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Shane Madej had always prided himself in being, simply put, smarter than most around him. He was logical, and he had firm faith in his ability to think one step ahead of everyone.But, alas, love was blind. Or in his case, love was dumb.Because Shane was in love with the most irrational, illogical person he had ever come across: Ryan Bergara.Everyone in school knew who Ryan was, and a fair few number of people had a crush on him. Shane just never considered he'd be one of those people, up until he found himself smiling at everything Ryan did, and longing for a chance to talk to him every moment of the day.Not to mention those dreams that plagued Shane's mind which Shane could not, no matter how hard he tried, pass off as just random fantasies (they were far too detailed for that).So, Shane had reached the logical conclusion that he was madly in love with Ryan, a really, really beautiful meathead with an adorable interest in... ghosts.Yes, ghosts.Shane knew if it had been one of his friends, like Sara or Andrew believing in ghosts, he'd be laughing his ass off.But this was Ryan Bergara he was talking about. Even him, the school's biggest skeptic, couldn't bring himself to go up to Ryan and poke holes in his dumb beliefs, not even when Ryan had started up his own ghost hunting club (thankfully, it had only one member, which was Ryan Bergara himself).This was mainly because Shane couldn't bring himself to talk to Ryan at all. Maybe it was his irrational fear that as soon as he spoke to Ryan, Ryan would instantly know about Shane's crush on him.Maybe it was the fact that Ryan was always surrounded by a circle of meathead sport friends.Maybe it was because Shane's legs felt like jello every time Ryan walked by him.So, Shane's big crush was limited only to longing stares and secret smiles which he'd quickly try to pass off as smiling at the ceiling.And Shane planned to keep it that way. Note, he planned to, until—"You're actually making me sad," Andrew groaned, listening to Shane monologue for the twentieth time about Ryan Bergara's choice of tight shirts that day."Yeah, this is pathetic, Shane," Sara added, sighing, "you have to tell him. This is Ryan you're talking about. He's single right now, so he's fair game, but that won't be for long, and you know it. You'll hate yourself then.""And I'll deal with that," Shane said, "I never planned to actually tell him how I felt anyway."Sara and Andrew stared at him."Fine. If you don't make a move within the end of this week, I'll personally go up to Ryan and tell him myself," Andrew said lazily.It took Shane a few seconds to register the threat. He tried to laugh it off, trying to ignore the slow rise of panic that made his chest tighten."C'mon, you wouldn't do that..." he said, glancing at Sara for support, but finding none.Andrew stared dead into Shane's eyes."Oh I will, and I'll be sure to include every single thing you've told us about him. Even the fifty page essay about his hair. And that's a promise."Shane was trying not to panic, but he knew Andrew meant every word."Guys, look, I can't. I've never even talked to him and he won't want to talk to me and—""Well, then you've got seven days to talk to him, and make him want to talk to you I guess," Sara said, nonchalantly.And Shane knew there was going to be no compromise.
*
Shane knew there was no way he could just randomly go up to Ryan and strike up a conversation. After all, Shane wasn't into sports, and only shared an English class with Ryan.Even if he somehow gathered the courage to go talk to Ryan, he'd have to go through Steven, Kelsey, Brent, and tons more, and by the time he'd reach Ryan his small flicker of courage would be replaced by impending doom.He had four days left, and he had still gotten nowhere near to 'making a move' on Ryan Bergara. "Jesus, Shane," Sara said, "just go talk to him about ghosts or something. You always have plenty to say on that."And that's how Shane came to his ingenious plan: a plan which involved loads of lying, and even going against his own beliefs.A plan which involved getting downright haunted.But it was worth it, if it meant getting the attention of Ryan Bergara.
