sarah

the case of edwin's hiccups

“Charles, could you pass me the - Blood and Bone compendium please?” Edwin says from his place at the desk, hidden behind a pile of ancient books. He pauses strangely in the middle of his sentence.

“Uh, sure, which shelf is it on?” Charles asks, moving over to their mini library.

“Back - bookcase, three shelves - down,” he pauses again between words.

“Got it.”

Charles takes the book from the shelf and returns to the desk, dropping it on the top of Edwin’s ‘potentially helpful’ pile.

“Are you okay?” he asks, eyeing Edwin suspiciously. He notices his chest jolt slightly.

“I’m perfectly - fine, Charles.”

With every pause, his mouth closes as though trying to hold something back.

“Nah, mate, I can tell something’s wrong, what is it?”

“Nothing is-” this time, instead of a quiet pause, Edwin hiccups loudly. “I’m fine. Let’s just get on with this research before poor Emilia loses all sanity she has left.”

Edwin reaches for Blood and Bone, but Charles gets there first, stopping him.

“Charles, pl-” hic “-ease.”

“Ah, you’ve got hiccups!” Charles says, trying not to laugh.

Edwin huffs, rolling his eyes.

Charles chuckles, then his smile disappears.

“Hold on. How can ghosts get hiccups? This has never happened before to either of us.”

“I don’t know, but that really isn’t our priority right now.”

“But what if it’s dangerous? We should at least look it up. We don’t need to breathe, so that’s weird.”

Edwin looks up at him, visibly annoyed but also clearly in agreement. The worried look on Charles’s face is what ultimately convinces him.

“Fine, I’ll need Spectral Maladies.”

Charles retrieves it from the shelf. It’s one of the books they rely on often, so he knows exactly how far along which shelf he needs to go to grab it.

“Thank you,” Edwin says, opening the book to the contents page and running his finger down the alphabetised list. “H, H, H-” hic “-hiccups.”

Charles snorts back a laugh. “You hiccupped right when you said it.”

“Yes, I noticed. Now…”

Edwin skims the page, then reads aloud.

“’While very rare, ghosts can - get hiccups just like living people. Despite not breathing, the - diaphragm can still contract. In ghosts, hiccups are – not harmful. However-,’ ugh.”

“What is it?”

“’However, much like with hiccups in humans who are still living, there is no - guaranteed cure. The malady must simply be waited out until it subsides.’”

“Oh, so it’s literally just like normal hiccups,” Charles shrugs, visibly relaxing in the knowledge that Edwin isn’t at any risk of harm.

“Not entirely,” Edwin replies. “’The one thing that differentiates the living from the spectral in this case is that a ghost’s – experience is much more dependent on their emotions. Frustration and anger especially can lead the ailment to get - worse, and can lead to them persisting for longer.’”

“Right. So wait and keep calm, pretty much.”

“Yep. And there is no danger. So-” hic “-let’s continue with the case, shall we?”

Edwin closes Spectral Maladies and places it on the pile of books to his left, a stack of tomes which he has deemed unhelpful in their research on pine pixies to help save a young girl having visions of terrifying futures every time she closes her eyes.

An hour passes. The pile to Edwin’s left only gets taller – and the hiccups still persist.

Edwin has his head in his hands, a book on supernatural psychology open in front of him, desperately trying to read over a page on hallucinations; but having to reread every other line since his thought is interrupted by yet another hiccup. He huffs in frustration.

“You alright, mate?”

“These damned hiccups won’t – go away.”

“I know, but that book said they get worse with frustration, yeah? This case research probably isn’t helping.”

“It definitely isn’t, but we - need to figure out - what’s happening here - Charles.”

“Yeah we do, but don’t you think it’s time we had a break? It’s nearly 4am,” Charles says, putting the book he was reading down and pacing over to the desk.

“We don’t need - sleep, I do not see the - point in a break.”

“We need a break because-” Charles plucks the book from Edwin’s hands. “-you’re getting overwhelmed. We haven’t gotten anywhere with these books in two hours, let’s at least stop til this goes away so you can focus.”

“I suppose – you have – a point.” Edwin can barely get a word out now; his hiccups are so intense.

They move the piles of books away from the desk and onto the sofa for now, so they’re hopefully out of Edwin’s mind. Charles proposes they try some of the ways his mum used to try and help get rid of hiccups when he was a kid.

“Hold your breath, maybe?” he suggests.

“I doubt – that would work, Charles. We – don’t breathe unless we – choose to anyway. The diaphragm – would contract regardless.”

“Try?”

Edwin takes a deep breath and holds it. The hiccups still continue at the same frequency. Charles sighs.

“Never mind then. Are you still frustrated at the job, mate? They don’t seem to have calmed down at all since we put the books away.”

“No. Well – yes. But not – entirely. I always – got overwhelmed with – hiccups as a child. They’re – not a particularly - fun sensory experience.”

“Alright, let’s just focus on getting rid of them then.”

Charles hums, thinking.

“My mum always said chugging a glass of water was meant to help.”

“We can’t drink – Charles.”

“Yeah…it never worked anyway. The only other thing was…” Charles’s eyes move away from Edwin’s to look above him.

“What?” Edwin asks impatiently.

Charles doesn’t reply, just stares over the top of Edwin’s head in silence. Edwin turns to see what he’s looking at, but there doesn’t seem to be anything of note there, just the dim glow of the streetlamps below.

“Charles, what? What - else helped?”

Still, Charles doesn’t move.

“Are you-“

“RAH!” Charles suddenly shouts, leaning closer to Edwin, who jumps back a little in his seat, one hand clutching his lapel.

“Charles you scared the daylights out of me.”

“Exactly. Mum always used to try and make me jump to like, scare the hiccups away? That actually sounds stupid now that I think about it.”

“Well, maybe – there is some logic there. If – the diaphragm experiences – a sudden jolt, perhaps – it would stop – the spasms.”

“It didn’t work though, clearly.”

“Try again, perhaps.”

“But you’ll know it’s coming, it won’t work.”

Edwin huffs in frustration.

While Charles thinks, Edwin’s hiccupping only seems to get worse until eventually they’re happening so rapidly he sounds like he’s hyperventilating. One hand sits on his chest, as though somehow trying to compress them to stop them escaping.

“Hey, mate, it’s alright,” Charles comforts, putting his hand over Edwin’s on his chest.

“I – just – want – them – gone,” Edwin manages, clearly very overwhelmed. He had already taken off his jacket and vest, but now he’s also taken off his bow tie and undone the top few buttons of his shirt, as though he’s struggling for breath.

“I have one idea,” Charles says finally.

He really doesn’t want to. This isn’t how he wanted this particular thing to go, but he was at a loss, unable to think of anything else that could scare or shock Edwin that he wouldn’t be anticipating. This is the final option. Besides, he can’t leave Edwin sitting there suffering. He may not be in much pain but this is clearly affecting him as though it is, and he seems on the verge of tears.

Charles takes a deep breath, and crouches on the floor in front of Edwin’s desk chair. He moves his hand from Edwin’s chest up to his collarbone, and his other hand joins it, mimicking the comforting motions he used on the way out of Hell.

At the simple motion, the hiccups seem to slow down, and Edwin breathes deeply, focusing on the sensation. Slowing down is good, slowing down means Edwin’s less frustrated and overwhelmed. But the gentle touch wouldn’t make them go away completely.

“Right, I really wanted this to happen at a better moment but I think it’s all I have left, okay?”

Edwin nods, confusion evident on his face.

“Do you trust me?” Charles asks seriously.

“Yes.” Edwin responds immediately.

“Are you sure?”

“Always, Charles.”

Edwin has no idea what he’s expecting Charles to do. What he certainly does not expect is for Charles to lean forwards and kiss him.

Edwin gasps as their lips touch. The kiss only lasts a split second before Charles pulls back, checking Edwin’s face for signs of discomfort and further distress; he finds none.

“What-” Edwin begins.

“I’ve figured it out mate. Turns out I’m in love with you, too.”

“Really?”

Edwin can barely believe this. A moment ago, he was bordering on hyperventilating in overstimulation, and now he’s breathing just as quickly for an entirely different reason, that he could not have possibly anticipated. Charles…feels the same?

“Yeah,” Charles smiles, leaning his forehead against Edwin’s. “Proper gone for you. When I really think about it, it couldn’t be anyone else, could it?”

Edwin pushes his face further forward, capturing Charles’s lips in a second kiss. How else is he supposed to respond? His hand reaches to hold Charles’s face, pulling him in as close as possible as their lips begin to part and the kiss deepens.

Edwin had dreamed about this moment for so long, but he couldn’t have predicted the true feeling of Charles’s mouth moving against his own. It was infinitely more than the kiss with Monty: he could feel the warmth of Charles’s skin, his breath on his face each time they momentarily parted, the slight roughness of Charles’s chapped lips. It’s clumsy, but it’s soft, and it’s perfect.

Eventually, they pull away, looking into each other’s eyes and smiling widely.

“Well,” Charles says, a little breathless. “Looks like that worked.”

“Worked?” Edwin is equally out of breath.

“You’re not hiccupping anymore, mate.”

Oh. Charles is right. His chest is calmer, the ache within it beginning to fade away. He is able to focus properly on more things around him – his notebook open on the desk in front of him; the pile of books dropped onto the sofa; Charles’s hand on the back of his neck, gently running through his hair. He is no longer overwhelmed by the feeling of his chest spasming, now only by the love and shock of what just happened between him and the grinning boy in front of him.

“Oh. It appears not.” He says simply. Then one corner of his mouth moves upwards into a slight knowing smirk. “Well, perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to continue…just to be absolutely certain this cure has worked.”

He can’t help it. He’s been given one of the things he has been both wanting for months and simultaneously trying desperately not to want. Now he has it, he’s insatiable. He misses Charles’s kiss already, and it’s only been seconds since they parted.

“Oh, definitely,” Charles agrees, nodding with enthusiasm. “It’s a proper investigation, innit?”

“Precisely,” Edwin replies, tugging Charles back in by his chain necklace and causing a quiet yelp to escape his throat before being muffled by Edwin’s lips.

“This better not happen again, the hiccups thing,” Charles says when they move apart once more.

“Why?”

“Well, I don’t think I’ve got anything else that’s enough to shock you out of them,” he laughs.

“It wouldn’t hurt to attempt this tried and tested method again, I wouldn’t think,” Edwin raises one eyebrow slightly.

“Yeah? Who would’ve thought, snogging as a cure for hiccups.”

“It’s certainly not mentioned in Spectral Maladies. Although, I may add it in as a footnote. Just in case.”

“’Course.”

Edwin stands up from his desk chair, purposefully brushing past Charles on his way to grab the book from the sofa. He brings it back, sits back down and opens it to the page on ghost hiccups. He takes his pen and jots a note in the bottom corner of the page:

Approved methods of remedy:

- Kissing 

Smiling to himself, he drops the pen back into the inkwell and looks up at Charles. He still can’t quite comprehend what has been established in the last few minutes.

“Are you…certain? About your feelings for me?” he asks, just to be sure; just because he wants to hear it again.

“Absolutely certain.”

“Because…you know you don’t have to return my affections. I am perfectly fine with our relationship continuing to be strictly platonic,” Edwin reassures.

He hopes Charles knows that his confession had not been intended as an expectation.

“Mate, do you really think our relationship has ever been ‘strictly platonic’?” Charles laughs.

He does have a point.

“Well, I will admit we’re not exactly your average pair of close friends.”

Would normal friends be able to live with one another every day and night for thirty-four years? Would normal friends run from Death herself together for eternity? Would normal friends literally go to Hell for one another? Edwin doubts it.

“That’s an understatement,” Charles says. “I, uh, I talked to Crystal about it, since she seemed to notice we were a bit weird right when she met us.”

“And what did she say?”

“She kinda suggested something to me that made me rethink everything. She said maybe the reason I didn’t think I was in love with you was because I didn’t have a crush.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, in my mind, romantic relationships kinda always go down the route of: you meet someone, you develop romantic feelings, then you get together. Or if you’re friends first, there’s a big moment where it hits you that there’s something else there. I never felt that with you. But I guess the reason I never noticed it was because there wasn’t one moment. It’s happened so gradually I was never even aware of it.”

“I suppose not everyone gets thirty years for their relationship to develop.”

“Exactly. So I guess instead of having an oh shit I’m in love with my best friend moment, after your confession I kind of had an oh shit I’ve beenin love with my best friend for years moment. It was…a lot.”

“Well, this certainly is an unexpected development.”

“I’m just sorry I made you wait. I fully realised a month or so after we got back from America but I was trying to plan something proper special. And, well, apparently ghost hiccups count as special enough.”

“I would have waited an eternity for you, Charles Rowland, if it meant I could have this,” Edwin confesses, taking Charles’s hand in his own. “And even if I couldn’t, I would wait still. Your mere presence is worth everything to me.”

Charles doesn’t know how to respond to that, can’t respond, so he does the only thing he can: lunges forward to kiss his partner yet again, this time much more intensely and passionately, one leg lifting to kneel beside Edwin’s thigh on his chair. He holds Edwin’s face in his hands as he all but devours him, Edwin’s own hands moving to grab his waist, gripping tightly in a way Charles wholeheartedly believes he could get drunk on. Edwin gasps into his mouth, and that only spurs him on more.

The moment is suddenly broken when the front door to the office bursts open, and Crystal enters.

“Hey guys, how- Jesus Christ!” she shrieks upon spotting the boys practically on top of each other on Edwin’s desk chair.

She covers her eyes dramatically. Charles carefully lifts himself off Edwin, desperately holding back laughter.

Edwin clears his throat, attempting to fix his collar.

“Good morning, Crystal.”

“Hey,” Charles says, grinning.

“Can I uncover my eyes now?” Crystal asks.

“Yeah, yeah, we were just kissing don’t panic.”

“Good,” she says, taking her coat off and hanging it up beside the door.

She walks over to Charles, a knowing smile on her face. “Why didn’t you tell me you were planning something?”

She hits him lightly on the arm.

“It wasn’t exactly…planned,” Charles laughs.

“What happened?”

“Uh…hiccups?”

Crystal raises an eyebrow.

“I’m not even gonna ask,” she shakes her head. “But now that this”- Crystal points at them, indicating between the two– “is a thing, we’re gonna need some rules for this office so I don’t actually get fucking traumatised.”

Crystal sits in the clients chair opposite Edwin, expectantly. Charles gets the message, perching on the arm of Edwin’s chair as Crystal begins listing her rules for working with a couple of repressed teenage ghosts now in the honeymoon phase.

fake it 'til you make it...or something like that

“Those two had better get here on time, this case is rather urgent!” Edwin says impatiently, glancing at the clock; it’s nearly 10am.

“They’ll be here don’t worry,” Charles assures.

He’s sitting on the floor, polishing his new cricket bat with a magic varnish that would hopefully prevent any future breakages like what happened in Esther’s basement.

At that moment, as if they had heard them talking, the front door opens and Niko enters, all but dragging Crystal behind her.

“Morning, guys!” Niko says cheerily.

“Morning,” Crystal mumbles in response, immediately heading for the tiny sofa and flopping down on it.

They’d been out the night prior with a few friends they’d made on a recent case. Crystal turned 18 a couple of weeks ago, and it had been a few months since Niko’s birthday, so they joined them on a night out at a supernatural gay club in Soho. Going by how she looks this morning, Charles and Edwin suppose Crystal had a little more to drink than Niko did.

“You two had fun last night then?” Charles smiles, repacking the bat in his backpack.

“Yes! It was so good!” Niko enthuses.

She begins rambling about their experiences at the club, particularly animated about the music and the dancing. Crystal nods along silently from where she’s slouched on the sofa.

Edwin listens intently to Niko’s retelling and once she’s finished, he opens his mouth to reply.

“That sounds wonderful, Niko. Would…would I possibly be able to come with you next time?” he asks, his hands fidgeting a little on the desk in front of him.

Crystal sits up slightly at that.

“Are you sure it’d be your thing?” she asks, her voice slightly gravelly.

“Well, I suppose I’ll never know unless I try.”

Niko flashes him a huge grin. She’s been trying to get him to try new things more often for months since she returned from the place she got stuck in after her ‘death’ and is overjoyed that he seems to be considering this.

“If it’s the queer aspect of it you’re interested in, there is a lot more to queer culture than clubbing. I didn’t expect it to be your thing,” Crystal says.

“I’d like to try,” Edwin replies, determined.

“Okay well, Jamie, Sammie and Liv are planning on going again next Friday so I’ll tell them we’ll have two more tagging along.”

Crystal pulls her phone out of the pocket of her shorts and texts them.

“Hold on, two more?” Edwin asks.

“Well, I’m presuming since we’re all going Charles is too,” Crystal replies, not looking up from her screen.

“Charles?” Edwin turns to him.

“Yeah, why not? It’ll be fun!”

“That’s settled then. Texting Jamie now.”

“Good, then let’s focus, shall we? We have a case to crack,” Edwin says, indicating to the stack of books sitting on the edge of the desk.

The Case of the Meddlesome Mask was complete within a few days, and the agency’s case board remained empty for the rest of the week, which gave the four of them time to plan the most important part of their night out – outfits.

When Friday came around, they split into pairs to get ready – Niko at the office with Edwin, and Crystal at her and Niko’s flat with Charles.

“Are you certain this outfit is necessary, Niko? What’s wrong with my usual clothing?”

“You look like a schoolboy! Not a cool club look.”

“Right.”

“And the outfit I picked out for you isn’t too different, don’t worry. I’m not putting you in a crop top and fishnets.”

Edwin feels himself blush at simply the concept.

“That is something, I suppose.”

Niko is already ready for the night, her outfit brightly coloured as usual, just a lot more sparkly: a yellow halter dress with a matching headband, a pink tote bag and bold pink and yellow glittery eyeshadow. She looks beautiful and eccentric, as always.

Niko reaches into her bag and takes out a shirt and a pair of trousers, both much duller in colour than her own outfit. She places them on the desk, and Edwin hovers his hand over them. He mutters an incantation in Aramaic and the clothes seem to flicker in and out of reality for a second before resettling.

“Yay. All ghostified!”

Niko turns around to face the window as Edwin begins to change.

“Let me know if you need any help!” she says.

“I think I can manage,” Edwin chuckles, removing his bow tie and detachable collar.

Once his shirt and undershirt are removed, he holds up the new shirt Niko picked out for him. It is a gorgeous dark blue, and looks a tiny bit smaller than his usual clothes.

“Are you sure this will fit, Niko?”

“Yeah! We measured you and everything! I’m guessing the shirt is a little tighter fitting than what you usually wear, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Ah.”

Edwin slips the shirt on. Niko is right, it is much tighter fitting than his school uniform. It’s different but…he thinks he’ll get used to it. He buttons it up, then moves onto the trousers. He sits down to take his boots off, then untucks the ends of his knickerbockers from his socks and removes them too.

The trousers Niko picked out are black and fitted, and Edwin once again worries they may be too small. However when he puts them on, they fit perfectly, even if they do feel a little strange to him.

