#reading this makes me feel like my house is gonna get contaminated with ghosts now

[noknowshame]

pharsalia reads like one of those dark web pages where you can listen to horrifyingly graphic mp3 files documenting the history of plane crashes except you discover that the site stopped updating like two decades ago because it turns out the guy who ran it worked in one of the twin towers

[shinygoldstar]

Midnight Snack

DannyMay Day 11: Midnight

(Also DannyMay Shadow, Scars, Power, Nature, Seasons, Teeth can you find them all?)

Word Count: 2271 (not beta’d. experimental writing)

Warning: mentions of ghost cannibalism, nothing explicit

@floralflowerpower ​ – for that ghost cannibalism post

(it’s 1 am so i’m gonna sleep now. might post on AO3 later)

Edit: AO3 Added!

.

It was mid-October. The leaves are starting to turn yellow heralding the approaching autumn. Danny was happy because that meant the unusually hot weather is almost over. It wasn’t that he’s melting from the heat- quite the opposite, he’s probably the only person in Amity that isn’t sweltering under the sun with his cold core. But due to this exact same reason, his cooler body temperature also drew in water vapor which condenses on his skin, pooling into beads of water dripping down his shirt, making him appear extra sweaty. He can’t wait for the temperature to be cool enough to not change clothes every few hours. Good thing his clothes are purchased by the dozen; no one really noticed him wearing new sets of clothes throughout the day.

.

It was the contaminated fridge foods that disappeared first. No one missed them. At least until they can’t find the mutated turkeys for their annual Thanksgiving hunting event.

.

Danny yawned as he and his friends entered Fenton Works. Autumn is comfy. Just the right temperature where he can wear loose clothing and not be stared at for being underdressed for the weather. No ‘sweating’ either. His mouth closed with a click, a bit too fast on his new fangs. Danny winced. The fangs seemed to have grown longer overnight again. At this rate Danny won’t be able to pass them off as normal pointy canine teeth for much longer. It didn’t hurt but the itch is annoying. Danny took a detour to the fridge, grabbing an ice cube from the freezer and popped it into his mouth, absentmindedly chewing on the cubes to take the edge off the itch as they walked down to the basement lab. His parents are at a paranormal convention at a nearby city and won’t be back until tomorrow. Danny and his friends gladly took the opportunity to do their ‘Danny’s quarterly fitness test’.

Danny flipped on the light switch and walked to the center of the lab, transforming into his ghost form. “Okay I’m ready. What’s first on the list?”

Tucker dropped his bag and took out a piece of notebook paper, “Okay, first we gotta do the baseline measurements. Height, weight, temperature, and the ecto reading.” Sam dug through her sports bag, pulling out the measurement tape. She held it against Danny, eyes scanning the tape measurement numbers. “Still the same height.”

Tucker nodded, noting down the measurement in Danny’s health notebook. “Next, weight.” Danny stood over the scale. “Yup, still the same weight too.”  

.

Then it was the ecto-samples that Jack misplaced in the kitchen fridge. Jack warned everyone a few days later (everyone knows to avoid glowing food on normal basis so the delayed warning is mostly just courtesy), but no one could find where it went and assumed it grew legs to join the other tiny ecto-samples lurking as their equivalent of household pests. (No matter how often Maddie tried to patch up the mouse hole it keeps reappearing in the same shape but in a different part of the house as if the original mouse hole got transplanted from its original location)

.

“Lunch Lady’s right. You need to eat more. You’re still as skinny as ever.” Sam remarked as Danny took the thermometer out of his mouth. “76 F. The ghosts keep attacking me all day and night. You’d think my parents would notice when a ghost sneaks pass them while they work in the lab but I triggered all their ghost alarms just by being in the house so they deactivated the system when I’m around. They must’ve kept it turned off during the day too.”

“Tough luck dude. Ecto scan next.” Tucker passed the scanner to Sam while Danny stood still for her to scan. The machine beeped, “Wow 6.8, that’s quite a jump from last quarter’s 5.1”

“Maybe it was from all the ghost fighting I did over the summer?”

.

As the leaves began to fall from the branches, ghost attacks lessened in frequency. Not looking the gift horse in the mouth Danny happily enjoyed the lack of ghost attacks to focus more on his studies. If he did well enough, he might even get Bs for his efforts. He also managed to avoid getting detention for the entire week much to the relief of everyone involved.

.

Two days before Thanksgiving, the Fentons finally remembered their turkeys. But by then it was gone. In a rush, they quickly purchased a pre-made turkey instead. While Danny enjoyed the fact that they’re having a normal family dinner for once, he can’t help but feel like there’s something off about the chicken. As if it’s missing a particular tangy or zingy flavor that would’ve made it richer in flavor. ‘Must’ve been because it’s overcooked.’

.

"Honey? Have you seen the new ecto-samples I placed in the basement lab fridge?" “Again Jack? This is the third time this month. Have you checked the upstairs fridge?” “I-ah was pretty sure I placed them in the correct fridge this time. Must be some no-good thievin’ ghost.” “I’ll set up the ecto-anti-theft, that’ll get ‘em good! No ghost can escape Jack Fenton for long!”

.

*Intruder Alert* *Intruder Alert*

Red lights peppered with robotic voice and alarm noises lurched Maddie into full alert mode. She quickly took stock of her surroundings and tried to wake Jack up. But Jack had his earplugs on and continued to snore blissfully. A loud knock on the door caught her attention. “What’s going on mom?” Jazz’s voice floated through the door. Maddie quickly rose to open the bedroom door, swiftly pulled Jazz in and locked the door. “Jazz dear, try to wake your dad up. I’ll go check on the intruder.” Maddie strode quietly to the door then paused, “Have you checked on Danny?” Jazz bit her lips and looked away for a moment “-ah yeah! Danny’s snoring so loud he can’t hear the alarm.” Maddie twisted the doorknob but paused, hesitating. “He’s fine mom.” Jazz reassures her. “If Danny wakes up, he’ll come here first. I’ll let him know what’s going on.”

