miqui

you’re standing beside your friends and co-hosts matsukawa issei and hanamaki takahiro in front of the conjuring house, an old residence that, supposedly, serves as a portal to the afterlife and it’s haunted by demonic entities. the fall breeze caresses your cheeks and makes the trees around you dance, and in the middle of that dance, matsukawa speaks.

“to celebrate 100k subscribers on our youtube channel, we decided to go on a little adventure”

“today we’re ghost hunting at the conjuring house” “dramatic music intensifies” “i don’t think you’re supposed to say it”

“oh.” you mumble “anyways, before we start, we want to say thank you! when we started the youtube channel to post the videos of our podcast episodes, we didn’t expect so many people to want to see us”

“we also didn’t expect so many thirsty comments about mattsun” hanamaki adds and mattsukawa flashes a smug grin to the camera, earning an ew from you both.

“we can talk about my handsomeness some other time, maybe not in a haunted location”

“right, we’re outside.” hanamaki says, looking around. “as some of you might know, when we do a special episode we like to call our special friends to come along. so please everyone clap for iwaizumi hajime and oikawa toru”

there’s no one else around so you three start to clap and whistle, some comments like “toru you’re soooo hot” and “omg hajime i need you to manhandle me” coming from really exaggerated highpitch voices can be heard. iwaizumi walks towards you with a quiet confidence and his characteristic irked expression adorning his features, he fists bumps you all before standing next to matsukawa. oikawa, on the other hand, waves to an imaginary audience, blowing kisses and winking, a flirty smile on his face.

“why are you so embarrassing?” iwaizumi asks, looking disgusted.

“hi guys! thanks for having us once again!” oikawa ignores him, hugging your shoulders and hanamaki’s, making space for himself in the middle of both of you.

“it’s our pleasure” hanamaki replies, blowing him a kiss “i think this is going to be our best special episode yet. [name] would you mind explaining what this place is?”

“of course” you smile at the camera “in the shortest way possible, because this is not ghost adventures, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“behind us stands the conjuring house. you've probably heard of the movie ‘the conjuring’, well, that story is based on what happened at this farmhouse with the perron family. the perron family, two parents and their five daughters, moved in 1971 and immediately noticed weird things happening. things went missing or seemed to move on their own, there were scratching noises in empty rooms, the girls said they saw ghosts, there were bad smells and cold spots. when the mother investigated the past of the house, she found out there were multiple deaths in here, including that of an alleged witch called bathsheba, one of the ghosts of this house, alongside little kids and a misogynistic man. the warrens investigated this place multiple times, conducting a seance once, where it is said that the mom of the family got possessed, she started speaking in tongues in a voice that was not her own and even levitated with her chair.”

“and today, we’re conducting a seance.” hanamaki said, starting to walk towards the camera that was set up on top of iwaizumi’s car, leaving a really confused and scared oikawa behind.

“i said i’m not holding a camera” iwaizumi repeats, looking at you with challenging eyes. you squint at him “i don’t care what you have to say, you are taking one camera”

“why can’t oikawa hold one?” “because he's going to pee himself at the first noise we hear and he's not going to film anything. useless”

“hey! i heard that!” oikawa looks at you offended from the other side of the room, you roll your eyes and shove one of your cameras in iwaizumi’s hands.

“children calm down” matsukawa finishes setting up his own camera and starts recording “let’s go talk to some demons, shall we?”

hanamaki snickers “he thought that was tough.”

you’re currently in a room in an adjacent cabin to the house, where you had met the owners to check everything was in order, before they gave you the green light to go to the main attraction, the farmhouse. hanamaki leads the way to the main hall of the house, where you’re faced with different doors leading to the living room, the basement and other parts of the house. it’s really cold inside but it is fall afterall. there’s a scratching sound in the distance, you wonder if there’s a tree too close to the house that keeps brushing it because of the wind, that seems to have picked up since you went inside. 

“they could have chosen warmer colors for the house.” oikawa is casting his eyes warily around the room, as if something could jump at him at any moment. 

“what’s wrong with blood red doors?” you move around the room, glancing at the other rooms and filming everything. everything is dark, lights off and quiet, so quiet.

“heyy guys, welcome to my house tour!” hanamaki ruins the silence by speaking to matsukawa’s camera. “so this is the room where the warrens conducted the seance and the woman got possessed. good old times.”

“wait, here?” iwaizumi asks, sitting on the couch. you sit beside him, grabbing your bag to pull out some devices to use.

“we don’t have that many ghost hunting devices because they were expensive as fuck” you state, looking at iwaizumi’s camera. “our budget is not unlimited plus we already had to pay to be here, and it was not cheap either”

“capitalism ruins everything.” hanamaki grunts, looking disappointed.

bump. “fuck.”

you all turn to the doorway that leads to a small library, the light is off so you can’t clearly see who’s in there. a shadow moves inside and a huge figure steps out of the room.

“sorry,” matsukawa rubs his left knee “there was a chair in the middle of the room and i didn’t see it”

oikawa dramatically clutches his chest, leaning on the back of the couch “goddamn it, mattsu. i thought that was annabelle”

“annabelle is not here”

“wait, she’s not? who’s in here then?”

“the witch”

thud.

you look down at the voice recorder that you had left on the couch besides you but now is laying on the floor in front of you. “my bad.”

“STOP MAKING NOISES LIKE THAT, IT’S STRESSING ME OUT”

knock. knock.

“THAT’S ENOUGH, WHO WAS THAT?” oikawa looks at everyone in the room, no one is moving.

