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No.
Maybe Niall had gotten something wrong.
That photo wasn’t possibly from… The sixties?
Absolutely not. Maybe it was a weirdly construed prank. A very… Not funny one.
…That Niall planned alone? Because Louis seemed just as shocked as he was. No way he was in on it.
And all things considered, the photo looked the part. It was faded, and more than a bit yellowed. Not to mention crumpled from years of sitting up there in the attic- According to Niall, at least.
Maybe it wasn’t really a prank, but Harry didn’t want to believe that. He was doing everything he could to convince himself otherwise.
It didn’t help, however, that the memory- if that is what it was- of taking the photo on Louis’ birthday evening was coming back to him. Some recollection was.
A tipsy Louis, alone with Harry on almost the whole island- Liset was practically a ghost town in winters. A homemade birthday cake with eggnog- made with no eggs, since they were snowed in, and the only shop in town would be closed for christmas.
And a… Walk at night… After dinner. Something robust, Harry couldn’t remember what- And Louis insisting on wearing his stupid Carlsberg sweater and- What else did they do?
There was something stupid they’d done in the cold night out there, but he couldn’t actually remember what. Something after they’d gone out there, mittened hands in each others-
No way he could actually remember all of it. No. It was one of those… What did they call it? He was gaslighting himself, yeah. No way he was actually-
“Hazza?”
Harry nearly jumped at Louis’ soft voice, not even realising he’d been clutching the Polaroid hard enough to crease it down the centre.
“Tell me you didn’t just…” Harry asked, his voice hoarse.
Louis bit his lip, staring out of the French windows. They were silent for a few minutes before Louis pointed to the edge of the property where the cliff wall was.
“We shovelled all the snow to that corner- In a big old heap. And I pushed you in it.” He said softly.
And it all came barreling back to Harry.
The crisp cold. The slight wet coolness against the skin of his back where his sweater had ridden up. His voice echoing loudly as he playful chided Louis and-
“You pulled me in with you. We laid there in the snow kissing each other until I said I couldn’t feel my arse. You said it was like something out of ‘White Christmas’. And then we went and watched it on tape…” Louis said, his voice getting smaller with each word.
Shit.
Maybe it… Was exactly what it looked like. Maybe he’d gotten it wrong all along.
Maybe not.
Either way, he needed to talk to Niall. Whatever it took.
“But… How’d you know my name? When I first talked to you that day?” Louis frowned, confused.
Niall shrugged sheepishly, glancing at the two men sitting beside him before staring at the Polterpod for a few seconds.
They were sat in the kitchen again, the small round box on the table between them, Niall and the two owners of the BnB sitting across from them- Across from what looked like empty chairs to them.
Niall finally spoke after a deep sigh. “‘S all on the internet. Did a bit of research, and, well, Zayn and Liam knew, too. They’re the ones who told me. Ended up listening to quite a few of your conversations through the years and they sort of… caught on.”
“Is that why you looked so out of depth all the time?” Harry asked, then bit his tongue, realising how rude it sounded. Ghost or not, mannerless he was not. “Sorry- I meant, well- You were always… Pausing. Or like, thinking before you spoke. I just thought it was a mannerism of yours.”
“‘M not offended. Don’t worry.” Niall laughed, shaking his head. “I was always pausing because, at best, fragments came through. The first time you spoke to me in the kitchen, Liam had told me that there was no one downstairs, but I could go and get a cuppa for myself. Gave me the bloody fright of my life when I heard you speak.”
Harry grimaced, remembering how he’d jumped. Trying to think of it from his point of view, it was all a bit… Terrifying. No wonder he’d seemed so nervy.
“It was the first time in my life I’d ever heard a voice as clear as yours without any devices. Usually it’s a word or two at best, but there were clearly fragments of the same voice.” Niall paused, gnawing at his lip. “It’s why I was so slow to answer. I was sort of… Piecing it together. Assuming what you were talking about.”
“I invited you to a fuckin’ dinner, and you actually came ,” Louis murmured, still sounding awestruck.
“Well, I actually just heard crack a can. And a few bits about not being obligated. Figured it couldn’t hurt.”
“You’re either mental or way too brave for your own good.” Louis commented bluntly, earning himself a jab from Harry.
“Well, I sort of spend my life poking around in old abandoned buildings. At least the Nest wasn’t any of that. Old, sure, but safe. And not to mention bustling full of people.” Niall grinned.
“I’d told Niall,” Zayn chipped in, one of the first times Harry had heard the man speak. “Li and I’d seen you a few times. Heard you a lot more. But you always seemed… Unaware. Niall figured there’d be no harm.”
Harry chuckled a little wryly. ‘Unaware’ was putting it weakly.
“And they also told me how you’d never actually hurt anyone. So… Yeah.” He exhaled, looking a little nervously at the Polterpod.
“You were always so calm around us,” Harry said after a few moments of silence. “Like, you knew for certain that there were spirits with you and you went and behaved like we were… Not. Not just not existing, like- Like we were not ghosts, but… Human.” He sighed, his voice breaking slightly.
“It was the only way I saw. I couldn’t exactly have said ‘Hey y’all are ghosts’. Figured I’d go along with it until you’d catch on yourself.”
Louis swore under his breath.
Harry couldn’t even figure out what to say. All of it made so much sense. But then simultaneously, it made none. Or he didn’t want it to.
