Leonard backed up, his butt waggling and then he turned around and coughed a few times. His hands came up to clear the dust out of his eyes.

"What?" He asked. "Where...?" Then seeing the pillow case his eyes brightened. "You found it!" He exclaimed, happy.

Then he looked at Shawn with a confused look. "What?" He asked.

Either Shawn was being completely paranoid, or this Leonard was a good actor. But getting screamed at by Junior's mom had rattled him, and he wanted either proof he was right or reassurance he was wrong before he could go out trick or treating. So he kept his tone playful, so that if this was all a misunderstanding he could pretend it was all just a game.


"Well, maybe you aren't Leonard at all! Maybe you're a robot in disguise trying to trick me!" Shawn gave Leonard a silly grin, but he was paying close attention to his answer. "I'll ask you something only the real Leonard would know! Like, how did we first meet?"

Leonard took a step back and shrugged his shoulders.

"Ummmm...Ummmm....was I wearing the robot costume?" He asked uncertainly. "I remember you came over my house to look at drawings." He looked and Shawn, head moving forward like a kid in a class hoping to get the right answer. "I showed you the big robot drawing and told you the dream I had. I remember that."

Shawn...wasn't entirely reassured by Leonard's answer, but there were enough details that it was clear he remembered part of it. And Leonard was younger than him, and might have genuinely forgotten about stuff. He decided to give him a hint. "You've almost got it - do you remember what happened with Rex?" Surely he'd remember the way Rex had gotten loose - unless it was something that happened all the time.

Leonard smiled. "Of course I do! You got my dog. You helped me when I thought Rex was going to be gone forever. I'll never forget that. Rex is one of the best-est things that ever happened to me. And you helped me from him getting lost forever. I'll never forget that." Leonard said and he started to walk towards Shawn, but then tripped over a pile of clothing or something underneath it and fell forward.

Shawn felt relieved on the inside, though he tried not to show Leonard just how genuinely suspicious he'd been - it had all been a fun game! "That's right! I guess you are the real Leonard!" When Leonard tripped, he tried to rush forward to catch him.

"That's right! It's the real me. But now its my turn." Leonard said, warming to what he saw was a game that Shawn was playing.

"What's the worst thing you've ever done. You can tell me. I'll tell you if you tell me. Then we have to promise that we won't tell anyone else."

Shawn considered what answer to give him - though the idea of the actual truth never even occurred to him. "Okay, but you've gotta extra promise not to tell anyone else." He decided to pick something bad that he'd actually done, so he didn't have to think too hard about the lie. "One time, when I was working on a movie, I had to wear a really expensive costume, and I tore it on a nail. When someone noticed, I said I'd gotten it like that. The director screamed at the costume guy and fired him even though it was my fault."

"Oh!" Leonard said and he brought his hands up to his mouth. "That's a bad lie." He suggested, slowly bringing his hands down.

"That's right." Shawn heard a dead-pan voice say from the doorway of Leonard's room.

It was Michael. He had the same 'nothing' look on his face. But his eyes indicated as they shifted over to take in Shawn, that Michael was thinking of a very different 'bad thing' that Shawn had done.

"A bad thing that Shawn did." Michael said cryptically, although to anyone else it would have sounded very much like he was agreeing with Shawn. Then again, maybe he was doing exactly that.

"Oh." Leonard said. "I think we met before. What's  your friend's name again Shawn?"

Shawn felt a certain relief that Michael hadn't revealed the lie about his lie. "Oh, sorry, I wasn't sure if you already knew each other. Leonard, this is Michael. Michael, this is Leonard."

"We've met." Michael stated bluntly.

Things for awkward for a moment, though Shawn certainly didn't think Michael did it on purpose - it was just the way he was. "Oh, that makes it easier. I'm glad we can all go trick or treating together!"

"We did?" Leonard asked. "OK." He said, seeming to forget about Shawn's mention of what he did wrong.

"Yes." Michael said. But it wasn't clear if he was saying it to Shawn, to Leonard, or both.

"But I came into the room to say that you are on TV."

Michael moved aside from the doorway and Shawn and Leonard could hear the television. It was Shawn's voice. He was speaking as part of the Halloween commercial that he had filmed so recently. It was already on television, presumably broadcasting everywhere. Or at least into every home that had this channel on.

Shawn always felt a bit odd seeing himself on the screen. Even when filming went well, you usually did a bunch of takes with different moods and levels of energy, so it was a bit of a surprise to see which version the director liked, and how it all got edited together.

But at the same time, he wasn't at a review session with an acting coach, so he couldn't get too absorbed in watching his performance. That'd look big-headed and self-centred. So instead he just looked faintly embarrassed at the other him on the TV. "Oh wow, they finished that really fast. I hope my mom sees it." He tried to sound modest and unassuming about the whole thing.

"Yes." Michael said, not indicating whether or not he agreed with the production having been put together or fast or whether Shawn's Mom seeing it was a good thing.

"Wow!" Leonard mused. "That's really something. I don't think I've ever seen someone on TV before. I mean, someone real. It's like you're here..." And he pointed at Shawn with one finger.

"And then you're here." And he pointed to Shawn with the other finger.

But in this case, the fingers were gloved with the silvery gloves that Leonard had as part of his robot costume. And, the movements he made were stilted as the cardboard of his Robot costume shuffled.

"This whole 'living' and being 'alive' thing is really weird and amazing! You're in two places at once!"

Shawn nodded along with Leonard, like he thought it was a really cool insight he'd had. "Well, you're a robot, right? You probably know all about TV broadcasts and stuff!" He giggled, and then pushed a random button on Leonard's cardboard costume for emphasis.

"Oh yeah! Hold on a second!!!" Leonard put on the robot head from the costume and starting speaking with a muffled voice:

"Zeroing in on frequency..."

"Signaled caught...."

"Powering up...."

"Analyzing Robot ...stuff..."

Then he took the helmet off. "What do you think? Did it sound real?"

"No." Michael said, clinically.

But Leonard seemed to be much more interested in what Shawn thought. He was smiling at Shawn with a bright, chipper and optimistic look.

Shawn gave Leonard a thumbs up with his free hand. “That sounded really good! Though if you’re dressing up as a human dressing up as a robot, it shouldn’t sound too real, right?” It made a weird sort of sense to Shawn, anyways.

"Aw, yeah, I guess so." Leonard agreed, sounding somewhat disappointed. "I don't think I can do it with a good robot voice though. Can you?"