“that wasn’t me” “me neither” “nu-uh” “nope”

“...are you guys being for real?” everyone just stares at oikawa, while his eyes dart across the room, you can see how his breathing quickens, when his chest starts to move faster. he might faint.

“i’m kidding, that was me.” you finally admit, smiling up at him. 

he gasps, launching forward to shove your shoulder while you laugh. “[name]! that was so mean!” “but i only knocked once tho”

oikawa huffs. “i’m not believing that, you liar” “no, im serious i don’t know who knoc–”

“my friends are so mean!” he whines, throwing himself on the couch, squished between the back of it and your back and iwaizumi’s, the latter scoffs. “we should have gone to the beach to film the special, i’m not having fun!”

“why? so you can be shirtless and people online can thirst over you?” iwaizumi scoffs again and pushes oikawa’s leg away from his back, only for the leg to come back to hit him. “whore.”

“i know how you can have fun, toru~” hanamaki beams, while walking closer to push him off the couch.

“there’s a perfect spot for fun things to happen” matsukawa adds, now both of them are dragging oikawa by his arms. iwaizumi and you just watch them do it from the couch, iwaizumi with his legs stretched and arms behind his head, camera filming but forgotten on his lap.

hanamaki, matsukawa and oikawa end up standing in front of one of the red doors, you giggle when you realize which door it is. 

“oh!” you stand up, patting iwaizumi on his thigh to signal him to get up and you both walk towards the other three guys. “we’re already going there?”

“going where?” oikawa asks, taking a step back instinctively. matsukawa goes ahead and opens the door. you’re all greeted by wooden steps and darkness.

“the basement!” “oh fuck no” oikawa turns around and starts walking away but mattsun and makki grab him by his shoulders at the same time, turning him back around. hanamaki leads the way down the stairs after asking mattsun for his camera, so he can use the flashlight. oikawa follows, being pushed by matsukawa, then you and finally iwaizumi.

you slowly make your way down, the only lights coming from hanamaki’s camera at the front and iwaizumi’s camera behind you but your body covers almost all of it. so you're praying not to fall and take everyone down with you, even tho that would be pretty funny.

“[name]” matsukawa speaks in front of you, and you hum.

“stop touching my ass” he quickly glances towards you and you frown.

“why would i touch your ass?” you ask, going down one step at a time, now with one of Iwaizumi's hands on your shoulder.

“i saw you gape at his ass, [name]” hanamaki says, from your position you can see he’s already down on the basement.

“why would i touch his ass going down some dark stairs at a haunted house?” you correct yourself.

“maybe they needed support to not fall” iwaizumi mutters, from behind you.

“oh yeah, there’s a lot of support there” hanamaki laughs.

mattsukawa turns on the lights from the bottom of the stairs, you’re all gathered there in a circle, you and hanamaki elbowing each other and whispering about mattsukawa’s great ass when oikawa interrupts.

“mattsu, who touched you ass?”

“[name]”

“i didn’t!” you exclaim, raising your arms. 

“maybe it was the witch”

growl.

“[name], we told you not to growl when talking about someone’s ass” hanamaki looks at you, shaking his head. 

“makki, why the fuck would i growl” you look around the room. is there an animal here? “serious stuff, who growled?”

“maybe there’s an animal here?” iwaizumi questions, backing up towards the stairs, an arm in front of you. oikawa already walked back to the stairs, eyes wide and looking into the darkness.

“are we sure that was a growl?” you ask, the house is old, there are thousands of things that could’ve made that noise. although you’re not sure what other thing, besides an animal, can growl. 

“maybe we should go back upstairs,” oikawa mumbles from the stairs. “if there’s an animal it can be dangerous.”

“but maybe it wasn’t an animal” 

“yeah, maybe it was a demon, right makki?” matsukawa giggles but he turns around, signaling for you to start going up the stairs. everyone does so, oikawa and you stumble a few times because you can’t see in front of you. oikawa, walking in front of you, is about to reach for the door.

GROWL.

“HOLY SHIT”

clang. THUD. thud. thud. squeak. wheeze. thud. thud. bang. slam.

the ceiling light of the main hall flickers above you, somewhere in the house there’s a clock ticking and the loud sound of your breathing bounces on the walls. you’re sitting on the floor, back against the wall. iwaizumi sits in front of you, beside him matsukawa is crouching, looking through his camera. hanamaki is standing next to him, hand flat on the basement door, an amused look adorning his face while he looks at oikawa who’s laying on the floor, not moving.

“dude” hanamaki finally speaks, releasing the breath he was holding. “what just happened?”

“you guys heard the growl, right?” oikawa speaks from the floor, his voice lightly quavering. 

“i did” you speak up, head resting on the wall and eyes closed. “it sounded like it was behind us”

“i felt it in my ear” matsukawa says, a frown on his face. “like i felt its breath in my ear”

your eyes open in shock, gaze darting towards him. what the fuck just happened?

“i want to go home” oikawa mumbles, making you pout. “what if we die? i mean why is this house open for visits?”

“well, we did sign waivers”

“we what?” he sits up, looking at you.

“the papers you signed when we got here?” you tell him, tilting your head. 

“you didn't let me read them!”

“you signed them anyways” you shrug, grinning at him. 

something moves behind him, in another room and you freeze in your spot, eyes wide, causing oikawa to open his own.

