The House Mate
ʚ Title: The House Mate for deepeningdays ♡
ʚ Pairing(s): Kai/Kyungsoo
ʚ Rating: PG-13
ʚ Warnings: non-scary ghost stuff
ʚ Word count: 6760 words
ʚ Summary: Kyungsoo gets a taste of how it is to live-reside, with a house mate and gets more than what he’s hoped for.
ʚ Author’s notes/Messages for the recipient: this was a challenge to write but i loved the prompts nonetheless, recipient. tho i'm sure this isn't what you had in mind, i hope it'll do? ; ; and thanks to the sooheaven mods who have been patient with me. you guys are awesome!
The rain was pretty calming that day.
Kyungsoo watched the rain fall gracefully down the crowded streets of Seoul from his position behind the window; a ghost of a smile playing across his lips as his gaze focuses on little children playing hop scotch with water puddles.
The hotdog vendor pulled his stand under a huge tarp, scowling at his drenched loafers before taking his hat off to fan himself to get rid of the humidity. An important looking man with a huge coat covering him from shoulder to knee adjusted his fedora to conceal his face from the crowd; obviously uncomfortable as he was forced to take shelter among them because of the sudden downpour.
Kyungsoo continued to look on curiously, head tilting to the side as he stared at the tall man with the coat. Probably an actor or part of an idol group, he mused.
His thoughts went to a halt however when his cutlery and utensils banged loudly from the kitchen. Kyungsoo sighed and brought a hand up to massage his temple. This was nothing new but it kept getting on his nerves nonetheless. “Will you please keep it down over there?”
From an outsider’s point of view, Kyungsoo’s question went unanswered. But to him, the faintest whisper of an apology was heard rather clearly.
“Sorry!”
Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and shook his head, letting out another sigh before looking back out of his window.
It was still raining, and its pitter patter over the crowded streets of Seoul calmed him immensely.
Kyungsoo has always lived alone; ever since that fateful 15th birthday which led him to lose the only form of family he ever had, his Grandmama, to a hit and run accident. Kyungsoo was devastated that day. He knew how unforgiving the world was, and to think he’d be battling it alone was extremely terrifying. After all, he was just a 15 year old boy who sought comfort from his blanky andwho still enjoyed watching cartoons that were meant to entertain 3 year olds.
He mourned for her death like any other person who lost a loved one would. But he had other problems in mind which kept him from grieving properly. What he dreaded the most was that he might follow after her soon. His Grandmama’s fortune wasn’t enough and he was still too young to find a job-he was sure he’d die starving and alone.
But then certain events happened that overthrew his theory.
A day before his grandma was to be lowered 6 feet under the earth, something strange happened to Kyungsoo.
He was washing up before heading to the funeral home when his phone fell off the bedside table. Blinking the water out of his eyes, he closed the tap and grabbed a towel while making his way to his bedside table. Eyeing his phone weirdly for a second, he brushed the thought off and told himself that maybe he just placed the phone on the edge of the bedside table too closely. He picked it up and was surprised when he looked up to see that his window had opened; his curtains fluttered as the breeze that wasn’t there before entered.
Kyungsoo felt a chill slowly creep up his spine and onto his nape. He shivered and instinctively covered his left side with his right arm. He slowly made his way to the opened widow to close it. He looked out of it for a second before pulling the curtains over to conceal it; the view was too bright for a gloomy day like this one and Kyungsoo didn’t like it one bit.
He has had the second greatest shock of his life however (second because his most shocking experience ever was the abrupt and sudden death of his grandma) when he turned around and saw his grandmother-or rather, a silver-ish graying outline of his grandma’s…soul(?) sitting on her old rocking chair in the farthest right corner of the room.
Kyungsoo’s already wide eyes doubled in size as he stumbled back, his back pressing against the metal handles of his closed window as he continued to gape at the enchanting figure. He thought it wouldn’t get any creepier than that but it did.
The figure slowly turned its head to the left and spoke in a hoarse, creepily ancient voice that sounded nothing like his grandma did when she was alive. It said, “Kyungsoo…I don’t have much time left as you can see.” A pause, before she spoke again-and Kyungsoo swore he would’ve bolted right out of there if it weren’t for the seemingly invisible restraints on his foot chaining him solidly on the ground where he stood.
“I know you can live well and move on here in this world even without me, my dear boy.” After this she stood up, and a bright light started shining from his wall right next to where his presumed grandmother’s ghost is standing, which only seemed to glow brighter with every word she uttered.
“Grow well, my child. Fret not with how you stand with the world now no matter how young you are. Someone will guide you along the way and make sure to trust him with all your heart.” She turned, and stuck a wrinkled, pale foot inside the glowing hole, and spoke one last time before vanishing into the glowing abyss. “You have always been special, Kyungsoo. Remember that…”
Kyungsoo saw how the glowing abyss swallowed his sort-of-grandma’s spirit whole, how the little sun in his wall just made the spirit evaporate. Kyungsoo was stunned beyond words, still unable to move as he stared blankly at the wall where everything unearthly happened so fast.
With every tick of the clock is actual time wasted; and Baekhyun was probably growing impatient waiting for him at the Funeral Home alone. Kyungsoo's attention however was diverted away from his Baekhyun related thoughts to his phone the moment it started ringing. He picked up on the fifth ring with a breathy hello.
“Dude, you have a funeral to attend to. Your grandma’s funeral. You’re needed here asap. Where’s your Eulogy??” Kyungsoo panicked after hearing Baekhyun’s voice and nodded even though the latter couldn’t see him. “I’m sorry, I-I’ll be on my way.”
His first official encounter of a spirit was with a stray. A gray-ish fading silhouette of a dog barked and ran past him, his eyes widening in shock as he felt an especially cool breeze brush against his foot. Clinging tight on his groceries for the day so they wouldn’t fall off, he looked down to see the big ball of endoplasmic fur pass through his left foot before bouncing down the roadas if chasing his owner.
He felt his knees go weak but despite that, he managed to reach his apartment in one piece. With shaky legs, he wobbled to the small kitchen and placed the groceries on the table.
He didn’t want to think of the weird incident earlier, and opt to distract himself by grabbing a box of cereals from inside the groceries, sliding his hand inside, and bringing his corn flake-full palm to his mouth.
A week later and he starts noticing little changes in the apartment that he’s living in.
His books have been moved from this end of the table to that end of the table.
The 3rd chair at the table has been moved back as if someone sat on it and forgot to put it back.
His slipper is missing a pair despite the fact that he used it yesterday and clearly remembered placing it in front of his bedside table.
His watch transferred from the coffee table to the sofa.
His boxers magically reappeared a week after he ‘lost’ it.
All this happened within a month and he’s sure he’s never had a pet come over to cause so many misplaced objects. Something is obviously amiss and Kyungsoo wants to find out what.
The answers come crashing onto him literally when he arrives an hour earlier than expected and comes in contact with a man exiting his apartment. They lock shocked eyes for a moment, and when Kyungsoo makes a move to open his mouth and shout for help, the man disappears.
Kyungsoo eye’s bulgein its sockets and his mouth freezes open in a mid-air scream. The sound of a bunch of keys hitting the floor breaks Kyungsoo’s shocked trance and he hastily collects himself, opens the door and heads in.
With furrowed brows, he paces the living room in worry after haphazardly throwing his stuff on the couch.
He’s sure as heck he saw a man exiting his apartment just as he ascended the steps and disappeared in front of him when he started panicking. The man simply…vanished into thin air.
Kyungsoo groaned in frustration and rubbed his eyes, then stared at his dusty red carpet.
“I’m pretty sure I still have 20-20 vision.”
Then he looked up and stared at the door, before lifting a hand up to his forehead to feel his body temperature.
“Huh, seems normal. Not delirious either.”
He continued to stare at the door for a few minutes before puffing out a heavy exhale, shaking his head lightly after, as if to dislodge unwanted memories.
He chose to ignore what happened that day, and thought of it as a trick of his mind.
Somewhere inside the tiny storage room in Kyungsoo’s apartment, a figure relaxes and produces an exhale of his own.
Since that incident, Kyungsoo has doubled his door’s security features, buying two German locks which are worth twice his monthly salary. He’s thankful he’s bought it despite the outrageous price.Cheap or expensive, it doesn't really matter anymore. knowing that his apartment is protected by un-pickable locks reduces his paranoia of another unexpected break-inand he knows the money spent is worth it.
