[Fic] Mischievous Souls [Chapter Two]
Title: Mischievous Souls
Pairing: Not really a pairing.
Rating: G
Genre: Fluffy humour? :3
Notes: Inspired by this.
Disclaimer: My apartment is not haunted by them, much as I would really probably enjoy it.
Summary: Shim Changmin is a poltergeist. One of the most mischievous around. And he enjoys causing trouble for anyone that crosses his path. After spending 70 or so years haunting around the world, he's finally tracked down by Jung Yunho, an otherworld official who has been charged with the task of making Changmin finally cross over. The only problem with that... is that Changmin really, really doesn't feel like going. How many ways can a poltergeist turn an angel's life into a living hell?
[Chapter 1]
In the months that would follow, Yunho would often wonder why he'd agreed to this. He'd watch as Changmin pulled one prank or another, and while his fingers itched to stop the pesky poltergeist from harassing the newest owner of the home, he'd remind himself that it needed to be allowed. He had to let the childish man do what he would to the human, because the more he stopped him, the longer it would take.
It grated on his nerves, however, and the angel often felt the distinct urge to go back to the otherworld, empty-handed or not. Whenever those times came, Heechul's words would echo in his head.
'Don't come back without Shim Changmin.'
He hated Kim Heechul.
The first day was by far the hardest on his resolve. Changmin had taken to trailing around behind the human, eyes bright and gleaming with excitement as the man unpacked things. He'd stood on the ottoman, spinning in circles while Siwon put his photographs on the mantle of the fireplace, and jumped to stand on top of the old television when the man had moved it to the corner. Yunho simply stayed where he was on the couch, frowning disapprovingly at the constantly in motion soul.
"Why are you doing that?" he asked finally, when Changmin had circled past him for the thousandth time.
"Because I want to," came the flat reply, and he turned to the angel, face laced with annoyance. "I did tell you to leave. It'd be easier on your mind if you did so."
He followed Siwon into the kitchen, and immediately hopped up onto the island as the man opened the top of a few boxes and peered inside. When he'd finally selected the one he wanted, and started piling dishes into the sink, the tall young man jumped to the counter, upper body disappearing into cabinets for a moment before he adjusted and stared straight down into the sink. The human went right on with what he was doing, not at all bothered by the invisible entity ogling his dishes.
"Those look old," Changmin murmured appreciatively, clapping his hands. "I wonder how many I'll get to break before you finally run off."
Yunho hovered in the doorway, chin down so half his face was buried in the high neck of his coat and hands thrust deep into his pockets. He was chewing on his lip, clearly unhappy about this entire situation. It was entirely against his morals to allow this poltergeist to do whatever he was planning to the man. He was making it blatantly obvious that he was not okay with it. And Changmin went right on not caring, even sending a bright grin at the angel while he waited.
When Siwon finally set a dish on the counter, and turned away to reach once more into the box, Changmin chuckled gleefully; this was, after all, what he'd been waiting for the man to do. He focused on his foot, on making it solid enough, and nudged the plate, sending it to the floor just as Siwon turned back. The sound of it shattering was one of the most satisfying things in the world, and he squatted down, grinning from ear to ear and leaning forward on his feet so he could closely watch the reaction.
Siwon merely swore a few times to himself before going off to fetch a broom.
"And why are you doing that?" Yunho asked, voice muffled by his jacket. He pressed his back against the doorframe, making room so Siwon could easily pass by.
Having been expecting more of a reaction, Changmin pouted and stood fully again, his hat very close to brushing the ceiling. Cocking his head to the side, he stared at Yunho, hands settling on his hips as he let slip an annoyed 'tch'.
"Are you going to ask me 'why' I do something every time I do it?" He rolled his eyes. "Do you have some weird issues with having fun?"
Apparently he was, because said behaviour continued. When Changmin spent the night rearranging the framed pictures Siwon had spent almost two hours hanging and setting on tables? Yunho asked ‘why’. When he swapped the salt with the sugar, before Siwon had come down for breakfast? Yunho asked ‘why’. Even when Changmin sat himself on the edge of the sink in the bathroom, between Siwon and the mirror while the man shaved. Yunho asked ‘why’.
It was very, very taxing on the poor poltergeist.
