"And for the lads, this will be your cabin," the caretaker said as he opened the door for the group of six boys. They all walked into the house that was an exact copy of the girls' cabin next door. "There are three bedrooms each with bathrooms and all the necessary amenities. Kitchen, living room, dining room and the like." The older man gestured around the foyer.
"Wait, wait, wait… There are only three bedroom?" Corrin, one of the six men asked mortified.
"Ah, yes… Is there a problem, sir?" The caretaker asked.
"Yeah Corrin. It works pretty nicely, actually. Two to a room and there are six of us," Leo pointed out, confused as to why Corrin would be upset over this.
"So that makes Takumi and Leo and then myself and Xander because that would just make sense. Then that leaves you and Niles to a room," Ryouma added, looking at his brother skeptically.
"No, no that all makes sense… Can I just sleep on the couch?" Corrin asked and Takumi snorted. "What's your problem?"
"You just don't want to room with Niles," Takumi chided.
"That's not true…" Corrin trailed off, unconvincingly.
"You wound me, Corrin." Niles dramatized, pretending to faint onto Corrin. "What have I ever done to you?"
"It's not what you have done, it's what you might do…" Corrin responded, trying to push Niles off of him.
"Come on, Corrin. Do you have such little faith in Niles?" Leo spoke up and sighed when Corrin gave him a pleading look. "If you're that worried, you and I can switch rooms." At that statement Takumi immediately protested.
"What? But… But…" He couldn't come up with a reasonable thing to say to protest, however. None of the things that came to mind were very appropriate for the situation.
"No I don't wanna make other people unhappy… I guess I'll just deal." Corrin sighed and Niles latched onto him.
"Don't worry, Corrin, I promise to be good!" He gushed.
"Just stay on your side of the bed." He started to try and push Niles off him again.
"Well then, it's settled," Xander said and then turned to the caretaker, who was still standing by the door awkwardly. "Thank you for showing us around, Mr…" He paused, waiting for the man to fill in his name. The man looked at him for a moment before giving a short laugh.
"Heh," and he paused again, staring at Xander until it was almost awkward. "It was no trouble at all. If you get thirsty, there are beverages downstairs and if you need anything else, please feel free to call." The caretaker then opened the door and stepped outside. Everyone found this man to be very… strange. "Oh and by the way… A few of the previous tenants have complained about this but this particular cabin is really haunted." The man literally cackled and then left; slamming the door and leaving six stunned men all alone in their haunted vacation cabin. A long, surprised silence fell upon the group. How were they supposed to take that? As a joke? Or as truth?
Leo was the first to break the silence, "Niles, this is all your fault."
"Me? What did I do?" Niles asked, incredulously. How was this his fault?
"How- Why- Why is this happening? What's going to happen? I'm not ready to die!" Corrin began mumbling hysterically and pacing back and forth while Niles and Leo continued to argue.
"It was your idea to stay here instead of just a simple hotel!" Leo blamed.
"Well sorry for trying to save some money!" Niles argued back.
"We're gonna die!" Corrin exclaimed.
"I refuse to have this negativity within my eyesight! Either calm down or remove yourself at once!" Xander yelled over everyone.
"Xander, you're not helping." Ryouma sighed, holding the bridge of his nose. "Corrin please calm down. We're not going to die," he added, turning towards the pacing boy.
"You don't know that!" He shouted back, "We're probably being watched already."
"Oh yeah? Save money?! Look what your money saving abilities has gotten us!" Leo continued to yell.
"Fine then. Next time you can plan everything, Mr. I'm-always-right!"
"Gladly!"
"What are we going to do? I can't stay here, let alone sleep here! This is not good, not good!" Corrin started pacing faster and flailing his arms around.
"Corrin, could you please calm down? We're going to be fine," Xander tried.
"Not good. Not good. This is not good."
"Corrin please," Ryouma tried again.
"Always gotta cause a scene, don't you Corrin?" Takumi spoked up, angrily.
"You know what, Takumi? I really don't need your shit right now!" Corrin snapped, finally stopping his pacing in favor of glaring at Takumi.
"Please don't argue…" Xander tried again, realizing that his and Ryouma's efforts were going to be in vain regardless of what they said. Takumi immediately retaliated with another rude comment. Niles and Leo continued at each other's throats while Ryouma and Xander just tried to calm everyone down. But at this point, everyone was just screaming at everyone else.
"Just stop talking to me!" Takumi yelled.
"How mature of you, Takumi! You started this argument and you can't even finish it!" Corrin yelled back.
"That is no way to talk to your younger brother, Corrin!" Ryouma reprimanded.
"This." Leo sighed angrily, sweeping his arm through the air. "This is what ignorance does!"
"That hardly seems fair, Leo!" Xander added.
"HOW ABOUT WE ALL SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Niles shouted over everyone. Effectively gaining everyone's attention and quieting the arguments. "Thank you!" He sighed. "Now why don't we talk this out like normal people?"
"Heh, 'normal people'." Takumi mumbled bitterly, earning a slap up the head from Ryouma. "Ow! What was that for?!"
"Stop trying to cause arguments." His older brother seethed. Takumi mumbled something inaudible but otherwise kept quiet.
"So anyway… What are we going to do?" Leo tried to start back up the original topic, pulling Takumi close to him in an attempt to comfort his boyfriend.
"We go about our vacation. This whole 'haunted' thing is probably just a joke the caretaker tells everyone to scare them." Niles responded simply.
"W-why would someone do that?" Corrin asked shakily, clearly still feeling freaked out. Niles attempted to do the same thing Leo did and pull Corrin into his arms but Corrin repeatedly slapped his hands away.
"Yeah Niles is probably right." Xander agreed, chuckling at Niles dejected face. "That guy was pretty creepy…"
"Definitely… And besides, why would a vacation resort have haunted cabins?" Ryouma added.
"Well glad that's settled…" Niles said, giving up his attempts to grab Corrin and latched onto him instead, laughing at the sigh of disappointment Corrin gives.
"So what do we do now?" Leo asked again, playing with Takumi's ponytail and earning a glare from the shorter male.
"I don't know about you but I'm starving," Ryouma answered.
"Dinner does sound nice." Corrin agreed, not even trying to get out of Niles' arms anymore.
"It is almost that time… you wanna help me, Takumi?" Leo asked, walking from the foyer to the kitchen.
