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“I was never looking for her
Till I found her
Now I find her everywhere”
It started out small. Scar would hear little giggles in his walls, items would be misplaced, and he would find random brightly coloured feathers in the most unusual of places. Honestly, Scar had to clue about the parrot feathers. Yes, you can own pets in his apartment complex — he had Jellie, after all — but he knew that his neighbours — the ‘Hermits’ they called themselves — didn’t have any birds. Scar simply shrugged it off at first, but it all came to the surface when a bunch of the Hermits decided to visit him for a sleepover. One could argue it was a childish thing for adults to do, but the Hermits could rarely be called ‘responsible adults’ in the first place, so what’s the harm?
Pearl, Mumbo, Impulse, and Scar all built a fort in his living room with couch cushions, pillows, and an assortment of cosy blankets that Scar had lying around. It was more like four smaller forts all linked together in one bigger fort. It was quite difficult to explain, but very creative and unique for a fort. Scar was disappointed he’d need to take it down the next morning. He wished it could last longer.
They were all in comfy pyjamas, gathered around in their sleeping bags while the battery-powered lantern flickered in their — surprisingly — large fort. Scar wore his classic HotGuy pyjamas, Pearl wore her constellation onesie, Mumbo wore a grey baggy shirt and shorts, and Impulse wore a yellow shirt and black trousers. Jellie padded over into the fort — met by many squeals of delight by his friends — as she curled up on Scar’s lap. Pearl grabbed a flashlight from her overnight pack, clicking it on and shining it on her face horror-style.
“Did you know someone died here, a while ago?” she asked, giving a creepy smile. “I heard he haunts the condo!”
Everyone just rolled their eyes, except for Scar, who always took things very literally. Jellie even gave him a warning look that said “squeeze me and you won’t have hands anymore”. This only made Scar giggle, petting Jellie lightly across her back. She had so much sass.
“You’re just trying to find an excuse to tell a ghost story,” Impulse sighed, waving her off humorously. “You’re going to scare poor Scar over there!”
Scar opened his mouth to retaliate, before quickly snapping it shut with the realisation that Impulse was correct. Impulse gave a quiet chuckle. Scar scowled.
“No, I read about that in the paper a while back,” Mumbo mumbled, absentmindedly.
“You actually read the paper?” Pearl snorted.
“One: rude,” Mumbo sighed, giving a small smile himself. “Two: yeah. I do.”
“No one reads the newspaper, Mumbo,” Impulse laughed.
“Well I do!” Mumbo huffed, crossing his arms as his ears became bright red.
“Well anyway,” Pearl said, wanting to get to her ghost story. “It’s said that some guy lived here last year and died a month into his lease!”
“ Ooh! Spooky!” Impulse chuckled, mockingly. Pearl simply frowned and ignored him.
“What happened to him?” Scar asked, trying to look put together and totally not scared.
“No one knows,” Pearl shrugged.
“The paper said that they couldn’t ‘disclose the information at this time’—” he made a big show of putting air quotes as he said this “—about the situation, so it must’ve been big.”
“I heard he studied ornithology,” Pearl piped up.
“The study of birds?” Impulse asked — though it wasn’t really a question — hugging his pillow. “Not many of those.”
“Heard it was parrots, specifically,” Mumbo nodded, scratching the back of his neck. This comment made Scar’s blood run cold, remembering the bright red feather he had found the previous morning. The others seemed to notice his sudden shock.
“Scar…?” Impulse asked, waving his hand in front of Scar’s face.
“You alright there, mate?” Mumbo chuckled, looking nervous.
“Yeah,” Scar faintly whispered, obviously not alright.
“Is he haunting you?!” Pearl piped up, way too excited.
“I- I- erm—” Scar stuttered, pulling the collar of his shirt awkwardly “—I may or may not… have been hearing things and… finding parrot feathers in random places…”
Pearl’s jaw dropped open, while everyone else looked extremely concerned. Pearl started vibrating with excitement, frantically looking around to see if she could spot anything paranormal.
