Week 3: Alfred/Tino

Were it not a horrific creepy turn of events, he would have answered Tino with a funny remark, such as 'I renovated it while you were looking away'. But right now he was on the verge of fainting. He turned to look at Tino with pale expression and helpless eyes.

"This dare was a fucking bad idea," he said and his voice trembled. "W-what now?"

The sudden change of scenery had Tino curious, and he wandered a little further from the American. The air still smelled a bit peculiar, but it didn't smell dead and icy any longer. Restored to its former glory, the place was actually quite impressive, and looked pretty comfortable. The Finn touched the bedsheets with light, toying fingers.

"I don't know. What do you think we should do now?" His hand ran up the bedpost. "If we're locked in here..."

Alfred rushed over to stand beside Tino, too afraid to stand there alone. It was warmer now, but Alfred shivered nonetheless and flinched to every sound. He scanned the room for the second time already, making sure that there was nobody else standing in the room. The thought made him crazy.

"W-what...I don't know." He heard the stormy wind whipping against the walls from the outside and he grabbed onto the other's sleeve by relflex, he tightly shut his eyes and trembled.

Tino laughed softly and took the taller boy's hand. "Calm down, Alfred. We're okay. Nothing's jumping out to kill us."

He sat the other boy gently on the edge of the bed and patted his shoulder. "Great place though, isn't it? Especially considering how crappy it looked about two minutes ago... This is a huge improvement." The Finn gave the room an inquisitive once-over, admiring all the newly-restored details again.

Alfred wasn't so sure about that, but somehow the other boy's words calmed him and he was finally able to breathe again. Alfred followed Tino's gaze and nodded in agreement. "Yes. Hey, maybe the ghost is just being nice to us," and the thought of it was reassuring and Alfred wanted to believe it.

"Hey," he began again, "I'm glad you're here. Otherwise I would have died of fear."

Tino smiled. "Hey. What are friends for?" He gave Alfred a brisk pat on the back and wondered if he could actually consider the kid a friend. They were more like acquaintances, he guessed. After all, they'd known each other all of twenty minutes. Right? Even if the American was pretty sweet, and funny, and attractive... And so ridiculously gullible and fun to play with...

Realising he had allowed his thoughts to stray, he tried beating them back into order. "Do you think this change covers the entire house?'

Alfred's expression lit up and his smile was unforced for the first time that night. "We're friends, huh? That's cool man!"
He couldn't believe that he had never had much to do with the Finn, who was quite a cutey with added character twist, which made him all the more interesting as a friend.

Alfred shrugged at the question, not very sure which one he preferred to have happened to this magical house. Alfred was a boy with an amount of ridiculous strength, and breaking doors were as easy as opening them, and he wondered whether he should try to free themselves in that way. After a moment of pondering he decided to stand up and was horrified to find out that he wasn't able to move. His legs were like frozen. Alfred stared in disbelieve. His body must have been under some kind of shock and refused to follow his commands. How humiliating, he thought. He cursed under his breath and tried to stop the trembling that was shaking him.

"Yeah, I guess we're friends. Being locked in a haunted house together will do that to people." Tino smiled at Alfred. The guy seemed like the kind you wanted on your side, the kind that was trustworthy and wouldn't let you down. All in all, not a bad person to have around.

"You're shaking... Relax, Alfie. We're gonna live." He massaged the American's shoulders with skilled hands, trying to help him calm down. "You have knots in your shoulders the size of tennis balls, man."

He didn't know why, but the mere touch of Tino's hands did wonders to his current mental state and he found himself breathing more steadily and the tension loosened. He closed his eyes, feeling life flow back to his muscles. "Thank you," he whispered with a content sigh. At the moment he felt oddly safe, almost relaxed. "Damn, you're really good at this," he groaned, commented on Tino's wonderful massaging skills.

Tino laughed. "Why, thank you. I do this for my friends all the time. Lots of practice..." The Finnish boy kneaded up and down Alfred's back, feeling tension release beneath his fingers. He pushed his thumbs along the American's spine, feeling gentle pops, then took hold of his head and twisted, listening to his neck crack loudly.

