Chapter Text
As of late, the ghosts had begun to notice a dramatic increase in the tension between them all.Most of the issue was caused by Julian and the Captain.It seemed like every other day now, they would argue about something or other, whether it was at all important or not.
Most of the time, the arguments were caused by something so utterly insignificant, and the issue had recently escalated so intensely, that even the plague ghosts had begun to take notice.
Any attempt to amend the situation would often lead to the both of them storming off in opposite directions, and avoiding everyone for the next few days, so, the others had learnt to just ignore it.
One frosty, damp morning in the early parts of February, the two of them were being surprisingly civil, although, of course the peace wouldn’t last long.
Robin had decided to sleep in, and was still curled up on the floor, and so the Captain had graciously volunteered to entertain Julian until he woke up.This led to them playing chess together.
Julian, more so than usual, was taking a particularly long time to make his moves.He was clearly very desperate to win, to prove that he was capable of being smarter than his opponent.
After an almost agonisingly long hesitation from Julian, the Captain let out a small huffing sound, straightening his back out, his gaze drifting from the chess board to Julian’s face.
His brow was furrowed in contemplation.He was leant over the table, rubbing his chin in a way that was supposed to come off as him being deep in thought, although it made him look more nervous than anything.
The Captain almost chuckled.He rather enjoyed the little moments of peace with Julian.He really wasn’t so bad when he was quiet.
He almost felt tempted to let Julian win.
Julian clearing his throat brought the Captain out of his fantasies, and he looked back down at the board to see the politician pointing at an empty space.
“Pawn there.” He nodded, grinning slyly.
After a brief moment of thought, it suddenly occurred to the Captain that he had put his pieces there on a previous turn.
Of course he hadn’t actually put a piece there; they were dead.But he had announced that his piece was there, and Julian had ignored it.
The thought that Julian simply could’ve forgotten, an easy mistake to make, never even crossed the Captain’s mind.He immediately assumed that Julian was doing what all politicians do best.Lie and cheat.
Without thinking any further, the Captain whacked the hand which was pointing at the board with his swagger stick.When Julian let out a surprised squeak and looked up at him like he was insane, the Captain grunted.
“My knight is there.” The Captain glared at Julian with such a stare that it could’ve probably killed him a second time. “I know your tricks, Fawcett.”
After a very brief moment of silence, Julian’s laid back expression changed to one of pure hatred and rage.He slowly stood up, adjusting his blazer, which had become somewhat of a nervous habit of his.
He snarled, “I don’t understand why you always immediately assume I’m up to something shifty!” Continuing,he folded his arms, straightening his back in an futile attempt to come across as more intimidating. “I swear, I can’t do anything without you judging me for it!”
By this point, the various other ghosts in the room had begun to stare, already silently dreading the argument which was most certain to follow.
The Captain quickly stood up, albeit with a slight wince as he felt his knees crack.At this point, his grip on his swagger stick was so strong, his knuckles had begun to turn white.
“Of course I always assume the worst of you!You’re a politician, for heaven’s sake!” The Captain uttered, a strong,bitter tone in his voice.
Julian knew, deep down, that the Captain was technically right.After all, he probably wouldn’t trust himself either.Though, for some reason he couldn’t quite pinpoint, he was rather hurt by the Captain’s words.
Julian bit his tongue, avoiding the Captain’s glare. “Do you really think I’d lie about something so stupid?!”
The Captain just stared at Julian for a while, as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Eventually, he sighed heavily. “Yes!I do!”
That answer genuinely surprised Julian, and he balled his fists up, taking a step backwards, directly through his chair.
The Captain rolled his eyes, clasping his hands behind his back. “Oh, don’t act so surprised!We all know that you would!”
He gestured over at the other ghosts, who were awkwardly pretending to be uninterested, whilst in actuality, they were listening to the entire conversation.
When Julian looked over at them, they either shrugged or quickly turned away, completely ignoring him.He huffed, taking a few more steps back.
“You think I’m nothing but a dirty liar!Admit it!” Julian almost hissed, pointing an accusing finger in the Captain’s face.
The Captain rose up on his tip-toes, attempting to seem more authoritative. “You are a dirty liar, Julian!I’m surprised you’re the only one that hasn’t realised that yet!”
At last, the other ghosts had the good sense to interrupt before the situation escalated any further.They all looked at Pat, as if to volunteer him to solve the issue.
With slight hesitance, and a heavy sigh, Pat stood up, crossing the room to stand between Julian and the Captain.For a moment, the two of them fell silent, looking at Pat, and then at each other, with confused stares.
Before they could inevitably start arguing again, Pat cleared his throat. “Alright, you two, this needs to stop!”
The Captain made a small noise that almost sounded like a chuckle, furrowing his eyebrows. “Whatever are you talking about, Patrick?”
“You’ve both been arguing loads lately!I can’t remember the last time you went a day without shouting at each other!” Pat pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head.
He felt like he was alive again, solving an argument between two of his troop members, undoubtedly caused by something stupid.
