Chapter 1
The date is September 13. Exactly 48 days until Halloween. Steve started the countdown Mid August, much to Bucky's dismay.
It's not that Bucky doesn't like Halloween he just isn't into the horror aspect of the holiday. Pumpkin carving, Apple picking, handing out candy to the local children was all fun for him but the haunted houses, scary theme parks, and slasher movies weren't his cup of tea as much as it was Steve's. He even liked some horror movies just not to the degree of Steve who asked him earlier in the month if they could make Bucky's house into a haunted house (Steve's was too small). Bucky of course said no with the irrational idea in his head that if they decorated their house as a haunted house it will somehow make it a real haunted house, he didn't say that to Steve though.
So when Steve comes over with a "scary movie" that takes place in their very town its a wonder Bucky doesn't say no. But he said no to the Haunted House so this is the least he can do. Of course Bucky still resists a little.
"What it's not like I took you camping at a place called Crystal Lake," Steve says.
There actually is a store called Crystal Lake but it has nothing to do with Jason Vorhees ...or lakes for that matter.
Bucky sighs and agrees. It's not like they were actually going anywhere they didn't know that shared a name with a famous fictional killer. They were in their town that this movie's writer probably saw on some map and decided to use it.
So Bucky is fine, for the most part, until the town starts to resemble a lot of theirs, almost uncanny. Sure there was different angles and different lighting that made it not seem like they just stepped outside their house but it was certainly uneasy still.
He lets Steve know about 15 minutes in.
"Come on..." Steve laughs. "It's just a coincidence." Steve says as Bucky pauses the movie.
"It's not like we live in Derry, Maine, Steve! It's not that common!" Bucky says back.
"I'm not even sure Derry is a real place, Buck."
"Well you'd be the one to know!"
"Come on Bucky. It's just a movie..."
"A movie taken place in a town with our name that just so happens to also look exactly like it?"
"It doesn't look that similar," Steve notes.
"What are you talking about? Yes it does. I mean they edited it down so that road doesn't lead to the candy shop but instead leads to the elementary school but it's the same fuckin place!" Bucky rewinds to show the scene that took them around the setting of the story.
Steve squints and claims he still doesn't see it.
"How do you not!" Bucky exclaims as he pauses it again.
"Can we just please enjoy the movie?"
"You and I have two very different ideas of enjoy a scary movie."
Steve laughs. "What I like being scared."
"No," Bucky clarifies. "You like getting me scared"
Steve shrugs. "Poe-tay-toe, Pa-tah-toe." Steve looks over at him smiling and Bucky grumbles before pressing play again.
The movie moves along. It starts with Bucky side eye-ing it a bit when the brunette main character starts to show a lot of characteristics similar to himself. Then more suspicious when a lot of the character's backstory and relationships seemed similar all down to the boyfriend, a boy next door blonde with a cocky but charismatic and endearing attitude. He turns to Steve about to give him the compliment but then decides against it. He'll see if the boyfriend survives first. He almost laughs to himself thinking if he did tell Steve and Steve saw it too and the boyfriend does die at the end maybe Steve will have a fraction of the fear he so enjoyed giving to Bucky.
He still doesn't say anything but a "hmm" escapes his lips to which Steve turns to him eyes still on the screen. "what?"
"This feel umm...familiar to you?" Bucky asks, trying his best to not get a laughter reaction from Steve. He genuinely wanted to know if Steve saw it too or he was just crazy.
"What do you mean?" Steve asks, pausing the movie again.
"Just..." Bucky starts. "You know..."
Nothing from Steve.
"Brunette guy moves from Indiana to a small near New York town no one has heard of befriends scrawny blonde who goes through a late growth spurt. Start dating after mutual love confessions a few years later...family life pretty similar to mine as well as yours... Similar personalities..."
"To who?"
"To me and you!"
Steve squints his eyes. "You got all of that from this?"
Bucky sighs.
"When did you even hear he was from Indiana?" Steve asks.
"It's in the beginning!"
"I thought the boyfriend was just some guy he started dating?"
