Corn Thief [ Maize Maze ]

Everyone’s favorite time of year: the corn maze! At least Eren’s, and his hoards of imps and virtues. He wanted all of them to be able to enjoy the day out however they wanted, but only a few stuck close to Eren. Bulby, Shroomies, and his Patientia, June to the Eleventh Power, or June for short.

“Are you sure you want to go in there?“ his friend Felix asked. “You have no sense of space or directions,“ he continued to tease the younger man. Eren made sure to be ready to be in doll form all day, mostly because it’d be easier to climb out if he managed to get himself lost. 

“Shut up,“ Eren groaned, giving Felix a dramatic groan, but Bulby, with his tiny foot, tapped his head. Bulby was by far Eren’s best-trained and smartest imp, always helping when he was able. He made a silly pose, like he was showing off as he was perched on Eren’s shoulder, his favorite spot. 

“At least someone in your house has brain cells,“ Felix continued to tease Eren, reaching over to mess up his hair that was nicely fixed for once.

“Dick,” Eren grumbled. Despite their strange relationship, Felix just cared about the lust bun's well-being. Eren shoved his hand off, bringing more attitude than he had in a while.

“I’ll prove to you I can get on my own!“ Eren said, clearly feeling competitive as he pointed at Felix, poking his chest in a taunting manner. Felix was always happy to play a dare sort of game with Eren; it was very often the little shit who lost.

“You’ll come over then if you lose?“ Felix purred teasingly, making Eren’s face turn bright red in an instant. For a lust bun, Eren was still pretty caught off guard on others asking him for a good time; normally it just happened. Of course, he and Felix had messed around before, so this wasn’t a deal breaker for him.

“You’re on,“ Eren said, grinning devilishly before he charged into the maze, Bulby, June, and Shroomies in tow. Was using his pets cheating? Possibly. But did he need them? Definitely. The entrance had a grand and handmade entrance made of dried-out corn husks. There were scarecrows on either side of the opening, with the banner ‘Maize Maze ‘ above in pretty fall colors. Pumpkins decorated the ground, with a handful of those strange gourds covering the rest of the entrance to give it a nice natural touch.

With reckless abandon, Eren trotted into the corn maze, his imps in tow. He would most likely need them to help him get back out of this, but he could deal with that another time. Right now, he just wanted to prove to Felix he could actually make it through. Bulby climbed atop Eren’s head, which just barely reached the top of the corn stalks, using him as a sort of lookout post. June made sure to float around to look for dead ends since they were able to just hover. Shroomies… well. He was snagging greasy ears of corn. There were still some left that were late bloomers compared to the rest of the already drying out stalks, so Shroomies made sure to stash the corn in a bag that Eren had, his owner none the wiser as his bag suddenly started to feel heavy after a while. 

“Shroomies, what are you doing?“ Eren asked, turning around as he walked to see the little inkap with two large ears of corn beside him. He looked very suspicious, squinting his little, emo eyes and turning away from Eren, kicking his legs out to try and make him ‘forget’ what he saw. Eren bent down, scooping up the mischievous little imp and the two ears of corn, stuffing them into the bag when he finally noticed it was plump full of corn!

“How long have you been sneaking corn into the bag?“ Eren teased, using a finger to gently tap Shroomies on the head. He was much smaller when he was in doll form, so he was extra careful when giving his critters pets. Eren wasn’t going to complain; free corn!

Continuing their journey, mostly because the bag was too full to fit any more corn inside of it, Bulby was looking up to June, watching them float about and try to help give Eren directions. Bulby would use his tiny, itty-bitty foot to point where Dad needed to go. If anyone could hear Eren, it sounded like he was just talking to the voices in his head. Since his imps could not make noise, he was often just rambling to himself, seemingly. 

While it took over an hour to navigate the maze with his little gremlins, Eren finally made it to the finish line, where a proud but seemingly sad Felix waited for them. Bulby did a little proud, happy dance on Eren’s shoulder, waving around his little dango trinket he always carried around. June… well, it was hard to tell what they were feeling. They just swayed with the wind, so Eren could assume they were happy. Shroomies, though, was nowhere to be seen!

“Have you seen Shroomies, Felix?“ Eren said, feeling scared for his little chaos imp, that something maybe hurt him. 

“Yeah, he snuck off from you after a bit, I think,“ Felix said, pointing over to Shroomies, who had a comically large bag of stolen corn from the maze. Nobody is sure where he got the bag or how he managed to drag it around. It was far too large for him.

“Shroomies!” Eren playfully scolded. The little imp looked incredibly proud; at least Felix, Eren, and Eren’s partner could enjoy some corn. Maybe a lot more corn than they expected. Felix walked over, picking up the bag and slinging it over his shoulder, Shroomies clinging to it and dangerously dangling around. He probably worried Felix would force him to return it!

“Shroomies, no!“ Eren said, prying the imp off the bag. For being so tiny, his little legs were powerful.
“We are keeping it; don’t be stinky,“ he said. Shroomies only glared but snuggled up to his favorite bun, sliding into his shirt and poking his head out as his eyes made sure to stay on Felix. 

Like clockwork, the rest of Eren’s horde runs up behind him, a swarm of little imps and virtues. It was amazing how someone could deal with so many critters, but Eren couldn’t be happier.

“I think it’s time to go home,“ he said, the imps swarming and climbing all over him. Their little leggies were tired, the rest swarming Felix like an infestation. Felix had his own critters, but nowhere near as many as Eren.

“Don’t worry, we can still mess around,” Eren teased, wrapping his arm around a surprised, blushing Felix. He was pleasantly surprised; he, of course, would never force Eren to do things, but there were many times Felix’s advances were ignored by the lust bun. There was a reason he was envious, after all. The group all happily began their long walk home, carrying as much corn as the two could drag back. It was a nice day, at least. Lots of little events to enjoy, all kinds of snacks that were only around during fall, it almost helped everyone forget about the current Vampire Scare going on.