Scary Stories to Tell to the Dork (Oneshot)

	Late October in Faraway. It's a little less than a week before Halloween. The streets are decorated with the wandering leaves that have fallen from the trees in the area, barren to warn of the upcoming winter. Though the season of decorated houses and horror movies is here, Basil celebrates it in a different way. He toils in his garden, having dedicated a section of it to a harvest that has finally matured. The pumpkin seeds he planted in late July have finally matured, and are ready to be collected. Though he could never be entirely certain how many a single seed would end up yielding, he took special care to plant enough so he could provide one for each of his friends.

	Friends.. Basil thinks to himself. Another holiday without his best friend. It can't help but hurt him a little that Sunny won't be here, especially after everything that happened.. Still.. Things are better than they used to be. He's been able to focus on school, and the people there who used to give him trouble have quickly learned that Aubrey isn't going to let them treat him badly anymore. Aubrey and her gang have actually warmed up to him being around, and they've all apologized and seem to feel pretty bad for bullying him. Basil thinks so, anyway, it's hard to tell what's going through THE MAVERICK's head at any given time..

	It's getting late, around 6:15 PM. The sun's been going down faster and faster every day. Basil decides to hurry. He collects a few pumpkins and takes them inside his home. Polly is still here, standing in front of the oven. She seems to be preparing dinner, she briefly glances away from the pan resting on top of the oven.

"Oh, those are finally ready? I'm surprised they ended up so big!"

	Basil steps into the kitchen, gently setting them on the counter near the sink and begins to wash the dirt off of them. "Yeah! Honestly, a little bigger than I thought they'd be. It's tough to carry more than two at a time. I was gonna clean them off and deliver a few tonight, actually.."

"Well.. As long as you don't stay out too late. I'll just leave your food out, hopefully it doesn't end up too cold."

	The sink turns off as Basil uses a cloth to dry off the fruit. After that, he finds a pair of plastic bags to place them in so he has an easier time carrying them around. "I'll eat it either way, so it's not that big of a deal. Anyway, I'll be back!" he leaves almost as quickly as he arrived. With a bag in each hand, he steps out of his yard and leans down the sidewalk to decide where he should go first..

	His eyes are immediately drawn to the very bright lights and fog machine that is rolling a few houses down. That's Angel's house.. They always seem to go overboard when Halloween comes around, plus, there's really weird and abstract paintings in the yard. That's probably the closest one to him, but.. Angel always did warn him to never come to his house without 'backup.' With how dark it's getting, too.. Maybe it's best to wait until tomorrow. He decides to turn around and cross the street.

	There's Aubrey's house.. There's no decorations, but the place could pass as haunted. The windows are dark, the paint is peeling. Now that he thinks about it, he's never even been inside. He approaches and knocks. Time passes, but there is no answer. Basil tries again, still to no avail. That's strange.. Maybe she's out late? Deciding against testing his luck, he just sets the bag down by the doorstep. She'll see it and know who gave it to her, and surely nobody would go out of their way to steal a pumpkin..

	Cautiously, he steps away from the decaying home, not taking his eyes off it in the chance that something inside is watching him and gets to a safe distance. He stops to think for a moment about who he should give this other pumpkin to. It is the weekend.. That means Kim and Vance should be staying with their Dad, and that's probably the other closest house to him. It probably wouldn't be a big issue if he showed up at this hour. Vance and his dad always struck Basil as pretty reasonable people, and, well, Kim.. Kim's odd. She did end up apologizing for how she used to treat him, and it seemed pretty genuine! But, still, unlike the rest of them, she keeps giving him a hard time and teases him pretty often. He's pretty sure she ultimately means well, but he's not used to dealing with someone so prickly.

	He passes by the other two houses and arrives at the small blue roofed house next to the church. The lights still seem to be on, so that's a good sign. Basil knocks. There's a sound of a brief commotion before the door swings open, revealing Vance's large frame, he seems to be chewing on something, possibly gum.

"Oh. Yo."

	A loud yapping emits from further back behind him. "Who is it?!"

"Basil."

"The heck is he doing here?!"

"I dunno. He's holding something. What'cha got?"

"Er, well.." Basil hefts the bag up so it's a bit less obscured in the darkness. "I grew pumpkins for everyone! I was hoping maybe you and Kim would want to decorate it, and, uh, I want to see what people end up making with them."

