Booker and Copper watched the autumn leaves fall outside of the gate. The falling autumn leaves made Booker emotional somehow, and his tears started to fall. 

Copper lend him a handkerchief and asked, "Why are you emotional? They're just leaves."

"I... I don't... know..." Booker said as he wiped his tears and returned the handkerchief. 

"It doesn't seem like an allergy to me," Copper said as he put his handkerchief back into his pocket. "Did you read a lot of books in the past, I assume?"

"Probably..." Booker answered not so confidently. "I may have read a few books... I-I don't know if they count..."

"Well, what books have you read?" Copper asked.

"Umm..." Booker thought for a moment. "Azaleas by Kim Sowol, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee... I don't remember anything else..."

"Poetries, maybe?" Copper asked.

"Umm..." Booker thought for a moment once again. "Night of Counting Stars by Yun Dong Joo... The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost..."

"You definitely read much more than I did," Copper said. "I only focused on training as a guard. I trained myself so hard to become an expert in martial arts and wield spears."

"I, uh, I used to read... during breaks... in training," Booker said. 

"Really? I chose to listen to music," Copper said. "Probably sleep in the shades or maybe something else. Then I graduated as a valedictorian and pursued my dream of becoming a guard."

"Well... you pursued your dream well..." Booker said sheepishly. "I... uh... I gave up... on becoming a writer..."

"Why did you give up?" Copper asked.

"Um... pressure..." Booker said. "But... I-I have no regrets. At all. I, I got to meet you after all."

Copper didn't say anything. He just warmly hugged Booker. Booker was surprised for a moment, but he leaned his head on Copper's shoulder and hugged him back. When they withdrew, Copper's hands still on Booker's shoulder, Booker said to Copper, "You... you seem emotional... yourself..."

Copper chuckled for a moment. "It proves that I have feelings too besides loyalty," Copper said with a warm smile. Booker smiled back. Copper couldn't help but lean in for a kiss.  

********

Booker and Copper raked leaves to make the town look cleaner. Sure, the villagers raked leaves too, but they only did it near their houses, so Booker and Copper had to take the care of the rest of the town: near the fountain, near the beaches, and near important buildings such as Town Hall, Museum, and Nookington's. 

"There are so many fallen leaves this year," Copper said. "It feels like the number of fallen leaves increases every year."

"It, uh, it seems so," Booker replied. 

"When I was a kid, my parents would rake the leaves into a large pile and I would always jump into it," Copper said. "Those were the days. But then after being in a perspective of having to rake them is such hard work. I would be a little irritated if someone ruined it by jumping into it. I wonder if my parents felt that way. I mean, they did say that they made a pile for me to jump in, but they still had to rake them once again to throw them away."

"I'm... I'm sure seeing you happy was... worth... raking the leaves again," Booker said with a shy smile and rosy blush.

"Um... I guess you're right, haha..." Copper said as he blushed. 

After raking the majority of the leaves, they brought all the bags filled with raked leaves in front of the gate to get rid of them altogether. "Before we get rid of them for good, can I jump into the piles real quick? When it's not windy?"

"Sure, heh heh," Booker said. 

Copper immediately un-bagged enough leaves for him to jump in. "Wanna jump in with me?" Copper offered. 

"Um, no thanks," Booker said. 

Copper walked away from the pile, and then ran back to the pile and dived right in, causing a lot of leaves to fly outwards. Some landed on Booker that he had to shake the leaves off of him. Just then, something pulled him in the middle of the small leaf storm. Copper chuckled as he brought Booker into the leaf pile that became smaller. Copper laid Booker on the leaf pile and looked down at him lovingly. 

"Co-copper..." Booker stuttered as he blushed. "We... we need t-to c-clean up... now..." 

"Just one kiss..." Copper said as he held Booker's chin seductively with his soft, fluffy paws and his thumb on Booker's lips as his cheeks and nuzzle turned red as the red maples. Booker nodded shyly. Copper held Booker's cheek and planted a kiss on his lips. 

********

While Booker was sweeping the inside of the gate, something tapped him on the back.

"Hello..." the thing that tapped Booker on the back said in a really deep voice. It had a pumpkin head and its body was covered with dark purple cloak. 

