He read through the entire night.

At first, Keith tried to stop reading and waited for sleep, like the first night, but it never came. He wondered if maybe it was a one time thing. Eventually he gave up and continued reading.  Now there he was, still sitting by the flat screen TV, wide awake, but now staring at the carpeted floor in silence.

Maybe he should have asked Effie about it when he had the chance.

Suddenly he missed her. When he couldn't talk to Shiro about something, he always asked Effie. He always told her anyway and he wished he had her by his side now so she could help him out of this mess. Either way, he found himself talking out loud to her.

"Effie, something crazy happened."

He imagined her sitting next to him looking surprised. "You rarely find anything interesting enough to call crazy."

"This is."

"So tell me, Slug."

"I...died."

"Died?"

"Sort of. I'm not really dead. Just a ghost. My body is asleep in a hospital."

"That definitely constitutes as crazy." She nodded, "Continue."

That was Effie. Even if Keith talked about things that were impossible, she never ceased believing him. If Keith said it was true, then Effie agreed. He really wished she were there now. He really wished she weren't dead and he wasn't making this conversation up in his head.

"But this is the crazier part. The whole reason I'm in this mess is because of my unresolved feelings for Lance. Fucking insane."

"I knew you still had feelings."

He frowned, upset that, yes, she had been right the entire time. Keith was just fond of denying it in hopes of it becoming true. Unfortunately, it hadn't worked. "That's not the point. Because how the hell will I solve this? How do I get out of it?"

"Maybe you have to get over him." 

"Could it really be that easy?" He dropped his head in his hands. "Seeing him isn't helping me get rid of any feelings and," he sighed, "he doesn't even seem to remember me."

"Didn't you say you talked to him like once?"

He looked up. "Okay yes and I guess that would help cut off any feelings but it still couldn't possibly be that easy."

"What else is there, slug? How else could you solve the problem?"

"I don't know, Effie. I don't fucking know."

"Well, when you think of anything else, I'll be here to listen and help you figure out a plan."

Keith closed his eyes, "No, Effie, you won't. And that's probably what's making this harder than it needs to be."

He was starting down a spiral after finishing his "conversation" with Effie, the sadness from losing one of his closest friends dragging him deeper with every breath he took, when he heard footsteps coming from the stairs. He opened his eyes and saw Lance coming down. He was grateful he had unintentionally interrupted his descent into the pit of despair because if he hadn't, he would have started crying. If it was possible to cry in his current state.

Keith watched as he walked down for a couple seconds before remembering what he had planned just moments before. He didn't like it but he thought the best thing he could do at the moment was thoroughly explain everything to Lance. Even his crush on him. Since high school. 

Although, would he really have to know?  Keith thought, I mean, if in the end I won't like him anymore why would he need to know?

No. He shook his head. One of the best things to do was to get all these feelings off his chest. Lance would know, Keith wouldn't have anything locked up anymore and voila! No more feelings! It would also make it easier on Lance so he wouldn't freak out every time he saw him. So he took a deep breath and stood to follow him into the kitchen. As that seemed to be where he was sleepily heading toward. 

Lance couldn't hear him following him due to his ghosting steps and never noticed him following him because of the same reasons. Did he forget he was there? Most likely he thought it was a dream. Unfortunately for both of them, it was very much real. Effie was dead and Keith was a living ghost in the house of his longtime famous crush because of some weird unfinished business. Honestly, what the fuck was wrong with the world.

Lance reached for the refrigerator door and Keith psyched himself up to talk to him, hoping it would go better than it did the day before. Lance opened the fridge at the same time Keith said, "Hey."

Lance nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Keith's voice. If he wasn't fully awake before, he was now. He spun around, letting the fridge door close and let out a little squeak. "Holy mother of shit!"

Keith snorted, "If I was a mom, this would be a hundred times more complicated."

"Am I still dreaming? There can't really be a ghost in my apartment. There wasn't one before when we bought it." He ran a hand down his face like there was a veil covering his eyes and that was the reason he was seeing things.

Keith waited until he looked at him again before speaking, "I need you to let me explain everything. Properly." And Keith was not going to take a no for an answer. If he was going to get anywhere, ie. out of there, he needed to explain.

Lance still looked skeptical and maybe even a little scared. Keith couldn't blame him. This was a strange situation and Lance didn't know what to expect. Heck, neither did Keith, but he was sure as hell going to try everything he could to get out of there. "Okay." He sighed and turned back toward the living room. "Let's go to my music room, its soundproof and I don't want Hunk thinking I'm going crazy."