Edwin tucks the shirt into the trousers, then clears his throat.

“You can turn around now, Niko.”

Niko turns around to look at him and smiles.

“They suit you so well!” she runs up to him and hugs him.

Edwin smiles back, looking down at his clothes.

“But…”

“What?”

“At the club most people would wear it a little more…casually?” she explains. She raises her hands to his neck. “Can I?”

Edwin nods.

Niko carefully undoes the top few buttons on Edwin’s shirt, enough that his collarbones are visible, along with a very subtle hint of hair at the top of his chest.

“There.”

“Are you sure, Niko? I feel a little…naked.”

“If you want them done up that’s fine! I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, but this looks really good.”

“Hmm…”

Edwin considers but ultimately decides to leave the buttons as Niko changed them.

Niko tilts her head a little, as though inspecting him.

“Maybe roll the sleeves up, too? I think that would really elevate the look,” she says, as though she’s on her own fashion TV show.

The shirt is nearly so tight it’s impossible, but Edwin does manage to roll the sleeves up just past his elbow. The outfit makes him feel a little less formal than usual, like he could let loose a little more; which, he supposed, was the whole point of the evening.

“Perfect!” Niko says, at the same moment her phone buzzes in her bag.

She pulls it out to check it, then frowns.

“No!” she groans.

“What is it?”

“Crystal’s just texted. Jamie, Sammie and Liv can’t make it anymore.”

“Oh.”

Edwin looks down at the floor, then reaches up as though to begin taking the outfit off, just as he was starting to really like it.

“No!” Niko shouts, stopping him. “No, we’re still going! It’ll just be the four of us instead of seven.”

Edwin sighs in relief.

“Ah, right.”

“You ready to go meet them outside the flat?”

“I think so.”

Edwin offers his arm to Niko, who interlinks her own, and they leave the office.

Charles and Crystal are already waiting for them outside the block of flats the girls live in.

Crystal is wearing a purple mesh top with a black bralette underneath, along with torn-looking black denim shorts and her heavy floral boots. She has her hair braided at the front and covered in purple glitter, her curls loose at the back. She and Niko look like the sun and the moon came alive as teenage girls.

Charles’s outfit is what distracts Edwin the most, simply because it is Charles. He’s replaced his red polo shirt with a vest in the same colour, not unlike the white one he wears beneath his typical clothes. With it, he wears similar black shorts to Crystal, only his are less torn and longer. Edwin can’t help staring at his legs for a while. His chain necklace glimmers on his collarbone, sitting directly on his skin rather than his shirt, and oh. He’s put more eyeliner on than usual. Rather than just a tiny amount on his bottom waterline, the black makeup goes all around his eyes and flicks out into a point at the corners. It makes the brown of his irises look even warmer, somehow.

Charles seems equally as taken aback by Edwin’s outfit. He wears his own clothes more casually sometimes, sure, but they are much looser fitting than the shirt he is wearing right now, and he never undoes quite so many of his buttons. Charles finds himself mesmerised by the way his biceps move beneath the fabric, and the way it clings to his chest to reveal he is much more muscular than expected beneath all those usual layers. Edwin looked…fit. Well, he always did, but now that was brought to the forefront in the best way. That doesn’t mean Charles is attracted to him. No, Edwin being fit is just a fact. Anyone can see that. Definitely.

Neither boy realises they’re properly staring at the other until Crystal clears her throat and breaks them out of their trance.

“Are you two just gonna keep ogling each other or are we gonna get moving?”

“Shh, Crystal, they’ve only seen each other in one outfit for thirty years, let them ogle,” Niko whisper-shouts, grinning as her eyes flick back and forth between the two.

“I’m not ogling,” Charles says, but the slight nervous laugh in his voice gives away the fact that yeah, he definitely was.

The four of them walk the short journey to the club and queue up to get in. Niko and Crystal join the queue for the living, where they show the bouncers their IDs and get let in, while Charles and Edwin join the queue for ghosts. Since if a person dies underage, their ghosts remain forever minors, there are exceptions to the age restrictions at this particular club. It’s not as if they’re going to be purchasing alcohol anyway; they physically cannot drink it. For ghosts, the club serves more as a social space than anything else.

Upon entering the club, both Charles and Edwin are taken aback by how full it is – the dance floor is packed, there is a crowd around the bar, and most of the small tables dotted around are taken by groups of people and beings in even more extravagant outfits than those Niko and Crystal are wearing. Edwin is a little overwhelmed, but he feels free.

“You guys good?” Crystal asks, her and Niko having finally reached the front of the entrance queue. She has to shout over the loud music.

“Yes, I think so,” Edwin replies.

“Niko and I are heading to dance, wanna come with?”

“I think I might find a place to sit down first!”

“Yeah, same,” Charles says.

“Suit yourself. We’ll be in the crowd,” Crystal manages to shout as Niko drags her into the mass of people.

Edwin and Charles manage to find two stools at the far end of the bar and sit down. The music isn’t quite as loud over here, so they can actually hear one another.

“What do you think?” Charles asks.

“It’s definitely different.”

“Good different or bad different?”

“Good, I think.”

Edwin turns around on his stool to take in the view of the place – so many people, most of them like him, celebrating it and having fun. He spotted a couple of men in one corner of the dance floor, pressed so close to each other they could be one. One leans in, and the other follows, and soon they’re fully making out right there, in front of everyone. And no one cares. A few people around them cheer, a few whistle, but no one shouts. No one gasps in horror. No one throws any punches or slurs at them. They’re just allowed to be.

Edwin smiles and tries not to cry a little. How times have changed.

Charles taps him on the shoulder. He can feel it much more than he normally can through the single thin shirt he’s wearing.

“There’s a bunch of music posters on the wall over there mate, do you mind if I go have a look?”

“Of course, Charles.”

“You gonna be alright here?”

Edwin nods. Charles grins, and heads over to where he was indicating.

Edwin watches him take in the dozens of posters plastering the wall, the way he gets excited when he sees one he recognises and clearly takes a mental note of others he finds intriguing and wants to check out.

Then suddenly his view is blocked.

A man enters his view and sits on the stool Charles just left.

“Hey handsome,” he says, smirking.

“Who are you?”

“Straight to the point, I like you. I’m Joey, saw you sitting here all on your own and thought you might want some company.”

“I’m quite alright, thank you,” Edwin says.

Something about Joey’s tone of voice and facial expressions reminds Edwin of a certain feline someone.

“You not even gonna tell me your name?”

“Edwin,” Edwin replies, pointedly not returning the sultry eye contact or flirty smile.

“Edwin…” Joey repeats. “Sounds like an old Victorian lord or something. That when you died? Victorian times?”

Seriously, who does this guy think he is? And what kind of flirting is that? Who goes up to someone and asks when they died as a way of chatting them up?

“Edwardian, actually,” Edwin corrects, annoyed.

“Well, okay then, Edwardian. You one of those repressed types then?”

He bites his lip strangely after he says it. Edwin wishes for a second that ghosts could throw up.

“Um…”

“You into music?” a voice asks from beside Charles, making him jump.

He had been too caught up in analysing the wall of posters before him, mostly full of names he’d never heard before, mostly rock and pop artists.

He turns to find a woman Charles presumes is in her forties or fifties standing next to him. She’s wearing a loose-fitting green tank top and baggy jeans, and her shaggy brown hair comes just past her shoulders.

“Uh, yeah,” Charles replies.

“What kind of genre?”

“I mean when I was alive I was mostly into ska but I loved rock too. Bowie, Queen, y’know?”

“Neat choices. Bowie was a legend. My wife and I saw him in Birmingham in ’95.”

“Really? I was meant to be going to see him on tour in March 1990 but…yeah. Wasn’t expecting I’d die three months before the concert.”

“I’m sorry, kid.”

“Nah, it’s all good. Now I’ve got…” Charles looks over the woman’s shoulder at where Edwin was still sitting at the bar.

Is that someone sitting next to him? Even from this distance, Charles can tell something’s wrong. Edwin is doing the rubbing-his-fists-together thing he always does when he’s tense or stressed.

“Sorry, I’ve got to…” Charles indicates towards the bar.

“All good. Have a good night!”

“You too!” Charles shouts, already halfway to Edwin.

“Hey,” he says to Edwin when he reaches him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder in a casual display of both affection and protection.

Edwin relaxes under his touch. He can always trust Charles to come and help.

“Who’s this?” he asks.

“I could ask you the same,” says the man, sitting uncomfortably close to Edwin. The stool wasn’t that close when Charles left it, that’s for sure.

“Charles,” Charles says, then gets an idea. “Edwin’s boyfriend.”

Edwin gasps a little in shock. He knows Charles is lying to get Joey out of the way, but even just hearing the phrase from Charles’s mouth makes his heart feel as though it skips a beat despite the fact it doesn’t beat at all.

“He never mentioned a boyfriend,” Joey says, still looking at Edwin in a way that made Charles kind of wish he had a weapon on him.

“Probably because him being clearly not interested should’ve been enough of a sign,” Charles argues protectively.

“He never said that, either.”

“Well, I’m not,” Edwin finally speaks up.

Joey raises his eyebrows as if saying ‘oh really?’. Seriously, what is wrong with this guy? Edwin hasn’t done a single thing that would indicate any kind of interest at all.

“Oi,” Charles says, louder and almost a threat. “You were making him uncomfortable, so why don’t you just move along and bother someone else?”

Joey opens his mouth to argue, but something in Charles’s face must convince him to give up because he gets up off the stool and walks away with a huff.

“Sorry about that, mate,” Charles apologises, releasing his hold on Edwin’s shoulder and reclaiming his seat.

“It’s alright. I’m glad you came; he was being rather…forward. And completely improper.”

“I could tell.”

“Can you believe he asked me if, because I died in 1916, I am ‘one of those repressed types’? And tried to make it sound dallying?”

“What the fuck?”

Charles looks over Edwin’s shoulder in the direction Joey walked off; he’s still standing there, a short distance away from them, watching.

“He’s still staring. Prick. Should’ve brought my bat with me,” Charles says.

“Charles,” Edwin chuckles. “I don’t need you to beat a man up for me.”

“Well I would. He’s a right creep.”

“Perhaps we don’t need to resort to violence just yet.”

“Maybe we should keep this up for a bit. Me pretending to be your boyfriend,” Charles suggests, draping his arm across Edwin’s shoulders again.

“Hmm, that might be a good idea.”

“Oh wait, unless you were actually trying to flirt with people. Just not that guy. If you were, that’s fine I can just keep an eye on him.”

“Charles, my plan for tonight did not include flirting, I assure you. I’m fine with you pretending. As long as you are.”

Edwin doesn’t want to make Charles feel like he has to do this, especially given the already slightly awkward nature of their relationship after Edwin’s confession in Hell.

“’Course, mate,” Charles replies decisively.

Well, they wouldn’t have to do anything especially physical, Edwin doesn’t expect. Just otherwise couple-like. And based on some of their clients’ attitudes towards them, many people assume they’re romantically together anyway, so this should work perfectly.

“Thank you.”

“Wanna go find the girls? Might help lose him if he can’t see us in the crowd,” Charles proposes.

Edwin nods, and the two of them stand up from their stools at the bar.

It takes a while, but eventually they find Niko and Crystal on the dance floor. They’re both sweating and Niko’s makeup has smudged, but they seem to be having a good time.

“Edwin!” Niko shouts excitedly upon seeing them. “Are you having fun?”

“Definitely!” Edwin replies.

He leaves out the part about the stalkerish creep trying to flirt with him. That’s irrelevant to his enjoyment of the club as a whole.

“Good. Come dance with us!”

Niko drags him forward, and all four of them begin dancing in a very small space on the floor.

Edwin doesn’t exactly know how to dance, not in the modern sense at least, but he soon learns that in this context, dancing is not exactly the art of movement that it usually is. It’s more just many people crowding together like sardines and just…moving; a lot of people much closer than others. Edwin wouldn’t be surprised if there were some inappropriate activities going on amongst some of the people there.

He enjoyed the experience for a while, laughing with the three most important people in his afterlife, jumping around to music Edwin would absolutely despise in any other context. The closeness was fun for a short while, until it all started getting too much.

One clearly very popular song came on and even more people flooded to the floor, the crowd packing in even tighter to fit everyone, writhing against each other more than dancing. It all started to feel too familiar, and Edwin began to panic that any second a bloodied hand would reach out of the mass of people to grab him by the ankle, by the leg, by the arm, by the waist, and drag him down into-

“Mate!” Charles says standing directly in front of him with his hands on his shoulders. “You alright?”

Edwin can feel himself beginning to hyperventilate and shakes his head. Charles points to the side, and Edwin follows his finger to a quiet corner of the room.

Charles leads him out of the crowd, never letting go of both of his hands until they’re fully out and can breathe.

“You good?” he asks, worried. “You seemed to disappear and then went all panicky.”

“Yes,” Edwin says, getting his breath back. “I’m fine, that just…brought back memories I’d rather forget.”

“Lust room?”

Edwin looks up at him in surprise. Sometimes he forgets Charles saw exactly what he went through in Hell. He nods.

“Too many people, too close together.”

“I get it. You’re alright now, though, yeah?” he checks, looking Edwin over for any sign of hurt or discomfort.

“Yes, Charles, I’m fine.”

“Good.”

And it is good. Edwin fully relaxes now he’s with Charles away from the dance floor, and he’s still having a good time overall. At least until he spots an annoyingly familiar face watching them from the bar.

“He’s back,” Edwin sighs.

Joey sits at the bar next to Niko and Crystal, who had left the crowd when Charles led Edwin out. Luckily, he doesn’t seem to be paying the girls any mind. Unluckily, he’s still staring at the boys, as though trying to figure them out, or catch them doing something.

“For fuck’s sake, can he not take a hint?” Charles groans.

“Apparently not.”

Charles wracks his mind for something to do, a way to get that fucker to leave Edwin alone, until an idea pops into his head.

“Kiss me,” he says, entirely seriously.

“What?” Edwin sputters.

“Kiss me.” Charles repeats. “If you want. I think he’s suspicious we’re not actually a couple so that should convince him to leave us alone. If you don’t want to, we can think of something else but that’s all I-”

“Are you sure?” Edwin cuts him off.

“Yeah, just do it.”

Slowly, Edwin steps closer to Charles, giving him the chance to back out if he isn’t comfortable – and also giving Edwin time to process that this is really happening. It’s not really how he’d imagined kissing Charles for the first time, but if this is the only chance he’s ever going to get to do it, he’ll take whatever Charles will give him.

Eventually, their lips meet, and the feeling is more than Edwin has ever dreamed of. He knows ghosts can properly feel one another, but the only time he’d ever kissed anyone was Monty, which felt like a barely-there pressure, so that was all he had to go on in his daydreams.

But this…oh, this is wonderful. He can feel the tiny details of Charles’s lips against his own – they’re slightly chapped, and one part on his lower lip is slightly rougher from where he always bites it. Charles’s hands wrap around Edwin’s waist to pull him closer and Edwin doesn’t want the moment to end.

As it appears, neither does Charles. He kisses back with equal enthusiasm, rocking them almost back and forth on their feet with the force of it. He’s never kissed another ghost before and now he has, he doesn’t think he wants to stop. The weight of another person against him, the incomparable experience of truly feeling another person’s lips against his own…it makes him feel alive, as though Edwin is breathing life back into his long-dead lungs.

Charles is the one who takes the kiss a step further, licking at Edwin’s lips as though begging for permission. Edwin opens his mouth gladly and eventually they’re properly making out in a dark corner of the club. Charles manoeuvres them until Edwin’s back is against the wall. It would have hurt if he was alive, but he’s not, so he doesn’t care.

One of Edwin’s hands moves up to cradle the back of Charles’s neck and mess with the bottom of his hair, while the other goes to Charles’s hips to pull him impossibly closer. As the kiss grows somehow more intense, the hand in his hair moves ever so slightly upwards until Edwin is lightly tugging on Charles’s curls, and he lets out a soft moan into Edwin’s mouth, which only spurs both of them on.

The two of them lose track of time entirely, too lost in one another to care to remember this was only supposed to be an act, or to notice when Joey finally gives up and leaves the club, or to spot Niko and Crystal walking over to them with shocked expressions on their faces.

They only break apart when Crystal snaps her fingers. Reality comes flooding back to them, and they realise what just happened. They all but jump apart, Edwin desperate to make himself look presentable once more. He reaches up to fix his bow tie, forgetting he isn’t even wearing one. Shit, one (very long) kiss and his brain seems to have stopped working altogether.

“Guys?” Niko says in shock, an awed grin plastered on her face.

“Fucking finally!” Crystal says.

“Is he gone?” Charles asks.

How is he stringing words together right now? Edwin thinks.

 “Oh, thank fuck.” Charles continues when he can’t spot Joey anywhere. “We were faking it to get this creepy guy off Edwin’s ass- wait what do you mean, finally?”

“Nothing…” Crystal says, raising her hands in defense as if she never said anything at all.

“We’re ready to go now,” Niko explains, her grin having morphed into more of a smirk.

“Yes, I think we are, too,” Edwin manages, still slightly breathless from the…ahem, wall encounter.

The four of them head to the exit, Edwin walking ahead with Niko while Charles walks with Crystal. Charles and Edwin say nothing to each other.

“That was faking it?” Crystal hisses to him.

“Yeah. I mean the kiss was real, obviously. But the rest was fake.”

“Mhm, sure Charles,” she says, in a tone that says she really is not convinced, then speeds up a little to catch up with the other two.

“So, Edwin, would you wanna come again?”

“Not often, but yes, I think I would. Though I doubt I would join you two in the dancing. I do like just watching people.”

Charles doesn’t want to think about the strange feeling of happiness that floods over him at the thought of potentially pretending to be Edwin’s boyfriend again – not that he wishes for more creepy men to try and come onto Edwin, obviously. And he really doesn’t want to think about the feeling of Edwin’s body pressed against his own, the feeling of his hand in his hair gently tugging, the feeling of their mouths moving against one another. But as much as he didn’t want to, the memories and thoughts associated with them would not leave his mind, and he expected they wouldn’t for a very long time.

in a sky full of stars, i think i see you

Christmas had always been both Edwin and Charles’s favourite holiday, even when they were alive. Edwin because he loved the traditions, the decorations, the general joy of it all, and Charles because he loved giving gifts to people. Even if he didn’t receive anything in return, he loved seeing people’s reactions to things he got for them. Also, Christmas was about one of the only times where he felt like he could relax in his own house. They always had family over for a few days, so his dad was less rough. For just a few days, he could pretend like they were a normal family.

But nothing compared to Christmas with Edwin.

He hadn’t expected Edwin to love the holiday as much as he did, but it was amazing being able to show him the way traditions had changed since he was alive. They celebrated in their own special way every year, picking up little routines and rituals constantly.

Their Christmas was always a mixture of things Edwin loved when he was alive, things Charles loved when he was alive, and more modern things. Their office was decorated with both the holly and paperchains of Edwin’s childhood, and the brightly coloured lights and baubles that brought nostalgia for Charles. They’d play both classic carols and more modern hits on their record player. It was strange and a little all over the place but it was perfect and it was them.

