Lock sat on the ratty old sofa with his arms crossed, flicking his tail impatiently. Shock was taking forever to get ready and he wondered if she'd actually drowned in the tub or something. It wasn't that he was actually looking forward to going to this dumb anniversary ball - he just hated waiting for anything or anyone. Barrel was standing in front of the cracked living room mirror like an idiot, fussing with his clothes and repeatedly checking his hair. "Geez, Barrel, you're acting like a girl over there, primping in front of the mirror like Miss Halloween Town or something." Lock grumbled at him. "And you're way too stupid-looking for that, so give it up already. Who cares how you look?"

"I care." Barrel said. "Just because you don't care doesn't mean nobody else is allowed to."

Lock scoffed at him, but Barrel just went back to his inspection. The two of them were driving Lock crazy and he was about three seconds away from yelling up the stairs at Shock to hurry the hell up when she finally entered the room. He turned to look at her and couldn't help but stare: he'd never seen her dressed up so fancily and it was rather startling. Her dress was elegant rather than girly, just shimmery black with a hint of purple in it and with a low neckline that showed off her neck and shoulders. The bodice was fitted to her torso and the long skirt puffed out a little bit at where it was attached to the bodice, emphasizing her slender waist. She wasn't wearing any jewelry, but she'd curled her hair and was holding some of it back with a satiny black ribbon. Lock felt his jaw drop a little, then he quickly shut his mouth again.

"Wow, Shock, you look really nice! I like your dress!" Barrel exclaimed with a wide grin, turning away from the mirror.

"Thanks!" said Shock, and she gave a little twirl. "Sally made it for me, I told her I didn't want anything frilly or too girly. I think she did a good job, I like how it turned out. You clean up pretty well, yourself!" she said, and Barrel smiled happily and adjusted his tie.

"You think so? I wasn't sure about the tie, I thought maybe it was a little too much." He was wearing black slacks, a dark blue-green dress shirt and even had a black jacket on, but his feet were bare, as always.

"Nah, you look great. Very dapper."

Lock rolled his eyes so hard he was afraid they might fall out of his skull, unable to believe how excited the two of them were over a stupid dance party. Then he looked more closely at Shock's face. "Are you wearing makeup?" he asked, somewhat incredulously.

"That's all you have to say?" Shock snapped at him.

"Well, are you? You look different."

She frowned. "Yes, I'm wearing makeup, what's it to you? It's Jack and Sally's 10th anniversary party, it's kind of a big deal, idiot. And of course I look different, I'm wearing a fancy dress. That's the whole point."

Lock thought she was rather pretty all the time anyway, but she looked especially beautiful right now. He didn't want to let her know that, though, so he smirked, "Well, mission accomplished. You definitely look less-ugly than usual tonight." He thought he was being pretty funny, but she gave him an icy look. Had he actually hurt her feelings?

"Well you could have put a little more effort into not looking like crap for such a big occasion!" she said coldly, looking him up and down.

Lock bristled a little bit at this. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" he said, looking down at himself. He was wearing the nicest shirt he owned, dark red with buttons up the front and at the wrists, and he had gone through the trouble of buying a new pair of black pants since none of the ones he had were in good enough condition for an event like this - and buying pants was always a hassle because he had to have Sally or Bertha tailor an extra hole in them for his tail to go through. He'd even cleaned and shined his shoes and bought a nice, black leather belt with a silver buckle to top it all off, and he thought he looked pretty good. "I look better than he does," he gestured to Barrel, "And I don't need some stupid tie!"

Barrel was completely unfazed by the insult and he just strolled past Lock towards the door. "Whatever, I look dapper." he boasted. "Are you guys ready to go?"

"Yes." said Shock firmly, still looking at Lock with that icy expression, then she turned away from him and followed Barrel out the door. Lock felt a little blindsided by how angry she apparently was at him - why was she being so sensitive all of a sudden? He hurried after them, closing the front door behind him.

"What crawled up your butt and died?" he muttered once he caught up with her, but she didn't look at him.

"Drop it, asshole. I'm not going to let you and your bad attitude ruin my night."

"What bad attitude? You guys are the ones being stupid, getting all excited over some dumb, boring dance party. I feel like I don't even know you two!"

"Well sometimes I wish you didn't!" she snarled at him, and that was mean enough that even Lock didn't have a retort.

"Geez, cranky…" he muttered, but she ignored him and he fell silent after that. They arrived shortly to find the town hall lavishly decorated inside and out with lots of tall iron and pewter candelabras on the floor against the sides of the room and garlands made of pumpkin vines, dead flowers and black crepe paper strung with little lights hanging from the ceiling and draped between the wall sconces. The seats had been removed from the hall except for some chairs along the walls and some tables at the back of the room near the food, so there was plenty of space to dance and socialize. The band was on the stage playing some background music and a large banner was hanging above them with "Scary 10th Anniversary To King Jack and Queen Sally" written in elegant, scrolling letters. The hall was already quite full, and everybody looked especially well-dressed and like they were having an excellent time.

"Oh boy, look at all the food!" exclaimed Barrel, and he hurried over to check it out. Shock chuckled at him a bit, then looked around the room until she caught the eye of a few of her friends and without a word she walked over to them, leaving Lock standing there by himself.

'Terrific.' he thought, feeling awkward and annoyed and just generally hating being there already, especially with Barrel off stuffing his face and Shock mad at him. He decided to go check out the food with Barrel just so he wouldn't be standing there alone. The food did actually look really good, it was all very fancy and laid out on tarnished silver platters with skull, spider, bat wing and black ribbon centerpieces. Barrel already had a full plate when he saw that Lock had joined him.

"Where's Shock?" he asked, then popped a cube of moldy cheese into his mouth.

"Off with her friends or something, I guess." said Lock, trying not to sound sulky.

"You really pissed her off, eh?" Barrel smirked, cutting off a piece of spider egg garnished seared snake steak with his fork to try next.

