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Ryan was sweating. Yet another creepy-as-hell location for he and Shane, totally inexperienced and unprepared for actual ghost activity, to investigate. Of course he had decided to do a demon episode every season. Whose dumb fucking idea was that? Oh, yeah. His.
He cursed under his breath. The place really was creepy. Reading up on it just made it way more unsettling, not even including the demon rumors. The darkness shrouded the building that looked like a vintage dollhouse. Shane hummed quietly next to him, camera in hand, and... was that a fucking spring in his step?
"Shane, how could you possibly enjoy this?" His anxiety was visible as they approached the Bellaire House. His eyes darted every which way, and he couldn't stop rubbing his sweaty palms on his jeans.
"I dunno, this place doesn't look all too scary." Shane explained. "Don't you have any appreciation for theatrics, Bergara? This place is beautiful! Really nice, vintagey, grandma vibes."
"Sure..." Ryan muttered under his breath as Shane strode ahead to open the door for him, "Crazy motherfucker."
The inside, at least what the ghoul boys could see of it in the dark, was pretty put-together and nice. Antiques cluttered the walls. Almost everything was richly-colored and ornately-decorated. However, Ryan could still feel that chill in his bones as they walked through the seemingly benevolent house. The hair on the back of his neck kept standing up. He normally would have mentioned it, but he didn't want to seem like he was over-reacting this early in the investigation.
Shane and Ryan decided on a nice table in the center of one of the rooms for a seance. Ryan got a candle and lit it, for ambience or something like that. It really did set the mood. Ryan could feel goosebumps forming and the nervousness in his stomach increasing as he thought about the woman that had died just next to the table he sat at.
"So, seance time?"' Shane asked, his tone casual. "Wait, is this all we have to do for a seance? We just light a candle and, boom, we're talking to ghosties?"
Ryan snorted softly. "Uh... I- Um- Actually I don't know. The candle's just to be fancy, I guess."
"You heard it here, folks, Ryan Bergara, self-proclaimed fancy little man."
This elicited and actual smile from Ryan and he threw a joking grin into one of the cameras. Ryan thought of something, his eyes lighting up and his hand going for the phone in his pocket. "You know what, actually..."
The exasperated look on Shane's face was delightful. "Okay, guys," Ryan said, addressing the audience, "The ghoul boys are gonna do it right. I've looked up a little seance how-to here on wikihow-" Shane audibly snorted and Ryan turned to him with a glare.
"Okay, first we say who we're trying to contact." They both nodded at each other and proclaimed they were trying to contact Lyde and Edwin, the former was the woman who had died not an inch from Ryan's feet and the latter her brother who had often held his own seances where they now sat.
"We need a number of candles... divisible by three?" Ryan glanced at the single, old candle in the center of the table.
"One is divisible by three." Shane responded. "...One third. It's a -uh- a fraction."
"Sure. Then we need a food offering."
"Shit."
"Yeah."
"Wait! My gum! I have a stick of gum." Shane retrieved the stick of mint gum, shining in its thin aluminum wrapper, and plopped it down next to the candle.
"Alright. Then we..." Ryan paused, his throat dry for a moment. He shrugged it off, clearing his throat and pressing on through the wikihow article. "It says 'gather everyone around the table and hold hands to create a circle.'"
Shane nodded. They both danced around actually holding hands for a minute, awkwardly stuttering.
Ryan's hands were clammy.
"I- I got to put this down," Shane said, and set the camera in his hand down shakily. "Oh, you don't have to- to go around the candle. Ryan? Oh."
"Oh, okay, okay, like this." Ryan and Shane's hands finally met. Shane's hands were so big, dwarfing his own in comparison. Ryan felt heat rise seemingly through Shane's fingertips, to his hands, up his arms, and to his cheeks. He realized he had been just staring at their hands for a few moments. He looked up to see Shane looking at him.
"Your hands are... clammy." He muttered.
"I-" Ryan couldn't think of a witty comeback.
"Should we, uh." Shane's head tipped towards the bright screen of Ryan's phone sitting on the table between them.
"Oh!" They leaned into each other and Ryan focused on reciting the words on his screen in sync with his friend.
"Spirits of the past, move among us. Be guided by the light of this world and visit upon us. If you are-"
"That's not in quotes, Shane." Ryan interrupted.
"Oh. Oops." They let silence hang in the air between them. Ryan knew he should be focused on detecting voices, movement, or anything ghostly, but he was hyper aware of Shane's warm grip on his hand. It was light, as if his friend was nervous he would hold too tightly. Ryan almost wished he could pull Shane's hands more fully into his. They looked strong, but they were so gentle. His fingers were long and knobby, matching his body in their gangliness. Ryan started to worry. Were his hands too clammy? Did Shane-
"Cool." Shane interrupted his thoughts.
