Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been a long, dull, boring day. Such was every day whenever Lae was left alone at the house. If he could get up and leave, he would, however, Lae was unable to go too far from his spirit box. Thus, as he waited for Hiew to come home, he floated around in a bored manner, pet the cat for a while, and disappeared into his spirit box to shut his mind off. 

Lae had been a ghost for a long time. He, of course, was used to the long lulls in time, being left at the house while also being an invisible part of the world. Only Hiew had ever been able to see him, and ever since they met, Lae had latched onto him like a leech. He could be seen! He could have a conversation!!! For this, Hiew was his to haunt forever!!!! Oh, how lucky he was that Hiew had a bleeding heart, so much so that he took pity on such a ghost, and willingly let himself be haunted! Lae usually never had such good luck, but ever since he found it, he held onto it tightly and vowed to never let Hiew go!

Nothing he could do would let him feel less restless. Every time he looked at the clock, it was never enough time that would have passed. Out of boredom, Lae started banging the hanging pots and pans, opening and closing cabinets, and basically doing a full-on haunt while he was alone. For humans, it wouldn't make much sense of what he was doing. Would opening and closing cabinets really be such a fun activity to pass the time? Well...yes! Like how humans go to the gym to work out, this would be the equivalent for a ghost like him. Ghosts need to keep up their strength, do they not? Their strength connects more to energy levels and interacting with the mortal world, so moving furniture and items was as if he were lifting weights and running track!

"Oooooooo.....boooooooooo~" Lae sing-songed, laying upside down on the couch, his forehead touching the floor. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the cat again. Lae flipped over, the sudden movement startling Mary. "Oh sweet Mary!" Lae glided to her at once. "Oh Mary, how fortunate you like me!" The name Mary was Hiew's choice, of course. He was cursed to see ghosts, so he wanted a holy name for his pet to protect her. It was only to Hiew's disappointment when Mary came home for the first time and her name did nothing to stop Lae from playing games with her and snuggling up to her. Hell, she even seemed to love Lae more! It had been a shot in the dark of an idea to begin with, but Lae laughed when he found out that was Hiew's reasoning.

"Marrry!" Lae sang again. "How long must we stay here? Alone??? We miss our hooman, don't we?" 

Lae didn't even hear the door opening, but the look of disgust on Hiew's face when he heard 'hooman' was a clear indicator that he was debating whether or not to even come inside or turn around and leave for another hour. Before he could make his choice, Lae appeared behind the door. "Hiewy! You're home! Come inside, come inside!"

Perhaps it wasn't just the baby talk that made Hiew want to turn around and leave. "What did you do?"

"Huh?" Lae smiled. He looked around, suddenly realizing that he had left the house a mess. "Oh, well, you see, you were gone for a long time-" Lae looked down, tracing a circle on the back of his left hand in embarrassment. 

Hiew rolled his eyes. "Come on, Lae. If you have this much energy you should at least clean up after yourself."

"Oh, oh, well," Lae couldn't bring himself to make eye contact. "I'm sorry, I didn't notice." He genuinely felt a sense of shame toward Hiew. Lae had been all over the place all day, bored, and cleaning the place didn't even cross his mind. "I'll clean it right away."

Hiew reached out, grabbing Lae's pale, transparent wrist. "Offerings, first."

!!! Lae shook his head. Too sweet! Too kind! Your kindness is too much!!!!! "No, I really should clean first! At this rate, I don't deserve anything. You can barely walk, I've knocked everything down!"

Hiew understood that it was in a ghost's nature (depending on the ghost) to either clean or to destroy, and unfortunately, for Hiew, his ghost would do the latter, cleaning had been well washed out of his habits a long time ago. 

"Rest! I'll clean! It will help with my energy levels, too, I'm sure!" Lae pushed Hiew to the couch. 

"I'm fine, you haven't had an offering in a while. I bought some sweets for you to try tonight."

My heart! 

"No, no no no!" How could he be so thoughtful?! Even when I trash his home!!!! What a man! "No! I refuse to accept your kindness! Not until I have made this home suitable for a human!"

With that, he pushed Hiew onto the couch and started cleaning. He closed the cabinets, picked up the pans, straightened and hung the knocked over picture frames, sorted the papers that had flown all over the floor, cleaned a small flood by the kitchen sink, and made sure to clear every spot that he had touched. 

