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When the summer holidays came, Kaoru and Kojiro decided to invite all their friends to their beach house for the weekend. It was the first weekend in a very long time that everyone could gather together to do something besides going to Crazy Rock. It was also the first trip Oka and Shadow were doing as a couple, and Kojiro and Kaoru loved to provide them a nice place to be all dovey-lovey for some days.
While they were eating, they talked about how much they wanted to swim after they finished with their lunch. It had been a nice warm, sunny day without a cloud in sight. Or that’s what they thought, because when they were finally getting ready to go to the beach, a loud thunder made them all jolt in surprise.
Kaoru looked at the sky from one of the windows, seeing how in the horizon there were black clouds approaching them very slowly.
“Carla, what’s the weather forecast for the next hours?” Kaoru asked to his Carla bracelet.
“There’s a thunderstorm approaching that should arrive in our zone approximately in an hour, Master.” Answered Carla’s robotic voice.
“Well… I think there’s no beach for us today.” Kojiro said, coming to his husband’s side, placing a hand to his waist, kissing the top of his head.
“I brought a ton of board games just in case, at least we have something to do!” Reki said, trying not to lose his positive attitude.
They all gazed at Kaoru with a wary look, knowing how he was when they played board games and lose the game.
“What does that look mean?” Kaoru asked, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes at them.
“You’re such a sore loser, Cherry.” Miya said, trying to stifle a laugh.
Kaoru gasped indignately.
“I am not!” He exclaimed.
Kojiro laughed, hugging him from behind.
“You kinda are, baby. But we love you anyway.” Kojiro said, laughing softly.
Kaoru shoved him away.
“Okay, then play without me, I don’t care!” Kaoru said with a pout, grabbing a book from the shelf and sitting on the couch with more force than it was necessary.
“Aww no, baby, don’t get mad, come here,” Kojiro said, trying to kiss his husband. Kaoru let Kojiro kiss him until a traitorous smile blossomed on his lips. “Are you sure you don’t want to play with us?” He asked, still peppering his husband’s cheeks in sweet kisses.
“Yeah, I prefer to read for a while now. Go have fun.” Kaoru said, kissing Kojiro before shoving him lightly in their friends direction.
Kojiro sat on the table with the rest of their friends, debating on what to play first, knowing that whatever they end up choosing it would be a disaster with or without Kaoru’s competitive presence.
After a disastrous play of Monopoly that nearly ended up with Miya throwing his figurine at Shadow after he made him go bankrupt, they decided to do something more chill like watching a movie.
“What should we watch?” Miya asked, scrolling through Netflix.
“That one!” Shadow exclaimed, pointing at the thumbnail of ‘The Conjuring’.
“What? No, no, no, no! Not a horror movie, guys!” Reki pleaded, hiding his face already against Langa’s shoulder.
“It’s not that scary, Reki, even you would know when a jumpscare it’s gonna happen.” Oka tried to convince him.
Langa hugged him tightly, kissing his temple.
“I won’t let anything bad happen to you, babe.” Langa assured him, like the ghosts from the movie could really come out from the TV to harm them.
“Okay… but just this one.” Reki finally agreed.
But they didn’t watch just one, they also watched the second part to Reki’s dismay. He ended up nearly crying from fear, because as much as Oka was right and the jumpscares were easy to predict, he got scared to death anyway.
The dark clouds and the loud rumble of thunders were now upon them, making the atmosphere of the living room a lot creepier. At least for Reki, the rest of them were so into the movie’s plot and the mood the weather was providing that they didn’t even notice how strong the thunders were.
Until one that made everything tremble as if it were an earthquake, also made the lights go off and Reki screamed in fear, clutching Langa’s arm for dear life. The sun already set long ago, and with the dark clouds, everything around them was pitch black.
“It's Valak! He’s gonna kill us!” Reki exclaimed, tears of fear welling up on his eyes.
“No, Reki, Valak is not gonna come kill us, calm down,” Kaoru tried to reassure him, but Reki was too scared to listen to him. “I’m gonna get some candles.”