“what?” he whispers, not daring to move a muscle, you hush him.

without peeling your gaze from the door, you reach to your side, signaling iwaizumi to give you his camera, he looks up from his lap and gives it to you, following your gaze. now everyone is paying attention to your movements, trying to look where you’re looking without moving too much. slowly, you aim the camera towards the door. a beat goes by and then you see it. in the back of the room, where the light from the hall barely reaches, something moves. you zoom in, trying to decipher what it is. a shadow slips away quickly from one side of the room to the other, so fast it looks like a blur on camera.

at this point, oikawa slid towards you and iwaizumi. matsukawa and hanamaki also shuffled to crouch besides you. all five of you squeezed in a corner of the room, unblinking eyes looking at the shadow. 

giggles.

you all freeze, breath catches. it feels like your eyes are going to pop out of your head. time slowed down, you can’t believe what you’re experiencing. are you going insane? you’re sure that was a little girl’s voice.

“hi.” giggles. “oh no.”

the door of the room where the shadow was suddenly slams shut, startling you and your friends. all of you quickly standing up and running towards the living room where you were earlier. 

“guys!” you exclaim, eyes still wide, your hand that’s holding the camera violently shaking, you can’t tell if you’re scared or excited, maybe both.

“holy shit, holy shit” hanamaki is pacing the room and laughing. 

oikawa is holding onto iwaizumi’s arm for dear life, and matsukawa is sitting on the couch as if what happened was no big deal.

“i don’t remember this happening in any ghost adventures episode” matsukawa speaks, letting himself fall onto the couch, hand covering his eyes.

“this has to be staged” iwaizumi shakes his head.

“i don’t know iwa-chan, that looked pretty fucking real to me”

“what should we do now?” you ask, looking at your friends.

“we need to go to that room” matsukawa replies matter-of-factly, standing up from the couch.

“why the hell would we go there?” oikawa asks, eyes going wide again.

“i have to agree with shittykawa, this is like when in movies the characters go to places where they hear noises and die.”

“ok drama queens,” hanamaki giggles, making his way towards his friends to push them towards the room. “no one’s dying tonight.”

“famous last words” “[name], shut up!”

“okay, mattsun, open the door.” you say, holding your camera. “and makki, you go in first and turn on the lights.”

“why us?” matsukawa asks, looking back at you. you stare at him.

“you guys were very excited to go to that room”

“and you’re not?” “i want to live”

“ok, in 3” mattsun positions his hand over the door handle, makki standing besides him like he’s about to run a marathon. “3, 2, 1.”

the door is opened and hanamaki jumps inside, his camera flashlight darting around the room trying to locate the light switch. when the light’s on and you hear a “clear” coming from the pink haired boy, all of you walk inside. 

the room is empty. there are a few chairs and boxes, hanamaki and matsukawa quickly scan the room for any “hidden children” but there’s no one. you all start to walk around the room on your own, except oikawa who’s glued to iwaizumi’s arm. you look around, trying to find something that explains at least the shadow, because you don’t know how to explain the little girl’s voice. you hear iwaizumi mumble something about a hidden speaker in the room, that does make sense, you think.

“shit.” you hiss, grabbing your arm. your friends look at your clenched jaw and your hand covering part of your forearm.

“are you okay?”

“i think i just scraped myself on something” you reply, a burning sensation spreading on your arm and you try to look at it, hanamaki beating you to it.

“yep,” he says, inspecting it. “i see some red lines.”

you sigh, looking at the place you just walked through to find whatever hurt you.

“wait, [name].” hanamaki stops your movement and tells the guys to come closer. “this looks like scratches”

“what?” you question, trying to look at your forearm. you can see at least 3 lines that do, indeed, look like scratches. “what the fuck?”

“did you scratch yourself?” iwaizumi asks, frowning.

“no, i didn’t.”

“then ho–”

you hiss again, taking a step back and placing a hand on your stomach. you frown again and quickly lift your shirt up, exposing your belly, where there are now 3 red lines.

“yeah, we are getting the fuck out of here.” 

you can’t even say a word, when you’re already being pushed out of the room. oikawa leads you outside the farmhouse and the rest of the guys stay inside grabbing all your stuff. you look at the house, your brain having trouble processing what just happened. a slight headache, a sore throat and a burning sensation on your arm and belly remind you that this was not a dream.

“everyone okay?” iwaizumi asks from the driver’s seat, putting on the seatbelt. you all hum and watch him turn on the car and slowly drive away from the farmhouse, your eyes fixed on that place that made you live situations that are only seen in movies.

“this footage better make us rich” hanamaki says from the passenger seat and you all giggle.

“like i said,” oikawa says next to you, head resting on the window. “next special, we have to go to the beach.”

“um, what do you guys prefer?” iwaizumi speaks up, eyes on the road and a smug grin on his face. “violent ghosts attacking us or a shirtless oikawa on the beach?”

“violent ghosts.” you all reply without missing a beat. oikawa gasps.

“you guys are so mean!”

©ntskbby. do not copy, edit, repost, translate or use to train ai.

“what?” you asked, already knowing what he was going to say.

“these stupid ghost haunting videos” he said, while clicking stuff on his computer “they get millions of views, and for what?”

“for what? hilarious content” you replied “plus what do you know? maybe they did encounter sallie”

“[name]” he deadpanned while you snickered. you played the video anyways, sitting back on your chair and getting comfortable. almost an hour had gone by, time filled with your giggles and sarcastic comments about how 'real' it was, and some sincere comments because the shadow that moved under the door did seem real. meanwhile kenma was rolling his eyes, talking about how obviously fake everything was and how that shadow was just someone from the crew. 

“you’re so boring” “no, i am not” “yes you are, believing in ghosts is so fun ken” “it’s literally useless”

“whatever” you rolled your eyes. but then an idea came to you, you gasped “you know what we should do? go to the sallie house!”

