#marigoldvance

Kíli convinces Fíli to stay for the night at the just as creepy local Inn whose proprietors look as weathered and old as the property itself. Fíli has a weird feeling vibrating in his bones, but Kíli’s smitten and on some sort of mission and Fíli can’t deny his brother when he gets like this. So, Fíli books the room. The crone at reception gives him a shiver-inducing, milky-eyed elevator stare and, without a word, hands him the key for what he’ll find out is the Newlywed Suite (one enormous four-poster and a deep, wide claw-foot tub sharing the moderately sized space). 

It’s of course midnight when Kíli drags Fíli out of bed, brown eyes unfocused and distant as they often get when Kíli’s not entirely in control of himself. It’s not possession, Kíli has insisted in the past, it’s more like being guided from the inside. 

Yeah, Fíli’s so profoundly uncomfortable with the intimacy involved in Kíli’s guiding that he has to recite all the poems he learned in Uni to keep from performing an exorcism. 

Life means all that it ever meant and really, though: Some stranger? Inside his brother? It is the same as it ever was where do they get off?! There is absolute and unbroken certainty and this isn’t jealousy, this is concern for Kíli’s welfare! What is death but a negligible accident but seriously, get out. Please and fuck you.*

The streets are empty as they wander to the DID YOU NOT READ ABOUT THE MURDERS, KÍLI? house, the town eerily silent in sleep. To Fíli, it’s as if he has cotton in his ears; even the noise of his footfalls on crunchy brown leaves doesn’t sound right, a little too murky and faraway. Kíli doesn’t notice or, more likely, doesn’t care. He holds Fíli’s hand – fingers laced, thumb gently stroking in reassurance that’s not very reassuring – and leads them through the front gate. Just like that. No fanfare, no crime, no spooky/whiny groan as it opens like the great maw of a monster. Just … an everyday gate opening as it’s wont to.

Fíli hesitates. Not because he’s afraid, he’s not (not shriek-at-the-first-jump-scare afraid, anyway), but because someone has to be cautious and it sure as shit isn’t Kíli who’s already dragging forward against the shackle of Fíli’s hand around his wrist, towing Fíli behind him even as Fíli digs his heels into the ground.

            “Kee—”

Naturally, Kíli ignores Fíli’s warning, shakes off his grip and charges up the creepy stairs, across the creepy porch and into the conveniently unlocked creepy door that’s leaning partly off its hinges, disappearing into the dense shadows beyond the threshold as though he’s waltzing into a friend’s house for tea.  

Cool. Cool coo-cool cool cool cool.

Well then. Just have to—Pffttt. Letsgogetonwithitokay.

Fíli hypes himself up; takes a long, satisfying breath, holding it in his lungs for a few seconds before releasing it over a few more: Kíli’s his brother, Kíli is his way more than a brother, and he has to make sure Kíli isn’t marching into House on Haunted Hill. Which this probably is, if Fíli’s research wasn’t exaggerated. Why can’t they ever find a place as modern and bright as Kriticos’ clockwork mansion? Huh? WHY.

Kíli’s upstairs when Fíli finally tracks him down, the black shadows not as depriving once his eyes adjusted. There’s enough light filtering through the grimy windows to see by. Kíli’s in the middle of the room, arms crossed, one hand under his chin – a real Thinker – because he’s clearly considering something that Fíli is in no way going to be consulted about. Kíli’s gaze is set and it’s definitely not on the torn away antique wallpaper on the opposite wall.

            “Right.” Kíli says about ten minutes later, once Fíli’s found the courage to sit his arse on the dusty bedspread – aggressively ignoring the mysterious-but-not-really-though-are-they-? stains in the fabric. Fíli pops his head up and looks at his brother who’s now moving with purpose out the room and toward the stairs. “C’mon Fee!” He calls over his shoulder, trampling down, avoiding the holes at the behest of the disembodied voice at his ear, “We have a deed to sign!”

Oh no they bloody don’t.

But oh yes they bloody do.

Fíli shares all he learned about the house with Kíli, urgently explaining the number of suspicious and gruesome deaths that took place on the grounds Kíli is determined to own. There are wild, sharp gestures and a range of voice pitches and Kíli keeps humming to himself as if Fíli is a ghost who can’t get through to him which, rude. And seriously? They have somewhere to be! (“Not anymore!”)

The bank is too eager to hand Kíli the keys, practically shoving them in Kíli’s hand along with all the necessary documents, and isn’t that a sign? No? ‘Spose not with the way Kíli is grinning like the cat who got the canary. And then off they go, back to the house that gives Fíli an aneurysm in his soul just to look at, Kíli skipping up the pathway, warbling about putting a list together of the supplies they’ll need for the renovation, “— and they seem keen on a new parlor; and there’s something about the eaves, don’t let me forget! And they don’t want us interfering with the integrity of the house but that’s not a problem, is it? And—” on and on it goes.

