...This too me a while to upload XD It's my entry to the halloween contest on the puppyshipping facebook group. It was co-written by my sister, who also came up with a good deal of the plot (despite hating puppyshipping XD)
The door knob rattled violently.
Two pairs of eyes locked onto the shaking door.
"What was that?" One asked in a whisper.
"Probably nothing," the other replied, his voice not entirely confident.
"The door was trying to come off its hinges, how can you say that was nothing?" the first speaker snapped in return.
"Fine, I'll and look at the nothing, then we'll know that this house is definitely not haunted!" The second growled, heaving himself to his feet and crossing the room in two smart strides. He grabbed the handle and unlocked the door.
The door swung open.
Two weeks earlier
"So is everyone okay with that?"
Katsuya Jounouchi awoke with a start, lifting his head to look at Kentaro Shirai, the long suffering year rep.
"What's going on?" Jounouchi muttered to his fellow class rep.
"I'm not here to take notes for you, listen for once," Seto Kaiba hissed back, not taking his eyes from his mobile phone.
Jounouchi wished he'd been quieter as Shirai had overheard their exchange and was now heading over to ask the question that cropped up at least once each meeting.
"Did you fall asleep Jounouchi? Did you not listen to a thing I said?" He used his best disappointed look on Jounouchi, but ended up looking confused.
"That's Kaiba's job," Jounouchi shrugged, "your voice is so... soporific."
"Don't use long words to try and sound smart," Kaiba smirked, "it doesn't suit you."
Jounouchi opened his mouth to argue back, but Shirai cut him short.
"Katsuya Jounouchi! Don't get caught up in your personal spat! You forget your duty!"
"What duty?" Jounouchi asked innocently.
Shirai looked like he was about to explode, "What duty!" he cried, "the duty to your classmates, the duty to represent their hopes and dreams! Your duty to make high school life as involving and fulfilling for your fellow students! When you volunteered-"
"We didn't," Kaiba cut in, in a bored voice. He was still texting.
"Excuse me?" Shirai turned to look at the tall brunet.
"I said: we didn't volunteer. Our names were unluckily picked out a hat and now we have to put up with your dull voice and ridiculous plans."
"Well, Mr. Kaiba," Shirai was shaking with his suppressed rage, something that often occurred when he was preparing to spar with Kaiba. "Some of us are not lucky enough to own a business already and wish to focus their energies towards helping our peers grow and cherish their high school careers!" Shirai obviously wanted to become a headmaster.
"Honestly, I don't care about your opinion. Please can we leave, I'm not the only one who's bored of you," he said, gesturing around the room where the other class reps were looking restless, ready to get back to their lunch break. "Arguing with you is a waste of my time."
"But you always spare time to argue with him," he pointed dramatically at Jounouchi who was startled out of his roof tile count.
"Oooh, I feel sospecial," Jounouchi replied sarcastically, before standing and heading to the door, the rest of the room took this as a signal to leave. The room very quickly emptied, leaving only Shirai and Kaiba.
"Well, looks like this waste of time is over," Kaiba said, getting to his feet.
Outside, Jounouchi ambushed him, thumping his arm and asking "so?"
"So what?"
"You know! What did I miss?"
"Just another grand waste of school resources," Kaiba rolled his eyes at the absurdity of it all. Halloween events were to be staged by each pair of class reps and a prize given to the best one. The reps were given a budget of £100 each, by far not enough to make anything scary, to create their event. The rest of the year then went to whichever events appealed to them and the one which made the most profit from the entrance fees won. The prize usually was some cheap chocolate and the feeling of accomplishment. Kaiba explained as much to Jounouchi.
"Oh, are we at that time of the year already?"
"Buy a calendar," Kaiba sighed, agitated by the blond's persistent presence for reasons not entirely related to his lack of sleep over the past two days. The company was running through a rough patch due to the recession and he had to steer it through successfully.
"So what's the plan?" Jounouchi asked, ignoring Kaiba's dig. The CEO looked tired and a little pale, Jounouchi didn't want to push him over the edge. Light teasing was fun, but an unspoken agreement to never push too far stopped full on arguments. Jounouchi wanted to remain friends. Or whatever they were. The common enemy of Shirai had been slowly pushing them close together over the past few months, something that neither was that adverse to. Not that either's pride would let them admit it.
"I don't know," Kaiba sighed, "you come up with something for once, I have far too much going on with Kaiba Corp. to be bothered with Shirai's pathetic idealism."
"Can't we come up with something together?" Jounouchi groaned, "I can't be bothered."
