#day23 - Cozy: What means coziness is depending on each human, or, in this case, ghost...
Since the latest page, he felt as if something was off – not clearly, but in a tiny little part, the sense of oddness started to bother him and took off his attention from reading the book, and comprehending the content. Dan flipped a page and by the movement, he almost could make out an interested grasp. So he wasn't imagining it, great then. He slowly 'read' the text now, twice or three times slower than he usually would have done it, waiting for the reaction if his stalker would have commented on his dull reading pace, but nothing happened.
Dan pinched the next page with his fingertips, moving it with the haste of the snail, nearly hearing an impatient breathing from the upper corner of the room, but then, he, with a quick movement, reached out to his left and switched on the light next to his bed, inducing his intruder shrieking by the sudden light.
"Eee-! Asshole!" rubbed, undoubtedly the unwanted visitor's the burned-out eyes. Dan's lips curled into a victorious smile, almost letting him laugh at the other's mystery.
"First of all, language." he started, explaining to the air. "Second, if you stalk someone, be quiet."
"I was quiet." mumbled the intruder, changing to visible. And indeed, just as Dan expected, she was floating in the opposite corner of the room, near to reach the ceiling. "Gee, this still hurts, idiot." rubbed the half-ghost girl her eyes maniacally. "If you knew, I was there, you should have just thrown me with a pillow or something."
"Nah, it was funnier this way." Dan smiled, enjoying still a bit the cruel treatment. But then, he closed the book, and put it on the nightstand, facing the ghost-girl. "Otherwise, if I had used a 'soft way', you wouldn't learn from it."
"Still- asshole." she massaged her eyelids, testing her vision. Dan marked her, but then got up and walked to the door, adjusting the intensity of the light, making the room fill with a half-light now.
"Better?"
"Yeah…" blinked a few the girl, now with less frowning thanked to the much kinder light. "But you're still an-" Dan cut her off, before she could have continued.
"We talked about this, remember? I know, you weren't around people, and more like, you were around, but around rural people, but- you're still a little girl, you can't just swear all the time." he reminded her.
The youngster rolled her glowing green eyes, groaning. It seemed her vision already settled and healed from the cruel deed, that she could make those moving easily like this. And yeah, she needed to learn it the hard way, as far as it had been almost the first thing he had learned that using the 'ghostly' vision in the dark, made them sensible against abrupt lights. Now, she got to know it too.
The girl snorted at the lecture and blew a raspberry towards him.
"Very mature, young lady, you just managed to de-age yourself by ten years." Dan commented on the childish behaviour. "Are you finished?"
The girl crossed her arms over her chest, tapping frustratedly on her elbow. "Just to be clear, I am allowed to be childish and I can swear whenever I fucking want." she cleared, Dan just hummed to it, feeling she wouldn't let it go. The teenager hovered lower. "Not that you'd make a jar of swears, or something…"
Dan's eyes widened at the last sentence, well, that wasn't a bad idea… he turned towards her, with a grin, spreading on his face, the ghost-girl immediately spotted the reason behind his enjoyment.
"No, no, no. Don't even think about it, that's humiliating."
"Not a bad idea though..." Dan agreed, the teenager grimaced, but then her expression changed.
"Okay, but if you're doing one, I'll make one for you too. That's the deal for equality." she stated.
Dan lifted his eyebrow, stunned. "About what? I don't have any-"
"Weird ticks?" the youngster helped her out. "Yes, you do, hundreds, wanna hear the list?" she started to count with her fingers, raising each one after the other, as she specified them. "First, when you are using your dessert-related swearing. Second, when you are behaving too fatherly. Third, when you are acting like a creep like now and-"
Dan raised his arms to the air, giving up and stopping her. "Okay, okay, you win. There wouldn't be any jars." he bowed his head unwillingly. "God, you're so annoying. And just for clarity, those are just made-up facts, I'm not that weird."
"M-hm. I keep tracking your behaviour, you know. That's what I am doing when I am bored or when I can't sleep. You're so weird. And believe me, I have a very long list about you. You are the weirdest weirdo, and I am measuring with the fucking Amity Park-level, so-"
"Language." Dan interrupted her suddenly, the girl gave him a meaningful look. "Sorry, that was rather automatic this time." he apologised, but then he put together what she was saying. "So, that's- that was what you were doing? Creeping around me, to expand your list?" he took the question.