"Of course." Takumi replied, happily following Leo into the kitchen and beginning to look around the, as promised, fully stocked kitchen.
"I'm going to bring my stuff to our bedroom, I'll take yours if you want," Niles told Corrin, pulling away from him and grabbing the two suitcases.
"You don't have to do that…" Corrin immediately protested. "I can carry my own suitcase."
"I have no doubt that you could but I want to… or are you saying you want to be in a bedroom alone with me?" Niles teased and Corrin blushed.
"N-no, go ahead then, I'll just be in the kitchen." He said quickly, without taking a breath. He rushed away from the now laughing Niles. Ryouma gave him a disapproving look.
"What?" He asked, not understanding Ryouma's disappointment.
"You shouldn't tease him like that if you don't mean anything by it," Ryouma said. "He's a bit naïve and you may end up causing problems for yourself."
"Who says I don't mean it?" Niles asked defensively. Ryouma gave him another look that told Niles he didn't believe him.
"What? I can care about people too, you know!"
"I just don't want to see him hurt."
"Yeah, yeah." Niles didn't want to stay in this conversation any longer, so he grabbed his and Corrin's suitcases and headed upstairs to claim a room. Ryouma watched him leave, hoping that he actually did care about Corrin. For Corrin's sake and his own. He went into the kitchen after that and found himself in the middle of another argument. Xander appeared to be the cause of this one, with Leo and Takumi against him and Corrin awkwardly sitting at the counter trying to stay out of it.
"What is going on in here?" Ryouma couldn't even tell what they were arguing about. Thankfully, his question quieted the arguing for a moment.
"Leo and Takumi are trying to kick me out of the kitchen and won't let me help with anything." Xander complained.
"Xander, I love you from the bottom of my heart but I don't trust your cooking. Stay out of my kitchen," Leo retorted, pointing towards the door.
"When did it become your-" Ryouma cut Xander off.
"Come on, let's leave the kitchen to them." He said, grabbing Xander's arm and pulling him out of the kitchen.
"But… but…" He tried to protest.
"Come on, let's find our bedroom." Reluctantly, Xander followed Ryouma upstairs.
"Finally," Leo sighed. "Remind me to thank your brother later," he continued before walking up to Takumi and hugging him from behind. Takumi looked up at his boyfriend, smiling.
"Right. So should we start?"
"I wanna stay here a bit." Leo rested his chin on Takumi's head. Corrin made a noise of disgust, making his presence known to the couple.
"What are you doing here?" Takumi napped. Leo pulled on his ponytail as a reminder to be nice.
"Apparently drowning in sap," Corrin responded.
"You don't have to stay here," Takumi reminded.
"Are you going to kick me out too?" He mocked.
"No, you're welcome to stay. Just don't complain," Leo spoke up as he started to make something for dinner and Takumi followed his lead.
"Yes sir!" Corrin mocked a salute but he didn't follow orders. Every slight or grand display of affection received a noise of disapproval from Corrin. Halfway through cooking and about the ninth groan from Corrin, Takumi snapped:
"Fuck you, Corrin."
"Hey! I believe that is my job," Another person said, walking into the room.
"Niles, that's hardly appropriate," Leo reprimanded; Niles only shrugged and sat down next to a blushing Corrin.
"And you." Leo turned towards Takumi. "Calm down, why are you so on-edge tonight?" Takumi didn't respond. He just kept cooking, glaring down at the tomatoes he was slicing.
"Hey. Hey. Hey. Corrin." Niles bothered, poking Corrin a few times for good measure.
"Yes?" He asked hesitantly. He really didn't know what Niles could want this time. Whatever it was Corrin probably wouldn't like it.
"That's a nice shirt," Niles pointed out and Corrin breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thanks… though I've had it for a while." That was surprisingly innocent. But then Niles got closer and said into Corrin's ear:
"But it would look even better on the floor." Corrin jumped slightly in surprise, banging his knew on the counter.
"What?!" He exclaimed, blushing immensely once again.
"Niles. That has got to be the lamest pick-up line I've ever heard," Leo said, not even bothering to reprimand him for picking on Corrin again. Takumi just found this situation hysterical.
"Don't worry. That was just plan A." Niles brushed it off.
"What's Plan B?" Corrin stuttered, trying to calm himself down. Niles probably didn't mean anything by this. He was just trying to get a rise out of him. Or at least, that's what Corrin convinced himself to believe.
"To take you hostage." Niles smiled wickedly, sending Corrin into a whole new level of red. Niles and Takumi immediately burst into laughter again and Leo only sighed.
"Y-you're not serious, are you?" Corrin practically whispered.
"I was only teasing…" Niles smiled and Corrin sighed in relief.
"Unless you want to…"
"N-no thanks!" Corrin exclaimed quickly.
"Aw damn. We could've had soo much fun."
"Don't mess with him like that," Leo told Niles.
"Why is everyone so against me?!" He complained.
"I'm not…" Corrin said quietly.
"Ooo you're going to wish you hadn't said that." His creepy smile was back again.
"Niles…" Leo warned.
"Ugh fine… but seriously I have to tell you something, Corrin."
"What?" It couldn't get any worse, could it?
"I have a secret to tell you… but the man wearing Xander's skin won't like it if I do…" Niles whispered to him.
"W-what?!" Corrin screamed. "What's that supposed to mean?!" The silver-haired boy jumped up from his chair and began his nervous pacing again.
"What did you tell him?" Takumi asked, sighing at the new drama unfolding again.
"Nothing important." Niles shrugged, smiling innocently.
"Nothing important?! If there's a man wearing Xander's skin that mean Xander's dead!" Corrin cried.
"Nothing important, huh?" Leo deadpanned. "You've really gotta stop doing this to Corrin."
"What, it's funny?" Niles laughed, watching Corrin pace back and forth.
"It's funny to give people heart attacks?" Leo sighed.
"It's funny to give Corrin heart attacks," Niles corrected.
"And that would mean there actually are g-ghosts!" Corrin continued to yell. Leo gave Niles a look and he gave up.
"Fine, I'll fix this." Niles stood up and moved into Corrin's pacing path. So when the smaller boy turned back around he ran straight into Niles' arms.
"What are you doing?" Corrin was confused.
"Apologizing. I was only joking again. I'm sorry," Niles said into Corrin's hair and to his surprise, Corrin hugged him back. He didn't say anything and the two stayed there until Ryouma and Xander came rushing into the room.
