Title: Haunts
Author: phobiaplague 
Chapters: 2/??
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Suspense/Thriller

Warnings: Minor language, some domestic abuse and implied M x M.
Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Rune is property of evilgeniuskoji. All other characters are copyright to phobiaplague  and are not free for distribution without written consent.

Comments: Okay, so here it is. The second chapter. I meant to have this up by Sunday, but since today was the first day of class,  that didn't pan out too well. But it's finally up. Yeah, I know. I didn't jump right to the sex, because I'd rather flesh out the characters and plot first. Be aware that later chapters will probably have a higher rating for language, violence, and sex. For the curious, this is a reference photo for Skellington, and yes, he was named after Jack. I totally wrote this entire chapter to Apocalyptica's Path,  and The Denial Twist by the White Stripes.












Rune took a much longer time to be seated, looking very much ill at ease for all of his earlier confidence. It wasn't so much the interior of the house, although he allowed himself a breath of relief that it wasn't tacky or cliched in it's decorations--trying too hard to fit the stereotype on television and in movies. It was more that he was under the impression that it would be a business he would be visiting, not a home. And even though the young man comfortably seated at the head of the table conducted his business here, there was a rampant air of unprofessionalism that rankled at Rune. The man hadn't even asked his name--although to be honest, he was secretly relieved. His name wasn't important--the fact that he'd rather it wasn't attached to something like this aside.

After a pregnant pause, he pulled out the chair nearest to Toshiro and gingerly sank into it, his hands resting on the armrests uncomfortably. The high backed wooden chair with it's elegant leaf and vine filigree carved into the back of it, suddenly seemed a little too confining. When he risked a look at Toshiro, it was to find the other man regarding him with an expectant look. In contrast to Rune, he looked very much at home. Though why wouldn't he? Rune chastised himself mentally. This is his home. The white cat had moved from his perch, and was pacing restlessly under the table--Rune could hear the dull thunks as the animal squeezed itself under his chair and out the other side, before ducking under the table again to repeat the process, this time with Toshiro's chair.


Toshiro ignored Skellington's rattling, his gaze never leaving Rune's. The candles flickered with a guttering noise as the flames lashed waywardly against the glass of their holders, a dry, sucking noise. Rune's tongue darted between his lips, wetting them in a reflexive, nervous gesture. After a second, he spoke.

"Do I...need to hold your hand, or anything?"

Toshiro scoffed, snorting lightly as a faint smirk of amusement touched his lips.

"Someone's been watching too much television. No. I don't need your help." A pause. "Thank you."


Rune ducked his head slightly, a gesture that was halfway between acceptance and embarrassment. He ducked down in his seat a little then, slightly chagrined. Toshiro paused, before adding in a more gentle tone,

"This isn't a seance, it's a Channeling. If we were trying to bind the spirit here, then yeah. I'd probably need your hand."

Rune nodded once, shortly.

"And you don't need to close or eyes or anything like that, either. I do need you to be quiet, though."


Rune didn't speak, and Toshiro took his silence as ready compliance. He sighed lowly, and nodded once, curtly, before his hands settled onto the table. His own eyes drifted shut, and for several seconds there was no change in his expression. Gradually, however, his brows knit in concentration, and his fingers tensed on the table. Skellington, as if sensing the sudden severity of the moment, also stilled, retreating to a corner of the room. Rune watched Toshiro in silence, once brow raising slightly in skepticism. He didn't exactly believe in this kind of thing--he generally wrote it off as charlatans trying to con people out of their money--or a past time for the rich who would afford to amuse themselves and their guests by dabbling into the "mysterious" world of the occult.

A worrying stray thought that he might have just agreed to give away several hundred dollars to this man for a skit made him grimace, and before he could stop himself, he spoke.

"I think I might've made a mistake by coming here."

Toshiro's eyes flew open immediately, slightly unfocused. But the glare that he fixed him with was unmistakable.

"What part of 'keep quiet' were you unclear about?"

Rune started to apologize, caught himself, and leveled Toshiro with an unamused look.

"Look, I just don't want to waste my time. I'll try to find out about him some other way."

Toshiro gave him a considering look then, but didn't move to rise from the table and show him out. Instead, he carefully steepled his fingers together, glancing over their tops at Rune archly.

"How, eh? There are only two Mediums in Tokyo. The other one is a Latent. A charlatan, basically, with minimal spiritual strength. The only other close one is all the way in Hokkaido. Are you willing to fly all the way out to Hokkaido?"

"No, but--"

"I'll ask you this one more time," Toshiro said patiently. "Do you want to talk to your boytoy," he asked, arching an eyebrow, "or not?"

Rune's lips parted, about to inform him in no uncertain terms where he could shove his mysticism crap, but closed into a thin line a second later.

"Yes. Please."

"Alright, then."


Toshiro's eyes closed once more, and again he became utterly still, focusing on the name Rune had given him with his full concentration. For several long minutes, nothing happened. And then, just as suddenly, the temperature of the room began to drop. Gradually at first, so slight as to be almost imperceptible. But then, the room chilled to the point of fall nights. The breath of both men trailed out of their mouths in a  silver-white vapor cloud, and rather than dispersing, rolled lazily around the room as it thinned, eventually winking out. A sharp, crackling noise drew Rune's attention to the windows--or what little of them he could see, with the curtains down. The lower panes had been to frost over, ice crystallizing along the glass in thin, silver spiderwebs. The hair along the back of his neck prickled uncomfortably as, out of the corner of his eyes, vague, monochrome shadows formed and then faded into the walls--shadows that looked disturbing like people--and transparent, at that. For each person that appeared, a flame snuffed out.  His gaze snapped to Toshiro. The man was shivering, and his lips had a tinge of worrisome blue to them.