"And you think I can?" Kaiba answered, pulling out a vibrating phone. "I have to get this." After a short, curt conversation with whoever was on the other end, Kaiba hung up, swore, and then noticed that Jounouchi was still stood in front of him. "Fine, we'll work it out together. Bye." He turned on his heel and started to walk away.
"Wait!" Jounouchi called after him.
"Oh," Kaiba stuttered, turning again to face him, "yeah."
"We need to-"
"Yeah, I know. When are you free?"
"Well, whenever good for you," Jounouchi looked uncomfortable, "I mean, you're busy."
"Yeah, urm?"
"Yeah, well..."
The awkward silence descended between the two young men.
"Sunday's never busy," Kaiba suggested finally, finding the wall just above Jounouchi's head intensely interesting. "You could-? I mean, only if you're free." He cursed himself for sounding like a love-struck teenage girl. Not that he was love-struck. At all.
"Sure, sure, what time would you want me?" he flushed at how it sounded. The awkwardness between them gently escalated.
"Ten?" Kaiba suggested.
"Sure, that's- yeah, that's good for me. I'll be there. I won't sleep in or anything, I promise. I have an alarm clock," he cursed himself for sounding so damned eager. This was Kaiba, yes he was... fairly good looking, but why was he thinking that? What on earth? "My friends are over there," he pointed towards the end of the corridor where Yugi and the others had just appeared, thankfully. "Until Sunday then?"
"I'll see you in lessons later, idiot," Kaiba pointed out.
"Oh! Of course! Ok, bye."
"Bye."
"Will you two just sleep with each other?" Honda grinned as Jounouchi joined them.
It was Sunday morning and Kaiba was practically dead. He hadn't slept properly for the last couple of days and was in a state of almost perpetual stress.
There was a knock on his study door and Mokuba came in.
"Hi, big brother," He said, "how's it going?"
Kaiba gave his brother a smile and rubbed his eyes, "it's going okay," he replied, stifling a yawn, "I think the company is safe, at least for now."
"Stupid recession," Mokuba muttered, "anyway, you have a visitor!"
"Really, who?"
Mokuba grinned impishly, "Well, I think you'll be happy."
"Shut up and tell me," Kaiba sighed.
"Well, if you insist, it's Jounouchi," Mokuba replied, unhappy that he couldn't prolong the teasing.
"Why is he here?" Kaiba asked.
"Something about a school event," Mokuba shrugged, "he's waiting for you in the sitting room."
"Oh god, not that thing," Kaiba groaned, buying his head in his hands.
"Did you forget?" Mokuba teased.
"No, of course I didn't, you know I remember everything."
Mokuba rolled his eyes, "You need a break, I'll get someone to bring you some coffee."
Kaiba wearily made his way down to the sitting room where Jounouchi was lounging in one of the armchairs.
"Mornin'," Jounouchi greeted chirpily.
Kaiba glared in reply, "let's get this over with quickly."
"Are you okay? You look like the living dead."
"My God, you certainly know how to give a compliment," Kaiba said sarcastically, collapsing onto the sofa, "could this be the reason you don't have a girlfriend?"
"Maybe I don't want a girlfriend."
"Yeah, yeah," Kaiba yawned, "look, if I fall asleep don't tell anyone."
"Need to keep up your reputation of being an unstoppable robot?"
"Something of that ilk, yes," Kaiba replied. "So, do you have any idea of what we could do?"
"Something scary?" Jounouchi suggested.
"Anything more specific?"
"You're the one with the brains," Jounouchi snapped.
"Said brains currently feel like they've been hit with a sledgehammer! So, I'm in the unfortunate position of asking for your help."
"I think we'll make a good team," Jounouchi said.
They both refused to make eye contact for a long moment whilst their blushes died down. There was a knock at the door and the coffee arrived.
"Look, why don't we just go for the traditional haunted house?" Jounouchi said, "everyone else is trying to be original, so we'll go for the cliché."
"Sounds as good as anything," Kaiba said, his mind elsewhere, "where are we going to hold it?"
"Class C has booked the school hall for their ball thing on the 30th," Jounouchi informed him, "and Class F have it for the 31st."
"We need somewhere that's free," Kaiba said contemplatively, "in both meanings of the word; booking somewhere would take up the entire budget."
They sat in silence, thinking.
"I hate to say this, but we could do it here," Kaiba said, "as long as we lock all the rooms I don't want people to go into."
"How would that work? Just guiding people from room to room?"
"I could get the staff to dress up and people will have to answer questions to get through to the next room. The attics are empty so we can use them as well," Kaiba added as an afterthought.