*
The first part was as easy as Shane had expected it to be: all he had to do was go up to Keith after second period and tell him his very spooky, very real tale."It's driving me insane, man," Shane lied easily, "I can't even sleep at night.""You sure it's not like, a stray cat or something that's making the noise?" Keith asked."No... dude, you know me. I've never believed in these things. But after what's been going on in my house... I don't think I can deny it any longer."It helped that Keith believed everyone, and in turn, everyone believed Keith. Soon, the story of Shane's very haunted, very cursed house spread around the entire school, and it had fifty different versions."Did you hear about the time Shane Madej woke up and saw a mangled corpse staring at him from across the room?""I heard one time something lifted him up and chucked him across the hallway.""Sara, did you hear about the time Shane saw a giant floating head in his house?" Kelsey asked, worriedly."You sure he didn't just see himself in the mirror?" Sara wanted to kick Shane.And that's the first thing she did when she saw Shane that day, walking happily to his locker."You ass. We asked you to talk to Ryan, not lie to the whole school!" Sara hissed quietly, as Shane rubbed his knees in pain. Thankfully, her kick didn't reach any higher."You said I should talk about ghosts!" Shane hissed back."Yeah, I meant a general discussion with Ryan about ghosts! Maybe even joining his dumb club! But not your Goosebumps tale!""Okay, to be fair, I said nothing about floating objects or flying ghouls," Shane said, sighing, "And I only wanted to make Ryan talk to me. But, as you can see, there's only one day left for the week to come to an end, and that hasn't happened."Sara knew that Andrew had only been lying to get Shane out of his shell, but Shane looked so downcast about the whole thing that her anger at him quickly faded away."C'mon dude, don't give up—""Uh... Shane Madej?"Shane and Sara quickly turned around, and Shane suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe."Ah, sorry, I know this is random but I wanted to ask you a few questions, about the, uh, haunting at your house? That is, if you don't mind, of course?" Ryan asked, looking at Shane hopefully. He even gave Shane a slight smile, which made Shane want to throw him against the locker and kiss him, scarring Sara for life."Yes, you can! He doesn't mind," Sara quickly answered, seeing that Shane had lost every ability to function, let alone speak. "That's great!" Ryan said, grinning brightly at the both of them. Sara could see why Shane had fallen for him.And Shane felt like he had just stared directly into the sun.
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"Unbelievable," Andrew muttered, as he slowly unwrapped his dry cafeteria sandwich, "Unbelievable."He and Sara both were staring fixedly at a particularly peculiar phenomenon, even more peculiar than the stories that spread around school of Shane's ghost buddies: Ryan Bergara wasn't surrounded by his circle of meathead friends.In fact, Ryan Bergara had ditched said dumb friends to go and sit with Shane."Well, at least the conversation seems to be going well," Sara said."Look at Steven Lim's face. He does not seem to be taking this well," Andrew said gleefully.Indeed, it wasn't only Andrew and Sara who were staring at Ryan and Shane. Half the people in the cafeteria were turning their heads to glance at them from time to time, and Steven sat there looking extremely confused at this new development."If the rest of us are this shook," Sara said, grinning, "I wonder how Shane is doing?"Shane was, in fact, dead. This wasn't only because he was sitting right across the table from the cutest person he had ever laid his eyes on, it was also because said person kept leaning in to listen to him.Shane wondered if Ryan knew what he was doing. It didn't seem like it; rather, it seemed like he was genuinely way too invested in Shane's tales of terror.Ryan had completely forgotten about lunch, and had taken out a notepad, jotting down random things Shane said. While Shane's heart melted under Ryan's earnest gaze, Shane made sure he was careful: the stories around school could get away with having inconsistencies, but his own version could not.He would never allow himself to slip up. Because if he did, and Ryan somehow realized that he did, Shane knew Ryan would never speak to him again."And then when you checked the room, did you find anything?" Ryan asked earnestly, his eyes serious, full of curiosity, and a hint of fear.Shane wondered if he should take up story-telling as a career."No, nothing. There wasn't even a raccoon loose like I had first suspected," Shane said, trying not to sound too overcome with joy at the opportunity of being able to speak with Ryan Bergara.Ryan looked thoughtful."Has it always been happening, or only recently?" He asked."Well, we only moved in a month ago, so..." Shane said, and this was completely true, for a change."Alright. Could I get your number?" Ryan asked.Shane wanted to get up, walk over to Sara and Andrew, and scream at their faces about what had just happened. But, he decided he had to do that later. For now, he said, "Oh? Yeah, sure."