Hypothermia,  Rune thought belated for one absurd second. Hypothermia in the middle of summer. It was too much for his brain to handle just then. The only thing that kept him from mild hysteria at that moment was a sudden lifting of the chill.  The room began to thaw as quickly as it had frozen over. The lace curtains, formerly stiff with frost, began to loosen, water dripping onto the wooden floor belong with a soft, moist sound.


"...Keiji?" He ventured, feeling very foolish as soon as he'd said it.

Toshiro's eyes opened, and he was rewarded with a look of startling clarity. If it hadn't been for what he'd just experienced, he would have thought that the man had duped him after all.

"'Sup, baby?"

There was no mistaking that voice. Or the smirk that curved Toshiro's lips. That same, confident, irritating smirk.

"Don't call me that," he said stiffly, the words a reflex. Toshiro---Keiji, he corrected himself, frowned.

"Now, is that any way to greet yer long-lost lover?"

"You aren't lost. You're dead," Rune corrected flatly.

Keiji looked down in mock surprise, examining Toshiro's body with apparent satisfaction.

"Well. That, too. But I'm glad you called, baby. I was starting to think you didn't care."

"I...some of your...friends came by the place. After you died."

"'Why, Keiji, I'm so happy to see you again! So glad you're back my little heart is going pitter-pat,'" Keiji cut in with a wide grin, snorting lightly at the end of his sentence. "S'what you should be saying, you heartless fucker. ...What'd they want?"


"Money, Keiji," Rune gritted out at last. "They wanted money."

By this point, Rune had pushed back his chair nosily and gotten to his feet, eying his dead lover warily. Keiji also rose, making his way over to Rune in a lazy saunter, his hands shoved into his pockets. Same cocky swagger as always.

"Huh. Did you give them what they wanted?"

The double meaning in the words wasn't lost on Rune, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. Still, to his credit, he held his ground, refusing to back down even as Keiji grew closer still to him, squaring up his shoulders to rise to his full height, however slight it was.

"No. I didn't have the money, Keiji. And I don't have it, because you stole it from me. Or don't you remember?" he added bitterly, a cold edge entering his tones.

"Ouch, baby. How can you just go around accusing me like that?"

"Where's the money, Keiji?" Rune demanded flatly.

At this, a flicker danced across his face, the only warning that Rune was to get. Before the man had time to react, Keiji drew back his hand abruptly before striking Rune hard across the cheek with the back of his hand. The force of the smack caused Rune's head to jerk to one side, and almost immediately the sting and reddened flesh set in.

"Don't. Ask me. Again."

The depth of Keiji's eyes were almost black with anger. Skellington suddenly sprang from the corner with a hiss, a low, angry wail building at the back of his throat as his eyes narrowed into slits, fur standing up all along his back as he glared at Keiji, mouth gaping in a series of angered sounds as his tail lashed wildly. Keiji's head turned slightly to regard the cat, and he made as if to step towards it. Rune flinched, reaching out to fist his shirt before he could, a hard look on his face. Immediately, he found himself slammed into the wall, with Keiji's arm crossed at his throat, pressing just enough to cut off his air supply.

Rune grimly dug at his arm with his fingers uselessly, squirming against his grip. Keiji only smirked, leaning in to bring his lips to his ear. His hips suddenly pressed into Rune's, moving in a slow, purposeful grind. Rune's teeth gritted as he bit back a low noise, his struggles against his hold increasing. But Keiji was having none of it.

"You should be more worried about giving me a very non-verbal welcome home," he breathed, lips brushing over his ear teasingly. Rune couldn't help the reflexive shiver that trailed up his spine, or the the muffled groan that escaped his lips as Keiji suddenly tugged at his ear with his teeth, scraping across the sensitive skin roughly. But when Keiji attempted to press his mouth to his, Rune drew the line, his resolve not entirely melted away. He shoved against his chest forcefully, growling low in his throat.

"No. Get off me, get..."

He gave a particular hard shove, snarling through clenched jaws.

"Off of me."

Keiji, however, wasn't deterred. Instead, he only laughed, and tangled his fingers into Rune's hair, twisting brutally. Rune cried out, flinching at the sharp pain that bloomed along his scalp. Keiji jerked him to him then, until they were chest to chest, using one index finger to tilt his chin up, his lips descending onto his roughly.  Rune twisted in his grip for a few brief moments until the tug on his hair stilled him. Satisfied, Keiji slipped his tongue into his mouth, sliding it over the top of Rune's tongue in a lazy, choppy rub. When they finally broke for air, he proceeded to drag him from the dining room and up the stairs.

And if the business men next door didn't approve of the house, they certainly didn't approve of the noises that rang from the bedroom and echoed down the halls less than five minutes later.


When Toshiro came to an hour later, it was to find his fingers slick with sweat as he held a very limp Rune. His immediate response was to swear loudly and drop him back onto the the now filthy sheets. Rune glanced up at him in hazy reproach, smoothing away a few strands of damp hair that clung to his forehead. 

"Wha--what, uh. Just happened?"

He ventured, with a sinking feeling that he already knew.

"We had sex," Rune replied evenly. "Or rather, Keiji and I had sex."

"You've gotta be shitting me," he groaned, slumping over Rune's prone form before springing back up hastily with a light flush.

"No."

Toshiro grumbled and scrambled off the bed. But as soon as he got to his feet, the world titled, and he stumbled against the wall. He'd have most likely fallen, if Rune hadn't soundlessly gotten out of bed and caught him, steadying him.

"Are you all right?" He asked with a frown.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm just...tired. Need chocolate."

"Chocolate?" Rune repeated.

"Yeah, downstairs."

"Fine, let's go."

And with that, he carefully looped Toshiro's arm around his shoulders and started down the hall and the stairs step by careful step.