“Because I enjoy it,” he snapped finally, taking a short break from making faces at the shaving man. Yunho was once again hovering in the doorway, watching with that unamused look that made Changmin wish he still didn’t have a housemate. It was bothersome, not being able to pick things up and chuck them at the annoyance. Even if he couldn’t hurt Yunho, it was satisfying to try.
“Why?”
Changmin was three seconds from making himself heard to Siwon and ruining what would be months of fun. With a huff, he slipped off the edge of the sink, walked through Siwon, and dropped himself right through the bathroom floor. One of the greatest things about being a ghostly presence was the ease with which he could move around... and one of the worst was the fact that the thing annoying him could do so just as easily.
The funsucker had followed him. He was hard to miss, in his dark blue coat in the light-filled room. Changmin groaned and stomped, the sounds loud but not enough to be heard upstairs by the still oblivious houseguest.
“Leave me alone. You SUCK,” he complained, before stomping to the living room and squashing himself into the couch. Despite the fact that he sucked, Yunho followed him, and sat on the ottoman. Changmin’s ottoman. “You know, I really don’t understand why you won’t just leave. I can make life just as difficult for you as I plan to make it for him.”
Yunho grinned. “I’m already dead. I’d like to see you try.”
Changmin just blinked at him before looking away and muttering under his breath. “You shouldn’t challenge me like that. You’re not going to like what happens.”
...and Yunho definitely did not like what happened.
It took about a month before he had his first real explosion. Yunho’s temper was notoriously difficult to make boil over; not even Heechul had managed it, and god knew he’d tried furiously. But a month with Changmin would have been enough to drive even Junsu to violence, and he was well known for being the patron saint of kindness. He’d done well with keeping himself in check for so long; after the incident, he would wonder why he hadn’t lost his cool earlier, because it had led to the chain of events that had Siwon considering leaving the house.
“You’re by far the most annoying Retriever I’ve ever had to deal with.”
It was a comment that Yunho had heard before, in a different form, more than a thousand times. In all his years of processing, he’d crossed paths with many a poltergeist, and they all had something to say about his temperament, or the speed at which he worked. Pretty much anything they could comment on to get a reaction from him. It was how poltergeists worked. He was well aware of it.
But he’d been driven to the brink of insanity by this annoying creature. He’d spent several weeks now, following him around the house, watching him torment poor Siwon with petty, immature pranks. He’d heard nothing but abuse from Changmin in his direction. He was bored and lonely, and he just wanted to go back to his normal ‘life’.
“And you’re the most ridiculous, whiny, petulant child I’ve ever had the misfortune to cross paths with. And I processed Lee Joon.”
To have a leg up on Joon’s level of annoying was truly a feat. Yunho’s forehead creased deep with a frown and he pushed himself up off the couch, turning to face the wide-eyed spirit as fury filled his stomach. He was TIRED of this. Tired of it. And now Changmin was going to finally be made to understand that.
“You have no regard for anyone else. You break things for no reason, you spend all your time trying to annoy and aggravate anyone you come in contact with, you do nothing but insult people who only want to help you...” Yunho sucked in a sharp breath, voice rising to a shout. Changmin had only ever had housemates shout at him, and usually it wasn’t anything like this. He was thoroughly confused. “You’re a terrible, horrible spirit, and goddamn, if I could leave you here, I would. Because you don’t deserve to cross over.”
The silence between them was heavy. Somewhere upstairs, the tentative steps of the human could be heard, and were either of them worried about it at that moment, they would have realised that he was moving in such a way that he feared there would be an intruder flying up the stairs at him in a moment. Changmin merely watched Yunho with shuttered eyes, not moving as the angel’s breathing finally slowed down as he calmed himself. When he finally seemed like he wasn’t on the brink of dragging the poltergeist bodily from the house, Changmin spoke.
“I don’t deserve to cross over, huh?” he asked softly, an almost pained smile on his face. “I didn’t deserve to die, either. But that happened.”
Yunho dug his teeth into his lip, feeling suddenly guilty. Changmin merely pushed himself up from the couch and skated a circle of air around the angel, his demeanor changing swiftly from somber to joyous.
“Told you. You wouldn’t like what happened.” The bright grin was back on his face again, and he looked up at the ceiling. “I think you scared him. Now might be a good time to go play with him.”