"THEY LITERALLY TALKED ABOUT THEIR CHILDHOOD TOGETHER 2 SCENES AGO!" Bucky yells in comical frustration.
"Really?" Steve asks.
"Yes! Really!"
Steve shakes his head. "I think you're reading way too much into this. Taking place in our town has gotten to your head," Steve playfully pokes Bucky's head but Bucky swears he catches a small knowing smile come across Steve's lips. But maybe that's just what Bucky wanted to see to save himself from the very eerie feeling he was getting from this movie.
Of course as the movie goes the more fear he feels as the main character (his doppelgänger) gets chased by the masked killer, running behind stupid shit, throwing random stuff at the antagonist (which Bucky chastises him for) as he somehow manages to get away. There's even a time the boyfriend gets hurt and Bucky almost reaches out to Steve to see if he was okay but then he laughs at himself. This was just a dumb movie. Steve was perfectly fine right next to him. Bucky just wants to get the movie over with, reveal the killer (probably the kid who was constantly bullied at a school he graduated 7 years prior that keeps randomly being brought up) and let him laugh it off as it all just being a coincidence while vowing to never allow Steve to talk him into a scary movie again.
Bucky almost gets his wish when the masked killer is revealed. It's not the bullied alumni. He's about to comment on how dumb it is that it's a character the audience never saw when the unmasked gets a knife thrown at his head, killing him instantly.
And here we go into another half hour Bucky thinks. How long was this movie anyways?
The story moves along as they set up everyone as suspicious. Bucky still has his bets on the ex bullied graduate. Bets are off when he dies as well and it's just the main character (Bucky), his boyfriend (Steve), and 2 of the barely named characters that only got close to the main ones because of the whole being chased by a killer that 'could be any one of them dun dun dunnn' thing. Bucky is pissed because his guess is wrong and he doesn't care if the characters names who he forgot are it or not but he's sure it's one of those where they think a great plot twist is if the killer is someone not involved in the story at all bla bla bla.
When they all split up to find someone who could help, Bucky's copy finds the other two dead and Bucky starts to panic (along with movie Bucky) when the music picks up. They both breathe a sigh of relief when the shadow behind the corner ends up being the boyfriend...the Steve. Bucky smiles and turns to his Steve as movie Steve reassures his boyfriend that everything is okay, he called help. Bucky leans back on his spot on the couch satisfied that this Steve had his...(or rather the similar character's) back just like real Steve.
Then movie Steve makes room for Bucky to walk in front of him and the music picks up. Maybe the killer is going to come out of the corner to take them both. Bucky thinks.
The music increases as movie Bucky notices the cop and waves to him, thinking it was who movie Steve called.
"OH so the cop is the killer?" real Bucky asks out loud. And just as he says it there's the sharp sound of knife entering flesh and the camera pans to movie Bucky's face, eyes wide blood spilling out of his mouth as it goes back to what movie Bucky thought was a police officer. It was an officer alright, but he was long dead and propped up on the wall as if to look like he was standing. The camera pans back to Bucky now falling to the floor as the knife moves out of his back, a finger wiping the blade.
The last cut of the movie is the boyfriend smiling a sinister smile before the movie cuts to black.
Steve turns off the movie before the credits start to role and Bucky just sits there starring.
"Sooo…." Steve says after what could've been a few seconds or several minutes Bucky's not sure.
Bucky starts to turn to him, scared what he might see.
Steve sits there, arm around the back of the sofa, grinning ear to ear. Bucky looks back at the blank screen remembering where he saw that face before.
"Did you like-" Steve starts to say but is interrupted by Bucky suddenly getting up from the couch fumbling with his watch. "I gotta get ..um DINNER," he says loudly, hurriedly. "Mom!," he yells as he grabs his keys out of his pocket. "Told mom I'd be at dinner."
"Bucky it's 3 o clock..."
"Sorry! Gotta go."
"And this is your-" The door slams shut. "-house..." Steve finishes as he hears Bucky's car turn on and the tires screech as he pulls out of the driveway. Steve just sits there staring at the door Bucky just ran through and laughs to himself.