Warnings: Paranormal activity, angst

Word Count: 10346

Authors' Note: Another really long chapter! Hopefully you enjoy it! :) And Happy Halloween!!

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Tyler's POV

My alarm played softly from my bedside table, lulling me out of the light sleep that I had been in. Sunlight was just beginning to filter through the curtains, throwing bits of light on the covers around my feet. Suppressing a groan, I rolled over and grabbed my phone from the bedside table. My shoulders dropped in relief when the alarm finally came to a stop.

I dropped my phone down onto the covers, not yet wanting to get out of bed and start the morning. Eight in the morning was much earlier than I was used to waking up, and every part of my body was screaming to stay under my warm covers and go back to bed. My eyes had just started to flutter close when I snapped them open again and pushed myself to a sitting position. There was a strict schedule that we had to follow today, and I wasn't about to let it be ruined because I wanted to stay in bed just a little longer.

My brain slowly started to wake up as I went through the motions of my morning routine. By the time that I finished brushing my teeth, the temptation to get back in bed had finally subsided. After one last glance in the mirror, I flipped off the light and shuffled my way down the hall to wake up Josh and Y/N.

I stopped outside the door and held my breath, listening carefully for any quiet conversations that I had the potential of interrupting. The only thing I could hear was Josh snoring, so I slowly pushed open the door and peeked my head inside.

My jaw dropped the second that my eyes landed on the two of them. Y/N was pressed up against Josh with their head buried in the crook of his neck, their limbs all tangled up together. They looked so content curled up next to one another that there was no way I could wake them up right now. It would have to wait until after breakfast was ready.

I quietly slipped back out of the room and shut the door behind me, my head still reeling from what I had just seen. A million questions were running through my mind as I walked into the kitchen, but I knew I would have to wait for one of them to wake up before I got any answers. For the time being, all I could do was focus on making pancakes.

The hardwood floors of the kitchen were cold under my feet as I stood over the counter, mixing up pancake batter. It was a recipe Y/N had taught me, way back when we had just become friends and they still lived in Cleveland. They had stayed over one night after a show and the next morning we made pancakes together and had our first real bonding experience. I had been using the recipe ever since, though it was mostly reserved for special occasions like today.

The pan was just beginning to heat up when a door in the hallway creaked. I paused and listened, trying to determine if it was someone waking up or someone breaking into the house. When Josh shuffled into the kitchen a few minutes later with hair sticking out at all angles and a shirt that hadn't been on him ten minutes ago, I relaxed and went back to doing what I previously had been.

"Good morning," I smiled, pouring the first of many pancakes into the pan.

"Happy Halloween," he said as he took a seat in one of the stools.

"How are you feeling this morning?"

"Better than I thought I would," he laughed.

"Did you sleep well last night?" I was barely able to contain my knowing smile.

"Yeah, I did, actually."

There was a pause in conversation as I checked the underside of the pancake. Josh was idly drumming his fingers on the counter as I did so.

"Ok, I need to ask," I finally said, unable to contain my curiosity any longer. "What happened last night?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb, Josh. I saw you and Y/N this morning all cuddled up in bed."

"You did?" His expression was shocked at first, but it was quickly overtaken by a shy smile.

"Yeah. I was coming to wake you two up, but you looked so peaceful cuddled up that I decided to wait."

Josh's smile grew even more. "I was tempted to stay in bed, just so I could snuggle with them a little longer, but I heard you out here making breakfast and wanted to see if you needed any help."

"Did you two fall asleep like that?"

"I think so. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I vaguely remember demanding that Y/N cuddle with me."

"Charming," I laughed as I flipped a pancake.

"I like to cuddle when I'm drunk! And I was cold."

"You know I keep spare blankets in the closet in there, right?"

"Yeah, but, you know..."

"Yeah, yeah," I waved my hand towards him. "Cuddling with the person you like is much more appealing, I get it."

"Mmmhmm..."

"Did any feelings get confessed last night?" I asked as I plopped the finished pancake onto a plate.

"No. I didn't want to do it while I was drunk. That's not very romantic."

"But you are going to finally tell Y/N how you feel?"

"Well, I don't know. I was thinking maybe-"

The door in the hallway creaked and Josh's mouth immediately snapped closed. His ears were already becoming a bright shade of red, despite the fact that Y/N hadn't even entered the room yet.

"Good morning," Y/N smiled as they walked into the room, doing a little spin as they did so.

"Someone is in a good mood this morning," I laughed.

"I slept well last night and today is Halloween, how could I be in a bad mood?"

I turned and wiggled my eyebrows at Josh, who only rolled his eyes and cast them down towards the counter. Y/N was too busy fiddling with a string on their shirt to notice the exchange.

"Alright, now that you two are awake, we have to discuss the plan for today."

"Let's hear it, Ty."

"So this place," I started, unable to keep the giddy grin off my face. Y/N had left all the ghost hunting planning up to me, which meant they and Josh had no idea what we were in for. "It's an old high school that was shut down in the 60s after a number of mysterious occurrences. There's all sorts of reports of athletes getting hurt, teachers seeing and hearing unexplainable things after hours, and even furniture and posters being moved around overnight. For awhile people thought it was just students messing around and a number of arrests were made, but it didn't stop it from happening."

"Can I have a pancake?" Y/N asked.

"Y/N!" I sighed as I flipped the pancake that was cooking. "I'm in the middle of my spooky story. But yes, you can have a pancake, You too, Josh."

I allowed them each a moment to grab their pancakes and cover them in various toppings before I continued my story.

"Continuing on, mysterious sightings are still being reported in and around the building. One of the most common reports is seeing a shadowy figure with glowing eyes standing in the windows during sunset. Police have investigated the building on numerous occasions, but nothing and nobody is ever found. It's supposed to be one of the most haunted places in Ohio."

"And we're going there?" Josh asked before stuffing his face with pancake.

"Yes."

"I'm excited," Y/N smiled. "I've always wanted to find a ghost."

