Gibson had learnt three things within the course of his life with Antauri. The first thing he learned about him was that his favorite season was spring. Spring, the silver monkey told him, was the only time of the year when nature showed her true colors. The emergence of new life enriched its natural charm, and it seemed as if nature herself was dressed in a beautiful, green gown.

The second thing he learned was that even though Antauri's mind was not as scientific as his own, he had never managed to win his brother in a game of chess. However, while Gibson did pride himself in the discovery of different minerals and thinking up of new mathematical formulas, his losses against Antauri was one equation his great mind could not yet solve. And so, he learned a third thing about him.

Antauri relied not only on intelligence quotient, but on his inner conscience as well.

This, of course, resulted in the silver monkey becoming more and more protective over his teammates during battle, but now that Skeleton King was destroyed, there was no need for protection anymore. Their responsibilities had been fulfilled; they could go on living the peaceful lives that they yearned for, across the cosmos. Exploring the unknown, meeting new people.

Or so Gibson had thought.

While Sprx did initially plan to leave the robot after the war to continue piloting throughout the galaxies, he couldn't bring himself to step out of the door with the intention of saying goodbye. The red monkey eventually made the decision to stay, and the hyperforce had continued to live together in the robot ever since, not only as a superhero team, but also as a small, warm family unit.

Which was why Gibson found himself going grocery shopping with Antauri on one of the more peaceful Sundays on Shuggazoom City.

"Antauri," Gibson looked toward his levitating silver brother, "why, pray tell, are we walking so far away from the robot? Did we not just pass by the town a few minutes ago?"

Antauri smiled, his hands folded neatly onto his lap. "We are not going to town," he explained calmly, "but rather, Shuggazoom's countryside."

Gibson shot Antauri a quizzical look before his eyes widened in realization. "Ah, yes, of course. The farms, one of the finest vegetable producers of the city, am I correct?"

The silver monkey nodded. "As always."

While their surroundings got quieter as they walked further away from the city, a small drop of water caught Gibson's attention as he looked up towards the sky. It was shrouded with a light tinge of grey and the wind felt heavier than normal. The scientist picked up his pace with Antauri trailing behind, and soon a dwarf-like building came into view, to which the two monkeys rushed over for shelter. As soon as they had stepped foot into the safety of the building, it started to pour.

Antauri frowned, activating his antenna ears. "Antauri to Chiro, come in Chiro," he said, patiently waiting for a response.

It took a few moments for Chiro to pick up the signal. "I read you, Antauri." The black haired boy answered in a cheerful voice. "What's up?"

The silver monkey could hear the catchy tune of digital video games blasting in the background. He looked towards the Gibson for information, who was assessing the weather.

"I think Antauri and I will take about three hours later to return," Gibson spoke into Antauri's transceiver, as if reading his brother's mind, "the rain doesn't seem to be getting lighter anytime soon."

"And there are rice crackers in the cardboard," the silver monkey added, "you can eat them in case you get hungry before we return."

"Alright," Chiro replied before turning his attention back toward the video game, "we'll see you later then!"

The teenager cut the call, leaving the two hyperforce members stranded under the shelter. Gibson sighed, taking a seat near the edge of a veranda, while Antauri assumed his usual lotus position in the air. His brother remained silent. Gibson waited.

"Does it not bother you, leaving those four alone in the robot?" The blue scientist spoke suddenly, looking up.

"Hmm?" Antauri glanced at him, "why do you say so?"

"Because I am getting a rather bad feeling about this." Gibson replied, staring at the raindrops that fell down from the sky and met the ground with a calming noise, as if it was the sweet nectar of life that made Mother Nature radiate. "Not that I'm relying on gut feeling, of course," he quickly covered up, realizing what he had said, "logic is still the only solution to predicting situations."

Despite mentioning that, the blue monkey exhaled in a slow manner and listened to the sounds of the rain, trying to ignore the ominous sensation that was stirring in the pit of his stomach.

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In the Robot

He doesn't know how many times he had died.

Not that there was pain to be felt each time. It was an incremental sort of feeling, a piece of his confidence slipping away each time Sprx stabbed his avatar, replaced with increasing annoyance. When the red simian scored the final point, he threw his arms up in the air and shouted in childish frustration.