It’s another of those times when he finishes up at work early and comes home early, when weird stuff happens.
He’s staring at his apartment door and sees the locks still in place, still bolted and shut, yet there are sounds coming from the other side of the door. Kyungsoo blinks in disbelief and immediately looks up to see the number 113 on the door, and turns his head to the side, cranes his neck and sees that he’s on the right street, on the right building, on the right door. And yet despite this, why does his door feel different?
Carefully he presses his ear to the door and bites his lip, controlling his breathing into quiet inhales and exhales.
He hears something. A melody.
He strains his ears and gasps as he hears a rather creepy and other-worldly version of What is Love. He doesn’t remember owning any CD containing that song and immediately, he feels the hairs on his neck stand on end.
Determined to know what’s going on, Kyungsoo looks to his right and sees a little hedge he could step on and carefully moves his body sideways. He plasters himself onto the wall of his apartment and moves in slow sidesteps until he reaches the window. He grabs onto the windowpane and stands on his tiptoes, peering inside. What he sees blows his mind.
There, bathed in the soft afternoon light, is a man’s figure. He’s moving around to the melody, and Kyungsoo doesn’t know whether to be terrified or amazed of how he moves. Kyungsoo looks down for some reason and notices that the man’s feet do not touch the ground.
This is where Kyungsoo finally screams and loses his balance on the hedge, his left foot sliding down. He closes his eyes and braces himself from the impact of his back colliding with the ground.
It’s after the adrenaline rush of almost falling wears off does he notice that he’s still standing upright, and his back is still dirt and pain free. He opens his eyes to take a look at what broke his fall and sees a vague outline of hands gripping at his collar. He chances a look down and sees his feet dangling off the ground. He glances up in shock and sees a hazy outline of a man’s face. Before he’s given the time to react, the man-figure speaks up, difficulty present in his voice as he whispers the command out.
“C-can you please help heave yourself up now? You’re k-kinda heavy and I don’t think I can hold on to you any longer.”
Like an obedient puppy Kyungsoo grips the windowpane again and jumps up, his upper body sprawled on top of it while the man-figure opens the window fully and helps Kyungsoo get in by tugging him forward.
Kyungsoo falls inside and lands on the dust red carpet-but he’s also sitting on the man’s silhouette. With startled eyes Kyungsoo yelps and scoots away, while the man mutters under his breath and straightens himself up, looking away. From his position on the floor, Kyungsoo can finally see what the man’s figure is like.
He’s translucent.
The man turns his head back and meets eyes with Kyungsoo;his face matching that of someone from the latter’s memory and that’s when he realizes he’s the man whom he saw exiting his apartment a few weeks back.
“It’s you!” Kyungsoo gasps, and points an accusing finger at him.“I saw you coming out of my apartment a few weeks back and then you…you disappeared!”
The man literally winced, as if the words hurt him somehow. His silhouette flickered a bit.
Kyungsoo lowered his hand but held his gaze, he was frowning. He wasn’t exactly mad, but he had to get his point across that he was upset at this man for breaking into his home.
Then, the man looked down and bit his lip nervously. Kyungsoo didn’t want to look down as he was sure the man’s feet still didn’t touch the floor; he didn’t want to get creeped out again.
“I-I don’t mean harm.”
The man’s voice is soft, almost as soft as a whisper, but the message came out clear nonetheless.
Kyungsoo knew, somehow, that this man didn’t mean any harm. If he really wanted to, then he could have wreaked havoc a long time back and maybe even killed him in his sleep, but he didn’t. The question of ‘why’ remain unanswered. Why are you here in my apartment; why me?
The man raised his hand to run it across his blonde-ish silhouette of a hair. Kyungsoo immediately stiffened.
“I just-I just need a place to stay.”
Kyungsoo isn’t one to readily accept strangers into his home, but he did remember what his Grandma taught him: always extend a helping hand whenever you can.
And that is how Kyungsoo’s ghost/spirit border came to live with him. (pun not intended)
Kyungsoo came down the stairs one day to the sound of the coffee machine beeping. He walked straight to the kitchen and saw Kai-that’s what the ghost/spirit man calls himself-staring at the toaster, probably waiting for the bread to pop out. He turns around when he hears the sound of the chair scraping against the tiled floor.
“Oh hey, morning!”
Kyungsoo nodded in reply and spared a look at Kai, before staring at the cups of coffee in front of him.
“Are you trying to drink coffee again?” Kyungsoo sounded amused, and Kai pouted.
“Hey, no making fun of the poltergeist, okay? I’m trying my hardest to recall all of my memories, and one of the few things I remember is loving the taste of coffee.”
Kyungsoo shrugged and grabbed one of the steaming mugs. “Just make sure that you drink that somewhere that isn’t inside my apartment. Remember what happened the first time?”
Kai stuttered and looked as if he would be flustered if he could still blush.
“Oh come on, drop it! I cleaned the spill!”
Kyungsoo chuckled before sipping the coffee slowly. Kai groaned. “Oh now you’re just being mean. You can drink coffee without having it flow straight to the floor yes, I get it.”
Kyungsoo laughed out loud at that which caused him to choke on the coffee. His sudden laughter made the coffee spurt and spew all over the dining table, passing through Kai’s form and onto the floor. When Kyungsoo stopped hacking, Kai pushed a glass of water towards his direction.
“For the record, you brought that upon yourself.”
Kyungsoo glared at him and Kai just winked in response, before disappearing from his view.
Kyungsoo remembered Kai spending his first night as a welcome guest in his home. He didn't need to make himself disappear anymore, nor watch from his spot on the wall while Kyungsoo moved about. He remembered asking him about what he is and what he was doing in Kyungsoo’s apartment before he got caught and, how long?
Kai seemed sad when he answered, his translucent figure flickering slightly, causing the fluorescent light bulb above them to flicker as well. Kyungsoo eyes the bulb warily before looking back at Kai.
“I honestly don’t know what I am per se, but as you can see, I’m either a ghost or a spirit.” Kai raised a translucent hand and turned it over.
“Huh,” Kyungsoo stared at Kai’s translucent hand and was tempted to poke his finger through it, just to see if it would pass through him just like what ghosts in movies do. However, he refrained himself from doing so. Focus, Kyungsoo. Focus.
“I can’t tell you much about myself when I was still alive-if I ever was alive, because I can’t remember anything except for my name and that I love dancing and drinking coffee.”
Kyungsoo nodded in understanding and then glanced at the table in front of them, and then suddenly remembered something.
“You still haven’t answered one more question though. Why were you in my apartment?”
Kai’s grayish eyes suddenly brightened. “That I can answer. I am not entirely sure either, but ever since I can remember, I’ve been drawn to the light flashing from your apartment. I always end up floating up the steps and through your door, and once I enter, I immediately feel calm and at peace. The flashing of the light disappears once I enter through the door somehow, and I have yet to see where its coming from.”
Kyungsoo thumped his fingers against the table. Light? In my apartment? When did this start happening? Kyungsoo wondered in his head, eyes concentrated on a coffee stain on the rug placed wrongly underneath the table. Then, without looking up at the floating being in front of him,
“How long have you been living here?”
Kai looked uncomfortable, like a child getting caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar for the first time. “For a while.”
To this Kyungsoo looked up, and raised an eyebrow at Kai’s response. “How long is ‘a while’?”
Kai shrugged, trying to look like he isn’t nervous. “I don’t really know, I don’t keep up with the dates.”
Kyungsoo released a long suffering sigh before he stood up. “Alright, whatever, it doesn’t matter anymore. Since you said you needed a place to stay, I’m giving you permission to stay here, since you’re somehow attached to this place.”
Kai was so happy that he appeared in front of Kyungsoo in a blink of an eye, spewing out his gratitude. Kyungsoo took a step back in shock and raised a hand to protect himself, before relaxing and brushing Kai’s thanks off. “Right, don’t mention it. Just-don’t disturb me when I sleep tonight.”
“Of course, thanks again! You don’t know how much it means to me.”
When Kyungsoo laid down on his bed that night, staring at his bare ceiling, the implications of what he allowed to happen a while ago comes crashing to him in full speed. He basically gave a ghost permission to haunt his home.
Distraught, Kyungsoo runs an exhausted palm over his face. He can’t take his words back, and Kai does look sincere in saying he just needed a place to stay.
“Argh, whatever. I’ll deal with this when my mind is clear enough.”
With that final reassurance to himself, he shifts to the side, closes his eyes, and drifts off to sleep.
