"You actually helped him!" Xisuma laughed.
I buried myself into my hoodie as Tango climbed into the back with me.
"What's Mumbo hiding from?" Tango asked.

"Ah, nothing, he just helped a guy get away with murder!" Cleo laughed leaning forward over the first three seats.
"It wasn't murder Cloe!" I protested sinking deeper into my cocoon.
"What happened?" Tango asked, his voice sinking in suspicion.
"Some guy he's been hanging out with recently chucked a juice box hitting a guy in the face and when the other guy went to tell on him Mumbo stood in his way!" Iskall chimed in.

"He gave me cookies! It was a fair trade!" I protested breaking free of my cacoon.
"Mmm, that does sound like a fair trade!" Tango laughed, his devil red eyes sparkling like puppies.

"Right?!" I responded bringing my legs into a crisscross form on top of the seat and shoving my hands in the center.
Iskall and Cloe glared at our older brother and Xisuma laughed.
"Don't forget he was giving you cookies because you kissed him~" Cloe retorted.

"Ok, like I said befor-" I began.
"You're talking about that Evo blondie right?" Tango asked bluntly and we all immediately shut up.
"I saw him in the bathroom earlier, his brother was going on about how he had you wrapped around his finger," Tango said plainly.
My heart dropped and I just stared.

"Didn't he also say something about making your life a whole lot harder by hanging out with you?" Xisuma commented.

No. No. No way!
"So, you kissed him?" Tango asked sitting down beside me, in the middle.
"I- Uhm."I stammered.
"Was it good at least?" He asked.
I began to shake. I'm such a fool! Of course, he knew who I was! That should have been a huge red flag!

"Woah hey!" Tango quickly tried to calm me down.
"I'm sorry, I should have kept my mouth shut," he attempted to apologize.
I didn't respond, instead, I looked out the window.

And that's when I saw him. Grian was walking in the cold all alone looking down at his phone. He looked up, pressed a button on his phone, and shoved it into the cup holder built into his backpack.

I watched as he stopped looked behind him in wait. Seconds later a girl with brown hair and purple ears and tail ran up and tackled him. They weren't cat or Dog ears though. I think it's a bush-baby? Though I could be wrong.

Grian fell flat and the girl was laughing as she climbed off of him. Only a moment later she was gone and Grian was left alone on the ground once more.
Grian brought his knees to his chest and he leaned against a nearby tree.

I opened the door and hopped out. I didn't care if he was using me right now. He looked like he needed someone.
I walked up to him with Xisuma and Cloe calling after me.
"Are you ok?" I asked kneeling beside him.

He bit his lip and hissed out a "fine".
"You don't look "fine"." I countered and he sighed.
"Please tell me you didn't see that?" He pleaded.
"I'd be lying but sure! I saw nothing!" I joked and he sighed in dismay.

"They can be a bit rough," he laughed rolling his pants up.
There was a large scrape on one and a large gash, thankfully not too deep, by the ankle of the other leg.
"Ow." He said simply and attempted to stand back up.

I wrapped an arm under his armpits and around his torso and hoisted him up.
"I don't think I'll need your help but thanks," he smiled, this genuine adorable but pained smile.
Instead of letting go, I glared at him.

He looked away, a slight blush forming.
"Here, I'll carry you!" I offered.
"Oh! No, no, no! Zee'd flip! B'd probably be ok with it but Martyn would kill you! Add on my dad and mom who already don't like your family and Taurtis being salty and Mini-" he began on a tangent.

"It's fine, I'm sure they'll understand. Let's go!" I announced and he squirmed slightly.
"F-fine. I guess.." he trailed off.

I carried him to his home, about a mile or so away. I had him on my back and every few minutes he'd start to fall sleep. I kept having to wake him up so I wouldn't take a wrong turn and get lost.

By the time I got to his home, it was 40 minutes after when we started.
"This it?" I asked.
We were in front of a large house. Smaller than ours but definitely large for sure.
Grian mumbled and climbed off of my back.
"Thanks, Jumbipop," he hummed and limped to the door.

He entered his home with a final wave and I looked around desperately. I had been stupid and left everything in the van back over by the school. They probably left by now too.
A car drove up and stopped behind me. I turned towards the street and grinned as Hypno, my older brother, rolled the window down.
"Need a lift loser?" He joked.
I laughed and climbed in beside him.
"Hypno! It's been forever!" I chirped.

"Yeah, I guess it has," he shrugged and shifted the car into drive.
"What are you doing down here? Walking someone home?" He teased.
"Kind of," I blushed and backtracked quickly," a friend injured his leg, I wanted to help him out."

"Oh, how sweet!" Hypno teased as we drove.
"He kept trying to fall asleep on me!" I laughed and stared out the window.
"On you?" He hummed glancing over at me.