"I'm sure we're going to see something scary tonight, ghost or not," I answered. "And you two better take this seriously. I don't want you messing around like you usually do."

"You mean Y/N and I can't sing for the ghosts this time?" Josh laughed.

"Exactly. I don't want anything following me back to the house," I said, pointing my spatula at him.

He held his hands up in defeat. "We'll be serious, right, Y/N?"

"Serious," they nodded.

"Good," I smiled. "Tonight is a big night."

*      *      *

"Is everything going to fit?" Y/N asked as they watched me try to stuff another box of supplies into the back of my car.

"We'll probably have to put some of it in the backseat, but we can make it work."

Y/N's eyes lit up in an instant. "Shotgun!"

Josh, who was currently leaned halfway into the backseat while he arranged some stuff in his bag, suddenly stood up and shot Y/N a look. "Not fair!"

"Sorry, Josh, you were too slow," they shrugged.

"But I have way longer legs than you! There's no way I'm cramming into the backseat with all the ghost stuff."

"You should have thought of that earlier."

"Tyler," Josh sighed. "Help me out here."

"You two are adults, you can work this out between yourselves without me in the middle of it."

"Come on, Josh, you always get shotgun because Tyler picks you up first. Can't you let me have it just this once?"

"Not when we have a three hour car ride!"

"What if you get it on the way home? Then you'll have plenty of legroom while you sleep."

"Legroom doesn't matter when you're asleep."

Tired of listening to their bickering, I came up with an idea that would both put an end to the debate and help with my master plan. While they were too busy paying attention to one another, I grabbed a box of equipment and carried it over to the passenger side of the car. Both of their heads immediately whipped in my direction when they heard the door open.

"You know what? Fine," I said, dramatically dropping the box into the front seat. "Neither of you get it."

"But my legs!" Josh said.

I leaned down and scooted the chair all the way forward, then turned to Josh with a grin. "There, all the legroom you could possibly need."

He mumbled something under his breath before going back to messing with his backpack. Y/N turned to me and raised their eyebrows, but I simply smiled and adjusted my beanie. They gave me a light shove as I walked past them to close the trunk, making me laugh.

"Alright, let's get in the car and get out of here," I announced.

Fifteen minutes later, we found ourselves in a parking lot outside of a Columbus Starbucks. I was currently trying to convince Y/N to go inside and order our drinks for us to avoid running the risk of getting recognized, but they were not having any part of it.

"I just don't understand why I have to go in alone!" they huffed. "You don't usually care about getting recognized, so why is it a big deal today?"

"I'm just worried about people potentially following us all the way out to the school. Please, Y/N, I'll pay for your drink."

They went quiet for a moment, obviously contemplating my offer. After a moment's pause, they spoke again.

"Alright, fine. But I'm getting a venti."

"Fair deal," I said as I dug my wallet out of my pocket.

Y/N took our drink orders - and my money - before getting out of the car and walking into Starbucks, although not without shooting us a look as they did so. Once they were safely inside, I turned around so that I could get a better look at Josh.

"What were you going to say this morning before Y/N woke up?"

Josh's eyebrows furrowed, "What?"

"You know, I was asking you if you were finally going to tell them how you feel and you said you were thinking maybe something but then they woke up and interrupted you."

"Oh, right. Um, well, I was just thinking that if the right moment comes up tonight... I might actually finally tell them how I feel."

I tried my best to contain my visible excitement. "For real? Like, you're not messing with me?"

His mouth curled up into a smile, "No, I'm not messing with you. I'm starting to think you may have actually been on to something this whole time with them feeling the same."

"Finally! I told you I was being serious, Josh."

"I know! I know. It's just scary, you know? I don't want to mess up the relationship I have with Y/N."

"So I've heard," I laughed quietly.

"Exactly," he chuckled.

Y/N returned with our drinks a few minutes later and then we were back on the road. We had only been on the freeway for a few minutes when Josh pulled out some earbuds and plugged them into his phone.

"Want to listen?" he asked, passing one of them to Y/N.

"What? You two are listening to your own music back there?" I asked, glancing at them in the rearview mirror. "Who am I going to talk to?"

"Guess you shouldn't have stuck both of us back here," Y/N said with a satisfied smirk before taking a sip of their drink.

"Besides, we can still talk even with headphones in," Josh chimed in.

"Yeah, whatever," I sighed.

At least the drive was only a few hours. Then it would be time for the real fun to begin.

*      *      *

Your POV

You were woken up by Tyler cheerily announcing that you had arrived at your destination. The car shuddered to a stop and you slowly sat up, stretching out all the muscles that had grown tight from the weird position you were sleeping in. It hadn't been your intention to fall asleep during the car ride, but between Josh's music, the comfort of his shoulder, and the boys' quiet conversation, you had been out in an instant.

Grass crunched beneath your feet as you got out of the car and joined the boys near the trunk. The sun was still high in the sky, but it wouldn't be long before it sunk below the hills and cast all sorts of shadows across the place. You already didn't like the look of it, between the shattered windows and crumbling bits of architecture. Despite your love of ghost hunting, you still had your hesitations about spending a night in this place.

"Is this legal?" you asked, noticing a nearby "No Trespassing" sign.

"I might have pulled some strings," Tyler grunted as he grabbed more equipment.

"And by 'pulled some strings', do you mean paid someone off?"

He paused. "Maybe."

You smiled and shook your head. Leave it to Tyler to pay someone off so that he could hunt ghosts that may or may not exist.

"Hey, I'm going to run inside and find a good place for us to set up headquarters. I'll be back in a bit," Tyler announced as he scooped up a flashlight.

"Be safe," you said.

"I will."

Tyler took off towards the building, leaving just you and Josh for the first time since last night. You were unsure of what to say, so you settled for looking through all the boxes Tyler had packed up to see what equipment he had decided was necessary.

"You missed Tyler's comment about us sleeping together."

