Chapter 4
Chapter Four
By the time dinner hour was here, things at home were oddly settled. Mostly. Sort of…
Reg was still hiding somewhere in a snit.
Grandpa was being gracious as always to Roxie, Tray, and Phil as we sat down to eat pizza and discuss the plans for tomorrow night.
Monique had rushed home a few hours ago, leaving a note to let us know she would be over tomorrow before we left for the sanitarium.
There were a lot of details to work out, mostly related to the cold and the delicate equipment, but Phil was confident that things would be okay.
We’d only be there streaming for four hours.
He’d found extra batteries in the film department’s equipment closet.
Roxie and Tray had somehow managed to bring in boxes and boxes of decorations for the glow party.
UV lights, tees, socks, body paint, glowsticks, neon balloons, streamers, and even a bottle of champagne that glowed an eerie green under the UV lights.
It was all really gaudy. When I pointed out that we were there to do a serious stream about the horrors that people who had been confined in the asylums had been exposed to, Roxie sighed as she did and gave me that look.
The look that said I was a nerdy newbie with zero experience in things that people our age liked made me feel older than Grandpa.
She wasn’t totally wrong, though. I wasn’t up on the cool party themes like she was, nor was I really worried about being a dork. I’d been called worse.
“Arch, we get it.” She looked at Tray, who was chowing down his fourth slice of hot pepper and mushroom with extra cheese.
He nodded with cheeks filled like a chipmunk.
Grandpa sat beside Phil sipping his tea, his umber eyes locked on me.
“We’re not trying to lessen the spooky factor at all, but it is New Year’s and your subscribers are wild for new content.
Look here.” She pulled her tablet from her backpack hanging on the back of her chair and fired it up.
Phil was chewing thoughtfully, his usually bright blue eyes weary.
Practice had been rough, he’d said, and we’d not been sleeping well, so both of us were drowsy.
“As soon as I got you locked down for the stream, I whipped up a few graphics and posted them on social media as well as our website. People are so amped. Read the comments under the post from today.”
She spun the tablet to face me. Nibbling on some crust, I scanned the replies to a post that went up this morning.
Over two hundred comments. Two hundred! And five thousand views.
Holy shit. That was amazing. Guess people did like to see other people being scared shitless, nearly drowned, and possessed by a restless spirit.
OMG I AM LIT!—LittlePippy78
GYAT!! MY GHOST BOYS ARE BACK!—JennieLlama
YEET!! WILL THEY KISS?!—WombatBabe06
brING ON THAT BL BABY!!—ChatSnatch69
PHARCH NOW AND FOREVER!!—PinkRingKaze
I glanced up from the comments. “Pharch?”
Roxie smiled widely. “Yep, you have a ship name. People are loving you two. So just do what you do, you know, be nerdy cute boyfriends, cuddle up at the end of the stream, pop the cork, kiss, and we’ll fade away.
The fans will all be anime nose bleeding all over themselves, and we’ll have some great content. I’ll take that last slice.”
Grandpa slid his spatula under the final piece and placed it delicately on Roxie’s paper plate.
I went back to reading the comments. Not going to lie.
They made me feel pretty good. So many people thought I was cute and smart.
I wasn’t sure if I was either of those, but it was nice to hear.
Phil leaned over to place his chin on my shoulder.
“There, that kind of shit right there is what the subs want. Cute gay boy romance!” Roxie shouted around her bite of pizza.
“I’m bi,” Phil slid in as I blushed. My man yawned in my ear. I glanced at my grandfather sitting quietly and taking it all in. “What’s great about this one is that it’s a safe site.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Not sure that’s wholly true.
” She didn’t really grasp how overwhelming unhappy spirits could be to a seer.
And given that many who died there had probably been misused, they’d be even more driven to be heard.
I could feel a twinge of a headache starting right behind my left eye just thinking about the influx of negative parapsychological energy into my occipital lobe.
Roxie swallowed. Tray sat back, his unease about the ghostly side of our production always evident on his handsome face now that we were deep in the nitty and gritty.
“We know what to do and not to do. Do not allow anyone to take you over for one thing,” she stated with a wag of her slice at me.
“Actually, that’s the biggest thing. If you run into a spirit, then talk to it.