Its 3 days after letting Kai stay in his apartment that little problems arise.
Kyungsoo keeps getting mini heart attacks whenever Kai materializes out of nowhere and shows up almost everywhere he is.
Like that one time Kyungsoo was peering inside the fridge looking for a small box of juice and the moment he moved back Kai’s translucent face showed up from behind the refrigerator door. Kyungsoo screamed in shock and dropped the box of juice he was holding. The contents of the box spilled on the floor drenching Kyungsoo’s feet, while Kai’s dangling ones- that still freak Kyungsoo out by the way-remain relatively dry. Kyungsoo frowns and sends Kai a meaningful glare to which the latter replies with a small “Sorry!”
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes before turning around to grab the mop.
The next incident is when Kyungsoo is brushing his teeth and Kai suddenly appeared behind him; his eyes noticing two reflections instead of one, effectively making him spit his toothpaste all over the mirror.
Kyungsoo choked and coughed the toothpaste residue out of his trachea. While Kai watches on like a helpless ghost puppy, Kyungsoo calls for a timeout and tells Kai to wait for him outside of the bathroom. Kai obeys immediately and passes through the wall to get to the other side right away.
Half-stunned, half in awe Kyungsoo stares dumbly at the wall where Kai passed, his toothbrush dangling sideways from the corner of his mouth, a foam of drying toothpaste still present on his upper lip. He blinks before remembering the sound of running water, hurriedly turning the tap off once he’s noticed that the faucet was left open.
It was going to be a long night.
One other annoying thing with having a ghost in his home, Kyungsoo muses, is the constant flickering of lights-or any electronic device for that matter. Whenever that starts happening, Kyungsoo is aware that Kai is somewhere unnecessarily close to him and his device.
There was that one incident when Kyungsoo was typing up a daily report for work, when his laptop monitor started acting weird. It flickered, the brightness of the screen shifting from impossibly bright to night-shade fluorescence before turning completely black.
Kyungsoo gaped at his dead laptop, the black screen reflecting his shocked face. No matter how many times Kyungsoo pressed the power button the gadget won’t switch on.
“What on earth-“
Then, when Kyungsoo lifted his laptop to take the battery out, the monitor flickered back to life again. The fan revolved, a soft whizzing sound indicating that the processor is running again.
Kyungsoo exhaled in relief and put the laptop back down. Then, without looking to his right, he blindly patted around for his organizer. He couldn’t feel it on the spot he placed it on a while ago, so he clicked his tongue and turned his head, only to come face to face with his organizer, floating inches from his face.
Blinking the surprise after flinching back rather embarrassingly, the reason why the organizer was floating slowly materialized, revealing a hand, an arm, then the whole body of Kai, the ghost.
He was grinning, nudging the organizer forward, hitting Kyungsoo’s nose lightly to which the latter scowled at.
Grabbing the organizer, he turned back to his work, trying to type on his laptop but its look like the device is stuck again, refusing to cooperate. All its showing is a blue screen, and Kyungsoo feels a vein in his temple throbbing.
Kai chooses this moment to lean over Kyungsoo’s shoulder and peer at his laptop, causing it to shut down into that annoying black screen again. Kyungsoo groans and Kai blinks. “Oh, I was causing that.”
Kyungsoo turned to him, an eyebrow raised as Kai’s cold presence washes over him. “You think?” He scoots a bit to the left, keeping as much space between him and the ghost. He was beginning to feel light headed and he didn’t want to faint in front of Kai.
Kai then glanced at him, another sheepish smile on his face-his default expression whenever he messes up in Kyungsoo’s apartment.
It’s a minute later and neither of them has moved, Kyungsoo’s patience dwindling by the minute as his report remains untyped. “Well?”
To this Kai flinches back, looking a tad bit embarrassed. “Of course. I’ll just-uh, I’ll just-go. Bye!”
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes as he sees Kai sink further down into the couch, sinking, sinking, sinking only until his eyes are visible, and then he’s gone.
Kyungsoo shakes his head at Kai’s awkward exit before glancing back at his rejuvenated laptop.
He moves his head from side to side, rolls his shoulders back, and flexes his fingers before poising them above the keys, ready to type.
“Right. So today…”
More mini incidents and heart attacks later, Kyungsoo decides it’s time to call on and establish House Rules.
He calls on for Kai at a serious meeting in the living room one day when he’s home a bit early. As usual, there are coffee cups and chips on the table whenever guests are around, but today Kyungsoo’s guest won’t be getting anything in.
Kyungsoo grabbed his coffee cup and began to take little sips before speaking. “Kai, I’ve called for you today because I’ve begun noticing this past few days that I’m becoming more jumpy than I was before which I inevitably carry over at work. I don’t want to say this but I think it has something to do with you.”
“You see, ever since you’ve begun staying here, I’ve been having mini heart attacks whenever you casually show up from out of the blue and into the rooms where I’m at, passing from door to door like its nothing. I know it’s quite ordinary for you to do these things but it doesn’t feel the same way towards me. I’m still new to all this supernatural stuff and would like to be given the time to get used to it first.” He paused, placing the mug down. “Then I came to the conclusion that I would need to set ground rules.”
At this Kai was listening intently, but was also trying to shove a chip into his mouth. To both their horror the chip just dropped to the floor after Kai ‘swallowed’ it. Kyungsoo paled and Kai looked as if he would want to die again. Kyungsoo cleared his throat. “…right.”
Kyungsoo held up his index finger. “Rule number one, no sudden and abrupt acts of appearing and disappearing whenever I’m around.”
Kyungsoo raised his middle finger alongside his index finger. “Two. Avoid passing through walls that lead to where I am. For example, you suddenly decide to stick your head inside the freezer when I’m looking for ice cream. That’s a no-no.”
Kai resisted a smile and nodded, trying to look serious but the joy in his eyes tells of another story.
Kyungsoo frowned at Kai’s poorly hidden smile and raised his ring finger beside the other two. “Three. No flickering of the lights and no messing with any electronic device.”
Kai gaped and was prepared to protest. “But-“
“Nuh-uh. I did my research. You guys can control electronic devices, and I know you mastered that too. I saw the bill for electricity and it went pretty high. So don’t play the ‘but’ game with me.”
The ghost frowned and shrugged. “Fine.”
Kyungsoo raised his pinky finger alongside the other three. “And last but not the least, do not and I mean do not scare me. Even if you think it’s funny. Deal?”
Kyungsoo extended his right hand and waited for Kai to take it. But the ghost got too distracted by the smell of the coffee that when he tried to drink it, it just flowed straight down and into the carpet.
His eyes widened and so did Kyungsoo’s.
Then Kyungsoo’s lips pressed into a thin line, his eyes forming a displeased stare as it flickered between the stain on the rug and Kai’s eyes.
Kai’s translucent figure slowly became transparent.
“Um, sorry?”
Another unforeseen problem Kyungsoo has yet to face is the problem of privacy. With a ghost around-who can pass through walls willingly-there is no privacy.
Kyungsoo was stripping down to his underwear when Kai suddenly floated through the bathroom door.
“Hey Kyung-woah!“
Kai’s eyes widened and Kyungsoo froze mid-strip, his hand still gripping the garters of his black briefs that have been lowered down to expose his v-line.
Kyungsoo felt his whole body flush and he immediately yanked it back up, glaring at Kai’s gaping form.
“What the heck are you still doing here?? Go away, shoo!”
Kai’s ghosty Adam’s apple bobbed once before he disappeared from sight, leaving a disgruntled Kyungsoo to his devices in the bathroom.
Kyungsoo grumbled under his breath and sat down on the tub with his underwear on. “Fucking ghosts and fucking privacy, fucking baths can’t be taken naked anymore, fucking hell.”
And in the middle of scrubbing his arm clean he shouted, “And you broke rule number 1 and 2!”
It would be safe to say that Kyungsoo ended up ignore Kai’s form the entire night, making him feel like the ghost that he really is.
Kai tried banging his head on the wall, trying to get the image of naked Kyungsoo off his mind, but failed; resulting instead with his head passing through the concrete, the image still intact.
It was a hopeless case, what’s seen-is seen. Kai made it a point to apologize to Kyungsoo every time the latter passed by him, to which he responded with the cold shoulder.
Kai honestly wishes that ghost powers included memory alteration or a time machine.
There are times when Kai doesn’t cause Kyungsoo headaches or heart attacks too.