"I don't know why she's being so moody all of a sudden." Lock complained, loading up a plate for himself. "She puts on a shiny dress and expects us to treat her like the queen or something."

Barrel shrugged and cut off another piece of the steak. "You could have just said she looked nice or something."

"Yeah well Jack told us years ago not to lie anymore, remember?" he said harshly, knowing that he was overreacting because deep down he thought that Barrel was probably right.

Barrel blinked at him. "Dang, apparently you're the one who had something crawl up your butt and die, geez."

Lock didn't reply, he just angrily finished filling up his plate and poured himself a glass of hemlock punch, then they went over to lean against a wall and eat. After a few minutes the band finished up their song and the Mayor took the stage, an enormous grin plastered across the active side of his head. Lock scowled. He'd always hated that simpering, two-faced politician.

"Attention, everyone!" the Mayor shouted, illuminated by the spotlight and holding up his hands until the crowd went silent and turned to face the stage. "Tonight we celebrate the anniversary of our beloved Pumpkin King and Queen, under whose glorious leadership our town of Halloween continues to thrive year after year, constantly reaching frightful new heights of terror and ghoulish delight. It is my very great pleasure and honor to introduce the doll and skeleton of the hour, Jack and Sally Skellington!" Everyone burst into cheers and applause as Jack strode onstage, waving to the crowd with one hand and holding Sally's with his other as she walked somewhat reluctantly behind him. Even after all this time, Sally never seemed to have become fully comfortable with the adulation that came along with being the Pumpkin Queen, remaining almost as shy and unassuming as she ever was, though she did make a great effort to live up to the position and meet and exceed all of the expectations and responsibilities that came with it. But ever since she and Jack had gotten together he had become even more energized and came up with even more inspired ideas for each Halloween, and the townsfolk loved her. Even Dr. Finkelstein had gotten over his past bitterness and now took great pride in constantly reminding everyone that he was the one who had created their queen.

"Thank you, friends!" said Jack, taking center stage and looking out at the adoring crowd with a wide, bony grin. "Thank you very much! I won't delay the festivities with a long speech, but let me say only this: I am truly the happiest and most fortunate skeleton who ever died, thanks to my companion, my love, my dearest friend, Sally." Everyone whooped and clapped again for a few moments and Sally went slightly pink and smiled shyly at everyone in the audience before Jack smiled and raised one elegant hand to quiet them. "She keeps my skull on my shoulders and my heart in the clouds and without her support, patience and love, I truly don't know where I would be today."

"Probably in Christmas Town!" someone called from the crowd, and everyone laughed good-naturedly, including Jack himself before he continued:

"Here's to many more celebrations just like this one, for many, many more years to come. Thank you all for celebrating this happy occasion with us tonight, and have a wonderful evening!" Everyone erupted into cheers and applause once again as Jack leaned down to give Sally a kiss and the band began to play a lively song for dancing - well, as lively as it got in Halloween Town, at least. Anyone who didn't know better might wonder why Jack hadn't given Sally a chance to speak, but everyone knew how much she hated public speaking so for him to take charge on stage was doing her a kindness. They walked down the stage stairs together and began the first dance, Jack's elegance of movement clearly able to compensate for Sally's somewhat unsteady bearing. After they'd twirled around the dance floor several times, other couples joined in and the room was once again filled with laughter and happy conversation.

"Watch my food, I gotta go to the bathroom." said Barrel, setting his plate down on a nearby chair and heading towards the restroom.

"Thanks for sharing!" Lock called after him snarkily, then went back to his Henbane-crusted rat filets, trying to look haughty and disinterested in the festivities around him now that he was on his own again. He tried to find Shock in the crowd, but to no avail. After awhile it seemed like Barrel had been gone forever and Lock wondered if there was something in the food he should be concerned about that was causing Barrel to stay in the bathroom for so long… but then he saw him across the room, chatting with Shock and her friends. Irritation flared up in him, then Shock's eyes met his for a brief second before she turned away and then his view was blocked by Bertha and Ned dancing directly in front of him. When he managed to peer around them, he had lost her and Barrel in the crowd once again. Since apparently Barrel was finished eating, Lock put his own plate down and started to stroll nonchalantly along the edges of the room, trying to project an air of boredom, like all of this was beneath him but he was secretly feeling a bit miserable. He hadn't really been expecting to enjoy the party, but he had at least thought he'd be spending it mocking everything and everyone with Shock and Barrel, not moping about the sidelines by himself. Suddenly he realized that nearly everyone seemed to be dancing except him and a few other people, most of whom were too decayed and decrepit to dance. Even Barrel had officially ditched him completely and was now dancing with Azeneth, a mummy girl who Lock was pretty sure was Shock's age. Now instead of seeming like an aloof loner who was too cool to dance, Lock just looked (and felt) like a pathetic loser who couldn't find a partner. He saw Lana, another demon his age, eyeing him hopefully from the punch bowl but he wasn't interested - she was cute enough, but not very smart and way too girly for his tastes. Just about the only girl he wanted to get that close to was Shock, because she was smart and just the right amount of girly and they understood one another - they were on the same wavelength, he thought, so surely she wouldn't still be mad at him for joking about her appearance earlier. He scanned around the room again until he saw her and he started to walk over to ask if she wanted to dance when he stopped in his tracks - she was already dancing with Vasile, a vampire who was at least a year or two older than her. Lock couldn't believe it. What was she doing dancing with that creep? Quite unexpectedly, a hot wave of jealousy and possessiveness rushed through him as he realized that he didn't want her liking any other boys besides him and Barrel, and he definitely didn't want her to like-like some other, older guy! Especially not some stupid, smooth, vampire! Vampires had a reputation for knowing how to sweep women off their feet and Lock tried to convince himself that he must have talked her into dancing with him against her will, but deep down he knew Shock better than that - he knew she would never dance with someone if she didn't want to, vampire or not. She looked like she was having a nice time, swaying along to the music, chatting and even occasionally laughing. Lock had heard other girls say that Vasile was handsome… did Shock think he was handsome, too? He clenched his fists, suddenly feeling a strong urge to punch Vasile right in his face, maybe then he wouldn't be so handsome. He couldn't tolerate watching them anymore so he made his way through the crowded dance floor until he reached them. Angry, but determined not to make too much of a scene right out of the gate, he tapped the vampire on the shoulder - perhaps a little harder than was strictly necessary - and said, "Mind if I cut in?" and before Vasile could even answer, Lock began subtly pushing him aside.

