#aaaaaah I rushed this so much I'm sorry aha!!

[queenieships]

[ tagging @smoochesforseven per her request c’: ]

Here’s my submission for SSSC17!! I’m running late, as usual c; I decided to write a fic and a little picture to go with it, why I decided to go kind of lineless I don’t know because I have NEVER drawn something like this before - anyway I went with the haunted mansion prompt and kind of worked it around a little!! Was really inspired by the game Oxenfree and the ship I focused on was Davey (Newsies) and I, though I included the rest of the gang as well!! The fic will be under the cut c: @spookyselfship

“So, they say, if you turn a radio to the right frequency at midnight, then you can like – like hear ghosts or some shit!”

“Race, I think that’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever said.” Davey huffed, clearly irritated at the nights events.

It was approaching 12am, the sky outside an oil spill of blue and black, swirling like a Van Gogh painting behind a pale yellow moon. Though the world had been noisy throughout the day, streets filled with bustling, sugar-craving children, it had become silent as the evening approached the morning hours.

The group had broken in to an abandoned mansion, dilapidated and dusty, influenced by Jack and Race’s charms as well as a touch of liquid confidence. God knew the more cautious of the group – Davey, Queenie and Crutchie – would never have even joked about breaking into anywhere if not for the keen persuasion of the others and the reckless, mischievous atmosphere that rolled around on Halloween night.

“Y’know, I’ve been friends with Race for a long time so I can tell you with a certainty that that is not, in fact, the dumbest thing he’s ever said.” Crutchie perked up, a lopsided grin plastered over his face. A round of small chuckles sounded from the group in response to his comment.

“Race, where did you even hear about this? This thing with the radios – and why specifically in this mansion?” Queenie asked, sitting closely to her boyfriend as the two scowled at the curly-haired blond.

The group were situated in a circle, a small, hand-held radio placed on a stool in the centre. It felt – and probably looked – awfully Cult-ish. Race and Jack, once the idea had struck them, went around Queenie’s house and collected any foldable chair or stool they could find to bring with them, apparently having planned on the eye-roll worthy arrangement from the beginning.

Race opened his mouth to speak but Jack quickly interrupted him, placing a hand on the skinnier boys shoulder. “Act-ual-lyyyyyy, it’s a well known urban legend around here! Apparently there was a huge Halloween celebration here, years ago in like the 1800s or something, and some real weird stuff happened throughout the night, people just getting real irritable and crazy – attacking each other, killing each other, killing THEMSELVES-”

“And that makes you want to come here?” Davey interrupted, calmly patting Queenie’s small hand which had shot out to hold his in response to Jack’s words.

Jack gave the tall boy a sour look, an eyebrow raised before dramatically continuing, hands swaying in the air. “ANYWAY, by the time morning came around no one was left alive. Some people say something real demonic happened, others say someone had drugged the food and drink as a prank and things just escalated way too far – some even say it was a cult thing. All we knows is that these people didn’t like, pass on or whatever, they’re stuck haunting this place and if you listen to the right radio frequency then you’ll be able to talk to them at Midnight. Some kids say it works with Walkie Talkies too but I dunno, Radios just seem a lot more legit, y’know?”

Davey returned Jack’s previous look, his brown eyes devoid of positivity and thin lips pulled into a scowl. “Radios just… seem more… legit. Alright, well, if that’s the logic you’re using here then this Urban Legend MUST be real!” He scoffed, head shaking at the ridiculous idea being presented to them. “We could be at home right now, watching Sweeney Todd or something but instead you wanted to come here and sit around, waiting to speak to dead people – who killed each other in a frenzy – through a radio?”

“Well at least it’s not boring! How many other people are doing this on Halloween, huh!?” Jack retorted, slinging his arm over Race’s shoulder, expecting back up.

“Yeah, exactly! ‘sides, only reason you’d rather be watching movies is cuz you’d get to cuddle up to Queenie! Why can’t you just make out with your girlfriend in a haunted mansion, huh? You some kinda coward or something?!” Race gave an impish grin, Jack laughing and shaking his shoulders encouragingly.

