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The ghost in his world certainly built a lot! Not that Micha was complaining much. The two were friends! At least he thought so anyway. No. He didn’t think so, he knew so! Regect was definitely his friend. Micha even got to give him a name!
With so many empty buildings, Micha found that he and Regect were running out of space and running out of ideas. Micha paused running his eyes over the fields and forests and barely visible structures. Many empty buildings… oh!
“Regect! Um, do you maybe wanna play hide and seek?”
Reject paused where he was, tending a small carrot farm on the inside of a (less) small greenhouse. His visible torso shifted upwards and turned to face Micha. His one eye shifted, implying he was tilting his head.
The greenhouse cast a warm light across everything making everything, except for Micha, appear full of life. Micha appeared somewhat sickly. Regect wanted to believe that was just a trick of the light, but the IV scarring and slight trembling was enough to tell him otherwise. It was always like Micha was shaking with the weight of life. It scared Regect.
“Hide and seek?” He asked. Micha frowned softly at his friend.
“Yeah! You know-” He prompted, bringing his fists up towards his face and hopping up and down happily. However when Regect still seemed confused Micha continued. “We- You’ve built so many structures! We can use them to play hide and seek!” Micha grinned, desperately trying to get his point across and continuing to bounce back and forth where he stood. Kids aren’t always great at communicating, and Micha was impatient on this particular day.
A day that was perfect to run around and play. A day that Regect would’ve spent farming, and Micha wouldn’t have it. He’d had enough of Regect’s- oh wait he’s not allowed to swear.
He’d had enough of Regect spending so much time in that one greenhouse. There were so many other places to be and things to do! Micha intended to make use of all he had here. He knew his time was limited but he wanted to enjoy it all.
“Is hide and seek exactly how it sounds? Wh-“ Regect spluttered. He had turned around for two seconds and that reckless little kid had disappeared. “Micha?”
He scanned the greenhouse rapidly before being greeted by a small oak sign. ‘Count to 100 | then come find me :)’. Regect sighed, he’d missed it at first due to panic.
He disliked having to count above fifty, no matter how many builds he did that had parameters over 300, even.
Even so, Regect counted anyways. 1, 2, 3…
100. Maybe he got a little distracted while counting and just skipped a few tens of numbers. But this was Micha! His Micha, his kid. Regect knew Micha wouldn’t actually care how high he counted or how many numbers he skipped so long as they played for a few hours, at least.
Holy fuck, self censorship is important, Regect needed to remember that. But Micha was right, he did build a lot of structures. He hadn’t even realized to what extent it was, and honestly he’d rather have kept it that way. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Did he have a stomach? Not the time, Regect.
Regect had already been through at least thirty different buildings, several of which being large castles and theatres, and hadn’t found Micha. He didn’t really know how much longer he could do this for. He started to worry a bit more than he wanted to admit. It was just a game anyways. He wasn’t worried. He wasn’t.
Micha ran back and forth through the large structure, thinking about the pictures in the National Geographic magazine he looked through. He’d already run past a ton of other buildings was starting to get tired of running. He wanted to find the perfect spot! A simple closet or a table wouldn’t do it!
He was looking for a hiding spot, he swears! But… there was a very cool looking garden outside and he… forgot what he was doing. Micha…
Regect entered a large mansion. Marble and brick with beautiful side gardens. Speaking of gardens…
“Micha!” He called happily, relief flooding him so much he almost collapsed. The kid jumped, small purple sparks crackling on his hand in surprise. He looked up to see Regect. It seemed Micha had gotten a bit distracted with a slug that was sitting in the dirt.
“Regect!” Micha ran up and hugged him happily. Regect returned the hug and slightly squished Micha, just to make sure.
“I found you! Does- does that mean I win?” Regect asked nervously. He wasn’t sure he wanted to keep playing. It felt a lot like foreshadowing…
“Yep!” Micha chirped. He let go of Regect and spun to run off to an allium that held another bug. It was a moth this time, Regect noticed, following behind Micha.
“How about we play in this garden for a little while? Considering we both like it here.” Regect murmured. He raised his hand to pat Micha’s head softly and Micha grumbled about how he wasn’t that little while doing… absolutely nothing to push Regect’s hand away.
“Oh- okay!” Micha agreed, popping up to step back and then accidentally scaring the moth off of the flower. Both him and Regect erupted into careless laughter as the moth clumsily fluttered away.
It was a kind of day that was similar to a fresh spring morning, and it was perfect. The dew that clung to all the plants in the garden were enough to leave cloth damp, but Micha didn’t care if his cape or shorts or shirt were wet. He was enjoying simply playing with his ghost friend, Regect.
And Regect was relieved to be done with that horrifying game. He decided he wasn’t very fond of hide and seek. He knew it would come up again some time but he would simply deflect when he got there. He was happy right now, and he wouldn’t waste that chance for a million dollars.
Micha ran around, spinning and sprinting through the garden with Regect following close behind, making jokes and laughing uproariously when Micha tripped. Of course Regect would help him up. He had to be the least bit responsible for Micha, if not him, then who?
Maybe hide and seek wasn’t as fun as Micha thought, as he was once again sliding into the grass. it was better to just be by his friend.