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Chapter 1: We’re Going Where?
Jungkook was excited. It was finally Halloween! He had been planning his costume for weeks, and he and Tae were taking Hobi, Jin, and Jimin to a haunted house tonight. Or, that is to say, it was reportedly haunted. No one was actually sure if it was. Namjoon and Yoongi had decided they had better things to do than go to a supposedly haunted mansion.
Jungkook was so excited to wear his Iron Man costume tonight. He had bought it on his shopping spree with Tae the previous week. Tae had decided on simply a white bear onesie. He had thought it’d be funny if he was a winter bear for Halloween.
One thing was strange, though. Jungkook hadn’t seen Tae since this morning. He wondered where Tae was. They’d be leaving in a few minutes. If he didn’t come back soon, they’d have to leave without him. Jungkook slipped his Iron Man mask over his face and smiled at his reflection in the mirror. Even after watching End Game, Iron Man would forever be his favorite superhero.
“Jungkook, let’s go! I want to get this over with!” Jin called to him.
Jungkook laughed. “I’ll be out in a minute!”
“All right. But hurry up!”
Jungkook pulled his shoes on and grabbed his phone before heading out to the living room where Jin, Jimin, and Hobi were waiting for him. Jin was dressed as Mario, his fake mustache the most noticeable part of his outfit. Jimin was dressed as a cat, in honor of ARMY, who always said he reminded them of a cat. He had also bought a matching costume for Yoongi, considering ARMY also thought of him as a cat, but he had refused to wear it, much to Jimin’s disappointment. Hobi was dressed as Prince Nan-An, a character from the Chinese drama, Princess Weiyoung. He had been played by Hobi’s idol, Vanness Wu, so Hobi thought it was a proper fit for his costume. And the lengthy dreadlocks were reminiscent of those gel wraps Hobi had worn in the Chicken Noodle Soup music video. He gave Van one more nod by donning his Peace By Piece shoes.
“I thought Tae was coming?” Jimin questioned, disappointment evident in his voice.
Jungkook shrugged. “I don’t know where he is. Haven’t seen him since this morning.”
“What?” Hobi asked, quite spooked. He lowered his voice a bit, as if to prevent someone outside of the room from hearing him. “You don’t know where he is?”
“Nope. Guess he’ll miss all the fun,” Jungkook replied, unfazed.
“I don’t want to go anymore…”
“Oh, you’re coming!” Jin exclaimed. “If I have to go, then you’re going too!”
Hobi sighed.
“Let’s get going. It’s getting dark,” Jungkook smiled.
——————–
Jungkook dragged the other three into the haunted house behind him. They were all clinging to him for dear life, and nothing had even happened yet.
“Guys, calm down.”
“Calm down? We came to a haunted house. On Halloween. And Tae is missing. How are we supposed to calm down???” Hobi asked.
Jungkook shook his head. “I bet Tae’s fine. And be honest, you’d be scared even if it wasn’t Halloween.”
Hobi stayed silent. Until the door slammed shut abruptly behind them. Then he screamed, jumping into Jimin’s arms and making his hair fly into Jimin’s face. Jungkook walked over to the door and tugged on the handle. It was locked.
“Well…looks like we’re stuck here…”
Hobi clung to Jimin. “We’re-we’re stuck here?”
Jungkook sighed. “I’ll try to find another way out.”
“Jungkook, I told you this was a dumb idea! I shouldn’t have agreed to come!” Jin exclaimed.
Jungkook shook his head and tried to feel his way around the walls for another door. “Why didn’t we bring a flashlight?” he mumbled to himself, forgetting he could use his phone. He finally felt a handle and twisted it before tugging open the door. He stepped through it. “Guys! Come on!”
Jin ran after Jungkook, Jimin tagging behind with Hobi still clinging to him. Jungkook looked up, up, up until he finally saw what he thought was probably a ceiling. The large room was lit faintly by dim light coming through the few windows built into the walls. Shadows cast against the floors menacingly from the lights of the outside world.
Jin shook his head. “I KNEW this was not a good idea.”
“We know, we know, Jin. You don’t need to tell us again.” Jimin commented.
“T-Tae would know what to do i-if he were here, right?” Hobi asked.
“Probably. But he’s not here.” Jungkook replied. “So we’ll have to figure this out ourselves. You know what? Let’s see if I can call Joonie Hyung.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, unlocking it quickly. He sighed. “Nope. I have no bars.” He put his phone back into his pocket.
