Things That Go Bump in the Night

Chapter 1~ Cosplayers in my Living Room

Thump. I was just sitting on my bed, harmlessly reading a book, when I heard a loud bump. Grabbing my cell phone to use as a flashlight, I set off for the stairs.
Walking down to the living room, underneath my room, I tried to step quietly, and jumped over the creaky stair.

I snuck over to the opening of the room and peered in. There were three men in there, laying on top of one another, but not exactly looking happy with said position.

"Get your butt out of my face, Thief."

"Get your face out of my butt!" the one who had been called 'thief' snapped.

"I can't; Marik's sitting on me," the first retorted.

"Hi," the third male said from his position on the other two. He again spoke, but I couldn't hear it. However, I could hear the humour dripping off his voice. Clearly it amused him. The other two obviously didn't find it as such, considering how they growled and all but threw the platinum haired male off of them. When they stood up, clearly pissed off, I saw that one of them- the 'thief' I believe- had very light hair. In the moonlight, I couldn't tell if it was white, or platinum like the other.

Even in the darkness, I could tell that all three of them had darkened skin. The third would be easy to identify because of his unmistakable hair. It was gravity defying and black based. There were also red accents on it that looked eerily like blood. He also had blonde bangs. (I don't even know how I didn't recognize them at this point- It should have been blatantly obvious to me)
I was about to step back to call the police- I was decently sure that that was what you were supposed to do in this situation- when my phone started ringing, scaring the crap out of me. It was my phone-pal (sort of like a pen-pal except contacted over the phone), texting me to say that she was in a different dimension.

Haha, very funny, Mira, I responded before hurriedly setting the phone to silent. Scared, almost out of my mind (I probably would've been, if I was sane), I glanced back inside the room. All three of the men had clearly untangled themselves and were standing still listening. I couldn't see the white haired one, but I assumed he was in the darkness somewhere. It didn't even dawn on me that he had white hair, and I probably should've been able to see him if he were still in the room.

As I spied on them, the platinum haired one asked, "What was that?"

"Ask them yourselves." I would've jumped from shock because of the rough voice that suddenly materialized in the back of me, except that I was more focused on the ground that was suddenly rushing up at me. I turned back, only to see the tan man with white hair. He was glowering, so in return, I glared back at him. I saw a smile tugging on his lips and he looked away.
Getting up, and wiping of my butt, I glanced around at the three men who were looking back at me.

And suddenly… I saw the light, figuratively. "Are you…?" I paused mid-thought. They seemed to think me to be their prisoner or something (in my own house too) and I wondered if they would eat me for asking a question, again figuratively. "Um… are you cosplayers?" I asked when I was certain that I had their attention and they obviously weren't going to injure me.
Yami started laughing, but Marik and Bakura looked confused.

"What's a cosplayer?" Marik asked.

"It better not be something insulting," Bakura added, glaring at me in challenge.

Against my better judgment (Actually, I think I don't have this anymore) I decided to attack back. "No. But this is." I mouthed, 'Idiot.'

A low growl was all I got in warning, before he lunged at me. I yelped, and slid back only to trip on my own feet. I butt-scootched the rest of the way to get away from him.

Marik and Yami shared a glance, snorted, and together tried to hold Bakura back. Bakura wrenched out of their combined grips, only to trip over the leg of one of my chairs.

Since I was very dumb (*Whacks head against table*) I hadn't moved back, so Bakura tripped onto me and pressed me to the floor. I flopped around under him like some kind of possessed fish, until Bakura leapt off of me. Released from the awkward position, I ran and hid, putting a couch cushion over my head protectively.

Either this was the best, or worst day of my life.

Peering out from under my cushion-shell, I thought I saw Bakura a tad flushed. (But no, that couldn't be right! Oh wait; he's a cosplayer, so he probably just broke character!) But as I blinked, I looked and it was gone. Just as suddenly as it had seemed to come.