Although, Pat was promptly dragged out of his thoughts by the Captain.
“We wouldn’t be arguing so much if he wasn’t such a..” He trailed off, vaguely gesturing to Julian as he struggled to think of a somewhat decent insult.
A few of the other ghosts suddenly felt compelled to chime in, offering suggestions to what Julian could be called.
“A male escort?” Thomas had offered, smirking and raising an eyebrow.
Mary then proposed, “A churl.”
After an awkward, short, silence, Kitty finally piped up, excitedly shouting out, “A wazzock!”
Julian and the Captain stared at each other for a moment, before slowly turning to face Kitty.
“What?Pat says it.”
After another long silence, Julian huffed, throwing his hands up like a frustrated toddler as he turned to leave.Just before he stepped through the wall, he turned back to face the others, snarling slightly.
“Robin!Come on.Let’s spare these idiots of anymore of my dirty lies!” He said, before storming off through the wall.
Hesitantly, Robin, who had only just woken up and was still a bit confused to say the least, stood up, awkwardly following Julian.
The Captain sighed heavily, sitting back down and sinking back in his seat as much as he could without falling straight through it.
Arguably, the other ghosts least favourite part of the whole ordeal, was the constant moping afterwards.
With the intention to palm the job of comforting the Captain off on someone else, Pat turned to where the others had been standing just seconds before, only to find that they had all disappeared, having either dropped through the floor or made a run for it through the wall.
With a frustrated sigh, he sat down in the chair which had previously belonged to Julian, already rehearsing exactly what he’d say.
To his surprise, the Captain groaned, burying his face in his hands. “I just don’t understand why he’s so..insufferable.”
Pat remained silent, awkwardly waiting for the Captain to say more.Eventually,
he got the hint and continued.
“It’s like you said!I cannot, for the life of me, remember the last time we spoke without arguing!” The Captain weakly shook his head, grumbling.
“No offence, mate, but you did kinda start that one.” Pat mumbled, giving a slight shrug and glancing away when the Captain started staring daggers at him.
“That isn’t the point, Patrick, and you know it!” He snapped, pointing his swagger stick at the man sitting across from him. “He was lying to me!”
After an uncomfortable silence, Pat shifted in his seat, folding his arms and rolling his eyes.
“Have you considered that maybe..he had just forgotten where you moved your piece?”
This suggestion was met with another angry stare, and Pat decided that perhaps it was in his best interest to stay quiet from then on.
The Captain sat up, straightening his back out and tutting, his gaze firmly locked on the chess board which sat on the table in front of him.
He wanted to give Julian the benefit of the doubt.He wanted to be reasonable and assume that it was just a genuine mistake.But a little voice in the background of his mind just constantly insisted that Julian was not to be trusted.After all, he was a politician.
On the other side of the house, meanwhile, Julian was pacing back and forth in the library, occasionally stopping to stare at the shelves of books.Robin was sitting on the sofa, staring up at Julian, following him with his eyes whenever he would march back and forth.
Whenever he found himself upset, Julian would quite often visit the library, although not to read.He never did enjoy reading, not even in life.Instead, he would look at the covers of the various books on the shelves, imagining what the contents could be like.He wasn’t entirely sure why he did this, but it was just a strange habit of his.
Eventually, Robin cleared his throat, drawing Julian’s attention away from the shelf of dusty books that were probably decades old by that point.The politician slowly turned to Robin, glaring at him with such discontent that he felt as though he might drop dead again.
They stared at each other in silence for a moment, until, at last, Robin spoke. “You mad why?”
Julian stared at Robin in a way that was all too condescending.After a brief silence, Julian sighed, slumping down on the sofa beside Robin.
“I don’t understand why he always assumes the worst of me!” Julian paused for a moment, before adding, “I know I’m a politician, and lying is what we’re best at, but..”
Raising an eyebrow, Robin huffed, awkwardly taking Julian’s hand.It took all of the politician’s willpower to stop himself from yanking his hand away.In his death, he found that he utterly despised being touched by the other ghosts, although, for the most part, Robin had been the one exception to this rule.
Julian sighed heavily. “I just thought he would..you know, think more of me by now.I mean, we’ve known each other for nearly thirty years!”
Robin shrugged, leaning against Julian with a small huff. “You argue all day.”
Rolling his eyes, Julian tutted, straightening up ever so slightly. “I know that, you blundering ape!..I don’t understand why he always picks a fight with me of all people!”
All he got was a sarcastic look from Robin in response, as if to say really?
Julian grumbled, crossing one leg lever the other and leaning back against the sofa. “Alright, I get it.I’m sometimes a bit argumentative.But come on, today’s fight was hardly my fault!”
Robin chuckled, giving Julian a slight nudge. “Be civil.Stop causing fights and he start trust you.”
Hesitantly, Julian nodded.He, truthfully, thought Robin’s idea was utter rubbish and wanted to complain about it, but he bit his tongue, and decided for the first time in his life, that he’d try and behave.