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"Welcome, once again to another episode of Ghost League! I'm Keigo, your ever charming, incredibly handsome lead investigator. Enji, my main squeeze and tech genius, rockin' the EVP recorder, headphones and EMF reader. Touya, our most esteemed, talented and snarky medium and of course his.. better? Other? half behind the camera!"
Tomura rolled his eyes, dropping the camera from his shoulder. "And it started out so well."
Enji was fiddling with his little recorder, making sure it was scrolling channels the way it should be. He didn't bother to look up. "Don't call me your main squeeze on camera."
Touya wrinkled his nose. "Don't call him that ever."
Keigo scoffed, pointing his, much smaller, night vision camera at them. "You all just don't appreciate talent. Or charisma. The public loves me! Do I need to do the intro again?"
Tomura shook his head. "I think it'd be better during the day. Get better interior shots, some of the grounds. It's a nice looking place. Better than the crumbling dives we've been in. Might as well show it off. Viewers will love the decor, too."
The inn was indeed festively decorated, the porch hosting corn stalks, bales of straw stacked just so and a myriad of pumpkins large and small. Colorful ears of corn as well, tucked next to pumpkins and hanging in little bunches. Keigo had definitely been eyeing some of the dark red ones.
The inside might not have as many decorations, but the ones that were there were well placed. Leaf garlands ran along the bottom of the balcony, fluttering gently in the open space. There were a few pumpkins inside as well, more of the colorful corn, even a cheesy cardboard skeleton taped here and there on the wall. They gave the space a homey feel.
Much like the cheap, sparkly pumpkin that sat on the front desk.
"We ready then?" Touya had his hands in his pants pockets, looking just a little strange without his signature jacket. He'd left it, as well as his rings and bracelets, in the room he and Tomura were sharing. Keigo had eyed his simple tshirt and asked about it, but dropped it in exasperation at the cryptic answer of 'I don't want any new holes in the leather'.
"Yeah, yeah. Keep your pants on." Keigo was checking his camera settings, then his mic, clipped to his shirt.
Enji batted at his probing fingers. "Don't touch that. The levels are all fine. I already checked."
Keigo pouted, then leaned up with his best puppy eyes. Enji huffed, but leaned down to kiss him, chaste.
Touya made a retching noise as if he were dying. Keigo and Enji ignored him while Tomura snickered quietly, pressing his hip to his boyfriend's in commiseration.
Looking to Tomura for confirmation, Keigo cocked his head and the white haired man resettled the camera on his shoulder, giving a thumbs-up.
Nodding in reply, Keigo stepped towards the side of the staircase. "They said the door was kinda hidden." He began feeling around the panels, having a vague idea of where it should be. He found an inset ridge, followed it and-
"Ah ha!" The panel swung smoothly, if slightly creakily open, revealing the first few steps down and blackness beyond. "Well. That's atmospheric."
Tomura sighed. "If I fall down these stairs and break my neck, I'm definitely haunting you guys."
"Thought you didn't believe in ghosts." Touya followed his father, right behind Keigo, who was using his night vision camera to better make out the stairs.
"I don't."
They managed to get to the bottom level without incident, spreading out a little, giving Tomura a chance to get angles of each of them. They'd opted for flashlights rather than turning on the basement's ceiling lights. A little added creep factor was never a bad thing.
Touya didn't see anything, once his eyes adjusted, but there was a heavy feeling in the space, a sensation he'd come to associate with spirits. It was usually his first indicator that they might encounter something.
"I think we have company."
A thin, wavery giggle drifted to them from the dark. Neither Tomura or Keigo reacted, lead investigator his ass, but Enji's brows furrowed, listening to the headphones.
"..a laugh?" The EMF meter hummed to life, ratcheting up to and staying in the red.
Touya sighed, the hair on his arms standing up a little, an involuntary reaction. He didn't know the girl's actual age, but ghosts always seemed creepier when they sounded child-like.
He guessed he was up.
He took a step forward, shaking out his arms a little, and spoke. "Hey. Toga, right? I've heard from other people that that's your name. You wanna come out and talk to us?"
The thing that made Tomura a good cameraman for the show was his tendency to freeze when startled or frightened rather than try to run or fail and make the camera, and recording, all wobbly and jumpy. It was also fortunate that he had the camera facing the right area when he froze, right where the dark figure and glowing red eyes appeared for a few seconds.