“But, nah!” Scar laughed, forcefully. “Ghosts aren’t real! I’m sure Jellie has been finding feathers outside and bringing them inside!”
“In the city?” Impulse asked, wearily.
“And isn’t she an indoor cat—?” Mumbo asked, but was cut off by Scar.
“Impulse! Didn’t you get accepted into that welding program? How’s that going?”
Everyone glanced at each other nervously, before changing the topic, much to Scar’s delight. They talked about careers, part-time jobs, and random stuff for the rest of the night. Pearl was planning on starting up her own restaurant — ‘Luna Eclipse’ she wanted to call it, like the luna moth — Mumbo was studying architecture, and Scar was working at a pawn shop. He wanted to make an amusement park, but needed something more ‘realistic’ as a back-up plan. Besides, he was pretty good at — *cough cough* scamming *cough cough* — doing business.
They eventually all decided to go to sleep. Scar had Jellie curled up beside him, purring softly while his friends snored peacefully. Scar couldn't help but feel like someone was watching him. He shook his head, tired from staying up so late. He was being ridiculous. Ghosts weren’t real.
They just weren’t.
🪷
Scar woke up later than the others — even Jellie, who was sitting on the windowsill — and Impulse had even started making breakfast for everyone. It smelled of bacon and eggs as he yawned and crawled out of his fort, walking over to the kitchen. Mumbo was sitting with a cup of tea on one of his kitchen chairs while Pearl was chatting with Impulse, who was cooking on the stove.
“Morning Scar,” Pearl smiled, patting him on the back while handing him a warm mug. “Coffee?”
“Yes please,” Scar took it gratefully, giving a tired smile. “Coffee is definitely needed.”
“I figured,” she laughed. Scar snickered as a response.
“Hey Scar?” Mumbo muttered. Scar glanced over, seeing the tall man pale faced.
“Hm…?” Scar glanced over, his emerald eyes hazy from sleep. Scar became much more awake as Mumbo grabbed a handful of navy blue parrot feathers from the other end of the table. The room grew quiet and still, everyone holding their breath for someone to dare break the silence. Scar giggled nervously, looking down at his morning coffee to evade eye contact.
Bad idea.
Scar saw a pair of bright white eyes staring at him in his reflection, on the brown liquid. Eyes that weren’t his. Eyes that had a mischievous glance, smiling a cheeky grin as it stared at him. It was only for a moment — a single heartbeat of a second — but those eyes were now sketched into his brain. Nesting there.
Scar screamed, dropping the cup instantly. As expected, it shattered on the ground, piercing his ears as the pieces scattered with the coffee across his kitchen floor. He stumbled backwards, grabbing onto the counter to keep himself from falling over, breathing heavily.
“Woah! Buddy! Scar!” Impulse yelled, needing to dodge the oven while he fell backwards. “You alright dude?”
“Scar?” Pearl asked, resting a hand on his shoulder.
Mumbo stayed silent, staring blankly at the scene.
“Oh, Pearl,” Scar breathed a chuckle, smiling weakly. “I’m definitely being haunted.”
🪷
Scar quickly kicked them out of his apartment — disregarding all of their displeasure and voices of concern — sliding down the door exhausted and laying down on the floor. His apartment was haunted. Figures. He decided to quickly get up — leaving future Scar to put away his friends’ fort — and sat down at his computer. He gathered information for a solid two whole hours — which would have been twenty minutes shorter if Jellie didn’t try and make a bed out of his keyboard — and got a pretty decent chunk of knowledge on the alleged ‘ghost’ that was haunting him. He also did some research on ghosts — which most of it sounded like a bunch of bologna, but it was all Scar had to go off of — to make sure that he didn’t make the situation worse… if it even could be made worse.
