This is for the Bi-weekly Dose of Nivanfield #12

Pairing: Nivanfield

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Don't Be Scared

"You're not scared, are you?"

"Of course not!" The younger male stood staring defiantly up at the supposedly haunted house that their comrades had dared them to go inside. Last year, Jeff, Marco, and Keaton had gone. And the year before that had been Finn and Ben. It was said that on this particular night, ghost and ghouls wondered around the abandoned house looking for lost souls to claim. If you could manage to stay inside the house the whole night, you could have any wish granted. Chickening out and running away resulted in you using your one opportunity for the wish.

So far none of the others had ever made it through the whole night. Piers had berated them for their overactive imagination and lack of training. Which was why he was being forced to go into the haunted house this year. Well there was the fact that Chris had volunteered to go this time around. There was no way that Piers was going to let his idol out of his sight and into such a territory by himself. They could easily be ambushed by someone using the myth as a scapegoat to attack them unexpectedly. He didn't trust the others not to wimp out and leave the captain behind.

However, he couldn't explain why he couldn't get his feet to start moving as he stared up at the surprisingly large house. He was sure the others of their team were watching right now and would continue to watch until one or both of them came running like chickens flying the coop. Well he knew for one that Chris would not be running out of there, he'd step out the next morning with nothing but pride on his face. And Piers would be standing right beside him, the loyal partner who would do anything for his captain. Except…

"Why do I have to be dressed up like this?" Piers grumbled out staring down at the bandages wrapped around his body. At least he got to wear some clothes beneath it but he felt completely naked without his usual gear on. Even worse, Alpha team had taken his precious rifle and hidden it from him. And no amount of threats seemed to make them reveal its location.

"They said it'd help us blend in with the ghosts," Chris responded looking far too amused, his own ghost costume made of a sheet with eye slits cut into them sitting off to the side. They didn't go all out on their costumes for the night, Piers's literally being made of toilet paper that had been forced around him. This was probably just an extra part of the joke for them. He wasn't sure if Chris really believed in this whole gag or not, but the captain sure acted like he was going out to a party instead of to some rundown old building with extra blankets for the night. This wasn't a sleep over.

Even if they were using sleeping bags or the fact that the captain had brought along snacks and books to read to keep himself entertained for the night. Sighing, Piers would have been content with his weapon. At least practicing different positions with it would have been better than just sitting here and watch the captain reading his books. Granted he honestly didn't mind having free reign to stare at the captain all night. Chris didn't even notice the more immersed into the book he became. And honestly, sitting there full on exposed in nothing but boxers and a t-shirt wasn't doing much to help Piers's already Captain filled brain.

"I'm going to look around," Piers said standing quickly already heading for the door.

"Be careful," Chris said glancing up at him when he got by the door. "This building is old so watch your footing." So Captain didn't believe in all this mumbo jumbo ghost stuff either. At least they had their heads in the right place.

"Yes, Captain." Piers stared back at him before he gave a nod to motivate himself as he stepped out of the room closing the door behind him. His flashlight came out, taking a couple of beatings before the light clicked on flooding the hallway with its luminosity. The crap about ghost and haunted houses didn't scare him a bit. The most he expected to see tonight were a couple of rats, some spiders, and maybe a really bad case of mold. Hell, it was a wonder this building was still standing. Shouldn't it have been condemned and knocked down a long time ago? What if some kids snuck inside and got killed falling through rotting floor-

The floor cracked beneath him and he barely had the time to jump back before the hole opened up in front of him, wood tumbling down to the next floor and shattering to pieces. He whistled to himself taking his light and shining it down into the hole. Something large moved out of his light making him lift a brow as he moved his flashlight to follow it. The most he saw was the shine of fur before it was out of sight again. A dog? It couldn't have been anything else, right?

Rolling his shoulders to shake off the weird feeling, he turned heading into the room next door. Well…he started to anyway. But considering that when he opened the door, he saw nothing but the full moon shining back at him, he knew there was no way to go forward. The floor to the room had fallen out probably years ago. The bed was on the next floor in a tattered mess of mattress, wood, and sheets. From the little princess comforter lying on top of it, this must have been a young girl's room.

Piers stepped back before making his way back towards the room with sure steps. This was stupid. Ghost and monsters were one thing, but staying inside such a dangerous building where anything could collapse at any moment was just plain suicidal.

"Captain, we shouldn't stay…" His words trailed off, his hand still on the door knob as he looked at the empty space where his captain should have been. There was no one there. The book was sitting propped up to keep the current page. There was a half-eaten bag of chips by the book as if the Chris had suddenly gotten up and left in a hurry. His shoes were missing. So were his clothes. Maybe he just went out to take a leak? "Captain?" Piers's mind couldn't help thinking that maybe he'd falling through the floor on his way and was sitting somewhere hurt.

