haunted love

“Jinki, Jinki!”

“What?”

“Somebody’s coming!”

“What?”

“Aren’t you listening to me? Somebody’s coming!”

“Cut the crap, Kibum. Nobody has been coming here in years. Ever since they renovated, it’s been empty.”

“For Christ sake, you old man, I’m telling you that somebody is coming!”

And then the front door opens and both men sticks their head into the hall way to look at the family of four that enters. The father is carrying a box, the mother is holding the hands of a small boy, no more than 3, that goes all wide-eyed when he turns his head to the left. Kibum sinks back into the bedroom he’s standing in and Jinki sinks into the floor, only to pop up next to Kibum in the bedroom.

“Do you think he saw me?” Jinki asks and Kibum glares at him with crossed arms.

“You’re a ing idiot.”

Jinki ignores that.

“What do we do? I don’t want them here if they can see us.”

Kibum uncrosses his arms and hits Jinki’s head. Jinki doesn’t even flinch.

“Don’t you dare scare them away! It’s been centuries since they renovated the house and it deserves to be lived in!”

Jinki frowns and mutters ‘we live in it’ but Kibum ignores him.

“It was your fault I even died here!” Kibum says and Jinki turns to glare at him.

“It was not!”

Kibum glares back at him.

“It was. You brought me here to your silly meeting and wanted me to meet your stupid friends and boom, suddenly you just remember that you have forgotten to tell me you’re going to participate in some war against the police so they won’t tear down the ing house and before I know anything the house is on ing fire and I’m trapped in this very room. And next thing I know I’m ing dead.”

There’s silence between them and the door opens and both men turn their heads towards the 5-year-old boy standing in the doorway. Kibum rolls his eyes before he disappears into thin air and Jinki sends the boy a stern glance before he also evaporates.

Jinki and Kibum both died 30 years ago in a house fire. The house had been used by the youth as a meeting place. They had been given the house but the government had later sold it to a company and the company had wanted to renovate and thus wanted to remove the youth staying there. It had caused all sorts of ruckus between the young and the police.

It hadn’t been Jinki’s intention to invite his new friend, Kibum, with him on the day it was to culminate but he had forgotten and had lost his calendar and could have sworn that it was next week. The troubles soon escalated, however, and people were arrested galore.

Kibum had wanted to leave but Jinki had convinced him to stay in the house if he didn’t want to get arrested. The fire had started in hallway by an electric wire that was old and had soon spread throughout the house. Kibum had been caught in the bedroom under the table he had been hiding under and Jinki, in his haste to save his friend, had been killed in his heroic attempt.

Kibum is awfully bitter that he has to haunt the house when he had no desire to be there in the first place and definitely had no desire to die when he was 23 and Jinki feels all sorts of guilty.

The government had renovated the house 5 years after the fire but nobody had wanted to stay long term and those who had tried had been scared away by Jinki’s pranks.

It had had a rumour of being haunted the last 10 years but now this family of four had moved in.

Jinki observes them from the painting. He’s trying to gather information on which way to best scare them away. It feels sort of like his job as a ghost. Also, he really likes to play pranks on unsuspecting humans. It’s a bit bizarre and it’s definitely a habit he acquired after death but when Kibum ignores his verbal puns, he needs to find other ways to get his pranks and stupid puns across and since humans are unable to hear him, the best way is to be physical and smash lamps and turn on TV’s and radios.

It’s a little cliché and Jinki should know better with 30 years of experience in the ghost business but he still sometimes take inspiration from the horrible horror movies humans watch.

“Come Minho,” the father says and the 5-year-old boy looks up from his colouring book and jumps off of his chair to join his father in front of kitchen counter. Jinki watches them cook a simple meal from his place in the painting. 5 minutes in he waves his hand and tips the salt over so it spills onto the floor. He gets eye contact with the boy and blinks when he sees the small boy snicker into his hands.

“Hi Mr. Ghost,” the boy says and his father looks around with a frown.

“Minho, ghosts don’t exist,” he explains and Minho just turns around with a smile, ready to continue fixing dinner for his younger brother and his mother. Jinki frowns in offence. He exists, thank you very much.

“Look at him!” Kibum coos and looks at the small boy in the large bed. He’s standing in the middle of the bed frame to get the best look at the sleeping boy and Jinki frowns a little.

“Come on, you can’t seriously mean it,” he says and Kibum whips around to send him a stern glance.

“Of course I mean it, he’s cute!”

Jinki just frowns but he peeks over Kibum’s shoulder anyway, floating off of the floor because Kibum is taller than him.

“Okay, you win. Now, lets get them out of here. The boy creeps me out.”

Kibum barks out a laugh.

“You’re a ghost,” he says and Jinki just looks at him, not understanding the point. “You’re a ghost and a human boy creeps you out,” Kibum elaborates after a few seconds of silence, only filled with the soft breathing of the sleeping child.

“You don’t understand! He looks at me like he can see me.” He gets interrupted when a yawn is heard from the door way and both men turn around.

