Downing another glass of spiked punch, Kai tried to block out the ridiculous amount of noise at the BBA Halloween party. It was already his third cup, but the alcohol was only slightly dampening the roar of the other blading teams. Horrible music was blaring from the speakers, and the flashing dance lights were doing nothing for Kai's blossoming headache.
To make matters worse, bladers were randomly coming up to him and babbling insanely. Some people asked him bizarre questions such as: If nothing lasts forever, will you be my nothing? Other times, Kai was bombarded with phrases that made no sense: If you were a fruit, you'd be a fine-apple.
Each time, Kai just left in silence because what could he say in response to things like that? Kai wasn't sure if there was a bet between the teams about who could piss him off the most, but he wouldn't put it past them.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Tyson and Daichi inhaling everything at the buffet. Hilary and Hiro were trying, in vain, to stop them from wiping out all of the food. Feeling slightly green at even briefly watching the two bladers eat and feeling eternally grateful that he no longer had to babysit that bunch, Kai quickly refilled his glass.
He walked to the edge of the ballroom to join the table where the other Blitzkrieg Boys were sulking. As Kai approached, Tala met his gaze and half-smiled. Kai couldn't seem to look away, and he wasn't sure why his heart started to speed up. For a second, it was like they were the only two people in the room. Then, the charged atmosphere was brutally interrupted.
"Ivanov, remind me why we can't just leave?" snarled Bryan. He was fiddling with a plastic knife, stabbing it into the rubbery tablecloth covered in pictures of Jack-o-lanterns. His long-forgotten fork was already broken into pieces on top of his paper plate.
Kai, quickly surveying the situation, decided to sit between Spencer and Tala. Kai wasn't Bryan's favorite person on the best of days. Nobody sane would go out of their way to provoke Bryan any further in a situation like this.
"Like I told you two hours ago," Tala seethed through clenched teeth, "Mr. Dickenson has some stick up his ass about us fitting in. All teams are required to go to the four BBA parties this year: no exceptions."
Rubbing his temples, Tala snatched Kai's cup of punch and drank it in one go. Kai lightly glared at his captain but said nothing. If anything, he was secretly glad that he had another excuse to leave as Bryan continued to meltdown. However, when Kai went to stand to head back over to the punch bowl, Tala put his hand on Kai's thigh and pushed him down. Blue eyes met slightly startled crimson ones. A faint blush spread across Kai's nose, and he opened his mouth to say something but was cut off when Bryan continued to rant.
"The man's in his 70s. Are you sure you couldn't have threatened him to get us out of this? I'm just saying, maybe if you weren't so busy thinking about getting into Hiwatari's pants, then we might not be in this hell." Bryan continued to stab the tablecloth, not bothering to look up as he spoke. "We get it, Hiwatari is hot. He clearly grew up over the summer. Everyone's noticed. Are you two going to dance around each other all season? Because it's sickening to watch your little moments staring into each other's eyes. Spencer, back me up, here!"
The vein on Tala's neck visibly pulsed and his face flushed with anger. He moved his hand away from Kai's leg, which allowed Kai to subtly move out of Tala's reach. Kai glanced up at Spencer as if to ask him to explain Bryan's comments, but the tall blonde just shook his head.
"Bryan," Spencer cut in before a fight broke out, "we only have 30 minutes left before we can go back to our room. Plus, just be happy that Tala managed to get Dickenson to agree to no costumes." The Blitzkrieg Boys shuddered and looked around at the other teams dressed up. None of the Russians would be caught dead in those outfits.
Only marginally calmed by Spencer's intervention, Tala's resolve finally broke when Bryan again rammed the knife into the pumpkins on the cloth. Tala scowled, lunged across the table, and grabbed the end of Bryan's plastic knife. Spencer and Kai stood up, although neither was quite sure whether it was best to intervene or flee.
