Of Haunted Houses and Sweets

Gareki heard the soft noise of compressed air breaking free, a mechanical but real looking bat flew past them, accompanied by maleficent laugher.

And Gareki knew what would happen next. He freaking knew.

Yogi let out a frightened shriek and grabbed for his upper arm, at the same time as he would hide his face in Gareki's neck and seek shelter behind the younger male.

Still. Gareki felt slightly bored. This was nothing more than an act, Gareki thought ill-natured, it was just a waste of precious money.

And then again, it was embarrassing. That Yogi had insisted they dressed up in Halloween costumes, he meant. 'To join in in the fun.' He had said. Gareki couldn't possibly disagree more.

All in all, he wasn't quite pleased with the world, but he was happy that at least Yogi couldn't see his blushing face whenever the older one was too closer for any personal space. It was at least something and an odd sort of comfort.

Yogi's hair –or were it the fake dog (wolf, he reprimanded himself oddly amused) ears the man- child wore?- tickled in his nape. Fearful tears built up in the beautiful violet eyes. Gareki bit onto his bottom lip and shook himself free of the adult. "Let go of me!" he pronounced his actions at the same time and shoved him away more abruptly that he had planned. Just to see the clear tears collecting faster in the scarce light. And he was sorry. And he felt miserable for doing it. But it would take more than hell for him to voice it.

"B-But Gareki-kun!" Yogi wailed like a little child. "I-It's scary here!"

He sneered at his antics. "You wanted to come here, you idiot scared cat!" he made his point clear and watched him for a second before pulling hard on his arm back. "Can't you even read?!" And pointed at a sign. "'Please wait' It's standing right there at the door."

Yogi wasn't enjoying himself. In contradiction, he was deeply afraid for his life and Gareki massaged his temples. "Why did you even want to go inside of a haunted house, dressed up for Halloween, just to start crying over the cheapest of tricks? Why do you throw money out like that?" he argued slightly mad at the older one.

"I'm sorry, Gareki-kun…" Yogi apologized teary, "I just… with you…" He shook his head, like he made his head clear. "We're just never doing anything together, Gareki-kun!" The door banged open, loudly slamming against the wall. A dressed up human stepped through the door and the room seemed to become even cooler and it felt something more extensive than the killing intent he had felt in Kuronomei.

"It's just an actor, idiot", Gareki said almost sounding calming as Yogi's hand grabbed his upper arm so tight he was sure it would form heavy bruises.

And when the 'actor' spoke, a chill ran down Gareki's spine. Yogi seemed to calm down almost instantly. "Who is an actor?!" He knew this voice. "Oh? Look what I found…" An arrogant and bloodthirsty grin set down on his lips. "Circus scum."

Suddenly Yogi pulled him back, shielding Gareki's smaller body with his. "You will not hurt Gareki-kun!" The epees materialized in his hands and Gareki could see all fear falling down from his shoulders, but he could also feel himself becoming more and more afraid.

He didn't like this. Yogi wouldn't be able to fight to the best of his abilities in the tiny rooms of the haunted house. There were still some actors in there as well which could and would distract Yogi from the fight. This could end badly. Very badly. His hand slipped into his pocket pulling out his mobile phone, but he'd need a distraction.

Suddenly like on a wordless signal the two fighter clashed with each other. The teen knew Yogi's plan. Get Gareki out of the danger zone. He also could guess Kiharu's plan. Kidnap one of them or probably even kill Yogi and kidnap Gareki. Either one was a possibility Gareki didn't like. Then he was alone, Yogi had gotten the Varuga out of the room they had been in. He opened his mobile and selected Hirato's number as quickly as possible. The curses slipping from his lips when he waited for the captain to pick up, surely weren't the nicest in his vocabulary. "What's it, Gareki-kun?" asked the calm voice and Gareki calmed slightly.

"Varuga", he answered, "Yogi is fighting, but since we still are in the haunted house I'm not sure how many people there are in danger, but I'm sure the rooms will it make hard to fight for Yogi."

There was a short moment of silence before Hirato answered. "…I see, Iva and I will be on our way. Try to stay out o-" Gareki couldn't hear the end of Hirato's sentence. A hard kick collided with his hand, making it impossible to hold onto his almost new phone. He watched mortified when it broke into thousands of pieces. But on the other side, he couldn't exactly stay there and watch the pieces on the ground. In the end, a split second after his hand had been kicked, he ran, in the hope of meeting up with Yogi. Hoping sincerely that this wasn't the worst decision, already knowing that it wasn't the best.