Grian was a 22 year old male who lived in his apartment building last spring. He studied birds — mainly different types of parrots — and worked as a professor in a university downtown. One day, he suddenly disappeared, without a trace. No one knows what happened to him, but with some questioning of his neighbours, the police were able to know that he just didn’t come home one night. He must’ve died on the way back home, which was probable since he didn’t own a car and had to use public transit. It could have been anything from gang violence to having a spontaneous heart attack. No one could know for certain. Spooky…
Scar found there were certain rules of dealing with ghosts. You should never — under any circumstances — say the ghost by name. It is the fastest method to speak to the ghost, but if you do so you are establishing a bond between the ghost and yourself and they can do creepy things from possession to simply refusing to leave because of the formed bond. The ghost can also then start following you, as they are now tied to the person rather than a specific location. It is better to either just call it ‘ghost’ or give it a fake name. You should also be very clear on what the ghost is — or more specifically — isn’t allowed to do. Sometimes you can even trick the ghost into leaving the building and never being able to return, but this doesn’t always happen. Ghosts can be bound to either their old living place or the place of which they died. It is more commonly the former, but it is possible for the ghost to choose to come back to their home.
Scar ruffled his fingers through his hair, pushing off his desk and rolling away in his desk chair. Jellie meowed, hopping off his keyboard and into his lap.
“Hey!” Scar laughed, scratching under her chin as she purred loudly. “You silly girl!”
Scar suddenly felt the room grow cold — hearing soft giggles in his ears — glancing up from his cat to stare outside the window. He saw a shadowy figure looming outside the window. He couldn’t make out any distinct shapes, other than the glowing white eyes that were staring into his soul. He screamed, causing his chair to fall backwards and have him fly off of it. He grabbed Jellie in his arms, breaking her fall as he crashed into the cold wooden floors. Jellie cried a yowl of terror, scrambling out his arms and running to her cat-tree that was placed in the corner of the room.
“I’m sorry…” Scar mumbled, turning to look back at the window. As hoped, the ghost was gone, leaving onto the sun to stare into his home, waving happily at him through the curtains. He sighed, getting up and stretching his back. He had gotten way too spooked from that. It was just a simple jump scare! This ghost was lazy with his hauntings! Scar huffed, dusting off his trousers and turning to face Jellie to loudly complain to her.
Sadly, he never got the chance, now seeing the shadowy figure standing right infront of him. It was tall — looking to be over six foot — and stared at Scar with sinister white eyes. Scar’s breathing became short and rapid as he stumbled backwards — becoming great friends with the floor that day — as the figure stepped forward.
“S-stay back!” Scar screamed, shuffling backwards. “I’m warning you!”
The shadow stopped, their eyes becoming… dimmer? Softer. He started giggling, forming arms in the blocky shape as it buckled over from sheer laughter. Scar was flabbergasted as he was looking at the ghost as he shrunk down to be much shorter than Scar. The dark skin turned slightly transparent, glowing faintly as his shape took form. He had short blonde fluffy hair — which stuck out the top of his head uncontrollably — with bright blue eyes and a red jumper with an unusually large turtleneck. It certainly wasn’t the appearance the Hermit was expecting from a ghost, but it made sense, didn’t it? He was … you know… alive before.
“You should have seen the look on your face!” the ghost laughed. “It was priceless ! Oh my God !”
Scar’s face became bright red, quickly getting up to stand over the ghost who was laughing hysterically. He wanted to be angry, but he was more annoyed than anything else. Though this man was in his 20s, he was acting more like an irresponsible teenager! … Yes, you could say the same about the Hermits — they did just have a sleepover like they were in fifth grade — but… just shut up about it!
“It wasn’t very funny…” Scar muttered, crossing his arms furiously.
“Trust me, mate,” the ghost laughed — whom Scar now noticed had a British accent — pointing his ghostly finger at the Hermit’s face. “That is the best reaction I’ve gotten in months !”
“So I’m not your first victim, eh, Ghost?” Scar accused.
“So feisty !” he chuckled, phasing through Scar — sending a chill through his spine and leaving him to pat his chest in horror — and sat on his counter, making himself comfortable.
“Hey!” Scar snapped, marching over to the kitchen in a huff. “ Off the counter!”
