namjoon isn't exactly sure what they're doing at a haunted house in the middle of march, but okay. the two maknaes spent three hours last night begging him to bring them there, and he can only take so much of taehyung's antics. besides, as small of a following it has, apparently it's supposed to be one of the best around, and namjoon would be lying if he said that he didn't find it interesting.

not to mention jimin and hoseok's reactions, but that'd be beside the point.

"hyung," jimin whines, clutching onto hoseok's arm. "are you sure manager-nim is okay with this?"

yoongi rolls his eyes. "we'll only be gone for like an hour or so. and it's just a haunted house, anyway. all of it is fake."

"don't worry, jimin-ah." namjoon pats his shoulder comfortingly. "it won't be that bad."

"maybe," jungkook snickers. namjoon turns behind him to give the so-called golden maknae a warning glare. as usual, the maknaes just ignore him, and as usual, namjoon curses god for the existence of maknaes.

"....are you sure this is the place?" hoseok asks hesitantly, eyeing the black mansion uneasily. "i mean, there's no one around."

he's right. other than the seven of them, there seems to be no one else about the house. they can't hear anything inside, nor see inside, since the windows are painted completely black. doubt start to cloud namjoon's mind, too.

"yep!" taehyung speaks up cheerily, pushing ahead of them. "this is exactly what it looks like in the pictures! isn't it cool? it's all black!"

"like your soul," namjoon hears yoongi mutter.

"i'm gonna go knock!" taehyung runs up ahead of them, completely ignoring yoongi's comment and hoseok's warnings from behind. but before he gets a step further the front door opens with an ear-piercing squeak and out steps a girl dressed like a high-class, 1940s american socialite in a strapless cocktail dress as black as the house is and elbow-length blacker gloves. an e-cig is carefully poised between two fingers, but she prefers to watch the seven of them as they approach the house.

"oh my god!" taehyung yells. "it's alive!" jungkook bursts into laughter and everyone else just groans, hoping that the girl didn't hear. not that their hopes matter anyway; if looks could kill, taehyung would be six feet under. namjoon facepalms in embarrassment. not only did taehyung just say that to a girl, she has to be pretty, too.

"so," she says icily once the rest of them have reached the porch. "i take it you're here for the haunted house?"

"uh, yeah," namjoon says, blushing beet-red. "sorry about that. he's very....prone to outbursts sometimes."

"i can tell," she sniffs. "anyway, tickets are $15 each." as namjoon's fumbling for the cash in his pocket, he can sense taehyung on the receiving end of one of the girl's glares. he manages to catch a glimpse of it, too, in the split-second between when he looks up and when her head whips towards him.

"here you go."

"thanks. have a great time." he can't tell whether she's being sarcastic or not, and her winged liner gives away none of her emotions as she walks over and pulls open the heavy door. but she lets it slam shut instead of closing it gently after they've all walked in, so that's saying something.

or maybe it's just a part of the haunted house. girls are weird.

"taehyung," namjoon speaks up wearily. "please be more quiet when you're in public."

"sure, hyung." even in the pitch-black, namjoon can sense the smirk on his face. taehyung may be an idiot, but he's not 100% an idiot. at least, he's smart enough to know how to his hyungs. maknaes.

once his eyes have adjusted to the darkness, namjoon can see—nothing. literally. well, almost. there's a long hallway in front of them, but other than them, it's empty. no cheesy cobwebs. no halloween decorations. just them.

"wow," jungkook says sarcastically. "so exciting."

seokjin sighs. "we literally just walked in, jungkook. what did you expect?"

"more than this boring- hallway, that's what."

namjoon's pretty sure that if the girl out front could hear him, not only would he be six feet under, he'd be r.i.p. as in resting in pieces.

"let's go, jungkook," he says as authoritatively as he can, leading the way down the hall. beside him, hoseok and jimin