"What?" you asked, whipping your head around to look at Josh. Your face was already burning from embarrassment. "What do you mean?"

"It was just a joke, since we slept in the same bed last night and then you fell asleep on my shoulder. He didn't mean anything by it."

"What an idiot," you muttered, turning back to the box.

Josh didn't say anything else. Out of the corner of your eye, you could just make out him rocking back and forth on his heels, hands dug deep into his pockets.

"Oh, um, Y/N?"

"Yeah?"

"About last night, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for how I was acting. I know it's far from the first time you've dealt with me drunk, but I was on another level last night. Like, the cuddling and stuff. You didn't have to do that."

You stood up and leaned against the trunk of Tyler's car. Josh was staring down at his feet, but met your eyes when he realized you were looking at him. His mouth briefly curled up into a smile.

"It wasn't a big deal, Josh. Nothing happened that I was uncomfortable with and it was, uh, actually kind of-"

"Hey!" Tyler called. "I think I found a spot."

You and Josh shared a look before picking up a box each and heading in Tyler's direction.

"Nice, is what I was going to say," you explained before Tyler was within earshot. "It was actually kind of nice."

"Yeah," Josh smiled. "I thought so too."

"You guys aren't going to believe this," Tyler smiled as you walked up to him. "This place is crazy. Wait until you see all of it."

You followed Tyler down a hallway, doing your best to take in all the sights while you still had sunlight coming in through the windows. Thankfully, the three of you only went a short distance until the hall opened up into a cafeteria.

"This is our home base. What do you think?" Tyler asked, confidently walking closer to the center of the room. You and Josh, on the other hand, hung back a little.

Large windows at either end of the room illuminated the cafeteria, revealing every particle of dust that was currently floating through the air. Most of the tables had been overturned or shoved aside, although there were a few that remained upright and usable. A few posters still hung on bulletin boards around the room, though nearly every one had been ripped or shredded in some capacity. Just thinking about what this room would look like in the dark was enough to send a chill down your spine.

"Creepy," you finally muttered. Josh nodded along with you.

"We can start setting stuff up along these tables right here," Tyler said, ignoring your comment. "That should give us plenty of room for the lights and equipment."

You waddled over to the table and set down the box of things you had been carrying. There was still plenty of boxes that needed to be transported from the car to inside, and you really weren't looking forward to the multiple trips back and forth. At least you would have the boys to keep you company.

"What are you waiting for? Let's get the rest of the stuff inside," Tyler smiled before practically skipping his way back down the hallway.

An hour later, all of the equipment was finally inside and mostly set up. You and Josh were making casual conversation while Tyler huddled over his equipment and made sure everything was running properly. The only other times you saw him this focused was when he was writing music.

"Ok, I think everything is ready to go," he said, straightening up. "Why don't we do a quick walkthrough of the school to get an idea of where everything is and where the best places for cameras are?"

"Sounds good," you nodded.

"Josh, can you grab the map? It should be in that box right next to you."

Josh turned around and dug through the box until he found the map Tyler was talking about. It was printed on what looked like a normal sheet of paper, but the back had Tyler's handwriting all over it. You tried to get a glimpse of it, but Josh passed it off before you had a chance to make sense of any of it.

"What's on the back, Ty?" you asked.

He flipped it over and looked at it, eyebrows furrowed, as if he had forgotten he ever wrote on it in the first place. "Just some notes, it looks like." His mouth curled into a partial smile. "I can barely read it."

You shook your head and grabbed a couple flashlights from the table, passing one off to Josh. He thanked you and immediately checked if the batteries were working.

"Lead the way, Tyler," Josh said.

Your journey started down the hallway that you had entered the building from. A creepy feeling still lingered, but having a heavy flashlight in your hands helped to take away some of the edge. Josh was also staying close to you, so close, in fact, that your arms kept accidentally brushing up against each other. Thankfully, Tyler was too absorbed in locating good camera spots that he didn't take notice.

This pattern continued for the next thirty minutes. You and Josh followed behind Tyler, occasionally offering your opinions on a spot for a camera, but mostly just trying to remember the layout of the building. The last thing you wanted was to accidentally get lost in one of the most haunted buildings in Ohio on the scariest day of the year. By the time that you returned to your "home base", you were already having your reservations about tonight's ghost hunting.

"Now that you've seen the entire building, what do you think?" Tyler asked. He was smiling, which was just about the furthest thing from what you felt like doing right now.

"If there's anywhere we're going to find ghosts in Ohio, it's here," you sighed. Josh nodded in agreement.

"You guys should probably go set up the cameras before it gets too dark. I can hang back and make sure we're getting signal on all of them."

"Did you bring the walkie talkies?" Josh asked.

"Yeah, they're right here. Keep them on Channel 3 and whatever you do, don't turn them off, ok?" You nodded as you turned on your walkie talkie and hooked it onto your jeans. Next to you, Josh did the same. "The cameras should be in that box over there. Make sure to let me know which one you're setting up - the number is sharpied on the side - and then we can make sure the motion sensor is working."

"Sounds good," Josh said.

"Here's the map of all the camera spots. Let me know if you have trouble finding any of them and I can try and direct you," Tyler explained, hardly taking time to look up from one of his many laptops as he passed it to you. "Also try not to take too long, there's a lot of stuff we still need to get ready."

"We'll be quick," you added.

"And make sure to mark down where on the map each number is, just so we know."

"Ty," you laughed, "we've done this before, you don't need to go over all the instructions every time."

"Sorry," he smiled. "Habit."

"Ok, we'll be back in a bit."

Map and flashlight in hand, you and Josh headed off down the first hallway yet again. Your stomach was already flipping at the thought of spending the next half hour with Josh without Tyler's interruptions, and for a moment you weren't sure that you would be able to get any words out.

"I'm pretty sure he put the cameras in every remote corner of the school he could find," you laughed, taking your first look at the map. "Look at this."