Before the angel could say a word, the poltergeist skipped to the stairs, and made a point of stomping up them, making his footfalls heard to the probably already paranoid and frightened Siwon. The angel moved to the bottom of the staircase, watching with a dark frown as Changmin leapt up onto the railing, and Siwon came barreling around the corner with a metal baseball bat in his hand.
“You can’t say that’s not amusing,” Changmin called down to Yunho, watching with gleaming eyes as the man moved slowly down the stairs, ready to bash anyone that happened to appear near him. “I wonder...”
Changmin dropped onto the stairs again, his feet hitting the steps and causing a loud thud mere feet behind Siwon. The man’s bat swung right through him, and connected with the wall, leaving a gaping hole in the plaster from the force. Changmin was split between amusement and annoyance; he’d successfully freaked the man out, to the point where he’d turned several worrisome colours and almost fell down the stairs, but he’d also damaged his house.
“There’s some... evil spirits here or something,” Siwon muttered, clearly extremely upset by this idea. “There must be. I can’t be imagining all this.”
If only he knew he was partially right, Yunho lamented. If Siwon knew that there was a spirit standing only two feet from him, he’d probably run from the house screaming right then and there. While he was believed Changmin didn’t really qualify under ‘evil’, so much as just plain ‘annoying’, surely the premise was still the same, and the man would be against living anywhere with any kind of spirit creature in the same vicinity.
It would make Yunho’s job so much easier.
“Changmin...”
The poltergeist ignored him, instead settling himself on the banister again. Bright eyes watched intently as Siwon sucked in sharp breath after breath, and the grin grew when the man ran back upstairs rather suddenly. It was all too easy to freak him out, Changmin had come to realise. Just a sound here, a little change there. And the best part was, no matter how easy he was to frighten, he seemed determined to stay in the house.
So determined that he immediately returned to the staircase with some little bottle in his hand.
“Interesting.”
He was mumbling prayers, and splashing whatever was in the bottle all around him. Changmin almost didn’t realise that Siwon was getting closer until he was two steps above him; it was at that moment that the man swung the bottle in Changmin’s direction, sending a splash of holy water right into him.
*hangs you all off a cliff* kekekeke
Pairing: Not really a pairing.
Rating: G
Genre: Fluffy humour? :3
Notes: Inspired by this.
Disclaimer: My apartment is not haunted by them, much as I would really probably enjoy it.
Summary: Shim Changmin is a poltergeist. One of the most mischievous around. And he enjoys causing trouble for anyone that crosses his path. After spending 70 or so years haunting around the world, he's finally tracked down by Jung Yunho, an otherworld official who has been charged with the task of making Changmin finally cross over. The only problem with that... is that Changmin really, really doesn't feel like going. How many ways can a poltergeist turn an angel's life into a living hell?
[Chapter 1]
In the months that would follow, Yunho would often wonder why he'd agreed to this. He'd watch as Changmin pulled one prank or another, and while his fingers itched to stop the pesky poltergeist from harassing the newest owner of the home, he'd remind himself that it needed to be allowed. He had to let the childish man do what he would to the human, because the more he stopped him, the longer it would take.
It grated on his nerves, however, and the angel often felt the distinct urge to go back to the otherworld, empty-handed or not. Whenever those times came, Heechul's words would echo in his head.
'Don't come back without Shim Changmin.'
He hated Kim Heechul.
The first day was by far the hardest on his resolve. Changmin had taken to trailing around behind the human, eyes bright and gleaming with excitement as the man unpacked things. He'd stood on the ottoman, spinning in circles while Siwon put his photographs on the mantle of the fireplace, and jumped to stand on top of the old television when the man had moved it to the corner. Yunho simply stayed where he was on the couch, frowning disapprovingly at the constantly in motion soul.
"Why are you doing that?" he asked finally, when Changmin had circled past him for the thousandth time.
"Because I want to," came the flat reply, and he turned to the angel, face laced with annoyance. "I did tell you to leave. It'd be easier on your mind if you did so."
He followed Siwon into the kitchen, and immediately hopped up onto the island as the man opened the top of a few boxes and peered inside. When he'd finally selected the one he wanted, and started piling dishes into the sink, the tall young man jumped to the counter, upper body disappearing into cabinets for a moment before he adjusted and stared straight down into the sink. The human went right on with what he was doing, not at all bothered by the invisible entity ogling his dishes.