In the eerie silence, they could hear the sudden sound of a floor board creaking. Then it happened again.
“J-Jungkook… I think this place really is h-haunted!” Hobi exclaimed.
Jungkook gulped. Could there really be a ghost haunting this ancient house? He had chosen to come here to prove the rumor was false, but maybe he was wrong! He cautiously headed for the door that seemed to be on the other side of the room. He grabbed the knob. But before he could twist it, it twisted by itself. The door swung inward, making Jimin, Jin, and Hobi scream. The glowing, white being on the other side of the doorway screamed too.
Chapter 2: Terrified
Jungkook thought he recognized that scream.
“Tae???” Jungkook asked.
“Oh,” Tae sighed in relief. “It’s you guys.” He pulled Jungkook into a hug.
Jungkook hugged him back briefly, a bit shocked. “Why are you here?”
“I thought we agreed to meet here. I got a bit lost wandering around, though.”
“Oh. Well, the door is right in that room,” Jungkook pointed to the previous door he had come through. “But it swung shut and locked us in.”
Tae wrinkled his nose. “Drat! I don’t know where the door I came in through is! I know it wasn’t that one, though.”
“Well…maybe we can find it?” Jin offered.
Tae shrugged. “Maybe. It’s worth a shot.”
——————–
Jungkook, Jin, Jimin, and Hobi tagged along as Tae attempted to retrace his steps through the house.
“This place is huge. I wonder if we’ll ever find the way out again.” Tae sighed.
“Don’t worry. Namjoon and Yoongi will eventually realize how dumb you guys were and come find us.” Jin replied.
“We should’ve just gone trick-or-treating…” Hobi commented, sulking.
“Nah. This was plenty of fun,” Jungkook remarked.
“Yeah, sure, for you it was.” Jimin shook his head. “But I’m with Hobi. Maybe I could have convinced Yoongi to wear the cat costume if he’d known we were doing something as harmless as trick-or-treating.”
“Honestly, this place is interesting. It’s very old-fashioned,” Tae remarked, glancing around the room they were in.
“Leave it to Tae to think a haunted house is interesting.” Jin sighed.
“Hey! It’s a good way to not be scared,” Tae responded.
Jin shook his head. “Just find the way out, please.”
“Well, I was in this room before. I know because I remember seeing those goblin things before.” Tae pointed at two menacing creatures suspended along the walls.
Hobi and Jimin screamed, hugging each other tightly.
“Chill, it’s just some goblins,” Jin’s attempt at comfort failed.
“‘It’s just some goblins,’” Jimin mocked.
“C’mon, I think we’re almost to the door,” Tae cut in.
“I hope so! I want to get out of here…” Hobi replied.
Tae looked around the room and then headed for the open door. “Hmm…I think this is the right room. I think there’s one more.” He walked to the door across the room and stuck his head through it. “It’s here!”
“Wait for us!” Jimin exclaimed, running after Tae.
Tae pushed open the door and ran out into the cool, autumn air.
“One question…how did you find this door?” Jungkook asked, following Tae outside.
“Hmm?” Tae turned back to him.
“I mean…this is basically forest back here.”
“Oh,” Tae shrugged. “I don’t remember.”
Jungkook furrowed his brow. “You don’t–”
“Let’s go to the car now!” Jin exclaimed, marching along the side of the house and back towards the front. “Don’t get lost!”
“Right!” Jimin ran after Jin, Hobi still in his arms, and Hobi’s hair still smacking him in the face.
Suddenly hearing an eerie wail coming from somewhere behind them, Jungkook grabbed Tae’s hand. “Let’s go. We don’t want to be here alone.”
Once they were all settled in the car, Jungkook and Hobi in the front with Tae smashed between Jin and Jimin in the back, Jin asked, “Tae, how did you get here? And where were you all day?”
Tae’s face went blank. “Well…I…I thought it would be best to look around the house before it was night…The thing is…when I asked how to get here…they gave me incorrect directions…and I ended up in the forest behind the house. Thankfully, I found it before it got dark…but then I got lost inside the house…in the dark…and I kept bumping into those creepy goblins…then I fell through a hole and got my foot stuck in the floorboard…”
Jimin rubbed Tae’s back. “It’s ok. Do you need a hug?”
Tae smiled softly. He nodded. “Yeah.”
Jimin engulfed him in a hug. “We were worried about you.”