Sometimes, he’s the reason Kyungsoo involuntarily smiles at work. Plus his antics start to get to Kyungsoo-and he begins to find it oddly endearing.
Kyungsoo cracks a smile whenever he sees Kai stiffening on the spot from where he’s seated on the couch when he passes by, or how he uses his powers to turn the coffee machine off whenever Kyungsoo wanders over to the kitchen, awkward smile in place.
Kyungsoo’s accepted the fact that this ghost is weird, but a welcome change in his boring, daily routine.
But then life hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Kyungsoo. Things started to change.
One particular night, Kyungsoo comes home feeling dejected.
He almost lost his job that day, saved only by his constant pleading to do better to his boss. By some stroke of luck, his boss agreed. Still, that little piece of news did nothing to alleviate the beginnings of his shitty mood. He brought that mood on until he went home, and of course Kai noticed.
Kyungsoo was pushing his noodles around in the bowl for the nth time that night when Kai finally decided to speak up.
“Tough night?”
Kyungsoo nodded, not even looking up. Kai pursed his lips.
“Hey, do you wanna see something fun?”
To this Kyungsoo raised his head. He didn’t say a thing, but his expression showed that of curiosity. Kai took this as a cue to go on.
“Watch.”
Kai raised his hand and made the lights in the kitchen and the living room flicker. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes as if to say ‘I’ve seen that already’. But then, what he did next made Kyungsoo’s eyes widen in wonder. He flicked his wrist and enveloped the room in full darkness, before lifting his palm up to reveal a ball of fire sitting on it.
Kai smirked and attempted to throw the ball of fire around when Kyungsoo instinctively reached out to grab his wrist. “Wait! Be careful with that, you might burn this apartment down!”
Kai stared at his eyes, his irises reflecting the orange flames. Kyungsoo stared back, seeing Kai’s translucent form slowly turn opaque. In a fit of shock he lets go of Kai’s wrist and he immediately turns translucent again, the lights all switching back on and the ball of fire in Kai’s palm poofs out of sight.
They stare at each other some more and Kyungsoo notices that Kai still has that dazed expression on.
“I-Kyungsoo.”
Kyungsoo gulped before reaching forward again.
His palm comes into contact with flames instead of the cold arm he was expecting from Kai’s, and they both hiss at the interaction. Kyungsoo felt like his palm burned and Kai felt a part of his soul evaporating.
Then they caught each other’s gazes, nodding as if they understood what was going on without the need for words.
It’s not time yet.
It’s a whole week later when they attempt to touch again.
This time, Kyungsoo came prepared. He did his research during his free time at work. Apparently, there is a way to temporarily make a ghost feel-seem human again.
And it’s from the touch of their other half, their soul mate.
A soul-when faced with his other half, undoubtedly becomes whole again, just like how two halves make up a single entity. And in this case-a soul, a ghost-the remnants of someone who lived before- comes in contact with his other, still living half, has a momentary experience to relive his physical form. A soul is given a body, just like his living soul mate has one.
Kyungsoo knows its cliché as hell, and that his cheeks have colored a lovely shade of red while he was reading the article, but he knows it’s true. If his touch gave that effect to Kai’s body then it means only one thing: he’s Kai’s soul mate.
But just to make sure-he’s prepared to give it a go again-to touch Kai and see what happens.
He really wants to see what Kai looked like when he was still alive.
The living room is quiet when Kai and Kyungsoo sit beside each other on the couch.
According to what Kyungsoo has read, the only beings able to touch a ghost are either angels, demons, reapers and ironically-their soul mates. If what he’s been reading is correct, he should be able to touch Kai again, and be able to execute everything else stated on it.
Here goes nothing. Kyungsoo gulps before giving Kai the instruction. “K-Kai. Uh, raise your palm for me please.”
The ghost nods and raises a shaking palm up, his eyes uncertain as he looks at Kyungsoo, awaiting his next move.
Kyungsoo swallows the nervous lump in his throat and raises his palm as well and slowly, slowly places it against Kai’s.
Their palms glow, and Kai makes a bold step, moves his fingers so it fills the hollow spaces in Kyungsoo’s hand, and the latter does the same.
They exchange a brief smile before the glowing light from their clasped palms brighten to a blinding degree and they both look away, shutting their eyelids.
The second they open it however, the living room comes back to focus. And there isn’t any bright light casting shadows on the walls like it did not long ago.
Kyungsoo chances a glance at Kai, and his mouth falls open before his eyes can process what he sees to his brain.
There, in all his tanned glory is Kai, beaming up at him like he’s some saint who brought him back to life. Well he did, in a way-but technically he isn’t brought to life. More like, given a temporary body.
Kai squeezes Kyungsoo’s hand and pulls him against him, pressing his forehead against the top of his head.
He doesn’t really know why but he feels like he’s been reborn again.
“Kyungsoo, thank you.”
But, like what they say, all good things come to an end.
These things always come with a price.
Kyungsoo is breathing heavily and sweating buckets within Kai’s embrace. He’s basically supplying Kai’s life at the moment, so naturally his body feels weak, unaccustomed to sharing manna to someone else.
Kai notices this and presses his lips against Kyungsoo’s forehead, before pushing him away; and immediately his skin turns translucent again and Kyungsoo’s cheeks regain their rosy color.
“K-Kai?”
Kai smiles up at him and carefully reaches over to smooth Kyungsoo’s hair off his eyes. There’s that spark at the tip of his fingers again.
“Go to sleep, Kyungsoo.”
There are some things that must be left unchanged in this world, and the Supernatural is one. Kai has refused Kyungsoo’s attempts at ‘bringing him to life’ again. He sternly said that it would be useless if Kyungsoo just lost his in the process. He would rather die than live in a world without him.
Kyungsoo blushed and threw a pillow at him in retaliation, which just passed through his translucent form uselessly. Kai chuckled.
They continued to co-exist in the apartment like that, as human being and ghost; talking and smiling like normal house mates would-or in their case, like soul mates would.
There’s still a lot to work on, more memories to create, more devices to see flicker on and off-and Kyungsoo is quite content with this. As long as he’s got Kai in his life, in his home, it would be enough.
He’s enough.
In all honesty, Kyungsoo found their whole situation weird. Kyungsoo was housing a ghost/spirit in his home. It cost him nothing but coffee, of course, and a little change in the billing for electricity because of the flickering lights every now and then, but he’s grateful for the company-if you ignore the whole talking to another entity situation.
Thankfully though, no one has been questioning why Kyungsoo’s been holed up in his apartment lately, or why there are always freshly wrung coffee smelling rags in his clothesline, or how the said rug floated and hung itself on the clothesline. Heaven knows how he would’ve explained the floating and hanging part.
No one questions why Kyungsoo seems to be always talking to someone, despite being alone in the apartment for as long as the tenants can remember. It would’ve been a big problem if they did.
To an outsider’s point of view, Kyungsoo looked as if he was talking to air, leading them to think that he’s crazy, deranged; a case of losing his marbles. But Kyungsoo, he, he knows the truth.
It’s true that there is someone else living with him-rather, residing with him would be the more appropriate term to use-and that he’s a welcome visitor in his home. He fills up the space Kyungsoo’s Grandmama left in his life, and maybe even more than that.
At least Kyungsoo comes home everyday to a smiling face and a soft voice welcoming him like they’ve been housemates for years. And in turn, Kyungsoo welcomes the weird change into his daily routine.
Before, it was just wake up-eat-go to work- go home- eat-sleep. But now, its wake up-eat-talk to Kai-go to work-go home-talk to Kai-eat-sleep.
Kai.
The ghost that made him feel complete again.
His soul mate.
The rain stopped pouring and pinpricks of the sun’s rays are peeking through gray clouds.
The hotdog vendor is back out on the street and is selling hotdogs on sticks to the little children with drenched shoes but bright spirits. He sees an important looking man shoving off his huge coat, folding it onto his arm. He smiles at someone from the crowd before walking away, smile still in place.
Suddenly, Kyungsoo’s gaze focuses on a new reflection on the window, a handsome man staring at him-with ash colored eyes and ashy blonde hair. He’s translucent, but one touch on Kyungsoo’s shoulder gives him color, he becomes tanned-becomes the beautiful boy he once was when he was still alive.
He smiles at Kyungsoo through the reflection and Kyungsoo smiles back.
The sun is out and shining; its bright rays bathe the crowded streets of Seoul in a certain shade of warmth. Kyungsoo feels the warmth, and is comforted by the thought of handsome smiles from a handsome boy he’s come to love.
