Chapter Text
“Okay, sign here and you’re done. Congratulations on your new apartment Mr. Min. Here are the keys. We hope you enjoy your new home. We’re sorry we couldn’t introduce you to your roommate. He hasn't been here for quite some time, you see, and his family said that they needed to sublet the second room for the time being. They didn’t discuss when he would be returning either so you should have the apartment to yourself for a while.” The Landlord said. His smile was a bit forced and his eyes shifted around Yoongi’s new living room like he was looking for something.
“Something wrong?” Yoongi asked. It was a bit gruff because of his Daegu accent and the man jumped letting out a small squeak and whipping his head back to Yoongi like he’d somehow forgotten he was there.
“N-nothing, my apologies I was just trying to make sure everything looked normal here. I don’t make a habit of walking into my tenants’ homes, that’s all.” A nervous breathy sort of chuckle came out of his mouth and his shoulders took a minute longer to relax than Yoongi figured they should, but Seoul was different from Daegu, people here were different, so for all he knew this was the landlord’s response to being around a new person or just to being around someone like him. He didn’t talk much and when he did it was only to say what he needed and say it as matter of factly as possible. The only person he’d ever met that didn’t really live up to the Daegu stereotype was his friend Taehyung.
“Was there anything else you needed before I left you to move in your things?” The landlord rushed out sounding almost like he was praying silently for a no, which was confirmed when Yoongi shook his head and was met with a deeply relieved sigh.
“Well then Mr. Min I hope you enjoy your stay. There is a small box near the door that contains my number and the numbers of all of the maintenance crew. Please feel free to call if you need anything.” He was practically speed talking and running out of the door as he very messily cleaned up the leasing paperwork and the door very nearly caught his heels as he rushed to close it behind him.
Yoongi raised an eyebrow at the behavior but eventually decided it wasn’t his place to decipher whatever the heck that had been about and walked out to the street where the small moving van was parked. He hadn’t needed to pack a whole lot. The apartment came fully furnished and the only things the listing had said he needed was whatever was going into his room even going as far as to say the third bedroom was negotiable as an office space or that depending on the circumstance it might be sublet out to another person as well by the current tennant’s choice. Yoongi wasn’t quite sure if that meant he could rent it out or if it meant that his roommate would and he’d have a third person to share his space with.
After getting all of his things inside and put away it was calm in the apartment for a few weeks. He’d only had to call the maintenance crew once when he spotted a rather large dent on the backside of the kitchen counter facing the living room shortly after moving in. He’d asked what could have caused it and just gotten noncommittal answers that didn’t really tell him anything. The place had a lot of storage even as far as having a small lofted storage nook over the front hallway before the ceilings got higher in the living room and kitchen where the space was open to let light in. Yoongi really had gotten lucky with this place. It was in one of the highrises and had only cost him what he would have been paying in either a villa or an expensive officetel. It even had a view of the Han river. He was out on the small balcony enjoying that view with a cup of coffee when someone’s voice came from behind him.
“That view is the best part, right?”
“Jesus!” His coffee sloshed dangerously in it’s mug and he begged mentally for it to not spill all over him. The contents were still steaming and it definitely would have burned if it had landed on him.
“Sorry about that. You’re Yoongi right? I’m Hoseok. Your roommate.” The owner of the voice came around and leaned casually against the railing and smiled like he hadn’t just given Yoongi a heart attack.
“I didn’t hear the door.” Yoongi said flatly gesturing to the door which now that he looked at it was still closed. The thing squeaked and scraped when he closed it. How had Hoseok gotten it to shut silently? Maybe it was just that he’d lived there longer.
“Oh, yeah that thing is the worst. It makes this horrible racket when it closes so I just don’t bother to use it most times.”
“How can you get out here without using the door?” Yoongi asked and earned a smirk and a shrug in return before Hoseok had turned back around and was looking out to the city with a content smile on his face. After a while Hoseok stretched letting out a groan from the strain.
“I’ll see you later roomie okay?” He walked past Yoongi and Yoongi turned to ask him about where he’d been, but Hoseok was gone. It wasn’t even like Yoongi had seen him go inside. No sooner had he moved out of Yoongi’s normal field of vision he was just... gone.
Yoongi got up and struggled to get the door open and back closed for a moment the sound of it sliding and scraping loud in the silence of the apartment. It was the type of contrasted silence to the noise that only made sense to an empty apartment.
“Hoseok?” Yoongi called out. Nothing.
“This is ridiculous. He probably just went to get takeout or something,” Yoongi muttered, still looking around the apartment for signs of his roommate but coming up short at the other man’s door wondering if he should open it and see or not. He hadn’t opened that door since he moved in. He’d had no reason to. Did he really have a reason now?