The girl floated down to the floor, fidgeting with her hand sheepishly. "No, I- I- I just couldn't sleep..." she confessed in a low voice, gazing at her foot.
"Oh. Did I- did I mess up assembling the parts properly? It seemed fine. But-" he let out a moan, rubbing his forehead. "I knew I shouldn't believe those idiots! Easy as a pie, they say. Yeah, even their instructions are just out of logic. How in the hell should there be needed one – I repeat one! – tool for every furniture, of course it doesn't work out! I can build things, and understand engineering, but that's- and they say it's creative, how on hell it's creative! It's a lazy job and…" he turned suddenly towards the girl, who was astonished, blinking. "Sorry, I- I got carried away a bit." Dan admitted, though, by the girl expression, it wasn't just a 'bit'. He scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed, but then nodded towards his bed. "I can offer mine for the night, if you don't mind sleeping here and I- I don't mind either, be in the living room, reading and…"
The half-ghost ran her nails on her upper arm, gazing ahead. "It's not-" she started and then sighed. "It's not the bed, that's fine and comfy and I like it, but-"
By that, it became clear what was the problem. Not only because he had once read one of Jazz's psychology books, but partly because Dan could easily identify the look on her face. After all, he couldn't sleep either – not that the two reasons could be comparable, but-
"It's too soft, isn't it?" he asked. The girl slightly lifted her head, but not confirming it. Even without her answer, he knew it. Dan stepped to his bed and grabbed his blanket, folding it a bit in his arms, and then stopped at her. "Go, get yours too, I've got an idea." he explained to her.
After a few minutes, the two blankets were placed on the floor, in the living room, slightly comfortable between the coffee table and the yet empty wall – that according to the plans would soon be covered by a bookshelf, or a television furniture unit (that which exactly would be then, was still under debating, though he had a very strong feeling that would be the latest one, and either the books hardly could help him catch up with the things in the world...).
Dan took the empty cup and put it on the small table, sitting back, next to the now human-formed ghost-girl. "Better?"
The teenager licked from her mouth the remaining hot chocolate and then laid back, turning her vision to the ceiling. "Yeah, but I didn't have any hot chocolate back then during my nights, you know…" she whispered in the darkness.
Dan rolled his eyes and tried to place himself properly too. "You're so ungrateful." he commented, and then he managed to settle down too, with his back to the cold floor too that only the blankets under them made it bearable. He clenched his hands together and gazed at the darkness too. It sounded weird, but- in a way, it was much more comfortable than the beds with that unfamiliar cosiness.
There was just silence for a very long time, only the cars and the night traffic made noise on the streets, reminding them that they weren't just in calm nothingness, but then, the girl spoke in a low, thoughtful voice.
"Sometimes I miss it." she started, with a wondering tone, feeling that it must have sounded odd, but then she continued. "Having a place to sleep somewhere and…. you know, having someone… it's just- this, now, is feeling so unreal sometimes…"
Dan let out a deep breath, letting his thoughts recall some bits of his past, running his nails absently on his chest in the meantime. "I- I don't miss my days…" he said then, forcing himself to come back to the present, the girl turned her head towards him.
"Will you- will you ever tell me your story?" hoped the youngster.
Dan pursued his lips, squeezing shut his eyes. "No. Never." he responded. "You know what my standpoint is about that."
The teenager nodded, and turned her vision back to the ceiling. "Yeah, I know, rule number two. But I am curious."
"Please, don't be curious, it's not worth it anyway." he mumbled, leaving his marks and instead, twisting his fingers now. "And either… you don't want to know about it, believe me. I- I don't want to- I don't want to lose you too, just because who I am, or who I was…" he whispered.
There was a short silence, and he knew she was wondering about what it meant, but the ghost-girl didn't ask anything, not pushing it anymore, and for that, Dan was glad. Especially that every time, when she got startled by his accidentally slipped out notes or movements reminding her to him, his non-existing heart also got hurt – avoiding being like the man, was not just a kind act for her, but also- a slow treatment for him too.
