𝔇𝔞𝔱𝔢 𝔭𝔲𝔟𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔥𝔢𝔡: September 29, 2019

𝔚𝔬𝔯𝔡 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱: 9626

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𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐏 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑 𝐓 𝐖 𝐄 𝐋 𝐕 𝐄
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After Minnie bid goodbye to her fathers, her, Jungkook and Taehyung leave the house and make their way to the school's Halloween party, but just as they are heading there, there is a sudden change of plans after Minnie and Jungkook had finally recieved a text from one of their friends asking them to meet up at the Halloween carnival that was in town. So the three turn around and begin heading towards the fair grounds instead.

***

Previously drawn out by passing-by vehicles and giggling trick-or-treaters, an eerie-sounding song has begun to break its way through the noise of the busy street -- becoming more and more apparent the closer they got to their destination.

"Look! We're getting closer," Minnie says excitedly, pointing up at the purple and green beams of light that she spots shining through the thick, grey mist hovering over the town. She wraps her arms tighter around Jungkook's.

Jungkook lets out a small grunt as Minnie yanks him forwards and she - rather abruptly - begins to tug him along. "Slow down! You're gonna make me trip and land on my face!" He shouts out as he helplessly gets dragged alongside her - holding tightly onto his mask. However - much to his dismay - his stubborn friend pays no attention and continues on her way.

Meanwhile, Taehyung is quickly, and silently, following Jungkook's footsteps - holding tightly onto the younger's fluffy, black bunny tail that was stitched onto to the backside of his cloak, as to make sure he wouldn't be left behind.

. . .

After they come running up to the carnival's entrance, the three stop in front of a small, run-down ticket booth that is sitting beside the carnival's entrance gate. It seems to be painted red, but the dirt - that was caked in every crevice and groove in the wood - made the color almost indistinguishable, therefore blending into the night's darkness. It was an eerie sight, indeed.

Minnie clears her throat, waiting for someone to open the dirty, crimson curtain that is draping over the square window, but moments are passing with no sign of any other presence. Impatient, she lifts her witch hat and starts looking around - along with the two beside her - hoping to spot a worker nearby.

"Where is everyone??" She finally asks, narrowing her eyes. "How is anyone supposed to get in if there is no one to open the gate??"

Jungkook turns back to face Minnie and he shrugs his shoulders. "Maybe they're all on a break."

"Well, I'm not gonna stand around here and wait for someone to come back. Who knows how long that will take, and my tits are gonna freeze off!!" Minnie yells out angrily, wrapping her arms around her chest to keep warm.

"Maybe we should just head back to your house..." Jungkook says uncomfortably, taking one last look around. "I don't think we're going to find anyone willing to help us..."

Minnie's eyes shifts up the fifteen foot high metal gate in front of her. When her eyes meet the top of it, she mumbles angrily, "Okay, screw this. I walked all the way here...we're climbing this bitch." She reaches down to take off her high heels. "I'm not leaving without getting a candied apple".

"Minnie..! Don't you see those gigantic spikes on the top of it?? You're gonna impale yourself and then what?? You really think you'll be able to eat a candied apple when you're dead?!?" Jungkook yells, frantically looking at Taehyung for help, but Taehyung just stands there as quietly as ever.

Minnie stops in place for a second, as if in a daze. With her shoe halfway off, she looks back up to the top of the gate. "........that's a risk I'm just going to have to take."

As Minnie was about to reach down and pull her other high heel off, a hand unexpectedly shoots out from between the crimson curtain, causing her to immediately drop her high heel and let out a blood-curdling scream, along with Jungkook. He did not see the hand, but her scream alone gave him a mini heart attack - though Taehyung on the other hand, he isn't taken aback. He stands there, looking confused more so than anything.

"Tickets, please." A male's muffled voice says coming from behind the curtain, of which was still closed - his arm still outstretched beyond it towards them.

"What the-" After realizing there was no threat, Minnie lets go of Jungkook and angrily turns around to face the, seemingly, disembodied arm. "YOU NEARLY MADE ME PISS THE HELL OUT OF MY PANTS!" she yells.

The hand remains outstretched - palm facing upwards. "......tickets please." The man repeats, disregarding Minnie's shout.

Minnie shoots a look of anger and confusion over a Jungkook, but Jungkook merely responds with a shrug of his shoulders and a shake of his head. She looks back towards the booth. "Tickets? We don't have tickets, that's why we came up here - to buy them!" She says, annoyance lacing her voice. She crosses her arms.

"Tickets are not sold here, Miss. Tickets had to be ordered online, or over the phone during promotion."

"...WHAT?!? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! NO ONE TOLD US THAT!"

"Do you have tickets or not, Miss?"

"OF COURSE NOT! WHY WOULD I BE STANDING HERE ARGUING WITH YOU IF I-"

Before Minnie was able to finish her sentence, the man rudely interrupts, "No tickets, no entry" and then proceeds to pulling his hand back inside; the curtains closes completely once his hand disappears behind it.

The three stand there, staring at the booth - they blink twice, and then look over at each other as if to say "what the hell was that about?"

"What kind of bullshit...." Minnie cuts her sentence short with an annoyed groan, then leans down to put her high heels back on. "This suucks. We walked allll the way here just to be turned away by a ticketless ticket taker!"

"W-well.........he is just the t-t-taker after all...n-n-not a t-ticket giver.." Taehyung says, earning a sarcastic laugh from Minnie.

"So you went from being a mute to a jokester now, I see.." Minnie says, rolling her eyes, and Jungkook lifts his hand up to his mouth - trying to silent his soft, quiet giggle.

"Good one..." Jungkook whispers, leaning over to Taehyung's ear.

"G-good one what..?" Taehyung asks with a blank look on his face.

"......nevermind." Jungkook lets out a sigh. "Well, I guess we should all just head back to your house, Minnie...it doesn't look like we're going to be getting in any time soon. Maybe we can just watch a movie and eat some cookies or something?"