Josh took the map from your hands, making sure to let his fingers brush up against yours. "You know Tyler, he likes to make sure that every inch of a place is being watched."

"Yeah, but come on! The pool? That's all the way at the other end of the school, but he also wants us to set one up by this window in the back corner."

"Hey, it's just an excuse for us to spend more time together, right?" Josh smiled at you.

You bit down on your lip, glad that the dim light inside was enough to mask most of your embarrassed expression. "Yeah, I suppose that's a benefit."

"Ok, I think the first camera spot is up here. You want to grab one of the ones from the box?"

You grabbed a camera from the box and passed it off to Josh, who then got it situated in the correct spot. While he worked on that, you radioed Tyler to let him know what was going on.

"Skeleton, come in," you said, trying - and failing - to contain a smile at your code names.

"What's up, Pumpkin?" he answered, voice warped by the walkie talkie.

"We're setting up camera... what camera is it?"

"Three," Josh grunted.

"Camera three at location one."

"Alright, let me know when it's on."

You marked down camera three at location one on the map while you waited for Josh to finish setting things up.

"Done," Josh sighed. "Camera is on."

"Skeleton, come in."

"I'm here."

"Are we reading a signal on camera three?"

"We're live. Can one of you wave an arm in front of it?"

"Josh?" you asked, turning to him.

Josh stepped away from you and closer to the camera, waving one of his arms slowly in front of it.

"Alright, we've got a video feed. You can move on."

"Alright. Pumpkin and Alien out."

You tucked the walkie talkie back into its place on your jeans and fell into step with Josh, who was already beginning to slowly make his way down the hall. When you caught up to him, he took the map from the top of the box and looked over it.

"Where to next?" you asked.

"It looks like we go upstairs and down another hall. Or we could go downstairs, if we wanted to switch things up."

You were about to answer his question when something behind you rustled. Your head whipped around and you scanned the entire area behind you with the flashlight, searching for what could have caused the noise. The two of you were seemingly alone in the hallway, so you took a deep breath and turned back around.

"You ok?" Josh asked.

"Did you not hear that?"

"Hear what?"

You shook your head. "Nothing, I guess. I'm just wound up."

"I thought you weren't scared of stuff like this?"

"I'm not."

"Then why'd you jump at nothing?" he teased.

"I didn't jump at nothing! There was a sound."

"You know I'm going to protect you if we run into something or someone, right?"

"Yeah, because you're so intimidating," you smiled.

"Hey! I'm only not intimidating to you because you know me. I can be a scary guy."

"Whatever you say."

"Is that a challenge?"

Your eyes went wide. "No, no, please, Josh."

"I thought you weren't scared?" he grinned.

"Well, um," you stammered. "Ok, fine, maybe I'm a little scared."

Josh walked a little closer to you and wrapped one of his arms around your shoulders, "Don't worry, I've got your back."

After forty-five minutes of setting up cameras, you were finally on the last one, which just so happened to be the one by the old pool. You weren't particularly looking forward to the walk it would take to get there, but you were glad that you had Josh to keep you company... and protected from anything that could be lurking in the shadows.

"It's weird being back in a high school," you said as you passed another set of lockers. "I think the scariest thing is all the memories it's bringing up."

"Did you have a positive high school experience?"

"It was ok. I wasn't super popular or anything, but I had a good group of friends. Definitely not the best four years of my life or anything. What about you?"

Josh shrugged. "About the same. I was kind of a dorky kid in high school."

"Same."

"Did you... date... very many people?"

You turned to look at him, only to realize he was already looking at you. Too shy to make eye contact, you looked down to your feet.

"Not really. My type was too specific for any of the people that I went to high school with."

"And what is your type?"

"Oh, you know," you said, a smirk starting to appear on your lips, "people who are nice, aren't afraid to be themselves, into music, have tattoos and piercings and colorful hair and all that."

"So... me?" Josh laughed.

"Not everything is about you, Josh," you joined his laughter as you bumped into his shoulder. "What about you?"

"I dated a couple people, but it was never anything serious."

"I meant like... what's your type?"

"Oh, um, right," he rubbed at the back of his neck with his free hand. "I guess I like people who can make me laugh, they support me in whatever I do, aren't afraid to be themselves, just someone cool, you know?"

You shifted the box, putting the weight onto your other hip for awhile and to alleviate some of the tension in your shoulders from the question you were about to ask. "Am I cool?"

Josh paused for a moment, "I think you're the coolest person I know, Y/N."

You nodded, unsure of how to respond to what he had said. He started to talk again, but before he could get anything out, your walkie talkies crackled.

"This is Skeleton, reporting in."

Josh sighed as he grabbed the walkie talkie off his hip. "This is Alien. What do you need?"

"Are you two almost done? It's getting lonely over here." A pause. "And I'm hungry."

"We're going to set up the last camera by the old pool and then we'll be back."

"Ok, well hurry. Skeleton out."

Josh shook his head as he hooked his walkie talkie back onto his jeans.

"If he wants it done faster, he could have helped us out," he laughed.

"Agreed."

You went quiet, internally hoping that Josh would once again bring up the conversation you had just been having, but when a minute of silence passed you figured that was wishful thinking. Maybe you had been reading too much into what he was saying.

"Is this it?" he asked as you approached another set of double doors.

"Looks like it," you answered, nodding towards a sign to the side of the door that read "Pool".

He started to pull the door open, but stopped halfway through and turned to you. "Stay close to me, ok? I don't like this room."

You nodded and followed him into the room. As soon as you stepped over the threshold, he reached back and rested a hand on your arm.

"I'm here," you said.

"Let's get in and out of here as fast as we can."

"Sounds good."

You followed Josh further into the room, trying to ignore the eerie way that the room echoed with each step that you took. The single camera rattling in the box that you were carrying didn't do much to help the atmosphere, either. Even with sunlight shining in through the dusty windows, this room felt undeniably creepier than all the rest.

"Where did Tyler want the camera?" Josh asked.

"The far corner, right above the bleachers."

