#Kinda pissed that 28 doubles as 29 because I had something else planned

[cak31ssuperi04]

1bitJanuary Day 28/29 - Colorswap/ Lights Something's peculiar.

[inkribbon796]

Egotober Day 25: Cobwebs and Cardboard

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

Prompt: Haunted

Summary: Kay goes with some of the guys to a haunted house, one of those Halloween attraction ones.

Warnings: none

With Halloween so close, Egoton was in a bit of a mood and there were more than a couple attractions and haunted houses we’re going up.

The plan was for Ethan and Randall to take Eric but one thing led to another and the two were with Eric, and Illinois, and King. The latter had heard Illinois had tagged along with Eric and wanted to be there “just in case”.

The five of them were standing in front of what Ethan had found was the best rated haunted house in town.

Eric was hiding behind Illinois, looking up at it nervously, he was clutching his hand.

“What’s wrong, leoncito, you’ve faced scarier,” Illinois smiled at him.

“There’s people in there,” Eric complained into Illinois’s back.

Illinois’s smile fell and he wrapped and arm around Eric, “You don’t have to go in. We can stay outside, try to win some prizes or something.”

“You make out in the bushes and I’m getting a crow to throw food at you Ills,” King warned.

“Hey, come on, what did I do to you?” Illinois demanded.

“Really?” King stared at him. “I’ve been keeping track. You want my list, asshat?”

Illinois rolled his eyes, and quickly bent down to carry Eric over his shoulder, but Eric went about as straight as a board so the result was Eric bracing his hands on Illinois’s shoulders. Eric’s face went beet red and Illinois had this huge smile on his face.

“What’ll it be dulcito? The fake haunted house or do I get a head start on that huge stuffed unicorn at the front?”

Eric went impossibly redder, just staring at Illinois.

Illinois chuckled.

“I think his brain shut down,” Ethan teased.

“Yeah?” Illinois carefully put Eric back on his feet, “fine, I’ll put the pretty boy down.”

He bent his knees a little and inclined his head so that their eyes were level. “Let those thoughts in that pretty head come back up.” Then he winked.

“Oi, we’re still here,” King shouted at him. “How about you do that away from me.”

“Illy!” Eric squeaked out, covering his face.

“Okay, okay,” Illinois stood up straight again. “I’ll stop. So what’ll it be sweetheart. Haunted house or cute games?”

“Y-Y-ou wa-nna go,” Eric looked away, still flustered but clearly uncomfortable.

“Any fun I could have isn’t worth it if you’re not okay,” Illinois reminded. “So are we going to counter-scam a carnie or go into the haunted house?”

Eric was quiet for a long time, looking uneasy and playing with his hands a bit. Illinois just waited trying to look as calm and patient as possible.

It took a bit but Eric worried his lower lips with his teeth, looking away. “We . . . uh, um . . . can go into the h-ouse.”

“You sure?” Illinois asked. “We don’t have to.”

“I-I w-want to,” Eric looked more determined.

Illinois kissed Eric’s cheek, “If you ever want to leave, just give me a sign and I’ll take you back out, even if we’re about to finish.”

“I wi-ll,” Eric promised.

“Okay,” Illinois kissed Eric’s forehead and passed him a couple twenties. “Go with the boys get us three tickets.”

“I can pay for myself,” King told him.

“아빠 would never let me hear the end of it,” Illinois told King.

Eric nodded and walked off with Ethan and Randall to a ticket stall outside the haunted house. Leaving Illinois and King standing away from them.

“So, you tell the Old Man yet?” King asked as the two of them just watched the former apprentices getting tickets.

“He knows I’ve got a new travel partner,” Illinois admitted. “The invoices show there are two people on his bills so I could just lie about that.”

“Why not tell him?” King said. “You’re obviously over the moon about him.”

“Don’t want my luck to run out,” Illinois defended, looking at Eric. “The long I wait, the longer my luck holds out.”

King frowned, “Haven’t you found some amulet that counteracts it by now?”

Illinois sighed, “There is no counter-curse, no spell, no lucky charm that is enough when my luck finally runs out. I can only hope that when it runs out again that Eric isn’t with me.”

“Do you think it ran out when I was sent to watch Artie?” King voiced a question he had for a while now.

“Dark and Host don’t blame me, but I do,” Illinois answered.

King was quiet for a second or two before tugging on his arm, “It wasn’t, your fault. There was nothing you could have done.”

Then before Illinois could argue further, King shoved him a bit, “Come on, let’s catch up with the guys, before they get themselves into trouble.”

Illinois smiled and they walked over to the others.

“Keep taking care of Eric and we won’t have any problems,” King told Illinois, “he’s a nice kid.”

“Huh, what was that?” Ethan said, looking over them.

“I said Illy’s a piece of shit,” King corrected. “Long may he reign, the prince of assholes.”

Illinois chuckled, rolling his eyes. The adventurer wrapped an arm around Eric’s back and leaned in. “Had fun at the ticket booth, dulcito?”

Eric just shrugged, staring at Illinois.

They headed into the haunted house, the result was that Eric stayed clutched to Illinois’s side for most of the time, almost stumbling as he was startled. Illinois asking if he wanted to leave a couple of times, but Eric just clung to him and insisted on continuing. Illinois did wind up picking him and carrying him halfway through, promising to protect him.