Langa was trying to calm down Reki, hugging him tightly and kissing his tears away.
“There’s no signal either.” Miya said, sighing, leaving the flashlight of his phone on while Kaoru was in search of said candles.
“What if Val— I mean, something tries to come and kill us? What if there’s an evil ghost in this house?” Reki insisted, his voice muffled, not daring to lift his head from the crook of Langa’s neck.
“Reki, ghosts aren’t real.” Miya deadpanned.
“And how do you know that?!” Reki asked.
“Well, I believe they are real, in fact, I had several paranormal experiences…” Shadow tried to explain. But Reki covered his ears, screaming ‘lalalalala’ so he couldn’t hear him.
“What the hell is happening here?” Kaoru asked when he returned with a bag full of candles.
“Reki is having a meltdown because he’s sure some ghost is gonna kill us.” Miya explained.
Kaoru tried very hard not to groan out loud, because he knew how scared Reki could get with anything related to ghosts, so it was really their fault for watching a horror movie anyway.
“If a ghost comes I’ll make sure he gets Shadow first.” Kaoru said with an amused smile.
“What? Why me?” Shadow exclaimed, feeling offended.
“Because you’re the one that suggested we watched that movie.” Kaoru explained.
They all laughed, except Reki, who was still incapable of lifting his head from his hiding spot.
After Kaoru illuminated the living room and the kitchen, Kojiro stood up from the couch.
“I’m gonna start preparing dinner.” Kojiro announced. Miya and Shadow followed him, a mischievous smile on his lips that didn’t bode anything good.
While they were eating dinner Reki finally was a lot more calm, but every time a thunder rumbled loudly, he still jolted and clutched to his boyfriend like his life depended on it. And when they headed to their rooms to change into their pajamas, Reki was slowly recovering his cheery personality.
They had to divide into three rooms, Kaoru and Kojiro in one, Shadow and Oka in other, and Miya, Reki and Langa in the last one.
“Langa… can I sleep against the wall tonight?” Reki asked after they came back from brushing their teeth.
“Yeah, of course.” Langa said with a soft smile. He also prefered to sleep against the wall, but knowing how scared Reki had been since they watched the movies, he could sacrifice himself sleeping on the side where the ghosts could get him. Anything to protect his boyfriend.
Miya came right after them, his face pale like he actually had seen a ghost.
“Are you alright?” Langa asked.
Miya shook his head slowly.
“When I was brushing my teeth and I looked at my reflection in the mirror… I saw something behind me. But when I turned around there was nothing there.” Miya said in a wavering voice.
“What?!” Reki asked, rushing to hide behind Langa, clutching his shirt as tight as he could.
“I’m sure it was nothing. With only the light of the phone’s flashlight I’m sure your imagination made you see something that wasn’t even real. It’s like when you see the pile of clothes in the chair at night and you think it’s a person looking at you.” Langa said, trying to be the voice of reason.
Reki nodded over and over again, trying to believe his boyfriend’s theory.
“Yeah, but… Shadow told me he heard a very weird noise in their room, like someone was screaming. And he didn’t pay attention to it thinking it was Reki. But then he saw you two chatting in the corridor and he wasn’t so sure of what he had heard anymore…” Miya told them, his face even paler now.
Reki covered his ears, looking at Miya with the most scared expression ever.
Langa turned around to hug Reki tightly, leading him to the bed.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure Shadow only imagined he heard that. We all are a little bit scared after watching the movies, and the thunderstorm isn’t helping us at all to stay calm. Let’s try to sleep.” Langa said, trying to reassure them.
“Yeah, good idea.” Miya agreed, getting inside his bed.
Reki covered himself up to his head with the blanket, and Langa laughed softly at the sight. He got under the blanket, cupping Reki’s face tenderly, pecking him as gently as he could.
“I’m not gonna let any ghost harm you, okay?” Langa whispered, trying to make Reki calm down a little bit.
His grip on the blanket loosened, and Langa sighed in relief, spooning him to make him feel as protected as he could.
