Tas the nights close to Halloween, and crazy couples liked to scream. Not for the love of bedroom fun, but because the boyfriend tortured his hun.
Sly was playing the cruelest of jokes this Halloween; sure he loved his girlfriend but was was the fun of being a thief if not for the fun of throwing tricks at his beloved girlfriend from time to time. As of late he'd been rather sweet and lax with her, not intending to frighten her should she freak out on him. But on the month of Halloween he needed to be just a little evil. And that being? Well, he knew there was a certain creepy crawly that she didn't like, and him with is evil state of mind decided to play with this.
So, with a little trip to the store and five dollars well spent Sly got himself a large jar full of plastic black spiders. You know, the common ones that you see everywhere or get in the webbing when you buy them in the bags? yeah, that kind.
It started out with just having the jar there to freak her out, but then a brutal thought popped in his mind. He began to hide them. Like one morning when he knew she would be getting up earlier than him and going to brush her teeth as per usual, he placed a single little spider on her toothbrush for the surprise come morning. He was still dead asleep, but he waited for that horror to get her.
Nikki woke feeling like she had been hit by a bus during the night. This fatigue thing was getting old. She had plans this morning. She had three orders from her online store to fulfill. Another pet portrait, a family portrait, and a snapshot of some sort of vacation spot that one customer wanted redone in paint form. Nikki didn't understand it but it was all money in her pocket. Rolling out of bed, Nikki stumbled towards the bathroom. Nacho was curled on the bed with Sly. He simply picked himself up and moved in her now abandoned side of the bed. In the bathroom, she flicked on the light and the medicine cabinet where her prenatal pills were kept. She swallowed them down first before spinning off the top to her toothpaste. At this point, she had kept her eyes on the mirror. Now her eyes dropped to her toothbrush.
In her blurry eyed state, her brain registered only one thing - a terrible threat rested on her toothbrush. Screaming, she jerked back, nearly losing her footing in the process. Blinking rapidly, she wished for her bow. Not that she would stick around to actually aim properly and...wait. Her vision was clearing. The spider never moved.
It looked...like plastic?
Her heart was racing. Sweat beaded at her brow. She swore even her unborn son was shivering in his...placenta? Ew. No, not going there. Dammit. And damn that thief. Nikki threw a rolled ball of toilet paper at the spider...just in case. It could be a trick, after all. But nothing happened. Curse Sly. She didn't run into the bedroom to rage though. No...she would not give him the satisfaction. This was a one-off thing. Something done for shits and giggles. She scrubbed her teeth harshly and marched off to the living room. She would not be fooled again.
Oh but what a sadness there, the livingroom was also inhabited... Not in plain sight oh no. Nikki wasn't one to eat in the mornings, not unless Sly was cooking. She often went for either her book or the TV, which Sly boobytrapped both. Taped to the bottom of the silver remote was a spider. And inside her book? Where her pristine and oh so romantic saved page of her shirtless man on the cover novelties also was a spider. Sly was on a roll today and he had yet to even wake.
Nikki was not planning on reading her book at first. She grabbed her art supplies while munching on a pop tart. But she did need time to wake up properly. One couldn't draw willy nilly. A few pages of reading would also settle her nerves. She was surprised when she didn't hear his boast of laughter at his first prank. He was either being very smart or was truly asleep. No matter. Nikki shook her head to clear the cobwebs and settled down on the couch. It was sliding past seven thirty. She had plenty of time. So she picked up her latest novel from the coffee table and set to work. Only to have a spider fall into her lap. She should have expected it, but she flipped all the same. A high pitched scream rippled from her throat as she swatted the fake spider with the book, flinging it across the room so that it smacked against the wall. The sharp rap meant that it too, was condensed with plastic. Damn that man! It was harder to rein herself in that time. But she resisted. But only just. She would come up with revenge.
Okay, that one did wake up the said man. Sly blinked awake then shot up from the bed. Intruder? Break in? Damn, where was his gun?! He burst out the room only in time to see the slap of that poor toy spider on the wall. Snickering, Sly looked at Nikki and leaned to the wall next to the living room in his morning glory. Messy bed head, ruffled shirt and, ah, them silk boxers. "Enjoying your morning, baby?" Sly asked, a giggling fit was he and he went for the pot of coffee.
