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Ryan steps into the house, camera in hand. “So, here we are.”
He stops to let Shane get him into shot as he slowly turns around to get a good view of the house. It looks just like a normal house, even modern. There's even a flatscreen TV in the living room.
“The demon ep of the season!” Shane grins.
Ryan looks at him. “Don't- Okay it's a demon episode. You don't have to look so happy about it.”
“Ah, it's fun!” He gives Ryan a look. “You're getting more cocky lately. But demons always shake you up just enough.”
“Fuck you.”
“Ah, that's the shaky voice Bergara we know and love.”
Ryan gestures at the room. “So, anyway, as you can see, this is very much someone's home. So don't, you know. Be on your best behavior.”
“But maybe, if I can get the demon to latch onto me, I can let it hitch a ride with me, and away from here. Problem solved.”
A look comes to Shane. “Maybe I could sell my services. You know. People who do believe could pay me to invite their ghosts to me!”
He looks into T.J.'s camera. “You hear that, Boogaras? Pay me and I'll take care of your little demon problems.”
“Wait, why- why the Boogaras?”
“Well the Shaniacs aren't gonna pay me for this. Boogaras though-” He launches into some kind of a 40's salesman impression: “Doors opening middle of the night? Must be ghouls! Paypal me ten bucks and I'll send the ghosts a sternly-worded letter that will make them pissed off enough to come haunt me instead.” He turns to Ryan. “See? The Shaniacs would never fall for that.”
“You're unbelievable.”
“I try.”
Ryan makes sure TJ gets both of them in the shot as they inspect the house. It hasn't been empty for long, and just looks like a regular home. The owner is apparently trying to sell tours, so it might just be one of those schemes. But Ryan is willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.
It reminds Ryan way too much about the Sallie house, even if it's not quite as unsettling. So far in his ghost hunting career nothing has come close.
They walk around the house, talking about the suspected events that have happened in the house. It's not that much and a lot of it feels hokey. People injuring themselves, seeing figures in the night, spooky ghost children. The house is fairly new, from the 1970's, but apparently it was built on much older foundations. The basement most notably is supposedly haunted by a demon or some kind of a spirit. The owner of the house hadn't directly called it an ancient indian burial ground but the implication had been there. A story that makes even Ryan roll his eyes and he wonders if he should even pay lip service to it in his narration. In any case there should be some ruins in the basement and that's where Ryan is planning to end their filming. Do a little solitary investigation, end the ep. They should at least get some footage of Shane yelling at the demon but Ryan would have to try to make the episode more interesting in editing. Or perhaps go for more comedic approach.
They will take their time. The house is small and doesn't have that much history. Ryan is experienced enough at this by now that he knows how to get enough footage but he might be forced to make this a shorter episode...
He pulls out the spirit box.
“It is said the previous owner of the house saw a little boy here. There's no record of children dying in the house so you know what that means.”
Shane pulls the flashlight under his chin and growls dramatically: “A deeemon!”
“Take this seriously.”
The static fills the tiny room and Shane grimaces. “I'm sorry, Timmy, or whoever you are, this is nothing personal, this is just how he is with everyone. He just barges into your house, starts out this racket... Pulls out his camera and takes compromising footage of you and puts it on Youtube... Please take no offense.”
Ryan raises his voice to get through the noise. “Please ignore my friend. If there are any spirits here, you can use this to talk to us.”
They wait. There are one or two indistinct noises Ryan needs to listen to again when editing.
“Not looking too great,” Shane notes. “Timmy not feeling chatty tonight.”
Just as he says it the box lets out a screech.
“Yeah I agree!” Shane says.
-tsss-tsss-hou-tss-no- a-
“Did it say 'how are you?'”
Ryan knows this is a very charitable interpretation and the look Shane gives him makes him just feel embarrassed.
It feels like even Shane feels bad about calling him out, and instead just rubs his forehead. “Can we stop now?”
Ryan turns the spirit box off. “We can come back later to get something.”
“Not a great time to be a Boogara, eh?”
“On the contrary, actually. If anything, this just shows not every location is haunted. If it was just squeaky shoes and radio interference and- and moths we'd get more evidence here too, right?”
“Ryan, are you really calling this a victory?”
