who doesn't love a halloween special in august, am i right?

4.6k words y'all, brace yourselves

      ꧁ "You know, it would have been really fun if you'd come dressed as a ghost."

Hyunjin's words sounded lazy, as though he'd repeated them a thousand times over before that moment, to his roommates behind Chan's back. They only made Chan roll his eyes and walk away from the snack bowl, the long black cape of his vampire costume floating behind him —and yes, the oldest quite literally made his cape move from time to time, for the fun of it. He did the same with the decorations, earning rather confused reactions from the guests when fake skeletons and pumpkins started floating around the dimly lit room.

"He's still not used to it," Minho stated the obvious, watching as Chan disappeared in the crowd, probably the only sober one in the sea of drunk students. He'd always been the only sober one, one way or the other. "He's in that mood again."

Hyunjin played with the rim of his fedora, not saying a word for a few moments. Finally, he shrugged, the careless aura back to lighten the mood. "It'll pass. Always does."

Emptying his solo cup, the boy in a rather seductive Inspector Clouseau costume —a coat over an unbuttoned shirt and a pair of leather pants, a fedora over his head with his newly dyed black hair tied back;  something about sacrificing realistic for sexy and fashionable, Hyunjin's words, not Minho's —walked away and joined the fun, grabbing the hand of a boy Minho had English classes with, Seonghwa if he remembered correctly, and taking him to dance.

Minho stayed, eyes flicking between Hyunjin and the direction Chan had gone off to, lips pursed.

Something was different about Chan this time. It was just like that day when he caught him all weird and flustered, then later on discovered he'd been lifting a box using only his mind. He barely talked, and when he did, his sentences were short, barely audible over the music. He didn't smile, not once, and didn't drop his constant guard —the tense shoulders, slack jaw and unfocused eyes —even on Halloween. But there was more to it.

The bags under his eyes and the rushed phone calls were indication enough. It was like that ever since he returned from his family trip, one that made him miss his own birthday (and also made Felix and Changbin postpone the party in order to celebrate both his and Minho's birthday on Halloween). Whenever his phone rang, it seemed to give him a heart attack, eyes wild, breathing quick, hands fumbly. When Minho asked Seungmin and Jeongin if they felt or noticed anything, the two boys said they couldn't sense a thing, just tiredness, stress and anxiety, 'typical Chan behaviour', as they called it. The only bit of progress they had when it came to breaking down his walls was when, one morning during geography, Seungmin requested to know why Chan had spent the entire previous night at the hospital. They'd gotten no response.

"The irony of you not dressing as a Weasley is still too much for me."

He turned around, just as Seungmin walked over, eyes narrowed at Minho's faded ginger hair. Changbin and Dahye were behind him, lost in their own banter to hear the Clairvoyant.

"Well, Potter," he said and eyed the boy's bolt scar and round glasses, "if you wanted me to be your Ginny Weasley once again, you could have just asked. Should have told me you were into roleplay back when we dated."

Seungmin's scoff was silenced by a rather disappointed Changbin. "The constant Harry Potter references are too much. I can't keep up."

Minho snorted. "What's with the costume?"

Proudly, Changbin smirked. "You know the guy from Toy Story? I asked Jisung to wear the same, but he refused, said he wanted to go as something else."

"What did he even come as? I haven't seen him at all."

Changbin only nodded at something behind Minho, making the latter turn around. There was Jisung, drunk off his ass, laughing with a group of seniors as Christmas decorations hung from his green sweater.

"He's a Christmas tree?"

Dahye chuckled. "It's an inside joke. Hyunjin is responsible, so you better ask him when you get the chance."

Ignoring the thought about how much he actually didn't know about these people, Minho took another look at Jisung and couldn't help but smile. Close to him or not, he was still Jisung. The way he made the seniors around him laugh using overdramatic gestures and probably even sound effects, it was just like the boy he knew. Someone ready to give so much and ask for so little in return. Ready to give entertainment, support and care, and only ask for a bit of love.

