Yes I know it's the first day of November and Halloween is over. This is based loosely on a trip through a haunted house with a friend last night (Halloween, of course) and it's also my warm-up for NaNoWriMo this year. I wrote the whole thing in about two hours, which sounds impressive until you realize it's only 4 pages, just over 2k words. Much shorter than my usual one-shots and chapters, but I did say it was a warm-up. Short and sweet, please enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned Teen Titans I would write comics, not fanfics.

"Why does it have to be clowns?" Kole mumbled with dread in her voice. Joseph gave her hand a gentle squeeze, leading the way into the decorated tent. They had made it here before the crowd, but there was bound to be a lot more people within minutes. It was Halloween night, after all; haunted houses were the busiest at the end of their run. Well, this one was more of a Haunted Circus attraction, but the idea was the same. Naturally, the place was mainly themed after a circus' most scary feature: clowns. The blonde gave his date a reassuring look, since she wasn't keen on letting his hand go any time soon, and therefore he couldn't freely sign. They weren't even in line yet and she was already jumpy.

They were walking inside, and in the entryway was a fake fortune-teller's booth, with a plastic figure on the inside. Kole edged around it warily, but as they went by there was a loud burst of steam and the figure jumped at them from behind the glass box. Kole let out a high-pitched squeal, jumping forward to get by it quickly.

"We're not even inside yet!" she wailed, face flushing with embarrassment. She hated that she got scared so easily, right off the bat. "Joey I don't think this is a good idea after all, can't we go back?"

He let go to sign to her. You'll be okay. I know a lot of the people who work here and I told them to go easy on you. They'll be getting after me instead.

This didn't do much to ease her fears. "What? I don't want them to pull you away!"

He shook his head. They won't, I promise. I won't let go of you the whole time.

They wove through the ropes that dictated the line, towards the entrance that led into the 'house', which was made up of a ring of old semi truck trailers, repurposed into different rooms to make a large walk through haunted house. Kole clung to Joey as they went, trying not to look at the props and scary footage playing on the wall of the tent. Just before the end of the line, the blonde pulled her up towards a screen, signing shortly.

Look, we can get a picture for free, and then you can prove that you really did it, he suggested.

She nodded. A lot of people (friends and otherwise) thought she was a bit of a scaredy-cat and a wimp. No one really believed her at first when she said she was going to the scariest halloween attraction in the state, even if it was with Joey. She did want to show them, as much as herself, that she could make it through a place like this and be perfectly fine in the end. Not that she thought she would actually get hurt, but she just might get so scared that she peed her pants, or threw up or something. That would be so much more mortifying than any clown, right in front of her sort-of-boyfriend.

They took a quick picture in front of the backdrop, and had it sent to Joey's email. Kole looked up at him as they continued to the end of the line to wait their turn. "You literally have no idea how much I have to like to you be doing this."

He gave a soft snort and a smile, leaning down to give her a reassuring peck on the cheek. It was kind of lucky they had the night off to be here in the first place. Only one other Titan had been able to get tonight off, as Robin expected it to be a bit busy, what with all the people running out so late at night. Kole stayed close, on very high alert as the workers checking tickets stalked the line, completely in character. Just like Joey said, though, they left her alone, only jumping at other customers and actually giving the blonde Titan wide, crazed grins. It was so unsettling…

"If I accidentally turn to crystal you'll carry me right?"

Joey laughed without sound but nodded, pinky-promising.

"And we can just go through really fast, too?"

He nodded again, twining his fingers between hers.

All too soon, it was their turn to go, along with a few others to make a small group. Kole let out a despairing groan, hiding her face against her companion's arm. He let her stay close, walking into the dark space and leading the way. Almost right off the bat, the path became too narrow to walk side by side and Kole had to stay behind Joseph, clinging to his hand in the dark and trying not to freak out. It was very dark, and the space felt tight as they walked up zigzagging ramps leading up into the first room. Behind Kole, two younger girls were talking about how scared they were, which was comforting on some level. At least she wasn't the only one. She couldn't see Joey's face, but knowing him he was as calm as a summer day. Jerk. However, noticing that she could see his outline led her to realize that there was some light up ahead. And probably clowns that would jump out at them, but at least she would be able to see again.

Inside the first trailer, they could walk more side-by-side rather than single-file, but by this point Kole was a little more content to let Joey take the lead and stay in front of her. He looked back to her now and again, giving her reassuring looks. A small group just ahead of them was getting most of the direct scares, but the loud sounds kept getting to Kole, making her jump and the girls behind her scream.

The pink-haired girl started a monologue to keep herself calm, or at least tried to.

"Yup, okay, lots of blood here, that's fun. Fake zombie- oh god nope nevermind he's real, that's a person. That is a person dressed- gah-nd so is that, okay. And here's a skull, I like skulls, that's fun too. More blood there, fantastic. Hi, yeah- yup just gonna keep walking ple-ase don't touch me!"

And, while they may have gotten very close, none of the actors did actually touch her. They touched Joey, though, but he didn't even flinch, even smiling and giving some a wave as they walked through, as if greeting an old friend. Of course, some of these people were his friends and acquaintances, but none of them even looked like normal people at the moment. Seeing someone like Joseph being so casual and calm in such a terrifying environment might have been unsettling in some circumstances, but to Kole, it just reminded her that this really was all fake, and that these were in fact regular people.

