we're just a couple of no bodies
Kai/Sehun, 1737
Sehun goes to a halloween party to prove he's no killjoy.
Jongin’s just lounging on the railing when he sees him. He reaches for the man beside him, ignoring the glare he gets when his hand passes straight through the body. “Who is that?”
Huffing, the man obligingly leans on the railing beside Jongin, eyes sweeping the crowd until they land on a figure by the door. “Him?” Jongin nods. “Haven’t seen him before. Can’t be too new though. I mean, look at him.”
Jongin nods. The boy is hardly fresh meat. The body beside him disappears and Jongin frowns. “Kyungsoo,” he whispers, understanding when he sees a man with red horns on his forehead enter the room, Kyungsoo’s pupils dilating in excitement. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Jongin asks, laughing when the incubus shoots him a glare before sauntering towards the lesser demon, looping their arms together and pushing past the crowds.
Turning back to the mass below, Jongin notices that the boy hasn’t moved an inch since he turned away and Jongin feels for him. He knows this can all be a bit overwhelming at first, and when the boy flinches away from a rolling object-it’s a head, Jongin notes upon closer inspection-he throws himself over the railing and hovers an inch above the ground, moving through the crowd without disturbing them.
He leans against the wall near the boy, aiming for nonchalant but probably looking more impatient than anything else. When the boy continues to ignore his presence, Jongin gives up and speaks. “So, first time, huh?”
The figure jumps, teeth clicking together as he does so, turning slowly to meet Jongin’s stare. “Um, yeah.” He motions to the boisterous crowd behind him. “Is it always so…”
Jongin nods, laughing. “Every year. After all, this is the only day that we can get everyone together. All the other days, the trolls are skulking and the witches are working. Not to mention, the owners of the house are rather private people. So, a day this grand calls for festivities.” He points behind himself to the mass of ghosts, ghouls, skeletons, and magicians, with everything in between. "All Hallow's Eve is a day of celebration."
The boy merely nods, body still stiff as a board. Jongin sighs.
“Hey, how about I walk you back?” He suggests, watching an eyeball turn in the head to consider his offer. “It’s obvious you don’t want to be here, and anyways you can just come back next year. How does that sound?”
The boy nods jerkily and Jongin offers him a smile, making for the front door. When he reaches it, he searches for the boy, who is no where in sight. With a start, he remembers again that not everyone can just walk through crowds and he settles to wait, waving at the owners of the building, who are sitting on the railings of the third floor, looking down. They smile back, nodding, the woman’s elegant dress in tatters-but still somehow tasteful-and her husband missing an arm.
“Hey,” the boy snaps, peeling himself from the wall. “This place is crawling with people and you were absolutely no help, slipping off like that.”
Jongin smiles apologetically. “Sorry, I forget,” he offers, a poor excuse. The boy merely huffs, pushing the large doors open to step outside. Jongin follows.
The huge building is on a hill, overlooking the quaint town. Jongin didn’t grow up here, just moved here for high school. He still doesn’t know all the landmarks or what the cute little shops in town have to offer, but he figures that it’s okay because he has a long time to explore and find all that out.
“So you’re a ghost,” the boy murmurs, side-stepping down the steep hill.
Jongin hums. “And you’re a skeleton.”
The boy stops with a jerk, head swiveling to meet Jongin’s gaze. Now that they’re outside and the sky is crystal clear, the moonlight pouring down shows just how bare the boy is, most of him mere spotless bone, with just a few layers of skin left. He still has one eye-though it’s sort of lolling around in his head-so Jongin doesn’t have to do that thing where he pretends the skeleton he’s talking to has eyes so that he doesn’t say something stupid like, you can see?, when a skeleton makes a remark. It’s happened more than once.
“Sorry,” Jongin apologizes quickly, remembering that the fresher ones are still a bit touchy.
“No, it’s fine,” the skeleton placates, tatters of sleeves moving up and down his femur as he walks. “I mean, I suppose I am a skeleton, though I’d rather you called me Sehun.”
“Sehun!” Jongin chirps happily. He doesn’t get to use names too often. “And you can call me Jongin.”
The skeleton nods and they settle into a comfortable silence, only the faint clicking of Sehun’s bones as they make their way down the hill and into the small streets still littered with children, even this late at night. Jongin notes the way Sehun stiffens up and shakes his head, leaning in to whisper, “Don’t worry. Children are easy to fool.” He nods to a group of small trick or treaters, motioning Sehun forward.
A little confused, the skeleton steps into the light and stops, arms falling to his sides when the children notice him.
