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Jimin leans back against the door, closing his eyes with a sigh. He hasn't been dead for a long time, but he's had enough practice that he doesn't continuously need to force himself to concentrate so that he wouldn't accidentally pass through things at random. He knows he doesn't have a physical form, but nevertheless, he still feels somewhat a bit drained. Seokjin is a nice person, but he can be demanding at times. Especially when he's bored.
"What should I have for dinner? I'm getting tired of eating ramyun and kimchi..." Seokjin wonders out loud. Jimin simply looks up at him from where he's sitting cross-legged by the door across Seokjin as the latter stuffs his mouth with food. Jimin misses the taste of food. Kimchi was one of his favorites, and watching Seokjin eat it every single day without fail makes him crave for it. As a ghost, he doesn't have the bodily functions that living beings have like getting hungry and needing sleep, but he still remembers how food tasted like when he was alive, and he missed that.
Jimin shakes his head at Seokjin's cat--the one who Seokjin sweetly calls "Yoongi-chi" with all the sticky adoration in his voice and has scared Jimin more times than the other way around because he keeps popping up in unexpected places--who's looking at him like he's judging Jimin's decisions in life (or, more accurately, his non-life). He reaches for Yoongi, but the cat turns his head away from Jimin, preferring to sit on the chair across Seokjin and licking his paws.
Jimin scoffs at Yoongi. "Fine then, be like that." He mumbles to himself. Cats absolutely loved him when he was alive, and he always had fun playing with them too. But the first time that he gets to interact with a cat again after his passing, that only cat ignores him. It's a curse, he believes. The most devastating downside to death, even.
"Should I phone in the maintenance guy? The house isn't responding as fast as it used to lately..." Seokjin says, chewing thoughtfully, and Jimin facepalms himself. "What do you think, Jimin?"
"Sorry, I'll do better." He says in a faux robotic voice, almost forgetting to stop a sigh from escaping his lips.
"Aw, not really your fault, Jimin. That guy did say you needed some upgrading." Seokjin says, chewing thoughtfully. "On second thought, I might have to check my budget first before consulting anyone." From where he's perched on top of the chair, Yoongi meows, as if in agreement with Seokjin.
Jimin sinks further in his seat on the floor. There wasn't really an entirely elaborate plan of tricking Seokjin into believing that he got a sweet deal by buying a smart home for a cheap price instead of a haunted house. It just...happened.
There's knocking on the door.
Normally, Jimin would ignore it, but today he feels a little bit mischievous, so he runs down the hallway and opens the door, thinking it was the mailman once again. He's about to pull on his best imitation of a dinosaur, only to come face-to-face with probably the most beautiful human being he's come into contact with, both when he was alive and now that he isn't. On second thought, is this person really human?
He gasps out loud, and the man sneezes into the sleeve of his sweater. Yep, definitely a human.
Jimin mouths an apology before stepping aside as the guest enters the house, looking around in wonder with the eyes of a child. "This is a really nice house." He couldn't have been older than Jimin by a lot.
The real estate agent, who Jimin knows for sure can see him (given the talisman in his hand and the scared but determined look he throws in Jimin's direction) clears his throat and stands by the man's side. "Yes, yes. You even saw how the door opened right after you knocked right? That's because this house is powered by Smart Artificial Intelligence Technology. It's not the latest model, per se, since this house has not been upgraded in two years, but it's still cutting edge technology."
"Then why not upgrade it?" The guest asks, and Jimin snickers on the side. The real estate agent audibly swallows, and gives Jimin's direction a glance before he continues to lie in the guest's face.
"To be honest, that's because the technology is very costly, so we leave it up to the buyer's choice to upgrade it. You see, if do it by ourselves, then the house wouldn't be sold at this very cheap price. But it still works, doesn't it?" No one has succeeded in selling Jimin's apartment in the years after he passed, and he didn't even have to do much to stop it, really. An old couple before said they thought the house's placement was unlucky, according to their fortune-telling newspaper subscription; a woman who looked to be just fresh out of college said she believed the house had "bad vibes", and the last interested buyer got spooked when Jimin knocked on the door just for shits and giggles and ran away. This time though, the real estate agent's lies are getting more and more crafty. Must come with being new to the job and desperate.
He follows them around as they tour the house, feeling unease grip in his stomach as the agent keeps an eye on him. It's really weird to not function completely like a human, but feel like he's still alive sometimes.
"Okay, I'll take it!" The guest says with glee, and the real estate agent looks like he's about to faint from the guest's words.
"B-buy? You're going to buy it? Now?"