"We have to wait for a response," Ryan interjected, anxious of Shane pulling away, even though he knew they would both have to in a couple of seconds. They sat, together, connected, Shane feeling every twitch in Ryan's nervous fingers. "You hands are clammy," Ryan whispered, if only to break the awkwardness of the silence. He avoided his friend's eyes.
"Wha- Your hands are clammy." Shane retorted and shifted his grip on Ryan's increasingly clammy hands. Ryan could feel his friend pulling his hands back slightly, almost as if he was unaware of it.
"I think we can drop hands now," Ryan said, and they both slowly lowered and separated their respective sweaty hands.
"Very sweaty," Shane commented as Ryan wiped his hands on his pants.
"No, yours were sweaty." Their eyes met, and Ryan had absolutely no idea what Shane was thinking, but he knew his gears were definitely turning. An awkward silence settled over the room. Ryan broke it and went back to the investigation, calling on the ghosts. He remembered what he was here for. He decided to forget about how peaceful it felt to hold his best friend's hands in his.
"Edwin? Lyde?" Ryan called out to the empty room. Shane joined him in looking around the creepy place, an odd, accepting half-frown appearing on his face.
The rest of the night was relatively normal. Random noises and weird, garbled spirit box messages scared the shit out of Ryan. Shane teased Ryan to no end. Ryan wearily put up with Shane's bullshit and tried not to yell at him. He often ended up yelling at him or standing there, scared to death, while Shane laughed his ass off. Ryan also had to berate Shane when the man hadn't been able to help himself and laughed at a woman's story of her dog being thrown against a wall. Now that Ryan was thinking about it, it was kind of funny. Still, he called Shane an asshole and his friend laughed and apologized. They both got to laugh hysterically together when some 'demons' kept responding to their questions to the spirit box with foods.
Their night of investigation came to a close, and the two set up sleeping bags next to each other. They ordered some pizza and enjoyed a relatively calm dinner in a demon and ghost infested house that Ryan was terrified of. Even so, he managed to eat a good few pizza slices.
Ryan sat in his sleeping bag, lying on his back, unable to close his eyes. He felt like they were starting to dry out, but he couldn't sleep now. He heard a noise a few minutes ago, and he didn't know what it was. He tried to relax and he felt his eyes sliding slowly shut. He could feel himself going limp when a loud creak echoed through the whole house. Ryan's eyes snapped wide open.
"Shane?" Ryan whispered weakly. He repeated it and slid slowly closer to Shane, who was lying on his stomach with his face pressed into his pillow.
"Mmn?" Shane's eyes didn't open, but he had finally responded, to Ryan's relief.
"I- I heard something." Ryan realized now how weak and sad an excuse it sounded to wake his friend up.
"Wind," Shane explained away with a mumble. Ryan exhaled and smiled. Shane was still spouting his science explanation bullshit even when half-asleep.
Ryan turned over the same way Shane was sleeping and looked desperately at his friend's weary face. The tall man's eyes opened for a second and Ryan saw a smile and heard Shane murmur something unintelligible.
"Shane?" The tall man's eyes had closed again. "Fuck, I'm scared, man." Shane didn't respond, but his long, lanky arm swung out from under his pillow and landed on the floor next to him. Ryan realized he had scooted his sleeping bag very close to his friend's. He hoped Shane didn't mind. He looked back and saw Shane's hand on the floor, palm up. His tall friend's pinkie finger twitched.
Ryan maneuvered his hand out of his sleeping bag and onto the floor next to him. He brushed Shane's pinkie with his. His cheeks flushed pink. Thankfully, Shane wasn't looking at him. Ryan felt warmth in his hand. Shane's hand was pressed against his, fingers almost twitching with anticipation. Ryan's hand inched closer, and Shane bridged the gap. Ryan's short, clammy fingers intertwined with Shane's long, graceful ones. Shane's fingers brushed over the smaller, scared man's knuckles, and he let his thumb gently trace along Ryan's.
it was more than soothing. Ryan couldn't focus on the thought of ghosts or demons now. He just had to control the urge to pull Shane closer. His cheeks flushed, he stroked Shane's hand back, shakily, barely, anxiety filling him as well as a sense of overpowering calm. It was almost as if Shane was seeping into him, relaxing him with this simple touch.
Shane's voice was gravelly and breathy, and Ryan couldn't have heard enough of it. "Your hands 're sweaty," He mumbled.
"Sorry," Ryan responded, embarrassed.
"S'okay," Shane said slowly. "I like your hands." He brought their hands up to his face. It seemed almost involuntary the way he brushed his lips against Ryan's knuckles, but it sent chills through Ryan's spine. He smiled and closed his eyes, trying his best, now that he had a comforting hand, to sleep.
"Me too," He whispered.