"Like, on the other side of the room?"

"Mmmhmm."

Josh sighed and walked in that direction. You took a couple big steps to catch up to him and lightly bumped up against him. He turned towards you and smiled, reassured by your presence.

"Maybe you're not the one who's going to have to do the protecting," you grinned.

"Maybe," he laughed quietly. "I just hope that none of us have to protect anyone."

"Agreed."

Josh grabbed the camera from the box and went through the motions of setting it up while you radioed Tyler to let him know what was going on. As soon as you got the ok, you and Josh started to head back towards home base.

You had only made it about halfway along the pool when something crashed at the far side of the room. Both you and Josh turned around in a panic, frantically searching for the source of the noise, but there was nothing in sight.

"Let's get out of here," Josh said.

Before you had a chance to answer, he had clumsily wrapped his free hand around your flashlight hand and was starting to pull you towards the exit. Trying your best not to trip over your feet, you followed after him. Your heart was still pounding from whatever you had heard and having Josh's hands wrapped around yours was only making it beat even harder.

You were relieved when you finally crashed through the doors and back into the hallway. Although it wouldn't do much to actually protect you if there was something in the pool room, it felt nice to have a set of doors between you. With a heaving chest, you leaned back against a bank of lockers and looked to Josh.

"That was terrifying," you sighed.

"Are you ok?" Josh asked, resting a hand on your arm. "I didn't mean to drag you out of there, it just kind of happened."

He stepped closer, leaving only about a foot of space in between you. You looked up at him, taking in what you could of his features in the dim light.

"I'm ok. Just a bit shaken up."

"I wouldn't have let anything happen to you." Josh's mouth just barely curled up into a smile.

He started to move closer, until his breath was fanning out across your face. Your heart had returned to pounding in your chest, but now it was for an entirely different reason. Was this really happening? Were you really about to kiss Josh in some abandoned high school that Tyler was taking you ghost hunting in?

Just as your eyes were about to flutter closed, you noticed a blinking light out of the corner of your eye. In a moment of panic, you put a hand on Josh's chest and shoved him away as gently as you could. He stepped back immediately, stumbling over his words and avoiding eye contact with you.

"I'm so sorry, Y/N. I- thought, um, maybe that- I didn't-"

"Josh," you whispered. "It's fine. It's just..." you nodded towards the camera, hopefully subtly enough that Tyler wouldn't catch it on the off chance that he was looking at it right now. Josh's shoulders immediately dropped and he ran a hand through his hair.

"You'd think for someone who wanted us together so badly, he wouldn't make it so impossible to get a moment alone."

"Honestly," you giggled.

"We might as well get back to him before he throws a fit."

You nodded and tried to mask the disappointment that your kiss would have to wait until later. "Good idea."

Josh started to walk down the hall and you fell into step with him, feeling a bit more confident about "accidentally" bumping into him now and again. Each time you did, you were met with a smile from Josh and a retaliation. By the time you made it back to your home base, it had almost become a game between you two.

"Ok, wait, before we go in there," Josh said, stopping you a short distance from the archway that led to the cafeteria. "Are we going to tell him what happened?"

"With the crash? Or the... other thing?"

"The other thing," Josh smiled.

"Do you think he saw?"

"I have no idea, but he'll probably immediately make a comment if he did. He doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut about that stuff," he laughed.

"Ok, true. I say we wait for him to bring it up. You know, payback for all the teasing."

"This is why I like you."

With one final nod to each other, you walked back into the home base. Tyler immediately looked up from his computers and over at you.

"I was wondering when you were coming back! You set up that last camera forever ago."

"There was a lot of ground to cover!" you retorted.

"Uh huh," Tyler said, shooting the two of you a look.

"Don't be jealous because we were out having fun," Josh smiled as he took a seat across from Tyler.

"Who's to say I wasn't having fun here?" Tyler stood up straighter and crossed his arms.

"Alright, you two," you sighed as you tossed the empty box into a corner. "Why don't we figure out what food to get before you two start arguing too much."

"We're not arguing," Tyler chimed in. "I'm just saying that I had fun here!"

Josh started to open his mouth, but you shot him a look and he quieted down again. This put a satisfied smirk on Tyler's face, so you gave him a look for good measure too.

"Didn't one of you mention a Taco Bell just a few minutes away? How does that sound?" you asked.

"Did you have to ask?" Tyler smiled.

"Yeah, Tyler wrote a whole song about it," Josh smirked.

"Hey! I thought we made a rule that we don't talk about that."

"Consider it payback."

"Ok, who's going to get the food?" you asked, ignoring their bickering. "Because after that whole Starbucks ordeal today, it's not going to be me."

"I can go," Josh said, already standing up again. "Just let me know what you want."

The next few minutes were spent deciding what food to get and making sure that Josh had it all written down in his phone so he wouldn't forget. Once that was settled, Tyler tossed him his keys and Josh wandered off down the hall, still carrying a flashlight in his hand. The sun was rapidly setting and you were trying to enjoy the little bit of light you had left.

"You and Josh seem to be awful friendly," Tyler said, his eyes never leaving the computer.

Your entire body tensed at his words and you were suddenly very glad that his focus was elsewhere. He had yet to fess up to seeing you and Josh almost kiss on camera, but it wasn't unlike Tyler to hold onto information until an opportune moment.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You two were pretty tense with each other this morning, aside from you falling asleep on him in the car. It's nice to see you two getting along again."

"Right. Yeah."

"Are you going to tell him how you feel?" Tyler asked, finally looking up from his laptop.

You avoided eye contact, afraid it would give too much information away. If Tyler was asking if you were going to confess, he definitely hadn't seen what happened between you and Josh. That, or he was playing the long con.

You put on your best plain expression and finally met Tyler's eyes. "I hadn't really thought about it. I probably wouldn't today, just because it's Halloween and all."

"What does Halloween have to do with it?"