"What's going on? We heard Corrin screaming again," Xander rushed out.
"Did something happen?" Ryouma added. The two men scanned the kitchen only to be shocked into silence when they saw Niles holding Corrin, seemingly comforting him.
"What in the world have you done now?" Ryouma asked.
"Oh calm down. It was just a joke," Niles defended.
"Just a joke? A joke shouldn't make people scream like that. What did I just tell you?!" Ryouma continued.
"It's fine guys." Corrin spoke up, trying to help out Niles. He separated himself from Niles, much to the other's dismay and turned to face Xander and Ryouma. "I just overreacted. I'm fine."
"That doesn't excuse this one's behavior," Xander retorted. Corrin quickly moved out of the line of fire as the argument escalated.
Leo sighed and held the bridge of his nose, losing his patience for this nonsense. "I see dead people," he commented.
"…Is it… the ghosts?" Corrin whispered and Takumi looked confused.
"Well technically they're stupid people but give me a few minutes." Leo explained and the other two nodded in understanding.
"Alright. Everyone needs to shut up and sit the flip down!" Leo interrupted, stopping the impending war.
"Excuse me?" Ryouma asked.
"You're excused." Takumi smirked and earned a glare from Ryouma.
"Dinner's ready. So sit. The flip. Down." Leo said again. Thankfully, everyone listened with no complaints.
"What are we having?" Ryouma asked after sitting down in the dining room where Leo and Takumi directed them.
"Lobster." Leo smirked.
"How dare you." Ryouma was offended.
"I don't think I've ever had lobster," Corrin said absentmindedly.
"Xander has," Niles replied suggestively, earning him glares from all around the table.
"Anyway. It's just pizza," Takumi answered Ryouma's question truthfully. And after that, dinner went rather well. No arguing and everyone was mostly silent.
Takumi and Leo thought they were being subtle with their flirting but everyone's constant eye rolls said otherwise. Ryouma and Xander were quiet for the most part. And as always, Niles flirted shamelessly with Corrin every now and then and Corrin wanted to die. But otherwise, everything was going rather well and everyone was in a fairly good mood. But peace didn't last for much longer. They were just about done cleaning up the kitchen when knocking started up at the front door. Whatever conversation was going on at the time quieted as the constant knocking rang through the house.
"So uh… Who's going to get that?" Takumi was the first to speak, setting down his wash rang.
"Umm… I don't know." Ryouma answered, taking a few steps away from the door leading to the foyer.
"Are we expecting anyone tonight?" Xander asked, raising an eyebrow at his boyfriend's strange behavior.
"I don't think so…" Leo said.
"It could be the girl's checking up on us," Corrin said, trying his very best not to sound scared.
"Well that still doesn't answer the question. Who's going to answer the door?" Niles asked, patting Corrin on the head. The other male took a side-step away from Niles.
"I vote Ryouma!" Takumi said and quickly hid behind Leo to avoid Ryouma's glare.
"Me? Why me?" Ryouma asked. It's not like he was scared or anything. He was just confused as to why he had to go answer the door.
"Why not you?" Leo asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.
"Why not me? Why not you?" Ryouma pointed at Leo.
"I've still got dishes to clean, unlike you who has been standing around watching us clean." Leo answered.
"You don't think it's a ghost knocking at the door do you?" Corrin asked quietly.
"What is your problem with ghosts, Corrin?" Leo asked, Takumi and Xander nodded in agreement.
"Leave him alone guys, he's just a little freaked out by all this," Niles said and Corrin gave him a small smile in thanks.
"I think everyone's a little freaked out at this point," Ryouma agreed.
"So… if no one wants to go answer the door, why don't we all go?" Takumi suggested. Everyone nodded in agreement and started towards the front door. The knocking still echoed around the foyer and showed no sign of stopping. The group of six stopped right by the door leading outside and listened to the forceful knocking. There weren't any windows in the house that could see the front porch where the mysterious knocker would be, so all they could do was ignore it or open the door. And since the knocking didn't seem to be letting up, that left them with only one option.
"What do you think's out there?" Xander asked one last time.
"Probably the creepy caretaker," Niles said.
"Could be the girls," Takumi added.
"Or some pranksters," Ryouma said.
"Or g-ghosts…" Corrin whispered.
"Only one way to find out," Leo said and moved to open the door. Slowly, the door creaked open and the knocking stopped. When the wood door moved out of the way, nothing was there.
"Well… that's different…" Leo said, looking around the porch before closing the door again. "There's no one out there."
"Must've been a prank," Ryouma said and everyone agreed, though they all felt rather unnerved.
"Let's just finish cleaning and relax," Xander decided and they all started to head towards the kitchen. Until the knocking started up again, this time it was more like forceful banging than knocking. Whatever was out there really wanted their attention… or wanted to get in.
"Oh jeeze," Corrin immediately exclaimed, burying his face in the nearest object (which happened to be Niles) and mumbling about ghosts.
"Hey, it's okay," Niles said, trying to calm Corrin down by bringing him into a hug. "No ghost will get you while I'm here."
"What in the world is going on?" Ryouma exclaimed, clearly becoming frightened by what was going on.
"I don't know but this is rather annoying," Xander said, holding the bridge of his nose.
"Takumi, are you okay?" Leo asked the silver haired boy practically hiding behind him.
"Could've fooled me," Niles laughed while still attempting to calm down Corrin.
"Shut up!" Takumi retorted.
"Hey, it's okay." Leo said, turning around, hugging Takumi and copying Niles' calming techniques. "I think everyone's freaked out."
"I just want to know what's going on!" Xander said. "This is ridiculous." Xander pushed past the other five scared men and flung open the door angrily. "What the fuck do you want?!"
"Wow, nice way to say hello, big brother," a startled Elise said. Everyone breathed an immense sigh of relief. Takumi stepped out of Leo's arms, Ryouma composed himself and Corrin pushed Niles away from him.
"Elise," Xander said, clearing his throat and calming down. "What are you doing here?"
"We just wanted to check up on you guys… We've heard a lot of screaming coming from over here," she answered, giggling slightly.
"Yeah, we're all fine over here… just a few minor mishaps," Leo spoke up. Everyone was rather embarrassed to hear that the girls could hear their screaming.
"That's an understatement," Elise said.
