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"Spookems"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: Not mine. My psychiatrist assures
me that they never were either, although I specifically remember creating
them… Warnings: AU, questionable and evil humor, romance
with slices of angst (which I fix!) Rating: Ah…NC-17 or thereabouts, I think Pairings: 1x4, 5x2, 3+a box of stolen Pocky Author’s Notes: Okay, so I’m sitting
here one day, in the mood for a ghost story, and can only find ones
where one of the boys is a ghost and falls in love with one of the
other boys, at which point one of three things happens. Either a)
after some hot steamy sex the ghost crosses beyond, leaving the other
one to suicide *grr* b) he somehow is given a body or c) they have
to wait until the next reincarnation. C&C appreciated. Flames will be used to defrost
my windshield. Enjoy, peeps! Dedicated to Tricksy. I’m going to miss your
antics, love. //thought// *emphasize* " Spookems"
Chapter One: First Impressions
“Heh.” Duo, sitting in the passenger seat next to him, was grinning like a lunatic. “Ah man, I hope it’s a big one. With lots of lightning.” Firecrackers, Barbie bombs, dynamite, storms…if it goes ‘boom’ Duo loved it. In fact, the fastest way to distract him was to turn on the discovery channel, to their exclusives about storms and weather, then turn up the volume. He’ll sit in front of the set for hours, hypnotized. “Let’s just hope that we’re inside Heero’s house when it decides to let go.” “Ah, Quat, that ain’t no fun!” “Do you want to drive around aimlessly for hours because we can’t see where we’re going?” “Yeee—no, not really.” “That’s what I thought.” About two weeks ago, Heero’s uncle had finally turned control of an old Victorian mansion on the edge of the city over to him. As soon as the deed had been handed to him, he had called Quatre, Duo and Wufei to see if they wanted to room with him while they all attended the university. He had barely managed to extend the invitation before Duo had started hunting for the suitcases. It was a good deal; fifteen minute drive from campus, free rent, and roommates that the boys knew that they could live with. Heero had mentioned something about another person that might move in as well, but he hadn’t sounded sure of that. The prospect didn’t bother anyone. Both Duo and Quatre liked people. “So what’s this Chinese dude like?” Right now Quatre was the only one that had met Chang Wufei. Duo had been on a cruise to the Caribbean when Wufei had stayed at Heero’s for a few days. Quatre had escaped there as well, not wanting to stay in a house with sixteen females, one of which was busy planning for her wedding. The blond hadn’t been feeling particularly suicidal or masochistic. “An interesting person. Very quiet in large gatherings, but I noticed that if he feels comfortable with someone, then he has a wicked and very dry sense of humor. Definitely a bookworm.” Duo processed this with a little humming sound. “What’s he look like?” Duo and Quatre were both bi, so Quatre translated the question and came up with the answer that he really wanted. “You remember that Asian model you were drooling over last week? The one in the surfing magazine?” “Yeah?” Duo perked up, eyes sparkling. “He’s better looking. By far.” “Reeally.” “And no, I don’t know which way he bats, so don’t ask. And DON’T, please don’t, ask him directly.” Yes, the warning was necessary. Duo and ‘tact’ don’t always communicate. “Would Heero know?” “Ah…I’m not sure.” “Bummer. Well, if he starts mentioning a girlfriend, we’ll know.” There was another ominous rumble. Prudently Quatre sped up a little. “Tell me, oh great and marvelous navigator…are we there yet?” “Close.” Duo re-read the directions that Heero had emailed them, squinting a little in the dim lighting. “We should be smack on top of it in about ten minutes.” “Good. I don’t really like the idea of trying to unpack the car in the pouring rain.” Duo was as good as his word. Barely ten minutes had passed when they pulled into the driveway. Murphy apparently had been listening in on the conversation, however, because the boys had barely climbed out of the Saturn when the skies opened. It wasn’t quite cats and dogs, but Duo would not have been surprised to see kittens and puppies. They abandoned any idea of getting luggage in and bolted for the front door. Heero must have been watching for them, because he met them at the door and waved them in. Duo looked up as soon as he cleared the entrance— Duo’s aunts have always maintained that he was an ‘impulsive’ shopper. He saw what he wanted, grabbed it, paid for it, and—usually—didn’t regret it. Right at this moment, he saw something that he wanted. Badly. And if he could have gotten by with it, he would have been hunting that gorgeous body for a price tag. He was about the same height as Heero, with a lean build that moved with smooth grace. Dark silky hair tied back in a pony tail, dark eyes… Which were focused on Duo, with something that looked like covered up double-take. Duo managed to give him a casual ‘hello, how are you?’ smile (instead of jumping him) before turning his attention back to Heero for a moment. “Hey ‘Ro!” As per his usual traditional