Keigo's eyes bugged out. "Please tell me you got that." His tone was low, almost a whisper, but excited.
"Probably just- a reflection or- I got it though.." Tomura sounded unsure and Touya rolled his eyes.
"We see you over there. I do anyway. You gonna come out or just hide in the dark? You can always talk from there if you want." He cocked his head, calculating. "There's someone else down here too, right? Jin? Some people said you like the name Twice-"
He cut off with a hiss, seeing the girl dart out of the shadows, all messy blonde hair, red eyes and flashing teeth.
"Twice is mine!"
Enji's eyebrows hit his hairline, looking up. "I heard 'Twice' and 'mine'.. definitely sounds like a repl-"
"Fuck!" He had a split second to react, but he was also anticipating the assault, holding his arm out in front of himself horizontally, like a shield. Touya managed not to take a step back, even as he saw that sharp mouth open, then clamp onto his forearm. He actually sighed after, keeping his arm still. The worst part was the anticipation.
Keigo rushed over. "What! What is it? Did you get touched?"
Touya wanted to smack his palm to his forehead and drag his hand down his face. This guy.
"Touched. Yes, birdbrain, I got touched. I got bit . I knew I was gonna fucking get bit." He muttered the last part to himself.
"She bit you? That's great!" Keigo was pointing his camera at Touya's arm, Enji peeking over his shoulder.
"Oh yeah, fucking peachy."
"I don't see marks though. Usually bites and scratches leave red marks." Keigo glanced up, questioning. Like he thought Touya might have mistakenly imagined he’d been bitten by a fucking ghost.
"I'm sure there'll be marks, once she fuckin' lets go."
"Wait.." Keigo pushed a button on his camera to switch to thermal, studying the screen. There did indeed appear to be a cooler spot, shown in blues, right in front of Touya. "She's.. still biting?"
"Yeah, like a little fucking piranha." He could see Toga perfectly well, see her squinty little eyes peering up at him, clearly pleased with herself.
Keigo gasped as Touya winced. "Dude! I just saw your skin indent!"
"Yeah, cause she clamped down." He raised his arm a little. Toga, being shorter and pretty much weighing nothing compared to him, a ghost and all, ended up hanging from his arm. By her teeth. He shook his arm a little and she waggled limply like a fish on a hook.
He sighed. "Look, Bitey McBiterson. You're gonna regret that in a minute or so if you keep it up. I heard all about your shark impersonations and I planned ahead. Cause I knew you were gonna come at me teeth first."
Toga growled lightly at him and he raised a brow.
"Taste any different? Cause I rubbed my arms down with wet, half dissolved salt and let that shit dry on my skin. Gonna get real burny for you if you don't let go."
Everyone in the room, including Toga, stilled. Keigo spoke first.
"You rubbed yourself down with salt ?"
"That's.. pretty smart, actually." Enji sounded impressed and it did not warm a needy little place in Touya's chest.
Toga looked like she was going to call his bluff, eyes narrowing a little more, but they flew wide a second later. There was something odd there. A tingle? She flicked her tongue out to barely touch Touya's skin and let go with a cry, stumbling back to spit at the floor.
"That's a dirty trick!"
He scoffed. "Dirtier than you flying at me, teeth first?"
She finished her hacking, reaching out to touch his arm with a single fingertip, pulling back with a hiss as it sizzled and burned. "Yes!"
Enji had one hand pressed to his headphones. "I'm only getting every few words, but I can tell she's talking to you."
"She's talking alright." Touya eyed the spirit, ignoring Keigo trying to interject questions at his side. "Why do you bite and scratch?"
Her smile went bright, toothy. "It's fun! And for blood! I could do even more with just a little."
"Blood." Enji echoed the word from his EVP recorder.
Not for the first time, Touya wondered how strange it must be to not hear the whole conversation. He had questions about blood. But they'd get dangerously close to his hosts. And he'd promised not to mention any of them or the exact details of what they had going on. Maybe he could sneak back down alone with his questions before they left.
"You seem like an unhinged little piece of work. I bet you like the running and screaming too."
Toga smiled wider. "Of course! Twice is good at that too!"
Touya saw another figure flicker, there and gone, reappearing elsewhere, then gone. His after image lingered and he understood the nickname. It was also very unsettling.