Nikki cursed him. Unfortunately - or perhaps, fortunately - he could not understand her due to her elven lyrics. At least she had the smug satisfaction of waking him at a bright and early eight in the morning. But the smirk he wore told her he didn't mind that much. No, he had planned this sometime after she went to bed last night. It was a cold hearted trick. One he would pay for. But for now? When he turned his back to her, she hurled the book at him. It smacked against the naked skin of his back with such a satisfying sound, she felt a trickle of childhood glee fill her heart. She sincerely hoped he was out of coffee. If she had the premonition of his stunts, she would have thrown all of it out. That would teach him! Sadly he was humbly in glee, he knew and counted on the fact that she would hit him with something one way or another, and when the book smacked his back sure it stung but he would not give her the satisfaction of letting her think that she got him too, because she surely did not. "Love you too." As he often would day after her elven curses and even hitting him with things. Fortunately for him, he had coffee, and got the pot going easily. "What's the weather going to be today?" Sly asked innocently. Maybe they have a harvest event we can go to. Might be on the news. He sounded... genuine, but let's not forget the spider he put under the remote too.
Nikki glowered at him for a long moment. Who cared what the weather was? It was cold. Did he need a thermometer to prove it? One look at the frosted windows and one could tell that fall was upon the Big Apple. But fine. She was going to be the bigger person here. She went to grab the remote. Guess what? Another damn spider! She jumped back, but this time, her reaction was minimal. He was becoming predictable. Narrowing her eyes into slits, she threw the remote onto the couch with a huff. "Wart are you? Twelve?" She snapped. Then she crossed a line. She marched into the kitchen and plucked up that orange, plastic pumpkin filled to the brim with Halloween candy and she...dumped it into the garbage. Gasp! Okay, she did sneak a few fireballs out but still! It was evil. "No candy for you!"
Childish? Yes. Petty? Oh yes. But there was an inkling of satisfaction there. And...a bit of regret. Chocolates were one of her new cravings. Dammit!
That was so smooth, how could he ever have come up with anything better than that. Cackling to himself now he looked at Nikki when she tossed the remote then grinned at the exclamation. "No, but it's trick or treat, babe, I'm getting in all the tricks that I can. Besides, in a way, this is helping you to get over your fear, isn't it?" Good guy Sly right there. But then she got up and went for the candy, chucking it into the trash that thankfully was not really dirty. He stared down at it than looked up to her."That was for the kids..." Now what would he tell them? "Rude."
“Then we don't answer the door," she remarked as if it had been an obvious answer to that problem. And it was also a rude statement. Poor children. “Besides, I didn't think..." he would be into it. She stopped talking before that came out because it was a stupid comment. “Well, I'm glad you got it out of your system now. Are we done?" Because she wasn't looking forward to any more surprises. Her narrowed gaze fixed him in place. At least, it was supposed to. She had a feeling he was immuned.
Eh, he would go out to buy more candy. He liked to open the shop doors and allow the kids inside to see all the cool stuff that he had. Some of it looked creepy, some amazing. He took on the roll as some snooty museum owner to make the children grin and handed out all the good candy. They didn't have Halloween in Paris, so this was fun to be apart of. "Yes, I guess we're done." Not
Sadly it looked like she no longer was phased by the plastic spiders anymore. What a shame. Good thing he had back ups. Back ups you may ask? Oh yes. Besides those, he also had.. some rather, life like feeling ones. Big ones. Robotic ones that he had saved for a long time. This was better than any to release them. So while she went off to begin her artwork Sly grinned and left to the shop down below, only to return several minutes later with the hidden treasures.
She would innocently be painting away, her art was next to any the best. So with the app downloaded to his phone and the robotic spider now it works, this one was an orange kneed tarantula he crept the door open, laid it on the ground then skillfully had it set to walking around then straight to her.
Nikki had a charcoal pencil in her hand and was outlining the dog's face and coat patterns. As she drew, she thought about her future. This could be it. She loved art and artisan crafts, but could she make a life out of it? Open her own shop and hope there were plenty of other people out there sharing her ideals? Could she be happy being the mother of a son, staying at home, and running her own store? She knew she could learn to be happy, even if some part of her would always long to get away to adventure. Danger. And exploration. Sigh. She had to get over that. Her free spirit was getting in the way. She would learn. She would be fine. Focusing on her art, she let the world around her fade. That is...until she caught movement in her peripheral vision. Please. How many more times was Sly going to throw plastic spi...The pencil fell from her fingers. Wait. That wasn't plastic. It was...rather furried. Well, not furry as in a dog but...bristly...oh who cared! It was heading towards her. Her mind screamed at her to flee. This time, the scream tore from her throat so loudly that pain throbbed against her vocal cords. It was a fucking tarantula! Wait! It couldn't be the one they had to get for failing Ben's bet? She couldn't remember what that damnable thing looked like!