"Oh please, like I said he injured his leg. I was just carrying him!" I countered.
"Your blush says otherwise~" he teased playfully and I quickly brought my cold hands to my hot face.
"Hypno!" I shot.
"Besides, why are you down here?" I countered and he grinned.

"Oh you know, just having a bit of fun with my girlfriend~" he smirked his eyes filled with lust.
"Oh, ew!" I gagged and he snapped out of the lust-filled daydream he was in.

"Oh come on! You can't tell me you've never wanted to have a bit of fun with someone before! Like that boy, you walked home with?" He scoffed.
"The kiss was enough for me, thanks," I countered rolling my eyes.
"Ooooo~, you kissed the guy?!" He perked up, suddenly very interested.

"It was at a party. Besides, he's cute," I protested, murmuring the last part.
He burst into laughter and fanboy squeals.
"Oh, this is gold! Are you two dating yet?" He asked.
"Pft, no! It was a kiss and a bit of hanging out. Besides, everyone would freak!" I scoffed the thought away though I couldn't help but imagine having him in my arms without having to worry too much. Having to worry sure, but feel free to do so without mentally cursing myself.

"Dude," Hypno sighed as we stopped at a red light, "you aren't seriously going to dictate your love life by what people think of you are you?"
I sighed, he had a good point. I fiddled with my mustache a bit before he commented on how it made me look so much older than I actually was and suddenly I felt extremely self-conscious about it.

He placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed, "there you go again, letting someone else's opinion dictate what you do or don't like."
I murmured an apology and he shook his head.
"No need to apologize Mumbo," he assured me and returned his hand to the wheel.

We stopped in front of the house. He parked and we both climbed out.
He walked to my side and smiled at me.
"If anyone asks, you walked," he joked and handed me a slip of paper with some candy.
"Oh, no way! You're not coming in with me?" I wined as he climbed back into the car through his side.

"Sorry Mumbo, I left a while back," he laughed and started the car back up again.
"O-ok," I sighed defeated.
"Hey, just because he's an Evolution doesn't mean you have to hate him as our parents do. I love you," he hummed with a small smile.

"How did you- oh nevermind. I love you too Hypno," I gave up.
"Bye Mumbo!" He waved one last time and drove off as I walked back to the house, shoving the goodies into my pocket.

I entered the house and was met with my Mom and Dad sitting on the couch with Xisuma, Cloe, and Iskall. Iskall of which was proclaiming that I had ditched them to help a friend and it wasn't my fault. Oh no!

&----

"Mom!" I yelled slamming my palm against the wooden door.
"Good luck with that." Iskall sighed.
It was a messed up system. I got in trouble and was locked in my room and Iskall, who shares a room with me, was forced to share the same punishment because he shares a room with me and tried to defend me.

"This is an awful system! You did nothing wrong!" I protested, once more hitting the door desperately.

"Mumbo, you're going to get into even more trouble," he sighed and I backed away from the door, flopping onto my bed.
"It's such a stupid system!" I yelled and Iskall sighed.
"Yeah, but it's the rules," Iskall sighed and I pulled the paper out.

On it was a picture of Grian and his family in a group photo. How'd Hypno get this? I flipped it over and read the back; "The Evolution family. Traditions looping back around for this year's Halloween festival! Oct. 16 - Nov. 5."

"What month is it?" I asked.
"September 29th?" He said though he seemed like he was curious as to why I asked.
"Do you know anything about the Halloween Festival?" I asked.
"Er, no. We're usually not allowed to go because of the Hermit and Evo feud," Iskall responded, completely intrigued now.

I've piqued his interest, let's see if I can get him on my side.
"The Halloween Festival's supposed to start on the 16th of October and end the 5th of November." I said carefully, "so what if we go have some fun during their show times?"
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" He asked his eyes sparkling and his mouth a wide smile from ear to ear.

I nodded and his smile grew if that was even possible.
"I am so in!" He agreed and we went on the internet in search of times.

Most of them were going late. There was a show every other night from 5 pm-7 pm and from 9 pm-11 pm. The festival wraps up at around 1 am. There's stands, haunted mansions, on Halloween and the night before Halloween there would be trunk or treating, magic tricks and pumpkin carving and just all-around sounding like a whole lot of fun.

"I can't believe we've never been allowed to go to this," Iskall sighed as he showed me a formal website for it.
"It costs nothing to get in!" Iskall gawked.
"But it does cost something to see the show and do all the fun things," I noted.

"Other than the trunk or treating!" Iskall pointed out.
I nodded, fair point.

"Ok then, we're going to be rebels during October!"

An: Holy moly! Over 200 reads?! Is this real? it's only been a month! you guys are absolutely amazing!!! I love you guys so much! Don't ever change! ❤

Love~ GFrisk