"Heh," Sprx smirked, putting the controller down beside him on the floor, "looks like I win again, kid. You're doing the dishes tonight!"

Chiro slumped, defeated, and groaned in resignation. "Alright," he breathed out deeply, trying to calm down, "let's find something else to do."

The dark haired boy looked behind him at the remaining monkeys for suggestions. Nova stared blankly back while Otto was beginning to doze off on his seat. Sprx pushed himself up from the floor and walked toward his own seat. It was barely a few seconds when he sat down before he jumped back up and rubbed his rear painfully.

"There's something poking me under these cushions," the red simian frowned, bending down and threw one pillow aside, then felt deeper inside the seat for said object,"hey! I think I found something!"

He pulled out whatever his fingers grasped to reveal a small torchlight, about a quarter of the length of his arm. "Who left their torchlight here?"

As if on cue, Otto snapped back into consciousness. He looked around, groggy and confused at first, then saw his brother holding up a torchlight in his hand. The green monkey jumped up in excitement and brought Sprx into a momentary hug before snatching the object away.

"You found it!" He grinned, barely able to contain the excitement he felt, "I've been looking for days! How did you-"

Noticing that Sprx did not share his excitement and was crossing his arms, Otto slumped his shoulders in realization.

"Oh," he smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, "sorry. My bad. Must have left it there when I was building another moon buggy last week."

The red monkey relaxed visibly and smiled, giving his brother a pat on the shoulder. "Just be more careful next time."

Otto nodded eagerly while gripping the torch with both hands. "Well, at least now I can finally give Gibson jump scares in his room with this!"

Chiro raised an eyebrow at Otto's naive antics. "Jump scares?" He asked skeptically, doubting that the blue monkey would be frightened by Otto and his torchlight, before an idea struck him in the head. His eyes went wide with enthusiasm as he rushed to Otto's side, took the torchlight, and shone it under his chin.

"Monkey team!" Chiro looked down at the rest, his skin—quite literally- glowing with excitement, "I just remembered! It's October thirty first today! That means," he feigned an evil grin under the torch, and paused for effect, "it's Halloween."

Nova gave him a confused look. "Halloween?" she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Isn't that some kind of tradition somewhere... on Berth?... Wait, or was it Perth?"

"Oh, you mean Earth," Sprx smirked, "Brainstrain was going on and on about that planet once. I just couldn't get him to keep quiet!"

Chiro nodded and strode to the main computer, typing in a few words into the search engine before the video game screen disappeared, and was replaced by a huge, ominous grinning pumpkin. Sprx shuddered and turned away, refusing to look.

"Isn't that the gourd we got back from Kryptovania?" Otto stared in awe. "I didn't know that people celebrated a festival like that!"

"Well," the teenager continued to type, and a wall of text appeared on the screen, which he began to read out loud, "it says that it was known as All Hallow's Eve, and this occasion was heavily influenced by Celtic-speaking countries on Earth. Activities include carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, decorating, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories and watching horror movies."

"That's kind of like Shuggazoom's Skull Season," Nova pointed out, "just... a lot more scarier than how we usually celebrate it."

Chiro grinned and shrugged. "Why not give it a try?"

Otto hopped up eagerly from where he was, his eyes filled with anticipation. "I like that idea! Let's decorate the whole robot! Plus Skull Season's just around the corner, so we'll just make it an early celebration, together with Halloween!"

Sprx grimaced at the thought of ghouls and ghosts, looking over his shoulder hesitantly and let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the pumpkin on the screen was gone. "If the kid says so, then I don't really mind, but..." He huffed unwillingly, crossing his arms, "just, please, not too much scary stuff."

"Hey," Chiro smiled reassuringly and placed a hand on Sprx's shoulder, "if we carve jack-o-lanterns together then maybe it won't be frightening anymore. C'mon monkey team, lets go buy some pumpkins!"

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Gibson closed his eyes and breathed. The air smelled of leaves, dew, soil and worms. After the rain had stopped, the two monkeys waited just long enough for the mud to harden a little before continuing their journey to the farms. Antauri had taken a fairly short amount of time to choose which vegetables he wanted to buy, since all the townsfolk there offered the hyperforce members their freshest products, to which the silver monkey gratefully accepted. After they had paid and bid goodbye to the friendly citizens, they continued their journey home with bags full of capsicums, tomatoes, cabbages, and some poultry products.

