When Surya woke up, he realized that he was sleeping on the carpet, with Aenzel’s arms wrapping around him securely. An ugly pink afghan covered them both and kept them warm, even though Surya didn’t really need it. Aenzel’s body was warm enough already.

Layla was sprawled on the long couch, with Mattie using her as a pillow. On the opposite side of the room, Nina slept on the armchair, hugging her blankie. A yellow afghan wrapped around her like a burrito.

“Mornin’, lil’ man”, Jamie’s voice greeted him. Surya turned and saw her standing on the door, a glass of milk in her hand. “You slept pretty soundly last night. The big guy had to sleep over because you didn’t wanna let ‘em go.”

“He has a suffocating grip”, Aenzel’s voice came from behind, making both Surya and Jamie jump in surprise.

Surya blushed and tried to wriggle out of Aenzel’s deathly grip.

“Speak for yourself, dude”, Jamie laughed. “Because from here, you’re the one with suffocating grip.”

“Apologies”, Aenzel said, lifting their arm and allowing Surya to sit up.

He looked at Aenzel, then at Jamie. “Do I have to go to school?” he pouted. He wanted to spend more time with Aenzel.

Besides, if he was gonna go with Aenzel, it wasn’t like he was going stay in school to graduate.

“Yes”, Aenzel and Jamie answered at the same time. Jamie continued, “You took a few days break from school earlier this week, remember?”

“Education is important, Surya”, Aenzel added.

So Vaidesse had school too—that wasn’t fun. With a mighty pout, Surya trotted over to Jamie and followed her to the dining room for breakfast.

Jamie didn’t even bat her eyes when Aenzel joined them not long after, hair neatly braided around their neck. Surya thought it was was weird, especially since they were practically at each other’s throat just last night.

—

After school, Jamie and Aenzel then took Surya to his family’s house. There were a lot of things in there that his dad left behind and Jamie suggested he took some of them to remind him of his dad and Earth.

Surya decided that he didn’t need his dad’s clothes, so they were stuffed into the cardboard box in Jamie’s jeep. Those clothes would be donated to the community center. Surya only took his dad’s fingerless gloves, utility belt, and red jacket that was still too big on him.

Aenzel suggested Surya take his dad’s books, mostly because they were intrigued by them— apparently, Vaidesse hadn’t been using physical books since… well, forever.

When Surya got into his dad’s room, he found a photograph stuffed into the rip in the mattress. It was of Surya’s mom sleeping, in the crook of her arms and bundled in red swaddle was Surya as a baby. Aenzel’s eyes widened when Surya showed it off to them.

“Sometimes I forgot how young your mother is still”, they said, their fingers gently caressing the old photograph. They handed it back to Surya, who carefully tucked it into his jacket.

They couldn’t find anything else that Surya wanted to carry. His dad wasn’t big on keeping things, so the house was almost bare when they were done going through it. Most of his stuff was going to be donated or sold. The house itself would stay, though Surya doubted he would ever visit it again.

—

“I am unsure about this… Halloween”, Aenzel said awkwardly. They were wearing a different clothes, one with shoulder pads and chestplate over their usual robe. “Are you sure your Human neighbors won’t be suspicious of my presence?”

“Believe me, people dressed weirder for Halloween”, Jamie answered, waving her hand carelessly, before resuming to put on her makeup. Tonight, she was dressing up as a zombie peasant from the fourteenth century. “Besides, tonight you’re gonna be Surya’s Uncle Aenzel from German. It’s the best cover story if you’re really gonna take Surya away for good.”

“It’s certainly not the most difficult cover I’ve done”, Aenzel said, before turning to Surya. “I’m surprised that you dress up as a Spear agent.”

Using Aelva’s armor from the projector thingy as reference, Jamie managed to create a set of armor small enough for Surya to wear in just a few days. It looked pretty similar to what his mom wore and Aenzel smiled so wide when Surya put it on earlier.