"GAHH!! GHOST!!! PUMPKIN GHOST!!!!" Booker shrieked as he fell behind. He continued to scream as he crawled away. "STAY AWAY!! STAY AWAY!!!"

"Booker! Booker! It's me!" Copper voice came out from the pumpkin. He took the pumpkin helmet off and showed his real Copper's face.

"Oh... it-it was just you..." Booker said after sighing with relief. "I-I-I thought it was a g-g-g-ghost..."

"I'm sorry," Copper said as he let his hand out to help him get up. "Are you all right? I didn't mean to scare you so much."

"I'm... I'm fine..." Booker said as Copper helped him stand up. 

"You know, you're so cute when you get scared!" Copper said as he pressed his lips against Booker's cheek. They both blushed by his contact. 

"Ha- how daring of you..." Booker said as he held his burning cheek. 

"Now come on!" Copper said as he held Booker's hand. "Let's go enjoy Halloween! It's my favorite night of the autumn!" 

"Oh, all-all right..." Booker said. 

"Everyone is dressed like this, and I got another set for you too!" Copper said as he wrapped the cloak around Booker and handed him Jack's Helmet. "Let's put that on and get some candies!" 

"Oh-okay," Booker replied. After he put the helmet on, he asked, "How do I look?"

"You look like Jack," Copper said. "I can't wait for you to take that off later. I can't let you hide your beautiful face with that!"

"Umm... umm... mmm..." Booker couldn't say anything as his face was burning under the helmet. He started to become worried if the helmet might overheat due to his facial heat. 

Booker and Copper went around town to collect some candies. When they first went to Apollo's house to do some trick-or-treating, Copper was eager to scare the villagers that he also wanted to scare Apollo too. But when Apollo opened and Copper said in a deep voice, "TrIcK oR tReAt..." Apollo just handed them candies without any facial expression across his face. "That wasn't scary?" Copper asked in his normal voice.

"Of course not," Apollo said bluntly. Then he smiled and said, "But I'm glad you two are still getting a day off like this. You two deserve to be on a break from guarding the gate all the time. I'm actually worried if you guys do get enough breaks."

"Th-thank you for the candies," Booker said. 

"See you soon!" Copper said. 

As they turned around and walked away from Apollo's house, something exploded and out popped real Jack!!

"Hehehe..." Jack chuckled.

"Gahh!!" Booker screamed as he hid behind Copper.

"Are you the real Jack?" Copper asked. 

"That right!" Jack answered. "You found the real Jack, the czar of Halloween! Now the tradition, you must give me a piece of candy so that I can give you a special treat, but if you don't, I'll give you a special trick!"

"A-all right," Booker said as he handed a candy, still hiding behind Copper's back. 

"Here, from both of us," Copper said as he grabbed the candy from Booker's hand, grabbed a piece of candy from his pocket, and handed it to Jack. 

"Mmm~~~!!" Jack moaned passionately as he savored the sweets Booker and Copper gave him. "Now, I shall reward you with my special furniture!" Jack said as he handed each Booker and Copper a piece of furniture. "Now, see you later!" Jack jumped, spun backward, and disappeared in the gas. 

"Whoa, th-that was s-something," Booker said, still freaked out by Jack.

"Don't be scared," Copper said as he held Booker's hand. 

"You're so reliable," Booker said as he leaned his head against his shoulder. 

"Is this the time where we kiss?" Copper asked playfully.

"We, uh, we can't kiss... under our masks," Booker said as he blushed under his mask that the mask became hotter. 

"How about we do so when we go back to the gate?" Copper suggested. "I think I had enough trick-or-treating for today!"

"A-All right," Booker answered.

********

When Thanksgiving came, everyone was excited, especially Copper. 

"It's finally Thanksgiving!" Copper said excitedly. "Ooh, I can't wait for the feast!! What's your favorite Thanksgiving food?" 

"Uh... pumpkin pie..." Booker answered after thinking about it for a bit. "Wh-what about y-you?" 

"Roast turkey, no questions asked," Copper said. "The turkey is supposed to here today. I can't wait to much on that bird!" 

