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The house at the corner of Maple and Pine doesn’t look haunted at all.
It’s a modest-sized house in a middle class neighborhood, covered in orange lights and garish Halloween decorations, and the yards around it are still full of children playing as the sun sets.
“I see the problem,” Sebastian says to the rest of the Lima Paranormal Investigating Team as they unload their equipment from Sue’s van. “The kid is having nightmares about that hideous skeleton hanging from the tree in his front yard. He didn’t actually see a real ghost.”
“Well, according to you, no one sees real ghosts,” Kurt points out.
Sebastian ignores him. Kurt is his boyfriend of three months, and the reason he’s even part of this ridiculous group at all, but at the moment, Sebastian is pretty pissed at him. “This is a waste of time,” Sebastian says. “I’m going home.”
“The hell you are,” Santana snorts. “Sue will kill you. You might not be afraid of ghosts, but I know she terrifies you.”
Sebastian rolls his eyes. “She does not.” It’s a lie. The woman in charge of LPIT is truly frightening. Sebastian would have never joined the group at all if he hadn’t needed an excuse to get closer to Kurt. Though everyone else in LPIT is in the group because they have had some sort of paranormal experience, Sebastian doesn’t even believe in ghosts at all. He just saw the team investigating a local coffee shop back in July and took an immediate interest in Kurt. After feigning an interest in the paranormal and asking to be considered for the newly vacated spot on their small ghost hunting team, Sebastian had spent his first investigation being trained by Kurt on all of the equipment and investigative procedures they use, and by the time they had packed up and left, Sebastian had gotten a phone number and the promise of a date. Though his intention had mostly been to sleep with the beautiful boy a few times and then move on, three months have passed and Sebastian and Kurt’s relationship is only growing stronger.
It had been, at least, until today, which is the three month anniversary of their first date. They’d had plans to celebrate the occasion, a fancy dinner and probably a whole lot of sex, but Kurt had immediately canceled their date this morning when Sue had called to ask if they were available for a last minute investigation tonight. Sebastian knew that LPIT was important to Kurt, but it hurt to know that it was more important than their relationship. This was the first time that Sebastian had hit three months with anyone, and even though he had downplayed the whole anniversary thing when Kurt decided to make plans, it really does mean a lot to him. Sebastian is pretty sure he’s in love, and Kurt is canceling anniversary celebrations to look for ghosts. It doesn’t seem like a good sign.
Mostly because Sebastian and Kurt never have sex on investigation nights.
-
“So what’s with you and the last unicorn?” Santana asks him a few minutes later when they’re in the basement with Brittany setting up cameras to record the basement all night. Kurt and Sue are upstairs talking to the family that lives in the house. It’s a task the rest of them are not allowed to take part in, because clients tend to find Sebastian and Santana incredibly rude, and the fact that someone as empty-headed as Brittany is on the team does no favors to their credibility. “How come you’re not talking?”
“We’re talking.”
“You’re not,” she insists. “He’s talking at you and you’re giving him the cold shoulder. If he starts crying, his make-up will run, you know.”
The dig at Kurt sends a flare of anger through him, but he’s too annoyed with his boyfriend to jump to his defense. “Today’s our anniversary,” Sebastian explains. “We had plans. He wanted to do this instead.”
“He chose the ghosts over you, huh?” She laughs. “Can’t say I blame him. You’re not exactly a catch.”
“Can you shut up and hand me that adapter, please?”
She passes him the adapter, but ignores his first request. “Seriously, Sebastian. Everyone knows you think we’re all lunatics. I’m surprised Kurt still tolerates you at all.”
“Our relationship is none of your business, you know. How would you like it if I started commenting on you and Brittany?”
Santana just shrugs. “Why would I care? I have nothing to get weird and defensive about. We’re actually happy, aren’t we, Brit?”
“Yep,” Brittany agrees, giving Sebastian a bright smile. “Do you and Kurt need some tips? Because I’ve found that scissoring always helps.”
“I’m done setting this camera up,” Sebastian grunts, ready to leave this conversation as soon as possible. “I’m going to go work on that one in the hallway. Apparently sometimes the kid hears noises there.”
-
Sue’s first rule of ghost hunting is that no one goes anywhere without a partner. Her second rule, of course, is that she is the only one exempt from the first rule. They’re only a group of five, but Sue always assigns them a partner for each investigation, and then wanders the property on her own. Usually, she separates the two couples to avoid any, as she puts it, “canoodling.” Tonight, though, she pairs Kurt with Sebastian and sends them off to investigate the house with the thermal imaging camera and a tape recorder while Brittany and Santana sit in the living room, watching the live camera feeds from the basement, where the child claims to have seen an apparition.