“You know what? I wasn't going to, but now I am. A victory for the Boogaras. And don't forget there's still the basement. There are apparently some stones there that might have been used to sacrifice animals to demons.”
“Oh I get it.”
“You get what?”
Shane gives him a knowing look. “You're just happy this house turned out to be demon free. You're having your little insufferable jolt of happiness early tonight.”
“Maybe.”
Ryan is certainly feeling relieved. The Sallie house had had this oppressive atmosphere that had made it genuinely difficult to breathe. But this? Just feels like a house.
He walks to the basement door. “But still, we're not in the clear just yet.”
He pauses dramatically. “Into the lair of the demon.”
Ryan opens the basement door and steps down the stairs.
Ryan steps into the house, camera in hand. “So, here we are.”
He makes sure Shane is following him and then slowly turns around to get a good view of the house. It looks just like a normal house, even if one that has been empty for a while. Not for long though. This is no ancient house as the flatscreen TV in the living room proves.
“The demon ep of the season!” Shane grins.
Ryan looks at him. He hopes Shane wouldn't get like this in demon locations. “Don't- Okay it's a demon episode. You don't have to look so happy about it.”
“Ah, it's fun!” He gives Ryan a look. “You're getting more cocky lately. But demons always shake you up just enough.”
“Fuck you.”
Shane rolls his eyes. “Don't worry you'll be fine.”
Ryan gestures at the room. “So, anyway, as you can see, this is very much someone's home. So don't, you know. Just be on your best behavior.”
“But maybe, if I can get the demon to latch onto me, I can let it hitch a ride with me, and away from here. Problem solved.”
A look comes to Shane. “Maybe I could sell my services. You know. People who do believe could pay me to invite their ghosts to me!”
He looks into Ryan's camera. “You hear that, Boogaras? Pay me and I'll take care of your little demon problems.”
“Wait, why- why the Boogaras?”
“Well the Shaniacs aren't gonna fall for this. Boogaras though-” He launches into some kind of a 40's salesman impression: “Doors opening middle of the night? Must be ghouls! Paypal me ten bucks and I'll send the ghosts a sternly-worded letter that will make them pissed off enough to come haunt me instead.” He turns to Ryan. “See? The Shaniacs would never fall for that.”
“You're unbelievable.”
“I try.”
It hasn't been empty for long, and it just looks like a regular home. Maybe that's exactly why it feels so eerie. The owner is apparently trying to sell tours, so it might just be one of those schemes. But Ryan is willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.
It reminds Ryan way too much about the Sallie house, and he lifts his hand to his chest. For a second it feels like it's harder to breathe.
“Please don't tell me you're already panicking at this!” Shane says.
“Haha. No.”
It was only for a moment but he felt something. But it is gone as soon as it had been there.
“This reminds me of the Sallie house.”
“The Sallie house?”
Ryan nods. “Well, you can't blame me. It's similar.” His voice only shakes a bit as he speaks: “I guess so. Just one of these demon houses. Seen one, seen all of them, I suppose.”
They walk around the house, talking about the events that had taken place there. People injuring themselves, seeing figures in the night, spooky ghost children. The house is fairly new, from the 1970's, but apparently it was built on much older foundations. The basement most notably is supposedly haunted by a demon or some kind of a spirit. The owner of the house hadn't directly called it an ancient indian burial ground but the implication had been there. A story that makes even Ryan roll his eyes but he believes they'll get enough material so he doesn't have to use it to pad the episode. There should be something in the basement and that's where Ryan is planning to end their investigation. He is already dreading it.
“Did you hear that?” Ryan asks.
“I heard a sound of like. Something hitting wood.”
“I think it came from the kitchen.”
They enter the small kitchen. Nothing.
“See? Nothing. It was just the radiator or something.”
“Maybe.”
Ryan eyes the water bottle on the counter.
He looks around. It's almost like deja vu to his experiences in the Sallie house. Ryan is experienced enough at this by now that he knows some of the footage Shane got of him wide-eyed would work well. But they need more.
He pulls out the spirit box as they return to the living room.
“It's said the previous owner of the house saw a little boy here. There's no record of children dying in the house so you know what that means.”
“Must be a demon!”
“Take this seriously.”
The static fills the tiny room and Shane covers his ears. “I'm sorry, Timmy, or whoever you are, this is nothing personal, this is just how he is with everyone. He just barges into your house, starts out this racket... Please take no offense.”