"Anyway, why were you banging on our door twice?" Ryouma asked.
"And why did you hide the first time?" Takumi added.
"Twice?" Elise looked confused… "I only knocked just now... sorry if it was loud. I didn't know if you'd hear me or not."
"Oh. Well… Okay…" Xander said, equally as confused.
"If you guys are alright. I really should head back to our cabin, so I'll see you tomorrow?" Elise asked.
"Yeah," they all answered and then Elise was gone.
"Sooo where does that leave us?" Leo was the first to speak up after a long silence.
"I say we do what we would've done before all this. Finish cleaning up and relax," Xander responded. "Let's just put this all behind us and move on, agreed?"
"Sounds good to me," Leo said and Takumi nodded.
"S-sure," Corrin shakily agreed and Nile's gave him a sad look. The white-haired man knew Corrin was still freaked out but he couldn't do anything to help him. Or could he…? With a devious smile, he asked:
"Hey Corrin. Do you buy your pants on sale?" Everyone gave him a completely confounded look.
"What kind of question is that?" Leo asked.
"Why?" Was all Corrin asked. He knew what was coming but there was no way to avoid it, especially when Niles had that smile on.
"Because with me, they'd be 100% off." Corrin practically choked on nothing and immediately blushed bright red.
"Hahahaha okay. I'm going to start cleaning again. Bye!" Corrin laughed nervously and rushed out of the foyer towards the kitchen. Niles was just happy Corrin's fear had been momentarily forgotten about.
"You… have a dirty mind." Leo shook his head.
"I prefer to say I have a sexy imagination."
The remaining four men in the foyer all gave him a look.
"What? I cheered him up, didn't I?" Niles defended.
"Define 'cheered up'." Ryouma said, putting air quotes around cheered up.
"He's not freaking out anymore for one thing," Niles pointed out. "And I'm going to help him clean, which you were so adamant about earlier." And he left.
"Well… he's not wrong," Takumi said.
"I just wish he would quit messing with Corrin when I know he doesn't mean anything by it," Leo said and Ryouma nodded in agreement
"Whatever, let's just go," Xander decided.
After finishing with the cleaning, Takumi, Leo, Corrin and Niles sat down in the living to watch a movie. Unfortunately for Corrin, a horror movie was put on. Xander eventually joined them saying:
"Ryouma's in the shower. He'll be down soon hopefully."
The movie they put on; though, wasn't the best.
"This really was a stupid idea," Takumi complained after about the fifth crappy and cheap jump scare.
"Speak for yourself," Niles laughed, gesturing with his head to Corrin's huddled figure next to him. His face was, once again, buried in Niles' shoulder and Niles was easily able to wrap his arms around him.
"I don't care about your pre-relationship goals," Takumi snapped. "This movie is crap… and probably in poor taste considering the situation we're in."
"Whatever, I'm going to get a promised free beverage from the basement," Leo said, getting up from his chair and leaving for the basement. Takumi only huffed in annoyance but continued to watch the movie. But Leo was gone for longer than what everyone considered necessary. Takumi was just about to voice his concerns when a very high-pitched scream echoed through the house. Everyone in the room went silent, wondering who made that noise.
"What was that? Why is there a women screaming in our house?!" Ryouma asked, running into the living room half-dressed.
"More importantly… Where's your shirt?" Takumi asked.
"That's more important than a woman screaming in our cabin?" Niles said, holding back his laughter unsuccessfully.
"Well no but go put a shirt on," Takumi demanded. "No one wants to see that."
"Xander's not complaining," Ryouma pointed out.
"We have more important issues right now!" A red faced Xander tried to change the subject. "If it's not Ryouma screaming then that leaves only one other person it could be."
"Leo." Everyone breathed and ran downstairs to the basement.
"He said he wanted something to drink so he went downstairs for the free drinks," Takumi explained to Ryouma as they reached the basement refrigerator. Only problem was that Leo was nowhere to be found, and the fridge was left wide open.
"Well he's not here anymore," Xander said.
"You sound so concerned…" Ryouma joked.
"I am concerned…" Xander trailed off.
"That wasn't anywhere near convincing," Ryouma shook his head.
"Who knew Leo screamed like a little girl?" Niles said to himself and earned a glare from Takumi. "My apologies. Who knew besides Takumi?" Takumi looked confused before realization dawned on him and he broke out in a blush.
"Hey! Just what are you insinuating? Leo could be dead or worse and you're still making sexual jokes?!" Takumi shouted.
"I don't recall making a strictly sexual joke… maybe it's you who has the dirty mind," Niles said slowly, earning him a slap up the head from Corrin.
"Stop antagonizing. We have more important manners to attend to," he said.
"Ooo so you can be demanding too. I like that," Niles said with a wink and Corrin's confidence melted into a bright red blush.
"Guys, is this his shoe?" Ryouma asked, holding up a single converse shoe.
"Yes!" Takumi exclaimed, grabbing onto the shoe and holding it close to his chest.
"Could you at least wait until I let go of it?" Ryouma complained, wrestling his hand from Takumi's arms.
"We have to find him! This could be really bad!" Takumi was almost at Corrin level hysterics.
"D-do you think the g-ghosts got him?" Corrin asked.
"You're not helping." Xander shook his head, telling Corrin to keep it to himself and Corrin slunk behind Niles to avoid Xander's gaze.
"Aww… it's okay. I got you~" Niles said, turning around and hugging Corrin.
"Please stop." Corrin tried but gave up and let the taller man do as he wished.
"Guys come on! You gotta help me look for him!" Takumi tried again.
"Who are we looking for?" A voice asked from behind the group that was still huddled around the open fridge. Everyone whipped around and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Leo! Thank Gods!" Takumi immediately sprang at Leo and grabbed the taller boy in a hug. Leo happily accepted it but was confused.
"What's all this fuss? I didn't know you cared so much."
"I-I don't." Takumi blushed before pushing Leo away from him.
"Love you too," Leo laughed and kissed Takumi's cheek.
"Whatever." Takumi looked away.
"Ugh are you two done?" Corrin complained.
"Says the guy in Niles' arms," Leo retorted.
"I am not here by choice!" Corrin exclaimed.
"Not now," Niles leaned down and whispered: "But you will be," in Corrin's ear. "Anyway," he continued, looking towards Takumi. "Now I see why I offended you," he smirked deviously. "My apologies."