“So,” Kurt says, his tone casual, “are you going to tell me why you’re being a brat, or is this meant to be a guessing game?” He’s spent the 20 minutes they’ve been investigating the house getting progressively annoyed with Sebastian’s cool, formal responses.
“Right, I’m a brat,” Sebastian mutters, keeping his eye on the flip screen of the thermal imaging camera as they head toward the basement stairs. “This is how we’re spending our anniversary, but I’m the brat.”
Kurt stops walking and looks over at Sebastian. In the glow of the camera, Sebastian can see the surprise on Kurt’s face.
“You’re mad about that?” Kurt asks.
Sebastian stops, too, turning to face Kurt. “Wouldn’t you be mad if your boyfriend thought doing a last minute ghost hunt was more important than celebrating your anniversary?”
Kurt frowns. “I didn’t… I never said this was more important, I just-”
“You dropped everything without even questioning it as soon as Sue called you,” Sebastian says, trying to keep his voice to a harsh whisper. “You put LPIT before everything else, always, and-”
“It’s my job, Sebastian!”
“People get paid for jobs,” Sebastian replies, no longer bothering to keep to keep quiet. “This is a weird hobby that you’re completely obsessed with.”
“You knew how important this was to me when we met,” Kurt says. “I never lied about that.”
It was true. The very first night, when Kurt had trained him, they’d had a conversation about Kurt’s devotion to the group. He had helped Sue establish the LPIT four years ago, when he was a junior in high school, because he’d had some paranormal experiences in the house he’d grown up in. Kurt had not gone into detail about what exactly he had seen or heard, and Sebastian hadn’t pressed. He didn’t believe in any of that stuff, after all, and at that point, all Sebastian had been looking for from Kurt was a brief fling. They hadn’t discussed the issue further since then. Kurt now knew that Sebastian hadn’t joined LPIT because of legitimate interest, and that he didn’t even believe in ghosts at all, but it wasn’t something they talked about often.
Kurt continues before Sebastian has a chance to reply. “And anyway, when I brought up making plans for the anniversary, you laughed at me and said it was a stupid thing to celebrate!”
“Yeah, but we still made plans!”
“No,” Kurt yells, “I made plans, because three months is a big deal to me, and you acted like you were doing me a favor by agreeing to come along.”
Sebastian feels a pang in his chest at the knowledge that Kurt’s feelings were hurt by his aloof behavior, but backing down from the fight is too much of a challenge. “So our anniversary is important to you, just not as important as investigating this random kid’s hallucinations. Good to know.”
Kurt grunts in frustration. “We’re here together, aren’t we? It’s not like I ditched you. And it’s not like you couldn’t have said something-”
“I shouldn’t have had to say anything! Everyone knows you’re Sue’s little pet, and if you had asked her to try and reschedule, she would have done it in a second!”
“HEY!” calls a voice from behind them. They had been so loud that even in the otherwise quiet house, they hadn’t heard Sue approaching. “You two, in the living room. NOW.”
Sebastian shoots Kurt a worried look, but Kurt is pointedly looking in the other direction. They follow Sue back to the living room as she lectures them for their behavior.
“Your little squabble was completely unprofessional. Did you forget that the family is a few rooms down, sleeping in the den? Well, trying to sleep, I guess, because no one could sleep through all your relationship drama. I expected better of you, Porcelain,” she says as they reach the living room, where Brittany and Santana are seated at the couch, pretending to watch the monitors while they eavesdrop. “I let you and Richie Rich partner up on this one because I thought you’d-”
“I know,” Kurt interrupts her. “I’m so sorry, Sue. It’s been… a rough night.”
She sighs. “Well, unfortunately, I’m gonna have to ask you two to switch places with Brittany and Santana.”
“But we didn’t even go into the basement yet!” exclaims Kurt. “Sue, I really-”
“It’s not negotiable, Porcelain,” she replies. “You guys are watching the monitors for the rest of the investigation, and if you can’t keep your voices down, I’m sending you both home.”
Getting sent home doesn’t sound like a bad idea to Sebastian, but they hand over their equipment to the girls and then settle in on the couch to stare at the screens while the other three head out to explore the house. The silence is heavy between them for a few minutes as they watch Brittany and Santana investigate the basement. Kurt’s eyes don’t leave the monitor once, and Sebastian’s starting to get worried that he might have messed this up for good. Maybe this anniversary is going to be their last. It would make sense, because no matter how patient Kurt has been, Sebastian has no idea what he’s doing, and it shows. Kurt would have to be a saint to put up with him for much longer. Most days, Sebastian’s pretty convinced Kurt is a saint, or at least a godsend. He’s smart, sarcastic, and gorgeous. He laughs at Sebastian’s jokes instead of getting offended, and smiles at him like there’s no one else in the world. Kurt is such a joy to be around that Sebastian will do anything as long as Kurt’s there, which is proven by the fact that he still does this stupid ghost hunting thing after three months and Kurt’s reassurances that it’s not necessary to retain his boyfriend status. Sebastian never expected to find someone he wanted to hold onto for any significant length of time, especially not while he was still in Ohio, but the thought of losing Kurt is enough to scare him into apologizing, and maybe begging, too, if all else fails.