“Wow!” One shouts, grinning. “That’s a really great costume!” His two friends agree and then they’re skipping off to the next house, bags of candy already bordering on full.
Jongin feels a small pang of jealousy but shooes it away, instead floating over to Sehun, grinning. “See?” The skeleton meets his eyes and grins.
“Do you do that a lot?” Sehun asks, the bared muscles on his face show that he’s smiling.
Jongin smiles, shakes his head. This is a young skeleton. “No, people can’t see me. I only know because a few of the witches always like to leave early and give buckets of candy to any children brave enough to approach them.” He grins at the skeleton, smile falling a bit when he sees that Sehun is considering him carefully, what’s left of his lips drawn in a straight line.
It isn’t until they’ve made their way past the bright little neighborhoods and are nearing the end of town when Sehun speaks up again. “So, do you have any unfinished business?”
Jongin’s face screws up and he busts out laughing.
“What?” Sehun snaps, looking faintly displeased.
“You’re really young aren’t you? I bet you romanticize vampire stories too, you’ve probably never even met one, am I right?”
“No, I just heard-” Sehun sighs. “Nevermind.”
This is probably Sehun’s first time meeting a ghost, Jongin realizes. He groans inwardly and decides to take pity on the skeleton. “Ghosts don’t just hang around for unfinished business. I’ve got three sisters. Apparently, they think about me a lot.” He doesn’t know how much, doesn’t want to know; he hasn’t seen them since his funeral, and that was years ago. But he guesses that they worry about him enough to keep him rooted to the earth, which is nice (but maybe sometimes he wishes they didn’t care so much).
“Oh, I’m-”
“It’s fine,” Jongin interrupts, brushing Sehun off. “It’s not a fun thing to talk about.” Sehun nods in agreement, stays silent. “I’m jealous.”
Sehun looks up. “What?”
“Of skeletons. You can walk around wherever you want, people can see you, and you’re still yourself. Me, I’m stuck with my awful eighteen-year-old appearance for who knows how long,” he moans.
“But…” Sehun tries, obviously fishing for something. “You can fly.”
Jongin laughs, lifts into the air and flits to Sehun’s other side. “I suppose so.”
They near the graveyard at the city limits and Sehun leads the way, side-stepping groups of animated bones who look up and wave at him, shouting greetings that Sehun returns. Jongin smiles at waves when they notice him, too. They make their way over to Sehun’s grave and Jongin eyes the date.
“You’ve been here for three years and this is only the first time at the party?”
Sehun shrugs, lowering himself to sit in front of his tombstone. “The couple next to me always go and they finally convinced me. I didn’t really want to go, since it’s so far away.” He looks around, slightly shivering when a gust of wind blows past and Jongin realizes that it is probably cold out. But skeletons can’t get cold, they can only feel it. Must be a force of habit. “I like it here,” Sehun murmurs. “The people are nice and the earth is rich. I’m never alone.”
Jongin bites his lip. “Then, maybe I should visit you sometime.”
Sehun’s head snaps up-literally snaps, Jongin is worried for a moment-and it’s a little eerie, one eye staring at him in the dark, but Jongin’s used to it. “Really?”
“Yeah.” Jongin shrugs. “I’m no Casper, there’s no point in staying at home. Maybe I’ll just stick around and haunt you,” he threatens, aiming for sinister but obviously not acheiving it, judging by Sehun’s laughter.
“Hmm, I don’t believe we have any ghosts at the cemetery. Maybe this place could use a little haunting.”
Jongin grins.
They talk and laugh until the first lights of dawn fill the sky and Sehun begins to slowly sink into the earth. Jongin looks around and sees that the others-far more bare than Sehun and obviously years older-have already half-disappeared into the ground. He reaches down and tries to give Sehun a comforting pat on the shoulder but his hand goes straight through. Nevertheless, Sehun smiles up at him until he’s completely gone.
Jongin sighs and looks around the abandoned graveyard. He smiles to himself and leans down, careful to only disturb Sehun’s grave as he whispers, “I forgot to tell you, but you’re boo-tiful.”
A bony hand frees itself from the ground and swats at Jongin, catching the bottom of his foot before retracting.
Jongin grins. “Sorry, I’ll just keep your tombstone warm, then.” He lays himself down beside the carved marble, content to just watch the day go by as he has done before, until Sehun’s well-rested and back above the ground. When he’s settled, curled up around the marker, he thinks he can hear a pleased noise through the ground, be he isn’t sure. Nevertheless, he smiles as the sky is painted in warm reds and oranges and a new day begins.