The live feed comments from the last stream were insane.
People were so into that. Oh, and make sure to mention the sponsors.
We’re still in negotiations with Tray’s uncle. ”
“Yeah, he’s sort of a dick about gay stuff,” Tray mumbled.
“Then we don’t want his support. Either he’s cool with queer content or he’s not. Sorry, not sorry. I know he’s your family and all, Tray, but I’m not having bigots fund this stream,” I firmly said and got a nod from Tray. “We’ll find some other funds somewhere.”
Everyone seemed onboard with that, so we finished our pizza and had some fresh sesame balls Grandpa had made earlier.
I took that to mean he wasn’t as mad at me as he had been as he knew sesame balls were one of my favorite desserts.
At least I hoped he wasn’t. He’d been my rock since my parents had died.
Him being shamed by my behavior hurt badly.
When the planning party broke up, Grandpa went to his room, and Phil and I went to my room.
We lounged around on my bed for an hour or so, talking about football and classes, normal stuff.
Anything other than what was coming in less than twenty-four hours.
Curled up with Phil under the covers, his strong heart thumping under my cheek, I could almost forget the rest of the world.
This was my favorite place to be. His arms were harbors from the crazy storms that were Archimedes Kee’s life, and I never wanted to leave the dock.
But that was unrealistic. A person couldn’t spend his or her life in bed.
School and work and life demands pulled us out from under the blanket every morning. Also, hungry boyfriends did that.
“Are there any of those sesame balls left?” Phil asked midway through a streaming viewing of a group of voice actors playing a fantasy tabletop game.
“Probably,” I replied with a knowing smile.
“It would be so cool if my amazing boyfriend got me some sesame balls so that I don’t have to haul my super tired body from the bed to get them myself.”
He turned big blue puppy eyes to me, and I was a goner. Even if he was playing the hard-worked jock a bit too hard.
“Pause that.” I jerked my chin at his phone lying propped against a pillow resting against his bent legs. “Do you want some cold milk with that, you poor, exhausted athlete?”
“Mm, milk is good for strong bones.” He stole a kiss as I sat up.
“You do have some strong boners,” I tossed out as I slid to the floor, found my slippers, and made my way to the door. Phil snickered as I eased out of my room. Closing the door with a smile, I turned to find Grandpa in the kitchen making tea. “Oh, hey.”
“Are you looking for tea?” he asked, cane in hand, staring at me as if I were something he’d not seen before.
“No, some milk and sesame balls. Phil’s hungry.” I walked over to where he stood.
“That boy is a walking appetite. There are some balls in the fridge in that pink container with the flower lid.” He watched me dig around in the refrigerator, emerging a moment later with a jug of milk in one hand and one of Monique’s storage containers in the other.
“I would like to speak with you, Archimedes, if you would hear me out?”
“Yeah, of course.” I placed the milk and sweet treats on the counter as the water in the kettle began to slowly bubble. Before it could whistle, I turned it off and poured hot water over the bag already resting in Grandpa’s favorite mug. “It’ll steep now.”
He nodded and then took a deep breath, age-spotted hands gripping his cane tightly. “Thank you. You are a good grandson, Archimedes. Perhaps the best grandson a dumb old man could have.”
“Grandpa, come on, you’re not dumb.”
His silver brows drew into a knot. “Yes, I am, I am dumb. Only a dumb man would berate his beloved grandchild in such a way as I did. I apologize for what I said. You bring great honor to our name. Great honor. The problem lies with me. I have meditated on things since we had our disagreement. The world is very different now from when I was a young man. When I was your age, men worked in traditional ways. They went to factories or offices. Women stayed home. Children were seen and not heard. Things were very strict. Three obediences adhered to, but that is not how things are back in China or even more so here in America. I know that you are helping in your own way. And while that may be different from the traditional methods of ghost hunting our family has taken part in for centuries, it is no less important. Your heart is pure and good, and you have done what you could to reunite a mother and child torn apart years ago. That is honorable.”
“Thank you, Yeye.” My throat was thick with emotion.
His gaze met mine. “I am not happy with you going to a place with such a dark history, but I understand that is how you are making money while acting on your calling.”
“I’m trying,” I confessed, my sight a bit blurry.