The alarm rang loudly in her ears as she walked down the stairs to the basement lab, its loud ringing noise effectively covering up the sound of her footsteps. Reaching the basement floor, Maddie quickly crept over to hide behind the shelf on her left, eyes scanning the lab for the intruder.

The glass jars clinked as a shadow moved about the fridge. A very familiar shadow. That didn’t glow. Maddie turned on the lab lights. “Danny?” she started, carefully walking over to face him, her eyes still scanning him to check if he’s really her Danny. The faint, barely noticeable scar on his eyebrow from his attempt to fly off the tree when he was five is there confirming his identity.

“What are you doing down here-?” Maddie noticed the glowing jar in his hand, “and what exactly are you doing?” Danny hazily stared at her; eyes half-lidded. Maddie snapped her fingers to get his attention. Danny didn’t blink. “He's still not awake, Danny come on wake up!”, she shook his shoulders. “Huh? Wuzzat?” Danny groggily woke up. He blinked in confusion.

Finally aware of his surroundings, Danny looked down at his right hand that still held the glowing sample. “Aah!” Danny yelped dropping the sample, then realizing he dropped the sample, tries to catch the jar, fumbling clumsily. Maddie would’ve laughed if it was anywhere else but in this situation. “Danny, do you remember what you were doing?”

“I was doing my homework and was craving for a good cheeseburger?”

---

“And the half-opened jar of ectoplasm?”

“Pickles?”

---

“Dude are you for real? That was priceless!” Tucker crowed with laughter. Sam leaned away from Tucker to avoid the meat spittle, “Urgh! Gross Tucker! Swallow it before you speak!”

Danny grumbled into his glass of milkshake, “’s not funny Tuck. you didn't see her face. She was about ready to scan me for signs of ecto-possession. Good thing my lie about craving cheeseburger and opening the wrong fridge worked. Otherwise I’d be in big trouble if she scanned me now with my latest ecto-reading. Anyways I'm banned from the lab now.” Danny bit into his burger.

“So what really happened there dude? Did you seriously sleepwalk into the basement lab?”

“I think so? I don’t really remember anything before Mom found me in the lab. Only that I was feeling a bit hungry.”

.

The ghosts stopped coming. Everyone in Amity held their breath when there were no ghost attacks for two weeks straight, then a month. Then two months, three. No ghosts. They let out their collective breath. It might be too soon to hope but for now they will enjoy their ghost-free, perfectly ordinary life. It feels a bit strange to not have ghost related interruptions as part of their daily routine but they didn’t miss the ghost-related reconstruction expenses. The local insurance company employees received a nice bonus for the ghost-free month.

.

By the time March rolled in, Danny is restless. “Guys, there's definitely something big going on.”, he waved his hands for emphasis. “The Fenton portal is still open yet no ghost came through? Not even Boxy since the North District warehouse thing last month. There’s definitely something big going on. I've been taking the ghost-free break for granted for a while now and it helped save my grades but this is too big to ignore.”

“Dude, maybe it’s because you’re much more powerful now? Your latest reading last week is 8.2. None of the ghosts we’ve met so far is above 6 except for Vlad and the Ghost King.” Tucker suggested.

“You might have a point there, Tucker. We haven’t seen any of the ghosts bothering Vlad so far and he’s definitely higher than 6.” Sam added.

Danny frowned, “Maybe you’re right but I just have this nagging feeling that that’s not quite it.”

.

Danny entered the Zone with little fanfare. The area around the Fenton portal looked normal enough, the usual rocks and clouds of debris are still floating around in their usual areas. Danny aimlessly passed through the nooks and crannies, ducking under the endless spiral staircase, not entirely sure of what to look for. The Zone felt a bit quiet today but Danny haven’t been to the Zone that frequently to be certain about it.

.

The Ghost Zone, while still filled with random bits of odds and ends felt empty somehow. It wasn't until he sighted Skulker that he realized he hasn't seen any of the tiny blog ghosts nor the occasional passerby ghosts through his trip.

.

Luckily or unluckily, Danny quickly spotted someone he knew in the distance. As if called, Skulker turned his head towards Danny, then veered sharply to the left and flew fast in Danny's opposite direction, a first for the self-proclaimed hunter to not hunt his favorite prey. ‘Something's not right and Skulker definitely knows something.’ Danny thought.

Danny quickly chased after him; Skulker could never beat Danny at speed chase even at his best, and he won't be winning today's unplanned race either. “Hey Skulker! What’s going on?” Danny yelled over the gap between them but Skulker gave no reply, diving down deep into the reddish forest ravines of the island below. Not to be deterred, Danny did a quick aerial flip, adjusting his flight angle to follow down Skulker’s path. Danny soon caught up to Skulker and launched him into a nearby rock with sticky ectoplasm to hold him still long enough to talk. Skulker ejected from his metal suit but Danny was faster and caught the real ghost before he can escape.

.

(Why is Skulker fleeing?)

.

"Hey Skulker, not hunting me for once?" Danny asked teasingly.

Skulker paled (Danny never knew ghosts can turn pale) and squirmed even more. Danny's smile dropped.