"I wanted to go through The Mad Hatter's haunted house though, it looks so creepy and cool..." Minnie pouts, pointing just beyond the gate towards it. "And what about the others? They're waiting for us in there...they're going to have all the fun without us.."

"Don't worry. It'll be here next year." Jungkook says, giving Minnie a consoling rub on the back.

"That's not going to help me now..." Minnie says, her head facing down with tears just nearly forming in her eyes. She slumps her back and starts walking home.

"It's okay. She'll get over it soon," Jungkook says, looking towards Taehyung. He tilts his head towards Minnie's direction. "Let's go, Taehyung." He says, and Taehyung nods his head - not hesitating to take his place next to Jungkook as the two began to follow behind the disappointed soul.

. . .

It is quiet as the magician, the witch, and the bunny retrace their steps back to Minnie's house, which is odd, considering how busy the street was just a few minutes prior, but the three didn't really pay attention to that -instead thinking about the unfortunate circumstances that had just taken place...Well, Jungkook and Minnie were anyways. Taehyung, on the other hand, has been lost in lala land for the past couple of minutes after taking a quick glance at Jungkook. He had found himself immediately drawn and isn't able to take his eyes away from the 17 year old, or even think of anything other than how delectable his glossy lips looks glistening under the moonlight, and how beautiful his costume's jet black material looks against his fair complexion.

Not noticing Taehyung's eyes burning a hole into the side of his face, Jungkook's eyes remain forward, and he puts his hands into his giant pockets- letting out a small sigh.

"....i-is everyth-th-thing ok..?" Taehyung asks, still not breaking his gaze away from the bunny.

"Hm?" Jungkook glances over at Taehyung. He forces a smile. "Oh yeah, I'm ok Taehyung. Why do you ask?"

"Oh....it's jus-s-st 'c-cause you look a lit-t-tle bit s-sad..."

Minnie looks over her shoulder towards Jungkook who is just a few feet behind. "Yeah...he's right, Jungkook - and now that I think about it, you have been acting kind of strange ever since we left the house." she says, cocking her head sideways. "What's going on?"

Jungkook shifts his focus back over to Minnie, then shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head - trying to act oblivious to their suspicions. "Nothing's going on guys. I'm just being myself."

"I mean, I know you're not the most lively of people...to put it as nicely as I can..." She mumbles, "but you're being even more quiet than usual."

"Hey, are you calling me boring??" Jungkook asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Nooo.." Minnie says while looking everywhere but in Jungkook's direction. "Don't change the subject and answer our question. Something's up, and we know it." She stops in the middle of the sidewalk, then outstretches her arms to her sides; preventing Jungkook from passing by.

Jungkook and Taehyung (who was practically glued to Jungkook's side) stop abruptly in front of the shorter one. They both look down at her.

"I don't even know what you're talking about. I'm perfectly fine, now let's just go before it gets even colder." Jungkook says, then attempts to push past her, but she remains her stubborn self and just wraps her arms around him.

With her face squished against his chest, Minnie gives Jungkook a tight squeeze. "There. You're warm now...now tell us what is bothering you. Please." She looks up at him with puppy dog eyes, her lower lip pouted out into a frown. "We're here for you. Right, Mr. Meaniepants?" She glances over at Taehyung for support.

Jungkook let out a heavy sigh and then forces another gentle smile. He lifts his hand up and pats the shorter one's head. "It's okay, Minnie. I promise...nothing is wrong. If anything, I'm just sort of bummed that we couldn't get into the carnival, you know?"

"You are?" Minnie asks with a cocked head. "But, you're the one who kept trying to convince us not to come on our way here."

Jungkook was silent for a few moments, trying to think of something before he continues his 'explanation', "..........well, I was thinking about it on our walk over and...it did seem kind of fun. I've never been to a carnival before, so I guess I kind of got excited when I saw the big ferris wheel and all the lights and stuff." He says. "....and not to mention the food smelled great."

"Aww Jungkooookie..." Minnie frowns. "Stupid ass ticket taker just had to ruin everything...."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it." Jungkook says, his smile remaining. He puts his hands on the sides of her arms and gently walks her a couple feet back, then returns to his spot. "There is always next year, like I said."

"It's just not right that we were treated that way...I swear...I'm gonna make his life a living hell next year." Minnie groans and rotates around to start heading back to her house. "I'm gonna shove those tickets so far down his throat..."

. . .

As Minnie was rambling on, the two boys began to - silently - follow behind her, but as they were walking, Taehyung couldn't help but to notice the slump of Jungkook's head once more, and the return of a saddened, almost worried look on his face as he looks down at his wristwatch...so he stops abruptly in his tracks.

Mere seconds after, Jungkook notices the lack of presence beside him and looks over his shoulder towards Taehyung, who was standing there in the middle of the side walk with both of his arms dropped to his sides - a completely blank look on his face as he stares straight ahead. "Taehyung? What's wrong?" He asks.

Taehyung blinks a few times before looking around his surroundings. He seems a bit dazed at first, but as soon as his eyes land on Jungkook, his demeanor immediately changes; a small smirk creeping over his lips, his eyebrow lifting in interest...even his posture straightens out a bit more than before.

"Hmm-hmm why, hello there cutie....I was hoping I'd see you again before the night ended.." He mumbles to himself.

"Pardon me?" Jungkook says, turning his ear towards him a bit to insinuate he couldn't quite make out what was said.

Taehyung shakes his head. "Nevermind me." He says. "I'm just talking to myself, is all.." Taking his spot next to the younger once more, He walks back up to Jungkook and wraps his arm around him, turning him back around to face the opposite way. Meanwhile, Minnie is far ahead of them now, still mumbling to herself.

Jungkook looks down at Taehyung's arm that was draping around his shoulder, then back up to his face. Taehyung still has a smile on his face; it's soft, but there's something about it that gives Jungkook a creepy feeling in his stomach.

"So, where are we headed?" Taehyung asks.

Jungkook lowers his eyebrows in confusion; caught off guard by both the question, as well as his lack of stutter. "Were you not listening to what we were saying earlier?"

