Title - Necrophobia
By - PheonixFireBlack
Summary - The Goonies Future-fic. Two 17 year old boys sitting on their asses being bored out of their minds on a Halloween night. Innocent, right? Not when you're Michael Walsh and Clark Devereaux.... Just a bit of Halloween fun that happens to hardly involve Halloween at all....interesting...
Category - The Goonies
Genre - General
Rating - PG-13
Feedback - Yes. Please!
Criticism - Whatever.....
Disclaimer - Don't own. You no sue.
Notes - I can't believe this. I need to learn how to NOT write something that doesn't include people's fears....

So, it's almost Halloween and I figured, why not give this a shot, huh? But then I had to think about what to do. Well, when I was re-watching the Goonies for only God knows what-th time, I saw something that interested me. Clark. No, I don't mean interested like that....I do like Corey Feldman...as an actor....but that's totally not the point! There's a part in there that honestly amuses the hell outta me EVERY time I see it! His line from that part is quoted....that's all you need to know....

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Necrophobia
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Don't touch it! No, no, no! Don't touch it! Don't touch it! No!
-Mouth - The Goonies

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The night had started off innocently enough. Mikey had been home alone and bored out of his mind. Brand had moved out a few years ago and his parents were doing some sort of reminiscing thing, which left Mikey to an empty house. That hadn't lasted long. Within the first five minutes of his boredom, Mikey had called Mouth up and, as it turned out, Clark was bored too. It worked out well that way, and Mouth had come over.

They had talked about many random things, watched stupid, old horror movies for about eight hours and now they were back at square one. Only now, both boys were at the Walsh house, sitting against opposite couch corners, bored out of their minds. The fight for dominance of the couch had gotten real old real fast. Clark gave an almost exaggerated sigh,

"Miii-ikey...."

"Yeah?"

"I'm bored..." He said flatly.

"Wanna know something incredible?"

"Sure..."

"So am I."

"WOW!" Mouth exclaimed in mock-surprise, "Mikey..." He started again, dragging the other boys' name out.

"What?"

"I'm bored."

"We covered this."

"Right." A few moments of silence until... "Mikey..."

"Shut up, Clark!"

"But I was just gonna say that I--"

"You're bored, right? I get it, all right? If you wanna go home, just say so and do it, because I don't want to hear this for the next hour."

"Ok, who shoved the stick up your ass today, Mikey?" Clark asked defensively, sitting up.

"No one, ok? I just...I don't wanna hear that for an hour."

"Mikey....we do this every year. If it annoys you, why do we continue to do it? Every. Single. Year. Since we were ten, Mikey. We've been doing this for seven years."

"I know...I just wanted to do something this year is all."

"Yeah, well, the year that happens is the year hell freezes over, God becomes mortal and dies, and the Apocolypes come, all right?"

"Yeah, yeah...that's probably--" Mikey stopped mid-sentence and looked up at Mouth, a grin splitting across his face. "I know we could do."

"Really?" Clark's interest was perked, "What might that be?"

"Well...actually, now that I think about it, if I just tell you...you'll never do it, so..." After a slight pause, Mikey quickly said, "Truth or Dare?"

"What?" Mouth frowned. They hadn't played Truth or Dare for at least three years--if not four.

"Just pick one, dammit."

"Dare, because Truth is for....idiots."

"All right." That grin split across Mikey's face again.

Clark wasn't so sure he liked that look. Not from Mikey. Not Michael Walsh. That was a look that one rarely ever say from Mikey. And when you were on the receiving end of that damn near maniacal grin, you couldn't help but wonder, "What'da'ya got up your sleeve, Mikey?"

Mikey shook his head, "All right, the dare...is for us--"

"Isn't a dare supposed to just be for one person?"

"Shut up..." Mikey said before continuing, "Wait around for midnight--which is only about an hour away--and we go down to the graveyard and--"

"No." Clark said immediately, talking over Mikey.

"What? Clark, come on, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Nothing's gonna happen, Mikey, it's a graveyard, a bunch 'a dead people, but....that's just a stupid idea."

"You don't believe in that myth shit, do you?"

"I thought you knew me better than that, Walsh..." Clark ached an eyebrow at his friend.

"Whatever." Mikey dismissed that quickly, "Come on....why not?"

"Because...it's stupid."

"Fine, you don't. I'll go."

"How am I going to know you actually do it?"

"You're coming, dumbass."

"But you just said--"

"I meant in the graveyard..." Mikey shook his head. Sometimes, Clark could really not catch on quick enough.

"Well....where am I gonna be, then?"

"Outside...the graveyard, Clark."

"Right."

There was an odd silence that fell over the living room. The silence seemed pointless, but it was still there, until Mikey broke it. "So, let's go."