"Lock, what the hell?" said Shock, looking at him with a mix of irritation and confusion, but Vasile was much more diplomatic.

"Of course not, please, by all means. Who could resist wishing to dance with such an enchanting creature? It would be selfish of me to keep her all to myself." He stepped aside with a slight bow, but not before bringing Shock's hand to his lips and kissing it.

"Thanks," Lock muttered after him, unable to keep his lip from curling up in a contemptuous sneer as Vasile swept away with his cape billowing behind him. Who did he think he was, using all those flowery words and kissing her hand like that? He turned back to face Shock only to find her with her hands on her hips and giving him an angry look.

"Oh, so now you want to dance? What changed your mind, get tired of looking like a loser?"

Lock didn't even hear her, he was too miffed about Vasile. "Why were you dancing with that creep?"

"Because he asked and I said yes. What's it to you? Why do you care?"

Lock bit his lip. Why did he care? He just did. That stupid vampire didn't deserve her. "He's just trying to get in your pants, you know!" he blurted out before he could stop himself, and the couple dancing next to them gave him a disapproving look.

Shock raised her eyebrows in surprise, then she scowled at him. "I'm a big girl, Lock, I can take care of myself. I don't need you to protect me!" Those words stung more than he could have imagined they would. All their lives Lock had always thought of himself as her and Barrel's protector, at least when it came to physical altercations. His motto had always been that nobody was allowed to beat up or bother Shock and Barrel but him, and anyone who dared mess with them got acquainted with his fists pretty quickly. He knew that she didn't really need him to beat the snot out of anyone who looked at her wrong - she was quite capable of fighting her own battles - but he enjoyed the violence and so did she, so he figured it was a win-win situation. But apparently she didn't want or need his protection when it came to this sort of thing and it made him feel strangely hurt. What good was he to her if she didn't need him to protect her? And now she was actually mad at him for trying to protect her? He felt extremely depressed all of a sudden.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "It's just that… vampires are supposed to be smooth and I don't want you to get hurt." He couldn't meet her eyes as he said it, indeed, he could hardly believe those words even came out of his mouth.

Shock looked momentarily stunned, but then the scowl was back on her face. "I'm not stupid, you know. He's not going to sweet-talk his way 'into my pants', as you put it."

"I know you're not stupid." he said, still looking at the floor.

She didn't say anything for a moment and Lock wished that he could just sink into the ground but then she asked irritably, "Well, are you just going to stand there like an idiot or are we actually going to dance?"

He realized that they had indeed just been standing there talking this whole time while everyone else danced around them. "Oh, yeah, uh…" He looked back up at her as she started to dance again, then he quickly looked at what the other couples were doing and tried to mimic how they were dancing. He felt incredibly awkward, absolutely certain that he looked ridiculous and completely inept to anyone who happened to be watching, but fortunately it seemed that most people were too caught up in their own little worlds to pay any attention to him. He normally thought he had pretty good reflexes and he didn't think of himself as clumsy - that was more Barrel's shortcoming - but suddenly he had to really concentrate on not tripping over his own feet or stepping on hers. She was dancing much more gracefully, he thought, with the fabric of her skirt swishing and the curls in her hair bouncing a bit as she moved to the music. Once again he noticed how pretty she looked in that dress with her hair done all fancy and wearing a little bit of makeup. He'd never seen so much of her neck, shoulders, collarbones and even the very top of her chest exposed like this before and it made him a little uncomfortable - he had to work hard to keep from staring at all that smooth, pale, skin. She and Vasile had been chatting a bit while they danced and Lock had never had trouble talking to Shock before now, but suddenly he didn't know what to say. "Uh, so. Having a good time at this dumb ball thing so far?" he said lamely.

She gave him a distrustful look and said somewhat defensively, "Yeah, I have been, actually. It's pretty fun. And you?"

"Yeah, it's actually not so bad." he answered honestly. Now that they were hanging out, it really didn't seem too bad. "The food's good." he added, and she actually laughed - and he felt happy that he had made her laugh, too. 'Take that, Vasile.' he thought to himself. She seemed to relax now that he wasn't making fun of her for enjoying the ball and he was almost starting to relax himself and forget about how stupid he probably looked with his bad dancing when the song ended. But before he could suggest they high-tail it off the dance floor and back to the food tables the music started up again almost instantly, this time in a slow, soft, romantic kind of song. He cringed internally - this would be even more awkward than the quicker song, but all he had to do was think about Vasile or some other smooth, sleazy jerk touching her and he instantly held out his hands to her and raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question. She shrugged a little bit as if to say 'why not?' and stepped closer to him, bringing her hands up onto his shoulders and he put his on her waist, being sure to leave some space between their bodies. He once again looked at the other dancers for a clue as to how he should move, just as Sally and Jack swept past them in an impossibly romantic and graceful dance. 'Well, that's completely unhelpful.' he grimaced to himself, but saw that most of the other couples were just holding each other close and sort of swaying and stepping in little circles. He hoped he could at least manage that much. Now he really didn't know what to say and he didn't understand why. What was the big deal? Since when did he not know how to talk to Shock? Why should it be harder to think of something to say just because they were holding on to each other like this? He decided to blame it on the fact that there really wasn't much he could make fun of here without pissing her off, and not that he was distracted by how her waist felt through the satiny fabric of her dress beneath his hands or by her own hands gripping onto his shoulders. They never really touched each other that much unless they were wrestling or fighting, and the wrestling and physical fighting had tapered off considerably in recent years as Lock had finally grown a little bit taller than her, as well as much stronger than she was - it wasn't a fair fight anymore and he took no pleasure in beating up someone he cared about in an unfair fight. So they kept their fighting to words only these days, and their hands off of each other for the most part except for teasing smacks or shoves. He was lost in these thoughts until finally Shock broke the silence:

"Barrel looks like he's having a good time. I see he finally pried himself away from the food and found a friend." she smirked and nodded her head to the side and Lock looked over to see him dancing with Lana now. How was he able to find so many partners?

