FicWad

The next few hours were spent consisting of Madeline and Brendon quietly sharing stories back and forth, Brendon telling her about going on tour, his band mates who she now knew the names of, Ryan Ross their lyricist and guitarist, Jon Walker who's liver was apparently abnormally large and was their flip-flop wearing bassist, and Spencer Smith, the drummer and one who managed to never smile in any photograph whether it be for a magazine or a photo-shoot or even candid. She laughed more than she ever imagined she would with a ghost, especially at Brendon's facial expressions, which ranged from crazy eyebrow wiggling to his full lips twisting into fishy faces and his upper lip curling into a smirk whenever he remembered something particularly funny. She admittedly laughed more at his reactions to the memories than at the memories themselves, except she still found herself giggling hours later at several stories that all included Jon Walker.

Later that night, when her father finally called up announcing half of Ping's Palace menu was now sitting at the dusty dinner table, Madeline saw the smile on Brendon Urie's face fade into one of disappointment and a trace of fear, and her heart broke once more. "I'm sorry...my father won't be able to see you unless you want him to...and I don't eat all that much so I swear I'll come right back..." She found herself pleading for that wide smile to reappear back on his face. And it did, slightly, just for her reassurance that he, the ghost, was fine with being along for a mere hour, compared to the decade he'd had to deal with. "Sure...just bring your fortune cookie up, you can tell a Chinese restaurant is good depending on whether or not their fortunes are true or cheesy." Madeline laughed at that and left the piano room with a lingering smile, hiding it from her father as she ate quickly, barely tasting the food as she grabbed two fortune cookies and ran back upstairs, ignoring her father's queries of what was so interesting up there.

When she came back to the piano room, the first thing she noticed was that it was twilight, and the second thing she noticed right away was that Brendon was absent from the room. Frowning, she headed for his room, and jumped slightly at the familiar tingles running up her spine as he made his presence known, 'sitting' on the foot of the bed and leaning back on his hands, waiting and that slow smile spreading on his pale pink lips once she entered, her breathing uneven. "Surprised? I saw you itching your nose way too many times to be natural, so I figured I'd move somewhere less dusty." He explained to her, stressing the 'y' to make her giggle and wiggling his eyebrows once more as he spotted the two fortune cookies in her small hand. "Hey sweet, you got an extra one for me? How cute." He teased her, and Madeline was secretly relieved. The greatest step towards freeing a house of a spirit was for the spirit to become more comfortable around you. "Stop teasing, they always give extra to a guy with no wife and a kid." She explained with sarcasm, and held out her hand to him. He stared at it warily, stretching out his transparent fingers slowly. "Won't my hand go right through you?" He murmured, more frightened than Madeline thought he'd be. "It's twilight...it's the time of day where mediums can actually have physical contact with spirits...it's the most dangerous time of day for me." She whispered, memories flooding her mind before she focused solely on his hand growing less transparent and more solid than it'd ever be, and sliding against hers, the fortune cookie falling to the floor and cracking loudly.


Her heart racing as she raised her palm, his large, calloused palm dwarfing hers as he held it against her warm skin, and she noticed his lips part in a silent gasp at the feeling of her pulse, racing fast and even, something he hadn't felt in ten years. Madeline, without thinking, stepped closer, her emerald gaze focused on his warm chocolate eyes, and Brendon inhaled slightly, about to speak when Madeline's right foot came down on the fallen fortune cookie, crunching the sweet to pieces and making them both jump, making Madeline blush and bend down to pick up the broken cookie. "I'm sorry...I crushed your fortune." She commented, trying to make the awkward moment disappear as she carefully open the plastic wrapping and used two fingers to dig out the slip of paper hidden beneath crumbs of tan cookie. "No problem...doesn't really apply to the dead, anyway, those fortunes, so no worries." He commented sarcastically, making Madeline wince. "It says...old and new will unite and what was once buried will arise. Your lucky numbers are 4, 16, 17, 28, and 30." "Bummer. You'd better choose another restaurant. April 30th was the day I died."

((Thanks for the reviews! I listened to Buttons by Sia, Lexington by Chiodos, Erase/Rewind by The Cardigans and How Soon Is Now by The Smiths while writing this chapter. Music is the best influence when you're stuck!)