Two years after moving into a haunted house, Emil Steilsson moved out to go to college. He didn't think tertiary school was such a good idea, especially since he had just started training to become a spirit medium, and he had never gotten great grades in high school. But his parents wanted him to have some sort of degree to fall back on, since talking to ghosts didn't always pay the bills, so they had compromised on a two year program.

Emil packed up his car with the bare minimum essentials and steeled himself for his parents' no doubt teary farewell. He had insisted on moving himself in, so they could get this whole debacle over with in the privacy of their home.

"I'm not sure who I'm going to miss more," said Mr. Steilsson, "my son, or the ghost that made this house my dream home."

Oh yeah, Lukas, Emil's ghost boyfriend, was moving with him. Not that Emil's dad could see him; he just knew the ghost was near. Emil's mom, on the other hand, had been working to bring her own ghost-seeing abilities back, and gave Lukas a warm hug. Well, it was probably cold for her.

"Take care of our boy, please," she whispered to the ghost.

"Oh, I know just how to take care of him," responded Lukas with a straight face, nodding. Fortunately for Emil, his mom didn't have the ability to hear ghosts as well.

"Mom, come on," he groaned. "I won't be that far away."

"Please promise you'll come back for Halloween," said Mr. Steilsson to the area Mrs. Steilsson had just hugged. "It wouldn't be the same without you around to scare the living hell out of the neighborhood children."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Emil finally escaped his parents and pulled out of the driveway with Lukas in the passenger's seat. He had had the car since graduation, but it was still strange to see Lukas sitting up front. Usually, Emil sat in the front seat of Mathias's car, and the ghost got shunted to the back. But, well, that wasn't going to happen anymore...

"Don't look so grumpy," Lukas said as they drove out of the neighborhood. "Your dad won't actually miss me more than you."

"Well, that's debatable," Emil retorted. "But that's not what I'm thinking about. Whether or not they'll miss me, I'm sure they'll be glad to hang out with the Køhlers again."

"I'm sure that's not the first thing they thought of when watching their only son leave home."

"I don't know, they're all friends, and things have been so awkward since..."

His boyfriend had no response to that, since neither of them wanted to talk about the...that. Emil didn't even want to think about it. He took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the steering wheel, and drove silently out of his hometown.

He met Matthew, his best-friend-turned-roommate, outside their dorm. Matthew's parents had already moved him in the day before, so he helped Emil carry his things inside. Things were normal enough, until they walked through the door.

Tino's family had told Emil that he had strong abilities for someone with no training. So after a whole summer of rigorous training with highly capable people, he could sense it the moment he walked into the building. There was a ghostly presence. And not just his boyfriend silently standing next to him.

"Are you kidding me? Out of all the dorms on campus, I had to get the haunted one?"

"Jeez, I can leave if you want," Lukas grumbled.

"No, not you, another one."

"What? Is there a…ghost here?" Matthew asked nervously. "No, wait, I don't want to know. No, wait, I already know too much, so just tell me everything."

"Calm down, Mattie," Emil said distractedly, peering over his armful of stuff to survey the entrance. "There's definitely a ghost in this building, but they're not right here."

"Oh good, then where is it?"

"I know about as much as you do." His friend shot him a look. "Okay, I know more than you do, but I don't know exactly where the ghost is right now. Somewhere above us."

To his credit, Matthew bravely led the way up to their room on the sixth floor of the building, right by the western stairwell. They brought Emil's things up in one trip, dumped everything on his side of the room, then left to go meet the other people on their floor. After that, Matthew left to go see his girlfriend Lilli. Even though she was a year younger than the boys, she had graduated a year early from high school and now attended the same college as them.

Emil returned to their room to start unpacking. He and Lukas were organizing the room silently when he felt a chill in the air. And it was a megachill, because he was already use to the chills Lukas gave him. The ghost of the building had come to pay him a visit.

"Who the hell are you?" Or rather, the ghost of the building had come to pay his dead roommate a visit.

"Who the hell are you?" Lukas shot back, and the other ghost glared daggers at him. If looks could kill…but they're both already dead. The stranger looked more ghostly than any spirit Emil had ever seen, with white hair and white skin.

"You come into my building and give me that attitude?"

"Your building? I didn't see your name on it anywhere."

"You've got a lot of nerve…"

"Cool it," Emil interjected, quietly so his neighbors wouldn't hear, but forcefully so the spirits in front of him would listen. "He's with me."

"Can you see us, freshie?" asked the unknown ghost incredulously.

"Yeah, I can see you both, and you both need to knock it off. This isn't some afterlife pissing contest."

"Wait, so you two know each other?" He looked between Emil and Lukas in confusion. "Are you his pet ghost or something?"

"As a matter of fact," Lukas spat, "we're dating."

"Oh? How does that work?" The ghost looked Emil over. "You're too cute to be dating a dead guy. At least, this dead guy."

"Alright, that's enough," Emil said, cutting off any retort from his boyfriend. "Would you like to introduce yourself, since you came barging into my room?"

But just then, Matthew opened the door and came into the room. The ghost assessed the new arrival, and realizing he was only seen by one breathing boy in the room, departed with a "Maybe later, pretty boy."