Then, Crystal and Niko came into their afterlives and suddenly there were more people to celebrate with. Crystal raised an eyebrow at their strange little rituals at first, but eventually realised that they were just so true to the boys. Of course this would be how they celebrate.

This year specifically, since the relationship between the two of them had developed another layer if intimacy, yet another tradition had manifested itself in Charles and Edwin’s festive routine – mistletoe. There was a sprig hung from every doorway in the office, and the two took every possible opportunity to kiss beneath it. Edwin had always thought the idea a little silly when he was alive, but he hadn’t considered it in the context of himself having someone he could openly love in that way to kiss under the shining white berries. He’d always just been forced to sit there and cringe while his extended family members pretended that they hadn’t noticed the plant before despite having already kissed beneath it several times in the past two hours. It was quite ironic, in retrospect, that he was now the one in their place seizing every opportunity to get his lips on Charles’s, despite the fact he didn’t really need an excuse to at all.

The girls had gone out to do their own celebrations on Christmas Eve, then crashed at the office for the night so they could all open gifts together at the crack of dawn – much to the insistence of Charles and Niko.

A case came up in the middle of the day that they all had to run out and solve, but for the most part, their Christmas was a fairly chilled one, the four of them all just playing games together in the office. Edwin scoffed at the terrible jokes in the crackers, and Charles once again got very sad he couldn’t eat when Niko and Crystal brought in practically their entire kitchen cupboard’s worth of savoury snacks. Edwin vowed to find some spell that would allow ghosts to eat.

Eventually the girls fell asleep on the sofa, leaving Charles and Edwin practically alone in the office.

“It’s a surprisingly clear night,” Edwin noted, gazing out of the office window above the streets of London.

Brightly coloured lights shone in the surrounding streets, and they could quietly hear the music and chatter of the party going on in one of the blocks of flats across the road. Edwin looked up, away from the lights, and had an idea.

“I think this would be a perfect night for stargazing. Would you care to join me on the roof, Charles?”

“Course, mate,” Charles replied.

Language was one of Edwin’s passions, and he would constantly correct people if they used a word incorrectly or at the wrong time. And yet, he never corrected Charles calling him mate despite their growing romance. Somehow he had managed to take a common moniker used between friends and turn it into the most romantic petname Edwin could imagine. It was the way he said it; so naturally, so proudly, so full of love and feeling. Besides, there was nothing to correct about it in the first place. They were mates – best mates – and always would be. No matter the changes their relationship went through, no matter the colour or shape of the feelings between them; at their core they would always be two best friends. Two boys who found each other in their worst moments, a light in the other’s darkness, and felt nothing but love. Love – not just attraction - for the other person, just because of who they were. Edwin had always thought it was beautiful.

So when Charles called him mate, with that soft glint in his eyes and that smitten smile on his face, Edwin didn’t question or correct. He just smiled back.

“I’ll be out in a sec though, yeah? I’ve got an idea.”

“An idea?” Edwin asked, intrigued.

“Yeah, and it’s a surprise idea so you go sit up on the roof and I’ll meet you there.”

Charles pressed a soft kiss to Edwin’s cheek before ushering him out of the office.

Edwin took an unnecessary breath as he stepped out onto the roof of the abandoned building their office resided in, as though acclimatising to the cold December air despite being unable to feel its effects on his skin.

He looked up at the sky. From several storeys up, the light pollution wasn’t quite as bad - although it was still central London, so that didn’t really make much difference. Only a few constellations were visible directly above. He’d always thought it was a shame, really, the fact that advancements in technology meant they were no longer able to observe the natural universe around them to quite the same degree.

Edwin had always loved stargazing. When he was alive, his family had bought him books about the stars for Christmas every year since he was a small child, and he was obsessed. He never really understood the astrological beliefs surrounding them – although he had become more intrigued after reading the book Monty gave him in Port Townsend. No, he was always more captivated by the science behind them; those huge spheres of energy roaring away lightyears away from Earth. It made him feel insignificant at times, but he’d become used to that. It was easier to accept his insignificance on a cosmic scale than to accept it on a much closer one.

Then he met Charles, and gradually his thoughts about the cosmos became much less about insignificance and more about how lucky they were that they existed. Knowing that there was so much out there, and yet here was the only place that life had been found, that a new kind of life could somehow begin even after death; it felt special.

He never felt insignificant when Charles was by his side.

As though aware Edwin was thinking about him – which he probably was, considering there’s rarely a time Edwin isn’t - Charles stepped onto the roof behind him. Edwin turned around to find him standing there with a pile of blankets and pillows in his arms.

“Charles,” Edwin chuckled, shaking his head slightly as he walked towards him.

“What?”

“We do not feel the cold!”

“I know but, like, it’s the vibe innit? Snuggling up together under blankets and watching the stars.”

“You’re quite the hopeless romantic, aren’t you?”

“Yep,” Charles grinned, stepping towards Edwin and handing him a few pillows from the pile.

They set their little spot up – one blanket on the ground to sit on with pillows against the wall – and sat beside one another, the other two blankets covering them both.

Edwin swore he felt a rush of warmth as he relaxed into the soft knitted material, but he was quite sure that was less to do with the blankets themselves and more to do with Charles’s presence, leaning his head on his shoulder and cuddling up close. They were facing each other just a little, their hands clasped together in between them covered by the thick blanket.

“This is nice,” Charles said, gently brushing his thumb over Edwin’s hand in the way he knew drove him a little insane with affection.

“Hmm,” Edwin hummed in agreement.

They sat together in silence for a while, snuggled up to one another, until Charles turned his head just enough to whisper in Edwin’s ear.

“Make a wish,” he said.

“Charles, there aren’t any comets,” Edwin smiled.

“Make one anyway. There's always a shooting star somewhere.”

He had a point.

“The greatest wish I never even thought I was allowed to have has already come true. I don’t know what else there is,” he said, looking down at the top of Charles’s head on his shoulder.

“Well, I wish that every Christmas is as brills as this one.”

“You know if you say it aloud it won’t come true?” Edwin moved his head away from Charles momentarily, questioning.

“Nah. That doesn’t count when it’s you.” Charles looked up into his eyes. “Telling you doesn’t feel like revealing it to someone. It’s like you already know anyway.”

Edwin just smiled.

“Go on then, what’s yours?”

“Hmm. I suppose...” Edwin thought for a moment. “I wish for an infinite bookshelf.”

“Oh.” Charles laughed, taken aback.

“What?”

“Sorry, I guess I was expecting it to be something about us.”

“I told you, I already have everything I could possibly wish for in that department,” Edwin said proudly.

“You flirt,” Charles grinned, leaning up to kiss his cheek. “Infinite bookshelf would be pretty brills, though. It’d be like my backpack, only way more organised.”

“We could have several libraries worth of books and yet never run out of space in the office.”

“That’d definitely make case research easier.”

“Precisely. Which would leave us with more time for... other things.”

Charles moved out of the embrace but kept one arm around Edwin’s waist, his eyebrow raising with his smirk.

“Oh yeah?” he teased. “What other things you thinking of?”

“You know what things I’m thinking of.”

“Damn, who would’ve taken Edwin Payne for an insatiable horny teenager?” Charles said, he amusement evident in his voice.

Edwin laughed, a real open from-the-heart laugh that Charles had never heard around anyone but himself and the girls. “It’s you. You corrupted me,” he half-joked.

“Can’t exactly say I’m complaining.” Charles pulled him closer so that he could press light kisses to Edwin’s neck.

“Besides, I didn’t only mean... that,” Edwin argued, his voice shaking slightly at the contact. “I also meant we would have more time for things like this,” he Charles’s hand a light squeeze under the blanket.

“This is definitely good, love,” Charles replied, squeezing back and shuffling somehow even closer, nuzzling his head into his neck.

They couldn’t fall asleep, not really, but they got as close as they could; snuggled up against each other on the rooftop as the 25th of December ticked away into the 26th.

They’d stargazed on Christmas a few times before, the first time being December of 1990, back when they’d barely known each other a year and had just set up the agency, operating out of a treehouse in an old woman’s back garden. They’d climbed on top of the wooden structure, and Edwin pointed out all the constellations they could see above the horizon. That night, there had been a shooting star passing overhead, and Edwin had wished on it. He’d wished that Charles would stay with him for the rest of their afterlives. At the time, he’d thought it foolish and naïve. Surely Charles would eventually move on, perhaps Edwin would – they couldn’t spend the rest of eternity playing detective together, could they?

Well, thirty-four years on, Edwin was starting to believe that maybe that wish had come true, but it wasn’t entirely down to the star.

oh but you're good to me, baby

No one had ever loved Viktor like Jayce Talis did.

From the day they met, there had always been a strange sort of spark between them, a companionship and an understanding despite the differences in both of their lives. Obviously, it wasn’t always understanding – sometimes Jayce would make unintentionally ignorant comments about the Undercity and its people that Viktor would have to educate him on, and quite often Viktor would intentionally insult Pilties and Jayce would…mostly agree with him, actually. He wouldn’t outwardly deny most of them even if he didn’t share the same view, anyway; he knew Viktor absolutely had a right to hate them for the conditions he had to grow up in.

Over six years, they’d become such close partners that it was rare that one would be seen without the other – except on the occasion Jayce had to give a speech to the council, or attend one of their fancy galas. Jayce was Piltover’s golden boy, and while both he and Viktor were angry that Viktor rarely got any credit for his work on Hextech, Viktor didn’t exactly want the level of attention Jayce seemed to be constantly getting. He wanted to be remembered for his work, not praised like some sort of god. He could tell Jayce felt the same – he didn’t particularly enjoy being the centre of attention, but he could cope with it better than Viktor. He always was the more outwardly social of the two.

With the way Jayce was constantly celebrated and showered with attention, it was nice to have days like the one they were currently having – both in their lab, working on their current Hextech project, doing what both of them loved most and feeling like they were still just barely graduated students of the academy sneaking around doing experiments Professor Heimerdinger wouldn’t approve of.

Viktor looked up from his desk, and just sat watching Jayce for a few minutes. He was on the opposite side of the lab, standing in front of the chalkboard which was so full of notes that no one except for the two of them would ever be able to decipher what they were referring to. Jayce had one arm folded, the other with his chin in his hand in concentration, mumbling to himself as he tried to figure out an equation.

In his staring, he found himself thinking back to their early days as partners, only a few months after they managed to prove Hextech could actually work. They’d been given permission by the council to continue their studies and experiments, and were given a proper laboratory in the academy in which they could conduct them.

The day they moved into the lab had been stressful; moving books and papers and equipment that had previously been in Jayce’s old workshop – which the Kirammans had kindly been keeping safe for him. The constant moving had put a lot of physical strain on Viktor’s leg, and he all but collapsed into one of the lab benches when they finally made the last journey of boxes.

He’d worn a compression brace on his right leg for as long as he could remember. He rarely bothered to take it off unless he was showering, or it needed to be cleaned. Since it was under his trousers, he didn’t have to bother taking it off before bed every night. And it was usually comfortable enough.

It did tend to become irritating when he’d been on his feet for a while, though. It became sweaty and overwhelming and by that point, he’d rather take the pain.

He leaned down to lift up the leg of his trousers to take the brace off, but immediately winced as he leaned forwards, pain now spiking in his lower back. He had the cane, which definitely helped, but even with it, he often still got pretty severe back pain due to his uneven walking. He couldn’t escape. He hated that it was something he was used to.

“Do you want a hand with that?” Jayce asked, putting down the scissors he was using to cut open one of the boxes and walking over to him.

“No, no, I can manage,” Viktor replied, a little too harshly.

He was too used to people thinking he was broken and couldn’t do simple things.

“I know you can, V,” Jayce said, not offended or surprised by his tone in the slightest, “but it’s hurting your back.”

“It’s not,” Viktor insisted.

“I could hear you wincing from over there. I can help if you want.”

Viktor gave in, leaning back on the bench and giving his back a little relief.

“Thank you,” Viktor sighed.

Jayce knelt on the ground next to him, lifting his trouser leg up and gently pulling the brace down his leg. Viktor didn’t think they’d ever been so physically close before, but he couldn’t say he minded it.

“You didn’t have to do all of that heavy lifting, you know? I could’ve done it,” Jayce said.

“I would have felt useless if I was just sitting around here all day.”

“You aren’t useless,” Jayce reassured.

“I know. I was fine, though. I’m very used to feeling like this at the end of the day, Jayce. It’s kind of what comes with chronic pain.”

“If you’re sure. Obviously I know you know your limits better than I do.”

“I am. Believe me, moving helps sometimes.”

“Okay. I’m always here if you need a hand though, yeah? You just gotta ask.”

“Thank you.”

Viktor was so used to people just ignoring him; and if they did acknowledge him they usually seemed intent on helping, though they didn’t ask if he needed it. He’d been approached by strangers while out in public who put their arm around him to try and stabilise him when his limp was more pronounced, and he was leaning on his cane more than usual. He knew at heart they were just trying to help, but it always felt condescending, as if just because his leg didn’t work properly, he couldn’t navigate life on his own – despite the fact he had literally fought his way out of the undercity and into the academy alone. To have someone like Jayce who genuinely cared, who wanted to help, who asked if he needed it and only gave it if he did, made his heart warm. He was very glad the man wasn’t exiled from Piltover those few months ago.

“Do you have to do this every night?” Jayce asked, handing the elasticated fabric back to Viktor.

“I don’t take it off to sleep often. It’s not the most uncomfortable thing in the world, it’s just…getting itchy right now.”

“I didn’t even realise you were meant to keep it on for so long.”

“I only really need it on when I’m putting pressure on it, it’s not like it’s on there to help it heal or anything. I wish it could do that. But, it’s effort to take it off so I usually just don’t, unless it’s really necessary, like washing.”

“Well if you ever want me to do this again, just say, yeah? Your room’s right next to mine, it really won’t be a big deal. I’ll always help you. Only if you want it, of course.”

That was the other part of the deal they struck with the council – while Jayce’s place at the Academy had not been reinstated, he had been given a room there next door to Viktor’s in order to be closer to their lab rather than several blocks away.

After that day, it became almost a routine. Viktor still didn’t take the brace off all the time, but he did so more often, and Jayce would help him if it was getting uncomfortable. At first it started as something that only really happened if the pain in Viktor’s back was bad, but then it became a sort of ritual and Jayce was always the one who did it – even when the pain started getting somehow worse a year or so later and he had to switch from the compression brace to a structured metal one that he had to wear over his trousers and take off every night. It was more complex to operate than what was previously an extravagant sock, but Jayce did it anyway. And it was never out of obligation, or because he thought Viktor couldn’t, or because he got some strange selfish sense of charity from doing so, but because Jayce genuinely cared and wanted to.

It also never felt like a big thing; it was never the topic of conversation during their nightly routine, it just became what they did every night. They would talk about other things, whether recounting the findings of the day in terms of their experiments or gossiping about other students at the academy they had met on occasion, or recalling childhood memories. Viktor showed him the toy boat he’d built when he was a child and kept in a drawer ever since, and Jayce was enamoured by the mechanics of it. Viktor could also tell he was intrigued by the engineering of the brace itself, albeit fairly simple in comparison to the technology they were working on – ever the scientist, was Jayce Talis.

After Jayce had finished figuring out his equation on the chalkboard – and loudly cheered when he finally worked it out, since he’d been trying for a few days now – the two of them decided to turn in for the night. It was getting late, and Jayce had to go and update Councillor Medarda and Professor Heimerdinger about their current progress early the next day.

So, they headed out of the lab, saying goodnight to Sky – a girl Viktor had known when he was a child who had become their assistant a few years prior – before heading towards Viktor’s room.

As usual, Jayce sat on the chair at the foot of the bed while Viktor sat on the edge, and Jayce leaned down to undo the buckles on the back of Viktor’s leg and slide the brace off his foot. It was always so strangely intimate, but neither of them had ever really brought it up. They’d become such close friends over the last six years, it was almost as though they’d known each other all their lives, so nothing was weird or too much for either of them. By now, he wouldn’t have it any other way. There was no Hextech without both him and Jayce. There was no Viktor without Jayce, anymore.

He'd been so supportive over the last few years, since Viktor’s mobility started to decline even further. He’d been there when Viktor needed him physically, to hold on to while they walked through the street, but more than that, he’d been there to give Viktor a distraction. They’d achieved their best progress in their science when they were intently focused to stop Viktor from spiralling about everything his condition meant he couldn’t do. Jayce was always there to remind him what he could – that his mind, even when not paired with his partner’s, was utterly brilliant.

“I’ll probably head back to the lab pretty early tomorrow,” Viktor said as Jayce stood the brace up against the bedside table, next to his crutch. “So good luck with the Professor and Councillor Medarda.”

“Thanks. I’m sure it’ll all go great, though. We’re making good development with it.”

“Well that’s definitely good, Mr. Man of Progress,” Viktor teased.

“Shut up. ‘Night, V.”

“Goodnight, Jayce.”

With that, Jayce left the room and closed the door behind him.

Viktor stayed still for a while, just listening. He heard Jayce’s footsteps moving away from his bedroom door, but he was definitely heading back towards the lab, not towards his own room. His guess was confirmed when he heard mumbling. One voice was definitely Jayce, the other Sky. Then, he heard Sky’s lighter footsteps pass his door in the opposite direction.

Jayce had been heading back to the lab late at night often lately, and Viktor knew he was working on something in secret, but every time Viktor had brought it up, Jayce denied it, claiming he was only going back to tidy up before going to bed himself.

Viktor had a bad enough sleep schedule himself to know that most of the time when Jayce’s footsteps finally retreated back down the corridor, far too much time had passed for him to have just been tidying up.

He supposed he would find out eventually. He had enough trust in Jayce that the reason for him keeping it secret wasn’t malicious, or because he was doing anything against their goal with Hextech. So, he tried to clear his mind, changed into his pyjamas and attempted to sleep.

A month or so later, Viktor was sitting at his desk in the lab, his magnifying goggles on as he analysed a hex crystal that was suspended on a small platform. They had successfully stabilised some, but there were strange behaviours in some of them, as if they had more Arcane energy than others. Before they could put the crystals to use in inventions for the public, they had to ensure they had a way of stabilising all of them. Perhaps it was something in the runic patterns-

Viktor’s thoughts were interrupted when the lab door burst open and Jayce came in, beaming. Victor spun around in his chair to face him.

“Are you alright, Jayce? Did something happen down in the forge?”

“No, I just have a surprise for you,” Jayce replied.

“Really? What is it?”

“You’ll see later.”

He refused to say anything else about it, so Viktor got back to work immediately after relaying his current findings to his partner.

It turned out that later meant when they were heading to bed.

“I’ll meet you in your room!” Jayce shouted across the lab before disappearing out into the corridor, dashing towards the forge.

Viktor chuckled, filing away his report with the rest of them, and then headed over to Sky’s desk. She seemed to be poorly masking a giggle.