“Wait- What about all those times I heard voices coming through your machines? Like, out there by the shed- And yeah, what was the deal with that? All the EMF and everything…” He trailed off.
“They were mostly yours…” Niall said, apologetic. “There’s a bit of a lag when it comes to the speakers actually sounding out the captured voices. Though, a few times, I’m certain there were other voices too. But given the past of Liset, that’s hardly surprising.”
He clicked his tongue, staring out of the window at the edge of the cliff now.
“As for the shed. I don’t know how it disappeared. There’s no records of it. But the grass never growing back was simply ‘cause someone filled in the hole wrongly and it sank. So the owners after you filled it with concrete. Dirt covered it eventually, but… Nothing ever takes root there.”
“God, I feel like I’m shattering everything you ever knew. I wish I could just let you continue on in your own blissful state but-”
“No” Harry said firmly, this time hearing the echo of his own voice, slightly tinny sounding, through the machine. “Please. We want to know.”
Niall exhaled again, running his hand roughly over his face.
It was Liam who spoke this time. “I- God, it’s a bit odd, speaking to you when I can’t see where you are- I’m sorry. But, uh- As for all the readings, they’re just underground electricity. I know you told Niall they’re overhead, but Liset’s had them changed since like, the 90s.”
And. Wow.
Harry felt a little lightheaded. Everything he knew. Everything he held true, or dear to him, was… Not a lie. But extremely outdated. Untrue.
“All the figures I kept seeing…?” He asked softly.
Niall shook his head. “Like I said, there’s other presences too. Not as strong as yours. But there, undeniably. It’s much easier for you to catch on to them than us.”
He paused, clearing his throat.
“Why’s our presence stronger, then?” Louis asked bluntly.
“You spent your whole lives here, didn’t you? And… Oh god, this feels much less like research when the person’s right in front of you.” Niall muttered to himself. “Much more stalker-y.”
“It’s okay, we want to know, I promise.” Harry chuckled, goosebumps running down his arm as he heard his own voice echo through the Polterpod again. God, these lads were way too calm about this, it felt like he was the one freaking out the most.
Niall exhaled deeply again. “You guys bought this place right after you graduated. Even though it wasn’t… Well, Liset wasn’t the most open minded of places back in the 60s. But you made it work.”
And it came flooding back to Harry. The look on Louis’ face told Harry it was the same for him too.
Pitching together all their savings. Pretending to be friends in front of the bank when they went for the loan papers and-
“We had our own little wedding in the backyard…” Harry murmured, his eyes fixed on Louis, all of it suddenly coming back to him.
The other three men looked confused and Harry assumed his voice mustn’t have gone through clearly.
“We had our own little wedding in the backyard.” He repeated, louder and clearer this time. “Nothing official, of course, but our mums were there. Oh god, yes.” He broke off, suddenly overcome by emotion and-
How had they never thought of all this before? They’d avoided the past. Or rather… Just didn't care about it.
Zayn murmured something to Liam, smiling, and Niall’s lips were quirked up at the corners too.
“Exactly…” He smiled. “So, you guys just sort of… Stayed. Because your next was everything to you. And even in- Whatever this is-” He gestured vaguely towards the chairs they’d pulled up opposite to them. “You guys are taking care of your Nest. In your own way. It’s oddly poetic.”
Poetic it was. Harry had to agree.
“So… Everything you showed us as ‘proof’ was just… Us?” Louis asked, gnawing at his lip.
Niall looked a little ashamed of himself as he nodded. “Yeah, mostly. The cold spots on that one capture were the two of you. And I’m certain the voices my recorder captured were yours through the floor.
“But that one day- Yesterday? I came up to the attic and you were talking to someone and I heard voices too- It wasn’t either of us up there, then.” Harry questioned.
Niall looked extremely uncomfortable, fiddling with the edge of his t-shirt.
“Uh- It was me, actually.” Zayn offered in a soft voice. “Uh, and Liam was on call.”
“Wait so- Shit, it was my echoes through the Polterpod then, too?” Harry groaned.
Niall nodded, grimacing sympathetically.
“So… Uh. What now?” Louis said, frowning.
Yeah, right. Harry hadn’t thought that far. What now?
There were a few beats of silence, Liam and Zayn looking at each other and then Niall.
Niall simply raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, murmuring “It’s your place lads, your decision.”
“We don’t… Mind.” Liam said softly.
And- What? Did they really have no sense of preservation? Even from the other side, Harry could tell they were being stupid. How were they so okay with all of it?
“This sounds stupid,” Zayn mumbled under his breath, not unkindly.
“Hush,” Liam frowned at him. “Look, they’ve been here this whole time. And they didn’t… Get in the way. And honestly, it’s their place as much as ours. We don’t have to acknowledge you, if you don’t want-” He said, half to Zayn, half to the empty chairs in front of him.
“It could be like Beetlejuice-” Niall said with a small laugh. “Minus the weird snakes.”
That earned him an actual smile from Zayn. “Weird comparison, but, apt.”
And honestly, Harry would take it.
He didn’t know what was going to come, how he was going to live with the knowledge of being dead.
But he had Louis with him. And they would still be in their Nest.
Maybe they could make this whole… Ghost thing work.
Unlive happily ever after?