Brian rarely wears his hair up, in fact Jae doesn't recall a day he's seen his hair styled the way it is. His hair is sprayed a platinum silver, sleeked all the way back and the eyeliner sharpens his already fox-like eyes. He has a cape on, and the blood dribbling down his chin drips on to the frill of his white shirt underneath causes Jae to stare.

"Oh, Kang Bri~" Sungjin says, clapping and Brian bows with a laugh.

Jae just stares, even when Brian makes his way to his side, and meets his eyes.

"Hi," Brian says with a smile and Jae can see the fake fangs,

"Hi," Jae replies, and it sounds rather small and weak.

"You went all out this year, Bri," Junhyeok comments,

"I tried just as hard last year, what do you mean?"

"Oh yeah, cause that 'nerd' costume had so many details and effort put into it," Dowoon comments and the group laughs.

"I figured it's our last Haunt, so why not be a little more festive this year,"

"A little?" Sungjin says,

"Okay, can we just go?," Brian says, shoving Sungjin lightly to the direction of the school as they start walking. 

The group is talking about what they should do, pointing out certain costumes that are cool or scary, debating on going trick-or-treating. They come across the awaited Haunted Mansion, its queue already quite long.

"Why don't we save our spot, one of us - or even half of us - can stay here while the rest of us go get snacks?" Sungjin suggests,

"Yeah, I can stay," Brian says, already falling in line while handing Sungjin some money for his share of contributing to the food.

"Anyone wanna stay with-"

"It's okay, I can wait alone," Brian cuts Sungjin off, because Jae looked like he was going to offer and that wouldn't help their plan at all.

"You sure, Bri? I can stay," Jae offers, and Brian gives him a look that says "really, man?" and just nods,

"Nah, go Jae," he assures, and with that, the group sets off. 

Brian has been waiting in line for a few minutes when he gets a text,

jaepark: is there anything specific you want?

burger kang: nah not really

burger kang: the line hasn't moved so take your time with sungjin lol

jaepark: you're lucky my phone brightness is down - what if he read that?!

Brian snorts and rolls his eyes, and slips his phone back into his pocket.

It's a couple of minutes later, and a few spots closer to the mansion that Brian notices Seungmin with a couple of friends, and he looks happier than he used to. They fall in line a couple of people behind Brian and he sends Seungmin a text,

Kang Younghyun [Brian]: I can see your ears from here lol

And he watches as Seungmin checks his phone and proceeds to look around him, his long, tall ears flopping and swinging in different directions until he sees Brian. He smiles and tells his friends he'll be right back before heading to Brian,

"That's a cute costume," Brian says, 

"I even have a tail," Seungmin replies, spinning around and they laugh.

"You're rather large for a Pikachu,"

"Don't size shame me." Seungmin says, scoffing as if he was really offended and Brian chuckles.

"You here with some friends?"

Seungmin looks behind them in line, to see his friends talking amongst themselves,

"Yeah," he says with a fond smile, 

"That's good," Brian says, 

"Are they good to you?" and Seungmin laughs,

"Mom, calm down," and Brian shakes his head while laughing,

"Yeah, they are. They actually treat me like a friend, they're the ones that told me to come out tonight,"

"I'm glad," Brian replies, looking at Seungmin's friends,

"What took them so damn long," and Seungmin playfully shoves him,

"I wouldn't wanna be friends with Kisung's playtoy either..." he admits and Brian says just ruffles his hair,

"Hey, my ears!" he protests,

"Calm down, I avoided them," Brian says, and Seungmin smiles and his friends call him over as one of them has arrived with snacks. He says a quick "see you soon" to Brian and comments,

"You look really good, Bri,"

"Thank-" Brian narrows his eyes and points an accusing finger,

"I'm older than you! Don't call me Bri!" and he smiles at Seungmin's mischievous laugh as he walks back to his friends that feed him, and Brian smiles fondly as the group approaches Brian.

"Oh, you guys were quick," he comments and Junhyeok follows Brian's line of sight,

"Is that Seungmin?" and Brian nods, almost proudly, 

"Oh, he came with friends," Jae says with a small smile, and looks back at Brian whose eyes are still on the boy.

"Yeah... Isn't his costume so cute?" and everyone nods, Jae responding just a second later than the group.

They wait the remaining minutes, eating and talking, and soon enough, they're in front of the haunted mansion - Jae getting noticeably nervous. 

"Do you like scary things?" Sungjin asks with a comforting smile,

"Not really," he admits with a laugh,

"I love scary things like this, especially the haunted house" Sungjin says and Jae habitually smiles at Sungjin's smile, grateful he's focused on the mansion in front of them.

"Are we going in as a group?" Junhyeok asks, and one of the volunteers interrupts to inform that only 2 enter at a time,

"Let's go with our project partners?" Brian suggests and there's no objections and no one notices the slick wink Brian shoots Jae. 