"So, the question will be hidden in the room somewhere?"
"Yes, if we keep the lights off it'll make it much more creepy as well," Kaiba said as if he'd just come up with the idea, which he had. "Are we done?"
"Well, we'll need to go and buy decorations," Jounouchi pointed out, "I have some hanging around in my house, so I can-" he stopped, having noticed Kaiba slumping forwards. He was asleep. Jounouchi got up and tugged the throw that was over the back of the sofa and placed it over the sleeping CEO. "I'll see myself out. Sleep well, Kaiba."
"I can't believe we left it so late!" Jounouchi cried as they entered the pound shop the day before the contest, filled to the gunnels with cheap Halloween tat. "What are we going to do?"
"Buy the entire shop?" Kaiba suggested, unamused.
"Well, we can buy 100 objects," Jounouchi pointed out, "so long as they're all a pound."
"Thank you, I'd forgotten how to do simple mathematics," Kaiba answered, the continuing lack of sleep had made him snappier and more sarcastic daily.
"Sorry."
"Let's get this done, I'll leave it to my staff to hang it all up."
"Well, I'll help."
"Exactly."
"Wait, you see me as staff?"
"We're not friends, so what else could you be?"
"You don't pay me!"
"In which case you're my slave. Shoo, go buy things."
"Yes, master," Jounouchi growled sarcastically, stomping off into the aisles.
The shop was filled with ridiculous Halloween clichés, so it didn't take them long to find their 100 items in the packed shop. They had decided since it would be dark in the mansion the tackiness of the items would be hidden, hopefully helping to make them scary. The shocked cashier stared at the amount they were purchasing. "Having a party, are we?" she asked, trying to be friendly.
"No." Kaiba stated.
"Yes!" Jounouchi beamed at the same second. They glared at each other. "I'm looking forward to decorating!" he smiled as they left, hoping it would somehow cheer Kaiba up.
"Well, have fun with it. Come round tomorrow and we'll get it done before the event starts."
"See you tomorrow, then?"
Kaiba nodded curtly as they packed the back of the limo. "Bye," he said simply, climbing into the passenger seat and left Jounouchi on the pavement.
"Big brother, please give me a job! I'll do it really well," Mokuba whined as he followed Kaiba.
"Really, Mokuba? What do you want to do? All of the doors are guarded."
"But I want to dress up as well!" Mokuba pouted.
Kaiba heaved a sigh. "Fine. You can greet people and explain the rules briefly. And give them a torch. The box is by the front door."
"Can I jump out at them when they come in?" Mokuba asked, preparing to use his best puppy-dog look.
"Go ahead," Kaiba said, ruffling his little brother's hair.
"Yay! I'm going to be a ghost."
"You'd already decided you were going to do this, hadn't you?"
"My costume is all ready! If you said no, I was going to go trick or treating." Mokuba skipped off to his room. The ghost costume turned out to just be Mokuba, his face painted white, hiding under a sheet with eye holes cut out.
"If those are my sheets," Kaiba said warningly.
"Don't be silly, they're old ones," Mokuba replied, he was running around, the sheet billowing behind him, "Seto, this is going to be awesome!"
"Glad someone thinks so. Look people are arriving; Jounouchi and I will be in the study watching the security footage. You can come along whenever you get bored."
"Why are you looking at the security cameras?"
"Jounouchi wants to hand out prizes," Kaiba sighed, "I think it's a waste of time, but he insisted."
"Aww, and you couldn't refuse him," Mokuba smirked.
"Get yourself to the door," Kaiba said, pushing him in the right direction and certainly not blushing.
He found Jounouchi in the study, spinning around in the office seat.
"Don't do that, you'll break it."
"I'll break you," Jounouchi retaliated lamely.
They sat in silence for a bit, watching Mokuba leaping out at people.
"Is this place really haunted?" Jounouchi asked.
"Where on earth did you hear that?" Kaiba demanded.
"On the grape vine."
"Don't listen to grapes, they don't talk sense. That's why they're made into wine"
"Sleep deprivation has really ruined your comebacks."
"I can assure you that this mansion is not haunted."
"But I heard-"
"Who lives here?" Kaiba asked, invalidating Jounouchi's argument.
"I was just checking."
The silence that fell between them was interrupted by a thunder clap.
"As if this night couldn't get any more cliché," Kaiba complained, "next it'll turn out this place really is haunted."
"But it isn't, right?" Jounouchi couldn't quite keep the quiver of fear from his voice.
Kaiba tutted, "are you scared of ghosts?"
"Not scared..." Jounouchi trailed off.