"Well wasn't that the point of you showing me the house? Because you wanted me to buy it?" The guest looked bewildered, and Jimin just rolls his eyes. He feels bad for the new guy to be quite honest, but still, lying? And to such a handsome face!
"O-oh, oh yes, of course. I was just...surprised, is all. It's my first sale, you see." the agent adds in a tiny whisper, but judging by the smile on the guest's face, he was able to hear that bit, too. "We should just sign the papers over there, in the kitchen." The realization starts to sink in the agent's face, and for once, Jimin thinks he's forgotten about the literal ghost in the room.
Jimin sighs. He loves the house, but he really couldn't do much for it. Well, at least wouldn't be boring with this new person around. It also helps that he looks like a polite and sweet baby cherub. Jimin could probably just stare at his face all day.
"What should I call the house though? Surely the previous owners gave it a name to make commands easier?" He could hear the man say as he and the agent walk to the kitchen, where they sit down around a table meant for four.
"Uh, I--" The agent stutters, looking like he's grasping at straws.
"Jimin." Jimin says coming immediately to the rescue in his best impersonation of a robotic voice. "Please call me Jimin."
"Yes, you heard 'em. Call the house Jimin, please." The agent laughs uneasily.
"Huh, Jimin. That sounds so familiar."
"Oh, uhm... Well, there's AOA Jimin, and there's Park Jimin the soloist. The previous owner could have been a fan of either of those two?" The agent shrugs. "His name was also Jimin."
"Oh, so it's like he's just ordering himself around." The man giggles. He reads through the contract and signs down on the indicated pages as the agent explains some legal stuff that Jimin's zoned out from.
The agent throws Jimin a grateful smile, albeit not being able to keep eye contact with Jimin. Poor thing, he must have had to deal with scary ghosts his whole life, given that he has a third eye that even when Jimin, a completely non-threatening ghost is in front of him, he's still shivering in his coat.
"Nice to meet you, Jimin." The guest nods to the air-conditioning unit, and the cabinets, and the refrigerator. Jimin's only able to stifle a giggle because the agent looked so pleased with himself. The buyer hands over the contract to the agent, the latter's eyes now shining with happiness. He's probably going to have a promotion over this.
"Nice to meet you too." Jimin says, and this time, he forgets to make his voice sound robotic.
"Jimin sounds so sincere. I like that." The guest nods, and he gives one last look around the kitchen, before his eyes land on Jimin, who's standing by the sink and, to his belief, still very invisible. Jimin doesn't have a physical body, and yet he feels a shiver run down his spine, as if the man was assessing him. Could it be that he could also see Jimin?
"If I can touch things, can I actually try ingesting things?" Was the thought that bothered Jimin all day, after watching Seokjin eat nice food for weeks. He misses the taste of food swirling around his tongue and the warmth of soup going down his throat. It couldn't hurt to try, right?
So he waits for Seokjin to fall asleep--he's usually asleep by midnight since he always plays games before sleeping--and heads to the kitchen to find the biggest container filled to the brim with the kimchi that Seokjin's mom brought to him when he moved.
Which is how Seokjin finds him, standing by kitchen counter, trying to shove a fistful of kimchi into his mouth.
And Seokjin--that poor, poor soul--he just started screaming. Eardrum-shattering, non-opera falsetto, full on screaming.
"Wait, wait, I can explain--" Jimin begins, putting the kimchi back in the container top of the counter and putting his hands out in front of him, hoping that he looks as non-threatening as a ghost could possibly be. But then someone starts knocking on the door and Seokjin stops screaming, as if a switch has just been turned off. He looks at the door, and then back at Jimin, and then back at the door again, and gives Jimin a confused look.
"I mean, you know, I couldn't possibly get that." Jimin says, smiling awkwardly. Seokjin nods quickly, as if he hadn't just been screaming his head off earlier, and walks to the door to check who it is.
"Hello, can I help you with anything?" Seokjin asks smoothly, looking calm and collected, and ever the friendly neighbor in their area.
"Nothing much, just, you know." Jimin walks towards the door and sees that it's Namjoon, the first neighbor that welcomed Seokjin to the neighborhood, armed with a McDonald's burger and the intent to help him sort through stuff. "I know it's late, but I was working, and I heard some screaming? Is everything fine over here?"
"Oh that? Psh." Seokjin waves it off, with a very convincing eye roll. "You know how clumsy I am sometimes. I just happened to sleepwalk and ended up slipping on my stairs. I thought I was dying!" Seokjin laughs, and Namjoon laughs along, albeit looking confused. Jimin winces at the mention of death. He's not very fond of that word.
"I don't remember you having stairs, though? Unless you got some installed without anyone ever noticing maintenance people coming over?"
