Ghost Story
By Little Spitfire
Disclaimer: The Gravitation universe and all recognizable characters do not belong to me.

The house was beautiful. Two stories; just outside the city—close enough for Shuichi to commute to work every morning, but far enough away from the hustle and bustle for both him and Eiri to feel comfortable letting Riku ride his bike in the street. If Eiri had been told years ago that this would be his life some day—settling down with another man, taking the role of guardian to the son of the man he killed—and that he'd be content—happy—with it—he would have laughed in their face and then found a random woman in a bar to take home.

It had been fine in the beginning. They'd settled in easily, unpacking all their belongings without incident. They'd set up Riku's room first, the bigger of the three extra bedrooms and next to the hallway bathroom, and let him pick which color they'd paint the walls before moving in his furniture and toys and clothes.

They'd then unpacked all their belongings into the master bedroom that had its own washroom connected off to the side. Shuichi had beamed at him all day and Eiri couldn't help but smirk a bit back at him. This was their bedroom. Theirs. The house had both their names on the deed, a decision that had caused him to have panic attacks while discussing his feelings in his therapy sessions before coming to the realization that it was what he wanted and all he had to do was stop holding himself from being happy.

Surprisingly to Eiri, the only incident that happened the entire moving in process was when Shuichi insisted on helping him set up his office, made from one of the other extra bedroom (the third one, right on the other side of the hallway bathroom, was made into a mini studio for Shuichi), across the hall from Riku's, and carefully placed all the books on the bookshelf. He must have bumped into the towering shelf as he turned—even though he swore his didn't—and a shower of books buried him, leaving a rather painful looking bruise under one side of his ribs.

Eiri had dug him out of the pile and was ready to berate him for his clumsiness when he saw the pained expression on his lover's face and the way he was gripping his side. Instead, he'd sat him down on the couch in the newly furnished living room and got an ice pack for him to place on his injured ribs. The next day, Eiri even took him to the doctor's, amid many a squealed "Yuki loves me!"'s when he saw how dark the bruise was, asking Tatsuha to watch Riku for a few hours.

Shuichi ended up being told that it was just a bad bruise and would heal after some time and that he would just have to take it easy for a while. A bandage was wrapped around his torso and he was sent home with orders to ice it and a prescription for some painkillers.

The two men had returned home to a quiet Riku and a slightly nervous looking younger Uesugi brother. When asked what his problem was, he just shook his head, said he'd see them later and left. Eiri and Shuichi had looked at each other puzzled and shrugged—Tatsuha had always been a little strange—and forgot about it.

That was when things began to get a little weird.

It had started out with small things. Objects disappearing when looked for then reappearing several hours later in plain sight. Doors being found open when they were most certainly closed the last time looked at—and vise versa. Things that could have, and were, written off to forgetfulness and absent mindedness.

It would have been okay if it didn't get worse.

"You need to stop moving so much when you sleep, kid." Eiri muttered as he cleaned the small scratch that made its way down Riku's arm. "This is the fourth time in the past two weeks."

Riku was silent, staring up at him in a way that made Eiri think he wanted to say something but wasn't sure how.

"Something wrong?" the writer asked.

Hesitation and then Riku shook his head. Eiri stared at him levelly before shrugging and putting away the first aid kit. There was definitely something bothering him. But if the kid didn't want to talk then he wouldn't make him.

He wondered if it had been Shuichi who had asked, would Riku have answered? Where Eiri was able to calm Riku down more when upset, Shuichi was more likely to get Riku to talk about what was bothering him. Unfortunately, Shuichi was away on a tour. It was to last for a month and he wasn't due to return home until the end of the week. Though Eiri was reluctant to admit it aloud, he didn't quite like quiet of the house with out the pop star there.

When Eiri tucked Riku into bed that night, the child seemed more clingy than usual, asking for drinks of water and bathroom trips until Eiri had declared it enough and turned off the light before heading to his and Shuichi's bedroom for the night. As he lie in bed listening to the house settle gently, his mind kept going back to Riku's sleeping habits. When had he started moving so much in his sleep that he ended up hurting himself—even if the scratches were barely there? Eiri couldn't remember it ever happening before recently. Sighing he hoped it was just a phase or something the kid would grow out of quickly.

He frowned when he heard footsteps in the hallway and got out of bed to go tell Riku to go back to sleep.

"I thought I told you—" he stopped, however, when he reached the child's room and saw that Riku was fast asleep. Brows furrowed, he stepped into Riku's room and studied his face, looking for signs that he was awake and pretending so as not to get in trouble.

Riku's face was lax with sleep. There was no way he was awake. The kid wasn't that good of an actor, and Eiri realized he must have been mistaken. As if sensing he was being watched, Riku's face scrunched slightly (Eiri would never admit the word "cute" came to mind), before his body tensed up and his eyes snapped open. Seeing Eiri standing in the doorway, he relaxed before sitting up, rubbing his eye while meeting Eiri's gaze.

"Daddy?" Riku's small voice was barely audible, but Eiri heard it and frowned at the under current of fear he detected.

Looking at the small boy, he came to a decision and nodded slightly to himself. Riku was frightened of something and he probably wasn't going to get any sleep tonight anyway. Better have the kid close by to keep an eye on him. "Well, you coming or not?"

Riku looked at him for a moment before understanding dawned on him and he jumped up and followed Eiri out of his room, down the hallway and into his parents' bed.

Eiri waited for Riku to get comfortable, snuggling into Shuichi's pillow before getting in himself and settling down for the night.

Eiri hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep until he woke up. Eyes bleary, he glanced down at Riku, who had shifted over to press his small body into his side at some point that night. It was then that he realized the small frame was shaking and he reached over to nudge the boy into consciousness.

To his surprise, Riku was not having a nightmare, but was wide awake—and freezing cold.

"Hey—" he cut himself off as Riku turned to look at him, eyes wide.

"Daddy." The little boy whispered and a shot of annoyance shot through Eiri.

"Don't call me that."

"Daddy." Riku's voice quivered and Eiri looked at him in surprise. Riku was not normally emotional and rarely ever cried. He was more prone to very quiet sulks.

Some strange paternal instinct came over him and Eiri carefully wrapped his arms around the little boy. "It's okay." He hushed. "Let's get you in a hot bath. That'll warm you up. Come on, kid."

He picked the still shaking boy up and proceeded to carry him to the bathroom. They were halfway down the hallway when they heard the front door swing open and a tired voice mutter, "I'm home."

Standing at the top of the stairs, Eiri looked down at the foyer where Shuichi stood next to his suitcase, toeing off his shoes. "You're home early. You weren't due back for another two days."

Shuichi smiled wearily at Eiri. "K got us earlier plane tickets home. Said we could use the extra time off."

"Hmm. Go change while I help Riku with the bath and then I'll make you something to eat."

Shuichi smiled again and began carrying his suitcase up to their bedroom.

endchapterone.

Notes: Thoughts, comments, questions, constructive criticism are all welcome. =)

Warning: There will be a slight crossover with another fandom in this story later. (Is that even a warning?)