"What’s going on Skulker?" he asked worriedly. “None of the ghosts have appeared in the human world and the Zone looks empty somehow”

Skulker squirmed a bit more but realizing he’s stuck finally said, “Ghost Child, haven’t you ever wondered why the Infinite Realms is never overcrowded?”

Danny frowned, puzzled as to where this leads to. “How is this related to this situation?” Skulker stared at Danny stunned.

“What?” Danny asked, suddenly self-conscious, “-was there something I was supposed to know about?”

Skulker sighed, unconsciously loosening a bit of his tension, “You’re so young. So very young. We Ghosts don’t fade as fast as Newcomers arrive from your world. In the Realms, there's a natural system that keeps the population under control. An ecosystem. There's predator and there's prey. And then there's the Apex Predator. There's a reason why Dark was feared. It wasn't just for his harsh rule. It was because he was the Apex Predator.”

Danny struck at the odd wording, "’Was’? Was that because he got sealed?” Danny paused, “But wait- if he's sealed, he would still be the Apex predator. So how-? Wait. Did I?"

Skulker nodded, "Good you're catching on fast. By defeating Pariah Dark, you have proven to the Realms that you're the best candidate for the Apex Predator. And with the new status comes sets of conducts, one your body instincts know well. You've been culling down the uncontrolled excess from Pariah Dark's sleep quite fast. Your hunger would settle down soon of course once balance has been re-established in the Realms."

“But- How- Wait- What-?” Danny looked down at his hand “Hey Skulker--!” but his hand is bare.

.

Danny’s lips tasted oddly tangy, energized.  

.

.

.

-----

(Skulker might've slipped out of Danny's slack hand while Danny is in shock. Danny might've bit his lips hard enough to bleed. It's not that hard with his new fangs. But this is just speculation...)

[yikesharringrove]

Please give us something where Nancy and the wheelers do not take Steve/billy coming out well, I mean it’s the Regan admin in the 80’s, so in comes good bro Jonathan. He supports Steve/billy, because he likes that Will now gets to see a healthy m/m relationship and gets to feel less alone. I just want Jonathan, Joyce and Hopper loving and supporting Steve and billy. I want Jon talking sense into Nancy, while Joyce goes feral mom on the wheelers. Our boys need more awesome family.

So, a LOT of homophobic, ignorant language. Karen is awful (I HATE her in canon, so this just gave me an excuse to make her even MORE terrible).

Also I don’t think I’ve written Mike before. It was kinda fun.

This is not the most Nancy positive piece also.

Read on ao3!

“I don’t want you around that Harrington boy anymore.”

Mike blinked. He didn’t know when his mom stopped referring to him as Steve with that disgusting fucking dreamy quality to her voice, and switched it out for practically spitting his last name.

Maybe it was around the same time he and Billy got outed by Billy’s shitty dad.

Basically, Neil had come home to find Billy and Steve messing around. He had slapped Billy around, and kicked him out. Steve’s parents did the same when Neil got a hold of Mr. Harrington’s secretary to track them down on vacation somewhere in Europe. Apparently they had come home as soon as possible and Steve was crying in the Hendersons’ spare room, his cheek bruised.

Billy had been taken in by Joyce and Hop, in the new, slightly larger house they had bought for their combined family, had insisted he was fine on his own, until Joyce put her foot down, said she would not take no for an answer, it was either move in, or she lived on the streets with him. He moved in that same afternoon.

“And we know he’s at the Hendersons’. We don’t want you going over there.”

“Why not? You think he’s gonna turn me gay or something?”

“Well, Michael, we just don’t want you in a situation with someone like that. We’re trying to keep you safe.” Mike made a face.

“If he was gonna do something gross to me, he would’ve done it by now. You know how many times he’s driven me home? Alone?”

“And it makes my skin crawl just thinking about what could’ve happened, Mike! Your father and I are just trying to protect you. Claudia practically threw a fit when I told her it wasn’t safe to have that boy in the house with Dustin. Don’t you think their relationship is, odd? I think he’s, well I think he’s already gotten to poor Dustin, and that boy is just, he’s too scared to say anything.”

“Are you serious? Steve’s a nice guy! Kind of a dumbass, but he’s nice. He wouldn’t do that.” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“You can never be sure with these people. They can’t control themselves. And it’s more than that! We don’t know if he has that, that disease. Nobody knows how it’s spreading!”

“Aren’t you forgetting that he dated Nancy for like, a year? Wouldn’t she have gotten it?” Mrs. Wheeler literally shivered. Acted as though a fucking ghost passed through her.

“Oh, believe me, I’ll be taking Nancy to the doctor myself. And while we’re discussing it, I don’t want you at the Byers’ either. That Hargrove boy is with them and that’s who Steve was caught with.” Mike’s eyes bugged out.

“But, El lives with them! Are you seriously saying I can’t go over to any of my friends’ houses, or see my girlfriend?”

“No, you can go see Lucas. He’s not contaminated.” He just scoffed at her, stomping up to his room, passing Nancy on the way.

“Can you fucking believe her? She said we can’t go to the Byers’ anymore because Billy is there, and I’m not allowed to see Will or Dustin or El, let alone Steve.”

“She’s just trying to keep us safe.” He gawked at her.

“Not you too, Jesus Nancy!” He made sure to slam his door behind him.

The next day he told his mom he and Lucas were going to The Hawke. They rode their bikes over to the Byers’ instead.

Mrs. Henderson’s car was out front behind where the Camaro sat under a tarp. Billy hadn’t been taking his car anywhere, it was too recognizable for this town. Steve’s car was still in the drive in front of his parents’ house, scratches in the side from keys, an F-word of choice spray painted over the hood. Steve was told not to touch anything his parents had provided for him when he had to pack his shit and leave. Jonathan had had to pick him up and drive him to Dustin’s.