"Did I say stairs? Woops, typo." Seokjin laughs again, and it's starting to fascinate Jimin how he doesn't look like he's lying at all. "I meant floor mat." From what he knows from the times he checked Seokjin's phone (Seokjin did ask for calendar updates, search results for different restaurants nearby, and for his text messages to be read aloud, so it's not like he did it without Seokjin's knowledge), Seokjin was a journalist. Do journalists actually get trained to lie in front of the camera like actors do back in school? Jimin tries to tuck that thought away for later, when Seokjin's considerably not busy either talking to his neighbor or freaking out.
Namjoon's eyebrows furrow together further, eyeing Seokjin questioningly. "This is literally a verbal conversation."
"Anyway, sorry for the noise. I would like to express my sincerest apologies." Seokjin bows with is hands on his stomach. "I'm really, really, so sorry for the noise, that's all my fault."
"No problem, I was awake anyway." Namjoon shoves his hands in his pockets. "I was just a bit concerned." If Namjoon's face wasn't so easy to read, Jimin would have thought that he had romantic feelings for Seokjin. And frankly, Jimin wouldn't be too surprised--Seokjin was too great of a catch to let by any sane person who wasn't already committed into a relationship.
"Well, thank you." Seokjin smiles, and Jimin knows that one is surely genuine. "I'll make it up to you next week, probably. If Hoseok's around, you should tell him, too. I've been dying to meet your boyfriend." Jimin involuntarily winces at the mention of the word again.
From the times that Namjoon has come over (or at least, stood by the door), Jimin's found out that there were two ways to get him to blush: compliment him, or compliment his boyfriend. Seokjin just happens to do both a lot, so Jimin's always gotten the sight of Namjoon blushing every single time. "He'll actually be here next week for our anniversary and some work stuff. I'll ask him if he's free so we can all go together."
Jimin walks back to the kitchen as Seokjin and Namjoon bid their goodbyes, and he's surprised when Seokjin's looking at him with an expecting look when he gets back instead of screaming like he did earlier (or maybe fainting, which would have been a rather more peaceful alternative). "Speak, or I will have you exorcised at this very moment." Seokjin's voice sounded so full and authoritative that Jimin straightens his back. If it weren't for Seokjin's hands shaking by his sides, Jimin wouldn't have known that he was still the scaredy cat that Jimin got to know these past few weeks.
Jimin thought that as a ghost, he wouldn't fear death anymore. But exorcism? A shiver runs down his ghostly spine. Ghosts really don't feel the cold, but the idea of having to experience something akin to death again scares him. "Ok, so, I know you looked up my social media profile last time because I saw it in your phone history last time you asked me to clear your searches, so I probably look familiar to you. I was the previous owner of this house. I died two years ago and I woke up here. I tried leaving, because who wouldn't want to leave forget about the boring life that they had? But you know, as it turns out, I can't because I'm tied down to this house. I can't even get past the door." As Jimin blabbers on, he tries not to get distracted with the look Seokjin is giving him. Like he's both fascinated and trying to assess whether Jimin is lying or not. "So I stayed here, all these years. And then you walked in, and I felt bad for the real estate agent because he looked new to the job, so I joined in on his little lie. And to be honest, it's quite fun having stuff to do when you've perpetually done nothing but walk around the same place over and over again for two years."
Seokjin doesn't talk for a while, the gears in his mind click-click-clicking in Jimin's eyes. When he speaks, his tone isn't cautious like earlier. "You can stay, of course. If you keep helping around the house."
"Wait, really?" Jimin perks up.
"There's literally nothing in this day and age that's for free. And since you can't help pay for my lease, you can just, I don't know, proceed as usual?"
"Hm, nothing's free? At all?" Jimin crosses his arms over his chest and leans closer to Seokjin. "Even friendship?"
Seokjin sighs, shaking his head. "You--" He begins, disbelief coloring his voice, but he's laughing.
"I'm kidding, I get it, thanks." Jimin says, standing up and excusing himself. This time, he thinks, maybe he can start by attempting to make it up to Seokjin for scaring him by cooking.
Jimin thought that the routine would always be like this--he stays at home and does chores as Seokjin leaves for work. He's still practicing with eating food though, and Seokjin has been nothing short of supportive (though he had resorted to letting Jimin practice with chopped up vegetables instead of kimchi, since the supply he got from his mother are almost completely gone). When Seokjin gets home, they talk--about Jimin's life when he was still alive, about Seokjin's latest story. About life and their thoughts on the non-life and every other thing in between. Jimin thinks it's actually sweet, like they're acting like a married couple. It's just kind of...maybe too bad that he's dead.