“Oh forget it.” He turned on his heel and went back to his own room closing the door behind him and turning on some music. Something about the silence of the apartment seemed different now. It was one thing to know he was alone. It was something totally different to think that for once in the few weeks he was living here maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he hadn’t been this entire time.
The next few weeks Yoongi woke up to his apartment back to the way it had been. No Hoseok. He went through the apartment warily at first expecting someone to appear out of nowhere but there was nothing. He was beginning to think he was crazy. The longer he was here reality seemed annoyingly different from the way it was outside. He knew he was alone. Of course he was alone. He hadn’t met Hoseok once in the time that he’d been scoping out the apartment. Nor had he met him after moving in. He hadn’t even met his family. Everything had been drawn up through the landlord and finalized through them as well. When he’d asked about Hoseok the landlord had just said that he hadn’t been back to the apartment in ages. Yoongi had to have fallen asleep or zoned out on the balcony that day and his mind just created the vision of Hoseok because he’d been wondering about the other and what he was like. That was it. That had to be it, right?
Thursday was surreal. That was the only way Yoongi could describe it. He had been in his room recording a track on his keyboard and writing lyrics trying to meet his deadline when there was a crash in the kitchen. He ran out thinking maybe someone had broken in, but there was no one. He looked around for something that could have fallen and everything was clean. Clean and silent like nothing had even happened, but then he spotted it… the space on the back of the counter that he’d had repaired now had that same large dent from before crushed into it. He went to the box with the numbers for the maintenance crew and waited until the trilling of the line changed to a friendly voice asking how they could help him. He gave his name and apartment number then got right into it.
“I need someone to come down here and repair a dent in my kitchen island. I asked for you to do it a few weeks ago and the dent is still here,” Yoongi said into his phone.
“What do you mean it is back? You requested we fix it and we replaced the panel for you as requested.”
“That’s what I thought but it is still broken. Can you just send someone to fix it?” Yoongi replied he winced a little when he passed through a spot in the apartment that was freezing cold and looked around for a source. Great, not only was there another dent in the island now he was feeling cold spots. Maybe this was the reason that the apartment had been so cheap in spite of being on the Han River.
“I’m sorry Mr. Min. We will have to charge you this time as our records show that it was a previously fixed problem.” The repair man answered. Yoongi let out a long breath and moved to try and work some of the tension from his shoulders.
“How much will that cost?” He asked, his voice taking on an exasperated tone..
“About 240000 won. (about $222 .00)”
“Are you kidding me? It’s just the back of a cabinet. You know what, forget it. Thank you. I’ll deal with it later.” He snapped and hung up the phone staring at the offending crater in the wood. He leaned up against the counter and let out a sigh followed by a deep inhale and he crinkled his nose. When was the last time he’d taken a break to eat or shower?
***Hoseok POV***
Hoseok jumped a little at the sound of the cabinet crushing. He did every time. The only difference was now he wasn’t alone. Yoongi came running out of his room uselessly carrying something he could throw, probably thinking an intruder had busted in the door and he laughed at the sight of him in disheveled hair and clothes that could clearly use a wash. He watched as Yoongi called about fixing the dent and began pacing.
“Don’t bother calling them, they'll just charge us for it.” He said frowning when Yoongi didn’t seem to hear him and shivered when he passed right through him. Hoseok hated that feeling. It was like spiders crawling all over him. Unsettling and itchy. He shrugged at no one in particular when the maintenance people pretty much told Yoongi the same thing he’d tried to. Since it was a previously addressed job ticket for a non-routine repair they would have to charge for it. It wasn’t like if a window cracked or a pipe burst in the building causing water damage. Hoseok was leaning on the counter during the entire exchange and watching as his roommate paced and finally leaned against the counter himself.
“When is the last time you slept?” Hoseok asked, studying the obvious dark circles surrounding Yoongi's deep brown eyes, he then caught a faint whiff of something foul. “When was the last time you showered?” He asked laughing and fanning one of his hands in front of his face as if to blow the smell away. Not that Yoongi could see him. Hoseok wasn’t sure how all of this worked. Ever since he’d woken up like this he went unnoticed by a lot of people and he seemed to be only able to travel between here and the hospital where he was lying unconscious and attached to machines and IVs day in and day out for the past year.