Sebastian’s still trying to form the proper apology in his head when Kurt breaks the long silence with a timid whisper.
“I didn’t do it out of spite, you know.”
Sebastian, shocked at the sudden noise, can only say, “huh?”
“This,” Kurt replies. “Coming here tonight. Not trying to reschedule. It was just… me being stupid and self-absorbed, as usual. I honestly didn’t even think about how it would affect your feelings at all, which is terrible.” He sighs, and finally turns to look at Sebastian. “You are important to me. Really important. I know that you put up with a lot from me, and I’m sorry-”
“Wait, no, stop,” Sebastian interrupts, surprised to hear Kurt apologizing to him after convincing himself that he was about to be dumped. “It wasn’t you. Or… okay, maybe you could have been a little more thoughtful about the anniversary thing, but you were right. I was an asshole about it, and acted like it was no big deal, so I can’t blame you for taking me at my word.”
Kurt huffs out a laugh. “I didn’t take you at your word, though. I never do. I mean… I know that you care, even when you don’t say it. You don’t hide it well.” He reaches out to take Sebastian’s hand. “Today has just been sort of emotional for me, and I used that against you.”
Sebastian feels calmer now that it doesn’t seem like a break-up is imminent, but Kurt’s words still bother him. “Why was today emotional? Because I was ignoring you?”
“No, no,” Kurt assures him, giving his hand a squeeze. “Though that didn’t help.” He pauses, chewing on his bottom lip for a moment. “I, um… I used to live here, before my dad married Carole. This was where I grew up.”
“Here?” Sebastian asks in disbelief. Kurt nods. “So this is where…?” He trails off, unsure of how to continue. Kurt had been very vague about the nature of what he experienced, and Sebastian’s beginning to think he should have asked more questions.
Kurt nods. “So when Sue called and mentioned that the people living here now had a kid who was seeing stuff… it’s why I didn’t ask her if we could reschedule. I just really wanted to come here.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I know you think this whole ghost thing is sort of crazy,” Kurt says. “I know you think I’m crazy, and I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, since we’re probably not going to find anything, anyway.”
Sebastian knew that was probably true. In his three months of investigating with LPIT, they hadn’t found any evidence of paranormal activity that was even slightly convincing.
“I don’t think you’re crazy,” he tells Kurt.
Kurt laughs. “You don’t have to try and make me feel better, I know-”
“No, seriously, I don’t,” Sebastian repeats. Kurt’s vague tale of paranormal phenomena has never bothered him too much. Sebastian found Kurt’s reason for ghost hunting far more sane than those of his teammates. Santana had refused to tell him anything and threatened to have his head mounted on her mantel if he asked again. Brittany had claimed to see dead people, and Sebastian had been unable to tell whether or not she was mimicking Haley Joel Osment, because she seemed surprisingly earnest. Sue’s assertion that she had spent a good portion of the 90s being haunted by the ghost of Corey Feldman was the most troubling.
“But Corey Feldman’s not even dead,” Sebastian had said to Kurt later.
Kurt had just laughed and said, “Yeah, I tried to tell her that sounded more like schizophrenia, but she wasn’t having it.”
So no, Sebastian, didn’t think Kurt was crazy. Kurt was smart and skeptical, rooted in reality, and it was easy for Sebastian to disregard the whole “belief in the paranormal” thing as a strange personality quirk.
He’s starting to see why Kurt has been reluctant to divulge the details of his experience with him.
“What exactly did you see here?” Sebastian asks, trying his hardest not to sound judgmental. “Was it… scary, or…?”
Kurt seems surprised by the question, and it takes him a moment to reply. “Um… no, it was… nice, mostly,” he says, looking down at his lap. “I mean, first it was just some noises and then these weird feelings, like someone was with me sometimes, and that got a little creepy, but then there was this one time after I moved my room down to the basement, and I woke up in the middle of the night and there was this woman standing by my bed, which was right over by that loveseat, staring at me. And I wasn’t even scared. I should have been, but it was just really… calming. It felt the same way I did when I felt like someone was with me, only I could see her, and I tried closing my eyes and opening them again, but she was still there. I finally fell asleep again, and when I woke up, she wasn’t there anymore.” Kurt lets out a shaky breath, then looks up at Sebastian. “So, now do you think I’m crazy?”
Sebastian frowns. “No,” he says, because the information hasn’t changed his opinion much at all. “I think… you were probably going through a rough time, and you really needed someone to care about you, so… there she was.”