Smooth.
"You need to tell me immediately when something happens. Like, uh, text me. I wanna see if there's a pattern," Ryan said seriously."Am I not allowed to call you?"Shane hadn't meant to ask that — it had just slipped out, but (and Shane couldn't believe it), it made Ryan Bergara blush.Or at least, look a bit flustered for a second, because almost immediately, Ryan covered it up with one of his all too familiar grins."Can't say I would mind if you did."
*
"You're trying to tell me," Andrew said, "that Ryan Bergara is casually flirting with you?""Do you really think he is?" Shane said hopefully.He had given a long, detailed description of his time with Ryan, and both Andrew and Sara looked quite impressed."He has to be. I think. I'm too lesbian for this shit," Sara said, sighing, "and Andrew's too emotionally constipated."Andrew nodded in agreement.Shane sighed, and picked up his phone. He stared at the new contact, which tauntingly read 'Ryan(=' (Ryan had saved it that way himself) and wondered aloud: "What have I gotten myself into?""A spiral of lies," Sara answered wisely.Andrew nodded in agreement.
*
It was 9pm when Shane finally decided to text Ryan (he was too much of a coward to call).
Shane: heya {:
Ryan replied almost immediately.
Ryan(= : Did something happen?
Shane: oh, no. just wanted to say hi lol
Ryan(= : lol Ok lemme know if smth happens (:
Shane didn’t know what to reply with after that, so he sat down on his bed, and thought about suffocating himself with his own pillow.This was the first time in his entire life that Shane wished ghosts were actually real.Maybe then one would pick him up and throw him off a building for being so fucking dumb.Ryan had made himself clear. He had said, “Text me if something happens.” And if Shane had not been so oblivious, he could’ve easily translated it to mean, “Don’t fucking text me unless a demon eats your ass.”But Shane wanted to. Shane wanted to talk to Ryan so bad. He wanted to talk about Ryan’s life, his hobbies, his interests, his favorite color. Fuck, he’d give anything to talk to Ryan about the weather—There was a loud beep which snapped Shane out of his lovesick monologue. Ryan Bergara had texted him.
Ryan(= : God, doesn’t this weather fucking suck?
And at that moment, Shane Madej realized two things:One, that he was a drama queen. And two, that he was completely, absolutely whipped.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Shane made sure he was very consistent with his horror story, because slipping up wasn't an option. Ryan Bergara was in no way dumb like Shane had previously thought him to be. And Shane didn't wanna figure out if he was forgiving or not.So, every time Shane told his story, or added a new development, he followed three rules:One, there would always be a feeling of someone, or something, watching you. This was a common phenomenon in all ghost stories, yet enough to make Ryan look like a terrified squirrel.Two, there would be noises; footsteps, tapping, whispers and even laughter — loud enough to wake Shane up. Shane had picked this because the brain produces auditory hallucinations anyway, and a completely silent house just, always makes noise.Three, there would be 'shadows', but never full bodied apparitions. If time came for Shane to prove that there was a giant floating head in his hallway, he knew he couldn't fake that. But shadows? Those were easy. Even Shane has had his eyes play tricks on him while trying to go to sleep in his bedroom, so it wasn't a complete lie.That was another thing: Shane hated having to lie to Ryan's eager face. But he knew what he had gotten himself into. He knew the only reason a guy like Ryan paid any sort of attention to him was because of his lies, and Shane was perfectly okay with it.In fact, he'd lie all over again if it meant being this casual with Ryan Bergara.Shane had been texting him every day since they first exchanged numbers, ghost sightings, new developments in Shane's house, theories, and most importantly, completely random bullshit.