"Your hair looks terrible," Dahye commented and Changbin faked a gasp that forced Minho's attention back to them.

"Hey! Take that back, you midget."

The girl only grinned, moving her glitter covered hair out of her face. Minho took the chance to admire her mermaid costume, a combination of lilac purple and aqua green, fitting her new hair colour. She was stunning, like always. "Nope."

"You're lucky you're the only person here that's shorter than me," Changbin muttered and crossed his arms over his chest. His dominant aura crumbled slowly, bit by bit, as she kept beaming at him, pure joy affecting them all like a virus. Soon enough, Changbin, like the rest of them, caught himself hiding a smile. "The soft spot's not gonna last long if you keep behaving like that."

With no warning, she took his hat off and placed it on top of her head, causing him to fall into a cycle of endless shouts and screams. With no care in the world, she stepped back from his prying hands. "Too bad."

With that, she walked off and Changbin chased after her, leaving Minho and Seungmin to stand alone. Minho suppressed the urge to simply walk away and escape the awkward occasion, leaning back against the wall and focusing on his cup.

"And what's your costume supposed to be?"

Minho smirked, lowering his gaze to his outfit. "Mr All-knowing, why don't you see for yourself?"

"You know my powers don't work like that. I don't know every little thing, like a real Clairvoyant should. I am able to sense things, my intuition is stronger, but I'm not even close to what I'm supposed to be. I can't exactly predict and guess things."

Minho lowered his eyes to the younger's hands clutching a cup, noticing the way they gripped it until his knuckles turned white. And knowing him, he'd had at least two before that one, because the only time Seungmin would admit he was wrong was when the alcohol did it for him.

He frowned. "You've been pretty spot-on so far. How come?"

"That's days, even months of collecting information I notice." He laughed. "You think I guessed Changbin's little crush out of the blue? That's two years of observation and noticing little details nobody else can, putting them together and using them to speculate what might happen next. Hearing thoughts is the only thing I'm good at, only when the other person allows me to hear them and wants to send a message. And random information comes to mind without warning sometimes, like it did the other day with Chan hyung. I'm more confident than I should be, to be honest. Putting up a wall and pretending I know more than I really do —disappointing, am I right?"

"Kinda."

Hurt flashed in the boy's dark eyes, one that told Minho he didn't expect the kind of betrayal he'd just experienced. Maybe he wanted the person he once loved to support him a bit more, to prove he's not the same bastard they'd all grown to dislike. If he said anything, though, it would turn into a sappy moment Seungmin would get to tease him for later. After a few beats, Seungmin sighed and got back to the former topic, something Minho preferred. "So, the costume?"

"Traveller through parallel realities turned Devil's son turned Chucky, I guess. I improvised." He shrugged.

Seungmin just nodded, a curt gesture that almost had his neck snapped. "Looks good."

And the uncomfortable silence was back. If it weren't for the music that seemed to make the earth shake, it would probably be even worse. Minho took the chance to look around, see if there was anyone else he knew and could escape to. The campus was packed. Strangers, kids he'd seen around, no mop of messy hair covering shiny foxy eyes.

"Your roommate's not here," he noted and Seungmin laughed. The kind of laugh that had always made Minho uncomfortable, told him the younger knew more than he should.

"You seem quite disappointed."

"I am," he muttered with another shrug. Defending himself was useless against him, but it didn't hurt to try. "It's my birthday —well, kind of —and he's invited, so..."

"Don't worry, he's here, you'll get all your presents ready on the gift table. I'd look in the hallways if I were you."

"Will do, Potter."

Seungmin only sighed, not bothering to show his irritation. "These aren't even my colours, I'm a Slytherin. Stop it already."

"Nope. The thought of us wearing matching costumes is becoming more and more inviting."

Laughing, he patted the boy's shoulder and pushed himself off the wall, joining the crowd.

