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"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ah, the famous last words of every single horror movie out there. And right now, Alfred was repeating them to his idiotic group of tormentors that he called his friends.
It honestly started out as a stupid joke between Mathias, Gilbert and him. After staying in on halloween night and binging on b-rated horror movies, Gilbert had insisted on going out to have some 'real fun'. Yes, because bringing a Ouija board to the middle of a cemetery was definitely every single sensible person's definition of having real fun.
Both Mathias and Alfred had protested against it, Alfred spewing some nonsense about how he had something to do the next day and staying out late was a bad idea. Matthias was just paranoid about all the warnings Lukas had given him about playing around with ghosts, and definitely not with Ouija boards.
It only took one 'you guys are pussies’ and two 'what are you, scared?'s before both Mathias and Alfred found themselves dragged along into some creepy cemetery, armed with two flashlights, an Ouija board, and fruit snacks.
"Of course this is a good idea!" Gilbert exclaimed from the front of their little group of ghost-hunters. Alfred didn't seem so convinced, he had forced a brave look onto his face, but he just had to hope he wasn't clinging onto Mathias too hard. It would suck being yelled at for cutting of his friend's circulation.
“Oh, right here!” Gilbert called out, rushing forwards a bit to stop underneath a tree. The space underneath it was clear, graves looming around it, but with enough space for the three of them to sit. “This is perfect.”
Alfred whimpered a little as the group settled down, Gilbert dropping the Ouija board in the middle of them.
“After this can we just go home? I don’t wanna get stabbed out here,” Matthias said, wiggling Alfred off of him so that they could sit down comfortable.
“Of course!” Gilbert said, placing the board and planchette on the ground. Alfred let Gilbert set it up, Matthias’ words making him look around like at any point a maniac would hop from the bushes and kill them.
“Okay, so now we just put out fingers on the planchette and ask if there are any spirits around,” Gilbert said, placing his fingers on it and waiting for his friends to do the same. Hesitantly, the two of them did.
“Okay! If there are any spirits around that wanna talk, let yourself be known,” Gilbert said like he had practiced it in front of a mirror. Or just watched too many horror movies.
There was dead silence from all of them, Alfred trying not to shake in fear ('I had to pee!' he'd claim later to the teasing of his friends) and potentially startle up some angry poltergeists.
There was a bit of rustling from behind above them, and Matthias seemed to tense up from next to Alfred. None of them could say anything before there was a soft thud and all three of the boys glanced at each other warily. The excitement was slowly starting to fade from Gilbert’s eyes.
"You hear that?" Alfred whispered, his eyes going wide in fear.
The group didn't have the chance to answer that before a voice spoke up from behind the tree they’d set up under.
“Hear what?”
All three of them screamed.
Alfred scrambled away from the voice, toppling over Matthias’ side, Gilbert kicked over the Ouija board in haste to jump up, and to the dismay of all of them, the stranger just laughed loudly.
The three of them scrambled around in a panic for a few seconds, Matthias standing and turning to face the stranger with his fists thrown up, like he was going to fight him. Gilbert was the one to grab one of their flashlights and shine it on the guy.
With some light literally shone on the situation, the groups adrenaline levels began to decline. This wasn’t an axe-wielding murderer or an angry vengeful ghost like Alfred had immediately assumed, but just a guy.
“Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of us!” Matthias exclaimed, hands dropping to his sides with a nervous laugh.
“I noticed,” the guy said, a smug grin on his face. His head tilted to the side as he seemingly eyed-up the group. “A Ouija board? Really? Didn’t anyone ever tell ya guys not to mess with ghosts?” he teased, squatting down to scoop the Planchette from the ground and eye it.
“Hey, hey give that back,” Gilbert huffed, swiping it back from the man, who just chuckled and let it be pulled from his hands.
Alfred took the moment to eye up the stranger himself. He was dressed like some kind of low-effort punk- jeans ripped out of wear, old looking combat boots, a black Amigo The Devil t-shirt under a black leather jacket. His hair was messy and a deep red, and he had a few piercings adorning his face. It was all pulled together with a fake devil’s tail hanging from his belt loop and cheap horns on his head.
“Like what you see, sugar?” The man asked, meeting Alfred’s gaze. The blondes face flared red in embarrassment at being caught staring, and he quickly looked away.
“Anyways,” he slid his hands into his pockets, “how about I show you guys some real fun? I’m throwin’ a party a little ways from here.”
“A party?” Matthias perked up. That obviously seemed to appeal to him, much more than amature ghost-hunting.
“Yeah. You know that old house that’s been standin’ around empty for a few years?”
Alfred blinked, wrinkling his nose ."So...you're throwing a party in an abandoned house...?"
"Yep! You’ll love it. Why, you got a problem?”