They left their bikes out front. Max’s skateboard was on the porch. The two boys raised their eyebrows at one another. Max was forbidden to see Billy, was really playing with fire.

“Hey boys!” Mrs. Byers greeted as they slammed their way inside, “Everyone is in Will’s room.” Will had a nice setup at their new place. Jonathan and Billy were sharing the largest room, and had been getting along well, much to everyone’s surprise. El had taken the small room, said she wouldn’t know what to do with herself in too much space, so Will was able to squeeze a table in his room, used it for his art and DnD games. When they went inside, El and Max shot up to hug their boys. Billy was sitting the squashy chair by the open window, smoking with Steve perched in his lap. Will and El had been lounged on the bed, Jonathan sitting against the wall on the floor, on music duty. Everyone waved lazily at them.

“My mom’s officially cracked. She told me I wasn’t allowed to be here anymore. Or your house.” He nodded to Dustin from where he was sitting at the little table, going through Will’s sketches.

“Yeah she came over to our place and yelled about how Steve has obviously been molesting me and has AIDS and stuff.” He said it lazily.

“Yep and it was really funny and I love reliving it.” Steve huffed, taking the cigarette from Billy’s hand, taking a drag and blowing it out the window.

“She told me she’s gonna take Nancy to the doctor to get tested for it.” Steve stood up, storming out of the room, the door slamming behind him.

“She wasn’t so nervous about this shit when she was trying to fuck me last summer.” Billy flicked the butt out the window, following Steve yelling Princess, slow down, would ya?

“What did Nancy say?” Jonathan had stopped flicking through tapes. Mike shrugged, stealing Billy and Steve’s spot in the good chair.

“She just said Mom was trying to keep us safe.” He furrowed his brows.

“She really, she said that?” He stood up. “I have to make a call.” He swept out of the room, no doubt going to confront his girlfriend.

“This whole thing is really hurting Steve. I can hear him crying most nights. He thinks he’s quiet about it, but he’s never quiet.” Dustin shuddered. “The things I’ve heard.”

“Happy screams?” El laughed as Dustin mimed throwing up.

“I’d like to clarify that I don’t think it’s gross because they’re both guys, but hearing your brother have sex is not ideal in any situation.”

“Don’t let Steve hear you call him your brother, he’ll probably cry over it.” Max laughed dryly from the floor. “I didn’t know someone could cry so damn much.” Dustin rolled his eyes.

“He’s a sensitive soul! And he’s going through a lot. Don’t make fun of Steve.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Stevie?” Billy found Steve outside, sitting on the back porch. He sat down next to him, lighting two cigarettes, passing one to Steve.

“I just, just can’t believe she would, would say that.” His hands were shaking. “About, about Nancy.”

“She’s a bitch, Baby.” He tucked Steve under his arm. “But she shouldn’t have, shouldn't have said that.”

“It just makes me feel like shit that the kids have been pulled into this now.”

“I know, Baby. Me too.” He kissed the top of his head. “But we’ll figure this out. Once I graduate, we’ll get the fuck outta here. Take the kids with us if we gotta.” Steve chuckled

“I think we could all do with at least four fresh starts, each.” Billy laughed into his hair.

“You boys doing okay?” Joyce had poked her head out. “I heard some banging around.

“Sorry, Joyce. Steve was being dramatic.” Steve slapped Billy on the chest as he pulled away.

“Sorry, Joyce. Just got mad.” She came and sat down with them.

“Anything I can help with?”

“Not unless you want to slash Karen Wheeler’s tires with me.” Steve slapped Billy’s chest again.

“What? What did she do?”

“She just said some stuff to Nancy and Mike.” She raised an eyebrow at Steve. He sighed. “About, about how she doesn’t, doesn’t want Mike over here, or at Dustin’s. She said, said it’s not safe or something.” He couldn’t look her in the eye.

She was immediately, righteously, furious.

“She said it’s not safe? You know, I was wondering why she would never come down my line at Melvald’s anymore. That awful woman! She doesn’t even know you two! It’s been wonderful having you around. Both of you.” She was looking at them, eyes wide and sharp.

“We just, we feel bad bringing all this onto you, your families.” Billy offered.

“Well don’t. You two are our family. No question about it.” Steve’s eyes were welling up. “And in this family, we care about each other, protect each other, and don’t listen when the Karen Wheelers of the world are saying stupid, stupid things.” Steve launched himself at her, hugging her tightly. Billy joined in, both boys smothering her with their combined weight.

She patted both their cheeks when they pulled back.

“Plus, I’ve always gotten this feeling about Will. I think you two are good for him. Show him he can be happy.”

“Hello?”

“Nancy? Hey, it’s Jonathan.”

“Oh, Jon! Hi! What are you up to?”

“Well, nothing much. I was just informed that your mom may have said some shit to Mike about Billy and Steve?”

“Wait, is he there? He’s not supposed to be-”

“You don’t, you don’t agree with her? Do you?” Nancy sighed down the line. Jonathan’s heart sank.

“Well, I don’t quite know what to think anymore, Jon.”

“So accusing Steve of being a child molester is the what you’re going with?”

“No! I mean, I don’t think he would, but, it just, it makes you think. He was always, kind of, I don’t know, obsessed with the kids.” Jonathan nearly slammed the phone back onto the receiver.

“Are you fucking kidding? You’re serious? He likes the kids because they like him! He likes taking care of people! The kids need him!”