Jae and Sungjin enter first, and they're barely 10 steps in when Jae screams at someone grabbing his ankle, and Sungjin just laughs. Jae lets out an awkward chuckle, trying to play off his fear but it doesn't last long as someone dressed up as Samara from The Ring approaches them, crawling towards them at a frightening speed with her limbs twisted in ways that look like they shouldn't be able to. Sungjin jumps a bit at her but quickly regains his composure,

"Jae, do you wanna walk back?" he offers, and Jae shakes his head,

"No, I can do this," Jae says, the encouragement directed at himself, not sounding convinced in the slightest.

"Sorry, you should've gone with someone else, you were looking forward to this," Jae says and despite the darkness, Sungjin can tell he's sulking.

"Don't apologize," he assures,

"Honestly, it's funnier with you screaming this much," Sungjin adds between laughter,

"Glad my fear is hilarious," Jae replies and they continue to walk through the mansion.

A couple of jumpscares later, they reach part of the mansion that Jae's not so sure he can go through. It's a mirror maze, and that alone is scary enough due to Jae's currently active imagination and the smoke machines, but there's various clowns that are following them. Sungjin notices Jae's stuttering steps and says,

"Jae, close your eyes,"

"Huh?" and before he gets a verbal explanation, Jae feels Sungjin's hand grasp his arm only to settle around his own hand, and Jae's heart starts thumping.

"Close your eyes until we get out of the maze," he says,

"Just trust me, I'll lead you," and Jae takes one peak at their intertwined fingers before nodding and closing his eyes.

Their steps together are slow and Sungjin tries his best not to jump at random clowns showing up out of seemingly nowhere, knowing it'll just scare Jae more. They're making decent progress before Jae hears a clown behind him, and he just shuts his eyes tighter,

"Sungjin," he says out of fear, and he's hoping the smoke machines are covering how insanely red he probably is at the moment,

"You're okay, Jae" Sungjin assures and Jae can hear his smile while Sungjin tightens his grip on Jae's hand and Jae allows himself to smile. 

They get through the maze thanks to Sungjin, and they're almost at the end of the haunted mansion. 

"See, we got through the maze," Sungjin says with a big smile which Jae returns.

"Oh, uh," Jae says once he realizes they're still holding hands, and they let go at that.

"Let's get out, yeah?" and Jae nods at Sungjin's suggestion. 

The rest of the mansion has more jumpscares, but Jae seems too distracted to scream as loud or flinch as aggressively as before. He smiles internally at how warm Sungjin's hand was, how soft and comforting his voice was, and how he didn't even hesitate to lead.

"We made it!" Jae says, stumbling out of the mansion with a relieved smile on his face, and Sungjin laughs from behind him, his steps more calm and less desperate.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Sungjin asks, and Jae immediately thinks of his hand within Sungjin's and smiles,

"Yeah," he starts and looks at Sungjin,

"I actually quite liked it," 

"Oh, did you now? How could you like it when you had your eyes closed for a big part of it?" he teases and Jae scoffs,

"I closed my eyes to experience it even better,"

"That doesn't make sense," 

"Yes it does! When one of your senses is lost, the others are heightened," 

Sungjin looks at Jae suspiciously,

"Supposedly." Jae finishes and they both laugh. The two decide to wait at the mansion exit for the rest of the group, and soon enough Brian and Wonpil exit, calmly and with laughter, discussing some of their favourite parts or what was different from last year. Dowoon and Junhyeok look thoroughly frightened and Sungjin teases Junhyeok clutching Dowoon's arm when they exit the mansion.

"So, what should we do now?"

"There are some games and stuff, and we can get more food?" Brian suggests and they set off.

"Bri!" Jae whispers as they walk a few steps behind the group, like they sometimes do.

"Hm?" 

"He held my hand!" Jae tries his best to contain his excitement to a whisper, and it's just barely working. Brian smiles,

"Congrats," he says as excited as he can and then proceeds to listen to Jae tell him about the haunted mansion.

They play games and eat some more, before a stall catches their attention. 

"Oh, a photobooth!" Sungjin says, excited and they all agree to take some photos. They take a cute group one, asking for enough copies for all of them, and then decide to go in pairs.

"You two, come in," the photographer says, pointing at Brian and Jae,

"Uh," Brian starts, about to suggest Jae goes with Sungjin, but Jae grabs his wrist,

"C'mon,"

"Wouldn't you want a photo with Sungjin?" Brian whispers,

"I can't take a photo with my friend?" Jae whispers back, as they get in front of the camera.

The first pose is cute and smiley, the second in character with Jae looking like he's casting a spell and Brian looking like he's about to bite.