"Oh! Y-yes...!" Booker agreed. 

Booker walked around to sweep the fallen leaves, pick up fallen fruits, and was the fruits to set them up on the table or have the others use them to bake cake or pie out of it. "This fruitcake is gonna be amazing!" Margie said as she cheered. 

"You didn't put cherries in here," Rosie said as she picked up a stem with a ball of cherry. 

"I'm using that to bake cherry pie," Margie said.

"Again with the cherry pie!" Rosie said. 

"By the way, where is the turkey??" Cyrano asked in frustration. 

"Yeah, I'm hungry!!" Cesar exclaimed as he pounded on his chest. 

"Let's wait, folks," Apollo said patiently. "I don't even know why you folks are crazy over the bird anyways."

Booker silently and awkwardly excused himself to sweep up more fallen leaves and pick up more fruits. While going around the trees, he noticed something hiding behind the trees and peeking out. 

"Umm... e-excuse me...?" Booker asked the turkey. "Who are you? And, uh, wh-what are you doing behind the tree?"

"SHHH!!" the turkey shushed him violently. 

"O-oh! So-sorry...!" Booker stuttered. "But... I-I must ask..." 

"They invited me as a cook," the turkey said. "But it's obvious that they're just trying to eat me!!" 

"Oh! I-I see..." Booker said. "But why?"

"Because I'm Franklin the turkey!" Franklin answered. "I'm not risking my life over this!!" 

"So... what can I... what can I do for you?" Booker asked. 

"Can you get me all the spoons, forks, and knives?" Franklin asked. "As long as they don't have them, they won't try to eat me..."

"Oh... okay..." Booker said and walked away. "I don't... I don't know the logic behind that... but... but okay." Booker arrived at the Thanksgiving table and while everyone was distracted with cake and pies, Booker snatched all of the utensils and quickly brought it to him. 

"He-here..." Booker said as he handed all the utensils to Franklin. 

"Oh! Thank you, thank you so much!!" Franklin exclaimed joyfully as he received them all. "Will you let me return to my hometown?" 

"Follow... follow me!" Booker said as he led them to the gate. He made sure that Copper was not there, and discreetly let him out of the town. 

"Thank you so much, my life savior!" Franklin thanked brightly. "How can I repay you??" 

"Nothing, nothing," Booker replied.

"Farewell!" Franklin said as he ran further and further away from the gate and Booker closed the gates gently. Booker sighed deeply as he wiped the sweat out of his forehead. 

When he arrived, everyone was grumbling except Apollo. "What is... what is going on here?" Booker asked. 

"The turkey couldn't get here." Alfonso grumbled. "Now we're stuck with chicken!" 

"Come on, it's better than nothing," Apollo said. 

"Thanksgiving is the only time we eat the turkey! How come it's better than nothing??? This IS nothing!!" Tortimer exclaimed. 

Booker tightened his lips and fidgeted his paws in nervousness. 

After the Thanksgiving dinner, Booker and Copper went back to the gate to have a bit of their private moments. 

"Well, that was still satisfying," Copper said. "I mean, no turkey was disappointing, but Margie, oh dang, her baking is good!"

"I really... I really enjoyed it too," Booker said. 

"I have a question, Booker..." Copper said as he glued his eyes on to him. 

"Wh-what is it...?" Booker asked in nervousness. Does he... does he know that I let the turkey out??? 

"Do you not like meat? I did not see you eating the chicken," Copper answered. 

Booker sighed deeply yet silently so that Copper doesn't noticed. In relief, he answered, "I prefer... fruits..." 

"I guess it is a stereotype to say that all chubby dogs like meat," Copper said. 

"I... I guess so," Booker answered. 

"You know, even though we had desserts," Copper said. "I can use more desserts."

"What desserts...?" Booker asked. 

"You know the answer," Copper said as he arrived in front of him and traced Booker's soft lips with his paws. 

"Oh! Uh... um... okay...!" Booker agreed hesitantly due to sudden request. Copper smirked, held Booker's cheek, and leaned in to kiss him. Booker placed his paws on Copper's shoulders. 

"Sweet, as always," Copper said as he withdrew. Booker chuckled shyly.