"Huh.." Vance takes the bag and fishes the pumpkin out, giving it a few pats. "You grew this? That's pretty cool of you, man. Can't say either of us have ever carved one of these, but it might be fun to try." He tucks it back inside and steps away to take it indoors. Kim was standing almost directly behind him.

"Oy, Flowerboy!" She flashes her teeth in a smile, but it still ends up being strangely intimidating. "You just reminded me with this pumpkin carvin' stuff.. I need to go out to shop. Wanna come with?"

"O-oh, uh.. I told Polly I wouldn't be gone for very long--" Kim interrupts him. "C'mon! It's Saturday night! Live a little, why don'tcha? Besiiiides, I just need to go to Fix-it. Wouldn't take more then ten minutes."

	Basil seems to pause and think for a moment. It doesn't really sound that bad when she puts it like that. Plus you never know what might happen if you're walking out alone at night, especially with those weird guys with the recycling bins on their heads still out and about.. "Well, okay."

"Sweet. VANCE! I'LL BE BACK!"

	A muffled "Yeah, okay." from inside before she quickly exits the house and pulls the door shut behind her. She tucks her hands into her pockets and almost immediately starts off towards the plaza.

	Basil didn't expect her to start so suddenly. "Hey, wait! Slow down!"
	"Speed up!" She replies, quickly gaining distance from Basil.

	He breaks into a quick jog to catch up with her before steadying into a slower pace. "So, uh, Kim.. What are we getting? Am I gonna have to carry bags, or something..?"

	Kim scoffs. "Pft. No. I can carry my own bags. I'm not some pampered princess."

"Wha--No, no, I didn't mean it like that!" Basil waves his hands defensively.

"Besides." She continues. "If I needed someone to carry stuff, I could have just asked Vance to come along. I needed *you* to come along, because, well.. That crazy chick who runs the candy store keeps telling all the shop owners to watch out for us! Even the guy who runs Hobbeez is giving us the stink eye now if we come in alone. I need an alibi, and, really, nobody would expect Basil to cause trouble, right?"

"I.. I guess?" Basil thinks for a moment. "Wait, why does the candy shop lady warn people about you and--" Kim interrupts again. "Don't worry about it! Vance didn't need to come along, anyway. He wears the same thing every year. What's the point of dressing up if you're not gonna have fun with it?"

"You're buying a Halloween costume? I guess Fix-It does usually move the garden stuff outside when holidays come around but.. Aren't we kind of.. too old to go trick or treating?"

	Kim stops for a moment, Basil turns around with a bit of confusion before an accusatory finger is pressed against his chest. "Listen, Flowerboy. If you think I'm gonna miss the one day a year I can put on a cool costume and get a bunch of candy for FREE? You got another thing coming. Vance and I take this real seriously. I've been keeping track of who gives out what for years and we know just where to hit. You know Kel? That nerd? Yeah, you do, you're friends with him. His parents give out full bars. FULL. BARS. None of that fun-size junk. You should come with us, you might learn a thing or two. Now, c'mon." She starts to walk again as if nothing happened.

	Eventually, Kim and Basil reach the plaza. The parking lot is mostly empty save a few cars parked close to Gino's. All the stores still seem to be open with the exception of Hobbeez. Basil's never really been at the plaza so late at night before. Fix-It seems to be in better condition than it was a few months ago, the door is properly painted and the sign is no longer incomplete. She opens the door and strides inside, and as Basil follows, he casts a quick glance at the cashier. It did look like he was giving Kim a bit of a strange look but it quickly faded as he saw Basil, who he has grown pretty familiar with over the last few months.

	"Evening, kid. You still planning to swing by come Christmas to help us move the garden back indoors? I'll pay ya, just like last time."

	"Yes, sir. I was thinking of applying to help out in the garden part time, honestly."

	"Sounds good to me, I know I got enough trouble up front here as is, real tough to find time to make sure everything back there is in order. I hate retail.. Well, you two have fun." He waves the pair along without a second thought.

	As they get further into the back where the Halloween stock is stored, Kim pumps her fist. "See? That was awesome! You really pulled one over on him, me and Vance can't get five feet from the counter without them sending someone to watch us."

	Basil considers correcting her, since he DID help with the garden over the summer and there was no real elaborate lie involved, but maybe it's best he just accepts the praise. "Y-yeah.. Did you know what you wanted to wear as a costume?"