ʚ Pairing(s): Kai/Kyungsoo
ʚ Rating: PG-13
ʚ Warnings: non-scary ghost stuff
ʚ Word count: 6760 words
ʚ Summary: Kyungsoo gets a taste of how it is to live-reside, with a house mate and gets more than what he’s hoped for.
ʚ Author’s notes/Messages for the recipient: this was a challenge to write but i loved the prompts nonetheless, recipient. tho i'm sure this isn't what you had in mind, i hope it'll do? ; ; and thanks to the sooheaven mods who have been patient with me. you guys are awesome!
The rain was pretty calming that day.
Kyungsoo watched the rain fall gracefully down the crowded streets of Seoul from his position behind the window; a ghost of a smile playing across his lips as his gaze focuses on little children playing hop scotch with water puddles.
The hotdog vendor pulled his stand under a huge tarp, scowling at his drenched loafers before taking his hat off to fan himself to get rid of the humidity. An important looking man with a huge coat covering him from shoulder to knee adjusted his fedora to conceal his face from the crowd; obviously uncomfortable as he was forced to take shelter among them because of the sudden downpour.
Kyungsoo continued to look on curiously, head tilting to the side as he stared at the tall man with the coat. Probably an actor or part of an idol group, he mused.
His thoughts went to a halt however when his cutlery and utensils banged loudly from the kitchen. Kyungsoo sighed and brought a hand up to massage his temple. This was nothing new but it kept getting on his nerves nonetheless. “Will you please keep it down over there?”
From an outsider’s point of view, Kyungsoo’s question went unanswered. But to him, the faintest whisper of an apology was heard rather clearly.
“Sorry!”
Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and shook his head, letting out another sigh before looking back out of his window.
It was still raining, and its pitter patter over the crowded streets of Seoul calmed him immensely.
Kyungsoo has always lived alone; ever since that fateful 15th birthday which led him to lose the only form of family he ever had, his Grandmama, to a hit and run accident. Kyungsoo was devastated that day. He knew how unforgiving the world was, and to think he’d be battling it alone was extremely terrifying. After all, he was just a 15 year old boy who sought comfort from his blanky andwho still enjoyed watching cartoons that were meant to entertain 3 year olds.
He mourned for her death like any other person who lost a loved one would. But he had other problems in mind which kept him from grieving properly. What he dreaded the most was that he might follow after her soon. His Grandmama’s fortune wasn’t enough and he was still too young to find a job-he was sure he’d die starving and alone.
But then certain events happened that overthrew his theory.
A day before his grandma was to be lowered 6 feet under the earth, something strange happened to Kyungsoo.
He was washing up before heading to the funeral home when his phone fell off the bedside table. Blinking the water out of his eyes, he closed the tap and grabbed a towel while making his way to his bedside table. Eyeing his phone weirdly for a second, he brushed the thought off and told himself that maybe he just placed the phone on the edge of the bedside table too closely. He picked it up and was surprised when he looked up to see that his window had opened; his curtains fluttered as the breeze that wasn’t there before entered.
Kyungsoo felt a chill slowly creep up his spine and onto his nape. He shivered and instinctively covered his left side with his right arm. He slowly made his way to the opened widow to close it. He looked out of it for a second before pulling the curtains over to conceal it; the view was too bright for a gloomy day like this one and Kyungsoo didn’t like it one bit.
He has had the second greatest shock of his life however (second because his most shocking experience ever was the abrupt and sudden death of his grandma) when he turned around and saw his grandmother-or rather, a silver-ish graying outline of his grandma’s…soul(?) sitting on her old rocking chair in the farthest right corner of the room.
Kyungsoo’s already wide eyes doubled in size as he stumbled back, his back pressing against the metal handles of his closed window as he continued to gape at the enchanting figure. He thought it wouldn’t get any creepier than that but it did.
The figure slowly turned its head to the left and spoke in a hoarse, creepily ancient voice that sounded nothing like his grandma did when she was alive. It said, “Kyungsoo…I don’t have much time left as you can see.” A pause, before she spoke again-and Kyungsoo swore he would’ve bolted right out of there if it weren’t for the seemingly invisible restraints on his foot chaining him solidly on the ground where he stood.
“I know you can live well and move on here in this world even without me, my dear boy.” After this she stood up, and a bright light started shining from his wall right next to where his presumed grandmother’s ghost is standing, which only seemed to glow brighter with every word she uttered.
“Grow well, my child. Fret not with how you stand with the world now no matter how young you are. Someone will guide you along the way and make sure to trust him with all your heart.” She turned, and stuck a wrinkled, pale foot inside the glowing hole, and spoke one last time before vanishing into the glowing abyss. “You have always been special, Kyungsoo. Remember that…”
Kyungsoo saw how the glowing abyss swallowed his sort-of-grandma’s spirit whole, how the little sun in his wall just made the spirit evaporate. Kyungsoo was stunned beyond words, still unable to move as he stared blankly at the wall where everything unearthly happened so fast.
With every tick of the clock is actual time wasted; and Baekhyun was probably growing impatient waiting for him at the Funeral Home alone. Kyungsoo's attention however was diverted away from his Baekhyun related thoughts to his phone the moment it started ringing. He picked up on the fifth ring with a breathy hello.
“Dude, you have a funeral to attend to. Your grandma’s funeral. You’re needed here asap. Where’s your Eulogy??” Kyungsoo panicked after hearing Baekhyun’s voice and nodded even though the latter couldn’t see him. “I’m sorry, I-I’ll be on my way.”
His first official encounter of a spirit was with a stray. A gray-ish fading silhouette of a dog barked and ran past him, his eyes widening in shock as he felt an especially cool breeze brush against his foot. Clinging tight on his groceries for the day so they wouldn’t fall off, he looked down to see the big ball of endoplasmic fur pass through his left foot before bouncing down the roadas if chasing his owner.
He felt his knees go weak but despite that, he managed to reach his apartment in one piece. With shaky legs, he wobbled to the small kitchen and placed the groceries on the table.
He didn’t want to think of the weird incident earlier, and opt to distract himself by grabbing a box of cereals from inside the groceries, sliding his hand inside, and bringing his corn flake-full palm to his mouth.
A week later and he starts noticing little changes in the apartment that he’s living in.
His books have been moved from this end of the table to that end of the table.
The 3rd chair at the table has been moved back as if someone sat on it and forgot to put it back.
His slipper is missing a pair despite the fact that he used it yesterday and clearly remembered placing it in front of his bedside table.
His watch transferred from the coffee table to the sofa.
His boxers magically reappeared a week after he ‘lost’ it.
All this happened within a month and he’s sure he’s never had a pet come over to cause so many misplaced objects. Something is obviously amiss and Kyungsoo wants to find out what.
The answers come crashing onto him literally when he arrives an hour earlier than expected and comes in contact with a man exiting his apartment. They lock shocked eyes for a moment, and when Kyungsoo makes a move to open his mouth and shout for help, the man disappears.
Kyungsoo eye’s bulgein its sockets and his mouth freezes open in a mid-air scream. The sound of a bunch of keys hitting the floor breaks Kyungsoo’s shocked trance and he hastily collects himself, opens the door and heads in.
With furrowed brows, he paces the living room in worry after haphazardly throwing his stuff on the couch.
He’s sure as heck he saw a man exiting his apartment just as he ascended the steps and disappeared in front of him when he started panicking. The man simply…vanished into thin air.
Kyungsoo groaned in frustration and rubbed his eyes, then stared at his dusty red carpet.
“I’m pretty sure I still have 20-20 vision.”
Then he looked up and stared at the door, before lifting a hand up to his forehead to feel his body temperature.
“Huh, seems normal. Not delirious either.”
He continued to stare at the door for a few minutes before puffing out a heavy exhale, shaking his head lightly after, as if to dislodge unwanted memories.
He chose to ignore what happened that day, and thought of it as a trick of his mind.
Somewhere inside the tiny storage room in Kyungsoo’s apartment, a figure relaxes and produces an exhale of his own.
Since that incident, Kyungsoo has doubled his door’s security features, buying two German locks which are worth twice his monthly salary. He’s thankful he’s bought it despite the outrageous price.Cheap or expensive, it doesn't really matter anymore. knowing that his apartment is protected by un-pickable locks reduces his paranoia of another unexpected break-inand he knows the money spent is worth it.
It’s another of those times when he finishes up at work early and comes home early, when weird stuff happens.