"What?" Leo asked, sounding as confused as Takumi was flustered.
"He's clearly the dominant one," Niles continued, "So he wouldn't be the one screaming."
"Niles stop it," Corrin demanded and slapped him again. Niles only purred at him.
"Please help," Corrin pleaded to Leo.
"On a more serious note," Xander announced, giving everyone a glare. (But secretly he was just glad that the others weren't trying to figure out his sex life. He wouldn't be able to handing that hit to his pride after everything else that had happened).
"Why did you scream like that?"
"Like what?" Leo was confused again.
"Like one of those hot, naked girls about to be murdered in classic horror movies," Niles answered and received another round of glares. He didn't miss the nervous sideways glance Corrin gave him either. It seemed he was wining.
"Oh well…" Leo was blushing in complete embarrassment now. "I uhh… opened the fridge to get drinks like I said and when I looked up there was uh… a huge as spider on the wall and I freaked out… a bit," He explained hesitantly.
"Why'd you lose a shoe?" Ryouma pointed over to Takumi still clutching Leo's shoes and then to Leo's single bare foot.
"Oh well, I took a shoe off to throw at the spider," he answered simply.
"Then… why weren't you here when we came downstairs?" Xander asked.
"Because I hit the spider with the shoe, found something to clean up the guts with and then left to throw away the paper towels. That's when you guys came all sorts of freaked out," Leo explained. Takumi looked down at Leo's shoe in disgust and instantly dropped it.
"Thank you," Leo said, grabbing his shoe and putting it back on but not before taunting Takumi with it. Earning him a playful slap and a few disgusted noises.
"Leo…" Ryouma started.
"Hm?" Leo asked, acting as if nothing important had happened.
"You are the most ridiculous person I have ever met," Xander finished Ryouma's thoughts.
"Why thank you!" Leo dramatically flipped his hair. "I try."
"That wasn't a compliment…"
"Well I'm taking it as one."
"Whatever."
"Stop talking," Ryouma interjected into the sibling argument, holding a hand out.
"Excuse me?" Both Leo and Xander said just a beat off each other.
"Shut up!" Ryouma demanded again. They listened this time and stayed quiet. The group sat and listened to the silence of the unfinished cabin basement.
"What are we-"
"Shhh…" Ryouma cut Corrin off. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Takumi asked. And as if to answer his question, a low groaning growl echoed through the basement.
"What. The fuck. Was that?" Xander said.
"I don't know but I'm not sticking around to find out," Leo answered and dashed for the stairs with Takumi right behind him. Xander and Ryouma were behind him with Niles and Corrin following last. They rushed up the stairs and as soon as Ryouma passed the doorway, he slammed the door shut; completely forgetting about Niles and Corrin still behind him.
"Hey! Open the door!" Niles said, banging on the door when he found that it was locked from the other side.
"We're trying but it's locked… like it requires a key." Ryouma's muffled voice called back.
"Damn it!" Niles exclaimed, trying to keep his composure for Corrin's sake.
"This. This is not good," Corrin agreed shakily. Niles began jiggling the door knob but it was no use… the door know broke off in Niles' hand, giving him and Corrin no way of opening the door from their side.
"You didn't seriously…" Corrin started.
"Yep," he answered.
"You just…"
"Yep."
"Does that mean?"
"Quite possibly." Corrin made a noise of annoyance.
"There are at least seventeen ways this could have gone better. Literally. Like I'm counting them right now, you moron!" Corrin complained.
"Woah… gone is little adorable blushing Corrin and now stands hot and sassy Corrin. What happened?" Niles purred again.
"W-what?"
"And he's back." Niles smiled before turning back around to face the door. "You guy are going to have to find a key or something cause we're trapped on this side," he said to the others.
"Alright well, you guys look around down there and we'll search the rest of the house," Xander told them and Corrin rolled his eyes.
"No I think Niles and I should check the house and you all check the basement," he said but not loud enough for Xander or the others to hear.
"Do you have multiple personalities or something?" Niles asked, shocked by Corrin's drastic changes in a short amount of time.
"No I don't think so… I'm just annoyed," Corrin answered.
"Well then, annoyed Corrin is sexy." Niles took a step down closer to Corrin so they were basically chest to chest. Nervously, Corrin took a step down away from Niles but the other only followed him.
"We need to start searching for a way out of here," Corrin stuttered.
"Why do you get so flustered when I tease you?" Niles smiled, still slowly following Corrin down the stairs, step by step.
"N-n-no reason. Come on let's look." And with that, Corrin turned and ran down the rest of the stairs and into the basement. Niles only shook his head and followed Corrin's lead. He really needed to stop teasing this poor boy and confess already. What kind of mess did he get himself into this time?
The two of them searched the entirety of the small basement but found nothing even resembling a key. So with nothing better to do Corrin sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall with Niles next to him.
"I hope they find something," Corrin said, casually leaning his head against Niles' shoulder sleepily.
"They will," Niles tried to play it cool even though he was freaking out on the inside about how close they were. The two of them sat in a comfortable (awkward for Niles) silence while they waited.
Meanwhile upstairs, the remaining four decide to split up to search the house. Leo and Takumi would search upstairs while Ryouma and Xander would take the main floor.
Upstairs, Leo and Takumi found nothing of value in any of the bedrooms.
"There has got to be a key somewhere in this freaking house!" Takumi exclaimed, clearly annoyed.
"Stop shouting. If it's anywhere its downstairs," Leo tried to calm Takumi down.
"Is there anywhere we haven't checked up here yet?" Takumi asked, doing as Leo asked and stopped his shouting.
"There's a closet out in the hall we haven't looked in yet but that's it. I doubt there's a key in there though."
"Alright well, let's go check it out and then move on with our lives," Takumi agreed and followed Leo to the hallway closet. Leo opened the door, expecting a small supply closet, but instead found a set of stairs heading up.
"So uh… That's not a supply closet," Takumi said after a few seconds of silence.
"Really? What makes you think that?" Leo came back him with a smirk. Takumi gave Leo a look that said he was tired of his shit.
"Should we go up there?" Takumi's annoyance changed to nervousness.
"I don't know… but who would keep a key to the basement in an attic?" Leo tried to justify not going up there. He'd never admit to Takumi but he was beginning to feel slightly unnerved as well.
