Chapter Text
All Hallows' Eve, Devil's Night, Halloween. Doesn't matter what it was called, Ricky hated this night every year that it came around. Even as a fan of all things spooky and creepy, the small man despised seeing trick-or-treaters and people in costumes hopping from house to house, or in his case, bar to bar.
Ricky wasn't sure when it happened, his dislike for Halloween or any holiday honestly. There was a general start, which was the night his parents kicked him out of their home Halloween night when he was fifteen. Things went down hill from there, a series of unfortunate events that led him to today. Here he was on Halloween night where he worked behind the bar and his shitty coworkers called out to go to a party some other coworkers hadn't even bothered to invite him to. Made it pretty clear to him where he stood with the assholes. Especially since he was working the entire bar on his own on one of the busiest fucking nights. Not that he truly wanted to be at a Halloween party, but it reminded Ricky that he didn't have anyone that particularly gave much of a shit about him.
Growing up, his life wasn't exactly the best, his family definitely made him out to be the black sheep by excluding him in most things. They didn't particularly appreciate when he would apparently try to be included with his odd tastes in the paranormal and certain curiosities about spirits. That part of his life followed him into adulthood when Ricky moved into his shitty apartment in the heart of Seattle and he got his shitty job working at the dive bar he called his source of income. Didn't know any of his neighbors, barely knew his coworkers, and Ricky kind of preferred it that way with the shit he'd had to put up with for most of his life. Every day was the same; wake up, make the best pot of coffee he could with his cheap coffee maker, get dressed and start his journey across town to the bar to work the night away. And maybe he'd had the occasional hookup here and there when he was feeling particularly lonely and self-loathing, but other than that, Ricky would go home alone every night.
By the time 3 AM rolled around and the bar was finally closed, Ricky had finally managed to clean up the dried, sticky remains of four beers and three mixed drinks because apparently it wasn't clear that he was the only fucking employee in sight and the crowd had gotten rowdy. The little bartender locked up, leaving the real cleaning for the other assholes in the morning. He was probably going to get fired for leaving the bar a mess but Ricky didn't fucking care. He was tired, starving, and just wanted a shower before eating a sad bologna sandwich and falling asleep on the mattress in his shitty apartment.
He was almost home, so fucking close, he could see the steps up to the crappy complex when he was shoved up against a wall with a knife to his throat to be searched for his wallet and phone, both of which he forgot at home, so that was nice. What was not so nice was the fist to the gut for his troubles before the dickhead mugging him ran off. Ricky slid to the ground coughing and gagging from the pain in his stomach, trying his best not to puke.
--
His time had finally come round, the Pumpkin Lord riding through the streets of the human world with a wide grin on his pumpkin head and the smokey tails of his ghostly garb trailed behind him as his steed whinnied and trotted down the street. His tricks and treats to the humans had given him that same spark it often did every year on Halloween, the holiday’s herald scanning the emptying street until he spotted a man wearing a hood running from an alley looking rushed and angry. Christopher steered his horse towards the alley and heard a pained sound as soon as he got near enough, the spooky spirit jumping from atop Ichabod’s back and walking in the direction of the sound. He saw a human doubled over in the alley and thought to himself that this human could be perfect to bring home to the others, seeing so much of his life flash by as soon as he touched the little thing’s shoulder.
Disobedience at its finest, defying all expectations of himself to be true to himself. A harsh life indeed that showed Chris how much the little human seemed so alone in this world where chaos reigned if you didn't have people to support you. “Oh you’re a wild one, aren’t you?” the Pumpkin Lord grinned under his gourd head, easily picking up the human and hoisting him up over his shoulder. “You’ll be just fine with me then,” he mused, floating himself up and onto Ichabod again before slicing open a portal to return back to his realm.
"Oh, come on man I just wanna go home," Ricky wheezed as he was so easily lifted and tossed over a strong shoulder. That made his stomach churn again, and he closed his mouth to hopefully keep himself from emptying the contents of it. His luck being what it was, of course he'd be the one to be kidnapped on Halloween after being fucking mugged. When the tall stranger in the very elaborate costume didn't release Ricky, he started squirming and kicking his legs, trying to get himself free of the hold on him to get away, but then the two of them were stepping through the swirling purple and blue wispy portal and everything got really fucking screwy. His head started pounding with the worst pain he had ever felt, and Ricky felt dizz which...really didn't help the nausea and the next thing he knew, he was puking down the stranger's back and onto his poor horse.
As soon as Chris felt the wriggling around and the kicking, he knew that it wouldn’t end well, but he was already in the portal. And of course as they crossed through to the other side, he felt and heard the human empty the contents of his stomach down his back and onto poor Ichabod’s behind, the horse neighing angrily that prompted the Halloween spirit to pat his neck to calm him. “Shhh..easy, Ichabod. He's a human, you know they can’t handle interdimensional travel...” he cooed to the horse, brushing his deep black mane sweetly before he hopped gracefully down off his back, bringing the tiny human down with him to sit him down on top of a nearby cracked headstone. “Seriously, you’d think you guys would’ve had it yourselves by now with all your technology and such,” Chris mocked with air quotes, a wave of his hand and Ichabod’s coat as well as his own cloak being cleaned in the blink of an eye.