"Right. Ok, whatever, man."

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They were almost there, and Mikey was still trying to convince Mouth to do this with him. What the hell would it hurt? "Come on, Mouth! Why the hell won't you do this? I thought you couldn't resist a dare! I've never dared you to do something and you not do it. You've even done the shit I was joking about. What's wrong with this one?"

"Mikey, just shut up about it already." Clark said, annoyed.

"Fine, whatever..." Mikey pushed the tall, metal gate open and entered the cemetery. "See? Nothin' bad, Mouth." Mikey teased.

"It's not about that, Mikey!"

"Then why won't you come in here?"

"Because I don't want to."

"But why? All it is, is a bunch 'a dead people! You said so yourself! What's it gonna do to ya if you come in, eh?"

Clark rolled his eyes and turned away from the other boy, ignoring him. "Make me hyperventilate..." He stage-whispered to himself.

"Hyperventilate?" Mikey raised an eyebrow.

Clark jumped half a mile in the air at the voice coming from directly behind him. "Holy, shit! Don't do that!"

"Why?"

"Because it's a creepy thing ta do ta people!"

"Not that. The hyperventilation."

"Oh. That." Mouth shifted his eyes to look everywhere but at Mikey.

"Come on, man," Mikey reached through the bars and could barely reach Clark well enough to shove his friend lightly on the shoulder, "What the hell's up with you tonight?"

"Nothin', all right? You aren't gettin' me in there, so...just...give it up already, Mikey!"

"What's wrong with a cemetery, Clark?"

"All the....dead people..."

"That's what a cemetery is for, Mouth!"

"Yeah...well....whatever!"

Mikey grinned after the realization came. "You're afraid, aren't you?"

"No," Mouth snapped defensively.

"Yeah...you are. That's why you won't come in here, isn't it? Why you're standin' a good foot and a half from the gate, right?"

"No."

"That's why...you didn't wanna do this in the first place, right?"

"...No..." Clark's defensive tone was breaking.

Mikey grinned, "Well, what'da'ya know! Clark Jamison Devereaux does have a fear. What do they call that? Fear of dead stuff, it's something like, necrophobia, right?"

"Shut up," The tone was a little defensive, but more sensitive.

Mikey laughed lightly, "Who wouldda thought, man..." He shook his head, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"What's with the necrophobia?"

"I don't...I don't know, I was...born with it, is all I can tell ya."

"Born with it? I guess that works..."

"It better work, cause that's the only thing I can think of, all right? I mean...it's not like I've seen a lot of death and...everything that death entails, all right, so, I had ta have been born with it."

"All right, all right, I can take that..."

"Good. Ok...so, uh....can we....can we go, now?"

Mikey shook his head, "No."

Clark's eyes widened slightly, "Why not?" He asked calmly as he could.

"Because..." As he spoke, Mikey went around to the front of the gates and opened them, "I'm gonna help you."

"With what?" Mouth didn't like where this was going. No way. This couldn't turn out good.

"Your fear." Mikey took the other boy's wrist and pulled him towards the cemetery.

"Huh?" Things didn't take long to register in his mind, though. Clark's eyes were wide as the moon, and he stopped, trying to take his wrist back, shaking his head furiously, "No, no, Mikey! No! Ok? Just...no! All right? NO!"

"Yes."

"No..."

"Yes." Mikey repeated, more demanding this time as he started pulling the other boy with him again.

"No, no, Mikey...please...don't...don't....don't do this...please? Please, Mikey...No, I-I don't wanna do this..."

Mikey grinned and laughed a little, "It's not like I'm gonna make ya look at an open casket, Clark."

That made Clark stop dead in his tracks, yanking Mikey towards him a little. "No."

"Clark, that's not what I'm doing. I couldn't do that to you."

"Seriously?"

"No," Mikey grinned, "They don't leave open caskets in a graveyard, you dolt!" Now they were just at the edge where the gates were.

"No, please....Mikey, don--don't make me do this, please?" Clark shook his head, "Please..."

"Come on," Mikey said, throwing himself towards the other boy, only to manage to end up on the side of him instead of slamming into his friend. He threw an arm around Clark's shoulders. "Cooome ooonnn...." He said, guiding his friend into the cemetery.

Clark's eyes were squeezed shut as tight as he could manage. There was no way he was doing this. No way in hell! "Mikey...."

"Clark..." Mikey said teasingly.

"Please...." He begged, "Please...don't make me do on, man, get a grip! Open your eyes!"

