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It was the opening weekend for Phantom Slasher 8 and everyone was going to see it. It was amazing, Joey thought, how the seventh sequel about a ghostly serial killer could still generate such a robust audience. That being said, he was going to be watching it as well.
It was all Mokuba's fault, really. He desperately wanted to watch the R-rated film and, though now in high school, was still not old enough to watch the it by himself. Thus, he enlisted everyone to accompany him as his "adult" chaperone in the event his pleas for his brother to take him fell on deaf ears. Luckily for Mokuba (and unluckily for Joey), the older Kaiba had declared that it should be his own responsibility to supervise his own brother and joined them in the end.
Standing in the long ticket line, Joey contemplated his situation: it was two things he didn't particularly like. For one, Kaiba... well, was Kaiba. Adding on to that was the whole... horror movie thing. To tell the truth, he wasn't really a big fan of horror movies -- not that he couldn't take them. Oh no; it was just that he preferred comedies above all the others types, was all. But, he had promised and he hadn't any other commitments... he couldn't come up with any good excuses.
Yuugi and the Kaiba brothers were already in the theatre, reserving three seats for the rest of the group. Joey wasn't quite sure where Tristan and Téa were. They were carpooling to the theatre but weren't there yet. The last text he received from Tristan was that Téa was threatening to run over the next jackass who cut in front of them and that she was probably PMS-ing.
When he finally got his tickets, he glanced back and saw that the line was still out the door. Tristan and Téa were no where to be seen. Dejectedly, he made his way to the room. However, the smell of piping hot popcorn instantly made him make a detour to the concession stand.
Lovingly cradling his prize with a bit of optimism, he continued on his way towards theatre room number 8. Cute.
He quickly spotted Yuugi's hair in the middle of the middle row of the packed theatre. He was sitting next to some strangers on his right and Mokuba on his left. Kaiba sat on the other side of his brother and there were three seats saved for him and their two MIA friends.
He'd made it just in time. As the theatre's lights quickly faded, he slid into the seat farthest from Kaiba, took Mokuba's coat and draped it over the other saved seats. Five seats down, Yuugi grinned and waved at him before Mokuba turned his attention to the first super awesome trailer.
Joey stuck his bucket of popcorn in between his legs and quickly punched in another message to Tristan:
>> trailers are starting
Less than a minute later, his phone vibrated:
>> fffffff traffic is killer.. FTS
He was hardly paying attention to the trailers as he stuffed popcorn in his mouth and fiddled nervously with his phone -- as if doing so would magically teleport the others to him. Then, all too quickly, the movie queued up.
>> trailers done!! D:
Before he could get a response, someone behind him hissed "Turn off your phone, jackass!" and grousing, he did as he was told.
Suddenly, a group of five people tromped up into their row.
"Hey, buddy. Scoot over!" growled the guy closest to him.
"Oh, these are reserved," Joey said in a hushed voice, motioning to the two clothed chairs to his right.
"Reserved?! It's a FULL theatre, you can't reserve seats," said one girl with her hands on her hips.
"Yeah," another girl butt in. "And they just ran out of tickets so your dumb friends can't get in anyway," she finished snippily.
"Scoot over!"
"Yeah, move it!"
With a grimace, Joey collected the coats and scooted over two seats to sit next to Kaiba, who glanced at him sideways in acknowledgement.
He glanced over to his right and saw that Mokuba was already entranced by the opening scene.
Not knowing what to do with the collection of coats, he piled them onto his lap and placed his popcorn on top.
He was fully prepared to spend the next two hours of stuffing his face and vegging out when he slowly became aware of the tremendous smell streaming off the bossy guy to his left.
Trying to get away he huddled to the right side of his seat, butting up against the armrest. In an attempt to get even farther away, he tried to gain leverage on the armrest.
However, Kaiba would have none of that and shoved his arm off, almost upsetting Joey's bucket of popcorn in the process. The blond glared at him and they briefly scuffled for the rights to the the space until Kaiba gave him a seething glare. He reluctantly relinquished his bid to the victor and opted to rest his hands awkwardly on the pile of coats, around his bucket.
Discouraged from having to lose to Kaiba and to the mean group of friends on his left, Joey ate his popcorn, only vaguely watching the movie -- something about a guy and a girl wandering the city at night... and some vagrant warning them about staying out of the park...?
And then suddenly, the ghost popped out of no where and Joey started in shock and his popcorn almost tumbled onto the floor. His right hand instinctively grabbed onto the first thing he could get his hands on: Kaiba's forearm, lounging on the armrest.
"Scared, Wheeler?" whispered a smug voice in his ear.
Joey fought the urge to shiver. Why was it always so damn cold in movie theatres?
"No!" he hissed back, glaring at Kaiba's face in a dim light. He pulled his hand back and tried to move away from the other man while also trying to keep his distance from the stinky stranger to his left. He was stuck between a rock and a smelly space.
Choosing the devil he knew rather than the one that smelled like dirty gym socks, he leaned to the right again and turned his attention back to the movie. The couple was now being chased by the specter and the knife was somehow real?
Then -- a stab! The guy fell to the ground and the girl screamed.
"Shi--!"
Joey slowly became aware that he had grabbed Kaiba's arm once again, but the other man said nothing. Instead, Joey could feel his scrawny arm slightly tense under his fingers.
Did Kaiba eat anything?
Well, it wasn't like he was going to share his popcorn with him... then again, how could he eat any more with that terrifying B.O. emanating from the left?
He loosened his grip on Kaiba's arm -- then the girl was attacked -- and his hand clenched it again, but around Kaiba's hand. He held on to dear life as the ghost stabbed again and again... cackling in an unearthly gargle.
Ugh. This was why he hated horror movies!
Then, slowly, he felt something. Kaiba was running his thumb across the side of his hand.
Joey turned his head to look at the other man, but Kaiba's eyes were solely focused on the screen. He looked down and watched the comforting gesture and his anxiety melted away.
Well, until there was another scream.
This time the hand turned and then Kaiba's fingers laced into his, though his gaze was still on the movie and not on Joey.
Smiling to himself and closing his eyes to shut out the movie, Joey leaned back into his seat and held Kaiba's hand until the lights turned back on.