“What am I going to do?” he questioned, tilting his head slightly as if he were a cat. “I’m dead .”
Scar just stood shocked at that very blunt response. His lips smoothed into a thin line as the ghost’s face had a wide mischievous grin grow on his face. Scar scowled.
“Listen Ghost —” he started before getting cut off.
“Why so vague?” he snickered. “I have a name you know? I saw you researching it ten minutes ago!”
“And I also did some ghost research while over there!” Scar retorted.
“From what? Instagram pages? Wikipedia articles? Ghost hunting videos? Oh! I know! You Googled ‘top ten ways to deal with ghosts’ and went with that!”
Scar didn’t have a good rebuttal for that one.
“So I’m right is what you’re saying,” the ghost snorted.
Scar just pouted, avoiding eye contact. This only made th— Grian giggle quietly. His face flushed hearing his stupid little giggle. He thought he better question him while he had Grian’s attention.
“She's haunting me and honestly
I'm honored to be haunted
By the likes of she”
“So… did you used to live in my apartment?” Scar asked, now sitting comfortably in his living room across from Grian who was admiring his many items. “Like, before… you know?”
“No, no, I didn’t,” Grian laughed, turning one of his cat figurines to face the living room rather than his cookbook that was gathering dust. “I lived two floors up.”
That explained why Scar had never seen him when he was alive, let alone know he had died at all.
“So why are you haunting me then?” he asked, leaning forward and clasping his hands together.
“‘Cause the new people in my apartment are so dull and boring !” Grian made an exasperated sigh, throwing his head back dramatically as he said this. “You’re an interesting fellow. And I have to admit, Jellie adds points to your interest factor.”
He was interesting to him?
“You like cats?” Scar asked, noticing Jellie could also see the man standing in his living room.
“ Love them,” Grian answered, kneeling down to pet Jellie on the top of her head. “Especially since animals can see me better than most people. I’m surprised you can properly see me, to be honest—” Grian paused, his face growing soft and compassionate as he scratched under Jellie’s chin “—I wanted some of my own, but… you know.”
“Yeah,” Scar mumbled.
They sat in silence for a while, with the only sound being his neighbours upstairs and Jellie’s loud purring.
“So,” Scar started awkwardly, trying to change the subject. “How much can you change your appearance?”
“Oh lots!” Grian smiled, his bright blue eyes filling with excitement. “Watch, watch!”
Grian spun around, sprouting giant parrot wings from his back. Scar’s jaw gaped in awe at this sight — with even Jellie being surprised — before quickly snapping shut, awkwardly.
“You sure love parrots, don’t you,” Scar chuckled as Grian gently stroked his newly formed feathers.
“I majored in them, Scar,” he chuckled, having them slowly melt back into his transparent skin. “Of course I love those pesky birds!”
“Yes, sorry,” Scar laughed. “Stupid question.”
“Obviously,” Grian snorted. Suddenly, Scar had a thought.
“... Do you remember how you died?” he asked cautiously, nervous he’d step over boundaries he never knew were set.
“Scar…” Grian’s eyebrows twitched as he made a face of resentment. “That’s a really sensitive and traumatic experience. You don’t just go asking that!”
“Oh my gosh!” Scar sputtered, trying desperately to backtrack. “I’m- I’m so sorry ! I- I didn’t know it was such… an… awful…” Scar trailed off as he saw Grian snicker.
“I’m just messing with you!” he grinned, scrunching up his nose teasingly.
“You don’t do that to a man!” Scar whined, though was very relieved.
“I couldn’t help myself,” Grian smirked. “Honestly, I haven't got a clue how I died.”
“Okay, okay, before I dig myself a hole I can’t get out of,” Scar gave a weary smile, chuckling nervously, “this isn’t going to become a mission where you drag me into your ‘unfinished business’ and I need to do spy stuff as an average Joe, to avenge you by killing your killer, right?!”