“Goodnight, Sky,” he said.

“’Night, Viktor. Hope you enjoy whatever it is Jayce has for you,” she smiled.

Viktor nodded and left the lab. It was clear that Sky suspected there was something more going on between him and Jayce, and if Viktor was honest, he didn’t blame her for her assumption. They certainly did act like an old married couple sometimes. And they constantly called each other partners in tones of voices that could easily be implying something more than lab partners. And then there was the whole Jayce going to Viktor’s room every night thing, and wow, did everyone around them think they were together? Funnily enough, Viktor didn’t really think he minded what they thought. Technically they were wrong, but it wasn’t like Viktor himself hadn’t entertained the possibility several times over the years. He simply assumed Jayce wasn’t into men. Which was fine.

Viktor sat himself down on the edge of his bed, awkwardly waiting for Jayce to return. In the meantime, he reached behind himself to unclasp his back brace and remove it, placing it beside his bed. He hated that he had to practically hold himself together with metal and plastic, all because his leg didn’t form correctly in the womb. What would he be doing if he didn’t have his condition? If he had full physical freedom?

He barely entertained the thought. It didn’t matter because it would never happen, unless Hextech managed to create a miracle. But what was the point in imagining anyway, when he had all he ever really wanted in life right in front of him. He was a scientist, using his mind and his inventions to make a difference in people’s lives, even if the effects weren’t totally evident yet in the people he wanted to help the most. And he had a partner he could never even have created in a dream – a man who shared his passions for science and invention and magic and supporting those who needed it.

He hated what he didn’t have, but was more than pleased with what he’d done with what he did.

At that moment, Jayce entered his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

“So, I may have been working on something,” he said, before turning to face Viktor and holding something out to him.

Viktor’s eyes widened as he realised what was in Jayce’s hands – a new leg brace.

“Jayce, what is this?”

“The project I’ve been working on! Sorry I didn’t tell you about it, I wanted it to be a surprise. The brace you’ve got now has got all those confusing buckles and shit, and you’ve told me enough times how uncomfortable it can get. I don’t know how you’re meant to deal with all that on your own when you’re already struggling, but I think I figured it out!”

Jayce reached out, flipping the brace over in Viktor’s hands, revealing something in the centre of it – a bright blue glowing vaguely spherical shape.

“A hexcrystal?”

“Yeah, I know we said we were gonna properly brainstorm ideas for them soon, but I hope you don’t mind I did this one. All you have to do to take it off is take the crystal out! It unclasps itself.”

Jayce demonstrated, plucking the crystal from its mini cage within the structure of the brace, and it instantly opened.

“Wanna try it out? It might need a few tweaks, obviously I’m not the best person to try it out.”

“Of course.”

Jayce smiles, kneeling down beside Viktor to unclasp and take off the old brace, replacing it with the new Hextech-imbued one.

“How’s that?” Jayce asked.

Viktor grabbed his crutch from beside his bed and stood up, pacing around the room a few times. He looked over at Jayce, who was staring expectantly in the same way he always did when they tested out something they both really hoped would work.

“So?”

“I think it’s better than the old one! It’s helping my leg but also, I can barely feel that it’s there,” Viktor noted, looking down at his leg to admire the craftsmanship.

“That’s another one of the features! The brace itself sooths the skin where it sits, so it shouldn’t get as uncomfortable for long-term wear,” Jayce explained.

Viktor looked up at him, a grin growing on his face.

“You, Jayce Talis, are a genius.”

He moved the few steps across the room it took to reach Jayce, and pulled him into a hug.

“Thank you,” he said, practically into Jayce’s shoulder due to their height difference.

“No problem,” Jayce replied, seeming relieved that Viktor liked it. Then he inhaled a little in a panic. “But I don’t want you to think I did this because I don’t wanna help you anymore, it’s not a burden or anything, I just know you don’t particularly like asking for help and it would just make life easier for you and-”

Viktor pulled away from the hug, regaining his balance with his crutch.

“Jayce. I know. Even just the fact you’ve done this for me told me that.”

Jayce smiled. The two of them headed back over to the bed, and Viktor reached down to test the release mechanism. It worked immediately, practically falling off his leg. He laughed a little at the ease of it all, lifting the brace up to really take a look at the details. There was a little cog engraved into the side of it – not unlike the one that had been the first thing touched by Hextech when they first got it working.

“Sentimental bastard,” Viktor chuckled.

“I thought it was fitting,” Jayce replied.

“Seriously though, Jayce, do you know how good this will be for people in the undercity? If we could adapt it, for different injuries and conditions, this could be huge!”

“Well, I have started some concepts for a spinal brace version, it shouldn’t be too difficult,” Jayce said.

“You are brilliant.”

“I guess now we just have to concentrate on fully stabilising every crystal that gets made, this is one of the only ones we’ve perfected so far.”

“We’ll get there. I think we’re getting close with that one.”

it's tradition, crystal!

Crystal couldn’t take them much longer. Well, she could, and would, but that didn’t mean she’d enjoy it.

“Really, Charles?” she sighed after walking into the office with a cup of hot chocolate to find Charles hanging yet another sprig of mistletoe up, slotting the ribbon tying it together under one of the slats in the ceiling above Edwin’s chair.

“What?” Charles asked innocently.

“This whole room is practically a mistletoe forest!”

“It’s décor, Crystal!”

“Décor that also just so happens to be an excuse for you to kiss your boyfriend every ten seconds while we’re on case research!”

“I dunno what you’re talking about, it’s just pretty,” Charles argued, his mouth curling up into a smirk.

“You’re unbelievable. When I told you you two are like a dead married couple on acid, I didn’t think it could get worse.”

Charles grinned, giggling a little.

She loved them, really. Of course she did. And she was always the first person to step to their defense if a client with outdated views – or one who was just a bit of a dick – said anything about them. Only she was allowed to bully her best friends like that.

At that moment, Niko and Edwin walked into the office, both laughing about something.

“Successful trip?” Charles asked, having just jumped down from Edwin’s chair and leaned back against the desk.

“Yes, I believe it was. Maggie’s antique shop is always a delight,” Edwin said, his brown overcoat disappearing into thin air.

“And I dragged him to HMV,” Niko smiled, as she placed her tote bag down, then took her own coat off and hung it on the stand next to the front door.

“She did.”

“Aces.”

Edwin strode across the room and took his usual seat behind the desk, placing the knickknacks he bought in the bottom drawer.

“Hey, mate,” Charles said as he looked back up.

“Yes?”

Charles pointed to the ceiling above Edwin, smirking.

“Oh. That’s interesting. Well then, I think we both know what we have to do now.”

“Oh yeah?” Charles teased, leaning closer.

Edwin pulled him in by his braces and crashed their lips together.

Niko giggled. Crystal faked gagging.

“I thought you said you wanted to get straight back into researching the Graveyard Goblin case when you and Niko got back?” Crystal asked, her arms folded.

“Of course. But there’s always time for mistletoe,” Edwin replied, finally moving away from Charles’s lips.

“It’s tradition!” Charles grinned.

“It is tradition, Crystal,” Edwin agreed.

Crystal scoffed in amusement. It was almost funny seeing Edwin like this. He was usually so annoyed at distractions to their cases, but since it got colder and the festive decorations went up, he was much more relaxed – and much more lenient about taking breaks to indulge in his boyfriend. Charles had told Crystal that Edwin had always adored Christmas, so maybe that was it. She had to admit, it was difficult to get too annoyed about anything when there were brightly coloured lights strung around the room, and a little snowman plush smiling at them from one of the bookshelves.

That didn’t mean she was going to let them off that easily, though.

Over the last few months, Crystal had gained much more control and understanding of her newly realised psychic abilities. Edwin had been helping her delve into her subconscious, exploring the extent of her powers – and through their little sessions, he had also taught her some magic.

He had only taught her a few novelty spells, just to get her started, but one of them had been perfect for the situation at hand. Perhaps if Edwin didn’t want to be pranked, he shouldn’t have told Crystal how to cast such prank-worthy magic.

She had to do a little extra reading herself to figure out how to adapt the spell to this specific circumstance, but that wasn’t too difficult, and within a week her plan was set – and she had a sprig of enchanted mistletoe.

“You coming, Crys?” Charles called from the top of the staircase of the office building.

“I just totally fucked up my makeup!” Crystal lied, shouting back from the bathroom. “You guys go on without me, I’ll meet you at the café!”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, you three go!”

“’Kay, we’ll see you there!”

Crystal smiled to herself in the mirror. It felt good to be enacting a harmless prank for once. From what she’d learned from the memories David had stolen from her, most of the tricks she pulled had ended in at least one person getting hurt in the process. It made her so angry, and guilty. How could she have done that? How was the person who did all those terrible things her?

She shook the thoughts away. No. She wasn’t that girl anymore.

When she was sure Charles Edwin and Niko would be halfway down the street by now, she made her way down the stairs and hung up the mistletoe in the main doorway to the building.

Now to wait. And have a nice day out without stressing about cases.

It was a nice day out. Crystal caught up with the others at a small café, which was hidden in one of the more supernatural parts of central London and run by shapeshifters.

The four of them had found a booth, Niko and Crystal sitting opposite Edwin and Charles. Crystal could tell the boys were holding hands underneath the table and found herself smiling at them. She really was glad they finally got their shit together – it was a little easier to deal with the old-married-couple-ness when they were actually both aware of their feelings. Aside from holding hands in public more often and disappearing occasionally while out on jobs to make out in an alleyway though, not much had really changed between them. They were still two best friends above everything else – just best friends who happened to kiss annoyingly often, and put mistletoe around every inch of the office as an excuse to do so.

After they’d all had hot chocolates at the café – including Charles and Edwin, since this café had recently come up with recipes that ghosts could enjoy too, leading to a huge surge in business – the four of them ventured to Leicester Square to look around the Christmas market. Crystal and Niko got hot dogs for lunch while Charles and Edwin were over by the huge Christmas tree, eating…each other’s faces, it would seem. A female ghost was watching them in a mix of awe and mild scandal – based on her outfit, the girls guessed she died somewhere in the 1950s. Crystal chuckled.

Soon, it was getting late, so the group headed back to the office. Crystal had told Niko about her plan while Charles and Edwin were off on one of their little dates in the afternoon, so the two of them hung back behind the boys to get the best view of the action.

“Well would you look at this?” Charles said as they approached the entrance to the building, spotting the mistletoe hanging in the doorway.

“Charles,” Edwin said fondly, “when did you have time to put that there?”

“This one wasn’t me!”

“Mhm,” Edwin hummed, unconvinced.

“I’m serious! It wasn’t! It must’ve been Ethel!”

Ethel was a psychic who lived in the space directly below the office and ran a spiritual shop, doing tarot readings for local ghosts. Crystal wouldn’t have put it past her to pull something like this, which is why she decided to hang the mistletoe there in the first place: the boys wouldn’t question it.

“Well, you know what we’ve gotta do.”

“Actually, Charles, I do not believe I do know,” Edwin teased.

“Come here.”

Charles held Edwin’s cheek in one hand, gently pulling him in to softly brush their lips together.

It would have been a really sweet moment…if the mistletoe didn’t open itself up the second their lips connected, raining a strange substance over their head that covered both of them in glittery spectral goo.

Crystal immediately burst out laughing, watching as the boys slowly moved away from each other, wiped the bright purple ooze from their faces and turned to face her.

“You should see your faces!” she laughed, and Niko joined in, giggling at the sight before them. “God, I wish you two would show up on camera, this would be priceless!”

“Very funny, Crystal,” Edwin said, clearly intending to be sarcastic but the slight amusement was not completely hidden in his voice.

“This is hilarious,” Crystal confirmed.

“It is pretty funny,” Charles giggled, turning to face Edwin, his eyebrows creasing in amusement.

How could Edwin not find it funny when Charles was looking at him like that, his face covered in whatever the bright purple substance was that Crystal had cursed the plant with? He was soon smiling, too, reaching up to wipe some of it away from Charles’s cheek.

“This is payback for the number of times I’ve had to witness you two being all lovey-dovey the last few weeks,” Crystal grinned, gesturing between them with her hands.

The four of them laughed, and didn’t stop until they’d climbed all four staircases and got inside the office.

“This was a very good prank, Crystal,” Edwin said.

“Thank you,” Crystal replied proudly.

“But…” Edwin continued, a smile growing on his face that made Crystal a little scared. “If you thought this would stop us being – how did you put it – all lovey-dovey, you are sorely mistaken.”

With that, Edwin strode across the office, grabbed Charles by the face and kissed him soundly despite both of them still being covered head to shoulders in gunk.

“Seriously guys? Come on!” Crystal groaned.

Chapter 3

Mind-Niko didn’t seem like she was going away any time soon. It had been two months now, and she still gave commentary whenever Edwin did, well, anything really.

When he was reading his books on supernatural creatures…

“That thing is so cool! I mean, it’s evil, but it looks cool!”

When he was reading detective comics with Charles at night…

“If you like this, there’s this one anime I watched when I was younger that you would love!”

When he was mindlessly sketching in his notebook…

“Is that me? Edwin, that’s so pretty!”

When he was walking down the street…

“I’ve always wanted to visit London! It’s such a different city to Osaka.”

He’d slowly been getting used to it, growing familiar with that strange tiny ache where his heart should be whenever he imagined her talking. They’d even had full conversations inside his head, Niko mentioning things Edwin didn’t even remember finding out about her. It made him sad that he didn’t remember, but he wasn’t too worried about it, really. He knew everyone coped differently with grief and loss, and this must just be one of the ways his mind compartmentalised those emotions.

He’d never really lost anyone as close to him as Niko was. The only people in his family who had died while he was alive were one of his uncles, whom he barely knew since he joined the military when Edwin was only four years old and was one of the first to enlist when the Great War broke out – and one of the first to die – and his Great Aunt Araminta. His aunt’s death caused him more grief than his uncle’s, but that was mostly because he’d been there when she died. They’d been sitting together on the sofa at her house when he was twelve years old, and half-way through giving him one of her usual pieces of cryptic wisdom, she dropped to the ground lifeless, at age 101. But still, he wasn’t all that close to any of his family really. Not as close as he had become with Niko, despite their short time knowing one another. So, of course he would have a strange reaction to having to deal with her sudden death. It wasn’t impossible for his brain to have conjured up this mental version of her to cope.

At least, that’s what he’d thought until the things Niko was saying changed slightly. She was still giving her thoughts on everything that happened around him, but occasionally she would say something different, something that didn’t make sense.

He could be doing nothing, merely sitting at his desk or on the sofa or at the library, and Niko would say something like:

“I’m on my way”

“I’ll be back to you soon Edwin, I promise.”

“I won’t be too long now!”

Not only was Mind-Niko speaking in his brain as though she was with him in the room, she was now claiming that she was coming back? That was impossible. That sounded less like a coping mechanism, and more like something that would make him feel even worse. Edwin wouldn’t have been surprised if that was what was happening, his thoughts hadn’t all been kind to him over the years, but it was what made him start thinking maybe there was something else at play here; something even more supernatural than his confused, grieving mind.

That is how his research began for what he was calling The Case of the Cerebral Companion. It was a different case to any the agency had investigated in the past – primarily because Edwin didn’t tell the rest of the agency about it. He did his research in private, having not even told Charles or Crystal about the voice in the first place. He’d visit the library, dig out books from the dustiest corners of the bookshelf, visit magic shops – all whilst Charles and Crystal were out or otherwise preoccupied. That had been a common occurrence as of late. Charles would often spend time at Crystal’s flat, then pointedly refuse to elaborate on what they did while he was there when prompted. It was always ‘Oh, nothing much, mate, just hanging out y’know?’ or ‘Just shopping, I know you’re not really into that sort of stuff.’ Edwin didn’t pry any further. He likely didn’t want to know, and besides, if he continued asking questions about Charles had been up to, Charles might start asking questions about what Edwin had been doing whilst he was out.

Edwin had a close call with the keeping-his-case-secret thing a week in. He’d gotten distracted reading in silence, having not heard Niko’s voice in several hours, and hadn’t noticed that it was 10pm – the time Charles had told him he would be back from Crystal’s.

Charles walked through the mirror into the office with a soft whooshing sound, while Edwin still had his notebook and several ancient texts laid out across his desk. He didn’t have chance to put it all away before Charles turned to him.

“Woah, what are you up to?” he asked.

“Nothing, Charles, no need to concern yourself.”

Charles could see right through him. As always.

“Sure, mate,” Charles said, taking the book from Edwin’s hand, much to his protest. “The Treasury of Telepathic and Psychic Phenomena?” he read from the cover. “Never seen this one before, mate, did you buy it recently? The cases we’re working on aren’t anything to do with this, are they?”

“It’s my own personal research,” Edwin said, reaching for the book.

Charles handed it back, flopping down onto the sofa as his coat and red jacket disappeared into thin air.

“Why, though?”

“One can always make use of new supernatural knowledge, Charles. You never know when it might come in handy,” he reasoned.

“Hmm,” Charles replied, clearly knowing there was something Edwin wasn’t telling him.

“Also…having a psychic around has made me more interested in researching similar abilities and creatures,” Edwin explained, not entirely a lie. His reading hadn’t given him much help with the Niko situation, but it certainly hadn’t been useless. “Some of these beings have different effects on other psychic creatures, this information may be crucial in to protecting Crystal if we ever come into contact with any of these in future.”

“Oh,” Charles said, seemingly taking that explanation as the whole truth. “That makes sense, wouldn’t want her to get into any more trouble like that after everything with David.”

“Precisely,” Edwin said, closing the books on his desk and returning them to their relevant shelves.

He could feel Charles’s eyes on him as he moved.

“Are you sure you’re alright, mate? You’ve seemed different these last few weeks.”

“Really? How so?” Edwin didn’t turn to look at Charles.

“You’ve been…quieter. Like there’s something you need to talk about but don’t wanna for some reason.”

Curse Charles Rowland and his impeccable ability to read Edwin like a book. He finally turned to face him.

“Look, I know there’s still a lot of emotions, after…” Charles trailed off. “But you really can talk to me about anything, you know. If you want.”

“Thank you, Charles. I do know you’re always there, but I assure you, I am fine.”

“Sure?”

“Positive.”

“Alright then.”

With that, Edwin returned to putting his books back on the shelf and Charles started to relax slightly on the sofa.

Edwin hoped whatever it was that was putting Niko’s voice in his head wasn’t going to be causing him too many problems any time soon; his research didn’t really seem to be getting him anywhere. He’d found creatures that could get into the brain and send messages via the subconscious, but the voice was never a familiar one, and these creatures were always immediately violent, forcing the host to do terrible things. That was not what was happening to Edwin. Mind-Niko hadn’t been in any way threatening. He couldn’t even imagine her sweet kind voice being anything of the sort. And besides, these creatures could only access the living plane, not the spectral.

‘What are you, Niko Sasaki?’ Edwin thought to himself.

the case of the halloween party

“Do you think Charles and Edwin celebrate Halloween?” Niko asked, lounging on the floor of the office while Crystal was on the sofa, her laptop propped open on her lap.