“what?”

“you heard me, i think they rent the house for investigations. we should totally do that, and ill show you how fun believing in ghosts can be!”

now here you are, the sun shines its last rays of the day, there are no cars on the street nor neighbors on the sidewalk, in the distance you can hear some birds singing, the only sign of life you can hear. in front of you stands the sallie house, a normal-looking house, not too big and not too small, the lights of the living room sneaking from the curtains. it doesn’t feel welcoming at all. the air feels thicker and wrong, maybe watching too many ghost hunting videos is finally getting to your head. why do you feel like you’re being watched?

“ready, guys?” a voice brings you back from your thoughts. right, you’re filming a ghost hunting video.

kenma hums from your side, looking at you with an i don’t want to be here look and you innocently smile at him, before looking towards your filming crew. 

“3, 2, 1. we’re recording.”

«the sallie house, built between 1867 and 1871, is said to be haunted by the ghost of a little girl named sallie. according to legend, sallie was a child brought to this house when it was the home of a doctor, for severe abdominal pain, the doctor believed her appendix was about to rupture so he decided to perform an emergency surgery. it is said that he gave her anesthesia but did not wait until it kicked in (“yikes” “yeah, i know”). sallie passed away during surgery because she bled out. people believe she’s still here, haunting these walls and harming everyone that dares to step inside. 

the story doesn’t end there because on december 31st, 1992 a new family moved in (“took new year, new me literally” “new year, new house”), the pickman’s, tony, debra and their newborn child. the first couple months were completely normal for the family but slowly, things started to happen. the lights were constantly dimming and started to turn off and on by themselves. a neighbor had asked debra why they left the nursery light on all night, when in reality they didn’t. the baby would wake up multiple times in the night, as if “someone was playing with them”. one time all the family portraits around the house were hanging upside down. then one day in 1993, tony, debra and her sister found all the baby’s stuffed animals on the floor of the nursery, forming a circle. they thought it was a joke by tony’s brother, so they just put them back in their place and left. when they came back to the nursery, the light was on and a stuffed animal was on the floor, in the middle of the room. that’s when they decided to temporarily leave and stay at tony’s parents house. when they got there, tony was feeling a burning sensation in his back, when debra checked, he had multiple scratches. that was the first of many registered attacks on tony. and finally, in october 1993, when tony was in the kitchen by himself, he turned around and in front of him stood a little girl, curled brown hair, blue eyes, little bow sitting on top of her head, a psychic had told them this little girl’s name was sallie and she was harmless. however, the physical attacks on tony continued and it got to the point where he started to have dark thoughts, among them, thoughts of killing his own wife. the pickmans decided to move out, convinced the house was haunted by a demon that would never leave them alone.»

“hi! welcome to my channel!” you greet looking at the camera “as you can see today we have a special guest with us, you probably already know him but whatever, say hi to kodzuken!” kenma lazily waves to the cameras, mumbling a small thank you for having me. 

“i’ve been trying to get kenma on the channel for so long but we always end up playing minecraft and we don’t talk about collabs”

“we should’ve done a collab on minecraft,” kenma says, looking behind you, at the house “instead of coming all the way here”

“no, because you always burn my house down” “i missclick” “don’t piss me off” 

“anyways ken, do you want to tell the people where we are?” 

“the selma house?” “...” “sa?… sadie!” “you mean sallie?” “oh”

“the sallie house” he states to the cameras with a tightlipped smile “which is a normal house supposedly haunted by a demon”

“a demon that disguises itself as a child” you beam, earning a huff from your friend “i'm really excited to be here to be honest, i’ve seen this house in so many ghost hunting videos and now we’re here!”

“i was dragged here by the way,” kenma says, lifting a finger to the camera. “i didn't want to meet any demon child”

“kenma is a skeptic, so sallie if you’re listening to me please spook this man” you look towards the house, opening your arms dramatically and kenma slightly shoves you. “i think it’s time to go in”

you wanted to believe the inside of the house was going to be less scary, maybe the uneasiness came from being outside in the dark. but oh boy, how wrong you were. the door creaks when opened, earning a “charming” from someone behind you, the living room and kitchen lights are the only ones on, the shadow of the standing lamp looks like a lanky figure and a backpack set on the table looks like a person hunched. maybe you’re being too paranoid. but the uneasiness intensified inside, the house feels cold and the silence is deafening, everyone’s looking around, not daring to make a noise just yet.

it's been at least 10 minutes since you all came into the house, you’ve been prepping everything for the investigation, choosing what devices you’re going to use, double checking the cameras and just trying to feel more comfortable inside the house.

“what was that?” otowa, your audio-tech and friend, asks, standing in the middle of the living room.

“what happened?” you look around the room, checking where everyone is and you turn your camera on, just in case.

knock, knock.

“that!” otowa says, pointing at the kitchen, where the knocking sound came from. you aim your camera to that room, noticing kowashi, your cameraman, also started filming with his camera. kenma stands next to the couch, a bored expression adorns his face but there’s curiosity in his gaze.

“kenma” you say without peeling your eyes from the kitchen door, silently wishing for the ghost of a little girl to appear. “go in there”

“why me?” he asks, furrowing his eyebrows but standing closer to where you are. “that could’ve been an animal or just the old house making noise guys, i doubt it’s the little girl’s ghost”

knock.

“kenma!” you exclaim, your wide eyes locking with slightly bored and amused ones. he sighs but turns on his camera, slowly walking towards the kitchen. he stops under the door threshold. “tsk. go in?”

he looks back at you with a look you can only describe as disgusted. “why don’t you go in then?”