“You watch too many movies!” Grian laughed, waving away Scar’s worries. “I’m not intending anything like that! I already told you that I don’t even know how I died! I just want a friend…” Grian gave a warm smile that made Scar’s heart skip a beat.
“Besides,” Grian continued, staring off at the ceiling in wonder. “I’m pretty sure my death is something I wouldn’t want to remember, anyway. I find it best to just leave it.”
“That makes sense,” Scar murmured, looking away from Grian’s ridiculously cute face.
🪷
The fort stayed for the entire week. Scar wanted to take it down, but couldn’t help but give in to Grian’s puppy-dog eyes when he wanted it to stay. So it did.
Though his friends were busy that week, they agreed to have a sleepover at Scar’s place again. Scar had all the snacks ready, along with several sodas to choose from. He had it all set up and ready to go! He even grabbed a bunch of movies off his shelf so his friends could decide on which one to watch. Of course, they were all Disney. But, at least they got a choice in which film to watch.
His ears perked up as he heard the doorbell ring. He smiled, turning to open it, but was met with Grian’s upside-down face. Scar yelped, stumbling backwards, making the ghost laugh. Grian was standing on the ceiling, his hair defying gravity by staying drifted just over his shoulders. Grian had been doing this all week, pulling mischievous pranks on him in many ways. One day would be jump-scares, while the next would be misplacing his keys. Scar should have been mad, but he just snickered by seeing Grian’s gorgeous grinning face every time his pranks were successful. He had made a friend with a ghost. Something he never thought he would do in his lifetime, but it was quite enjoyable to see him every day he gets home from work. He would always be having fun with Jellie, which Scar found the most adorable thing in the world. He always found his heart doing backflips when he gave Scar his goofy smile. He really liked him.
Grian did get down from the ceiling, helping Scar get up to stand on his feet. The doorbell rang again.
“Can I meet your friends?” Grian asked. “They looked lovely last week.”
“Erm…” Scar hesitated. “There’s no harm in it?”
Grian was satisfied with that answer. Scar went to open the door.
“Hey guys!” Scar greeted, waving them all inside.
“Hey Scar!” Pearl greeted, wrapping her arm around his neck buddy-buddy style. “Did you deal with the ghostie that was haunting your house?”
“ Pearl !” Mumbo yelled. “We talked about this!”
“Like telling her not to talk about Scar being haunted would change anything,” Impulse chuckled. Mumbo simply sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Well?” Pearl asked again, knowing she was now in the clear. “Did you?”
“... Kind of?” Scar shrugged.
“What does that mean?” Pearl questioned.
Scar pointed to Grian who was standing in the kitchen, watching them. He smiled, giving a little wave. Scar looked to his friends, who all were very confused.
“I don’t…” Mumbo muttered. “I don’t see anything, mate.”
“You… you don’t…?” Scar muttered, turning to the other two. “You don’t see him?!”
“No…” Impulse sounded both disappointed and sorry.
“I mean…” Pearl tried. “Like, the colour’s different… slightly… like erm… if you squint.”
Scar’s couldn’t help but feel hurt. He turned to Grian, who just shook his head quietly. He too looked hurt and disappointed, but like it was just normal at that point.
“I kinda hoped this wouldn’t happen but…” he chuckled. “I expected it to.”
“W- what?” Scar didn’t want him to never communicate with his friends. “What? No! No, can’t you do some- some weird ghost stuff to make them see you?”
“I can let them know I’m actually here and you’re not just talking to yourself,” Grian laughed, but there was no humour in it. “But I can’t have a conversation with them, like I can with you…”
“I swear, he’s here !” Scar turned back to his friends, pointing to him. “He’s right here !”
“We believe you, mate,” Mumbo chuckled.
“If it were Pearl we would have questioned it further,” Impulse rubbed his shoulder in a comforting motion.
“Fair,” Pearl giggled, not even attempting to defend herself.
Scar gave a weak smile, turning back to the ghost.
“You wanna erm…” Scar muttered. “Do something to show yourself?”