Ethan and Randall were having fun, giggling and chuckling the whole way through. King was the only one who didn’t have a noticeable reaction for most of it. He occasionally jumped and there was a room that Illinois and King stared into the room in surprise and with a bit of trepidation. It was a room with a mad doctor and slabs of meat and realistic fake skeletons. They glanced between each other and just sprinted into the next room.

But the group walked out the other side and Illinois raced for a bench to put Eric down, trying to calm him down. Thankfully he wasn’t in a panic attack. The two were talking between each other quietly and there was a gentle promise that Eric would not go to another haunted house.

They went to go get some corn dogs after Eric felt like walking again.

“Sorry you didn’t have fun,” Ethan apologized to King.

“What?” King asked in confusion, munching on the contents of a bag of popcorn.

“At the haunted house,” Ethan clarified.

“Oh,” King realized. “Nah, I had fun, it was alright.”

“Yeah, but yah didn’t get scared,” Randall reminded.

King shrugged, “There’s nothing really scary about a fake haunted house. Yeah I got startled a couple of times, and that effect with the fake organs did make me do a double take but it’s all cobwebs and cardboard.”

“We technically lived in a haunted house anyways,” Illinois told them, tipping his hat up.

“Wait you lived in the Manor, man?” Randall asked.

“Yep,” Illinois popped the “p” on the end. “It got freaky at night. Never had to have a curfew.”

“How bad was it?” Ethan asked leaning forward.

King glared at Illinois, “Usually nothing happened except for the changing hallways, it took forever for me to find the bathroom at night when I first got there. It’s really easy to find the back porch, impossible to find anything else.”

Illinois tapped King’s arm with the back of his hand, “What about that time in the attic?”

“Which time in the attic?” King asked.

“You know when you and Yan came crying down the stairs?” Illinois told him.

“Ohhhh,” King remembered, and smiled. “Huddle up.”

Randall dropped his elbows on the table, Ethan had a huge smile on his face.

“Okay, how old were we, Ills,” King started.

“It must have been about a year and some change since we were adopted,” Illinois waived his hand. Eric was halfway onto his lap, trying to cuddle up next to Illinois.

“So I was about six, Yan was about five, and it was hot as balls in the middle of the summer. It was that one year with the heat wave and it was so hot that even the Manor was overheating. So Yan and I were up in attic, because we can’t go in the basement.”

“Why?” Eric managed to ask.

King sighed, “Because Dark kills people down there, it’s like Wil’s set couch, we just don’t go there unless you’re helping kill people, so I never went in the basement. Anyways we’re we’re fucking around in the attic and Yan was in Bim’s old crib and I was checking out this broken cursed looking mirror when I look over and I see Dark standing in a corner of the attic watching us. He’s in this nice red tux and he’s smiling at me. Except his smile is kinda freaking me out.”

King’s smile faded. “So I call out, ‘Mr. Dark?’ ‘Cause I used to be formal with him. And down the stairs I hear footsteps and Dark calls out, ‘What is it Kay?’ I look back at ‘Dark’ and he’s gone. The real Dark is walking up the stairs. After I asked him about it, we’re taken out of the attic and he locked us out of the attic for a month. He spent the rest of the day watching us like a hawk and the next time I went up with Illy, the attic is clear of ghosts”

“So what was it?” Randall asked.

King shrugged.

“Yanc called him ‘the Shadow Man’ cause he has all this black smoke around him,” Illinois answered. “Dark always got super protective when he was around so we always assumed he was one of those bad spirits.”

“Like Dark?” Ethan asked.

Illinois made a scoffing sound, “Dark’s a demon, big difference. Spirits can’t affect their environments, demons are way more dangerous. Either way whenever the Shadow Man was in a part of the house Dark would throw a barrier up and we couldn’t go in that part of the house until Dark deemed it safe. Once we were barred from going outside without him watching over us for a month. Artie and Bim went insane, it was fun to watch.”

“For you,” King grumbled.

“So is that thing still around the Manor?” Ethan asked.

“Don’t know why he wouldn’t be,” King answered. “Maybe Dark pissed him off and he’s haunting Dark. I don’t know, I’ve tried looking into him and so far I’ve found nothing. But that doesn’t mean I’ve given up.”

“So has he done anything to you guys, stood over your bed as you slept, or fucked with the lights?” Ethan asked.

“Not to us,” King reported. “I haven’t seen or heard anything to suggest it’s a demon or a poltergeist. Glad I moved out, that mess is your problem.” He nudged Illinois.

“No,” Illinois smiled. “I don’t get the cursed mansion, I get the cursed lake house. Big difference. The Shadow Man doesn’t live there. Bim gets to deal with the cursed mansion, I don’t want anything to do with that cursed house besides my stuff. Bim can have the house.”

“B-im in-herits the M-Manor?” Eric asked. “But Da-rk can’t die?”

Illinois shrugged, “Didn’t stop him from making a will, I think he does it to make himself feel better, or maybe the Old Man’s gonna skip town for a hundred years to add some pizazz to his life, I don’t know.”

“Weird,” Ethan commented.

“That will isn’t getting used anytime soon,��� Illinois excused. He stood up and held out an elbow for Eric. “Now if you’ll excuse us, boys, we have some carnival games to win.”

Eric blush returned as he grabbed onto Illinois’s arm. Illinois helped him up and they walked away.

The other three watched them walk away. Ethan getting up, “Well I’m gonna have fun on some of those rides.”

“Wanna go stalk an’ torment the lovebirds?” Randall smiled at King.

“Why do you think I’m here?” King smiled, they split ways to enjoy the rest of the festivities.