#20201030

After a few moments, you spotted two vampires talking softly to each other. It shouldn’t be too hard to strike up a conversation with them, you decided and began walking over. Halfway there though, you turned around, feeling someone or something staring at you back. However, you didn’t spot anything, and turned back around to head towards your destination, all the while still feeling like you had eyes glued to your back.

“Hi,” you greeted, walking up to the vampires. “I’m Y/N. How are you two doing tonight?”

They turned to you, and you immediately regretted choosing them to walk up to.

“Oh, a little skeleton,” one of them smirked, looking you up and down. You crossed your arms over your chest, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

The other one slung his arm around your waist and leaned in far too close. “Can I get you something to drink, Lil Boo?”

Oh, you did not skip studying for this. “Actually, I’m going to--”

Out of nowhere, the lights turned off. There were a few screams, but none as loud as the one in your heart when the vampire used the darkness as a chance to slide his hand down to other areas. You tried stepping away, but his grip was strong, so you just squeezed your eyes shut and hoped the moment would pass quickly. 

Before he got all the way down, however, you heard a loud crack and felt his hand flying off of you as he tumbled a few feet backwards.

“What on earth, man?” he cursed, and you were suddenly aware of a new presence beside you.

The newcomer made a weird noise as if he was breathing through a machine and turned towards you. He offered you a hand, and when you tentatively put yours into it, he dragged you away, leaving behind the vampires.

“Thanks,” you gasped once he finally stopped at a faraway corner.

He placed one hand on his hip and used the other to rub the back of his… head? It was much too big to be a human head, you decided. Was he wearing some sort of mask? It was hard to see in the dark, but he sensed your curiosity and leaned forward for you to take a better look. You reached for it slowly, and when he didn’t resist, you placed your hands onto his costume. The majority of it was warm and fabric-y except for where your thumbs landed. There, it was cold and possibly white like a one-way glass. A visor of some sort, you decided, and tried to push it up to see his face.

As soon as you do, however, he jerked back and quickly shut the glass back down.

“S-sorry,” you stuttered out.

He seemed too distracted to respond to your apology. You turned to see what he was looking at and saw smoke rising from BamBam’s mezzanine. Was there a fire? No, the kitchen is to your right. Before you could question any further, the lights came back on, but only on the second floor, casting a spotlight over your best friend who stepped grandly out of the smoke.

“Good evening, ghouls and fools, snitches and witches!” his voice boomed. “Are you ready for tonight’s main event?”

Ah, that’s right. The reason why BamBam’s parties were so popular was because there was always a special kick to them, be it a go cart race or a game of Running Man. This must be why the lights are off, you realized.

“Around the house, I have hidden a QR code on each floor of the house. Each one will give you a couple of words which when unscrambled will give you the name of the item. The person who makes it to the backyard gazebo first with their item first wins,” he explained. “Each code is locked by their own minigame which you have to complete to access, but of course, your efforts will not be without reward.” There were a few ooh’s at that announcement. “Whoever brings me their time first wins… two tickets to the Caribbeans!” 

Your ears perked up at that; maybe you were glad to have skipped studying after all. The Caribbeans! You’d heard many good things about that vacation spot and had always wanted to go with someone special. Someone special. You looked sadly down at your hand that felt oddly empty without a familiar warmth around it.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go!” prompted BamBam.

Around you, footsteps of partygoers dispersed in a frenzy and excited squeals filled the air. You looked around, surprised to see the masked man still standing beside you.

“Are you going to participate?” you asked.

Instead of answering, he pointed at you.

“Me? Yeah, I guess I am.”

He seemed to perk up at your answer and shyly tugged on your sleeve.

“Do you want to come with me?” you guessed. 

He nods.

“Alright, but if you win, you’ve gotta give me one of those tickets,” you joked, but to your surprise, he agreed to your condition readily.

The first minigame was not hard to find since there was a crowd around it. It was a simple ring toss game where you had to throw pumpkin shaped hoops onto brooms labeled with different point values until you reached 100.