"Maybe it's a supply attic…" Takumi said. He didn't particularly want to go up there either but he also didn't want to leave his half-brother trapped in the basement with Niles. So maybe he cared more than he let on… didn't mean he'd ever admit to it.
"Alright then. After you," Leo gestured for Takumi to go ahead up the stairs.
"Why do I have to up first?"
"You were the one who wanted to so badly so you should go first."
"Way to send your boyfriend into a possibly dangerous attic. Aren't you supposed to be the 'man' in this relationship?" Takumi smirked when Leo looked at a loss for words.
"Well then we can switch… I'm not going up there first." Takumi gave him a look.
"Do you really want that?" He took a threatening step towards Leo.
"I-I…" Leo looked rather intimidated and Takumi smirked again before closing the distance and kissing him.
"Okay, okay. I'll go up the damn stairs!" Leo conceded after pulling away from Takumi.
"Aww see? Was that so hard?" Takumi teased and Leo only responded with a series of barely audible grumbles as he started to climb up the stairs.
"If I die, you're not allowed at my funeral," Leo complained.
"You're not going to die, you moron, it's an attic."
"An attic in a supposedly haunted house!"
"Will you calm down? Usually it's the basement that's more haunted than anywhere else. Do you really want to leave one of your best friends trapped down there?"
"Niles is probably having the time of his life down there with Corrin, besides who the hell puts a key to the basement in an attic." Leo complained again but Takumi only rolled his eyes as they reached the small attic. Looking around, however, they found there was absolutely nothing up there. It was completely empty except for cobwebs and dust.
"Well this is nice change of scenery," Leo said.
"It's an attic…"
"I was being sarcastic; there's nothing even up here!" Leo exclaimed.
"Well we wouldn't have known that if we didn't check!" Takumi argued back. Their arguments escalated from there, as it always did, until they were yelling in each other's faces. This time, though, their argument was cut really short.
"Hold on… did you hear that?" Takumi stopped yelling and said nervously.
"Hear what?" Leo asked, still looking semi-annoyed. What sounded like footsteps could be heard now in the attic. The old wood creaking but neither Takumi nor Leo was moving.
"That." Takumi answered before the two of them ran for the stairs and slammed the door shut when they reached the second floor hallway.
"You okay?" Leo asked Takumi, stepping to him with one hand reaching for his cheek and the other on his waist.
"Yeah… look at you getting all worried."
"Well… I'm sorry for yelling at you." He pulled Takumi into a hug.
"I'm sorry too." Takumi hugged him back, burying his face in Leo's neck as Leo kissed the top of his head.
"Come on, let's go find Ryouma and Xander and report our findings," Leo decided and tried to pull away from Takumi but he wouldn't let him. "Hey you." Leo laughed.
"Sorry," Takumi said again, pulling away from Leo reluctantly. "Let's go."
Meanwhile in the basement:
"Did I ever tell you about the time I started a cult?"
"Niles?"
"Hm?"
"Shut up."
"Right."
After Leo and Takumi left to go search the upstairs section of the house, Ryouma and Xander began looking around the main floor. Albeit unsuccessfully.
"Where do you think a key would be hiding?" Xander asked, mainly to himself but of course Ryouma still responded:
"I dunno… on a hook somewhere…? In a drawer?"
"It was a rhetorical question."
"Well sorry for trying to be helpful!"
"We wouldn't even be in this situation had you not forgot about Niles and Corrin when you slammed the door shut!" They were standing in the middle of the living room now, full out arguing.
Ryouma narrowed his eyes. "So that's how it's going to be? I didn't mean to, I thought they were ahead of me."
"Well maybe if you were more attentive you would've noticed!"
"You are one insult away from starting a war, my friend."
"Been there. Done that. Let's search for that damn key." Xander said, really not wanting to argue any longer.
"Fine," Ryouma begrudgingly agreed.
They searched around the main floor. The kitchen, living room and foyer all turned up with nothing. The tension between the couple only grew as it became evident their search was futile. Ending up back in the living room, the two talked out their next move. Though both were just waiting for the other to say one wrong thing, like ticking time bombs just waiting to explode.
"Can I ask a stupid question?" Ryouma asked slowly.
"Better than anyone I know," Xander responded, holding the bridge of his nose.
"Oh that's it!" Ryouma exclaimed angrily, pushing Xander threateningly.
"If you've got something to say, let's hear it!" But what Ryouma didn't expect was Xander losing his footing and falling backwards into the in-wall bookshelves hard. The thin wood easily crumbled under Xander's weight. Ryouma's anger instantly switched to terror as he watched Xander fall through the bookshelf and into the once hidden tunnel behind the demolished shelf. Xander gave a yelp of surprise as he disappeared from Ryouma's sight into the strange dark room.
"Xander!" Ryouma called from the edge of the entrance to the room in the wall. "Are you okay? Oh gods." He was getting worried now. He stepped into the room and began searching for his boyfriend in the limited light. "Xander!" He called again, becoming increasingly more worried. Where could he have gone? He couldn't have just disappeared! There are no such things as ghosts… but if there were, they wouldn't be able to make someone disappear would they?
"Xan-" He started but something suddenly grabbed on him, cutting him off. He was pulled back into the living room. Now in the light, he could see his 'attack'. Looking up he saw Xander's smirking face. "Xander!" He called happily; instantly pulling the slightly taller man into a hug.
"Haha this is strange." Xander laughed, hugging Ryouma back. "Seeing you all worried."
"What are you stupid? Of course I'm worried! I couldn't find you…"
"Well it's okay. What're you going to do to make it up to me for pushing me through a bookshelf?"
"I can think of a few things," Ryouma smirked before pulling Xander into a kiss.
"That'll work," Xander said before kissing Ryouma again.
"What the hell is going on in here?" Leo asked, walking into the room along with Takumi. Ryouma and Xander practically flew apart as their younger brothers walked into the room.
"Nothing!" Both men shouted.
Takumi and Leo looked to the destroyed bookshelf.
"Clearly." Leo smirked.
"Ryouma, you still don't have a shirt…" Takumi mentioned.
"That's not important!" Xander shouted, earning a raised eyebrow from everyone. "Uhh… What I mean is we found a secret room!"
"Right…" Leo trailed off. "And how did the bookshelf end up that way?"
"Ryouma pushed me into it!" Xander blamed, pointing at Ryouma.
"I said I was sorry."
"No… you actually didn't."