For a minute all remained quiet, only the noise from outside filling the air, it was peaceful and… lulling, Dan closed his eyes, feeling a sudden tiredness on his eyelids. In fine, he got exhausted enough to sleep. Enough exhausted to rest his eyes and mind, without memories, and for those times... he was craving for those rare occasions. Not that he could be able to sleep, or that he had a need for sleep, but- he couldn't spend all nights reading and wondering about other necessary furniture and stuffs…
A soft poking grabbed him out of the sweet resting. "Yes?" he turned towards the seemingly still awake half-ghost, with only one opened eye, hoping that only a quick question interrupted him.
"Do you think we can ever be normal?" she asked, Dan was thinking, but then answered truly.
"No, I think not. We can live a life like others, but we'll never be like them." he said, turning back, expecting that it answered her question, but then he had to realise the conversation didn't reach the end.
"That's not how I meant…" she muttered. Dan rolled his eyes, and counted to five mentally, after that, paying attention to her, giving up 'sleeping' this time.
"How do you mean then?" there was a little pause, but then, the girl raised her arms up, waving meaningfully.
"I mean as we are on to sleep on the floor, damn it!" she pointed harshly. "I can't believe you didn't realise it. That's not normal. At all."
Dan let out a sigh, telling the last goodbyes to the hope to rest now, instead of that plan, currently, he had to handle a poorly very wakeful teenager. He pinched his nose, collecting his remained energy to be patient, and then spoke.
"Listen, it's not my problem, you can't sleep in your bed, but yeah… about normal, if that's bothering you, we'll be able to sleep in beds. Not right now, maybe not soon, but we'll get used to it with time." he explained, the girl hummed. Dan slightly turned towards her, marking if she had any other note regarding 'not being normal', but it seemed she didn't have any other comment related to their current odd behaviour, so then he closed his eyes again and put faith in that she wouldn't have any other existential questions.
It worked for a slight three minutes, but after that Dan reached out his hand, covering the youngster's face with his palm. "Close your eyes, and sleep. I can hear you thinking, and it's even worse than the constant ticking at Clockwork's place."
The girl slapped away his hand and turned to her side groaning. "I can't sleep, and it's your fault only," she cleared. "Didn't you know drinking something with a high sugar content just wakes up people?" Dan ran his eyes on the teenager, realising that indeed she was too conscious to shut it in the near future, but then again, a shiver just like that ran through her.
"Are you cold?" the half-ghost shook her head. She lied, but also, he could understand if she admitted it, that would mean someone had to move and get a blanket, and to tell the truth, he didn't want either to get up. Dan gave in, and recognised there was only one way left to solve it with their current lazy attitude.
"All right," he sighed and changed. The sudden flash of light made the girl wince, but then he turned to his side too, getting off his cape and covering both of them with it. "Better?" the half-ghost didn't react, just slowly moved closer to him, until her head was touching his chest and then she grabbed his hand and placed it under her as a pillow. "Are you finished?" Dan asked then, feeling himself nothing else but a perfectly adjusted personal heater.
"Now, it's better." she clarified, closing her eyes. "Skip moving." she added then.
"You are using my heat for your own purposes…" he whispered to her ear. "Just for clarity, it's evil." the girl smiled, shaking her head slightly.
"No, it's not, you offered it, so you messed up." she cleared it "And also, it's not my fault, you are comfy. But now, shut it, please, I wanna sleep."
Dan rolled his eyes and gave up, accepting in silence his purpose for the night. He cracked a smile but then closed his eyes too. And yeah, it worked for like one minute, but then a tingling sensation made him peek at the girl.
"Dani… leave my hair alone." he begged, but again a small hand ran through it.
"But it's so weird… it's like-" she started, but a tired groan interrupted her.
"You won't let it go, right?" Dan took the obviously rhetorical question and shuddered a bit, as she again stroked through his oddly behaving hair. "God, I'm so hating you sometimes…" the teenager's only reaction was an annoying chuckle and Dan added to his expanding list about how to treat her, that never ever give the half-ghost hot chocolate at night – or if there was no other choice, then get some sedatives somehow… Now, with her growing eagerness, unfortunately, he had to learn it on the hard way. By that, he covered his ear before she could have started to tig with that too...