“take your time, ken♡” and he does. he leans forward, peaking his head inside the kitchen and looking around the room. “are you… scared, kodzuken?”

“am not” he says, without leaving that position. “i’m checking if there’s an animal in here”

“so you’re worried about an animal but not about the girl demon” you say, shuffling closer to him. you stand behind him, standing on the tips of your toes to look over his shoulder inside the kitchen. it’s empty. there are no raccoons, no mice and there is certainly no girl demon. “oh” you move your camera just in time to focus on kenma’s face when he gives you another one of his looks.

“i mean ghosts are invisible, just saying” you mumble turning around towards your two-man team. “time to investigate upstairs!”

“are you investigating upstairs because you’re scared of the kitchen now?” “kozume, shut up” 

you end up investigating the kitchen. “my good friend ryō, who is a paranormal investigator, lent me some ghost hunting devices and we're going to use the simplest ones because I'm afraid of accidentally summoning the devil.”

there’s a voice recorder on the table, kenma is holding an ovilus device and there’s a flashlight on the counter. 

“we’re gonna ask questions to whoever is here, this voice recorder will capture any noise or voices that we might miss,” you start explaining “the flashlight on the counter turns on or off when touched and what ken is holding is an ovilus device, it basically detects changes in the environment such as temperature, electromagnetic fields and others, and with those changes it selects words from a built-in database.”

kenma chuckles from across the table, you stare at him trying to suppress a smile. “i know how it sounds”

“it sounds so lame,” he laughs “what you just explained made no sense at all, what is that logic?” his laugh is cut short by the device on his hands speaking. 

lame.

boy.

you laugh, pointing at him and he just stares at the device, with a small frown. “dude”

“a ghost called you lame,” you snicker “you hit a new low”

“this device probably heard me saying lame and” he sits up straighter, sounding a little bit distressed “it recycled the wo–”

his excuse is interrupted by the sound of fast footsteps on the stairs, everyone falling silent, you quickly look around the room to check all your friends are in their places. thud. Another sound is heard coming from one of the rooms on the first floor, right above you.

“guys” you whisper “what the fuck”

kenma slowly stands up, walking towards the stairs. you can’t move. what was that? is it possible that a ghost just ran upstairs? is it possible you just heard a ghost running upstairs? 

“[name]” kenma whispers, his eyes locked on the stairs as he gets closer “let’s go, move”

you don’t want to. you told sallie you wanted her to scare your friend, not you. so why are you frozen in your spot, eyes wide and breathing hard?

“[name].” kenma whispers once again, sneaking a quick glance towards you. you breathe in, then out. and you stand up. your legs wiggle a little bit. it’s ok. there’s no way a ghost ran upstairs, they don’t have legs! right?!... right?

you slowly make your way towards your friend, there’s nothing on the stairs but there’s light coming from one of the rooms. 

“did you guys leave the light on?” everyone denies “maybe the owners left it on and we didn’t realize?” you’re not really convinced, and then, the lights turn off. your breath catches, someone gasps and kenma looks like a confused puppy.

“oh hell no” you screech, grabbing onto kenma's arm. 

“it’s probably just an electricity malfunction” he says, sounding way too calm for someone that heard footsteps and saw a light turn off by itself. “let’s go”

“go where?” your heels dig onto the floor when he tries to walk towards the stairs, putting his own hand over yours that are squeezing his arm, dragging you along. “no, no, kenma please”

“you wanted to meet sallie, right?” he smiles at you and you've never felt this level of betrayal as he drags you up the stairs and you try to stop him but he’s abnormally strong for a gamer.

you both stop walking as soon as you have a view to the first floor. all lights are off, doors open, nothing moves and there’s complete silence. kenma starts walking up the last few steps, his hold on your hand loosening but not letting you go and you’re so thankful because you swear if you let go of his arm, you will faint. you follow behind him, holding up your camera which you completely forgot you had and you’re praying the image stabilizer works because your hands are intensely shaking and you don’t want the footage to go to waste.

“i don’t see anything” kenma says when you both reach the top of the stairs “or anyone”

you walk into the first room, lucky for you, it's the nursery. there’s a bed and tons of plushies everywhere along with other toys. kenma starts grabbing some of the toys and inspecting them, you decide to sit on the bed and your crew follows behind you, with their respective equipment.

“as you can see,” you start talking towards the camera, a weak smile on your face “this is a really professional investigation.”

“i think i get why people go ghost hunting,” kenma says while playing with a plushie “this is fun”

“i’m not having fun”

“sucks for you because this was your idea”

you sigh “i’m not having ideas ever again, our next collab is gonna be on minecraft”

“good for me” he turns around, facing you “hey, what was that super loud device they use on ghost hunting shows?”

“uh, the spirit box?”

“yeah that one, i wanna use it”

“but you hate it when they use it on shows” you giggle and otowa signals you that they’re going to get it from downstairs. 

the loud white noise coming from the device fills the room, you’re looking expectantly at kenma who's sitting on the floor in front of you, with the spirit box in the middle.

“well,” he starts looking around “hi i guess, my name is kenma and this is my friend [name]”

static.

“is there anyone in the room with us?”

“five. hey." a man’s voice can be heard from the speaker, robotic and too loud for comfort.

“five? Like there are five people in here?” 

your eyes scan the room, the light from the camera shining enough for you to see but not enough for you to be calm. there’s no one else besides your friends. wait. did that shadow just move?

