The boy with the Letterman flickered into being and was sitting on Sebastian's bed. He waited there, looking around at the room like he could see it.
Sebastian came out of his walk-in bathroom, naked bare for slippers, and hummed a song they were practising in his show choir that day. He turned to the wardrobe and... "Jesus!" He hobbled, one of his hands pressed over his heart. "Will you stop scaring me?!" He snapped in irritation. It has been three weeks since the incident in the hallway. He thought he finally had the room for himself.
"Only if you stop too." The ghost sulks from his hunched spot on the bed. "Why are you in my room?"
"Um, because it's mine?" Sebastian comes up slowly and finally puts on an underwear. "Why are you suddenly so talkative, huh? No school to get into?"
"I... You're naked." The boy blushes and looks away. "No I... I tried to go to school but I woke up here. Who are you?"
Sebastian rolls his eyes. Great, not only he has a chubby ghost haunting his bedroom, it has to be a prude too. Just his luck. "If you have a problem with that you can always leave," he says sitting on the edge of his bed. When the ghost doesn't make any sudden movement, he tentatively leans on the bed frame. "Sebastian Smythe. I'd like to say it's nice to meet you but I'm not one to lie for the sake of courtesy."
The Ghost didn't dare look back at the defined chest of the boy that is in his room. Was his room... "Dave... I'm Dave. This is my room. The bed was over on the other wall. And my skates hung on this wall. Where did you put those? They're important to me."
Sebastian groans. "Skates? What skates? Like, for hockey? Do people even play that around here nowadays?" He rubs a hand over his face. "I don't know, maybe the previous owner took them."
"Oh... previous owner." Dave licked at his lips and rings his hands. "So um... I don't know how I got here. I have school but I went through that wall. This is fucking scary."
Sebastian stared at him for a moment, not sure how to respond to that. "You're a ghost, man. That's what you do. Go through walls and scare the shit out of people," he explains slowly as if talking to a child.
"I'm not a ghost. This shit is just some weird dream. And you..." Dave looks over his shoulder at the naked chest. "You're just what I don't want to deal with. I just need to get through high school and out of Lima okay? I'll be fine if I can just get through high school."
"Wow. You're a king of denial, aren't you?" Sebastian scoffs, propping himself up. He doesn't miss the surreptitious glance thrown his way and the fact that even paranormal creatures find him attractive is a flattery he can't pass by.
"You could say that. I mean... I spent about 2 years thinking I liked Hummel's ass only because I saw it in a skirt... even though I don't think skirts look all that hot on girls."
"Uh..." Sebastian stares at him with a raised eyebrow. "No, I meant the ghost thing. Wait, is Hummel a guy?"
"Um... Yeah." Dave licks his lips again. "He's a guy at my school. I throw him into lockers. And... I... might... have... um... kissed... him."
Sebastian snorts loudly. "You might? What, you're not sure?" The boy looks upset and slouches visibly. Sebastian rolls his eyes. "So you like guys in skirts. Big deal."
"You don't get it. It is a big deal. A huge deal. And... My life would be over if he tells anyone." Dave growls, but the anger sounds more like a whimper. "It's his fault anyway."
"Geez. It's not 2010 anymore, Casper." Sebastian sits up straighter. "Who gives a shit."
"It's... not..." Dave bit his lip. "Oh... so you're okay with... gays. Really?"
Sebastian laughs out loud. "Yeah, you could say so. Gays, bisexuals and straight boys as well. I like to keep my pallette wide," he winked.
"Oh shit. You're... a queer. I... your parents know that?"
"They're aware... I've been bringing guys home for a while now and even though they're too busy to remember what year of High School I am in, I'm pretty sure that much could not go unnoticed," Sebastian says looking the boy over. The ghost's creepy fixation on homosexuality is starting to bother him. It was like he was from some some other epoch. "How old are you, actually?"
"Um. I thought I was 17. But I'm not so sure now. I'm supposed to graduate at the end of the year. Class of 2012. I guess that's not a good thing. I missed college."