Shane: i want a snake to massage my scalp.
Ryan(= : LMAO wtf shane
See, these text LOLs mattered to Shane, but what mattered more was the IRL LOLs, where Shane could see Ryan's whole face light up, his eyes crinkle and him struggling to breathe because he was laughing so hard.It mattered, because the very thought of Ryan finding Shane that funny made Shane's entire day, entire week, maybe the entire month. And not to mention the fact that Ryan would go out of his way to talk to Shane. The memories of Ryan pulling him into dark corridors or into bathrooms replayed themselves in Shane's dreams, except, in them, Ryan wouldn't tell Shane his latest ghost theory.Instead, they'd do things that riddled Shane with crippling embarrassment when he woke up, alone in his bed, and soaking wet.This was getting out of control.
*
"Dude, let me come over tonight," Ryan said, eagerly.Shane stared at Ryan. Was he dreaming again?"What?""I mean," Ryan said, now looking unsure, "I think we should properly investigate it. And capture some footage maybe?"Shane felt like his brain was processing words slower than ever, but he finally managed to choke out, "yeah, that'd be cool.""Cool," Ryan said, grinning. Now, this, was out of control.
*
"He's what?" Sara asked, shocked."Coming over. Tonight. Like, after school, and I think he'll stay the night. I don't know," Shane was freaking out now. They had one class left till school let out, and Shane, of course, was in the middle of a gay crisis."What? You barely have any time to prepare! Do you have snacks? Games? What if Ryan gets bored?" Sara said."Dude, I didn't wanna be the one to tell you this, but you smell. Please take a shower if you're thinking of smoochin' up tonight," Andrew said seriously."Oh, and don't wear your Tiki shirt. It puts people off," Sara added."Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence guys," Shane rolled his eyes, but quickly made a mental note of all the things they had said.Shane's phone beeped."It's Ryan," he said, and Sara and Andrew both leaned in to look at the text.Ryan had said that he needed to go pickup some stuff from his house after school, and told Shane to text him his address."Well, at least that gives you some time to shower," Andrew said thoughtfully, as Shane quickly began typing."Um, do you guys think the pink shirt is a good choice?" Shane asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.Sara grinned."It's perfect."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
When the doorbell rang two hours later, Shane made sure he took his time composing himself; he didn't want Ryan to think he was waiting for him, even though he actually was.But of course, this was completely useless, because as soon as Shane opened the door, he couldn't help staring: Ryan was standing in front of him, dressed up like an actual ghost hunter.And he somehow fucking managed to pull it off, which wasn't much of a surprise.Shane began to laugh, not only because he had never in his life imagined Ryan Bergara would be standing at his door with two different cameras attached to him, but also because he was a complete and utter nervous wreck."Shut the fuck up you jerk," Ryan said, wheezing.If Shane hadn't been so worried about his own nervousness, he would've seen that Ryan was anxious too. The undeniable pink flush that covered Ryan's neck (which Shane hadn't noticed) couldn't be written off as fear of entering a potentially haunted house.But it was plausible that this was because of Shane’s weird pink shirt, and his rolled up sleeves. His hair even looked better, and Ryan suddenly wished he had taken more time getting ready.But this unknown, unexplored feeling was immediately shut down by Ryan, and shoved deep somewhere in his brain, like all the other dumb thoughts that came across his head.
*
It was so easy being with each other, and Shane and Ryan had both realized it very quickly.They had realized it the first time they began talking, sharing tons of the same weird niche interests, and the same humor.They made each other laugh.Even so, they were both nervous about spending the night together. That's a whole new level of friendship, Ryan thought, but the possibility of ghosts made him lose all hesitation.And there was Shane, who not only had to worry about his massive crush, he also had to worry about making sure Ryan had a good time.He didn't want Ryan to be bored, at least.But in a few minutes, both of their fears had melted away, because it was just so easy being with each other.In a platonic way, of course, Ryan thought happily.As they quickly got comfortable around each other, with Ryan lying down on Shane's bed without asking, and Shane going through Ryan's ghost hunting gear, only one fear remained:The fear of ghosts.
