NBC: Bagworms

Barrel just didn't get it.


It was like everyone knew it but the two of them.


How was that even possible? How could everyone except them know about it?


Then again, maybe they were just too busy arguing all the time to notice.


But Barrel noticed.


He didn't have much to do whenever Lock and Shock would start arguing, so he would just watch them.


And as time went by, he started noticing the subtle changes in their actions as they'd fight.


People always called him the dumb one of the three, but he still noticed things concerning his friends.


And he definitely noticed how differently they fought now as opposed to a couple years ago.


Back then they would just yell at each other, sometimes try to smack one another or pull each other's hair. For the most part, their fights never got that physical.


Recently, that had changed. Now whenever they fought, they'd jump on each other, Shock would pull on Lock's tail, he'd punch at her chest.


At first, Barrel didn't think anything of it.


But then he started talking to people like Sally, and found out what she had to say about it.


He had expected her to tell him that there was nothing more to it then the two of them simply becoming more violent towards one another. He didn't expect what Sally's answer actually was.


According to the living rag-doll, sometimes kids fought like Lock and Shock because they were trying to hide certain feelings towards each other.


Barrel's reaction to hearing this had been something like this: blink, laugh for an hour, then realize Sally was being serious.


Maybe it was because he was just nine, still in the stage where girls could actually kill you with some disease should you kiss them, but Barrel didn't get how two people could fight so viciously if they actually had feelings towards each other.



If Jack and Sally were anything to go by, then most couples showed their feelings by kissing, not by beating the tar out of each other like Lock and Shock did on an increasingly regular basis.


Maybe they had to kiss once before they did it again.


That meant if he could get Lock and Shock to kiss, they'd stop trying to kill each other. Or, at the very least, they'd do it less often.


But, he still had a problem: how was he supposed to get them to kiss?


Suggesting it wouldn't do any good; they'd probably just laugh in his face.


That left only one option: he'd have to force them.


But, how?


The little corpse-boy raked his mind for a solution to his problem.


Finally he had the answer.


When Jack tried to bring Christmas to Halloweentown, he'd brought some of these little plants called "mistletoe".


Apparently they gave off some kind of magic that made people have to kiss if they got underneath it.


It was also a parasite, according to Finklestein, who had studied the red-berried leaves.



They didn't have any mistletoe left, but Barrel didn't think that mattered.



One parasite was as good as the next, right?


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"Why'd you drag us out here, Barrel?"  Lock asked his chubby little companion as the trio of trick-or-treaters walked through the dark, misty woods that surrounded Halloweentown.



"Yeah….there's nothing for us to do out here. Nothing for anyone to do out here, actually" Shock said, adding to the devil's statement of annoyance.


Barrel just chuckled; he liked having a secret that the older kids didn't know.



So, he remained silent as he led them to a tiny clearing in the middle of the woods.  



There was a large rotting tree, covered in bagworms in the middle of the clearing.


"Go stand over there" Barrel said, pointing at a spot underneath some bagworms.


The witch and the devil rolled their eyes, but humored the corpse-child anyway.



They stood beneath the parasitic worms for several moments, not moving from that spot, wondering why they had to stand there.



Barrel was thinking about the same thing.



Why were they just standing there? Weren't they supposed to kiss?


Maybe the bagworms were old, and their magic was wearing off. Maybe some outside assistance was needed….


"Let's go home. This is boring" Lock suggested, turning his face to Shock.


The young witch was about to answer, when suddenly she was shoved forward by Barrel charging into her from behind.



She'd been pushed straight into the devil, who'd leapt backwards in surprise, possibly trying to avoid being hit.



For the most part, he was successful, avoiding physical contact in all but one place. Unfortunately, that one place just happened to be his lips.



The two of them stayed there for about ten seconds, just having their lips pressed together. Barrel, meanwhile, just stood back and watched.



"You guys having a good time?" Barrel asked about five seconds later, a toothy smile on his face. At this question, Shock turned around, taking her lips off of Lock's.


"You're going to regret this, Barrel! I can promise you that!" the young witch shouted at her younger companion, shaking a pale green fist at him.


Barrel swallowed, then did the only sensible thing in his situation. He ran like hell, with Shock chasing after him, leaving Lock alone in the clearing.



The young devil just stood there, apparently too shocked to move.


And, as he finally started to be able to move his body, he noticed the burning sensation in his cheeks.


Trying to ignore the sensation in his face, Lock started to walk after his cohorts.



As he walked after them, he made a promise to himself: he would never tell anyone that he actually enjoyed that kiss.