GHOSTIN, five hargreeves

9

"WAIT WHAT?" Eric mumbled as he unfroze to see that he was in a whole different area. Five was beside him with an unreadable expression. Eric looked at him but Five didn't look back, keeping his eyes trained on the building in front of him.

"Five? Where are we?" He asked quietly, still looking at the other boy. Five finally met his eyes and sighed slowly, softening up immediately.

"We're at my old work. Where I was a... you know." He muttered and Eric nodded, pretending like he understood what Five meant.

"Follow me and keep your head down." Five said and gently grabbed Eric wrist to tug him along. The boys walked into a white pristine building, which had many people rushing around inside of it. They passed their way through the crowd with ease, Five still holding onto Eric.

"Almost there." He mumbled in thought and all Eric could do was nod. They finally stopped in front of an office, with a big brown door. Eric felt intimidated by the looks of it. Five knocked three times, tapping his foot impatiently. When the door opened, it revealed his old boss, with a bright smirk on her lips. Eric hadn't seen her till now, he felt awkward since he expected some old hag but this woman seemed young and actually looked nice.

"Five! And your little friend! C'mon in!" She said in a sickly sweet voice. Eric could hear the distaste in her words as she mentioned him though. Five said he was once older... maybe he had a fling with his boss. Eric felt a pang of jealousy at the thought which made him want to roll his eyes. He was literally jealous of this 40 something year old. Then again Five was once a 40 something year old.

"Sit down!" She said dramatically, motioning towards the two seats in front of her desk. She sat down on the other side and Five didn't hesitate to sit down facing her, unlike Eric who was still nervous. He sat down softly and tried not to shiver at everything he saw in this woman's office. Five leaned forward while placing his hands on the table.

"Okay so. What do you want me to do? Go out and shoot some people? Because I'm not-"

"No of course not! We would never trust you with a job like that again. You're actually going to be working in the research hall, across from my office. Here follow me, I'll show you." She said strictly and stood up, Five and Eric following in suit. They walked back out and down the hall, to a set of doors.

"This is where we have people go through cases and double check that everything is in order. And when things aren't, we change it. Then you transfer it to the assassins we have stations in different areas." She explained and Five nodded. He seemed to be soaking up this information and taking it in a stride. While Eric on the other hand, was confused as hell but pretending like he know what this girl meant.

"So I'll show you both to where you'll stay!" She said, back in her cheery fake voice. She sounded like a flight attendant and it made Eric feel lousy. She led them to another hall, her heels clicking shamelessly on the wood as she walked. Five stayed back by Eric and occasionally sent him a sad smile as if the lighter boy was trying to say, 'sorry I got you involved in this' with his eyes. Eric would just sent a dorky smile back, because his stomach was in butterflies at how Five's hand brushed with his own. The boss cleared her throat and Eric turned his attention back to her, Five doing the same.

"Okay here's your room! Two beds and a tv! A good deal right?" She said, more to Five then Eric. They walked inside and looked around. It wasn't horrible, there was some paintings and different decorations. It reminded Eric of an average but expensive hotel. Five turned to him and grabbed his shoulders with a frown.

"Hey you need to stay in here okay. Don't leave, no matter what. I need to go work and stuff. We'll only be here for a few days." He whispered the last part and then gave Eric's shoulder a squeeze. The darker boy didn't like how much this felt like a goodbye. The boss didn't say anything, watching with distaste from the door. Five walked over to her and left, turning around one more time to look back at Eric. Then he was gone with the door quickly shut behind him. Eric sighed, looking around the empty room. Five probably wouldn't be back until night so he had no idea what to do until then. Eric sat down on one of the beds. He thought about how fast this day had gone, one second he was stepping out of a car, facing his kidnappers. Then the next he's in some building where Five used to work. Eric knew Five said 'don't leave.' But... Eric found himself  standing up from the bed and drifting toward the door. He cracked it open, peeking to see who was out there. No one, oddly enough. He stepped outside and looked both ways. Eric was cautious, he needed to satisfy his curiosity without getting caught. He slowly walked towards the end of the hall, where there were a set of stairs. He counted his steps, breathing softly.

"Who are you?" A voice asked and Eric jumped in shock, feeling his shoulders go up in fear.

"Shit sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" Said the person, and he looked behind him to meet the blues eyes of a very pale boy. He had raven hair and a mischievous look about him. Eric smiled at him, maybe he could make a friend.

"It's fine. I'm just... lost." He said, even though he was well aware that his room was literally two steps away from where he was. The pale boy laughed.

"Thank god I found you then. I'm Lance." He said with a smug smile and stuck his hand out.

"I'm Eric."