“WHAT ARE YOU- I’M NOT- MMMF.”

Davey’s hand slipped away from Queenie’s as he swung his arms wide angrily, cheeks stained red in both embarrassment and frustration. His brows furrowed, lips pressed tightly together in a straight line. There were small wrinkles over the bridge of his hooked nose as his face scrunched together in a scowl, the other boys having aggravated him enough for the evening.

“Okay, okay, let’s all calm down and stop being assholes.” Queenie sighed, rubbing her hand up and down Davey’s thigh soothingly. With her free hand she reached out and snatched up the radio, using her thumb to turn the dial through the different channels and frequencies.

“So, I’m going to go through all of these and if nothing happens we’re going home – to watch Sweeney Todd, to get drunk, to sleep, to make out, to whatever – okay?” Her voice was laced with a sweet sternness, feeling like she needed to take a role of authority before things got out of hand. The amount of raging testosterone in their group was incredible, she’d never seen a group of friends argue and fight one another so much but still be so tight-knit.

She continued to roll her thumb over the bumps and grooves of the dial, so far hearing nothing but a soft static. Nothing out of the ordinary.

“Well, this is all seeming like a waste of time.” Davey mumbled, hand now resting atop Queenie’s as his thumb softly rubbed over her knuckles.

Queenie found herself feeling both grateful and slightly disappointed as she neared the end of the frequencies, having always loved fiction about the supernatural but still fearing the possibility of it truly existing. She let out a soft sigh, picking up speed as she breezed through the numbers.

ZzzzkkKKrRRRRRRR

Her breath hitched, stopping on 102.2 – removing her hand from Davey’s she clutched the radio in both hands, eyes staring down at the small device as it emitted a loud, metallic rumble. After a few moments the noise gave way to faint music, the sound of a distant piano and trumpets – it sounded cheery but twisted, out of tune at times, varying in both speed and volume. She stared in horrified wonder at the soft blue light of the screen that displayed the frequency.

She felt the sensation of a drastic increase in speed, heart dropping into her stomach and eyes watering – it felt like air gushed past her ear drums, there one second and gone the next, replaced with music again but this time louder and clearer, as if she had been dropped in the middle of an orchestra. Blinking, her eyes flickered to the room around her.

Her friends were gone, instead surrounded by people dancing enthusiastically, laughing gleefully – eating and drinking to their hearts content. The women wore huge, structured ball gowns and beautifully ornate masks that peaked out under cascading curls. The men wore sleek, well-fitted suits and waist coats, hair slick and shining under the moonlight – their masks were far more simple, though each one was slightly unique in colour. None of them seemed to take note of her existence. Though the scene she was somehow spying on seemed fun and light-hearted, her skin crawled and her legs bobbed up and down anxiously.

The music crashed to a halt as a screech pierced through the air, followed by a wave of gasps, a commotion breaking through the crowd as panic mounted. There were screams and the echoes of heels pounding against the wooden floor as people ran, hollowed sobs radiating from someone, somewhere. Queenie’s eyes couldn’t keep up as she watched, catching glints of metal and splashes of red, anguished gurgles and hysterical laughter, high pitched and hair-raising like nails raking down a chalk board.

“NO, ENOUGH, I WANT TO LEAVE!” The words ripped from her throat in a babble of terror, the radio clattering to the ground as her hands waved around in a panic, instinctively clutching close to her cheeks a moment later, finding her face damp with frightened tears.

“Whoa whoa whoa-”

“What’s with her?”

“Queenie, what’s wrong? Honey, are you okay?”

She sniffled, shoulders shaking tensely as the room came into focus around her again. Her eyes roamed hesitantly, body relaxing slightly as her friends worried faces came into view.

“I’m… I’m sorry, I want to l-leave.” She stuttered out, voice quiet and fragile. Davey wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her face against his chest and stroking a hand softly through her short, brown hair.

“Alright, alright, we’ll leave – it’s okay, you’re okay.” He whispered, peppering light kisses to the top of her head before casting a glare over to the other boys who all stood with shocked, almost frightened expressions.

