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Squiddo was so excited. After asking over and over again, Ashswag had finally agreed to join her on one of her spooky shenanigans. It took a lot of convincing, bribery and assuring that Ashswag wouldn't perma-die for him to finally agree and go with them, but Squiddo didn't even care that they were out a stack of diamonds! Blinded by the excitement of having Ashswag with them on one of these adventures.
Squiddo stood in front of an obviously abandoned building, vines grew over the entrance and mold was accumulating around some of the corners of the old build. She had heard about this place being haunted from Mapicc, but she didn't really believe it until she had heard it from Zam instead.
Could you blame her? Mapicc isn't exactly the most trustworthy. At least from their experience on Lifesteal.
They had taken their time to examine the building. It was made from dark oak and spruce wood. Mold, moss and vines had slowly grown and taken over the buildinga fter it being there for some time now, and windows were dusted over, so they couldn't see inside of the building if they had tried to.
Leaves crunched behind her, and they had finally remembered that they weren't alone this time.
"So are we gonna go in, or..?" Ashswag asked from behind them, hands shoved in his pockets as he studied the building as well. Squiddo turned around to look at him, her face breaking into a smile at the reminder that Ash was with her.
"Yeah, sorry. I just like looking at the build before going in. Maybe I'll pick up a few building tips, be like one of those builders on Hermitcraft." Squiddo jokes, and Ashswag laughs. "Yeah right. The day you build something even remotely habitable is the day I die." He says, walking towards the front door, hand out stretched to grab the door knob.
Void, Squiddo hoped she'd never learn how to build.
It was then that they had noticed his change in outfit. Surely they would've noticed it earlier if they hadn't been too focused on the building (or Ash's face). Squiddo usually just wore the same jean jacket when ghost hunting, orange shirt still on underneath it with some pants to match, but Ashswag looked like some emo pulled straight out of some teenagers 2009 myspace photos.
Okay, a bit of an exaggeration. The hair did him some good, that was for sure, but the outfit? The black fingerless gloves were not helping. He opted for a black zip-up jacket over some band t-shirt that was, you guessed it, black, instead of his usual outfit he'd wear on Lifesteal.
Though it's not like Squiddo was complaining. He looked good.
Their eyes wandered to his distressed jeans and all-black high tops and - void, this motherfucker was emo - before Ashswag had cleared his throat and they snapped their eyes right back to their face. He raised a brow at them and they blushed.
"Sorry. Let's go in?"
"Like I didn't just suggest that a few minutes ago."
Squiddo walked into the house right after Ash had. As soon as she walked in, the door slammed shut behind the two. Well, shit. That wasn't extremely off putting at all. They both locked eyes and nodded, continuing on foward. Squiddo had finally caught up to him, now the both of them walking side by side.
"What do you usually do while you wait for something to happen?" Ashswag asked as he kept his eyes foward. The place was lit well enough that they didn't need a torch, but still dim enough that Ash had to squint. Squiddo's tinted glasses didn't really help with their sight, but they'd rather die than take them off. Especially in front of Ashswag.
"Honestly, I just walk around and talk to myself until something happens-" a loud crash came from upstairs, and Squiddo looked at Ash with a smile. "Kind of like that!" They said, and began to walk towards where the stairs was, stopping right in front of the stairs. They waited a few seconds before beginning to walk up them, Ash following closely from behind.
Squiddo was beginning to get flashbacks from Terrain's horror map by this point, but she continued on, not willing to pussy out in front of Ashswag. That would be embarrassing, and void, she's already embarrassed herself in front of him far too many times.
They continued to lead the way down a dark hallway, only lit by the very few candles that were not so generously placed. They didn't question how they were still lit. Ashswag had made his way beside them, hands bunched in his pockets. Their steps made very little noise themselves, but the wood below them was not so helpful, letting out loud creaks and cracks. Squiddo felt themself stiffen. Void, why was this so creepy?
Squiddo was a ghost hunter, how was she getting scared by some creaks of an old building?
Silence hung between the duo, and they were about to make it to the end of the hall where the master bedroom sat. If Squiddo had learnt anything while ghost hunting, it was always the room you expected the ghost to be in, and if her gut feeling was correct, that bedroom definitely had some horrors in it.
They had finally taken the time to notice that it was actually a bit nicer with Ash around. Usually Squiddo would be on the verge of a panic attack right about now, but the presence of Ashswag seemed to calm her down a little. Key word: little.
They were too caught up in trying to be quiet and just make it to that bedroom that they didn't notice the figure slowly creeping up behind them. Then, they heard it. The loud creaking noise of a floorboard they had stepped on a few seconds before.
Ashswag's head snapped around, eyes widening at the sight of an indistinguishable figure. He didn't have time to study whatever the fuck that was, and he definitely didn't have time to question whether it was real or not and question his religion.
Squiddo had turned around at that point, but Ash had already grabbed her hand and dragged her into the master bedroom. Squiddo made some sort of strangled surprised noise, more focused on the fact that Ashswag had just grabbed her hand instead of the fact there was some sort of ghost or spirit or whatever ready to fucking murder them or something. That was usually the goal ghosts had, but occasionally they just wanted closure. This wasn't that.
