Chapter Text
It all started when Sam and Jay hosted their first large group, one with a lot of teenagers. They were on summer break and decided to go on a road trip when they found themselves without any spare tires in the middle of nowhere but quickly found themselves adjusting to having two servants and they loved the eerie feel of a supposedly haunted mansion. Throughout the entire week Sam had to translate the teens’ slang for the ghosts even though Sam herself didn’t know what half the words meant. And it all got worse on a random Tuesday morning when Isaac asked what on earth a ‘rizz’ was.
“Sam!” Isaac called out as he trotted down the stairs, most likely after spying on some of the teens. “What is a rizz?” he asked, “Taylor and Olive and arguing over who has the most, is a collectors item?”
“Like the little fuzzy monster Olive had on her bag?” Flower asked in her brief moment of lucidity.
“Man, If I was alive I’d have so many of those,” Trevor thought aloud. He envisioned himself with a tote bag covered in keychains, a matcha that he’d pretend to like and earphones playing feminist podcasts into his ears. Sam shuddered at the thought.
“Uh, Isaac, rizz is a slang term short for charisma, basically it means you’re good at flirting,” Sam explained as she tried to escape the ghosts. They followed her out of the hall and into the kitchen like ducklings following their mother.
“Well I don’t know about Taylor or Olive but I think we all know who has the most rizz in our group,” Trevor said, gesturing to himself confidently.
“Oh please,” Sasappis mocked, chuckling to himself.
“You have something you want to share?” Trevor shot back.
“I’m just saying you’re not as charismatic as you think you are. No way one of your cheesy pick up lines would work on someone like me.”
“That’s not fair, you’re straight,” Trevor complained.
“Not last time I checked,” Sass responded and the room fell quiet for a moment. They waited for him to continue but he didn’t, he just stood un-affected, staring at Trevor with the same usual judgement in his eyes.
“Well, then I absolutely could win you over,” Trevor declared.
“With your dashing smile?” Sass asked, his words drenched in sarcasm.
“The very one,” Trevor replied, his confidence un-wavered.
Sass just rolled his eyes. He thought Trevor would just forget about this challenge, maybe continue it for the rest of the day but it wouldn’t go any further. He’d either forget about it or give up. Safe to say Sasappis was wrong, it went much further.
Sass was watching Jay cook for the guests per usual. This past week Jay had gotten a crazy new workload, none of the teenagers wanted the same thing and a lot of them did not feel as though they had to consult the menu in any way. This resulted in him cooking large portions of every food on the menu and more. And him locking and hiding the alcohol after a few of them tried to get into it. Once they had everything on the menu they started asking for other stuff, sending him recipes on TikTok to try, most of which were gluten free, dairy free, vegan, protein filled, and tasted terrible. And after a while they ended up making him cook frozen pizza and Buldak ramen for them. Man, he couldn’t wait for his restaurant to open back up. But the ghosts were over-joyed by the abundance of new smells, especially Sasappis.
Trevor walked into the kitchen rubbing his hands together, it wasn’t unusual for Trevor to join him while watching Jay cook so Sass thought nothing of it until he started to talk.
“What’s cookin’ good lookin’?” He purred.
Sasappis felt his hair stand up. He scrunched his face with disgust and stared at Trevor in disapproval.
“Is that the best you got? That’s barely even a pickup line,” Sasappis taunted.
“Oh, I got a lot more where that came from,” He bragged. “Are you pizza? ‘cuz I want a slice of you,” he emphasized with a wink.
Gross.
Sass rolled his eyes and turned to focus on Jay’s cooking.
“Are you a baker? Because your buns are smoking hot,”
“that’s disgusting,” He grumbled.
Trevor didn’t give up.
I wouldn’t mind buttering your biscuits. Don’t blame me if this is a little cheesy, but I just think you’re grate. If you were a vegetable, you’d be a cute-cumber. You’re like my spice cabinet, hot, fine, and a little salty. Are you ever disappointed when Jay cooks something and you realize you’re the best snack in the house?
