his shoes, he finally moved away from the front door to inspect the decorations. There were cartoonish pictures that changed depending on the angle you looked at. The windows were splattered with more cherry syrup. The living room looked like the Pumpkin King himself had thrown up on it.

The Muppets cheerfully greeted the artist, Heart sitting back in his hind legs and wheeking until Roman gave him a little scratch under his chin. The little blue puffball was dressed like a tiny pumpkin himself, right down to a little hat with the pumpkin stem.

Stormy was also fittingly dressed, with miniscule horns and devil wings. He squeaked at Roman with a surprising smile on his face, and then from behind one of the pumpkins pulled a piece of candy corn, cut in half. Roman really hoped Virgil hadn't given the muppet a lot of those…

Sherlock's costume was probably the most fitting: teeny goggles and a white lab coat. He seemed to be leading the group effort of cleaning the pumpkin seeds, but paused obligingly for an ear scratch with a low whistle.

Goldie's costume was by far the most confusing; they also had a little lab coat, but it had been cut down the middle, with a black suit/cape thing sewn to be the other half. They also had a little bowler hat balanced between their feathery antennae, and they peeped with their typical regal air in lieu of letting Roman pet them.

Roman gestured vaguely to the table, looking once more to his gargoyle roommate for help.

Virgil lit up a little more as he pointed to each Muppet in turn, "Obviously, our little phone thief had to be a mad scientist. And happy little buddy was kinda too cute to not dress him up like a pumpkin." He paused, reaching for Stormy, who hissed and snapped a few times before grumpily allowing Virgil to lift him. Virgil looked far too pleased with himself as he said, "devil baby."

Stormy squawked and began to wiggle once more until Virgil released him. With a final attempt at a menacing hiss (which sounded surprisingly similar to an upset kitten), Stormy waddled back to his pumpkin seed cleaning.

"Okay…" Roman watched the angry Muppet chitter to his friends, before a smile broke out on the artist's face. "You know, one of these days Stormy's going to leave something nasty on your head for when you wake up, and you're totally going to deserve it."

Virgil shrugged, still smiling himself. "Eh. He deserves it too." He shrugged, and finally gave Goldie, who had been waiting for their red carpet announcement with surprising patience, a little pat.

"Ok, but explain them to me." Roman asked, looking over the long-furred floof. They were purring under the attention, posing like a glamorous little fashionista in the gargoyle's hands.

"Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde." Virgil replied, looking sheepish. "I was having trouble with a good character for them, but they liked the cape and the little hat." He released Goldie back to the table with the others, who had apparently decided on a break and begun munching on some of the seeds.

"Speaking of," Roman started, taking another look at the extravagant decorations. "Where did you get all of this?"

"That craft store down the street." The gargoyle said simply. Roman let the silence hang for a moment, before prompting again.

"And where did you get the money for all of this?" He eyed Virgil playfully, but also a bit nervous. His budget was tight enough as it is. But Virgil simply shrugged again.

"Well, the store was open but nobody was there! I only grabbed a few things. Nobody followed me or anything." He looked almost proud of himself; almost smug. He knew fully well what he had been doing.

The stone trickster probably waved at the anti theft cameras on the way out, too.

Roman sighed, shaking his head, but he couldn't help the wide grin on his face. "I cannot believe you, but also, I'm not even a little bit surprised," he said. He finished putting his things away while the gargoyle carefully finished cleaning out another pumpkin, dumping the mess into (Roman assumed) the designated area for fresh pumpkin seeds.

Roman took his time walking through the kitchen, inspecting the different jack-o'-lanterns lined up there. It, The Thing, The Shining, The Exorcist, and Saw so far. There was a little bowl of water with various wood carving utensils soaking off vegetable matter in the corner.

"Where did you learn this? These are so cool…" Roman said softly as he took in the fine details.

"Black magic," the gargoyle responded simply with a mischievous smirk; Roman rolled his eyes, but said nothing more as Virgil grabbed a few tools from the bowl and lined up the freshly hollowed pumpkin.

The artist watched in rapt attention as the logo from the original Halloween movie began to take shape, wondering if this was what the gargoyle (or perhaps the muppets) felt when they watched him paint.

