Pet

Prompt 001: Introduction

It was cold. And dark. Gene pulled his knees to his chest, resting his chin on top and wrapping his arms around them. It was partially in an effort to keep warm... but also to disguise the fact that he was terrified.

It was irrational, right? He, a ghost hunter, a medium, was afraid of the dark.

No.

That was the wrong way to phrase it. He was not afraid of the dark. He was afraid of the creatures lurking in it. He knew that he shouldn't be; at least, not of all of them. He was a medium who focused primarily on cleansings. He shouldn't be afraid. He should be brave, nonchalantly exploring the tunnels and grinning when they came to rescue him.

What would they think if they found their medium – never mind that he was fourteen – curled up in the dark, trembling and clenching his legs tight enough to turn his knuckles white?

Yet, this thought did nothing to spur him forward.

"Ugh..."

Gene jumped, biting down harshly on his lip to bite back a scream. He tasted blood, but ignored it. He saw movement in the shadows, and he pressed his back firmly against the wall. His heart raced.

"Gene... that you?"

He almost slumped over with relief – it was just Noll. "Yeah. Its me."

He was proud to say his voice didn't crack... though when it came to having a psychic twin who could literally read your mind, that didn't matter. What did matter was if he could keep his voice strong and get himself to relax, the others would never know.

"Are you okay?"

"...m'fine."

He could feel Noll's glare through the darkness. "You are not," he accused.

Gene looked away. "Fine. I'm scared. Happy now?"

"No." Noll scooted over beside him, pressing their sides together. Gene relaxed, though he was surprised. Noll wasn't really comfortable with the whole touching thing.

"What are you scared of?"

"...you'll call me an idiot."

"Gene, I always call you an idiot."

"Promise you won't insult me."

"Gene, why would I insult you for being afraid?" Oliver was indignant, and with good reason. Gene could feel his hurt over him thinking he would do such a thing.

"...sorry. I just – I berate myself enough over it, and..."

Oliver relaxed a little. Carefully – almost hesitantly – Oliver lightly bumped their shoulders. "Tell me."

"The dark. I'm scared of the dark."

Silence. Gene felt his neck grow hot as he felt his brother's most likely incredulous stare at him. "I... thought you got over this when we were six." It was said slowly, but not accusingly. It didn't sound mocking either, which Gene was thankful for. (He knew that his brother was not one to kick a man when he was down, but... sometimes his brother didn't read the mood as aptly as he could. He was getting better, though.) It was gentle, a prompt to continue.

"Well, I'm not exactly scared of the dark. Though, I am a bit freaked because we're in a place so dark I can't even see my hand when it's flat over my nose," he amended, before continuing his explanation. "That part is over... I'm more scared of..." he trailed off, looking away.

"What might be lurking in it." Oliver finished softly.

"Exactly, and we're in a highly haunted area right now. This spirit gives me the chill when we're around everyone else... but right here... " he swallowed. "And we know better than most what's lurking out there, which means my imagination is quite a bit more... detailed."

Oliver was quiet. He started moving some, and Gene heard the rustle of fabric. It was amazing how much better your senses were when one was taken away.

After a moment, Oliver made a soft, triumphant noise. There was another sound... and then, light!

Gene was rewarded with the sight of his brother holding a match between his thumb and forefinger. He pulled out a small candle, lighting it.

"...why do you even have a candle in your pocket?"

Oliver gave him a flat stare. "Did you even pay attention during the case briefing?"

"...no."

He sighed, as if asking why he put up with this. "People keep getting dragged to dark places. Flashlights are no use near ghosts – as you know, or should know – so I started carrying these around. Madoka has some matches too and Lin has a lighter."

"...oh. To be fair, I was trying to sense the spirit!"

Oliver rolled his eyes, offering Gene the candle. Gene took it, not only relishing the light, but the warmth as well. It wasn't a lot against the cold, but holding the candle heated his palms, which felt nice. His fingers weren't so numb anymore, but that could have been more because he was gripping his legs so hard his knuckles had turned bone white than it was from the cold. They were both silent for a bit, watching the flickering flame and listening to the sound of the other's breathing.

"Do you wanna meet my pet?" Oliver said suddenly.

Gene blinked at him. "When did you get a pet?" And why had he not been notified?! His brother knew he loved small and fluffy creatures!