"Don't you think it's kinda dorky to confess your feelings on Halloween? Like, that would be our anniversary forever."

"Dorky? It's awesome," Tyler smiled. "Your anniversary would be on the spookiest day of the year."

"I guess?"

"But, more importantly, you are going to tell him at some point?"

"I don't see why I wouldn't. It's pretty clear that he feels the same now."

"And to think, just a few days ago you were telling me you and Josh were nothing more than friends."

"A lot has changed since then!" you said, unintentionally raising your voice. It echoed a little across the room. "Two days ago I hadn't held his hand during a scary movie or spent an entire night with him complimenting me or slept in the same bed as him or almost-" you caught yourself just in time to avoid telling Tyler the one thing you didn't want him to know. He picked up on your change in demeanor.

"Almost what?" he asked.

"Nothing. Forget I said anything."

"Almost what, Y/N? Tell me."

"I'm not going to tell you, Ty."

"Please? I won't tell Josh you told me."

"I don't care what Josh knows. I don't want you to know."

"Don't want me to know what?" Tyler said. He was growing more desperate.

"No."

"Something did happen at my house, didn't it? What did you two do last night?"

"Nothing! Nothing happened."

"You've always been a bad liar."

"I'm not lying! Nothing happened last night."

"Today?"

"No."

"Liar."

"Tyler, can we just drop this please?"

Tyler finally calmed down. It wasn't often that you used his full name, which let him know how serious you were about not discussing this any further. He directed his attention back to his laptops, and after a bit of silence offered for you to come check out what he was seeing on the cameras, which wasn't much.

At least, for now.

*      *      *

Josh's POV

"What time is it?" Y/N asked as they pulled on a headlamp.

"Two in the morning. Perfect time to start ghost hunting," Tyler grinned as he did the same.

"Yeah, perfect," I said, taking a quick glance around the room.

Although Y/N and Tyler were big on ghost hunting, I always had my reservations when it came to adventures like this. My anxiety was bad enough as it was, and walking around dark buildings trying to find things that could potentially hurt us didn't exactly do much to help it. Regardless, I knew how much it meant to the two of them to have me come along, so I joined along on one or two trips a year to please them.

"How do I look?" Y/N asked, giving Tyler and I a little spin.

"Amazing," I laughed. "The headlamp really completes the look."

They smiled and turned to Tyler, who simply gave them a thumbs up.

"Alright, I think we're ready to go. Do you two have all your stuff together?"

I double checked that I had my walkie talkie and the equipment that Tyler had put me in charge of before giving him a nod. Next to me, Y/N did the same.

"Then let's go."

Tyler led the way down the hall, allowing Y/N and I to lag behind. They were staying close to me which I was thankful for. The last thing I wanted was to get split up from the other two in a place that I could barely remember the layout of. Even though I ran regularly, I didn't really want to put those skills to use in this setting.

The school had a completely different atmosphere now that it was dark, even with the combined light of our headlamps. Bent and rusted lockers were around every corner, looming out from the darkness. Dust particles and cobwebs floated freely through the air, occasionally being kicked up by our feet as we passed. There was even the occasional bird that flew around overhead, the sound of its wings amplified by the empty space.

"Where are we going?" Y/N finally asked. The sudden sound of their voice almost made me jump.

"I wanted to check out the window where people report seeing the figure. You know, see if we can get an EMF reading or a temperature change or something," Tyler answered.

I watched as Y/N nodded in agreement. A brief desire to voice my concern bubbled in my chest, but it quickly subsided again. There was no way Y/N - or more likely, Tyler - was letting me get out of this one.

"You doing ok, Josh?" Y/N asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Just a little nervous."

They glanced at Tyler for a moment before turning back to me and taking hold of my hand. "It's ok, I've got your back."

I squeezed their hand as a silent thank you while we continued to walk down the hall. Eventually, Tyler brought us to the window where the figure was rumored to be seen, which just so happened to be inside a classroom full of toppled desks and chairs and countless cobwebs. Y/N dropped my hand as we walked into the room, not wanting to run the risk of being seen by Tyler. Part of me wanted to grab it again, not caring what Tyler would say, just to have the comfort.

"Josh, can I get a temperature read on the room?" Tyler asked.

I grabbed the thermometer from my bag and aimed it towards the other side of the room.

"61."

"And what about over here?"

"58."

"That's a significant drop!" Tyler grinned. I had to admit, as much as ghost hunting scared me, I did enjoy seeing how excited he got over little discoveries like this.

"To be fair, we are standing by a window," Y/N chimed in.

Tyler's face fell in an instant. "Ok, true, but it's worth noting. We can try out the thermal cameras for awhile and then do the EMF reader."

"Sounds good."

I slowly wandered around the room while Tyler got the thermal camera ready. There were a few old posters on the walls, but most of them had been washed out by the sun and were mostly unreadable now. Looking at them gave me a weird feeling in my stomach, like I was reading something that I wasn't supposed to.

"Hey, Josh, come back over here and stand next to Y/N."

I slowly wandered back towards Tyler and Y/N and did as he said. He had a huge smile on his face as he aimed the thermal camera in our direction.

"This new thermal camera is awesome! Way better than the old one. Hey, Y/N, can you get a little closer to Josh."

"Yeah."

Y/N stepped closer to me so that their arm was almost pressed up against mine. I could feel my face starting to heat up from embarrassment, I just hoped that-

"Josh! Dude, your face just got way redder," Tyler grinned. "I can see it on the camera."

-Tyler didn't notice.

"I'm nervous," I muttered, not that it really mattered. Y/N already knew exactly why I would be getting embarrassed.

"Yeah, ok," he scoffed.

I rolled my eyes and stepped away from Y/N. They walked over and stood next to Tyler so that they could get a better look at the thermal camera, but I didn't really care. The less I knew about what else was in the room, the better.

"Do you see that?" Tyler muttered.

"The red spot?"

"Yeah, in the corner."

"I see it."