He’s staring at his apartment door and sees the locks still in place, still bolted and shut, yet there are sounds coming from the other side of the door. Kyungsoo blinks in disbelief and immediately looks up to see the number 113 on the door, and turns his head to the side, cranes his neck and sees that he’s on the right street, on the right building, on the right door. And yet despite this, why does his door feel different?
Carefully he presses his ear to the door and bites his lip, controlling his breathing into quiet inhales and exhales.
He hears something. A melody.
He strains his ears and gasps as he hears a rather creepy and other-worldly version of What is Love. He doesn’t remember owning any CD containing that song and immediately, he feels the hairs on his neck stand on end.
Determined to know what’s going on, Kyungsoo looks to his right and sees a little hedge he could step on and carefully moves his body sideways. He plasters himself onto the wall of his apartment and moves in slow sidesteps until he reaches the window. He grabs onto the windowpane and stands on his tiptoes, peering inside. What he sees blows his mind.
There, bathed in the soft afternoon light, is a man’s figure. He’s moving around to the melody, and Kyungsoo doesn’t know whether to be terrified or amazed of how he moves. Kyungsoo looks down for some reason and notices that the man’s feet do not touch the ground.
This is where Kyungsoo finally screams and loses his balance on the hedge, his left foot sliding down. He closes his eyes and braces himself from the impact of his back colliding with the ground.
It’s after the adrenaline rush of almost falling wears off does he notice that he’s still standing upright, and his back is still dirt and pain free. He opens his eyes to take a look at what broke his fall and sees a vague outline of hands gripping at his collar. He chances a look down and sees his feet dangling off the ground. He glances up in shock and sees a hazy outline of a man’s face. Before he’s given the time to react, the man-figure speaks up, difficulty present in his voice as he whispers the command out.
“C-can you please help heave yourself up now? You’re k-kinda heavy and I don’t think I can hold on to you any longer.”
Like an obedient puppy Kyungsoo grips the windowpane again and jumps up, his upper body sprawled on top of it while the man-figure opens the window fully and helps Kyungsoo get in by tugging him forward.
Kyungsoo falls inside and lands on the dust red carpet-but he’s also sitting on the man’s silhouette. With startled eyes Kyungsoo yelps and scoots away, while the man mutters under his breath and straightens himself up, looking away. From his position on the floor, Kyungsoo can finally see what the man’s figure is like.
He’s translucent.
The man turns his head back and meets eyes with Kyungsoo;his face matching that of someone from the latter’s memory and that’s when he realizes he’s the man whom he saw exiting his apartment a few weeks back.
“It’s you!” Kyungsoo gasps, and points an accusing finger at him.“I saw you coming out of my apartment a few weeks back and then you…you disappeared!”
The man literally winced, as if the words hurt him somehow. His silhouette flickered a bit.
Kyungsoo lowered his hand but held his gaze, he was frowning. He wasn’t exactly mad, but he had to get his point across that he was upset at this man for breaking into his home.
Then, the man looked down and bit his lip nervously. Kyungsoo didn’t want to look down as he was sure the man’s feet still didn’t touch the floor; he didn’t want to get creeped out again.
“I-I don’t mean harm.”
The man’s voice is soft, almost as soft as a whisper, but the message came out clear nonetheless.
Kyungsoo knew, somehow, that this man didn’t mean any harm. If he really wanted to, then he could have wreaked havoc a long time back and maybe even killed him in his sleep, but he didn’t. The question of ‘why’ remain unanswered. Why are you here in my apartment; why me?
The man raised his hand to run it across his blonde-ish silhouette of a hair. Kyungsoo immediately stiffened.
“I just-I just need a place to stay.”
Kyungsoo isn’t one to readily accept strangers into his home, but he did remember what his Grandma taught him: always extend a helping hand whenever you can.
And that is how Kyungsoo’s ghost/spirit border came to live with him. (pun not intended)
Kyungsoo came down the stairs one day to the sound of the coffee machine beeping. He walked straight to the kitchen and saw Kai-that’s what the ghost/spirit man calls himself-staring at the toaster, probably waiting for the bread to pop out. He turns around when he hears the sound of the chair scraping against the tiled floor.
“Oh hey, morning!”
Kyungsoo nodded in reply and spared a look at Kai, before staring at the cups of coffee in front of him.
“Are you trying to drink coffee again?” Kyungsoo sounded amused, and Kai pouted.
“Hey, no making fun of the poltergeist, okay? I’m trying my hardest to recall all of my memories, and one of the few things I remember is loving the taste of coffee.”
Kyungsoo shrugged and grabbed one of the steaming mugs. “Just make sure that you drink that somewhere that isn’t inside my apartment. Remember what happened the first time?”
Kai stuttered and looked as if he would be flustered if he could still blush.
“Oh come on, drop it! I cleaned the spill!”
Kyungsoo chuckled before sipping the coffee slowly. Kai groaned. “Oh now you’re just being mean. You can drink coffee without having it flow straight to the floor yes, I get it.”
Kyungsoo laughed out loud at that which caused him to choke on the coffee. His sudden laughter made the coffee spurt and spew all over the dining table, passing through Kai’s form and onto the floor. When Kyungsoo stopped hacking, Kai pushed a glass of water towards his direction.
“For the record, you brought that upon yourself.”
Kyungsoo glared at him and Kai just winked in response, before disappearing from his view.
Kyungsoo remembered Kai spending his first night as a welcome guest in his home. He didn't need to make himself disappear anymore, nor watch from his spot on the wall while Kyungsoo moved about. He remembered asking him about what he is and what he was doing in Kyungsoo’s apartment before he got caught and, how long?
Kai seemed sad when he answered, his translucent figure flickering slightly, causing the fluorescent light bulb above them to flicker as well. Kyungsoo eyes the bulb warily before looking back at Kai.
“I honestly don’t know what I am per se, but as you can see, I’m either a ghost or a spirit.” Kai raised a translucent hand and turned it over.
“Huh,” Kyungsoo stared at Kai’s translucent hand and was tempted to poke his finger through it, just to see if it would pass through him just like what ghosts in movies do. However, he refrained himself from doing so. Focus, Kyungsoo. Focus.
“I can’t tell you much about myself when I was still alive-if I ever was alive, because I can’t remember anything except for my name and that I love dancing and drinking coffee.”
Kyungsoo nodded in understanding and then glanced at the table in front of them, and then suddenly remembered something.
“You still haven’t answered one more question though. Why were you in my apartment?”
Kai’s grayish eyes suddenly brightened. “That I can answer. I am not entirely sure either, but ever since I can remember, I’ve been drawn to the light flashing from your apartment. I always end up floating up the steps and through your door, and once I enter, I immediately feel calm and at peace. The flashing of the light disappears once I enter through the door somehow, and I have yet to see where its coming from.”
Kyungsoo thumped his fingers against the table. Light? In my apartment? When did this start happening? Kyungsoo wondered in his head, eyes concentrated on a coffee stain on the rug placed wrongly underneath the table. Then, without looking up at the floating being in front of him,
“How long have you been living here?”
Kai looked uncomfortable, like a child getting caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar for the first time. “For a while.”
To this Kyungsoo looked up, and raised an eyebrow at Kai’s response. “How long is ‘a while’?”
Kai shrugged, trying to look like he isn’t nervous. “I don’t really know, I don’t keep up with the dates.”
Kyungsoo released a long suffering sigh before he stood up. “Alright, whatever, it doesn’t matter anymore. Since you said you needed a place to stay, I’m giving you permission to stay here, since you’re somehow attached to this place.”
Kai was so happy that he appeared in front of Kyungsoo in a blink of an eye, spewing out his gratitude. Kyungsoo took a step back in shock and raised a hand to protect himself, before relaxing and brushing Kai’s thanks off. “Right, don’t mention it. Just-don’t disturb me when I sleep tonight.”
“Of course, thanks again! You don’t know how much it means to me.”
When Kyungsoo laid down on his bed that night, staring at his bare ceiling, the implications of what he allowed to happen a while ago comes crashing to him in full speed. He basically gave a ghost permission to haunt his home.
Distraught, Kyungsoo runs an exhausted palm over his face. He can’t take his words back, and Kai does look sincere in saying he just needed a place to stay.
“Argh, whatever. I’ll deal with this when my mind is clear enough.”
With that final reassurance to himself, he shifts to the side, closes his eyes, and drifts off to sleep.