"Well I will later!"
"I did not need to hear that." Takumi said, plugging his ears.
"What are you all five?" Leo complained. "Let's just check this room out for a key and if there's nothing… move on to plan B." Leo decided for everyone.
"Plan B" Takumi asked as everyone looked confused.
"We call the caretaker." Leo answered and received a choir of 'ohs'.
"Why didn't we do that in the first place?" Xander asked.
"Because we were following you idiots' plan." Leo said.
"Well why didn't you saying anything. Let's go." Ryouma and Xander then walked back through the newly found door to begin searching. Takumi followed after them leaving Leo in the living room alone.
"That's why," Leo shook his head but went into the room regardless. They end up finding a master key for the house in this supply room and after more useless arguing, they head for the basement.
While Ryouma and Xander destroyed bookshelves and Leo and Takumi traversed the attic, Corrin still sat on the floor of the basement while Niles did some more exploring. Corrin dozed a bit against the wall when he heard a loud crashing noise from around the corner. A nervous looking Niles came rushing from around that corner and into the main room.
"Ok, I'll play, what self-created mess have you gotten yourself into now?" Corrin sighed as Niles approached him.
"In my defense… I was unsupervised." He held up his hands as if he were innocent.
"We've gotta get out of here," Corrin complained.
"What? You don't want to spend more quality time with me?" Niles took a step closer. "Alone..."
Corrin jumped to his feet and tried to become one with the wall.
"Not in that way."
"What way?" Niles said, innocently. "You have a dirty mind for someone so innocent."
"I'm not a little kid, you know!" Corrin complained.
Niles looked him up and down and Corrin shrunk away from his gaze.
"Obviously," he smiled.
"Okay enough of that!"
"Rawrrr," Niles purred. "Alright then we need a way out since our friends above are obviously incapable." They had been down there for two hours.
"So what's your plan?" Corrin asked.
"My plan? My plan was to follow your plan!"
"What makes you think I have a plan?"
"Well do you?"
"Yeah… I have a plan."
"Is it a good one?"
"I have a plan."
"That's reassuring…"
"Well I don't hear you coming up with anything!"
"Right, right. I'm sorry. Let's hear your plan."
"Okay so those small windows over there. I can probably fit through one of them if you give me a boost." Niles looked at the windows and then back to Corrin skeptically.
"I don't know if that's such a great idea."
"Well do you have something better?"
"…No…"
"That's what I thought, now give me a boost."
Niles put his hands out and Corrin stepped onto them. He lifted the smaller boy up as far as he could as Corrin tried to wrestle the window open.
"Could you hurry it up? You're heavier than you look." Niles complained.
"This is a lot harder than it looks and I don't think you understand that." Corrin tried to push open the window one more time but it wasn't busting. Corrin only succeeded in putting himself off balance. Niles tried his best to correct it but Corrin came tumbling down.
Niles pushed Corrin against the wall to catch him just as Corrin latched onto Niles.
"Woah… you okay?" Niles asked. He had caught Corrin at the hips and their faces were very close together.
"Y-yeah… I'm good." Corrin blushed at the situation they were in. Niles felt startled as well but hid it better than Corrin did.
"That's good… Corrin? Can I tell you something?" He asked, moving in closer to Corrin.
"Yes…" Corrin didn't exactly know what Niles was doing but he couldn't bring himself to move. Their noses were touching now and Corrin let his eyes slip shut.
"Well I… I really-" Niles was cut off by another voice.
"Normal is subjective but I can't say that I see this every day." Leo announced as the others came down into the basement. Corrin and Niles immediately jumped apart.
"What have I told you about messing with Corrin like that?" Ryouma scolded.
"You're not even interested in guys, Niles," Leo added.
"Will you calm down? For once I wasn't being nefarious!" Niles defended.
"I-I'm going upstairs, I wanna go to bed." Corrin said quietly before rushing up the stairs. He had heard all he needed to know.
"Look what you've done! You've made him assume something completely wrong!" Niles complained to the group of four.
"What we've done? What were you doing with him pushed up against the wall?" Xander asked incredulously.
"I stopped him from falling. We were trying to find our own way out since you losers were taking forever."
"Alright then, why were you two so close?" Takumi pushed.
"Why am I being interrogated?!"
"Answer the damn question, Niles." Ryouma was losing his patience.
"I was trying to ask him to go out with me! Sure I wasn't in to guys but I'm in to him and not just in sexual way. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to bed." Niles angrily pushed past the others and went to his bedroom.
"We should probably go to bed too…" Takumi suggested and the others silently followed after him.
"Do you think Niles actually means it?" Takumi asked Leo as they got into bed later that night.
"I've never seen him so angry before… he probably does." Leo responded, facing Takumi in bed.
"Well… I hope that he can fix things then…" Takumi slowly admitted.
"What's with you tonight, Takumi? You're actually showing that you care about people."
"S-shut up." Takumi quickly flipped so he was facing away from Leo. Leo laughed.
"Alright then, goodnight." He turned off the light and the room went dark and silent.
There was still one thing bothering Takumi; though.
"Leo…" He said, still facing away from his boyfriend.
"Hm?"
"Do you think this house is actually haunted?"
Leo hesitated to answer. His logic driven brain told him 'of course not!' but from what he'd seen today he just didn't know.
"I don't know… are you scared?" He teased to avoid the question.
"N-no of course I'm not scared!"
"Riiiight." The conversation faded away but Takumi was beginning to feel more… anxious the more he laid in the dark.
"Leo?"
"Yes, love?"
"Could you uh… could you hold me?"
"Aww c'mere." Leo cooed, moving closer to Takumi. He shifted back around to face Leo as the blond wrapped his arms around him. "You should've said something sooner. Too stubborn for your own good." Leo smile and pressed a kiss against Takumi's forehead.
"You're the same way, you know." Takumi complained.
"Yeah well, I'll admit this house has me on-edge-"
The sound of a door clicking open cut Leo off mid-sentence. The sound of their door clicking open to be exact.
"Oh gods." They both exclaimed as the door slowly creaked open. The two both immediately latched onto each other tighter and started screaming as the door opened fully yet no one was there.
"Hey! Hey! What are you two screaming about? It's just me!" Niles exclaimed, poking his head into the bedroom.
"Niles! What the fuck man?!" Leo yelled turning back on the light.
"Ever heard of knocking?!" Takumi added on.