I turned and looked in the direction that they were looking. All I saw was some old books sitting on a dusty shelf.

"Is it still there?" Y/N asked.

"Nope, it's gone."

A chill ran down my spine. I didn't like the sound of that one bit.

"Get me an EMF reader," Tyler said, giving Y/N's arm a light tap.

They grabbed one from their bag and passed it off to Tyler. He held it up and started to walk towards the corner where they had seen... whatever it was.

"Is it doing anything?" Y/N whispered.

Tyler shook his head.

"Ask a question."

Tyler cleared his throat. "Is there anything here with us?"

The room was silent as we waited for something to happen. I could see Y/N looking at me out of the corner of my eye, but my focus was on the EMF reader. It was hovering around green right now, but I was just waiting for it to spike at any moment.

"Ask again," Y/N suggested.

Again, Tyler cleared his throat. "Is there anything here with us?"

The EMF reader spiked to red before immediately dying down again. Tyler spun around and looked between Y/N and I. All of the color had drained from his face.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"What was that?" he asked quietly.

"It probably picked up on something else," Y/N said, quickly searching for a reasonable explanation. "Like your walkie talkie."

"My walkie talkie isn't on."

"Try it anyway."

Tyler grabbed his walkie talkie and held the EMF reader up to it. He waited for a few seconds, but nothing came up. It stayed on green the entire time.

"Maybe it was a fluke," Y/N chimed in. "Why don't we try another question and see what happens?"

Tyler nodded and turned back around, holding the EMF reader up once again.

"Are you the one who stands in the windows at sunset?"

It was silent again. The light stayed at green for a few seconds, and for a brief moment I was really starting to believe that the first time had been a fluke. Then it suddenly spiked up to red again.

Tyler dropped the EMF reader and jumped away from it. It hit the ground and bounced once before landing face up. The light was still dancing between green and yellow.

"Are you ok? Did something hurt you?" Y/N asked, reaching out to put a hand on Tyler's shoulder.

"No, no, it just scared me. I'm fine."

"It's still going off," I added.

Tyler and Y/N both turned to look at the EMF reader. The lights were still blinking rapidly.

"I think we should get out of here," Y/N said. "I'd rather not mess with... whatever this is and there's plenty more of the school to explore."

"Agreed," Tyler nodded.

He ventured into the middle of the room just long enough to pick up the EMF reader and pass it back off to Y/N. As soon as we had that, we quickly gathered up our things and got out into the hall, making sure to shut the door behind us.

"I knew this place was supposed to be haunted..." Tyler said, "but I never expected anything like that to happen."

"Let's just stick together for now and see what there is to see," Y/N answered.

I was the last one to chime in, "I like that idea."

*      *      *

"Three am, you know what that means," Tyler said, checking the time on his watch.

I swallowed hard. After spending the last hour walking around the school with Y/N and Tyler - occasionally stopping to use the thermal camera or EMF reader but not finding much - I had finally calmed down some after the window man incident. It didn't help that I already knew exactly what Tyler was going to say next.

"It's prime ghost time. We should split up so we can cover more ground."

"Who's going where?" Y/N asked.

"I can take the upstairs since that seems to have the most activity. You two can decide between downstairs and the other end of the school."

"Josh?" Y/N asked, turning to me. "Do you have a preference?"

"You can take whatever you want."

"Why don't you take the downstairs? And I can take the other end over by the pool."

"Are you sure?"

Y/N smiled at me, "I'm sure."

"Ok."

"Remember, keep your walkie talkies on Channel 3 at all times. Do not turn them off for whatever reason and radio in with your location if you need help," Tyler said.

"Got it," Y/N nodded.

"Also with any spooky findings," he added with a smile. "Alright, you know the drill."

"Hands in," Y/N sighed.

The three of us put our hands together. Tyler looked around the circle before starting his countdown.

"3... 2... 1... "

"Spooky squad!" we all chanted together.

"Alright, now let's go find some ghosts!" Tyler grinned, doing a little jump as he did so.

We all double checked that our walkie talkies were working before splitting up. I headed downstairs and, now that I was out of sight, pulled out the backup flashlight that I had in my bag. Tyler and Y/N always said I was excessive, but I wanted as much area around me to be illuminated as possible.

My walkie talkie crackled, making me jump.

"This is Skeleton reporting in. I'm walking by the room we were in and I swear there's a cold draft coming from under the door. It's freezing."

"This is Alien. Copy."

"Pumpkin here. You better not open that door."

"Come on, Pumpkin, not even I'm that stupid."

"I've seen you do questionable things."

"Ok, but none of those involved a spirit potentially following me home."

"Point taken."

"Alright, just checking in. Skeleton out."

"Alien out."

"Pumpkin out."

I hooked my walkie talkie back onto my jeans and continued down the hallway. There was a door at the end of the hallway that was partially cracked, so I decided to check it out. Most of the rooms in this building were shut tight, so there had to be a reason that this one wasn't, right?

My heart started to beat harder with each step that I took towards the door. There was a little patch of light that was just visible inside, probably from the moon. Other than that, I couldn't make anything out.

I had just started to open the door when something rushed over my head, making me drop to the ground. My heart was pounding in my chest now, so hard that I could hear it in my ears. In an attempt to figure out what that had been, I turned my flashlight down towards the end of the hall in the direction the thing had gone. There was just enough light for me to be able to make out a bird rounding the corner. My shoulders dropped out of relief and I laid back on the floor until my breaths returned to normal.

"This is Alien, checking in. A bird just flew out of one of the rooms and scared the crap out of me. Keep an eye out."

"This is Pumpkin. Copy."

"Skeleton. Copy."

This pattern continued for the next thirty minutes or so. I continued to wander around the downstairs of the school, doing more exploration than I was ghost hunting. As long as Y/N and Tyler were involved, I was willing to participate, but there was no way I was going to actively seek out ghosts on my own.

"This is Pumpkin, checking in. How is everyone doing?"

"This is Alien. I'm doing alright."