Hyunjin was still dancing with Seonghwa when he spotted them, the latter's fake blood smeared a bit more than before, some of it now on his neck, some on Hyunjin's lips. Minho's urge to approach them vanished as soon as it came, and he turned away. After receiving a bear hug from a rather wasted Felix and getting his costume stained in even more blood from the younger's white shirt, he'd noticed the boy's makeup made him look paler on purpose, and the fake wound on his neck could only come from a vampire. It made him wonder how many of his friends actually wore matching costumes like Felix and Chan.

He didn't need to think about it for too long, because as soon as he turned the corner, he collided with something. As he backed off to get a clear view of the person he'd run into, he realised the question was unnecessary, for there had to be a Pink Panther to Hyunjin's Inspector Clouseau. And he just happened to walk into him.

It seemed like Hyunjin applied the same theory to Jeongin, making his outfit sexy rather than realistic, and Minho didn't know what to think of it.

Jeongin's hair was silver, almost white. It was styled back, while a few front strands fell over his forehead, as messy as always. A pair of black cat ears peaked out of it, pink glitter all over them, matching the choker around his slender neck.

Damn you, alcohol.

"Hi," Minho croaked out, gaze lowering to the boy's outfit subtly. He regretted the decision immediately. "You look... different."

A grin decorated the boy's features, forcing Minho's eyes to his tinted lips. Jeongin looked down at his own outfit, smoothening the barely visible creases in his baby pink shirt, the first few buttons unbuttoned and revealing more of his skin with every movement. "You like it?"

"Sure," he said quietly, making sure to keep his replies short. Anything more complex would have his tongue completely tied and out of control, something he couldn't really blame on alcohol any longer. "Do you?"

"Yup! Hyunjin and Felix helped me out. Hyunjin even suggested I wore a skirt, but it would have been kinda weird."

Minho shrugged, glancing at Jeongin's leather pants and a pink glittery tail poking out from behind him, before returning his attention to his face. Getting drunk wasn't an excuse to make the boy uncomfortable. "Still, the pants are okay. But for the record, it wouldn't have been weird even if you'd worn a skirt."

He didn't know what kind of reaction he'd expected, but Jeongin only smiled and nodded, looking back down at his own cup, the liquid that had been in it now spilled on the floor. "Hyunjin likes hyping me up. I really like dressing nicely but sometimes I'm kind of scared to do it. He's always there to encourage me."

"That boy forgot the definition of buttons."

He chuckled. "He wanted to brag about his belly button piercing. He wanted me to get it with him and Felix, but I refused. Needles make me uncomfortable."

Minho rolled his eyes, praying his wild imagination wouldn't make him conjure up the image in his head. "Oh, the two of them are hell to be around, I swear. All they do is bicker. Once I finally had the dorm room to myself for a while that day and got some peace, they came back and started showing off their piercings and taking pictures and acting like an annoying couple."

The boy snorted, resting back against the wall. He clung onto his cup still, refusing to let it go. His long fingers curled around it, nails tapping against it in a steady beat that matched the music surrounding them. "Are they dating? Because it does seem like it."

Shaking his head, Minho replied, "Not really. Hyunjin's been pining after him for a while now, attempting to flirt." He laughed half-heartedly. "Felix isn't having any of it. He lets him believe he's getting somewhere, but then rejects him in the last moment."

The two saw Felix in the crowd, as the boy attempted to force a grumpy vampire, known as Chan, to dance with him. An idea came to Minho's mind.

"Wanna dance?"

The request was simple. He wasn't certain why it even mattered or why he wanted it so much, but it was an excuse to stay close to the boy, to touch him, to hold him, and the intoxicated mind of his wanted only that. It bothered him every breathing moment, bringing his attention to the warmth of the other's smile, but the next, to his glitter covered collarbones he'd gladly run his lips over, softly, just to see if it felt as good as he imagined it to.

The younger's expression crumbled down into something more vulnerable, smile dropping, bright eyes lowering sheepishly and sobering Minho up just a bit. He still chuckled. "No, I don't... I don't dance."

