You nearly sob into Soul's slack mouth when he finally opens his eyes. You can hear the gravel crushing behind you as Star drives the car up. He's going too fast, and he's going to fuck up his tires doing that, Soul would be so pissed. Panic rushes you again and you push his bangs out of his face, his lashes fluttering as he tries to focus. His skin feels cold, but he almost looks like he has a fever, and he stares at you. "...Where?"

"We're just outside the building, oh my God! Are you okay!?" You can't reel it in, your panic flows intensely from your mouth right into his confused face and you can't seem to make yourself stop. Luckily, Star is back then, and he's pulling Soul up, his face more serious than you've seen in what feels like years. You're able to help Star dump Soul in the back seat, where he flops like a rag doll, landing haphazardly. You and Star glance at each other, crawling into the front seat.

"Do...do we go to the hospital?" Star asks you as he starts up his stupid muscle car, the bass from the music you were listening to earlier paralyzing your thoughts as it floods the vehicle. He turns it down minisculely, enough that you're both able to hear Soul from the backseat.

"No."

"Soul you look bad," You try to tell him, turning around in your seat. "We should go."

His hand somehow finds yours, and while his hand is still cold, his grip feels strong. "I'm okay."

Star frowns, but he slams his foot on the gas, and you watch the hospital disappear behind you in the mirror, the annoyingly sinister feeling you've had since you touched that paint finally releasing its hold on you. You peek back to make sure Soul's okay, and he seems to be. He's watching the lights pass as you race down the freeway, and you sit yourself back down, your hand resting on Star's shoulder. The flashing lights pass quickly, and when you take a second to exhale, you notice that your fingers are clean. You blink, fighting the urge to turn on the light to check for sure. A few more streetlights pass, and you can't see anything. Not in your knuckles, not under your nails. It's like that thick paint was never there.

Like that was paint.

No, don't be stupid, you know that was paint, it couldn't be anything else. It was paint, probably from some fucking kids who always sneak into the hospital to smoke pot and make out. You probably crashed their party and they pranked you. Duh. Doesn't matter that the paint disappeared anyways. It...it's just some weird thing.

You keep your mouth shut, it isn't the time to think about that.

When Star parks at Denny's, you almost want to scream. He holds up his hands in defense, and Soul snorts from the backseat. "Of course we end up in a Denny's parking lot. What fucking time is it anyways?"

"Almost three." Star answers, opening his door. You have to check your phone yourself, you can't believe it, but there it is, the numbers on your phone aren't lying. How is that possible? Did you spend close to three hours in the asylum? You hadn't been there that long, right? You have to take a deep breath, because you're losing your shit just a little bit and you don't get to lose your shit. Take a breath. You got swept up in the moment and you got scared. Big fucking deal. It was an abandoned asylum! Of course it was goddamn scary, and of course you let your mind play tricks on you! How could you not?

Nothing that weird happened.

You look to the back again, where Star's helping Soul get back on his feet. You can't hear them, but you're pretty sure Star is telling Soul they should still go to the hospital. Soul shakes his head, leaning up to kiss your boyfriend. "Stop. You too!" He leans back to point to you. "Stop! I'm fine, I'm probably just...a pussy, or something. Let's get some coffee."

You've got no choice but to follow him in, since he's in one of his moods. Star sighs and follows him in, his arm coming around your shoulder. "Ya'll cannot handle a little asylum after midnight huh?"

"Oh fuck you. Keep it under fifteen bucks, okay?"

You and Soul make it a competition to see how many cups of coffee you can put away at 3:15 in the morning. Star is absolutely horrified by your choice in beverage, sticking to his Mountain Dew. A grizzled old woman who looks like she may have once been younger than forty five, (though it seems unlikely) takes their order for onion rings, fajitas, and a breakfast burrito with cheeseburger on top of it, and she leaves you to your table, where all three phones sit in the center.

None of you move to open your videos folder, mostly you and Star watch Soul, who is very pointedly ignoring your concern. "Well, someone open one."

"Are you sure?"

"I got scared and I passed out. You're gonna have to laugh at me and get over it okay?"

"Fine." Star sighs, reaching for his phone. "I'll do as you ask, mostly cuz you're paying." Soul makes a face and Star opens up his photos. "I got the video of me scaring the fuuuuuuuck out of you and Maka. The rest of my shit was on Snap."

"I can't believe you." You groan, reaching for your phone. "I've got basically everything…"

"Find the operating table." Soul speaks up, sitting closer in his chair. You pull the video up, pushing through the frames, trying to figure out which dark ass video was the right one. Finally, you find it and you press the play button. The three of you watch as you and Soul start making out and Star grins, pulling your phone closer.

"Damn, send me this video."

"Shut up."

"And after you gave me judgey face for wanting to get it wet in an asylum, wow."

"Star."