"This isn't good," Piers said to himself turning and leaving the room heading further down the hallway, forcing himself not to panic. "I knew this was a stupid idea. Captain, why did you agree to this?" He was talking to himself, and he didn't even care. It was about the best way to keep himself from freaking out and running out of the building with fear of the Captain's safety. "Seriously, Captain, what the hell are we doing in this place?"

"…ers..."

Piers stopped, his head half turning to look behind him as he frowned. Did he just hear someone call his name? "Captain?" He turned starting to head into the direction he heard the voice come from, the sound getting louder. It didn't sound like the Captain, though. Maybe it was one of the others on Alpha Team?

"…ers…Piers…"

The closer he got, the more it sounded like someone was whistling in his ear. It was annoying and was starting to get to a point where it hurt. He covered his hands over his ears, moving forward still until he stopped in front of a closed door. The sound was coming from inside there. He gripped his flashlight tightly before he opened the door pushing it to slowly creak open as he peered around. It got quiet suddenly, goose bumps tingling down his back at the eerie silence. He took a step in, then another, his flashlight moving around slowly trying to catch sight of what had called him here.

Something jumped out at him from the corner, moving so suddenly towards him that he yelled out as he fell backwards in surprise. The flashlight flew from his hands leaving his ears with the dreaded sound of batteries flying free as he was left in pitch blackness, his breath coming in fast pants. His eyes were wide, looking around rapidly but not picking up anything since they weren't adjusted to the lack of light. He was blind right now, blind and completely defenseless.

He swallowed, using his ears to try to hear something, anything. Scratching…the sound of something scratching against the floor. Nails? They were clicking almost as they sounded like they were getting closer. His hand reached behind him, desperately searching for something to grab ahold of. His body was drenched in sweat, wetness covering his face as he used his arm to wipe the sweat away. It was getting closer. Whatever it was, it was getting closer to him. He could hear it sniffing at the air, growling low as heavy steps creaked on very rotten floor boards.

Something grabbed his foot and he yelled out struggling trying to kick his foot against the thing. Whatever the thing was, it held his legs down, using its weight to crawl up on top of him pinning his struggling body to the floor. He tried to use his strength to roll the beast off, but it was a pointless effort. The beast grabbed his hands, pinning them over his head as his heavy breath blew over his face smelling suspiciously like Doritos. Did this thing eat his Captain?! Up close, he could see brown eyes that glowed slightly staring at him reminding him too much of his Captain that it actually calmed him despite the situation. Then he saw the beast's muzzle open up making his whole body tense up.

"Piers…"

"…Captain?" Why did it have his Captain's voice?

"Piers, wake up. Piers!"

Piers's eyes shot open as he looked up clearly seeing Chris's face hovering over his staring at him worriedly. He glanced around quickly before he sat up rubbing at his head in confusion as he saw himself back in the room he'd originally started in. The small lantern was still flickering away, a small battery operated heater sitting beside it keeping them warm against the badly insulated house.

Chris was still in his boxers, his eyes staring at Piers worriedly before he seemed to show relief when Piers looked at him.

"You ok there?"

"Y…Yeah…" Piers frowned wiping at some of the sweat on his face before peeling open the sleeping bag. "Sorry, I had a weird dream."

"More like a nightmare, huh?" Chris laughed sitting back on his own sleeping bag. "You were tossing and turning so bad that I couldn't just leave you like that." Leaning back, Chris picked up the book again. "What were you dreaming about anyway?"

"…I…I don't know." He frowned. What exactly was it again? "I was…I was looking for you and…and I went to this dark room and…some beast…attacked me. I think he was going to eat me."

"Like some kind of wild dog?"

"I…I don't know," Piers said frowning. "He sounded…big…not like a dog. But it was so dark I couldn't see him." He smiled slightly looking over at Chris. "He did have some nice, brown eyes though."

Chris stared back at him before a bellowing laugh escaped his mouth. "Not better than mine, right?"

"R-Right…" Strange…it was the same feeling he'd gotten looking at the beast's eyes in his dream. "I'll…try to get some more sleep." He lay down again, relaxing more when he felt Chris's hand resting on top of his head.

"That sounds good," Chris said smiling and petting his hair. "Just get some rest. Nothing's going to come in here and eat us." Piers sighed relaxing more as he started feeling the sleep trying to claim him again. He could really believe that Chris wouldn't let anything happen to him. Well, they were partners anyway, right? "Have you thought up a wish yet?"

"Mm…" His eyes opened slightly to look up at him. "Just being with Captain is enough."

"I see," Chris said chuckling as he brushed his fingers over Piers's lids making them close again. "Not a bad wish at all. I think I like it."

Strange, being around the captain always seemed to make him relax so easily. He honestly didn't even think about the words he said or how they sounded. None of it really sounded real, like he was stuck some weird dream.

Maybe he was just imagining things. Maybe those guys with their scary stories about witches and ghost and werewolves were just all getting to his head. Maybe the fact that they were inside this abandoned building was only making it worse. And maybe, if he hadn't closed his eyes, he would have seen the large ears growing on Chris's head as the moon shined in through the open window.

End.