The boys had gone out ‘to the library’ to do what they called ‘private ghost research’ – but both Crystal and Niko knew that was just their code phrase for a date – leaving the girls to their own devices back at the office. Niko had been reading but her attention span had depleted several minutes ago, while Crystal was trying to win a bid for a cursed teacup someone was trying to sell on eBay.

“I dunno. Wouldn’t that be a bit weird? Spooky supernatural beings celebrating a human-made spooky supernatural holiday?”

“I think it would be even better as a ghost,” Niko commented. “You could actually, properly scare people.”

“True. I wouldn’t exactly have taken Edwin for a Halloween kind of guy though.”

“Maybe we can try and do something with them! We’ve only got two weeks left! I think we can convince them to dress up, at least.”

“Good luck with that,” Crystal chuckled.

“Oh my god! We could go as Mystery Inc.!” Niko sat upright, clearly already making plans.

“Ah, um…I’d love to Niko, but I kind of already had my costume planned.”

“Oh. Do you already have plans for the day?”

“Not really. A lot of the clubs around here do Halloween nights so I was probably just gonna go to one of those if we weren’t busy. I’d rather do something with you guys though, clubs are no fun on your own.”

“What’s your costume plan, then?” Niko asked.

“Well, I used to be really into cosplay and-”

Niko cut her off.

“You were into cosplay?” she asked incredulously.

“Yeah?” Crystal shrugged.

“I thought you were like…a typical mean girl?”

“Well, I was a typical mean girl who happened to love cosplaying characters from video games.”

Niko stared at her girlfriend open-mouthed, her eyes wide.

“I’m in love with you,” she said simply.

Crystal laughed.

“I think you’ve mentioned that before.”

“How have you never told me you used to cosplay?”

“It just never came up, I guess,” Crystal chuckled.

“So, who are you dressing as?”

“Oh, just this character from a pretty niche game.”

“What game?”

“Yonda.”

“You play Yonda? I love that game!” Niko had moved forwards and was sitting beside Crystal on the tiny sofa.

“Really?”

“Yes!” Niko replied excitedly. “Ayumi was like...my lesbian awakening!”

Crystal’s face morphed into a smirk. “Well…”

“No. You’re not.”

“Mhm,” Crystal hummed, teasingly.

“Oh my god Crystal I need to see this right now,” Niko all but shrieked.

“You’ll just have to wait til Halloween babe,” Crystal said, leaning forward to press a kiss to Niko’s lips.

“Ughhhh,” Niko groaned, just as the mirror rippled and Charles and Edwin stepped through it.

“What’s going on?” Charles asked, perching himself on the arm of the sofa next to Niko.

“Oh, Crystal and I were just discussing Halloween costumes.”

“Costumes?” Edwin asked, the tone of his voice somewhere between confused and ever so slightly judging.

“Yeah? Don’t tell me you’ve never dressed up for Halloween!” Niko sat upright on the sofa.

“I’ve been trying to get him to for years but he just refuses,” Charles complained, shaking his head slightly.

Niko jumped up from the sofa and stepped towards Edwin.

“Edwin, you have to!”

“I was under the impression that this strange tradition of dressing up was only for events like parties. I’m afraid I don’t see the point of it when we have no party to attend,” Edwin explained.

“We can have our own!” Niko waved her arms in the air a little, turning to face the others to see their reactions.

Crystal had a smile on her face but reluctantly asked, “Who would we even invite, Niko?”

“Jenny!” Niko said, pointing to one finger as though counting.

Everyone looked at her expectantly, waiting for the rest of the hypothetical guest list. Jenny had moved her shop to London but she was still about the only person any of the group really knew.

“Okay I guess it’s just Jenny but still! I could bake! We could decorate the office! It’d be fun!”

Who could resist Niko Sasaki when she looked so excited and full of joy? Sure, it wouldn’t be much of a typical party, but it could be a celebration in their own way, so everyone eventually agreed that they would have a gathering on Halloween night. Edwin still insisted they kept the agency open just in case – there never had been a Halloween without a strange new case to crack in the many years they had been working together.

As expected, Niko got very into the party planning. She was planning on baking enough snacks to feed a small army – including finding a recipe and enchantment for biscuits and sweets ghosts could eat thanks to Tragic Mick. She and Edwin had been crafting decorations while Charles and Crystal went out to buy supplies.

“So what do you want to dress as?” Niko asked, cutting out skull-shaped bunting.

“I’m not sure. I don’t think I want to dress too differently, if possible. The idea is still a little silly to me, I must admit.”

“Everyone dresses up on Halloween, Edwin. It’s the one day a year where cosplaying is normalised – expected, even! But if you want to keep your style as much as you can, I think I have an idea.”

“What is it?”

“That’s a surprise,” Niko grinned. “You trust me, yeah?”

“Of course,” Edwin replied sincerely.

The surprise didn’t last very long. Merely one day later, Niko returned to the office with inspiration for Edwin’s outfit to show him, and he wasn’t as against the idea as she expected him to be. Crystal was there too, and was as excited about the costume as Niko was. But they all agreed to keep it as a secret from Charles – who was being very secretive over his own idea anyway.

Soon enough, Halloween arrived. The office was decorated with a mixture of lovingly crafted handmade decorations and ornaments bought from shops. Niko’s paper skull bunting hung across the doorframe and across the blank wall between the games closet and the desk. She had also made bats to hang from the ceiling by string. The four of them had carved pumpkins the day prior, to varying degrees of precision, which all sat along the windowsill. Edwin had intricately folded several little origami pumpkins and placed them on the bookshelves, while tiny plastic ornaments of skulls and bats and witches’ hats sat amongst them. A string of brightly coloured lights shaped like skulls were suspended across the window.

The largest of the decorations were two plastic hanging skeletons, which hung either side of the door. They had been plain when Crystal bought them, but she and Niko had crafted a tiny bow tie and book for one of them, and an earring, backpack and cricket bat for the other. Edwin seemed sceptical about the mini him-and-Charles, but grew fond of them after seeing Charles’s grin when Crystal hung them up.

The office looked different, but somehow the atmosphere hadn’t really changed – after all, it was the permanent residence of two ghosts in the first place.

It was 5pm, and the girls were currently both in the bathroom getting into their costumes, while the boys waited in the main room of the office, both still in their usual outfits.

“So like, you really never did anything?” Charles asked.

“Charles, I’ve told you several times over the years. When I was alive, Halloween wasn’t as much of a deal as it was now. It was a childish holiday. A few of the boys at school would sneak out to the cemetery at night, or play games in the dormitories, but people rarely dressed up or had parties like you do now.”

“Right. Sorry. I mean, it wasn’t like a huge thing when I was alive – not for my family, anyway. My dad thought it was stupid, so even if my friends did have a party I could never go. It always looked so much cooler in America, like it is in films and stuff.”

“Hmm,” Edwin hummed.

“So…what’s your costume?” Charles asked.

He’d been trying to get Edwin to tell him for a week, but he didn’t budge, insisting it was a surprise.

“I’m not telling you,” Edwin replied, a smug smirk on his face.

“You’re evil.”

“Oh really? Because I seem to remember you saying something different when you were kissing me ten minutes ago.”

“Oi!” Charles grinned.

The sound of giggling echoed through the bathroom door, and both ghosts turned towards it.

“Seriously, what are they doing in there?” Edwin asked, folding his arms.

“I dunno, mate. Girls and bathrooms, innit? They always go in pairs and take forever and come out giggling like maniacs.”

“So strange.”

“Yup.”

“How long does it take to change clothes? They’ve been in there for nearly an hour.”

Charles stepped forwards and knocked on the door.

“Hey, uh, are you two good in there? You’ve been in there ages,” he said.

“We’re fine,” Niko laughed.

“You better not be snogging!”

“Charles you can’t say anything, we know you were making out with Edwin like ten minutes ago.”

Charles opened his mouth to argue but ultimately gave up. “Okay fine, shut up,” he said instead.

More laughter erupted from the door, and Charles gave up, walking back over to the desk.

It was several minutes later when the door to the tiny bathroom finally opened. Charles and Edwin stood up straight, ready to see the girls’ outfits…

…only to find the two of them standing there with white sheets over their heads, holes cut out of the faces so their eyes could be seen.

Charles snorted, but Edwin didn’t seem as amused. Perhaps if you looked closer though…maybe there was a slight smirk hidden there on his face. Maybe.

“Very funny,” he said sarcastically.

“We’re ghosts!” Niko said, giggling.

“Yes, I can see that, Niko.”

“Come on, it’s a little funny!” Crystal argued.

“Fine,” Edwin gave in, letting that tiny smirk be more obvious on his face.

“Anyway, these aren’t our real costumes. Don’t worry,” Niko said, and both she and Crystal pulled the sheets from their heads and threw them onto the sofa.

Niko had the more recognisable costume of the two – a bright orange turtleneck and matching socks, along with a short red skirt. What with her usual bright monochromatic wardrobe choices, the other three had seen every main part of the outfit before many times. What they hadn’t seen before were the large-rimmed glasses that rested on her nose, or the short brown wig she wore that seemed to conceal her bright white hair so well, it was as if it wasn’t even there beneath it.

“Velma!” Edwin said, smiling.

“Yeah!”

Then the boys turned to Crystal, and both of their faces morphed into confusion.

“You guys have no idea who I am do you?” she laughed.

“I’m afraid we don’t.”

“Wasn’t expecting you to, don’t worry. I’m Ayumi from Yonda.”

“Are those words?” Edwin asked, one eyebrow raised.

“It’s a video game,” Niko explained.

“Oh, nice! Well, you look great. Both of you,” Charles said.

“Thank you,” Niko smiled.

“Right, now it’s your turn,” Crystal turned to the boys, a smile on her face.

“Do we really have to?” Edwin complained.

“Yes!” Niko exclaimed, ushering him into the bathroom and closing the door behind them.

Since the boys didn’t exactly get changed into their costumes, each had one of the girls there to help them alter their appearances, especially since they also didn’t have reflections. So, Niko joined Edwin in the bathroom whilst Crystal helped Charles in the office.

Edwin managed to get his costume right fairly quickly – Niko had made him practise whenever they got the chance and were away from the other two. Niko looked him up and down, smiling to herself.

“Perfect!” she grinned.

He was dressed as a traditional vampire, and thanks to some convincing from the girls (otherwise known as Niko’s puppy eyes – Edwin really ought to learn to say no to her), he’d also manifested a pair of fangs. He couldn’t alter his own body, but he’d managed to create a pair of plastic ones that fitted perfectly to his canine teeth.

“Oh my god you look so good!” Niko said, using a finger to dab some fake blood onto the corner of his mouth, so it dripped down his chin.

“Niko, is this strange sticky concoction really necessary?”

“Yes! How will anyone know you’re a spooky vampire without fake blood?”

“I think it’s fairly obvious from the rest of the outfit. And the fangs,” Edwin chuckled.

“Oh well. It looks cooler.”

Edwin wasn’t going to argue with her. Niko shuffled around him in the tiny bathroom before she reached the door. She knocked on it a couple of times.

“Hey, is Charles ready?”

“Nearly, just finishing up his…nearly!” Crystal replied from the other side of the door.

“Yay!” Niko grinned, placing her hands together in front of her like she was running some evil scheme. Edwin had come to fear that look.

“Ready!” Crystal called.

Niko opened the bathroom door, and both of them stepped out.

Edwin froze when he saw Charles. Charles seemed to freeze too, the two of them just staring at one another open-mouthed.

“Pick your jaws up off the floor, you two,” Crystal said, her arms folded in front of her.

“Shh let them ogle,” Niko said, that grin still plastered across her face.

In terms of style, Edwin’s costume wasn’t too dissimilar from what he usually wore; the blue sweater vest was replaced by a red waistcoat, and a frilly collar took the place of his bow tie. His trousers were black instead of pinstripe grey, and his brown coat was now black and had a higher, upturned collar. It was different enough to be considered a costume, but similar enough that it wasn’t too uncomfortable, and he wasn’t revealing any more skin than usual.

The same could not be said for Charles’s costume. He wore what appeared to be a teal surgical gown, only unlike actual surgical gowns, this one cut off halfway down his thighs. Under it, he wore fishnet tights and boots that resembled the ones Edwin usually wore. He had a pearl necklace around his neck, and bright pink rubber gloves on. And that wasn’t even mentioning the make-up. Of course, Charles always wore eyeliner, but this was different. His eyelids were painted the same teal as his outfit all the way up to his eyebrows, and he wore lipstick.

“He wouldn’t wear the heels,” Crystal tutted, shaking her head at him in disappointment.

Edwin recognised the costume from a movie Crystal had made them watch a few weeks prior. Charles had already seen it, had snuck into the cinema to watch it with a girl when it was playing on Halloween the year before he died. It hadn’t been a date; Charles was sure to tell them. They were just the only ones who wanted to watch it - all their other friends had claimed it was for queers. Charles had brushed it off at the time, but now saw the ironic truth in their claim, given both his recent revelations and the fact he knew that girl he snuck out with was now happily married to a woman.

“Mate, you look…” Charles began.

“Charles…” Edwin breathed, unable to tear his eyes away from Charles’s legs.

He’d seen Charles’s legs many times by now, but never like this and never in this context. It was overwhelming and he couldn’t figure out how to look anywhere else.

“His face is further up, Edwin,” Crystal teased. “Jeez, now I’m glad we didn’t go for the corset,” she muttered to Niko.

“Do you guys want us to leave you alone?” Niko smirked.

Edwin cleared his throat, finally managing to look somewhere other than his boyfriend’s legs in those fishnets.

“No, that won’t be necessary. Besides, Jenny will be here soon,” he said, hoping no one noticed the way his voice cracked a little.

Everyone noticed.

As Edwin and Niko headed over to the desk to lay out the food, Crystal stepped towards Charles – who was still silent and staring.

“Are you okay there, buddy?” she asked, the amusement clear in her voice.

Charles snapped out of it, turning to face her.

“Yeah. Aces, why?”

“Hmm…sure,” Crystal smirked.

It was nearly twenty minutes later when Jenny arrived. She was also dressed as a vampire, wearing a dark red corset top over a flowy white long-sleeved shirt with black trousers and a collared cloak. The shirt had several small bloodstains on it. She brought in a tray of pastries that were made to resemble severed fingers.

Niko came running over to her and took the tray from her hands.

“Oh my god! You and Edwin match!” she exclaimed, pointing between the two of them.

Jenny looked up to Edwin, who appeared to be looking for a book on their many shelves.

“Dracula. Neat,” she said.

“Just a generic vampire, I’m afraid,” Edwin corrected. “Although, I suppose it could be Count Dracula.”

“Right, okay.”

“Are you a specific one?” Crystal asked before biting into one of Niko’s decorated cookies.

“Yeah, I’m meant to be Carmilla.”

Everyone looked at her blankly.

“Carmilla Karnstein? From the book Carmilla? Like one of the first pieces of vampire literature?” Jenny asked, bewildered.

“I cannot say I have ever read it,” Edwin apologised.

“Well, you should. It’s a classic. And it’s really gay, so…”

Jenny turned around once more, taking one of the skull-emblazoned paper plates Crystal had found in a shop and moving onto the food.

“Is that blood…real?” Charles asked her, pointing out the stains on her shirt.

Jenny just raised her eyebrows and took a bite out of one of Niko’s cookies. Charles didn’t want to think about that too hard.

“Nice Frank-N-Furter costume,” she said. “Good to know you’re not entirely uncultured.”

“Thanks,” Charles replied. “So, what food is enchanted?” he asked excitedly, practically bouncing over to Edwin.

Edwin and Niko had successfully baked some foods that the ghosts could eat, and Charles had been incredibly excited about it for days. He really missed food.

“Aptly enough, the cookies shaped like ghosts. And also, the white marshmallows. Not the orange ones, though,” said Edwin.

“Brills,” Charles said, already reaching across the desk to take one of the cookies.

He took a bite, and the satisfied sound he made gave Edwin flashbacks he’d rather not be thinking about with other people in the room.

“These are so good, Niko,” he said, giving her a playful punch to the arm. “God, I missed food. Can you do this to anything?” he asked Edwin.

“I believe the enchantment will need a few tweaks depending on what item it is, but yes. Don’t worry Charles, you’ll get your enchanted spaghetti,” Edwin laughed, practically reading Charles’s mind.

“I love you, you know that right?”

“I do believe you’ve mentioned it once or twice before.”

“Are you guys just gonna keep flirting all night or are we gonna do more party things?” Crystal asked from where she was sitting in Edwin’s usual chair.

“We can multitask,” Charles argued, throwing an arm around Edwin’s shoulders and kissing him on the cheek.

Crystal was beginning to regret her involvement in getting them together. Niko walked over and perched on the arm of the chair beside her, leaning in to kiss her. Okay, maybe she could multitask too.

“Wow you guys, way to make a woman feel single,” Jenny said from the other side of the room. “You two are literally dead and you’ve got more game than me,” she looked over at the boys.

“Don’t worry Jenny, we’ll find you someone!” Niko reassured.

“Preferably someone who isn’t a psycho murderer who stalks me this time.”

Niko nodded, looking at the ground. Enough time had passed now that they could make light-hearted jokes about the Maxine situation, but it still left as much trauma as expected for Jenny. Niko still felt guilty, even though she’d been mostly forgiven.

The vague tension in the room was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Do we really have to take a case?” Niko groaned.

“I don’t think it is a case, Niko, don’t worry,” Edwin said, walking to the door while Charles reached into the games cupboard and pulled out a large green bowl, filled with what looked like tiny little trinkets.

Edwin opened the door.

“Trick or treat!” came the small voices from outside.

There were three small children: a young girl around nine years old dressed as a witch, a boy around the same age with a werewolf mask, and another girl who looked no older than about two wearing a pumpkin outfit. All three of them had similar burn scars on their faces and arms.

“Hey, you three! Happy Halloween!” Charles said, offering the bowl out to them.

They all took two tiny curios each. A green feather, an engraved brass ring, a chunk of amethyst, a tiny brooch with a leaf design, a small bag of pink dust, and a wishbone. All small harmless items the boys had picked up over the years but had no use for – but always brought joy to the faces of the young ghosts in the neighbourhood.

“You’re dressed up!” the older girl said, surprised.

“Yeah, thought we’d give it a go this year,” Charles said.

“What are you meant to be?” the boy asked him.

“Uhhh,” Charles stammered.

“Shouldn’t you three be running along? The night won’t last forever, you know. I heard the fortune teller down the road is giving out magical coins!” Edwin cut in.

All three children gasped.

“Really?”

“Yes, but they won’t be there forever so you’d better go quick!”

“Thanks Edwin!” said the girl.

“Bye Charles!” said the boy.

Charles gave the youngest a high five before all three of them leapt down the staircase excitedly.

When they closed the door and turned back around to face the room, they were met with looks of confusion from Crystal, Niko and Jenny.

“What-” Crystal began.