Sehun goes to a halloween party to prove he's no killjoy.
Jongin’s just lounging on the railing when he sees him. He reaches for the man beside him, ignoring the glare he gets when his hand passes straight through the body. “Who is that?”
Huffing, the man obligingly leans on the railing beside Jongin, eyes sweeping the crowd until they land on a figure by the door. “Him?” Jongin nods. “Haven’t seen him before. Can’t be too new though. I mean, look at him.”
Jongin nods. The boy is hardly fresh meat. The body beside him disappears and Jongin frowns. “Kyungsoo,” he whispers, understanding when he sees a man with red horns on his forehead enter the room, Kyungsoo’s pupils dilating in excitement. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Jongin asks, laughing when the incubus shoots him a glare before sauntering towards the lesser demon, looping their arms together and pushing past the crowds.
Turning back to the mass below, Jongin notices that the boy hasn’t moved an inch since he turned away and Jongin feels for him. He knows this can all be a bit overwhelming at first, and when the boy flinches away from a rolling object-it’s a head, Jongin notes upon closer inspection-he throws himself over the railing and hovers an inch above the ground, moving through the crowd without disturbing them.
He leans against the wall near the boy, aiming for nonchalant but probably looking more impatient than anything else. When the boy continues to ignore his presence, Jongin gives up and speaks. “So, first time, huh?”
The figure jumps, teeth clicking together as he does so, turning slowly to meet Jongin’s stare. “Um, yeah.” He motions to the boisterous crowd behind him. “Is it always so…”
Jongin nods, laughing. “Every year. After all, this is the only day that we can get everyone together. All the other days, the trolls are skulking and the witches are working. Not to mention, the owners of the house are rather private people. So, a day this grand calls for festivities.” He points behind himself to the mass of ghosts, ghouls, skeletons, and magicians, with everything in between. "All Hallow's Eve is a day of celebration."
The boy merely nods, body still stiff as a board. Jongin sighs.
“Hey, how about I walk you back?” He suggests, watching an eyeball turn in the head to consider his offer. “It’s obvious you don’t want to be here, and anyways you can just come back next year. How does that sound?”
The boy nods jerkily and Jongin offers him a smile, making for the front door. When he reaches it, he searches for the boy, who is no where in sight. With a start, he remembers again that not everyone can just walk through crowds and he settles to wait, waving at the owners of the building, who are sitting on the railings of the third floor, looking down. They smile back, nodding, the woman’s elegant dress in tatters-but still somehow tasteful-and her husband missing an arm.
“Hey,” the boy snaps, peeling himself from the wall. “This place is crawling with people and you were absolutely no help, slipping off like that.”
Jongin smiles apologetically. “Sorry, I forget,” he offers, a poor excuse. The boy merely huffs, pushing the large doors open to step outside. Jongin follows.
The huge building is on a hill, overlooking the quaint town. Jongin didn’t grow up here, just moved here for high school. He still doesn’t know all the landmarks or what the cute little shops in town have to offer, but he figures that it’s okay because he has a long time to explore and find all that out.
“So you’re a ghost,” the boy murmurs, side-stepping down the steep hill.
Jongin hums. “And you’re a skeleton.”
The boy stops with a jerk, head swiveling to meet Jongin’s gaze. Now that they’re outside and the sky is crystal clear, the moonlight pouring down shows just how bare the boy is, most of him mere spotless bone, with just a few layers of skin left. He still has one eye-though it’s sort of lolling around in his head-so Jongin doesn’t have to do that thing where he pretends the skeleton he’s talking to has eyes so that he doesn’t say something stupid like, you can see?, when a skeleton makes a remark. It’s happened more than once.
“Sorry,” Jongin apologizes quickly, remembering that the fresher ones are still a bit touchy.
“No, it’s fine,” the skeleton placates, tatters of sleeves moving up and down his femur as he walks. “I mean, I suppose I am a skeleton, though I’d rather you called me Sehun.”
“Sehun!” Jongin chirps happily. He doesn’t get to use names too often. “And you can call me Jongin.”
The skeleton nods and they settle into a comfortable silence, only the faint clicking of Sehun’s bones as they make their way down the hill and into the small streets still littered with children, even this late at night. Jongin notes the way Sehun stiffens up and shakes his head, leaning in to whisper, “Don’t worry. Children are easy to fool.” He nods to a group of small trick or treaters, motioning Sehun forward.
A little confused, the skeleton steps into the light and stops, arms falling to his sides when the children notice him.