Yoongi was the first one outside of a few little old shamans the landlord had sent in to bless the place who was able to see him. Yoongi scrunched his nose a moment later, seemingly smelling the same thing Hoseok had and a little series of hair strands fell into his eyes shifted by the movement of the muscles in his face. Hoseok felt incredibly fond of his roommate for a small moment barely realizing he had reached a hand out to move them back into place until he saw Yoongi shiver again from the air charging around him. He immediately jerked his arm back and watched as Yoongi traveled back to his own room then popped back out again moments later with a towel and headed to the bathroom presumably to shower. The idea of following him was tempting, especially because of how usually covered Yoongi was and the fact that Hoseok felt drawn to the other the more days passed and he watched his roommate live his life. There were days where he deeply yearned for nothing more than to spend a normal day with Yoongi and actually be a part of it and not a spectator. Times when Yoongi would take a break from work to watch a show or sit on the balcony just drinking his coffee. Other times when he wondered about the friends Yoongi spoke to and if they would have liked him too. If they’d ever come to visit the apartment to hang out with both of them one day. Taehyung in particular seemed to be the person Yoongi confided in most. Maybe it was because they were from the same place. Even with that, Taehyung seemed nothing like Yoongi. He always seemed to be bright and cheery and, for the singular heartbreakingly endearing moments that Yoongi was on the phone with him, it seemed to spread to the usually stoic man and he would get this wide gummy smile that scrunched his eyes and only made Hoseok want to be a part of his life more. He was contemplating all this when he heard the door to the bathroom open behind him. Yoongi was muttering something about being stupid and forgetting his clothes and being seen as he came out followed by the roiling steam that showed that the shower had been in use not even moments earlier. The towel was too short having been knotted in such a way to accommodate for it being too wide on his body and needing to be tightened and Hoseok had a clear view of both his upper body and his legs up to midway around his thighs and he blushed before quickly looking away. He only lifted his head again when he heard the door to Yoongi’s room shut behind him and let out an exasperated sigh and kind of tantrumed momentarily on the couch. How was he supposed to live knowing someone who looked like that was right across the living room from him?
***Yoongi POV***
Saturday morning was quiet, he went around his room throwing on clean clothes so that he could go out for the day. He needed to get groceries before Monday rolled around and it was too late. As he stepped out of his room he was looking at his phone when he felt this strangely cool prickly feeling yet again. He looked up and around for a moment trying to figure out if he’d gone under a vent or left the balcony door cracked, or if there was any sign of a break in the walls, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. He shook his head and began moving towards the front door and going to grab his keys off the counter where he always left them only to find them gone.
“What the-” He looked around and let out a groan. He must have brought them into his room by mistake. He went back to the room looking around. Papers swished and fluttered as he lifted and released them on his desk when they didn’t reveal what he was looking for. When that didn’t work he dug around in his laundry basket sifting through pockets of every pair of pants he got his hands on. Still not having any luck he went back out into the living room to search the couch and side tables only to see Hoseok standing in the kitchen.
“Hey. Catch.” Hoseok grinned and tossed something in Yoongi’s direction. Yoongi snatched the item out of the air and the metal of what had to be his keys bit slightly into his palm. He looked at them for a moment wondering how the hell Hoseok had found them when he hadn’t been able to. He looked up to ask, but again the apartment was empty. He hadn’t heard a door, footsteps, not even breathing.
Yoongi finally went towards Hoseok’s closed room and knocked. Silence. He knocked a little louder and waited again before calling through the door.
“Hoseok you in there?” More silence greeted him. His hand hovered over the door knob for the longest until he could finally rationalize it. He needed to go in. He had to be sure someone else wasn’t in this apartment. He was starting to go mad between the strange cold spots, things going missing, and the roommate who both was and wasn’t there. He finally grabbed the knob and yanked the door wide open. What greeted him was a cloud of dust, at least a year’s worth, and sheet covered furniture. He tried to flip the switch to the room but the light didn’t come on. The bulb was probably blown. He turned on his cellphone light and ran it over the room looking for something, anything, that would prove he hadn’t been hallucinating the entire thing. There was nothing. Yoongi was ready to give up when his light reflected off something on the nightstand.
The sheet covering it had a hole and the light had caught and reflected back on the glass of a picture frame. Yoongi carefully removed the sheet and looked down. The frame was a simple thing. Made of black painted wood and containing a picture of Three boys. College students from the look of it. They couldn’t be any older than their early twenties it looked like. One of them was the guy that had been in his apartment. Hoseok.
“So you are real.” He muttered. Upon a closer look he noticed other familiar faces. He covered the table back up and shut the flashlight on his phone off. On his way out he went through his contacts and called the number to the university archives.
“Hey, it’s Min Yoongi. Is Namjoon there today?” Yoongi said. The lady at the archives was used to him calling for Namjoon and his horrible phone manners so she just replied her tone was polite and professional like always and he got the information he needed.
“Yes, of course, he came in about an hour ago. Do you want me to get him?”
“Nah, I’m coming in. I need to talk to him about something.”
“Okay, I will let him know if he comes out so he doesn’t leave.” She responded and he hung up the phone.
Yoongi arrived fairly quickly, still holding onto the picture frame and heading into the glass revolving door and checking in at the desk before heading up to the floor that Namjoon usually worked on.