"Stop fucking stabbing the table, or I'll…"
"KAI! There you are! I've missed you so much," screamed Max as he bounced up to the Blitzkrieg Boys, seemingly not sensing the danger he walked into. Max threw his arm around Kai's shoulder and dragged him into a hug. "Isn't this so great! I love Halloween, but who doesn't? What's not to love? It's a holiday built around candy, plus there's dancing, games, costumes, a-" Max's enthusiasm shocked Tala enough that he let go of Bryan's plastic knife. Spencer released a sigh of relief. Crisis averted.
"Max," Kai interrupted gruffly as he tried and failed to detach himself from the blonde's clutches, much to Tala's dismay, "what do you want?"
"Oh! There's a haunted house attached to the outside of the hotel. I went through it already with the All Starz, and it was terrifying! I mean, there was something that creeped us out in every room. It took us about 20 minutes to get through it from start to finish. You guys HAVE to go before you guys go back to your room! They even take your picture right as you're about to leave. Our photo is amazing: I was gasping and clutching my chest. Michael was squealing and holding onto Eddy for dear life. Rick was laughing, and Em-"
"Is it quiet in there?" asked Kai.
"Quiet? Yeah, it's almost silent! It's just one team in a room at a time tha-"
"Great," Tala snaked his arm around Kai's waist, "we'll head over there now." Bryan snorted at the display, Spencer rolled his eyes, and Kai, annoyed at all of the touching, squirmed until he broke free from both bladers invading his personal bubble.
The Russians walked through the ballroom and out of the front lobby. To the left of the hotel's door, the White Tigers were waiting to enter the haunted house. Mariah was talking animatedly at Ray about the upcoming tournament. Ray waved at Kai but didn't interrupt his girlfriend to try to start a conversation with the newly arrived team. For that, Kai was relieved. He just needed to get through this haunted house, so he could go back to the hotel room and away from all of this chaos. After a minute, the White Tigers were allowed to go in. It wasn't too long after that the person manning the entrance allowed the Blitzkrieg Boys to start.
Overall, the haunted house was nothing special. It was almost impossible to see, the ceilings were covered in fake cobwebs, and, true to Max's word, almost silent. The only noises that could be heard were the shrieks coming from the Chinese bladers in one of the other rooms. As the team walked, Tala led the way, followed by Kai, then Spencer, and finally Bryan. No one said anything. After about a half an hour of walking from one room to another, Bryan finally broke the quiet tension.
"Ugh, this is so dull. The Abbey was scarier than this. And I can't believe we're going to be forced to go to three more parties. Thanks a lot, Captain!" Bryan turned to one of the mirrors on the wall and scoffed at the 'ghost' that appeared in the image next to him.
Tala abruptly turned to face his teammate, but before he could ream out Bryan, an actor dressed as a zombie jumped out from a hidden compartment in the wall. Since Tala was already in motion, his reflexes kicked in, and he pivoted his jump to his right. Unfortunately, that space was already occupied by Kai. The two bladers hit the ground, and Tala's lips crashed down onto Kai's. A bright light flashed, and the door at the end of the hall opened to reveal the outside air.
Heated blushes spread across Tala's and Kai's faces as they broke apart. Tala hurriedly got to his feet and held out a hand for the younger blader still on the floor. Kai took his hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. The four Russians moved outside and walked to the computer that showed pictures of the team's reaction to the jump scare at the end.
A bunch of the other teams had gathered around, curious as to how the intimidating bladers reacted to the haunted house. When the photograph came up on the screen, only Spencer and Bryan were visible in the picture. Both looked nonplussed.
Tyson, unable to contain his disappointment at not catching Kai looking scared on film, turned to him and asked, "So where were you, Kai? Were you eaten by the zombie?" Kai shrugged and decided not to bother answering the question. What would he say anyway? That he was on the ground underneath Tala? No, he'd rather die. Tala and Spencer seemed to be on the same page in terms of preserving his dignity. Per usual, the falcon blader was not.
"Well," Bryan smirked ruthlessly, "Hiwatari was being eaten by something. Although, I'm not sure I would say it was a zombie. More like a werewolf…"
"Kuznetsov, not another word."
"Aye, aye, Captain!"
