TickleTober2023/Day 11 - Pumpkin
Psycho-Pass - Kei x Arata
Tightening his grip around the knife, Arata continued to cut through the hard surface. Moving his blade around, the hole he first made on the pumpkin was finally getting a more friendly and round shape. With one last cut, Arata placed the pumpkin back on the table, checking his work out.
“Sigh, this is harder than I thought,” the inspector complained lightheartedly, smiling back at the recently-carved pumpkin. Arata’s work made it look… not so scary, truth to me told. It was actually a little goofy: round and happy eyes accompanied by a wide smile. But he liked it, nonetheless.
Placing the knife he used back on top of the counter, the inspector looked to his side, determined to check how his friend was doing. “What about you, Kei? How is it going… for… you…”
Arata could barely finish his sentence as his jaw nearly dropped in awe. He was faced by a pumpkin grinning evilly with sharp teeth and narrowed, scary eyes that seemed to look right through him. Kei, spinning the knife in his hand, wore a smug look on his face. “I’m a little out of practice, but I think I did a pretty good job.”
The inspector glanced over Arata’s work, not able to hold back a short giggle that escaped his lips. “Your is.. pfft, nice too.”
“Don’t laugh!” Arata barked, wrapping his arms around his pumpkin as if to protect it.
“I’m not laughing, I mean it. It’s… friendly, like you,” he teased, still managing to look at some of the faces carved into the pumpkin. Maybe making sharp edges was a little too difficult for his partner, he thought. “Come on, let me see it. We still need to find the candles to make the lanterns.”
“No,” Arata muttered, turning his head to the side, “you’ll make fun of it again.”
“What are you, five?” Kei chuckled, crossing his arms. “It was your idea to carve pumpkins for the decorations, no?”
The inspector said proudly, patting the top of the vegetable as if his words somehow hurt its feelings. “I’ll make another one.”
“We don’t have more pumpkins, Arata,” Kei sighed, looking over his shoulder to see a couple of failed attempts. “I can help you adjust it if you want… if that’s even possible,” he almost whispered the last part, trying to reach out of Arata’s pumpkin, just to see the younger inspector take it out of his reach, turning his back to him.
“No,” the brunette said, humphing proudly. Kei snickered at his colleague's attitude, but wouldn’t let him slide off like that. “Well, you asked for this.”
It was almost too easy. With his arms wrapped around the pumpkin, Kei could easily claw at the inspector’s sides, wiggling his fingers up his ribs and almost into his underarms. It took Arata just a couple of seconds to burst into a fit of loud laughter, squirming into his seat as he tried to not fall out of it and, at the same time, keep the vegetable safe in his arms.
“KehEHEi!! AhaHAha, n-not fahahair!” He protested, kicking his feet in the air as he felt his partner tickling over his ribs. “S-stohop tihihickling me!”
“You want to act like a child, then I’m treating you like one,” Kei playfully scolded him, digging a little harder with one hand while he tried to pry Arata’s hands off the pumpkin with the other. “Let go and I’ll stop.”
“NohOHoh, yohohou’ll m-make fuhuhun of mehEHEhe- ah! H-hey, give it back!” Arata cried out, quickly turning around to try to recover his goofy work-of-art.
Now able to get a better look at the way Arata carved it, Kei held it in the air, tilting his head as he judged the other inspector’s work. “Come on, it’s not that bad,” he smiled, ruffling the brunette’s hair. “Maya is waiting for us, let’s go finish the decoration.”
“U-ugh, fine,” he muttered, picking up the pumpkin Kei had carved and following his partner. He was right, after all, these were just the decorations and there was still a whole party to prepare.
A/N: I'm still a bit unsure about how this one turns out - just like Arata with his silly pumpkin - but I'm not stepping back heh
Hope you guys enjoyed it and see you tomorrow ~