Nov 01, 2008 13:47
“I don’t like it,” Michael stated as he stared from the couch.
“What do you mean you don’t like it?” David asked as he crossed through the living room, decorations in hand, “And he’s not an IT. His name is Walter.”
Walter happens to be a six foot tall, life-sized, motion-activated mechanical statue dressed as a butler, tray and all. He breathes, moans, turns his head and eyes. He generally just looks like a creeper. David had been practically giddy when he found him, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet like a kid at Christmas. Halloween being his favorite holiday, he had to have him. Michael didn’t like him then, and he sure as hell doesn’t like him now.
Michael rolled his eyes, “Well, Walter is really starting to freak me out.”
“Then sit somewhere else.”
“I can’t. His eyes still follow me…” Michael said as he shifted back and forth, eyes never leaving Walter.
“Then go sit in the hall,” David snapped.
“Hey cranky pants, you were the one that invited me over. I can just leave now if that’s how you’re going to treat your house guests.”
David just rolled his eyes. He knew Michael wasn’t going to leave. Ever since the divorce, David had made sure that he got Michael out of his house as often as possible so the other man wouldn’t stay home and just sulk. Also, Halloween was not Michael’s favorite holiday and David knew he didn’t want to be alone, even if he was too proud to admit it, so, more often than not, Michael accepted his offer to hang out at David’s place. David was more than happy to have Michael around so much. It gave him excuses to stare at his gorgeous best friend.
On this particular night, David had invited Michael over under the assumption that they were going to dinner. When Michael got there, David told him that they would leave in a minute and that he wanted to put up a few more decorations before they went out. David led him to the living room and told him to hang out while he finished up.
Currently, David watched Michael with a smirk as he rocked side to side on the couch, desperately trying to get out of eye shot of Walter. David just shook his head and went back to hanging fake cobwebs. When he turned back around, Michael was laying flat on the floor by the couch, still staring straight at Walter.
“He’s still looking at me from down here!!!”
“Mike. Get off the floor.”
Michael huffed and clamored back onto the couch but choosing the other end of the couch, trying, and failing, not to look at Walter. “How much longer are you going to be?” Michael whined.
“The cobwebs are the last thing to go up,” David smiled, “and then dinner at a place of your choice,” trying to appease the whiney other man.
Michael’s eyes lit up at the mention of dinner and began to think of the places he may want to go. David chuckled a little and went back to his work. David bent over to spread the cobwebs down to the baseboard, giving the room a floor to ceiling, abandoned look. While he was bent by Walter’s feet, he got a flash of inspiration.
David flipped the on switch by Walter’s feet on the base and slowly stood back up, careful not to trip the motion sensor. “Hey Mike, could you come over here and help me stretch the web over the bookcase?”
Michael grumbled and got up. He didn’t want to go anywhere near the creepy butler. He never took his eyes off him as he passed, when suddenly Walter turned his head and his eyes, groaned and watched Michael pass.
“HOLY SWEET JESUS!” Michael jumped about two feet in the air and fell against the wall, clutching his chest.
David jumped a little, too, but not because of Walter but because of the startled Aussie yelling. David turned his head to look at Michael while trying to stifle a smile.
“Did you turn that thing on??” Michael demanded.
David tried to look as innocent as possible, “No man, he must be short circuiting or something. Here, let me unplug him.” David bent down and removed the plug from the wall.
David straightened back up and glanced at Michael who was still clutching his chest and breathing rather erratically. “Calm down. It’s okay; he’s unplugged.”
Michael eyed Walter wearily, “I still don’t like him. I told you, just being in the same room freaks me out.”
“You are such a big baby.”
“A big baby? Maybe. But the next time I get scared I’ll be sure to wet myself on your new couch.”
“Hardee-har-har,” David dead panned, “You are no longer allowed to sit on my couch.”
Michael scrunched up his face. “Fine. I’m going to the bathroom and when I get back, we are going to dinner whether you’re done or not.” With that, Michael slinked away from Walter and towards the hall bath.
“Well, at least now I’ll know you won’t be wetting yourself on my couch anytime soon,” David quipped at Michael’s retreating back. He earned a middle finger in response. David smiled to himself; he rather liked that Michael Johns.