The door slammed behind them, and Ash had pressed Squiddo against it, keeping it closed before locking it himself. Before they could even get a word out, Ash had covered their mouth with his hand, effectively shutting them up.
"Shh!" Ash shushed, and he would've put a finger over his mouth if it wasn't tangled within Squiddo's, which Squiddo's mind was still stuck at.
"Okay, okay, fuck.." Ash pulled both his hands away, and there was banging at the door, pressuring Ash to figure out something quickly.
Though he didn't have time for that either. The bathroom door connected to the master bedroom, and like clockwork (or like a cheesy old horror film), lighting struck, outlining a figure in the door frame. Ashswag didn't even think, and Squiddo wasn't thinking at all, so he grabbed her hands and pulled the both of them into the nearest closet, closing it shut.
Squiddo fell on their ass, and Ash had kneeled beside them.
"What the fuck is that!?" Ash whisper-yelled, and to remind them of what he was referring to, he gestured to the closet doors and what laid behind them.
Before Squiddo could answer with a completely genuine 'I don't know', they heard the door to the bedroom they were in open, and now they were both in a room, stuck in a closet, with two ghost-monster-things outside of it ready to kill them.
Holy shit they were gonna die. They were gonna die on the floor of an empty old closet of a haunted old house.
Suddenly, the cogs in Squiddo's miniature, little brain finally start turning. They looked at Ash and frowned.
"Fuck, I- I'm so sorry. I didn't even know this was gonna happen, I thought if I stayed in front you'd stay safe but I just ended up putting you in more danger and I.." Squiddo trails off, anxious eyes meeting Ashswag's own panicked ones. He was silent, just watching as Squiddo spoke.
"And I just really wanted to have this with you. I thought.. I thought this would've been something fun for us, something we could laugh about in like- a year or something from now! I didn't know we were gonna die." They continued, and they looked at the floor in fromt of the closet doors. The shadows of two figures dangerously coming closer and closer.
Squiddo sucked in a breath. Now or never.
"Ashswag." She reached foward for his hands, and they fit perfectly inside of Squiddo's. She felt her eyes water, and suddenly all that was leaving her mouth was word vomit.
"I like you. I know I always say that, but fuck do I mean it now. Not only do I like you, but I 'like-like' you. That is such a stupid way to put it, childish and lame, I know, and if this was any normal confession - and void it is not - you would've called me an idiot, or like, a dumbass - but I just really wanted to say something before-" Their eyes flickered to the closet doors, but in that moment, Ashswag had lunged foward.
Lips were smashed against lips, and wow was that going to bruise, but honestly Squiddo could give less of a shit because oh my void they were kissing and oh my void they were about to fucking die. But they were kissing, and it felt like dying didn't even matter anymore.
Squiddo had relaxed, shoulders not so tense anymore and cheeks flushing a soft shade of pink as Ash continued the kiss, and soon enough they had gained enough courage to kiss him back.
Ash's hand rested on Squiddo's cheek, pulling her foward, and his other hand was down against the floor, keeping him upwards and from falling on top of the other. Squiddo pushed a hand through Ash's hair, the other wrapping around his neck and pulling him closer herself.
This all had happened in the span of a few seconds, and finally, the closet doors opened, and the two looked at the door. Their little seven minutes in heaven session had come to a close because they were about to enter heaven-
Wait.
"Well that worked a lot better than I expected." A voice said - Zam's voice said.
Squiddo could practically feel the blood boiling beneath Ashswag's skin. Hell, she could feel her own anger pumping in her blood as she stared at Zam. Then, behind Zam, Mapicc popped up, a nervous smile on his face as his eyes met Ash's and Squiddo's angry expressions.
Zam only seemed cocky, though.
"You should be thankful for us, really. I mean, if me and Mapicc hadn't interfered who knows what miscommunication would've happened between you two if we hadn't stepped in." Zam said, arms crossed with that annoying fucking smile on his face that Squiddo was slowly beginning to detest. It was obvious Zam was just trying to save their asses, but he was already too far gone. At this point, when they get back on Lifesteal, Ash was already prepared to wring him of whatever hearts he had left.
With only silence in response, Zam took that as his and Mapicc's cue to leave, grabbing his hand and booking it out of there. Ashswag was just about to chase after them before Squiddo had tugged down on his arm, and he decided staying wouldn't hurt. He'd get back at Zam later.
Ash looked at Squiddo as a playful smile graced her now bruised lips, and Ash had to assume his looked the same from Squiddo's point of view. The two of them were still a bit shaken up, almost - you know - dying kind of does that to you. Also confessing and kissing someone for the first time can make you a bit shaken up as well, but really, who was paying attention to what they were doing in that closet?
Finally, they spoke.
"So was that an 'I like you back' kiss or..?" They asked, tilting their head at Ash, who groaned and rolled his eyes.
"I feel like it was obvious, but if you really need a reminder.." Ashswag dipped down and their lips pressed together once again, though far more softer this time around, less rushed and frantic and instead more slow and gentle.
So they kissed once again, still sitting on the floor of an empty old closet in a not haunted old house that they had confessed to each other in.
Void, Ashswag is never joining Squiddo on one of these ghost hunting trips ever again.