"Today's dinner is going to be about ninety percent vegetarian, I presume?" Gibson mused as he looked inside his own bag which was bulky with various greens. "You should let the others make dinner, for once. Preparing three meals a day while being preoccupied with other duties such as patrolling the city can be exhausting."

"Tiring, perhaps," Antauri replied with a smile, "but enjoyable. And if you truly like the work you do, then fatigue will no longer be a bother."

The scientist considered his brother's words. "Being quite the maternal figure of the team, aren't you?" He teased slightly, chuckling. "A break will benefit though, if you do ever feel weary. Come to think of it, I have some therapeutic candles in my lab, which can help to sooth stress accumulated in your circuits. You can come and take one whenever you like."

At the mention of his lab, Gibson instantly turned pale as a revelation struck him. He had completely forgotten to turn on the air vents in his lab —how could he?- to air out the poisonous gases that resulted from the condensation polymerization experiments he was carrying out before he left the robot. The gases must have accumulated by now, enough to choke a fully grown adult man.

Gibson gulped. He knew he had no time to mentally berate himself, not when the others could have possibly entered his lab without any proper breathing protection. Even though he had told them specifically not to open the door to his lab countless amounts of times for safety precautions... Gibson could not seem to get rid of his unease.

"Antauri," he looked toward his brother, who had already sensed that something was wrong, "we should hurry back."

The silver monkey nodded. "Agreed, but what is it that is troubling you, Gibson?"

"Ammonia." His voice came out soft and fearful.

"I'm sorry?" Antauri shook his head in confusion.

"I'll explain when we get back," Gibson replied hurriedly, "but right now, we have to go and check on the team."

The two monkeys activated their jet packs and took to the sky. They could see a robot in the distance, which meant that they were probably close by. A fifteen minute journey, the scientist speculated, just enough time to get back. Oh gods, if you're out there, please don't let anything happen to the team.

Thunder rumbled off in the distance. They quickened their pace.

Soon they landed in front of the robot's foot, to which Antauri opened the front door. Gibson followed him, and the room they entered was wide and eerie, with all the lights turned off, shrouded in complete darkness. They continued further inside the robot, fearing for an intruder. Turning at a corner, Antauri spotted a brightly lit room. He beckoned Gibson to be quiet as both monkeys slowly made their way to the door and peeked inside.

What they saw made their eyes grow wide.

The room was covered from ground to ceiling with elastic cobwebs, making it look older than the pyramids themselves. In one corner stood a detailed, fake plastic skeleton, just a little bit taller than Chiro was, and in another corner was a dancing broom with witch hands moving back and forth against the wall. Two hanging bats, with wings, were attached to lights on the ceiling, and mummy rats wrapped in tattered white bandages scattered across the floor noisily. In the middle stood the remaining hyperforce members who were hanging up more cobwebs onto the ceiling, chattering excitedly.

Antauri cleared his throat, stepping out from behind the door. "And what is the occasion for all these decorations, if I might ask?"

Chiro jumped and turned around, carrying a plastic bat. "Oh, hey Antauri, you're back early," he greeted nervously with a wave, "wanna come help with the Halloween decorations?"

At the sound of his second in command's voice, Otto slumped his shoulders in disappointment, while hugging a bag of candy. "Awww," he whined, looking up at Chiro sadly, "and we were going to give them a surprise!"

Gibson walked towards Antauri and raised an eyebrow. "Surprise?"

"Well, this is the last room, anyway," Sprx smirked, holding up a mummy rat, "so the surprise still works when we turn on all the lights inside the robot."

"I'm afraid I don't follow." Antauri said.

Gibson felt his heart rate speeding up uncontrollably. "The last room? You mean-"

"You'll see," Nova cut him off smiled and hung up the last of the decorations, "Otto, turn on the lights."

"Aye, aye, captain!"

At that instant, the green monkey pressed a button on the wall and the whole robot was flooded in white light. The hyperforce led their two baffled members out to the command centre, which had grinning jack-o-lanterns of different sizes and expressions, translucent black curtains and paper ghosts. Otto ran up to the jack-o-lanterns and lit up one of them before placing it back to its original position.

"Like what you see?" Sprx puffed up his chest proudly, "we did it all by ourselves! In every,single room of the robot!"

"Every single room?" Gibson repeated nervously.