“The ghost children in the area come around every year, we always make sure we have trinkets to give them since they can’t eat sweets.”

“Hey maybe next year we can actually give them enchanted sweets!” Charles suggested.

“Wait, those three were ghosts? Did they all-” Jenny trailed off.

“The James siblings. They all died in a housefire a couple of years ago. Their parents were out shopping so they had a babysitter, but none of them survived the fire. Death came for the babysitter, but the children were all hiding in the rubble,” Edwin explained.

“Shit, those poor kids. I bet their parents feel horrific, oh my god.”

“That is precisely why we haven’t reported them to the Lost and Found Department,” Edwin said sternly. “The parents got into a terrible car accident upon getting the phone call about the children. They both survived, but only barely. They can see ghosts now, so the family is reunited.”

As Edwin spoke, Charles walked over to the window.

“Their dads are just outside, look,” he pointed across the road.

Everyone gathered around him and looked down. They saw the three children running over to two men stood on the opposite side of the road. They all showed their buckets to their parents excitedly, then pointed down the road. Their parents laughed, and the family all headed off down the road together.

“That’s sweet,” said Niko. “They’re still all together.”

“Precisely. It’s nice to know tragedy doesn’t always end in entirely pain.”

The others didn’t miss the way Edwin looked towards Charles as he spoke.

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long before the boys insisted on a game of Cluedo.

“Not fair, you guys always win!” Crystal argued.

“Well, we’ve got thirty-four years on you, Crystal.”

“Also, it’s more a game of luck than one of skill. If you get a good hand of cards to mark things off, you’re already further ahead than other players.”

“Yeah, yeah, fine whatever. But if you guys win, you owe me, like, the entirety of the payment for the next case.”

“Deal,” Edwin agreed, and they shook on it.

“Hey! What about me?” Niko pouted.

“You win almost as often as they do, babe.”

“I keep telling you! You should watch more Scooby Doo,” Niko shrugged, leaning her head on Crystal’s shoulder.

The deal however, never got resolved. Halfway through the game, there was another knock on the door, and this time it wasn’t ghostly trick-or-treaters; it was a case. And surprisingly, it was a real one. Usually on Halloween, their cases were less often genuine supernatural encounters and more often paranoid older ghosts misunderstanding typical Halloween living-people things. But this one was real. It wasn’t difficult, and only took them an hour or so to solve, but it was real.

Someone nearby had been having their own ghostly Halloween party, but their decorations had all been possessed by mischievous imps that had begun causing havoc. But the Dead Boy Detectives had dealt with imps dozens of times before; they arrived, set a few traps, Edwin cast a few spells, Charles swung his bat a few times, and the job was successfully jobbed.

By the time they got back to the office, Niko had already beaten Crystal and Jenny at Cluedo twice, and they were currently tied one-all in a very intense Uno tournament. When Crystal won the fourth game, they decided to wrap it up.

Then, Niko suggested – well, insisted, but no one can resist her puppy eyes – that they play Monopoly. Her argument was that it was thematically relevant since the box they had was Beetlejuice themed.

The game was as loud and chaotic as anyone would expect, and Crystal and Jenny both nearly flipped the board twice each in the first half an hour. Charles was the first to go bankrupt, closely followed by Edwin. The other three swore they planned it in advance, since they used it to their advantage, sneaking off into the games cupboard for a snog and locking the door whilst Jenny was in the bathroom, Crystal was clearing away the empty food trays and Niko was distracted watching fireworks outside the window. They were in there for the entire last ninety minutes of the game, and when they finally stepped back into the room, both had incredibly messy hair, and both Charles’s lipstick and Edwin’s fake blood were smudged over both of their chins. Crystal had never been happier that they put a silencing spell on the cupboard a few months prior. But then again, it meant they had an excuse to disappear into there whenever they felt like it. God, she and Niko needed to get payback at some point.

“Could you guys not have waited until after everyone else left?” Crystal asked, her eyebrows raised at them.

“Hey, don’t look at me,” Charles put his hands up in defence. “It’s not my fault this one couldn’t keep his eyes off my legs.”

“It absolutely is your fault for wearing those tights.”

“And on that note, I’m leaving,” Jenny butted in, standing up from the sofa. “This was great, but it’s nearly midnight and unlike you guys who don’t seem to have a schedule, I have a shop to open at nine o’clock tomorrow.”

“Understandable. Goodnight, Jenny,” Edwin said, reaching to readjust his bow tie only to remember he wasn’t wearing one.

“Yeah, Niko and I should probably head off, too,” Crystal said.

“Do we have to?” Niko complained, but her face changed when she turned and saw that Crystal was giving her a look. “Oh. Yes. Definitely. We should go.”

“We’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?” Charles said.

“Yep. ‘Night guys! Great party, we should definitely do that every year!”

“I must admit it was…much more enjoyable than I anticipated,” Edwin admitted.

“See! Told you you’d like it.”

Niko hugged Edwin before she was practically dragged out of the room by Crystal.

“Oh! I forgot my jacket,” Niko realised when she and Crystal were halfway down the road, and she had begun to shiver.

“Here, take mine,” Crystal said, taking hers off and placing it around Niko’s shoulders. “I highly doubt we would wanna go back in there.”

Niko snickered, locking her arm with Crystal’s.

“Seriously, they’re insatiable! At least we’re more subtle about it.”

“Give them some slack, they’ve got over thirty years of built-up sexual tension to resolve!”

“I really don’t wanna think about those two resolving their tension,” Crystal practically gagged.

“Maybe you wanna think about me in this turtleneck instead?” Niko said suggestively.

“I-” Crystal stammered.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you staring at my chest all night,” she teased.

“Okay, shut up.”

“Hey, it’s allowed. I’ve been staring at you all night, too. I told you Ayumi was my gay awakening, and I was not kidding.”

“Glad you thought my costume was a success, then.”

“I think tonight was a success! I don’t think we’ll have any trouble convincing the boys to properly celebrate dress up again next year. Maybe we can even get Charles to do the full corset look!”

“I’d rather not be in the room, or even anywhere near the room, when Edwin sees that.”

“Fair,” Niko giggled.

Illuminated by streetlamps and the soft glow of pumpkins and decorative lights from nearby apartment buildings, the two of them walked back to their flat.

even upside down, it's beautiful somehow

The current case is stressful. It’s had all four of the detectives – and even the Night Nurse at one point – chasing a troublesome shapeshifter around the streets of London for the better part of a week now, causing havoc along the way.

Needless to say, by the end of the sixth day of running around, the girls had exhausted themselves. They’d managed a few hours sleep most nights, but by now they’re just drained. They decide to take a full night off to catch up on some rest while Charles and Edwin head out on their own. The chase is easier for them anyway, what with the added advantage of mirror-hopping, so they’d probably end up being more productive with this particular case without them.

Niko loves sharing a flat with Crystal. It’s nice knowing she’s not on her own anymore, and even better that her roommate is her best-friend-slash-definite-crush. So, she’s comfortable and happy when she climbs into bed to get some sleep.

She finds, however, that she can’t drift off. There’s something distracting her – some sound coming from the other side of her bedroom wall that she can’t help but focus on. With a start, she realises it’s the sound of poorly concealed sobbing: Crystal is in her own room crying.

After sliding on her slippers and dressing gown, Niko leaves her own room and stands in front of the door to Crystal’s, worried. She’s so worried that she almost opens the door without thinking, but stops herself. Ever since what happened with Jenny and Maxine, she’s been much more aware of how often she sometimes oversteps boundaries. She never intends to, always just wants to help, and can’t always tell based on people’s social cues when she’s overstepped. She feels terrible about it, but at least Jenny seems to have forgiven her now, and she’s more aware of herself.

She knocks gently on Crystal’s door three times and hears sniffling from inside.

“You okay, Niko?” Crystal asks, her voice weak and croaky.

Niko feels a warmth in her chest at the knowledge that Crystal knows it’s her. She knows they’re the only two who live in the flat, so realistically she’s the only person who would be knocking at her door past 10pm, but she still loves it.

“Yeah, can I come in?”

“Uh, sure.” She doesn’t sound sure.

Niko quietly opens the door, her hedgehog slippers shuffling along the floor as she approaches Crystal’s bed and sits on the edge of it.

Crystal is sitting in the centre, her back against her many pillows, hugging her knees to her chest. She smiles weakly.

“I heard you crying, and I just wanted to check you’re okay,” Niko says, looking concerned.

“I’m fine, I promise,” Crystal lies.

“You don’t look particularly okay. You don’t have to tell me about it if you don’t want to, but it might help. I’m always here for you, you know?.”

“Thanks, Niko. I know you are, it’s just…”

Crystal’s eyes close for a second and she breathes out shakily.

“What’s going on?” Niko asks, trying not to be too pushy.

“It’s Charles and Edwin,” Crystal admits.

“What about them?”

“They’ve been like…all over each other recently.”

Niko can’t help but smile remembering the way the two of them had run towards each other and met in a desperate, bruising kiss after the group had been separated for several hours earlier that day.

“They are in the honeymoon phase,” she says.

“I know, and I’m happy for them, I really am. It’s great that they finally fucking did something about the obvious repressed married couple vibe they’ve always had going on, but it’s just…” Crystal trails off, looking at the other side of her room, away from Niko.

“Are you still a little jealous?”

“No? Well, yeah a bit, but…” she can’t seem to find the right words, settling on: “God, I’m such a fucking terrible person.”

Well, those definitely aren’t the right words either.

“Hey,” Niko says firmly.

She kicks her slippers off and shuffles herself further onto the bed so she’s sitting cross-legged across from Crystal. She takes the other girl’s hands in her own and holds them tightly.

“No you’re not,” she looks Crystal in the eyes as she says it. “Whatever you’re feeling right now, you’re allowed to feel it. It does not make you a terrible person.”

“This case is just really stressing me out so I’m really emotional and it all just seems to be taking me over. Really, you can go back to bed if you want,” Crystal insists.

“No, I want to stay. If that’s alright. I can’t go to bed knowing you’re sitting here crying thinking you’re a terrible person for feeling things.”

Crystal chuckles, her voice still wet with tears.

“Thanks, Niko.”

“Come on then, what’s making you think that?”

“Every time I see Charles and Edwin together, it’s just…I’m not uncomfortable or anything, something in me just hurts. It’s not even really like I still have feelings for Charles. I mean, I do a little. He’s still him. But obviously what I feel for him is barely anything compared to what him and Edwin have got going on.”

“That doesn’t make them meaningless though!” Niko cuts in.

“I know. But I also knew that anything between us wasn’t really gonna last anyway. We both had shit to work through and also…he’s dead and I’m not, so, there’s that. But that’s like exactly my point!” Crystal sits up slightly.

Niko is silent for a second, a little confused.

“…Sorry, I’m not really following.”

“I’m more just jealous of what they have in general. All of my romantic relationships turn to shit,” Crystal says, like it’s a fact. “Charles and I broke up – I know I initiated that, but he still moved on really quickly. Obviously, I’m not blaming Charles for any of this, it’s not his fault and him and Edwin were always gonna happen but it does hurt a little and sometimes I just get in my own head about it. And…before him was David. I was dating a literal demon. And I still don’t really remember much about the relationships I had before him, just that I had a girlfriend not long before David and a boyfriend a year or so before her, but obviously both of those went to shit - probably because of me being a shit person. And like, I know romantic relationships aren’t everything but it just makes me feel like…and with everything with my parents as well, I just can’t help but think sometimes, maybe I’m…unlovable or something.”

Crystal finally breathes out, after saying everything in what felt like a single breath. She stares down at her own feet, unable to look up to Niko. When Niko doesn’t say anything in response, she finally gives in and lifts her head.

The way Niko looks at her is almost enough to make her start crying all over again. She looks so sad, her eyes welling up with tears and her eyebrows scrunched up a little in the middle of her forehead. Crystal is about to open her mouth to say something else when she’s cut off by Niko surging forwards, capturing her in a tight hug. They stay there for a few seconds in silence before Crystal lifts her arms to hug back and Niko speaks up.

“You’re not unlovable,” she says softly but sternly. “I know your parents are shitty. And you’ve had to deal with a lot of shit from your past and people and…everything. But you’re not unlovable. You’re like the best person I know. I love you. Charles loves you. Edwin loves you. Jenny loves you. Hell, I think even the Night Nurse loves you in a way.”

“Those are all platonic, though,” Crystal argues.

Niko opens her mouth. She wants to say something, to tell Crystal that not all of them are – that the way she feels is different, is more, but she hesitates. Maybe this isn’t the right time for a love confession. Crystal needs support right now, and while knowing how Niko feels might quell some of her worries, she knows it would probably do more harm than good. She might not believe her, might think Niko is just saying it to calm her down.

“And they matter just as much,” Niko settles on saying.

She pulls away from the hug, but only enough that they can see each other’s faces again. She still holds Crystal’s arms, grounding her.

“I know they do, but…okay, maybe unlovable isn’t the right word. Undesirable, maybe.”

Niko immediately shakes her head.

“No. You’re not that either,” she says. “I know your past relationships haven’t been…the best-”

Crystal chuckles slightly at the understatement.

“-but there’ll be someone out there. There’s someone who will love you and want you just for being you. I promise,” Niko reassures.

“Who’d want this mess?” Crystal laughs.

Me, Niko thinks. I want you. Mess and all. She doesn’t say that, though. She will, one day; hopefully some day soon. She really wants to. She wants Crystal to know just how much and how deeply she feels for her, how much Crystal changed her life, how much she wants her around all the time, whether it’s both of them teaching the boys how to play video games, or the two of them having movie nights together, or even just watching her and Edwin bicker like loving siblings. She wants to tell her all of it. But not right now.

“Someone will. They won’t care about how messy you are. They’ll see you and want you. No matter what,” she says.

And she sounds like she means it. It doesn’t sound like a guess, or like she’s saying something just to cheer Crystal up. She sounds like she knows it like it’s a fact of the universe – that someone will one day see and love and want and cherish Crystal like she wants them to. And that just about makes Crystal believe her, even if she doesn’t understand just how true it is.

“Thanks Niko. For saying that,” she sniffles.

“I only say it because it’s the truth,” Niko smiles at her.

Crystal returns the smile, and immediately hugs her again.

“Do you want me to stay here tonight?” Niko asks, quietly against Crystal’s shoulder.

“You don’t have to. You’ve already done more than enough.”

“I want to. Hey, it’s a sleepover.”

Crystal couldn’t really argue with that. The sleepovers had become a sort of ritual of theirs since moving in together.

“Okay,” Crystal laughs.

Niko takes off her dressing gown, throwing it down onto the floor with her slippers, and climbs under the duvet next to Crystal. They lie facing one another, and after deliberating for nearly a minute, Niko reaches over to drape one arm over Crystal’s waist.

“Is this okay?” she asks, worried she might be overstepping.

Crystal only hums in response, moving further into Niko’s embrace until she’s practically lying on Niko’s chest. She holds her closer.

Within minutes, Crystal’s breath becomes shallower, and her limbs relax more.

“I love you,” Niko mutters into the top of Crystal’s head as she drifts off to sleep.

And once she’s sure Crystal can no longer hear her, she whispers again, this time:

heard the voices and caught my breath, so close and yet so far from death

Chapter 1

Grief was a strange old thing.

Edwin had only known Niko for a few weeks and now, a month after her death, he still felt the pain of losing her weighing him down as though they had been friends for years. In reality, he’d been grieving her longer than they had known each other, and that was a difficult thing to come to terms with. Theoretically, ghosts could have eternity, so time and emotions didn’t quite correlate in the same way they would have if he were alive. If he were alive, of course he would still be grieving, just as Crystal was, but a few weeks were barely anything compared to how long he had existed. Niko had merely been a blip in time for him, and yet here he was, sitting at his desk preparing for a new client as a way of distracting himself from how much it hurt, from how often he saw a girl lying on the ground, eyes glazed over, blood gushing from her chest, whenever he closed his eyes.

He supposed, when you spent 16 years living in a society full of such strict expectations, where affection was so abnormal that even your own parents never hugged you; and when you spent 73 years in the worst place in existence, entirely alone aside from the creature that continuously hunted you down and tore you apart; and when you spent 34 years with the best person you’d ever met, who you would never give up for anything since you loved him far too much for that and believed there would never be anyone else who would care even half as much about you as he did…meeting someone else who also cared, who also listened, who also helped you and understood you in a way no one else ever had…of course it would hurt for a long time to lose them – no matter how fleeting your time together was.

He'd grown closer to Crystal during the time since Port Townsend. She was as close to Niko as he was, and she’d had a similarly profound effect on her and how she viewed herself and the world. He supposed it must be harder for her, in a way. Being a ghost, Edwin had become rather detached from the idea of death as an ending. Crystal may have been a psychic with full knowledge and access to the spectral realm, but he supposed it must hurt in a different way, being alive and watching someone else die to save you, and someone as kind and loving as Niko Sasaki at that.

At first, he and Crystal had yelled at each other a lot. Both of them had been on edge, their usually stiff-built emotional walls having deteriorated through the overwhelming sadness. They’d been at each other’s throats more than ever, Charles caught in the crossfire, until he eventually convinced the two of them to sit down and talk.

They had talked, and it helped. They weren’t as snappy with one another, since they knew and understood that they were going through the same thing. They bonded over their grief, Edwin even offering Crystal a hug she so clearly needed, which Edwin hadn’t realised he needed too. They had realised they’d become so emotionally vulnerable because both of them felt some sort of blame for what happened. Crystal blamed herself because the slashing spell had been directed at her before Niko jumped in front of it – she felt she should have been the one who died. Edwin felt responsible since it was him they were both trying to rescue. They talked about it, both reassuring each other it was not their fault, but that feeling, that pang of guilt at the mere thought of their friend, never really disappeared. It felt a little lighter though, a little easier.

Charles had also been suffering – of course he had. He’d begun to view Niko as the younger sister he never had and losing her had felt quite like dying all over again. But Charles being Charles put the others’ needs above his own, trying to help them through their grief while pushing his own deep down into himself until it exploded out one night and he burst into tears one night, gripping onto Edwin like he would slip away if he let go.

All three of them were broken. But they had each other. They had people who understood, and they had the Agency – because as much as Edwin hated to admit it, sometimes a distraction helped. Getting his head stuck into casework and research gave him something to focus on, which was why they continued to take on new cases despite everything.

“I’m Edwin Payne,” he introduced himself to their latest client – a middle-aged woman in a 19th century maid’s uniform. “This is Charles Rowland, and Crystal Palace. Welcome to the Dead Boy Detective Agency. How can we help you?”

“My name’s Susan Grantham. In life, I were the maid at one of the bigger houses over in Uxbridge. I did my work willingly, for the Andersons that lived there. The wife Em was a good friend o’ mine, we grew up together and had always been close. She made me the godmother of her children, so when I died in that house three months after she and her husband were killed when their train derailed, I knew I had to stick around and help however I could. But when they grew up, and all of ‘em but the oldest married off and got land of their own, I never went anywhere. Always thought someone would come for me once my job was done but they still ain’t come. So it’s just been me in that house. It’s a hotel now. Em’s great-great grandson was the last to live there, he died in the war in ’43. House was empty for years ‘til someone bought it in the ‘90s and turned it into a hotel. It’s constantly full of people now, but I’m convinced I ain’t the only thing haunting it anymore. There’s been loads of weird accidents in there, and that’s why I’ve come to you.”