"Why not?" Minho frowned. Why on earth would someone like him refuse to let his body move? "Your leg seems fine. I'll be there to help you. If it hurts, you can tell me to stop, alright? I don't want you to be in pain."

The silence was his only response. Jeongin's stare remained on his empty cup, eyes downturned almost as much as his lips.

Minho paused.

"Am I being weird? I'm making you uncomfortable, aren't I?"

"No, no, I'm not uncomfortable! It's not you, I just—"

"Is dancing itself the problem?"

"Yes, I don't—"

Minho interrupted him with a reassurance. Jeongin kept muttering things under his breath, but Minho ignored them, grabbing his hand gently. The boy didn't seem uncomfortable with him in particular, so he didn't want him to make excuses for being too shy to dance. If he was ashamed, it would only take a minute or two to make him feel better about dancing, and Minho would be there for him to make sure it was alright.

They found themselves on the dancefloor, and Minho grinned at the younger. "Want me to lead?"

"Sure, yeah."

Carefully, Minho wound Jeongin's hands around his neck. Feeling the boy's breath fan over his cheeks, he looked up, meeting his gaze. As slowly as possible, he reached out, placing his hands on his slim waist. "This okay?"

Jeongin nodded and let his face fall in the crook of Minho's neck. The gesture was just as soft and gentle as it had been the day he collapsed in Minho's arms. His heart was pounding, and the nonexistent distance between him and the younger made him scared he might sense the wild pulse.

"Hyung," the boy called softly and Minho hummed a response, too focused on the scent of cologne to make another sound. Jeongin's hands clutched the back of his neck and slid down, fingers now hooking onto the collar of Minho's striped shirt. There was a sense of fear in his voice, in the way it cracked at the end, hushed in order to tell the world's biggest secret. "We're both guys. What if... people are watching?"

Oh.

There were couples around them. They were dancing, some with a safe distance in between their bodies, hesitantly, and some with their hands all over each other. Boys had their arms around girls, hands on their tiny waists and faces buried in their shiny, long hair. Girls giggled, clinging to the boys in an attempt to being them closer.

They stood out and that's what Jeongin didn't want.

Slowly, as if talking to an infant, Minho whispered, "Nobody's watching. I don't think anyone here's that old-fashioned. You can relax."

His hand came to rest on the boy's back, and he felt the tension in his frame lose form, acceptance sinking in that no, it didn't matter they were both boys.

Just as Minho's hands closed around the younger's figure, Jeongin flinched away.

"My phone just buzzed, wait," he muttered over the booming music and grabbed the device from his back pocket, looking back up apologetically. "It's Felix, he wants me to meet him outside, he's already there. Sorry."

The older pushed back all the things he wanted to say. Instead, he only nodded and forced a smile. Jeongin left right away, not turning back once. With a sigh, Minho returned to his spot against the wall, watching none other than Felix himself as he looked for a dancing partner.

He wasn't sure why Jeongin lied, but he should not have forced him to dance.  Minho had no right to make him do anything. Whether it was the fact that he hated dancing, he didn't know how, or Minho himself made him not feel okay, or just their gender. It wasn't important. He shouldn't have insisted.

"You know he lied, right?" He looked to the side to see Chan walking over, a cup in his hand. His expression was one of hidden amusement, hints of a smile suppressed by an attempt at an unimpressed and bored façade. "Yet, you didn't tell him you know."

Minho's eyebrows furrowed as the older offered him the cup, intentions unreadable. There was not a friendly word or a smile to go with it, just the cheap excuse for a dish, containing the key to Minho's comfort for the night, better known as alcohol. Chan wasn't drinking. There was no trace of drunk slur in his words or the careless attitude that came with it, nothing. As expected. "Did you spike this?"

"On 'our birthday'?" Chan snorted, taking pride in Minho's worried state. Minho didn't like being mocked, but the grin that overtook the vampire's features made it a bit more bearable. "No. I'm waiting for a more special occasion."