“Hey what’s up? Receptionist said you were coming by and that it sounded important” Namjoon greeted him and gave him half a hug that took him a little off balance.
“Just came in. Had a question. Who’s this?” Yoongi handed the picture over.
“Where did you get that?” Namjoon’s smile dropped off his face when he saw the photo.
“My apartment. It belongs to my roommate.”
“Since when do you live with Seokjin? And why would you steal something like this? Hyung, come on, I really like him and if my friends are suddenly stealing or moving things in his apartment he’s going to hate me.” Namjoon started whining.
“Who said anything about Seokjin? My roommate is Hoseok.” Yoongi interjected.
“That’s not possible.”
“What do you mean it isn’t possible? I’ve seen him. Recently. He’s been in and out of the apartment over the past few days. I figure he’s just staying with family for now.”
“He was in an accident almost a year ago, Hyung, It’s just… It’s not possible. I suggest you put that thing back where you got it and forget about it,” Namjoon was hiding something from him and clearly not going to share what it was. He also looked a little spooked at the idea that Yoongi had seen Hoseok. Yoongi was honestly still a bit skeptical even after the announcement on the news a few years back that the supernatural existed alongside the rest of the world. It was actually a fairly recent belief for Namjoon too, but he was the type that once something fascinated him he went headlong into learning about it, and when he got into college and wound up meeting and following Seokjin into the classes he was learning on the occult he had stupidly signed up for all of them so he could be closer to the elder and now here they were almost two years later and Namjoon was more superstitious than any human had a right to be in Yoongi’s opinion.
“I can’t.” Yoongi said.
“Can’t what?” Seokjin's voice came from behind him near where the door to the room they were in was located. Yoongi had only seen Seokjin a few times and never in the research library where Namjoon was completing his work study that was part of the rules for his scholarships. Namjoon shook his head as if to tell him not to mention Hoseok. Yoongi rolled his eyes although he was kind enough to hide the picture in his jacket so Seokjin couldn’t see. He hated keeping secrets from people but he could get why Namjoon might think telling Jin about Hoseok would upset the elder. They did look really close in the photo.
“My apartment might be haunted. I was coming to see if there was a way to fix it.” Yoongi replied.
“There are plenty of ways to fix hauntings; it just depends on the haunting you’re dealing with, but I thought you didn’t believe in this stuff?” A mirthful gleam caught the elder’s eye.
“Yeah, well seeing is believing isn’t it?”
“So stray cats can be taught.” Seokjin laughed. Amused with his own joke which to Yoongi made no sense at all. Apparently it made no sense to Namjoon either, which was made evident by the shrug he gave when Yoongi quirked one of his eyebrows up at the comment. It wasn’t one of his usual puns or quirky spells, but it seemed to amuse the elder all the same.
“So how do I do it?”
“Do what?” Seokjin returned.
“Get rid of him.”
“Get rid of who, now?”
“Ugh you’re impossible.”
“Not if you ask the right questions.” Seokjin was enjoying this far too much.
“How do I remove a ghost from my apartment, oh wise one?” Yoongi said sarcastically.
“Babe please.” Namjoon chided, clearly seeing that Yoongi didn’t have much more patience left.
“You two are no fun.” Seokjin pouted.
“None at all, so how do I get rid of the ghost?” Yoongi replied, starting to get amused with the banter himself. If there was one thing he could give the witch, Seokjin was cheerful, and it was almost always contagious.
“You? You don’t. Someone else that actually believes in magic does.”
“Rude.” Yoongi bit back a more sarcastic remark. If he wanted help being his usual doubting and confrontational self wouldn’t get him anywhere. Not with Seokjin. The other responded to three things and only three: food, flattery, and Namjoon.
“Not my fault you’re a skeptic.” the elder shrugged.
“Okay well then can you do it?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not an Occultant.” He replied like that explained everything.
“What the hell is an Occultant?” Yoongi asked, betraying once again the fact that Jin was right. He had no idea nor did he really care to believe in any of what he was asking for help with. He was part of the many people who were still waiting to hear that the coming out of magical creatures was all an elaborate hoax and that people like Jin really were just normal practitioners and pagans who had drank a little too much of the Pottermore Kool Aid.
“Now that one I can answer,” Namjoon piped up from where he had been putting files away in the cabinet.
“An Occultant is someone, usually a Hedge witch, a medium, or a death witch that can assist others with ghosts or other supernatural issues. They are rather fascinating actually. There are rumors that the government unofficially hires them to handle any case that seems to be related to magical creatures that normal police can’t handle on their own, some rumors say that the practice of hiring them dates back for centuries and that some were even kept on as advisors for kings and emperors all over the world,” Namjoon seemed satisfied with himself and a little excited about discussing a topic that seemed to interest him a great deal.
