Love And Other Myths [bxb]

Cause For Feelings

Leo was more bothered by Devon than anything else. The human lurked around the hospital and Leo never heard the end of it from his fellow ghosts.

"I hate that human,"

"Now you smell like human,"

"Get rid of him,"

All things that Leo heard around the place. And he had to agree, Devon had overstayed his welcome.

So, on Devons' third night, Leo stopped him from getting into bed.

"Me and the ghosts talked. You need to go." Leo informed. Devon looked confused and a little hurt. Leo doesn't know why, all he's gotten from this is a quarter dozen frostbite rashes.

"Why, I thought we were having fun?" Devon questioned. So Leo did his best to explain the natural relationship between mortals and the dead.

"The presence of a human irritates the undead after twelve or so hours. You're not an exception." Leo told him.

It was almost comical when Devon's face fell, mimicking a dog. His hair was a mess, skin blotchy with rashes, and was starting to smell like dead wood and decay.

Ok, Leo liked that part. Devon was much more enjoyable when he didn't smell so. . . clean. The stench of the place was rubbing off on him.

"I'm annoying you?" Devon asked. Leo wondered where the old Devon went. Where was the egotistical, dismissive guy that he was when he first got here?

"It's not you, it's your mortality." Leo tried to explain.

"What can I do to help it?"

"Die." Leo said it as a joke but when Devon's eyes went wide Leo realized he didn't find it funny.

"I'm kidding."

"Oh," Devon let out a sigh of relief, as if Leo would kill him.

"I guess I'll. . . pack then." Devon mumbled and started picking up his things off the floor. Leo just nodded and walked out to go downstairs.

"You invited a human to stay here!" Anna yelped.

"He was not invited and he's packing as we speak." Leo defended.

"Really? Why do you look so comfortable right now." Anna retorted.

"Yeah mate, if it weren't for you being so pale, I would think you were a human yourself." Martin chimed in.

"You smell like one too," Anna agreed.

"Whatever, humans have it good." Devon tells them. And it's true, humans have it great.

"They have it good for eighty years. Then they die," Kale snorts.

Not everyone who dies turn into ghosts. In fact, most don't, only a few each year. It's often not random though, as the virus is the hospital had killed everyone in it.

"Now I have it good," Leo bragged and hugged the hoodie closer to him.

"You're like a. . . what's it called. . . ," Kale mumbles.

"A sugar baby!" He finished with a proud smile. Kale died just a couple decades ago so he knew a bunch of fancy terminology.

"What's that?" Anna asked for Leo.

"A sugar baby has a sugar daddy who buys them stuff. Then the sugar baby spends time with them in return." Kale finished.

"Ohh," Anna nodded while Leo thought about it.

"Yeah I guess," Leo agreed before a throat cleared behind him.

"Woah, guys. I'm not a sugar daddy, I'm a friend." Devon explained.

"You sound like a sugar daddy." Anna said confidently.

"No. . . A sugar baby has sex with a sugar daddy." Devon said cautiously.

"Before marriage?" Leo grumbled unhappily.

"Uh- yeah." Devon said, shifting where he stood. Anna and Kale made a face of disgust but Devon couldn't see.

"He's a harlot," Leo explained, face squishing up at the gross thought.

"I'm not!" Devon defended. Anna and Kale just shook their heads in disappointment. Humans now we're just plain whores.

"Then I'm not a sugar baby. I can no longer be married, I will stay abstinent for eternity." Leo declared.

"As will we," Anna said, side-eying Devon.

"Did you need something?" Leo asked and turned to Devon.

"I-uh j-just came to say bye."Devon said.

"Bye." Leo waved a hoodie cladded hand and Devon hesitantly left with his things, getting in the big metal things, Kale calls them automobiles.

Leo wandered back up to his room soon after and he took his shoes off at the door, his pink socks staying clean.

He crawled onto his bed and got under the pile of blankets. It didn't help warm him though, he would always be cold. Devon helped though.

Leo thought about the human for a little that night. What he gave him, taught him, helped him with, it would stay with the ghost forever.

Leo can say that he was happy he was gone though. Everything felt so much more still and quiet. He did still wonder about how different the human was.

He hung off of every word Leo said but waved off his friends. He hugged and held Leo but bumped fists with his other friends. Leo also noticed that he used a softer tone when talking with the ghost.

It would ware off eventually though, he was just trying to wrap his head around the ghost thing.

The ghost pulled himself farther into the thick hoodie fabric that smelled of human. It made him feel alive. Like he was living again.

Leo looked over at the shiny coins that laid flat on the table. They had the year on them. Leos coins dated back to 1792 but now the coins said 2022 in their sparkly metal.

Leo had always wanted to do modern human things but never before did he think of actually leaving the hospital and go to a store or a market.

He thought maybe Devon could take him, but he couldn't make Leo magically human again. Did he want to be human?

There's no fear as a ghost. You spend the day walking around lazily and then do it again the next day. But as a human you get to feel constant emotion.

Leo was just ranting in his head at this point. He'd been thinking a lot more than usual recently. Leo didn't like that.

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Cough cough - filler- cough