"Toga. Are you okay?" He skittered closer to her side, letting Touya see his wild hair, scarred face and haunted eyes. The two made quite a pair.
Enji frowned, lifting his equipment to check the settings. It drew Keigo's attention.
"All good, Enji?"
"I heard another voice. But it echos weirdly. Repeats some words. I'm not sure if it'll record well."
"What did it say?" Keigo was peering at the settings as well, not that they meant anything to him.
"'Toga' and 'okay'."
Touya huffed. "Twice asked Toga if she was okay because salt burns like hell. Doesn't it, doll?" He grinned, looking almost as unhinged as the spirit.
She eyeballed him, then matched his grin, patting Twice reassuringly. "You're an asshole. But I like you. Now go away before I try to bite one of the other ones."
"You know we'll come back down here before we leave, right?"
"I know. And you know that I'll try again."
He rolled his eyes, but his wild grin turned into an amused smile. "I'll be sure to bring the salt." He turned to his companions, making shooing motions towards the stairs. "You heard the lady. Or, maybe you didn't. But we're done down here for the night."
Enji snorted. "Did she call you an asshole?"
Touya barked out a laugh. "Yeah, she did. She's a gremlin."
They trooped back up the stairs, Keigo grumbling about the short investigation, but Tomura relaxing as they climbed. There was definitely something creepy about that space. He wasn't saying it was a ghost. But it was certainly.. weird.
Keigo closed the door, sighing. "We'll, we still have more time tonight. C'mon, the reviews said there's a talkative spirit on the third floor. And specifically mentioned him being nice. Maybe we can avoid more ghost bites tonight."
Touya rubbed at his arm. There were indeed faint red marks. "No more biting would be appreciated."
Unseen, even by the medium of the group, Yagi slipped away, considering his check-up of the group complete for the night. Neither Mirio nor Tamaki would cause them any trouble.
He made his way slowly back through the foyer, into the kitchen (through the wall to keep from invisibly opening and closing the door) and into the home he'd made with Shouta and Hizashi, floating up through the floor and into their bedroom.
His two boyfriends were curled into each other in the large bed, talking quietly and trading lazy kisses and it warmed Yagi every time seeing them there, knowing he was welcomed in with them.
Hizashi spotted him first, smiling over his husband's shoulder, Shouta catching his expression and looking back.
"Everything going well?" Shouta was the one to question, ever practical.
"Toga bit the medium."
Hizashi sighed. "Of course she did. Is he alright?"
"He's a clever young man. Talented. He let salt water dry on his skin before they went down."
Shouta blinked. "I'll be damned. I'll have to remember that one."
"I bet she didn't like that."
"No, she did not." Yagi drew closer. "But I think he actually gained her respect."
Both Shouta and Hizashi chuckled.
Yagi smiled at them, stripping out of his clothing with ghostly ease and lifting the blankets to slide in behind Shouta, pressing a fond kiss to his shoulder. Hizashi pushed himself up onto an elbow, silently demanding a kiss, which Yagi happily provided.
Shouta watched the two, mouths meeting just above him, and smiled, eyes going hooded.
"It's hot when you do that."
Hizashi broke the kiss with a laugh, dipping down to thoroughly kiss his husband. "Not as hot as when we do other stuff."
Shouta grinned a lecherous smile. "Yeah? What kinda stuff?"
Yagi snorted a sound that was part laugh, part groan into the dark haired man's shoulder. "You're both terrible."
"Terrible in the best way." Hizashi smiled his sunshine smile.
Shifting onto his back, Shouta stretched out, resting his hands behind his head, the very picture of languid. "Well?"
Blue and green eyes fixed on him. "Well what?"
"You gonna give me a show or what?"
Even after nearly a year together, they could still make Yagi blush.
Hizashi just chuckled, shifting to straddle his husband's hips, holding a hand out to their spirit. "Behind me, Toshi, please?"
He grumbled just for appearances, but moved to settle behind the other blonde, legs on either side of Shouta's thighs, pressed all up against Hizashi's back to peer over a shoulder, down at a smug Shouta.
"You're spoiled." He accused it with no ire, just fond amusement.
"You like me spoiled." They did. They liked that they were all able to spoil each other.
And that they were able to find plenty of opportunities to try.