*
"This radio is so fucking loud," Shane complained, laughing."Dude, it's a spirit box," Ryan said, even though he laughed too, "it's supposed to be able to pick up what the ghosts are saying.""Ryan, I know I'm the one being haunted, but that's just baloney," Shane said, unable to stop himself.Ryan wheezed."Come on, man, shut up and listen. Is there anybody here?" Ryan asked confidently.They were sitting across from each other in the hallway, with almost all of the lights turned off. "Did you hear what it said?" Ryan asked, his eyes wide, after another round of static noises."No, what?" "It said 'here'.""No, it didn't Ryan. It said bleh," Shane said, laughing, and Ryan wheezed too. The static cleared for a second and it both of them could hear an almost distinct, “You idiot”.Ryan wheezed again.“Holy shit, it called you an idiot.”“Hey, ghosts!” Shane said playfully, “Don’t bully me.”“If somebody is here right now,” Ryan tried again, “could you please say our names back to us? I’m Ryan, and that’s Shane—”The radio stuttered again, and this time, they both heard it clearly say, “Ryan.”Ryan’s eyes went wide, and he shared a nervous laugh with Shane.“It — It said my name,” Ryan whispered, and even though Shane wanted to tell him it was a mere coincidence, he kept his mouth shut.Ryan called again, “Who are you? Why are you here?” and Shane added dramatically, “What do you want from me?”The static blared, and Ryan had stopped laughing.“I’m fucking freaking out. Dude, it — it sounded like ‘kill him’ or something...”Shane had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Instead he said, “Did it?”“Y-Yeah! It did... Oh my god,” Ryan closed his eyes, and Shane heard him mutter, “Do not be afraid.” “What did you just say?” Ryan asked, more forcefully, and Shane was sure this was to hide his fear, “Repeat yourself.”And this time Shane heard it too. It repeated three times.Except it didn’t sound like “kill him.” It sounded like “tell him” to Shane, and that freaked him out.“Who do you want to kill?” Ryan carried on, trying to be brave, seeing that Shane had fallen quiet.The static continued to blare, but they couldn’t make out any more words. Ryan looked terrified by the end of the spirit box session, and Shane wanted to comfort him with his very logical explanation, but decided that it would be best not to.They tried it out in a few more rooms, and then set up a small camera in Shane’s attic, where quite a few of Shane’s footstep stories took place. Ryan had calmed down by the time they had pizza for dinner, and Shane was glad. Without the stress of a demon pulling their spines out at any second, this was almost like a date, and Shane couldn’t stop smiling thinking about it.
*
They had decided to sleep together in Shane’s bedroom (and Shane tried his best not to look too overcome with joy about it), as Ryan was too scared to sleep on the couch, and because most of the paranormal stuff happened in Shane’s bedroom.Shane kept imagining himself pulling a very scared Ryan into his arms in the middle of the night, and them holding onto each other as they fell asleep.But all of his dreams were crushed as soon as he saw Ryan make a ‘No Homo’ pillow fort between them.Shane didn’t bother trying to hide his disappointment, as he switched off all the lights (expect one, as per Ryan’s request) and retreated to ‘his side’ of the bed. “Well, good night.”“I don’t think I can sleep tonight.”“Ryan, you have a camera pointed at us, and at everywhere else of the room. You won’t miss a thing. Go to sleep.”“But — I’m scared.”Shane turned over to look at Ryan, who was staring him, looking both embarrassed and terrified. Shane suddenly realized how close they were. He knew if he could travel back in time and tell himself two months ago about what was happening, he would never believe himself.Shane smiled, without even meaning to.“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.”Ryan laughed, but felt very warm all of a sudden. Had Shane always been this pretty, or was it just the soft, low light?“My hero.”