It hadn't taken Lae too long to clean, to be quite honest. It had taken maybe thirty minutes, however a human would have probably taken a good while longer to clear up the sheer amount of things that had been out of place. Luckily, most of the house had been ghost-proofed, so anything that could potentially be broken was in a secure spot, or exchanged for cheap versions of the items, so if something did break, it would be no big deal. 

"Hiewy, I'm done~!" The room was dark. Hiew had fallen asleep on the couch, however, beside him was a lit candle with a bunch of small candies beside it, and a new hoodie for Lae to wear. Standing in a frame beside the candle, there was Lae's name written with a picture of his ghostly outline in an old photograph from when Hiew was younger. The corner's of Lae's lips pulled back in a smile. In an instant, Lae changed into the hoodie, an orange one with the sun drawn in an indie style, with blue colors instead of red ones. He picked up the candy, and tasted it. Just as expected, it was his type. Hiew had grown to know him so well over the years, and each small gesture, even something as small as knowing what kind of flavor he would prefer, made Lae feel a little less alone and a little more loved. 

Grabbing a blanket from a basket, Lae gently threw it over Hiew, tucking his feet in and bringing the blanket up to Hiew's chin. Lae sat on the floor beside Hiew, leaning up to the human quietly. He looks so peaceful when he's asleep. Work must have worn you out, didn't it, Hiewy? You looked so tired today. Lae moved his finger to adjust Hiew's bangs, however, his finger failed to interact. I guess I'm tired, too? Normally, when he wanted to sleep, Lae would go back to his spirit box and rest peacefully. However, he felt just as peaceful-if not, more-watching Hiew's face, his chest rising and falling as he breathed soundly in his sleep.

Chapter Text

It was another work day for Hiew, and like every day, Lae was left alone with the cat. Little did Hiew know, however, that his pantry would be raided that day. 

Lae had woken up from his spirit box feeling refreshed and strong after cleaning up so hard a few days prior and interacting with the world more. So, of course, Lae had started going through the cabinets again, opening and closing them, when a box of cake mix caught his eye. Lae smiled from ear to ear, an idea popping into his lil head. 

As a ghost, Lae needed to be careful when baking. Lae had taken out a bowl, a whisk, milk, eggs, and butter and started mixing everything together, turning on the oven like the box instructions told him to. Lae stirred and stirred, the shells of way too many cracked eggs were in the sink (he had failed to crack the yolk into the actual bowl itself a couple of times, the yolks and whites falling to the floor not once, not twice, but three times). He finally poured his batter into a pan, and shoved it in the oven. 

"Maarrry!!!" Lae called as soon as he was done, floating over the mess of eggs and batter to find the cat.

After the alarm for the oven went off thirty minutes later, Lae had, by this time, found the cat and was lying very comfortably on the floor next to her. "Mary, Mary you need to get off my hand, okay? I'm so sorry, my love, but I'll have to miss you for now! Can I please have this back?" he withdrew his hand from underneath the cat's head and hovered his way back into the kitchen to retrieve the cake. He opened the oven door up, and sure enough, the mix had risen and solidified into a plump looking cake. Lae turned off the heat and took the pan out, not needing any heat gear (ghost privilege), and put the cake on the counter to cool. 

Now, Lae checked the cabinets again. "Do we have any icing?" He wondered aloud, used to speaking to himself under his breath since he had spent decades alone with no one to talk to. "Ooh, yep! I think I remember that chocolate goes well with anything, so chocolate icing it is! Wait, what flavor was the cake again? Oh-lemon something...It should be fine?"

By the time Lae had iced the cake, he set it aside and plopped on the counter beside it. He did it! Woo Hoo!!!! An actual cake, made by a ghost! Lae was beaming with pride. "Best ghost-roommate or what, huh Hiew? Oh!" Suddenly, he remembered he needed to check himself. His jaw nearly dropped when he realized the state of this room. 

.

..

...

"HOW COULD I DO THIS AGAIN?!?!?!" 

A mess! An utter mess! It was as if a hoard of squirrels had barged in the kitchen and decided they wanted to bake a cake!!!!

The counters, the sink, the floor! Icing, powder, batter, eggs! Basically the ingredients to conjure up a whole new cake lay around the kitchen!!!! 