“Well, and maybe, maybe a part of me feels kind of, hurt. I mean, he dated me for a whole year Jon, and then, acted all hurt when I broke it off like, like that’s not what he wanted the whole time!”

“Some people like both, Nancy! He loved you and was hurt when you broke it off! Now he loves Billy, and that has nothing to do with you!”

“But he lied to me! For that whole time we were together!”

“What would’ve happened if he had told you? What if I said I like guys too, what would you do?”

“Jon, don’t be gross.”

“See! He couldn’t have told you. It’s not safe for people like them!” He laughed coldly. “How many times has Steve saved our fucking lives Nancy? The kids lives? I can’t believe, after everything, you would just, just do this.”

“What? Worry about the safety of my little brother? You think I don’t worry about you sharing a room with Billy every night?”

“You know what we do in that room, Nancy? We talk about our shitty dads, and get high, and listen to music. We don’t, he doesn’t make moves on me. Gay people aren’t inherently rapists.”

“I never said they were!”

“No, you just implied it heavily. Look, Nancy. Why don’t we take some time. You can make up your mind about your friends, and we’ll talk when you decide if you’re going to be a decent person or not.”

“Wait, are you, are you breaking up with me? Over this?”

“This is a serious issue, Nancy! I can’t be with someone who thinks that way!”

“Is this, are you trying to tell me you’re like them?”

“No, Nancy. I’m not trying to tell you anything. What I am telling you, is that I don’t want to date a bigot. Call me if you ever decide not to be one.” He slammed down the phone, chest heaving.

“Did you just dump her?” Will’s eyes were wide in the doorway.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“She said some really shitty stuff about Steve and Billy. And by extension, all gay men.” He could see Will swallow.

“And you, you dumped her for that?”

“I can’t date someone who hates people for who they love. I don’t need that in my life.” Will was blinking hard as he stumbled toward Jonathan. he hugged him tightly. “Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah, I, I’m good.” He smiled at him before walking back towards his room.

[walterdecourceys]

happy belated holidays, @stubbornness-and-spite ! i was you secret santa & i've written a Thing !

gonna go ahead & tag @sanderssidesgiftxchange so that they see this

link to read on ao3

or read it under the cut:

“Hypothetically, what would I do if my attic was contaminated with ghosts?”

Logan adjusted his glasses and stared up at the man that had just walked into his office. “I’m sorry?”

“Ghosts. In my attic. What would you suggest?” The man fluffed up his dirty blonde hair and looked at Logan inquisitively.

“Sir, while I’d love to help you with your… ghosts, you can’t just storm in here without an appointment. Do you know the number of people we get in here every day? You’re probably holding up quite a few people who have been waiting for weeks to speak with me.”

“I’m not, actually! I talked to the lovely old ladies in the lobby, and told them my story and all, and they were nice enough to let me go first! They said that ‘if that man has any sense, he’ll give you the proper advice and send you on your way very quickly.’”

“Well I don’t know what kind of advice you want, sir. I don’t know what the problem is.”

“My attic is contaminated with ghosts,” the man repeated.

“Well yes, I heard that. Would you like to be more specific? How do you know about this infestation, what would you like me to do about it, do you think you know these ghosts…”

“I heard these very strange noises- and not like normal strange noises, like ‘oh that’s a weird noise but it’s probably just the neighbors’ strange- like properly strange. They sounded like children’s voices? Which was weird, because we don’t have children in our house and the two couples next to us don’t have children either, they live alone. Very sweet, though. One of them made cookies for me once, and they weren’t nearly as good as Patton’s but they were probably a close second. Don’t tell him I said that though. He gets very touchy about his ba-”

“While this all sounds very interesting, I would prefer if you stayed on topic, Mister…”

“Baker. Roman Baker.”

“Right. Well, Mister Baker, please focus on the topic at hand.”

“Of course.” Roman took a drink from his water bottle. “So, I checked with Patton- Patton is my husband- and he said that he had heard the children’s voices too, and it sounded like they were coming from the attic. So we went up to the attic, and we didn’t see anything, but the children’s voices were definitely stronger. There were three, I think? Yeah. Three. Anyways, I went downstairs to google what if means if there are children’s voices in your attic, and google said it meant ghosts, so then I googled what I should do about that, and google said to go to a professional who specializes in ghosts, so then I googled the nearest professional who specializes in ghosts, and-”

“I think I get the point, Mister Baker, thank you.”

“Um. You’re welcome?”

Logan took off his glasses and rubbed his forehead. “Alright. Here’s what I’m going to do, Mister Baker. I will go over to your house. I will check to see if there really are ghosts in your attic, and if so, I will help you deal with them. If not, I am going to leave your house and I am not coming back.”

“Yes, sir!” Roman gave him a mock salute. “I’ll show you to my house, it’s not a far walk.”

 

So that was how Logan ended up Roman’s attic, eating slightly melted chocolate chip cookies and talking to ghost children.

Roman’s apparently-not-technically-his-husband (“we don’t have plans to get married, we don’t want the fuss,” Patton had explained. “Roman’s just dramatic.”) was standing next to him, watching pretty much everything Logan did with awe. Roman was on Logan’s other side, not paying attention to Logan at all and instead flipping through what looked like an old family photo album.

Roman had actually ended up being correct: There were ghosts in his attic, and they were the ghosts of three children. Logan had performed his typical summoning spells and the ghosts were now visible and much easier to hear, but that didn’t mean they were easy to talk to. So far, the only thing that Logan had been able to figure out was that they had died together, and that one of them blamed their death on the other two (although the other two denied this vehemently). He hadn’t even been able to get their names.