The task proved to be more difficult than anticipated, but you were making considerable progress compared to others because your pink friend ran back and forths, picking up your rings for you.

At last, you got to a hundred, and the gamemaster revealed the code to you. You scanned it with your phone and read the clue.

친. (Chin)

Satisfied, you looked up, expecting to see the astronaut throwing his rings. Instead, you found him waiting for you just around the corner.

“You aren’t participating?” you asked, walking up to him.

Again, instead of answering, he pulled you by the sleeve to the next floor. By the pep in his step, you could imagine him smiling behind that cold white mask, and you couldn’t help but wonder if he knew something you didn’t.

You nearly laughed when you saw what challenge awaited you on the next floor. The room was decorated to the top with zombies and blood, but at the center of it all was a wizard stirring a pot labeled “love potion.”

“Who dares step foot into my lair?” hissed the sorcerer with an accent that was too over the top even for his character. 

“Just tell us what the mission is, Felix.” You shook your head with a smile. You knew Felix through your ex-boyfriend, and you stayed in touch even after whom you thought was your soulmate left you for college. 

Felix faltered for a moment from you calling him out, but quickly recomposed himself. “Very well, brave one. Your next mission is to prove that my potion works.”

You raised a brow. “How?”

“By drinking it, of course. And then--” he smirked in a way that set off alarms in your system-- “kiss me.”

“Oh, come on. What are we, twelve?” you scoffed at the reverse kissing booth challenge. Still, you crossed your arms and stepped over plastic bones and foam eyeballs to make your way over to him.

When you were about halfway, you noticed Felix’s smirk suddenly growing wider and questioned why. Your curiosity was soon satisfied, however, when the pink astronaut suddenly overtook you with large strides and beat you to the cauldron.

“Hey!” you complained, but your words fell on deaf ears.

The pink man kept his face turned away from you as he flipped up his cold white visor and downed the potion. It must have tasted horrible since this was a challenge after all, but he didn’t miss a beat slamming the now-empty vial on an adjacent table and planting a smooch squarely on Felix’s green face. He then flipped his visor back down and gestured at your phone.

“Me? Scan?” you frowned. “But you--”

Growing impatient, he took the phone from you and scanned Felix’s code. He then stuffed the device back into your hands and dragged you up the next flight of stairs.

You questioned his sudden change in demeanor but kept it to yourself. Instead, you looked at the next clue.

자. (Ja)

As soon as you arrived on the third floor, you immediately decided that its minigame was the hardest. Your eye twitched, not that anyone could see it doing so since the floor was completely blacked out. The only thing you could see was some glow-in-the-dark thread, and you were supposed to thread it through a normal, matte needle.

“This can’t be possible,” you deadpanned.

The gamemaster, someone you couldn’t see but very much wanted to give a piece of your mind, “wooooo’ed” unhelpfully at your misery. 

Your eyes struggled to switch between the different light levels, making your whole body tense up and your hand to shake. You let out a frustrated grunt after your nth attempt. By then, other competitors also entered the room, making you nervous and even more shaky.

As you were about to hang your head in surrender, you saw a pink glove clasping over your hand and steadying it. The touch sent a familiar sense of electricity up your spine, but you ignored it in favor of the task at hand. Together, you finally got the thread through after five tries.

“Yes!” you celebrated, startling a few other competitors around you.

The gamemaster handed you a slip of paper with the code on it, and your new friend led you to the exit by hand. When you realized that his hand hadn’t let go of yours since the game, a blush crept over your cheeks. You cleared your throat twice to push down the heat, but it seemed the astronaut took it the wrong way and immediately dropped it and looked at you with worry.

“It’s fine,” you shook your head when he started bowing. “I, uh, I just had something in my throat. I should thank you, actually, for helping me back there… and for all the times before that too.”

He stared at you for a few moments, looking down as he was a few steps above you on the staircase, and you couldn’t help but wonder again what he was hiding behind that cold white mask. Just as you were about to reach forward again, however, he turned back around and resumed climbing the stairs.