Luckily, he had some time before Hiew was to come back home, so he instantly started on cleaning again, starting with the floor so it would have time to dry and Hiew wouldn't slip when he came home, then the counters, then the sink. The mess had been pretty large for one area but luckily it didn't take too long this time, and Hiew would never find out what it looked like (luckily).

****

Tired from interacting with the mortal plain, Lae rested on the couch with Mary curled up in a ball beside him. His outline wasn't as prominent, as he was tired, his skin not as opaque as it could be. It was okay, at least his day was spent doing something! Now, he rest calmly with Mary, waiting for Hiew to return. "Mary, it's six thirty. He should be home." He muttered to the cat, pouting ever so slightly. What a day for Hiew to work overtime! Lae was dying to have Hiew try his work and show it off. "I bet he'll be tired when he comes home."

As if on cue, the front door opened and both Mary and Lae perked up. 

"Lae?" Hiew called. 

Like an excited puppy, Lae jumped off the couch and disappearing toward the front door. "Welcome home!" Lae peaked around the open door, appearing behind Hiew almost like a ghost from a horror movie, except this ghost was cheerful and wearing bright colors and a genuine smile. 

"Sorry I worked so late again tonight." Hiew apologized. "It's that time of year, its so busy right now."

"No no no, don't apologize. I'm a ghost, I don't really have time, so it can't be wasted, right? Just do your thing, you don't need to worry about me."

A half smile appeared on Hiew's face. "You're so kind." He tried to shake Lae's hair, but Lae was just tired enough that his form wouldn't even let Hiew interact with him.

The smile kind of disappeared, "Are you okay? Are you tired?" Hiew asked. It wasn't too normal for his touch to not land on Lae, so when his fingers didn't even feel his form, it was quite odd. 

"I'm fine!" Lae chippered up, excited to show off his work. "Look look look, I want to show you something!"

Hiew's face had the smile return to it. "What did you do?" 

"Ta-daaaaa~! I made a cake!" Lae bounced excitedly, showing off the cake he made. For a ghost who had only watched others bake and cook, never touching the idea himself, he did a pretty nice job with the presentation. The icing swirled around in the center of the cake to give it some pizzaz, the edges were made to look like they were overflowing the with the chocolate icing, however, it was done pretty notice, like and showed off as more messy than artistic, but to Lae that didn't matter. In his eyes, his work of art was beautiful. Why hadn't he done this sooner?!?!

"Sooooo?"

"You made this?" Hiew's eyebrows were raised. What, did he think the cat baked it?

"Yeah!" Lae was proud. "Look, I even remembered to clean this time!!!! I think I'm learning, Hiewy~! Eat it! Go ahead, I bet you haven't had anything for hours!"

Without needing to be told twice, Hiew grabbed a fork and a plate and cut out a slice for himself. Hiew took a bite.

"So? So so so? How is it?"

...

No comment.

"HIEWY!" Lae floated closer. "TELL MEEEEE how is it?!?!?" Lae was completely aware that he was acting like a child, but he could no longer hold onto the edge of his seat for this. He had to know how well he did! He hadn't done anything like this before, and he enjoyed it so much, so he really really wanted a review!

"It's...it's very....it tastes like a stick of butter." Hiew admitted. 

"Huh?" The smile still hung on Lae's face. 

"Would you like to try it? Here, I'll set up your offerings." 

"Really? You would do that?"

Again, no comment. 

Hiew lit up the candles, said a prayer, and placed the slice of cake in front of Lae's ghostly outline picture. Once he was done praying, Hiew sat back. "There, try it."

Lae's eyes were big and childlike, his happiness through the roof. "Thank you!!!!! Hiewy, have I told you how handsome you are lately? Have I told you? And how sweet, and charming, and amazing-"

Hiew leaned forward and pursed his lips to blow out a candle. "NO NO NO NO NO, I'm sorry, I'll shut up, I'll eat." Lae smiled nervously and dug into the cake before Hiew could take away Lae's chance. 

It really is like butter!!!! And not in a good way. It was as if the lemon flavor never existed, and it was just chocolate coated butter. 

"Yuck! Gross!"

A breath of laughter passed Hiew's lips. "It's really good, especially for a first try. I'll buy you some more stuff and you can bake whenever you want."