The tallest ghost in room, as well as the most talkative one, was explaining in detail how it felt to die. Logan was mostly trying to tune this out- it was far to early to be having an existential crisis about this sort of thing. He was more focused on getting the other two to talk, although they didn’t seem to want to.

“Look, uh- what did you say your name was?”

“Remus!”

“Look, Remus. I’m sure that dying feels very strange, and I understand that you want to tell me about it. But would you mind pausing your story for a moment so that I can talk to your other…. friends?”

“No.”

“No? What do you mean, no?”

“I mean, JayJay and VeeVee don’t wanna talk! I’m talking for them.”

“....I see. How do you know what they want to say?”

“I don’t know 100% for sure, but I know that JayJay usually wants to say something like ‘I don’t trust you and I think you’re gonna try to kill us again,’ and then VeeVee says ‘you can’t die twice idiot,’ and then JayJay says-”

“Thank you, I think I get the picture.” Logan rubbed his head and then turned to Roman and Patton, who were watching him with concerned expressions. “I am going to have a brief meeting with my- colleagues- about this situation. Will you two be okay up in the attic until we come back?”

“Hey, we survived five years in here alone,” said the ghost in the purple hoodie. “We’ll probably be fine. Unless Jan tries to kill us.”

“I couldn’t kill you, we’re already dead!” protested the third ghost. “That’s not how dying works, you moron.”

“See, I was right,” Remus said cheerfully. “But yes, I think we will be okay!”

Logan nodded and headed downstairs, motioning for the other two to follow him.

“Look,” he said once they were all standing in the kitchen. “I don’t think these ghosts can easily be rehabilitated.”

“Re-ha-what? Isn’t rehabilitation for like…. yknow, criminals?” Patton chimed in from where he’s standing by the stove.

“No. Well yes, but that’s not what I meant here. Christ, you two don’t seem to know anything about ghosts. Anyway. In this business rehabilitation refers to moving the ghosts to an empty house or building where they can live in peace and not bother the living. However, judging by these ghosts’ deminor, and the fact that they’re children, I highly doubt that will be a possibility.”

“So what do you suggest we do, then?” Roman asked.

“Well. There’s always the option of, um.” Logan lowered his voice. “Killing the ghosts. Well not killing per se, but there are…. methods. To get rid of them.”

“That’s horrible!” Patton cried. “They’re kids!”

“I never said I liked it, Patton, just that it was a possibility.”

“Well is there anything else we could do? I don’t know if they’d like being in the attic forever… and oh no, what if we move? Or die? What’ll happen to them then? We can’t just-”

“Hey.” Roman placed a hand on Patton’s shoulder. “We’ll figure it out, kay?”

Patton smiled weakly back at his boyfriend, then looked back at Logan. “What do you suggest we do, then?”

Logan sighed. “I suppose there’s always the option of… fostering the ghosts.”

“Fostering?”

“Yes. A situation in which adult living beings help to take care of undead children. They don’t need to eat or sleep or… do anything, really, but they’re still children and still need parental guidance. If someone were to foster them, they’d check in on them daily, make sure they’re doing okay and have enough entertainment, that sort of thing.”

Patton’s eyes lit up. “Roman! We could be parents!”

“I- that does sound… really nice, actually.” Roman smiled. “Would you be helping us?” He asked, nodding at Logan.

Logan blinked. “What?”

“Will you be helping us to foster the ghosts?”

“I- I mean obviously, I’ll get you all set up with the papers and make sure everything’s set up-”

“That’s not what I meant. Will you be helping us take care of the ghosts?”

Logan paused, flustered. Roman wanted him to help? Hadn’t they just met?

Or, alternatively, Roman didn’t want him to help and was trying to figure out weather Logan felt the same way. Well if that was the case, good. Logan definitely didn’t want to have to deal with those annoying ghost children every day, or Roman and his bouncy boyfriend/fiance/person.

Right. He totally didn’t care about them. He totally didn’t think that they were cute. At all.

“I, uh. Only if you want me to, Mister- Roman.”

“I do want you to! But, ah. Only if it’s not a bother to you.”

“I do have, uh. Work, and things like that.” Logan pushed up his glasses. “But, I suppose…. I could always ask for some time off. To help you with your endeavors.”

Patton stifled a squeal. “Oh, you would? Thank you, that’d be really- really nice.”

“Yes. Well. I am known for being nice,” Logan joked. “Um, how about I start by coming over at 4 pm every Tuesday? To start, at least.”

Both Roman and Patton beamed. “That sounds lovely.”

 

_______

 

So that was how Logan ended up taking care of three of the most stubborn ghost children he’d ever met.

He started, as he had promised he would, by coming over every at 4 PM every Tuesday. At first he just stayed for an hour before heading back to work. He’d come in, eat cookies and chat with Patton, then go upstairs and ask the ghosts how they were doing. Usually this last part lead to Logan storming out with a headache, but he got used to it.

The ghosts were actually quite sweet, once they started to trust Logan more. They were rather insightful, for seven year olds, even though they kept stopping every two seconds to argue with each other.

He taught all of them how to play chess, although only Janus seemed really into it. He asked them about their former families and lives (who were all dead now, unfortunately) and let Virgil cry on his shoulder. And when they were ready, he helped them find the skeletons of their old bodies and taught Remus about how to keep them safe and clean.

He really was starting to get attached to them, wasn’t he.

And there were… other reasons. That Logan kept staying longer. But those didn’t matter right now.

By the time a couple months had gone by Logan was coming over practically every day after work and spending hours at the house. It got to the point that he even slept over a few times, although only when it was absolutely necessary and he couldn’t drive home because it was too dark. Obviously.