“Good night, babe.” Langa said softly, kissing the nape of Reki’s neck.
“Good night.” Reki said back, holding Langa’s arm tightly, drawing his back against his chest as closely as he could, feeling totally safe in his boyfriend's arms.
A loud scream jolted them awake.
“What was that?!” Reki exclaimed in fear, holding tightly onto Langa’s arms.
“I think it was Cherry…” Langa said in a whisper, even him was a little bit startled.
“Wait… where’s Miya?” Reki asked in a wavering voice.
Langa looked at Miya’s bed, seeing that it was indeed empty.
“Let me check out where he is and what happened to Cherry,” Langa said, trying to get out of bed. But Reki hugged him tightly, not letting him go anywhere. “Babe, we need to know what happened.”
“Okay, but I’m coming with you, I don’t want to be alone.” Reki said, hugging Langa from behind, making them walk a little bit clumsy on their way to Kojiro and Kaoru’s room.
Everyone was gathered at Kojiro and Kaoru’s doorframe. Miya was hugging Kaoru, and at least that solved the mystery of where Miya was. But they still didn’t know why Kaoru had screamed.
“What happened?” Langa asked in concern.
“Cherry felt something pulling his leg while he was asleep.” Oka explained to them.
Reki screamed in fear, hugging Langa more tightly.
“Could he… have had a vivid nightmare?” Langa asked, trying to find a logical explanation for what happened.
Shadow shook his head.
“No… I felt it too. Something pulled my leg like it tried to drag me out of bed.” Shadow explained in a calm voice.
A loud thunder reverberated in the house, making what Shadow had said a lot scarier.
“How could you be so chill about it, dude?! A ghost tried to murder you!” Reki exclaimed, now even more scared.
Shadow shrugged.
“This is not my first paranormal experience.” He explained, like what had happened to him wasn’t scary as hell.
Reki covered his ears again, trying very hard not to cry out of fear once again. Even Langa was starting to get spooked out by the whole situation.
“Why don’t we all get our mattresses to the living room to sleep there? Maybe we’d be safer if we sleep together.” Oka suggested.
They all agreed on doing that. And as soon as they were all settled in the living room, Reki was hugging Langa as tightly as he could, hiding his face against his boyfriend’s chest. Kaoru wasn’t doing any better, making his husband hug him from behind like his life depended on it, but well, knowing that a ghost had tried to murder him, maybe his life really depended on it. Oka was hugging Shadow like he dared another ghost to get near them again, and Miya reclaimed the comfy couch as his. At least he was the only one that seemed more at ease, but in reality everyone was on edge, feeling incapable of sleeping anymore, and the thunderstorm wasn’t helping them relax at all. But after a while, tiredness made them start to finally nod off.
Except for Miya.
“I’m going to the bathroom.” He informed to whoever was still awake.
Not long after, Miya’s distressed scream jolted them awake once again. But before anyone could stand up, he came running to hug Kaoru very tightly.
“What happened now?!” Reki asked, clutching to his boyfriend’s side.
“I heard a weird noise, it was like someone was screaming.” Miya said, his voice full of fear.
Kojiro looked at him with an amused smile.
“Miya, we agreed that the prank was over.” Kojiro said, making everyone besides Shadow and Miya look at him with a murderous glare.
Shit.
“WHAT?!” Reki exclaimed in disbelief.
“Kojiro… are you telling me that all this ghost shitshow was a fucking prank from you?” Kaoru asked. His voice was dangerously calm.
“It was, but I’m not joking this time!” Miya said, nearly crying out of fear.
“Wait, wait! It was Miya and Shadow’s idea!” Kojiro tried to excuse himself to no avail.
Kaoru was freaking mad at them.
“Yeah, right. Well, then we’re going to our bedroom. If any ghost comes for you three idiots, it’s on you for having made them mad.” Kaoru said, standing up and making Reki, Langa and Oka help him take some mattresses back to his room so they could sleep together.