Grian slowly pushed a plastic cup off the counter, causing it to clatter on the ground — which Scar couldn’t help but be reminded of Jellie while he did this — and his friends looked both excited and shocked.
They all proceeded to ask him ‘yes’ and ‘no’ questions — which looked ridiculous when you could actually see the ghost — and Grian had to use Scar to communicate better in some areas.
“Do you remember how you died?” Pearl asked. Grian proceeded to knock over the ‘no’ cup.
“He doesn’t want to,” Scar clarified. “Before you ask him to remember anything…”
“Do you have any family?” Impulsed asked next. Grian tipped over the ‘yes’ cup.
“They’re not close though,” Grian told Scar for him to repeat. “I have a cousin but I didn’t get to see him often.”
“That’s so sad…” Pearl mumbled, after Scar repeated. “Does he even know you died?”
Scar watched Grian hesitate, his face scrunching up in confusion on how to answer. He tipped over both cups as a make-shift ‘maybe’ or ‘I don’t know’. Scar proceeded to make cups for those answers.
“What’s his name?” Impulse asked, shifting to get more comfortable.
“His name is Jimmy, but I just called him Timmy,” Grian giggled. Scar repeated.
“What does he look like?” Mumbo asked, turning to Scar. This obviously wasn’t a question one could answer with cups.
“Well, if the form he’s in is how he looked when he was alive…?—” Scar glanced at Grian for confirmation, who gave a small nod “—he’s short, with fluffy blonde hair, blue eyes, a few freckles on his nose, and he wears a red sweater with a turtleneck.”
“I am of average height!” Grian retorted, crossing his arms, but there was no venom in his voice. “And it’s a ‘jumper’.”
“Sure, buddy,” Scar chuckled, giving a mischievous grin. “He’s also British, by the way,” Scar added, humorously.
They continued asking Grian questions, grabbing snacks, and eventually turned on a movie. The entire time, they kept asking Grian questions, which was always met with a clattering of a cup. Grian looked like he was enjoying himself, which Scar was happy about. He loved his smile. He loved his laugh. He just loved being around him.
“Saw her on the water and I called to her, my Clementine
All in all I think I'm fallin' into love with afterlife”
The realisation struck him in one of his late-night snack runs. It slapped him across the face as he saw him playing with his cat. He was in love with a ghost. He quickly looked around, grabbing a random pen from his pen cup and started rushing to put on his bathrobe and fuzzy pink slippers. He needed to talk to someone about this.
“Where are you going?” Grian asked. He wasn’t asking to be nosy or threatening, but just curiosity.
“Pearl forgot her pen here, a few days ago,” Scar stammered an excuse. “I’ll be right back!”
With that, he was out the door. Grian simply sat confused in the living room, turning to Jellie who was very comfy rolling around on the floor.
“He forgot his keys again,” he chuckled, scratching under her chin. Jellie purred.
🪷
Scar was racing down the hall, knocking on Pearl’s door in a panic. He didn’t know why he thought of Pearl first, but here he was.
“I’m coming! I’m coming!” he could hear her from inside, opening the door. She looked tired.
“Scar?!” she yelled, not giving their neighbours the courtesy of trying to lower her voice. “Wha- what? Why are you awake ?! It’s—” she checked her watch “—it’s one in the morning , Scar!”
“Yeah… I—” Scar ran his hands down his face dramatically “—Pearl I don’t need you to belittle me tonight—”
“ Tonight ?!” Pearl cut him off. “Nuh-uh! It's morning !”
“I know… but—” Scar gave an exasperated sigh, burying his face in his palms “—I have a dilemma right now!”
“And it couldn’t wait ?!” Pearl snapped.
“No!” Scar regretted waking up Pearl. He should have woken up Mumbo. “‘Cause it’s about Grian !”
Pearl’s face went from tired, to angry, to… mischievous.
“Get inside,” she ordered, grabbing Scar by the collar and pulling him into her apartment. Now he was definitely regretting Pearl.