greeting, he jumped him and grabbed a hug before the victim could throw a punch in retaliation. “Long time no see, and all that fun stuff. Did you gain weight?” Heero, long used to these tactics, just rolled his eyes. “It’s called muscle, baka.” Duo grinned. That’s what he loved about this guy. Heero always rose to the bait. “Nah, ‘fess up. You got lazy during the summer. It’s fat.” Quatre poked him in the back. “What?” “Duo, this is Chang Wufei.” Q is so proper. At this moment, Duo couldn’t be more thankful. He extended a hand and shook, also trying to act proper. For once. “Hey! Uncle Quatre told me about you.” The room froze. Okay, apparently he couldn’t pull off proper. Darn. Shucks. Oh well. Wufei’s eyes narrowed on Duo’s face, moving back and forth between the two ‘relatives’. “Uncle?” Quatre groaned and let his head drop into his hands. “Duo…” “Yup. You didn’t know? He carries his age well, I think—” Heero reached over and stuffed Duo’s braid into his mouth. “Duo is Quatre’s oldest sister’s son. Actually, he’s almost six months older than Quatre.” “And he rubs it in.” Quatre added, glaring at Duo. “EVERY chance he gets.” Duo spat his braid out to grin at him innocently. “’Course I do. Not everybody has a cute little uncle like me. Ah, look, he’s blushing!” Actually, that blush meant that Quatre was planning out ways of getting revenge. Duo knew that look well. Very well. He ‘eeped’ and ducked behind Wufei, holding onto his shield’s shoulders in order to keep his balance. Well, that was the idea. Really, he just wanted to get an idea of what was underneath the plain white shirt. Muscles. Yup, definite muscle groups there. “Maxwell.” Wufei growled. “I am not going to protect you.” “Ah, come on Wuffers! I’m young and innocent, and I have so many years ahead of me—” Wufei turned slightly to glare at the braided menace behind him. “—and besides, you really don’t want to have to deal with the police when my body turns up, right?” “We can always bury you in the backyard.” Quatre suggested sweetly. “Not in Louisiana you can’t.” Heero disagreed. “At the first major flooding he’d pop back up again.” “Ewww.” Duo scrunched up his face. “That’s disgusting. Changing subjects now—hey ‘Ro, did you cook anything? I’m starving!” “Do you normally go from bodies to food in two seconds?” Wufei inquired dryly, eyebrow cocked. Duo raised a finger and tsked him. “Stay on the topic, Wu-man! So, Hee-chan, you cooked right?” Wufei choked. “Do you know what you just did?!” “Huh?” Duo looked at him blankly, then grinned. “Oh, that? Yeah, I know what it means. That’s why I use it.” Heero rolled his eyes despairingly. “No, Duo, I did not cook. We just barely got home ourselves.” “Aww.” A light bulb flashed on and he spun away, looking around for a phone. “Then it’s time to call Domino’s!” “The phones aren’t hooked up yet.” Heero announced smugly. Duo froze, hand reaching for the phone on the table in the hallway. “What?” “I didn’t have time to contact the phone company. We only have electricity and water. That’s it.” Duo turned and glared accusingly at the smirking Japanese man. “You planned this, didn’t you?” Heero’s grin only widened. + As it turned out, Heero had bought frozen lasagna when he and Wufei had gone grocery shopping earlier. It was more than edible, especially for a certain insatiable bottomless pit. Afterwards they braved the rain long enough to grab a suitcase, then bolted back inside. Heero led them on a brief tour through the house before showing them upstairs. The old mansion was surprisingly spacious, considering the era it was constructed in. Duo had to investigate all of the bedrooms before choosing. Quatre waited until Duo had chosen one, then went to the opposite side of the house. He knew exactly how loud Duo could get, and he wanted the luxury of closing himself up in his room whenever he needed to. Heero smirked at his choice and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’m across the hall.” Quatre looked up, a smile spreading over his face. “You knew which room he would choose, didn’t you?” “I had a fair idea. Duo likes to be in the center of the action. I thought he would choose a bedroom close to the stairs.” “Don’t I know it.” Quatre agreed ruefully. “Where’s Wufei?” Heero didn’t *quite* chuckle in sadistic glee, but it was close. “Next door to Duo’s room.” Quatre’s eyes widened. “And he’s usually quiet. Oh boy…” Heero shrugged, trying to act like it didn’t matter to him. But his eyes gave him away. He was waiting for the show to begin. “Is there any chance that this weather front will move on by tomorrow so that I can finish unloading everything?” Heero shook his head. “You’re in Louisiana now. You’ll always be in a weather front. The most you can hope for is a brief pause in between showers so that you can get everything in.” “Great.” Heero shrugged and turned away. “See you in the morning.” “Good night.” Quatre watched him go, sighed, then went back to hunting for his pajamas. Going from desert to swampland was going to take some getting used to. + ‘The new guy’ as Duo had termed him, arrived late the following morning. Quatre and Duo were taking advantage in the brief lull between spring showers and unloading the car when he pulled up behind them