"What's going on?!" Ryouma came running down the hallway.
"We heard screaming," Xander added coming up behind Ryouma.
The two of them were in various stages of undress and looked rather raged.
"You two have got to be kidding me," Leo said, holding the bridge of his nose.
"What?" Both Xander and Ryouma looked rather embarrassed.
"You two are one room away from us, you are not pulling this shit," Takumi elaborated.
"Takumi, calm down," Ryouma tried.
"If I hear one think from your room, I will scream. I wear to the fucking gods I will scream. The girls will come running again and you'll have to explain to them this relationship."
"It's not like we're trying to hide it," Xander mumbled.
"Xander, take yo sass and put it back in yo pocket," Takumi came back.
"Alright, alright can we get back to the original subject?" Niles butted in.
"Right. What the flipping flip did you need Niles?" Leo said exasperated.
"Advice. I don't know what to do about Corrin… how can I confess in a way that he would believe me?"
"That's why you scared the crap outta us? Because you need relationship advice?!" Takumi asked.
"Yeah… he won't even look at me let alone talk to me. I don't know what to do."
"I would suggest being sincere. No flirting or innuendos," Leo answered and the others nodded in agreement.
"Oh man… that'll be difficult…" Niles sighed.
"Well it's either that or give up." Takumi said and Leo elbowed him.
"Right well-"
Another scream echoed through the house. The five of them all immediately knew who it was.
"Corrin," the all sighed and ran towards his room. When the group reached the room, Corrin was found huddled in the corner of the room.
Niles immediately ran to and crouched in front of him.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Niles worried, grabbing Corrin's chin and making him look up at him.
"T-t-there was a l-l-lady standing at the f-foot of the bed. She was just staring at me! I-I don't know what to do!" Corrin stuttered out.
Everyone was at a loss for words. No one wanted to say it but there were pretty sure Corrin had gone off the deep end.
"Don't look at me like that! I'm not crazy!"
"No one said that you're crazy. We're all just… planning on whispering it to each other later," Niles said in an attempt to comfort the other.
"Niles!" Corrin looked like he was about to cry.
"Hey, hey. It's okay," Niles tried again. The others only rolled their eyes.
"Niles you're really bad at this," Leo complained.
"Well I don't see you helping… What was that?" A loud crash echoed through the household.
"Where's Xander?" Ryouma immediately noticed.
"Oh man…" Takumi said as they all went running from the room.
"Wait! Please don't leave me here alone! Please!" Corrin cried hysterically.
"You're going to be fine. You come from a long line of lunatics." Leo called back.
"Hey!" Both Takumi and Ryouma protested. Leo only shrugged.
"Wait! Niles… Please!" Corrin begged, latching onto Niles' leg.
"Alright. I'm not going anywhere." Niles said, sitting down next to Corrin. Corrin moved closer to Niles and tried to calm down.
"H-hey… you sure you're okay?" Niles asked as Corrin leaned against him.
"No… but I'm working on it."
The two fell into silence and Niles saw this as his chance.
"Hey… about when we were in the basement…" He started.
"Yeah…" Niles immediately felt Corrin's attitude change. He had to fix this.
"Well… what they all said… it isn't true." Corrin perked up.
"So you are in to guys?"
"Well yes… no… maybe. Oh man this is not working."
"I don't think I've ever seen you this nervous."
"That's not without good reason. Okay here it goes… Corrin, I'm not into guys." Corrin deflated again.
"You didn't let me finish! But I am into you… like majorly. I'm not 'just teasing you, that's just my lame ass way of flirting and I would really love it if you would go out with me…"
Corrin didn't say anything.
"I understand if you don't want-"
"Yes."
"What?!"
"Yeah I'll go out with you."
"Really?!"
"Yes, now kiss me you loser."
"Yessir!"
"So lemme get this straight… Corrin was in trouble and you decided it was a good time to go get a glass of water?!" Ryouma seethed.
"No it was after we found out he's just crazy," Xander replied as he cleaned up the shards of broken glass. He had tripped over a rug on his way back upstairs and dropped a glass of water.
"Well that just makes it so much better!" Ryouma continued to yell.
"Ryouma, calm yourself. It's not that big of a deal," Takumi interjected and Ryouma sighed.
"I guess you're right." He agreed before bending down and helped Xander clean up the remainder of the broken glass.
"What has been going on here tonight? I think we've been freaking ourselves out more than anything else." Leo said as they moved into the kitchen to talk.
"It's definitely been an interesting night, that's for sure," Ryouma agreed.
"How about we just agree to never speak of this outside of this house," Xander suggested.
"Agreed." They all said. There was a lull in the conversation before they all realized something.
"Where are Corrin and Niles?" Takumi asked.
"Looking for me?" Niles responded coming into the kitchen. All of them immediately noticed that he didn't have a shirt on and were pretty skeptical but didn't say anything.
"Oh hey, thanks for the advice. It worked." He winked at all of them as he made himself a bowl of cereal.
"So you and Corrin are… together now?" Xander asked carefully.
"Yes sir." He said happily.
"Has anyone seen where my phone went? I can't find it." Corrin asked as he came into the room. His hair was a mess and he was wearing the T-shirt Niles seemed to be missing.
"Niles…" They all said warningly.
"I didn't do it!" He said reflexively holding his hands up. But then he saw what they all were angry about. "Oh wait THAT?" He pointed at Corrin. "Yes… I did do that."
"Oh my gods Niles!" Corrin yelled as everyone else looked between the two shocked.
"It's not what you think! Like at all!"
"Then why are you wearing his shirt?" Leo asked.
"He took it off, I put it on!" Corrin answered quickly.
"Okay then why's your hair messed up?" Ryouma asked. Corrin blushed.
"I don't need to tell you everything!"
"Don't worry Corrin. Don't listen to them. You look sexy."
"Niles! You're not helping!"
All awkward moments aside, they all decided to go to bed for real this time. There weren't any more incidents that night.
The next morning everyone was relatively happy and everything was relatively normal. If Takumi seemed to have a bit of a limp no one said anything and Corrin stopped Niles from pointing out the obvious.
They left the house after breakfast and met up with the girls.
"Yeah, the caretaker told us the house was haunted but nothing actually happened. It was a little disappointing," Camilla told them.
The six guys looked at each other. A silent agreement never to speak of this again, ever.