"Same here. Skeleton?"

I stood in place, waiting to move until we got an answer from Tyler. He was usually pretty quick to check in when asked, so this silence from him was unnerving.

"Skeleton? You there?" Y/N asked again.

Still nothing.

"I'll go upstairs and see if I can find him. Stay where you are, Pumpkin."

I hooked my walkie talkie back onto my jeans and started to head in the direction of one of the staircases. Although the school was big, it wasn't so big that I wouldn't be able to find Tyler in a timely manner. My only concern was the potential of having to go in the ghost room alone. That wasn't my ideal situation by any means.

Just as I reached the top of the stairs, there was a loud crash from the other side of the school. The sound echoed through the halls, bouncing off walls. It was followed shortly after by Y/N yelling, obviously scared by whatever was happening. I stood frozen at the top of the stairs, trying to decide if I should go look for Tyler or make sure Y/N was ok.

Not wanting to put off a decision any longer, I headed in Y/N's direction since they seemed to be in more immediate danger. They didn't usually yell when they were scared, so that alone was enough to have me worried enough to make sure they were ok first. Besides, Tyler was prone to going off to do things on his own. He was probably fine.

Right?

My feet carried me quickly down the hall towards the source of the sound. If I remembered the layout of the school correctly, I would be getting there in less than a minute. I guess there was a benefit to all my running.

I quickly rounded a corner, only to immediately spot Y/N who was coming down the same hallway. There was just barely enough time for me to slow down before we completely collided into one another. My back was on the floor in seconds and Y/N was pressed on top of me, the two of us just barely separated by their arms.

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to be running this way," they said, the tiniest hint of a smile on their face.

"I wanted to make sure you were ok."

Y/N's hands moved to the side of my face and before I knew it, their lips were on mine. I moved my arms to hold onto their waist, steadying them in the awkward position that we were in. Their lips were soft and I could feel every bit of tension and longing that we had shared over the last few days within it. Even though were laying on the floor in some remote, abandoned building, I never wanted it to end.

I started to deepen the kiss, but Y/N pulled away and rolled off of me. They helped me up to a sitting position and brushed some of the dust off my shoulders.

"We need to find Tyler."

"You're right," I said, all the excitement of the kiss wearing off as I remembered the situation we were in.

"But before we do that..."

Y/N leaned over and gave me another quick kiss. I was unable to keep the giddy smile off my face afterwards, even as we stood up and started to head towards the stairs.

"Skeleton, this is Pumpkin. Please report in."

The walkie talkie crackled hardly a second later.

"This is Skeleton. I'm at home base. Get back here asap."

"He's ok," Y/N sighed, immediately putting their walkie talkie away. "He must have found something big, let's get back there."

Y/N and I quickly made our way back to the cafeteria, both of our minds reeling from both the kiss and the excitement of whatever Tyler had potentially found.

Tyler's face lit up the moment that we stumbled into the cafeteria, our chests heaving. He quickly beckoned us over to his computers.

"You guys will never believe what the cameras picked up. It has to be one of the scariest things that I've ever seen," he grinned as we grew closer. "Come look."

Y/N and I took a spot on either side of Tyler. He had one of the video feeds up with a timestamp that was hardly more than ten minutes ago. After confirming that we were both ready to see this footage, he hit play and stepped back.

The video showed an empty hallway for the first few seconds, then I came barreling out of the darkness on one part of the screen. Shortly after, Y/N appeared. All of the information quickly pieced together in my mind and I bit down nervously on my lip. My face only continued to burn more and more as the rest of the video played, showing everything from Y/N falling on top of me to us sharing a second kiss.

"Can you believe that?" Tyler laughed, still keeping up his act. "Terrifying."

"Oh my gosh," Y/N sighed, burying their face in their hands. "I can't believe you, Tyler."

"You can't believe me? I'm not the one that took three days to finally fess up about their feelings! Do you know how hard I was trying to get the two of you to do it?"

"Is that why you were being so weird?" I asked.

"Yes! My whole plan was to get one of you to finally admit how you felt by the end of our spooky extravaganza and it worked!"

"That explains so much..." Y/N said.

"I got Josh to flirt with you by throwing pumpkin seeds, I pretended to sleep during the movie - and then actually fell asleep -, I forced you guys into a couple's costume, I slammed that locker door to scare Y/N and get Josh to come running..."

"That was you?" Y/N asked. "Do you know how bad you scared me?"

"But it worked! Look at you two now!" he said with a proud smile.

"Tyler, listen, I really appreciate all you did, but you really didn't have to get into the middle of all this."

"I disagree," he said, crossing his arms. "You two were adamant that the other one didn't feel the same so I needed to step in to make sure you did know."

"At least we don't have to worry about him doing it again in the future."

"True," I nodded. "Alright, now how about we pack up our stuff and get out of here? I'd really rather not spend anymore time in this place than I have to."

"Agreed," Tyler nodded. "Let's pack up the stuff and go."

*      *      *

The sun was just beginning to come up as we got closer to Columbus. Y/N was resting on my shoulder yet again, although this time I was able to shamelessly hold their hand too. We were listening to my headphones again, much to Tyler's dismay, as we enjoyed the first calm moment since we had arrived at the building the night before.

"Hey, Josh?" Y/N whispered.

"Yeah?"

"We're like... together, right? Officially?"

"If you want to be."

"I want to be," they said, giving my hand a light squeeze.

"Then we're together."

"As of Halloween? Or today?"

"What do you think? Because we kissed today, but we kind of had our whole moment yesterday."

"Whole moment?" Tyler asked.

"Tyler," I laughed. "Can you not interrupt for once?"

"Sorry, but you owe me that story."

"That's fair."

"Ok, as you were," Tyler said, waving one of his hands at us.

"Anyway," I smiled. "What do you think?"

"I vote Halloween. It's spookier."

"And special," I said, leaning my head onto Y/N's.

"Yeah," they smiled. "Spookily special."