Chapter Text
Ever since their last argument, Julian and Captain hadn’t uttered so much as a word to each other, and had generally begun to avoid each other, whether purposefully or not.
At first, the other ghosts didn’t care.If anything, they were pleased.Surely the less time they spent together meant less arguments, right?
However, as various weeks passed, they eventually realised that if something wasn’t done soon, there was a very real chance that the two would never speak again.So, begrudgingly, they went to Alison for help.
Alison had always tried to stray away from any of the drama created by the ghosts when possible, but when her assistance was personally requested, she found it to be essentially impossible for her to refuse to help.
So, when Kitty came up to her, almost in tears, practically begging her to help, Alison was suddenly stuck dealing with two incredibly angsty men.
The very next evening, she arranged a little meeting with the other ghosts to discuss the problem.And so, at exactly eleven o’clock, they congregated in the library, ready to formulate a suitable plan.
“Alright,” Alison began, standing straight as a plank and clearing her throat. “Run by me what exactly happened just one more time.”
Immediately, the ghosts began talking over each other, all giving their own, probably incredibly complicated, explanations.Pinching the bridge of her nose, already rather frustrated, Alison sighed heavily.
“Alright,alright!I only need one of you to tell me.Fanny?” Alison gestured far too grandly at Lady Button, who had been the only one not to previously shout out.
After a brief silence, Fanny nodded. “I believe they were playing chess, and Julian wished to move his pawn where the Captain’s knight was.”
Alison stared at Lady B, waiting for her to continue.When it eventually became apparent that she had finished, Alison’s eyes widened slightly.
She sighed heavily. “That’s it?They’ve been making the last few weeks of my life absolute hell..over a chess game?”
When she turned to the other ghosts, she found that they all had rather uncomfortable expressions, and a few of them began diverting their eyes.
With a quiet groan, Alison shook her head. “Right.How do we fix this?”
The ghosts again began to talk over each other, so Alison clapped her hands together to shut them up. “Raise your hand if you want to talk.”
At once, various hands were raised into the air, and after a brief moment of consideration, Alison pointed over at Thomas, who immediately beamed, smiling warmly at her.
“Well, it’s not really helpful, but they did use to be fairly close.” He paused for a second, before adding, “It must’ve been decades ago now.”
Alison gave a slight nod, sitting down on one of the room’s empty chairs. “Right, tell me more.Mary?”
She nodded to Mary, who was patiently waiting with her hand up to be acknowledged.
“If it be’s of any assistance, they used to- to sleep together..” Mary mumbled, nervously fiddling with her dress.
When Robin snorted at this, Alison glared over at him, raising an eyebrow.
“She mean actual sleep.Used to cuddle too.” He gave a thumbs up and a toothy grin.
Winding slightly, Alison glanced back at the other ghosts, hesitating for a moment before gesturing towards Pat.
He huffed, sitting up slightly and nodding. “Apparently it was just because Julian’s scared of the dark.Cap took pity on him,I spose.”
After a long silence, Alison raised an eyebrow, a mildly confused expression on her face. “He’s not that scared of the dark.”
“The first few months after he died, he was.He could barely sleep in a dark room.I don’t believe he knew yet that he could’ve just turned the lights on himself.” Lady B nodded, clearing her throat slightly.
Alison smiled slightly, a mild hint of frustration on her face as she gestured for her to continue.
With a slight huff, Fanny continued. “They were inseparable for a while.Always chatting about something or other or playing chess together.But then..”
When she trailed off, a somewhat somber expression on her face, Alison glanced at the other ghosts, though they all also seemed a bit displeased.
“Then what happened?” Alison muttered, “Thomas?”
He flinched slightly at his name, looking up at Alison. “…Well, we don’t really know.One day they just..stopped talking.We’ve no clue what happened.”
“Huh.Well, then what happened?They seemed civil enough when I first arrived.” Alison tilted her head ever so slightly to the side, a look of mild, genuine concern plastered on her face.
Kitty finally decided to pipe up, “After a few years they eventually became friends again.They were never quite as close as they used to be though.”
She looked over at her fellow ghosts, shrugging. “I suppose it must be hard to just ignore someone that you’re stuck with for all eternity.”
Alison nodded, slowly standing up, pulling the bottom of her jumper down. “Right, here’s what we’re gonna do.”
As they composed a plan that seemed like it would have a decent chance of success, Julian, who had, unbenounced to them, been standing out in the hall eavesdropping the entire time, huffed, marching off to find the Captain.
Alison had decided to split the group into two teams, merely for convenience’s sake.Thomas, Pat, Lady Button and Kitty were to speak with the Captain, and Alison, Mary, Robin and Humphrey’s head were off to interrogate Julian.
Unfortunately for all of them, Julian found the Captain first.He had just been peacefully patrolling the home’s many hallways, when he was grabbed and pulled into a particularly thick piece of wall.It was dark, and dusty.He never had really enjoyed being in the walls.
The Captain had made a brief escape attempt, only to discover that he was being firmly held in place by a set of shockingly strong, rather familiar arms.
“Juli-“ He tried to shout, however he was promptly interrupted by a hand in his mouth.