Its 3 days after letting Kai stay in his apartment that little problems arise.
Kyungsoo keeps getting mini heart attacks whenever Kai materializes out of nowhere and shows up almost everywhere he is.
Like that one time Kyungsoo was peering inside the fridge looking for a small box of juice and the moment he moved back Kai’s translucent face showed up from behind the refrigerator door. Kyungsoo screamed in shock and dropped the box of juice he was holding. The contents of the box spilled on the floor drenching Kyungsoo’s feet, while Kai’s dangling ones- that still freak Kyungsoo out by the way-remain relatively dry. Kyungsoo frowns and sends Kai a meaningful glare to which the latter replies with a small “Sorry!”
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes before turning around to grab the mop.
The next incident is when Kyungsoo is brushing his teeth and Kai suddenly appeared behind him; his eyes noticing two reflections instead of one, effectively making him spit his toothpaste all over the mirror.
Kyungsoo choked and coughed the toothpaste residue out of his trachea. While Kai watches on like a helpless ghost puppy, Kyungsoo calls for a timeout and tells Kai to wait for him outside of the bathroom. Kai obeys immediately and passes through the wall to get to the other side right away.
Half-stunned, half in awe Kyungsoo stares dumbly at the wall where Kai passed, his toothbrush dangling sideways from the corner of his mouth, a foam of drying toothpaste still present on his upper lip. He blinks before remembering the sound of running water, hurriedly turning the tap off once he’s noticed that the faucet was left open.
It was going to be a long night.
One other annoying thing with having a ghost in his home, Kyungsoo muses, is the constant flickering of lights-or any electronic device for that matter. Whenever that starts happening, Kyungsoo is aware that Kai is somewhere unnecessarily close to him and his device.
There was that one incident when Kyungsoo was typing up a daily report for work, when his laptop monitor started acting weird. It flickered, the brightness of the screen shifting from impossibly bright to night-shade fluorescence before turning completely black.
Kyungsoo gaped at his dead laptop, the black screen reflecting his shocked face. No matter how many times Kyungsoo pressed the power button the gadget won’t switch on.
“What on earth-“
Then, when Kyungsoo lifted his laptop to take the battery out, the monitor flickered back to life again. The fan revolved, a soft whizzing sound indicating that the processor is running again.
Kyungsoo exhaled in relief and put the laptop back down. Then, without looking to his right, he blindly patted around for his organizer. He couldn’t feel it on the spot he placed it on a while ago, so he clicked his tongue and turned his head, only to come face to face with his organizer, floating inches from his face.
Blinking the surprise after flinching back rather embarrassingly, the reason why the organizer was floating slowly materialized, revealing a hand, an arm, then the whole body of Kai, the ghost.
He was grinning, nudging the organizer forward, hitting Kyungsoo’s nose lightly to which the latter scowled at.
Grabbing the organizer, he turned back to his work, trying to type on his laptop but its look like the device is stuck again, refusing to cooperate. All its showing is a blue screen, and Kyungsoo feels a vein in his temple throbbing.
Kai chooses this moment to lean over Kyungsoo’s shoulder and peer at his laptop, causing it to shut down into that annoying black screen again. Kyungsoo groans and Kai blinks. “Oh, I was causing that.”
Kyungsoo turned to him, an eyebrow raised as Kai’s cold presence washes over him. “You think?” He scoots a bit to the left, keeping as much space between him and the ghost. He was beginning to feel light headed and he didn’t want to faint in front of Kai.
Kai then glanced at him, another sheepish smile on his face-his default expression whenever he messes up in Kyungsoo’s apartment.
It’s a minute later and neither of them has moved, Kyungsoo’s patience dwindling by the minute as his report remains untyped. “Well?”
To this Kai flinches back, looking a tad bit embarrassed. “Of course. I’ll just-uh, I’ll just-go. Bye!”
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes as he sees Kai sink further down into the couch, sinking, sinking, sinking only until his eyes are visible, and then he’s gone.
Kyungsoo shakes his head at Kai’s awkward exit before glancing back at his rejuvenated laptop.
He moves his head from side to side, rolls his shoulders back, and flexes his fingers before poising them above the keys, ready to type.
“Right. So today…”
More mini incidents and heart attacks later, Kyungsoo decides it’s time to call on and establish House Rules.
He calls on for Kai at a serious meeting in the living room one day when he’s home a bit early. As usual, there are coffee cups and chips on the table whenever guests are around, but today Kyungsoo’s guest won’t be getting anything in.
Kyungsoo grabbed his coffee cup and began to take little sips before speaking. “Kai, I’ve called for you today because I’ve begun noticing this past few days that I’m becoming more jumpy than I was before which I inevitably carry over at work. I don’t want to say this but I think it has something to do with you.”
“You see, ever since you’ve begun staying here, I’ve been having mini heart attacks whenever you casually show up from out of the blue and into the rooms where I’m at, passing from door to door like its nothing. I know it’s quite ordinary for you to do these things but it doesn’t feel the same way towards me. I’m still new to all this supernatural stuff and would like to be given the time to get used to it first.” He paused, placing the mug down. “Then I came to the conclusion that I would need to set ground rules.”
At this Kai was listening intently, but was also trying to shove a chip into his mouth. To both their horror the chip just dropped to the floor after Kai ‘swallowed’ it. Kyungsoo paled and Kai looked as if he would want to die again. Kyungsoo cleared his throat. “…right.”
Kyungsoo held up his index finger. “Rule number one, no sudden and abrupt acts of appearing and disappearing whenever I’m around.”
Kyungsoo raised his middle finger alongside his index finger. “Two. Avoid passing through walls that lead to where I am. For example, you suddenly decide to stick your head inside the freezer when I’m looking for ice cream. That’s a no-no.”
Kai resisted a smile and nodded, trying to look serious but the joy in his eyes tells of another story.
Kyungsoo frowned at Kai’s poorly hidden smile and raised his ring finger beside the other two. “Three. No flickering of the lights and no messing with any electronic device.”
Kai gaped and was prepared to protest. “But-“
“Nuh-uh. I did my research. You guys can control electronic devices, and I know you mastered that too. I saw the bill for electricity and it went pretty high. So don’t play the ‘but’ game with me.”
The ghost frowned and shrugged. “Fine.”
Kyungsoo raised his pinky finger alongside the other three. “And last but not the least, do not and I mean do not scare me. Even if you think it’s funny. Deal?”
Kyungsoo extended his right hand and waited for Kai to take it. But the ghost got too distracted by the smell of the coffee that when he tried to drink it, it just flowed straight down and into the carpet.
His eyes widened and so did Kyungsoo’s.
Then Kyungsoo’s lips pressed into a thin line, his eyes forming a displeased stare as it flickered between the stain on the rug and Kai’s eyes.
Kai’s translucent figure slowly became transparent.
“Um, sorry?”
Another unforeseen problem Kyungsoo has yet to face is the problem of privacy. With a ghost around-who can pass through walls willingly-there is no privacy.
Kyungsoo was stripping down to his underwear when Kai suddenly floated through the bathroom door.
“Hey Kyung-woah!“
Kai’s eyes widened and Kyungsoo froze mid-strip, his hand still gripping the garters of his black briefs that have been lowered down to expose his v-line.
Kyungsoo felt his whole body flush and he immediately yanked it back up, glaring at Kai’s gaping form.
“What the heck are you still doing here?? Go away, shoo!”
Kai’s ghosty Adam’s apple bobbed once before he disappeared from sight, leaving a disgruntled Kyungsoo to his devices in the bathroom.
Kyungsoo grumbled under his breath and sat down on the tub with his underwear on. “Fucking ghosts and fucking privacy, fucking baths can’t be taken naked anymore, fucking hell.”
And in the middle of scrubbing his arm clean he shouted, “And you broke rule number 1 and 2!”
It would be safe to say that Kyungsoo ended up ignore Kai’s form the entire night, making him feel like the ghost that he really is.
Kai tried banging his head on the wall, trying to get the image of naked Kyungsoo off his mind, but failed; resulting instead with his head passing through the concrete, the image still intact.
It was a hopeless case, what’s seen-is seen. Kai made it a point to apologize to Kyungsoo every time the latter passed by him, to which he responded with the cold shoulder.
Kai honestly wishes that ghost powers included memory alteration or a time machine.
There are times when Kai doesn’t cause Kyungsoo headaches or heart attacks too.
Sometimes, he’s the reason Kyungsoo involuntarily smiles at work. Plus his antics start to get to Kyungsoo-and he begins to find it oddly endearing.