Ryan raises his voice to get through the noise. “Please ignore my friend. If there are any spirits here, you can use this to talk to us.”
-tsss-tsss-not-tss-no- a-
“I heard a 'knot' maybe...'”
-tsss-BA- tsss-sement-and- if-tss-tsss-
“My name is Ryan, this is Shane, can you say our names back to us?”
They get a few noises Ryan tries to argue sound like 'Ryan', but even he's not too convinced.
Eventually Shane rubs his forehead. “Can we stop now?”
Ryan turns the spirit box off. “Yeah we got something at least. See ya, Timmy.”
“See you in the basement,” Shane says.
“Don't invite it there!”
“That's probably gonna be where he hangs out!”
Ryan steps closer to Shane. “Did you hear that? I think I heard something again.”
“It will be fine,” Shane says. “Maybe we should get a bit more footage before the basement though? I think we could check the kitchen again.”
Ryan nods. He is feeling a bit braver now. This is no Sallie house. He even opens and closes the fridge door. No demons here.
But even as he thinks that it feels like something is stuck in his throat.
But only for a moment.
“Into the lair of the demon.”
Ryan opens the basement door and steps down the stairs.
Ryan steps into the house, camera in hand. “So, here we are.”
For a second he panics and twirls around to make sure Shane is following him. The sight of his tall co-host calms him down immediately and Ryan feels embarrassed for being so jumpy right off the bat. Not that you could blame him. It looks just like a normal house, even if one that has been empty for a while. But there's this weird atmosphere here that reminds him of the Sallie house.
“You're getting spooked already?” Shane grins. He sets a hand on Ryan's shoulder. “Must be the demon episode of the season!”
Ryan looks at him. “You know it's a demon episode. And you don't have to look so happy about it.”
“Ah, it's fun!” He gives Ryan a look. “Just one more case for the ghoul boys. We're getting good at this! Real pros.”
“I don't think I want to get used to demon investigations.”
Shane rolls his eyes. “Don't worry you'll be fine. We'll be fine. And if you get too brave and realize ghosts aren't real well, we just gotta change jobs.”
A look comes to Shane. “Maybe we could sell our services. You know. People who do believe could pay us to invite their ghosts to us!”
He looks into Ryan's camera. “You hear that, Internet? Pay us and I'll take care of your little demon problems.”
“Don't pull me into your shit, Shane! You don't believe in this shit so it's no big deal to you to invite whatever to you. Me though? No.”
Shane grins as he launches into some kind of a 40's salesman impression: “Doors opening middle of the night? Must be ghouls! Paypal the ghoul bros ten bucks and we'll send the ghosts a sternly-worded letter that will make them pissed off enough to come haunt us instead.”
“You're unbelievable.”
“I try.”
Dust is thick in the air, and Ryan keeps jumping at the shadows on the walls thrown there by the objects.
“Man, I wouldn't like to live here.”
“It's not that bad, Ryan...”
Ryan keeps Shane in his view, paranoid he will disappear into the shadows if he turns his back on him. They have a solitary investigation planned for the basement but Ryan is starting to think he can't do it.
He let's out a strangled sob.
“Please don't tell me you're already panicking at this.” Shane says but there's no edge to his tone. He steps closer and Ryan is thankful.
“You okay, Ryan?” His tone is soft.
Ryan stands straight. He isn't going to let Shane see how shaken he is.
“You telling me you're not feeling anything weird?”
“I guess it does feel familiar in a way...” Shane says. “It does remind me of the Sallie house.”
Ryan nods. “That must be it.”
Shane looks around. “I guess so. Just one of these demon houses. Seen one, seen all of them, I suppose.” He gives Ryan a smile.
“This time I won't run off middle of it,” Ryan says.
There is something odd in Shane's expression as he speaks. “Well, you can't. Not this time.”
Ryan eyes the basement door.
No. He can't.
“Into the lair of the demon,” he says. Knowing that if Shane wasn't there he'd just turn tail, say 'fuck this' and walk out of the house.
Ryan opens the basement door and steps down the stairs.
Ryan steps into the house, camera in hand. “So, here we are.”
A panic fills his mind as pain strikes his chest at the sight of the house. Ryan screams.