"I apologize. W-- I was a little..." Taehyung's gaze subconsiously drifts down, landing on Jungkook's slightly-parted lips. "...distracted."

Out of nowhere, Jungkook began feeling these sudden, intimidating vibes emitting from the older - and this causes him to stumble his words, "O-oh, um...i-it's OK." He says. "We were just... - he looks up towards Minnie - Minnie...where are we going again..?" He calls out, having somehow lost his train of thought.

Minnie looks over her shoulder towards the two. "My house, duh." She replies sassily. "Are you two losing your minds already?"

"Your house? But why? I thought were going to the party.....please don't tell me I missed that.." Taehyung mumbles the last part of the sentence.

"What...? Don't you remember, Taehyung..?" Jungkook asks, his eyebrows pulled inwards; giving him a concerned look on his face. "The guy wouldn't let us into the carnival because we didn't have any tickets."

"Of course I remember....the carnival..." Taehyung says, clearning his throat. "Wait, so..that's why we're not going to the carnival? Because we don't have tickets?" He says and Jungkook nods.

"Well...why don't we just go sort this out, shall we?"

"What do you mean?" Jungkook asks, looking over at him. By this point, Minnie's interest was peeked and she turns around to face them.

"Just wait and see." Taehyung says, holding his hand out. "Lead the way."

***

After returning to the carnival's entrance, Taehyung instructs the two of them to stand nearby and wait for him on the sidewalk, so they did. Jungkook and Minnie both look over at each other, holding onto themselves for warmth. They shrug their shoulders, then watch as Taehyung walks up to the booth.

Taehyung glances over his shoulder and gives Jungkook a wink, earning a soft blush from the younger - the action having gone completely unnoticed by Minnie. After a shy Jungkook had looked away from him, Taehyung redirects his focus onto booth's window in front of him. He takes in a deep breath, composing himself before grabbing ahold of each side of the curtain. He rips them open and sticks his head inside of it.

The first thing he sees when he looks inside is a scrawny looking young man sitting alone atop of a flimsy looking bar stool. He had been looking down at his phone, but his eyes immediately shoot up after seeing Taehyung's head pop through. The startled male gasps.

"HEY!" He nearly drops his phone, but catches it in between his legs. "W-what are you doing in here?! You're not allowed to see inside here! Get out!"

"I heard you were refusing to give my friends a ticket." Taehyung says.

"What..? Oh, it's you...you were with that annoying girl, weren't you?" The male stubbornly crosses his arms. "Well, it was a waste of time coming back, because you're not convincing me either. I don't sell tickets, got that?? Now, get. Out. Now."

Taehyung offers out the money that Minnie had given him, just a few moments prior before speaking with the man. "I'm sure this is more than tonight's paycheck for you. So how's about you just let us in."

"I don't take bribes, I'm a man of dignity. Now go." The man says.

"Stubborn, you are.." Taehyung mutters under his breath. Ignoring the male's command, Taehyung's eyes drift down after spotting something that caught his attention; a small, red button placed on the wall Of the booth beside them. "What's that?" He asks, and the male looks over at what he was reffering to.

"THAT right there is reserved only for people with tickets." He replies.

"...HEY STOP!" The male says after Taehyung reaches inside the booth and attemps to push the button, but before he was able to, the male puts his hand over it- blocking his hand from doing so.

"I'd advise you move your hand." Taehyung says.

"And I'd advise you to turn around and go right back out they way you came from!" The male says, still remaining as stubborn as ever with his hand still covering the button.

"I'm waarning youuu. You don't want to make me do something you'll regret." Taehyung says, staring straight into the male's narrowed eyes.

"That's it, if you're not gonna leave on your own..." The male began tapping on phone's screen, then starts to lift it up. "...then I'm just gonna have to make you...or should I say, the police will."

Before the male was even able to put the phone to his ear, Taehyung's hand darts forward and snatches it right out of his hand. The male's eyes widen as he watches his phone being effortlessly snapped in half by the other. His eyes follow the broken pieces of his phone that fall to the floor.

A smirk starts to creep over Taehyung's lips as he watches the male stare down at his phone in complete shock, but he manages to hold it back- not wanting to break his dead-serious composure.

"Now, with that out of the way...If you don't move your hand...that phone won't be the only thing that is going to be snapped in half tonight." He warn as he, menacingly, glides his finger across the male's wrist.

~

Minnie glances over at Jungkook and crosses her arms. "What is he even doing?? What's taking him so long??"

Jungkook shrugs his shoulders and he leans forward a bit. He cups his hand around his ear and narrows his eyes- trying to focus in on their conversation. But it was too muffled, he can't understand a word.

~

The male, now visibly shaking, looks up at Taehyung. "W-why don't you just leave me alone?? I'm just trying to do my job.."

"The faster you press that button, the faster you'll get rid of me." Taehyung says, and reaches out towards the male.

The male let out a loud gasp and he pinches his eyes shut tightly after Taehyung grabs onto his hand. He held his breath, expecting to feel excrutiating pain at any moment, but much to his surprise (and slight relief), instead, he feels long, slim fingers interlacing with his.

A couple seconds later, the male opens one of his eyes ever so slightly and peeks down at their hands. In silent shock, he opens up his other eye and peeks up at Taehyung. His hand was limp, and the only thing that was keeping it from falling was Taehyung holding it up; his other hand is still shakily positioned over the button.

Taehyung cocks his head and raises an eyebrow at the frightened one. He gently caresses the side of his thumb with his. "Or is it that....you don't want to get rid of me?"

"W-what..??" The male asks, his eyebrows pulling inwards in worry.

"It's okay...I get it. Intimidation turns you on." His composure finally breaks, and the eerie smirk - that was just dying to come out - manages to escape; creeping over his lips. "I don't judge.....but I'm sorry to tell you, I have my eyes on someone else. So, this isn't just some type of foreplay." He tightens his grip around the male's hand, earning a small a yelp from him. "And I can assure you; my threats are not just some joke. I will break your wrist...just as I did to your phone. And well...without your wrist...what's going to help you out while you're fantasing about our little interaction when you're lying in bed tonight? I certainly won't be...so I would suggest you let me in. Or you're going to have one lonely night."