On the camera, everything goes dark, and the video ends. You wait for a second, then start scrolling through you other videos. "That's right, both our phones shut off."

"Which totally happens all the time." Soul mutters, pouring sugar in his coffee.

"Bruh, that place was like, all electric and condemned and there's probably like. Magnets and shit." Star defends, and Soul tosses him one of his better bitch faces. You pull up another video, and you all crowd around your screen, watching as your light kicks back on. You can see Soul freaking out on the camera, but you can't see the paint that had been all over Soul's hand.

The two of you look at each other, but before you can say anything, Star nearly drops his phone. "Holy fuck, guys, I have like...a thousand new Snap followers. Someone tweeted me I guess. Look, that selfie of us dude, it's been screen shot like, four hundred times."

"What?!" You both check your phones, pulling up his story. You thumb through the literal minute and a half of Star's daily bullshit , gym pics even though you know for a fact he wasn't at the gym today, a picture of him shirtless, tugging on his jeans, a bong, Soul and him high as fuck, until the asylum starts popping up. "I gotta say, that really was an impressive amount of dicks." You admit, scrolling through his pictures. Across from you, Soul must finally find the picture and he swallows hard.

"What the fuck is this?" He asks, showing you and Star the picture. It's a cute picture, you think, with Soul's pouty face and Star's genuine glee at how uncomfortable Soul is, and you look back at him.

"What?"

"I mean, we look good?" Star offers, and Soul shakes his head, pointing just behind them in the picture.

"That." His finger rests on what sort of looks like...something. You pull the photo up on your own phone, flicking your brightness up as high as it'll go. You frown, zooming in the best you can.

"It kind of looks like-"

"Like a face?"

"Pfffft. No way." Star shakes his head, looking at the same thing on his phone. "That's dust illuminated by the flash, definitely."

"Are you serious!?" Soul scoffs, zooming in again. "That's something's face!"

"Guys," you hold up your hands, and they both shoot you a pouty look. "Regardless, we aren't getting it figured out tonight. Let's just inhale this food, pay, and get some sleep. We can tackle this tomorrow."

"Later today, you mean."

"Whatever."

Soul drains his coffee cup, and shoots you a look. You refill both of yours, and he gives you a smile. "I'm gonna send our stuff to Kid. He might be able to help clean it up."

"Who's Kid?" Star asks, his eyes finding your waitress across the restaurant. You pour a few more things of sugar into your coffee, lifting your brow.

"Soul's ex."

"What?!"

"He's a film student! God! Believe me, he isn't interested in seeing me outside of work, but he would like this project. Plus it's free?" Soul offers and you shrug. Yes okay, so you know you've got both your boyfriends and there shouldn't really be a need to feel so annoyed, so maybe he's right.

"Fine, ask him. Maybe he can help you see it's just all in our heads."

"Or he can help me prove I'm not crazy." Soul counters as the waitress sets their food down in front of you. Immediately, Soul and Star, descend on your onion rings, taking half. In return, Soul gives you half of his chicken, and Star gives you half his double bacon side order. You smile at them, bringing an onion ring to your lips.

You kind of love them.

You're working (or trying too, honestly) when your boyfriends bust through the door to the tiny bookstore you've been employed at for the last three years. You're pretty sure there's a manager somewhere, but you can't remember who they are. You get paid on time though, and you enjoy the work so you keep showing up. Usually, it's a pretty good gig for a student, since you have ample time to spend doing homework, or blowing off your homework. It's quiet too, something you really get precious little of.

Mostly because of the two idiots jogging towards you.

"Don't run."

"Don't stifle my excitement." Star orders you, pulling himself up on the counter. He reaches down to kiss you, but Soul sneaks in first, his lips against yours while Star's lips land in his hair. He shoots Soul a look and kisses you properly, before swiping Soul's phone from his hands and dropping it in yours. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"No, you have to guess, what part of that confused you?"

"We're adding another girl to the party?" You ask, and the boys shake their heads, then look back at you.

"Is that an option?"

"What do you want?" You roll your eyes, looking down at Soul's phone. There's a message on his screen from Kid, saying he wants to meet up with to talk about the footage you sent him. You look at Soul, then at Star, looking worried and pumped respectively. "What does that mean?"

"Means it's not as cut and dry as we thought." Soul says, leaning against the counter.

"Or," Star offers, flipping through the books you were in the middle of putting away. "It means he misses you and won't rest until he's got you back."

"That's not it." You and Soul both answer, and Star crosses his arms, nose in the air.

"I don't like being left out of the Previous Lover Club. You know this guy too, Maka?"

"Not really." You admit with a shrug. "Facebook stalked the shit out of him, but that's about it."

Soul drops his head in his hands, a pained look on his face. Star's instantly on his phone, looking this guy up. "Can we just be normal for like, an hour? Please?"