“And you just ate the page out of your textbook with that information because?” Yoongi teased him.
“Shut up.” Namjoon's face turned red but couldn’t keep the smile off his face, revealing how proud he was that he had not only remembered, but been able to relay the knowledge.
“So does one of you happen to know where I can find one of those?” Yoongi asked, trying to get them back on topic.
“He could always go talk to Jimin.” Namjoon turned and suggested. His voice dropped a little like Yoongi wasn’t just standing there able to hear every word and he and Seokjin were having a private conversation.
“Jimin doesn’t handle basic hauntings,” Seokjin replied.
“Then they can point me to someone who can.” Yoongi said. Seokjin looked at him for a moment seemingly considering if it was worth even wasting his time and Yoongi’s with pointing him to whoever this Jimin person was.
“Why is getting rid of this ghost your first option? Can you not try to live with it?” Seokjin asked, folding his arms across his chest.
“I just feel like he’d be better off somewhere else. He’s a nice ghost, but shouldn’t nice ghosts get to go where nice things happen and not stick around where they died or lived?” Yoongi reasoned. It seemed to be a good enough answer for Jin even though it wasn’t entirely the truth.
The honest truth was that Yoongi wasn’t ready to have his worldview so radically changed. He had already made one big change by moving here. He wasn’t ready for a second change nor did he want to have to go to Hoseok’s family to get the explanation of why he was seeing their dead son or if they knew he was still there and that’s why they were giving him the rent so cheaply. He should have known. Should have been smarter and he normally was. Which is why here he was now talking to Namjoon and Seokjin rather than stupidly starting a conflict that could cost him his room in Hoseok’s apartment... no, it was his now, if Hoseok was gone, it was Yoongi’s home. He couldn’t lose that place. There was nowhere for him to go, but there could be somewhere for Hoseok to go and that’s why he was here.
Whether or not he truly believed he was being haunted he was out of his league with nowhere else to go and he needed to get help solving this. He couldn’t share the apartment with a ghost. What happened if he wanted to invite friends or a lover over in the future and Hoseok just popped out of thin air like he always did? That wasn’t normal and he couldn’t explain it away like it was.
“I suppose that makes sense, but did you ask him if he wanted to leave?” Seokjin rebutted shelving a few books to at least seem like he was doing his job while talking to Yoongi. Again, he was being logical but it was the kind of logic Yoongi couldn’t meet halfway. Not when he had already decided that moving Hoseok on was the course of action that made sense. Hoseok couldn’t live in the apartment with him because he wasn’t alive. That was just how living worked.
Yoongi shook his head in response. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to talk to Hoseok either. He’d tried to talk to him every time he’d seen Hoseok, but he just kept disappearing and then reappearing either at the most useful or the most inopportune times.
“Can’t communicate with him, can you?”
“No.” Yoongi responded to Seokjin’s turned back. Seokjin let out a defeated sigh realizing finally that he wasn’t going to be able to talk Yoongi out of it.
“I’ll call Jimin, then, but you shouldn’t expect much.”
***Jimin POV***
"Jimin, we've gone over this, none of the locals are feeding on humans outside of our legal channels. Why would we? We have an agreement with every hospital and butcher shop in the city and we have quite a few humans more than willing to freely walk themselves into the lounges and sign the waivers. Besides everyone knows what you and your ilk would do if you find out otherwise. No one wants to end up like that Gwangju coven." The woman in front of him had an air about her. Aside from the usual sort of languid aural vibration that usually signified a vampire's presence. She had this sense of obvious importance about her like she carried a title and all the power with it. For all Jimin knew in the Vampire hierarchy of Seoul she did. He just knew her as a partial stock owner of several prominent A-list nightclubs in the city and some of the less reputable ones too.
“And as I’ve said almost a hundred times since I got here, Jiyeon, I am not here accusing you or yours of it. I am here for information. At the request of the human police. Look, all I am trying to ask is if you know what is going on since you hold the largest stocks in several of the clubs. Humans are entering the nightclubs and going missing and I’m trying to find out if they are going unregistered into the feeder lounges before they go missing or if someone is kidnapping them. And before you try to say something else about how none of your coven is feeding on humans directly, again, please save it. I get that you don’t have to breathe to argue but that shouldn’t mean I have to go blue in the face,” Jimin snapped.
“Such a shame immortality doesn’t interest you. With that much command and your features you would have made an exquisite addition to the night children.” She was deflecting and they both knew it. That meant one of two things either she knew nothing and was too proud to admit it or she knew something, but for some reason or another didn’t fear the repercussions of not telling him enough to outweigh the loyalty or fear of whatever or whomever was keeping her silent. He was about to press her on it when his phone rang. She grinned, if he answered the phone that meant their time was over and she was free to leave. He didn’t want to let her go just yet but the phone kept ringing, the instrumental to one of his favorite songs going through on repeat and getting increasingly louder with each cycle.