"W-what are you...." The male tries finding the right words, but Taehyung's mindgames had done it's job; he was speechless "...you're...you're a freaking weirdo! J-just get out!" He yanks his hand away from Taehyung and slams the button with his other.

The sound of metal rubbing together could be heard coming from outside the booth, along with Minnie's high-pitched screech of excitement. "TAEHYUNG! IT'S OPEN!" She yells.

Satisfied, Taehyung smiles. "Thank you very much..." He says.

As Taehyung was getting ready to exit the booth, he stops and glances back over at the male, who was just sitting there, holding his hand against his chest. "Have fun thinking about me tonight..." He winks before he disappears behind the curtains.

The shaken male sits there quietly, trying to process the situation that had just enfolded before him. His gaze drops down to his hand and he lets out heavy sigh of relief upon seeing it was still in one piece. His hand retreats to his chest, and he holds it closely to himself; caressing it softly.

-

After fixing his messy, fly away hair, Taehyung glances over to see Jungkook and Minnie standing in the - now opened - gate, waving him over.

As Taehyung makes his way over, a huge smile came over Minnie's face. "You did it!!" She runs over to him and - without warning - throws her arms around him; causing the older to freeze up.

Taehyung looks down at the joyful girl that was latching onto him, and his nose wrinkles up in slight disgust. "Yes...I did." He reaches around himself and unhooks Minnie's arms from around his waist and takes a couple steps back away from her. He then smoothes out the front of his costume.

Too ecstatic to even be the slightest bit offended by Taehyung's action, Minnie's smile remains. "So he accepted the cash?!!"

Taehyung reaches down into his pocket and pulls out the wad of cash that Minnie had given to him earlier. Holding onto the corner of it, he offers it out and drops it into Minnie's outstretched hand. He wipes his hand over his pants.

"Oh?" Minnie looks down at the money with a surprised, but confused look on her face. "He didn't want it?" She asks.

"I suppose not." He replies. Who would after it's been in between your nasty-

"Wow, how did you do it th-" Jungkook goes to ask, but he was interrupted.

"Cool!" With no more questions, Minnie happily shoves the money back into her bra. "That means more food money for us!" She flips around and grabs onto Jungkook's hand. "Come on, Kookie! Let's go and get a candied apple!" She says, and Jungkook lets out a little grunt as he is yanked.

"Gee, you're welcome.." Taehyung mumbles to himself with a roll of his eyes. He sticks his hands into his pockets and picks up his pace as he heads to catch up with the other two.

***

"Mmmm! These are soo good!" Minnie says with a cheek full of candied apple. "Don't you think so too, Jungkookie???"

"Mhmm!" Jungkook nods his head happily- his mouth, too, filled with the sweets.

Sickened by Minnie's obnoxiously loud chewing, Taehyung shudders and redirects his focus onto Jungkook, who he was sitting across from- the digusted look on his face instantly disappearing the moment his eyes land on the younger. He cocks his head to the side and watches in awe as the younger takes quiet little bites off of his apple; completely opposite to that of the ravenous Minnie beside him.

"HEY!"

Minnie and Jungkook both look over after hearing Yoongi's voice calling out to them.

"Hey!!" They both say, waving him over.

"Finally you guys make it. Took you a century." Yoongi says as he was walking over - alongside him, Bobby, Jinhwan, Yeri and a couple of their other friends. They stop in front of the picnic table that the three were seated at - their eyes immediately drawn to the unfamiliar Taehyung.

"Well, some douchebag at the ticket booth was giving us a difficult time....why didn't you tell us that they didn't sell tickets in person!" Minnie says.

"I assumed you had bought them already...." Yoongi says, then nods his head towards Taehyung. "So uh...who's this guy?"

"He is our savior! He's the one who was able to get us in tonight." Minnie says, patting Taehyung harshly on his shoulder.

"His name is Taehyung." Jungkook says. "He's new at our school."

"Huh...that's weird, usually word would go around if there was a new student, but I didn't hear anything about one.." Yoongi says, the others nodding in agreement.

"It was kind of...uh...last minute.." Taehyung says, refusing to make eye contact with any of the teens.

"Well...either way, nice to meet you." Yoongi says, then introduces himself and the others.

Taehyung raises his eyebrows, not particularly interested in any of them - being far more interested in Jungkook's hand that was laying close to his atop of table.

"How did you guys meet?" Yoongi asks, much to Taehyung's dismay. Being questioned always made him uneasy, in fear of saying the wrong thing, but luckily, Jungkook has sensed his awkwardness and he took over.

"Taehyung and I met in.." He stops, not wanting to give away the real reason how they had met. "The hallway." He says, and Taehyung nods, going along with it. "I helped him find a school uniform."

"Jungkookie, always lending a helpful hand." Minnie says with a smile on her face.

"I just do what I would hope others would do for me." Jungkook says, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hey, what's your schedule?" Bobby asks, looking over at Taehyung.

"I don't know, how am I supposed to remember?" Taehyung says, clearing his throat.

"Didn't they give you a login for the school's website? Your schedule is uploaded online."

Annoyed, Taehyung stands up from the table and he puts his hand out. "We're at a carnival, why are we talking about this? Lets just drop the school stuff and do what we came here to do...we can get to know each other later...So...where should we go first?"

"Geez...he's real friendly.." Yoongi says with sarcastic tone in Jinhwan's ear, earning a snicker from the other.

"OO! OO! The haunted house!!" Minnie says, jumping up from the table, nearly dropping her half-eaten apple as she did so.

"Ooo yeah! I heard someone peed their pants while going through it! It oughta be really scary." Yeri says with a giggle, then walks over to Minnie, interlacing her arm with hers.

After the girls went off a little bit ahead in their own groups, the guys followed not too far behind on their way to the haunted house.