"Yeap!"

"Including my lab?"

"Including your lab."

Gibson couldn't believe his ears as he felt cold sweat running down his fur. His mind ran through all the possibilities that he could think of—all 200 of them- and mentally weighed which one would have the highest chance of actually happening. Most of all, he didn't know what to feel, the anger of his teammates entering his lab when he had countless amounts of times not to without his permission or the fact that they could potentially be in danger. Gibson settled for the second option as he tried to suppress the irritation in his gut.

"You, of all people should know where your boundaries are." He tried not to raise his voice, and took a deep breath to calm his nerves when he saw his teammates' puzzled expressions. "Never mind that. I need to perform a scan on each one of you first. We'll talk about this later."

"Why?" Sprx challenged, staring at Gibson in the eye, "it was only for fun! We didn't touch any of your lame chemicals. Not like we could stay for long anyway since it stank to high heavens in there."

"For fun?" The blue monkey's eyebrow twitched as he quickly set up the computer to prepare for scanning, and handed the cords to the remaining three monkeys (and a temperature sensor for Chiro), "Fun which could have harmed you! And just for your information the stench you encountered was ammonia! A colourless gas with the potential to kill in lethal amounts!"

An unsettling silence dawned upon the room as Otto, Sprx and Nova connected the cords to the back of their helmets, not speaking a word. Gibson typed into the computer and heaved out an audible sigh of relief when all four biological pictures that popped up showed no visible signs of damaged tissues or cells.

"Hey, Gibson?" Otto turned towards the blue monkey while he was still busying assessing the images. "You shouldn't get mad at Sprx... I was the one who suggested decorating the robot."

Otto's voice came out softer than he hoped it'd sound. Gibson continued standing in his position for a few minutes with no response. Otto swallowed the lump in his throat nervously.

"Well," the blue monkey finally said, breaking the silence among them, "it looks like everybody is fine, thankfully." He turned his back toward the rest as they started to unplug the cords from their helmets.

Gibson walked to the blue tube and took a step in. "If anybody needs me, I'll be in my lab settling a few things."

Those were his last words as he disappeared up the tube. His last sentence had been curt, short, and to the point. Otto knew Gibson well enough to know that when he made things simple, it usually meant that he was upset. The green monkey was fully aware that it was his fault, yes, but this was the first time he had been able to provoke his brother until the other isolated himself from the rest completely. Otto couldn't get rid of the heavy feeling that settled on his chest, gnawing at him from inside out.

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II:Lab:

It was completely dark in the science lab. Gibson had came down to let off some steam.

What they don't tell you, is that how hard it was to be a scientist. Initially, Gibson had accepted that job with absolute joy when Mandarin appointed him as science officer of the hyperforce, thinking that it would finally quench his continuous thirst for knowledge. However, a person does not simply become a scientist because of who they are, but because of how much they strive to discover. Everyday he would try to come up with new theories and everyday he would fail and succeed in varying measures. His life quickly became punctuated with misplaced worksheets, forgotten data, and the fading bonds between him and his teammates when he would lock himself up in his lab for days before going out for a quick drink or snack. There was no solitary culmination and subsequent explosions of everything bad; then a sunburst of air into his lungs and happily ever after. That's where the movies get it wrong.

But that was before Chiro came into the picture. When Mandarin had been leader, none of them were willing to open up fully to one another, in fear of Mandarin's dominating nature. Back then, the orange monkey had done most of the talking, and the rest simply followed. Bonds were made in secrecy and friendships were formed under loneliness after Mandarin's personality had taken a 180 degree turn. Although Gibson had all the freedom he wanted to explore the mysterious world of science, he could never fill his innate yearning for companionship with knowledge.

Gibson knew that his anger earlier had been uncalled for. Entering his lab was not that huge of an offense, though he did prefer to keep his experiments away from the rest. Chemicals were everywhere; some even stored in boxes because there was no more space to put them. What if Chiro and the rest, while decorating his lab, had inhaled too much gases that were foreign to their bodies and fell sick? What if they had accidentally knocked something over and caused an explosion, leading to physical injury? What if they came in contact with ridiculously strong aqueous acids and had burnt themselves? The possibilities were endless, and there was too much risk of his teammates getting hurt, which was why he kept his lab locked up most of the time, until they had found a way to enter. Gibson made a mental note to change the security passcode. He knew that he couldn't forgive himself if his teammates had gotten hurt due to his carelessness. Not now, not ever.

