love upon a boo!

wherein winter is a part-time scarer from the amusement park’s horror attraction. one night, she defeated the purpose of her job and instead of scaring, found herself helping a scaredy-cat (and insanely pretty) customer named Karina, out of the horror booth.

 

a/n: originally posted this as a prompt in my stan acc! it took me a few days to finally finish it but here it is! enjoy~

 

 

“Thank the heavens..” Winter muttered against her mask, her words muffling.

 

She took her scream mask off. A sigh of relief escaped along with it as she was finally free from all the hours of suffocation and inconvenience the costumes inflict.

 

Did she mention how itchy the fabric was as well?

 

“Winter!” Her head spun to her fellow scarer striding towards her in a slack manner.

 

The person didn’t need to remove her clown mask for Winter to put a name on her. Her distinct voice was simply enough of a recognition.

 

“Why are you walking like that?”

 

“My legs are killing me!” Ningning finally removed her own mask, revealing her messed-up streaks of honey hair and worn-out face.

 

They just finished the last round of customers, explaining why everyone was already taking their masks off and soon, their costumes as well.

 

“Wanna catch the last bus together?” Winter asked Ningning. They live two blocks away from each other. It became a routine once they grew close enough.

 

“Sure,” Ningning lifelessly nodded. “Just let me change first. Clown costumes are such a pain.” Ningning continued.

 

The younger started reaching for her costume’s zipper, about to her costume when their manager’s voice caught their attention.

 

“Don’t dress up just yet! We have another round of customers!”

 

The whole crew moaned in protest, some letting out groans and silenced complaints.

 

“But didn’t we just finish our last one?” Ningning asked and soon, grunted in displeasure as well. The younger ruffled her hair, irritated.

 

Winter wasn’t any better. Her eyes shot pointy daggers, a frown visibly taking over her pretty face.

 

She’s sure that the amusement park’s near closing as of the moment. Booths, especially theirs and such, are told to close prior to the closing time.

 

Winter’s eyebrows furrowed. They’ve never gone overtime. So what could this be?

 

Her gaze turned, landing on their manager. Exactly, she caught his hand digging in a few folded bills down his pant pocket before disappearing through the curtains. She scoffed, amused, and at the same time, pissed off.

 

Did this jerk just turn his back on them for bills? She thought.

 

From what it looks like, their manager sneaked a few customers in despite the closing time in exchange for money. She highly doubts that he'll even split the change with them.

 

“Great,” Winter growled lowly.

 

In the end, all of them didn’t have a choice and fixed their attires once more, positioning on wherever their assigned placements are.

 

For Winter, she hid behind a black see-through curtain, to which she’ll jump out of when a customer nears her. Just like a typical jump-scare.

 

She was dressed in all black, which helped a lot in camouflaging and keeping herself hidden until that very moment.

 

“Everyone ready!?”

 

One of them gave a cue and in a second, the eerie music started playing, the lights also dimming.

 

Winter breathed, exhaling a heavy sigh of exhaustion. She waited patiently for the customers to enter her hall. She was about two short halls away from the entrance, so it wouldn’t really take long for her to see horrified faces.

 

“AHH!!” A piercing scream cocked her head up, almost breaking her neck.

 

Through the black curtains, she watched as three or four people ran fast across the hall. She readied herself, and before they could dash right past her, she jumped out of the curtains.

 

The friend group jolted out of momentum and in chorus, screamed before rushing off. Winter snorted when they were out of sight.

 

What a bunch of losers. She thought, remembering the sculpts of their horrified faces.

 

You can say that this is one of the few reasons why she enjoys her job. Quite cold-hearted of her, but she needed to at least find something to entertain herself while at work, right?

 

Winter was about to take her mask off when she spotted a figure in the corner of her eye.

 

The blonde didn’t have time to go back to her previous position and instead, hid behind the wall of the connecting hall.

 

She leaned, peeking slightly. She couldn’t really make out the customer’s face, but it was a girl. A tall one at that.

 

She had long, wavy, dark hair. The thin fabric beneath her mask prevented her from seeing further, but she could tell that the girl was undeniably fine with just the tracings of her figure.

 

Why is she alone though? Winter couldn’t help but ask in her head.

 

Shouldn’t she be with the people she just bumped into a couple of seconds ago? Or perhaps, did she accidentally get separated from them?

 

Questions kept popping in her head while she watched the girl proceed cautiously through the hall of fright props and crimson lightings.

 

Winter kept still and watched. If there’s something she could use to describe the scene unfolding in front of her, it would be a kitten balled up on the alleyway in the middle of Winter’s falling snow.

 

Not to insert herself in there but yeah, that perfectly described the lone girl in the middle of her assigned hall.

 

“H-Hello? Excuse me?” Winter tensed up.

 

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice how close the girl has gotten. The girl’s already a few meters away from her, spotting her first instead of the other way around.

 

Winter took advantage of the distance and briefly continued examining the stranger before her.

 

God, was she pretty.

 

She had cat eyes that were accentuated with light makeup. She had a high nose bridge, looking so perfectly sculpted that even Winter felt slightly jealous of it. Her gaze lowered, landing on the girl's plump pair of lips. They looked smooth and red, completing the stranger's breathtaking visuals.