“You should get that little one. It does seem like whoever is on that other line is just as stubborn as you are.” she teased even going as far to remind him that he was nothing more than a petulant child in her eyes.
“Fine, but if I need you again?” He asked.
“You will. And as always you are more than welcome to call on me. I haven’t grown bored of you quite yet.” She raked a manicured finger across his jawline and gave a cheshire grin before pulling away and sashaying her way confidently out of the door. He finally pulled the phone out looking at the caller ID and cursing.
“Seokjin hyung this better be important for you to be calling me this late.”
“Like you weren’t already up.” Seokjin’s voice came through the line challenging him. He almost hung up right then. Seokjin as usual seemed to have an intuition about it and protested right as he was about to hit the button.
“Wait! A friend of Namjoon’s needs your help.”
“I swear if this is another one of your blind date ploys and you talked Namjoon into helping you with it I am done talking to you both.” Jimin warned.
“It isn’t. I learned my lesson last time about that. He is your type though.”
“Jin.”
“Alright alright fine. He’s got a ghost problem.”
“Is it attacking him?”
“Not that I know of.”
“And did you ask him why he couldn’t just cohabitate?” Jimin asked.
“Of course.”
“And he said?”
“The usual. Nice ghost. Better place. Yada yada.” Jin replied.
“Can’t communicate with them can he?” Jimin asked, letting out a puff of air.
“Nope. Skeptic, but I think he does have some ability. He just is blocking it off.”
“Great. He better not give me any trouble after this or it’s on you.”
“So you’ll meet with him?” Jin sounded shocked and hopeful.
“Yeah, it’s not like it’s that difficult of a job and I owe you one for the research you and Joonie did for me the other day.”
“Thank you. JOON-AH! HE’S GOING TO SEE YOONGI!!!!” Jimin had to pull the phone away and hold it at arms length to muffle Jin’s shouting. Jin gave the phone to Namjoon and Namjoon relayed the address and description of who he would be looking for. Both this Yoongi guy and the ghost.
***Yoongi POV***
It took more than a week for Namjoon to call him back to let him know that Jimin had agreed to come by and try to do something about Hoseok. At first Yoongi was kind of relieved to know that he might truly get the apartment to himself once and for all but as the day wore on he began to second guess himself. Hoseok was harmless. Sure he sometimes popped out of nowhere and didn’t seem to have an idea of personal space while he was doing it, but he never did anything to Yoongi. Other than talk.
Hoseok talked and smiled and danced around the place then disappeared again before Yoongi could say another word. As much as it unsettled Yoongi to know there was a ghost in his apartment, knowing that Hoseok was there was oddly comforting. He didn’t feel alone and he doubted anyone else as a roommate would have put up with his gruffness the same way. He was contemplating this when the door buzzer rang. He stood up and felt a rush of cold air before hearing Hoseok’s cheerful but disembodied voice say “I got it!” which he didn’t actually get it because a moment later the apartment felt empty again. Yoongi laughed, rolled his eyes and made his way to the speaker.
“Hello?”
“Are you Min Yoongi?” a higher pitched male voice asked by way of greeting.
“Who’s asking?” He replied.
“Park Jimin. Namjoon and Jin said you needed my help.” He sounded young to Yoongi. Younger than he’d have expected for how highly Seokjin spoke of him. Maybe it was the higher pitch in his voice and Yoongi was just making a baseless assumption. After all he hadn’t seen Jimin’s face yet. He hesitated a moment and then hit the buzzer allowing Jimin access into the building.
***Jimin POV***
Jimin waited as the door buzzed and then gave a sharp click signifying that it was finally unlocked. He moved over to the elevator and climbed on. It wasn’t very long after the door closed that he realized he wasn’t alone. A little girl stood next to him missing a shoe and head to toe covered in dirt and blood with a definitive tire tread on one corner of her dress and tears in her stockings along with patches of her hair quite obviously and forcibly ripped from her head. He bent down to her and she shied away from him. He just gave her a patient and sweet smile and waited for her to open up.
“You can… You can see me?” She stuttered out. He nodded and smiled again. She relaxed a little but still kept her distance.
“What’s your name?” He asked.
“Jieun.”
“Well Jieun it is nice to meet you. My name is Jimin.” She giggled like he said something funny before speaking.
“You can’t be a Jimin. That’s a pretty girl’s name.” She said this like it was common knowledge and he couldn’t help but laugh himself. Jimin was actually a unisex name, but she was very young so it would have been all to easy for her to not understand that concept yet.
“And I’m not pretty enough to have it?” he faked his most dramatic pout and she laughed again.