"For the last one, how about you pretend to bite his neck?" the photographer suggests,

"Oh, that'd be cool!" Sungjin says from the side, 

"I wonder if Harry Potter could turn into a vampire," Dowoon adds.

The two have no reason to object, so they simply get into position. 

"Jae, your neck," Brian says, and Jae replies,

"Oh," while moving his collar and neck so that his skin is exposed. 

Brian gets close, and Jae suddenly feels embarrased, feeling Brian's warm breath on his neck, and he scolds himself because it's just a fun Halloween photo. Brian tries to steady his breath, leaning in close but not too close, aware of his fake fangs that might touch Jae, 

"Vampire, put your hands on his shoulder," the photographer directs and Brian complies. His hands are barely gripping Jae's shoulders, as if scared to actually hold him,

"Okay," and the photographer counts down before a flash. The 3 second countdown feels like forever, Jae hoping his cheeks aren't red and Brian hoping he doesn't look too nervous. As soon as the flash fades, Brian removes himself from Jae and clears his throat before collecting the photo strip.

The boys go in various groups and pairs, taking advantage of the fact that no one is waiting to have their photos taken, and the photographer has taken a liking to them. Brian's watching with a smile as Junhyeok gets on Dowoon's back for a photo when he hears a familiar voice approaching,

"Oh, there's a photobooth!" and he looks to his left to see yellow floppy ears getting closer,

"Seungmin-ah," Brian says with a smile,

"Let's take a photo," he suggests and notices the playful pushes Seungmin's friends give him, which the boy shrugs off with a roll of his eyes and a smile. 

Brian and Seungmin pose naturally and playfully, and Jae watches as their final pose is Seungmin wrapped up in Brian's cape, snug in the older's arms,

"So cute!" Seungmin's friend, Jeongin, comments louder than he anticipated, and the smile on the photographer's face shows that she agrees.

The two collect their photostrip before saying goodbyes as Seungmin's friends enter the photobooth, 

"Be safe!" Brian says, and Seungmin nods.

"Hey, what's up between you two?"  Wonpil asks once the group is far enough, walking as they look for more game stalls, 

"Hm?" Brian replies confused, and Wonpil elaborates,

"You and Seungmin... Do you guys have something going on?" he asks with a playful shove and Jae listens for Brian's reply. 

Brian just laughs, shakes his head and pushes Wonpil back,

"Mind your business, Piri," is Brian's response that gets everyone's attention. Sungjin's eyes widen while Wonpil almost audibly gasps,

"Kang Bri! Are you and Seungmin-"

"Oh! A basketball challenge," Brian changes the subject and jogs off,

"You already went to that stall, come back here and answer the question!" Wonpil says, jogging after Brian as the group follows. 

Jae doesn't acknowledge his seemingly excessive interest in Brian's business - that's Brian's business, afterall. He steals a quick glance back at the boy in a Pikachu suit who went so naturally into Brian's arms.

"Look at our photo!" is what interrupts Jae's thoughts, and he looks down to see him and Sungjin's photostrip.

"I'm gonna put this one up in my room, too," he says with a smile and Jae's heart swells at the thought of a photo of him being in Sungjin's room and cuts off his own thoughts and hopes before he starts wondering if they'll have more photos together to put up.

The Halloween night ends with little treat bags provided by the school, and swift goodbyes and "see you tomorrow"s. 

When Jae gets home, he shows the various photostrips to his parents, naming the boys who have become his best friends. Jae's already showered and in bed when he's scrolling through his social media, liking the Halloween posts of the group, smiling at the group photos that he's included in. He notices a post by Sungjin of him and Brian, and smiles at how brotherly they look and begins to think about how close they must be. Jae wonders that despite them being so seemingly close, why Brian agreed not to tell Sungjin. 

jaepark: did you tell Sungjin I like him???

Jae sends out of nowhere,

burger kang: what

Brian replies almost immediately,

burger kang: no, why would I do that?

jaepark: sorry, its just he held my hand today and I was wondering if he knew

burger kang: yeah okay but do you really think I'd tell him?

jaepark: no, I just got really anxious

jaepark: sorry

Despite this being a text conversation, Jae can sense almost irritation in Brian's messages, 

jaepark: idk why I freaked like that, sorry Bri

burger kang: its cool

burger kang: at least he held your hand though, right?

jaepark: yeah today was honestly great

But before Jae can go on about the haunted house, like he usually would, Brian sends a text,

burger kang: that's good

burger kang: hey, I'm hella tired so Imma sleep now

burger kang: night Jae!

Jae is slightly confused but just types back

jaepark: oh okay! night Bri, see you tomorrow 

And it's then that he realizes that Brian has never ended their conversation before, or if he has, never this quickly. He contemplates asking him if everything's okay, but considering what just happened, he concludes that he probably shouldn't try texting again.