“Wow!” One shouts, grinning. “That’s a really great costume!” His two friends agree and then they’re skipping off to the next house, bags of candy already bordering on full.
Jongin feels a small pang of jealousy but shooes it away, instead floating over to Sehun, grinning. “See?” The skeleton meets his eyes and grins.
“Do you do that a lot?” Sehun asks, the bared muscles on his face show that he’s smiling.
Jongin smiles, shakes his head. This is a young skeleton. “No, people can’t see me. I only know because a few of the witches always like to leave early and give buckets of candy to any children brave enough to approach them.” He grins at the skeleton, smile falling a bit when he sees that Sehun is considering him carefully, what’s left of his lips drawn in a straight line.
It isn’t until they’ve made their way past the bright little neighborhoods and are nearing the end of town when Sehun speaks up again. “So, do you have any unfinished business?”
Jongin’s face screws up and he busts out laughing.
“What?” Sehun snaps, looking faintly displeased.
“You’re really young aren’t you? I bet you romanticize vampire stories too, you’ve probably never even met one, am I right?”
“No, I just heard-” Sehun sighs. “Nevermind.”
This is probably Sehun’s first time meeting a ghost, Jongin realizes. He groans inwardly and decides to take pity on the skeleton. “Ghosts don’t just hang around for unfinished business. I’ve got three sisters. Apparently, they think about me a lot.” He doesn’t know how much, doesn’t want to know; he hasn’t seen them since his funeral, and that was years ago. But he guesses that they worry about him enough to keep him rooted to the earth, which is nice (but maybe sometimes he wishes they didn’t care so much).
“Oh, I’m-”
“It’s fine,” Jongin interrupts, brushing Sehun off. “It’s not a fun thing to talk about.” Sehun nods in agreement, stays silent. “I’m jealous.”
Sehun looks up. “What?”
“Of skeletons. You can walk around wherever you want, people can see you, and you’re still yourself. Me, I’m stuck with my awful eighteen-year-old appearance for who knows how long,” he moans.
“But…” Sehun tries, obviously fishing for something. “You can fly.”
Jongin laughs, lifts into the air and flits to Sehun’s other side. “I suppose so.”
They near the graveyard at the city limits and Sehun leads the way, side-stepping groups of animated bones who look up and wave at him, shouting greetings that Sehun returns. Jongin smiles at waves when they notice him, too. They make their way over to Sehun’s grave and Jongin eyes the date.
“You’ve been here for three years and this is only the first time at the party?”
Sehun shrugs, lowering himself to sit in front of his tombstone. “The couple next to me always go and they finally convinced me. I didn’t really want to go, since it’s so far away.” He looks around, slightly shivering when a gust of wind blows past and Jongin realizes that it is probably cold out. But skeletons can’t get cold, they can only feel it. Must be a force of habit. “I like it here,” Sehun murmurs. “The people are nice and the earth is rich. I’m never alone.”
Jongin bites his lip. “Then, maybe I should visit you sometime.”
Sehun’s head snaps up-literally snaps, Jongin is worried for a moment-and it’s a little eerie, one eye staring at him in the dark, but Jongin’s used to it. “Really?”
“Yeah.” Jongin shrugs. “I’m no Casper, there’s no point in staying at home. Maybe I’ll just stick around and haunt you,” he threatens, aiming for sinister but obviously not acheiving it, judging by Sehun’s laughter.
“Hmm, I don’t believe we have any ghosts at the cemetery. Maybe this place could use a little haunting.”
Jongin grins.
They talk and laugh until the first lights of dawn fill the sky and Sehun begins to slowly sink into the earth. Jongin looks around and sees that the others-far more bare than Sehun and obviously years older-have already half-disappeared into the ground. He reaches down and tries to give Sehun a comforting pat on the shoulder but his hand goes straight through. Nevertheless, Sehun smiles up at him until he’s completely gone.
Jongin sighs and looks around the abandoned graveyard. He smiles to himself and leans down, careful to only disturb Sehun’s grave as he whispers, “I forgot to tell you, but you’re boo-tiful.”
A bony hand frees itself from the ground and swats at Jongin, catching the bottom of his foot before retracting.
Jongin grins. “Sorry, I’ll just keep your tombstone warm, then.” He lays himself down beside the carved marble, content to just watch the day go by as he has done before, until Sehun’s well-rested and back above the ground. When he’s settled, curled up around the marker, he thinks he can hear a pleased noise through the ground, be he isn’t sure. Nevertheless, he smiles as the sky is painted in warm reds and oranges and a new day begins.