TNBC: A Winter Love-Story pt.1

It had been over seven years since the fall of the boogeyman, Oogie Boogie by the hands of Jack Skelenton, the Pumpkin King.  Oogie Boogie’s henchmen, the notorious Lock, Shock, and Barrel, continued to live alone in there tree house, but in peace from their rather unusual guardian.  Although, through the years, Halloweentown’s best trick-or-treaters haven’t matured much at all.
“Shock, hurry up!” cried Barrel from a dark, dank hallway.  “I gotta pee!!!”
Barrel, growing up short and stout, had actually shoot up one day and was finally thin, tall, and gangly.  His lip was being bitten in discomfort on his round, naturally blue face.   He had light green hair that was very fair and stood up on his most of the time.  His big round eyes watered as her twisted the hem on his skeleton pants and danced around.  
“Lock,” he hissed at the other male in the tree house.  With a few muffled steps of Lock descending a few steps, the boy that dressed as a devil looked at his skeleton-clad friend with a raised eyebrow.  Lock had a long face with a pointed chin accented by a small blood red beard that only covered his chin, a toothbrush sitting lankly in his mouth.  His blood red hair was spiked in the back, and part of his bangs that usually covered his face was filled and curled back to serve as his devil “horns.”  His eyes, yellow with reddish black pupils were narrower then Barrel’s, but were still fairly round as he shook his head.  He had no shirt on, showing off his thin, muscular build, and a spiked belt held his crimson pants up and he kicked some dust with his shoes with a curl on the end.   
“Shock won’t let me in to pee!!” Barrel mouthed, his face strained.  Lock smiled mischievously at the opportunity, his tail twitching, and then ran back up the stairs.  Barrel moaned in pain, knowing from past experience that Shock spent a lot of time in the bathroom.  What could she possibly be doing in there anyway?  It’s not like she stashed candy in the closets or under the sink.  He knew, he checked.  Alas, fruitless in his limited chain of thought, he sighed in defeat.  Why hadn’t Oogie built them TWO bathrooms?
“Heads up,” Lock hissed, tossing Barrels something light and frilly.  
“What is thi-” Barrel started, then turned bright red as he un-balled it.  Lock grinned, the toothpaste gone and his eerily white grin with his pointed teeth adding a menacing touch to it.  Lock had snuck into Shock’s room and stole her underwear- again.
“SHOCK!!!” Lock chanted at the top of his lungs.  He grinned as Barrel, completely red, panicked and quickly (and cleverly) stashed the underwear in his back pocket as the door slammed open and smacked him in the face.  Moaning, being slammed against the far wall, Barrel just stuttered when he saw Shock.  
They had always made jokes about Shock being manlier then the werewolf, and she laughed alongside them until she was about thirteen.  She just, snapped, and started yelling that she was a girl and throwing anything she could grab at Lock and Barrel; bear traps, maces, swords, axes, torches, knives, a plunger; the teams entire arsenal.  Lock had to run to get Jack and Sally to calm her down.  Sally and Shock went to Shock’s room and locked the door, and didn’t come out for hours.  Lock and Barrel had always made jokes about it behind her back, but they never understood why until the past few years.  When they finally realized that Shock was a girl.  A seriously hot, hot girl.
When Shock opened the door, she was wearing nothing but a bra, underwear, and thigh hi black and white striped stockings.  Her chest was well endowed, her waist was bone thin yet curvy, and she had what seemed like endless legs in her stockings.  But that was just her body.  
Her face, usually covered by her bland green mask, was shockingly beautiful.  She had a long, heart shaped face with high cheek bones and small, pointed chin.  Her eyes, apparently just colored with purple eye shadow that jumped against her green-tinted skin, were well set and extremely feminine.  She wiggled her nose and sneezed; her long, midnight blue curly hair jumping up and falling askew.  She flipped it back into place and asked, in an annoyed voice, “What?”