He was starting to get closer to Patton and Roman as well. He learned that Patton worked at a bakery, but that he wanted to start up his own company. That Roman did acting at a local theater and was hoping to make it big in Broadway, although he mostly dismissed it as a silly dream. That they were actually quite excited about the ghosts, because they’d always wanted kids of their own. That they were both trans, something Logan was very excited to discover they had in common.

Unfortunately, Logan’s boss wasn’t a fan of how he was starting to spend his time. She told him that if he was going to keep spending his time, quote, “playing with bratty ghost children instead of exterminating them,” he would be fired, or at the very least demoted.

Obviously this was a bit of a problem.

Logan didn’t want to leave his job. It payed well, he liked the work, and his coworkers were friendly enough. But… honestly, if given the choice between staying with Roman, Patton and the ghosts and continuing to work… he’d choose the ghosts.

So he quit. Well, technically his boss called him in to her office to fire him, but he handed in his letter of resignation before she could say anything, so it was hard to tell who fired who, but the thought was still there.

He lived at his house for a while- there were enough ghosts in his neighborhood that necromancers were in high demand, even unemployed ones. But once Roman found out about his predicament he practically insisted that Logan move in with he and Patton, saying that there were far more ghosts in their town anyway and that they’d be honored to have him, really.

So he moved in with them. There were only two bedrooms, one for Patton and one for Roman (Roman had issues with touch, apparently) but that was okay because both Logan and Patton were willing to share a bed. The house was a bit small for three people plus ghosts, just in general, but no one ever seemed to mind sharing.

And so that was how it went, for a while. Logan lived with Roman and Patton, picking up odd jobs around the neighborhood and helping out Patton with his bakery. It was… good. Right. It felt like it was always supposed to be this way.

Which was why, when Roman and Patton asked to talk to him about something, he felt like he knew what is was going to be.

Which was why, when Roman and Patton admitted that they both had a crush on him, he knew that they were telling the truth. And he knew what they wanted.

They had barely even asked him “will you join our relationship” when Logan had said yes, and they were all laughing and smiling.

And when Patton and Roman both kissed him on the cheek, he knew that this was how he wanted to spend the rest of his life.

[we-are-the-rebellion]

Everything Is Gonna Be Fine - File 003

Date: 3/5/215

Incoming signal:  Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear me? Is there anyone in the wasteland listening to me? Fuck, this is hopeless...  We don’t even know if people are alive out there, we’ve never left the region because of the horror stories we’ve heard. CeeCee are you sure? ...Yeah, right. Ahem! I’m Nate, I’m from the Eastern OQ region, and for the last ten years I’ve been fighting in, well to put it lightly, a pretty nasty civil war. The group I was with has been mostly killed or captured and our leader is missing, presumed dead. Please, if someone is out there and can hear this, we need supplies. Wait what’s- Shit! CeeCee get down they found-

Outgoing message: Nous vous entendons. Sur routre chemin.

__________________________

Date: 28/4/215

Location: Wasteland

   Kenji had been out in the wasteland for three weeks now. After he had finished reading that repulsive public broadcast, he had stolen some gear and had gone over the wall. It was... Scary. He hated admitting it, he thought it made him look like a child watching a spooky film. But what else was he supposed to feel in that moment? He had grown up with stories about the radioactive monsters that lived in the wasteland beyond the wall. When someone died of The Sickness, their body was thrown over the wall so as not to contaminate anywhere else. That was what the wasteland had always been; radiation, horror stories and disease. That was the only reason he had never run, never jumped the wall and escaped the horrors of living as one of Toronto’s lower class citizens. When Jesse had appeared from the west, it marked something new, something interesting. Jesse was proof you could be in the wasteland and survive. Now obviously, Jesse had had state of the art anti-rad equipment and survival gear, and he had been driven or flown most of the way, only having to walk for the last 400 or so kilometres. But still. “Only 400 kilometres” was still 400 kilometres, it was only small compared to the 4000+ kilometre journey from the Yukon-BC Region to the Ontario-Quebec Region. 

   Kenji was not a survival expert like Jesse, and he didn’t have state of the art anything, (popular to contrary belief, having a state of the art “resting bitch face” didn’t count) but he wanted to try. After all, he couldn’t stay in OQ. The rich hated him for being the rebel leader, and the poor would no doubt turn on him now that the rebellion was effectively crushed and the elites would start cracking the proverbial whip on their literal asses. Where could he go but the wasteland?

   It was frustrating, to say the least. Kenji had always prided himself on his perceptiveness and spacial awareness. He recognized landmarks better than anyone he knew, and he could navigate the streets of every city in the region with ease. He had even memorized the streets of the ruins of old Toronto, back when it was nearer to the lakes, and that area hadn't been inhabitable since the end of the war. But out here in the wasteland, everything was new, and the goggles he had to wear to protect his eyes were so broken and filthy that he could barely see. He assumed that he had just been wandering in circles for weeks, and honestly wanted to keep it that way until he could get better gear. The unfortunate truth, however, was that might never happen. He was stuck out here.

__________________________

Date: 1/5/215

Location: Wasteland

   As Kenji started to come around, he could hear voices. He closed his eyes and groaned in pain, covering his eyes with his hand. Fuck, he was in so much pain. His head...

   "Where am I..." he muttered. The voices around him got closer.

   "Tu te réveilles maintenant?" one asked. Kenji blinked, trying to focus on something in his surroundings.

   "My head..." he moaned, turning over. The voice sighed and turned away to babble to its companions.

   "Il ne parle pas français. Non."  Wait... Were they speaking French? Fuck... Of all the places to end up, of course it was here. 