Rolling his eyes, Minho took a sip. Chan stood beside him and forced a frown onto his lips. It was unusual, even for Chan, to just stand there and examine him like a lab rat. No purpose or anything of sorts, just to have small talk. Less awkward than with Seungmin, more awkward than with Jeongin.

Jeongin.

"Of course I didn't tell him. He was uncomfortable enough to excuse himself using something so lame I figured it out right away. He's not feeling okay."

Chan only sighed and unlocked his phone, the screen illuminating his features with blue hues. Minho averted his eyes from the screen, looking around the crowded space. His attention returned to Felix, who was busy bothering a familiar looking freshman, probably asking him to dance. He noticed the boy pull out his phone, and the same moment, he looked up, directly to lock his eyes with Minho.

No, with Chan.

He gave the oldest a thumbs up and a nod, and pushed through the kids, reaching the exit.

"I texted him," Chan explained. "He'll check on Innie."

The floor creaked uncomfortably underneath Minho's feet as he stepped to the side, busying himself with moving around. Teeth gnawed at his bottom lip, preventing his mouth from opening to thank the older.

"You seem fidgety. Wanna go get some air?"

Chan didn't burst into laughter the second he said it, nor did he brush it off as a joke. He stared Minho dead in the eye, expecting an actual reply.

Hesitantly, Minho nodded.

The sound of music drowned out behind them as the two boys reached the hallway and soon found themselves outside. Chilly air nipped at the skin of their faces mercilessly, causing them to shiver. Minho wrapped his bare arms around himself and walked with more force, hoping to warm himself up as his eyes raked over the almost empty garden, in search of a certain panther comforted by a human blood bag.

An empty bench showed itself to them soon enough, one near the college building, and the two sat down. Minho's own picture stuck to a tree still remained, and the boy on the other side seemed to stare right at him. A certain heaviness dropped onto his heart, like an anchor trying to push it down, dig it into the dirt at the bottom of the ocean, take it along and bury it somewhere nobody knew. Those eyes burned into his with a force that pushed him to the edge, causing his lungs to deprive him of oxygen and let him try and manage on his own.

"He was a creepy one, wasn't he?" Minho broke the silence, forcing his gaze away from the photograph and to the vampire beside him.

Chan sat on the backrest of the bench, feet planted onto the seat by Minho, tapping against the surface. "He is."

Minho quirked an eyebrow, lowering his now empty cup onto the ground and making a mental note to find a proper trashcan nearby. Another gust of wind forced him to hiss, hugging himself tighter. "'He is?'" he repeated. "You're still not letting your theory go? You think he's alive?"

"I think he's you. So no, you're not off the hook yet, despite what the others made you believe."

Chan's smile didn't falter and, for a second, it resembled Seungmin's, one that showed way less than it actually had purpose of, that was simply there, either to scare away or attract, Minho didn't know.

"Why can't you let go of that bullshit?" he whispered, almost desperately. His hands flopped against his knees as he stared up at the older, ignoring the shivers running up and down his spine as those eyes never moved away from his, the electric blue contact making them a whole new level of piercing, even in the darkness. The cold forced the nails of his fingers to dig into his knees. "Why can't you believe what I tell you? I'm tired of this, it's been too damn long, so just— What are you doing?"

He paused, not moving a limb as Chan undid the button that had his cape attached to the rest of his costume. Without even a glance, Chan thew it into Minho's face.

"You're cold."

Clutching at the dark fabric, Minho got if off himself and narrowed his eyes. "What are you trying to do? You're here, suspecting me of resurrection and all other shit you made up in that head of yours, then you're parenting me and caring for my health. You're always around, staring like a creep, following everything I do. One moment you're okay, the next you're sending a knife at me. Why can't you just stay away from me?"

"I am," he confirmed. "I'm staying away from you. Can't exactly do that if you're constantly around Jeongin, Jisung and the kids. I'm just looking out for them, nothing more."

"I don't want to hurt them. Any of them."