The suddeninity of it was almost enough to make him gag.His eyes widened, and before he could stop himself, his instincts got the best of him, and he elbowed his attacker in the stomach.
He regained his senses just as quickly as he had lost them, and despite the fact that he was supposed to be angry with Julian, he immediately spun around, profusely apologising.
Julian, who was slightly keeled over, clutching his stomach and groaning, glared at the Captain.His pain quickly dispersed however, which he supposed was one of the few benefits of being a ghost, and he straightened himself up.
“I know I’m not supposed to be speaking with you, but we have an issue.” Julian folded his arms, taking a step back, slightly wary of another potential punch.
The Captain raised an eyebrow, and Julian took the hint to continue. “I heard everyone talking about us.They wanna ask about.. you know.”
He vaguely gestured at nothing, and after a brief second of thinking, the Captain nodded in understanding, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“I see.Are you absolutely certain?” The Captain muttered, cautious to keep his voice down, for fear of being overheard.
He briefly wondered if perhaps the walls weren’t the best place for a serious, confidential conversation such as this one.After all, they did have the tendency to be somewhat echoey.
After a short silence, Julian nodded, staring daggers at their feet, which were almost a metre apart, though they both felt like they were right on top of one another.
Julian sighed, “Undoubtedly so.How do we spin this?”
Before the Captain could respond, they were rather rudely interrupted by a heavy knock on the wall.
Robin huffed, watching on with a look of frustration as Alison banged her hands on the wall once more.After a long silence, Julian poked his head through the wall, grinning.
“Can we help you or are you just interrupting for the fun of it?” He smirked, winking at Alison, who was staring at him with a look of disbelief.
The Captain, who to say the very least, wasn’t best pleased to have been caught like this, swatted Julian’s thigh with his swagger stick.He had intended for it to be an act to express his frustration, but upon further thought, realised it came across as slightly inappropriate.He winced, internally praying that Julian would just let it go and make no sexual comments.
Fortunately, luck seemed to be on his side that day, as Julian not only didn’t comment on the somewhat unbecoming gesture, but also pulled his head back into the wall, glaring over at the Captain with a look of discontent.
The Captain merely grinned.Nowadays, he couldn’t have cared any less about Julian’s feelings, because he knew that quite frankly, Julian’s feelings were mostly complete nonsense.
They could’ve (and probably would’ve) stood like that, staring at each other for hours, subtly admiring one another, had they not remembered the others which were waiting outside of the wall for some sort of explanation.Still, that fact didn’t stop the Captain from taking one last good look at Julian before stepping out of the wall, the politician following shortly afterwards.
After a rather awkward silence, the Captain decided it was his cue to speak and make some attempt to defend himself. “Good evening, all.Can we help you?”
Always the good natured soldier, the Captain had never been particularly good at lying or “twisting the truth” as Julian would’ve put it.He had always preferred just avoiding needing to lie, whether it was about silly little things or serious, potentially life-altering truths.
Looking around at the other ghosts, he wondered whether or not lying was really worth it.It wasn’t like he would be lying about anything important, and even if he was, the others probably wouldn’t judge him for it.
But then he looked at Alison, and the awful look of pity in her eyes filled him with an overwhelming sense of indignity, and it suddenly felt more than necessary to lie.
Prepared to fib, he opened his mouth, though he couldn’t quite muster up enough courage to say anything, lest he made any mistakes.Fortunately, Julian happened to barge in.
“Look, I don’t care what you lot think is going on.This isn’t some conspiracy theory!Can’t two men have a friendly altercation without their relationship being tarnished?!”
The Captain certainly appreciated the defence, but it did feel as though the politician was going slightly overboard, to the point where it was getting a bit suspicious.
Regardless, the Captain joined in the lie. “Indeed!Yes.Look, we simply had a little tiff, but all is well now, so, goodbye.”
Before any more could be said, the Captain turned and marched off at an alarming speed.Julian briefly considered doing the same, but realised that he was much less comfortable with his own company than the Captain was, and didn’t particularly wish to be alone for the rest of the night.
So, he stayed put, turning to Robin with a sly smirk on his face.The pair stayed motionless, staring at each other with such intensity that it could’ve probably killed them both.After a few moments, the others around them decided that now was probably a decent time to vacate, and all sauntered to do their own things.
Minutes passed, and eventually Robin let out an awkward huffing sound, folding his arms and looking the politician up and down.
Suddenly Julian felt rather self-conscious.Typically, when he was looked up and down like that, it was with a look of admiration, or lust.But the way that Robin looked at him with such disappointment left a sour taste in his mouth, and it took all his willpower to stop himself from spitting his venom.
He didn’t really want to insult Robin, of course, but he found it increasingly difficult to resist.
“What?!” Julian snarled, with a bit more force than he had intended.
Robin merely raised his hands in defence, grumbling. “Don’t need to shout.Just worried ‘bout you.”
Suddenly overcome with anger, Julian threw his hands up in frustration. “I don’t need anyone to worry about me!I’m so sick of everyone in this house pitying me!”
And with that, he stamped off, mumbling to himself about how unfair it all was.