Who were trying very hard to make her wet herself after all.

Just as she was starting to feel a little calmer, they came to a room with a bunch of fake heads hanging down, over a pair of inflated 'bubbles' on either side, forming a path that forced one to walk through the heads rather than around them. They squeezed through, the bubbles lightly pressing against their sides. Well, that wasn't so- Kole froze suddenly, seeing the next obstacle.

More bubbles, but tall ones that would surround them. She clung desperately to Joey, even more terrified of being left to push through this on her own, but he only squeezed her hand, taking the plunge and pulling her through. It wasn't too long, but it felt like an eternity. Despite being completely able to breathe all the way through (the bubbles weren't that inflated, less than even a bounce house) she felt her breath catching in her chest as she felt the tarps pressing against her from both sides.

The other side wasn't that much better, and the next few rooms weren't fun at all. Strobe lights that made it impossible to see right, fog that was so thick she could only make out the painted faces of actors when they shined lights under their chins, and a room through a spinning tunnel on a wobbling ramp that then led into a room with a slanted floor. Kole nearly fell over, both from disorientation and desperation to get back to the fake blood, clown masks, and rubber animatronics and away from this level of madness. A part of her wanted to stop, but the larger part wanted to power through and just get to the end. How long was this thing anyway?

Still, she was definitely not as scared anymore, she realized. Maybe a bit tense and disoriented from the last few rooms, but her anxiety had melted away. Whether it was Joey's nonchalant attitude as he walked through, knowing every turn and every monster that they saw, or if she really wasn't a coward at all, she wasn't sure.

Suddenly, in an outside gap between trailers they were stopped by a smallish figure dressed in torn clothes and slathered in clown makeup. "Where do you think you're going?" he said, in an unbalanced, screeching voice. To Kole's surprise, Joey did stop. The whole way through he'd led her along, not letting any scary character keep them in one spot, knowing that she didn't want to linger in any place longer than she had to. This particular clown gave the same wide grin to them that most of the actors did when they recognised Joey, but he appeared to have fangs, which was new. She stood, uncertain for a moment, before feeling brave enough to speak up.

"We're just passing through," she said, playing along. She knew it wasn't real, but still felt a bit unsettled.

"Oh no, can't have that," the clown chided, clicking his tongue, and emphasizing words seemingly at random. "Terrible accident up ahead, the whole way is blocked by a pile-up. We asked them to move but they were a bit busy, being dead!"

This clown used his voice, going from high to low and soft to loud to back again, clearly doing his best creepy voice. It would have worked better if Joey wasn't grinning at the young man's antics. And antics they were; he continued to stall them (obviously trying to slow the pace of the line to keep people in smaller groups) by acting crazy and saying maniacal things. He did a bit where he held his arms out and fell flat on his back, while Joey just laughed silently, as if he were just watching the crazy actions of a friend. As a matter of fact….

"Wait, BB?" Kole realized that his fangs weren't fake- and the bit of his earlobe she could see from under the top hat and wig was actually green. All of a sudden, she saw her friend, just covered in scary make-up and acting like an over-the-top madman. He winked and held a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.

"Ah-ha, don't spoil the insanity little missy," he said, not quite breaking character, but giving her a hint of a greeting all the same. Behind them, the two younger girls emerged from the last trailer, and BB gestured widely. "Well, best be going on, the lot of you! Warm bodies attract the Mad Doctor, and if you're not quick he'll catch you!"

He used his umbrella, hitting it against a metal barrel, to make a loud and startling sound to emphasize his phrase. It scared the girls, who ran off ahead, and it would have scared Kole if she hadn't recognized her friend beforehand. They moved on at a more leisurely pace, and she gave him a wave as they went. From there on, nothing was all that scary. She recognized props from the local Halloween store, and actually laughed at the chair that was actually someone dressed up as a chair, who would stand up to scare passers-by. They even stopped now and again to chat with the actors and play along with their scary banter. Joey smiled at her, and she smiled back, having a good time. The next thing she knew, they were outside again, and Joseph let go of her hand.

That's it, this is the end. You did it!

Kole fist-pumped, jumping up and down in a happy little dance. "Ha! I'm not a chicken, I went through the whole thing and I wasn't even scared one-"

The sounds of a chainsaw ripped through the air, another clown popping up and revving the saw menacingly, darting towards the girl. She let out a high pitched scream, running like her life depended on it, letting out a solid string of very unladylike words as she went. Joey frowned pointedly at the actor, who shrugged as if to say, 'I couldn't resist.' The blonde followed after her, already resigning himself to leaving this part out of the story when they told their friends about it, and trying very hard to get all the laughter out before she had a chance to see the grin on his face.

So there you go. Short and sweet, like I said. For any of you who are following me in hopes of reading other continued one-shots and chaptered stories, fear not. I will be writing a lot this month so I hope to post more of what you've been waiting for. And, if any of you liked it, it would make my day to hear about it. So, if you feel so inclined, please leave a review, favorite, follow, whatever.