Surya grinned at them before hopping down from the back of the couch where he was sitting and onto Aenzel’s lap. Aenzel made a small ‘oof’ before helping Surya to balance himself.

“You are very affectionate tonight”, Aenzel said with a smile.

“Sorry”, Surya blushed.

“Don’t be”, Aenzel said. “It’s been awhile since I've been around cubs. I’ll have to get used to it again soon.”

“You have a cub?” Surya asked, curious.

“A long time ago”, Aenzel answered. “It’s a long story.”

Aenzel looked really sad, so Surya decided to make Aenzel not-sad even for one night. He took their hand in his own and placed it on the top of his head. It made Aenzel smile for a bit.

Eventually, Jamie, Layla, Mattie, and Nina were ready. The six of them piled into Jamie’s jeep, with Aenzel squeezed onto the backseat, and she drove them to the community center. While Mattie, Nina, and Surya chattered excitedly about all the candies and toys they would get, Layla was teaching Aenzel about recognizing razors and other dangerous stuff from the candies.

“The neighborhood is pretty safe, but it’s just in case”, Surya could hear Layla speak. “You won’t believe how much of a jerk someone can be.”

“I believe it”, Aenzel replied.

They reached the Islamic Community Center in no time. From there, Surya and the others would go around the town trick-or-treating. It was already dark and a lot of people were gathering there; some were just done praying, while the other were waiting in anticipation for trick-or-treaters. A lot of kids were also already there, waiting to start trick-or-treating.

“Imam Jameel!” Nina shouted all of a sudden. Surya and Mattie turned and saw the old imam came out of the mosque carrying empty bags for the kids.

“Assalamualaikum, kids”, the imam said as he approached the kids gathering around the community center.

“Wa’alaikum salam, Imam!” Surya chorused along with the kids to answer his greeting. Then, the imam began to give the empty bag to every kids; though he paused when he got to Surya.

“And what are you supposed to be, Surya?” he asked.

“I’m a Spear agent!” Surya grinned to him. The imam chuckled, muttering something about kids these days and their comics. Aenzel looked very surprised at the imam’s quick acceptance and shot Surya a confused look. “It’s Halloween. You can be anything on Halloween!”

Aenzel didn’t seem to understand, but they accepted Surya’s answer anyway. Surya tugged their hand to follow Jamie, Nina, and Mattie, who already waited for them to begin trick-or-treating. Mattie put a lot of cat bells on his wheelchair so it jingled and rattled as they walked together to the first house, the Colson’s house. Colt and Samantha Colson were Jamie’s superior at the UESA and they had two little kids on their own.

“Hey, Jamie. Layla’s at the community center?” Mr. Colson asked. He was a small guy around Jamie’s height, with greyish brown hair and kind smile. “And who is the big guy with you?”

“That’s Surya’s uncle from German”, Jamie answered for Aenzel.

“Hello”, Aenzel greeted with a smile and a slight bow.

“I… see”, Mr. Colson said. Before he could say anything else, Jamie interrupted him.

“Mrs. Colson with the kids trick-or-treating?” she asked. “Maisie’s only three, right?”

“Four, actually. It’s her first time trick-or-treating, so she’s very excited about the whole thing. She even picked her costume in August”, Mr. Colson chuckled.

“Lucky you. This one took forever to decide what kind of costume he wants”, Jamie grinned while ruffling Surya’s hair, making him yelp in surprise.

Eventually, they said goodbye to Mr. Colson. He gave a bag of chips for Surya, a glowstick for Mattie, and a glow-in-the-dark star hairclip for Nina. It went to her hair immediately.

“I like Mr. Colson. He’s nice”, Nina said with a skip on her steps. She took Surya’s hand and swung it back and forth.

“He’s like, suuuuuper old”, Mattie added. “Probably older than Jamie.”

“Definitely way older than me”, Jamie laughed.