Sebastian gapes at him. "Erm... I think you missed more than just a college, tiger. It's 2039." He says sitting cross legged on the bed.
"No way. You're from the future? Is... did they pass that gay marriage law in California? Is the ozone going to collapse? Did the icebergs melt? Is One Direction still together? Please tell me Harry Styles is gay."
"Whoa, wait!" Sebastian holds his hands in the air. "What do you mean, gay marriage? And who the fuck are One Direction and Styles?" He frowns in pure confusion.
"Duh, man. Only the coolest hottest British band. Harry Styles... like, I swear he's gay." Dave made a little sigh. "You know marriage between two guys or two girls. Gay marriage. California was trying to make it legal again."
"Why won't you just say marriage then?" Sebastian raises an eyebrow. He drums his fingers on his knee in thoughts. "I think I read something about new law to legally recognize polygamous relationships though. That was in California."
"Poly what? Like having a bunch of wives? I thought that was only a cult thing."
Sebastian snorts. "You need to educate yourself, Spooks. No, it's like having more than one boyfriend or girlfriend." He explains. The conversation's in equal parts amusing and perplexing.
"That's not possible..? Monogamy is pretty important. I mean it's everything. How is someone supposed to know you love them?"
"But you are still being faithful to those people, idiot." Wow, his eyeballs are going to hurt after all this eye-rolling. "My aunt has two partners and she's happy." He shrugs as if it was a conversation-ender.
"Wait... Are they guys or girls? Because if they are girls isn't that the same as having roommates? How do they not break up every month?" Dave looks honestly confused. "And how do they know who the kids belong to if one gets pregnant?"
"No, they're guys..." Sebastian says and it's very thankful for that fact because answering Dave's questions would take eternity. And only one of them has it. "Look... Things are different from what you remember. Like, your Hummel guy is all wrinkled and old, if still alive." He muses.
"Oh... Yeah. He probably got gay married and everything. He was never afraid of being gay." The thought makes him look down at his luminous hands. "I hope he's doing okay."
"Huh. You really had it for him, didn't you?" In the sudden spurt of amiability he reaches to pat the boy's shoulder but his fingers slide through cold air and he takes his hand away with a wince. "Sorry..."
"Ghost... Yeah I guess that's going to be a normal thing now." Dave picks at the skin around his thumb, but nothing changes in his image even as he digs. "Yeah. I hated him. I think I loved him too. Do you... do you think you could find out if he's okay? I mean I know my parents are probably gone but..."
"Okay..." Sebastian shudders a little and gets under a cover. Dave's presence doesn't lower the temperature of the whole room like in some horror novel, but being so close he can feel it like a light breeze. "What was his name again? I'm not promising anything, but I'll try." And he realizes that he really means to go to the trouble for some dead guy he didn't even know till last month.
"Kurt Hummel. He was born here in Lima. He's pretty, thin, pale, pretty much the stereotype of a fab gay. His dad was Burt hummel... Um he's probably an actor or a singer or something." Dave looks down at the boy pulling the covers. "Thank you. I um. I'll go."
"Can you appear whenever you want? I'm not going to search for your plasmic ass just to tell you what I found out," Sebastian says drowsily. He's sleepy and tired but Dave's presence is too unnerving to let him fall asleep. "You... won't try anything when I'm asleep, right?"
"NO! I wouldn't! No." Dave stood and jolted away from the bed like he'd been burned. "I'm not like that! I'm not some queer rapist. I'm not! You say my name and I'll come but... Yeah no. I'm leaving."
"Jesus..." Sebastian groans in exaggeration."I meant some supernatural stunts, you know, liek last time." He props himself on his elbows. "Funny that's where your mind went. The tongue ever turns to the aching tooth, huh?"
"What the hell does that mean?" Dave was flitting in and out of solidity.
Sebastian turns on his side to pat his butt. "It means you'd like a piece of that." He says with a smirk. "It's only natural, babe, no need to be ashamed."
In a blink Dave disappears. An amused chuckle fills the abandoned room. Seems like Sebastian found a way to get rid of the spooky roommate after all.