"H-hi Dad, Al. Y-you two are earlier than I expected." Matthew smiled nervously at his family.
"Don't just stand there, boy, let us in." Arthur said gruffly.
"R-right." Matthew stood back to allow them access.
"Wow! Your house is old!" Alfred yelled, barreling past his brother. He stood in the center of the living area and looked around. His eyes roved around the room, skipping over Gilbert entirely. At first.
His gaze jerked back to him. "Who a—wait. Wait. Y-you…you're…t-t-tr-translucent…a-and g-glowy…" Alfred stared at Gilbert and started to hyperventilate. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod you're a ghost, aren't you? You are, aren't you? You're a ghost and you're haunting Matt. OH MY GOD YOU'RE HAUNTING MATT!" Alfred's breathing grew both quicker and shallower, and his face was almost as pale as Gilbert's.
"Well. I guess he wasn't just making it up for attention." Matthew ignored his brother's panic attack in favor of turning questioningly to his father.
"Bloody hell. I guess Ceilí isn't crazy. Wanker." Arthur added under his breath.
"So I take it you guys can see me?" Gilbert asked, leaning against the wall.
"GET OUT OF MATT'S HOUSE! THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!" Alfred howled, having snapped out of his earlier attack.
"The fuck are you talking about, 'the power of Christ compels me'? Is that supposed to make me magically go 'poof'?" Gilbert drawled sarcastically.
"Oh my god, Matt, there's a house in your ghost! And it's a fucking Austrian ghost!" Alfred spun to face his brother.
"Replay what you just said." Matthew suggested with a smirk as Gilbert 'keeseesee'ed in the background.
"I meant a ghost in your house! And how can you be so calm about it?"
"Very easily. And he's German." Matthew looked back at Arthur. "What did you mean when you said the Aunt Kayleigh wasn't crazy?"
"She'd always said she could see ghosts. I never believed her, but I guess now I have to." Arthur scowled at Gilbert. "What's your name?"
"Gilbert. Yours is Arthur, right?" Gilbert put on his best 'meet the parents' expression.
"It is. The twat passed out over there is Alfred." He motioned toward his oldest son.
"Mattie talks about you two sometimes. And if I've got my British slang right, you don't seem to have too high of an opinion of Alfie's intelligence." Gilbert gave Arthur a grin.
"It's how he shows affection." Matthew explained, crouching next to Alfred. "And apparently Al inherited Maman's tendency to faint."
,,
"I still can't believe that there was a real live ghost living in your house and you didn't tell me!" Alfred whined. "He's all glowy and see-through and shit and it's creepy as hell!"
"Glowy and see-through? He looks like a normal person to me." Both brothers turned to stare at Gilbert, who resisted the urge to squirm.
"Everyone sees supernatural things differently." Arthur explained. "It only make sense that the two of you would see him differently." He absently petted Flying Mint Bunny, one of the creatures neither of his sons could see. "In fact, I see him as looking perfectly normal except for unnaturally pale skin, white hair and red eyes."
Gilbert scowled. "I'm an albino, jackass."
"An albino? Isn't that a white person who acts like they're black?" Alfred asked. Matthew face-palmed.
"Alfred, did you honestly just say that?" Alfred nodded. Matthew sighed. "Albinism is a genetic condition in which the body fails to produce pigment. It's characterized by pale skin, light colored or white hair, red or pink eyes, and often causes vision problems and sensitivity to light. That's why all of my light bulbs are such a low wattage."
"Oh. So I was wrong?"
,,
Nikolai frowned. He had somehow been talked into spending the weekend with Mathias. Tino hadn't minded, and Berwald hadn't objected either, so he had agreed. But that wasn't what he was frowning about.
It was the neighbor. Another car had pulled up beside the owner's red truck, and had been there all night. That wasn't the odd part, though. That prize was claimed by the unicorns sleeping on the lawn. They hadn't been there before. Also, they usually tried to avoid entering anything more 'civilized' than the suburbs unless they were following someone. Unicorns only followed those that could see them.
Which meant that the owner of the new car fell into that category. And if they could see unicorns, they could most likely also see the spirit residing there.
As he watched, three people emerged into the bright sunlight. Two of them, one the owner of the house, looked nearly identical. The third was both quite a bit shorter and significantly older. Old enough to be their father. The spirit leaned out one of the windows, hand held up to shield his eyes, and said something to the oldest of the trio. He turned, and they conversed a moment before he returned his attention to his sons.
Mathias sat up, squinting against the sunlight streaming in the open window. "Nikki?" Sleep turned his voice into a rasp. "Come back to bed. 's too early to get up." He tugged on Nikolai's hand.
"I have to do something." Nikolai freed his limb and set about getting dressed. He hadn't thought to bring a change of clothes, so he shrugged and pulled on yesterday's jeans. He was about to add his shirt when he noticed that it had been torn beyond repair the night before. Frowning, he pulled one of Mathias' shirts that didn't smell or look too bad off the floor to wear instead.
"You look sexy in my clothes." Mathias grinned. Nikolai ignored him as he left.
,,
"Excuse me." Arthur turned around when he was tapped on the shoulder. "Are you his father?" The elfin blond who had spoken pointed at Matthew.
"I am. What of it?" Arthur snapped back. His boys, oblivious to their father's distraction, continued walking around to Matthew's backyard, bickering as they went.
The man didn't answer, instead wandering over to one of the unicorns to stroke it's muzzle. Arthur started. "You can see them, then?" The man nodded.
"I am Nikolai." Arthur heard a soft trace of an accent too faint to place beyond Northern European.
"Artur. It's a pleasure." Arthur wasn't sure why he had given his Gaelic name, but some gut instinct had told him to.
"Are you aware of the spirit residing in your son's home?" Nikolai didn't believe in beating around the bush.
"Yes." Arthur left his answer simple, hoping to draw more information from the mysterious Nikolai.
"And do you approve of it?"
"What?"
"I am…a seer, of sorts. The secrets of the heart, hidden from most, are quite visible to me. I cannot predict the future, but I am privy to the most likely path of…of the red string of fate, if you will. And your son is tightly bound to that spirit." Nikolai's steady gaze was locked directly with Arthur's.
"I see. I suppose it doesn't matter if I approve, does it? What Matthew wants to do, he will."
"But you have the power to exorcise the spirit. The dead lingering in this world can only bring disaster and heartbreak for those that become attached to them. Do you really want to put your son through that?" Nikolai's voice was like a spell, soft and unbreakable.
"I—"
"Dad! Is that chick bothering you?" Alfred hollered, emerging from around the side of Matthew's house.
"It's fine. He was just about to leave. Weren't you, Nikolai?" Arthur turned to him.
"I suppose I was. It was a pleasure to meet you, Artur." Nikolai nodded politely toward Alfred as he left.
The dead lingering in this world can only bring disaster and heartbreak… Nikolai's words echoed in Arthur's mind.
We'll just see about that.
..
Ceilí- Gaelic version of Kayleigh. Kayleigh/Ceilí is Ireland. Scotland's going to show up, too, but not until later. Artur is Gaelic for Arthur. Let's see… Oh yeah, the 'isn't an albino…' question was actually uttered by someone that I, well I don't really know her, but she exists in my sphere of people, if that makes sense. But yeah. (This happened in the US, in case you were wondering…that sounds really dirty…) Anyway, as always, if my facts are wrong please tell me. Equilibrium out!
PS: If you didn't get the '…Austrian ghost…' thing, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a famous Austrian actor in the US. Part of what he's famous for is his accent. So, Alfred being Alfred, would assume that Gilbert was Austrian as well.