"There is no such thing as ghosts!"
They fell silent again and watched everyone go through the haunted house, screaming, laughing and having a good time. Mokuba was getting a lot of attention from all the girls, who after they had been frightened started to coo over the little ghost.
"Hey, it is Halloween, maybe we should do something scary as well," Jounouchi suggested.
"I have ghost stories," Kaiba said.
"Real life ones?"
"Mostly, strange things have happened in this place."
"So, the rumours could have been true?"
"Possibly," Kaiba said mysteriously. He didn't believe in ghosts, but he had to admit that some of the things he'd heard from the maids weren't exactly normal. Furniture didn't usually rearrange itself in the night.
Kaiba had to be honest; his main aim had been to scare Jounouchi. However, after three hours of paranormal stories related to his house, a tiny, traitorous part of his mind was telling him to hide under the desk.
Jounouchi was in a far worse state than him, "so, it's all true?" he asked, his voice shaking with fear.
"Of course not," Kaiba replied, somewhat uncertainly.
Ratatatatata!
Their eyes snapped to the door which was violently shuddering.
"What was that?" Jounouchi whispered when it had stopped.
"Probably nothing," Kaiba replied, lacking his usual confidence.
"The door was trying to come off its hinges, how can you say that was nothing?" Jounouchi snapped, his eyes never leaving the door knob, as though staring at it would keep it from moving again.
"Fine, I'll and look at the nothing and then we'll know that this house is definitely not haunted!" Kaiba growled in return, he heaved himself to his feet and crossed the room in two strides, deciding that the only way to stop his knees shaking was by moving quickly. He reached out to the key in the lock and turned it. The bolt snapped back and Kaiba reached towards the now motionless handle.
The door swung open accompanied by a flash, followed by a crash of thunder. Jounouchi got to his feet, ready to fight whatever monster was about to some through the door.
A gust of wind forced its way through the open doorway, pushing the hair from Kaiba's face and chilling him to the bone. There was a crash behind him as Jounouchi dived under the desk, knocking one of the chairs over. The wind persisted for a few more seconds before Kaiba slammed the door, turned the lock and joined Jounouchi under the desk. They grabbed at each other in the sudden darkness, hugging one another as their eyes darted about the room, looking to see what had entered.
It seemed like hours, but could only have been minutes until Jounouchi dared to speak.
"A ghost?" he whispered.
"There's nothing there," Kaiba muttered back.
"What was that wind?"
"An open window somewhere?" Kaiba suggested.
"Then why are you hugging me so tight?"
"I'm... comforting you!"
"You were scared, weren't you!" Jounouchi had decided the best way to get over his own fear was to annoy Kaiba about his.
An hour later, after rationalising endlessly, they decided that facing a ghost was better than being caught cuddling under a desk by Mokuba.
"The event is probably over by now anyway, I told the butler to shut the doors at ten," Kaiba said, dusting himself off. Jounouchi followed him out and Kaiba helped him brush the dust from his clothes. "Let's never tell anyone about this. OK?"
"Yeah, I have a reputation to keep as well."
"What, as a... fraidy cat?"
"I never saw you as childish, Kaiba."
"As you said, my comebacks have gone downhill."
They continued bickering until they reached the front doors, Mokuba had disappeared hours earlier to play video games.
"Well, I don't think we'll win," Jounouchi sighed in disappointment, "our stuff was too tacky."
"Don't care," Kaiba shrugged, "I'm just pleased it's over."
"Back to work?"
"There's a recession, I need to keep my company afloat."
"But I'll see you at school, won't I?" Jounouchi probed tentatively.
Kaiba stared, a little taken aback, did Jounouchi want to see him? "I'll try my best."
"Good," Jounouchi smiled, hoping he hadn't said too much, "see you tomorrow."
"Hopefully." Kaiba gave a small smile, feeling a little warm towards the blond.
"OK. Well." To Kaiba's surprise, Jounouchi put his arms around him, Kaiba put his arms around Jounouchi's waist. They squeezed each other awkwardly, each knowing that this was a bit weird, but very nice.
"Bye," Kaiba said as they released one another.
"Yeah, later!" With a wave, Jounouchi headed down the driveway.
"Did you make a friend, Seto?" It would appear Mokuba had been waiting for this moment.
"You didn't do too bad yourself, I saw you with all those girls!"
"When I grow up, I'm going to be a ladies' man," Mokuba announced with a huge beam.
"Mokie, that's not a valid career choice."
The grand door shut behind them, the thunderstorm clattered on for the rest of Halloween night.
Hope you enjoyed it!