After a while, he spoke up again, "So… they know they can't keep all those seeds, right? They'll never finish them all before the seeds go bad…" Virgil only shrugged, taking a long time to carefully carve thin slivers for the light to shine through, as if he was creating shading on a pumpkin.

"You and me are gonna eat some of them too." The gargoyle finally replied.

At that, Roman moved into Virgil's view, raising an eyebrow in lieu of asking out loud. The gargoyle shrugged again.

"I heard you and Re talking about Halloween a week ago, okay? You sounded like you missed being a kid a little bit. So I've got the Bugs cleaning the seeds off, and we'll bake most of 'em for them, but you're gonna show me how to roast a couple cupfulls like you said your mom used to, and we're gonna watch scary movies."

Roman felt his face warm up a little, and he looked away for a moment.

"That's, uh, really nice of you, Virge." He said softly.

The gargoyle grinned again, all sharp teeth and excited eyes. "Don't know what you're talking about; this is an entirely selfish endeavor." Virgil said, but Roman only shook his head. His trickster roommate had really gone all out for this after all.

Roman left the gargoyle to his work, wanting to watch the muppets a while. It looked like Sherlock was leading the efforts, but all four of them were working equally. Sherlock and Goldie were passing the seeds along, inspecting each one as they went. Every once in a while, one would make a high whistle, pull the seed from the pile, and nimbly toss the wet mush over the side of the table, into a bucket that had been placed on the floor.

After the seeds passed inspection, Heart and Stormy would pull them along and carefully clear the gooey pulp away with their tiny paws, scooting the brightly colored mush along a little trail which also went over the edge of the table and into the bucket. It was impressively efficient, and the way the four worked so harmoniously only more strongly reminded Roman of a little family. They chirped and whistled at each other, probably talking as they worked.

"You guys are so talented," Roman said, without thinking. All four stopped for a moment and looked up at him at the interruption, but they didn't look upset. Smiling, and blushing a little, Roman continued in earnest, "Really, it's super cool to watch you work together like this."

Heart lit up immediately, tapping his tiny front feet on the plaster tarp and wheeking again, as if he was a puppy who had done a particularly good job at something. Stormy hid his face under one paw and his little cape, but whistled a few notes as well. Goldie, regal as ever, simply posed and peeped at him with their little nose in the air like a debutante.

Sherlock's was the most adorable reaction, the little blue ball of fluff preened at his words, and Roman could see his feet tapping excitedly as he went back to work; not as big and vibrant as Heart, but clearly glowing with the praise.

Roman made a mental note to tell him he was a good boy more often, because despite being a little thief, Sherlock was very intelligent, and it was obvious the praise was a welcome surprise.

Roman felt a tap on his left shoulder, and immediately fell for the gag, looking left and seeing nothing before finding the gargoyle on his right, grinning like a spoiled cat.

"I took the pumpkins outside. Ready for some movies?" He asked, faux innocent.

"Yeah, whatever," Roman said, lightly punching the Gargoyle's arm and laughing.

The muppets finished cleaning the seeds with surprising speed, and the human and gargoyle spread most of them out on a baking pan to be dried, while about ⅕ of them were tossed into a pan to be roasted with butter and a little salt, and perhaps a few spices that Roman added last minute, to pay homage to his mother's not-so-secret recipes.

They ended up watching more kids-oriented Halloween movies, mostly for the Muppets' benefits, but it was still fun. A long night of Hocus Pocus and Scooby Doo and The Nightmare Before Christmas, among others, which left all four fuzzballs enraptured. Virgil had clearly found a spooky little kindred spirit in Stormy, and the two tricksters (Roman likes to call them Mortal Frenemies) only threw seeds at each other for about thirty minutes. (The muppets, of course, were eating seeds without butter, although Stormy and Sherlock teamed up in the middle of Coco, trying to steal the more savory treat.)

In Roman's mind, it was way better than a party. It was Halloween with his family again; memories of being ten, and falling asleep on the couch with the muppets nestled close together in a warm, purring pile on his stomach.

#warcats writes #muppen floof au #the floofs #sanders sides fanfic #sanders sides #sanders sides au #familial DLAMP #nonbinary Janus Sanders #Patton sanders #Logan sanders #Roman sanders #Virgil sanders #there are two virgils #Halloween Fluff #fluff without plot

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