“Dude, are you okay?”
Shane is embracing him and for a moment Ryan feels better.
“Ryan, what are you-”
Ryan struggles free from him and looks around the decrepit house. He can't breathe.
“Are you already panicking?” Shane asks.
“Shut the fuck up Shane shut the fuck up-”
Shane reaches a hand to him. “It's okay, Ryan...”
Ryan slaps away his offered hand. “Shut the fuck up you invited something in with your talk about the- the stupid bit with the- about you having a service where you ask our fans to send the- the demons haunting them-”
Slowly, as if dealing with a scared animal, Shane takes a step back. “I didn't say anything like that...”
Ryan runs his fingers through his hair. It's true. It's like a vague memory of a dream...
“Sorry, I was thinking of... Something else.”
“It's okay.”
Shane takes his hand and Ryan let's him this time.
“Come on, Ryan, let's get this investigation over as quickly as possible.”
He guides dazed Ryan to the basement door.
Ryan looks up at Shane.
Shane gives him an encouraging smile and gently pushes him forward.
Ryan opens the basement door and steps down the stairs.
Ryan steps into the house, camera in hand. “So, here we are.”
He feels a hand on his shoulder and turns to look at his co-host. “Shane?”
Shane gives him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I just know how you get like in these demon locations.”
“I'm fine dude.”
And he is! He isn't all that worried in this case. This looks just like a normal house.
Ryan turns around to get a good view of the modern, clean house. There's even a flatscreen TV in the living room. If you turned on the lights it'd look even comfy.
“I could almost live in here!” Shane says. “If she's selling I'm buying. Must be cheap, right?”
Ryan almost agrees. He feels safe in this house, as much as he does in any dark homes belonging to someone else. But he gotta play his part. So out loud, he says: “But I'm sure once we get to the demon-infested basement I'll change my mind.”
Shane smiles him and it's such an out-of-place fond smile Ryan's heart skips a beat.
“You have always been the braver of the two of us.”
“Y-yes well. You don't believe in any of this, so-”
Shane fiddles with his camera. “I'm not so sure you believe anymore either. You're getting more cocky lately. But demons always shake you up just enough.”
“For a reason.” Ryan gestures at the room. “So, anyway, as you can see, this is very much someone's home. So don't do anything weird, even if you're shopping for a home.”
“Not even our first time buying a house together!”
“Yeah well, let's hope our real selves fare better than the sims ones.”
“Anyway!” Shane announced. “Ghosts! Hello, me and my ghoulfriend Ryan Bergara are planning to move into the neighborhood. If we'll have any roommates they better come out and play now. Or they won't get to give their input on the renovations. I already have in mind this lovely pastel wallpaper...”
Ryan smiles. “You're unbelievable.”
Shane returns the grin. “I try.”
They move throughout the house. It reminds Ryan a bit too much about the Sallie house, even if it's not really unsettling. He has to admit, if he didn't know this place was supposedly demon-infested he would be totally at ease.
His gaze finds Shane, who gives him a wink.
It helps.
They fall back to the comfortable routine of going through the history of the house.
“This probably won't be that interesting of an ep,” Ryan says.
“It's fine,” Shane says.
“Maybe we'll get something through the spirit box?”
The static fills the tiny room and for a second Ryan regrets turning it on. The spell of the moment is broken.
Shane speaks: “I'm sorry, Timmy, or whoever you are, this is nothing personal, this is just how he is with everyone. He just barges into your house, starts out this racket... Please take no offense.”
Ryan raises his voice to get through the noise. “If there are any spirits here, you can use this to talk to us. They might not even know they're dead... Can you say our names back to us?”
They wait. Nothing. Ryan doesn't even mind. Shane is warm, sitting next to him.
“Not too chatty tonight.”
Just as Ryan says it the box makes a sound.
-tsss-tsss-gara and Shane Madej who we-tss-in- a-
Ryan freezes. It was so clear it sounded like radio. “You heard that?”
Shane reaches out to turn the box off. “Nonsense.”
Shane rubs his forehead. “Sorry, it was giving me a headache.”
Ryan notices Shane's hand is on his thigh. He realizes he doesn't care.
Shane smiles to him again and Ryan really doesn't care.
“Having your little jolt of happiness early tonight? Realizing this house is demon-free?”