Nikki continued to scream until her voice shut off and no sound could escape. She crawled up on the highest point in the room - the table - while yelling help in a croaking voice. Gods. They couldn't jump could they? Fuck it. She leaped off the table, landing just inches away from the creepy crawl and fled out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Good thing they didn't have close neighbors.
An explosion on laughter was heard from the other side of the door, the expensive and lifelike spider stopped as he stopped controlling it and he fell back. Good thing he had a camera set up in there. This would be the final one, he knew that. Mainly because he would probably be dead after this to even come back to play another prank. This could not have been better. She was flipping out in there, he knew it. She would find him just like that on the ground too. The phone flopped out of his hands and a hand covering his hot face while the other rested over his stomach. Remind him to wish his unborn son a good life because Nikki was about to end it. "H-hey!" He coughed out with his laughter. Whooping more into another one. "How's it going, babe?! See my new toy?!"
Nikki nearly bulldozed him over as she raced to get away. How did you kill a giant spider? Would Raid work? Fire? Yeah...fire. Fire would work. Nikki was rushing past him in her desperate attempt to get away. Only his laughter stopped her short. At first, she didn't understand. Fear made her brain slow to process information. He should be rushing to rescue her, like a good Prince and Knight. Nikki understood that her cold fright over spiders was hilarious on any good day, but seriously. She couldn't remember screaming so hysterically before. The inside of her throat felt as if she had dragged the flesh over a bed of nails. Nikki's eyes widened in disbelief at his statement. Of all the tricks, she never imagined he would go that far. That was a line never meant to be crossed. Anger quickly exploded. “You're...toy!? What the hell is wrong with you??" If she could slap that smile off his face... “You are so...ugh!" She marched right back into the room. She didn't touch the spider - even knowing it was a robot, she just couldn't...So instead she ripped a large piece off of one of her shipping boxes and used it to push the fake spider out. Then she promptly slammed the door on his fave. “Asshole!" She shouted. And yes...he better sleep with one eye open. Speaking of sleep...“You're sleeping on the couch tonight!" Ouch. He had to see that one coming a mile away.
He knew that was coming regardless. He would happily pull out the bed though, knowing that he deserved it. His little boy would have to learn well from his father. Tricks by Sly were the greatest things that he could ever give to a person. Any other day and any silly thing he wouldn't care to do. He did all of this with love. "But Nik!" He whined, just to give her the satisfaction that he was hurt, not really, but it might help her feel better. "I love yooooou!" Still cackling to himself he left to the living room to relax. Not knowing the terror that lay inside the room with her.
And neither would she.
See, with the cold of winter settling in there was a large, brown, loooong legged, biiig fanged spider whom was looking for a good place to settle for the coming months. She had been in the closet, but now curious of what all the screaming was about. So when Nikki went to sit back down and fade into her own world the spider silently made her way across the ceiling, then slowly, so painfully slow, crept herself down to dangle between Nikki and and her artwork. How pretty it was. Sadly Nikki didn't care. She was seething. Even her art hardly distracted her. She had finished the core outline; now she had her soft pastels for the first layer of color.
At first, the new spider didn't frighten her - it only pissed her off. Enough was enough. Sly was two seconds away from being lit on fire. She had enough of his damn games. So the spider - surprisingly - went ignored for a good five minutes. But the darn things was in the way, dangling between her eyes and her artwork. And her eyes kept getting distracted by this new toy. Point for Sly for this one. It looked amazingly realistic. Even more so than the other prank spider he had. In fact...it was almost too real. Everything about it was...natural. It swayed with a grace only found in nature. Every leg twitched with life like movements. The eight eyes all rotated in a seamless fashion that a robot simply could not match.
That meant....that meant... It was real!
Nikki cried out with true fear. She didn't dare swat at it, lest it jumped on her hand or - Gods forbid - it got lost in her hair. No. This was another sick prank. She just knew it. Only this time he had the nerve to get a live spider! A living, breathing, nightmare. Naw. Fuck this. Fuck this house. Fuck that artwork. Fuck going out the door. It was too far away. Screeching, she sprinted to the window, yanked it open...and yes...scaled down the damn building. No. She was staying a hotel. And Sly would be lucky if she spoke three words to him for the next month. Or seven.
What on earth was she screaming at now? Sly could hear it.. then it kinda just stopped. What on earth? He walked to the door and carefully slid it open and saw one less elf in there. But there was a tiny spider dangling on the web. Window open.. This woman just...
Another round of laughter. Looks like even the warrior elf herself could not survive this evil house of spiders.
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