"No, it’s just...doesn't that seem kinda....dangerous?"
"Of course it is. You comin’ or what?” He turned and began to walk away, and Alfred watched him dig a cigarette from his pocket and light it. The group exchanged glances between each other.
"...Guys I think we just ran into a demon.”
~
After some arguing between them, they finally decided to follow after the stranger, who after some prodding, introduced himself as Allen. Alfred had a sense of morbid curiosity about Allen and where he was taking them. The concept of being brought to a party in an abandoned house by someone he just met was terrifying, but...fun.
Eventually, Allen turned into the front sidewalk of what looked like a stereotypical haunted house, except for the music booming from it and lights flashing in the windows. The group followed Allen up to the front door, and he opened it. The house was filled with people mingling and dancing, talking loudly over the music.
The trio was pulled into the crowd almost immediately, Gilbert making a B-line for the drinks, Matthias following after him. Alfred made an attempt to stay with them, but the mass of people moving around him, the booming music, and the heat seemed to jumble up his mind. After some pushing around, he managed to find a quiet corner away from the crowd where he could get a proper breath. Alfred tried to spot his friends through the crowd, but couldn’t seem to find them.
“What’re you up to over here all on your lonesome?” Came a voice, and Alfred looked over to meet the dark eyes of Allen, leaning against the wall next to him with a plastic cup in hand.
Alfred felt a strange sense of comfort at seeing a familiar face, even if it was one that had scared him half to neath less than a half hour ago. Allen was grinning at him, obviously at home in this kind of atmosphere.
“Um,” Alfred shifted a little bit under Allen’s gaze “I’m not...used to this kinda thing.” He waved his hand to indicate the party in general, and Allen nodded understandingly.
“Do you wanna go somewhere more quiet?”
“Yeah, that’d- that’d be great!” Alfred nodded, allowing Allen to gently take his elbow and lead him through the partiers and through a door near the back of the house. The door lead back outside, and where a little firepit had been set up, chairs placed around it and a table off the the side. A small group of people were around it, engaged in conversation. The cool air made Alfred sigh softly, shoulders relaxing.
“Hey, dumbasses,” Allen said, and the few people looked up. There were four in total, one guy perched in another’s lap talking quietly between themselves and the other two seemed to be playing a game of cards on the table. They glanced up when Allen spoke. “This is Alfred. Be nice.”
“Hey, sweet stuff,” one of them said with a lazy wave- a blonde that was sitting in the other’s lap. The other’s just nodded or made a soft noise of acknowledgement.
“That’s Flavio and Santiago,” Allen nodded to the blonde and his...friend? Boyfriend? “Zao and Luis are the ones playing cards. Mind if we join?” Allen pulled up a chair for himself and Alfred, and Alfred just nodded, settling down in the lawn chair.
“Course not. Do you wanna play poker?” Zao said, dealing out to them. “Santiago, Flavi, stop being gay and come join us.”
The couple grumbled a bit before joining them at the table. After a second, they joined at the table and Zao dealt out to them.
After being refreshed on the rules of the game, Alfred happily joined the game. This was much more his speed, even winning a few rounds. There was no stutter in the gameplay until Allen nudged his side a bit, offering him what looked like a cigarette.
“Uh, I don’t smoke,” he said, shaking his head. “Nicotine’s no good for ya.”
“What? No, it’s just weed.”
Alfred’s face heated up, shocked by the admission. “Um, isn’t that illegal?”
That earned a few snickers from the men around them, and Alfred’s face just got warmer until he was nearly sweating from the embarrassment.
“You sure know how to pick ‘em, huh Al?” Luis snickered, and Allen seemed to kick him under the table.
“You don’t need to smoke if you don’t want to, sunshine,” Allen said softly, and Alfred shook his head.
“No- no I will!” Alfred insisted, taking the blunt from Allen. His face was still warm, and he waited for the others to look away before he attempted to take a drag from the blunt. He could feel watching him from the corner of his eyes, and the punk smirked a little bit when Alfred coughed up the smoke.
The next time around was easier for him, and as time passed on, Alfred began to feel a gentle warm buzz under skin.
“Hey, how ‘bout we find your friends and get you home, huh?” Allen’s soft voice came, pulling him from the pleasant haze. Alfred nodded, and allowed Allen to scoop him up out of the chair. It didn’t take much for them to find Gilbert and Matthias, jumping around drunkenly on the dance floor.
“C’mon!” Allen called out, waving down the two. “Time for you three to head home. It’s getting late.”
They seemed to protest for a second and Allen had to usher the three of them to the door. “Get Alfred home safe, alright?” Alfred heard him say, and waved at him over his shoulder as the three of them headed home.
~
Alfred woke up the next morning on his couch with a phone number and “call me!” written on his arm.