“enema”

“excuse me?” kenma looks offended and you stifle a laugh.

“maybe they meant kenma, not” giggle “enema.”

“or maybe it’s a hint” more giggles escape your mouth.

“a hint for what?” kenma’s voice sounds more highpitched than normal and you have to look away to avoid laughing at his face.

“who came running up the stairs earlier?” you finally ask, feeling more calm and collected.

static.

“salty”

“salty?” you question “what does that have to do with anything?”

“maybe they meant sallie” 

static.

you stare at kenma.

you’re not calm. you’re not collected. far from it, actually. you want to leave.

kenma is smirking at you.

you have a fleeting thought that kenma might be the devil. 

“hell”

“hell” kenma repeats, nodding “is that where you are?”

“GEEEET OOOUUUTTT”  the voice of a girl screeching pierces through the room. you wince, covering your ears, kenma launches forward to turn off the spirit box while cursing.

“holy shit” you say when it’s off

“what the fuck was that dude?” kenma asks, setting the device on the floor and scrunching up his face. 

“does that count as a successful spirit box session?” you ask looking at him

“i don’t know but i’m never using that thing again”

silence

“she said get out and i think we should listen” you murmur 

“you big baby” kenma laughs but then he looks at the camera in his hands and frowns. “huh, that’s weird”

“what?” “my camera is off. look, battery is completely dead”

“that’s weird” you say sitting besides him and looking at the camera, where an empty battery crossed out flashes on the screen “all cameras were completely charged, that one especially lasts hours”

tug. kenma seems to have tugged your shirt by accident so you pay no mind, listening to kowashi explain that the cameras were in fact charged but they do have extra batteries.

tug. tug.

“dude” you finally look at kenma, he's sitting beside you, both hands tucked under his legs and he gives you a confused look. “stop tugging my shirt”

“huh? I'm not tugging anything”

“i literally felt you tugging my shirt” you say crossing your arms “it’s not funny, i can have a heart attack”

“how can i tug your shirt if my hands are under my–” tug.

you scream. you jumped to your feet, rushing to the other side of the room. you’re touching your shirt, checking if maybe there was a bug on it, heart is racing, eyes darting everywhere, your mind trying to understand what just happened. you see kenma moving away from where you were, trying to figure out what was touching you.

there’s nothing.

you weren’t sitting near anything, no toys, no plushies, no furniture. far from the walls. there are no bugs in plain sight. there's nothing your shirt could have gotten caught on. 

suddenly kenma is rushing to his feet, eyes wide and looking at the place where he was sitting. “woah”

“i just felt something touching me”

“are you serious?” your voice trembles slightly, you don’t have interest in hiding it.

“dead serious” he walks closer to you, eyes still looking over to the place where you both were “it was like something squeezed my arm”

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

everyone jumps at the sudden loud knocks coming from the open door. your heart is racing, your hand shakes when you reach to grab onto kenma’s. no one is standing close to the door. otowa’s hands are busy with some cables and devices. kowashi’s hands are busy with the camera. there are thousands of thoughts rushing through your brain, trying to figure what could have made those noises? and the tugging? and the squeezing? 

thud.

you freeze, hands tightening around kenma’s. your face slowly turns to the side, where a plushie now lays right besides your feet. where did it come from? was the plushie on the bed? … no. you saw that plushie, it was sitting on the floor behind kenma, where your shirt was tugged.

it feels like everyone in the room reaches the same conclusion when, without a word, you all start to rush towards the door and down the stairs. when you finally reach the end of the stairs, you swear you hear the click of a door closing upstairs. you all hurriedly start grabbing your stuff. backpacks. bags. jackets. 

all your movements stop when you hear more noise coming from upstairs. it sounds like someone is running from room to room. one of your friends starts cursing under their breath, you can’t figure out who. at this point you’re panting, your head feels dizzy. the running upstairs does not stop. your chest feels tight. kenma’s hand enters your field of vision when he grabs your bag from your hands and pushes you slightly with his arm towards the front door. his eyebrows are furrowed, his lips slightly pursed, a look of urgency in his eyes.

it sounds like there’s more people running upstairs. you walk clumsily towards the door, sneaking a glance behind you to see otowa and kowashi clutching their belongings, they both look worried and scared. before walking out the front door, you look towards the stairs and you swear you see a pair of feet at the top.

“what the actual fuck?” kowashi asks when you are all inside the car. it's been a few minutes since you all threw your stuff in the car and left the sallie house. you’re still catching your breath. your hand and kenma’s glued together. 

“do you still think ghost hunting is fun?” kenma asks you, a smirk tugging his lips and you scoff. 

“i’ll stick to watching others do it” you reply, the four of you giggling.

“guys,” otowa says from the passenger seat, waving something in their hand. the voice recorder. “we left this on downstairs, should we listen?”

a beat passes before kenma nods. otowa starts playing the recording, everyone falling silent.

you can hear yourself in the recording, the moment where you heard the footsteps and when you all went upstairs. in the distance you can hear all your voices, but nothing more. there's silence for a minute or two. and then, a woman’s voice comes out the little speaker. it's deep but clear as water, she’s whispering. she’s talking slowly and there’s a melody to it, like a lullaby. 

“leave”

“not welcome”

“you are not welcome here”

in the distance you can hear your scream.

“you are not welcome here”

“you are not welcome here”

“you are not welcome here”

“you are not welcome here”

“not welcome”    “not welcome”    “NOT”    “WELCOME” 

YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE

©ntskbby. do not copy, edit, repost, translate or use to train ai.