in a Ford Ranger. Duo straightened up from the trunk and gave a low whistle. “Oh boy. More eye candy.” Quatre backed out of the back seat so that he could see what Duo was talking about. His jaw almost dropped. The guy climbing out of the truck was nearly six feet tall, his rangy build lean and fit. His dark auburn hair fell over one side of his face, but the one showing eye was a brilliant emerald green. “Drool-worthy.” Duo was grinning at him. “Just what did Yuy put in that advertisement, anyway?” Quatre smacked him in the back of the head before going to meet the gorgeous hunk. “Hi. I’m Quatre.” “Trowa.” He accepted the handshake and nodded. Quatre smiled back. Ah. He was one of THOSE. “The guy standing behind me staring dazedly is Duo.” Duo came up and smacked Quatre absently in the head. “Thanks for the intro.” Quatre grinned. “Payback. Come on, I’ll show you in.” Trowa let Quatre lead him inside, eyes taking in his surroundings as he moved. This wasn’t exactly what he was expecting when he had taken up Heero Yuy on his offer. The house was huge, and the company…interesting. He had pictured a house filled with geeks, laptops always in front of them and socks never matching. Not…this. Heero Yuy could have easily been the source of the definition ‘too hot to handle’. If Trowa hadn’t been straight, then he would have been panting at the man’s feet after one look at those dark blue eyes. Chang Wufei was just as good looking, in a totally different way, but didn’t seem to be arrogant about it. Well, he was very confident in himself, but his looks apparently didn’t play a factor into that arrogance. After the basic introductions were out of the way, Heero jerked a thumb up the stairs and said quietly “Just pick an empty room. As a warning, you might want to pick a room to the far left of the stairs.” Trowa quirked a brow at this. “Duo is on the right side of the stairs.” Wufei explained, a hint of a smirk twitching at the corners of his mouth. “And he is known to be…noisy. On occasion.” Of course, he could smirk now because after that first night he had figured out why both Quatre and Heero seemed to be laughing for no reason and taken the hint. He was now next to Quatre’s room. “Hn.” Trowa nodded and went back outside to start carting his things in. Quatre followed him back out, intent on getting everything in while it was still nice outside. That situation could change in five minutes, and he wasn’t going to take it for granted. Of course, unloading was only part of the equation. Once everything was inside, he had to put it in the right places. Duo, apparently, found this process boring. Or at least, the volume that he had turned the hard rock up to indicated boredom. Every male in the house looked in the direction of Duo’s room, sighed, rolled their eyes, and turned back to what they were doing with the firm conviction that if they tried hard enough they could ignore it. Eventually Duo was finished, because the music shut off. Quatre heaved a sigh of relief and went downstairs, intent on putting his violin and what little sheet music he had brought with him in the study. Quatre walked past the piano, absently noting that the baby grand was brand new, from all appearances. There wasn’t any music lying on top, which was unusual. Heero normally kept whatever music he was working on out in the open. There was even a layer of dust— --Quatre stopped short. A layer of dust? He pivoted about and went back to the piano. Yes, there was a thin layer of dust on the top. And Quatre knew precisely why the piano had been so neglected. //It’s that thrice-damned uncle of his. He’s somehow managed to guilt trip Heero into avoiding music again. Gah!// This wouldn’t do. No wonder Heero was in such a somber mood lately. Quatre tiptoed out of the study and went in search of his favorite conspirator. Duo was rummaging through the pantry, humming his ‘chocolate-where-are-you’ ditty under his breath. “Duo. We have a problem.” “Hm?” Duo popped his head back out of the pantry. “Give me a number on the scale of 1 to 10.” “8.” Duo winced. “It’s that bad? Okay, what’s up?” “Heero hasn’t touched the piano in at least two weeks.” Duo started cursing steadily under his breath. “Precisely.” Quatre growled. “Look, I’m going to try to convince him to play a duet with me. You know how much he enjoys doing that. Throw in whatever support you can, alright?” Duo snapped out an analyst’s salute. “Roger that. Actually, let me start.” Duo spun out of the room, calling for Heero as he went. Quatre rolled his eyes and ran after him, slowing when he heard Heero’s voice. He sounded exasperated instead of defensive. Good. “—come on, Heero, y’know you wanna! And I’m bored! This’ll shut me up!” “Duo, I couldn’t care less how bored you are—” Quatre stepped around the corner, putting on his best nobody-loves-me expression. In a small voice he asked, “You mean you don’t want to play with me?” Heero took one look at that expression and groaned. “Don’t you start too!” Quatre’s bottom lip quivered. “Kuso! Okay, fine!” The next few words weren’t exactly intelligible, but that might have been a good thing. They followed Heero into the study, sharing a victorious wink. Duo bounded ahead to collapse in the overstuffed