...come to think of it, he couldn't remember Noll showing any particular enthusiasm for animals. Of course, he'd never shown any dislike towards them either – except that one poodle, who always bit at the twins. He had just assumed he was as apathetic towards them as he was towards pumpkins (well, as apathetic as he was towards pumpkins when he didn't have to deal with them).

Oliver chuckled, a sound that was becoming more and more rare, even when it was just the two of them. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin.

Gene raised an eyebrow, and Noll just smirked. "Noll... it's just a coin."

Said coin wiggled before appearing to slid between his brother's fingers and... evaporating.

Gene frowned. Either his brother had practiced his sleight of hand more, or he was getting better at concealing his PK.

"Gene, don't be mean," Oliver chided, eyes hiding a spark of something mischievous.

There was something most people didn't know about the great Oliver Davis. It was something Gene knew very well, but only because he shared a brain with him – well, that wasn't an accurate way of saying it, but who cared, right then? (Well, Noll might, but Gene didn't.) Oliver had quite the devious side, even worse than Gene when he wanted to be.

He just didn't use it often.

He would get back at people who tried to pull one over on him first – which was usually his brother, because who in their right mind would try to prank Oliver Davis? Well, maybe Madoka, but Oliver was not so foolish as to try it with her.

Or maybe not so cruel. Because the dangerous thing about him was that no one believed he would ever do such a thing! He was always so uptight and formal that someone else got blamed – usually Gene. So maybe it was less that he wasn't foolish and more than he wouldn't feed his brother to Madoka.

Crossing her was something neither of them wished... They'd learned that early in their ghost hunting training.

It could be irritating, getting blamed for things he didn't do all the time. But, sometimes the pranks were downright hilarious, and he didn't mind taking credit for them. Noll could be a pranking genius when he wanted to be – not that Gene was surprised. His brother was a genius in a lot of things.

"Where'd it go?" he finally asked, when it became clear Oliver was waiting for him to do something.

"I dunno. He must be hiding because you were mean to him." Noll deliberately emphasized the pronouns, making Gene smile.

"I'm sorry, little coin. I meant no offense," Gene called, feeling a little ridiculous. Though, it wasn't the first time he'd called out into nothing and expected something to happen.

"It's okay!" a small voice chirped, and Gene jumped in surprise. He looked hard at his brother, though his lips hadn't moved at all!

When in the world had Noll learned ventriloquy?!

"It was cold," the voice continued, "so I hid in your sleeve."

"...wait. My sleeve?" Gene started. He lifted his arm, reaching his fingers in. Nope, nothing. He checked the other sleeve... There it was, at his elbow.

When had that happened?

Oh well – he wouldn't ask. Half the fun was not knowing, though his brother still wasn't convinced of that. He carefully withdrew the coin, staring at it incredulously.

Oliver smirked again, and Gene grinned lopsidedly. "I think you might be better in my brother's pocket."

"The coin" giggled, wiggling in his palm. The metal felt warm to the touch, and it suddenly sprang into the air, disappearing.

Gene grinned at his brother. "You've got to teach me to throw my voice," he said enthusiastically.

Oliver rolled his eyes. "And then what nefarious deeds will you use it for?"

"...oh come on! Do you really think so low of me?" Gene pouted.

He'd barely noticed that his fear had fled. Barely noticed that he'd relaxed, stretching out his legs and speaking with his brother as if they were in the Davis' living room instead of sitting in the cold and the dark.

But Oliver had. A genuine smiled crept over his lips, as Gene continued to pester him about learning ventriloquy. All was well... All was well.

Tauria: I've been considering doing this for a while, but I finally had a stroke of inspiration to match a prompt! So, I'm going to do the 100 prompts. I am going to stick as close to the actual order as possible - I am what my mom calls an "orderist" - and I'm going to try to keep ahead. Fingers crossed, I'll update this once a week, maybe twice. Probably not though... ^^; at any rate, I'll update as often as I can.

And as with any collection of one-shots I post, this will be tagged complete, as each chapter is a separate story, which is complete in it's own right.

This first one feels like a rehash of the original scene, with Naru and Mai... But I couldn't think of anything for Introductions... and then, all of a sudden, I thought about "do you want to meet my pet?" So, I hope I made different enough and that even if I didn't, you enjoyed it!