Pressing a button to air out the ammonia as he held his breath, the blue monkey couldn't help but smile at how nicely decorated everything was, albeit being incomplete. The walls were pasted with orange paper cobwebs and black skulls, while a skeleton of a ghost bride was placed next to his own skeleton model used for biological reference. He raised his hand to begin taking down the decorations but found himself frozen in place. He couldn't, not when the rest had put in effort into this.

Airing process, complete.

Gibson inhaled deeply as he walked away from the decorations and took a sit in front of the main table. He picked up a pen and scribbled some data down from his previous experiment onto a piece of crumpled paper and examined a tube filled with red liquid. Soon the soft ticking of the clock became a distant sound as he became more absorbed into his work.

He didn't know how much time has passed, but it seemed far too soon when he felt fatigue setting into his muscles. Gibson put down his pen and stretched lazily in his chair, easing his aching back.

Antauri was right, he thought, when you like the work you do, you don't notice how tired you are.

A knock came from the door. "Gibson?" Someone called out. "Are you in there?"

The noise snapped the blue monkey out of his train of thought. He stood up quickly and opened the door, revealing a concerned looking Otto. His brother was carrying a bowl of pumpkin soup in one hand and two discs in the other, along with bags of chips, popcorn and rice crackers. To this day Gibson could never fathom how Otto could hold so many things at once.

"Hey!" Otto greeted cheerfully, the previous traces of concern immediately covered up by a grin, "you didn't show up for dinner earlier. Are you okay?"

Gibson took a glance at the clock. It was 9PM.

Oh.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to miss dinner. I didn't realize that I did." He replied. His stomach growled loudly enough in protest for both of them to hear. Gibson felt his face growing hot, trying to unsuccessfully suppress his hunger.

Otto giggled in childish amusement. "I brought you the soup that Antauri and Chiro made," he said, passing a small gourd filled with thick, creamy liquid to his brother who accepted gratefully, "and these are movies that Nova gave to me. They're really well made, according to her."

Gibson tilted his head in confusion. "And you are telling me that because...?"

"Cuz I made you upset just now and I want to make up for it!" Otto grinned innocently, studying Gibson's sour look. He poked his brother in the cheeks, teasing. "Can't have Mr Grumpypants stay grumpy forever, right? A good scare will cheer you up!"

Gibson stood still, hoping his uptight demeanor could diminish Otto's enthusiasm as he silently willed for the green monkey to go away. Otto remained persistent, however, and continued to pester him. It was not as if Gibson held anything against Otto. No, he didn't. In fact, he loved his brother. It was just that he would prefer cheering up- as Otto calls it- by engaging in other more... productive activities than watching a horror movie.

"C'moooooon," the green monkey whined, pulling on his tail, "pleaaaaase."

A huge pair of puppy dog eyes stared back at Gibson as he tried very hard to ignore Otto's sympathetic look, but ultimately failing to do so. Unable to stand the sparkling black orbs in front of him, Gibson sighed in resignation and hesitantly nodded.

"Yay!" Otto was nearly jumping up and down, taking his brother by the hand, "The great Mr Hal Gibson agreed to watch a movie with me! Let's go to my room!"

Being dragged down the hallway by Otto, Gibson tried to convince himself. Perhaps it isn't as bad as I had imagined. After all, a change in atmosphere might help sooth my circuits.

As they entered Otto's darkly lit room, Gibson nearly dropped his bowl of pumpkin soup. There were bags of sweets everywhere- wrapped up candy corn spilt on the floor, bars of milk chocolate neatly tied up in a bundle, and about a dozen candy apples placed on the table.

The place screamed diabetes.

"Otto, where did you get all these sweets from?" The scientist inquired as they walked deeper into the room, settling down on a couch in front of a television. Otto hummed a tune as he straightened up the cushion and tried to make Gibson as comfortable as possible a his brother leaned against a pillow.

"People gave them to me," the green monkey replied, shooting a thumbs up before taking a place beside Gibson, "skull season tradition, looks like the citizens of Shuggazoom are already in the mood for spookiness. We got them on our way to town to buy pumpkins... but we got too carried away and ended up buying tons of other decorations."