“Now, what did you do to earn yourself that nauseated stomach ache, hm? Bet it was that little rascal running from that alley way..” Chris spoke with a playful lilt to his voice, tapping a boney finger against his pumpkin head’s chin, or...lack there of anyway. “All Hallows' Eve used to be a quiet affair where children would throw flour at adults and yell “I hate you” thinking that they did something. Now you’ve got thieves and criminals running amok in the shadow of night," the large flaming gourd shook from side to side as a soft sigh left the Halloween incarnate in front of Ricky, "terrible really." With a scowl so fierce, the human looked to Chris and gave an annoyed grimace that had even him raising a curious brow to the courageousness of it while faced with a powerful paranormal being.
"If you don't shut the fuck up and take me home, I swear to God I will puke on you again," Ricky warned, but the threat was very real. His head had never hurt this bad before and the mortal had to bring his hands up to clutch it, hoping it would help though it only seemed to make it worse, tears springing rather unbidden to his eyes. This was worse than his worst hang over, and he's had many of those with as much as he'd gone home from the bar to just drink and try his hand at his failed writing.
“Funny, your little human body doesn’t have anything left to puke up. Trust me, I can feel it,” he put a hand out and touched the little whining human’s forehead, trying with all the power he had left from Halloween night to help ease the headache that was surely causing him the pain.
"You have clearly never thrown up stomach acid," Ricky muttered a reply when he jerked back from the touch only for it to follow him to heal his headache.
“It should be a bit better, no promises. I swear, humans used to be so much more resilient, but then again..times have changed so much,” Chris muttered, standing up straight again to stretch his ghoulish form before he realized he should probably change his form. “Ah..almost forgot..”
Chris finally pulled the large gourd off his head, his ghostly figure becoming less like the disguise he wore when leaving his realm and more like the truer form he was underneath. He reached a hand up to brush his longs, dark locks back from his face and his garb changed into that of his favorite time period, a leather jacket, adorned with buttons and pins all over, and his jeans significantly ripped right where he wanted them to be.
A moment later, Ricky's head did feel a little better. It wasn't great, but it was better than him wanting to bash it open with a rock to stop the throbbing. The mortal nearly did a double take as the pumpkin head came off and underneath was certifiably the hottest guy he had ever seen. Someone he wouldn't have second thoughts about hooking up with if he hadn't just been snatched off the street. And he had the audacity to sass him? While the guy was insanely hot, Ricky was in no mood to even consider getting laid.
"Who the fuck are you? What is all this humans shit and talking like you've been round for decades?" Ricky barked with an edge of snippiness, "and where do you get off fucking kidnapping me?" The genuine audacity of this stranger. Who did that? Who just tossed guys over their shoulder and rose off on their fucking horse to God knows where...."Wait, where am I?"
While the tiny mortal was having his..breakdown, the pumpkin Lord smirked and leaned back against Ichabod's solid form behind him. “Let me just start with something simple. Christopher, everyone calls me Chris in your Earth realm, and I just so happen to be the Herald of this Land," Chris crossed his arms and tilted his head curiously at Ricky's other question. “You ask an awful lot of questions for someone that just puked up all their stomach contents. Figured you'd be too sick or afraid to say anything else." Narrowing his eyes at Chris, Ricky scoffed incredulously at the tall "being". "Well Christopher, where is this land you reside in?" His tone very much mocking as he began to look around and take in his surroundings. The human didn't recognize a single thing in the practically gothic landscape and he could feel fear seize his heart. If he'd ever felt scared of new surroundings in his life, this took the cake for new and unknown pretty much to an unreachable level for anywhere to ever beat in the future...if he could have a future after this. Ever stubborn though, he pushed it down and turned a particularly withering glare towards the recently introduced Chris.
Well, he’s not so nice at all.. The spirit thought to himself before moving to stand tall at full height and towering over the human, Chris felt annoyance filling him at being spoken to so rudely when this little thing was not fully aware of his status. The clouds above rumbled and got darker with his anger, a few nearby crows flying scared away from his rush of power as he frowned down at the mortal. “You’re in my realm now. The realm of all things mad and unsightly, a realm of monsters and creatures you’ve only seen in your nightmares. This place is haunted, and you humans in the Earth realm couldn’t even fathom the things that hide in the deepest, darkest crevices here.” He stepped forward to crowd the other against a mausoleum that resided behind him, the tomb shaking and the groaning of souls trapped inside could be heard.
“I am the Harbinger of souls, the Herald of All Hallows’ Eve, the Pumpkin Lord and the Unholy Ghost of Crane’s Delirium, so I would ask that you treat me with respect..” Chris’s voice growled out, his form becoming half changed between what he was now and the deathly wisp he was before, his eyes glowing like the inside of his jack o’ lantern when atop Ichabod’s back.
Today was definitely not the day and this "lord" was about to find out. The show being put on was definitely impressive and if Ricky weren't so tired, hungry, sticky, and down right furious he would have absolutely been intimidated. But after everything tonight, he was lit up and ready for a fight. It wasn't like this was the first time some tall ass dickhead tried to scare him into doing what he wanted.