“Weird accidents?” Charles repeated. “Sounds like a poltergeist, we’ve dealt with them before.”

“What kind of weird accidents is the establishment succumbing to, Ms Grantham?”

“Oh, all sorts. Knives moving on their own in the kitchens, doors knocking with no one there, and too many guests have come screaming to the front desk about floating furniture.”

“Definitely sounds like a poltergeist, right Edwin?”

“Oh my god, Edwin, this is just like that Scooby Doo episode we watched!” said Niko.

Edwin smiled for a split second, then paused. His face fell. Wait…what?

Edwin didn’t reply to Charles’s question, instead looking around desperate and confused, as if there was any possible way she could be there in the room. She wasn’t, of course. How could she be?

“Edwin, you okay?” Charles asked quietly, clearly worried.

“I thought I…never mind,” Edwin shook his head slightly, turning back to the client. “We’d be more than happy to take your case, it sounds simple enough. Now, onto payment.”

Five minutes later, the payment deal was agreed upon and Susan left them the address to Anderson House before leaving the office.

“Well, this should be a straight-forward one,” Edwin said, looking up with a small smile.

The other two weren’t smiling back. They both looked like they were trying to figure something out, as though they could read Edwin’s thoughts if they stared hard enough.

“What’s the matter with you two?” he asked, already making notes in his little book.

“What’s the matter with us? What’s the matter with you?” Crystal asked.

“Yeah, mate, what was that about?”

“I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Edwin claimed.

“You went all quiet and weird for a sec looking around like there was something there.”

“I can assure you, I am quite alright, Charles. The window merely created an interesting light pattern on the rug,” he lied.

Charles didn’t seem convinced, but he and Crystal stopped prying.

Edwin cursed himself. He’d thought about Niko non-stop since everything happened, but that was the first time he had imagined her there with them. Her voice sounded so real, like she was really there. Edwin hoped this wouldn’t become a repeating thing, he didn’t know if he’d be able to bear it if Niko’s voice was supplied by his mind but she wasn’t, couldn’t be, physically there. He already missed her enough.

He cleared his throat, shaking the thought from his mind, and got back to the case notes. This one was going to be easy.

Chapter 2

The Case of the Haunted Hotel was easy. It was the running commentary in Edwin’s mind that was not. Hearing Niko’s voice had apparently not been a one-time thing. Throughout the entire case, part of Edwin’s mental commentary had been through her. She’d provided more comparisons between the case and one of the Scooby Doo episodes they’d watched together, given several niche comments that would have sounded incredibly strange in any other voice, and had helped with the case itself, reminding Edwin that Charles had put the one item they really needed in the bag of tricks a few hours beforehand. And it didn’t even stop after that case; it continued for a few weeks, and as Edwin grew somewhat more accustomed to the apparent second consciousness in his mind, he started to enjoy it – it was a comfort that he could still feel her helping them, like it was all four of them on a case together instead of three of them and a painful space.

He only enjoyed it as it was happening, though. When the cases were closed and they returned to the office, he sat down and thought back on the idea, and then it was much more of another hurt than a comfort. When he had most of his focus directed onto a case, it was nice to have her back in a strange subconscious way, but when he was alone with his thoughts once more, the little voice in his head gave him little more than overwhelming grief. Because no matter how hard he tried to pretend that voice was real, he knew it could never be. Niko was dead, and despite the fact Edwin himself was too, he knew this one was forever. They’d left her lying on the floor of Esther Finch’s living room for Death to collect, not even waiting to see her rise as a ghost before they fled, as they had so many times since 1989. By now she’d be settled into her afterlife, no doubt in the paradise she deserved, perhaps reunited with her father, while Edwin was still on Earth. Even if he’d wanted to go with Death in the hopes of joining her, he knew he wouldn’t. He may have filled in the forms that meant Hell was no longer looking for him, but that was still his afterlife – that damn demon had made sure of that. His choices were eternal damnation in Hell or potential eternal grief on Earth, and the answer to that didn’t even beg questioning. He’d just have to learn to exist in her absence, even if he did have her sweet happy voice echoing in his mind now.

Several cases later – some of these ones much more complex than the poltergeist of Anderson House – the group needed a break. Even before they had any living members of the agency, Edwin and Charles used to have a rest day every once in a while, just to do something other than work for once, whether it be binge-playing Cluedo, Edwin teaching Charles fencing, or the two doing separate things, Edwin visiting the many museums around London and Charles exercising his ghostly privileges by going to all the concerts he wants. These rest days had become more common with Crystal around, since she actually got tired, and they’d found a whole host of things they enjoy doing as a group.

Tonight, they’d been to the theatre. There’d been a musical on in the West End that Crystal had desperately wanted to see, and while Charles and Edwin had never really had an interest in musicals, they’d agreed to go along with her. Edwin found he rather enjoyed it actually, and had been mentally replying to everything Mind-Niko was saying as they watched.

It was growing dark when they left the theatre, so Charles and Edwin walked Crystal back to her new flat on their way home. Charles and Crystal were walking slightly ahead of Edwin, whose gaze flicked between the two of them. He didn’t know if anything else had happened between them since their goodbye kiss in Port Townsend – Charles certainly hadn’t mentioned anything, but Edwin worried he wouldn’t tell him if anything had, likely out of fear of hurting his feelings since his own confession. Charles had a knack for leaving out information that might cause Edwin distress. Part of Edwin wanted to see their lack of anything official as a sign of hope that maybe, just maybe Charles could start to feel the same way he did. The larger part of Edwin, however, only wanted Charles to be happy, and if that came from him being with Crystal, then Edwin would be wholeheartedly supportive – he’d even tried to convince him to talk to her about it before she intended to leave Port Townsend. And it was clear there was still something there between them, whether they were acting on it or not. They walked down the street together, not quite touching or holding hands, but as close as seemed physically possible without either of those things happening. Charles was wearing his usual long black jacket and slacks, whereas Crystal had dressed up a bit, wearing a loose-fitting lavender trouser suit with one of her many floral designed mesh tops underneath, the pinkish-purple matching her eyeliner.

“She looks so pretty,” the Niko in Edwin’s mind supplied, and he supposed she was right.

He may not have been interested in girls that way, but he could still admit that Crystal was beautiful. He could hardly blame Charles for developing feelings almost immediately, she was exactly the kind of girl who usually caught his best friend’s eye. Only Crystal wasn’t one of those girls Charles would see in the street gossiping with their friends, having never seen a ghost in her life and likely never believing in them if you asked. Crystal was psychic, and brilliant and messy and beautiful. Edwin may have spent a lot of time in petty arguments with her, but beneath that he truly cared for her, and she’d become a close friend. He admired her strength after everything she’d been through. Once David was dealt with and Edwin could stop stressing so much about having a hellish being so close to the agency, so close to him, he really started to see how much he had affected her. Having your memories stolen from you only to get them back and discover you did horrible things in the past…that must have been horrible. Yet here she was, a fully-fledged part of the Dead Boy Detective Agency despite being neither dead nor a boy, and she was one of the best people Edwin knew. His thoughts about Crystal were soon interrupted by a different thought, this one taking on a different, more feminine voice than his own inner monologue.

“You know, I never told you, but I have such a crush on her.”

That stopped Edwin in his tracks. What? What was wrong with him? Had his mind really invented a story about Niko liking Crystal in some sick attempt to quell the jealousy he couldn’t help but feel towards her and Charles? Was he really that petty? He thought he’d been handling Charles’s rejection well, he’d never felt more than a slight twinge in his chest whenever he saw the two of them together. He was perfectly fine with the fact Charles didn’t feel the same way – he had never quite expected him to in the first place – wasn’t he? Evidently, his subconscious disagreed. He felt horrible, as though he’d done something so wrong, not only disrespecting Charles and Crystal but Niko too.

“Mate, what’s wrong?” Charles asked, having noticed Edwin had stopped and gone back for him.

“Nothing,” Edwin replied sharply.

“Are you sure-”

“I said I’m fine, Charles.”

He hadn’t intended to sound quite so cold and snappy, and immediately regretted it. Before Charles could say anything else, he marched ahead, passing Crystal without even looking at her. He knew Charles was just worried. He had been giving him a look for a few weeks whenever he thought his back was turned, and Edwin felt terrible for making him so concerned. But he couldn’t tell him. What was he supposed to say? Oh, my apologies Charles, it’s just that my mind has somehow been conjuring up the voice of our dead friend for nearly a month, and I’m not handling it too well. Charles told him he could tell him anything, but he had already burdened him with the knowledge of his feelings, he didn’t want to give him something else to deal with. Edwin had survived Hell for seventy years, surely he could handle his own mind by now.

“Edwin, calm down,” he heard the imaginary voice of Niko say, and she was doing nothing to help the situation.

“Stop,” Edwin replied aloud.

and it feels good to be known so well

Charles Rowland rarely sat still. He always had to be somewhat dynamic, whether it be bouncing his leg up and down or fidgeting with whatever was in his hands at the time. He was fine if he was focused, like during client interviews and while on cases, but when he was just relaxing, he was never truly still.

That had been the case for as long as Edwin could remember, but Charles’s constant movement had never been quite as bad as it had been for the last few weeks. Even seeing him sitting down at all had been a rarity.

He’d been on his feet for so long that he just looked so…tired. Ghosts may not sleep, but that didn’t mean they could keep moving forever without so much as a break. Edwin had been beginning to worry. Something was bothering him, that much was clear. And the way he kept looking directly at Edwin, as though to say something, then immediately looked away as soon as the other boy made eye contact, really didn’t help Edwin’s growing anxiety.

“Charles, are you quite alright?” he asked, putting his notebook away in the drawer of his desk and giving the boy his full attention. “I know you’re usually very mobile but there is clearly something on your mind.”

“I’m good, mate. Don’t worry about me,” Charles replied simply.

Edwin knew Charles well enough to tell when what he said was just a pre-programmed response to get people to stop worrying about him, no matter what was going on in that brilliant-yet-troubled mind of his. Edwin also, however, knew Charles well enough to tell when pushing him to talk wasn’t a good idea. And it was clear that this wasn’t the time, so Edwin chose support over questioning.

“Okay, but if you do need to talk, you know I’m always here to listen. And please sit down, you look exhausted.”

“I said I’m fine, Edwin,” Charles said again, snappier. He immediately regretted his tone. “Just…”

Then, Charles seemed to wobble a little on his feet. He let out a shaky breath, even though his lungs hadn’t truly inhaled air in thirty-five years, and leaned back against the arm of the sofa as though to steady himself.

“Charles…?”

“Shit, Edwin, I think…”

Before Charles could even finish his sentence, a spot on his chest just over his unbeating heart began to glow, and within a few seconds the rest of his corporeal form had faded away, leaving only a glowing sphere in his place.

“Charles!”

Edwin rushed over to the sofa, just catching the orb before it rolled off the sofa and onto the ground. He lifted the pulsing light to face height, inspecting it as though it could actually be harmed.

“This is the second time in two weeks, Charles. Please, just talk to me, you’re exhausting yourself,” he sighed, trying to fight back tears he couldn’t quite explain.

He thought things had gotten better since Port Townsend. He thought they had agreed to talk when they had important things on their mind, no matter what. He thought they weren’t keeping the deep stuff quiet anymore.

Evidently, he was wrong. Edwin couldn’t help but think that perhaps it was his confession that had caused them to backtrack so significantly in terms of communication. Sure, Charles told him that he was fine with it, that it hadn’t changed anything between them, that they were still the most important people in the world to each other – and Edwin believed him. At first glance, it would seem that they were just as close as they had been before – closer, even. Charles seemed more inclined to initiate physical contact than ever, and always seemed to be calmest when Edwin was in the room with him. But Edwin also knew Charles had gotten very good at keeping things locked up inside himself, especially things that could potentially make him feel like a burden. If everyone would be happier without it being said, it wouldn’t be said. Edwin genuinely thought that if you were to look up people pleaser in a dictionary, all that would be written there as its definition would be Charles Rowland’s name.

So if his confession had changed things, if Charles really was worrying about it, of course he wouldn’t mention it. If it had changed things, of course he might think twice about being quite so open about his own struggles. Edwin just wished he understood just how much he loved him. Not necessarily the love that made Edwin want to kiss Charles, to touch him in a romantic sense – but the love that made him always want Charles around, the love that made Charles the most important person in Edwin’s universe, the love that he had for him no matter what, no matter whether or not he returned Edwin’s romantic feelings.

Edwin just loved Charles because of who he was, and he always had. He hoped one day the other boy might finally understand that, so he knew intrinsically that he really could talk to him about anything, and didn’t have to bottle it up so much that things like this happened so often.

Edwin returned to his desk, but didn’t pull his notebook back out just yet. He simply sat there, Charles’s most pure and natural form floating slightly in his palms.

A few hours later, Charles had still not returned back to his usual gangly, grinning form. He was still just that tiny sphere of glowing energy. He’d been rolling around on the desk for the better part of half an hour – Edwin scolded him for moving around in this state when his constant activity was what prompted it in the first place – and had now found a place to settle.

He was nestled on Edwin’s shoulder, as though peering over him to look at his notebook like he usually did in his corporeal body. Every so often he nuzzled closer to Edwin’s neck, and Edwin couldn’t help the sense of pride and comfort he felt in the knowledge that Charles felt safe with him, no matter what secrets might be causing problems in his currently non-existent head.

The quiet of the room was interrupted when the door to the office opened and Crystal walked in.

“Hey, Edwin, have you seen Charles-” she began, but cut herself off when she spotted the flickering sphere on Edwin’s shoulder. “What’s that?”

“Oh. Hello, Crystal. Uh, this is Charles,” Edwin said.

“I’m sorry, what? He’s…a blob?” Crystal looked confused as she took her coat off, laying it across the empty sofa.

“An orb,” Edwin corrected. “It happens to us sometimes when we get tired. We may not be able to sleep like the living do, but we can compress ourselves into our most natural form – pure spectral energy. Well, I say we can. Sometimes it is involuntary, like fainting. That’s what happened to Charles.”

“Okay, that’s…kind of cool actually. Like ghost hibernation.”

As Crystal walked over towards the desk, Charles seemed to vibrate, growing brighter for a couple of seconds before dimming again.

“That’s him saying hello,” Edwin clarified.

“Oh. Hey, Charles! Wait…he can hear us?”

“Yes. Well, no. Sort of. He can sense that you’re here but perhaps not understand what you’re saying. Well, if we do hear we forget it when we turn back. We don’t fully understand it, if we’re honest.”

“Right,” Crystal said, clearly understanding even less than Edwin did.

The orb moved again, this time towards the side of Edwin’s neck as he had been doing all afternoon. Edwin chuckled – it did always tickle a little when he did that.

“Charles tends to get clingy when he’s like this,” Edwin turned back to Crystal, who had sat opposite him in the chair usually reserved for clients.

Edwin from a few months ago might have told her to move, or at least given her a glaring look, but now-Edwin simply smiled at her. They’d become good friends since everything, once they’d both realised they were being a little unfair taking out their frustrations on one another.

“He told me once that it is like his way of ensuring me he is there even when he cannot exactly talk. He seems to have a proclivity for always having to be near me in some way, especially since Hell,” he continued.

“I had noticed that,” Crystal said.

“I keep trying to tell him he doesn’t have to, that I can protect myself, but he just won’t listen.”

“It does seem like protecting you makes him happy,” she commented.

“I know. And I like knowing that he is happy, of course I do. But he seems to think that if he isn’t useful to me, then I will not want him around.”

“He’s like the biggest people pleaser I’ve ever met.”

“I just wish he knew that I want him around no matter what.”

Edwin turned to look sadly at his shoulder as he spoke. Charles only nuzzled even closer.

Crystal leaned further towards him, comforting.

“I’m sure he does know that, Edwin, it’s just… it’s just who he is. I think with everything that happened when he was alive, he constantly feels like he has to prove himself to everyone because he could never seem to be good enough for anyone. His dad beat him, and even the people he thought were his friends turned on him and fucking killed him. He’s gonna have a lot of trauma from that. Even if he refuses to really talk about it.”

“I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

“Also, if he can hear us right now, I’m sure he’ll know he can talk to us if he needs to,” Crystal said, her voice growing louder at the end as though specifically intending for Charles to hear.

Edwin appreciated how much she cared. Despite his initial jealousy and coldness towards her, it was nice having someone else who cared for Charles so deeply.

“I hope so. Especially since…” he took a deep breath. He hadn’t expected to be confiding in Crystal about this, but he was glad she came over. “Lately, he’s seemed even more distracted. Something is weighing on him – this is the second time he’s transformed in the past fortnight. I wish he would talk to me instead of keeping it inside.”

Crystal nodded slightly, her face unexpectedly relaxing a little.

“Okay, I think I know what specifically it’s been about more recently,” she said.

“Really? Did he talk to you about it?”

He tried not to be a little sad at the idea that Charles went to Crystal about it before he went to him. It was irrational, of course – he knew the two of them were close, and of course he loved Crystal – but it wasn’t helping that little voice in the back of his head that kept thinking something had changed between them since Hell, that he didn’t feel as comfortable sharing things with him anymore.

“Not exactly,” Crystal said, and Edwin’s mind eased. “I kind of figured it out and brought it up.”

“What is it? Is something wrong?”

“No, no, nothing like that, don’t worry,” Crystal reassured him, clearly noticing this was causing Edwin distress. “Look, I’m not the one who should tell you about it, so just believe me that it’s nothing bad, please.”

Edwin sighed.

“Okay. If you’re sure.”

“I promise. He’ll tell you when he’s ready.”

What could he possibly need to prepare to tell him? Edwin desperately suppressed the many anxiety-riddled questions and possibilities his tireless mind thought up.

“I’ll be here for him no matter what,” he said.

“I know,” Crystal smiled. “You always are.”

Edwin smiled back at her – the sister he never had. Crystal suddenly reached her hand up to her face and wiped a tear from her eye before it even had chance to fall.

“Alright, enough of that,” she sniffled. “I just came to say I’m not gonna be here for the next couple days. I’m meeting up with a few old friends, I wanna try and fix things. If I can.”

“Of course. I know you can, Crystal. I’m aware I don’t say things like this often, but you really are such a lovely person. I don’t know exactly what you did to these friends before everything happened, but I hope they see how much you’ve changed.”

“Thanks, Edwin. That…it means a lot.”

Both of them looked at one another for a few seconds, the small smiles still on both of their faces.

Then, all of a sudden, the orb on Edwin’s shoulder grew brighter, and brighter, and brighter.

“Woah, what’s-”

Before Crystal could ask, the light faded, and Charles’s familiar form faded back into corporeality. Since he had been perched on Edwin, he was sat on the arm of the chair practically clung to him when he opened his eyes.