 

"Hello?" The latter called again, snapping her out of her thoughts once more.

 

Winter was about to run off and reposition herself, just like how they were taught to at such circumstances when the girl spoke again.

 

“Wait, please!” Winter heard hurried steps trail her from behind. She stopped but didn’t turn around. As weird as it was, she found herself complying with the girl's words and waited.

 

“I-I know you aren’t allowed to b-but… I need to get out of here. I was hoping if you could h-help me get out?” The girl said, her cute stutters contrasting with her deep and husky voice. Thank god Winter managed to catch what she said despite being swiveled by how alluring she sounded.

 

Winter finally turned around. She contemplated.

 

Was she even supposed to do this? Was she even supposed to be here? Was she even allowed to speak?

 

Winter never encountered such a situation throughout her three months of working at the horror attraction. Helping a customer you’re supposed to scare away? That’s as weird as a lion helping a sheep escape from its pointy fangs.

 

“Please?” The girl said once more. Winter gulped.

 

Oh, for ’s sake. Winter didn’t know when she got so soft, but with a single nod, she agreed.

 

She didn’t miss the girl’s smile before turning around, gesturing the latter to follow her.

 

Winter took a few steps off but she flinched and froze when she felt arms tangle her own and a warm front press against her. She looked over her shoulder and as expected, the girl had scooted herself up on her arm, clinging onto her.

 

The mask she wore hid the heavy gulp she took, as well as the heavy patch of red hues scattering along her cheeks. Winter never felt so thankful for her costume her whole life.

 

“I-I’m sorry. It's just... I need to hold onto someone whenever I’m scared.” The taller claimed.

 

Winter continued to stare, but the longer she did, the longer she’ll feel the girl against her, and she didn’t favor that idea. Not because she didn’t like the electrifying and heart-fluttering sensation she felt, but because she was afraid of combusting in front of the pretty customer.

 

With that, she forced herself to look away and continued walking.

 

Winter already knows where her fellow scarers are positioned, so every time before one pops out, she’ll squeeze the girl’s arm gently, giving her a heads up.

 

“Wait!” Winter immediately stopped at the girl’s sudden halt. She turned towards her, seeing how visibly scared she’s gotten.

 

“I-I don’t think I can go on. I’m scared of clowns..”

 

Winter frowned before turning her head to look upfront. Indeed, they arrived at the part of the booth where clowns and other related themes are propped. The hall is designed like an abandoned circus.

 

The eerie clownish music just made everything worse.

 

Winter tugged on the girl gently, signaling her to move but the stranger only backed a step, still horrified.

 

"I-I don't want to," She protested in such a tiny voice that Winter almost cooed.

 

The scarer bit her lip from behind her mask. She rummaged through her brain for ideas on how to deal with the terrified woman. Should she just.. leave her? No, that'll be too cruel. Should she force her? That's also too cruel of her.

 

Winter breathed heavily once gotten nothing out of her brain. What was she supposed to do now?

 

Feeling hopeless, she tore her eyes off the stranger and wandered her eyes instead. They latched on the hanging, bloody clown masks, and like a miracle bestowing on them, an idea popped into her head.

 

Without a word, Winter wriggled her arm off the woman's hold.

 

"W-Wait—"

 

Her words paused when Winter reached for her mask and slowly took it off.

 

The scarer exhaled, finally able to breathe properly. She raised a hand to ruffle her messed-up hair. When done, Winter looked at her. The stranger was already looking at her in awe.

 

Winter didn't mind and stretched an arm, handing her the scream mask.

 

"Wear it," Winter told her.

 

It took the stranger a while to escape from her trance. "W-What?" She asked, eyes still latched on Winter.

 

Winter swore she could almost feel the girl's gaze hiking all over her face. She lost her composure and looked away. She just wanted to thank the red light settings for hiding her equally red face.

 

"Wear it, I said," Winter repeated, words still counted and short.

 

"But why—" Winter didn't bother waiting and walked towards her. She extended her arms, wearing the mask on the stranger.

 

"The mask should help you see things less clearly. Keep it on." Winter told her once done.

 

Winter turned back around. She extended her hand out, palm open for the other to hold. "I'll take the lead. Stay close,"

 

It took a second for the blonde to feel her fingertips graze against her skin. They traced upwards until the gaps between her fingers, then after, she felt her slender ones interlace hers, the stranger's palm kissing her own.

 

Winter gulped, feeling her heart go crazy against her ribcage.

 

"On three, we'll run. Got it?" Winter asked.

 

"Huh?"

 

"One,"

 

"Wait—"

 

"Two,"

 

"Are we—"

 

"Three!"

 

Winter pressed on the gas and pulled the other along. The stranger stumbled for the first few steps but managed to keep up afterward. She got longer limbs after all.

 

Winter fastened her pace even after passing through the hall, opting to speed through the rest of the booth with her. It seems like the girl wasn't planning on stopping either anyway.

 

They finally got through the curtains and were immediately greeted with the buzzing night of the amusement park. There weren't too many people anymore. Only a handful was left, finding still-open booths to spend their remaining change on.

 

Winter turned around, eyeing the stranger who still had her scream mask on despite panting like an athlete who had just run a marathon.

 

"You can take it off now," Winter said.

 

The stranger realized and immediately reached for the mask, trying to take it off