"There. How does that feel?"

"Much better," Alfred said and savoured the tension release. He was able to think much clearer now, despite the still lingering fear in his gut. He reached out to pat Tino's head as a gesture of gratitude and let his fingers run through the other's hair.

He looked up to scan the room for the third time and his eyes froze at the door. He silently hoped that it was still as rundown as before out there, he didn't even know why. Alfred bit his bottom lip, thinking about what to do next.

At first, the pat on the head bothered Tino, as it made him feel like a little kid or something, but he relaxed when he felt Alfred's fingers carding through the smooth golden strands of his hair. He had always liked that feeling, and he couldn't help the quiet purr that escaped his throat.

"Wanna try breaking out of here again?" the Finn asked. "I have food in my bag, which is unfortunately still down there... It would be useful if we, you know, happen to get hungry."

Alfred noticed the purr with great amusement and grinned. It reminded him of a kitty. He stood up and was relieved that he was able to move normally again. He walked over to the door, the wood under his feet did not creak as much as before. He shook the handle to calculate how much strength he needed to break the door, it shouldn't be too hard. Still, he turned around to look at Tino.

"That hairpin thing, would you want to try it again?" He asked.

The Finn slid off the bed to follow Alfred, absently straightening his clothing. "I can try. No guarantees, though. We just might die in here or something..."

He took out the pin again and slid it into the lock, pushing up with no success. Muttering to himself, he searched his pockets again and came up with a broken file, which he jammed in beneath the pin and shoved up again. The lock gave with an odd grinding sound and he opened the door with a satisfied hum. Pocketing his impromptu lockpicking kit, he stood.

"Tel me something, Al. What kind of house has bedroom doors that lock from the outside?"

Alfred raised brow, quite impressed. He gave Tino a friendly pat on the back. Alfred shuddered at the smaller boy's words, this whole thing was getting more and more freaky. His eyes shifted in unease. He would pay anything to be in his own house, in his warm and familiar bed right now. "I...," instead of forming a comprehensible sentence he was only able to let out a high-pitched whimper that would have made him question his own gender, were he not too freaked out at the moment.

"It's okay, big guy," Tino sighed, patting Alfred on the chest. "It was just idle speculation." He unwittingly let his fingertips trail down the strong pectoral before stepping out into the corridor. "It's just a little odd, you know?"

"Odd? This is all fantasy level," he added in a murmur, but he too stepped out. He stepped out into a bright hallway, light sparkled through small chandeliers made of glittering crystal. A long ornate carpet was soft under their feet, it appeared to have a slight oriental style. As Alfred let his gaze wander in what could be called horrid amazement, music could be heard from downstairs. He looked at Tino. "Weird house is weird."

But he wasn't as scared as before, maybe it was because another kind of creepy. Not the kind of creepy where a headless monster awaits him in dark corners. Maybe these ghosts were not too bad? But it wasn't right to already feel secure, as everything was still possible to happen.

"The music must be from downstairs, let's look?"

Tino hopped idly up and down, enjoying the plush feel of the rug underfoot. The floor didn't creak, the corridor was bright, and everything seemed less likely to kill them. Alfred was probably psyched.

"Yeah, let's. Do you want to lead, or shall I?"

This was the chance to prove Tino that he wasn't a wimp, this was the chance to be heroic...sort of. So he took the courage to head downstairs. There was not a single dust particle on the steps and there was no loud creak following his every step. It could not be mistaken, the sound of a smooth piano melody came from the hall, where he had met Tino before.

Alfred's hand rested on the handle and he was hesitant, unsure whether it was safe to casually open the door, after all, they had no idea what was awaiting them behind the closed doors. But then again, they had no choice. He pushed the door open and they were hit by a blinding brightness, loud voices laughing, music and a society of gentlemen and fine ladies, dressed in a fashion that was probably modern back in the 19th century.

"There's a party going on," he said in a dumb voice.