"Nope! Let's take a look." Kim begins to drift up and down the aisles, taking the occasional discerning glance at the rows of costumes, pulling a few off racks to examine them. "Eh.. Nope.. No. Too skimpy. Who wears this junk? Oh, hey, cool, it's a costume of that Jack Skeleton guy from that old Halloween-Christmas movie. I used to love watching that as a kid.. Ooh, and the girl, too! What was her name?"

"Sally?"

"Yeah! Yeah, Sally. I did invite you along. You wanna do a duo costume?" Basil's mind wanders.. He remembers when they were ten. Sunny and Mari went out as Frankenstein and Frankenstein's Bride that Halloween.. They both looked amazing, it must have taken Mari hours to get her hair like that.. Plus Sunny looked really funny walking like a stiff monster and being painted green.

"Ey! Answer me!" Kim tugs him along, stopping for a moment. "Oooh. That's a way better duo costume." She pulls out a very large, segmented horse costume that's separated into two halves. "How about this?"

	He seems too nervous to even ask. "Er.. Who would be which part?"

	Kim tilts her head up and flashes a smug grin, the lights hanging overhead cause a gleam to reflect off her glasses. "I think you know the answer to that."

"Ah.. Any.. other ideas?"

	She pulls out a few more costumes making small grumbles and throwaway comments before a sharp gasp surprises Basil.

"This.. Is.. Perfect! This is the one!" Kim pulls out a costume from the rack with both hands. It's.. a dinosaur costume?

"That's the one?" Basil can't help but look a little confused.

"I mean.. Sure, it seems pretty generic, as far as dinosaur costumes go. But I like the dual color pattern of the scales! It reminds me a lot of the Compsognathus!"

	Basil looks even more baffled. Is.. this a joke? Did she make that word up? Is she trying to get him to say something embarrassing? "The what now?"

"Compsognathus! It's one of the smallest dinosaurs species! They were like.. Turkey sized. Super quick and ate lizards, and a lot of evolutionary research says they were pretty closely related to birds. They had little feathers! I bet one would make a super cute pet."

"Wow.. You seem to know a lot about dinosaurs, Kim.."

"Yeah. So? Dinosaurs are cool." She shrugs, noncommittally. "I was kinda thinking about getting into paleontology when I was done with school, but apparently that might be expensive. And, y'know. My dad isn't exactly loaded. We gotta cut costs everywhere we can.." She casually tucks the folded up costume into her coat.

"Er." Basil looks around to see if anyone else was around. "What are you doing?"

"Cutting costs. This is like thirty bucks. You kidding me? That's highway robbery."

"Kim.." He glances around a second time, they're alone, he has a stern look on his face. Basil finally puts his foot down. "I really don't want to get in trouble for something like this.. If it's such a problem, I can pay for it."

"Heck no! Absolutely not! Ugh.. I was just kidding anyway. Grumble, grumble.." She pulls the costume back into view and strides off to the front counter. Basil isn't entirely sure if she was kidding or not, but, if nothing else, he was a good influence for once. The cash register makes a loud ding as he catches up, and he spots Kim begrudgingly handing over the cash and given a folded paper bag with 'Fix-It' written on the side. They leave the store together.

	Kim and Basil are greeted by a dark sky, lit dimly by the moon and the stars, they must have been in there longer than he expected. Basil shivers a bit, he didn't expect to take a walk like this and didn't actually bring his coat or longer leg wear than his shorts. "J.. Jeez. Winter's coming pretty quick, huh? It's chilly."

	She scans Basil, looking him up and down, pursing her lips slightly. She quietly takes off her glasses and tucks them in her pocket before removing her hoodie.

	Basil shifts nervously. "Hold on a second, what are you--" Kim interrupts him a third time, shoving the balled up jacket into his hands. "Just wear it. It probably fits. I'm tough enough that I won't get sick, but you better bring that back to me tomorrow or I'll beat you up, dweeb. AND when you do, we're gonna come back here and get you a costume so you can get some candy with us. Got it?"

".. Got it."

"Good." Kim tucks her free hand into her pocket and saunters off holding the paper bag.

	Basil awkwardly pulls the hoodie on, his mind racing with idle thoughts as he makes his way home. The one thing that he can't deny is that her hoodie is warm.

.. And it smells nice. Like mangoes.