“Queenie, hey, what happened? Something weird just happened, right?” Race asked, voice tentative but excited.

“Race, Don’t. We’re going home to watch something nice and calm and we’re not going to talk about this.” Davey snapped, voice low and stern. There was no questioning him in that moment, not when the love of his life was upset and clearly frightened. Queenie could always feel more calm when her boyfriend took control, she knew he would take care of her – his worried, twittering nature solidifying into one of protectiveness and support.

The tall boy kept her in his arms as he lead her outside, their warm faces prickled with the cold of the night air. It felt soothing, coming back to reality and finally being able to take a breath without feeling dust scrape their throats. They stood by the worn down fence, strips of dried paint peeling as flecks were caught by the wind.

She stood in front of him, back pressed against his stomach as he kept on hand down, holding hers tightly and the other laced itself through the side of her hair comfortingly. They waited patiently for the others to pick up the chairs and tidy up, though Queenie could tell that Davey was itching to ask her some questions, despite his previous attitude towards the others. She appreciated him controlling his curious urges, respecting her feelings and caring more for her well-being than what had happened.

Though it sprung questions to her own mind. None of them had seen what she had, or heard the music – they hadn’t noticed anything up until the point she had spoken. It scared her, knowing that she was alone through the whole experience. Part of her wanted to go back, to watch the entire scene unfold and find out the truth but she knew, mentally, that she couldn’t. Queenie was naive and silly, afraid of the dark and spiders and just the very idea of what could be hiding out of sight – When she spent the night at Davey’s house he would have to walk her to the bathroom so she didn’t feel too afraid walking around at night – to experience something so horrible, so unique and impossible was frightening and Queenie knew that every quiet moment would be spent thinking about it, imagining and reliving it – the thoughts would make her sick with anxiety, unable to sleep.

She clutched his hand a little tighter. “David, can you stay with me? I don’t mind if you want to stay at my house, or if you want to ask your parents if I can stay at yours but I just don’t want to be alone for a while.” Her voice sounded strange, even to her. It was unusual for her to ask something of him, especially feeling as raw as she did – usually he would offer to do things for her, little favours such as getting them breakfast or pouring her a drink – so asking for anything felt strange.

He bent down and pressed a kiss atop her head. “Of course. I didn’t say anything because I just assumed you knew I wouldn’t be leaving your side, not after that. I need to make sure you’re all right.” Davey let out a sigh, burying his nose in her hair and taking a moment to himself. He had been stressed the whole night, trying to keep the others under control but not even being able to keep himself calm. He felt guilty somewhat for the entire situation, knowing the atmosphere towards the end of the evening had been nothing but tense and hostile.

Queenie let out a small laugh, though there wasn’t really much humour to it. She was pleased to hear that he knew the role to take without being asked, always there to be strong for her. There had been times when she had to comfort him of course, and he appreciate it massively when she did, but Queenie just bought out the caring, somewhat masculine nature in Davey – her small size, round face, expressive green eyes and entire soft, well-mannered nature – it was all so precious to him. Halloween was supposed to be a night that yes, maybe took a little advantaged of her child-like fears, only so that he could be her saviour in a silly, safe kind of way – to be there so she could hide her face into his chest at a particularly gory part of a movie, to hold her hand on the way to the bathroom upstairs – he never expected to have to take a more genuine, serious role. Didn’t expect to really deal with… whatever they had dealt with. It had been scary and surprising for both of them. A night of funny, mischievous fun had turned to tears and worry.

Eventually the others appeared from the mansion, giving Queenie quick but heartfelt apologies before piling into the back of Jack’s car. The rest of the night was spent under warm blankets on the sofa, huddled up together watching a variety of bright, cheery films – musicals and Disney classics, anything Queenie wanted. They binged on oreos and popcorn, trying to find some rest after the hair-raising events of the evening.

Despite her previous worries, Queenie was able to sleep soundly, wrapped up in Davey’s arms. Limbs tangled together, warm and snug under piles of sweatshirts and blankets, they could make it through even the scariest of ordeals as long as they had each other.