  “if you’re sure..” you trail off, raising an eyebrow as his body stops swaying to the music, stiffening at your questioning of his want to be with you. 

  atsumu quickly pops the brownie pan into the oven, turning around to where you’re sitting at the kitchen island. holding out his hands reach over the countertop, waiting for yours to intertwine with his, “let me prove it to you.”

  biting your lip to hide an ever-growing smile, you let go of the puzzle piece in your hand, reaching both of them out to wrap around his. sliding off a stool, you follow him out into the living room, socks feeling slippery against the wood flooring. “what.. are you doing?” you question, trying to match his pace as he starts guiding you into a slow dance.

  “proving it to you that i’d much rather be with you, no matter what we’re doing,” atsumu’s hand presses against the small of your back, pulling you closer as the other wraps around your hand, thumb rubbing against the back of your palm. 

  “with no music?”

  “don’t need it,” he replies with a confidence that you’ve only seen him use during a volleyball match, leaning forward to plant a kiss on your chin and then your cheek. 

  hands feeling clammy, your fingers wriggle under his touch. a smile so widely evident on your lips, you stare into his eyes as he pulls back. “you’re really pulling out your charismatic side this evening, aren’t you? and with only a couple minutes until midnight, so will this be a multiple day thing, or..?” you continue with his footwork, every so often accidentally stepping on his toe.

  “it’s one of my resolutions,” atsumu plants another kiss on your temple, fingers on the small of your back playing with the fabric of your shirt, “to love you endlessly and with intense vigor.”

  “oh really? well i can get behind that,” before he can pull back, you steal a kiss at the corner of his mouth, tasting the brownie batter that the two of you ‘taste-tested’ more than necessary. 

  atsumu gives you a sideways glance, only mere seconds before giving you a proper kiss on the list. his lips are tender, soft and gentle in the way he pulls in your essence. there’s usually a hunger in the way he pulls you close. but on this evening, there’s simply a taste of his love, a nibble that he deliciously takes off your lips. 

  “happy new year,” he whispers, peering past you to see the time change to the new year, fingers pressing tighter against your touch.

  “happy new year atsumu.”

  grabbing them from his hand, his now free hand migrates across your arm and to the small of your back, pulling you to him until your hips are touching. swirling the butter with the chopsticks, you lean into his touch. “alright, but seriously, if it’s too much i will kick them out. you know i will,” you wrap your other hand around his waist, thumb resting in his back pocket.

  “oh i know you will,” tilting his head, you can feel him plant a kiss against your hair, thumb rubbing circles in your hip. 

  you stand there for a moment, in pure bliss. the sound of family members stay muffled from the other room, mixed with sizzling from the curry osamu’s working on. ever since he started preparing for onigiri miya’s opening, the two of you have been too busy to have a moment like this, one of just being together mentally and physically.

  the way his body weight presses against yours feels comfortable, like a weighted blanket. “i miss when we cooked like this,” you admit, feeling his hand stiffen against your skin.

  “you do? even when something’s boiling over or burning?” osamu questions, leaning back from your touch, looking into your eyes with an attractive attentiveness. 

  rolling your eyes, you let out a soft sight. “you know what i mean, miya. i miss being with you, like actually being with you, not just physically. we’ve both been incredibly busy and i understand why, but i just miss this- what are you doing?”

  as you talked, osamu’s eyes wandered all around you, biting the inside of his cheek. his gaze meets yours again, giving you a cheeky smile that he uses to get out of everything. “i missed this too, y/n. we just gotta make sure there’s always time for each other, which i promise i will try harder with,” he kisses your temple, smiling into the kiss as his hand slinks back to his side. 

  “i will try harder too, now, this butter is going to be ready soon, what do you need me to do?”

  “just take it off the heat, it’s gotta cool before i can incorporate it into the cookie recipe,” osamu knocks any excess food off his spoon and rests it on a little homemade ceramic utensil holder, saving the counter from any leftover sauce, “now, i just need to get past you to get the rice going.”

  instead of letting him pass, you lean one of your legs as far back as you can, foot meeting the island counter. “sorry, this path is blocked,” you move the butter to a back burner, turning your head to look at him. 

  “oh, that’s how it’s going to be?” his eyebrows raise, hands resting on his hips. 

  “yeah, sorry, i am hard at work here and it can not be disturbed,” you laugh as you talk, one hand balancing you as it presses against the countertop next to the oven. 

  his eyebrows stayed raised, head slightly tilting as you continue to giggle. he can’t help but smile as well as his hands wrap around your waist, moving you enough that your foot falls forward to catch yourself. “uh oh, has your hard work been disturbed?” osamu laughs into your ear, softly kissing a trail from your neck to your shoulder. 

  you can feel his lips through the fabric of your shirt, still just as soft and gentle as he always is. “oh my work is very disturbed now,” resting your hands on his, you intertwine a couple fingers with his, heads pressing against each other as he plants a few more kisses against your shoulder. 

  “a good disturbed i assume?” 

  “yes, but need i remind you i have family in the next room over and we have food that might burn if we don’t get it off the stove soon..” you whisper, freeing one of your hands to run it through his hair, his hand tightening around your waist.

  osamu rests his chin on your shoulder, taking in a deep breath. “maybe we can continue this another time then,” he murmurs back, fingernails running along your fingers.

  “i would never say no to that.”

By the time he deleted the photo from the chat, he knew it was still too late.

Meian: bro

Hinata: I DID NOT NEED TO SEE THAT

Bokuto: wait r u okay or is this u seducing us?? 

Inunaki: ???