“You can’t hurt Taeminnie Mr. Ghosts,” the boy, Minho, says before he climbs onto the bed and under his parent’s cover so he can sleep next to his brother. Kibum and Jinki get eye contact. Kibum coos and smiles at the two children sleeping. Jinki leaves the room.

They learn soon enough that both kids are actually able to see them. Minho is a lot more talkative than his brother who often hides behind one of their parents or Minho. Their parents seem worried that Minho talks about ghosts so often and Kibum overhears them one evening talking about eventual therapy that makes him so mad that he ends up smashing their porcelain. Jinki laughs in the corner and Minho tries to explain to his parents that the ghost got mad at something but that they’re not dangerous.

Jinki retorts to smaller pranks and likes to turn the light on and off when Minho is playing. It leaves them laughing and Kibum is usually watching fondly from a corner so he doesn’t interrupt.

If Kibum had been human and young he might have admitted that he had a crush on Jinki but the feelings aren’t there anymore and definitely not after having been stuck with Jinki for the past 30 years.

Minho likes to invite Kibum next to him when he paints in his colouring book or when he makes exercises in his math book. Kibum spills spices onto the table so he can write in them and help Minho and Minho snickers and does as Kibum tells him to.

“This is ridiculous, Jinki.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“We can’t just let them send him to therapy!”

“It’s not going to harm him. He’ll grow out of this anyway. Isn’t it better than moving?”

Kibum frowns.

“No.”

They’re interrupted by a small voice.

“Mr. Ghosts, are you married like mommy and daddy?” They both turn to look at Minho. Taemin is standing next to him, teddy bear in one hand and thumb in his mouth. Both Jinki and Kibum shake their heads frantically.

“Why do you ask Minho, dear?” Kibum asks and Minho takes a step into the room.

“You talk like mommy and daddy,” he explains simply and Kibum turns to look at Jinki. Jinki blinks a little before the words sink in and he disappears. Kibum just sighs.

“No, we’re just friends.”

“Friends?” Minho asks and Kibum nods. Taemin waddles into the room and Minho follows his younger brother and closes the door behind him before he sits down on the floor and looks excited at Kibum.

“Like Donghae is my friend?”

Kibum has no clue who Donghae is but he nods anyway because he assumes friends are friends, no matter what age you are.

“Yes. Like that,” he says and Minho widens up in a smile. He asks all sorts of questions and Taemin listens attentively. Kibum isn’t sure he understands.

Jinki overhears Minho talking to Taemin one afternoon. Taemin is playing around with his LEGO and Minho is stealing the important pieces so he too can build a house to himself.

“Mr. Ghosts seem like mommy and daddy, right?” Minho asks and Taemin nods a little before he frowns and takes a piece back from Minho.

“Mmmmh,” the 3-year-old says and focuses on building his tower. Minho pouts and asks Taemin for a LEGO beside him. Taemin lets go of the one in his hand to grab the one Minho desires and cradle it protectively against his chest.

“Mine,” he mumbles and Minho ignores him because now he has the last LEGO block he needed to finish. Jinki raises an eyebrow from where he’s looking at the two kids, while Minho continues talking about how he and Kibum sound very much like mommy and daddy. Jinki refuses to accept the feelings that sort of find their way through his cold, transparent body.

“We’re not…” Kibum says and Jinki interrupts him.

“No, definitely not.”

There’s silence between them for a few minutes.

“You know, when we were alive I had a crush on you.”

They’re in the kitchen. The family isn’t at home and Kibum likes the kitchen. Jinki splutters.

“What?” he asks.

“You really are deaf. Why did I get stuck with you?”

“Kibum, come on, why are you dropping this on me now?”

“Because there’s no way I have a crush on you now.”

Kibum shrugs and Jinki stares at him. He doesn’t know what propels him forward. Maybe it’s because he’s been dead for 30 years, maybe it’s because he had a crush on Kibum too when they were alive. Whatever it is that gives him the courage is unimportant, however, when he presses his cold lips against Kibum’s. They kiss for a few seconds before they both pull away.

“What on Earth?” Kibum asks. Jinki tilts his head.

“Nothing,” he says and Kibum smacks his shoulder.

“You’re an idiot.”

Jinki just sends him a silly smile.

“Maybe, but you’re still stuck with me.” Kibum rolls his eyes but he grabs Jinki’s hand anyway and laces their fingers.

“This is not because I still like you.”

“Sure.”

There’s a smile on Jinki’s lips when they disappear into air together, only to find themselves in the master bedroom. Kibum raises an eyebrow with a smirk and Jinki laughs before he lets the lights flicker, the TV and radio turn on and various house plants fall off their sills.

He loves haunting people - and he wouldn’t want to be stuck with any other ghost.

author's notes

Ghosts! Minho is so cute, haha. 
Ah, this is my first time ever writing ghosts and this is very new to me. Also very dialogue-heavy but ... they're cute ghosts. I hope the way they died makes sense. Describing that happened in real life in English is hard at times. ; _ ;