“Yeah. Well, we still have the basement.”
“Yeah we do.”
Ryan decides he really needs to talk with Shane. After the investigation.
He gets up. “Let's get this over with.”
He walks to the basement door, Shane in tow, looking oddly reluctant.
Ryan turns towards him. “Don't tell me you're getting cold feet? Shane Madej?”
Shane just smiles.
“Into the lair of the demon.”
Ryan opens the basement door and steps down the stairs.
Ryan steps into the house, camera in hand. “So, here we are.”
He turns around to get Shane get him into shot. Ryan follows Shane as he walks throughout the house, recording his every move. At some point he knows Shane has become aware of it.
“The demon ep of the season!” Shane grins as he moves dramatically into the light coming from the one lamp on the table. It's a great shot.
“Don't- Okay it's a demon episode. You don't have to look so happy about it.”
“Ah, it's fun! Hey, I got an idea! What if, maybe, if I can get the demon to latch onto me, I can let it hitch a ride with me, and away from here. Problem solved. For the home owner anyway. Maybe I could sell my services. You know. People who do believe could pay me to invite their ghosts to me!”
He looks into Ryan's camera and steps to him. “What do you think of that?”
“What an amazing business plan.” Ryan takes a deep breath as Shane steps even closer and raises his hand to his cheek.
“Um, Shane. What the fuck?”
“I have been thinking of this for a long time. I was happy to just never say anything.”
“W-where does this come from?”
“I was happy to just exist near you.”
Shane moves his thumb to stroke his cheek.
“Dude, in a haunted house, really?”
“No time or place like the present.”
He is right. Ryan closes the distance between them and pulls their lips together.
It feels familiar and it really should not.
It's his first time kissing Shane. Hell, first time kissing a man, or even anyone taller than him. But the way his mouth finds his, the way Ryan has to crane his neck to reach, the short stubble under his fingers as he raises his hands to cup his face, it all feels familiar.
It all feels right.
“We shouldn't be doing this, n-not now. Later, when the investigation-”
Shane pulls back. “Of course.”
“We have all the time in the world,” Ryan says.
He walks to the basement door.
“Into the lair of the demon.”
Ryan opens the basement door and steps down the stairs.
Ryan steps into the house, camera in hand. “So, here we are.”
He stops to let Shane get him into shot as he slowly turns around to get a good view of the house.
Ryan looks at him. And frowns.
Shane is just standing there, middle of the room. Like he has forgotten where they are.
“So, this house-” Ryan starts.
“We don't have to do this,” Shane interrupts him. He sets his camera down. “Ryan...”
Ryan freezes.
Shane runs his fingers through his hair and something shifts in the air and two horns are poking out from his hair. “I am not human.”
Ryan raises the camera, almost automatically.
Shane, or the thing that looks like him, gives a tired smile. “Yeah, get it on tape. Put it on Youtube.”
“T-this is a bit, right?”
Ryan watches a spiked tail emerge from behind Shane. Oddly enough focusing on that, and the horns and the leathery wings folding behind him makes it better. Not looking at the parts that still look like his friend.
“Ryan, it's still me. Please, I just want to-”
Ryan looks at his face and screams.
Everything about him is wrong. A thousand tiny things about his features that just can't be in some way that strikes fear into Ryan's being.
Above all the eyes.
This is a demon.
In the Sallie house he only felt it.
Coming face to face with one breaks Ryan.
“It's okay, Ryan, you remember me, right? I might not be human but we-”
Ryan turns and bolts. Every single inch of him is screaming, some primal instinct telling him to get away get away, flee-
“RYAN!”
Ryan gets as far as the door before the thing he had once thought of as his friend catches him.
Someone is screaming. Sounding like he is being killed.
“Ryan, please, don't... Try to focus-”
Of course, Ryan thinks. It's me. I am the one screaming.
The monster is cold and its touch feels like death.
“Ryan, please-”
Ryan can barely tell he is being dragged across the house. The demon's touch has seemingly deprived him of all feeling in his body.
Unnatural.
That's the only word he can think of that describes the creature holding him hostage.
“Ryan I'm so sorry.”
Liar.
Ryan wants to yell at the thing to let him go, to make it tell him what it did to real Shane, to somehow force it to go away, but words no longer come to him and he wails like a pig taken to slaughter.
