Happy Halloween everyone!
Pairing: R76
Gabe is just finishing up the bloody touches of his make-up when Ana rounds the corner, clipboard in hand. She’s already dressed up in her pirate costume, Gabe notes as he sets his sponge down.
“Gabby, you’re on the window tonight.” She waves the clipboard at him.
Gabe scowls, “Not again.”
Ana pauses in the doorway, the eyebrow above her eyepatch rising, “Why not?”
“I did the window last night.” Gabe complains, pushing away from the vanity and searching for his jacket, “I put on this costume specifically to be in the hand-on hallway.” He pulls his black tattered trench coat over his shoulders and smooths out the lines.
Ana eyes him from his distressed black boots, up the messy elegance of his costume, to the gory ruin of his costume makeup. He knows he looks a sight, undead skin and bloody fangs and he even salt-and-peppered his hair!
“You will make a truly terrifying vampire, Gabriel.” Ana points the clipboard at him, “From the window.” her boots thump down the corridor of the changing rooms and Gabriel deflates with a sigh.
He hates working the windows. No one can appreciate all the hard work that goes into his costumes if the bottom half of it is hidden. Which it will be, because all the peephole windows give just enough of a glimpse to scare the pants off passerby, but only for a moment. Gabe likes to slink and follow and haunt his victims.
“Tough luck, eh, Reyes?” McCree passes by the open door to his room, dressed to the nine’s in his Van Helsing costume. He waves his glowing hand in Gabe’s direction before sauntering off towards his part of the haunted house.
Gabe checks his make-up in the mirror one last time before heaving a sigh and heading for his own part of the house.
He slinks down the hallways, whispering hello’s to the actors waiting for their prey behind curtains and doorways. His window is near the center of the haunted house, just past the asylum and before the haunted hospital room. Right smack dab in the ‘horror icon’ portion of the house.
He finds a his window with a quick smoothing of his hand across the boards. The trap cord is hanging to the right of it and the peephole is in the center. He leans forward to check the hallway.
It’s completely black-light lite. There are old, weather pictures hanging haphazardly on the walls and the carpet is old and blood stained. Gabe’s heart does a little sigh at the sight and waits patiently for his first victims.
He goes through fourteen easy scares before coming to his first challenge.
Most people who come through in groups are easy pickings, mostly girls clinging to each other or their boyfriends, older kids making fun of the props, or in rare cases, children. Which Gabe patiently waits out because he’s not interested in starring in a six year olds recurring nightmare.
But there there are those groups of people. Early twenties, two girls leading the way, arms locked together and determined frowns on their faces as they march down the hall. Then two guys bringing up the rear, one wearing a Jason mask, hands stuffed casually into his front pockets. The other was Gabe’s golden ticket for the evening.
Blonde hair, all-white hoodie with the football team’s logo on the front and built like a running back. He’s wearing a relaxed grin and is chatting down at Jason-mask dude as the girls pass Gabriel up.
Guys like tall, blonde and gorgeous are the hardest to scare. They are the literal backbone of the groups, with relaxing voices and assuring ‘it’s just a prop, Abigail’ words after every scare.
Gabriel’s favorite past time is scaring the bejesus out these dudes and turning the group into one big, screaming mess.
He’s done it before and goddamn it, he’ll do it again.
He waits until just the right moment to drop the seemingly innocent portrait in the hallway, hissing dangerously as the wood slams down with a loud snap. Jason-mask screams and spins backwards.
Blondie leaps backwards into the opposite wall, blue eyes wide and arm pulled back.
Oh shit, Gabe tries not to break character as that hand curls into a fist, I’m finally going to walk out of here with a black eye.
Except, the hand relaxes almost as quickly as it tensed up, curling behind the dudes head as he leans back into the wall. A combat boot props up against the bottom of Gabe’s portrait and a slow, easy smirk pulls at the corners of blondie’s mouth.
“So, come here often?” He asks with a gravel-thick voice.
It takes all of Gabriel’s willpower not to drop his jaw at the smooth transition from ‘fucking terrified’ to ‘wanna grab a drink later?’.
Instead, he shrugs and still in character hisses, “Only on weekends in October.”
The girls let out peals of laughter up ahead and Jason-mask slaps the blonde on his shoulder as he eases out of his reclined pose. He gives Gabe a finger-gun and a wink before strolling off after his friends.
Gabe shuts his window and presses his forehead against the wood - defeated.
Much later in the evening, when Olivia strolls up in with neon-colored blood splattered all over her face and neck to relieve him, Gabe heads out for the actual fair. Ana gives him a wink from her spot at the front door of the house and he sneers at her in return.
Gabe beelines for the fried oreo stand, mouth watering and stomach rumbling at the mixed scents of turkey legs and funnel cakes. Kids are squealing around him, covered in face-paint and cotton candy. The rides are full of shouting adults and nauseous teenagers.
Gabe closes his eyes and takes it all in, swaying on his feet as he waits in line. When he opens his eyes to step forward, the patron at the window turns around and Gabe comes face to face with his failed scare.
The blonde is holding a lemonade and a nut-sprinkled caramel apple. Gone is the white hoodie and in its place is a black t-shirt with a silver scythe on the front that reads ‘Fear the Reaper’. Gabe’s insides melt.
Blondie points at him with his caramel-apple hand and grins, “Welcome back to the land of the living.”
“Ha ha.” Gabriel’s heard that one before.
Blondie just laughs and bites into his apple, chews thoughtfully, “You almost had me.”
Gabe crosses his arms over his chest, “Don’t get cocky, boyscout.” He waves a hand out, “You wouldn’t have been so tough if your friends hadn’t been there.”
Blondie just holds that casual smile and bites into his apple again. Those blue eyes rake down Gabriel’s form, “Shame the window hid most of your costume, looks great. One of the best ones I’ve seen all night.”
Of course it is, Gabe thinks smugly, Halloween is his holiday.
“Thanks.” He leaves the blonde for a second to place his order. He’s half-expecting the dude to be gone by the time he pays, takes the powdered-sugar goodness out of the attendants hands, and turns back around.
Except the blonde is still there, polishing off his apple and tossing the stick in a nearby trashcan. Gabe watches him lick the remaining sticky caramel from his fingers and a sliver of arousal simmers down his spine at the sight.
The blonde face lights up when Gabe walks back over with his fried oreos.
“Where are your friends?” Gabe glances around the blonde’s big body, searching for the Jason-masked dude and the women.
“Lucio wanted to try and catch a frog at one of the booths and the girls followed.” Blondie jerks a thumb towards the carnival booths. He waits a beat as they stand there awkwardly, blondie clears throat, “Name’s Jack.”
“Gabe.” He replies, taking a bite out of an oreo.
Jack rocks on his feet, takes a noisy sip from his lemonade, blue eyes focused solely on Gabe. Kinda like has something to ask or to say. It’s almost unnerving, kinda creepy, and just a little bit hot. Gabe’s growing impatient and horny.
Jack seems to make up his mind after a minute of silence, leans forward, “Ever made out in corn maze?”
Gabe groans around a bite of his oreo, “I thought you’d never ask.”