***

"Passes please."

"Oh no....not this again.." Minnie says with a whiny voice. "We don't have passes!"

"Sorry, but...you have to have a ride pass to get through. I'm sorry." He says.

"Now what?" Yeri says, looking over at the three who did not buy passes. "I don't want to go in without Minnie...who else will punch the monsters in the face for me..?"

"Ugh...you guys didn't buy a ride pass OR the admission ticket?? What the hell!" Bobby says.

"No one told us! I just barely heard about it tonight!"

"EVERYONE was talking about it!"

"Minnie is always too busy talking herself that she probably didn't hear anyone else." Yoongi says with a roll of his eyes.

"This isn't my fault! You guys were completely ignoring my messages lately! I-"

As Minnie was Desperately defending herself, Taehyung squints his eyes and he gets onto the tips of his toes. Peering over the top of the employee who was still standing there, taking people's passes, he says, "Hmm...is that a naked woman over there?"

The employee widens his eyes and he turns his head with wicked speed. "Where??" He says, his eyes frantically scouring the carnival.

"Over there...on top of the ferris wheel." Taehyung says, pointing in the direction of the ride. Meanwhile, while the employee's head was turned away, Taehyung motions for the others to hurry through the gate.

.....

"What are you talking about... - he starts to turn his head back into the direction of Taehyung - I don't see a- hey...!"

After realizing that the teen had pulled a fast one over on him and was no longer there, the employee darts through the gate in hopes of catching him in time.

...

As he steps into the haunted house, he hears giggling and immediately spots the group of friends running through the long corridor. "Hey!!" He shouts out, trying to stop them, but just as he suspects they would, they ignore him and continue running.

"You're not gonna get away with this, you brats!" He calls out, but the only response he receives was Minnie's middle finger.

Jungkook looks over his shoulder as they were turning the corner. He spots the worker standing there, looking visibly stressed as he runs his hand through his hair. He feels guilty for running, and even starts to slow down a little bit, but he sees that the others aren't about to stop and - after a internal fight with himself - just decides to keep running along with them.

I hope he doesn't get into trouble because of us.. Jungkook thinks.

. . .

After several more seconds of running, the group comes to a complete halt after reaching a closed door at the end of the hallway. They all start to eye each other for a few silent moments, hoping someone would do the honors by opening the door, but no one steps up initially.

Bobby clears his throat. "So um...ladies first.." He says while looking over at the 3 girls that were huddling together. He holds his hand out to the door.

The three girls look over at each other then laugh. "Ha! Screw that! We're not stupid." Minnie says. "You open it, tough guy."

Bobby looks over at Jinhwan, rubbing the nape of his neck. "...you're probably tougher than me...so you can go first."

"Um...have you seen Jungkook's muscles? He's no doubt the toughest one out of all of us..." Jinhwan says, and all eyes land on Jungkook.

Jungkook parts his mouth to speak, but was immediately interrupted by Taehyung. "One's looks doesn't always determine how tough they are." Taehyung says, then points up at his head. "It's all in the mind."

"Jungkookie is as soft as a marshmallow. He wouldn't even hurt a fly and is scared of his own shadow." Minnie says, then looks over at Jungkook. "Sorry, Jungkookie...but yeah, Taehyung is right. I mean, even I don't want to open that door, and well...everyone knows I'm tougher than you."

Jungkook goes to speak again, but is interrupted a second time. "Don't worry, bunny boy..." Taehyung reaches over to pat Jungkook's stomach. "I'll protect you."

Bunny boy? Jungkook looks down at Taehyung's hand that was still on his stomach, even after he had finished speaking; the patting having turned into more of a rub now. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, he peeks over at Taehyung, who's eyes were locked onto his abdomen area.

Taehyung nibbles on his lower lip as his hand slowly glides over Jungkook's stomach, not-so-subtly feeling his abs. He looks up and makes eye contact with the younger as he - hesitantly - pulls his hand away. He gives a smile before turning away. "Step aside, children." Taehyung says, shooing everyone out of his path and he opens the door leading into the next room.

The first thing he is greeted with was the color of blood red painted walls and a thick mist that made it nearly impossible to see the floor underneath them. He motions the others in after he takes the first step inside, and hesitantly they follow with him leading the way. As they cautiously make their way through the thin hallway, the sounds of other carnival-goers muffled screams are the only thing that can be heard, well, other than the scaredy teens' heavy breath.

***

While the others were too busy screaming over the tiniest of noises and the weakest of jumpscares, Taehyung leans over close to Jungkook's ear. "J-J-Jungkook..?" He says, and Jungkook looks over at him.

"Yes?" He whispers back.

"A-are you m-m-mad at me..?"

"Why would I be mad at you Taehyung?"

"I dunno...you j-j-just have b-b-been quiet for awhile n-now.."

"No, Taehyung...I'm not mad at you." Jungkook lets out a soft sigh.

Taehyung looks away from Jungkook and reaches up to his ear. He begins massaging it. "Y-You are a-aren't you...I'm s-s-sorry...I always f-find a way t-to ups-set p-p-people.."

"No, it's not you, Taehyung. It's me...I'm mad at myself, ok? I'm sorry I haven't been talking to you, I just have a lot of things on my mind right now."

Taehyung peeks back over to Jungkook. "Like what-t-t?"

"I don't want to bore you with my troubles.."

"You d-d-don't bore me a-t-t all...in f-fact, you really int-t-terest me..." Taehyung says, earning a small smile from the younger.

"You interest me too," Jungkook says with a slight chuckle, then falls silent again for a few moments before admitting, "I just...I wish I wasn't such a weakling, is all..."

"Weak-kling..?"

Jungkook nods.

"B-But.......you s-s-saved me t-t-today...your room-m-mate was g-gonna f-f-feed my butt t-t-to his dog.." Taehyung says, and Jungkook sheepishly glances over at him. "You're l-like a s-s-superhero..." He finishes.