I hid back under the cushion and almost fell asleep (it was after midnight, after all), until I felt someone sit next to me. I looked up to see the Pharaoh.
"You okay?" he asked, appearing sincere. I shook my head, and frowned.

"No… I feel so violated." I wrapped my arms around myself in mock comfort.

He snickered, and looked back at a once again unfeeling Bakura. Returning his attention to me, he held out a hand for me to shake. "I'm Atem."

"Yea, I know. You're a cosplayer."

He froze and stared at me. "Why do you keep saying that?"

"Because… You… Are?" I stated, in an almost questioning way. He opened his mouth to talk, but closed it again. He just ended up shaking his head. "Really…?!" I questioned, at this point, utterly horrified. It was just like a terrible fanfic! I chose this moment to fall backwards off my seat.

Atem stood up abruptly and looked down at me, worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"No. I am dead. Please. Help." My fragmented sentence seemed to make sense to him because he reached for my arm and pulled me up.

It was then that I decided to touch his hair: something I had always wanted to do.

It was soft and obviously not hair gelled. "Incredible," I murmured. "How on earth do you do this? Is it natural?"

There was a sudden spike in tension, and both Atem and I glanced backwards to see Bakura watching us with a cat-like glare. I gulped; he was definitely going to be the death of me. I squealed softly and hid behind Atem, using him as a shield.

This did not help anything, as Bakura's glare was- if anything- only more pronounced now.

Ignoring the death glare of his nemesis, Atem seemed to think this was an excellent time for introductions. "The glaring one is Bakura," Atem said unnecessarily. "And the other one is Marik." I started to nod, but then stopped and frowned as I saw Marik lying on my second couch face-down.

"Um… is he okay?" I asked.

"Don't worry about him," Bakura replied. "He's more resilient than a cockroach."

"Like a twinkie?"

Bakura blinked in confusion.

"I'm hungry now," I stated. Then I realized how rude I had been to Atem and I smiled, introducing myself, "My name is Umbrë, Umbrë Rïomé." I paused. "And I love Doritos."
He blinked. "Alright then." I laughed at his confusion.

"So, should I call you Atem or…" I trailed off.

He thought about it. "I have many names; among them are Yami, Atem, or Pharaoh. Yami is what I'm most often called by my friends." Is he implying that I was his friend? (Cue inner fangirl squee)

"What about Yatem?" I questioned innocently.

"What?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"You know, Yatem! Like Yami and Atem mixed together. Unless Yatemi is preferred." His eye twitched at the continuation. Of course, I never would've made this up, off the top of my head. The names Yatem and Yatemi are solemnly copywrited to my friend.

"Neither is preferred," he said in an annoyed manner.

"Yatem it is!" I responded giddily. Sleep deprivation does that to me.

I yawned widely, but didn't plan on going to sleep. Not with my new found house-mates. Two ancient Egyptian spirits and a Tomb Keeper did not make for a pleasant night's sleep.

Maybe if I locked them in…

I led the three to a 'guest room' (*Coughclosetcough*) and once they were all safely in, I closed and locked the door behind me. Doors that lock from the outside can come in handy when they're to your favour.

Even though I was pretty sure I wouldn't get much sleep, I went to my room and passed out.

CZR: So I am rewriting Things That Go Bump in the Night.
Bakura: *Claps*
CZR: Yep, so I changed a lot, so it made more sense. In the other story, I had no idea what I was doing, so the plot didn't appear until the ninth chapter. In this version, I'm going to have some foreshadowing because I know what I'm doing ;)
Bakura: Yaaaaaaay
CZR: What the frig? Are you on crack?
Marik: He's just happy because he's paired up with Umbrë.
CZR: That makes him happy? He's even messed up than I thought!
Marik: I know…
Yuugi: R&R please, tell us how this compares to the other version.
Ryou: Flames are okay too. Just constructive flames, please.
Marik/Bakura: *Covering CZR's mouth*
Ryou: … Premature gagging…
Yuugi: CZR doesn't own Yugioh!