The last minigame was on the roof. There, a sign greeted you, telling you that multiple QR codes are hidden around the place, and that you had to find one of the many to complete your word hunt.

You looked at the code you received from the thread game. 구 (gu), it read. What could the last hint be?

You and your pink friend looked and looked, but struggled to find anything. BamBam sure didn’t make things easy for you, did he, you scoffed dryly, looking at all the pools of slime and hollowed out pumpkins where the code could be hiding.

It didn’t help that it was particularly cold that night and that you were on the roof of a three story house. As you shuffled around some prop mummy’s linen for the code, you felt a chill run up your body.

The astronaut must have been at least ten broomsticks away, but as soon you shivered, you heard him walking right up to you.

“Hey. Did you find it?” you asked, not grasping why he was here.

He shook his head and rubbed his hands up and down his upper arms before pointing at you.

“Me? Yeah, I guess it’s a little cold, but I’m okay. Let’s just find this thing quickly and head back down.”

You turned back to your mummy, but your new friend didn’t move. Despite wanting to keep you warm, he realized he wasn’t equipped with a jacket to give you.

Finding nothing in the mummy, you moved on to the next coffin, oblivious to the man’s distress behind you, and patted down a plastic vampire for any goods. As you were distracted, you didn’t realize a figure looming over you from behind. By the time you noticed the shadow being casted over you, it was too late to avoid--

“Wha--”

-- the hug.

The pink astronaut, unable to come up with any other solutions, decided to share his body heat with you. It warmed you up alright, but you weren’t sure if it was because of him or the fire that ignited on your cheeks.

“H-how are we supposed to search like this?” you stuttered.

He thought for a minute before waddling side to side to show you how you could walk.

You chuckled at his antics. “This isn’t going to--” 

And then you saw it. Right there. Stuck on his arm. The last QR code.

“You found it!” you exclaimed, surprising him with how quickly you whipped out your phone and took a picture of the code. “You must have brushed up against it when you were looking around.

This time, you grabbed his hand and made your way downstairs to the backyard as the scanning process loaded on your phone. Once there, you looked at your last clue.

“남(nam),” you read aloud now that no competitors were around you. “친. 자. 구 . 남.” The words were scrambled, so you read them out a few more times until the realization hit you. 

Your eyes widened. “남자 친구(namja chingu). Boyfriend. But I don’t--”

And then you looked up at the pink astronaut. He stared back at you, unmovingly, and your hands gravitated to his visor again. This time, he didn’t stop you, so you pushed the cold, white glass up to reveal the warmest smile you’ve ever seen.

“Changbin…” you breathed, recognizing him right away.

“Y/N, I know no amount of apologies can ever atone for me leaving you, but I’d do anything for you to take me baaaaaaa-aack!”

Without even hearing the rest of it, you dragged him to the balcony where BamBam was waiting.

“I got it!” you shout at your friend. “The item! I’ve got it right here!”

BamBam looked amused. “This is your boyfriend, Y/N?”

“Yes,” you said without missing a beat. Both the boys jumped a little in surprise at your eagerness.

“Alright then,” chuckled your best friend into a microphone. “We have a winner!”

You could hear groans coming from the house as gold confetti rained down from the gazebo. BamBam handed you the tickets and shot you a wink before making himself scarce. You gleamed at the prize until you felt a tap on your shoulder.

“Y/N-- oof!”

You attacked Changbin with a hug and wrapped your arms around him, frowning when you noticed he lost weight. “You’re back…”

After overcoming his shock, he returned the hug and patted you on the head. “I’m sorry I left you.”

You shook your head against him. “No, don’t be. You were chasing your dreams. What kind of person would I be if I held you back just because of our relationship?”

“But I hurt you.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you did, so--” You pulled your face away from his body to look him in the eyes-- “make it up to me at the Caribbeans?” 

Another loving smile spread across his face as he cupped yours with his hand. “I will, but be warned: I’m never letting you go again after that.”

You laughed together. “Ooh, spooky.”