"Those look old," Changmin murmured appreciatively, clapping his hands. "I wonder how many I'll get to break before you finally run off."
Yunho hovered in the doorway, chin down so half his face was buried in the high neck of his coat and hands thrust deep into his pockets. He was chewing on his lip, clearly unhappy about this entire situation. It was entirely against his morals to allow this poltergeist to do whatever he was planning to the man. He was making it blatantly obvious that he was not okay with it. And Changmin went right on not caring, even sending a bright grin at the angel while he waited.
When Siwon finally set a dish on the counter, and turned away to reach once more into the box, Changmin chuckled gleefully; this was, after all, what he'd been waiting for the man to do. He focused on his foot, on making it solid enough, and nudged the plate, sending it to the floor just as Siwon turned back. The sound of it shattering was one of the most satisfying things in the world, and he squatted down, grinning from ear to ear and leaning forward on his feet so he could closely watch the reaction.
Siwon merely swore a few times to himself before going off to fetch a broom.
"And why are you doing that?" Yunho asked, voice muffled by his jacket. He pressed his back against the doorframe, making room so Siwon could easily pass by.
Having been expecting more of a reaction, Changmin pouted and stood fully again, his hat very close to brushing the ceiling. Cocking his head to the side, he stared at Yunho, hands settling on his hips as he let slip an annoyed 'tch'.
"Are you going to ask me 'why' I do something every time I do it?" He rolled his eyes. "Do you have some weird issues with having fun?"
Apparently he was, because said behaviour continued. When Changmin spent the night rearranging the framed pictures Siwon had spent almost two hours hanging and setting on tables? Yunho asked ‘why’. When he swapped the salt with the sugar, before Siwon had come down for breakfast? Yunho asked ‘why’. Even when Changmin sat himself on the edge of the sink in the bathroom, between Siwon and the mirror while the man shaved. Yunho asked ‘why’.
It was very, very taxing on the poor poltergeist.
“Because I enjoy it,” he snapped finally, taking a short break from making faces at the shaving man. Yunho was once again hovering in the doorway, watching with that unamused look that made Changmin wish he still didn’t have a housemate. It was bothersome, not being able to pick things up and chuck them at the annoyance. Even if he couldn’t hurt Yunho, it was satisfying to try.
“Why?”
Changmin was three seconds from making himself heard to Siwon and ruining what would be months of fun. With a huff, he slipped off the edge of the sink, walked through Siwon, and dropped himself right through the bathroom floor. One of the greatest things about being a ghostly presence was the ease with which he could move around... and one of the worst was the fact that the thing annoying him could do so just as easily.
The funsucker had followed him. He was hard to miss, in his dark blue coat in the light-filled room. Changmin groaned and stomped, the sounds loud but not enough to be heard upstairs by the still oblivious houseguest.
“Leave me alone. You SUCK,” he complained, before stomping to the living room and squashing himself into the couch. Despite the fact that he sucked, Yunho followed him, and sat on the ottoman. Changmin’s ottoman. “You know, I really don’t understand why you won’t just leave. I can make life just as difficult for you as I plan to make it for him.”
Yunho grinned. “I’m already dead. I’d like to see you try.”
Changmin just blinked at him before looking away and muttering under his breath. “You shouldn’t challenge me like that. You’re not going to like what happens.”
...and Yunho definitely did not like what happened.
It took about a month before he had his first real explosion. Yunho’s temper was notoriously difficult to make boil over; not even Heechul had managed it, and god knew he’d tried furiously. But a month with Changmin would have been enough to drive even Junsu to violence, and he was well known for being the patron saint of kindness. He’d done well with keeping himself in check for so long; after the incident, he would wonder why he hadn’t lost his cool earlier, because it had led to the chain of events that had Siwon considering leaving the house.
“You’re by far the most annoying Retriever I’ve ever had to deal with.”
It was a comment that Yunho had heard before, in a different form, more than a thousand times. In all his years of processing, he’d crossed paths with many a poltergeist, and they all had something to say about his temperament, or the speed at which he worked. Pretty much anything they could comment on to get a reaction from him. It was how poltergeists worked. He was well aware of it.