"Nah." You and Star both answer and Soul lifts his head from the counter.

"Can we please go though? If we found a demon, or if we didn't, I really need to know."

You and Star look at each other, then back to the mess of nerves and insomnia that was Soul on a good day. This seems like a bad road to go down, after all, this already fucked him up so badly he passed out on you guys. Not that you're one to talk though, throwing up everything you'd eaten that day before the six foot penis like it was some kind of offering. You take a deep breath, and nod. "Yeah, why shouldn't we?"

"Fuck yes!" Star whoops, pulling Snapchat up on his phone. "What's up bitches?! You asked, we answered. We got the logical side of the trinity in, and later today, we're gonna get our footage from the not so haunted asylum analyzed! It's probably gonna be a load of crock, and I hope you're as excited as I am! Say hi guys!" He flips his phone on you guys, and Soul flips him off and you roll your eyes.

"Can I get back to work now, please?"

He turns his phone back on himself, giant smile on his face. "Fuck yes, teamwork."

You meet them at Deathbucks after your shift is over, the idea of coffee really more attractive to you than anything else on the agenda that night. When you walk in, Star is hollering your name loudly, as if you could somehow miss the table with the blue and white haired boys at it. Soul isn't facing you, but he holds up your coffee and you make your way to them. Sliding in between the two of them, you recognize Kid sitting at the next table over, two very, very pretty blonde girls with him. Kid isn't ugly, you're pretty sure of that. He's got a gentle face and a nice smile when he nods to greet you.

"Kid, Liz, Patti," Soul starts, gesturing to each of them for you. "This is Maka. Our girlfriend."

"It's nice to meet you." You smile, and they all smile back at you. A bright light flashes, and you all wince, glaring at Star.

"Stop with the bitch faces, please. I'm trying to create an air of drama." He orders your group, waving his free hand around like a director.

"At least turn your flash off, you animal."

With a great show, Star does turn his flash off, but you can feel his camera trained on the rest of you, very, very intently. Kid stares at him for a moment, but takes a drink of his coffee, deciding to let whatever it was go. "So, your footage, for the most part, yeah it's just an empty hospital and all that."

"Told you." Star snorts and Kid shakes his head.

"There's...there's some weird stuff too." He admits, looking at Liz and Patti. Liz's smile turns into a frown and she opens up her laptop.

"So, we ran the audio through our program here, because when Kid was working on it, he kept hearing things that weren't registering as sound on his program."

"What program do you have?" Soul asks, and Patti grins at him, sitting up straighter.

"We use the radio to manipulate pauses in audio that shouldn't be there. We've found that sometimes spirits can manipulate the radio waves."

"And sometimes," Liz continues "They can manipulate the silence too."

You slowly set down your coffee cup, positive that your confusion was plain as day on your face. "What...what do you mean?"

"Liz and Patti are paranormal investigators." Kid explains. Star's laughter echoes inside the coffee shop, and Patti, having just met him, makes short work of punching him in the arm and smirking as he drops his phone. Kid grabs her by the back of her shirt, picking up his coffee cup again. "Anyways, I called them because there were at least sixteen pockets of noise that my program insisted were silence. On average, I might have maybe three?"

"So that's pretty…" You start and Soul looks at you, with an incredibly accurate You Know What That Means face.

"Bullllllllllllshiiiiiiiiiiit." Star sings like it's autotune, his camera back on everyone. "Just because a computer picked up quiet and you heard like, a pebble or whatever."

"Not a pebble." Patti scoffs, pulling the laptop towards her. Her fingers fly across the keys until she's turned the screen towards them and she slams the space bar. All of you lean forward, ears straining against the ambient noises of the coffee shop. It's faint, that's for sure, but you can almost hear what sounds like...steps. They aren't quick, but you can hear them, every few seconds when Patti takes out the audio from you and your boys.

Star scoffs again, turning his camera on himself. "Steps, which are probably the echo from our steps in that dank ass place. Next!"

"Fine." Patti rolls her eyes, and speeds the video up some. She lets it go until right before you trip and she lets it play again. You watch your own point of view on your phone, although it seems much creepier without any of Star's stupid jokes in the background. Behind you, on screen, you can see the flash from Star and Soul's selfie. Right before you go down, there's a noise from the computer.

"Noo'ra."

"Play it again." Soul orders before anyone else can say anything. Patti obliges, and she plays the clip again. Again, the strange word can be heard, and you all look at each other.

"What is Noora?" You ask, and the blonde girls look at each other.

"We aren't sure yet."

"All we do know? That voice doesn't register in any of your guy's possible recognized pitches." Liz explains, pulling up a chart that you have to assume lays out exactly that. Soul, however, does know a thing about sound, and he's staring at them carefully. You meet Kid's eyes over the table, and he smiles.

"And you think there's something weird there?"