There is a saying that says you should fear the living more than the dead. And Kojiro knew that there wasn’t anything scarier than to be at the end of his husband’s rage. He shouldn’t have engaged in Shadow and Miya’s prank.
While Kaoru, Oka, Reki and Langa were comfortably sleeping together, thinking that there wasn’t really anything to fear, Miya still was scared as hell at whatever he thought he’d heard.
He, Kojiro and Shadow were still in the living room, trying to calm Miya down.
“Hey, I’m sure what you heard wasn’t a ghost.” Kojiro tried to assure him.
Shadow nodded in agreement.
But then suddenly, a weird noise that resembled someone screeching made them jolt in fear, making them hug each other and looking at their surroundings in search of where that noise came from.
The only source of light they had at the moment was when a thunder lit up the room, making everything look more creepy and dangerous than it really was. But they were sure of what they heard; they had heard someone else screaming.
“What if Reki was right?” Miya asked in a whisper.
Shadow shivered at the idea.
“Let’s stay together, I’m sure nothing would happen to us if we stay like this.” Kojiro said, hugging his friends even tighter. Miya and Shadow did the same.
They migrated to the couch, covering themselves with a blanket, not daring to loosen their grip onto each other and trying to sleep for a bit.
When Kaoru woke up the next morning, everyone in the room was still fast asleep. He was usually the last of their friends to wake up, and it felt nice to reverse the roles just for once.
He was still angry at his husband and friends for that damn prank, that’s why when he saw them sleeping and hugging each other on the couch he thought that a little revenge wouldn’t be a bad idea. They still had a box with tons of Halloween stuff from when they came to celebrate it the year before here. Kaoru put on a Michael Myers mask and took a fake knife, trying to hold back a giggle.
He went back to the living room as quietly as he could, and when he was finally in front of them, Kaoru crouched and screamed.
“Wake up!”
They all jolted awake, screaming in fear when the first thing they saw as they opened their eyes was the terrifying face of Michael Myers.
“Fuck!” Kojiro screamed, drawing Miya closer to his chest to protect him while he cried out of fear and Shadow stood up, screaming and running away to God knows where.
Kaoru took off the mask, laughing his ass off at them.
“Wh-what? Kaoru?! Do you want to give me a heart attack?” Kojiro exclaimed.
Miya didn’t dare to lift his gaze up even knowing now it was his friend just pranking them.
Kaoru crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at them.
“No, but you all deserved a good scare.” Kaoru stated.
“Okay, fair point.” Kojiro conceded.
“Eeeh, guys? I think I found out what the noise Miya heard last night was.” Reki said, still half asleep, rubbing the laziness from his eyes.
Everybody followed him to the backyard, watching espectately at whatever discovery Reki had made. Reki grabbed the door of the fence that led to the beach, and when he opened it, a scratchy noise that resembled a human screech made Miya, Kojiro and Shadow look at said fence with their jaws hanging open.
“So… there wasn’t a ghost.” Miya said in a whisper.
“No, it wasn’t.” Kaoru deadpanned, trying to stifle a laugh.
Kaoru, Oka, Reki and Langa couldn’t hold back anymore the laughter that erupted from their bellies.
“That’s what you deserve for pranking us!” Reki said, wiping away the tears that were gathering on his eyes from so much laughing.
Miya went back inside the house, crossing his arms, feeling totally embarrassed for having been scared all the freaking night of a damn fence that needed some oil.
“Would you forgive me?” Kojiro pleaded to his husband.
Kaoru thought about it, still narrowing his eyes at him.
“Only if you make carbonara for lunch today.” Kaoru answered.
Kojiro beamed at him.
“Anything you want, baby.” He said, kissing Kaoru’s cheek over and over again.
After they had lunch, the sun was shining brightly upon them, and they finally had the chance to swim for a while. Every time the wind blew a little stronger it moved the fence, making them jolt at hearing that weird screech, but at least they now laughed afterwards, knowing that there wasn’t any ghost in the house ready to kill them. Just a bunch of idiot friends who were too eager to prank them at any chance they had.