Sass couldn’t take it anymore. Line after line they just got worse. He ended up leaving the room wanting to punch Trevor. Not at all Trebor’s desired reaction.
This wasn’t going to be an easy challenge to win but Trevor wasn’t going to back down. There was too much at stake.
He moved upstairs to watch a show with the rest of the ghosts, after a few episodes Trevor entered, and Sass felt his eyes roll before he could even process it. He was sure he’d been waiting outside the room so that it’d seem nonchalant, unplanned, and not at all desperate to win. He tensed expecting more bombardment of pick-up lines but instead he just stood behind the full couch and watched the show with them. Thank God.
However, Sass’s prayers were not answered because the second he saw an opening Trevor took it. They were watching an old video of Bob Ross, all of the ghosts were completely entranced by how he took the canvas from a blank white block of fabric to a masterpiece in just a few strokes.
“Wow, that’s so beautiful,” Pete said, watching in awe.
“I know someone even more beautiful,” Trevor said in a hushed voice.
“Ew,” Sasappis knock back, “I think I’m gonna vomit.”
“Aw, come on, that was good!” Trevor argued back
He just rolled his eyes and kept watching the show. The rest of the ghosts were clearly already annoyed with their antics. Hetty even left the room.
Trevor through out one or two more compliments but ended up on the floor watching intently as Bob painted. All of them transfixed, even Thor who usually got bored of a TV show after a ten minutes without blood and murder.
Trevor didn’t shoot his shot again that day but he wasn’t going to give up, instead, as he lay in bed trying to sleep he was plotting how to win. You see, Trevor had raised the stakes, after they made their wager and Sass had left the room another bet was made.
Flower, Isaac and Trevor stood in the room after Sam had finally slipped away and Sass had gone off, already sick of Trevor’s flirting before he had even started.
“You seem characteristically over-confident, Trevor,” Isaac said
“what do you mean?”
“I mean there’s no way you’ll win this,” he responded pitifully.
“Isaac, I am the flirting master, I dated a Victoria secret angel and had one-night stands with multiple miss universes,” he bragged.
The other two stared at him lost.
“You don’t know what that means but trust me it’s a brag,” he insisted.
Two more ghosts entered then, back from their daily walk; Hetty and Alberta.
“What are you fools arguing about now?” Alberta inquired.
“Trevor had sex with an angel,” Flower explained. Both women turned to Isaac to explain instead.
“Trevor here just made a bet with Sass that he’d be able to win his heart,” he explained properly.
Both of them laughed, falling into each other.
“Girl please,” Alberta laughed
“That’s ridiculous,” Hetty agreed.
“Oh, come on, I got you didn’t I?” Trevor argued back.
“And you lost me,” Hetty dismissed him.
“I broke up with you!”
Hetty waved her hand at him. He sighed, knowing he’d never be able to argue with her.
“Look, you’re all gonna be eating your words soon enough,” Trevor announced with a sly smile.
“Honey, I’d bet my TV time for the next month that you won’t win,” Alberta replied.
“Then why don’t you? You scared I’m gonna win?”
“oh please”
“Actually, I’ll raise you. If you win I’ll do whatever you want for a month, If I win you have to publicly admit I have the most rizz,” he wagered.
“what on earth is rizz?”
The ghosts continued to push and Trevor’s esteem with constant need to be fed allowed them to keep raising the bet, from back rubs to shaft of light. And they knew that his need for approval and love for challenges and bets could be pushed and pushed until Trevor agreed that if he won none of them could argue with him for a month but if he won he’s have to do everything they told him to for a month, including Isaac’s demand to have the room with the Tv; Trevor’s room. They had given him a month and a half to complete the bet, the quicker he was the nicer they’d be. Trevor hadn’t realised what he agreed to until Alberta left him with a final threat.
“I can’t wait to hear all of your deepest secrets when we win this bet.” And with a wink she was gone.
He had just bet everything. With the power of making him do whatever they want the options for torture were limitless. He needed to win this bet, for his dignity, for his pride, and for his freedom.