"More than one friend." Lock snorted. "Apparently he's quite the ladies man all of a sudden. Who knew chicks liked dumpy little guys with weird feet?"

Shock rolled her eyes at him. "Well, Barrel is really sweet. He's not bad-looking, and on top of that he's nice and he's a good listener, girls like that. Qualities you obviously don't know anything about."

"Hey, I'm nice! And I can listen good, too." Lock said, feeling defensive. There was no way he was going to accept Barrel being considered a better partner than himself.

"Sure you can, when you want to. I'm just saying you shouldn't only rely on your looks, girls like more than just that."

"Since when am I trying to attract girls?" he sneered, but he was starting to get a little flustered at Shock giving him dating advice. Sure, he thought some girls were pretty, but he really wasn't interested in any of them beyond that. It was just the concept of not being preferred over the likes of Vasile - and even worse, Barrel! - that got under his skin. Then he thought again about what she had just said and he grinned, "Wait, so you think that I rely on my looks? Are you saying I'm good-looking?" To his great pleasure he saw her blush a tiny bit and look away from him.

"Well, you're not awful-looking…" she stammered a bit, then recovered herself. "And you look less-ugly than usual tonight, too." she smirked, repeating his words from earlier and playing with the collar of his shirt a little.

"Thanks." he grinned, secretly thrilled by what she said and that she didn't seem to be mad at him for that comment anymore. "You're not awful-looking, either." he joked, and then he thought about what Vasile had said to her earlier… Lock wanted to one-up him, but without all the stupid, fake, flowery words, so he took a deep breath and ventured, "Actually, you look really pretty." It sounded like something Barrel would say, so he hoped she would be impressed. Plus, it was true. She met his eyes again and he was pleased that she seemed to still be a little pink in the cheeks and that she looked flattered.

"Now you're getting the hang of it. I was starting to worry that you were too stupid to learn how to not act like an asshole." she teased him, but then she said sincerely, "Thanks." He just smiled at her and tried to think of something witty to say so that she didn't think he was getting too mushy, but then she moved her hands from his shoulders to his back and stepped closer to him - so close that she could rest her head against his shoulder. His heart beat quicker and he hoped she couldn't hear it with her head right next to his chest. She certainly hadn't done this with Vasile - and if she had, Lock was positive that he wouldn't have been able to restrain himself from knocking that damn vampire's fangs out of his mouth right there in front of everybody. He felt weird and warm and strangely anxious, hoping he wasn't sweating too much as he held her close and shuffled awkwardly, trying once again not to step on her feet. That bizarre protective, possessive feeling was back and he wrapped his arms a little more tightly around her. It felt startlingly good to be near her like this - a little too good, in fact. He could feel the softness of her breasts against his chest and she was trailing a little pattern on one of his shoulder blades with her fingertips. Occasionally their stomachs or thighs would rub against one another and all this plus the scent of her hair and the feel of her slim waist beneath his hands was quickly becoming overwhelming, and horrifyingly, he felt himself starting to get aroused.

'Oh god, oh god, oh god, please no….' he pleaded to himself and tried to think of cute, fluffy kittens, rainbows, daisies, Easter Town, anything disgusting enough to distract him. He would die of embarrassment if she noticed and he attempted to move his hips just a tiny bit further away from her without being obvious, praying that the song would be over soon. Why was this even happening? It was completely crazy, this was just Shock, for crying out loud! He didn't even like her like that. Sure, he didn't want her cavorting around with some other guy, and sure she looked really beautiful tonight, and sure she was his very best friend, but that didn't mean anything! He told himself that he was just trying to keep scummy boys from hitting on her for her own protection, not because he was jealous - though he remembered with another little internal cringe that she didn't want him to protect her like that. So then why was he feeling like this? And even worse, why was he starting to get turned on? His eyes darted all around the room, searching for more distractions and he saw Barrel a little ways away. Barrel obviously had no qualms about snuggling up close to his dance partner and he was swaying on his feet with his chin on her shoulder, eyes closed and smiling contentedly. As if he knew Lock was looking at him, he opened his eyes and shot Lock an enormous grin and then actually gave him a thumbs-up from behind Lana's back. Lock frowned at him, unsure of what exactly he was thumbs-upping: the fact that Barrel had landed a pretty cute dance partner or the fact that Lock had gotten Shock to slow-dance with him. Barrel shrugged at him as much as he could in his current position, then closed his eyes again with that stupid, happy look on his face. Unbelievable. Lock always knew that Barrel was a huge sap, but even he hadn't been expecting this sort of behavior from him. Then to his enormous relief the song ended and mercifully transitioned into another faster song and he and Shock broke apart a bit.

"Good job, you didn't stomp on my feet." she teased him, and he felt enormous relief once again that she didn't seem to have noticed the start of his little problem. Well, not that little, he couldn't help thinking to himself.

"Hey, I'm nothing if not graceful. Surely girls like that, too." he said in a light, airy tone and she laughed.

"Sure they do, Romeo. C'mon, let's go get a drink and go outside. It's hot in here."

