Gabriel leaned back, not too thrilled about the boundary being laid down. He had hoped he would be the one getting laid tonight.
"So you don’t want to?"
"It’s not that I don’t."
Kant sighed, his brain at war with itself. On one hand, he could have let things run their natural course. It was incredibly tempting, with Gabriel on top of him like that, eyes dark and heavy, his hair falling into his face.
But the bigger picture was that he shouldn’t even be in Gabriel’s life to start with, much less kissing and touching him.
"Let’s stop here," Kant murmured, gently lifting Gabriel up from his lap. He might need to flee to another country to get away from this. Otherwise he’d keep coming back.
The disappointnt on Gabriel’s face was too great to be masked. He ran a hand through his hair, looking away.
Then that cursed lamp flicked on again. Gabriel shot a hand in front of his eyes, montarily blinded by the brightness.
"Again?" he huffed, breaking the tension with an exasperated laugh. "Can’t a guy get a mont without his furniture having a ltdown?"
Kant sat up straighter, squinting. "Didn’t you unplug it?"
Gabriel froze montarily, staring at Kant. "I did..."
A cold breeze swept through the room, sending shivers down their spines. Gabriel glanced up at the windows to make sure they were closed, but instead he caught sight of a dark silhouette looming behind Kant.
The shadow stretched across the wall like a predator waiting to pounce.
"Holy shit!" Gabriel jumped far back by instinct, nearly tripping over the low table in the process.
Kant imdiately stood up, his brows taut with alarm. "What? What’s wrong?"
"Can’t you see it?"
"See what?" Kant’s eyes darted around the dimly lit room, searching for anything out of place.
"It’s right behind you!" Gabriel grabbed Kant’s arm, yanking him away from the couch. "Move back!"
Still reeling from the sudden pull, Kant instinctively positioned himself between Gabriel and the perceived danger. "Can you just tell what did you—"
But then Kant saw it too—the shadow, dense and obsidian black, hovering ominously near the flickering lamp. It moved like ink spreading in water, slowly reaching out as if searching for sothing.
"...see," Kant finished, his voice dropping to a stunned whisper. "What the hell is that?"
"An evil spirit. That’s definitely an evil spirit," Gabriel breathed, barely audible. He steered Kant towards the exit with urgent tugs. "Let’s go. Let’s wait outside until it leaves."
Then the shadow began mumbling, and Gabriel froze.
A strange voice, distorted and shattered, spoke in barely discernible way. Kant caught a few fragnted bits.
"...greed... sins must be repented... serve the truth... punish those who lust..."
"Lust? Did it get mad because we almost..." Gabriel whispered, his tone torn between bewildered and horrified, "you know, did it?"
"Don’t know." Kant pulled Gabriel fully behind him before questioning the shadow. "What do you want?"
Instead of answering, the shadow stretched wider, as if sothing inside were stirring. A faint outline of a figure seed to flicker within, but before it could reveal itself, the light bulb gave a high-pitched pop.
Gabriel jumped at the sound, gripping Kant’s arm tighter as they were plunged into darkness. Shards of glass clinked softly onto the floor like scattered ice.
Everything was dark, as if the power in the entire building had gone out. Even the low hum of the appliances ceased.
The cold air crept in from every corner, pressing down on them.
Kant quickly flipped through every combat scenario he had ever faced, every situation he’d trained for, but no amount of experience had prepared him for facing an evil spirit.
What could counter sothing that appeared like smoke? Did the middle object rule work on evil spirits too? Aside from all that, he couldn’t fight sothing he couldn’t see or hear.
Kant drew a steadying breath and turned to Gabriel. "Do you have a flashlight?"
Gabriel blinked, trying to shake off the fear clinging to him. "Yeah, my phone..." He cautiously moved toward the table, tapping for his phone with his free hand. His fingers trembled slightly as he retrieved the phone and flicked it on.
The cool glow cast long lines across the room. First, the flash illuminated the floor, then Gabriel slowly aid the beam toward the corner where the shadow had been, holding his breath.
"It’s gone," Kant concluded. "Must have mistaken the apartnts."
Gabriel was about to laugh at the dry joke, but shuddered. "It’s not behind our backs, is it?" he murmured. "That’s what usually happens in horror movies."
Kant gently pulled the phone from Gabriel’s tight grip and shone the light behind them. "Nothing here."
Gabriel let out a deep sigh, hanging onto Kant’s sleeve loosely. "Man... Why are you so calm?"
"If it wanted to harm us, it would’ve attacked by now," Kant remarked, moving to survey the rest of the living room. "Are you sure it’s an evil spirit?"
Kant was half-glad, half-amused that his steady voice had made it seem like he wasn’t shaken. His heart was beating out of his chest, and he was looking around tensely. If the room hadn’t gone dark, Gabriel would have seen the distraught frown on his face.
"Well, it didn’t look like a nice spirit," Gabriel replied, following close.
Other apartnt doors creaked open in the hallway, accompanied by murmured voices.
"Do you hear that?"
After exchanging nods, they went to check what was the commotion.
The neighbors had gathered in the hallway with their phone flashlights downturned, illuminating slippers. People were huddled in their doorways, whispering and grumbling.
"It’s the first ti sothing like this has happened," an older woman’s voice reached them, as annoyed as soone who didn’t get to finish an episode of their favorite show. "Power’s out in the whole building."
Gabriel tugged at Kant’s arm. "Let’s go to your apartnt for tonight."
"No," ca an imdiate answer.
Gabriel glanced up, puzzled. "Why not? The power’s out, we can’t do anything here."
Kant groaned internally. He didn’t want to get into the ss of explaining why he was practically holess—not tonight, not ever, really. Why were all of his secrets getting turned over like stones in the sa day?
"Fine, if you don’t want in your neighborhood, then stay over." Gabriel gestured at his apartnt with a hidden smirk. "What if the evil spirit cos back?"
Kant leaned against the doorfra with a soft scoff. This guy could twist any situation in his favor, couldn’t he?
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