Chapter Text
They made almond tofu.
Why did they make almond tofu?
Oh right, because there was a voice telling them to.
Correction. The voice was telling him to, Xingqiu couldn't hear it and it only served to make him look like an insane, sleep deprived idiot making tofu at 3 am. At least Xingqiu still decided to help him. What a good friend.
Chongyun had no idea how things had ended up this way. They had decided to come here a few days prior since they had heard of people complaining about paranormal activity. Three days in and absolutely nothing happened—he was starting to suspect that those complaints were false—and now here they are, standing in the kitchen at Wangshu Inn staring at their freshly made almond tofu. At 3 am in the morning. Because a disembodied voice told him to.
He thought he might've heard the voice at the end of the third day, right after having bumped into the very grumpy Yaksha. Said Yaksha had also just jumped off his balcony a few seconds prior and almost flattened Chongyun. So he didn't know why he was so grumpy, Chongyun should be the grumpy one.
Upon given the task of making almond tofu,Xingqiu had very non-discreetly whispered to him that he didn't know how to make said tofu. And right as he was about to agree with him, the voice then started giving him instructions on how to make the perfect almond tofu. At 3 am in the morning. In Wangshu Inn's kitchen. In the dark.
The almond tofu they made didn't even look that good. Chongyun stared at the lopsided almond tofu that looked like it was going to jump at him and wondered if he had accidentally created a spirit. In the form of an angry imperfect almond tofu.
"I don't think it looks that bad." Xingqiu supplied helpfully, having seen the look on his face.
The voice had stopped talking. He hoped that they didn't just make almond tofu for no reason. Maybe the voice was possessing the almond tofu now. Great. Chongyun just made the spirit a body.
They stood there in silence just watching the plate of tofu like it was the only thing keeping them sane.
"This is stupid." Xingqiu spoke again, breaking the silence. "I'm tired, we can deal with your ghost voice problem later." Xingqiu turned around and was already halfway up the stairs when the sound of the plate scraping against the counter sounded through the empty kitchen.
They turned back to look at the—now gone—plate of tofu. They were silent for a few moments before Xingqiu turned to him, "Did you eat it." Chongyun looked at him, offended his best friend would even suggest such a thing. "No, I did not eat it, plate and all." He gestured at the empty counter where even the ingredients were now gone.
In the place of the plate was a small yellow sticky note:
"Thanks! He likes it!"
Decorated with flowers and hearts. There was even a Glaze Lily placed next to it.
"There's two of them?" Xingqiu asked, having walked back down the stairs and was now standing in front of the sticky note. Could spirits even interact with physical things? Was this a ghost sticky note? He wasn't sure, better to be safe than sorry.
"Don't touch it." Chongyun grabbed Xingqiu's hand when the other tried to reach for it.
He only rolled his eyes and used his other hand to pick it up. "What's it gonna do? Tell me to make almond tofu at 3 am?" Chongyun was very offended.
"This place is haunted." He said instead of the very offended noise he was about to make. Xingqiu was still looking at the note, turning it over. "I think it's cute." He ignored him. "Maybe it's just a kid playing with us."
"At 3 am in the morning. For almond tofu. In the dark?" Chongyun said in disbelief. Xingqiu looked him in the eyes, "You're the one who didn't want to turn the lights on because the ghost might be sensitive." Chongyun, once again, tried very hard to not make an offended noise. He failed.
"I'm going back to sleep."
And with that Xingqiu ascended up the stairs, leaving his boyfriend in the kitchen, in the dark.
"Thank you."
"..."
With the disembodied voice.
He most certainly did not sprint up the stairs in fear. He didn't.
==
The next day the voice continued to plague the recesses of Chongyun's mind, and Xingqiu still didn't believe him.
He had to eat his breakfast while listening to a small voice whispering at him. He thought the voice might've tried to whisper at Xingqiu too but he couldn't tell. All he could hear random sentences strung together like the spirit just wanted to talk for the sake of it.
The most prominent thing however, was how the spirit was pspspspsps-ing at him.
"Please, what do you want." Chongyun whisper-sobbed to himself as he shoved a cube of ice into his mouth.
Xingqiu gave him a look, whether it was because he was talking to himself, crying, or because he had ice in his mouth, he'll never know. He just stared at him a moment longer before reaching over and patting the back of his hand.
It was comforting, if only for a little while.
"Pspspspspsps Chongyun." The voice continued to whisper.
He sobbed louder.
==
Chongyun opened the door to his room in the inn to find sticky notes covering the entirety of one wall. They were yellow and pink.
The yellow ones consisted of Hi's, Hello's and the sort. He thought he saw one with a drawing on it. It kind of looked like a certain Yaksha but he had glanced around too quickly to be sure.
The pink notes were laid out in a way that spelled his name. And they had his name written on all of them as well.
The room held the faint scent of Glaze Lilies and after looking around, he found one taped to the corner of the room. 5 feet above the floor. Menacingly.
Chongyun, the seasoned exorcist, was not scared. He did not run. He was not in Xingqiu's bed because he got frightened by some post-its. He just wanted a hug from his bro. That's all.
He tried explaining the sticky notes in his room, how they spelled his name, and how he was convinced the spirit was after him.
Xingqiu only smiled and nodded, still reading his book, stroking Chongyun's hair.
He still didn't believe him.
He didn't return to his room that night, or the following nights. Actually he just abandoned it altogether. He isn't going to willingly step foot into that room knowing there's probably a spirit watching him from one of the eight corners of the room.
That night he had a nightmare about Glaze Lilies.
And when he startled awake to find one taped to the ceiling, he did not shake Xingqiu awake frantically while screaming. He didn't.