"Good call." he agreed. He felt so hot that he could hardly breath, and it definitely wasn't because of the room temperature. He saw Vasile eyeing them and Lock shot him a dirty look and put his hand possessively on her arm as they made their way off the dance floor and over to the punch bowl. They each filled a glass, grabbed a few little stuffed roach and spider appetizers and headed outside to sit on the edge of the main square fountain. Shock took her shoes off the second they sat down and Lock only then noticed that they laced up her ankles and had high, skinny heels. He had never seen her wear high heels before - he didn't know she even owned any - and they looked very elegant, but also incredibly uncomfortable. "Damn, those shoes look crazy." he said, watching as she wiggled her now-free toes. "How do you even walk in them?"

"It's hell, trust me. I had to practice in my room for days, and I still feel like I'm about to fall over at any second and I can't feel my little toes." She popped a stuffed roach into her mouth. "But it felt wrong to wear normal shoes with this dress. The price of looking ladylike or some shit, I guess." she said with her mouth full, and Lock wanted to laugh at the idea of Shock being 'ladylike'. She continued, "I can tell you, though, I am never wearing these things again, not even at my own wedding - assumingthat ever even happens. You guys are lucky, you can look acceptable without all the pain."

"I think you look acceptable without wearing all this crap." he said before he could stop himself, and then he felt awkward and warm again like he had while they were dancing. He had complimented her without even thinking about it, plus the idea Shock getting married was deeply unpleasant. He'd never thought about it before and he felt a weird little twinge in his stomach. The day any of them got married - if ever - was still probably a long way off, but he didn't like the thought of her or Barrel (or himself) moving out and living with other people. She gave him an odd look and he worried that he'd offended her again by calling her nice clothes and shoes and makeup 'crap', but then the corner of her mouth turned up into a tiny smile and she looked back at the town hall.

"You should really stop being a bone-in-the-mud and go dance with some more girls. Elvisa has a crush on you, you know."

"Really?" He was surprised by this, he had no idea. She was quite pretty but he didn't have any real feelings towards her one way or the other - but his ego couldn't help but be gratified to hear that a cute girl had the hots for him. "How do you know?"

"Because she told me herself. Girls talk about those things to each other, you know… she was trying to get some inside info and get me to put in a good word for her, since you and I are friends."

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her you're a big, immature dumbass, so she should get over you." she smirked. Lock wasn't sure if she was serious or not, but then he decided he didn't really care if she was because he wasn't interested in asking Elvisa out anyway.

"Good, because I don't really like ghouls." he said lightly, even though that wasn't strictly true - he actually didn't have any real opinion on ghouls but he was trying to be clever and find a way to ask if Shock had any preferences. 'Just because I'm curious,' he told himself, 'Not because it matters or anything….'

"Barrel's a ghoul, you like him." Shock reminded him with a snicker.

"Yeah, but I'm not gonna ask Barrel out, am I?" he gave her a disgusted look and she laughed. "What about you, do you like ghouls?" he asked casually, unfastening the buttons at his wrists and rolling his shirt sleeves up to his elbows, still feeling too warm and hoping he was being subtle with this line of questioning.

She shrugged. "Sure, why not? No one in particular though, and I don't want to ask out Barrel, either, if that's what you're getting at…"

"Nah, just trying to suss out how much of a prejudiced jerk you are." he smirked, even though that was a gigantic lie.

"Oh, like you aren't, Mr. I-Don't-Like-Ghouls?" she said mockingly, but then she looked thoughtful for a moment. "I guess I don't really care for corpses much. Ethan was trying to hit on me earlier but obviously I turned him down." Lock frowned. How many times was he going to have to beat the crap out of Ethan before he got the hint and left her alone? Lock wanted to punch him in his stupid, sewn-up face right along with Vasile and he started fantasizing about punching them both at the same time, one with each fist, but then she continued, "I like warlocks OK…"

"And vampires." Lock interjected, trying to look and sound teasing instead of as insecure and sulky as he felt, but then he immediately regretted it when Shock looked curiously at him for what was probably only a second or two, but what felt like a really long time. He didn't know what to do, so he took a large swig of his punch and dipped the tip of his tail into the fountain basin to splash the bright green water around a little bit.

"Yeah, vampires are alright…" she agreed, then looked back at the town hall before saying quietly, "But I like devils better."

Lock froze for a second, also staring straight ahead at the town hall. Was she actually flirting with him? Or just stating a general fact? He wasn't sure, he felt utterly lost when it came to things like this and he also felt incredibly confused because he actually found himself hoping it was the former. He couldn't think of a flirty response but he had to break the tension somehow, so he quickly came up with a joke. "Well, that just proves that you have excellent taste. So I guess you aren't a prejudiced jerk, you're just smart." he said smugly, and Shock snorted.

"It's about time you admitted that," she said with mock-haughtiness. "So who does meet your personal standard? Anyone but ghouls, or are you even more stuck-up than that?"

He realized that he had an opportunity here to flirt back, assuming that she had indeed been flirting with him. "Hey, you just said you don't like corpses, so you're just as stuck-up as I am." he protested, trying to stall for time. She laughed, then swiveled around on the edge of the fountain and hiked her dress up to her shins so she could dip her toes into the water next to his tail. "Well," he started, "Obviously I like demons, too, because we're all sexy," Shock rolled her eyes at him and he grinned. "And vampiresses are pretty good, I don't mind corpses or mer-girls…" He chanced a quick look at her and saw that she was watching him with what looked like great interest and he decided to go for it: "But witches are probably the best." He kept his voice light and casual, but his heart was beating fast. What the hell was going on? What was he even doing? Shock raised her eyebrows at him in what seemed like an impressed, appraising sort of way. Maybe she hadn't been flirting with him after all, and he felt disappointed despite himself.

She smirked at him, "I guess you aren't actually as stupid as you seem. Good choice, if you had said anything else I'd have hexed your tail off right here."

Lock quickly removed his tail from the water and coiled it protectively behind him in an exaggerated manner. "I bet you would, you witches are crazy." he said in mock fear.