How does he keep doing this?!? I'm dead, my heart's stopped! But..."I could cry! Hiewyyyy you're sooOOOo sweet! Thank you thank you!!!"

---

For work the next morning, Hiewy cut himself a piece of the chocolate-lemon cake, placed it in a Tupperware container and took it to work with him, not minding the butter overload, his mouth fighting a grin at the image of a tired ghostie proudly showing off his creation. 

Chapter Text

It was Lae's favorite time of the week: the weekend! 

Hiew would be home for most of his time off, which always made Lae so excited. Lae often compared himself to a dog that waited on its owner that never wanted his person to go to work. A dog that wanted his owner to stay home and play with him all day. And the weekends were just that day.

Lae had appeared from his spirit box a little later in the morning than usual. Since he started baking, he had slept in longer to recover from interacting with the human world. Hiew was already awake, laying in bed on his phone when Lae went looking for him.

"Good morning!" Lae cheered, throwing his ghostly body onto the bed, the bed not showing any indication at all that anything just pounced on it. "Mary! Did you sleep well last night?" Mary was laying beside Hiew's head, stretching as she woke up to Lae's hyper energy. He pet her chin softly while Hiew put down his phone and turned to greet his ghostly roommate. 

"You seem refreshed." Hiew smiled. Lately, Lae had been out of energy by the time Hiew got home from work, so seeing Lae so full of life (for a dead guy) eased his mind a bit about any concerns. Honestly, he had never seen his ghostly companion so tired so often. Even though he knew what was causing Lae's form to fade and flicker on occasion, it still worried him that something was wrong or that Lae might even disappear from this world. However, Lae being so normal and excitable like this first thing in the morning showed Hiew that a lot of his concerns were just in his head. 

"I rested well! You could say that I...slept like the dead?" 

Hiew's hand loudly smacked into his own forehead. Yep. Lae was okay. Nothing to be concerned about in the slightest. 

"H-Hiewy? That sounded like it hurt...."

"That slap was nothing compared to the mental damage your joke caused." Hiew gritted his teeth, trying to come off as annoyed, but also unserious. 

It worked, Lae understood his tone of voice and laughed. "Come on, that pun was nothing."

"A pun is a pun, and all puns suck."

Lae stuck his tongue out. "Says you!"

Hiew rolled his eyes, then decided to change the subject. "Are you planning on baking any more today?"

Instantly, Lae shook his head. "Nope! That's for when you're at work! You're home today, so I'll rest today, too!" 

Hiew had nothing big planned for the day, or really nothing at all. He had worked late almost every day for the past week, and completed his chores and grocery runs before the weekend for the specific reason of hanging out and doing nothing all day. In fact, he planned to plant his ass on the couch for hours upon hours and do nothing but watch series and movies for the day. However, to sit on the couch all day, it meant he had to get himself out of his bed first. A conundrum. 

Right now though, moving out of bed was not his biggest priority. Hiew was really comfortable under the thick warm comforter, and the fact that Lae came in and settled onto the bed next to him made him even more stubborn to move.  

"Is there anything you want to do today?" Hiew asked, curious if the ghost had anything he was craving to do. 

"Nothing today! We're both tired, but if you go out tomorrow could you bring me with you?" 

When moving the spirit box, Hiew was able to bring Lae with him if he took the box around, but honestly, Lae would have to pull Hiew's arm to let him go out in populated areas. Lae was really bad at keeping to himself, and on multiple occasions he had freaked out the normal passerby at the store, knocked things off the shelf, made things move, fly, etc. He also made Hiew look crazy like he was talking to himself, and even though Hiew would put in a headphone to pretend like he was on the phone, he could still tell that people noticed by his mannerisms that he looked like he was just talking to thin air. So, Hiew usually tried to only take Lae out when the stores weren't crowded. Given all of that, when Lae suggested a weekend day it definitely made Hiew hesitant to answer. 

"Maybe not tomorrow, but one morning before work we could go?"  Hiew suggested. 

Lae pursed his lips, however, he didn't complain. "Okay, but I'll hold you to it!" 

That, Hiew didn't mind. 