   The French person snapped their fingers at him, making him focus back up at them. They had long, dark brown hair and thin, distinguished features. They seemed female, but also just androgynous enough to make him unsure. He had also been told that he shouldn’t assume these types of things.

   “Me comprenez-vous? Comprenez-vous ce que je dis?” they asked him. Kenji knew just enough about the French language from Lewis that he almost understood what the person was saying. Almost.

   “No. Fuck off.” he spat. The person seemed to understand that phrase, and they roughly pulled him to his feet. He stumbled, a wave of nausea passing over him. Life his head was killing him.

   “Parler.” they snapped, jerking him forwards. Kenji snarled defensively. He knew talking to them was going to be useless, so he didn’t bother. Instead, he did the only other logical thing; Muster up all his remaining strength and punch the person in the face.

__________________________

   Kenji was thrown out, but thankfully they didn’t knock him out again. He remembered what was going on now. He had been looking for food, shelter, etc, and had briefly taken off his goggles. He had found a shielded area in the ruins of some old house, safe from the wind. He assumed he would be safe here from the wind blowing anything into his face. As he was crouched behind the wall, cleaning his goggles, someone had come up behind him and ambushed him. Typical. Of course he would find the only shred of remaining human life out here and they would be hostile. He couldn’t blame them, really. It was just annoying.

   What was even more annoying was the fact that he was currently tied to the trunk of a very large tree, unable to move and incapable of fending for himself. His head gear was still off, seeing as his francophone captors hadn’t been kind enough to bring his goggles with them when they tried to crack his head open. He was, figuratively speaking, completely fucked. 

   Footsteps sounded from somewhere nearby. Kenji groaned.

   “Back for round two, assholes?” he snapped.  “Or are you some huge, lumbering, mutant beast come to eat me and use my ribs as toothpicks? Either way, bon apetite you piece of shit, waste of space, rancid, ugly, motherfucking-”

   “Kenji?” 

   That took him off guard. That was Lewis’ voice, wasn’t it? The radiation had gotten to his brain, he was sure of it.

   “No, it’s Carson fucking Pryce.” he muttered sarcastically.  “Just kill me already, put me out of my misery.”

   The thing making the footsteps came around the corner and into Kenji’s field of view.

   “Holy shit! Kenji! You cantankerous old bitch, what the fuck are you doing out here?” Lewis exclaimed, rushing over to free him of his bonds.

   “Getting the best blowjob of my life. What does it look like?”  Lewis stopped.

   “I didn’t think it was physically possible for your personality to get worse. You are full of surprises.” he muttered.

   Kenji was positive he was hallucinating, either due to the concussion the French fuckers had undoubtedly given him or the radiation, and so he wasn’t taking anything seriously. 

   “I doubt that I could surprise you.” he said snarkily as Lewis tugged at the ropes tying him to the tree. Lewis squinted.

   “Sure.” he muttered, finally undoing the knots and setting him free. Kenji didn’t stand up.  “Hey, you gonna get up?”

   “This is a hallucination, I can’t go anywhere.”  Lewis groaned and put his face in his hands.

   “Oh so you’re stupid now? That’s it you’re stupid now? Fuck me.”  Kenji scrunched up his face indignantly.

   “Prove me wrong.” he snapped.

   Lewis exhaled sharply and kicked the older man in the shin.

   “Ow!”

   “There’s your proof, you belligerent geriatric.”  Kenji grunted and begrudgingly accepted that he was stuck in a radioactive French wasteland with the most obnoxious child in the world. Life, he wished it was a hallucination. He stood up.

   “How are you not dead?” he questioned skeptically.

   “I am dead. I’m a spooky ghost here to haunt you for your sins. Ooooh.” the young boy responded sarcastically, waving his hands in front of his face. Kenji elbowed him in the shoulder sharply. 

   “I’m serious. You were in one of the explosions on the west side, nobody else survived. We took out a fucking city block, for world’s sake, people don’t just come out of that a-fucking-okay.” he pressed the younger individual. He hesitated. Did he really want to tell the next part?  “I... Nate blamed me, he refused to talk to me for months.”  

   Lewis’ expression changed, becoming remorseful and tired.

   “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t come back. The soldiers tossed me over the wall with all the other bodies, I was more dead than alive honestly. But somehow I didn’t die, and some wastelanders picked me up. I’ve been too injured to go anywhere, I only recently got strong enough to walk around.” he said with a sigh, rubbing his forehead.  “What happened to you to get you tossed out?”  Kenji’s stomach twisted.

   “None of your damn business.” he hissed, starting to walk away.

   “Hey! You can’t just walk away from this!” Lewis shouted after him. Kenji ignored him. He needed to go back to that abandoned house and find his gear.  “So what, you’re gonna abandon your friends? Let them fight for you while you sulk and pity yourself from the safety of-”

   “They aren’t my fucking friends anymore and there won’t be any fighting!” Kenji shouted, whipping his head around to face him.  “You want to know why I’m here? I fucked up. I fucked up our chance to finally beat the elite bastards once and for all and I jumped the wall so I wouldn’t have to face what I did.”

   Lewis was shocked for a few moments before his face darkened in anger.

   “You’re a coward!” he snapped. Kenji laughed, turning away once more.

   “I know.”

__________________________

tag list: @thereasontherumisgone @germanmetal

//author’s note: I do not speak french! sometimes I forget what “bonjour” means. I am so sorry if these halfassed translations suck, I tried to stick to simple phrases that would be easy to translate but I don’t know how accurate they are. I’ll try to not write for the french characters too much.