She cackled, "That must be why you like us so much, birds of a feather and all that." That phrase triggered an old memory deep in his mind - they used to refer to one another like that when they were children, him, Barrel and her. 'No, that's why I like YOU so much,' he thought to himself. He was starting to come to the gradual realization that there might be a reason he wasn't interested in any of these other cute girls, even the ones who apparently already had crushes on him, but it was too heavy and nerve-wracking to contemplate too deeply at the moment so he resorted to humor once again.

"I guess so," he laughed, not knowing what to say after that, but thankfully a change of subject came in the form of Barrel walking out of town hall and down the steps, holding hands with Azeneth, the mummy girl.

"Oh my god!" Shock hissed excitedly and elbowed Lock hard in the arm.

"Holy shit!" Lock whispered, not sure if he should laugh or feel jealous that Barrel apparently was indeed a ladies man. "I did not see that coming!"

"Okay, that is hilarious, but also fucking adorable." said Shock, then she smiled and waved as Barrel caught sight of them and started walking over.

"Hey guys!" he said happily.

"Hi!" said Azeneth, sounding just as happy.

Barrel tossed his jacket onto the edge of the fountain and started loosening his tie. "Az and I decided to come outside, it's hot as hell in there." Apparently he felt no need to explain why he had been holding hands with her, nor why he was calling her 'Az'.

"Yeah, that's why we came out here, too." said Shock.

"Vasile's been asking where you are." Barrel said, and Lock involuntarily scowled.

"And Elvisa's been asking about you," added Azeneth, looking at Lock. "You should go dance with her, it would make her night. And probably her whole week." she giggled.

"Possibly her entire year." joked Shock, and Barrel laughed.

"Poor Elvisa, I didn't know she was that dumb." he grinned, and Lock glared at him. He was almost tempted to go in there and ask her to dance just to shut them all up and let everybody see someone swooning over him, but he didn't think it would be smart to let her think he was interested in more than that. More importantly, he didn't want to give Vasile or anyone else the chance to creep on Shock again.

"Yeah, that's not happening." he said, trying to turn the situation to his favor. "We devils are devastatingly sexy and I don't want to break her heart by giving her a taste of what she could never have." he said in a lofty tone.

Shock snorted loudly. "Oh, that's real magnanimous of you, truly you are a giant among demons." she said sarcastically, but she was smiling.

"Well, since apparently neither of you seem interested in dancing with anyone but each other, how about we go to the east graveyard and vandalize some tombstones or something?" suggested Barrel, and the sly tone of his voice and the implication of his words were not lost on Lock. He shot Barrel a threatening look, embarrassed that it had been pointed out that he'd only danced with Shock the entire evening and that he had no plans to dance with anyone else.

"Good idea." said Shock. "I want to ritually burn these shoes and that'd be a great place to do it." Lock couldn't hold in a loud laugh at that and she grinned at him as she picked up her shoes and hopped down off of the fountain edge.

"Are you going to walk all the way to the graveyard barefoot?" he asked, jumping down after her.

"Yeah, I think so. It's probably less uncomfortable than wearing these dumb things. I have crazy blisters already." She began carefully picking her way across the cobblestones and he almost wanted to offer to give her a piggyback ride, but they weren't kids anymore and he thought that would be weird. Barrel and Azeneth walked ahead, talking closely together and leaving Lock and Shock to follow along behind them. It almost felt like a double-date, and he kind of liked it…. but Shock was walking much slower than normal, stepping gingerly over the rough ground and Lock started getting impatient. It would be morning before they reached the cemetery at this rate. 'Fuck it,' he thought to himself and said:

"Let me give you a piggyback ride, you're taking forever. I want to get to the cemetery sometime before tomorrow." He tried to make it sound like she was being a huge inconvenience when secretly he hoped she would accept his offer.

"I'm fine!" she snapped, but right at that moment lifted one foot up quickly when she stepped on a small, sharp rock. Lock rolled his eyes.

"The ground is only going to get rougher from here on out. Either put your damn shoes on or get on my back!" he said irritably, hoping that it didn't sound like he actually wanted her on his back.

"Fine!" she practically shouted, "Here, hold these." and she thrust her shoes into his hand and started hiking her dress up above her knees. He quickly turned away from her, his face getting warm, and bent slightly so she could climb onto him easier. She gripped both of his shoulders and hopped up onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and linking her arms over his shoulders and across his chest. "Giddyup," she snickered, and kicked him like he was a horse. He tried to turn his head to give her a dirty look, but he couldn't really see her and she snickered again - louder this time - so made an offended sort of noise before he hooked his arms more firmly under her thighs to hold her up and started walking at a quick pace after Barrel and Azeneth, her ridiculous shoes dangling from two of his fingers. He was trying hard not to think about the fact that his bare hands and forearms were touching her bare thighs, but her skin felt incredibly soft and it was impossible for him to ignore, as was her body pressed tightly against his back and her breath behind his ear and for the second time that night he started to get aroused by her touching him. 'Damn it, how many times is this going to happen?' he thought wretchedly, hoping against hope that it was just a side effect of this unusual occasion and not how it was going to be with her all the time from now on. Just then she pulled herself a little closer against his back and he felt the muscles of her strong, slender thighs tighten around his waist and his mind immediately dropped all the way into the gutter. Was it possible for tonight to be both the best and the worst night of his life? He drug his mind kicking and screaming right back out of the gutter - the cemetery wasn't far away and if Barrel happened to turn around and see the state Lock was currently in then the jig would be up.

Fortunately he managed to get himself under control by the time they arrived and found Barrel and Az already scribbling on one of the tombstones with black paint pens. "Where did you get those?" asked Lock, standing there with Shock still clinging to his back. He was procrastinating putting her down for as long as he could get away with.

Barrel snickered, "I put them in my pockets before we left the house - just in case."

"Nice!" said Lock, impressed by Barrel's forethought. They may be teenagers now, but they were still trick-or-treaters at heart. Their job had just evolved: now instead of trick-or-treating themselves, they caused property damage, scared younger trick-or-treaters and stole their candy. It was a pretty good gig.