The basement door is opened and Ryan is pushed down the stairs.
Ryan steps into the house, camera in hand. “So, here we are.”
He stops, turning his camera on and off for a few times.
“You okay?”
Ryan turns to Shane and shrugs. “I feel sort of out of it. Like- like I'm out of practice.”
“It has been a while,” Shane says, and his tone is so odd Ryan gives him a look.
“I'm just tired. It's late. Let's get this show on the road!”
Shane launches into some stupid bit about telling Boogaras to send their demons to him.
It's all very normal.
“It's time.”
Ryan raises an eyebrow. “You sound so serious. This a new thing this season?”
Shane let's out a laugh. “This is supposed to be a demon investigation, baby.”
He looks like he thinks of setting his hand on Ryan's shoulder but in the end does not.
“You're doing fine, Ryan.”
“You sound so serious today.”
There is something off with his friend.
Ryan looks around. The house looks like it as been abandoned for a while. “You really don't feel anything weird here?”
“No.”
Ryan waits but that's all he's getting out of Shane. Maybe he just ate some bad hotdogs again.
“You must be some kind of a robot. Any human being would feel fear in a place like this,” Ryan says, trying to egg him on.
“Okay then,” Shane says, in that kinda defeated way that makes Ryan feel like he pushed too far.
“You're being weird today, for sure,” Ryan says.
Shane shrugs. “Just tired.”
Ryan nods. He can feel it too. And yet he doesn't want the investigation to be over.
He keeps prolonging it. He pulls out the spirit box in several rooms. Shane doesn't even protest.
Ryan rubs his eyes.
“Are you tired?”
“What do you think?” Ryan almost snaps at his friend.
Shane nods wordlessly, and Ryan feels terrible.
“I think we're both tired, that's all,” Ryan says. He reaches to awkwardly pat Shane's shoulder. “They can't all be winners.”
Shane just nods again.
Ryan opens the basement door and steps down the stairs.
Ryan steps into the house, camera in hand. “So, here we are.”
“An another demon house!” Shane says, following him inside.
Ryan frowns. What time is it? He feels like he has been here for longer than it seems already. He pulls out his phone. The screen is weird. Static, he can't focus on it.
“It would be better if you ignored this,” Shane says.
Ryan nods. He looks up and sees nothing but darkness outside the window.
He feels numb. The unnatural blackness. It's not just darkness, but an absolute absence of light in a way that feels soul crushing and inherently hostile. It reminds him of something-
A vague memory of two holes into nothingness where he expected to see eyes...
“It will be okay, Ryan. I promise. You trust me, right?”
Ryan opens the basement door and steps down the stairs.
Ryan steps into the house, camera in hand. “So, here we are.”
Ryan twirls around. He stares at Shane. “What the fuck?”
Ryan looks around. “You were-”
Memories rush to his mind.
“You remember? The different timeloops?” Shane asks. “Our little groundhog day situati-”
“What the fuck what the fuck Shane you were- Oh my God what did you do to Shane what am I-”
“You remember sometimes. At least this time you're not running away screaming.”
Ryan looks at his face. He looks human. “It feels like a dream.”
Shane nods. “That's probably why you can... Sometimes you remember fully. It's rare but you- I'm glad it's rare.”
“How many times? How many fucking times have I gone through this fucking-” Ryan raises a hand to his chest. The ghost of a pain fills him as he remembers.
Opening the basement door.
The stairs giving out under him.
Falling.
Pain.
Being pulled towards the light.
Until-
“I'm dead.”
Shane nods. “You are taking it well this time. To be fair you usually do. If you figure it out yourself. If I tell you you never believe me.”
“You never answered. How long?”
Shane sighs. “This is the 13 566th timeloop. It has been... I think over seventy years-”
“SEVENTY YE- Oh my god my family is dead, everyone is dead I-”
Ryan looks around, seeing the house for what it is, barely more than a ruin.
“You're sometimes- sometimes it takes you a while to come back. You've been more active again.”
Shane takes a step towards him. “But I'm not dead, Ryan. I would never leave you. I've been so lonely when you are sleeping-”
“Don't touch me!”
Shane stops.
“What the fuck did you do? Did you-” A realization dawns on Ryan. “You kept me here.”