Inunaki: wtf????

Sakusa: ?

Sakusa: blocking your number

Coach: Miya, PLEASE do not send nudes to the team. 

He threw his phone across the bed like it had personally betrayed him. Which, in a way, it had. Why the hell are the chat names so close together?!

Suddenly, just to make matters worse, you rushed out of the shower, the towel wrapped around your body messily from putting it on in a hurry.

“What happened? Is everything okay?”

Atsumu was red, his hands on his head, and he cornered himself on the side of the bed, as if this piece of furniture could protect him from the very embarrassing moment he had just experienced.

“Tsumu?” 

“Baby, I’m going to retire.”

“What?” 

“I’m retiring and moving to Alaska. Look at me really good, baby. Because this might be the last time you’re seeing me.”

“What’s going on? Are you—” 

Atsumu’s phone left on the bed caught your attention, from the looks of it, something on his device was to blame for your boyfriend’s mood. 

“What were you watching?” You scolded him as you reached for the phone.

Atsumu instantly jumped up, “Don’t look at my phone!”

“Why not?” When you unlocked the phone and saw the chat open, you squinted at the screen, scrolling through the messages. “Wait, I don’t understand. You sent a nude to the group chat?”

“It wasn’t a nude, just a slightly provocative photo.” He said, trying to defend himself.

After you processed the information, you couldn’t help but burst out laughing. 

“It’s not funny! This is the worst day of my life!” His face was the color of an apple now, hands covering his burning cheeks.  “It was supposed to be for you!”

“But why were you sending me slightly provocative photos when I was literally here? In the shower? Like twenty feet away from you?”

Atsumu threw his hands up defensively. “I don’t know, for fun?!”

That set you off again, and something about the way he said it—so genuinely bewildered by his own choices, like a puppy who didn’t understand why the shoe he chewed was a problem—made your heart squeeze. He was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. And somehow, that made him even more endearing.

Atsumu let out a long, defeated groan and collapsed onto the bed face-first, his voice muffled against the comforter. “I’m never showing my face at practice again. They’re gonna roast me for the rest of my career. Omi’s probably already bleaching his eyeballs.”

You watched him lie there, completely deflated. The tips of his ears were still bright red, and his shoulders had that slumped quality that told you he was genuinely mortified. Okay, maybe you’d teased him enough. 

You climbed onto the bed beside him, your hand gently rubbing circles on his back. “Hey.” You said softly. “Baby, it’s not that bad.”

“Not that bad?” He turned his head just enough to look at you with one eye, his expression pitiful. “I sent a nude to my entire team. Coach Foster saw it. Coach Foster. I can never look him in the eye again.”

“Okay, yeah, that part is pretty bad.” You admitted, and he groaned again, burying his face back into the mattress. You couldn’t help but smile as you ran your fingers through his hair. “But hey, they’ll tease you for like... a week, tops. Maybe two. And then Bokuto will do something dumb and everyone will forget all about it.”

“You really think so?” His voice was small, hopeful.

“I know so.” You tugged gently at his hair until he rolled over onto his back, looking up at you with those warm brown eyes that were still clouded with embarrassment. You leaned down, cupping his face with your hands. “Besides, you’ve got a great body. If anything, they should be thanking you for blessing their group chat.”

That got a weak laugh out of him, one corner of his mouth quirking up. “You’re just sayin’ that.”

“I’m absolutely not.” You brushed your thumb across his cheekbone, your voice sincere. “You’re hot, Tsumu. Like, annoyingly hot. It’s actually kind of unfair.”

Some of the tension finally left his body, and his hands came up to rest on your hips, pulling you closer. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” You leaned down to kiss him, soft and reassuring, until you felt him relax completely beneath you. When you pulled back, he was smiling—that genuine, slightly dopey smile you loved. 

You settled beside him, propping yourself up on one elbow, and traced absent patterns on his chest. After a moment of comfortable silence, you spoke up, trying to sound casual. “So... am I still gonna receive that photo? You know, in the right chat this time?”

Atsumu’s entire body went rigid.

His head whipped toward you so fast you were worried he might hurt his neck. “You… wait, you want—?” His voice cracked spectacularly, and he cleared his throat, ears immediately burning red again. “Even after— I mean, you really—?”

You bit your lip to keep from laughing at how utterly flustered he’d become. Here was this confident, cocky setter who could trash-talk like no other, completely short-circuiting at your question.

“I mean, you took it for me, right?” You tilted your head, playing with the chain around his neck. “Seems like a waste if I never get to see it.”

Atsumu’s mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. No sound came out. His hands on your hips tightened slightly, and you could practically see the gears in his brain grinding to a halt and trying to restart.

“I—” He started, then stopped. Swallowed hard. His gaze darted away from yours, then back, then away again, a flush creeping down his neck. “You’re serious?”

“Dead serious.”

The look on his face was priceless—somewhere between elated and completely overwhelmed. His trademark smirk tried to make an appearance, but it kept flickering into something much more genuine and flustered.

“Well.” He finally managed, voice slightly strangled. “I guess… If you really want… yeah. Yeah, okay.”

You grinned and leaned down to kiss his cheek. “Good. I’ll be waiting then.”

You started to pull away to finally get dressed, but his arms wrapped around you, keeping you in place for a moment longer.

“You’re gonna be the death of me.” He muttered against your shoulder, and you could feel the heat radiating from his face.

“At least it won’t be from embarrassment this time.” You said cheerfully, finally extracting yourself from his grip.

His only response was another groan as he grabbed a pillow and covered his face with it.