Jungkook lifts his hand up and covers his mouth, muffling a small snort. "You're so sweet, Taehyung but...I'm no superhero...." His eyes shift towards the ground.

"Well, t-to me you are...and I would l-like to be yours s-s-someday t-too.." Taehyung says, looking at the ground.

"You would..?" Jungkook asks, and Taehyung nods.

Jungkook stares at the side of Taehyung's face for a couple seconds as the both of them continue to walk down the dark corridor. Jungkook smiles to himself and offers his hand out.

Taehyung looks over at the younger's hand, and then up to his eyes. "How about instead of holding onto my tail, you hold onto my hand instead?" Jungkook says with a small chuckle.

Taehyung quickly lets go of Jungkook's bunny tail- a light pink blush creeping over his cheeks. He goes to grab his hand, but stops before doing so. "A-are....are you s-s-sure..?" He asks, His hand hovering just above Jungkook's.

Jungkook nods with a gentle smile, offering his hand out more. "This way, we won't lose each other."

Taehyung looks down at Jungkook's hand for a second time, his eyes filled with excitement. The younger can almost see a smile begin to form on his face as his hand lowers down onto his, but just as their hands were about to make contact, Minnie lets out a loud scream, distracting them.

As they both look up to see what had happened, an arm wraps around Jungkook's chest, and a hand covers his mouth. And before he could even comprehend what was going on, or attempt to scream, he was yanked swiftly into the shadows.

. . .

"HOLY SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS! DID YOU SEE THAT?" Minnie shouts, cowering behind Jinhwan.

"I didn't see anything." Jinhwan says, followed by Bobby saying, "Neither did I. You must be going crazy, girl. Well...crazier.."

"Oh, whoopsie it was just Bobby's shadow haha." Minnie said, pointing over at his shadow on the wall.

"Are you kidding me?? You almost gave me damn heart attack!"

Taehyung drones out the others' conversation and looks back over to his left, where Jungkook had been previously standing. He goes to grab onto the younger's hand again, but he stops in place upon seeing he had mysteriously vanished.

He looks around. "....J-Jungkook..?"

Taehyung's heart drops into his stomach and he spins around, looking in every direction in hopes of spotting the bunny, but much to his fear, he sees nothing but darkness and Halloween props.

"G-Guys..?" He says, turning back to face the others.

The others look over their shoulder at him. "What is it, mr. meaniepants?" Minnie says. "Huh, And where's Jungkook..??"

"I d-don't know...he...he j-just...j-j-just disapp-peared.."

"What are you talking about? People don't just disappear Taehyung."

"H-he was j-just here a s-s-second ago.."

"Great. I put faith into you that you would keep an eye on him, and you couldn't even do that." Yoongi says with a roll of his eyes. "I should have been back there with him instead. But of course, you just had to chicken out and hide behind us. Some tough guy you are."

"Calm down. Don't panic." Yeri says with her hands held out in front of her. "I'm sure he just stepped aside to see another room or something."

Taehyung lifts his hands up and runs his fingers through his hair. He starts to pull on his strands as he lowers himself onto the ground. He covers his face and pulls his knees up to his chest. "I-I'm s-s-sorry...I-I...I s-shouldn't h-have l-l-looked away.."

"Yeah, you should be sorry." Yoongi says, crossing his arms.

Minnie smacks Yoongi over the back of the head, earning a wince from the older. "Hey! Knock if off - he's sensitive!" Minnie quickly walks over to the distressed one, her heels clicking on the floor the entire way to him. "It's ok, Taehyung." She leans down next to him. "I'm sure he is fine. It's dark - he probably just took a wrong turn or something. Or like Yeri said- just got side tracked and saw something in another room that caught his attention. We'll find him."

"Yeah, it's not that big of a deal, dude. He can't be that far." Bobby says.

"N-no...h-he was...was-s-s.." Taehyung digs his nails into his skin and lets out a groan, not able to finish his sentence. Meanwhile, Minnie looks over at the others for help, who were just standing there rubbing their arms and looking over at each other, clueless.

"What do I do??" Minnie mouths to them, but they shrug their shoulders.

"Geez, dramatic much..?" Bobby whispers over to Jinhwan who was standing next to him, referring to Taehyung who has started to rock in place.

-

"Dang it, Jackson! This is the second time you have done this!" A male - who was dressed in a skeleton costume - whisper-yells as he hovers over a passed out Jungkook, Who was laying motionless on the ground.

A guy with a matching skeleton costume by the name of Jackson was, too, hovering over Jungkook- rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess I underestimated my strong-ness.."

"Now what are we gonna do??" The other male says, crossing his arms. "We can't just leave him here."

"Why not?" Jackson asks.

"Because, idiot! He could have a concussion or something!"

"Well...then if you wanna drag him out of here, then by all means- go ahead." Jackson says while holding his hand out towards the black curtain that they had yanked Jungkook through, just a few moments prior. "But, count me out. I'm not about to get sued and forced to pay for medical bills."

"Hey! You can't put this all on me! You're the one who dragged him in! And besides, you're not even allowed to bring the carnival goers back here!"

"Yeah, well...you're a bystander! You could have stopped me! So don't think you'd get off scott free!"

The taller male looks back down at Jungkook laying on the ground, then gives him a gentle nudge with his foot. "Shoot..!" He says.

"He's out cold..." Jackson says. "Let's just get out of here before he wakes up."

"Ugh......fine.." The other says. "Where do you wanna go next?"

Jackson listens closely and hears the group's muffled voices still in the nearby area. "Wanna go scare the piss out of 'em?"

"I guess." He checks his watch. "My shift ends in twenty minutes- might as well have a little more fun before the night is over."

"Right on!" Jackson says, bumping the other's fist.

The two skeletons grab onto their two nearby pitchforks -that were propped up against the wall - and dart out of the curtains.

~

As Minnie was trying to console the distraught Taehyung, the group look up after hearing rapid footsteps coming up the near pitch-black corridor. At first they didn't see what it was and stood there for a couple of moments, but once they saw the skeletons' red glowing eyes and the outline of their pitchforks made out of bones, their eyes widen and they let out a scream.

