You're Safe In The Daylight, But In The Dark I Rise
Title: You're Safe In The Daylight, But In The Dark I Rise
Characters: Boone, Charlie
Pairings: Boone/Charlie
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers for S1 only.
Summary: Extremely belated fic for the Halloween prompt at a_lost_art. Boone confides in Charlie that he believes he is haunted by Theresa.
“Do you believe in ghosts?”
Charlie looked startled at the question; Boone could hardly blame him, the question having come seemingly from nowhere. “Well, I used to when I was a kid, in fact I used to think there was one living in my house. I’d hear banging on my walls in the middle of the night, find my stuff being moved around, hear all these weird noises like whooo whooo whooo. Turned out afterwards it was my brother Liam pretending to be a ghost as some kind of practical joke.” He laughed. “Dad let him have it for that. Then he told me to stop being such a wuss. You’re gonna have to toughen up, soft lad,“ he continued in what Boone assumed was meant to be an impression of his father. “ Learn to be a bloody man! He used to use that argument when he was trying to persuade me to be a butcher like him, as well.”
Charlie smiled for a moment, then fell silent when he saw the look on Boone’s face. “But apart from Liam’s joke, I’m not sure. Why did you ask?”
“Well, when I was about the same age as you were when Liam played his joke on you, I thought my house was haunted too,” Boone admitted. “Except I thought it was haunted by my old nanny, Theresa.”
“How come?” Charlie asked. Boone observed an expression he couldn’t identify pass across Charlie’s face, and wondered if it was some kind of disdain at the fact that Boone had had nannies; everyone knew about the rough estate where the brothers from DriveSHAFT had been brought up. No, he thought, that was dumb. Charlie probably just thought the whole concept of the house being haunted by the nanny was weird.
“She fell down the stairs, broke her neck. I’d just called her for some really stupid reason. I did that a lot at the time, I just kinda needed someone to take things out on because my mother was never around, too busy building up her wedding company.”
Charlie looked down at his hands. “I’m sorry.”
“But not long after that,” Boone continued, “there was one time when I was heading down the stairs in the middle of the night, and I fell...except I wasn’t sure that I did. I thought I’d been pushed.”
“And you thought it was Theresa?” Charlie looked sceptical; Boone had to admit he couldn’t blame him. He might not have believed it himself in other circumstances.
“I know that sounds crazy, but there were the other nannies as well. Not Maria, because my mother fired her, but there were a couple who left, one without giving any explanation, but one of them, Martha, left saying there was something about the room, Theresa’s old room, that freaked her out.”
“You’re sure that there wasn’t some other explanation? Maybe Shannon was playing a joke like Liam was.”
“No, our parents weren’t married back then.” Boone explained. “We moved in with her and her dad after the wedding, which was four years after Theresa died, and it never happened after that....until now.”
“Now?” Charlie asked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that I thought I saw Theresa earlier, here on this island, I thought she was in the jungle, and I ran after her, but the next thing I knew, she’d gone. And I don’t even know how that can be possible.”
“You and I both saw a polar bear in the jungle the other day,” Charlie pointed out. “How is that possible?”
“So you think it might be true?” Boone asked. “Theresa’s haunting me as a way of punishing me for what I did?”
Charlie shook his head. “No, I don’t. From what you said, it sounds like that really was an accident. And if Theresa’s really out there, then maybe that’s what she’s trying to tell you, that she doesn’t blame you.” As he reached out and took Boone by the hand, for the first time Boone allowed himself to believe it.
Characters: Boone, Charlie
Pairings: Boone/Charlie
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers for S1 only.
Summary: Extremely belated fic for the Halloween prompt at a_lost_art. Boone confides in Charlie that he believes he is haunted by Theresa.
“Do you believe in ghosts?”
Charlie looked startled at the question; Boone could hardly blame him, the question having come seemingly from nowhere. “Well, I used to when I was a kid, in fact I used to think there was one living in my house. I’d hear banging on my walls in the middle of the night, find my stuff being moved around, hear all these weird noises like whooo whooo whooo. Turned out afterwards it was my brother Liam pretending to be a ghost as some kind of practical joke.” He laughed. “Dad let him have it for that. Then he told me to stop being such a wuss. You’re gonna have to toughen up, soft lad,“ he continued in what Boone assumed was meant to be an impression of his father. “ Learn to be a bloody man! He used to use that argument when he was trying to persuade me to be a butcher like him, as well.”
Charlie smiled for a moment, then fell silent when he saw the look on Boone’s face. “But apart from Liam’s joke, I’m not sure. Why did you ask?”
“Well, when I was about the same age as you were when Liam played his joke on you, I thought my house was haunted too,” Boone admitted. “Except I thought it was haunted by my old nanny, Theresa.”
“How come?” Charlie asked. Boone observed an expression he couldn’t identify pass across Charlie’s face, and wondered if it was some kind of disdain at the fact that Boone had had nannies; everyone knew about the rough estate where the brothers from DriveSHAFT had been brought up. No, he thought, that was dumb. Charlie probably just thought the whole concept of the house being haunted by the nanny was weird.
“She fell down the stairs, broke her neck. I’d just called her for some really stupid reason. I did that a lot at the time, I just kinda needed someone to take things out on because my mother was never around, too busy building up her wedding company.”
Charlie looked down at his hands. “I’m sorry.”
“But not long after that,” Boone continued, “there was one time when I was heading down the stairs in the middle of the night, and I fell...except I wasn’t sure that I did. I thought I’d been pushed.”
“And you thought it was Theresa?” Charlie looked sceptical; Boone had to admit he couldn’t blame him. He might not have believed it himself in other circumstances.
“I know that sounds crazy, but there were the other nannies as well. Not Maria, because my mother fired her, but there were a couple who left, one without giving any explanation, but one of them, Martha, left saying there was something about the room, Theresa’s old room, that freaked her out.”
“You’re sure that there wasn’t some other explanation? Maybe Shannon was playing a joke like Liam was.”
“No, our parents weren’t married back then.” Boone explained. “We moved in with her and her dad after the wedding, which was four years after Theresa died, and it never happened after that....until now.”
“Now?” Charlie asked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that I thought I saw Theresa earlier, here on this island, I thought she was in the jungle, and I ran after her, but the next thing I knew, she’d gone. And I don’t even know how that can be possible.”
“You and I both saw a polar bear in the jungle the other day,” Charlie pointed out. “How is that possible?”
“So you think it might be true?” Boone asked. “Theresa’s haunting me as a way of punishing me for what I did?”
Charlie shook his head. “No, I don’t. From what you said, it sounds like that really was an accident. And if Theresa’s really out there, then maybe that’s what she’s trying to tell you, that she doesn’t blame you.” As he reached out and took Boone by the hand, for the first time Boone allowed himself to believe it.