“No. You’re not a girl, silly.” She said like it was obvious and he should have thought of it.
“I guess my mom just liked tle name.” He replied.
“Oh. Okay.” She seemed to accept that answer and as the elevator bell dinged she disappeared. He walked onto Yoongi’s floor and towards the door that bore the number he was supposed to go to and knocked.
He waited for the door to swing open and to be let in not expecting to be greeted by not one but two living men standing at the door. Both of whom, just like Jin had said, were exactly his type… well s***. One of them had white blond hair and looked like he hadn’t gotten sleep in almost a month. The other had scarlet hair and seemed like he had enough energy to power a lightbulb in his hands.
“Which one of you is Yoongi?” Jimin asked. The one with the red hair pointed to the white haired man at the same time he made a face and spoke.
“What do you mean which one of us is Yoongi?” He started to look around and tried to figure out why Jimin was asking a question rather than introducing himself. Then it hit him. Yoongi hadn’t acknowledged the other nor was he really accommodating for the fact there were three people standing in the foyer which to Jimin was cramped and uncomfortable. At the same time the red headed boy didn’t seem concerned about the small space either, but it was different from how Yoongi’s lack of discomfort was. There was more awareness to his lack of discomfort; he knew there wasn’t much space in the hallway, he just didn’t care. It was like he knew the two others being there had no effect on him. Strange.
“Can we move into the apartment and maybe you can tell me why I’m here?” Jimin prompted and Yoongi refocused on him nodding a little awkwardly and humming to himself like something had been confirmed for him. He didn’t seem to be a very talkative person. That was one thing Jimin had noticed. He hadn’t particularly spoken much when he answered the doorbell or when he’d let him in the door. Nor had he offered a seat as they walked in. He probably just assumed Jimin would make himself comfortable on principle if he was staying longer than a few minutes.
“Sit where you want. Also if you want something to drink just ask him. He won’t get it otherwise,” the red haired one told him. Jimin nodded and found a seat on the couch. There was a long drawn out silence as Yoongi seemed to try to find the best place for him to be now that there was someone else in the apartment and sitting on the couch. He looked like the type that when home alone if he wasn’t working on something or in his room he was sprawled out bodily on the couch either napping or thinking while doing an excellent impression of napping. He eventually settled at the island that separated the kitchen from the living area which made Jimin have to angle himself so that he was looking over the back of the couch at both Yoongi and an unsightly dent in the wood to the right of one of the stools. “Wonder what happened there.” He mused to himself.
“Jin said he told you about the apartment being haunted.” Yoongi’s voice came out soft and heavily accented once again. Daegu. Jimin’s mind supplied the last place he’d heard an accent like that and he finally understood a bit of why this was already shaping up to be one of his more difficult consultations. It also explained why Yoongi would be skeptical even with the announcements and proof of supernatural events that were being posted daily on the internet and spoken of in news headlines. It also explained a lot to him about why he was here. Daegu’s mundane natives were a very very guarded bunch. They didn’t confront emotions or events in the same way as the rest of the country and were definitely the kinds of people, at least in Jimin’s experiences with them, that would have to be nose to nose with a magical event that they couldn’t walk away from for it to really get past the deep set walls and opinions they had guarding their minds and hearts. Yoongi seemed like he was going to be no different. While he was pondering the information he’d gathered on Yoongi he noticed that the red haired man was studying both Yoongi and himself a little more closely than the aloof and cheery facade could cover. He wanted Jimin to think he was relaxed and happy to have another guest that could see him in the home. He also wanted to look like he and Yoongi were living together fully aware and happy with each other’s presence. It had been more believable when he’d first walked in. Now that Yoongi had mentioned about the haunting he was still trying to appear relaxed but his eyes held a complex swirl of emotions that Jimin could only feel sorry for.
“Seokjin did tell me you thought your apartment was haunted and wanted me to come by and check it out. It’s not haunted.”
“What?” Yoongi got a perplexed frown on his face while the other looked at him like Jimin had just told some obscure joke that he wasn’t sure whether to laugh at or be weirded out by.
“Your apartment isn’t haunted. He, I’m sorry I didn’t even think to ask your name when I came in…” Jimin was about to say that the other wasn’t dead when it occurred to him that calling him ‘the red head’ was more than a little rude in his head and would be incredibly so out loud.
“It’s Hoseok but my friends call me Hobi.” He answered with a bright and heart shaped smile that made Jimin want to smile back at him. He wondered, aside from the obvious, how anyone could think this man was one of the afterkin. He was full of life even when he was disappointed.
“Right, yeah, Nice to meet you Hobi, I’m Jimin. Hoseok isn’t dead.” Jimin finished his earlier sentence turning back to Yoongi.
“How can a ghost not be dead?” Yoongi asked right as Hoseok added his own opinion on the matter.