Now with his back against the mausoleum and the grim looking pumpkin lord before him, Ricky scowled and reached up. His fist curled in the taller's choice of clothing and yanked him down to eye level where his spit fire spirit shown through in his own heated gaze. "Now listen here asshole. I have had drinks thrown at me, I'm fucking starving, there was an attempted mugging on me. I've been on my feet for the last thirteen fuckin hours without a lunch and I have been up since the ass crack of dawn," he ranted, staring down the terrifying man before him as if he were an angry chihuahua. "You come along and kidnap me when I am this close to getting home, food, a shower and sleep. You don't get to demand shit from me. Got it?" Immediately, Chris’s form receded back to his more human form again, shocked by the amount of fight back he was getting, and he even leaned himself away as much as possible from the feisty little mortal. “Understood. Although, I wouldn’t call it kidnapping per se, more like..freeing you from a shit world that didn’t care about you..” he muttered, hand coming up to grab the smaller one curled around the fabric of his jacket with wide eyes focused on Ricky's angry eyes, “a world that chewed you up and spit you back out like it didn’t have the taste for you. We are not like that here. We may be deathly, ghostly ghouls, but it’s nothing like the human realm.”
Chris backed himself away from the mortal, adjusting his attire and fixing his hair back that had fallen out of place. “You’ll find shelter, food and a shower for you where I reside. It’s not much, but it’s what I can offer after the inconvenience.”
"You can call it what ever you want but you took me with out my consent. That kidnapping," Ricky explained, feeling like he had the upper hand now that he seemed to have thrown the taller off his groove.
He didn't quite like how Chris was speaking of his home, even if he was right. It was still his home and it may have ground him under its boot, but he had survived it on his own. And as much as he wanted to fire insults back, because let's be real, the Lord's words were definitely insults, the offer of food, a shower, and sleep stayed his tongue for the time being on that front. "And that food better not be a bologna sandwich. I deserve some real food after this ordeal you've put me through," Ricky uttered, mostly under his breath. The mortal wasn't dumb enough to try and run off to find a way home, it had been clear pretty early on that there wouldn't be a way for him to get home on his own. Also, now that his anger had been placated, he was actually kind of scared of what could be out here in this dangerous, grim world.
The harbinger of souls frowned again, this time more of a pout as he watched the human resign himself to accepting his offer out of necessity for his own preservation. Right...humans. Such fragile and easily offended creatures. This is why he limited himself to arriving in their realm once a year, and even then, they were awful. “Right. Bologna. Disgusting..” the Lord muttered, following behind the little bartender as he stepped around the Pumpkin Lord and up to the pitch black horse. Chris was stopping soon after however as he saw him raise a peppermint up to Ichabod’s mouth. "Sorry for the puke buddy," he heard Ricky murmur to the animal, refusing to apologize to Chris because that was definitely his own fault, Ichabod was merely just escorting them through the portal to Crane's Delirium. It was a shock to say the least, but of course the damned equine had a sweet tooth and accepted it right away, whinnying happily and flicking his tail before lowering his front half down to help the small human in getting on his back. This prompted Chris to stare in confusion at the interaction because the immortal horse was not usually quick to take so easily to strangers. He scoffed with his brows furrowing softly, watching with focused eyes as Ricky smiled and cooed at the big, scary creature in front of him. The little human looked positively delighted that the massive horse lowered to help him up and before he even attempted to climb, Ricky scratched up under his big jaw. "Aww thanks big guy," he cooed, "I'm not gonna be very graceful getting on but I'll get on as carefully as I can." True to his word, Ricky was not very graceful at all, but he did his best to get on without pulling his mane, murmuring apologies as he settled.
“Traitor..” he whispered under his breath, irked that his horse had accepted the human so quickly, but he did find it endearing that…wait. He hadn’t even gotten the mortal’s name. “Can we be civil enough to get your name at the very least? I’ve given you mine.”
The question from the Pumpkin Lord made Ricky sigh. It was only fair after all, but he knew better than to give information for free. "Only if you tell me this handsome fellow's name first," the mortal murmured, cooing the words "handsome fellow" as he offered more scritches.
The way the human cooed softly to his horse did admittedly have his heart fluttering a bit, but he shook off the feeling and stepped up to Ichabod’s side to grab onto the harness he wore just to calmly pet him himself. Chris did find an interest in how well his horse was being treated, but also suspicious because the damned creature didn’t exactly like everyone. “..Ichabod. Indeed that Ichabod you just thought of. The man in the “fabled” stories was named after my steed and my world,” his hand brushed lovingly over the horse’s neck, his head moving to nudge Chris in his own affectionate way. “Washington Irving was an..interesting man to say the least. Kind fellow really..” he smiled, patting Ichabod’s neck before moving to climb up behind the human on his back, “had an imagination for stretching the truth though.”
There wasn't much room for Ricky to squirm away when Chris climbed up behind him and he felt a broad chest against his back, making him blush a brilliant red. He was only half listening to the history lesson being given as he really tried not to think about how touch starved he was. "Ricky," the human blurted. "My name is Ricky."