But there's always an unexpected sliver of hope somewhere, right?
It's when Seokjin gets home one time, wide-eyed and looking excited that Jimin finds his tiny sliver of hope.
"I found a crowdfunding page." is what he greets Jimin with when he gets home, looking far to excited that it's like he's gotten a fresh new headline instead of the usual celebrity gossip. "And you might want to see what it's for." He says, taking his phone out of his pocket and scrolling through a few things before showing Jimin the screen.
"Hello, please help fund my brother's hospital fees!" the header grabbed Jimin's attention, and he took Seokjin's phone in his hands, carefully scrolling through the page. Seokjin moves to stand beside him, his aura thrumming with a sort of pinkish, bright glow as he follows what Jimin's reading with his eyes.
"My brother got involved in a hit-and-run incident two years ago. Our family's been paying for his hospital bills, but lately, we've been coming up short for the bills." Jimin's eyes are glued to the screen, unable to proceed.
A hit-and-run incident. All that blood, all that pain. And a face that he could barely make out, before he got plunged into the cold, dark, abyss of whatever lied between the life and whatever after-life themed limbo he's stuck in now.
"Jimin, are you--?" Seokjin asks, breaking him out of his trance. Jimin scrolls a bit to the bottom of the page and he sees his pictures there--from college, from his first day of work at the dance studio. And then one of him lying on the hospital bed with a tube on his mouth hooked on to a machine and tape on his hand covering the IV tube connected through his veins.
"I--" Jimin clears his throat. Do ghosts cry? He's not even sure. But he does feel like crying right now. "I have to go."
"I'll go with you. I'm going to help you, okay?" Seokjin says, putting his hand on top of Jimin's own. Jimin flinches, feeling like he's been shocked with electricity.
"Did you just--"
"Oh, wow. That was... weird?" Seokjin says at the same time as Jimin talks.
"D-Do... Can we try it again?" Jimin asks, a little too hopeful, a little too desperate for his liking.
This time, when Seokjin puts his hand on top of Jimin's overturned palm, he feels a warm, tingling sensation on whatever the ghostly equivalent of his skin was. "I... I think this is it. I think this is a sign."
"A sign?" Seokjin pulls his hand back, looking confused, and Jimin already misses the feeling of Seokjin's warmth. He hasn't really felt anything like that in years.
Jimin glances at the door. "Can you go with me outside for a bit?"
"Hang on, but I thought--"
"Hyung." Jimin says, with a bit more urgency in his voice this time. Seokjin's attention focuses back on him. "Trust me on this?"
Seokjin offers his hand, and Jimin takes it. "Might as well try." He murmurs, loud enough for Jimin to hear. Jimin takes a deep breath despite not really needing it, and braces himself for whatever might happen next.
"We're here now." Seokjin whispers in Jimin's ear. He hasn't realized he closed his eyes the entire time as Seokjin led him through the door that he wouldn't have realized that they'd already gone past it if Seokjin hadn't told him anything. "We're fine."
"Interesting." He posits, looking back at the door and gauging that they're maybe around 2 meters away from the house. "I've been trying to leave that house in years but it's the first time i'm able to get past the door."
Seokjin shrugs. "Maybe you just needed someone to accompany you? Since you're trapped in this house, and I'm a part of this house. Maybe you just needed to have a part of this house to stay with you."
Jimin thinks about what Seokjin said for a moment. "I'm a part of the house, and the house is part of me. And somehow you're also a part of that house. Are we then, a part of each other?"
Seokjin giggles, and it's a good thing it's the dead of the night because passersby would have thought he was crazy, with the way he's laughing by himself like he's just remembered a good joke someone said before. "Is this what wooing was like 2 years ago?"
Jimin scrunches his nose and turns his chin up at Seokjin. "Don't get ahead of yourself. I just think it's a nice thought."
Seokjin raises their linked hands. "What's this then?"
"A partnership. Don't get me started on that, it's still too early to judge if I'm going to marry you or not." Jimin giggles in response.
"Why not? I mean we're already going to see your family tomorrow."
If Jimin still had a beating heart, it would've skipped a beat. If he was capable of it, he knows he would have already been blushing by now. "You don't even know their names yet!"
"My bad. Orient me then?" Seokjin grins, and Jimin is just completely both annoyed and adored that he always knows what to say.
"Of course." He grins back. And maybe, just maybe, in the event that they do get to pull this off (cheating death, maybe but make it a bit more realistic since Seokjin doesn't actually have to go to hell and back to get Jimin's soul back to his body), they'll get to have time for something special.