On the other side of things, Brian's thrashing in his bed, beating himself up over why he replied to Jae the way he did. He wants to rant, but there's no one to listen because in exposing his own feelings, he'd expose Jae's. He doesn't know why he got so irritated when Jae asked if he told Sungjin, and he wants to message and apologize but he already said good night. He ruffles his own hair accompanied with a groan of frustration, and thinks about what to do, and decides to go for a walk. He grabs a notebook and pen, stuffs his phone in his pocket after connecting his earphones and turning it on Do Not Disturb, and heads out the door.

He's sitting on a bench, writing out his feelings that no one can know about when he notices a familiar figure passing by across the street. It takes him a couple of seconds to register it's Sungjin, and he takes out an earphone and is about to wave when he notices that Sungjin isn't alone. 

Sungjin and Wonpil are walking slowly, talking about things Brian can't hear but he can see the shy smiles on their faces. He watches and slouches a bit, trying to not get noticed by the two and he succeeds as they just walk by him, slowly, as if prolonging their time together. 

Brian tries not to think too much of it - there have been many times where pairs within their friend group would just hang out together. Even today with Sungjin holding Jae's hand, Brian knows Sungjin is just naturally that kind and thoughtful. He knows Sungjin and Wonpil are close, so he tries to shrug it off. But even when they're out of sight, the thought of them two nags Brian as his brain recalls both Sungjin and Wonpil confiding in him a couple of weeks ago. That thought is a segway back to his journal, because unlike Sungjin and Wonpil, Brian can't tell anyone anything, so he settles for rushed and messy words on paper. He sits on the bench for a bit longer, leaning his head back and looks up at the sky, thinking of Jae when a plane passes by. 

When Brian gets home, he settles into his bed, and turns off the Do Not Disturb feature on his phone, and that's when a text from Jae rings in.

jaepark: hey, I know we said good night but I just wanna make sure

jaepark: is everything okay, Bri? 

Brian takes a glance at his journal, and types

burger kang: sorry I was sleeping, woke up for a glass of water

burger kang: yeah, everything's okay :) 

And he doesn't expect Jae to reply so quickly,

jaepark: You sure? 

burger kang: yeah, hbu are you okay?

jaepark: mhm

jaepark: okay, go back to bed, Imma sleep too lol

Brian indulges in the thought of Jae waiting up for his response but quickly puts out the small flame of hope. 

The next day at school, Brian can't help but look at Sungjin and Wonpil a bit more, as if observing but he's careful not to be obvious. He talks to Jae and the group like usual, even seeing Seungmin a bit during the lunch break. 

Just as quickly as Halloween comes, it passes, and so do many days as they grow colder and darker. Soon enough, their classroom is filled with discussions about university and upcoming Christmas plans. 

It's a week away from Christmas and the group is discussing Secret Santa plans and ice-skating,

"We can all go back to my house after skating," Sungjin says and Jae smiles at the thought of seeing his parents again and wonders if they'd remember him.

"Sounds good," Brian says, tossing a grape into his mouth,

"We can exchange gifts there, and have some food and stuff,"

"Will your mom make her pudding?" Wonpil asks with expectant eyes and Sungjin laughs,

"You ask like she has ever missed a Christmas within the 4 years I've known you," and Wonpil nods,

"Fair."

"Why do you like it so much?" Brian asks with an amused smile,

"It's so good!" Wonpil defends, and proceeds to say an impromptu speech about Sungjin's mom's pudding as the group laughs at his enthusiasm about a simple dessert. 

"Should we sort out the budget and Secret Santas now?" Junhyeok asks and there's no objections, so they set a budget of $30, draw names, set a date and sort out who brings what to Sungjin's house. 

It's on the walk home, as soft snowflakes settle on his beanie, that Brian decides he'll shop for the present now and heads for the Christmas market in town. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE;

hi hello mydays! Sorry for the late update, I was honestly expecting to update on Halloween, but things got in the way. Mainly, I was preparing for my YouTube channel with I would like you guys to check out, if possible! I'm going to post vocal covers, mainly of Day6 but other groups too! I uploaded my first cover, so please click the photo below if you want to listen! ^_^

ANYWAYS! I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter - and yes, vampire Bri will forever haunt me so that's his costume in this one LOL

GUYS. I JUST SAW DAY6 YESTERDAY AND I WAS HONESTLY THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE! I'm so grateful to have seen these guys, I love them a lot.

If you guys ever wanna talk to me or be friends, you can contact me on Instagram / Twitter @zenkrcovers or even Kakaotalk @ zenaya  ^_^ I hope to make more My Day friends.

As always, please please please comment your thoughts on this chapter, things you may have noticed, the progression of the story. I reply to every comment, so don't be shy! Please upvote if you're enjoying the story, and subscribe to keep updated! 

I'll try to update soon, but until then, peace! - Zen