“Impressive,” Kurt says, laughter in his voice. “I imagine you aced your Psychology 101 class at Allen County?”
“I did, actually.” Out of the corner of his eye, Sebastian sees something flash across the screen focusing on the basement. “Was that…”
“Dust,” Kurt says. It’s pretty much always dust. Sometimes, a bug will fly by. “I don’t think we’re going to see anything tonight.”
“The odds aren’t exactly in our favor,” Sebastian admits. On the monitor, Brittany and Santana start walking up the basement stairs, ready to explore a new area of the house. “I’m sorry we didn’t get to check the basement.”
“It’s okay. I’m sure Brittany and Santana were thorough.”
Sebastian squeezes his hand. “Maybe we’ll find something when we watch over the tapes later.”
“Maybe. For now, though,” Kurt says, glancing at his watch, “it’s still technically our anniversary.” He lets go of Sebastian’s hand and crawls into his lap, straddling him and facing away from the monitors. “Happy anniversary,” he whispers into Sebastian’s ear before moving his lips down to Sebastian’s mouth.
Once Sebastian gets over the shock of the kiss, he wraps his arms around Kurt’s back and tugs him closer. Maybe tonight they’ll break precedent, and Sebastian will get laid on his anniversary after all. He’s considering the ramifications of taking Kurt’s pants off right here in this stranger’s living room (there are no cameras in here, after all, and they could probably be quick, and fairly quiet…) when he sees something else on the basement monitor over Kurt’s shoulder. It still looks like dust, but it’s as if millions of tiny dust particles have taken the vague shape of a woman with long, flowing hair. Sebastian blinks his eyes a few times, but the figure is still there, hovering by the loveseat.
“Um, Kurt?” Sebastian starts, pulling back from Kurt’s lips a bit. “What did the woman you saw look like?”
Kurt looks frustrated. “You want to talk about this right now?” he asks, grinding down into Sebastian’s lap. “Seriously?”
Sebastian allows himself a moment of smug satisfaction before replying. Apparently, sometimes he really is more important than ghosts. “Did she have long hair?” he asks. “Because…” He places a hand on Kurt’s cheek and turns his head back toward the monitors.
“Oh my god,” whispers Kurt. “That’s… oh my god! This is… the cameras are still recording, right? Of course they are, what am I saying? I can’t believe…” He climbs off of Sebastian and starts fumbling around for his walkie talkie, all while keeping his eyes on the monitor.
Sebastian tries to deal with his shock while Kurt talks to Sue, tells her that they’ve seen something in the basement and that someone should go back down there. The apparition disappears before anyone gets there, though, all of the dust coming apart again and drifting off in different directions. They still had the video detailing everything they had witnessed, though, and Kurt didn’t seem disappointed.
“At least now the kid feels better,” he explains to Sebastian as they pack up their equipment to leave. It’s nearly 4am now, and they’ve given up hope of seeing the figure again. “And his parents don’t think he’s nuts, which is a good thing. And I think he’s less scared now that I’ve talked to him about what I saw, and-” He cuts himself off, and gives Sebastian a sheepish smile. “I’m babbling, aren’t I? I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine,” Sebastian says. “It’s been sort of a crazy night. I’m just wondering when you’ll get to the ‘I told you so’ part.”
“Oh,” Kurt replies, surprised. “There’s no ‘I told you so’ part. I mean, it’s not like we proved anything. I’m just… happy.”
Sebastian’s not sure he would have as much restraint if the roles were reversed, but he appreciates that Kurt’s not planning on rubbing it in his face. He knows that with Santana, it will probably be a different story.
“Good,” he tells Kurt. “I like it when you’re happy.” It’s maybe the sappiest thing Sebastian has ever said, and he can tell by Kurt’s expression that he’s touched. He keeps his voice light and teasing when he replies, though.
“You like it because it means you’re going to get laid.”
Sebastian laughs and moves closer to Kurt so he can wrap his arms around his waist. “Can you blame me?”
“Nope,” Kurt replies. “Speaking of which, I know it’s very late, and not technically our anniversary anymore…”
“But you want to come to my place?” Sebastian finishes hopefully.
“I was going to say I think we should go have a nice, greasy anniversary breakfast at Denny’s, because I’m starving,” Kurt says, giving Sebastian a playful grin. “But after that…”
“I like this plan,” replies Sebastian. “It involves two of my favorite things.”
Kurt rolls his eyes. “Pancakes and sex?”
Sebastian almost corrects him with “Pancakes and you,” but it’s their three month anniversary, not their wedding day, for god’s sake, and he’s not that whipped yet. Instead, he just says, “Yeah, something like that,” and gives Kurt a peck on the lips.