Michael made his way to the bathroom and took care of business. While he was washing his hands, he thought of David. His best friend had been making a valiant effort to not let him be alone for extended periods of time if he could help it. Michael appreciated this and the fact that David knew how much he hated being alone. David understood Michael in ways that Michael didn’t think anyone else had, not even Stacey, and so spending all this extra time with him didn’t bother Michael at all. And he’s not half-bad to look at, Michael thought to himself with a smirk.
Michael wasn’t sure when he started to be attracted to David, but he knew it was some time before the divorce, which is why he didn’t fight Stacey as much when she filed the papers. He figured he would eventually tell David and hope they could move past it, but for now, he was just enjoying spending so much time together.
Michael dried his hands off and started out the door when he looked up and saw brown eyes staring back at him. For the second time that night, Michael jumped into the air, only this time not as gracefully and he slammed backward into the door. He eyed Walter, frozen. He didn’t know how he got there but he had his suspicions.
“David?”
“Yeah?” Michael heard David’s voice coming from the kitchen.
“Could you come here for a second?”
“What? Do you need help pulling up your pants? Because that was a one time only thing…” David trailed off and stopped dead in his tracks. “What is Walter doing over here?”
Michael eyed him incredulously. “Okay, Dave. You got me. I’m scared. Now, can you put him away?”
David just shook his head, looking concerned and a little perplexed, “I didn’t put him here. Last time I saw him was in the living room and I haven’t been in there since you went to the bathroom.”
Both men hadn’t moved since the beginning of their conversation, but after eying Walter for awhile, David moved forward to try to wrestle Walter back into the living room.
Walter, however, whipped his head around and looked at David, which made him take a step back. He glanced over to Michael to see that his eyes were blown wide open.
“I thought he couldn’t move if he wasn’t plugged in and he’s not plugged so why is he moving,” Michael spit out in hurried speech.
“He… I… I don’t know.” David reached out and grabbed Michael’s wrist while still watching Walter and tugged him slowly over to where David was and then they eased their way back down the hall.
They made their way back to the kitchen without a backward glance at Walter and they both released sighs of relief. They sat around the table, trying to figure out what exactly happened, but not talking.
David spoke first, “Well, that was weird,” he stated with brows knitted in confusion.
“THAT was fucking creepy,” Michael corrected.
“Alright… creepy,” David conceded, “What should I do with Walter? Should I just try to put him back and hope he doesn’t… move around the house again?”
“You should throw him in a big fucking fire and let that be the end of it.”
David blinked at Michael and then stood up, “I think I’m just going to try to put him back in the living room.”
Michael just watched David as he walked away. He couldn’t figure out why on earth David would still want that thing in his house. After he was gone only a few moments, he heard David call out his name, but he sounded weird. Michael got up and walked over to where David was and where they had left Walter. Only, Walter wasn’t there.
David and Michael exchanged confused looks, Michael’s with a bit more fear, and they took off sprinting to the living room. Sure enough, there was Walter standing in the exact same spot he had before.
“What the fuck, David,” Michael practically yelled and he turned his face toward David.
David looked every bit of as scared and confused as Michael felt. Suddenly, Michael spun on his heal and strode back into the kitchen. He had a strong urge to NOT be in the same room as the figure. David reluctantly followed him.
“Dave, you have got to get rid of that thing. Now.”
They were standing in the kitchen next to each other by the counter. David scrubbed at his face. “I know,” David confessed, “but now I don’t want to go anywhere near the thing.”
Michael cast a sympathetic look at David, “I know… but I’m not touching it. I don’t want to catch whatever voodoo is in that thing.”
David smirked, “Thank you for selfless gesture to help me remove it.”
Michael smiled at him, “No problem, mate.”
David and Michael sat in silence trying to figure out what to do when suddenly the room was plunged into darkness. David felt hands grip his arm and a body pressed up against his side. David momentarily forgot to be scared, distracted by the warm body currently touching him. He subconsciously leaned into the touch as concern more than fear started to take over him.
Michael stood clutching David’s arm, unable to move. He leaned in closer to David and put his lips by David’s ear, “I think I heard shuffling in the next room,” Michael said hushed and scared. He felt David jump at the initial whispering, but after listening to Michael, he could tell, even without seeing him, David was rolling his eyes.
Michael’s lips being so close to his ear sent shivers down David’s body and then he bit back a scoff at Michael’s words. “There is no shuffling coming from the other room.” David wracked his brain to remember where he put the flashlight when he moved in. He remembered he put them in the cabinet in the kitchen, but when he moved to get it, he was stopped by the death grip on his arm.