He saw Yogi's golden hair on the one side of the room, standing his ground gorgeously and prideful. Nothing of his usual fear to be seen. Gareki could guess why. Yogi couldn't lose without losing him and Gareki knew he was an important friend for the former prince. "Gareki-kun, what…?" he started but seemed to see what was behind him.

"He phoned somebody. We have to leave soon, Kiharu."

Kiharu looked at him with narrowed eyes. And it was just the Gareki realized that he had more and deeper scratches than Yogi. He was oddly reliefed. "Stay back, Gareki-kun, you aren't even armed this time around", he mumbled to Gareki softly enough.

"I know", the teen answered and hated himself for being useless –a burden- again. The only thing he could do was staying out of the way, trying to be not more of a burden than he already was and hoping that Hirato and Iva would arrive soon.

Every scratch Yogi gained hurt Gareki mentally as well. Again and again. He wanted to be able to help. Suddenly Yogi was on the ground, a heavy blow on his side, bleeding and Gareki couldn't do anything other than running up to him falling next to him on the ground, he must have shouted out Yogi's name on the way, but he wasn't sure anymore.

He didn't even realize that and when the Varuga had pulled back. Yogi was on the ground on the verge of losing consciousness, smiling at him sloppily. "Why do you look so afraid now, Gareki-kun?" he mumbled slightly amused, though pain still streaked his handsome face.

"You idiot", Gareki answered, "It's because everything in the haunted house was nothing but a lie, but all the blood sipping though your clothes is the morbid truth." There was silence for a moment and Yogi looked at him, surprised.

Then his smile became gentler. "But I couldn't let them hurt the one I love…" His eyes closed and Gareki couldn't stop a single tear from running down his cheek. His hands pressed on the wound, why hadn't he started to do it earlier? Why was he such an useless idiot?

It felt like eternity until Hirato and Iva came, but logically he knew it couldn't have been that long. Finding him next to Yogi, his hands bloodied, streaks of blood on his vampire costume, adrenalin searing though his veins.

"Gareki-kun?" Hirato talked to him, checking for Yogi's pulse at the very same time. "He'll be fine. Yogi will be fine. Where are the Varuga? Are they still here?" Everything Gareki could do was shaking his head. No, they weren't here anymore. "Can you let go? Iva will bring Yogi to the ship so that the doctor can patch him up again." Gareki moved his head again, nodding this time, but his hands didn't move. He hadn't responded. He hadn't responded to Yogi. It could have been his last, maybe even his only chance to be honest with his feelings. But he hadn't Yogi could die. Die. His hands were carefully moved away and Iva raised Yogi before starting to fly though the dark rooms, probably on the shortest way to the ship. And he couldn't to a single thing. Useless. His hands were shaking. "Gareki-kun, what happened to your mobile?" Hirato asked softly, probably trying to lure another answer than a simple head movement out of him.

Gareki was on his feet again. "I'll go and collect the pieces." Hirato just pulled him into an embrace, seemingly not to care about the blood still clinging to Gareki and the teen knew no more.

The teen spend quite a lot of time next to a sleeping Yogi, Hirato realized quickly. Maybe this whole ordeal even had a good side, Gareki seemed more honest with himself. He had filled up a whole bowl with sweets for Yogi, trying to compensate for something that wasn't his fault in the first place, but Hirato let him do it. Maybe it would take some of the guilt out of his eyes.

But the guilt could only be swapped with relief when the doctor said Yogi would wake up soon, he'd be fine, Gareki shouldn't worry about him. Everything would be fine.

Hirato also didn't fail to see the letter Gareki had put next to the bowl of sweets, sealed off and only for Yogi to read. It was with a high percentage filled with words, Gareki couldn't bring himself to say, maybe some of guilt, maybe some of friendship- and maybe even some of love.

The captain felt himself waiting patiently for Yogi to open his eyes and to find out what the letter was about.

He turned around, letting his gaze wander a last time over the tranquil scene in the middle of the room. Gareki carefully held Yogi's hand, afraid to lose him, sleeping with his head bedded on the mattress. Tired from the hours and hours he had spent waiting right there. Hirato smiled at them and closed the door silently.

Like I wrote on Tumblr, it's not as Halloween-y as I wanted it to be, but... I'm never really happy with my stories after all.

Reviews are greatly appreciated, on every night and day time (my mobile has the sound turned off and all), they make my day quite often.

Is it as bad as I think? It's not even spell checked and all...

Happy Halloween sweethearts!

Sincerely, Mal (hoping that you all had plenty of sweets!)