Ryan feels nauseous. Ghosts don't necessarily know they're dead, he has said it many times-
“I had to, Ryan! Do you think I could let a- a stupid accident take you away from me? I would have lost you otherwise! You think I could have followed you where-” Shane stops.
Ryan takes a step backwards. He wants to run. He eyes the front door.
“If you leave the house you'll be destroyed. Ryan, surely you can see I was just trying to help-”
“Fuck you! You think this is- Oh my god you think you love me!”
“I do love you! Ryan I love you!”
His voice is so desperate and Ryan has ached to hear those words for so long but now they just make him nauseous.
“Would I have stayed here if I didn't?” Shane pleads.
“Fuck you, you don't know what love is! You have been- you have been keeping me like a fucking pet!” Ryan spats out.
“I couldn't let you go.”
Ryan can already feel the memories slipping away. He is being drawn towards the basement. To die once more. To forget everything. To walk back into this cursed house with a monster by his side.
The monster who is Shane.
The monster who can at least pretend to be the man he had had a crush for years.
“How many times have you come at me with the horns?”
“Not many.”
Ryan nods. “Because I react badly every single time. And I stay away from you afterwards, right?”
Shane's shoulders slump and Ryan almost feels bad. He looks hurt. He looks human. For a fraction of a second Ryan believes he really loves him.
He holds onto the mental image of his true demonic form.
“Because I can't and won't love a demon.”
Shane says nothing.
“Can you let me- let me go?” Ryan almost calls him 'Shane' but stops himself. He has to keep in mind what he is dealing with here.
Shane shakes his head. “No. I'm not keeping you here. Once a soul stays behind... If you leave the house you will be destroyed.”
“So this is my afterlife, then.”
Ryan rubs his temples. Closes his eyes to avoid looking at him. He can't trust Shane- the demon to tell him the truth. But what choice he has?
So he doesn't push the issue.
“Ryan, it's still me, it was me who sat next to you at work for years, who you-”
“Don't.” Ryan shakes his head. “Just don't.”
Ryan grits his teeth. “I'll tell you how this is going to be. You make me happy, right? You got that? When I step into this house, you tell me you love me, you make me happy, right? You pretend to be the man I can love.”
Shane looks like he is about to say something but only nods wordlessly.
Ryan only feels cold anger towards him.
He hates that feeling more than anything.
Ryan opens the basement door and escapes down the stairs.
Ryan steps into the house, camera in hand. “So, here we are.”
He almost jumps as Shane sets his hand on his shoulder.
Ryan turns around to face his friend and is faced with his grinning face.
“Ryan... There's something I have been wanting to tell you for ages.”
An odd but not all that uncomfortable weight spreads in Ryan's stomach. “R-right now?”
“Where else? Let's face it, if I ever got my shit together and just- just asked you- let's face it it would be in one of these run-down places you keep dragging me to.”
“Shane- You- You gonna do this right in front of?”
Wait, where is T.J?
Their cameraman is quickly forgotten as Shane takes Ryan into an embrace.
“Well I was planning to confess to you via the hotdaga but-”
Ryan laughs. “Fuck you.”
“You know just what to say to a guy to make him fall for you. Even harder I mean.”
Shane tilts Ryan's face upwards. “I am asking if you want to be my husband.”
Ryan lets out a wheezing laugh. “Wait, what? Aren't we skipping a step or two here now I-”
“Well, boyfriend, then? I just figure I should lay my intentions all bare here. I love you, Ryan. I want you to know that.”
He looks Ryan in the eye and Ryan decides to believe him.
“And I want to tell you I love you. In a thousand different ways. Me wanting to make you my husband, that's just one way.”
“Shouldn't we, um maybe at least kiss first?”
“Ah yes, take me for a spin first. Wouldn't want to commit if I'm bad at it or-”
Ryan pulls Shane down to a kiss.
And it feels right.
Shane pulls out of the kiss and smiles to him. There's something in the smile Ryan can't quite decipher. But he feels he can ignore it.
“Ryan Steven Bergara, I, Shane Alexander Madej, love you, and I will keep telling you I love you in a million different ways.” He lays an another kiss on Ryan's forehead. “Ready for the next one?”
He leads Ryan to the basement door, opens it, and they step through together.