“Mike, let go of me for a second and I’ll go get the flashlight. I promise I’ll be right back.”
“No. We are standing here until the power comes back on”
“Oh, that’s real rational.”
David tried to squirm out of Michael’s grip, but failed as Michael spun him around and they were pressed front to front and Michael wrapped his arms around David. This is productive… thought David, but was once again distracted by the heat coming off of Michael. David felt Michael’s breath on his face and leaned in.
Michael wasn’t letting David go anywhere. Michael pulled him into a tight hug and was not letting go anytime soon. Suddenly, Michael was very aware of how close David was. How warm he was pressed up against him. He could practically feel David’s heartbeat. He forgot that he was supposed to be scared and looked at the outline of David’s face. There wasn’t much light, but he could tell David was looking at him. Overcome with the intimacy of the situation, Michael dipped his head and lightly pressed a kiss to David’s lips.
David felt Michael lean in and he instinctively closed his eyes and leaned in even further. He barely felt Michael’s lips brush his when it was interrupted by Michael whipping his head around and squeezing David even tighter, “Something brushed against my leg,” Michael said panicked.
“What? What are you talking about?”
“THERE! There it is again!”
“What? That’s not possible. I don’t have a pet… Unless… Oh, no.”
David slipped out of Michael’s grip and Michael heard him make his way to the living room. “What do you mean ‘unless’? What do you mean ‘oh, no’?! David, why are you leaving me??”
Michael then heard David scream from the other room. It startled Michael and made him shake with fear, frozen to the spot. “David? David! What happened?!”
No response.
“David! What’s going on??”
Silence.
“No, no, no, no… This is not happening.” Michael slowly sank to the floor and drew up his legs and wrapped his arms around them. “This is not happening.”
Suddenly, the lights flickered back on and Michael raised his head. He saw David doubled over with laughter standing in the door way.
“David? What the fuck?” Michael said angrily.
David straightened up and tried to talk through his laughter. “I… I wanted to prank you… after every time you got me…” David’s speech was severely broken by his spurts of laughter, “and I thought… there would be no better time than Halloween… I was the one moving around Walter… the power outage was just sheer luck…” David dissolved back into laughter and it took him awhile to calm back down.
Michael slowly stood up and just stared at him. “You thought it would be funny to scare me on my least favorite holiday knowing full well that I don’t like to be scared, but you still did it anyway? To be funny?”
David's face fell at Michael’s tone. “Well, yeah, I thought if I did one major prank it would make up for all the times you got me and we would be even,” David tried to explain. He looked at Michael apologetically and didn’t know what else to say.
Michael’s face abruptly changed and he was smiling, “That was awesome. I have taught you well.”
David smiled, relieved that Michael wasn’t mad, “Well, you know, I did take notes.”
Both men laughed, feeling more at ease, when Michael spoke, “So, uh, did you kiss me?”
David shifted a bit, “I believe that you kissed me.”
“That’s ridiculous. I never make the first move. My natural aura draws people to me.”
“Well, your ‘natural aura’ must be on the fritz because you definitely kissed me.”
Michael laughed and shook his head, “Since you’re not copping up to making the first move, I’ll do the gentlemanly thing and make the second move.”
David rolled his eyes, “How is that the gentlemanly thing to do?” but was cut off by Michael pressed up against him.
They smiled at each other for a moment and then Michael dipped his head and captured David’s lips with his own. The kiss was soft and unhurried, just enjoying it for what it was. David’s hands snaked around Michael’s waist and Michael’s fingers threaded through David’s hair. They kissed until they were breathless.
Michael smiled, pecked David on the lips again, and settled into the embrace, “So, was this just an elaborate ploy to get me to kiss you?”
David laughed, “Hey, I got you to make a move, didn’t I?”
“That was less you and more of the power failure, but believe what you would like.”
David made a face and moved out of Michael’s embrace, “C’mon Casanova, we still have dinner plans.”
“OR we could not go to dinner and stay in and make out,” Michael shrugged.
David snorted, “Hm. While that is a tempting offer, I’m still hungry. So how ‘bout we go to dinner and THEN make out.”
Michael laughed, “Fucking deal.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
Comments and love and all that jazz.
horrifying halloween fic entry,
fanfic: pg-13