“Never said I was.”
Yoongi must have opened his mind a little more than it had been initially because he turned to face Hoseok like he was seeing him sitting there for the first time. Jimin noticed his eyes wander over the obvious closeness of Hoseok to him and then a curious expression crossed his face.
“If he isn’t dead why is he doing that?” Yoongi gestured to where Hoseok was just sitting innocently on the couch.
“Doing what? Sitting there? Probably because you’re the only one who willingly chooses to stand awkwardly at the counter. It’s a big couch.” Jimin replied.
“I do have a question though, Hoseok, where are you?” Jimin turned his attention to the other and Hoseok seemed to sink in on himself looking smaller and more childlike than he probably should. Jimin saw a flash of the other looking sick and wearing a hospital gown with a gauze wrapped around his head the vibrant red hair more than halfway transitioned to a dark chocolate sort of color. He looked hollow and gaunt. And just like that he looked normal. He was in a purple hoodie and loose jeans and sneakers that looked well loved and worn.
“Hospital.” Hoseok replied simply and things clicked into place like puzzle pieces.
“You hit your head didn’t you?” Hoseok nodded and Jimin watched as Yoongi’s eyes strayed to where he knew the dent was in the cabinet. His mind must have gone through the same thoughts as Jimin’s.
“So why aren’t you back there now trying to wake up?” Jimin asked the next most obvious question.
“It was lonely. Besides he is very charming… uh... well I mean.. His thighs! His thighs and crotch area are very charming! who wouldn’t want to stay with Yoongi?... I also don’t know how to go back...” Hoseok was blushing and laughed before nervously tapering off at the end saying something else that Jimin could only barely make out. He must have faded out of sight before saying all of this because Yoongi looked to Jimin and around where he thought Hoseok should be more than once. Jimin was trying hard not to fall into fits of giggles at what Hoseok had said coupled with the confusion on Yoongi’s face.
“What is it? What did he say?”
“N-nothing.” Jimin had failed to keep himself from laughing which in turn made Hoseok start laughing again. His initial jovial demeanor returned until something else occurred to him and brought his mood down.
“Wait… What were you going to do if I was dead?” Yoongi seemed to have been able to see and hear him again and began taking an interest in the grains of color in the marble countertop, at least having the decency to look guilty in Jimin’s mind.
“... You were trying to get rid of me?!” Hoseok demanded once it dawned on him and he became justifiably enraged but most of all he looked hurt. Lights flickered until a lamp bulb popped and Jimin winced at the sound of very lightweight glass hitting the end table behind him. Yoongi looked horrified. Whether it was the supernatural events happening or the fact he was actually being confronted by the accusation of what he’d been trying to do for the first time so boldly Jimin didn’t know.
“Hoseok I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do.” Yoongi gave him a pleading look and the occultant felt genuinely sorry as he saw the desperation in his eyes.
“He wasn’t trying to get rid of you Hoseok. He just wanted to know how to help you. That’s why he called me.” Jimin reached out and touched Hoseok’s knee. Hoseok’s eyes widened and he seemed shocked at the fact someone could actually touch him again. He started crying before launching himself into Jimin’s arms outright sobbing and hugging him. Jimin narrowed his eyes in Yoongi’s direction over Hoseok’s shoulder. Up until Hoseok had gotten angry just now it was obvious he had not been harmful to a single person or being. Jimin hated skeptics for this exact reason. The supernatural community was filled with mostly harmless creatures but because they couldn’t wrap their head around the possibility that the world was bigger than they’d initially thought it was automatically dangerous to them.
“Look. Hobi. Hoseok-ah I’m going to help you get back okay? Yoongi is going to help you get back. Okay?” He emphasized looking the other in the eyes and wiping at his tears ignoring the familiar tingle that came with contacting matter from a different plane of existence. Hoseok nodded and swiped at his own tears leaning back and almost immediately becoming embarrassed about wailing into another person’s shoulders that he barely knew. Hoseok looked around the apartment sniffling and frowning as he saw the damage he’d done.
“I didn’t even know I could do that.” He muttered. His eyes finally landed on the lamp and he groaned. “That was my favorite lamp too.
The lamp in question was a bright and almost glowing shade of sunshine yellow that was shaped like a paint bucket or cup spilling out yellow paint as the base of the lamp. It was weird and yet somehow it seemed to fit Hoseok perfectly. It was obvious though without tools and time the lamp was now ruined as the remains of a shattered light bulb still sat in the socket with glass pieces almost daring someone to try to remove it with their bare hands.
“I’m sure we can fix it. Don’t worry just try to remember which hospital it is so we can get you back to your body, okay?” He stood and walked into the kitchen where he was face to face with Yoongi.
“I need to talk to you.” He hissed.