"Screw finding Jungkook- EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!" Bobby yells, and starts darting in the opposite direction, quickly followed by the others; Minnie, and the other girls screaming at the top of their lungs.

Taehyung lifts his head up out of his hands just as the two skeletons dart past him; him having gone completely unnoticed by them. He watches in awe as the others flee down the hall for their lives.

~

Jungkook lays there on his back, slowly opening his eyes as he finally comes to. Confused, he looks around the dimly lit room as his eyes try and focus themselves and adjust to the different lighting.

He starts to lift up, but he winces and grabs onto his forehead after feeling a sharp pain shooting through his brain. As he props himself up onto his elbow, his hand drifts to the back of his head, where it feels sore and almost bruised. "Ow..." He mumbles to himself.

"T-Taehyung..?" Jungkook says out loud, but he twists around and searches the room, only to see no sign of him, nor anyones else with him.

He finds the strength to pull himself up onto his feet, but he feels a bit dizzy. He figures he must have slipped and fell after being dragged in...but by what? He asks himself.

But now is no time for questions; Jungkook simply figures it had to have just been apart of the haunted house experience. So, he proceeds to smooth out his costume and fly-away hair. He starts to walk in the direction of the door that he sees at the very end of the room- completely missing the black-out curtains just behind him.

. . .

After the group disappeared behind a corner, as well as the maniacally laughing skeletons, Taehyung scrambles onto his feet and looks around. Instead of following the others, he reverts backwards into the hall, and starts examining the walls and props closely for anything that looks out of place. Unlike the others, he wasn't about to leave Jungkook behind.

After seeing nothing that stuck out, he looks down at the floor, trying to see if there was some sort of hidden trap door that Jungkook could have possibly fallen through, but there was nothing.

Taehyung stands there for awhile, completely perplexed. He scratches the back of his head, and takes one more look around the room. And that's when he spots some very-well-hidden curtains off to the side; hidden in the shadows of two giant bookcases.

~

Jungkook narrows his eyes and he brings his hand up like a visor to protect them from the sudden brightness of the next room he walks into.

This room is far different than the others; the walls were painted a pure white and almost bare, with no Halloween decorations. Unlike the rest of the haunted house, this room was straight forward with no Halloween props; blinding bright lights, and no ambient music to set the mood. The only thing notable about this room was the fact that we're were white doors on either side of it; probably 20 something of them (10 on each side.) Jungkook figures this was probably a way for the employees to get around to specific parts of the haunted house, fast and easy. It probably wasn't meant to be found by haunted house goers- but then again, the door wasn't hidden very well, if that were the case.

He walks up to one of the doors and look over at small plaque that was situated next to it in the wall. He leans forwards and reads the small print engraved on it. There were some words he didn't understand, but thankfully there was a translation underneath;

Door #12 .... "Hall of Fools"

He reaches for the door knob, and opens it hesitantly. The first thing he was greeted with is a room with rainbow colored walls; though it wasn't as bright as one might think, as the walls were covered in a thin layer of (what looked to be) black-ish dirt- dulling down the hues. Jungkook squeezes past a large prop of a jester that was not-so-coincidentally placed in front of the door, trying not to knock it over as he did so.

~

"Jungk-kook..?" Taehyung says, looking around the room the younger had just been previously in. "Are you i-in here..?"

After a couple seconds of no response, Taehyung spots the door at the far end of the room- the same one Jungkook had went through. He walks over to it, and turns the doorknob.

Cautious, Taehyung peeks through the crack of the door before walking inside. He stands there for a few moments in the doorway, overwhelmed by the abundance of doors, and not to mention the bright lights. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, planning his course of action before taking another step.

. . .

After a couple of moments, Taehyung's eyes open back up and he begins to walk.

The amount of different options were overwhelming to him, and he felt his anxiety start to creep back up. He passes by door #1, then #2, then #3 and continues to go down the line of them...just waiting until one of them calls out to him; figuring that listening to his gut instinct would probably be his best bet in finding the younger.

. . .

As he was walking, Taehyung makes an abrupt stop, and looks over to his right.

Door #13....something about it was drawing him in.

He turns his body to face the door, and walks up to it a couple seconds later. As he was reaching for the knob, a plaque next to it caught his eye. It had the same language as the plaque Jungkook had read, but the translation had been rubbed off on this one.

"Domus Haec Speculis"

Though he didn't understand what the plaque read, Taehyung turns the knob without hesitation and steps inside the pitch-black room.

~

Jungkook grabs onto the wall and slowly leans to the side, peering around the corner with one eye. He tries being subtle about it, but unbeknownst to him, one of his bunny ears was poking out at least half a foot.

He swallows his saliva after seeing what resides in the room, and for a split second, he considers turning around and going right back out the way he came in. The room stretches about 100ft, which seems to be a common theme in this haunted house, (as every other room was abormally lengthy to get through.) But what made it stand out from the rest was not only the eerie silence of it- but the 20 something chairs lined up against the walls on either side of the room; each chair having clowns of various heights, colors and costumes sitting on top of them.

He blinks and stands there for a few moments, observing the clowns closely. They sat completely still; he couldn't even see their chests moving up and down, of which would indicate someone being inside the costume.

Jungkook fights internally with himself- debating on if he should just go through a different room instead, but then he looks back over at the door that was just sitting there at the end of the room. There were no obstacles, no mazes; nothing. It was a straight shot to - hopefully - the main hall...it was tempting to say the least. Next to him was another possible way he can go through, but it was an eerie hall surrounded by darkness and it looked even more intimidating than the sight before him, so he doesn't even consider it an option. Little does he know, though, just beyond the shadows is the destination he is looking for.

He takes a deep breath in, then lets it out; trying to relax himself before stepping out from behind the corner. He stands there at the end of the long, red rug that stretches across the room, looking to each of the clowns to make sure they still hadn't moved after he had exposed himself.