“Charles! Good to have you back,” Edwin sighed, relieved.

“I need to talk to you,” Charles said, looking directly into his eyes.

“And that’s my cue to leave,” Crystal said, standing up from the chair and grabbing her coat from the sofa. “I’ll see you guys on Wednesday, yeah?”

“Goodbye, Crystal. Good luck.”

With that, Crystal left the office. Edwin swore he saw her give Charles a smile and a thumbs up as she left the room.

Edwin turned, surprised to see Charles hadn’t even moved, and was still all but pressed up against his side.

“How are you feeling?” Edwin asked, trying not to focus too hard on the proximity.

“Better. Thanks.”

“Are you sure? I’m not trying to pry, but I’m getting worried about you Charles. We said we’d talk-”

As Edwin spoke, Charles moved – but only to face him, leaning back against the desk like he did when they had clients.

“I know, mate. I’m sorry, I just…right, I’ve been trying to figure out how to talk to you about something but I didn’t know how or when or if, and I guess…that rest I just got kind of gave me time to think a bit more without there being everything else,” Charles explained.

Edwin was confused, but gave him the chance to talk.

“Right. Is there something wrong, or…?”

“No! God, no, Edwin. Shit, I’ve really stressed you out, haven’t I?”

“Yes, I rather think you have,” Edwin chuckled. “I guess I’ve just been worried that perhaps…you feel differently about our agreement to talk to each other about things since I told you what I did in Hell.”

“What? Edwin, no. Fuck, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise-”

“You have nothing to apologise for,” Edwin told him, reaching out to take his hands.

Maybe that was overstepping, but Charles didn’t complain or pull away – quite the opposite: he held Edwin back.

“No, I do. You’ve been here thinking I…god, I’m sorry. I swear, what you told me in Hell is…well actually I guess it kind of is why I’ve been acting all weird, but it’s not what you’re thinking, I promise.”

“Then what?”

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, right? Ever since you told me what you did. I wanted to properly think on it because I love you so much and, like, I know we’d be us no matter what, but I just couldn’t just let this go, could I?”

Edwin opened his mouth to say something, but Charles cut him off.

“I know what you’re gonna say. You’re thinking I’m doing what I always do and just telling you what you wanna hear, but I’m not. I needed to think about this for me as well as for you.”

“And…?” Edwin prompted, trying not to sound as hopeful as he was steadily growing to be.

“Well, I was just driving myself insane, wasn’t I? I had no idea how to put this shit into words or figure out what it means. But then Crystal brought it up, and you know what she’s like – she’s direct about shit. And it really helped. She kinda put everything about this into perspective. ‘Cause, like, I was trying to find someone to compare my feelings to, to figure out if I felt the same, but, like, I’ve never been in love. I don’t know what that feels like. Sure I had a couple of girlfriends when I was alive but that was just typical teen romance, doing it just because it was expected of you and because it felt good. It was never proper love. All I knew was that you weren’t like anyone I’ve ever known. And Crystal helped me realise that maybe…”

Charles held Edwin’s hand tighter.

Edwin tried not to breathe too heavily, looking up at Charles with such hope and love and relief in his eyes.

“Maybe I’ve been in love with you since the start. I knew you were different, but we just clicked so well I didn’t even realise what that difference was, that it was deeper. You’re my best friend above everything else, but there’s definitely something else too. I just needed a little help to see it.”

“Charles, what are you saying?” Edwin asked.

He knew what he was saying. Of course he did. But he couldn’t quite believe it, so he asked anyway.

Charles reached his other hand out and tipped Edwin’s head up slightly by his chin, ensuring they were making eye contact.

“I’m in love with you. Always have been.”

Edwin couldn’t help the soft surprised noise that escaped his throat.

“Charles…why were you getting so stressed about this? You know you could have told me before it got to this point.”

“I know, it’s just…I think it took a while for me to realise I could have this. Like, obviously I knew you felt the same, but…I didn’t feel worthy? Almost. I don’t know. I never- I never really knew what proper romantic love was. My parents, maybe they were in love once, before I came along, but I don’t remember it. The only long-term romantic relationship I really knew was one full of fear and like, tension. And abuse. I guess I just worried I might not know how to do this, so maybe you wouldn’t want to. I dunno, it’s stupid.”

“No. It’s not stupid, Charles.”

Edwin held Charles’s hands under his own chin.

“Well, the idea that you aren’t worthy of my love is preposterous, but I understand why you might have felt like that. I know your family weren’t the image of love you wanted to see growing up. I can’t exactly say my own were either. But I promise you; your love, in all its forms, is beautiful. You might not think you know how to do this, but you’re doing it brilliantly. Even if you didn’t feel the same romantic inclinations I do, you are enough. You’re so, so much more than enough.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Charles couldn’t hold back any longer – he surged forwards, wrapping his arms around Edwin. It was awkward, with Edwin still sitting in the chair, so Edwin stood up. The two of them pressed up against each other, holding the other close as though they could disappear at any second.

Edwin only held him closer when he heard a quiet sniffle come from Charles.

“I love you,” he mumbled into Edwin’s shoulder, and Edwin swore a rush of warmth flooded his cold dead heart.

“I love you too,” Edwin replied. “More than anything.”

When they broke apart, they simply looked at each other for a moment, soft smiles on their faces.

“Can I kiss you?” Charles asked, and Edwin didn’t think he’d ever heard him sound so quiet, his mind so still.

“Of course you can.”

Edwin had been dreaming about this moment for a while, no matter how hard he tried not to. Every so often, his thoughts would wander to what Charles’s lips would feel like against his own, whether their kisses would be hungry and passionate or soft and gentle – or a little of both.

He always imagined, in the rare instances that he allowed himself to ponder the potentiality of Charles one day feeling the same way, that their first kiss would be quick, in the heat of the moment. Charles had always been an impulsive person, so he imagined this would be no different. Perhaps they’d be out on a case and Charles would pull him aside, crush their lips together and whisper a hurried ‘talk later?’ before getting back to the task at hand.

Edwin had never been happier to be wrong. Obviously, he wouldn’t have predicted or asked for the circumstances that led up to this, for Charles’s emotional conflict and physical and emotional exhaustion, but this moment, their lips meeting softly in the early evening light that poured in through the office window, was perfect.

When their mouths separated, Edwin kept his eyes closed for a few seconds, just revelling in the moment. Then, he opened them and oh he was glad he did – Charles looked incandescently beautiful standing before him, his lips slightly parted, his eyes huge and focused on him.

They both moved together for a second kiss, resting their foreheads against each other when their lips broke apart, as though being even centimetres apart from one another was a curse.

“I’m sorry, about the stress, and about the…orb-ing thing,” Charles said quietly, and Edwin swore he could feel breath against his own lips. That wasn’t possible, though. Ghosts didn’t breathe.

“Charles, it’s alright. I’m just glad you’re not suffering without telling me. Besides, we finally had an opportunity to explain our exhaustion symptoms to Crystal. You gave her a very confused fright when she first walked in and saw you.”

“Oh, I bet.”

Both of them laughed, heads falling onto each other’s shoulder.

When they separated, Edwin took a step back. But Charles kept his hand where it was on Edwin’s waist.

“Can we…go to the sofa? I don’t…wanna let go just yet.”

Edwin just smiled, smitten.

“Of course, Charles.”

The two of them settled together on the sofa – it was a little bigger than their old one, but still too small to fit two nearly six feet tall teenage ghosts if they wanted any semblance of space between them. Luckily, these two ghosts specifically weren’t bothered about space.

Charles positioned himself practically on top of Edwin, curled up on his chest, quiet and still. Edwin’s arms wrapped around Charles’s waist, keeping him close. He’d never really known quite how much he wanted this – how much he craved this – just being this close to the boy he loved most, touching in any way they could. Charles shuffled impossibly closer, nuzzling his face into Edwin’s neck in the same way he had earlier while in his orb form. The only difference was this time, Charles left gentle kisses there too. This time, he could definitely feel the warmth of Charles pressed against him. This time, there was no stress, no anxiety, no panicking. This time, the two of them were all that mattered.

chapter 2

The next day, the girls didn’t take a rest day. Well, they had turned up to the office in the mid-afternoon with the intention of continuing work, but no new clients had shown up, so everyone was simply lounging around the office. Niko and Edwin were sat at the desk watching Scooby Doo on Niko’s laptop, sharing her earphones, While Charles and Crystal sat on the tiny sofa. Crystal was mindlessly scrolling on her phone, while Charles was bouncing a tiny ball at the opposite wall.

“I’m bored,” Charles groaned dramatically.

This was all part of the plan, but it wasn’t a lie. He enjoyed a chilled-out day as much as anyone else, but this was just getting dull.

“We’ve really got to do something as a group that isn’t a case, ‘cause whenever we finish one you guys are too tired to do anything else.”

“I mean I’m up for a group outing if you’ve got any ideas,” said Crystal, looking up from her screen.

Niko and Edwin both removed their earphones.

“Lucky for you guys, we just finished an episode,” Niko grinned.

“You’re right, Charles, we should do something. We should go out!”

“Go out where, though?” Crystal asked.

“Well, if we don’t want to do anything too physically strenuous after last night, we could always go into the town for the evening. We could go to a restaurant!” Edwin suggested, glancing towards Charles, who was smiling at him.

The plan was beginning.

“Would you two really wanna come with, though? I mean…you can’t eat, going to a restaurant seems kind of pointless,” Crystal reminded them.

“It’s not about the food, Crystal!” said Charles. “It’s about spending time with friends!”

“And I’d love to spend time with you guys, but in a public place where people are gonna notice us talking to the air? I’m fine with weird looks on the street, but surrounded by people sitting down, that’s different.”

Ah. That was one part of the plan the boys hadn’t thought of. Sure, they weren’t actually going to be joining them, but they weren’t going to know that.

“Well, if we go to the Italian round the corner from the library, they’ve got booths that are kind of tucked away in corners,” Charles suggested.

“Are you sure you’re not just saying that because you really miss spaghetti?” Niko giggled.

“Okay, you got me there, but it does have tables that are kind of hidden away, it’d be perfect!”

Crystal seemed hesitant.

“Well, I’m up for it!” Niko said excitedly.

And how could Crystal say no to that face?

“Sure, I guess. Want me to reserve a table?” she asked, already pulling her phone back out and searching for the restaurant.

“Sounds like a plan,” said Charles, trying to hide a satisfied smile.

“Wait! Don’t reserve it too early, I need to get ready!”

“Niko, you look great as you are,” Crystal said.

“Oh I know, but there’s this one outfit I’ve got that I’ve been wanting to wear for ages,” she explained, dragging out her voice on the last word.

“Should we say 7pm then?” Edwin offered. “That gives Niko chance to get ready, and for everyone to get there.”

“Sure.”

“Niko, are you nearly ready?” Crystal knocked on the door of the room Niko was staying in for the week. “It’s nearly, 6:40, we’re gonna be la…”

Crystal’s voice trailed off as the bedroom door opened, and Niko stood before her. She was in a monochromatic outfit: red wide-leg trousers with a sheer red collared shirt that allowed the thin-strapped top she was wearing underneath to be visible too. Her make-up matched the outfit, as it always did – red graphic eyeliner drawn into tiny perfectly-shaped hearts at the outer corners of her eyes.

“What do you think?” she asked, doing a little spin in front of Crystal, who was really trying not to stare in awe.

“Niko, you look…” Crystal tried to come up with an adjective that didn’t give away the truth of her thoughts. She couldn’t think of one, so she settled on the one she thought sounded the most casual. “You look so pretty! The red is amazing.”

“I figured you’d be in purple, so I thought this would match a bit!”

Niko had been right – Crystal was wearing her purple mesh top and black dungarees, and had her purple coat ready to put on when they left. They’d certainly be a bright-looking pair, that was for sure.

“Anyway,” Niko started, leaning behind the door to grab her white chucks. Rather than sitting on the bed or the sofa to put the shoes on, she simply sat on the ground where she was, earning a quiet chuckle from Crystal. “We’d better go, wouldn’t want to keep the boys waiting!”

They grabbed their coats on the way out of the flat and left for the restaurant.

As it turns out, they needn’t have stressed at all about being late because of the boys – they were nowhere to be seen when they arrived. They were led to their table, a booth in the back corner of the restaurant, out of view of most of the other tables. And, there was a huge mirror on the wall above it. Crystal assumed that’s where the boys would come from, when they finally showed up.

They’d been seated for ten minutes, and had just put their food order in, and there was still no sign of Charles and Edwin.

“I’m just going to the bathroom,” Niko said, excusing herself from the table and heading to the opposite side of the room.

Crystal nodded at her, trying to subtly look around the whole restaurant, checking they really weren’t there. ‘They’ve probably gotten distracted with each other’ she had been thinking, when she was scared out of her skin by Charles leaning out of the mirror.

“Fucking hell!” she hissed, one hand over her chest in shock.

“Oops, sorry,” Charles apologised.

“Where the fuck are you guys? We said 7!” she said, not much louder than a whisper.

She knew no one could hear her, but it was still awkward talking to someone she knew no one else could see, especially since Niko wasn’t there. Charles just chuckled.

“Yeah, about that…”

“Charles. What have you done?”

“Hey, I haven’t done anything!”

“Well you’ve got the scheming smile on your face so you’re up to something.”

“Okay fine. This was a set-up.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Edwin and I were never gonna come, we just tried to get you guys to go somewhere so you could…y’know…” Charles smirked.

“So we could what, Charles?”

“Y’know! Talk!”

Crystal closed her eyes and sighed in realisation.

“This is your payback?”

“Yep! And oh look, she’s coming back! Have fun,” Charles winked as he retreated back into the mirror.

Crystal groaned, mentally cursing him, as Niko approached the table.

“Are you okay? Was that Charles I saw?”

“Yeah,” Crystal said. “They’re not coming.”

“Awh! Why not?”

“Uhh,” Crystal tried to come up with a lie. “They had a case come up.”

“Oh! Should we go help them? We can do this another night,” Niko turned towards the exit, but Crystal grabbed her wrist.

Niko looked down at where their skin touched, then back up at Crystal. When Crystal made eye contact with her, she let go immediately.

“No, they’ll be fine without us for one case. And we’ve ordered now, we should just enjoy our evening.”

“Okay. Yeah, I was looking forward to having a bit of a break,” Niko laughed as she sat back down. “We deserve it.”

Niko was clearly tired. Was Crystal really about to bring up her feelings and stress her out even more? She knew it probably wasn’t the best time, but when else was she going to do it? Sure, she was a tiny bit annoyed at Charles for the deception, but him and Edwin had practically set up a date for them, so it would be a shame to miss the opportunity.

She’d decided: she was going to do it.

She hadn’t done it.

They’d nearly finished their food by now, and Crystal still hadn’t figured out how to bring the topic up without shocking Niko. She’d been fidgeting in her seat the entire time, and Niko had noticed.

“Crystal, are you okay?”

“Hmm?” Crystal hadn’t fully heard her, too lost in her own thoughts. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

“Is it about Charles and Edwin? You don’t have to worry, they’ll be fine! Like you said, they can handle one case without us, they’ve done it more than enough times before.”

“I know, it’s not about them.”

“It’s about something, then?”

Despite not caring what most thought about her, Niko really was amazing at reading people. This was her chance, Crystal supposed.

“There’s…there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Okay. You know you can talk to me about anything.”

“I know,” Crystal smiled. “It’s just…” She took a deep breath. “Since…everything…I’ve been thinking, and I’ve realised some things.”

Niko nodded. She didn’t say anything, didn’t interrupt her. She was good like that. She could tell when a response was wanted and when people just needed to say what was on their mind.

“It's not like I hadn't thought about it, like, I’d had a bit of a moment before, but then, nearly losing you when we fought Esther, it really made me realise…”

Crystal was fidgeting with her hands again on top of the table, twisting a ring around her finger and not looking directly at Niko. Her hands started to shake slightly at the memory of Niko lying there on the ground, blood seeping from the wound on her chest and staining her shirt, eyes staring at her, glazed over, unblinking. Crystal couldn’t bear to think about what would have happened if it weren’t for that lucky bear Mick had given her. It had slowly closed the wound. She had still lost a lot of blood, and it took a while for her to recover, but she did. And now she was here in this restaurant with Crystal, who was desperately trying to put words together into sentences.

Niko had clearly noticed her shaking, and took her hands in her own, holding them tightly and smiling in encouragement.

“I think I’m in love with you,” Crystal finally said, looking up at Niko.

Niko let go of her hand, her eyes widening in surprise.

“What?”

“I’m sorry,” Crystal apologised, moving her hands towards herself, away from Niko. “Sorry if I made things weird.”

“No!” Niko said, louder than she had intended. She reached out and took Crystal’s hands once more. “No, that was…I just wasn’t expecting that.”

“Oh.”

“In a good way. I…I never thought you’d feel the same.”

Crystal’s jaw dropped slightly.

“You…you feel the same?”

“Yes!” Niko said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Crystal couldn’t do anything but laugh softly, and Niko joined her.

“So…” Crystal started. “Does this mean you’ll be my…girlfriend?” She had her head tilted downwards slightly, looking up at Niko curiously through her eyelashes. It was so awkward, but in perhaps the best way possible. This was the first time she’d ever felt awkward asking someone out, and it felt more right than anything.

“Obviously!”

“Charles, I really do think we should give them some privacy,” said Edwin, standing in front of the mirror back at the office.

“I just wanna see how it’s going!” Charles argued. “Come on, you can’t tell me you don’t wanna be a fly on the wall for this.”

Charles raised his eyebrows slightly, smiling in that specific way he knew Edwin couldn’t resist. Edwin sighed in defeat.

“Okay, I’ll admit I am intrigued. But I still do not think we should disturb them.”

“We won’t, I’ll just open the mirror connection.”

Charles raised his hand towards the mirror, and Edwin nodded. Charles closed his eyes, picturing the mirror in the restaurant, and tapped the surface. The mirror seemed to ripple, still faintly showing the reflection of the office behind them but more importantly revealing the image of the two girls at their table. They sat opposite each other, both beaming with joy. They seemed to be playing with each other’s hands on top of the table, interlocking their fingers.

“Do you think it went well?” Edwin asked, whispering even though he knew they couldn’t hear them through the mirror.

“I think so! Oh, this is aces.”

They kept watching as a waitress walked over to their table. They let go of each other as Crystal paid for their meals, then they both stood up.

“Should we head home?” Crystal asked, her voice quiet and sounding vaguely as though underwater from where Edwin and Charles were stood.

She held her hand out to Niko, who, instead of taking it, leapt forwards out of the booth and hugged her tightly.

“Sorry, just had to,” she giggled as she stepped back, intertwining her fingers with Crystal’s. "Yeah, let's go home."

“Yes!” Charles cheered triumphantly, swinging his arm around Edwin’s neck and kissing his cheek in excitement.

“I’m glad our plan worked out for them,” Edwin said. “Now, let’s leave them be.”