She looked at Barrel, whose face was pinched in pain and fear of getting smacked, and sighed.  She turned to Lock to ask him what they wanted, but she just blinked at his expression.  His eyes were wide in shock, his mouth hung open, and a small trail of blood was trickling down from his nose.  His face was as red as his hair.
Shock rolled her eyes and slammed the door shut.  Lock continued to stare at where she was, in complete shock, and blinked once; good and slow, to make sure it wasn’t just some wild dream.  Barrel stayed pressed against the wall for a moment or two, then fell back to the floor; the underwear breaking free from his pocket and gently landing on the back of his head.    
After Shock went to her room, in a full sized black robe, her hair tied back and face blocked by her infamous mask, Barrel finally had the opportunity to relieve him self.
“I don’t get her problem,” Barrel complained, laying on a malformed couch and tossing some candy in his mouth, wrapper and all.  “She never used to be like this.  She made the bathroom smell like flowers or something.”  He made a face at the memory, and then shook it off with another caramel.  
“Yeah,” Lock said, nodding in agreement as he paced behind the couch, but not really paying any attention to his accomplice.  She had changed, but she was still Shock right?  Their Shock, the mastermind behind all their mischievous plans.  Shock, the only person that understood him through the years, even more so then Barrel.  Has the old Shock still in that…body? His Shock…
“I mean, hey man, you listening?” Barrel called over to his friend.  He tossed some candy at him and it smacked him on the side of the forehead with a loud crack before it fell, unwanted, to the filthy black floor.
“Ow, what Barrel?”  Lock snarled, rubbing his head.  
“Well,” Barrel said defensively, raising his hands up in surrender.
“Barrel, what the hell has gotten into you?” came from the stairs.  The two guys turned wildly to find Shock leaning against the wall.  She had her hair brushed and it lay obediently on her back with random curls poking out with her large, purple witch hat that twisted and bent demented ways on the top that folded back.  Her deep violet dress, old and frayed yet still elegant and menacing in its own way, was fitted well for its wearer.  It was black lace on the bottom hem that end right above the knees, loose sleeves and a pair of loose belts criss crossing lowly on her waist.  She still wore her striped stockings and now wore knee high boots with straps all the way up.  It had a low mid-drift that showed a tad of her new found cleavage.
“Shock,” Lock choked, turning red and adverting his gaze, embarrassed, “your dress looks awesome.”  He muttered, then kicking himself for saying something so dumb.  
“Thanks,” she said, smiling.  Lock’s face went back to normal a little and he smiled too.
“I kinda, you know, grew out of it, so Sally decided to fix it for me,” she said, feeling the hem proudly.  “I need to get her something nice for Christmas…”
Lock’s face went blank to this.  Christmas, the started holiday from years and years ago, back when Oogie Boogie still reined over them, the one that Jack convinenced everyone to celebrate it every year after Halloween.  I never really wanted to celebrate it then, but then strange light stuff fell from the sky that day.  Snow, it was called.  And everyone gave people they liked Christmas presents.  Maybe I should…
“Hey, guys!’ Shock said, snapping out of her trance abruptly, “there’s this strange new building, it came completely out of nowhere, in town.  They say it’s haunted and no one has gone in it yet.  Do you guys want to be the first ones to check it out?”
“Yes!” Lock gagged.
“No,” Barrel mumbled.  
“Barrel, why not?” Shock asked, disappointed.  Lock turned to face Barrel, giving him a “you better not come,” kind of face.  Although, the moment Lock realized it, his face went blank.  What’s the matter with me? echoed across his brain.
“Like I’m going outside before the sun goes down? Yeah right, you to go on without me, at least I won’t get yelled at…” he grumbled, stuffing his face with candy and turning away, signaling the end of the conversation.  
“Well, Lock,” Shock said, stretching her arms.  “Just like old times?”
“Just like old times,” he repeated, offering her his arm, which she took, as they made their way out the door.