Mouth heaved a sigh, but did as he was told. It actually wasn't so bad. He was standing in a graveyard, his breathing was perfectly normal and...everything was ok. He was even about to say something about it until his eyes landed on something he wished he'd have never see. Clark whimpered a little and inched back into Mikey. "I thought you said....there weren't open caskets in a graveyard, Mikey?"

"There aren't....Why? What are you freaked out about now?" Mikey moved from behind his friend and saw the problem, or, what Mouth perceived as a problem. Mikey saw this as an opportunity. "Ahh, no big deal. Somebody was just diggin' a body up for some reason or other."

"Oh. Ok. Right." Any shred of composure that Clark might have had before left him at that moment. "Ok, Mikey, please...you've had your fun. Ya even got me to stand in a fucking graveyard, all right? Can we just please go back to your house now?"

"No."

"Oh, God! Now what, huh, what are you--" Clark's eyes widened when he noticed how close Mikey was to the casket, "Man, what're you doin'?"

"Come here..."

"No. No way..."

"I want you to do something..."

"What?"

"Open it."

Clark''s eyes were even wider than they had been earlier--and that had seemed impossible-and he was shaking his head. "No, no, Mikey. No way, now how. I ain't doin' that! You got me in here, all right? Can't that be enough? Please? I don't wanna do this, Mikey!"

"You don't want to, but you have to."

"Why?" Clark didn't like the way this sounded so far.

"Or else we're staying here. All night. Until you do it."

"That...that's not fair, Mikey. That's...waaaayyy not fair." Clark looked from the casket that his friend was standing next to, back up to Mikey, "Please, Mikey, don't make me do this. I can't, ok? I just...I just can't," Mouth was still trying to beg his way out of this.

"All right, I'll open it."

Mouth nodded, "Ok, you do that."

"But you've gotta look."

Clark was chewing his lower lip and shaking his head, "No, Mikey, you don't understand. You got me in here, ok? Can't that be enough? I haven't set foot in a cemetery since I was seven, Mikey!" When he got no real response, Mouth continued, "Have you ever been in the position where you thought you were gonna die because you couldn't breathe?"

"Yeah, for me, it's called an asthma attack, Mouth. You may have thought you couldn't breathe, but I'm sure you could. You've never had an asthma attack, so don't talk to me about thinking you're gonna die because of lack of breath, ok?"

"You're wrong, Mikey. Way wrong. I was seven years old, so I didn't know her very well, but I was at my grandmother's funeral. Of course, the wake came first. It was no big deal, right? Well, until I actually followed my parents around to see the body, it wasn't. Knowing and understand she was dead..." Clark shook his head, "It was to much. I was short of breath, but didn't think anything about it because everything was fine once we got out of there, once we got home...."

Mikey was starting to wonder if there was a real point to all of this, but he bit back any comment that may have tried to spill from his mouth. He wasn't the type to interrupt people when they were in the middle of something.

"It was when we went to the funeral the next day that I lost it. As I was sitting there, hearing about how great of a person she'd been, I started thinking about how my grandma wasn't the only dead person there, ya know? We were in a cemetery. Full of dead people. Them there was the whole...see her one last time before she went six feet under thing, right? And that's when I really lost it. Completely lost it. I think I went into a panic attack and I swear it turned into an asthma attack. That's probably just me, though...I doubt that really happened. All I know is that I couldn't 't move. I think I even remember goin' to the hospital for some reason or other...that might be something just in my head too, though."

Clark heaved a sigh, obviously not liking that he'd gone back to that particular moment in time. And when they were in a graveyard, too! "And I haven't set foot in a cemetery since," He immediately went back to begging, "Mikey, please....Please don't make me do this..."

Mikey believed everything that Clark had told him, but he was determined to help him friend get over this. "Come here, Mouth."

Clark shook his head, "No....no, I...I can't..."

"Come on, just this once. And I'll never do this again, never bring it up. Ever. Just this once..." Mikey said the last part softly.

Clark bit down on his lower lip again. He didn't want to do this. No way in hell did he want to do this. But Clark was never able to deny Mikey of anything when he spoke like that, or when Mikey was giving him that look. The one where his eyes were pleading and slightly guilt-ridden. Clark couldn't stand that, so he complied....just like he always did, no matter how bad he didn't want to do whatever it was that Mikey was wanting him to do, he always complied if he was on the receiving end of that look. "All right..." He said hesitantly before slowly, very slowly, making his way towards Mikey.

Clark stopped immediately when he saw Mikey open the casket. All the fear and doubt that had just left him came rushing back with brutal force. He let out a small whimper, but couldn't seem to manage to actually speak.

Mikey looked up to see Mouth just a few feet a way. He frowned a little, tilting his head slightly to the side, "Mouth?"

Clark shook his head slowly, "I can't, Mikey. I can't look at it. I won't last."

