Tango stood alone outside the front of the restaurant. Hay bales lay stacked at both ends of the road, barricading it from traffic. Off to the side, Mumbo was hunched over the engine of a small tractor, letting out a few choice words every time his grip slipped or smoke got into his face. Scar napped in the back of the hay wagon while Grian talked into an earpiece. Every year he got all in a huff about the main street prep for Halloween, and this year was no different.

For one night, the main street was barren. No cars, no traffic. A red carpet moments away from being sprawled out, giving way to trick or treaters. The custom was for shops on the main street to hand out treats, organize the hayride, and redecorate one of the shops as a haunted house.

The front door chimed as Jimmy and Skizz walked out the front door. As the door was closing, Tango caught his first good look at the interior of the diner now that the haunted house prep had concluded. The candy red checkerboard floors and outdated diner walls were now devoid of all color, covered by tarps and trashbags, further enhancing the illusion of complete darkness. Fog seeped out from every nook with curious eyes, like a cat who takes interest in the outdoors when the door is left ajar just so.

The interior would be decorated to the ceiling with various props and effects. Each of the three got to pick and design their own room. Tango was mighty proud of how his room turned out, tinkering with some of the broken Halloween props from last year made it easy to reuse them now.

“I think everything’s good to go,” Jimmy said, removing the cowboy hat from his head. His face was , “Although your stupid mummy thing tried to kill me at least twice. I thought you fixed all the noodles, or something like that.”

Tango squinted in Jimmy’s direction, “Were you behind the line?”

“Well I- it’s too dark in there and-” Jimmy averted his eyes.

“It’s glow-in-the-dark tape in front of a chain link fence, it doesn’t need to be dark to know you stand behind the tape.”

“Well, I’m a big dog,” Jimmy said with a huff, “A big brave dog who ain't scared of some Halloween props. I just wanted to make sure the dumb thing was working and all.”

Tango smiled warmly and pecked Jimmy’s cheek with a kiss, “It’s on a timer sweetheart, you don’t need to check on it.”

Jimmy’s face flushed red, his words suddenly mush in his mouth.

Skizz spoke up before he could recover. “Alright guys, Halloween's almost officially here and everything is lookin’ good. I think the kids are gonna freakin’ love this!” his voice swayed between giddiness and excitement. There is an electricity that laces his words with the cold, weaseling their way into Tango and Jimmy. “I gotta hand it to you Top, I didn't think we'd make it work.”

Tango gave a rusty laugh, “C'mon, really? We're a three-man team. Unstoppable in every sense of the word. Hard to fail when you've got the brains, the brawn, and Jimmy.” He said, pointing to himself, Skizz, then Jimmy.

“That's right, that's ri- HEY!”

Skizz interrupted before Jimmy could rattle off some choice words, “Well, unless Scar hosts another ‘Landscaping Your Mind’ podcast meet-up and everyone from here to Empires comes in for the lunch rush.”

“That was one time!” Tango interjected. He was just the guy who brought the food out. Skizz was on cleaning duty that day after all, and it wasn't Tango’s fault that he didn't see the water spill on the floor. “If we had stuck to tacos like I said that morning, there wouldn't have been any accidents. Salads only lead to complications.”

Skizz laughed, slapping a hand on Tango's back. “Only one of us had an accident that day buddy, and it sure as hell wasn't me.” 

Across the street, other shops slowly came to life. Pearl was finishing lighting the last of the jack o’lanterns in front of her art shop just as Gem turned the orange string lights dancing across her store front on. Bdubs plugged in the fog machine outside his plant shop, and Etho made the last changes to the Aubrey mechanical replica from Little Shop of Horrors (conveniently placed just outside the plant shop, to Bdubs irritation). 

The conversation bit back and forth between the three of them, until Skizz took note of the time.

“Shoot! It's almost 6 o'clock, Grian's due to open the floodgates any second now.” Skizz turned to Tango, “Care for a little test run? A maiden voyage for good luck before we get this show on the road?”

“Are you doubting my engineering prowess?” Tango balked in amusement, “I hooked up every machine-ificator in there and made them all skadoodle. It's part of my job description as a waiter.” he teased.

“Is part of the job description crying to Etho and Mumbo for help everytime something goes awry?”

Tango shot Skizz a look, “Oh, haha. Very funny wise guy. It’s called debugging, I just needed a few ears to shoot ideas off of.” He trailed off, lowering his voice to barely above a whisper, “And, maybe, sometimes, fix some kinks in the noodles that were a bit more than I could chew.”

Skizz hummed with a knowing look, but kept any words he may have wanted to playfully shoot back to himself. “Alright Jimmy, get in there and knock Tango's socks off!”

Jimmy gave a salute, and with a triumphant “Yes, sir!” he sprinted back into the restaurant.