But he’d been driven to the brink of insanity by this annoying creature. He’d spent several weeks now, following him around the house, watching him torment poor Siwon with petty, immature pranks. He’d heard nothing but abuse from Changmin in his direction. He was bored and lonely, and he just wanted to go back to his normal ‘life’.
“And you’re the most ridiculous, whiny, petulant child I’ve ever had the misfortune to cross paths with. And I processed Lee Joon.”
To have a leg up on Joon’s level of annoying was truly a feat. Yunho’s forehead creased deep with a frown and he pushed himself up off the couch, turning to face the wide-eyed spirit as fury filled his stomach. He was TIRED of this. Tired of it. And now Changmin was going to finally be made to understand that.
“You have no regard for anyone else. You break things for no reason, you spend all your time trying to annoy and aggravate anyone you come in contact with, you do nothing but insult people who only want to help you...” Yunho sucked in a sharp breath, voice rising to a shout. Changmin had only ever had housemates shout at him, and usually it wasn’t anything like this. He was thoroughly confused. “You’re a terrible, horrible spirit, and goddamn, if I could leave you here, I would. Because you don’t deserve to cross over.”
The silence between them was heavy. Somewhere upstairs, the tentative steps of the human could be heard, and were either of them worried about it at that moment, they would have realised that he was moving in such a way that he feared there would be an intruder flying up the stairs at him in a moment. Changmin merely watched Yunho with shuttered eyes, not moving as the angel’s breathing finally slowed down as he calmed himself. When he finally seemed like he wasn’t on the brink of dragging the poltergeist bodily from the house, Changmin spoke.
“I don’t deserve to cross over, huh?” he asked softly, an almost pained smile on his face. “I didn’t deserve to die, either. But that happened.”
Yunho dug his teeth into his lip, feeling suddenly guilty. Changmin merely pushed himself up from the couch and skated a circle of air around the angel, his demeanor changing swiftly from somber to joyous.
“Told you. You wouldn’t like what happened.” The bright grin was back on his face again, and he looked up at the ceiling. “I think you scared him. Now might be a good time to go play with him.”
Before the angel could say a word, the poltergeist skipped to the stairs, and made a point of stomping up them, making his footfalls heard to the probably already paranoid and frightened Siwon. The angel moved to the bottom of the staircase, watching with a dark frown as Changmin leapt up onto the railing, and Siwon came barreling around the corner with a metal baseball bat in his hand.
“You can’t say that’s not amusing,” Changmin called down to Yunho, watching with gleaming eyes as the man moved slowly down the stairs, ready to bash anyone that happened to appear near him. “I wonder...”
Changmin dropped onto the stairs again, his feet hitting the steps and causing a loud thud mere feet behind Siwon. The man’s bat swung right through him, and connected with the wall, leaving a gaping hole in the plaster from the force. Changmin was split between amusement and annoyance; he’d successfully freaked the man out, to the point where he’d turned several worrisome colours and almost fell down the stairs, but he’d also damaged his house.
“There’s some... evil spirits here or something,” Siwon muttered, clearly extremely upset by this idea. “There must be. I can’t be imagining all this.”
If only he knew he was partially right, Yunho lamented. If Siwon knew that there was a spirit standing only two feet from him, he’d probably run from the house screaming right then and there. While he was believed Changmin didn’t really qualify under ‘evil’, so much as just plain ‘annoying’, surely the premise was still the same, and the man would be against living anywhere with any kind of spirit creature in the same vicinity.
It would make Yunho’s job so much easier.
“Changmin...”
The poltergeist ignored him, instead settling himself on the banister again. Bright eyes watched intently as Siwon sucked in sharp breath after breath, and the grin grew when the man ran back upstairs rather suddenly. It was all too easy to freak him out, Changmin had come to realise. Just a sound here, a little change there. And the best part was, no matter how easy he was to frighten, he seemed determined to stay in the house.
So determined that he immediately returned to the staircase with some little bottle in his hand.
“Interesting.”
He was mumbling prayers, and splashing whatever was in the bottle all around him. Changmin almost didn’t realise that Siwon was getting closer until he was two steps above him; it was at that moment that the man swung the bottle in Changmin’s direction, sending a splash of holy water right into him.
*hangs you all off a cliff* kekekeke