~

Taehyung reaches out in front of him, feeling around for obstacles That might be in his way. After the door had shut behind him, the room had - once again - become pitch black. He takes small baby steps forward, making sure to stick his feet out a little bit in front of him to make sure he wouldn't trip on anything in his path.

. . .

As he was carefully walking around the room, a string of blue-tinted lights started to turn on one by one; revealing sections of the room, one at a time. Taehyung narrows his eyes as they adjusted to the new lighting, and slowly lowers his arms down to his sides.

He stands there in silence as he stares at his own reflection in front of him, completely surrounded by mirrors.

".......ugh.." He lifts his hand up and pinches his eyes shut; his 'thoughts' suddenly getting louder than before.

What are we doing here?

I'm scared..

This is all your fault!

~

The only sound in the room is the creaking of the old hard-wood floor underneath Jungkook's feet as he makes his way to the end of the room; well, that and his shaky breathing that was only getting shakier the farther he got.

He peeks over to his left, then whips his head to the right; keeping a close eye on the clowns as he passes by. So far, he has only walked past 4 of them- he still has a long way to go. For once, he was happy that Minnie wasn't with him; otherwise she would be screaming the entire way. The side of his mouth couldn't help but to pull upwards into a slight smile as he thought about his friend.

Just stay calm. He thinks. You're almost there.

His smile fades and he holds tightly onto the material of his cloak as he continues to walk towards the door. It was so close, yet so far.

He picks up his pace.

. . .

*squeaak*

Jungkook looks over his shoulder after hearing something coming from behind him, and much to his horror, he sees a clown who's head was now turned in his direction.

He slows down a little, but continues to stare over his shoulder at it. For a second, he thought he might have been going insane.

It was always like that, Jungkook...don't be so paranoid. He thinks, and hesitantly looks back forwards, but not before taking one more glance at it.

. . .

*squeaak*

Jungkook's eyes widen, and his heart immediately drops into his stomach. He didn't even want to look back this time, but he knew he couldn't just ignored it. So reluctantly, he looks over his shoulder once again.

This time when he looks though, a second clown's head was turned towards him; a clown he knew for certain had been faced forwards the last time he looked. But even worse than that, was the first clown who had it's head turned, was now completely standing up- it's entire body faced towards him, standing in the middle of the rug.

Startled, Jungkook jumps the moment his eyes land on the standing clown. He flips around to face back towards the door. "Oh shiii-oot..!" He says with his eyebrows lowering in distress. He starts speed walking now.

As he was hurrying towards his destination, he could hear the footsteps growing louder behind him. He was half-way there, and he takes another glance behind him to see how much space there was between him and the clown, but even more to his horror- 4 of them are coming towards him now.

He starts running at full speed now, holding his cloak up - God forbid he accidentally tripped on it.

crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!

~

Taehyung was attempting to make his way through the glass maze, but he wasn't doing very well. Every time he thought he was getting somewhere, he would just find himself bumping into the glass over and over again.

He lifts his hand up and runs his hand through his hair; looking in every direction. He had remained fairly calm for the most part, but his anxiety was rapily skyrocketing now, as he couldn't even remember the way he came in from.

The disorienting reflections were starting to take it's toll on his sanity; every angle he looks in appears the exact same, and his depth perception was completely compromised. Every turn he thought was the right way would just end in a him bashing face first into the glass. A sense of hopelessness rushes over him.

. . .

*thump*

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Taehyung bounces back after hitting another mirror, and he reaches his hand up to his scrunched up nose. "Ow..." He mumbles, and his eyes drift downwards towards a red smudge on the glass.

He looks up at his reflection and sees a trickle of blood slowly dripping down to his lip, and he pulls his hand away from his nose. He stares down at it for a couple of moments and feels himself start to get dizzy. He closes his eyes, but instead of falling backwards, he stands there still, focusing on his breathing so he wouldn't pass out from the sight of his blood. But his thoughts were getting in the way of that.

Where is he?

I wanna go home to Ms. Hyerin...!

Oh my God, I'm gonna be late for Project Runway!

Everything's going to be okay. Just keep going!

. . .

Taehyung opened his eyes and he lets out a shaky breath, slowly lowering his hand down.

Don't worry- I'm here with you. We'll get through this and we'll find him...together.

Coming mere seconds away from blacking out, Taehyung feels a sudden sense of calm and slowly opens his eyes. He lowers his hand down, and wipes his hand on his pants, then turns away from the bloody mirror. Immediately, he begins heading towards the right direction, as if someone were guiding him there.

~

Every couple chairs Jungkook passed by, a clown would pop up from it's seat, causing him to let out a yelp. He was almost grabbed a couple of times, but luckily he had quick reflexes, and would dodge their incoming hands.

He started to breath heavy as he finally reached the door, and he grabs onto the handle with his shaky hand. He goes to turn it but.....an electric shock shot through his hand instead, and a sound of pre-recorded high-pitched laughter roared throughout the room.

A trap.

HIGH SCHOOL

Mr. Choi stands alone in the school's gymnasium, angrily tapping the tips of his fingers on the appetizer table he was standing next to. From a distance, he watches the students dance goofily to various iconic Halloween songs, but more intently, the door leading into the gym. He has been waiting for a certain someone - someone who had promised to be there - to walk through the door, but the minutes were ticking by, and there was still no sign of him.

Mr. Choi grits his fake-vampire teeth together. You're going to regret lying to me, Jungkook.

a/n:
I'm still on a semi-hiatus but I wanted to get this chapter out because I actually felt like writing -Sinister! so sorry for mistakes cause I was so exhausted when finishing this that I didnt really edit it =u=

as for my health for anyone who is curious, I still have no clue what the thing on my leg is. it looks like it might be getting a tad bigger or changing shape, but it doesnt look as red so I honestly do not know if that's a good or bad sign. I will just have to see in the coming weeks but for now, I feel happy and positive! I've been keeping my mind off of it and is is helping a lot ♡ thanks for all of your kind wishes in the last a/n, you guys really are Angels walking the earth!