Orientation week seemed so tedious to Emil. He didn't even want to be wasting his time in college, and here he was not even in class yet. Sure, it was nice to meet a bunch of new people, but he could have been using that time to train more. Of course, he knew deep down that he just didn't want to be at this particular school, but he pushed that thought out of his mind.

When he wasn't required to be at some dumb event or another, he spent his time in his dorm room, studying the books he got from Tino's family. It was easier to spend time with Lukas in the privacy of the room as well, since he wasn't about to reveal his ghost-seeing abilities or spectral boyfriend to people he had just met.

Matthew popped into their room one afternoon while Emil was reading one of his books.

"Hey, some of us are going out for froyo, wanna come?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm good," Emil replied without any consideration, not even bothering to look up from his book. When Matthew didn't respond or leave, he looked up at his roommate, who was studying him.

"You're not going to run into Mathias, this school isn't that small. You don't need to be afraid to leave the dorm."

"I'm not afraid, I just don't feel like getting froyo right now. Don't worry, I won't be alone." He gestured to Lukas, who was reading a book on his bed.

"Alright, maybe next time," Matthew sighed.

As Matthew left, Emil felt a chill in the air and groaned internally. He didn't feel like dealing with this new ghost right now.

"Hey there, losers," said the ghost as he breezed into the room. "So, who's this Mathias guy you're avoiding?"

"Eavedropping on us already?" Emil asked dully.

"I haven't spoken to anyone in over ten years, eavesdropping is all I have."

With an outward groan this time, Emil closed his book and turned to face the ghost. "Could you at least introduce yourself if you're going to pry into my life?"

"Are you gonna tell me who Mathias is?"

"You know, I'm actually a spirit medium, and I could banish you from here if I wanted to."

"Okay, okay, jeez, for someone who's dating a ghost, you aren't very friendly to us."

"Wait until you see how friendly I can be," Lukas said neutrally, flipping the page in his book. The other ghost glared at him.

"You wanna go, newbie?"

"Alright, I'm getting the salt," Emil said, reaching towards one of the drawers in his desk.

"No, come on, we're just joking around!" The strange ghost put his hands up defensively.

"I'm not," Lukas added.

"Name," Emil demanded through gritted teeth.

"Gilbert Beilschmidt." The ghost blinked at him. "You're real cute when you're angry."

"I'm Emil, and that's my boyfriend Lukas." He chose to ignore the ghost's comment.

"Heya," Gil said to Lukas, but the other ghost completely ignored him.

"How did you die?" Emil had gently asked Lukas the same question a couple of years ago, because the answer was always traumatic. Now, however, he had no energy to act gentle. Gilbert grinned at him.

"I was murdered."

"What?!" Emil and Lukas exclaimed in unison.

"That got your attention, didn't it?"

"Are you serious?" Emil asked incredulously, but now it was the ghost's turn to ignore him.

"How did you die, newbie?" He wanted to tell this ghost to fuck off and not upset his boyfriend, but he had just demanded the same thing from him a second ago.

"I killed myself," Lukas replied off-handedly. At least, that was probably how he appeared to Gilbert, but Emil knew better.

"How did you do it?"

"Were you really murdered?" he interrupted, and the spirit smirked at him, wagging his finger.

"You first, pretty boy. Who's Mathias?"

"He's my…ex-boyfriend…our ex-boyfriend."

The ghost whistled in appreciation. "You lead a very interesting life, Emil." The way he purred the name made Emil shift uncomfortably. "Is he dead or alive?"

"Alive."

"So he's like you?"

"Well, he can see ghosts, too, but he's not training as a medium."

"And you decided to go to the same college as him?"

"Things with him just ended this summer." Emil was hoping to sound as nonchalant as possible, but he felt sick to his stomach.

"So why did things end?" He heard Lukas shift on the bed, but he refused to look over at his boyfriend.

"Who murdered you?" He hoped the change in subject wasn't too obvious.

"That's the million-dollar question, isn't it?" Gilbert pulled Matthew's chair out from his desk and sat in it backwards. "I have no idea. My death was officially labelled an accident; they thought I got too drunk and fell down the stairs."

"How do you know you were murdered?" Lukas asked.

"How do you know you killed yourself? Because I was there, duh. I wasn't that drunk, and I felt someone push me and saw them watch me fall."

"Jesus" was all Emil could manage.

"Hey, you said you're a medium or whatever. Isn't it your job to help me?"

"You want me to find out who killed you?" Emil had flashbacks to The Sixth Sense, but he was still in training. Did this ghost really think he could investigate a supposed murder?

"He's not your errand boy," Lukas said hotly.

"But you're supposed to help me move on, right?" Gilbert asked, looking hopeful. "Finding my murderer would be a big push in that direction."

"I…I'll have to think about it." Emil answered, and the spirit across from him smiled happily.

"He's cute and kind, the total package," he cooed.

"Alright, get out of here," Lukas said, walking over the other ghost, grabbing him roughly, and shoving him out of the room.

I know I said I was done with Little Talks, but it turns out I can't let this story go. This one will probably have a little less humor and more angst, but what can you do?