Otto inserted a disc into the player and snuggled into a soft toy beside Gibson, waiting excitedly for the movie to start as Gibson took a sip of his soup. The green monkey grabbed a large blanket and draped it over their heads.

"C'mon Gibson," he whispered when he saw his brother fidget uncomfortably at their closeness under the blanket and handed him a candy apple for comfort, "it's fun."

Otto grabbed one of the candy apples of his own and chewed on it while the opening credits appeared. Excited, the green monkey proceeded to put the popcorn bucket between them and scooped up a handful to eat. He nudged Gibson and gestured for him to take some, and the blue monkey eventually complied, popping a few popcorns into his mouth. Mildly salty. Gibson let the flavour burst and slowly savoured the treat.

The movie had started out normally at first for about thirty minutes: Two boys and their mother moving into a cottage out of town, only to find that the cottage had been owned by previous owners who were all murdered brutally by a vengeful spirit. One night, when the mother was reading to her two boys a book about the Azazel, there was a soft knock on the door.

At this point, slow, low pitched instrumental music began playing. Otto grabbed Gibson's arm and squeezed a little, but the scientist hardly noticed, being captivated by what he saw. Never would Gibson have thought that cinematography could be this fascinating, a form of art that his great mind had never explored. He gaped, completely caught up in the suspense.

Otto's teeth began chattering when the music suddenly stopped. The camera zoomed in on the door. Otto raised one hand up to cover his face and peeked between his fingers.

The jump scare scene is expertly crafted- When Otto saw that nothing was behind the door, he heaved out a sigh of relief, removing his hand before a shocking reveal of a bloodied, long haired face of a woman. Otto's scream was as loud as the the actors', and he buried his face into Gibson's arm in a death grip. Gibson swore he heard the crunching of his metallic arm under Otto's hug. He sighed, but didn't push the green monkey off him.

As the movie progressed, the plot only became more terrifying. Gibson never even flinched as one jump scare passed after another. Instead, he found himself wondering about the possible ways to make the movie, and how it was achieved so beautifully. When the ending credits rolled in, the blue monkey was snapped harshly back into reality and realized that he had been so captivated by the film that it felt like he was being teleported into the story itself. He couldn't remember the last time he had relaxed and did something so... fun. It was no wonder that Nova had recommended this movie. He looked down and saw that the soup was gone and the popcorn bucket was half empty- he must have eaten more than he thought. Gibson smiled to himself as he felt his usually tense muscles relax while wiping his hands on a napkin. He stifled a yawn and let out a satisfied sigh.

"That was simply astounding, wasn't it, Otto?"

Gibson looked toward his right and noticed that the green monkey beside him was gone. Under the blanket was a shaking lump. Gibson gently lifted the blanket, only to find Otto curled up into a ball and trembling uncontrollably, hugging the soft toy near to his chest. His tail was wrapped around his waist. Gibson frowned.

"Otto," he said, touching the green monkey's shoulder lightly, "it's over now. You don't have to be frightened anymore."

Gibson's hand felt warm and solid against his shoulder, and the heat from his palm bled through his cold fur and to his skin. There's a slightest hint of pressure as Gibson's fingertips squeezed, carefully. The touch lingered for several more seconds as Otto felt the physical contact calm his nerves. Slowly, he used his arms to push himself up. He whimpered. "Is the lady monster gone?"

"Yes, well," Gibson stood up from the couch, "now that the movie is over, I believe that the lady monster is indeed gone. It's late; we should probably go to bed."

Otto didn't like the idea of being alone in the dark, not after what he had seen on the television screen. His mind was overloaded now- he couldn't get rid of her diabolical face deeply imprinted into his brain. He reached out his hand to grab Gibson's tail as the blue monkey turned to walk away.

"Otto?" Gibson asked, baffled at his brother's behaviour.

"Wait," Otto whispered, draping the blanket around his body and tightening his grip on the tail, "don't leave yet. She might still be out there."

The scientist couldn't tell if Otto was being serious. "Are you just saying that to make me stay here?" He guessed, but fully confirmed his suspicions when the green monkey's eyes widened in surprise, "because if that's the case, you could have just asked."

Otto grinned sheepishly and rubbed his helmet, "You saw through me, huh?" He looked down, embarrassed. "Please?" He added shyly after a moment of silence.