Kid shrugs, taking another drink from his coffee. "I honestly don't know. There's pockets of sound that my very, very expensive film equipment didn't pick up. However, I watched your footage for damn near six hours and I didn't see a ghost."

"Demon."

"He's right," Liz chimes in. "There's a difference."

"So, realistically, worst case, this dude is out his fancy camera equipment?"

"Star."

"What? That sounds like a win."

You take a pull of your coffee, completely weirded out by the events unfolding before you. For some weird goddamn reason you feel like this isn't something you should be messing with. But honestly, it shouldn't matter. Right? Cuz none of this was real. "This has to be a crock of shit right? Like, no offense but… what makes you experts or whatever?"

Liz's eyebrow twitches, but surprisingly she pulls a smile. "Well shit. I wanna be mad about it but I can't. You've got a point. I mean, we've been to that Asylum what, ten times? Eleven?"

"Baker's Dozen." Patti scoffs, eyeing you over the rim of her coffee. "And we've never gotten activity like this."

"You know what we have gotten though?" Liz asks, leaning forward. "A probable fuckton of black gunk. It's good evidence. If only it showed up on camera, right?"

You freeze, her words fall on you like darts, each more paralyzing than the last. Patti's eyes are locked on yours, and you know it's too late. There's no bullshitting them now. They know something, something you don't understand.

And that pisses you off.

You're vaguely worried you may do something stupid. It's not the first time you've "flown off the handle" and while the boys are forgiving, they're real assholes when it comes to losing your cool. BUT AT THE SAME TIME, these complete strangers are sitting across from you in the loudest fucking coffee place you've ever been in your life and goddamn dare to challenge reality. There's a weird white on the edge of your vision and you're almost 86% sure that you're gonna start swearing loudly in public when a hand covers your mouth, and an arm snakes around your waist.

You can unfortunately see how stupid you look, because when your eyes clear again you're face to screen with yourself in Star's phone. He snaps a picture of you like this, and captions it (so you can see): Preventing The Meltdown.

You relax (if slowly) into his chest until he drops his hand. You really don't like being man handled but you'll make an exception this time. Star has been stopping you from fucking up since you were kids, and he's really never asks for much. Just to post cripplingly embarrassing pictures to his "thousands and growing" followers and to let him sleep on the left.

"So, as you can imagine, we're incredibly curious about what your little group has that drew our little friend out." Liz starts, but her sister beats her to the punch.

"We're sending you back in!"

Soul and Star speak at the same time, both of them louder than they need to be in the small coffee shop.

"Fuck no."

"Shit yes!"

"No way in hell I'm going back in there." Soul snarls, leaning back in his chair. "There's no fucking reason to do that to myself. Or to either of you honestly, why don't you go back."

"We've been there thirteen times." Patti reminds him. "And we've gotten a third of what you've gotten, on accident."

"We don't know what it is," Liz continues, her eyes resting on each of you. "But there's something in your threesome that really gets them going."

Star turns his camera on himself, a serious look on his face. "It me."

"I don't think we should go back to the asylum." You agree with Soul, if for no other reason than he really doesn't want to do this, and you're not the asshole who's going to make him. Liz and Patti shrug, and Liz goes back to typing on her computer.

"What about a Ghost then? There's a few hot button areas in this town-"

"Way more than a few." Patti chuckles.

"Yeah, there's a lot." Liz concedes. "We want to send you into another known Haunt. We've got equipment for you to use."

"We're even gonna lend you one of our crew guys. He's there to keep filming no matter what happens, so all you guys have to do is whatever you did the first time." Patti grins, smiling at you all like she wasn't suggesting a night in some haunted mansion or something.

Soul looks unconvinced, and you're mirroring his look. Star, who's having just way too much fun with this, flips his camera toward the paranormal investigators. "Who's the ghost?"

Patti grins at him, a wicked glint in her eye. "Haunted Whorehouse."

"Oh my gOD WE'RE GOING!" Star orders the two of you, and you both groan. He's not going to let the haunted whorehouse go, there's no way in Hell. He's going to be obsessed with this one thing for days if you don't accept this offer. Soul looks at you, having already reached the same conclusion himself.

"...Fine." Soul mumbles, picking at his thumb. You slide your fingers between his and you nod.

"Guess we're in."

"Fuck yes!" Star cheers, fingers flying across his phone. "Hey what dirty word rhymes with Poltergeist?"

"Star."

"No, ya'll ain't stopping me. It's Ghost Whore time."

"Great!" Liz intones, handing you a piece of paper. "Address is right there. We'll meet you there around eleven tonight. That should give us all enough time to go over the equipment and the lore. Then, like we said, just do what you did before."

"Okay but," You lift your brow, confused. "All we did was dick around."

"Exactly."

"Oh," Star grins, a wicked look in his eyes. "You haven't seen dicking around yet."