"What'da'ya mean you won't last? That doesn't make any sense."

"I can't look...at a dead body, all right?" Clark shouted, but when he continued, he was speaking in a normal voice again. "Look, I know this is askin' a lot here, but, please, Mikey....trust me on this one..."

Mikey was getting fed up with all of the begging. He walked over to close the four feet between he and his friend. He grabbed Mouth by the arm and practically dragged his friend with him. When they reached their destination, Mikey positioned Mouth to stand in front of him, Mikey's hands on his best friend's shoulders. "Your eyes closed?"

Mouth nodded, "Mmm-hmm." he muttered, never opening his mouth to actually speak.

"Open them."

"Uhmm-mmm..."

"Come on, just for a minute."

Clark shook his head.

Mikey rolled his eyes. "Come on, the quicker you open your eyes, the quicker we can get back to the house..."

No matter how tempting that sounded, Clark just couldn't do it. He stood his ground. "Uhmm-mmm....I can't....I can't do it, Mikey..."

"Yes. You can."

"No, really, I can't."

"Yeah ya can..."

"Prove it."

"Open your eyes." Mikey laughed a little.

"Mikey...."

"Just do it."

Clark shook his head fiercely. "No, Mikey!"

"Fine, I'll make you."

"You'll make me?" Clark managed to scoff at that, "How?"

"Like this," Mikey whispered in his ear just before letting one of his hands fall from Clark's shoulder and slide under the other boy's shirt. He teased his fingers across Clark's stomach. Mikey loved having the advantage for once. This rarely happened, so he always reveled in the one-ups when he managed to snag them.

Clark's breath caught in his throat. He'd hated that Mikey had found out that he was ticklish. It was a very unfair advantage since Mikey wasn't. The only thing that was bad about it right now was that his eyes almost opened when Mickey's fingers teased over his stomach. Clark knew he couldn't open his eyes. Nothing good could come from it. On the other hand, if he didn't, they'd be here all night. "Mikey...." He muttered breathlessly.

"Come on...just open your eyes and this'll all be over, Clark..." Mikey whispered.

"If you promise--if you swear--that as soon as I look that we can go back...And if you try to pull anything else on me tonight, Mikey, I swear, I'm leaving without you."

"All right..." Mikey said quietly, letting his fingers brush lightly over Clark's stomach as he took his hand back. Mikey moved to the side, just barely. He had to actually witness Mouth opening his eyes or it would be pointless.

Clark sighed and did as Mikey had been asking for the last few minutes. He finally opened his eyes. And then, things started to register in his brain....He was standing in a graveyard. Over an open casket. And his eyes were open. Clark felt his knees buckle from under him and he started to fall backwards.

Mikey's eyes widened and he was glad he hadn't moved much, or else he wouldn't have been able to catch Clark from falling and cracking his head on the headstone that wasn't far behind them. "Whoa! Hey! No!" In the end, despite his protestation and struggle to prevent it, Mikey fell backwards and with the slightly awkward way he'd tried to grab Clark they both fell to the ground.

"Told you....I couldn't handle it, Mikey..." Clark muttered, sitting up, "You all right?"

"Yeah...fine." He winced a little as he sat up, "Ground....broke my fall..."

Clark shook his head and stood up, helping Mikey up as well. "We never shouldda come out here, man."

"Well...you were the one that kept complaining about being bored." Mikey pointed out.

"Shut up!"

The two left the cemetery and started walking back towards the Walsh's house. Mikey laughed, "Honestly...who wouldda thought...."

"What?"

"You...." He chuckled lightly, "You have necrophobia....that just amuses me to no end."

"Shut up, Mikey!" Clark shoved him.

"Hey!"

"........You aren't going to tell anyone, are you?" Clark asked, a little apprehensive about that now that everything was done and said.

"Nahh...you're my....what would you call someone that has necrophobia?"

"A....necrophobiac?" Clark suggested doubtfully.

"There we go! You're my necrophobiac and no one else's....and no else will ever know. Because...well....they won't. Because I said they won't."

"That's good enough for me," Clark said, moving to walk behind Mikey and wrapping his arms about the other boy's waist.

"Unless, of course, the gang ever decides to go to the cemetery or something...."

"That's not even funny, Mikey."

Mikey shrugged, "I thought it was," He grinned and looked up at Clark, who rolled his eyes and placed a light kiss to Mikey's forehead.

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Notes - Ok, so a whole HELLUVA lot of that was just dialogue, but you don't mind, do you? I thought it was amusing. .......Though, it really didn't have all that much to do with Halloween in the end, did it? (shrug) Oh, well.

Drop me a line!

Later days,
-PFB-