“I’m sorry…”
“It’s ok, Tae,” Jin commented, slipping his arm around Tae’s shoulders. “We’re just glad you’re ok. And that you escaped mostly unscathed from that haunted mansion!”
Chapter 3: Korean Gothic
“I can’t believe you actually agreed to going trick-or-treating with me.”
Yoongi looked up at Namjoon before commenting dryly, “I can’t believe you’re being a farmer for Halloween.”
“You’re one to talk. You’re wearing the costume that you said you’d ‘never wear in a million years.’”
Yoongi rolled his eyes. “I had no other options, did I? It actually looks like you planned on being a farmer. You even have a pitchfork, glasses, and blue overalls!”
“I’m the farmer from the painting American Gothic. Not just any old farmer!”
“What’s American Gothic?”
Namjoon sighed, “Never mind. Let’s just go.”
——————–
“Do we have any candy? I need candy! It’ll calm me down!” Hobi exclaimed upon walking through the front door of the dorms.
“No! No candy, Hobi. You’ll be bouncing off the walls, and it’ll be even worse,” Jin replied.
“I need to take a nap…I think I’ve had enough thrills for one day,” Tae sighed, plopping down onto the couch. “And actually, this costume makes a pretty good blanket.”
“I do too!” Jimin exclaimed, lying on top of Tae.
“Ah…you’re warm…” Tae hugged Jimin against himself and nuzzled his head into Jimin’s hair, making Jimin giggle.
“Well, I’m going trick-or-treating. I want some candy,” Jungkook remarked.
“You do that. The rest of us need a nap,” Jin replied.
Tae hummed in response, already half asleep with Jimin still lying on top of him and cuddled into his arms. Jin was helping Hobi disassemble his bulky costume. And Jin’s mustache was falling off now. Jungkook sighed and went to find something he could collect his candy in. He eventually just decided on a plastic bag and headed out the door.
——————-
“Namjoon! Are you kidding me? You can’t avoid a crisis for just one day? I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you with a pitchfork!” Yoongi shook his head.
Namjoon had just destroyed three pumpkins sitting along the sidewalk as they had walked past. When he tried to shake the orange goop off the pitchfork, it had caught onto Yoongi’s tail. Yoongi had freed himself quickly, but there was still pumpkin remains on Namjoon’s pitchfork.
“Joonie Hyung! Yoongi Hyung! You guys are here too?”
Yoongi turned abruptly to find Jungkook staring down at him, a big grin on his face.
“Jimin would be happy to know you’re wearing the costume he bought for you.”
“Ha. I had no choice. Namjoon dragged me out, and I didn’t have another costume.”
Jungkook grinned. “Oh, well. C’mon, let’s go get some candy.”
——————–
Jungkook, Namjoon, and Yoongi had decided they had enough candy now. They headed for home, their bags full of candy and Yoongi in possession of Namjoon’s pitchfork.
“I wonder if everyone’s actually asleep like Jin said they would be,” Jungkook reflected, breaking through the silence.
Yoongi shrugged, “A nap sounds good to me.”
“A nap always sounds good to you,” Namjoon replied.
Jungkook grinned wryly before quipping, “How about a cat nap, Yoongi?”
Namjoon and Yoongi both groaned.
“And Jin’s not even here,” Yoongi intoned.
Jungkook slipped his key into the keyhole, unlocking the door and opening it. “Anyone awake?” he asked softly.
Silence greeted him. He stepped through the doorway, Yoongi and Namjoon following him. Tae and Jimin were still asleep on the couch, huddled together. Jimin’s tight, black suit greatly contrasted with Tae’s furry, white one. Regardless, they still looked adorable squished together on the couch, Jimin’s whiskers tickling Tae’s nose.
“I am taking this thing off now,” Yoongi remarked suddenly, heading off to his room. There was no way he was getting caught in a picture with Jimin. Plastered all over the internet. It was not happening. Not today.
Namjoon clicked his tongue, “He’s got my pitchfork.”
Jungkook shrugged, “You don’t need it.”
Namjoon sighed, “I guess you’re right…Good night, then.”
“Good night.”
As Namjoon headed off to his room, Jungkook gathered a blanket to place over Jimin and Tae. He gently draped it over them, smiling at how adorable his two hyungs were. They looked like two sweet, little babies cuddled together.
“Good night, Tae Hyung. Good night, Jimin Hyung,” Jungkook whispered. “Happy Halloween.”
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