Fíli is helpless and resigned and follows Kíli’s directions: Paint this wall, hide that portrait, don’t bother locking the bathroom doors, they can peek through walls anyway. Fun. Fíli’s now experienced the discomfort of showering with his swim trunks on for a week.

A month in, Fíli learns all the ghosts’ names, not that it matters since he can’t see them. Or hear them. Or interact with them in any way, shape or form outside of Kíli relaying messages to him about all the things Fíli’s done wrong during the repairs. Ungrateful motherfu—

            “Fee, can you believe we open next week?”

Oh yes, they’ve converted the terribly unsettling, tragically ghost-infested house into the new town Inn. When Fíli was given the news he almost didn’t catch the, “The old Inn is run by phantoms who are ready to move on so —” hastily packed into his brother’s diatribe like an afterthought. Fíli wonders if Kíli speaks so fast on purpose, hoping that Fíli can’t make out all the words he says. 

No, this doesn’t make Fíli paranormal-inclined like Kíli. Phantoms are physical impressions that anyone can see and interact with on grounds the phantoms own or have acute ties to. Kíli does a masterful job explaining the astounding and impressive facts to Fíli; it’s all very sound supernatural-science and makes complete and utter sense however, the author doesn’t feel inclined to share atm (҂⌣̀_⌣́)

Fíli’s mind seizes and proceeds to get monumentally stuck on Kíli’s oh-so-casual drop of: “We stayed in an Inn that’s itself trapped in interdimensional limbo, blah blah blah Twilight Zone blah blah” because, hold up, rewind, does that mean they were, in reality, outside the whole time? Did they fuck al fresco for the viewing pleasure of the houses on either side? Shouldn’t they be compensated?!

Kíli isn’t forthcoming with answers, distracted as he is by his excitement and the next thing Fíli knows, Kíli’s clinging to him like a koala, laughing and smacking kisses to Fíli’s cheeks and nose and, yes, it works; Fíli lets his frustrations melt into the ether. Where apparently their room in the Inn exists. Fantastic.

Is that where his missing socks went?

Whatever, with Kíli looking at him like that, like he’s the center of the universe, Fíli can’t bring himself to care much, chooses to band one arm around Kíli’s tapered waist, the other hooked under Kíli’s tight arse, and enjoy the weight of Kíli so thoroughly wrapped around him. 

At the end of the day, Kíli now owns a property teeming with ghosts who enjoy watching reruns of Faulty Towers on Fíli’s laptop during the day; who can’t talk to Fíli but sure as hell make their presence known by flickering lights or making weird smells to communicate their displeasure at his handiwork. Sometimes, Fíli is convinced that they played a part in the demise of his favorite Frankenstein’s Monster figurine.

Fíli and Kíli promote the Inn as the “most haunted house in the country” which, as you can imagine, attracts all the sanest, most ordinary people … 

Yet, all in all – okay, fine, Fíli can admit it – they’re happy. Like, actually, deeply, emotionally/mentally/spiritually at peace and content and so fucking happy and Fíli wouldn’t change a damn thing, not even the bloody ghost parade who, at this point, exist to make him miserable.

Fíli gets used to wearing his swim trunks in the shower …

-*-

let’s start here: BroVance needs the computer for School Stuff. obviously, that’s a priority and i’ve relinquished my usual time on it. which means i’m struggling to find a schedule that works for me and Brain Tooth and (most importantly) BroVance. 

next item on the agenda: my consistency might wane in the coming weeks for reasons unrelated to scheduling. one of those reasons is that i’m starting to feel restless and disconnected with my writing. i think it’s time i prioritize a new hobby for awhile. as much as i adore creating content, i think that part of my creative brain needs a bit of a break. this doesn’t mean i’m going to vanish into the ether and only return in 2047 looking wizened beneath my gas mask, riding on the back of my mechanical Murder Hornet. 

nay nay, i’ll still be here. i’ll still be updating The Mummy AU and Courting Fíli. but just. maybe not often? they may go the way of the WIP as most fic authors know it. 

which leads me to: i have other ideas that i wanna tackle that i keep putting off or ignoring because i know there are people waiting for updates for either of the aforementioned (mostly Courting Fíli). i have some more Fee/Reader and Kee/Reader jazz that i wanna share, a few FiKi snack fics that i’m eager to pelt at you, and an entirely new fandom that i want to start playing in (for those of you worried about what might crowd your dash - completely fair - don’t worry! i’ve made myself a side blog dedicated to the new fandom 🤓). 

in conclusion, frens: although fall is my favorite season, it comes with a lot of hindrances. between BroVance’s courses, the weather affecting my head, my medication affecting my moods, and RL just, yanno, being RL, i simply haven’t found a way to balance it all (if any of it). 

thank you all for being awesome and understanding and patient while i take this step back to readjust my equilibrium! 

xx - Mari