chair near the fireplace, looking at them eagerly. And the enthusiasm wasn’t feigned. When Heero and Quatre played together, it was magic. Heero lifted the lid on the seat, rifling through the stacks until he found what he was looking for. “Actually, I’ve been wondering how this will sound. I wrote it a little over a month ago.” Quatre hid a sigh of relief. It was working. “Good. I love playing your work.” He settled on the right side of the bench, trying to leave enough space for Heero. Between them they settled the music on the stand—it was six pages long, so it took some coordination to get everything right—then Heero tapped a finger against a key. Quatre was well used to this signal. At the third tap he began to play, Heero follow barely a beat behind him, as the music dictated. At the second stanza, Wufei and Trowa drifted in, drawn to the sound of music. Trowa settled in the other chair the room boasted, Wufei on the ottoman in front of Duo. After a few moments of listening, Duo leaned forward to whisper, “It’s almost haunting, isn’t it?” “Yes.” Wufei’s eyes were riveted to the pair, a slight frown on his face. It was only now, when the tense energy was gone from Heero’s face, that he realized just how unhappy his friend had been over the past few days. Unbidden, his eyes traveled to the small blond sitting at the piano. “This was Quatre’s idea, wasn’t it?” “Yup.” Duo murmured. He didn’t want Heero to hear this conversation. “Q always knows when Heero needs to play.” Interesting. The conversation stopped there, because the music was simply too beautiful and captivating to ignore. When it finally came to an end, they were met with enthusiastic applause. “Encore!” Demanded Duo, only half-joking. “You’re not leaving this room with only one song, Yuy! What else have you written that I haven’t heard?” Trowa tilted his head thoughtfully. “You composed that?” Heero shrugged, a light blush staining his cheeks. Wufei was rather surprised as well. He had known that Yuy could play a variety of instruments, and was quite proficient at it, but he had no idea that those talents extended toward composition. Both players stood up again so that Heero could look through his music. They went through another selection that Heero had chosen. This one sounded more like a love song, and was easy and sweet to listen to. When they finished, they were met with a round of ‘more!’. --and clapping. Only, no one in the room was clapping. ::Oh, that was fantastic! Play something else!:: “Ah, guys?” Duo was looking around nervously. “Please tell me that somebody else heard that and I’m not going bonkers.” “You’re not insane, Duo.” Trowa whispered. He was staring fixedly at the door. “Look.” A slender girl of roughly sixteen was standing in the doorway. She had long hair, swinging down her back, eyes fixed on the players at the piano. The disturbing part was that everyone in the room could see right through her. Wufei sighed as he spotted her. “I should have known.” Everyone turned to him in surprise. “The last owners of the house sold it because their teenage daughter died here. That was roughly six years ago. It’s only natural that her spirit should still be here.” “You’re really calm about this ‘Fei.” Duo noted, his voice quavering a bit. “My people believe that our ancestors watch over us.” Wufei replied calmly. “We are not as paranoid as other cultures when it comes to ghosts.” Standing, he politely bowed to her. “You are Relena Peacecraft, are you not?” ::Why yes!:: She beamed at him. ::You’re Wufei, if I remember correctly.:: Duo swallowed hard. “You’ve been watching us?” ::Of course. There’s nothing else to do, after all.:: “Why didn’t you pass on?” Quatre was slowly pulling himself back together. She sighed, shoulders slumping. ::I haven’t met my one true love yet.:: All five boys exchanged a look that clearly said ‘please spare me’. Relena caught the look and stamped her foot. Of course, it didn’t do much good, and tried to go through the floor, but she apparently didn’t notice. ::Don’t look like that! It’s true!:: “Does anyone else know you’re here?” Heero apparently had gotten over his shock and was thinking furiously. ::No.:: “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.” Duo observed out loud. “Good.” Trowa and Quatre pronounced instantly. ::That’s mean!:: “No offense meant, Miss Relena.” Quatre hastened to assure her. “But there would be a few…ah, complications if it was known that this house had a spirit in it.” “You mean every nutcase in Spook Central would be over here in a second, trying to get a picture of her or something. They’d be crawling all over the place like termites.” Duo growled sourly. “Quite frankly, yes.” Quatre agreed, shrugging slightly. ::That does sound unpleasant. I’ll try to stay quiet then.:: “Good.” Heero still watched her, a little disturbed at the idea of living in a haunted house. Relena smiled at him, her expression serene and angelic, without even a hint of calculation. ~~~~~~~
Analyst’s salute—my beta had no idea what I was talking about when I used this in Chances, so I decided to explain this time around. This is a 2-3 fingered salute, in the very general vicinity of the forehead. Kinda like a casual boy scout salute. ~ * ~ |