They were then suddenly pulled by a fat man with a sophisticated monocle and an equally sophisticated accent, which had a slight undertone of perversion, indicating that he was most likely a child molester or a pimp or anything of the sort, but that's beside the point and unrelated to the story. "My, my, my! The guests of honour are finally here to join us! Ladies and Gentlemen, the newlyweds!"

Alfred had to blink at that. Wait, what?

"But why are you two dressed like this?" said Mr Sophisticated with a confused expression, "Shoo now, go and change!"

(Oh gawd, what is this? I have no idea XD...)

Tino graciously allowed the taller boy to proceed, more nervous now that the house had prettied itself up than he'd been when it was still old and dilapidated. At least then, he'd known the score, and the place had been creepy, but that was understandable. Now, it was an unknown, strange and unpredictable. He didn't like it one bit.

The sounds drifting from the hall were strangely alluring, but highly suspect. The Finnish boy almost reached out to knock Alfred's hand from the door handle when he was about to open it, and when the door swung open, he couldn't resist taking an anxious step back. All the lights and sound were a sensory overload, and when he saw the people, dancing and merry-making, he almost couldn't wrap his mind around it.

"No shit," he replied to Alfred, equally dumbstruck, a deer in the headlights.

When the walrus man with the monocle stepped forward and spoke to them, Tino jumped and shifted closer to Alfred. The fellow looked like a creep, spoke like a creep, and for all the Finn knew, he was one. The boy tried to keep away from him, preferring to hover just beside the taller blond, just touching his arm.

Tino's mind stopped on the word "newlyweds" before he found himself being shooed off with the American, and kept staring at the walrus man with wide violet eyes.


(Excellent question, my dear Watson.)

They were led to a room that turned out to be a huge closet, subtly lit by a few candles. In the middle of it was a leather armchair and on it lay a luxurious black tailcoat and...a ball gown. It looked positively frilly. Alfred was a mix of a confused and horrified goo.

"So, we're apparently married. By the way, I'm not wearing the dress. I'd look like a testosterone savage in frills."

"You would not... I think it would look rather nice on you." Tino picked the gown up and held it against himself, examining the image it created in a floor-to-ceiling mirror on the wall. "It goes nicely with my eyes. And you'll look sharp in that tux. Hurry up and get dressed."

The Finn began stripping casually, tossing his clothes aside until he was in nothing but gecko-print boxers, his pale, lithe body exposed.

Tino's sudden stripping session took Alfred by surprise and he even had to stiffle a yelp, he felt bothered for some reason. "W-what are you doing? Don't you have any shame?" Well it was nothing out of the ordinary for guys to change in the same reason, he knew that. But...

He eventually fell silent and did the same while trying to not stare at the other. He felt idiotic as he closed the buttons to his grey waistcoat and even more so as he put on the tailcoat. Why were they doing this? He looked into the mirror, eyed himself with a critical stare, but found himself to be quite presentable. He grinned at the thought of how he could win every chick in school with this outfit. He even combed his hair.

Alfred made a showy spin, imitating MJ and intended to impress Tino, he was also ready to laugh at the other teen. But the moment he lay his eyes on him, his eyes went wide.

The Finnish boy gave Alfred a withering look. "How have you lived through your athletic career? Are you one of those awkward guys that changes in the bathroom?" Tino rolled his eyes and proceeded with his dressing.

He nearly gave himself a hernia trying to do up the back of the dress properly, then sighed in relief and smoothed the skirt when he was done. It fit well, except for the front, where he obviously lacked the necessary equipment to fill it out. He swished it around carefully, studying its movement. He wasn't used to the sensation, but it wasn't a bad one. His hair needed some work, and he combed it into a sleeker, smoother version of itself before turning to Alfred.

"What do you think?"

Alfred gaped. In front of him was a boy, right? He unvoluntarily stared. Up and down and back again. "You look gorgeous," he said in a haze before he was even able to keep himself from talking. He then realised what he had said and suddenly felt awkward. He coughed. "Erm. Yeah, you look good in that thing...not that you should be proud of that...or well, it's a good thing in your case, I suppose...wait..."

He could have slapped himself for being such an awkward idiot. What was he blabbering about anyway? Alfred cursed under his breath.