Gibson smiled softly at Otto's innocence and walked toward his side, curling his hand slightly on his brother's wrist. "Sure, why not. Let's get you tucked in bed."

They made their way to Otto's bed, and the green monkey stood behind Gibson quietly as he watched the other fluff up his pillows and spread out his blanket. Gibson had always caught his attention; after all, they did specialize in different fields of science. He knew that the blue monkey was not a bad person; he just didn't know how to express his emotions. Not openly, anyway, which was why he was so easily misunderstood. Otto had hoped that this night would get Gibson to unwind for once, and realize that his world did not evolve around work, experiments and data collecting when he got upset. He needed just the right person to cheer him up, and that was what Otto had silently vowed to do even though they had completely different ideas of fun. He just couldn't stomach the idea of Gibson locking himself up in his lab again, like back in Mandarin's days.

"Y'know," Otto started, unable to look at Gibson in the eye, "if it's not too much trouble... do you mind staying until I won't notice that you're gone?" Afraid that he had gotten his brother annoyed with his childishness and ruin his good mood, Otto added quickly, "but it's okay if you don't wanna! I completely understand! If someone asked me to do the same thing I'm not sure that I would like-"

Gibson paused in his movements. "Firstly," he replied slowly, placing a hand on his hip, "if you are scared and just wanted me to sleep over, you should just say so directly. This beating around the bush isn't exactly the best way to relay a message."

Again, Otto felt a timid grin make its way across his face. "I didn't want to make you mad," his shoulders sagged like Gibson had just stolen Christmas, "not after I finally got you to enjoy yourself."

Otto's words hit the blue monkey hard. An unfamiliar warmth caressed his heart and he coughed, to ease the awkwardness between them. He had to find the sentences to describe that this is not him, that he is just not used to being on the receiving end of concern. From anyone. But looking at Otto's unusually mild stature, he couldn't bring himself to leave his brother alone, not when Otto needed him.

"Well," Gibson cleared his throat finally, "it's not like I particularly mind sleeping over."

Those ebony eyes lit up so much, they nearly glowed. "For real?"

"Yes." He gestured to the bed as Otto crawled under the covers before he laid down beside his brother.

By the time Otto is settled and satisfied, he had tucked himself under Gibson's arm, which lie over the line of his own shoulders. His head is resting near Gibson's chest, rising and falling with a slow, steady rhythm of the blue monkey's breaths. Gibson didn't exactly know how to respond being treated as a pillar of comfort, so he waited for Otto's breathing to become deeper and deeper before he relaxed. He leaned in to the touch, rested his head lightly against the crown of Otto's helmet just for the contact.

Cuddling. Much better than he'd imagined. His stress was completely gone now, and he could feel foreign emotions creeping up into his heart. Warm, connected, loving. Gibson smiled at his unconscious brother and he thinks that the night couldn't have gotten any better before he drifted off into a deep sleep.

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The next morning, Chiro found himself standing at the door to Otto's room, stunned at the intimacy between the two monkeys. Chuckling to himself, he decided to let them sleep longer and pulled the fallen blanket on the floor enough to cover up both of their bodies.

He left the room quietly and walked into the kitchen where Antauri was already preparing breakfast. Chiro poured himself a glass of orange juice and sat down on his chair.

"Where are Otto and Gibson?" The silver monkey asked, flipping over a pancake.

"Oh, I decided not to interrupt them." Chiro shrugged, beaming.

After all, they must have had a very, very long night.

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A/N: Ok, first off, I know Skull season is a reaaaaally unoriginal name, but I couldn't think of anything else for Shuggazoom's version for Halloween... :P Also, just wanted to state that Gibson and Otto's relationship is completely platonic here, but I don't actually mind the idea of them as a couple. Suggestions are welcomed, though. Plus I do hope that I've gotten the characterization right... had to rewatch Galactic Smash and Night of fear a few times to get the hang of it.

Initially I wanted to put this up for Halloween but I got caught up with other stuffs, so happy late Halloween? x) Pardon if some of the Halloween information seem off, because in my country I've never celebrated it the traditional way before so I had to do some research on how the decorations actually look like. Which is pretty cool, btw. I enjoyed myself immensely looking at all the ghostly brides they sell online.

Lastly, I hope you enjoyed this fluffy one shot and reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!