🪷
Pearl was squealing, kicking her feet in the air while Scar’s ears turned a bright pink. Pearl’s apartment was quite nice, if he was being honest — with its fairy lights and galaxy painted walls. She didn’t even hire someone for that! She painted it herself! Her kitchen had dozens of cookbooks that she had… let’s say ‘borrowed’ from a library and had the most obscene collection of kitchen items. Seriously, who needs a dozen types of baking sheets, a drawer of peelers, and two knife blocks?! — and Scar would’ve been admiring the new layout of her kitchen if she wasn’t teasing him about his crush.
“ Pearl stop!” Scar whined, wanting to skydive off the building. “I need help !”
“You, my friend, are having what’s called ‘a gay panic’!” she snickered. Scar scowled. Pearl continued.
“Had my first one in high school. Though it was more of a ‘bi panic’ than a ‘gay panic’,” she giggled, looking up to her carefully painted constellation ceiling, reminiscing on that time. “She was cute, had nice hair, deep green eyes that you could get lost in… ‘Deer’ was her nickname… as in the animal—” she quickly added, as if Scar was going to think of something weird “—wish I asked her out, to be honest.”
They sat in silence — Scar’s being awkward and Pearl’s being comforting — before she quickly turned her attention back to Scar.
“So…” she gave a wide smile. “Is he hot?”
“ Pearl !” Scar screamed, wanting to crawl away into his bathrobe and never be seen again.
“ Well ?” Pearl asked again, having her question unanswered. “Is he?”
“That isn’t the question you should be asking here!” Scar was so tired. “I have a crush on a ghost , for Pete's sake! It’s less than ideal to have!”
“Okay…?” Pearl waved her hand in a circular motion, as if it was adding anything. “Is he hot , though?”
Scar hesitated, biting his lip before answering a very quiet, “yeah…”
“Then kiss him already, you doof!” Pearl threw one of her pillows right at his face. “Wait! Argh! We didn’t ask him if he was gay !” Pearl sounded so disappointed in herself, grasping onto the hairs on her scalp. “I can’t even see him and use my gay-dar!”
“Your what ?!” Scar questioned.
“You sweet, ignorant , summer child…” Pearl whispered, never answering what she meant.
🪷
Scar returned to find his door locked. He forgot his keys. He shut his eyes, groaning quietly as he heard Grian’s snickers from the other side of the door.
“Grian… please ?” Scar begged, watching the ghost phase his face through the wood and face him directly.
“Hmm… I don’t know …” he had a sneaky smile on his face. His mouth then flattened when he saw Scar’s exasperated face. Grian’s eyes looked sympathetic and worried as he opened the door to let the Hermit inside. Scar pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to think of a way to do this. His brain was short circuiting from both sleep deprivation and spending too much time with Pearl.
“Are you okay—?” Grian started, before it was muffled by Scar pressing his lips into Grian’s. It was cold, but nice. Scar quickly pulled away, looking at Grian’s shocked eyes. He didn’t say anything, simply leaning forward to kiss Scar again. Scar had never kissed a boy before — and I suppose it still didn’t count if the one he kissed was dead — but it felt nice. It felt right to kiss him. Scar eventually pulled back, needing to breathe — unlike the ghost in front of him — and blinked rapidly. Grian’s translucent face was flushed a light pink — even though he didn’t have any blood — and his eyes were smiling happily.
“Oh…” Scar said, simply.
“What?” Grian laughed, scrunching his nose teasingly.
“Well.. I- i just—” Scar stammered, his cheeks flushing a bright red.
“What? Did you expect ‘true love’s kiss’ to magically bring me back to life?” Grian stood on his toes to at least attempt to look him in the eyes. “You need to stop watching so many Disney movies…”
“Don’t insult Disney like that!” Scar grumbled, loving Grian’s teasing voice inches from his face
“I wasn’t , you spoon !” Grian giggled, looking lovingly into his eyes.
“Sounded like you were …!” Scar humphed, looking back.
They kissed again. And Scar loved every second of it.