The two of them laid on the bed for about an hour, talking a little and just enjoying the quiet morning in their own way. Mary slowly moved from the side of Hiew's head to Lae's arms, where the ghostly guy pet her and held her like a spoiled princess. Lae held her closely, her purrs loud and her eyes shut. Lae also had his eyes shut and had his head inches from the cat's face, a smile wide from cheek to cheek. At some point, Hiew abandoned his phone and just watched the ghost and his cat, a smile on his own lips as he watched the two lay happily by each other. 

Eventually, Mary got up and spun around, swiping her tail across Lae's face, hitting just beneath his nose. Hiew watched as it caused Lae's nose to crinkle up cutely, right before he let out a massive sneeze, scaring Mary off of the bed and himself more awake. 

Hiew breathed out a laugh, watching Lae desperately call for Mary to come back. 

Since the moment was over, Hiew took this as an opportunity to rise out of bed. 

Lae, who had been enjoying the calm and comfort with no intention on ending the moment so soon, shot up behind Hiew and followed him.

Finally, Hiew had done it! He made it twenty feet away to the couch!!! To celebrate this achievement, he turned on the tv and began scrolling through the apps, figuring out what it was he would watch for the day. When Lae saw this, he sighed and floated his way to the kitchen. He poured a bowl of cereal and filled it with milk, then brought it out for the human to eat. 

"Oh, thank you!" Hiew looked surprised, as if he was shocked that he could have forgotten he needed to eat breakfast. 

Lae grinned, happy to help. What would his human do without him? He could barely take care of himself at home, often forgetting his responsibilities to himself. "Just eat your cereal, if you need anything else you can ask me." Lae was always happy to help, especially since Hiew did a lot for him and worked so hard each week. Offering his help was the least that he felt like he could do.

After scrolling for only a few minutes, Hiew landed on a horror movie, hitting play as soon as he read the description and deemed the plot interesting enough. 

A horror movie? At 11 am? Lae couldn't help but judge. It was bright outside, the day was young, it just didn't suit the vibe.

Lae had used to hate horror movies. He would hate how inaccurate the ghosts were, however, after watching a couple and seeing the movies become more diverse with ghosts and their reasons for haunting, Lae didn't mind as much. In fact, now he would even sit down and get invested in some. And despite the fact that Hiew was convinced Lae would actually get scared by the movies, Lae, in actuality, would pretend to be scared to amuse the human. 

A few years ago, the two had been watching a horror movie together. They were both side by side on the couch, and Lae was barely paying attention. All of a sudden, there was a loud jump scare on the screen that snapped Lae awake with a jolt, his body jumping backward into the couch cushion, causing Hiew to laugh. He thought it was so funny that a real ghost had been scared by the tv ghost. Lae tried to explain himself, but Hiew was too amused by the concept to let it go. Eventually, Lae leaned into that thought of Hiew's, pretending to be scared at movies even though he wasn't, simply because it brought the human some joy. Over time, it evolved to Lae pretending after the movie was done he would be scared enough to attempt to "protect the house" and "ghost proof" it. He wasn't sure exactly how convinced Hiew was into his act, but as long as he caught Hiew laughing at him, he didn't care. 

"Come watch! I've heard this one isn't too scary." Hiew patted on the seat next to him, inviting Lae over. 

This time, Lae acted no different. He sat himself on the couch beside Hiew. It didn't take but a few minutes into the movie for Hiew to finish his breakfast and lean back into the couch and get comfortable. The two of them watched side by side, talking every now and then, pointing out little details, guessing what would happen next, yelling at the characters to stop doing the dumb thing they were about to do. It was a good three quarters into the movie before there was a big enough sound effect and spooky enough jump scare for Lae to react to. The second the murderer appeared on screen with a loud "wham!" Lae took the opportunity to jump over, burying his face in Hiew's shoulder, his body pretty much jumped into the human's lap.

He meant it to be funny, something to be laughed at, but why, when he looked into Hiew's eyes, did the mood seem different? Why did time seem to slow down? Why did those pretty irises stare so earnestly into his own? Their faces were inches away from each other, but why did neither of them seem claustrophobic? Lae's gaze traveled downward to Hiew's lips, the thought of putting his own lips to the humans' was so tempting, so easy...but what right did he have? He was a ghost, he wasn't supposed to be in the human realm anymore. His presence was enough, he shouldn't want anything more from the mortal world. He pulled back, but why did it seem like Hiew had leaned in forward?

"I-I'm...I'm sorry."