Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sound of running water filled the bathroom for a long time.

Cale was sitting on the bathroom floor with the water constantly running over him, still in the clothes he was wearing earlier.

Cale closed his eyes, feeling the water continuing to fall from the top of his head, hugging his knees to his chest.

"What are you doing?"

"Kyaa!"

Cale was shocked and screamed because of the sound, not only because of the voice that came suddenly, but because of someone's face that had appeared right in front of his face.

If that could even be called a person.

"I am taking a bath."  Cale had a frown on his face.

"I didn't know humans could shower for hours."  The man smiled in amusement as he looked at Cale.

"Of course you can, go there, ghost."  Cale shooed him away.

"My feelings would be hurt if my little friend was that cold, and my name is Alver not a ghost."

The ghost, Alver spoke with a very sad face made up.

Cale pouted even more.  "But you're a ghost."  Cale was reminiscent of a ghost that had run away from this reality.

"Don't confuse me with those ugly ghosts in those movies you see." Alver pulled Cale's cheek, causing Cale to slap his hand and feel the temperature of a warm hand– wait, warm?

Cale was a bit confused, maybe ghosts were like that, not that he had met other ghosts before.

"Still a ghost, makes no difference."  Cale denied.

"Of course it's different, what other ghosts can do this?"

Cale suddenly felt his body lose his footing, he continued to float up all the way to the bathroom ceiling.

"Kyaaa! Put me down! Get down!"  Cale shouted while closing his eyes.

"Okay."

But Cale became even more panicked because after the ghost answered, Cale was suddenly dropped from above just like that.

"Aaaah! Mother!"

Cale covered his eyes with both hands, preparing to fall, but wasn't the floor Cale felt himself fall on those strong arms that were– muscular?

"Sorry honey, but I don't have kids yet, and I'm a men."

Sounds of amused giggles came from above him.

Cale lowered his hands from his face and saw the annoying mocking smile of the handsome ghost that was currently carrying him.

"Hey, put me down, ghost!"  Cale was thrashing around in the ghost's arms.

"I told you I'm Alver, and you want me to let you go?"  Alver asked seductively.

"No! Wait!"  Cale immediately grabbed onto Alver's neck afraid that this ghost would knock him down again.

Alver then laughed and led Cale out of the bathroom still in his arms.

Cale was sitting on a chair in his room a towel landed on top of his head and covering his face, by the time Cale pulled the towel Alver had already disappeared from his room.

"You ghost."  Cale muttered and quickly dried himself off while getting changed.

It was late afternoon and Cale decided to just put on sleepwear, by the way all the messy things from before had returned to their original positions, it seemed like the ghost was really diligent.

Cale came out of his room and smelled a spicy smell coming from the direction of the kitchen. A bowl of spicy instant noodles with eggs and vegetables was ready there. It just so happened that Cale really wanted to eat spicy noodles.

Cale took it and as usual brought it to the sofa to enjoy it while watching TV, as Cale took one mouthful into his mouth, Cale gasped, it really tasted delicious.

Ghosts really were versatile, Cale could understand why so many people would want to raise ghosts.

Ghosts, spirits, magic, and hybrid creatures basically did exist, many people thought they were all just fairy tales, but Cale knew full well that they were real.

It was because Cale's mother came from a family that used white magic, there were three types of magic in this world, the most famous of which was black magic.

Black magic is used by contracting with evil spirits. How do you know if a spirit is evil because usually they ask for offerings in the form of sacrifices or something.

While white magic is the opposite of contracting with better spirits, but white magic also comes with a risk, if the user uses it for something wrong, the white magic will turn into black magic and turn against the user.

And the third is pure magic, a power that can be used without having to contract with spirits, usually used by awakening the power within their own body and soul, the method used can also vary.

It was difficult to obtain this power so people would prefer black magic or white magic, but to use magic they had to contract with a very powerful spirit.

Since not everyone is capable of making contact with powerful spirits, some people contract with lesser spirits to use up a bit of their strength, spirit power has various functions depending on what kind of spirit it is.

Examples include spirits used by mining entrepreneurs to guard their mines from illegal miners, or low-level spirits used to steal other people's money, and there are also spirits to attract customers to their business.

Cale heard stories from his mother when he was little, a food entrepreneur would make spirits they contracted spit into the food they were selling to make the food taste really good and entice customers to come over.

His mother also said to be careful when buying food in a sacred or deserted place because those who sell the food might not be human and the food they sell contains strange objects and will make us sick to our stomachs.

Cale shuddered at the thought of having to eat food that had been mixed in with ghost saliva.

Wait.

The food he eats is very good.

And what makes it is a ghost.

"Kyaaaaa!"  Cale shouted and placed his bowl of food on the short table in front of him.

He immediately ran towards the kitchen and looking for water.

Cale poured a glass of water from the teapot and immediately rinsed his mouth then drank a lot of them.

Cals turned around and once again found a handsome face appearing right in front of him.

"Have you finally noticed that it's spicy?"  Alver asked seeing Cale downing an enormous amount of water.

"Y-you!"  Cale shouted and pointed at Alver.

"Did you put your saliva in the food?!" Cale accused.

"What?"  Alver had a completely flustered expression on his face.

"You must have put your saliva in as a condiment! No, wait. Are those noodles worms? Or maybe intestines?! Are those eggs also eyeballs?!"

"What? Why am I feeding you worms, intestines, and eyeballs?!"

"Kyaaaa! You ghost!"

Cale screamed and picked up the frying pan and chased after the ghost.

The night came very peacefully.