Kyungsoo cracks a smile whenever he sees Kai stiffening on the spot from where he’s seated on the couch when he passes by, or how he uses his powers to turn the coffee machine off whenever Kyungsoo wanders over to the kitchen, awkward smile in place.
Kyungsoo’s accepted the fact that this ghost is weird, but a welcome change in his boring, daily routine.
But then life hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Kyungsoo. Things started to change.
One particular night, Kyungsoo comes home feeling dejected.
He almost lost his job that day, saved only by his constant pleading to do better to his boss. By some stroke of luck, his boss agreed. Still, that little piece of news did nothing to alleviate the beginnings of his shitty mood. He brought that mood on until he went home, and of course Kai noticed.
Kyungsoo was pushing his noodles around in the bowl for the nth time that night when Kai finally decided to speak up.
“Tough night?”
Kyungsoo nodded, not even looking up. Kai pursed his lips.
“Hey, do you wanna see something fun?”
To this Kyungsoo raised his head. He didn’t say a thing, but his expression showed that of curiosity. Kai took this as a cue to go on.
“Watch.”
Kai raised his hand and made the lights in the kitchen and the living room flicker. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes as if to say ‘I’ve seen that already’. But then, what he did next made Kyungsoo’s eyes widen in wonder. He flicked his wrist and enveloped the room in full darkness, before lifting his palm up to reveal a ball of fire sitting on it.
Kai smirked and attempted to throw the ball of fire around when Kyungsoo instinctively reached out to grab his wrist. “Wait! Be careful with that, you might burn this apartment down!”
Kai stared at his eyes, his irises reflecting the orange flames. Kyungsoo stared back, seeing Kai’s translucent form slowly turn opaque. In a fit of shock he lets go of Kai’s wrist and he immediately turns translucent again, the lights all switching back on and the ball of fire in Kai’s palm poofs out of sight.
They stare at each other some more and Kyungsoo notices that Kai still has that dazed expression on.
“I-Kyungsoo.”
Kyungsoo gulped before reaching forward again.
His palm comes into contact with flames instead of the cold arm he was expecting from Kai’s, and they both hiss at the interaction. Kyungsoo felt like his palm burned and Kai felt a part of his soul evaporating.
Then they caught each other’s gazes, nodding as if they understood what was going on without the need for words.
It’s not time yet.
It’s a whole week later when they attempt to touch again.
This time, Kyungsoo came prepared. He did his research during his free time at work. Apparently, there is a way to temporarily make a ghost feel-seem human again.
And it’s from the touch of their other half, their soul mate.
A soul-when faced with his other half, undoubtedly becomes whole again, just like how two halves make up a single entity. And in this case-a soul, a ghost-the remnants of someone who lived before- comes in contact with his other, still living half, has a momentary experience to relive his physical form. A soul is given a body, just like his living soul mate has one.
Kyungsoo knows its cliché as hell, and that his cheeks have colored a lovely shade of red while he was reading the article, but he knows it’s true. If his touch gave that effect to Kai’s body then it means only one thing: he’s Kai’s soul mate.
But just to make sure-he’s prepared to give it a go again-to touch Kai and see what happens.
He really wants to see what Kai looked like when he was still alive.
The living room is quiet when Kai and Kyungsoo sit beside each other on the couch.
According to what Kyungsoo has read, the only beings able to touch a ghost are either angels, demons, reapers and ironically-their soul mates. If what he’s been reading is correct, he should be able to touch Kai again, and be able to execute everything else stated on it.
Here goes nothing. Kyungsoo gulps before giving Kai the instruction. “K-Kai. Uh, raise your palm for me please.”
The ghost nods and raises a shaking palm up, his eyes uncertain as he looks at Kyungsoo, awaiting his next move.
Kyungsoo swallows the nervous lump in his throat and raises his palm as well and slowly, slowly places it against Kai’s.
Their palms glow, and Kai makes a bold step, moves his fingers so it fills the hollow spaces in Kyungsoo’s hand, and the latter does the same.
They exchange a brief smile before the glowing light from their clasped palms brighten to a blinding degree and they both look away, shutting their eyelids.
The second they open it however, the living room comes back to focus. And there isn’t any bright light casting shadows on the walls like it did not long ago.
Kyungsoo chances a glance at Kai, and his mouth falls open before his eyes can process what he sees to his brain.
There, in all his tanned glory is Kai, beaming up at him like he’s some saint who brought him back to life. Well he did, in a way-but technically he isn’t brought to life. More like, given a temporary body.
Kai squeezes Kyungsoo’s hand and pulls him against him, pressing his forehead against the top of his head.
He doesn’t really know why but he feels like he’s been reborn again.
“Kyungsoo, thank you.”
But, like what they say, all good things come to an end.
These things always come with a price.
Kyungsoo is breathing heavily and sweating buckets within Kai’s embrace. He’s basically supplying Kai’s life at the moment, so naturally his body feels weak, unaccustomed to sharing manna to someone else.
Kai notices this and presses his lips against Kyungsoo’s forehead, before pushing him away; and immediately his skin turns translucent again and Kyungsoo’s cheeks regain their rosy color.
“K-Kai?”
Kai smiles up at him and carefully reaches over to smooth Kyungsoo’s hair off his eyes. There’s that spark at the tip of his fingers again.
“Go to sleep, Kyungsoo.”
There are some things that must be left unchanged in this world, and the Supernatural is one. Kai has refused Kyungsoo’s attempts at ‘bringing him to life’ again. He sternly said that it would be useless if Kyungsoo just lost his in the process. He would rather die than live in a world without him.
Kyungsoo blushed and threw a pillow at him in retaliation, which just passed through his translucent form uselessly. Kai chuckled.
They continued to co-exist in the apartment like that, as human being and ghost; talking and smiling like normal house mates would-or in their case, like soul mates would.
There’s still a lot to work on, more memories to create, more devices to see flicker on and off-and Kyungsoo is quite content with this. As long as he’s got Kai in his life, in his home, it would be enough.
He’s enough.
In all honesty, Kyungsoo found their whole situation weird. Kyungsoo was housing a ghost/spirit in his home. It cost him nothing but coffee, of course, and a little change in the billing for electricity because of the flickering lights every now and then, but he’s grateful for the company-if you ignore the whole talking to another entity situation.
Thankfully though, no one has been questioning why Kyungsoo’s been holed up in his apartment lately, or why there are always freshly wrung coffee smelling rags in his clothesline, or how the said rug floated and hung itself on the clothesline. Heaven knows how he would’ve explained the floating and hanging part.
No one questions why Kyungsoo seems to be always talking to someone, despite being alone in the apartment for as long as the tenants can remember. It would’ve been a big problem if they did.
To an outsider’s point of view, Kyungsoo looked as if he was talking to air, leading them to think that he’s crazy, deranged; a case of losing his marbles. But Kyungsoo, he, he knows the truth.
It’s true that there is someone else living with him-rather, residing with him would be the more appropriate term to use-and that he’s a welcome visitor in his home. He fills up the space Kyungsoo’s Grandmama left in his life, and maybe even more than that.
At least Kyungsoo comes home everyday to a smiling face and a soft voice welcoming him like they’ve been housemates for years. And in turn, Kyungsoo welcomes the weird change into his daily routine.
Before, it was just wake up-eat-go to work- go home- eat-sleep. But now, its wake up-eat-talk to Kai-go to work-go home-talk to Kai-eat-sleep.
Kai.
The ghost that made him feel complete again.
His soul mate.
The rain stopped pouring and pinpricks of the sun’s rays are peeking through gray clouds.
The hotdog vendor is back out on the street and is selling hotdogs on sticks to the little children with drenched shoes but bright spirits. He sees an important looking man shoving off his huge coat, folding it onto his arm. He smiles at someone from the crowd before walking away, smile still in place.
Suddenly, Kyungsoo’s gaze focuses on a new reflection on the window, a handsome man staring at him-with ash colored eyes and ashy blonde hair. He’s translucent, but one touch on Kyungsoo’s shoulder gives him color, he becomes tanned-becomes the beautiful boy he once was when he was still alive.
He smiles at Kyungsoo through the reflection and Kyungsoo smiles back.
The sun is out and shining; its bright rays bathe the crowded streets of Seoul in a certain shade of warmth. Kyungsoo feels the warmth, and is comforted by the thought of handsome smiles from a handsome boy he’s come to love.