"Put me down on that headstone over there." Shock said in a very bossy voice, and Lock reluctantly complied.

"Yes, your majesty." he said sarcastically, and backed up till she could sit down on it. She playfully kicked him in the butt with her foot when he stepped away from her and he immediately wrapped his tail around her ankle on pure instinct. "That's the thanks I get for acting like your personal pack-mule? Remind me to let you walk next time and we'll see if you get home before the next day with your feet intact!" he grumbled, then released her ankle and gently swatted her foot with the tip of his tail and dropped her shoes in front of her.

"Oh please, you loved it." Shock teased him, and all he could do was scowl at her and then quickly change the subject.

"You got another one of those pens for me?" he asked Barrel.

"And me." added Shock.

"What are you gonna do with it? You and your delicate feet can't even get off of that headstone." sneered Lock.

"I'll just use it right here, stupid! Barrel, give me one of those, I want to write 'Lock is a dumb shit' on this headstone."

"Oh yeah? Well I'm gonna write 'Shock is a delicate, weak little princess' on this mausoleum over here in foot-tall letters!"

Shock threw one of her shoes at him and he ducked. "You think I'm delicate and weak? You try walking in these things! You wouldn't last 5 minutes!"

"Do they always fight like this?" Az whispered to Barrel.

"Yup, pretty much." Barrel answered, finishing up his handiwork on the tombstone with a flourish. It looked like he had written some very creative expletives and Az had drawn several very lewd pictures to go with them. She was a pretty good artist, Lock thought. Barrel fished another pen out of his pocket and said, "I only brought three, here you go." He handed it to Lock and tossed the other one to Shock.

"Thanks." Lock and Shock said simultaneously, then they both glared at each other.

"Hey, I thought you said you were gonna burn those shoes." Barrel said.

"Oh yeah! Let's burn them on top of that tomb over there." said Shock, and she slid down off of the headstone she was sitting on and picked up her other shoe.

"Need a lift again, your highness?" Lock said mockingly, and Shock turned up her nose at him.

"I think I can handle walking 20 feet, thank you very much." she said snottily, and made her way carefully to the designated tomb. Lock picked up the shoe she'd thrown at him and followed her, and Barrel and Az turned around where they were sitting on the ground to watch the show. They placed the shoes on top of the tomb and Shock turned to Barrel and said, "Did you bring any matches?" Barrel shook his head, so then she turned to Lock. "Would you do the honors, then?"

"What would you do without me?" he teased, but snapped his fingers against the ankle-laces and they ignited. Soon the flames engulfed both shoes entirely and they sent up a rather large cloud of rancid black smoke as they burned.

"Thus do we send you back to the depths from which you came." Shock said as if she were performing an exorcism, and before long they weren't much more than a pile of ash and a large scorch mark on top of the tomb. Then she took her black paint pen and wrote beneath the remains: 'Here lie Shock's torture-shoes. May they burn in hell for all eternity.'

"Well, that was satisfying." she said, and Lock couldn't help but be amused. He vaguely wondered how much the shoes that he'd just sent up in flames had cost her, but the look on Shock's face made it clear that she had no regrets.

"Hopefully none of us will get cancer now." said Barrel, waving his hand in front of his nose. "That smoke was rank." Azeneth giggled adoringly at him and Lock wished that Shock would look at him like that.

They spent the next hour or so talking and laughing and causing as much damage to the cemetery as they could. Shock and Az continued their graffiti with the pens and Lock and Barrel worked together to push over headstones until several very angry ghosts threatened them and they hurried back to where the girls were. Then Lock set fire to the herb garden and they all sat down together to watch it burn.

"Does anybody see any sticks?" said Barrel.

"Why?" asked Shock.

"So we can toast these." he said, and pulled a handful of the roach appetizers from the party out of his pocket.

"Dang, Barrel, what else have you got stuffed in there?" said Lock, and Shock laughed a little.

"Here's one," Shock said, and handed it to Barrel. "I see a few more over there, too." They managed to locate three sticks and a rib bone, and they each skewered some roaches and held them over the fire. Barrel and Az were holding hands again as they munched on their snacks and Lock looked down and saw how close Shock's hand was to his own. He really wanted to hold it, but that would be going way too far. He wasn't even quite fully ready to accept the fact that he wanted to hold her hand, plus he had no idea if she wanted him to - if he tried and she rejected him he would die of humiliation and they might as well just bury him right here since they were in the graveyard already. So he contented himself with sneaking glances at her, liking the way the firelight shone in her clever, black, wicked eyes and illuminated the planes and valleys of her face, neck, shoulders and collarbones. The way she was sitting and the way the light hit her even afforded him a glimpse of cleavage and he felt warm for reasons that had nothing to do with the fire. Sometimes he would catch her looking at him, too, and he hoped it was for the same reason he was looking at her.

When the fire died out, Barrel stood up and Az followed suite. "Well, I'm beat." he said. "I think I ate too much and now I just want to sleep."

"Sounds about right," Shock chuckled, shaking her head. "I'm tired, too."

"Same here." said Az, and Lock agreed. He had no idea what time it was, only that it was very, very late. Barrel and Az started walking towards the cemetery gate and Lock stood up and stretched. Knocking over headstones was pretty hard work and he didn't want to be too sore in the morning. Shock stood up after him and he noticed her shiver as she wrapped her arms around herself. He knew that she always ran a little on the cold side, and on top of that her shoulders, arms and feet were bare and it was starting to get a little chilly out. He saw that Barrel had given Azeneth his jacket and Lock started to regret that he didn't have one to offer Shock. Apparently Barrel was a better partner than him, but he had to at least make an attempt.

"You want my shirt? I have a t-shirt on underneath. If you're cold or something. Friends don't let friends freeze to death." He was babbling, trying not to make it sound like she was his date.

"Taking a page out of Barrel's book, eh?" she smirked up at him and before he could protest she said, "Won't you be cold?"

