Haunt Me, Weiss (MxM)

What Are You? (2)

Chapter 8: What Are You? (2)

***

Inside the house, Ezikiel headed back to his study, when he heard his phone ringing from the living room. “That ringtone... it can’t be!” He hurried over with what could only be described as the speed of light. Then grabbed his phone and answered it. “Yes, sir?”

“Ezikiel... I was wondering if you would be free tonight at seven? I wanted to discuss something with you in private.” The man on the other end of the call asked with a rather indifferent sounding voice, as per usual for Aster.

“Yes, of course... Where should we meet? Is the main office open at the time?” Ezikiel asked while trying to appear calm on the outside.

“I was thinking... we could be at your place if it isn’t a problem...” As those words left Aster’s lips, there was a prolonged silence from the other end of the line.

“..........” Ezikiel looked around his home. ‘...but the place is a mess...’ He thought to himself. It seemed that he took a second too long to reply to the man as the one on the other end of the line sounded rather impatient.

“Is that a ‘no’?” Aster asked with the same indifferent voice as ever. You couldn’t really tell if he was annoyed or disappointed at being refused with silence.

‘Wait... what is he going to talk about? Am I getting fired over what happened?! No way, right... no way...’ Ezikiel thought to himself as he hesitantly agreed. “Uh... it’s alright... Absolutely alright, sir! I’d love to welcome you here at seven.”

“Good.” As that reply left Aster’s lips, the call ended as well and it felt like a large block of cement had fallen on top of Ezikiel’s head.

He rushed outside and opened the door in a hurry. “Weiss, come here!” Ezikiel called out to him, the ghost had been sitting outside at the porch like a child waiting for his parents to pick him up.

“Unfortunately I can’t enter... I tried walking though a few hundred times but--!” Before Weiss could even attempt to explain himself Ezikiel grabbed the ghost and pulled him inside the house in a hurry.

“I don’t have time for this, I need you to help me.” Ezikiel’s voice held a certain intensity to it that the ghost hadn’t seen displayed before.

“What’s the matter? You seem a bit stressed...” Weiss remarked as he slowly entered the house again. ‘How come... I can walk in freely now? Wasn’t there a barrier here before? Just what is happening!?’ He wondered to himself but decided not to mention it to the already pre-occupied man.

“Here.” Ezikiel said while shoving into Weiss’s transparent hands a broom and a shovel. “You start off by sweeping the floors I’ll head upstairs and start fixing the rooms. Everything has to be sparkly clean, got it?” He asked with a very serious look on his face, while Weiss stood there more or less dumbfounded.

“Wait... you want me to clean here? Is that why you invited me back in?” Weiss asked feeling more or less conflicted, and very confused as to the man’s intentions.

“Yes, Aster is coming over here in less than a few hours and I need all the help I can get.” Ezikiel confirmed as he began organizing shelves in a hurry. “I can’t let the boss walk into this dirty house again, I’ve already screwed up and he’s strongly germophobic, I just can’t imagine how bad his mood will be if he arrives like this...”

“Damn... that’s the longest thing you’ve said to me since the first time we met a week ago...” Weiss remarked in a low mutter but the man didn’t really pay attention to him. ‘I guess... this really is important to him... so ridiculous...’ He thought to himself as he sighed. ‘Though... even I have to admit a person being so dedicated to his job is... rather... attractive...’

“Are you going to help me?” Ezikiel asked as he turned to the ghost once more, noticing that Weiss hadn’t moved an inch yet, he seemed to be becoming panicked. “I really need it so please just this once and you can stay here.” He promised.

“Alright... then step aside human! Let me show you what I’m really capable of doing!” Weiss said as he dropped the shovel and broom to the ground and went to stand in the very center of the room. He closed his eyes as if he was focusing, collecting energy, he moved his hands and then...

“What power exactly?” Ezikiel tilted his head to the side as he watched the ghost gesturing wildly but nothing happening. “You’ve been standing there for a few minutes yet-”

“I can’t use my powers properly! I told you to step aside!” Weiss repeated himself and this time Ezikiel dutifully took a few steps back.

‘Hm?’ Suddenly everything around Weiss began floating around being organized in an orderly fashion. The dust got swept away and floated out the window, the shelves got all of Ezikiel’s unpacked books sorted upon it, the furniture began moving around, the air cleared up even, the previously broken and old wooden doors and windows also seemed like they were freshly painted again... And by the end of it, the entire house looked better than ever.

“Haha! Do you see this? What do you have to say about this then huh?” Weiss asked with a rather cheeky sounding voice as Ezikiel looked around the room in near complete awe. ‘Now I can do it? But why wasn’t I able just a few seconds ago... that’s...’ He glanced at Ezikiel who seemed happy. ‘Could it be that this human is able to block out spiritual signals? No way... that’s not possible even for sorcerers... so why...’ Weiss couldn’t understand what held him back that day, he just knew something like that had never happened to him before despite the many people that have entered that house.

“So you could do something like this from the beginning...” Ezikiel remarked as he glanced around then approached the ghost again.

‘EEHHh!? Is he going to attack me again?! Did I not clean properly?!’ Weiss wondered to himself as he froze in fear but instead of pain what he felt was the other man’s embrace. “Huh?”

“Thank you for helping me out. You did a great job...” Ezikiel said then quickly let go of the ghost and went to sort out his work. “I’ll be at my desk for a bit... hopefully I’ll be able to keep my job if boss is in a good mood...” He said while turning his back to Weiss.

While Weiss stood there still, as if he was frozen in place. ‘He... hugged me?’ He wondered to himself as he glanced behind him to see the man busy at work. ‘This is the first time a human has done that to me...’ He thought to himself as he looked down at his transparent torso. ‘I’m a ghost... I’m supposed to walk upon this earth with this cold and unfeeling soul which can never be rebirth into a new body... yet... yet...’ Weiss touched the side of his waist where Ezikiel’s hands had been. ‘Why is it... that I’m able to feel his warmth despite everything?’

This might have been just the start of what Weiss had imagined would never happen...