“So, whatcha wanna do for Halloween? The usual dumb horror movies and ungodly amounts of candy?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, sure.” June replied. It was another Saturday; June was pouring herself a glass of orange juice while Jack sat on floor next to the coffee table, which had that weekend’s homework sprawled across it.

It was a peaceful afternoon. The chilly wind quietly blew through the beautiful red maples and golden aspens, yet the sunlight which shone through the window warmed the living room comfortably. With this quiet warmth, Jack could feel his eyes starting to droop.

The ‘guest’ room’s door slammed open, startling Jack and June. Out marched Ciel.

“Did you guys say... Halloween!?!?” he asked intensely.

“Jeeesus! Could you be a little louder next time?” June rubbed her forehead before properly responding. “Yeah, we did, what about it?”

“Halloween... ... ... Can I celebrate it with you guys? Can I, Can I?” Ciel’s eyes sparkled unlike June nor Jack had ever seen before. “I’ve never gotten to celebrate Halloween before!!! It’s always been just a thing morta- I mean, commoners- do! My family is so boring!!! Come on, come on, can’t I?”

“Uh... sure?”

“Yes, yes, yes!!! Ok, ok, ok, so we need costumes, candy, decorations... a squash to carve...”

“You mean pumpkin?” Jack suggested.

“Pumpkin is squash isn’t it?”

“But not all squashes are pumpkins...”

“Huh? Well, we’ll need some of those...” And on and on Ciel went.

“I don’t care how rich you are, how can you have never celebrated Halloween...” Jack muttered to June. She awkwardly laughed it off.

Mid Ciel’s rambling, the door opened and Simon casually stepped in.

“Hey-! You can’t just walk in here like you live here!” June scolded.

“? The door was open, so I thought it was fine.”

“Oh, hey Simon!” Jack waved. “Whatcha doing here?”

“Heard you guys were talking about Halloween because Ciel shouted it... so... can I join?” Simon asked. Jack was a bit surprised by this; Simon came across as reserved or even a little shy, and even now he was largely monotone, but the request was strangely adorable regardless.

“Yeah, of course!” Jack answered.

“WHAT!? HIM!?” Ciel stopped talking to himself, finally realizing Simon was in the room. “No wa-”

June shoved Ciel’s back. “Didn’t you just learn a lesson on this...?”

“Well- he- just because I- doesn’t mean I wanna be around him!”

“You don’t have to be so rude about it! You’re treating him like a disease...” Jack said.

“I don’t wanna go trick or treating with him!”

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“...were we going trick or treating?”

“Not with him, anyway,” Simon said.

June turned around, her eyes closed. What a childish fight...

She turned back around. “Ok, Ciel, I don’t think it’d be very fair to exclude Simon like this, considering he’s just like you isn’t he? He hasn’t celebrated Halloween ever either, this might be his only chance.” She then leaned closer to Ciel and lowered her voice a bit, “Remember that whole thing with, you know... consideration and humility?”

Ciel grumbled and looked away. “Yeah, yeah... well! I... Graghrgh, I’ll tolerate his presence I guess.”

“Good!” June said cheerfully, placing a hand on Ciel’s shoulder. She returned her gaze to the rest of the group. “Guess we’re having a big Halloween party in two weeks!” With her hand on Ciel’s shoulder, it felt vaguely threatening.

↼⇁

After school that Monday, the four of them gathered for a grand adventure to their local retail store... Doormart.

“There’s a lot of... stuff.” Simon said, picking up a random empty flower pot. The flower pots sat directly next to a shelf of manga, for some reason.

“Yeah! That’s how stores are!” Jack replied.

“We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get going-” June started, before Ciel grabbed her hand suddenly.

“COSTUMES!” Ciel shouted like a battle cry, suddenly dragging June off in some random direction blindly.

“... Ok! Guess that leaves you and me to get some decorations!” Jack smiled at Simon. Simon nodded, grabbing a nearby cart to push.

As they strolled through the aisles, Jack couldn’t help but wonder just what Simon’s deal was. Like, how’d he move into the apartment just across from June so fast? How come he hasn’t celebrated Halloween either? And why’d he live alone?

“Hey, I’ve been wondering... where are your parents? Like, why do you live alone?”

“They’re busy.”

“Doing what?”

“Work. My father must emerge each night and battle the fiends of the darkness, and my mother’s in the sea.”

Wow! Jack thought. So his dad’s police officer who works nightshift and his mom is a fisherman?

“Those are interesting jobs!” Jack said. “My parents are both just dentists.”

“Dentists... they’re those who get paid to pull teeth, right?”

“Ahahah... well that and all sorts of other stuff...” Does he not know what a dentist is?

They both stopped before a giant display filled to the brim with pumpkins, all in varying shapes and sizes. Simon thoroughly examined them, checking each one’s size, weight, and color against the other. Jack watched him for what must’ve been 10 minutes of meticulous scrutiny when at last, he seemed to find one he was satisfied with, and set it in the cart. It was easily the largest and most evenly shaped pumpkin of them all.

“I found the most powerful one. Let’s go.”

“The most powerful??” Jack laughed. “Sure, we need more though- we need one for each person!”

“...” Simon went back and started his process again. With many minutes of careful thought, he set down the last three in the cart. “There. Each one should match the personality of each person.”

“Who’s that for?” Jack pointed down at the tall, misshapen, skinniest pumpkin.

“Ciel. It suits his demeanor best, I felt.”

Jack laughed lightly, shaking his head. “Hey, I’m just wondering... how come you’ve never celebrated Halloween before?”

“We don’t really do that. It’s a mortal thing.”

“M-mortal?” Right... Jack thought. It made sense that if Simon knew Ciel from childhood, he too was probably from some rich family... Still, saying ‘mortal’ like that is... weird. Is this new rich person slang??

“Well, anyway! We should probably go find the others!” Jack said with forced nonchalance.

Simon nodded. “That would be best.”

Together, with Jack’s guidance and Simon’s surprising sense of direction in this mess of a store, they made their way over to the Halloween costumes which were right between the pharmaceutical supplies and the meats.

Jack scanned the area. “Wait.. where are they?”