"See, that's where our paths separate." Chan leaned forward, elbows resting against his knees. "I don't fucking believe you. You hurt Jisung so badly. He's not even letting you see it. And he never will. He'll let you in again. He'll let you break him again, and he'll run to me for comfort. And I'll just have to tell him it would all be okay, that it would never happen again. But you'll come around. Again. And again. Until he's crushed to the point of no return.

"And you won't care because you never do. It'll be just another day for you. You might run away again, for a year or so, leave like the coward you are. Leave me, leave Jisung, leave Jeongin, everyone that ever cared about you, that loved you despite your demons, all to satisfy your needs for destruction. That's all you'll be. A manipulator that ruins everything that's good in this world. You ruined Dahye, and she's still here. You ruined Jisung, yet he won't back away. You ruined Jeongin, and all he did was come back for more. You ruined me, Minho. I won't do the same."

The ice cold hitting his face was the only indicator he needed to realise it. Don't cry. Blinking away the burning in his eyes, Minho ignored the tears and stood up. Don't cry. Not now. The black cloak was thrown over his shoulders, and it dragged out behind him as he strode away from the older, wiping at the wet skin of his face. Don't cry, please. He opened his palms to stop his fingernails from drawing more blood. Don't fucking cry.

"Oh you're running away again? I'm not even surprised."

Just like that, he snapped.

In a matter of seconds, he was back by the older, now holding him by the collar. Their faces inches apart, noses touching, he could feel Chan's breath on his face as the older laughed. He laughed.

"What's wrong with you?" He shook him. "Why are you doing this? You're trying to make me believe you, aren't you? You're manipulating me to think I did this."

Chan only snorted. "That's your job."

"Why?" he repeated himself, teeth gritted together so tightly the pain spread through his jaw and went all the way to his ears. He tightened his grip on Chan's shirt. "Why are you so fucking cruel?"

"Well, I don't know about you," the older mumbled, smile dropping slowly, in a manner that chilled Minho to the bone, "but I'd rather be cruel than stay naive and get stabbed in the back once again."

"Once again? What do you...?"

Mind blank, Minho stood there, paralysed. As though something grabbed him and forced him to stay still, he couldn't move a muscle, the frantic movement of his chest the only sign he was still breathing.

He stared down at his hands still holding the fabric of Chan's shirt. Or his hands that were supposed to be holding the fabric of Chan's shirt. Only he couldn't feel it anymore. Slowly, he lifted his head, a gasp leaving his mouth at the sight as his hands grabbed Chan's shoulders, then arms. Nothing.

"H-hyung," the word slipped past his lips before he could remember it was, in fact, not his hyung, but only a stranger he resembled.

"What? What?!"

"Are there side effects to being a Ghost?" Minho questioned quietly, letting his hands fall limp at his sides. "Like... turning transparent?"

A/N:

dun dun duuuuuuuuun

lmfao sorry

anyways um.... the gif's missing but it's because of my shitty internet, expect it soon. i wanted to do a halloween chapter for no reason other than the fact that i know minho's birthday is close to it and chan *had* to be absent on his for whatever reason, you'll see soon. so no better way to connect two foes than give them something in common, like a bday party, am i right?

also jeongin's costume shskdjdjdjejekek don't kill me please... basically imagine maknae on top innie but in pink and with cat ears. how's that both cute and hot i-

idk how the idea of the costume came to be but it's so good so hell yes

also the hair colour timeline is not the same as in real life, as you may see, so don't be confused by me experimenting

but thoughts??? about innie refusing to dance? then his question and chan being all weird and... invisible?¿ please let me know what you think so far because it's kinda getting all complicated and i want to know your opinions

soon we'll get more insight into the lives of the characters on the other side of the door, in minho's former universe, so expect that ;)

if there's a reason the number of people who actively read my books is decreasing please let me know. i know it's summer and you guys are pretty busy but if i actually started doing something differently, something you don't like, don't hesitate to tell me. i won't mind, really

love you all and thanks for reading <3