"Nah, you know me, I'm too warm all the time. I felt like taking it off hours ago anyway. I'll be fine." he said carelessly.

"Alright, thanks, Romeo." she said and he rolled his eyes at her and started unbuttoning his shirt, secretly liking that she called him that. If she wouldn't let him protect her from skeezy guys, at least she was letting him protect her from being cold. He shrugged out of it and handed it to her, thinking it would be overkill to drape it around her shoulders like Barrel had done with Azeneth. Shock was far too independent for that sort of thing and Lock would be damned if he started acting like too much of a gentleman. She put it on and he decided he liked how she looked wearing his clothes, then remembered that she was completely without shoes now so it was up to him to carry her back home.

"Well, climb aboard, princess." he teased. She smacked him on the arm but did as he said, hiking up her dress to above her knees again, but this time he didn't turn around quite as quickly as he had before. The evening was coming to an end and he wanted to sear the image into his brain while he had the chance. She hopped onto his back and he hooked his arms beneath her legs once again, then headed off through the gates and towards home.

Barrel and Azeneth were quite far ahead of them at this point but Lock didn't hurry to catch up. He wanted to make the night last as long as possible, plus he was getting tired. Shock wasn't really all that heavy, but carrying her between town and the cemetery twice, plus pushing over all those headstones, plus the lateness of the hour and the stress of the night in general was starting to wear on him. They reached the main square once again and Barrel turned around and called to them, "I'm gonna walk Az to her house, I'll see you guys at home in a bit!"

"Okay!" Shock called rather loudly from right behind his ear. "It was fun hanging out with you, Azeneth, see you later!"

"Yeah, bye!" added Lock.

Azeneth waved at them and called, "Goodnight!" Then she and Barrel turned down a different side road, hand in hand once more.

"How serious do you think they are?" Shock murmured as they turned down their own street.

Lock shrugged. "How serious can they be? They barely know each other."

"Well, regardless, I wasn't expecting that. It's cute though, I hope it goes somewhere. Az is really nice."

"Yeah, I guess so…" Lock really wasn't all that interested in Barrel's love life, he was just depressed that it seemed like Barrel was getting a girlfriend before he was. 'It's not like you don't have options…' he thought to himself. Elvisa would obviously go out with him and he suspected that Lana would too, by the way she'd been eyeing him at the punch bowl that night. But once again he came to the harrowing conclusion that the only girl he wanted to be with was Shock. What a mess. He knew he shouldn't have gone to this stupid ball.

They finally arrived home and he bent down so Shock could slide more easily off of his back and onto the floor. "Thanks for the lift, pack-mule." she said as though it were his actual name. She'd better not turn that into a nickname for him.

"Very funny," he scoffed. "You'd better not buy any more shoes like those if you're as smart as you like to think you are. I'm not hauling your fat ass around again, no matter what the occasion."

"Believe me, that was the first, last and only time I'm wearing anything like those." she yawned, padding towards the stairs. "Dibs on the bathroom, I gotta scrub this crud off of my face."

"No way, that means you're going to be in there forever. I'm going first, I just gotta take a leak and brush my teeth, then I'll be done and you can spend all night in there."

"Fine, I have to change out of this dress first anyway." she called from her bedroom door, then closed it behind her. Lock went into the bathroom, relieved himself, washed his hands and then started brushing his teeth, trying to sort through all of the complicated feelings swirling around in his mind. Then Shock knocked on the door and said, "You done pissing?"

"Yeah." he mumbled around his toothbrush, and she came into the bathroom in her pajamas.

"Move over, I can't wait any longer." she said, bumping him aside with her hip and grabbing a washcloth off of the shelf. He watched her in the mirror as she scrubbed her face clean and dry, then took the ribbon out of her hair and started brushing out her curls. He had been hoping that watching her transform back into her usual look would help him revert back to how he used to think about her, but that didn't seem to be the case. Now somehow she looked even prettier to him with her face all clean and her hair going back to it's naturally unruly state, wearing her old, over-large and decidedly un-sexy pajamas. Even this domestic routine that was so familiar to them both felt different now, almost like this time after sharing the bathroom they would then also share a bedroom. He quickly snapped himself out of that way-too-appealing thought and pushed her away from the sink with his own hip so he could spit out his toothpaste and rinse his mouth. Then he ran a comb through his hair but had nothing else to do in there to use as an excuse to stay with her, so he went to the door.

"Well, goodnight." he said.

"'Night," she replied, squeezing some toothpaste onto her toothbrush. He felt like he should say something else, but had absolutely no idea what. He was just about through the door when she said, "Hey, Lock?" and he instantly popped his head back in.

"Yeah?" Oh god, what was she going to say? All sorts of crazy possibilities flashed through his head.

"I had a lot of fun tonight." she said simply, meeting his eyes in the mirror and she almost looked a little shy. He'd never seen her make that expression before and having her direct it towards him caused a funny sort of feeling in his stomach.

"Me too." he answered honestly, then felt the need to make a joke to try and calm down the moths that were now fluttering around in his gut. "It sucked way less than I was expecting." She laughed a little bit at that and he grinned at her and went back out into the hallway, shutting the bathroom door behind him. Back in his bedroom he stripped off his clothes and crawled into bed. He almost never slept in anything more than boxer shorts, he got too warm in pajamas and he was already feeling abnormally hot as it was. He realized that Shock still had his dress shirt from when he'd given it to her earlier, and he embarrassingly hoped that it would smell like her when she gave it back to him. He sighed and turned over onto his back. What a confusing, exhausting night. He heard the front door open and close - Barrel had obviously just arrived home and Lock wondered if he'd gotten to kiss Azeneth. Lock wished that he had gotten to kiss Shock, but it was all too much, too soon, and he still had a lot of thinking to do, both about tonight and what tomorrow might bring. He sighed heavily again and rolled over onto his side and closed his eyes, willing himself to fall asleep and wondering when the next fancy party would be. To his very great surprise, he hoped it would be soon.